Submersion

Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own the show Teen Titans, nor the various DC comics on which this fanfiction is based.

Jinx stares at Raven, her eyes wide with worry.

They both take a seat on their bed, the old house already becoming strangely comforting for the women to return to.

Once they come to a stop, Raven's dress of moving shadows dissolving back into her white cloak, Jinx starts in.

"Raven, who in the fuck-"

"It is better you do not ask," Raven interrupts.

Jinx begins to retort, but stops when she sees the expression on her fiancé's face.

The sudden sense of foreboding forming an iron ball in her stomach helps her decision, as well.

"I'll defer to your judgment on that one."

She frowns, a wave of ugly emotion rolling from her again.

"I know you said it's cool, but I still feel like an ass, especially after goin' to the Oblivion," she mumbles.

"No need to feel that way. I want to wish great pain upon her, mind you, but as… Sam… said, I could not blame her for a part of her physiology any more than I would accept blame for things getting broken when I'm upset."

"So who the hell was she? One look and it felt like I was drugged, and it took me almost until we were walkin' back to start gettin' the hell out of whatever she was doin' to me."

"I do not know who she is, for certain, at any rate, but as for what, she is a succubus. That you were so quickly able to get free is pretty amazing, actually," Raven explains.

"Okay… that's freaky as shit… Glad she didn't… Wait, those're different from the incubi that feed on women, right? Shouldn't her shit not have worked on me, then?"

Raven's brow rises, and with a slight smirk, she makes a gestured line between the two.

"Their nutrition comes from sexual energy. It is not related to the victim's gender, but rather who finds them attractive, so they can generate a response to feed on."

"Oh," Jinx mutters with a brightening blush. "Duh."

"At any rate, there is some information I managed to gain. It seems we would have been better off just going to the Dreaming instead of wasting so much time, though."

"Not to beat a dead horse, but I'm still not really clear on all of this. I'd never heard about any of this stuff before today. So small steps so we're on the same page. The Dreaming… what is it? Is it an alien planet, an entirely different dimension, or what?"

Raven's eyes narrow in thought, her mind searching for proper terms for such an odd concept.

"It's not really any of those… And keep in mind that just because I know that some things exist doesn't mean I'm by any means an expert. Demons know more than humans about what else exists, and my bloodline has granted me access to some of that, if by no means everything. But from what I've come to understand, the Dreaming is exactly what its name implies. It is where dreams are born and die in."

"So… an astral plane?"

"Yes and no. It is an astral plane, but there is a physicality to it. Morpheus is the king and ruler of the Dreaming, so it would follow to reason that there is something there for him to rule and that it isn't simply a mental plane."

"Okay, think I've got that down. You were sayin' something to Constantine about it being nearly suicidal to try to go there. How about we hash that out, because I don't really love the idea of suicide, especially if they're likely to kill themselves and make it meaningless."

"There will be dangers to going there. To be powerful enough there to steal the keys from Morpheus, they will need to physically go there. I'm guessing a dimension made literally of dreams and nightmares given form is not suited well to having a corporeal body, and it will slow them down if they do manage to go there physically and survive."

"And if they go there the way you're planning?"

"They will be faster, and able to move more easily, but will be weaker. But a mind wandering that kind of realm without a body to contain it in will be significantly more vulnerable."

"Okay, I really don't like the sound of that," Jinx mutters. "I'm sick of things gettin' in my head already."

Her tone alerts Raven just as much as the emotions permeating the air what track her lover's mind has taken.

Turning fully toward the meta, she cups her cheek, warmth seeping in to her fingertips.

Jinx quivers slightly and leans her head into the touch, her eyes automatically slipping closed.

A frown suddenly forms on her lips, ruining the serene expression, though her eyes remain closed.

"And Rae, I know I'm bitchin', and I really don't like the idea of how this place is shapin' up. But if you for a second think I'm lettin' you go at it alone because I've got a hang-up about this, I will make sure you regret it," she swears.

Smirking slightly, Raven runs her other hand through the meta's long mane.

"I wouldn't dream of it," she offers.

"That's a terrible joke," Jinx retorts with a snort.

"Perhaps. But unfortunately, what I know of the actual realm itself comes from somewhat exaggerating accounts. I do not know what is there, or where things are, or how we would navigate. All I can say with certainty is that I can get us there, together. Nothing else is so assured."

"So it's a place we know nothing about, can't really prepare for, and is gonna' probably be playing on our worst fears. Well, Hell's probably a lot worse, so I guess we've got that goin' for us," Jinx muses.

"That sums it up pretty well," Raven sighs. "I'm hoping my siblings do not know all of this and will take the riskier path. We need speed on our side, as they'll likely have a head-start."

"Fan-tastic. Alright, that covers that… So Morpheus… How's all that work, exactly?"

"The Endless are, as the title suggests, possibly the oldest creatures in existence throughout all of the universes combined. It's natural that those beings that know of them, who meet them, have come up with aspects of them. Morpheus, god of dreams, is a single aspect of the Endless in charge of the Dreaming."

"Sam was talkin' about the same guy, then? So, is the dimension named after him, or what?"

"Sam was comfortable using that name, but I am not. They are all neutral beings, but all the same, I do not like gaining the attention of such powerful beings, any more than I strictly have to."

"He was really comfortable," Jinx muses.

The light in Jinx's eyes alerts Raven to her lover's curiosity rearing its obstinate head, and she releases an involuntary groan.

"Sam was shorthand for Samael. It is a name from Jewish lore, given to an archangel tasked with death and seen as both good and evil. As is common for human faiths, there were a lot of changes, a lot of different story attributions and aspects, given to that man, and he's a part of the army of Heaven while also being the one charged with wedding Lilith and seducing Eve in the Christian form of humanity's dawn," Raven explains.

Jinx turns completely pale, her mouth dropping open in shock as she pieces it together.

"Holy… so you mean to tell me that we were just… and he was just…"

"Words, Jinx, use your words," Raven muses with growing amusement.

"I don't have any. Shit, Rae, I was just drinking there, while you were talking to the goddamned devil," Jinx shrills.

"So it would seem. There is a reason I did not argue with him when he said you wouldn't enjoy what would come if I'd said his name. But as I said, there is something to be said for exaggerated stories changing over time."

"Well, obviously, or we'd be a pile of dust on his damn floor, but I mean… holy shit, Raven. You just talked. To the damn devil. I don't know whether it's terrifying or amazing! Why aren't you freaking out!?"

"You're doing enough for the both of us," Raven quips with a small smirk. "But there is a reason that I got us out of there fast. While he was by far more… human than I ever could've expected, I did not wish to linger."

"What do you mean human? You got sick just being near him and he nearly knocked you on your ass by speaking."

"A trait of my bloodline, not an intentional act by him. It's not that I like him, and he's certainly not an agent of Order or on the us side of things by any stretch, but I wouldn't think of him as an evil being."

Jinx thinks over her lover's words, a deeper frown marring her expression.

"This isn't a… demon thing… is it? He didn't do something to you, right?" she asks, a memory of two red eyes staring at her briefly flashing to her mind.

"No," Raven says in a tone making her being offended clear. "I imagine what I experienced is the opposite reaction that demons would have. It may be one of the things that separates what I am from what demons are. I truthfully do not know, but my opinion of the man is entirely my own."

Feeling the pulse of energy within her mind, she takes a calming breath.

When it releases, her body relaxes, the warning in her mind receding.

"At any rate, this is irrelevant. We need to decide what to do. We will be going to the Dreaming mentally, and will need someplace for our bodies. A year ago, I would suggest the room I had built to withstand Trigon in the Tower, but I don't trust my own unconscious body with them, much less yours. It would be simple for other brothers of mine to do what Jared did. Taking Zatanna into account, even if I am working with the League, I wouldn't trust the Watchtower's security, either."

Jinx nods in agreement, letting the topic of her lover's sympathies go for a better time.

"No HQ, either. Steel wouldn't have the kind of people on staff that would be able to keep us safe if they decide to send one of your brothers. Here?" Jinx muses with a gaze around the room.

"Not that safe yet," Raven responds with memories of the man that had been there on her arrival. "We don't have the time needed to set up wardings on par with the apartment."

"Just one option, then," Jinx muses. "Fate would probably be better at keeping our asses safe while we aren't home than anybody else, anyway. Do you have any idea where that tower is?"

Raven catches on to her lover's mindset easily enough, a thoughtful frown forming on her lips.

"Might as well call ahead," she muses while her hand vanishes into a black vortex.

She flips open Jinx's H.I.V.E. communicator once it's free of her pocket dimension.

Her call goes through, but doesn't connect.

Frowning, Raven recalls telling him to consult his helmet.

"He will not be awake. We will need to physically go there and wake him from his meditation… I may have an idea on getting there."

She offers Jinx her hand, and darkness once again envelops the women.

"Fati turri da nobis aditum," the empath intones.

A pulling sensation runs through the women, and Jinx's eyes widen as a golden light envelops the bubble of soul-self.

Raven's hold on her barrier tightens as something takes a firm hold on the bubble and throws it.

They explode back into reality, crashing hard into dirt.

Jinx comes after Raven, landing with an oomph atop the demonling.

They lay there, still held in the bubble, for several moments.

When nothing further happens, Raven's eyes return to their indigo color and it fades.

"What the fuck was that!?" Jinx demands.

Grunting, Raven lifts the meta off of her and sets them both on their feet, her eyes narrowed.

Brushing dirt from her pristine cloak, she turns in a circle to take in their surroundings.

"Were I to hazard a guess, we cannot just jump into the Tower of Fate. I would think that if it had been a magician who wasn't surrounded in a large dimensional shield, they would have been turned to paste on the forest floor."

Jinx pales at that, casting her own gaze around.

Indeed, there are a number of questionably colored spots mingled with the browns, greens, and blacks making up the ground.

Both women have sudden flashbacks to Raven's forced dream as they look, as well, the forest nearly identical to the clearing she'd been shown.

Shaking it off, Raven's eyes move skyward, and she glares at the massive pillar of brick in the near distance.

"Luckily, we did have such a barrier, and we are now where we were going, anyway," she muses.

Jinx follows her stare and finds the tower, as well, her own eyes hardening.

"I'd throw a hex at the damn thing on principle, if I wasn't positive it'd be thrown right back at me," she grouses.

"We'll both be glad you already know that, then," Raven muses.

"So that's the mystical stronghold? I always thought it'd be… bigger. And more magical-looking, with dark clouds and lightning all around it."

"I think your imagination ran on you, Jinx," Raven laughs. "Though I did not expect it to be so outwardly noticeable, myself. I've heard it's much larger within."

"Well, we didn't get made into part of the scenery, so let's go knock and hope it's not as aggressive," Jinx sighs before heading off.

Raven flies past her, her hand raised to knock by the time the meta reaches the tower.

The empath's eyes widen when the door dissolves to smoke before her hand touches the massive slab of smooth stone.

"Oh, sure, toss us to our deaths if we try to teleport, but we come to the door and it just invites us in."

Raven smirks and gestures her inside, the door re-forming the instant they're both inside.

The wall holding the door vanishes entirely, then.

With a curse, Jinx looks around to find that they're standing on a stairway directly from M.C. Escher's dreams.

Stairs rise high into the distance, well past where the meta's eyes can follow. In the air around them, many other staircases seem to float without any support, going every direction.

Jinx is inclined to wonder how someone could walk on stairs that were upside down or at a complete incline.

Despite her near-certainty that some magic would make it non-lethal to transverse, her mind moves to the tower's defenses trying to kill them.

Raven raises a brow when the meta tightly grabs on to her arm, but makes no comment on it.

"Mind givin' me a lift?" she asks to hide her nervousness.

"It will certainly be faster."

Jinx shrieks when Raven spins and, in one quick movement, gets her into her arms in a bridal carry.

They then lift off the ground, quickly rising up the staircase.

For what seems like an eternity, they continue up the stairs without an end in sight.

"Is this thing really this long, or are we bein' screwed with?" Jinx asks.

"Probably both. Hang on more tightly."

Jinx asks no questions as her arms coil around the back of Raven's neck, her body pressing more firmly against her lover's body.

A spark connects between their minds for a brief moment, and both of their eyes turn to lenses of color.

"Calamitatis!" they shout in unison.

Magic flows free from the women, filling the entire dimension in every direction with black and pink light.

When the light clears and their visions return, they find that nothing has changed in their surroundings.

"Well, it was worth a shot," Jinx muses with a sigh. "Let's just keep floating up."

"That could take eternity, if this is a trap to keep invaders from ever reaching Nabu's sanctum."

A thought occurs to Raven, then, and she turns her gaze to the black void above their heads.

While the mystic they work with was, indeed, the owner of the tower, the power for all of its magic came from the spirit inhabiting his golden helmet.

Perhaps the Order Lord would be able to at least get his vessel's attention for them.

"That might work, actually. Nabu!"

The call echoes throughout the dimension, seeming to reverberate from walls that don't exist.

Something shifts in the air, and the women shudder at feeling a strange awareness taking notice of them.

"Dare nobis transitum, Nabu!" Raven shouts.

A crack of lightning arcs down from the sky, heading straight for them.

Instinct takes over and Raven dives backward through a forming portal, coming to a stop several dozen steps lower.

Where the lightning had struck, a glowing doorway of white light shimmers.

Raven tentatively moves back up and through the door, not entirely positive she's not being sent to some void by Nabu's spirit.

She breathes a large sigh of relief when she finds grey brick beneath her feet, the room around them circular.

In the center of the room, Doctor Fate is floating in a lotus position, a glowing ankh of gold burning in the air behind him.

His eyes slowly open as she sets Jinx on her feet, the magic around him disappearing in an instant.

"It is good to see you," he says in greeting. "I trust your meeting with Constantine went productively?"

"Good to see you, too. Can we talk about your trapdoor for a sec? It's not exactly inviting down there," Jinx muses.

"It's not meant to be," he retorts. "I do apologize for not being able to answer. Good to see you made it past the barriers, though. I will make certain to include you into the exception for future visits."

"Thank you very much. And yes, Constantine was very helpful. The consensus we've reached is that we must enter the Dreaming."

"Not a simple task, by any means. That domain is even old to Nabu's memories. What can I do to help?"

"We need someplace to leave our bodies while we're in la-la land," Jinx explains.

"And if there is one place on this planet that my brothers will not be able to show up and kill us while we're attempting to reach Morpheus, this tower is it."

He nods, his demeanor suggesting he already knew all of the information before they'd mentioned anything.

"This tower is not entirely impenetrable, even discounting your entry past the wards with Nabu's permission. But it, and I, will certainly keep you secure while on your journey."

His gaze seems to go somewhere else, eerily mimicking Sam's own vision, before returning to them.

"I will say, though, that you must be cautious. If you get lost within Dream's realm, your bodies will be of no consequence. Even your ability to entirely separate soul and body will not save you if that happens, Raven."

The women pale, despite already knowing of that particular risk.

"You, uh, wouldn't happen to know anythin' about the lay of the land there, would you? I mean, the spirit in that helmet's probably seen everything at least once, right?" Jinx asks hopefully.

"I know of the key elements there. The Dreaming is vast, and what Nabu knows of it could have greatly changed within the centuries. But what I know is that the castle that Dream occupies lies in the center of the domain. It's guarded by three fearsome creatures of pure magic."

"Wonderful. I suppose reaching a timeless being that is older than even the Lords of Order and Chaos wouldn't be easy," Raven sighs.

Fate's eyes move upward for a moment, as though hearing something from above.

Then he nods, apparently agreeing with whatever Nabu's words are.

"He says that you two had best be careful. The realm is a vague one, made up of shifting imagination and dreams. And that you run the risk of meeting your brothers when they will be stronger than you, as they will not willingly risk their physical forms by leaving them behind as you are. Even with that, your greatest risk of being lost will come if you happen upon the Gates of Horn and Ivory. There are ways to get to the castle that do not involve those doors, but should you come across them, you will be in the greatest danger of being confused and losing your direction."

The news further tightens the ball of nerves forming in the stomachs of both women, and Jinx releases a frustrated sigh.

"Raven, when we're done with all this, we're taking a vacation. And I'm picking, because your choices for exotic places to take me are really sucking recently," she bemoans.

The mood lightens somewhat, and Raven nods in agreement easily.

"Fair enough." she laughs.

Turning her attention back to Fate, she gives a small bow.

"And, in the unlikely event that this all goes horribly wrong, I just want to say thank you for your help along the way," she informs the mystic.

"Do not be so pessimistic. Nabu's warnings are necessary, but I have no doubt you two will succeed in your task."

Raven almost asks if he'd seen this working out well, but her voice refuses to form the syllables, frozen in fear of the possible answer as it is.

Instead, she gives him a nod and again takes hold of Jinx's hand.

In a short time, the women are floating within a barrier of light, an ankh burning over their heads.

When their eyes open once more, they find themselves in a world of blue and white haze…
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Author's Notes:

fati- Latin: "Fate's"

turri- Latin: "tower"

da- Latin: "give"

nobis- Latin: "us"

aditum- Latin: "access"

calamitatis- Latin: "disillusion"

Dare nobis transitum- Latin: "Grant passage to us"

I think that an audio drama I recently listened to called Lilith's Children may have spilled into this chapter, just a bit, where the conversation involving "Sam" are concerned. I probably should have included the note about who Sam actually was with the last chapter, but I've been trying to explain things better in-story so that my editor notes are kept to translations instead. We're approaching the final act of the story, and I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I am.

Be sure to give me your thoughts, be they positive or not, and I'll see you all next time!