Ravens brother part 5
Chapter 5-
A glimmer of hope?
As usual Beast boy was the first of the Titans to wake up, hauling himself out of bed at 7:30 in the morning, when he went down to the main room to prepare breakfast he found Drajo already there, sitting crossed legged on the floor with his wings folded up and his eyes closed, arms crossed, meditating. As Beast boy walked over to Drajo and opened his mouth to speak Drajo eyes opened and he said
"no I wouldn't", Beast boy frowned and said
"no you wouldn't what?"
"You were about to ask me if I'd like some tofu bacon and sausages and no I wouldn't, in my opinion whoever invented that vile substance deserves life in prison and the people who eat it are cowards who are afraid to eat meat like nature intended."
The green Titan rounded on Drajo
"what is your problem! Why do you hate me so much" Drajo sighed
"because of what you said about my sister, Raven told me about what happened between you and Terra, and you think you understand what she and I have been through, hah! You think because a dimwitted blond ditches you understand how she could feel when she unleashed a ancient, evil dragon that could have destroyed the world, or that you could understand how I felt when I discovered my family had been murdered because someone who they trusted betrayed them". Beast boy's eyes blazed with anger,
"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT TERRA THAT WAY" he yelled swinging a punch at Drajo who blocked it and hissed, "Why should I? After all I heard some of the things you thought about Raven so tell me Beast boy why should I?"
"O.K your right, I know I shouldn't have thought all those things about Raven, I'm sorry," Drajo hissed in frustration "that's just it, you don't know. I've known Raven a lot longer than you have; I know how she gave her heart to Malchior and I know just how he took it, ripped it into a thousand pieces and threw it back in her face, I know about how she was almost consumed by her sorrow and how disgusted and angry she was at herself for ever trusting him. Or that she wanted to crawl into a hole and pull off her skin as punishment for what she had done, when following her heart was all she did." Beast boy stood there and said,
"Maybe if I saw for myself I'd understand" Drajo looked deep into his eyes and said "I doubt it but it's a good start", he closed his eyes and began his chant, Beast boy collapsed to the floor, about to experience some of Drajo's most painful memories.
Start of flashback
In a house in the Romanian hamlet of Dargthar, the fifteen-year-old Drajo was sat in a chair by the fire, reading from an archaic tome, suddenly an image of his sister appeared inside his head, she was dressed in a white leotard and cloak, a startling colour change, when she spoke to him, her voice was full of happiness "brother, it is good to see you"
"it is good to see you too sister" he replied
"you seem happy, care to tell me why?"
"Oh Drajo the most amazing thing has happened, I was reading one of my books and I found out that this wizard, Malichor is trapped inside it. The dragon Rorek, a dragon he fought and defeated a thousand years ago trapped him there, out of spite. Long story short brother I've managed to partly free him but I'll need your help to free him from the book completely" "slow down Raven. First of all tell me the whole story in detail, leave nothing out", he placed his book down and listened intently as his spiritual sibling told him how she had come to discover Malchior, about how he made her feel and what she needed him to get for her.
When she had finished he scratched his chin and said "it's a good story sister but a few things don't add up, firstly dark dragons don't cast curses that powerful, secondly if Malchior was powerful enough to defeat the dark dragon, he should be able to break this curse on his own, as in he shouldn't need your help, third the black star orchid you want me to get is only used in dark magic and finally he should need the blood of a wizard, not of a dragon to free himself from his entrapment."
"If your suspicious about Malchior's story you can ask him yourself, he's right here" an image of a figure with bright white eyes and a body made up entirely of pieces of paper appeared in Drajos mind, when he spoke his voice was full of power.
"Greetings Drajo I am Malchior, Raven has told me much about you. I am very pleased to see you, I had almost given up hope of finding a dragon in this day and age."
"I'm not really a dragon, but I have the blood of the dragon in my veins"
"I know, Raven told me the whole story, it's comforting to know not all dragons are evil, Raven said you wanted to ask me some questions, so fire away"
"uh yes I did" he stammered, he had been hoping to question Malchior alone, not with his sister present,
"you told Raven you need a black star orchid, but that's only used in dark magic so why do you need it?"
"Drajo, darkness can be many things, a force for evil, or for good, it's not why I need the orchid that's the question, it's what I need it for and I need it to right a wrong done to me by one of your kind, surely you can understand that?" "Okay, Raven also said that you need my blood, a dragons blood to be precise, but I've read in the works of Rahtek the vengeful that in order to break a dragons entrapment you need a wizards blood, not a dragons. Care to explain that?" Malchior laughed and said
"my dear Drajo wasn't Rahtek the vengeful a dragon slayer? So wouldn't he want to discredit dragons and not say that they were useful in anyway?"
"Again you make an excellent point Malchior but may I have a private word with my sister?"
"Of course, Raven I'll see you in a few minutes" and with that Malchior departed from Drajo's mind, once again spiritual brother and sister were alone, she smiled hopefully
"so Drajo, what do you think of him?" He looked uneasy as he replied
"I'm not sure, he seems very convincing but there's something about him I don't like, I don't know what it is but he makes me uneasy, besides usually if someone or something has been sealed away in an old object for a very long time, there's often a very good reason why" Ravens face fell
"so your saying you won't help, that you'll just leave one of the only people I've truly cared about locked away in a book for all eternity" tears began to form in her eyes, Drajo gulped, knowing if Raven started crying, the house would likely collapse.
"Now now sister, I never said that" Raven looked up
"so you'll help us?"
"No I'll help YOU but I'd like to make it very clear that I don't like it one bit" Raven frowned
"fine just get the black star orchid, it grows on the Crimean shore of the black sea, it should take you about three days to find it and return, I'll be here at midnight, three days from now"
"don't worry, I'll be here"
"then I'll be on my way, take care brother and good searching" then she departed, leaving Drajo alone. Almost immediately he got up and started packing, he pulled his brown travelling clothes on and he was finished, he then opened his bedroom door and called down
"Yuri, Anya, are you awake?" "The old man and his granddaughter must be asleep" he thought "I'll leave them a note", he went into the kitchen and scribbled one down.
Dear Yuri and Anya, I'm going on a trip to the Crimea, It should take me three days, as the dragon flies, don't go into my room while I'm away.
Best wishes Drajo
With that the dragon-boy walked out of the door, locked it, let his wings fold out and then leapt into the crisp night air, soaring high into the black sky.
End of flashback.
Drajo sighed sadly,
"Had I known what Malchoir planned to do, I would have scoured the Crimea, destroying every black star orchid I could find, ensuring no chance of escape for that vile monster. But then again I suppose he would have found another way, foul creatures like him often do, prodding, poking and probing the confines of his prison, given time he would find another weakness he could exploit. I often think Raven should have seen the warning signs' she's always very careful with everything else. But love, sadly, blinded her to everything bar Malchior, the plight he was in and how she could free him. He covered his tracks very well. I suppose being trapped in a book for a thousand years gave him a long time to practice his lies, ticks and deceit. To hone it to perfection."
"Whoa" Beast boy said, amazed and shocked at what he'd just seen. He never thought Raven was capable of caring for someone that way, then again a week ago he didn't think Raven had a brother, let alone that he was a dragon. Drajo's voice interrupted his train of thought.
"It took me longer than I thought to find the black star orchid, so I had to push to make it back in time to meet my sisters deadline and when I returned she had some worrying news." Drajo resumed his chant and yet again Beast boy fell to the floor, unconscious.
Start of flashback.
The house came into view; Drajo checked his watch, ten minutes to midnight. He touched down in front of his home. He was exhausted and fed up. In the course of his little orchid hunt he'd been tossed around in a coastal gale, shot at by a group of dim-witted Ukrainian peasants, which took all his inner strength to not to barbacue and crash-landed in the black sea, almost drowning. All that aside he thought, the trip was a success. A black star orchid was resting inside his backpack.
"After all this my sister had better be pleased", he muttered under his breath as he entered his home.
"Drajo" Yuri's granddaughter Anya, greeted him in the hallway, giving him a warm hug, Drajo returned the gesture, Anya was fifteen, with flowing black hair, hazel eyes, calm like her grandfathers but without their wisdom and tanned skin, aside from Raven, Anya was the only girl Drajo really cared about.
"It's good to see you too Anya" he replied, "how was your trip?" He glanced at his watch. Five minutes to his sister's deadline.
"I'll tell you and Yuri about it at breakfast tomorrow"
"all right, good night Drajo" "good night Anya" and with that he quickly climbed the stairs to his room and shut the door. A few minutes after this, the clock in the corner of the room began to chime midnight, after the final chime a large, dark bird rose up out of his floor, the bird vanished and his spiritual sister stood in it's place, dressed in white with a guilty expression on her face.
Drajo reached into his bag and pulled out the prize of his journey.
"Here sister, a black star orchid, just like you asked me to get", he reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of dark red liquid,
"oh and here's that vial of my blood that you wanted as well". Raven took them both from his hands and placed them in a small leather bag then tied it to her waist, all the time not looking him in the eye.
"What's wrong sister you seem troubled?" His sisters gaze dropped to the floor and she struggled to reply "nothing's wrong Drajo, I'm fine" her brother walked over and laid a taloned hand on her shoulder.
"Come now Raven, I've known you too long for you to lie to me, now what's wrong?"
"Are you sure you won't be mad?" "Of course not now tell me" "Well I'm sure you've sensed the increase in my powers" "yes is that what's worrying you?"
"Sort of. Malchior has been teaching me all sorts of spells so I will be strong enough to free him"
"what's wrong with that, isn't freeing him what you want" "Drajo the spells he's been teaching me are dark magic."
"WHAT!" Drajo roared, his eyes glowing with black energy, his powers causing small cracks to appear in the walls. Raven was shocked, she had never seen her brother this angry before, not even in the civil war when he was betrayed by a traitor within the guerrilla warband he led, which resulted in them all getting killed in an ambush, Drajo surviving and burning the traitor alive for his actions. She had to calm him down, his powers were not as strong as her own but they could still cause some serious damage to the house.
"Drajo calm down, it's not as bad as it sounds"
"How?" her brother snapped, still angry
"Well it's dark magic, so it can be used for good or evil, as Malchior says 'darkness is often misunderstood'". Drajo sighed, "
As usual you're right sister" his voice grew calmer and his eyes stopped glowing. Raven hugged her spiritual brother
"Thank you Drajo, you don't know how much this means to me"
"no thanks necessary sister, now we are even for all those times you saved my life in the civil war. Although I do have one question"
"what?"
"are you sure you want to be with Malchior?"
"Drajo I've never been more sure of anything in my life" now it was Drajos turn to look nervous
"well I don't trust him, if he teaches you dark magic who knows what he could be capable of and I've checked all the magical and historical archives I could find and I couldn't find any trace of a Malchior of knoll anywhere, it's as if he doesn't exist". The look of happiness in Ravens eyes turned to anger
"and what would you know, if it wasn't for me you would've died three years ago, I've saved your life more times than I can count and you want me to walk away from the person I love"
"It's too dangerous Raven, he's lied to you about the spells he was teaching you, if he knows dark magic, who knows what he's capable of" they were in a full scale argument now. Raven was angrier than Drajo had ever seen her before
"I know what he's capable of and he's only capable of good, not evil, you want me to leave the only person I've ever cared about, based on your crazy accusations, dream on you scaly abomination".
At as soon as those words left her mouth, Raven knew she'd gone to far, Drajo reeled back just like he had on the night of his family's murder, falling back onto his bed. "Drajo, I didn't mean to…."
"Save it, I don't want to hear it, just go, get out" he snapped, the pain in his voice obvious. She reached to hold his hand but he wrenched it away and caught her hand in a blast of icy air. Raven turned away, tears staining her eyes as she was enveloped by black energy and disappeared. Drajo buried his face in his hands, his tears dripping onto the floor.
End of flashback
"That was one of the worst nights of my life" Drajo said sadly. Beast boy just stood there dumbfounded, he never thought Raven could have an argument with someone other than him that way, let alone with someone as close to her as Drajo was or that she could hurt someone's feelings that badly.
"You probably know what happened next" Beast boy nodded, he still had nightmares about it, two months on.
"What you probably don't know is what happened when Raven disappeared from your tower so I'll fill you in" for the final time he began his chant and for the final time Beast boy collapsed, about to experience Drajo's most painful memory of all.
Start of flashback.
It was late in the evening, about ten O'clock at night, two days after Drajo, wearing red and blue robes, was sat reading in his room in front of the fire had had the massive argument with his spiritual sister, Raven and he was still feeling pretty raw from the horrible things Raven had called him. He glanced out of the window, 'looks like rain' he thought then a knock came at his door
"come in" he said and his old servant Yuri entered (he wasn't Drajo's servant anymore, but Drajo agreed that Yuri and his granddaughter Anya could live in his house and do the housework instead of paying rent).
"Drajo there is a girl standing outside, asking for you, what should I say?"
"It's alright Yuri I'll go and see what she wants" the old man nodded and walked out. Drajo went to the window and looked out. Sure enough, his sister was stood out there, a bag on her shoulder, dressed in her normal dark blue attire with her hood down, her eyes full of sorrow and weakly calling his name,
"Drajo, Drajo, I need your help". His anger quickly evaporated, to be replaced by concern. He quickly ran outside.
"What's wrong, is it Malchior?" she smiled sadly
"that's just it brother", she quickly told him the whole story, after which he swore so violently the air caught on fire (he could breathe it after all).
"That vile, devious little fker,….." he snarled(This was followed by swear words so coarse and vile I can't type them down or the computer just might set on fire, and I can't breath it either!).
"You were right Drajo, you always are", tears were beginning to form in her eyes. A rumble overhead signalled the arrival of the rain, Raven reached for her hood but Drajo extended one of his wings over her head so it acted like an umbrella. He noticed his sister's cloak and leotard were frayed and looked shabby as if she hadn't bothered cleaning them for a few days and that there were bags under her eyes as if she hadn't been sleeping very well.
"You look terrible, you'd better come inside" she nodded and they went indoors.
He took her up to his room and sent for Yuri to bring up some tea.
"So you defeated him then?" she looked up from her seat on his bed
"yes I re-sealed him in the book I found him in, he won't be getting out again"
"and what about all the dark spells he taught you?" "I erased them from my mind, don't worry brother I'm coping fine", her brother sighed
"I thought Rorek was a weird name for a dragon, when I checked the archives I found a reference to a dragon called Malchior but none to a wizard of the same name, which is why I got so worried".
"I should have listened to you, not call you a scaly abomination", "don't dwell on it, what's done is done". The tea arrived and Drajo introduced his sister to Yuri, saying she was an old friend from the civil war, with powers similar to his own who would be staying with him for a few days to get over a recent break up (they had agreed before hand to this story as it would be too hard to explain the truth to the old man and Anya) Yuri bowed and left, Drajo paused to pour two cups of tea giving one to Raven "sorry but it's not herbal" she smiled grasping her cup so hard it burned her hands and she dropped it, the cup fell and broke, its contents spilling out onto the pale yellow carpet, Drajo picked up a vial of his blood from his bedside cabinet,
"no problem, I'll heal it in no time" as he leaned forward to apply his healing blood he noticed dark, sticky patches on Ravens right arm, she dropped her gaze to the floor as he rolled up her sleeve to reveal the many cuts, crisscrossing her arm, all looking as if been done in the last couple of days. His eyes widened with shock
"so this is how you've been coping" he said, horrified at the thought of his sister doing that to herself
"yes" she replied not able to look him in the eye. He poured some of the blood onto his hand and rubbed her arm and as if by magic, all her cuts vanished.
"I know it's wrong Drajo but I just felt so angry and sad, then I slipped and cut myself with a knife as I was preparing dinner and the pain and negative emotions just seemed to go away, it worked at first but then the emotions didn't go away so I had to do it more and more. I never ment for it to get so out of control, don't worry Drajo I'll stop soon, I promise".
Drajo grabbed her by her shoulders and began shaking her very hard
"DON'T SAY THAT, PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT NEVER STOP DOING IT, AND SOON IT'S NOT ENOUGH, AND THEY NEED TO TAKE MORE, DRASTIC ACTION TO MAKE THE PAIN GO AWAY. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DO? THEY KILL THEMSELVES RAVEN, THEY KILL THEMSELVES TO MAKE THE PAIN GO AWAY, I DON'T WANT MY SISTER TO KILL HERSELF SO STOP, RAVEN, STOP IT RIGHT NOW" he roared and with that he began rummaging through Ravens bag and found the knife she'd been using. He held it up and melted it with a blast of fire; she collapsed into a fit of tears, weeping partly in disgust for what she had been doing to herself, partly in disbelief because she had no other way to release her feelings now, and partly because she still had a lot of pent up emotion that she couldn't release via self-mutilation, her brother held her in his arms and covered her with his wings, in that darkness, the kind she had grown so used to she released her feelings, pain and sorrow in a flood of salty tears.
End of flashback.
Drajo looked up, a tear in his eye.
"She stayed with me for the next few days, crying her eyes out most of the time, her powers causing several minor earthquakes in the village, when I had to leave the house to tend to the victims, I told Yuri and Anya to keep an eye on Raven, not to let her get a hold of any sharp objects and to contact me if she did, It was like she was on suicide watch."
"And did she try again?"
"Yes she broke my bedroom window and began hacking at her arm with a shard of glass, luckily I was able to restrain and heal her without too much difficulty".
"How did you restrain her?"
"I told you last night. I can breathe a knock out gas, I simply breathed onto my sister. The next day I took her out of the house and to my family's graveyard in the ruins of my old castle, after the war ended I recovered their bodies from the ditch where the rebels dumped them, I gave them a proper burial and laid them to rest, in the place they loved, when I ever feel sad I just sit there and meditate until the sadness goes away. It always works and it worked wonders on my sister and that night she left, Feeling much better."
Beast boy was shocked, once again; Drajo had shown him a side of Raven that he previously thought couldn't exist and something he never thought she was capable of.
"I hope what I've shown you has helped you understand Raven better, but I do ask you not speak of it to anyone bar myself"
"no problem dude, her secret's safe with me", with that they shook hands, friends at last.
A few minutes later Cyborg came down and he found Drajo and Beast boy chatting as if they had no care in the world. "Whatcha doing?"
"Just getting to know each other better" Beast boy replied smiling at Drajo. Robin and Starfire then came down and they all had breakfast together Drajo had iced tea (via icy breath), Starfire had scrambled eggs with chocolate sauce, tuna and tacos (to say yuck would be a understatement), Cyborg had sausages, bacon and eggs much to Beast boys dismay as he prepared his tofu bacon and vegetarian sausages which naturally started an epic argument. After breakfast was finished Drajo asked again if he could go and see Raven
"We'll all go" Robin replied, Drajo had finally gained his trust.
The Titans infirmary was coloured in shades of black and grey, so it was easier to be in than the hospital where the bright whiteness was a constant reminder of the death associated with that place. The walls were covered in monitors showing the stats of Drajos sister, sleeping for eternity. In a corner of the room lay Raven, still dressed in her hospital gown, her eyes closed, and a mask on her face, linked to a ventilator, the team could see her chest rising and falling in parallel with the motion of it's pump. Suction cups were on her face and arms, these hooked up to the monitors around her bed, beeping softly, reassuring her friends that she was still alive, thought it provided little real comfort to them, Drajo sank down into a chair near her bed
"It's alright sister, I'm here now" he said, his serpentine eyes awash with tears, the sorrow clear in his voice as he reached out to hold her hand. When his hand touched Raven's a series of images flashed through his mind.
A dark figure was locked in glass chest, bound with chains, then suddenly the chains burst and the figure was free, smashing out of the chest. Raven appeared and blasted a bolt of dark energy at the figure, which deflected it with no trouble. Before Raven could fire another one the figure sent a blast of fire at her. She was engulfed in the flames and fell to the floor unconscious. The figure reached out with a dark claw and scooped her up, placing her in a glass chest that appeared out of nowhere. Raven came to and chains appeared on the outside of the chest, sealing the roof shut, as she began to pound the side of her new prison, her tormentor stepped forwards out of the shadows laughing in victory. That face, it was the one that haunted his sisters nightmares. It was….
"MALCHIOR" Drajo cried, jerking his taloned hand away so it was no longer touching Ravens.
"Drajo what's wrong?" Robin yelled, his voice full of concern,
"It's him, it's Malchior" all the Titans cried out in disbelief "that is impossible, the Malchior was defeated," Starfire cried. "Evidently he wasn't" Drajo said grimly. "How did he get into Ravens mind?" Robin asked,
"I don't know, don't you think I'd have told you if I did?" Drajo snapped back
"Any way the only we can help her would be to go into her head and destroy what's left of Malchior so unless you have a way to get into her head, there's nothing we can do" he punched the wall in frustration,
" hold that thought Drajo" Beast boy interrupted and a ran out of the room, leaving the rest of his friends looking at each other, at a loss for words. A few minutes later he returned, clutching an archaic mirror in his hand. Cyborg looked up
"oh yeah I remember that" (see episode 'nevermore' to hear the full story).
"Yes and so did my sister, if you only knew the things she wanted to do to you afterwards, you wouldn't sleep for a year" he smiled, remembering the memory as he took the mirror from Beast boy,
"yes this is the one she told me about." He held it up in front of the Titans
"I must warn you, when you entered Ravens mind before she was in control. Now Malchior is running the place things will be far worse, it is likely he released her fears to aid him in his battle against her emotions, there will be horrors in there beyond what you could ever imagine in your worst nightmares, if you should die in there, you die for real. So I must ask you, are you willing to take that risk?"
"For Raven we are" Robin replied, answering for the team. "So be it" Drajo said, he turned the mirror around so all their reflections could be seen in it, after a few seconds their eyes turned to red slits and a black force pulled them into the mirror, into Ravens mind, one of the greatest battles of their lives was about to begin.
To be continued please review