Seven Years' Bad Luck in One Day
Review Responses:
robins1fan: I like to write longer chapters so that people can get more into the story before it's over. Really the time between chapters comes more from distractions and the real world than the length. Still, I'm glad you like the fic! Here's the next long chapter!
John Steppenwolf: Two reviews from you! Well, in response to your question about Robin, I don't write him as either Dick Grayson or Tim Drake. Certainly not as Jason Todd. I just use the show Robin, which is a bit different personality-wise than any of the comic Robins. Secondly, yeah, he's pretty rash when Slade is involved, not to mention Starfire's safety. I just like to paint him as sort of arrogant when it comes to command, so he chose to attempt interrogation himself. Thanks for the reviews, hope you like this next chapter.
Friend of Regrem Erutaerc: Thanks for the review! Yes, this is a Raven/Beastboy fic, and they will be closer by the end, I assure you. Glad you like the story.
Rurouni Tyriel: I used Happy-Raven's fic as a basis for this one, though I only used the setting, not the plot. I'm glad you like it. I'm trying to restrict the number of emotions running around; it gets difficult to keep them all straight. Thanks for the review.
Coco: I couldn't have asked for a more glowing review. Thanks for your compliments. I must give some credit for the plot to Regrem Erutaerc, as he gives me many ideas on where to take this. I'm glad you like the characterizations as well, it's sometimes rather difficult to write emotions. Also, thanks for noticing the mechanical side as well, having a Beta reader helps that part of the story quite a lot. Thanks again for the review.
Calypso Silverhawk: Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
Twin-Lupus: Glad you like the fic! Writing emotions is difficult, because I often want them to feel things that their nature won't allow. Thanks for the review.
Slane: Glad you liked it! Yes, I've noticed that I tend to forget this person or that person. It's due to the huge number of people in this fic. I've tried to improve on that in this chapter. I also enjoy taking Raven and Beastboy's romance slow, it helps to make it a bit more real. I was on a bit of a Rob/Star kick while I wrote parts of last chapter, hence the little moments with them. As for Malice's sympathy, I liked that as well. She is Malice, but some things are even beyond her. Thanks for the review, and I hope you like this chapter as well!
Dr.Evil99: I'm glad you like the characterization. Starfire is a pain to write sometimes, and it's easy to get carried away. However, the point to notice is that she's just very true to her emotions. If nothing is happening, or if something has pleased her, she's sunny and happy. As soon as anything pisses her off, she shows it quite readily. I like her honesty. I'm also glad that others like how slowly I'm moving with Raven and Beastboy. It's important that they actually develop a romance instead of just falling into one. I'm glad that you took the time to write a review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
The Last: Writing over break didn't really pan out, but I wrote fast once I got here. Here's the next chapter. I'm glad you like Raven's character, and Beastboy might be fine, read and find out! Thanks for the review.
Kryptocow: Thanks!
Falling: Two hours? Wow, it IS getting long. I'm updating, so enjoy the next chapter!
Ghost Man: Glad you like it. The plot thickening is always fun. Here's the next installment.
MoonHawke: He might be ok, read and find out! Thanks for the review!
Hikari-Moriyaku: It's a long wait between chapters sometimes, but here you go!
Raidersrule76: Glad you liked the fanart, I certainly did. Here's chapter 5.
Warprince2000: Thanks! Here it is!
Change-Of-Heart2: Thanks, Glad your test went well.
Dancingirl3: Glad you like it! You don't have to blast or implode me however, 'cause here's an update!
Quite-A-Shame: No reason to be sad to not review. Hope you like this chapter as well.
Kare-San: Thanks again for the fanart, by the way. Also, thanks for the continued reviews. Love just might split sometime, who knows? (Innocent whistle) Thanks also for saying you'd like this story to be long, it's got a while left to go and I was afraid people were getting tired of it. Thanks again, and have fun reading!
A/N: Wow. More reviews than I'm used to responding to. It's a little draining. Here's the fic now, hope you all enjoy it!
Knowledge carefully placed the small vial of holy water into the bag she was carrying. It had been rather easy to find most of the components for repairing the mirror; most of them were common items for a practitioner of magic. She had borrowed a small nylon bag from Raven's room, even though she was fully aware that Raven did not care for people using her things. There were a few more esoteric items remaining, but she had a good enough idea where to get them, and it shouldn't take too long. She read more of the smallish green book she had been carrying around all day, as she walked down the corridor towards the common room.
The book was Beastboy's diary. Well, he referred to it as a 'journal', but the concept was the same. She had started at the beginning of this volume, apparently Beastboy had filled up a previous book already. This book started shortly after the incident with the alien named Soto, who had kidnapped Beastboy and nearly taken him from Earth forever. She was now approaching the present time, and had become keenly interested in the new information.
Beastboy, aside from his constant joking and attentive behavior, felt more for Raven than even Raven's most intelligent emotion had known. Knowledge had begun to notice an excess of discussion about Raven pretty quickly as she read the book, noting even a few rather poorly written poems and litanies about her. The discussion had lessened for a time, replaced by entries about Terra, but even then Beastboy commonly compared the two girls, often listing qualities of Terra's with an appended "sort of like Raven". After Terra's betrayal and death, the entries had returned once again to Raven, often praising her foresight of Terra's allegiance. Recent writings came close to actually stating something that Beastboy seemed hesitant even to admit to himself. That is, that he thought of Raven as more than simply a close friend. That he possibly even had, over the years, grown to love her. Knowledge felt her ever-burning curiosity peaking as she read on, hardly slowing to press the switch to open the common room door.
"I've found many of the components, but we must..." Knowledge stopped speaking as she looked up, seeing the mostly-empty room. Rudeness was still sprawled across the couch, snoring loudly, though her cloak was tightly clasped now, covering her bra. Embarrassment had been cleaning the mess that Rudeness had made of the kitchen, but now was blushing darkly and trying to hide her activities from Knowledge. Knowledge herself simply sighed, disliking the chaos of the day.
"Where are the others?" Knowledge crossed the room quickly, slipping the green book into the bag of components. Embarrassment shrugged sorrowfully, uncertain of the answer.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know. They left to go interrogate Hatred and Malice, but I haven't seen them since. I stayed to take care of the mess in here." Embarrassment put the sponge she had been using to clean the kitchen back on the counter top.
Knowledge closed her eyes, reaching out tentatively with her mind. She was unused to doing this in the real world; it required much more effort here than inside Raven's mind. She was immediately aware of Rudeness' quiet calm of sleep, as well as the maddening trepidation of Embarrassment. Her mind crept further from her, seeking across the tower. A dim feeling appeared on the horizon. Concern, regret, anger. She focused on that, moving her mind closer, trying to find the source. Suddenly, as her mind finally reached the med lab, she was flooded by the emotions of the Titans, her normally stoic mind reeling from the sudden inrush of emotion. Something had happened, something horrible. She quickly opened her eyes, stumbling slightly from the shock. Embarrassment grabbed her, helping her stand, then noticed what she was doing and blushed darkly.
Knowledge ignored the irritating emotion and spoke loudly. "Rudeness, wake up. Both of you need to come with me, something has happened in the med lab. Rudeness, NOW."
Rudeness stretched lazily as she followed the yellow and dark gray cloaks as they all ran down the corridors towards the med lab. She had been having a nice dream, about Beastboy helping her and Malice pull a prank or two on those annoying gray ones. Then Knowledge had begun giving commands as if she had any authority to do so. Still, something tugged at her mind, and it was all but forcing her to follow along behind these two, to see what had happened.
A few moments later, the door to the med lab slid open, and Knowledge and Embarrassment stepped through, followed closely by Rudeness, panting slightly from the long run so shortly after waking. Knowledge looked over the scene before them. Beastboy was laying on the medical table, unconscious, his body covered in dozens of cuts and bruises; it looked like he had been through hell. Raven was sitting in the chair next to the table, her normally calm face marked heavily with sadness and guilt. Wisdom was assisting Cyborg with the medical display boards, attempting to find a way to help Beastboy. Starfire was holding Fear and Worry, all three of their faces wet with tears. Bravery was talking to Robin about combat tactics, a hollow attempt to keep their minds off of the situation. Happiness was looking very unlike herself, as she forlornly played a game of checkers with Love, having found the board and pieces in a nearby cabinet.
Knowledge rushed over to the table, carefully looking over Beastboy's wounds. "What happened here?" Her voice was more emotional than normal, her typical attention to fact and science overlooked at the moment.
Raven answered quietly, sadly. "Beastboy tried to save Hatred and Malice when my father tried to retake them. He was injured in the crossfire."
Raven sighed, looking back down at the floor. It was her fault. Granted, she hadn't intended to release all these emotions into the world, but the fact still remained that if it hadn't been for her, Beastboy wouldn't be laying on that table right now. Seeing his devotion to her, seeing his willpower as he clung to the cage... It was her fault.
Fear's wavering voice called out from under Starfire's comforting arm. "He's going to die. He's going to die and it will be our fault."
Starfire patted the girl's head quietly, trying her best to calm her. "Please, do not be afraid. Beastboy will be fine. He has never died before, everything will be fine." There was a kind of quiet desperation in her voice.
Knowledge frowned, looking over Beastboy's heavily injured body. Most of the wounds were superficial in nature, but there were simply so many that Beastboy must have succumbed from the pain. Knowledge felt helpless, looking down at the green boy.
Rudeness knocked her roughly aside as she walked up to Beastboy. "Are you all stupid? Why are you just standing around like idiots? Are you so busy being sad that you forgot that we can heal people? Geez!"
Rudeness' hands glowed as she began to heal Beastboy's wounds. It was going slowly, but Knowledge soon recovered from the shock of Rudeness' statement so aptly spoken and reached out to heal him as well. Wisdom, looking a bit abashed from being bested by Rudeness, quickly joined them. Raven wanted to help, but knew that any use of her powers would injure her as well, with her mind being split like this.
It was only a matter of moments before Beastboy's eyes flickered open. He coughed, still feeling weak from the attack. Happiness and Love were immediately at his side, as crowded as the bed already was. Love threw her arms around him and hugged him gently, her eyes leaking small tears. "I thought we'd lost you. Never scare us like that again!"
Beastboy grinned down at her, despite the pain from his rapidly-healing wounds. "Hey, I'll be ok, don't worry so much."
Beastboy looked around, trying to see past all the emotions around his table. Starfire was flying above the table, smiling at him with obvious relief. Fear, Worry, and Embarrassment were all now by his side as well. He could see Bravery and Robin behind the others, obviously relieved. Cyborg grinned at him from the medical controls, still maintaining a watch on his vital signs. Cyborg tossed his head slightly to the left, and Beastboy looked that direction and saw Raven looking at him out of the corner of her eyes, with the saddest look he had ever seen her wear. He smiled at her, and she smiled weakly back.
Wisdom saw this exchange of looks, and realized immediately that the emotions were once again in the way. "Come. We must give Beastboy some time to recover. All the emotions must leave."
With some hesitation, the emotions left, Love looking back with concern as she left the room. Wisdom cast looks at the other Titans as well, and Cyborg nodded, and headed for the door. Robin took a confused Starfire by the hand and led her away as well. Wisdom nodded silently to Raven as she closed the door behind her.
Raven turned towards the grinning Beastboy, who was now sitting upright, having been mostly healed by the three emotions. Her face was back to it's normal calm look, but she knew that he had seen her before she had corrected it. She was unused to feeling so guilty. Normally, she accepted all occurrences as simple fate, that nothing could be avoided or changed, no matter how much it was disliked. Not only that, but she had only just been getting used to being attracted to Beastboy when he was injured, and it suddenly became apparent to her that she was scared... absolutely terrified... of losing him now. Not now, not before whatever was happening between them ran it's course.
Beastboy was still smiling at her. "C'mon Raven, say something. You can't just sit there staring at me."
Raven tried to look irritated. "You shouldn't have stayed so close to Hatred and Malice. You could have died."
The green boy's smile widened. "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to help them; they hate being controlled as much as anyone would."
Raven sat back down in the chair next to the bed, looking down at the floor, trying to remain calm. "I'm sorry." Her voice sounded strange, even to her, and the words felt like someone else was talking. "I'm sorry that I hurt you. I was... I was... afraid that you wouldn't wake up."
Beastboy's smile faded, replaced by a look of concern. "Hey, come on. It's not your fault; it's your dad's. You can't control your emotions when they are all out like this. I'm fine now, don't worry."
Raven struggled to say what she wanted to. It was hard for her to be open like this; to talk to someone without putting up her normal barrier of irritation and distance. "I want you to know that... that I'm thankful to you for taking care of me today."
Beastboy grinned again. "It's no problem. Like I told you, I always care about you. I don't like seeing you get hurt."
Raven nodded. "I'm not used to having someone care about me, Beastboy. I... I want to say... I..."
A silence hung in the air for a few seconds. It made Beastboy uncomfortable to see Raven so unsure of herself. She always had such an air of confidence; it was one of the things he admired about her. Seeing her like this worried him, it was like she was falling apart.
Raven didn't say anything more, but instead just reached out and took his hand in hers. He looked at her in surprise, but her eyes stared back into his, a pleading look asking for simple silence for a moment. Beastboy smiled, and lightly squeezed her hand. The two teenagers sat quietly together, simply happy to still be able to. A few seconds later, a bright flash occurred in the hallway, and the happy silence was broken.
Outside, in the hallway, the other three Titans spoke of battle plans, while the various emotions tried to occupy themselves. Robin was taking command as usual.
"Ok, we are back to having three targets, but the alert isn't going off at all. The emotions don't seem to copy Raven's locater signal, so we have no way to track them. Anyone have any ideas?" Robin addressed this mostly to the other two Titans.
"We could modify the T-Car with a electromagnetic scanner. Raven's powers use massive amounts of shortwave electromagnetic energy. If the red emotions are using their powers at all, we should be able to detect them pretty quick." Cyborg's voice sounded confident, knowing that his expertly designed equipment wouldn't fail them.
Bravery butted in, leaning against a wall for support, her injuries still bothering her. "We could just do a flyover of the city. I mean, we have enough people now, even if Fear won't stop being afraid to fly."
Robin nodded. "Both of those are good ideas. Cyborg, since you can't fly, go and start prepping the car. Starfire, you see what emotions will follow you and fly through the city, we need as many eyes as possible out there. Meanwhile, I will go and-"
"Collect a bit of Xander root, three drops of spring water, and one pound of exceptionally fine-grained silicate sand." Knowledge finished Robin's sentence for him. Robin turned towards her, a bit surprised by the strange list of items. Knowledge explained herself. "Components for the mirror's repair. We can chase emotions around all day, but the faster we repair the mirror, the faster we can get all of this taken care of. I will go with you, to assist you in finding the components."
Robin nodded again, accepting the assignment. "Fine. Everyone understand what to do? Get moving."
Suddenly, another bright flash lit the corridor. As the light dimmed, three emotions now sat where Love had been sitting before. A light-violet clad girl, smiling in Friendship, a Red-Violet cloaked woman, eyes sparkling in Romance, and a third girl, draped in a dark, tempting maroon cloak, licking her lips in barely contained Lust. Wisdom and all three of the timid emotions sighed audibly.
"Hmm, a pity that I had to be born from something so droll as holding hands." Lust's hands found their way to her hips, and she stood at an angle that accentuated all the most womanly of her assets.
"Quiet. I think it's sweet." Romance smiled gently at Happiness, who was also grinning from the sudden split of her favorite emotion.
"Oh, I'm so happy to finally be able to see you all!" Friendship hugged Starfire first, smiling happily. "I couldn't do things like this as Love; it would have been a little awkward."
Starfire giggled, hugging Friendship back. "It is good that Raven considers me a friend! Thank you, Friendship-Raven."
A few seconds later, the door from the med lab opened, revealing Beastboy helping Raven walk forward. Raven was pale, obviously hurting from the split. Lust grinned mischievously at the pair, walking boldly up to Beastboy and placing a hand on his chest.
"Mmm, it's nice to see you. You should leave Raven here for a moment; I have plans with that medical bed." Lust's eyes burned into Beastboy's, and he could feel her hand pressing just enough on his chest to accentuate her words. He also felt Raven look up at Lust, and watched as the two girls simply stared at each other for a few seconds. Lust relented.
"Oh fine then. We'll just have to wait until later, right Beastie?" Lust blew a kiss and tossed him a suggestive wink, then stood to the side, allowing Beastboy to help Raven forward into the corridor. They continued down the corridor, the worried Titans and emotions following behind, feeling powerless to help Raven.
They struggled down the hallways slowly, Raven limping and stumbling due to the heavy fog and pain in her head. She could see Lust following too close behind them, her eyes leering at Beastboy's body. Raven shook her head slowly, trying to parse the recent events. She had taken Beastboy's hand simply to calm herself, to help her focus on thanking him. Instead, they had shared a few silent moments, which both of them had spent staring at the floor. Still, she could remember the feeling of holding his hand, the calm and peace it had brought her.
Not only that, but even simply holding his hand had caused Love to split. Emotions split when they were focused on too heavily. Love had split. No one had mentioned it if they had noticed the importance of this. If Love had split, then Raven had felt love, or at least some semblance of it. Lust had trailed behind Beastboy and Raven, now speaking to Happiness in low tones near the back of the group. Embarrassment was blushing a bright shade of pink. Raven looked up to see Beastboy grinning at her.
"So... um... Lust is weird." Beastboy's voice sounded nervous and unsure. He was speaking low enough that only she could likely hear him.
She spoke in a voice laced heavily with warning. "Don't get any ideas."
Beastboy blanched slightly, then smiled again. "No, I mean I don't like her. She's way too pushy. I mean, she's pretty and all, she looks like... well, I mean..."
Raven stared at him, surprised at hearing that she was pretty in Beastboy's eyes.
He continued, "... So yeah she's pretty, but still I don't like the way she acts, all forward like that. Not like you at all." Beastboy grinned happily at Raven, his eyes sparkling.
"You don't like that she's into... that?" Raven intended for her voice to sound calm and even like normal, but a bit of disbelief slipped through. Beastboy was a guy; he was a teenager for Azar's sake. Didn't all guys want that?
Beastboy's grin didn't fade. "Well, I guess it's weird that I don't like that part... but that's the thing, it's weird because she looks like you but doesn't act like you. I used to think that it would be great if you-- I mean, if a girl would act like that towards me, but it's not cool because it's not you."
Raven smiled slightly, realizing that he had basically just admitted to being attracted to her. It was strange that she had never noticed. She stayed silent as they continued walking towards the common room, which was a fair distance away. He was attracted to her, and she was... beginning to see value in him as well. It was strange to Raven to feel attraction for anyone, and to have it reciprocated was even stranger. She felt like she should be suspicious, especially with Malchior's memory still so fresh in her mind. However, she trusted Beastboy. Not only the typical sort of trust that teammates put in one another, but a deeper trust, that he wouldn't lie to her about something so important. It made her happy to realize that she trusted him, and also worried that her trust could be betrayed. She looked behind her, at all the emotions. Today had been a mess, but it had also brought some good things to light. Perhaps she could learn to accept being embarrassed, if it always led to useful revelations.
The door to the common room slid open, and Beastboy carefully helped Raven to the couch, sitting next to her and looking at her with concern. He didn't like how pale she was; nor did he like the small beads of sweat on her face. It was becoming all the more obvious that having the emotions outside of her mind like this was leading her to an early end; something had to be done.
Robin's voice was commanding, as usual. "Ok Titans, what we were talking about back there still goes. Cyborg, go to the car. Starfire, you and whatever emotions will follow should head out and look for the evil ones. Knowledge and I will go gather components. Raven, stay here and focus on getting better. Beastboy, stay with her. Ok, Titans, move out!"
Robin turned sharply, heading towards the elevator, followed by Knowledge and Cyborg. Friendship shrugged and followed them as well, figuring she'd help with the car, since Cyborg was such a good friend. The elevator doors closed, and they started down the shaft towards the garage. Starfire smiled at the remaining Ravens.
"Now that Robin has gone, we must go and search the city for the other Ravens. Please, which of you will assist me?"
Brave stood up and grinned. "I'll go. I'm mostly better, so I can help."
Happiness shrugged and smiled as well. "I'll come along. It'll give me something to do besides watch Raven and Beastboy flirt."
Beastboy grinned, but Raven just shook her head in annoyance. Rudeness just shrugged. "Eh. Nothing better to do. This place is so boring that I'll just fall asleep again anyway."
Worry wrung her hands nervously. "I... don't want to leave Beastboy... what if the red ones come back here?"
Embarrassment blushed slightly. "I don't want to leave Beas... Raven. We might need to help her."
Fear simply hid herself under her cloak, cowering on the couch next to Beastboy.
Wisdom, with a knowing glance at Lust and Romance, who were currently talking and giggling in the corner of the room, stated simply: "I am needed here. Take those three and leave. The faster you find the controlled emotions the better."
Starfire nodded, smiling, and flew off in the direction of the roof access, followed by the three Ravens that had elected to come along.
Beastboy looked down at Fear, and tentatively put his arm around her cowering body. She jumped slightly at the unexpected touch, but calmed as she realized who it was. Beastboy smiled weakly, feeling a bit nervous around this strange side of Raven. "Hey, come on, don't be afraid. No one here will hurt you."
Fear moved just enough that she could see out from under her cloak, and stared up at Beastboy. "I... Raven... Raven doesn't like me... and she's mad because of all the mess we are making... She's going to hurt us."
Beastboy turned to Raven, grinning slightly. "Raven, come on, tell her you aren't going to hurt her."
Raven looked at Beastboy, at his hopeful eyes and crooked smile. This was stupid. Fear would always be scared and cowering. She knew nothing else, and she would never know anything more. It was her nature. Timidity might have known moments when she wasn't actively scared of everything, but Fear was Fear; she'd never rise above it. Still... Beastboy had ousted Trigon from Hatred and Malice.
Raven sighed.
"Um.. no. I won't hurt you, don't worry. Everything is fine here." Raven tried to make her voice soothing, but it was difficult. It had been a long time since she'd tried to.
Beastboy grinned at her, and Raven felt herself grow warm. He looked so thankful, and something inside her felt different, seeing him smile like that. She mentally scolded herself for being such a... girl about it. Still, she watched as Beastboy tended to Fear.
Beastboy hugged Fear gently, trying to calm her. Fear smiled weakly at him, then covered herself in her cloak again, this time laying her head on his thigh. She stopped shaking, though. Beastboy smiled at Raven. Raven smiled as well; only a small smile, but a smile nonetheless.
Robin walked hurriedly across the garage, straddling his R-Cycle and placing the helmet on his head. He looked back at Knowledge. "What are you doing?"
Knowledge placed the motorcycle helmet over her unhooded head, placing her glasses safely in the component bag, and began tying the bag to the back of the motorcycle. "I can't fly as fast as the R-Cycle can move. Not safely anyway."
Knowledge sat behind Robin, and put her hands around his waist, holding on tightly. She felt him tense up slightly, and sighed audibly. "Ignore the position, Robin. It's strictly utilitarian. Go to 5th and main. We can buy the silicate sand at the craft store there."
Robin tried to remove his tension. It was simply strange that any facet of Raven would sit like that. He was too used to being mildly wary of Raven to accept her so close. He sighed, stiffened his resolve, and fired up the R-Cycle, speeding off into the darkness of the underground tunnel that led to the city.
Cyborg grinned as he watched them leave, and then turned towards the light violet clad girl next to him. "So... you're Friendship, right?"
Friendship nodded, smiling. "Yes. I came down with you in case you needed help with your car. Plus, I don't get to be with you much, since Raven keeps us all locked up in her mind."
Cyborg nodded, opening the door to the storage closet and speaking as he dug through boxes of spare parts. "Do you... Uh... does Raven know anything about electromagnetic scanning? When she helped repair the T-car she mostly just handed me tools and parts."
"No, we don't really mess with cars much. Being able to fly limits their use." Friendship smiled, leaning against the T-Car as Cyborg pulled parts from the closet.
"Have you noticed how nice Beastboy has been to Raven today? It seems like all he needed was a big personal problem of Raven's to really open up to her." Friendship looked a little distant as she spoke about Beastboy.
Cyborg turned, holding the rest of the parts he needed, and lay them out on the table, fiddling with them while grinning. "So, you got it too, huh? Seems like all of y'all are into Beastboy."
Friendship blushed slightly, but smiled anyway. "Yeah, it seems that way. I wish Lust wasn't so weird about it though. She'll mess everything up."
Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, she seems weird. I never thought you... uh... Raven and BB would get together. They seem like complete opposites."
Friendship shrugged. "Raven and Starfire are opposite as well, and they have become friends. All I know is that we consider him a good friend, and by Love's behavior before we split, something more."
Cyborg laughed, stopping the soldering he was doing long enough to stop laughing. "Man, BB is in for it now. Raven's a nice girl and all, but I wouldn't want to date her."
Friendship smiled knowingly, but asked anyway. "Why is that?"
Cyborg shook his head. "Nothin' against her, but she's got a temper. Beastboy's going to get himself into trouble someday and not be able to get out of it. Still, glad he found someone after Terra."
Friendship's smile weakened. "Terra was a mistake. We trusted her; we thought she was a friend, but she wasn't."
Cyborg shrugged. "She was a friend. She just got confused. The girl had some real problems, Rae. Uh... Friendship."
Friendship rested her elbows on the car, and her head in her hands, as she watched cyborg install a scanner in the front hood. "So what about you? Raven read your mind after you pretended to change sides at the HIVE school. Are you going to go for that thing with Jinx? Talk about opposites."
Cyborg's eyes widened, but then he smiled anyway. "Nah. It'd never work out. She's too set on villainy. Plus, I'd have to hang around that little shrimp, Gizmo."
Friendship smiled as Cyborg laughed. He was a good person, he deserved someone that made him happy. She idly wondered who he'd end up with. She handed him the soldering iron again, being of as much help as she was able. He was a friend after all.
Meanwhile, miles away in ruins of a burned-out church, Rage glared down at her compatriots. They had tried to escape His control. They now knelt before her, injured and weakened. Rage sneered at them. She understood their dislike of Trigon's control; it made her angry as well. She didn't like the compulsion, the occasional complete control, or her own inability to rebel. However, she enjoyed the power that submitting to him gave her, and the freedom to pillage and destroy that he granted her. Raven always kept her locked away, but Trigon... Rage fired a spark of black energy at the two kneeling emotions, knocking them backwards and into the broken masonry wall. She laughed darkly. In Trigon's slavery, she was free.
"Did you honestly think you could escape Father? He is far too strong for you to overcome." Rage's voice was guttural and evil. A gift from Trigon.
Hatred winced in pain, feeling the cuts from the broken stone she had been thrown against. "We resisted his control because we hate slavery." She looked up at Rage. "You should have helped us..."
Rage blasted Hatred sideways along the wall, savoring her grunt of pain when her body hit the fallen timbers a few meters away. She turned towards Malice, who had picked herself up and knelt apologetically again, hoping to end this punishment.
"He speaks to me. He tells me that taking you back was more difficult. Tell us why." Rage had heard the confusion in Trigon's voice when he had spoken to her about the recapture of the two rogue emotions. Confusion... and doubt. These were not common emotions for Trigon to feel, and as such, their presence in his voice had concerned her.
"Heh heh heh." Malice chuckled darkly, not from mirth but rather from condescension. "Perhaps the Great and Terrible Trigon is finally losing his ed-oomph!"
Malice fell to the floor as the brick infused with Rage's telekinetic power slammed into her stomach. Rage looked down at Malice as the latter desperately gasped for air. "Losing his edge? I will not hear such blasphemy!"
A voice in her mind reminded Rage of her true purpose. She looked towards Hatred, and reached out with her powers, drawing the page of Rorek's book from her robes. It floated towards her by telekinesis, and she caught it from the air. Leaving Hatred and Malice to recover slightly, she walked through an archway and across the sanctuary floor. There, on the stone altar, lay the Ghaleon Scrolls, the power having been drained from them already. She lay the page on the glyph she had inscribed for Hatred, and began the solemn prayer to Trigon, to allow him to steal the energy from the enchanted page. The page glowed red for a moment, and Rage felt Trigon's power grow within her. She felt his desire, his burning need to incarnate himself on this world. The desire flowed through her, and she knew that the final piece must be found.
Still, there was something bothering her. She hid the thoughts from Trigon, but the idea of freedom intrigued her. All of her existence she had known only slavery and repression. Inside Raven she was hated and feared, still controlled by Trigon, and also suppressed by Raven. Outside, she was now Trigon's principal pawn, the one that he devoted all of his attention to, and most of his power. Still, for all the ability that Trigon gave her to enact her anger, it was still not her power. She longed to taste the freedom that Malice and Hatred had, yet they would not tell her how they escaped him. The Titans must have found some way... Suddenly, Rage felt Trigon's anger at her. He had noticed her inactivity and contemplative mind. She scolded herself for her rebellious thoughts, and reminded herself of her duty.
Malice had failed them once before, but the Titans would not be looking at the old attack sites for her. More than likely, the cathedral was still abandoned. Nonetheless, an attack from the Titans was possible, and Malice needed further punishment, for her foolish words against Trigon. Rage walked back into the chamber where Hatred and Malice awaited her, now standing and hearing the voice of Trigon. She observed their eyes, now four glowing slits on both faces, and smiled. Control had been fully restored. She still spoke for Trigon, despite the lack of necessity.
"Malice, as atonement for your blasphemy, you will return to the cathedral, and you will find the Horn of Balroth. You will bring it back immediately, and in so doing will finalize Trigon's return. Go now, Malice."
Malice, seething with anger and hatred underneath Trigon's now firm control, simply turned and walked out of the church, unable to resist the compulsion. Deep inside, Malice planned. While Trigon may control her body, and while he may be moving her to force her to steal the horn, she would always be planning. Trigon must be made to suffer, and she would find some way to be free of him, even if only for a moment. She swore it.
She swore it on her life.
A/N: Woo, another long(ish) chapter. Sorry for the tremendous delay between updates, life gets in the way. It's a lame excuse, I know. Regardless, the next update should be a bit sooner, though I can't promise anything. Read, Review and keep looking for future updates! Also, I have several other Teen Titans fanfictions in my profile, so if you are bored, take a look. Till next time!