Originally I wasn't going to write this chapter – but leave it to your wonderful imaginations. However, it's a welcome break from the rest of the plot, and I like the Jinx/Raven couple too much to pass up writing it!(note: It was a welcome break. Until things began to get a little complicated, and once again I was running full pace just to keep up. Here's hoping it's okay)

Concolor44: Oh, yeah. Raven on a roller coaster. What could possibly go wrong? Jinx,
you have now OFFICIALLY lost your mind.
They are Just So Damn Cute together! Beside which, their little bouts of 'quality time' are getting steamier (thank you!) And I think Jinx is probably right. Raven has gnawed that bone until there's little left to gnaw. She needs to take a break from thinking about it. A different perspective (for HER, not from Jinx) will doubtless be of signal aid.
Heh. Jinx as the more mature-acting of the pair. Who'd a-thunk it?

Heh, it's a disaster waiting to happen, isn't it? And yes, over thinking rarely solves anything. Heh, Jinx and Raven time really is becoming quality time. Funny, how originally Jinx and Raven time was gonna be most of the time. But back then, my mysterious killer didn't exist. Blame him. It's all his fault.

Spikesagitta: Aww! That's just so cute and adorable ^^ *gushes like the fanboy he is*

Too bad there's a bad evil, menacing shadow/demon thingie loose out in Jump City too...

I know, isn't it *fangirl spaz* ^_^ As for our killer... grr

Dricstar: Wow! So close yet so far! They nearly stepped up their relationship by the
sounds of it.

Haha they are getting awfully close to the danger zone.

"You know maybe you should have taken me shopping." Raven muttered, as she looked up at the huge rides stood around her. "I am so not going on one of them. Ever."

"What? Is the mighty demoness afraid of a few miles of track?"

"Jinx, all it takes is a slip of my control and those few miles of track could turn into a death trap!"

Laughing, she grabbed the empath's chin and turned her head so Raven was no longer looking at the rides, but at her. "I have bad luck – a serious case – and I've never come close to dying on a ride." She quickly kissed the tip of the girl's nose. "Come on – we'll start with something easy, like the rapids. All you have to do is sit there. You don't leave the ground. And there isn't much of a track for you to break."

"If you're lying to me..."

"Would I lie to you Raven?" She gave the girl her best innocent face as she started walking through the crowd.

Raven moved to keep up with her. "Yes. You would. And you never explained to me why the Hive knows you've been... dating me."

"Heh, well... long story short I had this amazing idea that we could get you on our side. I mean, we'd kick the titan's asses and it would totally ruin their – and your – reputation." She quickly took hold of the girl's hand. "But whatever. That doesn't really matter to me anymore. I'm just keeping it up with the guys so they don't get all pissy about me seeing you and stuff." She looked at Raven, chuckling nervously when she saw the dark look that passed through her eyes. "Seriously Rae, I promise that isn't what it's about no more. I know you'd never leave the titans for us. And yet I'm still here."

Raven took her hand back, hating how betrayed she was suddenly feeling. "Fuck you, Jinx." Her voice had gone dangerously monotone, and she turned on her heel to walk back the way she'd gone.

"Damn it Rae, did you not- MOVE!" She pushed an overweight man to the side as he walked in her way, ignoring the looks he – and some of the people nearby – gave her. "Did you not listen to a thing I said? Raven, that doesn't matter to me! It stopped holding any importance a while ago."

The empath chose not to reply, still steadily making her way through the crowd, seeming to have a much easier time than Jinx. "Can you please just try to understand Raven? I didn't freak when you told me about your dad; can you just give me the courtesy of doing the same here?"

"Freak?" She glanced back at the meta-human. "I'm not freaking. I'm leaving."

She pushed between a mother and her child as she reached to grab Raven's arm. She was suddenly feeling claustrophobic, which was weird. She'd never been claustrophobic. "Raven please. I wouldn't have told you if I knew you were going to react like this. Please Raven, don't do this. I'm not doing this for the stupid plan any more."

Raven continued walking until she'd left the park, turning down one of the nearby alleys when she realised the girl wasn't going to go away. "Why was I stupid enough to even think I could trust you?"

Jinx knew it was a rhetorical question, but she answered anyway. "You can trust me!"

"I'm such an idiot!" A nearby trashcan exploded, and Jinx jumped round it as she followed Raven round a corner. "This is just Malchior all over again. Why didn't I fucking see it coming?"

A dumpster was eclipsed in her obsidian energy and started melting. Actually started melting. Jinx watched it with wide eyes, now cold with fear. "Shit, Raven, stop it!" She rushed forward and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You need to calm down; your powers are going haywire!"

The pink haired girl suddenly found herself flying through the air, the cold energy pinning her to the wall, feet off the ground. She glanced at what was left of the dumpster, and suddenly feared for her life. She didn't want Raven's magic anywhere near her right now – especially not wrapped around her.

"I trusted you!" She spat in the girl's face, her energy levitating her so she was the same height. "I lied to my friends – repeatedly. I let you go when you robbed the bank. I- urgh! All for a fucking lie?"

"Raven, no! No! Whatever you thought, it wasn't a lie." Jinx tried to wriggle out of Raven's hold, even though she knew it was pointless. She just couldn't help it though. "I've been lying to my team as much as you have yours; Rae I've been neglecting heists and god knows what, and the only reason I haven't been booted out is because they think I'm following some stupid plan. I don't know who this Malchior guy is, but I promise I'm not trying to hurt you – or use you."

Raven stared at her, internally fighting the urge to kill her; crush her with her soul self, and to throw her across the alleyway. "I trusted you." Raven stated again, this time barely louder than a whisper.

"I know. And you still can."

Raven's feet slowly lowered to touch the floor, and she let Jinx go, stepping back a few feet, Jinx stepped forward, about to speak, when someone else cut in.

"Now that's a disappointment." His voice almost echoed through the alley, and both girls frantically looked around, instantly on edge. Raven recognised the voice, and she really wished she hadn't. "We were so close to seeing your demonic side! I could literally taste it."

"Jinx, go."

"What?"

"Now! Go to the theme park or something! Just, find somewhere crowded. Now!"

"I don't think so." The man's voice laughed, and the creature stepped out from the shadows deeper down the alley. "I'm definitely not letting her go that quickly. I was ready to see your friend die, and although it would have been terribly interesting to watch you kill her, Raven, I can live with doing it myself."

He moved forward, just a blur, and when he re-appeared he was standing back down where he started, only this time with Jinx. He had one hand around her neck slightly cupping her jaw, the other resting on her shoulder as though he were getting ready to snap her neck. Jinx was watching Raven with wide eyes. She obviously recognised the hold too, and was too scared to move.

Something clicked within Raven, and she felt her second pair of eyes open, bleeding crimson, as her canines lengthened into fangs. She rushed forward with a roar, tendrils of dark energy moving forward ahead of her, ripping the girl from him and carefully moving her out of harm's way behind her, while four others grabbed the shadow. The demoness cried in triumph as she slammed him against the alley wall, hard enough to send plaster and bricks raining down on him. Although occupied with trying not to give her demon too much reign to take over completely, she noticed that he'd seemed to permanently solidify when she'd grabbed him.

"This... was unexpected." The creature coughed, trying to rip one of the tendrils off his shoulder.

"Don't even think about it." She warned him, her voice sending chills down Jinx's spine. It wasn't Raven's voice. At least, it wasn't the croaky, quiet voice she was used to hearing. It seemed to covered everything, echo without losing its volume. Damn, it was weird. "No one can defeat me; not my father, and definitely not some crossbreed."

"Who's the crossbreed?" He smirked. "Go ahead. Kill me."

Jinx watched the exchange with wide eyes. She knew Raven wouldn't kill anyone, for any reason. But then she knew this wasn't really Raven. Or the Raven she was used to seeing. The fight going on between her two halves was painful clear on the girl's face, and the Shadow used the distraction to kick her with his free leg. Already struggling with her own internal battle, she stumbled backwards, her grip on the killer loosening, and then vanishing all together as the tendrils seemed to dissolve into thin air. Jinx looked at Raven to find her hunched over, eyes shut, seemingly in some sort of pain.

The killer laughed, and brushed himself down. "Well, now we know you can touch me, I'm going to have to re-plan everything. I was thinking you would be too easy. At least now I know you're going to be more of a challenge. I'll be seeing you soon – don't worry." He glanced towards Jinx. "And I'll be back for you when she's not around."

He stepped back through the wall behind him, once again seemingly bodiless, watching Jinx the entire time. Jinx rushed over to Raven as soon as she was sure he wasn't coming back.

"Raven, are you okay?"

"Stay back." She said through gritted teeth. Jinx was relieved to hear Raven's voice was back to normal.

"But Rae you're-"

"Not fully... in control."

She ignored the warning and grabbed the girl's shoulder, helping her straighten up. "We need to get out of here before he decides to come back. And not to the theme park. There's a smaller park not far from here. Usually busy. We should be okay there." The Empath didn't protest, letting Jinx support her so she could focus on locking her Rage back into it's cage. "Heh, at least we know it's not invincible. I mean, you hit it pretty hard. That's good, right? You can tell your friends and next time you meet it-"

Raven finally straighten up, and opened her eyes, which were back to their normal amethyst colour. "Jinx, this isn't good. My soul self didn't work like that when I attacked it without my demon in control."

"Well, even your partial demon seems to have some power boost thing going on. I mean, did you hear your own voice? It was like those voice-over guys in the movies... only scarier. And when you grabbed it, it solidified. Those bricks hit him. I mean, if the titans were there, you could hold it still while why beat they shit out of it. Or him. Or whatever."

"Jinx, the longer I stay like that, the more chance I have of passing the point beyond no return." She sighed. "And my demon isn't exactly a team player."

"What do you mean, 'point beyond no return'?"

"If my demon gains full control, it's not exactly going to give that up any time soon, is it? If I... let that happen, my human self would be gone for good. The Titans would have to kill me."

"Whoa, what? How do you even know that's gonna happen? Maybe you could regain control."

"I don't think so Jinx."

"So what you're saying is, if you fight this guy, that's it. You're gone?" She frowned, as Raven tensed. "You didn't attack me. You bloody picked me up with those weird tentacle things of yours, but you didn't even grip me too tightly."

"I know."

"Why?"

"I don't know!" She snapped. "I was too busy trying to keep control to worry about the details."

"Heh. Even your demon likes me."

"We're the same person." Raven sighed, "The only reason it might seem otherwise is because I've spent my whole life compressing it down."

"Naw, you have a bad case of split personality disorder – don't even try to deny it."

"Jinx, please, now it not the time."

"Okay, okay. But what I don't get is why it didn't kill us. You were just kinda hunched over there, and I was in no position to defend myself, but it just upped and left. Is it moronically stupid?"

"It's playing with us. And from what I can gather it doesn't want me dead."

"Oh, well. Luck you. I'm gonna be watching the shadows for the rest of my life now. I'm not even gonna be able to take a crap without worrying if he's gonna appear."

"Lovely, Jinx. Your descriptions amaze me." Raven pulled a disgusted face. They reached the park – a small field of grass with a small child's play park – and sat down on one of the banks. Raven watched the parents' help their children climb the metal frames, and push them on swings, sorely feeling like she'd missed out on so much. "I'm not going to let that be an issue. You're coming to the tower."

"WHAT? Nuh uh! Sorry Rae, but Robin will push me into a cell the moment he sees me. I'd rather take my chances with the crazy killer."

"Don't be stupid. They're not going to know. You can stay in my room, and I'll just have to spend time outside the tower more than usual. But no-one ever goes into my room. That and our killer won't be able to come in. The tower is securely protected against teleporters and all that. The only reason I can move through the tower freely – including phasing through walls and the like, is because my DNA's in the building's security."

"Well, when you put it like that.." Jinx slung an arm across the girl's shoulder. "...You should stay at mine. More privacy."

"Oh for god's sake Jinx, please keep your mind out of the gutter."

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You can't even look around my home without going all guilty conscience on me, but I can practically live in your room and you don't feel guilty? Not only are you dating me, not only are you keep god knows how many secrets from them, you are hiding me under their noses!"

"I'm trying not to think about that." Raven muttered.

"As fun as a sleepover would be – and I think it would be very, very fun – why don't we just make this a whole lot easier for the both of us; you come back to mine, and set up some of your fancy wards to keep this guy out. Then when Gizmo get's back, I can get him to upgrade our security to stop anything from just jumping in and out of the place. Except for you, of course. I don't mind you popping in to visit."

"That would make more sense. Sorry, I don't think very well when I let my emotions get a hold on me."

"I've noticed." She laughed. "So, how long will it take you to set up the wards?"

"It depends on how big the place is."

"Then come on – we'd better get started. Robin's gonna want you back to your tower at some point."

Damn this chapter was meant to be relaxing. Instead it's killing me – stomach cramps, anxiety, headaches, backache; the whole lot! Damn you Jinx! (it's soo her fault). Ugm so... what do you think. I personally think it's crap, and I keep trying to edit it to make it better, but no success. Maybe there's simply too much going on for one chapter. *frown*

On the bright side, the next chapter is going to be so much more frightening to write. If it isn't posted for a while, it's probably because I had a panic attack and a heart failure and I'm in hospital somewhere recovering while the doctors baffle over what caused it. Don't you just love writing? ;)