Shadows In A Mirror
Part Four
by Go-Go Spiders
A 'Princess and the Frog'/'Teen Titans' crossover
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)/Adult!Raven (Teen Titans)
***
Raven stood in the center of Facilier's abandoned Emporium. She had felt a compulsion to return to the Emporium once she'd left the bayou. For what reason, she didn't know.
Out of curiosity, she pulled back one of the few wall hangings that hadn't been stolen to discover a circular mirror in an ornate silver frame, decorated with skulls and twisting snakes. A long crack ran down the center of the black glass, distorting her faint reflection. Surrounding the broken mirror were various veves and symbols scrawled on the wall. Two of the more prominent ones appeared to be a bird drawn in black powder with four red eyes and a smiling skull wearing a large top hat.
She stared at the two symbols and the mirror for a moment. With a quick jerk, she yanked the tapestry off the wall entirely, and it landed in a cloud of dust at her feet.
Raven touched the black glass and felt a small shiver run through her. She'd found Facilier's scrying glass. Although it was damaged and now useless for scrying, it still held a small sliver of Facilier's magic, likely left over from many attempts to gaze into the future.
She looked into the mirror, thinking. If his scrying glass still had a faint echo of Facilier's magic, it was possible that some of his other possessions did as well.
Pursing her lips, she looked around the vacant Emporium before holding out her hand. A black cane flew through the air from one dusty forgotten corner of the room and landed in her palm. On the top of the cane was a large purple glass ball. Raven allowed herself a hint of a smile and twirled the cane between her fingers. This would do nicely.
She looked down at her feet and noticed the scattered deck of tarot cards. Raven picked up the cards and gave them a quick shuffle. The black mirror, the cards and the cane were all items that had very faint traces of Facilier's magic. Together, they might just be enough.
Raven was going to try to peer into the Other Side. Her actual body wouldn't be able to cross over, not by herself, but maybe it would be possible to at least find Facilier among his fellow lost souls on the Other Side. She was careful to remove the other veves around the mirror with her power, leaving only the bird and the skull symbols untouched. She didn't want to attract the attention of his other Friends.
Standing in front of the broken mirror, Raven fanned the tarot deck in one hand and crossed it with Facilier's cane. She closed her eyes, concentrating heavily. Gathering together the very small amount of Facilier's shadow magic she felt from within his belongings was difficult, but soon she felt the last lingering traces of his power resonate from within her.
Her eyes snapped open, blazing white light. Raven threw her arms apart and shouted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" as loudly as she could. Twin bolts of dark energy shot from the objects in her hands to the cracked scrying glass. The black surface rippled and the faint image of herself and Facilier's Emporium in the glass faded into something else...
Raven squinted, trying to make out what she was seeing.
A lanky male body, lying curled in the center of a circular rock. His clothing was gone, leaving him naked. The rock was surrounded by a large group of his Friends, who hovered over him, clearly cackling even if Raven couldn't hear them. He presses his long hands to his ears, trying to drown them out.
Raven's heart thudded against her ribcage. "No. Oh no. Facilier..."
In the scrying glass, she saw the man lift his head slightly, as if he had faintly heard someone call his name.
Her eyes widened. Had he heard her? "Facilier!" she shouted at the mirror.
The man looked up, his eyes wide. She saw the image of the man speak, and a moment later, she heard Facilier's voice quietly ask, "Raven?" as if he had been standing in front of her.
With that, the mirror shattered, sending shards of black glass tumbling to the floor.
Raven stared down at the shards for a moment, unsure of what had happened.
Mirrors didn't usually explode. The Other Side had seen that she'd tried to spy in from the Living Side and had destroyed the scrying glass. So much for that idea.
She turned away from the destroyed mirror, before holding up Facilier's Tarot deck.
"Maybe you can give me some answers," she muttered before shuffling the cards again. Quickly Raven knelt down and laid several of the cards face-down before her in a key pattern. "If you can tell me what happened while I was gone, I'd appreciate it," she said to no one in particular.
One by one, she flipped the cards over. Her expression clouded as the cards told her a very interesting story.
The Devil. The Magician. The Lovers. The Fool. The Hanged Man. Justice. Death.
Her lips quivered. She'd been tricked again.
***
The last time Raven saw Facilier, he was neither dead or alive. He hanged somewhere in-between.
Raven's soul-self appeared before him during a rare lull in his torture on the Other Side. The bird shadow twisted into the shape of a woman, wearing a long hooded cloak.
It took him a moment to recognize it. "Raven!"
She refused to meet his gaze.
He didn't care. "Please, please, Raven, you have to get me out of here. Please, I promise I'll do anything, please just get me out of here."
"I can't," she said quietly.
"Please," he pleaded.
"You brought this upon yourself, Facilier."
"Darlin', I---"
Suddenly, she towered over him, four red eyes staring into his very soul. Tendrils of shadow emerged from underneath her cloak, twisting towards Facilier. "Don't you dare call me that," she growled, a demonic rasp to her voice.
Facilier's pleas died in his throat.
"You were a mistake. I should never have loved you. This is nothing more then you deserve, you evil man." Raven paused, then shrank back to her normal appearance. There were tears in her eyes. "I trusted you," she said, her voice breaking.
With that, Raven's soul self returned to the Living Side as the Friends returned, eager to play with their newest offering.
***
Mama Odie was not surprised to discover Raven at her table in the middle of the night. JuJu helped her into the chair next to the robed woman and rubbed her back comfortingly.
Raven buried her face in her hands. "I made my choice," she managed to choke out between sobs.
"I know it hurts, child," said Mama Odie soothingly. "But it was the right one."