A/N: It has come to my attention that my sense of geography is a bit warped so I'd like to make a formal apology for that. The US somehow seemed to have either stretched out to become a lot bigger or my version of the DCverse has random desert wastelands that wander around in areas they've no right to be ("I knew I shoulda taken a left turn at Albuquerque!"). Sorry about that! ^_^'
(8)
The High Priest's castle was not easy to reach for either humans or dragons and the journey to it was the most trying I had faced thus far. Strange things lived in the surrounding woodland. The trees moved, the path twisted, stone statues in curious gardens of marble structures spoke warnings and riddles while serpents with jeweled eyes watched me from high in the eaves. I saw one serpent swallowing its own tail. Was this an omen or a warning?
My journey took days and my nights were fraught with nightmares. Yet somehow I knew that I would not be harmed as I slept. Nothing attempted an overtly hostile strike upon me even while awake. The dangers were in the trek itself with its obstacles and riddles that all my magic could not assist me through. These were trials for the mind alone. And I passed them.
~ Excerpt from Rorek's memoirs.
(O)
Chapter 29 – Human Enough
"Friend Malchior! You are free at last! We must celebrate this joyous occasion!" Starfire cried, giving Malchior her traditional bone-crushing hug.
"Dear sweet Pahmonah!" Malchior gasped. "And I thought I was strong for my size! You, however, are not a magical being. Where do you keep it?" he asked, prying Starfire's arms from around him. She didn't seem to care, though.
"Nightwing and I have made ready your room! You shall be right next to your brother! Is that not glorious?"
"Not the exact words I'd use, but accurate nonetheless."
"Hm?"
"Where's Red X?" Nightwing asked Raven.
"He's been paralyzed and shoved into the closet." Raven admitted.
"Yes, he was being most…impolite." Rorek explained.
"Doesn't surprise me. Well, let's get him out here. Cyborg's already back and Beast Man should be here pretty soon." Nightwing told them.
"Did it get too hectic without us?" Raven asked.
"We had a few close calls, but nothing we couldn't handle. The Great Can't has another message for you, by the way. He insisted I tell you that you need to find your teeth." Nightwing told her.
"Her teeth?" Rorek asked, his brow furrowed.
Nightwing shrugged. "I'm just relaying the message. I told him I was pretty sure she knew where her teeth were but he insisted nonetheless."
"Alright…" Raven brought her fingers to her mouth and ran them over her jaw. "Found them." she said.
Rorek's eyes were still frowning. "Yes…but what about your baby teeth?" he asked.
"Baby teeth? What would I need my baby teeth for?"
"I do not know…do you know where they are?" he asked her.
"On Azarath…which was destroyed about three years ago. You're not taking The Great Can't seriously, are you?" she asked him.
"His magic is strange, Raven. Perhaps it might be a good idea to look more closely into this 'Tia' later on. It may be nothing, but at this point I would rather not discount anything." Rorek told her.
"I agree. After that incident at your concert I'd rather be safe than sorry. Let's go get Red X."
(O)
"That was hardly first class transportation there, Sunshine."
"Next time get an airline ticket."
"Fine, fine, point made."
"Well, X? What's this all about?" Nightwing asked. Raven had passed him the thing, whatever it was, that Red X had stolen. Container and all. It was a 2-foot-long cylinder with what was roughly a 10-inch diameter and it was pretty heavy.
"First, about that protection," Red X began.
"You're safe enough in the T-Tower, man. Trust me." Cyborg told him.
"I'm not knocking it, but I've got something specific in mind." He handed Nightwing something that looked like a newspaper cut-out. A small one. Nightwing's eyes widened when he spotted it.
"Um…what's this?" he asked, alarmed.
"It's called The Mortix, Kid. And it's like the sorcerous royal scepter or something. Rumor has it that if you've got this book it means you're the greatest when it comes to all the hocus-pocus stuff. I don't know if that means that only the best can actually get it, or if getting it means you become the best because of whatever crazy stuff it's got, but someone in Jump City has it now and I'm pretty sure you can find out who that is. I'm going to tell you everything anyway, but if you want what's in that tube then you have to convince whoever's got this book to let me hide out with them until this whole thing blows over. Got it?"
Cyborg reached over and picked up the cylinder. He examined it. "Give me a week, I could get this open."
"Don't bet on it." Red X said, wagging his finger at Cyborg. "It's not just techy stuff keeping that thing closed. There's magic on it too. Serious magic. Really annoyingly serious magic. And I've heard tell that it is damn hard to mix magic and technology so it'd take a lot more than just a week, trust me."
"We're talking about this book, aren't we?" Raven asked, summoning Rorek's grimoire from her room and waving it at Red X. His eyes went wide.
"Good god, Sunshine! I knew you were good but I didn't think you were that good!" he exclaimed.
"You still want to hang out here?" she questioned.
"I object to this idea." Malchior stated.
"Seconded." Rorek came in.
"Thirded." Beast Boy said.
"I don't know, we could shove him into the basement and toss some food down there every once and a while." Cyborg mused.
"How deep is this basement, exactly?" Red X asked.
"It's pretty far below sea level." Raven answered.
"Sweet! Give me cable, some video games, internet, and plenty of soda and I'll be perfectly happy." he told them.
The Titans all stared at him.
"Alright," Nightwing began, "Start talking. What are you running from?"
"Prepare yourself, Kid. This is like nothing you've ever dealt with before." Red X told him. "I don't expect any of you to say 'yes' to this question, but I'll start with it anyway. Have any of you heard of something called the Church of Blood?"
There was a dead silence.
Red X looked around at the many different expressions focused directly on him. Then suddenly he found himself being hoisted into the air by the front of his suit. "What do you know about the Church of Blood?" Malchior snarled.
"I'm…going to take that as a 'yes' then, shall I?" X asked with a hard swallow. "Well, this makes things a bit quicker. How, exactly, do you all know about them? And what do you know?"
"I was born on Azarath and trained by the monks. They knew all about the Church of Blood…or at least they did. They thought the cult had died out a few hundred years ago." Raven told him.
"Back around the 16th century, right? When all those witch hunts were going on? Yeah, turns out the evil Christian church wasn't as evil as the media likes to portray them, huh?"
"What are you talking about?" Rorek asked as Malchior slowly set Red X down.
"Yeah, I'm kind of lost too…" Cyborg admitted.
"The old witch hunting, the one that happened way back then? The churches were actually hunting down members of the cult with the help of the Azarathian monks. Only they didn't get everyone…and they sort of killed a lot of people who weren't part of the cult at all landing them that bad reputation. Guess that's what happens when you get over-paranoid and/or power-crazy."
"Blood Magic is no joke, serrah." Rorek stated.
"Believe me, I know. Anyway, several members managed to fake their own deaths pretty convincingly and they all laid low for a really long time, pretending to be good Christian men and women until the monks believed they were all dead." X explained. "I think they developed some drug or other that hid them from whatever the Azarathian Monks used to track them down."
"How come you know all of this?" Raven asked.
"Remember last time we parted ways? Well sometime after that the cult caught up with me and managed to convince me to join them by demonstrating what they'd do to me if I didn't agree to come along quietly. It was an extremely vivid demonstration. So I got all initiated and did the whole 'praise Trigon, lord of all' bit as convincingly as I could manage, became well-educated in the histories, and then well-and-truly-terrified when they tried to get me into the whole Blood Magic deal. I might not be all into the big spiritual mumbo-jumbo stuff, but even I can tell that stuff is just not right. I'm a thief. I admit that. But I draw the line somewhere and vampires have always creeped me the hell out. So I swiped their greatest and most powerful treasure, see exhibit 'the cylinder', and got outta there at the first real chance I found. That took about a year. So that's how I know good and well what kind of crap the cult has going on." he explained.
Raven stared at him. Something wasn't making sense here. Why would the cult target Red X specifically like that? Why force him to join up, tell him all of this, and even try to teach him Blood Magic? Sister Fear had been the only cultist out of that small group of hers who knew Blood Magic. This did not make sense. At all. He was hiding something.
"So…any chance you can get word to Azarath and let them know we've got a situation?" Red X asked Raven hopefully.
"I'm afraid Azarath was destroyed three years ago." she told him.
"Ooooooh hell…" X said, his eyes wide.
"Yep. We're on our own." she said.
"So does this mean you know where their hideout is?" Nightwing asked.
"I know where a hideout is, they have many and you can bet they won't be in that one anymore. Not after I escaped. They're not stupid, unfortunately. Well, Mother Mayhem certainly isn't. And Sister Fear, her Second, might have some serious issues up in here, but she's a quick study and not someone you want to underestimate." he explained.
"Sister Fear is dead." Malchior informed him calmly.
Red X stared at him. "How dead?" he asked.
"Very, very dead." Malchior stated. "Do you think the Church of Blood are the first organized group to actively practice Blood Magic? They are not. Rorek and I know Blood Magic all too well. Even if she had crafted for herself a homunculus body – and she was not advanced enough for such a feat, I am sure – she would still be dead."
"A homunculus?" Raven asked.
"It is one of the failures of alchemy, as you must be aware. No mortal can create life, and the gods…should not have tried. But with Blood Magic one can craft an exact replica of one's body and put one's consciousness into that body. This spare body can then go out into the world and leave the original somewhere safe. Then, if the spare is killed, the consciousness will simply return to the original body." Rorek explained. "It is extremely dangerous, however. Each time the spare is killed it still takes a bit of the person with it. We have seen the end result of this method and it was truly a horrific sight. All things have their price. Better to die whole and all at once than piece by piece like that. You really do not want me to go into detail."
"No…I don't think I do." Raven mused.
"Seconded." Red X quipped. "So Sister Fear is really gone? You killed her?" he asked hopefully.
"Oh no. It was not me." Malchior answered in a dark tone. "She was using Deep Magics; that is what killed her."
"She…did it wrong?"
"That, I think, is the wrong sort of question. Deep Magics are not like modern magics. There's no real right or wrong way to use them…but there is a difference between knowing what you are doing and not. She did not. She paid the price for it."
Red X swallowed hard. "Good to know. Any chance the same will happen to Mother Mayhem?" he asked.
"We can only hope, but it is not a sure thing. Now, what more do you know about the cult?" Malchior asked.
"Hang on a minute!" Nightwing suddenly burst out. "You said Slade was involved in this! Is he part of the cult?-!" he demanded.
"Not any more he's not." Red X answered. "Now he's doing everything in his power to stop them. I bet you were wondering why he hasn't been around lately, huh?"
"Slade? Slade is helping us?" Cyborg exclaimed.
"Stop them doing what? What are they planning?" Nightwing asked.
"I have no idea. But whatever it is they're aiming for, they can't do it without that." Red X told them, pointing to the cylinder.
"And what is inside it?" Rorek asked.
"Something really powerful, apparently. To be honest, I'm just as curious as you guys. I haven't seen inside it either. Could be some working dark matter battery, but probably it's something mystic and unnatural." X answered. "So, are we agreed I get to stay in your deepest, most secure basement, then? Full of all manner of technological and magical protections?" he asked.
"I think we can agree to that." Malchior put forward.
"Yes…I think so too…" Nightwing said.
The others murmured and nodded their ascent.
"Then hand it over and I'll open it up." Red X said.
"Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm not sure I can handle any more shocking revelations with jetlag creeping up on me." Raven said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was curious as hell about what was in the tube, but fatigue was making her feel a bit woozy and she knew that if there was something shocking and dramatic in that tube she would not have the energy to deal with it. Probably it was just some overpowered crystal or something. Could you store Blood Magic power in a stone? She imagined a big crystal full of that sickeningly textured spellfire and thought she'd throw up then and there.
"I'm with Rae. I could use some rest myself." Cyborg ventured.
"Yes, and if that happens to be a Rotthurst then the sight of it will do no good for anyone's stomach." Rorek said. A statement which didn't really help calm Raven's imagination, or her stomach for that matter.
"I'll take it down to the vault for the time being." Nightwing said. "You get to bed, Raven. You don't look so good. Cyborg, do you think we could get that special cell fixed up for Red X for the time being?" he asked.
"No problem. We just need to find another bed…do we have any more spare beds? I mean, those things don't grow on trees."
"I we have mattresses but no more of the legs." Starfire volunteered. "And most of the mattresses have developed strange white growths…"
Raven stood up to go to bed but swayed a little. Rorek was at her side immediately, a hand on her back to steady her. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"The mental image of a crystal with that textured Blood Magic spellfire in it is not doing wonders for my stomach, it really isn't." she admitted.
Rorek chuckled. "No, I can't imagine it would. A Rotthurst does not look quite like that…but just as well we are waiting on opening the cylinder." he said, helping her towards the stairs.
"It looks worse, doesn't it?"
"I am not going to go into detail."
"Thanks."
She had just enough time to vaguely wonder why Malchior was letting his brother help her towards the stairs when her stomach gave a throb that meant something was, indeed, coming up, and then she was running for the bathroom. Ugh. Jetlag + too much excitement + not enough sleep + that time of the month = sick. Wonderful.
She tried to shoo Rorek away but he ignored her. He knelt beside her and held her hair out of the way, drawing it back with surprisingly cool fingers. After she was done he produced a damp rag for her. It was cool too. In fact it was icy cold. It felt unbelievably good against her face.
"You are ill." he informed her.
"You sound surprised."
"I suppose I am somewhat. We rather think of you as being a bit…more than human."
"Well I'm human enough to get sick, obviously."
"Obviously." Rorek chuckled. He gathered her up in his arms and lifted her effortlessly into the air before she was entirely aware of what he was doing.
"Um…I can walk…" she said, knowing that she was blushing and hating herself for it. Also she was hating herself for how much she didn't want him to put her down.
"Yes I am sure," he told her, gracefully navigating the door. "But you will recover much more swiftly if you do not have to."
It was only a few stairs and a hallway, but that argument didn't want to leave her mouth. Rorek's arms weren't the most comfortable in the world with his vambraces and the chest plate, but his scent was so very prominent and a thick lock of hair had fallen over his shoulder. Her cheek brushed it lightly but that was enough to tell her how soft it was.
He carried her silently to her room, which he opened telekinetically, and over towards her bed. He didn't help her remove her cloak or boots or belt or anything, but he did take them from her and hung them up where she directed. Then he helped her arrange her bed into some order, chuckling a little.
"Why do you have so many pillows and blankets?" he asked.
"Sometimes I have a hard time getting to sleep." she answered. "I guess I don't really need all of them. When I can't sleep I can't sleep." she mused, pushing some of the pillows off the side.
"I remember an old recipe for broth and herbs that Madam Crow once gave me when I was ill. Perhaps I might find the same ingredients for it." he said, placing a re-cooled rag over her forehead. "I'll let the others know you're sick and someone will check on you later."
"Thanks…" she murmured, still staring up at him as her mind began to grow dark with the growing fatigue and fever.
'If you truly wish to thank me then allow me to take care of you without putting up your customary fight.' she heard, but she was too tired to think.
(O)
A figure stood before her. She could not make out any details; only that it was there and it seemed to be trying to reach out to her, but its hand was stopped by an invisible wall. She regarded it dispassionately. The world was quiet, though. No random whispers of strange words. Did that mean they'd lost power? Or the opposite? This was far more vivid than the other dreams had been.
"You can't actually touch me, can you?" she asked the figure.
"No." a voice murmured. It was deep and it spoke quietly but it was big. As though it were coming from an enormous throat rather than the human-sized man standing in front of her. "There are rules." he – at least, she was pretty sure it was a 'he' – told her.
"You're a god, aren't you?" she asked.
"Yes." he answered. "I need your help."
"No." she said. "You think what you were has been forgotten but it hasn't. I know what you were, I know what you are. I know that all the surviving gods are the ones who were trapped in Tartarus, and that they were trapped for good reason. I'm not helping you and I'm not going to listen to a word you say."
There was silence for a moment, and then the figure faded away leaving her in a void of nothing that swiftly became the strange dreams of her fevered mind.
(O)
She felt better when she woke up. She was sticky with sweat and she felt achy, but aside from that she was definitely good enough for the broth that had been set next to her bed. It smelled better than it tasted, though, and it tasted very strange. She drank it anyway since something was better than nothing, took a trip to the bathroom (relieving her bladder and not her stomach, fortunately), and then settled back into bed. This time, though, she slipped into her dreamscape before going to sleep, hoping Malchior hadn't noticed her lapse.
She woke back up much later to find her dishes had been removed, got up, and went to take a shower. Thank goodness it'd been a short fever. She still felt a bit achy but that would go away soon enough. At least the fever had taken care of her jetlag. She wondered if dragons experienced jetlag. Probably not. Neither Malchior nor Rorek seemed at all bothered.
The hot water did the trick. She felt fresh and clear after a good scrub. What time was it?
6:00am. When had they gotten back, then? Stupid jetlag. She felt like it should be well past noon. Oh well. Meditating so early in the morning was nice and peaceful. She decided to head for the living room and wait for the others to wake up.
Cyborg was the first to join her two hours later. "Hey, feeling better?" he greeted.
"Much. Apparently it was only one of those overnight fevers, thank goodness." she answered.
"Well, take it easy anyway. We'll be fixing up X's space today. Are you absolutely sure we can trust him?" he asked.
"I know that he's scared out of his wits, he just isn't showing it where any of you normal people can see." she answered. "I think we can trust him up to this point. But he's hiding something. It might be a small thing but we should still be on our guard." she explained.
"Gotcha. So, want some waffles?"
"Ugh…not today. I think I'll just stick with tea today…" she mused, flying over to the kitchen to make some up.
"Rorek usually does that…" Cyborg pointed out.
"Rorek is usually awake before I am." Raven answered.
"I think he enjoys it."
"I am not about to go wake him up just so he can make the tea."
"So he can make your tea, you mean. He doesn't actually drink it himself."
He was grinning. He thought it was funny. Raven wasn't amused, though. In fact she was pretty sure that if she hadn't just meditated she would have thrown her tea in Cyborg's face and then started crying. Instead she just glared at him and said, in a very calm voice, "Cyborg, it's a full moon tomorrow. Drop this subject, now."
Cyborg's grin vanished. "Yes ma'am." he said swiftly.
(O)
Red X's new home was far below the storage basement and was in an area that needed quite a lot of Cyborg's special touch before it became an official part of the tower with the benefit of a security system. It also took some doing to attach it to the water system so he could have a bathroom and a small kitchenette. The rest of the Titans helped out so they could get it done faster, though both Rorek and Malchior groused continuously about Raven being there as well. They were constantly taking anything she was carrying right out of her arms and trying to get her to sit down and rest despite all her assurances that she was fine. Finally Cyborg gave her the task of programming the com system, which meant she was sitting down at a screen doing nothing more onerous than typing and clicking around with a mouse. That appeased them, though it wasn't enough to keep her occupied for more than half an hour. So she got X's computer hooked up to the network with several hundred encrypted limitations in case he decided he wanted to poke around in their personal files. Cyborg would add his own safeguards and they'd be much more secure and well-written, naturally, but at least she felt like she was contributing to the effort.
The entire chamber was covered with a special kind of frame that Cyborg came up with. It involved three plates, two of them were stainless steel while the third, the middle plate, was pure iron. The steel would keep the iron from oxidizing and would also mean that there'd be enough iron in the walls that no amount of Blood Magic would be able to get through without actually opening the door – which had lots of locks on it and was, of course, made of the same steel-iron-steel plating.
The effort took them the better part of two days. What surprised Raven the most was just how willing Red X was to help and how little he complained about the work, if he complained at all. That, more than anything else, told them just how serious he was about this. And so when the time came she, Rorek, and Malchior flitted through the pages of Rorek's grimoire in order to find a powerful protection spell that the three of them cast together.
Finally it was done. And they were all tired. Particularly since Jump City hadn't been very cooperative and the sirens had gone off twice. Once in the middle of a particularly tricky part that they'd had to do all over again, and once during the middle of the night.
Raven was starting to feel grouchy. She was in pain (though there were pills she could take for that), she wasn't meditating as much as she really should for this, and in the past few weeks she hadn't been getting nearly as much 'me time' as she was use to. The pressure of it all was taking its toll. She hadn't been getting any alone time except in her dreams and even then she had Malchior slipping into her dreamscape to tell her goodnight. Well, alright, she sort of liked that part, but she sort of wanted a break from it every now and then. It seemed like she had a constant shadow. Two shadows, really. If they weren't both hovering near her then it was either one or the other. Strange that they hadn't been fighting as much as usual lately. In fact, they'd stopped fighting almost entirely (at least on the outside) ever since Red X showed up. Part of her (a brutally honest part) was saying that they had probably decided to band together against this outside threat, which was ridiculous. Red X didn't have any actual interest in her. The fact that he hadn't been flirting quite so much with Starfire probably had something to do with some talk or other that Nightwing must have had with him. But it was kind of nice that they weren't bickering as much anymore.
At least for the time being.
She announced that she was turning in early for the night, though that was a bit of a lie. It was more an excuse to get away than anything else.
But, of course, one of the twins just had to follow her. This time it was Malchior.
"Would you like a back massage to help you get to sleep?" he asked innocently.
"No, thank you." she answered, trying very hard not to let the, 'may you be eaten alive by giant rats' tone of her voice leek through.
"How about just the shoulders, then? You seem quite tense." he said, putting a hand on one such shoulder.
"I'm fine." she said, pushing the hand off. She was almost at her door. Could she make it all the way through before she said something she'd regret? Probably not.
"Would you like to work a bit more on your Draconic? We haven't—"
"DAANIK MALCHIOR, CAN'T YOU TAKE A HINT?-!" she shouted, slamming the door in his face.
And now the tears were coming. She hated this! Why was this happening now? Used to be she could go for months with no more than an increased amount of twitching eyebrows and that was it. Of all the times…but it was because of what was going on that she was having a harder time dealing with it, wasn't it?
Didn't he understand that she needed her space? Did he think that if they took their eyes off her too long she's jump into Red X's arms or something? Didn't he know her at all?-! He use to understand…or maybe he'd only pretended to. It wasn't as though she could shut him up in a closet anymore.
And suddenly she wished he were in the book again. It'd been so much easier, so much more comfortable, and so much less…charged when he was a paper man. He'd been…hers. Not her property, though technically he had been. But it was…he'd been…it was just different now. And she missed him. And then she felt selfish for it and her emotions were in complete turmoil because she just didn't know what she wanted and what she did know she wanted she knew she couldn't have because of all the complications.
It was time to talk to someone about this. Tonight. But only after she'd calmed down.
(O)
She knew she was rambling, she knew she was getting too worked up, and she knew she was carrying on what had to be the last drama anyone would have expected from her, but Nightwing just sat there and listened. A few times he seemed like he wanted to interrupt and say something but he didn't. He just let her talk until she was through. Already she felt better even though nothing had actually been resolved. It was just a relief to get all of this out in the open. Well, open to Nightwing anyway. And that was where it would stop, she knew. He didn't tell your secrets to anyone unless A. you asked him to, or B. he had a very, very good reason for it and the end result was the better option.
But she needed more than just to talk. She needed support. She needed someone to be accountable to, someone to tell her that she was making the right decision and hold her to it. She was sure Nightwing would agree that she needed distance from the twins. She was sure he would help. Sure that, somehow, he would make this easier, make it hurt less the way he always seemed able to do. He'd been the one that gave her the strength she needed to defeat Trigon, after all. He would give her strength now.
She wasn't expecting what came next.
He was quiet for a long time, thinking. He seemed troubled, and there was a grim set to his lips that hinted at something like…anger. Was he angry? What was he thinking? What was he angry at?
Eventually, finally, he spoke aloud. "Raven…I think…there's something you need to know."
Raven stared at him. His tone was very odd. What was going on? "What is it?" she pressed.
He shifted uncomfortably. "You know Rorek and I have become pretty good friends. Well…he told me some things. Things that he and Malchior obviously haven't explained for some reason. Probably it just never came up, maybe it's just not something they like to talk about. It took me quite some time to get it out of him myself, and only because I got this feeling that it was there from some of the other things he mentioned. I shouldn't be the one to tell you. I mean, he told me all of this in strict confidence. I don't feel good about this but…you have a right to know."
(O)
Raven turned the water up to a near-scolding temperature but even then she barely felt it. She was barely feeling anything right now and she had decided to keep it that way. She had no idea what she was feeling or what to think. She knew that part of her was angry, but angry at what exactly? At them? At herself? All the clues had been there, she just hadn't…
But how could someone just guess at something like this? How was it suppose to work? It didn't work – not well anyway, and not the way this sort of thing was suppose to.
Perhaps this was what Rorek really meant when he said silfron were cursed. It must be easier for the females, though. At least there's some social precedent born of biological logic that might allow it. But this? How did you deal with this?
Suddenly the trouble with Vergonda made a whole lot more sense. In fact, a lot of things made a whole lot more sense. Why hadn't they said something, though? Did they think she'd just catch on? How could she? What did she know about silfron?
She washed, scrubbing her skin until it was red raw and then scrubbing some more to extend her shower. Eventually she turned off the water, removed all but the barest minimum of the moisture clinging to her skin and hair, and then slipped into a fresh costume. Once out of her bathroom she tossed the old costume down the laundry chute. Then she curled up in her bed and pulled out her current book. She couldn't focus on it, though. Her brain kept going off in different directions so that she kept having to read the same paragraph several times over.
Finally she gave up and curled into her covers and pillows.
Malchior was in her dreamscape. Obviously he really couldn't take a hint.
She waited impatiently for him to leave, wondering if kicking him out would be enough of a hint. She didn't want to, but if she went to sleep without using her dreamscape then he'd likely find out this time and get scared. She wasn't afraid…but perhaps she should be. That god who'd spoken to her…she hadn't expected him to just fade like that. She'd have expected him to try and give her some excuse, some reason, say something to make her trust him. That he didn't do so was…strange. Was that the trick, then? Or was it simply that they really were running out of power to contact her? Perhaps they were using it all trying to get through Malchior's circle.
It was no use. He wasn't leaving. Maybe if she just didn't sleep…no, she needed to sleep. Now more than ever. She needed her brain to just stop.
Too bad this wasn't Europe. She looked to be around 18 and she could buy alcohol at that age in most countries on the other side of the Atlantic. Here, though, there was no way any store would believe that she was, in fact, well over 21 without an ID. As a super hero without a secret identity she didn't exactly have an ID, especially considering she'd been born and raised in another dimension altogether.
On the other hand, this was Jump City…would the liquor store accept an Azarathean scholar certification card? Ha! Probably, but only if the characters were in English – which they weren't. Oh well.
She waited, staring up at the ceiling. She thought about braiding her hair to pass the time but decided against it. Azar, she was tired. But she did not want to face Malchior right now. She needed to sleep first, and then she needed to meditate, and then she needed to sit down and try to sort some things out in her own head.
He wasn't leaving. What was worse, when she looked she found him in her new bedroom. He was just sitting there, waiting apparently.
He really, really couldn't take a hint, could he? She didn't want to kick him out without some sort of explanation, but if she went in there like this she'd start yelling at him and she had no idea what she would say. So she took a deep breath and closed herself up. She hadn't done this in well over a year. At least, she hadn't gone this far; down to this level. But she had to. She really did not know what she'd say if she didn't, but she knew she'd regret it.
So she appeared directly in the bedroom and looked at Malchior through blank eyes. He shot to his feet when he saw her, his own eyes angry and his stance that of one prepared to start shouting…but then he froze. "You really can't take a hint, can you?" she asked in a voice of dead calm. "Fine, I'll spell it out for you. I want. To be. Alone."
"Raven I…just…just tell me what's wrong!" he exclaimed. He looked…scared. That was a bad sign; Malchior didn't handle fear very well. She knew she should feel bad, but if he'd just give her some space they wouldn't be having this problem in the first place.
"Nothing. I just want to be alone. Alright?" she stated calmly.
"It's not nothing!" he shouted, fear turning into anger as he advanced on her. "Something is wrong! Why won't you tell me?-! Why are you shutting me out like this?-!" he demanded.
"I want. To be. Alone." she repeated. "Is a little solitude in my own head too much to ask, now?" she questioned.
"Stop dodging the issue!" he roared.
"I'm not. That is the issue."
"No, there's something else! Talk to me! Tell me what's wrong!"
"Malchior, get out of my dreamscape."
"Despite previous evidence to the contrary, Sweet Raven, I am not a tame little pet trained to obey your every command." Malchior growled. His voice was dangerous, his eyes flashing with simmering fires of banked rage, and his stance was suddenly intimidating.
But she just stared up at him dispassionately. Probably she should be worried, probably she should be angry, but she wasn't. She didn't feel anything right now. "If you're trying to threaten me, consider your bluff called." she stated. "This is my dreamscape. I do not have to let you stay. I could simply revoke your permission and kick you out."
He leaned down so that their faces were inches apart and she could see the detailed texture of his blood-red eyes. There were tiny flecks of orange and magenta in there. Even, she saw, the tiniest bit of violet around the tipped oval of his pupil. "Consider your own bluff called, my dear." he sneered softly. He cupped her chin roughly in one ash-white hand. "If it were so easy for you to push me away you would have done it by now. But you can't do it, can you? You're mine, Sweet Raven. And you're going to stop holding back from me. Aren't you?"
She should be worried. Part of her knew this. But there was another part of her that was rising up, gaining strength, and breaking out of the careful cage she'd put herself in.
Rage.
Her eyes glowed red, her lips drew back to bear her teeth, and she snarled.
It was not a human sound, and she was pretty sure it wasn't the sort of snarl you'd get from a dragon either. Oh no, this was the part of her that she'd kept hidden, even from the other Titans. This was the part of her she didn't want anyone to know about; the part that got out when she was pushed too far. And boy, was he pushing it.
She tried to pull back, to stop it, but her heart wasn't in the effort. In all honesty she'd stopped caring. Go ahead, let him see what she was holding back. Let him see why she needed to be alone. Maybe this would be enough of a hint for him.
Besides, the demon wanted to play.
(8)
A/N: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!-!-! Gosh but it's gonna be mighty hard to wait an entire five days for the next chapter, isn't it? (Troll Face) It's gonna be a good one, though!
Wow, Malchior's being kind of a jerk, isn't he? (Does anyone else experience the feeling that sometimes the characters themselves are taking over the story and all you're really doing is trying to sort of guide stuff along a certain path as best you can?) And he was doing so well, too! I mean, at least when he's a jerk to Rorek it's funny.
Coming up in the next chapter:
Sorry, can't find anything funny enough to put here. Oh well!
Virtual cookies to anyone who's already guessed the twins' big secret! I'm pretty sure it's obvious now but I'm gonna wait until the next chapter to spell it out completely. See you all Friday! :D And I will definitely try to get back on that responding-to-reviews thing…
