Chapter Six: Fantastic Terrors Never Felt Before

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
Doubtless,' said I, what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'


But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking Nevermore.'

Hatred burst out of her icy prison, scattering razor-sharp shards in every direction. Robin covered himself and the two Ravens with his cloak, shielding them from the attack. "You tormented me for the last time, Boy Wonder. I am so sick of you leading me on and dropping me like a sack of shit. What am I to you?!" she growled, flinging more dark arrows at him. He skillfully dodged the barrage of arrows, and threw a bird-a-rang at the demonic entity. It flew right through her, and out of sight. "Stupid boy, physical attacks won't work on me. You're in my world." she smirked. Suddenly, Robin's clothes glowed black, and started to crush his body. He could feel his bones grinding together as the black aura turned into a tentacle, dragging him toward the red-eyed monster of Raven's anger. Darkness began encroaching on his vision as the little air left in his lungs was pushed out of him, but just for a moment, he saw a faint golden glow above Hatred's chest. He struggled, and managed to get one arm free of the dark girl's vice-like grip. He was close enough now to touch her. Before Hatred could react, Robin plunged his hand into the golden glow. Hatred shrieked in agony as his hand closed around something cold and hard. With his last remaining strength, Robin pulled out the object, covered in the warm crimson life of Hatred. The tentacle dropped him, and vanished under her cloak. Hatred wrapped her arms around herself, blood flowing freely from the area where her heart should be. She crumpled and fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face. "Why do you steal my heart? Why do you have to break it?" she murmured, vanishing.

Robin sighed a painful sigh as he watched Raven's anger fade away. He managed to prop himself up on the pillar the other two Ravens were bound to. Resting in his hand was a glass heart, a tiny golden key visible inside. Now he knew what she meant by "Why do you have to break it?". The only way to free Raven was to break her heart. Raven moaned in pain, and Robin, to his horror, found that she and all of the other Ravens were bleeding profusely from where their hearts should have been. "Robin...Hurry, please. I can't last much longer, and if I die, you'll die too." Raven muttered, anguish evident in her voice. Love coughed, and blood dribbled down her chin.

"Robin, kill me, break me please. Destroy me, so that you all might live. Just crush me. I'm in the palm of your hand. Break me, and set us all free." Love muttered weakly, smiling a smile of sorrow up at Robin. "I won't be gone forever, but I will be in pain for a very long time. I won't leave right away either." Raven looked behind her at Love, and, though she would never admit it, decided she liked her new emotion, and smiled at her.

"But....what will this do to you, Raven?"

"You don't need to worry about me. I'll be okay."

Robin took a deep breath, and crushed the fragile glass heart in the palm of his hand. Every facet of Raven's personality screamed as the glass shattered. Left in Robin's open hand was the tiny golden key. He pushed the key into the tiny golden lock labeled "Doubt", and tried to turn it. It wouldn't budge.

Something had gone horribly wrong. Raven was dying. He had crushed her heart for this; the wrong key to setting her free.

A.N. Hullo all. This will be the last part for a bit, until I can finish writing these final three chapters. I'll try to update as often as possible, but no guarantees on when that'll be. Three chapters left, and so much more to say! Sorry for the shortness, but this seemed to be a convenient place to stop. Anywho, LATER PEOPLES!

Julia-Nevermore