Wow… you guys are amazing. I couldn't believe how many reviews came in the first two days. Let me tell you… seeing those Review Alerts in my mailbox always make me happy so a big "thank you" to all who reviewed and have been reviewing faithfully.
Yes, I'm very slow to updating. It's hard for me to find the time to do it, but I shall try my best to get these chapters updated as quick as possible.
There will be nine chapters. Perhaps I can finish this before the summer. p All right, hopefully sooner.
Enjoy!
-Kree
Thirteen, single white rose petals created a semi circle around a gray pedestal. Sprinkled upon them were black ashes, fresh from the spirited licks of the fire. A silver goblet stood before each petal with a dark red liquid, motionless in its holder. It was blood, human blood from her victims in the past that Sagira had saved for such an occasion. Her fingertips spread a white powder, crushed bone of unicorn, into the blood and dropped an ancient venomous herb when she was finished. Finally, she drew a vial from the violet sash around her thin waist. She had collected dragon saliva earlier from Malchior's mouth for such object was required for the spell. Three drops went into every mixture and then she put the glass vial back into her sash.
She stepped onto the pedestal with the staff in her hands. She could not use her staff for this certain spell, so she let it levitate in the air behind her. Malchior, in his human form, the bitter wind cutting at his white hair, walked up towards Sagira. He put his delicate hand on her shoulder, slightly startling her, sending an instant reaction to her cheeks. "Would you like me to hold your staff while you work the spell?"
"My staff has a powerful protection spell that is deadly to all but me," said Sagira with a seducing smile. She turned towards him, her fingertips trailing the chest piece of his armor. "I'd hate to see you get fried before all the fun began."
"Nor would I."
"You're young," her mouth whispered just above his ear. "But still quite attractive."
"I'm over a thousand years old. You're maybe, a hundred years my senior? Lady, I'm sure," his hands moved down her waist, "this could all work out."
"I'm glad I didn't get to kill you," she mused. "Now I must begin the spell: the moonlight hits the rock on which we stand. I need your help, Malchior. Lend me some of the power I need to raise them."
He nodded in agreement, a white burst of energy flowing into Sagira. They stood upon barren rock, a plateau above dark laced trees, their true color obscured by the shadows. Malchior stepped back from the gray pedestal and let Sagira work the magic. Thrusting her hands up in the air, she began to chant, "atuwa dravkigly mortylipis wafquornam, ast rehjagnen holesme armoram!"
Red energy drained from Sagira's hands into the red mixtures. She was rapidly losing strength, but she had enough to sustain her. The white powder rose from the blood in thirteen goblets, forming the likeness of actual bones. The blood rose to give circulation to thirteen different bodies and the poison spread through each of them as well. The rose petal covered what had been given to the creation and the ashes completed the details such as its empty black eyes and mouth. Dragon saliva gave breath to the wispy creatures, causing them to rise into the air like ghosts.
Sagira fell to the ground, her staff coming to her aid. She was exhausted, true, but she had done it: the ancient spell at worked. There stood thirteen spirit warriors to do her bidding.
"We need more," she grinned, getting up to her feet. "A lot more."
Although the five of them walked side by side, there was a significant gap between Raven and the others. The team was not the same before, nor would it ever be. Then again, Raven had always felt that distance from her fellow Titans, but perhaps, it was more apparent now. As they walked into the central room of Titans Tower, their pace slow and gloomy, Raven knew that there would be hell to pay for her carelessness.
They all took a chair at the kitchen table simultaneously. Raven looked at each one of her friends, possessing a similar white bandage around their heads. Robin, solemn, always serious behind his black mask. His uniform was torn haphazardly and skid marks were visible on the colorful cloth. Terrible bruises and scratches lined one side of his face. He looked tired, fatigued, just like every other Titan who had been searching for Beast Boy. Starfire and Cyborg, exhausted in visage and somber in expression, were slightly swayed by sympathy for their poor violet-haired friend, though they did not make it obvious. Beast Boy had not gone through this experience unscathed. White linen ran around his arms like snakes to dress his wounds. His face was bruised in several places and his uniform ripped across his chest. Each one of them were hurt physically, except for Raven. All of them had faced betrayal, however.
"I lied." It was a blunt way to start out, but it was the only way she could think of. "I lied from the very beginning. I lied when you first asked me, when you asked me again and again, and to your faces. I wanted to find out why his memory lingered in my mind. I thought I could find out from talking to him. I thought I could control him by myself. I knew you would not approve or believe that I could handle it, so I kept it a secret."
"Raven, we sort of knew that you were talking to him already," Robin explained hesitantly. "We never found out for sure, but we guessed it. We tried to trust your word but I think we all knew that you still talked to Malchior regardless of what you said."
"I-I was wrong." The three words were stinging on her lips. She hated being wrong. "I truly thought I could control myself. I thought that he would not be able to trick me again…" She would not bring herself to say his name. Even hearing Robin saying it tore away at her chest.
"Raven, how could you do this?" Beast Boy thrust his hand up in the air angrily. "How could you lie to us and risk our safety and the rest of the world's like that?"
Normally, she would have probably jumped on him with her sharp tongue, but Beast Boy was dreadfully right. On top of that, he had been hurt by her petty mistake. He had ever reason to be furious. "I don't know how I could make you understand how sorry I am. I know this apology is hardly enough to compensate, but let me fight him. Let me fight with you. As soon as we defeat him, dispose of me as you wish. It's just as I deserve."
"Raven, we don't want to lose you," Starfire said sincerely, her green eyes brimming with compassion.
Robin sighed before beginning to speak. "Raven, you're right. We do need you to help us fight him. You know him very well and we need that kind of information. The trust issues will have to be set aside until we defeat him and Sagira. You must know," he paused, and then sighed again. "That it will be difficult to trust you about this."
"Trust me once more," Raven said gravely. "I ask you to trust me this one last time. I will admit to you that Malchior is still in my heart, but I will kill him, I swear it. I will destroy him just as I destroyed your dependence on me. Malchior," her voice filled with ice, "is a dead man."
"Listen, it's not her fault that she brought up Malchior. She had to in order to save us." Cyborg spoke up. "Shouldn't we lay off a bit? This is hard for her too. There was no evil intent behind her actions. She loved him and she just wanted-"
"Cyborg, I never loved him." Her tone was stoic and cold. "I said he was in my heart and true, I thought of him for a very long time, but I don't do love," she sighed. "I know I've disappointed you all and it will be hard for you to trust me again. But I ask you to have faith in me that this will not happen again as we fight him."
"Well, Titans," Robin began slowly. "I think we're all looking forward to some sleep. We'll start searching for Sagira and Malchior tomorrow. In the mean time, get some rest and be ready to work our asses off. Good night," he stood up from his chair and headed for the sliding doors. Cyborg stood up, helping Beast Boy to his feet and start for his room. Raven arose from her chair with graceful poise with Starfire rushing to her side.
"Raven, I will come with you to your room," said Starfire, her voice gentle and kind.
"Starfire, you really don't have to do that," said Raven as they walked through the double doors.
"But I want to, friend Raven," she clung onto her arm.
Raven winced, but she did not protest. With Starfire hurrying beside her, they approached Raven's room. The door slid open with the wave of Raven's free hand. They walked in together, and though Raven wanted to be alone, she still did not chase Starfire away.
The violet haired girl fell to the ground after taking a few steps into the room. Her chest gave way to its heaviness but practiced repression stopped any other outward sign of her misery from coming through. On her knees, her complete fall was broken by her Tamaranean friend. She wanted to die…die now, die quickly, anything to stop the continuous aching in her bones and the bleeding of her heart. Let her forget black eyes, white hair, and a paper rose that held the essence of someone who had been very important to her…
Starfire cried out as Raven dropped to the ground. "Raven!" she held her upright as her friend bowed her head in melancholy. "Raven," she whispered, looking her straight in the eye. "He has hurt you again so very deeply, hasn't he?"
A wave of black energy traveled across the dark room but Starfire was not startled. A downpour of tears flooded Raven's cheeks as she threw her arms around the alien girl. Sobbing and sniffing in a loud exclamation of pain, her apathetic manner succumbed to emotions. The room was a hurricane of flying objects with Raven and Starfire in the middle of it. Starfire embraced her grief-stricken friend, stroking her hair as a mother would to an upset child.
"How could he do this to me?" Raven sobbed, burying her face on Starfire's shoulder. "How, after all this time, everything he said to me, could he do this? I thought he changed. I thought he …" her voice trailed off, finishing with sniffs and weeping.
"Oh, Raven," Starfire hugged her. "I wish I knew why anyone would want to cause you such hurt."
"I should have killed him. I should have destroyed him when I had the chance," Raven grit her teeth. "Stupid, I'm so stupid. How could I let myself be tricked by him again. Again!"
"He was kind to you, was he not?" Starfire said softly. "Is it not only natural to trust those who are kind?"
Natural, yes, but in this kind of world, unwise. She cried in Starfire's arms, in the midst of whirling books and papers and a torrent of emotion she had trapped herself in.
Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy as an eagle traveled in flight. Robin took his motorbike and Cyborg, his T-Car. Aside from the calls and alerts in the morning, the Titans knew what they were up against. It was also hard to miss a black and purple dragon ravaging the city from outside your window. Raven suggested that it would be best to attack him and Sagira from different sides in attempt to take him by surprise (if such a tactic was possible). To stay together was imbecilic: they needed to attack them at the same time, yes, but at different angles. Both Malchior and Sagira were powerful when they stood by themselves but as a team, they were probably near invincible.
The Titans quickly located the great dragon and the sorceress in the center of the city. Starfire would attack from the east, Cyborg and Beast Boy from the north, Robin from the south, and Raven from the west. Raven would let them see her initially before the others would attack him. They all knew that it would take more than a day to defeat them, but they had little time to strategize against them today.
Truth be told, Raven felt rather confident today. She had done her share of crying the night before and now she was ready to fight. From the distance, she gazed into Malchior's red eyes, fiery rubies fitted on a sable fearsome face. His white fangs gleamed with the early morning sunlight and the absence of red was a comfort to the half-demon. People scurried around in panic, a mob of screaming men and women, boys and girls, all infected by the plague of fear. "Dragon! Dragon," they screamed. "Run for your lives, it's coming this way!" Debris of buildings, torn away from their foundation, scattered onto the street, smashing and halting cars with the shriek of metal.
A white mass of ghostly figures caught her eye: warriors clad in undefined armor chased the people down other streets. They were the Uuglijae, the army of the dead, soldiers that obeyed only the master who raised them. The Titans would have to deal with the smoke-like creatures as well as Malchior and Sagira. All here in Jump City. Jump City, her city, was being threatened and she was ready to face he that had betrayed her with renewed hatred in her heart.
Raven flew towards him, blue coat parallel to the ever-changing waves of the wind. Violet eyes, brimmed with intensity, and hands that longed to kill, only seconds stood between her and killing Malchior.
Malchior spotted her from the distance as well and transformed back into his human body. He levitated high above the streets with a golden haired sorceress beside him. Sagira noticed the abrupt transformation and then she too, noticed Raven coming towards them. The sorceress smiled, putting one hand on Malchior's breast place, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Finally, the Titans have come out to play," she mused, pale red lips nearing Malchior's face.
"Let me have a little fun with them," he grinned, running his fingers through Sagira's golden tresses. "You go on ahead."
"If you insist," she planted a kiss on his cheek, flashing a triumphant grin at Raven.
"Contain your rage," Raven grit her teeth, her palms sweaty from clenching so hard. Her objective had changed for that split second and all she wanted to do was tear Sagira the Ageless apart. Jealousy, a terrible emotion charged through her veins as she watched them smile together. "Kill Sagira! None of this would have happened if it weren't for her. Sagira is the one who should die!"
Those thoughts quickly passed and she directed her focus on Malchior. As Sagira disappeared into a vapor of gray smoke, Raven dared a smile towards him.
It was Cyborg who attacked first: a blue beam from his sonic cannon rushed instantly at the white haired wizard. Malchior's thin lips formed a smile and he turned around just in time to meet the sapphire stream. With the wave of his hand, the beam halted, rocketed in the opposite direction towards Cyborg. The center of the cerulean bolt faded into the air, a ring crashing on the street just around Cyborg. Smoke from the seared asphalt rose in a circle around Cyborg. Raven glared at Malchior with her violet eyes. Malchior had spared him, yes, but he was playing around. What would he do to them when he wasn't?
Starfire flew in, hurling starbolts, green discs of energy at Malchior. Two ghost-like fists emerged from his arms, catching each and every one. He threw them back at her, all at once, creating an outline of the Tamaranean's body. She remained unharmed, but deeply flustered by the force at which the starbolts were thrown back at her.
"Azareth Metrion Zynthos!" Raven exclaimed, directing her black energy towards him. At the same time, a green pterodactyl slashed at Malchior's armor, catching him by surprise for the first time.
Thrusting his right arm in the direction of the flying dinosaur, Malchior was able to transform the creature back into a green-haired adolescent boy. Using levitation, Malchior brought the helpless Beast Boy towards him. "Well, well, well," Malchior snickered quietly. "You must be the infamous Beast Boy." Beast Boy squirmed at the tone of his voice. "You're much shorter than I expected," he said with a taunt.
"Oh yeah? Well you're the creep we all expected you to be!" Beast Boy spit at him, although Malchior quickly blocked it with a gust of wind.
"Clever, clever," Malchior jeered, letting go of the green changeling. Beast Boy caught his own fall by transforming back into the pterodactyl and getting ready for the next assault.
Raven hailed herself at the young wizard against, picking up the debris from the ground and launching it at him. He flew at her, grabbing her wrists and bringing her close to him. "Can't you throw a little faster," he whispered in her ear in a manner that bordered seduction. Preparing to injure his manhood severely, he suddenly let go of her as Robin came flying at him. Malchior turned around swiftly, grasping the hem of Robin cape and dragging him towards the street below.
"I'm getting bored of the air," Malchior said as he landed lightly on the ground. Robin fell a little harder but he was quick to get back on his feet. With a metal pole in his hand, Robin lunged towards Malchior but he stepped to the side. Malchior punched the side of Robin's face while he was still moving forward. Robin recovered, trying to hit him again with the pole but missed every time. Malchior was no martial artist or even good at close combat, but he was quick enough with his magic to move from each of Robin's attacks. Robin wearied as he swung and lunged, while Malchior yawned.
An emerald colored rhinoceros came charging at Malchior but the wizard changed the beast into a rat. Cyborg shot his cannon at him once more but Malchior directed each beam towards the telephone pole to separate Robin from him for a split second. Starfire's radiant eyes blasted towards the wizard but he disappeared, reappearing right behind her in a moment.
"The beautiful Starfire, I presume? Are all maidens as lovely as you on the planet Tamaran?"
Malchior raised a hand and stopped three boomerangs that were coming at him from Robin. Obviously, Robin was more irritated by this comment than Starfire was. Raven lifted up the telephone pole using her levitation and attempted to swing it at him with her powers. At the same time, Cyborg prepared his sonic cannon, Starfire, her starbolts, and Beast Boy transformed into a T-rex. They were ready to attack him simultaneously. Raven swung the pole, Cyborg released his cannon, Starfire stared at Malchior with two luminous beams, and Beast Boy's jaw dropped in the wizard's direction.
Just before any of this hit its mark, Malchior tilted his head, letting a silver shield protect him from the blue, green, and black. Cobalt and jade energy bounced off the force field as did the telephone pole Raven hurled at him. Beast Boy bruised the side of his face, sending him to the ground with a nasty soreness. Each one had a similar thought in mind: damn shield.
Malchior laughed, a malicious sort of chuckle that you could hear in only nightmares. "The five of you look terribly exhausted," he paused. "Perhaps the five of you should get some rest. Dormite astadep ago," he chanted quietly.
Before any of them knew what was happening, they dropped to the black ground below them, deep in a leisurely sleep.
Raven was the first to wake up. Opening her eyes to a dense darkness, she couldn't tell whether or not she was still sleeping. It was night, late night, and all was menacingly quiet. An abnormal hush fell over the entire city because of it absence of breath.
As she stood up and her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the city clearly in ruins. Not a living soul in sight and buildings opened up to the night sky. Parts of walls and ceilings, bricks and plasters blanketed the streets and the sidewalks were strewn with car pieces. Robin's motorcycle and the T-car, however, though dirtied from the dust, were perfectly fine. Raven flew up into the air and saw that the Titans Tower still stood proudly in the distance.
The tower only stood because they allowed it. This was the terrible truth. They were only alive because Malchior and Sagira had willed it. They would only stay alive until they decided they were bored of the Titans.
And Jump City was under their control in one day.
Fingers flipped through page after page in the long hours of night. A multitude of candles in varying heights lit up the desk on which she sat in. Five books stacked on either side, some she had finished and others she had yet to read, the others were scattered on the floor. She'd been taking notes from the books of dragons and history as well as made her own notes about the dreaded dragon and wizard. Pleasure forgotten, her only incentive was the information to take him down. She hadn't studied books in this manner since after his first betrayal and before they began talking again.
She had not been able to find the answer to a question previously in these books, but perhaps this time would be different. A new question, a new goal, she had to find a way to destroy Malchior. She had lived for those nights of talking to him for a very long time. The only thing to fire her spirit now was the thought of killing the white-haired wizard. The dragon who had broken her heart twice.
Love? No, she did not love him. She would admit to obsession, infatuation, anything before love. He had taken up such a large portion of her life… her heart, and to have him ripped from her soul in such a violent, painful way caused her much confusion and grief. The only way to soothe such injured emotions was to thrash out in the same vigorous way: to eradicate him from the world and her life in any way possible.
But how to do it? The Titans had never encountered someone as powerful as him before. The way he toyed with them earlier today was embarrassing and also discouraging. It would be up to her to find a way to take him down, for she was the one most connected to him. She could not let her friends down as she did before when she kept Malchior a secret from them.
Why couldn't she do anything right? Everyone kept on getting hurt around her. She was so careful, careful all the time, and for the one time she wasn't, a disaster ten times more devastating than every other predicament she avoided would blow up in her face. And it was killing her, peeling away at her flesh every time she thought about it. She had betrayed her friends by disregarding her strict taboos. She had betrayed herself for thinking that anyone could ever feel something for her.
She had to study. She had to find the answer. She turned to the next page, skimming the lines for a notable piece of information.
A steady rap on her door interrupted her thoughts. "Raven, can I come in?" she heard Robin say.
"I'm busy," she called back monotonously.
"This is important, Raven," he said sternly from the other side of the door.
"I'm in the middle of something important," she snapped but gave in. She opened the door with her powers and let him walk in. However, she refused to look up at him as she scanned page after page.
"You've been studying this since we got home." Raven couldn't tell if what he said was a statement or a question.
"I have," she said quietly. "We need to have a clear strategy for tomorrow."
"We got home around 8. It's three AM, Raven."
"Well in that case, we need a clear strategy for today."
"Five hours, Raven, five hours! This is madness!" he exclaimed. "This obsessive streak is worrying me."
"Well if you can't appreciate what I'm trying to do then I suggest that you leave my room."
"All of us are worried. You can't do this. We need to fight him, yes, but you need to take a different approach."
"You, of all people, are scolding me," she snarled, looking at her black haired friend for the first time. "You, and the Slade obsession. You were exactly how I'm like now and you treated all of us just as cruelly!"
The books fell off the table in a gust of black energy. Raven took a breath and a long silence followed shortly after. They looked at each other, both in their awkwardness, shame, and discomfort. She had no right to yell at him like that. He was only concerned for her, as was the rest of her friends. She sighed, getting to her feet, and looked into the eyes behind his mask. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I suppose this is the frustration you've felt in the past. I truly don't mean to be like this, Robin. I apologize for what I said."
"I understand, Raven," he nodded with a smile, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We're connected, remember? You were in my mind. I know what it's like to be in your shoes. Minus the heart-breaking part, though," he paused. "We're going to fight him together, just as our team has always done. We're going to help you fight him and win back your peace of mind. You are our friend and this incident isn't going to change any of that."
Raven thought for a moment before beginning to talk. "You know, Robin, I've never doubted your ability as our leader. Or a friend," she gave him a small smile. "But if you really know what I'm going through right now, you'll let me study for at least two more hours."
"One."
"One and a half."
"Deal," he grinned and gave her a half hug with one of his arms. "Study hard, then. We're counting on you tomorrow."
Raven knew that it was just banter, but that pressure was not lifted from her shoulders.
Well, I'm glad I got this chapter finished. Seven, Eight, and Nine left. Still a ways to go.
At the risk of sounding like a nerd, I've got Science Olympiads on April 30 and two Latin contests during the first week of April. I'm not going to have a lot of time for writing. After then, it'll be good. I might get one more chapter by April 30, but we'll see. The next one has some interesting events. I know this one was kind of boring, but it was needed in order to set the stage for later ones.
Thanks for your patience and your praise. I am very grateful for both.
Please review!
Kree
