Chapter 4- Raven
The last thing Raven saw clearly was the horrified look on Robin's face as the entity contained in that trophy class found a weakness in its magic prison, and exploited it. The amount of raw, innate magical muscle required was staggering, something easily well to the standard of Trigon's level. Raven could sense the binding spell was at least as strong as what locked the dread dragon Melchior to his ancient spell book. This entity had found a small crack in the iron bars of its mystic cell and broken them with such violence the backlash of wind and raw force was like being hit by a full football offensive line as backlash.
A gust strong enough to preclude a tornado blasted the nearest other trophies away like jet launched missiles. An ancient, deep, and guttural cry of fury erupted into the cave with resonating madness. Waves of sickly green energy bright enough to be radiation surged out like the sea in the midst of a tempest. Cracks of rock rolled through the ceiling as the voice only screamed louder, scattering thousands of bats with a collective screech of alarm. Through the cyclone of fear and flapping wings that obscured their vision, Raven's stomach lurched as the unmistakable sound of freeing rock shattered through the Cave.
On instinct, she chanted the words to her mystic spell, throwing up her arms to catch the falling boulders. "Azarath Metreon Zinthos!"
Her sudden shock of fear of the entity fueled her powers with strength and form, yielding a slanting shelf of dark energy positioned well above their heads. The rocks skittered harmlessly off the shelf down into the chasm below. By a stroke of pure luck, it even missed the very expensive looking boat moored in the pool below by a matter of feet.
Raven sighed momentarily in relief. That boat must have costed millions of dollars and she did not want to be the one to accidentally break it.
The next moment she realized with terrifying clarity just what kind of entity it was. That sinister consciousness flared in her direction as if licking its lips in response to her powers. Raven had all of the blink of an eye to prepare herself before that monstrous aura of hatred and cruelty flew right at her, a ghost of glowing green mist that writhed and flickered like a flame. Before she could summon her power to protect herself it phased right through her body through her own eyes.
Then there was silence. A very creepy silence. Raven opened her eyes half hoping the specter had pulled a big whoops and totally missed its potential target. But, unfortunately, it turned out her classic bad luck reared its ugly head at her yet again. She found herself standing in the familiar section of her own mind. The exact same section was where she once found Beast Boy and Cyborg once in the past.
She stood on a long precarious path made of barren rock floating in the midst of a vast, dark dimension. The cold in the air made her shiver a little, but at least she was back in her standard clothing again.
Since she was here, then the ghost's true form-
"Hunh," said a deep, rough voice. Just as typical of her rotten luck Raven found herself turning to look at quite possibly one of the most atrocious and volatile ghosts she had ever encountered. He even seemed to have a self-amused sense of humor, as if that would somehow make the whole situation somehow better.
It didn't.
"How interesting." The creature turned around with use of his many legs. The great weight of his true form cracked the ground beneath him as they stepped, sending pounding vibrations all the way down the long path. "I have seen many minds before but I have to say, yours is the absolute darkest I have ever seen. Are you a cultist by chance? Or perhaps a serial killer?"
Despite the fact the intruder outsized her by at least six to one and had a tarantula for a lower body, full red eyes that had no pupils, and dripping fangs easily half as long as she was tall, Raven crossed her arms and acted unimpressed.
"A cultist? Please. If you only knew, pal."
His upper torso, which resembled a human with stark white leathery skin streaked by shades of dark purple, put his humanoid hands on the top of the spider's hairy wide head and began scratching it as if it were a dog. A really big, really hungry looking dog that happened to have the most soulless, evil looking eyes she had ever seen. They were like a doll's eyes. Lifeless eyes. They reminded her of a Great White shark when it attacked something, in how they were roll over white and stare in empty space.
It made her shiver. She tried her best not to let it show.
The spider meanwhile apparently enjoyed the contact because it wiggled its fangs in a grotesque way she was certain no normal spider could do. It also somehow tilted its head an alarming amount to one side so its upper half could scratch it in different spot right next on one of its long, hairy mandibles.
It was creepy how the whole thing spoke. It had no mouth other than the spider's down below, just a smooth section of skin on the humanoid part below a pair of equally lifeless, intimidating neon green eyes.
"You know, as I look more closely at you and this place…I recognize this dimension. Someone we both know has the exact same kind of mind, albeit its full of more, ah, colorful creatures, shall we say. What was his name…"
Raven got yet another freaky feeling. "That's impossible," she said sternly. Chock it up to, what, the fiftieth bad feeling she experienced today?
"Oh not at all, dear child!" The ghost spoke with a nearly perfect British accent, as if it had somehow copied the language and mannerisms of a scholar. Underneath the skin where its human mouth should have been lines began to crease and for a moment she had no idea what was going on. She realized with a sort of mini panic attack the freaking monster was smiling at her under that skin.
As if it actually had a mouth under there somewhere.
He snapped his long clawed human fingers and let a whimsical little Aha! "So that's it! I have somehow managed to find not only a suitable host body that can contain my truly massive aura, but I managed to find the Portal of the almighty Trigon! Who would've guessed he had a lowly daughter of all things to bring him into another dimension."
Extensive training from Raven's childhood on Azarath screamed at her to follow logical steps. Establish the entity's identity. Understand its powers. Then subdue it in the most rutheless, efficient manner by means of a violent binding incantation. It was her best bet to survive its attempt to take over her body. It also wasn't her own life on the line; Robin, Wonder Woman, and Batman were all no doubt being exposed to a creepy light show of epic proportions as the two of them battled for control. Robin had training from her on how to deal with some magical threats just like all the other Titans, but he couldn't stand a chance if this thing had access to the hidden potential of Raven's magical energy reserves. It could destroy everything.
So instead of following logical steps, Raven chose to intimidate the thing.
Jagged bolts of jet black lightening surged along the stone path with a rumble so loud the humanoid torso actually flinched to cover its absence of ears. Black flames like ugly little tongues flicked from cracks in the ground following a hiss that could have frozen a wild animal's blood like ice. Topping it all off millions of black feathers fell from the midnight above. Within a instant came a whirlwind of hundreds of birds, cawing with hatred.
A thousand black ravens that screeched and glared with their evil looking four red eyes.
Raven's own voice boomed with a sneering tone that seemed to come from everywhere at once, even though her own lips did not move in the slightest. The ghost heard it above his humanoid head, behind its back, underneath the spider's belly, and even right in front of the spider's giant, murderous eyes.
"You know what? You're right. I was Trigon's portal to the Earth. I was until I destroyed him and absorbed his power."
The ghost glowed with an outline of its nuclear reactor like energy, as if curling up its lip in protest, trying to block her voice from overwhelming it from so many directions. "Impossible," its voice snarled, now several octaves lower than before. "Trigon was a worthy adversary to even myself. A worthless minor caster such as yourself couldn't possibly-"
"Oh, is that so?" Raven snapped her fingers. With resonating clarity the madness she created erased itself with only a hollow chuckle of her voice continuing to echo all around it. At the same time that shimmering aura of will the ghost conjured blinked out, sure as if she flipped a light switch that controlled it absolutely.
The entity's bright eyes bulged. "How in the bloodstained Hell-" Raven gave it no chance to defend itself. Her own will formed into a particularly vicious wake up call, fueled by her emotions. Anger that this thing had invaded the privacy of her own mind. Irritation that its sudden freedom had ruined a very special moment she was in the midst of experiencing with Robin.
Completely primal, blood boiling fury that it dared to endanger Robin's life.
With a shrill ring jet black chains soared from the abyss below. Their tips were spiked with sharp diamonds and they swooped over the stone path like the tendrils of giant hand. The first caught its humanoid neck with the psychic comparable force of a bulldozer with full momentum at maximum speed. The massive body, easily the height of a three story building, slammed down so hard Raven heard bones in its back snap like chair legs. A blast of gray dust whooshed up like frothing sea foam, splitting before her body as if rebounding off an invisible wall. More of those chains snagged its bigger limbs and yanked some together. Others pierced into its ectoplasm body like hot knives through butter. Bright green ectoplasmic blood squirted so violently far some almost landed on her clothes, even from a good fifty feet away.
For a moment, the ghost fought back. Its eerie green energy surged like a gigantic pilot light, growing brighter and brighter until everything just went white to the sound of a roaring fire. Some of the mystic chains snapped with a painful clang of shearing metal and fell off into the nothingness, disappearing instantly. The ghost chanted with what sounded like grit teeth in a form of Sanskrit, redoubling its power as it repeated the same incantation several times.
Raven whispered a counter spell in the same language and wave a hand at the searing heat.
The whole flame froze solid, its sound cutting off into not even white noise. Utter silence. Raven snapped her fingers again with a disdainful impatience.
The whole white hot flame shattered, like a gigantic pane of glass. It literally broke into tangible, massive pieces of thin matter that struck the ground and send shockwaves of force to Raven's feet. The sound of its effect with damning, making even herself wince slightly as it all toppled over the sides like spilling waves of debris.
To reveal the ghost still firmly shackled in its binds, paralyzed like a trapped predator.
Raven felt her heartbeat slow and hit harder in her chest, her breathing burn in her lungs from the exertion of using such high level, audacious magic in such rapid succession. It made her legs feel weak and wobbly like she hadn't eaten in hours and she had low blood sugar. Her toes and fingers felt tingly. Her vision even blurred, threatening to split the image before her into doubles at any given moment. The wellspring of her own natural power was drying up rapidly, unable to sustain so much power so quickly.
So she let her inner demons supply her with more.
She walked up to the heavily wounded ghost and let all those emotions she felt toward it out. She let them slip past the mask of neutrality and absolute containment she always wore entirely. All her hatred for her father, all that had gone wrong in her life, and anything that had ever hurt her made its way to the surface. Four glowing red eyes flashed underneath her hood. Her body grew taller, thinner, and curved unnaturally as she towered over its now cowering form. And yet, despite all of it, she maintained order. Control.
Not total control. But overall, control.
Her voice was steady and her natural human tone. But the imposing picture of her demonic form made it as cold as ice that could freeze Hell over on the ghost's partial face.
"I'll spare you the cliché things you did wrong speech. But I will clarify something for you that should hit home pretty hard, especially since you're about to have your own specialty used against you."
It tried to muster up some kind of speech. Maybe even a spell of some kind. Raven squelched that proposition with the curling of one finger under her cloak, making the chain around its neck tighten to a near strangle hold. Raven leaned over until her face was only inches away and whispered low, making it listen.
"You just got your ass kicked by a 17 year old girl."
Just like that, Raven flashed to her normal height, smirking at the thing. It didn't have eyebrows, but it tried to form them in alarm and fear as she waved goodbye to the thing.
All of the chains but the one around its neck disappeared as if made of smoke, puffing away in complete silence. The remaining one yanked with astounding malice straight out, then straight down. That three story monster that probably ate people alive inside their dreams worse than Freddy Kruger flashed away like a freaking cartoon. Wiley Coyote probably couldn't have made a more comical show.
It didn't even have a chance to scream before it faded into the black.
It felt so quick. The whole ordeal left her in a familiar place, once again alone in her subconscious mind. Except now she really felt the strain of using all that magic and she really needed to return to her real body before her inner demons got the better of her.
At least this time she didn't have to babysit to idiots to a special gate like last time.
With goosebumps running over the back of her neck she felt like she had been standing in an industrial sized freezer for better than an hour. Her body shook like a leaf in high wind and she was pretty sure if she stayed much longer she would subconsciously faint, if that was even possible, and introduce her to a another level of sub consciousness she really didn't want to discover.
With the words to her trusty magic spell she floated up, higher and higher, until once again darkness covered her thoughts.
When she opened her physical eyes, she wasn't sure what to expect. The Bat Cave in shambles, with everyone mortally injured? Batman perched over her with a sharp object ready to kill her to save the other innocent lives at stake? Maybe even the entire Justice League all around, poised to strike?
Nope. Not even close.
The first thing Raven felt when she came back around was a familiar warmth. She recognized the tight, sharp lines of Robin's chest instantly, right against her face. She listened to the strong, rhythmic drum of his heart. The deep, quiet inhale of his meditative breathing followed by a soft exhale. She knew instantly just how worried he was about her just by sensing his vitals.
All of the Titans were vastly different, but most had the same characteristics in a situation that was dangerous. They all tended to have hyper active bodily sensations, like their heartbeats, their breathing, and even the stiffness of their limbs.
Robin was nothing like any of them, though. Raven learned a long time ago that whenever Robin was in battle it was as if ice ran in his veins. He was completely calm, calculating, and more efficient than a quantum analysis super computer. His vitals were always so quiet or slow it was almost like he was asleep again back on the motorcycle. And the quieter and slower they got the more intense the situation tended to be.
So right now Robin was effectively scared to death.
Seeing his handsome face covered by so many emotions of anger, fear, and sorrow all at once and all for her was simply amazing. It also made her cheeks sizzle like hot coals of charcoal and made the whole room feel a lot hotter than it should've been.
"Raven?" His voice was soft. Urgent, but restrained. It was unlike anything she had ever heard from him, even in the thousands of battles they had fought right beside each other. It was so, so much more. He held her in his arms carefully with one forearm supporting her head and one hand stroking the side of her face, as gently as a parent would stroke a newborn child.
"Are you…" he began, unsure how to put it. Okay? Normal? Unhurt?
Raven smiled despite the feverish fluttering all over her body, and not from how wiped out she was from fighting an ancient ghost thing.
"I'm all right, Robin." She squeezed the taut muscle of one of his biceps to reassure him. "Don't worry, that thing won't ever hurt anyone again."
Robin's intellect could cut diamonds, it was so sharp. "You defeated it and absorbed its power." Raven nodded, and with a start felt yet another massive sunburst of power very close to her that had her flinching to one side.
A tall, slender man floated a few feet above the ground not far away, his body covered in beautiful golden armor that mixed with blue highlights. The mystical helmet covering his head was unmistakable, as was the strange sound of his voice. It was like multiple people speaking together, collectively.
"It is possible the opposite of that could have transpired," Dr. Fate said darkly, his light green eyes glaring as if ready for a fight. "I must examine your mind for traces of evil. Now."
Raven touched the ground again as Robin effortlessly set her down, as if she weighed nothing more than a small child. He moved in front of her defensively, his posture nonaggressive. Raven saw past it though and sensed Robin's true feelings. He was really tensed, angry, and very close to roundhouse kicking the glittering master magician's helmet clean off his arrogant head.
"We have a connection and I can tell it is really Raven. She is in control. So you don't need to enter her mind. One person a day is plenty more than enough."
The man crossed his arms and looked down on Robin, and not at all because he was taller or floating several feet in the air above him. His cloak seemed to slowly flutter in a breeze that wasn't actually there as he spoke. "You fail to comprehend the seriousness of that apparition, child. I am surprised Batman has not asked for me to deal with it already." He glared at both Batman and Wonder Woman. "Before either of you interject, this is not negotiable."
Raven was exhausted at this point, and she didn't really care if she sounded like a brat. "My mind isn't some tourist attraction anybody with magic powers can stroll into any day of the week. I am in control of my mind, body, and soul. So let me tell you something." Despite the weariness that was making her start to lean considerably against Robin's back, Raven summoned a force of her will again.
Black energy sizzled above her back and shoulders like tendrils of steam, making the air buzz as if filled with static electricity. Dr. Fate didn't react in any physical way, but Raven felt his power swell an unseen pressure into the Cave as a response.
"If you try to enter my mind without my permission you'll end up like that apparition. And you do not have my permission."
Dr. Fate paused only for an instant. "Child, I am beginning to think you insolence is evidence of evil in and of itself."
"Enough," Robin growled. "If it wasn't Raven in control then she wouldn't be able to answer a question from her recent memories correct? Raven told me someone possessed can't recall recent memories, like within the past year. So if I ask her to answer a question only she would know then would that suffice, Dr. Fate?"
The mystic master's tone became coldly neutral. "Correct. Ask something which Batman could refute."
Robin turned back to her with one of the gravest expressions she had ever seen. It was so sad it made her anger vanish. Her powers went right along with it, like water down a drain.
"When you looked into my mind a few months ago, you heard something. What was it? And where did it happen?" he asked, quietly.
Raven felt her heart very heavily on her chest. "It was screaming. Screaming in a circus. Robin…" Without bothering to think about it, she pulled him into a fierce embrace as he closed his eyes in pain. Raven was aghast, utterly dumbfounded that Robin would talk about something so harsh and painful from his past.
All to protect the privacy of her mind.
Even if it was to protect her from someone else, it should have been too much. Sorrow Raven hadn't allowed herself to feel in a long time welled up to the surface for him. Tears started to put pressure on her eyes and blur her vision. So she shut them right along with Robin, not caring how they must have looked to everyone around them. Right then and there, Raven didn't care anything about them. All she cared about was Robin.
This white knight of an amazing person that constantly took her breath away.
"It's really Raven, "Batman said from some ways away. A knowing pain lingered in his voice, making it sad as well. "Dr. Fate, you may go. Thank you for responding so quickly. Robin, Raven…please join us upstairs. Whenever you're ready."
Dr Fate simply nodded and warped away in a flash of golden light, as if he was never there. Batman clapped a hand firmly on Robin's shoulder but squeezed gently as he passed him. "Take as long as you need. We'll wait for you, son." Raven opened her eyes in time to catch Batman walk away, his head held a little lower than he normally would have. Wonder Woman flew to his side in an instant and to her surprise, Batman took her hand as they began up the stairs together. She looked back at them with a sympathetic smile as they faded down a hallway.
Raven waited until she thought they were truly gone before she squeezed Robin tighter than she ever had. Her mind screamed at her to ask him why he chose his most painful memory all just to answer Dr. Fate's stupid question. But she just couldn't do it. Raven couldn't bring herself to even attempt the syllables necessary for that.
Nor could she bear even the thought of what Robin might say in response.
All of just to keep a total stranger from seeing how truly messed up she was as a person, she thought to herself. Asking him anything at the moment would hurt him even more and she didn't want that. Robin didn't deserve that.
So she stayed with him. She had no idea how long they were there, holding one another in the quiet expanse of that dark, massive cave. At some point Robin returned the embrace, holding the small of her back as he pressed his face against her neck. He shuddered a few times, prompting her to rub him right between the shoulder blades where she knew he liked it. She didn't think Robin could ever possibly cry but she never intended to find out. She didn't let those painful feelings get the better of him even if it was the closest she had ever seen him come to breaking down. He was strong willed about all he did, able to face death without fear or regret at a moment's notice. But now here he was, almost to the edge just because of her own insecurity.
God, he deserved so much better than this, she thought.
No words she could say would help him. So Raven kept one arm around his upper back and used the other to slowly run through his spiked black hair. She caressed Robin like she would've for Melvin, Teether, and Timmy.
"Raven." Robin pulled back before she expected him to, but he wasn't upset any longer. A warm smile played over his face and Raven couldn't be any more confused.
"Thank you. And…I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Robin, I should be the one to say I'm sorry-"
Raven never got the chance to say she should be the one to say sorry because for the first time in her life, a boy had straight up kissed her. The warmth against her lips, the closeness of his breath, the slow motions of how he pushed and tugged on her lips with his own shook her down to the core.
Just as amazingly out of the blue the kiss came, it left her, leaving behind a lingering sensation that she had never experienced before. She felt frozen in place. Her heart had jumped out of her chest, dropped through her legs and feet, and apparently dived headfirst into the water beside the Bat Boat down below in pure shock.
Raven still felt frozen in ice as Robin said, shakily, "I'm…not good about talking about this stuff but…we can later. If you want."
Then he tried for a smile and faltered a little in an adorable way, half hopeful and another half completely terrified of what she might do next.
That kind of adorable innocence thawed her numb body faster than a giant laser. And burned one Hell of fire in her, full of desire. She saved him from the anxiety with a smile so sly and mischievous it alarmed even herself, but all that did was make that fire burn even hotter.
"If that's how you know how to talk," she said in a husky tone, "We are definitely having a lengthy discussion later."
On the outside, Raven was suddenly supremely confident and incredibly satisfied. On the inside, she was so conflicted it was like all those different colored versions of her subconscious were arguing on some creepy path somewhere about what just happened.
She grabbed his hand, making Robin's mask go cartoon wide and his cheeks go pink, but she didn't let him go.
"Now come one, I'm starving. And I have no clue where I'm supposed to go."