So I killed off Green Arrow before I started watching Arrow and now I'm devastated about my decision. But what's done is done. Although, I am inspired to write some Olicity…
I'm not trying to avoid the fact that I haven't updated in forever. I'm the worst. Forgive me?
Hope you all are doing well and that you enjoy this chapter!
Thank you for reading and reviewing
Love,
BBS
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one'
-Matthew 6:13
As soon as they had heard the news, her teammates' were called to a video conference meeting with the League. The conference room looked serious with its large screen and long table surrounded by chairs, but in reality, the team mostly used it to check in with the mayor when extensive damage was done to the city. The majority of those meetings involved asking the Titans whether or not it was truly necessary to have a T-Rex storm through the streets. However, there were only a few times that the Justice League had called a meeting with them. None of which she was asked to attend. But with Robin's encouragement, she hesitantly walked in the room and stood in back, looking at the man on the screen.
"Titans, it's unfortunate we have to meet under these circumstances…"
The Dark Knight's eyes flickered towards her and he was quiet for a moment before focusing his attention at Robin,
"This is a League matter, Robin"
Robin crossed his arms, already knowing where this was going.
"I know and that's why I have brought in all of my teammates to help with it."
Batman looked at her again with force, like his stare alone would push her out of the room. Not only had she committed the crime of being half-demon, but she also put a wedge between him and his adopted son.
Raven felt herself wanting to shrink into the wall. She took a step back, suddenly feeling like she was intruding, like she didn't belong in her own home, with her own team.
"Robin, this is serious."
"I know. I'm taking this seriously. Everyone in this room contributes something that will help find Green Arrow's murderer."
Batman glared at his ex-partner, angry for putting him in this position
"You know she's not supposed to be here."
There it was.
Raven felt the fury in her teammate and she set a calming hand on his shoulder, waiting to speak when she saw him relax,
"It's fine. I understand."
She looked at Batman on the screen, her own fury giving her confidence,
"I'm sorry for the League's loss. When you need me, you'll know where to find me."
She gave him a nod and phased out of the room and into the kitchen. She began to make tea but her hands shook with emotion. Anger and embarrassment pulsed under her skin and hot tears stung her eyes. She grabbed a mug out of the cabinet, her heart pounding and the kitchen lights flickering.
The Justice League could go fuck themselves.
She threw her mug against the wall and watched it shatter into a million pieces. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming herself before she brought the Tower down. Realizing the mess she made and not trusting her powers at the moment, she dropped to her knees and began to pick up the shards.
Raven waited for the conference to end. She paced around the room unable to get comfortable in any seat. She tried meditating and reading but it was too quiet to concentrate. She tapped impatiently on the kitchen counter and glanced at the clock. It had been 2 hours. She took one last look at the door,
"Fuck it."
She hopped out of her seat and went out the door, grabbing her communicator and leaving a note on the counter.
She walked through the streets, eating a hotdog and thinking. The weather had started to cool approaching the end of September. The trees along the sidewalk still clung to their leaves. Couples wore light jackets and carried hot beverages, huddling closely when the wind picked up. Walking past bars and restaurants, she heard the football game against the Gotham Knights playing on the big screens. She wore a baseball hat and a hood to avoid any unwanted attention. After all, who would ever guess that the Titan's Raven would wear a baseball hat?
"I didn't know you were a baseball fan."
Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed a presence next to her and she almost dropped her hotdog in surprise,
"What the fuck?" She said with a full mouth. She looked at the intruder and rolled her eyes.
It was the guy from the park. He wore a gray sweatshirt with the hood covering most of his sandy blond hair. He smiled smugly, knowing he surprised her.
"Oh it's you," she took the last bite of her hotdog and threw it away, dusting the crumbs off her hands. Raven continued walking and he fell in beside her.
"Miss me?"
She rolled her eyes, "I don't even know your name."
"Jason."
She nodded, deciding that Jason suited him, "Hmm"
Seemingly determined to keep bothering her, he continued, "So what are you doing out and about, sunshine?"
"Patrolling."
He rolled his eyes, "Working hard I see."
"Gotta protect the city," she looked at him and then looked ahead, sighing, "Even its dumbasses."
He stepped in front of her, "Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't been in the park with you," he pointed a finger at her chest, "you'd have an arrow in you."
Annoyed, she pushed away his finger.
Who the fuck does this guy think he is?
"You got in the way," she shoved past him and walked forward. After a few steps, Guilt whined in its cage and the demon girl stopped. She closed her eyes and sighed,
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry I couldn't hear you."
She turned around to face him. His brown eyes didn't hide the same amount of playfulness as before. She could tell he tried to hide his hurt behind his joke and for some reason, it made her feel worse.
"I'm sorry, okay? You did save my life and I'm sorry I was an ungrateful bitch about it."
"All's forgiven," his handsome smile returned and he threw an arm around Raven.
The demon girl threw the arm off of her and gave him a look,
"Thank Azar. I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight."
He laughed and they walked in silence for almost a block. Raven realized that they probably looked like a couple on the street and stepped away from him,
"Look I've got to get back to my friends…" she had almost finished her excuse when she saw his expression,
"What?"
His eyebrows crinkled with concern, "You alright?"
"Yeah I just have to-"
"You're bleeding," he interrupted and pointed his finger toward her nose. Raven touched her nose and felt the warm liquid begin to trickle onto her upper lip. She frowned at the blood on her fingertips. She had never had a nose bleed outside of a battle before. It was such a human thing to do to bleed for no reason.
She kept her face unbothered despite her concern and replied,
"Yeah it's just a nosebleed."
The boy frowned and turned to cross the street, "I'm sure we'll run into each other again. Take care, Raven."
She nodded, wrapping herself in darkness before disappearing off the street.
She landed uncharacteristically hard on her bedroom floor. The usually graceful girl stumbled across her floor suddenly feeling dizzy and nauseous. Her room swam in front of her eyes, turning over and making her stomach lurch.
Raven reached for something to regain her balance and knocked over the contents on her dresser. She fell to the ground with a thud, the blood from her nose dripping onto the floor.
She felt a certain darkness creep across her room. It was as if all the air had been sucked from the room and a sensation of dread washed over her. Suddenly, a foot pushed her from her stomach to her back and her head spun with the motion,
"Get up."
She opened her eyes and they began to focus on a hooded figure. Realizing what it was, her eyes glowed white and power surged from her hands,
"Get out."
The figure lowered its hood and revealed a woman's face. Like the first demon, her eyes were black and Raven assumed her teeth were just as sharp. Her hair was as dark as her eyes and hung down to her waist. She was frightening but Raven couldn't take her eyes off of her.
"Not feeling well, are we?"
Her long, thin fingers grabbed the front of Raven's sweatshirt and violently pulled her up to eye level. The woman's head barely almost grazed the ceiling,
"I said get up."
Raven snarled and struggled in the demon's hand. She could see herself in the woman's eyes and she assumed correctly about the sharp teeth. She was dropped from the woman's grip and she fell to the floor. The demon woman radiated thousands of years of power and Raven wasn't foolish enough to try to fight. Instead, she glared and waved her hand, casting a barrier over her door,
"You must be Two."
The demon woman's features twisted with disgust, "If you must use this repulsive language, then yes. I am the second of the Seven."
"Give me your message and leave."
Moving across Raven's room with eerie grace, Two stopped at Raven's bookcase and slid her long fingers across their spines, "A half-demon killing an angel…quite a feat."
She looked back at Raven, "Imagine if you joined your half-brothers and –sisters," she smiled with her sharp teeth knowingly, "you'd be unstoppable."
The empath's eyes narrowed, "Not interested. I belong here."
The demon laughed wickedly and stepped towards Raven, grabbing her firmly by the chin.
Why did everyone always insist on grabbing her chin?
"You can't be serious," her voice became mockingly soft, "They don't want you here, Raven. You must see that. They don't trust you. They will never be able to past your demonic heritage. Even your body rejects this world"
Raven's chest tightened and she pushed the long fingers from her face. Ignoring her other comments she focused on the latter, more pressing matter.
"What do you mean my body rejects this world?"
"You're a Marked demon living on Earth. You shouldn't even be able to exist full-time on this plane. I suppose being only a half-breed has something to do with it."
She said half-breed like it was some terrible affliction.
Raven felt her nose bleed more and wiped it away. That's why she'd been having those nightmares and hallucinations. That's why she felt sick and the nosebleed…"
"Living among humans is making you sick, Raven. That burning you feel, the one within your Mark, is calling you to go back to where you belong."
Her hand absentmindedly lingered towards her Mark,
"What do you want me for?"
"Demons are possessive creatures, Raven. We simply want to claim what is ours," she flashed her sharp teeth, "and that is you."
With a snarl, the demon girl ripped a sharp piece of iron from her bed and hurled it at the demon's face,
"I belong to no one."
Not blinking an eye, the demonic woman caught the piece with her long fingers and cast it aside. Raven wait for a counterattack, but Two looked bored by her violence.
"You will join us. It's where you belong. I'll give you time to consider," Two walked back and created a black, smoking portal, "But tick tock, Raven. How much more can your body take?"
She disappeared into the floor, leaving behind a scorched Roman numeral in the ground. Raven dragged a rug over the burned lines, watching her blood continue to drip onto it. She would clean it tomorrow. She went to the bathroom and washed her face, feeling a fever on her forehead.
What the demon had told her exhausted her to her core. It explained so many things; the pain from her Mark, her hallucinations, and her first encounter with illness. Panic began to grip Raven. Would her body just continue to fall apart until she joined the demons in Hell?
No.
A burst of determination shot through her when she thought of her friends, when she thought of Robin.
There had to be a way to stop it. A meeting with Dr. Cunningham was definitely called for. She would not be rendered hopeless.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She knew it was Robin and immediately wiped the troubled look off her face. He couldn't worry about her with so much on his plate,
"Come in."
The door slid open and he reached her in three strides. She felt his exhaustion, but also his determination. He held out a folder to her,
"All of the case notes the JL and the Titans have put together so far. I refuse to leave you out of this case. You're too valuable."
She looked at the folder, but didn't take it. He was shedding a light on his secrets while she kept him in the dark about hers. Guilt whined in its cage for the second time that day
"No Robin I won't risk you getting in trouble or your future with the League."
He shook his head and held the folder out further towards her, "Take it. I don't give a shit about what Batman or Zatanna or any of them think. I wouldn't want to be a part of a team that treats you that way."
Raven took the folder. She flipped through the contents and gave him a sly smile, "Rebellion suits you, Boy Wonder."
He gave her a kiss on the cheek and leaned over her, flipping through papers until he stopped on one,
"Look at this. Green Arrows cause of death."
He stepped away letting Raven read the autopsy.
"An arrow to the heart," she looked up from the page and raised an eyebrow at her leader, "How ironic."
"Flip to the next page," she did as he said and her eyes widened.
"Look familiar?"
The arrow in the picture was the same exact one that had been shot at Raven and the same one that had been lodged in Robin's chest just a few nights before.
"Well this is interesting."