Disclaimer:What's the point? Do you really think I would be writing this if I owned the TT?
Hearts are worn in these dark ages.
A spell rarely is weilded in the same manner twice. Magic merely works that way. If an incantation is uttered to a certain end more than once, there is no guarantee that the recipient will react in just the same way as before. Likewise, there is no promise as to the charm's power. Once a spell has been broken and relaid, it might be stronger or weaker than before.
Curses, however, are entirely different. A curse worms its way into your heart soul, pouring into you so deep that if it is ever broken it will still linger, an old scar upon you for those to see that can. If the curse is ever laid again, the scar will reopen, and a pieve of you, no matter how small, will have an immunity. A chance to fight back will be presented...to break free forever.
A thousand-year scar presents a chasm of possibilities.
What is darkness but emptiness?
A trapped space of tears and rage
A spiral of lies, hope and despise
The velvet blackness of my cage
The words on the page began to blur together as Raven attempted to concentrate on her poetry book. Her violet gaze drifeted slowly to the locked chest where dangerous artifacts were kept, one standing out in particular. Raven forced her eyes and attention to snap back to her book.
What is sorrow but regret?
A sea of memories not yet forgotten
The reflection of time, no friend of mine
The record found of the worst of my sins
It wasn't that the poetry was intolerable. She had read worse than this before, and a part of her could relate to the poet's message. Maybe it was merely the memory of what had happened only days earlier, and what-no, who, was locked in that trunk-that made her attention span shorten, made her gaze ever linger on that trunk. She shook the thoughts away and attempted to finish the poem.
What is solitude but a scream
A lost sigh in the winds of the past
A wound to the pride, help lost besides
The fear that I whisper:I might not last
That was how he exploited her, how Malchior had in the end convinced. It was her fear of being alone that became his strength, and even though Beast Boy assured her she was not alone, she could not help but feel the creeping effects of an empty room. Malchior was the only one who had ever rid her of that feeling, and he had betrayed her. The fact that she, one who hid all emotion and rid herself of the effects of trivial feelings, could be so easily fooled by a gentle word spoken by a stranger unnerved her. In fact it was enough to derail her.
Slamming her poetry book closed, she hovered slightly above the ground before her feet found traction and moved her frail frame farter from the darkened corner of Titan's Tower. Company-that is what she needed, though what little company there was at hand would drive her into madness. In the very least, annoyance. As much as she cared for her teammates, that affection didn't extend to continuous obnoxious behaviours. Without even thinking, Raven metally listed such behaviours.
Robin's obsessive nature; Starfire's naive questions; Cyborg's compassion toward mechanics; Beast Boy's insane jokes.
And your need to hide. The darker side of her mind, the honest, cynical, hateful side finished the list with one of her own traits.
Some secrets are meant to remain hidden. She thought bitterly as she entered the bright livingroom, TV blaring out the lines to a rerun of some stupid sitcom, though no one was really watching. Robin was explaining the finer points of football to a readily learning Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy quarelling over whether or not tofu made or marred the meal. Raven sighed and took control of the TV, first reducing the volume and then turning the channel to a station showing Interview with a Vampire. Anne Rice's characters, visualized by over glorified actors, filled the screen.
Beast Boy's glower met her calm gaze as he protested the selection. "Dude! I was, like, watching that!"
You weren't. She said inwardly, though such corrections didn't escape Raven's lips. Instead the usual icy command left her. "Deal with it."
Before Beast Boy could reply, Raven found herself being squeezed in two while masses of flaming hair nearly suffocated her.
"Starfire...why...?"
"Oh, my friend! Robin has told me about the joyous festivities and rotting candy that come to us on this glorious day of Halloween!" Starfire released her, beaming at the chance to be taken to another of Earth's holiday frivolities.
More like Earth's holiday foolishness.
"Would you help me in the preparement of concealing ourselves in harmless yet grotesque disguises?"
Her eyebrows raised slightly. "You mean, help you pick out a costume?"
"Yes, friend Raven!" Starfire exclaimed, clapping her hands together wistfully.
"I'm like, going as Dracula." Beast Boy said, showing the two natural pointed teeth to demonstate the brilliance of the selection. Raven's attention turned to Cyborg for his declaration of a costume.
"I wanted to go as Frakenstein, but..."
"Dude! A Death Stormer off of Clash of the Planets is so better!" Beast Boy said indignantly, as though the thought of resurrected mangled zombies offended him.
His green eyes slowly went to Robin, a grin spreading slowly.
"You should so go as Batman!"
"No." Robin siad bluntly, clearly assuming the subject closed.
"Haven't you ever wondered, like, what it'd, ya know, be like to be Batman?" Beast Boy wheedled, sounding even more than usual like an immature child.
"No."
Beast Boy immeadiatly glared at Robin and sunk into a sullen pout. Starfire, ignoring the situation, turned to Raven once more.
"What shall we go as, friend Raven?"
Raven, of course, wasn't planning to go at all, but if it would stop Starfire's incessant question, she would suggest a costume. Starfire would never go as a horror figure...perhaps...
"Starfire, do you still have your wedding dress from the betrothal on Tameran?"
"Yes, friend Raven, but I do not think the betrothal of man and woman was included in-"
"It isn't. We're going to use it as part of your costume." Raven went down the hall, Starfire following. Strains of a newly risen arguement reached their ears as they went on.
"What about going as Alfred?"
"No."
"Agent Smith?"
"No."
"Slade?"
"NO!"
The music at the party was annoyingly upbeat and pulsing so loudly the floor seemed to shake, though the vibrations might have been the countless feet moving to the beat of the song. The lights in the club were dimmed to the point where everyone looked the same. It was best not to stray far from your companions, lest the crowd swallowed you whole.
A vampiric Beast Boy was dancing badly to the music, Cyborg in a Clash of the Planets costume laughing not far away. Robin, refusing to go unless he could go as himself, danced with a ghost bride Starfire not too far from the center of the floor.
Raven mildly wondered what she was doing here, dressed all in black and wearing sunglasses that she was sure were way too expensive. Beast Boy had assured her she would look like a spy. She assured him that she looked ridiculous.
As another boy, this one dressed as what looked like a cowboy, approached she set her face into stony expression to send him away again. She would not be caught doing something as idiotic as dancing.
Raven whirled around as something caught her eye. Someone brushed past her, someone with white hair and a bandana tied around his mouth and nose, leaving only the eyes, which she couldn't see clearly.
"Malchior..." She breathed and raised her hand, surrounding and trapping him against the wall.
"I trapped you. How did you escape?" How did he get out of the book? How did he get a real body?
Looking again, though, it was just some kid in a costume. Raven felt Robin's hand on her shoulder attempting to calm her.
"Let him go, Raven." There seemed to be a double meaning to the command.
The black energy evaporated as the boy dropped to the floor slowly, his brown eyes wide with fear and white wig starting to slip. The boy backed away from her; his words rang in her ears long after he had ran out of the club.
"You're a freak! That was way creepy!"
I'm not creepy...just different.