Chapter 4: exposure
Ashen legs slowly pulled a body out into the empty halls of Titans Tower. Raven had left before Jinx could even think of calling Cyborg to pick her up. She would have none of that. This was her problem, her fight, she could handle it. The half demon refused to involve them anymore than she wanted or needed to. They didn't deserve to worry about an impending doom slowly drawing near. They'd rationalize that knowing the truth would be worth a shot at helping her win this fight. However there was no way she could be helped…and no way to win. All she could do was fight it off as long as possible.
It wasn't just that, Raven realized as she made her slow journey through the empty tower to the den. It was much more. How could she tell them of her heritage? She could only stab at how all her friends would feel to know the past few years they shared the same home with a demon. What would they think to know that just down the hall some apocalyptic time bomb had been sleeping so near them?
They would turn on her. They would be forced to. They were supposed to keep Jump City safe, the world safe should it come to that, even if it meant dispatching one of their team. Terra's betrayal had proven it was possible for all of them to turn just as quickly and dispose of a former team mate. It was not something Raven became overly excited to approach.
It also wasn't that she hadn't tried to tell them before, before she had even truly gotten close to them, before their opinion of her mattered. She'd found Robin to help form the Titans for this one purpose, to bring her down should the need arise, so under those pretenses she would tell at least Robin. Trigon, however, prevented such a measure to be taken. Call it divine or unholy intervention. The words just would not escape her mouth, as if a sealing spell was cast. Raven didn't lie then, but she couldn't submit the whole truth. The only thing substantial she'd managed to utter out to Robin was that the threat of an inter-dimensional demon, Trigon, would be coming eventually. Nothing more of the topic ever came up again.
Raven reached the den's entrance and descended the stares and into the eat--in kitchen portion of the room. It was appropriate she made it home and the tower was empty. Chances were either they went out to take down some form of hostility or were out in a search for herself. She'd refused to notify them of her safe return, they would discover her eventually. Raven needed silence, she needed to be alone.
Her mind was a wreck, over loaded by an entire life times worth of extra memories. The yellow cloaked persona of knowledge and intelligence would be sorting through the back work for some time to come, leaving her hazy and with difficulty concentrating. Thus, meditation was far from pleasant or effective that day. Meditation that wasn't beneficial to her state would seem forced, and would cause her more damage than good. In a situation like this, it was best for Raven to just simply mellow out, and let the effects of her mental attack to ease down naturally. Unfortunately, the disadvantage to this was not having a fast way to recharge her powers, or to soothe raging emotions. Her wounds may take even longer to heal than needed. In short, she was vulnerable both physically and mentally.
Mindlessly her body executed actions. Open cupboard, pull out tea kettle. Fill tea kettle with water, put on stove. Turn stove on. Let your brain simmer in sync to the water. Fumble with the clasp of her newly obtained cloak. Eye around the den's couches to see if she'd misplaced a book. Sleep…..sleep sounded good. When was the last time she had a full ten hours of undisturbed, nightmare free sleep? If only Raven knew.
She turned to the pantry and pulled out a tea bag. When had it been the last time she'd gone to a specialty tea shop? Lately all she'd been having was this cheap processed crap. The flavors were diluted, bland, yet she'd been drinking it almost religiously. Oh. Now she remembered. It was because the store went out of business and Wintergreen had difficulty trying to hound down the blend she'd liked.
"…" Raven paused. Had that…? No, that wasn't it. She'd taken Starfire with her the last time, unknowing of how her curiosity to touch everything would lead to all the store's contents to be sneezed out into every known direction. Yes, that was it; she'd been disbanded because of Starfire's curiosity. Raven cringed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Slade's memories were jumbling up some of her own. Damn the random firings of her brain.
The kettle began to whistle, and Raven obediently turned the stove off out of habit, and poured the water over the tea bag despite her distaste for them. Putting the kettle back on the stove, Raven grabbed her mug and walked over to the small table just off to the side. Glance at the clock. Four minutes to let it steep for a strong brew. Just four minutes. Raven looked down at the table's hard surface. Maybe she could just lay her head down, only for a minute. She curled her arms up slowly and lowered her head into them. She'd still be conscious in four minutes…Raven's eyes drooped. Just four minutes.
"This tea really isn't as bad as you make it sound, Raven."
Raven's head shot up, body tense. She'd awoken, greeted by her own personal stalker. He was sitting on the table's edge, one masculine leg crossed over the other. Her tea mug was in his right hand, held elegantly with dignity, poise, and etiquette, face looking down to her. "I see our little romp left you rather…spent."
How long had she been asleep? Her lavender eyes darted to the nearest clock. Six minutes. When did Slade get there? How did he get there? Of course, how could she forget he'd managed to slip into her room days ago without so much as tipping any alarms? His forces had made there ways into the tower before, and most certainly one of the several hundred Slade bots had hacked into the system and knew its mechanics. A security pass code wouldn't be needed if he knows how to over ride the system. Then there were her father's powers…
Raven was alone and realized she did not have the energy to put up with Slade. Suddenly, she felt very, very frightened.
Refusing to show any such emotion, she forcefully stifled it. Instead, she allowed her empathy to touch the forefront of Slade's emotions. She could sense content…amusement. What else did she expect to find? This was all just a twisted joke to him, like what he'd done to Robin, and Terra. For a split second the terrible graphics of both victims bled to the front of her mind, along with just as gruesome images involving Gizmo and Jinx. Something nearby rattled under the front of her lack of control.
Raven shakily stood, still suffering her injuries and fever. "Out." she snarled, her eyes burning with emotions dying for release. It was a futile order, she knew, but Raven could not let Slade have her without resistance.
"Ah, well you see I can't leave just yet.," Slade placed a hand tenderly on her left shoulder. There was that cocky amusement again. He squeezed it with an intense grip. "Sit."
Her shoulder roared with intensity, Raven's knees buckled and she crumbled in a minor gasp to her chair. To be so easily man handled…it stirred a mix of aggression and fear. She glared loathingly at him as he removed his hand, replacing the area with her own. This was not the condition she expected to see Slade in so soon. What she had done to his mind should have left him unable to do anything for days, if not scarred him off longer. Somehow her father had a hand in his fast recovery, she bitterly concluded.
Silently she looked up at him and waited for his move. He looked back down at her with those same feelings of amusement radiating out at her…and something else. Loathing. Vengeance. Directed to both herself and whom Raven could only guess was her father. She knew how much he hated the servitude, she remembered what he remembered. Raven watched as he swirled the mug's contents malevolently.
"You find this quite below your tastes, but with the right amount of cream and honey, it is a decent substitute for the blends you've missed." Slade continued, rising the mug to his masked face and sipping the liquid through the slits near his mouth. Another sip. Raven stared hard.
How had Slade known of her dislike for tea packets? She hadn't said anything out loud when she'd thought about it. Or had she? Her mind was in such a haze she wasn't sure anymore.
"Oh, where are my manors? This is your tea, would you like it back?" He held the mug down to her offering. Slade was taunting her, she was aware, and it was working quite well. Unable to fight back had giving him the chance to rub it in her face. Her blood boiled. It took every ounce of will power not to shatter the mug then and there. The only thing that seemed to hold her back was the strong chance of getting scolded by the hot liquid. Not Raven's cup of tea at all.
"No then? Fine.," he raised the mug back to his lips and sipped again before placing the mug back down to the table. Amusement. Mocking amusement.
"You can abuse me Slade, but do not make a mockery of me." Raven threatened.
Slade chuckled. "Hnhnhn. I'm afraid I didn't pay you this visit to kill time mocking a bird so to speak. I just merely wanted to discuss a few…tidbits over tea."
Raven cringed. "There is nothing to discuss. I know what He sent you to do; you have no reason to reiterate that."
"I suppose you're right about one thing, at least. You see, I've come here for just slightly different reasons.," he went on, standing from the table. He turned towards the booth Raven sat in, and without further warning pushed her down into the cushioned seats. His hands forcefully grabbed her knees and threw her legs wide. Within seconds he was positioned rather dominatingly between her lower limbs, with Raven pinned beneath him.
Raven struggled, squirming, eyes clenched tightly shut, face as far from Slade's as she could manage it. The position she was in frightened her so much she'd neglected to remember that both of them were still very much clothed and that the immediate danger was only moderate that moment. Then again, Slade's groin pressed up between her thighs led a convincing argument to justify her fear. Many items within the den rattled with black energy.
Slade chuckled. "Consider this a demonstration, Raven. You're slipping. It took perhaps three seconds to subdue you. You're will is breaking, just as I promised. You cannot resist Him much longer."
"G-get off of me…!" Raven managed to stutter out through clenched teeth. The contents encased with her out of control powers began to levitate within the room. They floated oddly enough with calm vigor, much unlike the tenseness within the air.
"Pathetic.," his eye narrowed "You cower when it is you who have raped me."
Her breath grew short as he lowered his face to her turned head, narrowing the gap between their two forms. She felt cornered, claustrophobic under Slade's body. His weight easily pinned her down, and then there were his emotions, his thoughts that were at the front of his mind. They leapt out at her, filling her with knowledge about how empowered Slade felt, how much he was enjoying what he was doing right then. Raven contained an involuntary yelp. Powerless and fatigued, she was at his mercy, and it was horrendously terrifying.
His masked face was now near hers. Warm breath left trails up her neck and caressed her ear. Despite the heat emitting from him, it left her feeling sickly cold where it touched, and her once boiling blood had nearly stopped.
"It is, of course, good to know that this right now doesn't exceed those boundaries set earlier." He lingered a moment more before lifting up entirely. "I think I've made my point."
Raven opened a hesitant eye, body tense, fearful of moving. He removed himself entirely from her and Raven slowly, but thankfully, began to sit up again. Being momentarily spared from the worse, Raven skidded as far back up to the wall as possible, meaning to put all the distance she could between them.
"Come now," Slade spoke in a slightly disappointed manor, "I've somewhat of a hickey to show you." He repositioned himself into the booth. His giant form leaned in towards her, allowing some space between them. Raven pressed her body even closer to the wall, trying to hide the discomfort in her back. She'd given up all attempts to release the tower's furniture from her power's grip.
"I've been thinking about the words we exchanged last night, Raven, and I'll admit that you made quite a deal of sense." Slade's face leaned in closer yet again, and Raven pushed the full of her back against the divider. She could smell the tea off his breath this time, and she cringed as if it was cigarette smoke.
"I serve Him, and so, now I serve you as well." There was a pause of heavy silence in the air, before a new swirling pattern came to life on the edge of Slade's neck. It was to his left, and just under the jaw line. The area was the spot Raven had initially placed her hand the night before in her assault. The insignia was different from that of her father's, but still an ever gruesome gnarled red.
Raven's eyes widened. "No…"
He was smiling, she was certain. "Yes…you've marked me." He grabbed her hand. "You've dominated me and made me one of your own." Struggling, he pulled her hand and placed it on top the symbol. Slade held her hand there, and she could feel the burning, knotting power swimming through his flesh. Her demonic power. "I am a servant to your wishes, so long as they do not conflict with His."
"How dare you! You serve him and in turn you serve me. When I tell you don't, I do not take it kindly if I'm ignored. I will RIP the memories from your flesh if you so much as to think of doing this AGAIN!"
"T-that's why just then you couldn't…" Raven pulled her hand back sharply. "I couldn't have…I can't—"
His face leaned in inches from hers. "You did. You're evolving Raven…do not shun your demonic legacy, embrace it. His power over you grows each day. Soon you'll be branding your friends—"
"NO," Raven prepared and enlisted the help of a sharp, well planted kick to Slade's stomach. Slade fell back just enough for Raven to dash between him and the table to run.
Never, there was no way she could have that sort of power inside her, not the type to make inscriptions like her father. Hearing it was like drinking poison, she was dying and her world was slowly crumbling around her. The truth was there, with striking clarity. She wouldn't, but yet somehow she had. Of all people, Slade, no doubt. He was now bound by servitude to her, and it made her gut clench in knots. The worst of it was what Slade said would likely happen. She might end up inscribing her friends as well. Then there would be no one to stop her and her father.
Raven had made it to the den's steps before a sharp pain ripped through her head. Her mind suddenly exploded with intense pressure. Raven screamed, clamping her hands down on her skull, dropping to her knees. He was there! He was touching her mind! Instantly she began to reinforce mental barriers, trying to protect herself from his invasion. However his vengeful presence would not be so easily turned out. Pressure increased in large impacts, akin to a log being rammed to break down a barricade. Slade was trying to find the weakest point of entry, and it hurt.
Raven screamed again, nails digging into her scalp. She slumped forwards, forehead planted on the ground, body in a tight ball. A fevered cold sweat began in torrents, and Raven lowly, desperately repeated her mantra. The black surrounding the floating items grew violent, and the den became a maelstrom of mystic force.
Slade chuckled, slowly making his way to her crumbled form. It was like playing doctor with real medical tools. He'd picked up the proverbial scalpel and began cutting away at Raven's layers, completely disregarding the use of anesthetic. Everything, he wanted to see everything. All of her fears, her fantasies, what she took pleasure in, what she absolutely hated. He wanted everything that made her who she was.
"Isn't it exquisite," Slade stated calmly in that sly, confident tone. "Being forced to submit, to be able to do absolutely nothing but pray until I toss you broken into Daddy's open arms."
The burning in her body started again. The jagged red symbols were waking slowly. She felt their power pulsating nearing the surface of her skin. They were pale now, visibly to those who knew what to look for, threatening to emerge in a ruthless nightmare of intense sensations and red. Raven's shaky breath rambled faster, trying to find strength in her mantra.
"Ah, see now? The inscriptions are coming forth without any contact. It's spectacular, really. Like the gentle climax of a wet dream."
"T-this is a-a nightmare," Raven clenched out, taking up her mantra right afterwards.
Slade circled her in his steps, looking upon her like some experiment. "It doesn't have to be. If you cooperate, you would find I'm very…pleasurable."
For a split second the mind thrashing, body stabbing pain fleeted to a utopia of calming, soothing waves. This frightened Raven perhaps more so than all the negative feelings he'd forced upon her. Raven enforced her guard more, body tensing in defense. She would not just relax herself because of a momentary halt. Then as to be expected, Slade's presence pushed tersely again in her mind, and her state returned to what it once was, to that of crying her mantra.
"Pain, joy; hate and love, they're all essentially the same. You react in similar ways to both; the only difference is their opposite ends of the spectrum. It is why we love to hate, and hate to love.," Slade lectured matter-of-factly. With the exception to the occasional dodging of speeding furniture, his boots echoed in a steady rhythmic pace as he made his way back around in front of her shriveled form.
"It is exactly how it feels physically, Raven.," he continued, "Being entered is a euphoric experience, but you know it's wrong, and therefore it's painful. Both feelings are the same. Raping ones mind is one step further, because you aren't taking something such as virginity away, but one's identity. You're taking who they are…but I don't have to tell you about that Raven."
He walked steadily past her. Turned, and then walked back the way he came. Not once taking his attention from her. "You wished this upon yourself. Breaking your will could have been easily done manually, but you had made the order perfectly clear that I could not take you physically…yet."
"S-stop it! Get out of my mind!" Raven shouted, hands gripping her head tighter. Slade merely inserted another hard mental push and she returned to bleating out those three words like a sheep calling for its mother. It sent the mark gracing his neck aflame.
Slade could feel the symbol burn with intensity, strongly commanding that he follow the order she'd just yelled of him. Her father's charter was far stronger, however, and Slade continued with his onslaught. The couch flew in his direction, and after a side step, Slade bent down to Raven's level. His gloved hands grabbed a fist full of hair and he pulled her face to his. What he saw there was a flush, sickly face contorted in a mix of intense discomfort and concentration; her dry lips rambling like some religious heretic. She was blocking the bulk of his entrance, to which Slade commended, but with great difficulty.
"I will not stop until He is satisfied. Since you'd so rudely invaded my person, your father only thought that it'd be fair to complete the mental bond you created with me." He lowered his face close to hers once again. His tea scented breath tickled her fevered face. "You had wanted so bad to look into my life, that he gave me permission to do this, to look into yours. It's funny really." He chuckled again. "Your father giving me consent, sharing each other our lives, the bond growing between both a woman and a man…I'd say we're almost married."
He pressured his mental presence with sharpness, and Raven verbally cried in response, her hands gripping her head unyieldingly. His face lowered even further to her ear, and whispered. "And this is our honeymoon."
What followed was both a surprise and relief to Raven, for Slade was suddenly thrown from her. Raven crumbled to the floor, hugging it in whimpering praise like a child begging for ice cream on a ninety degree day. All the furniture caught in the misfortune of Raven's powers suddenly dropped free. Almost instantly Slade's dark presence in her mind receded. The pressure cleared from her being, the relief was compared to having been sick with sinus infections and suddenly having them cleaned up. She could breathe again, in large labored breaths, but it was still sweet precious air!
The inscriptions, having been slowly crawling to surface receded with fervor. Their burning too retreated along with them. After what she'd just experienced, right now she could've been in Heaven and wouldn't have known she was plastered to the ground. Numbly Raven ordered herself to stand up, but her body refused to listen. Slade had exhausted her, it was impossible to deny.
Somewhere her brain registered sounds of Robin shouting, but they were far away and distant. For once, she had to rely solely on his ability to drive the threat of Slade away. Time dragged on as she lay there, until finally she felt Robin returning. Her mind was too deaden with after shock to do so much as respond to his jarring, and just slightly, she was sincerely grateful for the consciousness she was slipping out of.
The dream started as it always had, with the foul stench of black smoke plaguing deep in her sinuses, and the bright oranges and reds of flames surrounding her. Fire was clearly the dominant destructive force that ensnared the environment. Raven stood, taking all of this in, debating what exactly to do, where to go, whom to save. That was until it dawned on her that this dream was unlike the ones past. The setting was much different.
Raven's eyes were wide and watery, a stinging affect of the fire that dotted the architecture around her. Her body swung around, her head jerking from side to side to take in the truth all around her. She wasn't in the tower, nor was she on some sort of look out tower in the middle of the city beholding the apocalypse forming in Jump City. Hell, she wasn't even in Jump City. It was a fire that ranked in the legions of apocalyptic nature, but the fire that spread across the land was not the same that she'd seen in visions since her birthday. Yes, it was an apocalypse in its own right, but not of Earth's. It was Azarath's.
Denial was the first emotion that had stirred inside Raven. The ashen skinned teen opened her mouth to utter a cry of disbelief, but nothing came from her lips. Her voice cracked, and the only thing near coherent speech was a gasp. This wasn't Azarath. It couldn't be her home. Yet, Raven remembered coming through this part of town all the time. Azar always sent her to purchase from the fish monger in this area for his catches were always the best.
She turned again, hoping that the new sight before her would counter the memory she had just then. It was a false hope, for Raven knew this side of the street just as much as she knew it from the right. Again, she tried to utter something, and again, nothing solid came from her voice. Raven instantly placed the blame on the chocking smoke and heat. In truth, she just couldn't put to words the raging emotions that boiled now inside her. Flaccidly she took a step forward, finally accepting and taking in the full horror what lay before her.
It was burning, all of it. The clear, naked blue sky had been covered by a veil of black so thick the sun was not permitted to shine through. The smoke gradated to a glowing flickering wash of vibrant angry hues. Leaping towards unimaginable heights was the dancing swirls of reds and oranges and yellows, flicking up waves of heat higher still. That heat was smothering, beating down on her cloaked body and striking sweat to bead upon her face. Yet, no matter how hot Raven knew the fire to be, Raven couldn't feel it, not a bit.
Her empathic mind was drowning in the screams, both mental and physical, of the dying all around her. It chilled her to the bone, leaving her cold as ice, unable to sense the massive heat around her. They had all been in anguish. The people were dropping like flies all around her, and Raven could feel their life lines snap as they did. Each one had felt like a power jab in her side, for in their final moments their emotions rang the strongest.
Fear and hopelessness, both encompassed her from all sides, asphyxiating her with a large weighted burden. Her empathic abilities were always dimmed, but such an overwhelming presence of the same emotions emitting from all about her left Raven in a stupor. Her jaw moved, clenching and unclenching, once again at a loss of words. The order to meditate, to iron away the emotions never made it to her dry lips.
It was just so much emotion. There was just no effort of defense. These people, her people, had resigned themselves to this horrible fate. Raven realized that these pacifists had no will to fight, but never had it been so clear until now just what magnitude it constituted. The spark of will to fight was non existent in the world, and all its negative emotions were tightening the proverbial fist around Raven's neck, chocking her.
Her knees buckled and pale legs gave under her weight. Raven dropped to the ground, frozen like a deer caught in head lights. She stared, eyes wavering ahead, as if she looked just hard and long enough that the forming questions in her head would be answered. Was this a dream or a vision? No, it had to be a vision, it was far too vivid and the emotions were too real for it not to be. Why Azarath? Why wouldn't she suffer the sufferings of those she'll kill on Earth instead of here? How? When? Was it…did she cause this onslaught?
"No…it's not…," her voice finally found some form of strength, "I couldn't have…I haven't been here in years, and I'm never coming back."
She'd forsaken Azarath to seek action against Trigon. Raven dishonored her teachings of pacifism. There was no way the dark magus would ever be allowed entry back into this world between dimensions. More importantly her mother was here, the one individual who had known truly of Trigon's evil, who had known truly whom Raven was as an individual behind all of the facades. Raven would never return to Azarath because here her mother was safe, separate from the danger she would invoke. That truth appeared no longer.
Somewhere in the pit of her stomach a terrible knot of guilt and shame began to twist in large unbudging proportions. It had to have been her fault. There was no other explanation. Even if she were wrong and if it truly was a dream, the insanity around her was still caused by her. This was still her fault, and the pain welling up inside her at such actions hurt just as much if not more than it had seeing the damage she'd done to Earth and her friends. Raven's head hung shamefully, her small frame slouching further into her empathic submission.
"I don't want to see this," she breathed pleadingly, "I don't want to see what I've done."
Suddenly there was a break between the flames feet ahead of her. An individual caused that break, falling through it, as if to spite Raven's wishes. It, for at first glance it wasn't certain what gender it was, was consumed by the raging blaze around them. The limbs flailed out, mouth shrieking in obvious pain, but that was all it was. These actions were never done in such a way to diminish the flames burning its flesh.
It stumbled in Raven's direction, and her head bolted up finally shaken from the apathy she'd been drawn into. Before she truly realized that she was even out of that state, she was to her feet, hands aglow with dark energy. Her arms pushed foreword, creating a draft of wind with the force to snuff the individual out. The individual flew clear off its feet, flung back into the hellish fire it had crawled out of. The neighboring flames surrounding her fanned outward like an explosion. Embers touched and set more houses bursting with destructive force. All of it was garnished with a new round of perishing screams.
The cloaked woman gasped, stumbling in her posture back from what she'd just done. Her efforts had only managed to make the situation at hand worse than what it all ready was. Another phantom jab in her side indicated the initial individual succumbing to the inferno he had become. Raven's throat tightened, eyes threatening to release her own tears empowered by the additional emotions of those dying. Her arms lifted, palms in front of her, as if she were defending herself from what she'd done. On her arms were the fleeting marks of the inscription.
"No.," Raven mouthed, horrified at herself. She'd not summoned the marks, and Slade was not around to do so either. They'd just…the power had been too much, they'd spread the flames more.
Instantly Raven spun around and darted down the street, fleeing with all her might. She wanted nothing more but to run away. Run away from her emotions, the situation, watching those she knew die before her. No, Raven couldn't bare the sights, the sounds, and the raging emotions. She had to get away in order to save her sanity.
Blindly she ran, keeping towards the streets and alleys where the heat and smoke did not hinder her movements. Where needed, her body's make up allowed her to move through the flame in the shape of her astral self. She needed solitude, somewhere to ride out the destruction. Only when everything was finally destroyed would Raven be free of the crushing emotions hindering her from using her powers correctly. Then she could transport herself back to Earth, back to her room where she could hide under her covers.
Without warning Raven was slammed into the ground by the weight of a dropping body. She groaned, momentarily stunned by the act. Comprehension suddenly dawned on her, and Raven threw off the body and scrambled back in alarm. Its eyes had rolled back; the drop had clearly killed him. A shriek erupted through the sky, shrill, loud, and high, and Raven instantly clamped hands to her ears. Eyes narrowed, she dared to look up to the sky for an explanation.
What Raven found there was a fleet of winged beasts. They were up high above, and were hard to diminish against the smoky backdrop, but they were still there. Raven never had the misfortune of seeing the foul beasts up close. That didn't matter; the demon could still recognize them even if she were blind. Beasts of this nature had specific signatures of energy, and although they were too far away to see, they certainly had four eyes and the touch of her father's essence about them. From where she sat, it was easily seen as one beast open it's mouth and releasing a blast of fiery energy to the land. The ground rumbled momentarily, an explosion seen in the distance.
It was all the more reason for Raven to get back up and continue running. If her father was strong enough to bring His army into Azarath, of all places, then it was far too late for Azarath. If that were a truth, and if the feeling in her gut indicating she had a hand in it, then chances where in this future she may have all ready been lost to His whim. Oh did Raven pray that this was merely a dream produced from anxiety over a vision.
There was a fresh scream that echoed over the shrill monstrous sounds of the winged beasts. Raven stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide with alarm. "Mother."
Another scream was torn from the familiar individual. It rang out loudly, beckoning to the young demon. Once again Raven turned around, and she began to move in the direction of the sound. Her limbs moved stiffly and slowly at first, as if to prevent her from heading towards her mother. Soon though her limbs allowed her the chance to speed up, and Raven was then speeding in a full out run. The run was also made just as blindly as the first, for Raven didn't need to see where she was going. All ready she could sense where her mother was, the Shrine of Azar.
Her mother was content here. When Trigon had thrown her aside broken and impregnated, Azarath had picked up the pieces and had put her back together. Azarath's ways of pacifism, although Raven didn't entirely agree with them, brought her mother, Arella, peace of mind. They made her strong again, and Raven respected her with an awe that she'd survived the unspeakable horrors her father had put her through. Hearing that strong, soft spoken woman scream filled Raven with an insane determination to defeat anything threatening her, regardless of what it was. Though Raven all ready knew that it couldn't have been none other than Trigon.
Unknowingly like before, the angry red marks grew to life in Raven's skin. They were strong enough to emit light through the fibers of her clothing, but weak enough to allow the fabric to stay intact on her body. She was nearing his energy signature, and the screams of her mother grew louder still. Black encased the two tall, thick doors of the main chambers and with a flick of her wrists; they burst from the hinges and into the room. Instantly her glowing white eyes landed upon the two she'd sought out, and she stopped cold.
Arella, the very image of youth and beauty on Azarath, had been reduced to little of nothing. Her untouched ageless skin was now adorned with horrendous bruises and burns. Her body, always fully covered, now lay littered upon the marble floor. She was exposed entirely, body dotted with beads of sweat and His fluids. Atop her was none other than the red skinned demon, his hair a greasy mess of blondish white, horns twisting up towards the sky, adorning his head like a crown. Arella screamed beneath him, pleading the other to release her, to halt his lustrous actions.
The inscriptions flared in Raven's skin, her eyes flashing briefly to red. Her arms had all ready wound back and whirled forward. An enormous wave of black energy slashed out in all directions. It cut into the interior walls about them, into the ceiling. More importantly it lashed into the beast that was her father and sent him slamming mercilessly into the nearest wall.
Raven, however, wasn't finished. Her fist clenched tightly, balls of black energy forming. Quickly she trusted the rounds of energy into the figure plastered into the dent inside the wall. She was relentless, the very image of seething anger and hatred painted upon her visage. Finally, Trigon's form tumbled to the ground, seemingly down for the moment.
Instantly her offensive dropped, and Raven rushed to her mother's side. Rather hastily she threw her hands around Arella's trembling arm. "Mother—"
"Don't touch me," Arella's voice sneered. Suddenly the bruised arm was ripped from Raven's grasp. "Stay away from me demon!"
At this Raven's jaw was ajar. The empath tried again to grasp the other's arm, so that they may flee. "You don't mean that."
Arella cringed away from the other's approaching form. "You are no daughter of mine!"
Raven halted in her advance, feeling suddenly stabbed and betrayed. Her mother couldn't have just said that. Although the relationship they shared was hardly fitting for a mother and daughter or even just family in general, Arella had never denied the responsibility that Raven was hers. Her mother was proud of her, and although it irritated Raven to see her mother as resigned to fight as all the others in Azarath, she'd never lashed out at her. Ever. Especially for what she was.
Loathing bubbled up inside her, but Raven would never forgive herself if she'd directed that towards Arella. Her mother wasn't at fault here. She couldn't blame her for hating her so much now. Raven, after all, appeared to have been the cause of this destruction anyway. Arella's reaction was just. That left one other to direct that raw emotion towards.
"Father!" Raven screamed, powers calling forth an enormous chunk of marble flooring, holding it threateningly above the downed figure. "So help me I'll crush you where you lay!"
Trigon's body rolled over with great effort, leaving his front end clearly unprotected before Raven. However, this was no longer Trigon before her. The body was young and thin, skin no longer a gray ash, but a deep red like His. Lavender hair was brushed aside to reveal a set of four glowing eyes. Raven wasn't looking at her father…this was herself.
"Daddy isn't here." The duplicate said in Raven's usual deadpan.
Numbing shock let the chunk of stone Raven had collected to just fall, no longer held up by Raven's magic. The huge slap landed in a glorious impact upon the doppelganger, erupting in a splattering mess of blood and bone material. Trembling, Raven began to back away, her mind spinning at the implications of what was before her.
Trigon had raped her mother, but it hadn't been Trigon…it had been her. She'd…
"No…no…it's not true, I would never hurt my mother—" Her back touched flesh "Yes you did, Raven. You raped her."
Raven jerked around, face to face with Slade. Arella was no where to be seen, and the room now was empty save for the two of them. That territorial, ferial anger charged again to the forefront of Raven's actions. Slade was incased within her dark powers and flung across the room like her father had.
"You lie," Raven shrieked, a burst of uncontrolled emotions slicing chunks from the ceiling. The inscriptions flared, and those ceiling's parts bolted with destructive speed at random walls. They broke into pieces upon impact, and those pieces also became caught up in her emotional lack of control.
Slade made no indication that her assault had harmed his confidence or his physical health. He chuckled, standing up from where he had landed. His hand began to swipe away any dirt that would seem to have gathered on his armor.
"Raven, come now, when have I lied," he questioned soundly.
Raven's eyes narrowed, now white slits of raw force, mind quickly searching for an answer. "I could name a few."
"That was to all the titans. I am asking when I have ever lied to you."
Her answer was missing this time, her fists held defensively in black energy.
Satisfied with that response, the masked antagonist began to approach her slowly. "Perhaps I should explain. You didn't rape your mother in the literal sense, of course." He paused, cocking his head. "In fact, from what Daddy tells me you two rarely touched each other."
Raven's fists clenched tighter still. The red bitter scribbles in her skin pulsed painfully. They too, like her emotions, begged for a complete release without restrictions. It had just been another thing that Slade knew that her team mates didn't. Knowing Slade all ready knew so much about her through her father, and yet still strived for mental supremacy as well. It earned Raven's wrath.
"However…you did rape me.," he continued matter of fact, "You cannot deny that."
"You left me no choice," Raven growled in her own defense, body shaking with the force of building rage.
"That doesn't matter. On some subconsciously level you had wanted to do it regardless, and that's why it happened." He had reached his destination, standing within an arm's reach of her. "Because of it, you've also raped countless others if memory serves me right. Robin, Terra, Jinx…"
As Slade began to list the names of his own victims, her mind was assaulted with Slade's presence. This presence was not as forceful determined as it had been in trying to seek out the part of her mind that was still hers. Instead, his force located the memories of his copied into her mind, and bringing them up to the front of her conscious. The images were vivid, taking all of her attention. Raven's defense dropped, hands clutching her skull for stability.
"Should I list more?" Slade casually asked.
"S-stop! I didn't do this to them!" she argued.
Beneath the mask Slade's lips curled into a grin. He watched calmly as Raven slumped to her knees, trying to use all her energy to block out the scenes played thoroughly through her head. He too, bent down on one knee. Gently, he placed a hand on her head, petting the soft lavender hair.
"Up here," he murmured, moving that hand to touch her forehead, "You did."
Raven could hear Robin groaning pitifully in her mind. He was crumpled up beneath her in a horrible position. Her lavender eyes saw through Slade's solitary orb, saw his body use that of Robin's. The empath tried to keep focused that this wasn't her doing. Slade had been the one to torture her friend, that she was clean of this crime. Yet, despite that she knew it was Slade's body, and Slade's voice, she could still see and hear her own limbs and voice performing the same actions.
Soon it changed to another, then another. So many victims swam through her head, being forced to fall under the actions of Slade, nay her whim. There were friends, enemies, members of the Hive she'd never met, nameless more. Raven begged for an end to the nightmare, to the revulsion. She fought her own body to stop doing what she was, but as they were Slade's memories, any desire to discontinue was dismissed coldly.
"Know this. Raping me has made you no different than I am, Raven.," Slade's distinct tone rang clearly through the current onslaught of Raven's mental torture. "Therefore theoretically, you could have very well have raped your own mother."
The scenery in her mindscape changed once more. No longer was she plagued with the former actions Slade had taken against so many others. It was far worse than that. It was of something neither of her mind nor of Slade's. It was imagery all of its own control, and it petrified her.
Abruptly she was on top of the familiar being of Arella. This time her own ashen body was there wholly, not covered with the illusion of Slade's being where she stood. Raven instantly fought against herself, but her body moved now of its own accord. It was like she was someone's marionette, an unknown master pulling her strings and forcing her to do things she'd rather die then commit. Her mother shrieked bellow her, fought her, but Raven was easily in control of the situation, as much control as one had not wanting to be within it. Raven begged just as equally as Arella for an end.
"You two look so much alike." Slade had materialized within the environment.
Raven felt his eyes upon her as she unwillingly continued her vicious assault upon Arella's broken body. It served to wash away the horror, shame, and guilt to replace it again with anger.
"I wonder," Slade mused allowed, "If this is what you'll look like when I force you to submit to me."
At that moment Raven never felt more blinded by the thirst to kill anyone then she had her entire life. In no means did she fight that Trigonian urge, but readily accepted it, wanting nothing more than to see Slade's cadaver a mangled heap.
Finally Raven collapsed of exhaustion, her thin frame crumbling at Slade's feet. No longer was she on top her mother, or in the vicinity of anywhere recognizable. The world around her was black; all that remained was Slade towering over her naked, inscribed form. She growled threateningly up towards him, eyes red with vengeance.
He merely looked down at her. His eye narrowed in an expression of amusement. "You demons sure make it rough."
"I'm not…a demon," Raven huffed in a low, bitter voice.
"Yes you are. You're exactly the same." Slade made in point, "Just like Daddy."
"No.," Raven denied audibly, that rage making it so hard to ignore his accusations.
"Even He has told you." His voice mocked smugly in reply. "You will become what you've concealed. You have no other choice."
Raven dared not hold back the demonic desire longer. At that the inscriptions blazed the brightest. Instantaneously her mind grew numb with raw power exploding through her flesh and blood. The dark titan lunged at Slade with the fury of her unbridled rage, four red eyes glowing maliciously. What happened within those moments was a blur of uninhibited violence. The basics of Raven's sense could only deduce the presence of two elements, blood and fear.
And she liked it.
The rush of power seeped from her, and the red glow left her eyes, the extra set receding back into her forehead. The red marks remained true to her skin and stayed to the surface. Now alone in the darkness, Raven began to feel sick inside with Slade's absence. What had she done to him?
Trembling, she shouted out to the nothingness her denial once more. "This isn't what I am! I'm not a demon! I'm not like Slade! I'm not like Trigon!"
"You're exactly like them."
Raven's body went stiff. She knew that voice. It wasn't the cool collected tone of Slade, or the growling demonic voice of her father. Slowly she stepped around. What she saw only confirmed her assumptions. Her voice came out thick and shaky, "…Robin?"
The masked, red and green clad man stood before her. His face was set in cold determination, a somewhat hateful look he only reserved for those he fought. Once more he spoke, "You're a monster, Raven, a demon."
Her lavender eyes grew wide with fear. "No…," she mouthed, her voice cracking. "No I'm not! It's only by blood, and nothing else! I'm not a demon!"
"You still became it in here." The dark empath jerked around to now behold the illusion of Cyborg. His lips pulled down in a grim expression. His cybernetic arm was held up, hand over his heart.
Now Cyborg was against her? Both he and Robin were like the brothers she never had. They…they hated her.
"It's not my fault," Raven's hands went to her head. She dropped down to her knees, legs folding under her weight. She did not bother to stifle the tears forming in her eyes. "I never wanted to be this!"
"Then what had stopped you?" Another voice.
Raven looked up to Starfire, not wanting it to be true. Sure enough the alien stood there as well. Hanging on to some hope, the empath tried to appeal to logic and reason. "You understand, don't you? You felt the same during your transformation."
"That was different.," the alien confirmed, "I was merely maturing, while you have always been this way."
"Yeah, what Star said."
"Beast Boy," She looked back to Star's right, the green titan standing just as stiffly as the others. Her voice cracked just as the argument she was trying to use in her own defense. "Beast Boy, please, you've always been there—"
"That was before you changed," he yelled back. Like Robin, his expression was that reserved only for the most deadly serious of times.
"But I haven't, these are just," Raven gapped down at the inscriptions on her naked body. Her fists clenched painfully "These are nothing! I'm still the Raven you know!"
"Sure you are," Beast Boy said with some sarcasm. "Look, you used to be comfortable to hang around, but you changed. I can feel it by instinct. You're evil."
"I'm not…evil," Raven stuttered back in dismay, eyes starring hard into Beast Boy's eyes above her. His words had cut her to the very core.
"It's written all over your body," Robin sneered
Raven clutched her arms, trembling, clenching her teeth at her friend's abandonment. She knew they would hate her when they discovered the truth, but she never knew it would hurt that much.
"I'm not evil," she whimpered again, "I'm not evil!"
"We remember what you had done to Dr. Light," Starfire stated.
"You looked pretty evil then.," Cyborg.
Raven's head shot up in his direction. "But I told you that He had done that! That he made me—"
"He didn't make you," Beast Boy spat, "You chose to."
How dare he claim that? If Raven had a choice she'd never be the daughter of some universal dimension conquering demon. She'd be able to freely express and feel emotions like anyone else. She'd spend her days thankful with her simple life on Azarath. She'd be able to live a normal life with her mother.
The demon's blood boiled her eyes red once more. "I didn't choose to! This has never been my choice, ever!"
Her once trembling body was now shaking out of rage. Raven stood, red symbols glowing once more, her second set of eyes returning. "And if you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to this!"
Her rage and vehemence exploded in a demonic malevolence. Four blasts of darkness shot and pierced through each of the titans with dead accuracy. Their bodies tensed up, limbs thrown towards the air. Every face scrunched in intense pain, mouth opened in a scream that never reached fruition. The very force of the blasts shattered the black atmosphere, and the pieces blew away to a new, yet familiar array of colors and visuals.
Apocalyptic Jump City.
Demonic powers ebbed just as swiftly as they came, and Raven gasped at how easily she'd lost her control. Then the consequences of that out burst rang clear before her. Her friends stood before her, now stone figures all too familiar to the dark magus.
Raven fell back down to her knees, staring up at them with trepidation. There was a long pause of heavy silence as all of it dawned upon her. Finally she cried, pounding her fists into the ground. "No…NO!"
"Hmm, you really are loosing that control more and more these days."
Raven raised her head, eyes narrowing with redness, threatening to become a quartet set again. She hissed, "Slade…"
He sat just past the petrified titans upon a piece of concrete rubble. Calmly he crossed his legs, leaving her with a fleeting statement. "Just like Daddy."
AN: Aw man, what a month. My computer died and I almost lost all my work on this fic. Thank you all for being patient for an update. This one's a long chapter, but hey, you guys deserved it. Work has been keeping me busy lately, so I am feeling more and more fatigued. I'm hoping it won't affect my writing so much.