The Last Battle
Chapter XI
~ Titans Tower ~
"So, you're sure you don't remember anything else?" Nightwing asked that question for the second time in the last hour. Ever since Damian had woken up, the team had probed him with questions about what had happened.
"For the last time, Nightwing, I can't remember anything that hasn't already been confirmed by another member of the team."
Starfire interjected, "Maybe we should let Damian rest a little longer. I'm sure we could all use a little rest, right Nightwing?" She laid her hand on Nightwing's shoulder, gently reminding him that he had other responsibilities.
"I don't need rest, Starfire, I need to train," moving to stand, Damian found a hand on each shoulder, keeping him from moving any further.
To his left, Damian saw Blue Beetle standing there, a stern brotherly look in his eyes, "Not today bro, you need to rest ese. There'll be plenty of time for that."
"Yeah dude, we'll be getting ready for our mission soon, you just get some sleep." Beast Boy stood to Damian's right, in the form of a gorilla, clearly ready to exert force if need be to keep him in the cot. "Besides, you're gonna need to think really hard about how we're gonna find Raven. Cause we can't remember half of what you do about her."
Looking between them, he saw that nothing would change their minds. Besides, he was sure Nightwing still knew more than he was saying, and he intended to make progress on his own mission. "I'll let you know if anything comes to mind. I think Starfire's right, maybe I do need rest."
The faces of the team revealed their shock at his response, as he never gave in to Starfire's requests until they had bandied back and forth for a while. To see him concede to Starfire without even an argument, quite frankly put them all on edge. As he lay back down, Jinx looked at him strangely, clearly not sure what to make of his strange aura, but sure she would figure it out.
"I think we're gonna go ahead and leave Damian to rest, right Jinx?" Wonder Girl jumped in, grabbing Jinx by the arm, leading her out the room, clearly to the other girl's bewilderment.
"What're you doing?" Jinx yanked her arm back after the two girls had rounded a corner, placing one hand on her hip, "What was that all about?"
Wonder Girl looked stricken, "What you said back there, about Damian, is that true? Does he really smell like that?"
"What's it to ya?" Jinx's curt reply hurt both girls, though neither would admit it. The stark realization that their memories were both real, yet based on a falsehood made each of them wonder how they should feel about the other.
Wonder Girl paced back and forth, her feet never touching the ground. "What did you mean by that?" She landed in front of Jinx, looking her in the eye.
"I'll tell you what I mean," Jinx glared into Wonder Girl's eyes, still wondering how she should handle the strange feeling in her chest. "That boy smells like death, like a cemetery, rotting flesh. I just thought it was the general stench of an assassin, but this is different. He smells worse now, like a thick curtain's been lifted, and he's been dead for a couple years. And beneath everything, there's a heavy veil of some powerful magic. Magic like I've never seen before."
"What're we gonna do about it? Do you have any friends who can help us research this?"
Jinx stepped back, a look of confusion on her pale face, "Why would I want to help anyone here? The only reason I'm still here is because I haven't found a good moment to make my escape. As far as I'm concerned, this place, and everyone in it are still my enemies-"
"But that's not true, you're my friend Jinx. We've fought together countless times, we're team mates. Does none of our history mean anything to you?" Wonder Girl looked stricken, her face revealing how much she believed what she was saying.
Jinx moved over to the wall, leaning against it with her arms crossed, "I don't know what to believe anymore, none of it seems real now, but I know it was real. I have scars to prove some of those missions actually happened. But I don't know… I just don't know what to make of all this." She looked into Wonder Girl's eyes, a piercing blue, like the sky on a clear day. With her jet-black hair, and curvaceous figure, Jinx couldn't help but envy her. "Besides, why would you trust me? Our friendship is based on a lie, and besides, the way things were supposed to go, we fought several times."
Wonder Girl took Jinx's hand, earning a look of disgust at the gesture, "But we didn't, we've been in tight situations together, had each other's backs… I know that some of our earlier memories were fake, but that doesn't mean the rest were too." She looked into Jinx's light brown eyes, holding her there as she continued, "You've saved my life several times, and I've saved yours, that's a fact, and I'm not gonna give up my partner now."
The look in her eyes turned out to be too much, too purely genuine as Jinx looked away, a tight feeling gripping her chest. 'This feels too weird, she can't really be serious,' as she looked into Wonder Girl's eyes, she saw that it was, in her eyes Jinx could see that she was completely serious, though why that was, she still didn't know. For now, it didn't matter, she had to figure out what was going on, "Fine! I might know someone, but I'm only doing this because you look so sad just begging me to stick around."
You'd have thought that Wonder Girl had been declared a sister to Wonder Woman, she was smiling so much. "Perfect, so where do we begin?"
~ Tibet ~
Raven lay in her bed, her dreams keeping her from true sleep. Tossing and turning, every so often waking with a start, as though she could feel him doing all sorts of things to her. The stark reminder that he didn't even know her name did nothing to prevent these visions from making themselves known.
'Just sleep Raven, you'll feel better in the morning,' even she wasn't sure she believed herself anymore. Despite the potency of her dreams, she finally fell into an exhausted but deep slumber, even as the sun climbed ever higher in the sky.