Gonna change things up and have this fic alternate POV between Jinx and Raven... Kind of like I did for Yearning for Change. Let's get this show on the road!

-Finding Myself-

Bad luck is purely coincidental. It can happen to anyone anywhere at any time and it can't be prevented any more than one can control the changing of the seasons.

That being said, I have absolutely no control over my powers. If anything, I'm merely a conduit-housing all this pent up misfortune until it spills forth in the most spectacular of ways.

It's always been like that...

/"And this young lady's name is Jinx. Say hello to Mrs and Mr Cohen, dear. They might be your new mommy and daddy." Quietly, as though I wouldn't be able to hear her, the adoption agency head explains, "We've been having trouble finding her a home-even for a meta-human."

'Meta-human'... More often than not, that phrase is followed by a terrified look.

Well, that or disgust.

The elderly woman smiles at me and I meet her gaze boldly, holding my blank expression.

I know this to be routine: come in, see freak, give freak false hope, abandonment.

I'm only 6 years old and yet oh-so jaded.

"Jinx, was it?"

The man is watching his wife interact with me, his back straight and his stance tense. He seems to disagree with her interest, but kind blue eyes are focused on me and me alone.

After a moment's hesitation, I nod.

"How would you like to come home with us?"

"Gloria-"

"This girl needs a loving home, Frank."

Her tone brooks no argument and, when his shoulders sink, some unfamiliar warmth rises in my breast.

I didn't have a name for it then, but I know now that it was hope.

Before I can even think to respond, I feel the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I take a hurried step back.

"Jinx?"

Not now...

Strands of neon pink wind through the air around me, making the air hum with power. I can

feel the heat of it behind my eyes and, when I snap them shut so that Gloria won't be scared off by the glow that suffuses them, I'm presented with a mental image of the bad luck I would be plaguing the couple with and my stomach heaves viciously.

No... Not now...!

"Jinx."

I whimper and take another step backwards, fighting the inevitable as best I can—/

"Jinx!"

My eyes flip open and I instinctively grab whoever had been calling me by the throat, unusually—unnaturally—sharp nails threatening to tear through soft skin.

"The fuck did I do?!"

Gizmo... It's only Gizmo.

My heart's doing its best to hammer its way out of my chest, but I manage a disapproving frown. "What have I told you about coming into my room?"

"This isn't even your room, you crazy bimbo!"

... Right. Titan Tower. I'm on a mission.

With a scoff, I drop the egghead to the ground and recline on the plush black sheets of the circular bed in Raven's room. I guess I accidentally took a little catnap. "What do you want?"

"Mammoth found some grub. Thought I'd be a nice guy and see if you were hungry, but you had to go all psycho bitch on me." He reaches up and rubs his neck, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Better not have friggin left a mark..."

Wimp.

"I'll be right down." I could use a break.

The shadows in the gloomy Titan's room seem darker and more sinister, but somehow that makes me feel right at home. I want to uncover their secrets.

"Suit yerself." He casts one last look around the room, muttering, "Creepy as shit in here," before scampering out.

It won't be long before the Titans regroup and return to take back what's theirs and my search has gotten me nowhere.

I can sense my teammates' impatience (not to mention incredulity) as they watch me root around Raven's room from the doorway and it makes the air around me crackle and glisten.

'Crap... Not this again...!'

"Why're we still wasting time in this dump? We should just loot that dumbass's gear and get the fuck outta here."

"Don't touch anything else." Frustration makes my tone needlessly sharp and he scowls.

"Look, I just need to find what I'm looking for and we can go.'"

'I know it's here... It has to be.'

"I don't even know what we're looking for," Mammoth grunts, muscular arms folded over his chest. "Not saying I don't trust you, Jinx, but..."

An electric chill zips along my spine, but before I can even think to warn the others, a shockwave of pink blasts outwards, knocking over dusty tomes, ceremonial paraphernalia, and a number of other, breakable objects, and sending both boys smashing into the other side of the hallway.

Whoops.

I clear my throat, rising from my crouch and heading over to the doorway: Mammoth actually broke through the wall, revealing the inside of what appeared to be a... sauna?

Do-gooders always got the best stuff.

He's slouched over a tiled bench, a pained grunt leaving him as he straightens and Gizmo—

"What. The. Fuck."

—may or may not be furious.

"Are you o—"

"Don't you fucking dare ask that stupid ass question. Does it look like I'm okay?"

The backpack permanently strapped to his back is leaking a smoke trail, little sparks of electricity leaving what has likely become a mass of broken circuitry. He's limping as he comes towards me, but the pain doesn't dull the rage in his eyes one bit.

"I don't suppose "I'm sorry" will make you feel any better?"

"GAH!"

Yeah... I didn't think so.

Mammoth stirs. "You've been blowing up stuff like that all week. I think it's about time you told us what the hell's going on."

...

Sigh.

I hate relying on others. After being on my own for so long, I knew better than to trust—to ask for help or expect not to pay for the help I receive. In the end, it just isn't worth it.

"I may have a slight problem."

"This is more than a 'slight' fucking problem." Gizmo drags his sleeve across his nose, only to yelp. "You broke my goddamned nose!"

'Whoops.' "Not intentionally..."

"Mother fucker-!"

"Gizmo!" Mammoth barks. "Cool it. Let her talk."

I'm not about to repeat the horrible string of profanities that results from that command, but he does quiet.

I fidget. "Where to begin..." Stall stall stall. "So you know how my powers basically manifest themselves when, where, and however they want to?"

"Just fuckin' saw it first hand," Gizmo grumbles sourly

"Mm... That violent expulsion is going to keep happening until I figure out a way to burn off all this excess energy." As if to prove my point, my hands glow fuchsia and Gizmo and Mammoth flinch.

"Okaaaaaaay... What's that gotta do with the Teen Douchenozzles?"

"Intel says our dear friend Raven possesses a mirror that lets her communicate with her inner selves. I'm hoping to hijack it and figure out what's going on in here. It wasn't like this before."

"You believe in that mystical bullshit?"

I shrug. "She's the daughter of a demon. Anything's possible."

"Tch. Alright, so what does this magic mirror look like?"

I hold my hands about six inches apart. "About this big. Dark, ornate, spooky aura?"

Those must have been the magic words because a dark form stretches its way out of the wall, resembling a bird of prey for a moment before dissolving to reveal none other than speak-of- the-devil.

"You mean this?" she asks in a flat voice, pointing a glowing hand towards me.

Gizmo pales, his jaw dropping and I feel another chill go down my spine right before I flip neatly out of the way of a dozen flying ceremonial knives wrapped in inky darkness. I land, now facing the five other teenagers that had been so kind to join us and smile savagely at the way the usually stoic purplette can't seem to completely mask her ire. "Welcome back. I thought you'd gotten lost or something."

Mammoth and Gizmo come to stand behind me, the latter muttering ominously about murdering someone while the former cracks his knuckles

"We thought we'd give you a few more hours of freedom before we locked you away. For good," the "Boy Wonder" retorts, his cape fluttering heroically despite the total lack of air flow. His alien girlfriend beams, enraptured, and I roll my eyes.

Pathetic. If I ever get that lovey-dovey over someone, just shoot me.

Before this little rematch can even begin, my powers surge—this time, without warning—and the lights along the hall ceiling flicker ominously for a brief moment before we're plunged into total darkness.

There's a scream. A gasp. A whimper of fear. Then, silence. The room is awash with neon and the last thing I see before my reeling mind shuts down entirely is two pairs of glowing crimson eyes.

When I wake up, I have no recollection of what had occurred immediately before my little nap.

Such a thing happens more than I would like, honestly.

I sit up, temples throbbing...

'What the...'

I'm in some sort of lush meadow, far from anything that resembled the city streets I had grown up on. Other than the gentle gurgle of a stream I can't see from my current position, it's quiet. Peaceful.

Also, the sky is the pastel pink of cotton candy.

"You're awake... Finally."

There goes the peace.

I sigh and turn towards the speaker, only to double take. "Um..."

Since when did Raven have four freaky demonic eyes?

My head pounds as the sight of her triggers my memory, the rhythm a steady ache that resounds with my accelerated heartbeat; they narrow and a sharp pain in my stomach sends me flying and I bounce a few times before rolling to a halt in the warm grass.

"That's for earlier," Raven says flatly from above me.

"Well… I guess that makes sense."

She's eyeing me suspiciously—I know the weight of a gaze better than I know anything else. A lifetime of being the freak does that to you. "What does?"

"Have I died? Because this seems pretty nice for hell."

Blink. "What makes you think this is hell?"

"For one thing, you look like a demon. And I could see you dedicating your time to torturing me for all eternity."

That snort of laughter is both incredibly unexpected and unexpectedly... cute. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm here because you dragged me in here with you… Somehow."

How can that be? I don't even know where 'here' is. Out of the dozens of questions whirling around my head, that seems like a good place to start. "Where are we?"

"This is what you wanted, isn't it? We're in my mirror." She crosses her arms over her chest, eyebrows drawing together over—four!—glowing eyes. "... Which doesn't make any sense because I didn't want to come here and I can't seem to leave." She glances around. "Besides, it's entirely too quiet. My other selves are usually running about, but it seems to be deserted—"

"I beg your pardon?"

Raven's gaze slides past me to a spot just over my shoulder. "Uh..."

That's the first time I've heard something other than irritation or apathy in her voice and, when I whip around to see what all the fuss is about, my jaw actually drops.

Standing at the base of the grassy swell stands, well, me. I'm wearing a dark purple, floor-length dress (one of those fancy ones with the endless ruffles) and the tiny parasol in my hand just barely shades my face from the sun.

'Uh...' indeed. This was exactly what I had hoped would happen, but seeing it in reality…

Other Me smiles thinly. "It's far from deserted here, my dear." She turns her attention to me and it's like looking into a mirror. "I never thought I'd see you here."

As if meeting oneself was a normal occurrence.

"I... Honestly didn't think I'd see you either."

"How many of you are there?" Raven asks, to the point as ever.

"What, were you raised in a barn?" Other Me sniffs haughtily. "Why in the world would I give that information to the likes of you?"

Raven's eyes go from red to white, her clenched fists giving off an aura as black as pitch, and the ground beneath our feet trembles, little fuchsia sparks fizzling in the air.

The temperature plummets and I realize with a horrified sinking sensation in my stomach that this was the warning that my powers were going to manifest themselves I normally got in our world—only on a much larger scale.

Other Me's expression is unimpressed and a shockwave of pink knocks the empath into an undignified heap. Unlike me, she doesn't seem to have any problems controlling my hexes. "This is my world, madam. I'd advise you to be on your best behavior."

I can't help but smirk when I see the purplette scowl just before she hunches her shoulders and draws her hood over her head and Other Me mirrors the expression.

This could be fun.

-End Chapter-

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