What? Only two reviews? What, did the not-BBxRae-ness scare off all you BBxRae fans! Sorry!

Okay, I have a disclaimer, or rather a claimer. The books, bands, and paraphernalia mentioned in this episode are entirely all mine. I thought it would be nice to go a little in-depth into what Raven actually has in her room.

Ebony days

4. Ebony Wednesday

-If you desire to know the truth, you must also have the courage to accept it-

"You are poison, Malchior." Raven said, steeling herself for the coming task. "I can never love anyone, especially you. I've already had to lie to my friends for your sake, and I won't do it again. You try to win me over with your honeyed words, but I'm not going to fall for that again. You are evil, Malchior, and I have sworn to destroy evil."

"Raven…" Malchior's voice was torn with pain, wracked with agony. No, it was not physical, but something worse. In truth, it was Raven who had betrayed; betrayed him, after he had opened his soul to her.

"No, Malchior." Raven said, and her voice was cold as steel, hardened like a dagger. "I can never trust you, so I'm going to get rid of you…"

Even though she wasn't showing any emotions, inside the young superhero was crying. She knew that Malchior was evil, yet she was still falling in love with him. He just had a way with words, an aura of calm; a cynical humor about things that could always make Raven laugh. It broke her heart that she had to kill him.

She picked up his book and carried it out of her room, then out of the tower. It was early morning on Wednesday, and the wind was howling outside, but still, that was where she had to go. She walked to the edge of the island, and then stopped. She knew he was evil, yes, she knew it with her entire being, but she couldn't go through with it. She felt a tearing feeling in her heart, a bittersweet pain that she had never experienced before.

Is this love…? She asked herself in disbelief. Have I truly fallen in love with this…monster? She mentally shook herself, trying to rid herself of that feeling. But it remained; a constant reminder in her chest. No! I can't…I'm not allowed to love…

"Sweet, sweet Raven…just…just for a little while…will you let me out? Just to prove to you that I'm sincere?" The voice came from the closed book, and it was tried and hurt and pained all at once. Unless he was a better actor than even she thought…he was telling her the truth; he was asking sincerely.

"N--No….I-" She stopped; she just couldn't go on. She just couldn't say the words she knew in her heart. It was full to bursting, and she couldn't stop the tears as they ran slowly down her face. She had never cried before Malchior came…

"Raven…just trust me for once. Trust me…as you once did."

The wind itself seemed to be dark, an ethereal black thing tugging at her face and hair. The wind wrapped Raven around in a dark circle of slightly chilled air. It stung at her face and at the tears she tried in vain to quell.

"Malchior--I can't." She choked out, just barely keeping her voice steady. It was a good thing he could not see her.

"Sweet Raven." It was all he said, two words: her name; and she broke. She broke down and cried.

"Malchior, I can't be strong anymore! I love you, and I know I can't, but I do! I'm not strong enough to hold it back any longer!"

"None of us are, when it comes to love." The dragon's voice was soothing, like he was calming a small child. Kind and forgiving of all her faults. "Why don't you, just for once, trust your heart…and not your head?"

Raven just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. But then, upon realizing he could not see her, said "Yes…yes Malchior, I'll do it."

"Thank you, dear Raven. This means so much…so, so much to me. You will not regret it. I promise…"

And how much is your word worth? Raven thought to herself, still trying to retain even a little part of her original mistrust. She knew that if she ever fell completely in love with him, when he betrayed her she would be beyond grief…beyond consolation.

She turned around and headed back inside, leaving the dark wind to blow by itself out there in the cold. The young half-demon carefully walked past everyone's rooms, and up into her own. Once there, she put the book on it's blue marble stand, and began to recite the spell.

There was no turning back now, she realized. But although she had already known it to a lesser degree, now it hit her full force, like a sledgehammer to the side of her head. She was risking her life, as well as the trust of her friends, all for the sake of a love she still had yet to fully comprehend. If he was the dragon, then she could never face her friends again, and if he was a human, then what was she to do…?

The whirlwind began, and Raven's heart was in her throat as a human shape began to outline itself in the middle of the spiraling wind. But that was how it had happened before…before his true form had appeared.

But there was no dragon this time, just a human half a head taller than her emerging from the dying tornado. He looked so much like his elder brother. He had the same long white hair and grey skin -so much like Raven's- that she had seen on Rorek in the pictures of Malchior's book. His eyes, however, were black as night, shining bright and piercing Raven's heart with a sweet sorrow.

He wore silver armor with a black long-sleeved tunic and breeches under the armor, which consisted of a breast plate, elbow, shoulder, and thigh plates, as well as silver plated knee boots. He wore a black scarf that covered his nose and mouth. He looked very much like his brother.

After the initial awe of the sorcerer wore off for Raven, she gathered up the courage to speak, albeit in a whisper. "Malchior…!" It was barely audible, and as soon as it was out her chest contracted in a sob.

Malchior put his finger to her lips, telling her it was okay not to speak. "I'm glad." He said. "Thank you, Raven, so much." He looked happy; his dark eyes sparkling, his grey skin polished and gleaming. It was as if he had just come in to being, with all worldly cares not yet upon him, still shining from the place he came from.

He walked toward her and wrapped her in an embrace. He hugged her tight with gratitude. "I'm so glad, sweet Raven."

"Malchior." Raven said in a longing voice. If only things could have been different for them…If only there could have been a different series of events; less unfortunate. Robin and the others could never accept Malchior, even if she had the courage to tell them about him.

"Raven, is something wrong?" Malchior asked in a concerned voice, pulling back from her just enough to look down to see if she was alright. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can get through this together." He was so confident, but only because he was not in Raven's position. He didn't have to face the other Teen Titans.

"Yes Malchior, something is wrong. We can't just keep doing this." The young superhero's face fell, expecting Malchior to get upset again. After the happy look in his eyes, she couldn't bear to dispirit him again.

"Doing what, sweet Raven? I thought you loved me? Don't you want me to be free?"

"Yes Malchior; I mean no, I want you to be free, but I can't keep pretending. I can't keep lying to the others. I have an obligation to them as well as to you. I do love you, I love you with all my heart, but there are other things in this world besides you and me."

Malchior looked slightly hurt, but then he shook his head with a rueful smile. "I've spent so much time thinking about only you that I've forgotten that there's more to a person's life than one other being. Forgive me, dear Raven, and I will try my hardest to not be so selfish."

"You're not selfish." Raven said. "You're one of the kindest, most understanding people I've ever met, and that's why I love you. Even when I showed nothing but hate and loathing for you, you stuck with me. Even when I threatened to destroy you, you still loved me. And, Malchior, I think…I think that when you're in love, thinking about only your object of affection is natural. You don't need to apologize. You're just being…human." She ended, and then she understood that she could not have been more blind, for how could someone with so many human failings, like selfishness and anger, -if only shown in brief- could be an evil, magical dragon. It was just not possible that, no matter how smart and cunning, a heartless beast could produce the palpable stir of emotions like those she had felt from Malchior?

"Raven?" Malchior asked gently after a long silence. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I couldn't be more okay, Malchior. I finally understand, and I'm the one that should be sorry. I gave you so much grief just because I let my spite blind me. I should have known that someone like you, someone so…human, could not have been the dragon I fought." She hugged him back, holding tightly to his shirt, not wanting to ever let him go.

"Raven!" Malchior said suddenly in an overjoyed voice, pulling out of the embrace and taking her hand. "I have something I want to show you!" He pulled her out of her room and down to the first floor of the tower, and then out the door. The sun was just rising and the wind was still blowing.

"Fly us up to the top." He said, pointing at the top of Titans Tower.

Without question –because she trusted Malchior- Raven took hold of both his arms and levitated them both up to the top of the tower. Once up, she looked at Malchior. "What is this about?" She asked in a quizzical voice.

"Just wait." He said, and then turned to face the wind. He held himself in a spell casting stance, with his arms outstretched. "As dialtis morintum kazneo on yame!" He cried, and suddenly the wind was like a fast-moving black mist. Slightly transparent, but able to be seen.

He took a seat, and Raven sat down next to him, and they watched the sun rise, wrapped in the dark wind's embrace. Although Raven's eyes couldn't see it, Malchior's eyes were glowing with joy.

- - - - - - - -

Back in her room, Raven was of two minds. On the one hand, Malchior hadn't lied, and she was secretly glad of it. But on the other, she had made an emotional decision, and it had left her weak and shaky…but in a good way. The other Titans were out fighting Cinderblock, but after a well place coughing fit and the lie that she had caught a cold while she had been meditating that morning, the Titans had agreed that she should stay home.

Now she was just relaxing in her room, reading with Malchior with the sounds of a gothic classical band –Memento Mori- playing in the background, she rejoiced at her freedom.

"Now this is a good book." Malchior said, holding up her prized possession out of all her books.

"Something Above the Rest? Yeah. Have you ever read it?" Raven smiled, even though the book in question was about as joyous as an economic disaster. It was just such a relief to spend time uninterrupted with the man she loved, although they had yet to show and signs of affection besides hugging.

"No actually, but I've heard about it."

"In a book?" Raven asked dubiously. "You know it's recent, right?"

Malchior just laughed, not patronizing or anything, just a normal guy laugh. "I have my sources, sweet Raven."

"How about Thine Own Heart?" Raven asked, holding up a thick and dusty volume. "It was published about your time, right?"

"Yes. A hard read for a boy of twelve, but I got through it. Quite enjoyable too."

"If you like that, then listen to this." Raven said, then picked up a thin volume of poetry.

"Murder is easy

When you have wings

Because angel sluts

Don't cling to dreams.

I'm the devil's mother

A darkling beauty

Careless about ethereal flings

And bound to no duty.

But I'm just a plastic love

A cosmetic pleasure doll

Touch me and taste me

The naked beauty down the hall.

I've got a fear

Of cleanliness

Or even worse, getting close

The feeling of friendliness.

"Well, what do you think?" Raven asked, thinking about her favorite poet, Pandora Faust.

"Dark." Was Malchior's only reply. He then turned and stopped the music, motioning for her to be quiet.

I heard footsteps. He mouthed. Raven, being an expert lip-reader, nodded and opened with door with a wave of her hand.

You stay here. Raven said, then walked out of the door and into a deserted hallway. Malchior made as if to follow her, but Raven closed and locked the door with another wave of the same hand.

"Raven, wait! I could protect you!" Malchior's cry was tinted with fear, even though Raven had a mind that she already knew who the 'intruder' was.

"You could also give me away. It's just the other Titans. They're walking quietly so as not to disturb me, and if they find you I'm dead, and so are you…literally."

"No, it's not them. There's a high amount of white magic involved. A woman's tread, and one who does not want to be known."

Without answering, Raven turned and headed in the direction of the noise. When she arrived at the main room, she saw something that she never would have expected. A pale woman of average height, with jet black hair and dark eyes of an indiscernible color stood in the middle of her room, looking very out of place around the modern objects in the room.

"Young Raven, do you know who I am…?" She asked in a clear voice that seemed to echo in the room. She wore a violet open-sleeved dress that was not unlike a medieval gown. The neckline was low, and the skirt was open and billowing.

"No…" Raven answered in a small voice, awed by the terrible, queenly woman before her.

"I am Evania. I come from Azarath to put an end to the dragon Malchior." She said this in a normal tone, but it seemed to echo in every corner of Raven's head. I come…to put an end…to Malchior. That was all that Raven heard. She was going to kill Malchior…?

"NO!" Raven shouted. Her voice echoed in the sunlit room, yet it might as well have been night for the blackness that had entered Raven's heart. "You will not kill him! I won't allow it!"

Evania sighed, as if she knew it would be difficult. "I'm afraid you have no say in this, Raven, for it was Arella, your own mother, who was the one that told me to do this."

Raven gasped, and stepped back, as if the messenger from her home was an evil beast only now showing it's true form. "My…mother. No…no…how…why…how does she know of him!"

"All of Azarath knows of him, for we personally knew his brother. Rorek came to us after his brother left the family, and asked to be trained in the good magics. We taught him sealing spells, we showed him our great libraries, and in time be became the most powerful sorcerer of that time. I myself trained him, just as I trained you, Raven, in time. Besides you, he was the only outsider we ever let enter our sanctuary."

"But…how…?" Raven was slowly beginning to feel numb, filled past the bursting point with revelations. She was just glad Malchior hadn't come with her.

"But I still look young? How could I live that long? Raven, I know more spells than the two brothers combined. And as for the dragon, my apprentice told me that he would take care of his brother himself. I told him that he wouldn't be able to completely destroy his brother, but the foolish boy didn't listen, and now…Now that hundreds of years have passed Malchior still remains, so I have come to destroy him."

"But what has Malchior ever done to you!" Raven shouted. "Besides, he's not an evil dragon! That's just a curse that we, with your help, may be able to remove!" Raven was shaking with fear and anger. Fear for Malchior and anger toward the woman who had shattered her illusion of happiness.

"Raven…it's not Malchior we are worried about. I know well enough that by himself that dragon has no claws, since his curse was broken when you released him in human form. It's the effect he has on…certain…people that worries me." She sighed again, and then turned and looked Raven straight in the eye. "Raven, let me be blunt here. His effect on you, and on your control is obvious. You never cried, never loved, almost never got angry before you met him. You know better than anyone that your emotions are dangerous, especially so close to your birthday. So for your own sake and for the sake of all of us, let me destroy him."

"NO!" Raven shouted, letting her rage take over. "I won't let you kill him!" But when there was no reply, she looked and saw that Evania was gone. Who was there, however, were the rest of the Titans, who had just walked through the main door.

"What's going on here, Raven?" Robin asked.

To be continued…

Some actual plot there!

But seriously, guys, I need reviews! That's the whole reason I still write! I love all the nice things people say to me, and it hurts when you don't reply after I get a new episode up. So please, do the writer a favor! And each time you review, I'll review one of your fics, so it's good for both of us! Bye!