Hello dear readers, Foamy here. Sorry this one took so long but it took a lot out of me to do it. Its been a part of the story since it's conception but that didnt make it any easier to write.
Rated M for Mature.
You have been warned.
The risk I took was calculated but Azar, I must be bad at math.
It was the first thing that crossed Raven's mind as she watched, seemingly in slow motion, as Rose reached into her purse, pulled out a knife, and flicked it at Kid Devil all in one smooth, almost practiced, motion. It soared through the air over a surprised Starfire (still sitting on the couch) and mere inches away from Robin's arm. Garfield's jaw dropped during this time and Eddie went wide eyed and teleported out of the way. The knife thunked into a chair some feet behind where the devilkin had previously stood.
And then all Hell broke loose.
"Rose, babe, please! Let me explain!" Eddie shouted as he popped up next to Rose, arms extended to grab her.
Rose's response was to jerked backwards and grab one wrist, then drive her palm up into his elbow with the free hand. There was an audible CRACK as the joint broke and Eddie fell back with a cry of pain. But Rose still had his wrist and jerked him towards her, the free hand coming back up and grabbing his neck with a firm grip. She slammed her knee into his testicles and he made a strangled noise as he pushed her away.
It only bought him seconds though, cause she was right back on him. Her hand found his throat once more and she slammed him into the glass window she had originally been standing in front of. It cracked, but not as hard as Eddie's nose did when Rose smashed her head into it. He let out another cry before she punched him right in the gut and knocked the breath out of him. At this point Eddie decided he'd had enough of getting his butt kicked and teleported away.
"Rose! Please, for the love of god let me explain-SHIT!" Eddie yelped as he ducked yet another knife thrown at him. He scrambled to the side and whipped back to where Rose had been, but she was gone now.
Oh wait, she was up in the air, coming down on him with a knife.
He teleported out of the way, five feet to the side. Rose hit the floor and rolled, coming up and throwing the knife at him. He yelped once more and teleported into the kitchen. Rose, however, seemed to know where she was going because there was already a chair flying through the air towards him. He ducked under the counter and it shattered against the counter behind him. He came back up, intending to try to calm Rose down again, but he was met with a foot to the face. He was sent spinning and slammed into the counter. Knowing it would only be heartbeats before she was on him again, he teleported to the other side of the room.
"Rose!" He shouted as his healing factor finally kicked in and fixed everything she had just broken. Her back was too him as she did something in the kitchen. He heard a drawer open and he felt a new sense of dread come upon him when she turned around with a handful of kitchen knives.
"A little unbalanced, but they'll get the job done." Rose said as she came around the counter. Eddie gulped and glanced at his friends.
"A little help here?!" He shouted, trying not to panic.
The Titans, who had been stunned speechless, were jerked back to reality at this plea for help. Robin was the first to react (unsurprisingly), whirling around and shouting their battle cry.
"Titans, go!"
"Hey man, how can you be eating at a time like this?"
Cyborg looked up from his quadruple meat and cheese sandwich, his mouth full. "Huh?"
Static shook his head. "I heard the call from Starfire a bit ago. I figured you'd be packed up and headed out."
Cyborg shook his head. "Nah man, I gotta finish up here, then I'll leave."
"But-"
"It's fine, Static, really." Cyborg interrupted. "If they really needed me then Raven would open a portal and I'd go home without hesitating. Besides, Slade isn't even there. What's the worst that could happen?"
Both Robin and Beast Boy bolted from the spot, intent on tackling Rose and pinning her down. Starfire came up off the couch like a crimson thunderbolt and dive-bombed the girl. Raven's reaction was to teleport Emelia and Martin to the opposite side of the room as the fighting before she sent a shadow-magic claw to catch Rose should the others miss.
However, it seemed that the knife-wielding girl knew what they were going to do. Mere heartbeats before Starfire dropped on her, she ducked and darted forward, grabbing the flying alien by the ankle and using her own momentum to swing and throw her into the charging boys. She hit them hard and they tumbled into a heap on the floor. The claw she simply dodged with a backflip, followed by two more as it curved after her. The last flip put her on the counter, which the claw smacked into. Like a flash of white lightning Rose went across the claw, using it as a platform to get closer to her prey, who was grimacing in pain as his elbow finished healing.
Beast Boy shifted into a snake and slithered out of the pile, then shifted into a kangaroo to leap up to intercept Rose. She stopped short and he flew by her, shifting into an eagle and banking hard right in mid air.
"Checkmate special!"
Beast Boy heard his team leader whisper the attack tactic and let out a shrill cry in response. He dive bombed Rose, who was mere feet away from Kid Devil. Raven dissipated the shadowy tendril just as he reached his target. On the other side of her, there was a bola already in route to wrap around her legs.
The tactic, known as the Checkmate Special, was fairly simple: Beast Boy takes the top of a villain and either knocks them over or wraps around them as Robin's bolas take out the legs. They had used it on a number of villains in the past, most notably Cinderblock and Adonis. On Rose, it should be way more than enough to stop her.
He was proven so very wrong when, once again mere seconds from impact, Rose flipped up and over him. The bola passing harmlessly below, he turned his head and looked at the airborne girl above him.
Her eyes were rage-filled, merciless, and…flashing blue?
He wondered what the heck that was about as he banked left to circle back around. Another of Raven's claws shot past him to chase Rose, who landed on the back of a recliner and immediately flipped off once more. A knife left her hand somewhere in that time and Kid Devil barely managed to scramble out of the way of it.
Rose's landing would have put her on a small coffee table, but a bolt of green energy vaporized it right before she landed. It should have sent her tumbling to the floor, but her landing and roll was almost like she knew that was going to happen. Another claw shot after her, but she spun to the left right before it grabbed her. Another knife left her hand and Kid Devil teleported over by Raven.
"Rose, babe, please, I know you're angry, but I can explain, I swear!" He pleaded. Her eyes glowed briefly again and she jerked her head to the right, a blunt birdarang flying by from behind her.
"I am beyond angry, Eddie." She said coldly before she ran forward and vaulted off the couch. There was yet another knife in her hand as she came down. But this time a dark portal opened up in front of her target and Starfire was right on her heels in the air. Both Raven and Starfire knew there was no escape from this maneuver, especially since she was in mid air.
Both discovered how horribly wrong they were when Rose snapped her body back. Instead of hitting the girl in the back and pushing her through the portal, Starfire clipped her feet instead and actually assisted Rose's improvised backflip. Her hands found Starfire's lower legs as she flew under her and Rose used her like a springboard. Backwards into the air she went as Starfire flew into the portal by herself. Fortunately, Raven was able to open one right behind Rose and Starfire flew right back into her back while she was upside down in the air. Raven saw Rose's eyes flash blue right before the impact and she wrapped her legs around Star's neck as the alien girl wrapped her arms around her waist. Rose squeezed hard as the flew through the air and, while it didn't hurt Starfire the least bit, it was enough to startle her into releasing her grip. Rose dropped to the floor, tucking and rolling into yet another charge at Kid Devil.
But this time she met a giant green grizzly bear, who reared up on his hind legs and roared at her. Rose, unfazed, ran straight at him and straight up him. She planted her feet on his chest and used him like a springboard too, sending herself backwards into the air yet again.
She met Robin in mid air as he used his bo staff to pole vault himself back into the fray. Her feet met his chest and she once again used a Titan as springboard. The force sent Robin back the way he came, but Rose went up and over Beast Boy and came down on Kid Devil, the knife in her hand flashing as a lightning bolt ripped across the sky outside.
Unfortunately for her, Raven dropped herself, Kid Devil, and Beast Boy through a portal and they popped back up on the other side of the couch. Both Robin and Starfire joined them and they all turned to look at Rose.
She was facing them, a knife in each hand now. Another lightning bolt ripped across the sky, lighting up the room but leaving a silhouette of Rose.
And in that moment, the only thing that could be seen were her murderous flashing blue eyes.
"Eddie." She said softly as the rain finally started. "Get over here so I can cut your fucking heart out."
"You sure you don't need to go?" Static asked again as he sat down at the counter next to his friend. "If it were me I'd be going crazy with worry."
Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "What make you think I'm not worried?"
"You're just sitting here eating!"
"Well yeah! I'm hungry!"
"Shouldn't you be working overtime on the tower then?"
"What do you think I'm gonna do after I'm done eating?" Cyborg asked, an evil smile crossing his face. "Hope you wasn't plannin' on sleepin' anytime soon."
Static was already regretting opening his mouth.
Kid Devil gulped and shook his head furiously as Robin stepped forward.
"I don't know what he did to you, Rose, but you can't kill him. Not while we're here." He said firmly.
"Stay out of this." Rose spat. "This is between me and that coward."
Eddie started. "Rose, please-"
"I don't want to hear it!" She interrupted. "I'm going to kill you this time. Period."
"This time?" Raven echoed to Beast Boy, who shrugged.
"Kid Devil, get back while we deal with her." Robin ordered. The boy in question looked at his leader skeptically but it was Rose's cracked voice that drew his attention rather quickly.
"Deal with me?" She echoed before she let out a bark of laughter. "Ha! Now that's a laugh!"
"We don't want to hurt you, Rose." Beast Boy said cautiously. In the time he had known her, she had never sounded so…crazy. "But we will if we have to. Just…stand down."
Rose leered at him, half a smile on her face. "That's awfully sweet of you, BB, but if you stand in my way I will hurt you."
"She's dead serious about that. She's highly trained in the art of hurting people." Kid Devil murmured for the other Titans to hear. While it was alarming to hear about someone they considered friend, it wasn't anything new to them. They shifted into offensive stances, though Raven was dealing with an internal battle to simply crush Rose for threatening Gar.
Rose glared at them. "Last chance to get out of my way."
"No." Raven said through gritted teeth. Between her own anger and the tsunami of rage rolling off of Rose, she was having a hard time maintaining control.
"Have it your way then."
"Alright, Miss Martian, you're next on patrol. Superboy, finish up the heavy lifting on the top floor, I'll come up later to do the riveting and welding. Gear, common room, finish up the security systems and then move to the obstacle course programming, it's not functioning at all. Static, you're with me on this floor."
"You got a knack for this, Cy." Static said as he joined Cyborg at the computer terminals he was putting together.
"Its tower number three for me, with plenty more to come if I know Rob." Cy chuckled.
"There's a lot of Titans running around now, that's for sure."
"Yeah, its nice. Puts less strain on us. Let someone else deal with the crazy people for a bit, ya know?"
Beast Boy roared as he shifted into a tiger and leapt at Rose, who darted forward and rolled under him. As she came up she was met by a bo staff, but she snapped back a split second before impact. The staff passed a hairsbreath over her face, though she wasn't finished. As she went back one foot came up and clipped Robin in the chin, sending him careening back several steps. Rose was back upright before the second step and charging at Kid Devil again. Raven lifted several chairs and a table and sent them after her, but once again Rose's eyes flashed blue and she easily dodged every one. Up next was Starfire, flying full force at the seemingly berserk girl. At first it seemed that Rose was going to meet her charge head on, but mere seconds before impact she planted one foot down hard and pivoted to the right. Beast Boy, who had been charging her from behind in ram form, smashed headfirst into Starfire, who bowled him over like he was nothing. Robin was coming at her again, but again her eyes flashed blue and she delivered a spinning roundhouse kick to his face that sent him backwards once again. Raven figured Rose knew hand to hand combat with Robin was a guaranteed loss for her, so she kept him away as much as possible. That meant that she needed to stall the girl long enough to Robin to get close.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she shouted as every available piece of furniture in the room became encased in her magic and swarmed the girl as she moved herself and Kid Devil back another ten feet. Robin and Beast Boy scrambled away from the maelstrom, but Starfire didn't even flinch when a chair shattered against her.
Rose weaved through the flying objects as gracefully as a dancer, her eyes glowing the entire time, making Raven more than a little angry.
"How the hell does she keep dodging everything?!" She spat at Kid Devil.
He looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean, how? Don't you know she's a metahuman?"
So shocked was Raven that everything she was controlling stopped dead in the air. She could feel the shock and surprise from the other Titans as she stared at her red friend.
"She's a metahuman?" She asked dumbly.
Kid Devil nodded. "Yeah, she's a precog, though its only for a few seconds at a time…usually."
"Usually?" Raven echoed as she looked back at Rose, who was stepping out of the furni-storm.
"Yeah…but she wasn't born with powers or developed them. They aren't natural to her, they were forced on her by…someone unpleasant. If she uses them too much she can hurt herself…"
Raven heard all of this, but her eyes were glued to the trickle of blood coming from Rose's nose. After a moment she called out to her boyfriend. "Did you know about this?"
"Heck no!" He called back.
"It wasn't any of his business." Rose interjected as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She left a long smear of blood running up it. "It's none of your business either."
"Everything going in this room right now is my business." Raven snapped. "Now stand down!"
"Not until he's dead." Rose pointed her knife at Eddie.
"What on Earth could he have done to warrant this?" Raven asked, trying to buy a few more seconds for Robin to inch closer.
"Everything." Rose replied, albeit distantly. "Everything is his fault."
Though she had no idea what had distracted the girl, Raven knew this was the moment to pounce. "Azarath Metri-"
Something struck her dead center in the forehead and knocked her off her feet. She hit the floor hard and clutched the impact point, her chakra, and whimpered at the explosive pain that came with the jewel digging into her flesh. Tears in her eyes, she looked about for the object that hit her and found a knife laying scant feet away.
Rose had hit her with the handle, she realized.
ROOOOOOOOAAAAARRRRR
She groaned as she forced herself to sit up. That was the roar of the Beast, which meant...shit.
Sure enough, Garfield had shifted into his apex predator formed and rushed Rose. She could feel the fury pouring off of him as he swung wildly at the dodging girl. Rose's eyes were steadily glowing now as she tucked and rolled, bobbed and weaved, flipped and twisted out of harms way. Garfield was downright furious with the girl to the point that Raven knew he might seriously hurt Rose if she didn't stop him. She reached out a hand and focused on him for a moment, taking control of his powers and turning them off.
He was rather understandably surprised when he suddenly turned back into his human form. He toppled over immediately, not prepared for the sudden change in weight, height, and speed. Raven couldn't help but wince when he hit a chair on his way down. She tried to never turn his powers off unless necessary (or very very annoyed with him) because the likelyhood of him injuring himself after the change was fairly probable.
Rose, however, wasn't fazed the slightest and immediately pivoted on her heel back in Kid Devil's direction. Raven could only see one knife left in her hand, which meant she was still a threat.
Robin came up behind her and flipped clean over the girl, landing in front of her and twirling around in a martial arts pose Raven recognized as the one he was best with. Rose stopped and glared at him.
"Move." She snapped.
"You want him? You go through me." Robin said smugly, gesturing with the universal bring it on hand movement. Rose gnashed her teeth and rushed forward.
What followed after that was a flurry of kicks and punches likes the which Raven had never seen before. It was one long continuous movement, a ballet of battle really, as the two of them sought to bring the other down. Rose was very well trained to be able to keep up with Robin, though the increasing flow of blood from her nostrils was suggesting that she was forced to use more of her unusual "gift" to dodge his hits. The knife in her hand had become a moot point as well; Robin was simply too good at deflecting attacks.
"Holy crap, I've never seen anyone keep up with her…" Kid Devil said in awe. Raven smirked and glanced at Garfield, who was sitting on the floor watching the combat. Starfire had come much closer to the fight than the rest of them and was watching it closely. Raven knew she was very well trained as well, but her techniques were a bit on the heavy handed side.
Back and forth the two combatants went, up and over scattered furniture, over and across the countertops. It seems that Robin was using absolutely everything he had against her, from bolas and birdarangs to smoke bombs. Rose dodged, deflected, and actually threw some back at him, forcing him back a step or two at a time. It seemed like this fight would go on forever.
But Raven was waiting patiently, like a spider (an analogy her boyfriend would appreciate), and struck when the moment was right.
By all rights, opening a portal beneath Rose's feet should have worked, should have slipped by her precognitive powers since she was focused on the boy in front of her, should have dropped her in a holding cell in the lower levels of the tower.
But it didn't work. She cartwheeled to the side a split second before the portal opened. This, however, led her right into Starfire's reach, who lashed out. There was an audible CRACK of bones and Rose was sent bouncing across the floor. When she stopped rolling, she didn't move.
"JESUS CHRIST STARFIRE! DID YOU HAVE TO HIT HER SO HARD?!" Eddie shouted as he bolted for the downed girl.
"She is trying to kill you. Should I have not struck her?" Starfire asked in mild confusion. Her attack hadn't been planned whatsoever, it was pure warrior reflex to strike when Rose's guard was down.
"HELL NO!" Eddie shouted as he got to Rose and turned her over. "YOU SHOULD HAVE GRABBED HER AND…shit."
He fell back and revealed Rose's last knife sticking out of his chest. She was on him in an instant, yanking the knife out and driving it back in as she straddled him.
"Rose, please, let me explain…" Eddie gasped and grabbed at the knife weakly.
"I don't want to hear it, coward. You got me into this mess and then abandoned me when I needed you most." She said softly as she drove the knife deeper in.
"I swear to God I didn't-" She twisted the knife and he cried out. It hurt, so much!
"You've been dead to me for years." Rose said coldly as she yanked the knife out once more and held it as if she really was going to cut his heart out. "But now you really will be dead."
The Titans rushed her, but everyone stopped (involuntarily) when a little voice spoke up.
"Miss Rose, please stop."
Rose looked up at the little girl a few feet away, who had approached so stealthily that nobody had noticed her before.
"Take Martin and get out, Emelia." Rose said softly. "You don't need to see any of this."
"You don't need to do this, Miss Rose." Emmy said sternly. "That's my Mister Eddie and you can't hurt him anymore."
"You can't stop me, kid." Rose snorted as she pulled back the knife to stab Eddie once more.
"I said stop!" The little girl stomped her foot as another lightning bolt ripped through the sky and illuminated the room. Her eyes had split into four shards of violet anger. "Mister Spooky, get her!"
Other than the rain pounding on the windows, it was quiet in the moments before Mister Spooky came shuffling around the kitchen counter's side. Martin peeked his head out from behind it and watched. The Titans, still frozen in place by some unseen force, could only watch in morbid curiosity as the doll walked right beside Emelia and stopped to stare at Rose.
Rose stared back for a moment before her eyes flashed blue. Then they went wide.
"Oh shit." Was all she had time for before a colossal black hand burst from the doll at neck breaking speeds and snatched her off Eddie. The arm it was attached to flowed out of the doll as another limb wiggled out of it, each as thick as an old oak tree. The other hand hit the floor and bent, seemingly hoisting its 'body' forward. The next that came from flowing out of the doll was something round, a head, with a dozen yellow dots about its face. The true body followed next and it was so gargantuan that Galfore would have been dwarfed by its shadowy black mass. The first leg, spindly and slightly crooked, came out and took a firm step. The other leg followed shortly afterward and the being reared up to its full height, revealing that it towered over the Titans. Its head brushed the ceiling, it was so large. The doll dropped to the floor soundlessly.
"Rae, what the hell is that?!" Garfield asked in a hushed tone as he struggled to move.
"Ihavenoidea." Raven replied right as she determined that Emelia was responsible for their immobilization. How the little girl was doing it, she didn't know, but she really needed to stop doing it before whatever that thing was went wild.
And then to everyone's horror...it spoke!
"Yyyooooouuuuuuuusssa make Emmy maaaaaaaad!" It said in a voice that was beyond bizarre. It was like there were two voices speaking, one somewhat high pitched and nasally and the other a deep growling. It started to rock from side to side, the head bobbing back and forth in a strangely hypnotic way. "Thatta badbadbad! Meeeeeeesa punish yoooou!"
It squeezed Rose once and she cried out as an audible CRACK sounded. Something else had broken.
"Mister Spooky!" Emelia shouted up at her…thing. "I said get her, not hurt her!"
"Iiiiiiiii diiiid get her! Kekekekekekekeke!" This last sound was undoubtedly a laugh, one that sent shivers down everyone's spines.
"Not like that!" Emmy huffed. "I just wanted you to get her off mister Eddie! Stop hurting her!"
There was a rumble from the thing as a bright yellow line appeared on its stomach. It widened minutely before ripping open to reveal a gaping maw with triple rows of serrated teeth inside a yellowish mouth. Black, shadowy drool flowed freely from it and a pale green tongue ran across teeth unhindered.
"Iiiiiiiiii'sa hungry doooooooh. Little eaters hide from meeeeeee, no eat in dayz!" The monstrosity complained as it dangled Rose above its mouth like a grape. To her credit, Rose wasn't screaming her head off.
"Mister Spooky. Put. Her. Down!"
"Buuuuut-"
"PUT HER DOWN!" Emelia shouted, stomping her foot again.
The thing looked at her for a moment before closing its mouth and tossing Rose onto the floor. She hit with a heavy thud and a cry, instantly curling up and holding her ribs. Emmy ran over and out her hand on Rose's head. Raven felt something pass between the girls before Rose shuddered and passed out.
"Mommy, miss Rose isn't angry anymore. You should heal her." Emmy said as she turned around to her parents. Without warning the force holding the Titans disappeared and they staggered forward. Garfield actually failed to catch himself and hit the floor. Raven looked to Kid Devil, who was sitting up as the last of his wounds healed, then eased her way around Mister Spooky to get to Rose.
"Emelia, you have a lot of explaining to do." She said as she dropped to her knees and began healing The unconscious girl. Her ribs twinged in protest, letting Raven know that at least five of Rose's ribs had been broken in the past few minutes. How she hadn't passed out from the pain sooner was beyond the empaths understanding.
"About?" Emmy asked as her eyes returned to normal.
Raven gestured at Mister Spooky, who was sitting on the floor, arms crossed and pouting. The other Titans were watching him warily, minus Kid Devil, who came over and knelt down next to her.
"Mister Spooky? What about him?" The little girl asked, confused.
Raven was slightly exasperated with her daughter's innocence. "He…what is he? Where did he come from? I thought he was just a creepy doll."
Emelia looked at her 'friend' then back at her mother. "Mister Spooky is…Mister Spooky."
"Where did he come from?" Raven asked again as her arm started to hurt. Apparently something on Rose had broken there too.
"Um…I'm not sure."
Raven raised an eyebrow, so Emelia continued.
"He came to me while I was sleeping, come to eat the little monsters you and daddy chased off. They're always there, but he made them go away for a while. He seemed nice, so I asked him to stay and play with me." Emmy shrugged. "He asked me to shake hands with him too, so I did. After that, he was always there when I went to bed with you or daddy. After we got the doll, he did something funny and started staying in there. That's why he goes everywhere with me. He can't come out when there's too much light though, it hurts him."
Raven stared at her daughter hard. "You…you took an unknown astral demon for a familiar?"
Emma's face screwed up. "Huh?"
Raven groaned to herself. "Azar help me, you're as bad as your father."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Garfield said indignantly.
"It means that that's something you would do!" Raven snapped before she imitated his voice. "Oh, hey there little dude! You look harmless, let me bring you home and hide you from my friends!"
Garfield just couldn't argue with that.
"Um…Raven?" Kid Devil said softly. "Is she…?"
"She'll be fine." Raven said as the last of her healing magic faded. She rubbed her aching arm. "Bigger question is, why are you concerned about someone trying to kill you?"
"She doesn't mean it." He said as he sat down and gently stroked Rose's hair.
"Could have fooled me." Raven said sarcastically. "You gonna explain to us what happened between you two?"
"It's…complicated." Eddie replied, his eyes never leaving the unconscious girl. "She is, well, was, my girlfriend."
"I've heard of exes hating each other, but this goes waaaaaay past that dude." Garfield said. "Also, she's your ex?! I had no idea, dude, honest."
"Like I said, its complicated. I didn't exactly get to say goodbye." Eddie said defensively.
"She better be in a talkative mood when she wakes up." Robin interrupted. "I am not happy with what just went down in my living room."
Eddie flinched but nodded.
Raven got up and slowly made her way over to the demon. Garfield was at her side within heartbeats, tensed and ready to spring into action if things went south.
"You there, demon." Raven called out. "I demand that you release my daughter from your contract and leave."
"But mommy-" Emelia started to say.
"Hush." Garfield interrupted sternly.
The demon, Mister Spooky, lumbered to its feet and towered over the Titans once more. Raven and Garfield shifted to combat stances as it leaned over them and Raven could feel the other Titans ready themselves as well.
"No." The demon said plainly.
Raven's eyebrow rose. "Excuse me? That wasn't a question. That was-"
"Thaaaasssaaa myyyy humannnn." The demon rumbled, pointing at Emelia. "I stay-a with myyyy hummaan."
"That is my daughter and you are using her for bait!" Raven said angrily.
"She be bait afore I cooooome." The demon snorted. The empath visibly bristled and it snorted again. "Dere's nahtink to be scared of, spawn of Scaaaaath. I no a-cross yoooooou."
Raven froze for a split second before looking at the demon uncertainly. "You know who I am?"
It nodded. "All our kiiiiin know de one who killed Scaaaath. Big-a name, big-a fear."
"So you know what I'll do to you if you harm my daughter?" Raven said, letting her demonic eyes out.
The demon nodded again. "Thassa my huuuuman. I no hurt, I protect."
"You protect her because she draws in your food?"
The hidden mouth on the demons belly split into a wide, toothy grin. "Exactly. De longer she lives, de more food for meeeeeeee kekekekeke!"
Raven stared at the grinning demon for a moment before closing her demonic eyes and glaring at it.
"If you do anything to harm my daughter, you will beg for death when I'm done with you. Understand?" Raven growled.
It nodded again. "Twouldn't expect anyting less from yoooou. But don't worrrrrry preeeeencess of da pit, I protect my hummaaans."
Her skin crawling at being called princess of the pit, Raven nodded and turned away. "You are dismissed. Return to your doll."
"Kekekeke…" The demon laughed as it slowly faded into shadows that flowed over to the doll and reentered it. It got to its feet and padded back to the couch.
"That was nothing less than absolutely freaky." Garfield said as he rubbed his arms from the goosebumps racing up and down them. "You sure its okay to leave it alone?"
Raven threw up her arms helplessly. "I don't want to, but both parties must want to separate in order to void the contract. That or one of them dies. But the thing is…it confirmed that it's in a contract with her. The demon literally cannot hurt her. The bond would cause a magical backlash that would absolutely annihilate it. Now, it can hurt other people, which is what I suspect happened to Mumbo and Mother Mae Eye…"k
"So…she is safe from this demon?" Robin asked. "What about Martin?"
"Yes and I'm pretty sure he's safe too. Emelia is too attached to him to let anything happen to him. I'm not certain what kind of astral demon it is, but it eats nightmares. Those are the bottom of the barrel demons of the astral plane, so whatever Mister Spooky is can't possibly be that much stronger." Raven sighed. "I just know I'm going to have a colossal headache by the time this day is over."i9
"Did I do something bad?" Emmy asked in a small voice.
Raven looked at her. "Yes, but it will be okay."
"I'm sorry." The little girl sniffled. "I thought Mister Spooky was nice 'cause he helped me."
"It'll be alright, Emelia." Raven said as she pat the girl on the head. She glanced at Garfield and mouthed keep an eye on it and he nodded in response.
"Ohhhhh, why does it feel like I got hit by a truck?" Came the sudden and unexpected voice of Rose from the floor.
"A truck would have hurt less." Raven deadpanned by reflex. She looked at Rose to find her rubbing her face, still on the floor. After a moment, her hands came away and she looked up in confusion.
"Eddie?" She asked.
He smiled down at her. "Hey babe. Long time no-" POW! "-ARGH! JESUS CHRIST, MY NOSE! WHY'S IT ALWAYS MY NOSE?!"
Raven sighed. Here we go again…
"What I'd like to know is, why am I not angry any more?" Rose asked as she sat up, ignoring the whimpering Kid Devil beside her. He was clutching his freshly rebroken nose, blood streaming out of it once more.
"I made you one of mine, so you can't get mad at Mister Eddie anymore 'cause he's one of mine too!" Emelia said with a big smile.
Rose shot Raven a questioning look, but Raven had no answers for her.
"Beats me." She said before gesturing at Eddie. "You need to explain all of this, though. Preferably before Robin throws you in a cell."
"There's nothing to explain." Rose said as she got up, ignoring Eddie completely. "Dirtbag ex-boyfriend did dirtbag things. I am fully within my rights to punish him for it."
"Murder is not one of your constitutional rights, Rose." Robin coolly.
"Depends on which government official you ask." She replied just as coolly before walking away. She started moving about the trashed living room, looking for something.
"Rose, babe, hold on a sec-" Eddie said as he got up. There was an audible pop as his nose fixed itself. He reached out for her.
"Touch me and I'll remove your testicles with a rusty spoon." She said without looking at him.
He very quickly pulled back, knowing she would do that.
"You can't do that, Miss Rose!" Emelia practically pouted. "You can't get mad at him!"
"Oh Emmy, if think I need to be angry to hurt someone, you are very mistaken." Rose said as she looked around. "Anybody seen my purse?"
Raven and Garfield exchanged looks. Rose was usually calm considering everything that just happened. Just what exactly did Emelia do to her?
"Aha! There it is!" Rose exclaimed as she stooped behind a fallen chair and grabbed her missing item.
Wary of the unpredictable girl, Raven chanted her mantra and held her hand out. The furniture scattered about began to right itself and float back to where it all originally was. The broken ones went off into the corner for repairing later.
"What did you do to me?" She heard Rose ask Emelia.
"I made you one of mine like mommy and daddy and Martin and Uncle Cy and Uncle Rob and Auntie Star and Mister Eddie and Auntie Jinx and Mister Wally and and and…" Emelia ticked off her fingers be faltered when she got to the last one. She looked at it, then smiled up at Rose. "You make ten!"
"Ten of what?" Rose asked, just as confused as the little girls family.
"Mine."
"What does that even mean?"
Emelia's face screwed up in thought. "You're mine. You belong to me!"
Rose's eyebrow rose up. "I don't belong to anybody, kid."
"You do nooooow!" Emmy replied sweetly.
"Right." Rose deadpanned. "And the big monster thing?"
"That's Mister Spooky!"
"The doll?"
"Yep!"
Rose stared at her for a moment before shaking her head. "Okay, its official. You guys are the freakiest people in existence. I'm out."
She turned to leave, but found Robin and Starfire blocking her way.
"Answers, Rose." Robin said sternly. "Now."
"You already know I have extensive martial arts training from my ex-military father, now you know I'm a precog metahuman." Rose sighed in exasperation. "What else is there to know?"
"I want to know why you just tried to kill my teammate in our home!" Robin snapped, his fists clenching in frustration.
"Because he's a dirtbag who ruined my life." Rose snapped back. Robin, who wasn't expecting that particular answer, took a step back out of surprise. Starfire, however, stepped forward.
"Just because the two of you had disagreements and separated it does not give you the right to cause him bodily harm!" Star said angrily.
"There is nothing any of you can say to change my mind. Not now, not ever. Now move, I'm going home." Rose snapped again. She went to go around them, but Robin stepped in front of her.
"You're not going anywhere." He said coldly
Rose growled in frustration. "Listen here you spiky haired little fuc-" BAMF!
The Titans stared at the empty space in shock for a moment. Both Eddie and Rose were gone!
Shaking himself from his stupor, Robin whipped out his communicator and turned on the tracker.
"They're in the park." He said before looking up. "Beast Boy, Raven, you two have responsibility for this situation. Bring them back."
The two Titans grimaced but nodded.
"Let's go mama." Gar said as he grasped Raven's hand.
She nodded. "Alright."
They emerged into a downpour. Since neither of them had been paying much attention to the weather outside, they were understandably a bit surprised at their immediate soaking. They dashed under a tree, shook off, then started looking around.
"Look, there!" Garfield said, tugging on her arm and pointing off in the distance. Raven didn't see anything but trees and rain, but she teleported them to the cluster nearest to where her boyfriend pointed.
"-Rose, please just listen to me!" She heard Eddie shout. She peered into the rain and barely made out his red body in the distance. With a frown, she teleported them even closer, though it was but a single tree as their shelter this time.
"I said I don't care, Eddie. Go away!" Rose said back, trying to walk away. Eddie grabbed her arm and she whirled around and smacked him hard enough to send him back a step, releasing her. She turned to leave once more.
He ran around and in front of her. "Rose! I swear to God I didn't mean to leave! Please, just hear me out!"
"Didn't mean to leave, my ass!" Rose huffed, shoving him out of the way. He almost slipped and fell on his butt, but managed to catch himself.
"Look, I know it looked that way, but I swear that isn't what happened!" He shouted after her.
"Yeah right." She called back sarcastically. "You pussed out like a bitch and ran."
"No! I died!" He shouted.
Rose stopped and he almost slid into her. She turned around slowly and looked at him.
"You died? Really? That's what you're going with?" She said with exasperated disbelief.
"Yes! I really did die!" Eddie nodded enthusiastically.
"You are the healthiest looking corpse I've ever seen." Rose said sarcastically.
"I swear on Blue Devil's life that I died, babe. Please…let me explain." He begged.
Rose didn't answer him, but she did cross her arms, seemingly unfazed by him and the downpour.
"Okay, look, the truth is that with what we had going on I was panicking a little bit. I was wandering around the city doing my patrol, looking for something to do to distract myself from it for just a few minutes, just long enough to stop myself from having a panic attack…" Eddie said.
"He was panicking over a relationship?" Raven murmured, slightly confused.
"That's weird…" Garfield murmured back. "Why would someone freak over that?"
"Not sure…"
"…and then after I handed the mugger over, I decided to stop by McDonald's for a shake. I was literally in the middle of texting to see if you wanted anything when I heard a woman scream in the distance. So, doing my hero thing, I took off. I had to look around for a few minutes before I noticed someone slumped over halfway down an alleyway. I ran down there and sure enough, it was a girl a bit older than us. She was unconscious and had a bloody gash on her head. I went to pick her up and then…nothing." Eddie's shoulders slumped.
Rose waited a moment before raising an eyebrow. "Nothing? Just nothing?"
He shrugged sheepishly. "Well, at first, yeah. Then I think I woke up or opened my eyes or something because I was in Hell! Like, literally Hell! I was kneeling in front of Neron and he looked so happy to see me and I had no idea why I was there or what happened. He told me I died and it filled some sort of clause in my contract that-"
"So you just magically appeared in Hell, unwillingly and unwittingly? With no explanation?" Rose interrupted him.
"Umm…yeah…" Eddie said, apparently realizing how lame that sounded.
"So why didn't you come back? You can teleport."
"I couldn't, Neron wouldn't let me!" Eddie threw his hands up in the air. "Somehow, in that contract that I made with him it stated that any time that I was in Hell I was under his complete control! I couldn't do anything without his permission! He made me his freaking errand boy!"
Rose stared at him for a good and long moment before she finally shook her head.
"I can't believe this is the best you could come up with." She said disgustedly.
His jaw dropped. "Whaddaya mean by that?! It's the truth!"
"Bullshit. People don't come back from the dead, Eddie."
"They do if the King of Hell brings you back to life!" He shot back.
She snorted in obvious disbelief. "Oh? So now the king if Hell helped you?"
"Yeah, he did! I made a deal with him so that-"
"Oh, cut the bullshit already!" Rose suddenly shouted at him. "Man up and admit it! You abandoned me!"
"I didn't abandon you!" He shouted back. "I already told you I-" POW!
He was flat on his ass and clutching his mouth, Rose standing before him with a raised fist. The cold look had returned to her eyes.
"You got me into that situation and abandoned me because you couldn't handle the responsibility." She said quietly, almost inaudible under the rainfall. "Why don't you go crawl back to whatever rock you crawled out from under?"
And with that, she turned on her heel and stomped off into the rain. Eddie stayed down for only a minute before he was back up and chasing after her.
"Goddamnit Rose, stop being so thick skulled and listen to me! I didn't spend all that time in Hell waiting to see you again for nothing!" He shouted angrily.
"Yeah right."
BAMF!
"Why won't you listen-" Eddie said as he appeared in front of Rose, but was cut off when she kicked him in between the legs. He hit the muddy ground hard, gasping for air, and Raven could feel the unbelievable amount of pain he was in. Garfield cringed and cupped himself.
"You know, if I had hit you there all those years ago we wouldn't even be having this conversation." Rose said as she peered down at him. He made a choking noise and tried to grab her leg. She moved out of his reach. She was quiet for a moment as he lay there crying and clutching his possibly ruptured testicles. She did kick him pretty hard.
"Just so you know, Eddie…" She said slowly. "I hate you."
He looked up at her in disbelief and she nodded.
"I mean it. I hate you. I wasn't happy before we met, but I was content. I was relatively free, I had money to do what I want, and I wasn't unhappy. More bored than anything, but not unhappy. And then I met you and everything changed. I learned how to be happy, how to smile and laugh and dance and so many other things. I was so excited to be alive every single day. All because of you."
Garfield and Raven didn't need their powers to tell that she had started crying. The crack in her voice spoke volumes.
"And then you know what happened? You left. You disappeared without a single word, not even a I'm breaking up with you or a goodbye. The only person in my entire life who ever really cared about me decided he didn't care anymore and dipped out. Do you have any idea what I went through? Do you have any idea how many nights I cried until I passed out from exhaustion? Do you have any idea how hard I tried to find you, to try to fix whatever I did to make you leave me? Do you, Eddie? Do you?!"
This last question was practically screamed at the boy before her, who was trying to get up without much success.
"I hate you, Eddie!" She screamed again. "I hate that I ever fell for those sweet words, for that cute smile, for those stupid pickup lines! I hate that you tricked me into believing I was more than a weapon, that I was a person just everybody else! I hate that you made me feel everything! I was better off as a weapon, when I didn't feel anything!"
"You don't mean that." Eddie said as he finally pulled himself to his knees. "You don't mean any of that."
"The hell I don't!" She snapped. "At least when I was working for my father I wasn't miserable and depressed!"
"Then let me fix this, please! I'll spend the rest of my life making this up to you if I have to! I'll do anything you want…" He trailed off because Rose was shaking her head. It almost seemed like her anger had deflated out of her again.
"No." She said simply. "I don't want anything to do with you. I don't want to see you, I don't want to hear you, I don't want to think about you. All any of that does is hurt and I'm so tired of hurting. Go away Eddie, and leave me alone. We're done, like we have been for years."
She turned and walked away this time, leaving Eddie staring at her in shock. She got three steps before he shook himself from it and called out once more.
"Rose, wait! Can I at least see the baby?"
Raven and Garfield gasped and looked at each other. Both had been to Rose's apartment but neither had seen anything to even suggest she had a kid.
Rose stopped and was quiet long enough to make the Titans nervous. When she finally did speak, it wasn't what any of them wanted to hear.
"What baby?" She said softly.
Eddie gaped at her, understandably shocked and confused. "What do you mean what baby?! You were three months pregnant when I died!"
"When you abandoned me." Rose corrected him.
"When I died!" He repeated. "Now what do you mean what baby?!"
Silence.
And then...
"I got rid of it."
"What?!" Eddie shouted. "Why?!"
Another moment of silence before she sighed.
"Because…after you left…I spent all the money I had trying to find you. Every. Single. Penny. I lost your apartment because I couldn't pay rent. I had to move all our stuff to one of my fathers storage units and live out of the truck I borrowed from him before we met. I was at rock-fucking-bottom, sleeping in a truck and spending more time hungry than not hungry. At one point I broke down and asked your douchebag buddy Zach if I could borrow some money. He gave me a hundred bucks and I had to make it last as long as I could. And then…when I thought things couldn't get any worse…my father showed up."
"Don't tell me he…"
Rose shook her head. "Actually, he said he had been looking for me for a little while. He said he'd been doing a lot of thinking lately and wanted to reconnect with me. He didn't want to be on bad terms with his only living child anymore. Hell, he even said he was willing to accept you and he hated you." She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "I…I had a break down. A bad one. I told him about you disappearing and how I was, about my pregnancy, everything. He was furious. He probably would have killed you on the spot if you had popped up. He and Wintergreen got a Uhaul and got all our stuff and took me home. Do you understand that, Eddie? I moved back in with my father. It doesn't actually sound bad when you say it out loud, but…you know how he is. Controlling. He retook control of my bank account and wouldn't let me do anything but look for you online. We spent weeks searching the globe through contacts…but found nothing. I was so utterly depressed that I wasn't eating. Father actually started forcing me to eat, telling me that I had to be strong for my baby, had to survive for it. He became hell-bent on me getting healthier and I couldn't figure out why until…"
Her hand came up and covered her rain soaked face. The blood from her nostrils had long since washed away, but she wiped the spot anyways. "I used my power to eavesdrop on a conversation father had with Wintergreen. As it would turn out, all he wanted was the baby. My baby. He was going to let me keep it for a few years, then take it and turn it into his next apprentice since his last one was dead. He said he knew he should have kept it a family business from the beginning and paid the price for trying something new. I knew that blonde bitch was trouble the first time I saw her, but I didn't figure she'd die so quickly."
Eddie jumped up. "You mean your father has our baby?! We have to go get-"
"No he doesn't." Rose interrupted him.
"Then…where is it?" He asked slowly.
"I always did have to spell things out for you." She sighed again. When he didn't reply, she finally turned to look at him. "I killed it, Eddie."
His eyes (along with Raven and Beast Boy's) nearly popped out of his skull. "YOU WHAT?!"
"I. Killed. It." Rose said slowly and clearly, enunciating every word so that even the most thick skulked individual could understand. "I deliberately had a miscarriage. I killed our child. I had to get creative to induce it, but I did do it."
"WHY?!" Eddie shouted.
She gave him a look that was both grieving and disbelieving. "Did you not hear what I said? My father, that manipulative sociopathic lunatic, was going to take my baby away. He was going to turn it into another me. There was no way in hell that I was going to let him do that."
"That's that's that's-" Eddie stuttered, unable to comprehend what he was hearing.
"That's what I did. I killed our baby to stop it from becoming like me, another monster in human skin." She gave him a little smile, but the look in her eyes spelled madness in a way that sent shivers down Raven's spine. "Believe me, Eddie, I know full and well the extent of my issues and I can live with them. But our child? No. I refused to let that happen, but my alternative options were also nonexistent. I literally had no where else to go, no friends, no money of my own, no family other than father…and then I had no baby, no new apprentice for daddy dearest." Her arms came up, one hand clutching her ribs and the other clutched the upper part of her other arm. "He was so unbelievably mad that I 'lost' the child. I still have no idea how I survived that…"
"Rose…I'm sorry…" Eddie choked, overwhelmed with grief.
"Yes, you are." Rose said softly into the rain before turning away once more. "And that's all the story you're getting. I did what I believed was right and that's all there is to it. I'm going home now and I never want to see you again, never want to hear you again, never want anything to do with you again. Understand?"
Eddie couldn't answer, so Rose walked away and disappeared into the rain, leaving three shell shocked Titans behind.
"We…we should go…" Garfield muttered, trying to wrap his mind around everything he just heard. Eddie dropped to knees where he stood and he didn't need his enhanced senses to tell him the devilkin was crying.
"Okay." Raven replied in a rather small voice.
They dropped through a portal back into the common room and Raven immediately sought out a chair and sat down, burying her face in her hands.
"That was fast, where are Kid Devil and Rose?" She heard Robin ask.
"Dude, you are not going to believe what just went down…." Garfield replied.
Raven tuned them out. She was trying really hard to not be sick from the sheer intensity of negative emotions she had just been exposed to. That was far too much to take in like that, particularly from Rose. She had long since figured that the girl had a questionable state of mentality…but this was a lot worse than she expected. She had no idea how to process it either.
And the worst part was that everything that had just happened was her ffault
