Once Broken, Twice Shattered. . .
Part Three: Assaulted
Titans East had been under siege for a day and a half when Raven decided to visit the library again. When she entered Rorek greeted her with his eyes filled with apologies. He said nothing, though, he just gestured and handed her the book she had been reading the last time she was there, then vanished.
Raven floated in the lotus position, flipping to the right page. She ran her finger delicately over the lines, checking her memorization of the spell. She had collected the few spell ingredients she needed over the past day. If Rorek the Black is really as powerful as he seems, then we're going to need all the help we can get. That includes Terra, she reasoned. When she was satisfied that she knew what she was doing, Raven set the book down in the air, where it floated back away into place. She left the library with the reverse incantation and stepped back into her room in the real world.
She turned around and nearly smacked straight into Malchior.
"What are you doing here?"
"Your aura disappeared into the aura of the book," he said sheepishly. "I was worried."
Raven couldn't quite muster up the usual irritation she had when people entered her room without permission. Malchior had hardly slept since Robin, Starfire and Cyborg had left the tower. He was wearing out the carpet in the common room by pacing. "You're worrying too much. Robin and the others will be fine."
Malchior shook his head furiously. "My brother should have been named Malchior, because his mind is much like that of the Dragon's. He is planning something vile and I cannot begin to think what. He must know that the book is here. He is much faster than he has been. Normally he attacks his enemies outright, not their allies first! Something is very, very wrong!" Raven had know Mal for a very short amount of time, but she noticed that when he was worried he pulled the gray cloth higher up around his face to hide his outward expression. Right now it was pulled up so high it rested just underneath his sightless eyes.
The walked out of Raven's room, the door sliding shut behind them. They slowly began walking down to the common room. Malchior kept on mumbling things and cursing himself under his breath. "I should be there. My brother is going to decimate them."
Raven nervously pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear, though it promptly escaped again. "I'm sure the Titans will be able to handle it," she said quietly. It looked like he was staring at her, though that really was impossible. She reached out and brushed some of his ruffled hair out of his face. Malchior suddenly looked very surprised and jerked back, the cloth falling back down around his neck. "Sorry," Raven said quickly, pulling her hood over her face.
"No, it's my fault. I can never tell when another person is about to touch me. When I feel a touch it, well, it makes me very nervous. Especially when it's coming from such a beautiful maiden," he added.
Raven blushed ever so slightly. Beastboy, passing by, saw the two of them near one another and hid where he could see what was going on, but not be seen. Raven was blushing, that was a rare sight. Beastboy felt slightly jealous. He knew he shouldn't be. If Raven was happy, he should be happy for her.
"Mal," she said quietly, "everything is going to turn out okay." Her heart was pounding in her ears. Control your emotions, she ordered herself. Her voice returned to its normal tone. "Robin is a very capable leader and Starfire and Cyborg are forces to be reckoned with."
"You do not know my brother as well as I know your friends," Malchior said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Raven sounded insulted.
"Merely that my ability to read auras gives me a very clear perspective on how powerful an individual is. My brother's dark aura consumes auras around him. Your friends are all very strong, but I fear that even together my brother will annihilate them." Malchior sighed. "The only one with an aura that compares to his is you."
Raven was trying to fight her rising feelings. There was fear for her friends and a surging infatuation with Mal. When she had glimpsed his mind she had felt a connection with him. His childhood and life had been so hard, yet he endured it as best he could. Raven shifted slightly, moving closer towards the young alien sorcerer. He was what she had fallen in love with in Malchior the Dragon, minus the evil agenda.
Beastboy couldn't stand it. He had to get closer. Transforming into a housefly, he flew up to the ceiling and landed on it. He didn't realize that Mal could still see him. No matter his physical size, his aura stayed the same size. Malchior shifted nervously. He could feel that Beastboy was anticipating something, and that he didn't quite want it to happen. Raven, on the other hand, was weighing her feelings. Malchior didn't want to interfere with their relationship, but from what he had seen in Raven's mind Beastboy was involved- and would be involved when she woke- with the girl Terra. The young sorcerer was baffled though. He was so used to people attacking him or rejecting him because of his brother and his name, Raven's acceptance when she realized he wasn't the Dragon caused a new feeling in him.
"Raven," he said before he realized it, "thank you. Besides your earlier efforts to kill me, you've been nothing but a most wonderful host." He reached out and found her hand very awkwardly, then kissed it gently.
The light right next to Beastboy exploded in a surge of black power. "Yahhhhhh!" Beastboy shouted as he turned into his normal form and fell to the ground. Malchior jumped back instinctively, and Beastboy crashed headlong into Raven.
"BEASTBOY!" Raven roared. Beastboy's head was buried between her breasts. He knew this was the single most unsafe place to be in the world, but he couldn't look up. He was too afraid that he would see four red eyes looking down at him. Suddenly Beastboy felt himself being lifted up and flung down the hallway. He crashed into a wall, upside-down, and found himself looking up at Raven. Black fire surrounded her.
"Heh, heh. Hey Rae. 'Sup?" Beastboy asked.
Raven reached down and hauled him up onto his feet. "Were you spying on me?"
"No!" Beastboy waved his hands frantically. "I was just taking a nap!"
"As a fly? Above my head?" Raven shouted. The fire surged around her menacingly.
"Well you weren't there when I went to sleep!" Beastboy protested.
"I swear Beastboy, if I ever find you spying on me again-" Raven threatened.
Beastboy yelped, "You won't! Ever! I promise!"
Raven dropped him, fury still raging in her eyes. Malchior had shrunk back against the wall, shielding his eyes. When she let her emotions loose in the slightest Raven's aura trebled in brightness with each passing second. He approached her suddenly. "He speaks the truth," Malchior lied. "I felt his aura on the ceiling before we were standing there. I'm sorry I didn't mention it."
Raven's temper dissipated for the most part, but she still sounded frustrated. "Why can't you sleep like a normal person Beastboy?" She turned around and stalked off to meditate.
Beastboy stared at Malchior. "Dude, you totally covered for me. Why?"
Malchior blinked. "Why not?"
Now Beastboy blinked. "Uh. . . I don't know."
Malchior smiled kindly at him. Beastboy was suddenly aware of how much shorter than Malchior he was. Malchior's pale skin was a lot like Raven's, and far from Beastboy's bright green. His ears were rounded, his hair long, and Beastboy's were exactly the opposite. If Malchior was what Raven was attracted to- well then Beastboy realized he wasn't it.
"I'd suggest you avoid Raven for a few hours," Malchior said gently. "She's still quiet mad."
"Well, considering how I landed. . ."
Malchior looked confused. He hadn't seen it.
"Never mind," Beastboy said. "I'm gonna go work out for a while." He headed towards the workout center, turning back only once to watch as Malchior headed after Raven. It's not fair! I was here first! He thought. Oh, and that doesn't sound completely childish. Let's see Beastboy, can you do anything else to make yourself unattractive? He suddenly turned into a large warty toad and began hopping down the hallway. Yeah, that's about it though.
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Raven was on the roof meditating when Malchior found her. He sat in the lotus position on the roof of the tower, then levitated using his power. He was facing Raven, and her aura was even more stunning now than it had been before. He shut out his second sight and closed his eyes in order to concentrate.
They sat like that for a long time, both finding a peaceful center to their chaotic lives. Raven was the first to break in her trance, letting one foot touch the ground, then the other. She looked at Malchior, trying to sort out her thoughts. She had known him for a very short time, but she felt like he had known him much longer. It was a combination of being in his mind and the way Malchior the Dragon had presented himself that caused that feeling. Raven was going to head inside, then turned back around. "Mal?" She said quickly, her emotions surging up inside her.
Malchior opened his eyes. "Yes Raven?" He brought back his second sight, and noticed that she had moved. She was now approaching him, and he set both feet on the ground.
He felt a weight around his shoulders, then her lips pressed against his. Malchior was initially shocked, and frankly Raven was too, but he slowly folded his arms around her and went along with the kiss. Then suddenly he broke off.
"My beautiful Raven, we are deceiving ourselves," he said quietly. "You are not in love with me, but something you think I am. I- I am embracing your soul, but it is not the same."
Raven felt her heart plummet in her chest. "Malchior, I thought-" hurt swelled up in her, then anger. She had to fight it back down!
Malchior still held her. "Raven, I cannot love you the way you want. If I do Rorek will use it to his advantage. He will destroy you, and in doing so he will harm me." His hand found it's way to her face, and wiped away the tears he felt by her eyes. "Sweet Raven," he murmured, kissing her forehead. "I wish you nothing but happiness, but I cannot allow myself to be the source for your own sake."
Raven felt her anger rage violently, but not against Malchior. It wanted to rip from her, fly to Titans East and crush Rorek the Black. She trembled in Malchior's arms, trying to control herself. Inside the tower things were shaking all over. The workout center, with Beastboy in it, however, was strangely exempt to these Tower-specific quakes.
Malchior felt the swell in her emotions, and held her closer. He mentally swore. This was his fault! "Raven, listen to me. There is another here that loves you as I do, he is-"
"Don't," Raven said, pushing him back. "Don't try to make me fall in love with Robin, or Cyborg, or Beastboy. Just forget it." She had gone out on a limb, and the limb had snapped. This is what she got for trying to show a little emotion.
Malchior could say nothing. He nodded slowly, and Raven turned away from him. He wanted desperately to reach out and hold her, but his bumbling blindness would surely make things worse. Ashamed, Malchior pulled the gray cloth up around his mouth and nose.
Feeling dead inside, Raven pulled her cloak as far around her as she could. "Lets go free Terra," she said. "I'll get the ingredients. You stay here." Raven melted into a black pool and vanished.
Malchior felt like he had been on the roof for an eternity when Raven returned. No words passed between them. Raven flew off the top of the tower, and Malchior followed closely behind. The landed almost together and then began heading down into the subterranean cavern that held the sixth Titan.
Malchior surprised Raven when he pointed at Terra's statue and said, "There's someone there."
"That's Terra," she said. "You must be seeing her aura."
Malchior nodded. "It is muted, but if she is trapped in a stone sleep it makes sense."
Opening a large cloth sack she had brought with her Raven spread out the spell ingredients. Malchior could tell what they were by the way they glowed, and offered his help. Raven accepted graciously telling him what needed to be mixed together. The talked to each other with forced tones, neither one of them wanting to speak upon the previous events just yet.
When the setup had been completed, Raven made the hand motions that she had practiced in the library. "Ixsabar collequium normisexbar, nex!" Raven shouted. Her words echoed in the chamber. "Helroelium, diserium, gertesian norrix rex!"
A bright yellow light gleamed around the stone and small cracks appeared on the surface of Terra's statue. The statue continued to glow. Malchior looked confused.
"Her aura has only brightened slightly," he said.
Raven nodded. "The spell takes some time to fully dispel the stone sleep. We're going to be here for a while." She wrapped up the leftover spell ingredients, crossed her legs and began to meditate. "Azarath metrion zinthos. Azarath metrion zinthos. Azarath metrion zinthos," She repeated over and over. Malchior closed his second sight and meditated with her, but instead of speaking he simply focused on his breathing. Things between him and Raven were strained at the moment, but perhaps after Terra had been freed some of the tension would alleviate.
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Beastboy had been playing video games for a few hours when the transmission cut through his game. "Agh!" He yelled, falling off of the edge of the couch where he had been sitting. "What the hell is that?"
"Very funny Beastboy!"
Beastboy poked his head up and looked at the battered image in front of him "ROBIN? Is that mass of pounded meat your face?"
The leader of the teen titans had certainly seen better days. One eye was swollen shut, the other was only able to squint. His lower lip was swollen and bleeding and his face was scratched up. He hadn't even looked this bad when he thought Slade was attacking him, but was actually inflicting the damage himself. "Yes Beastboy, it's me. If you think I look bad, you should see the others."
"Oh my god! Are they okay?"
"Cyborg had to do a total rebooting of his system and download his backup memory. Now he has to craft himself a new torso."
Beastboy's eyes widened. "What about Star?"
Robin looked furious at himself. "She took such a pounding that she can't move. Her powers are totally drained. Beastboy, this Rorek the Black character could have killed us all, but he didn't. He wanted to incapacitate us."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means," Cyborg's voice came from in the background, "that he didn't want us able to help you guys!"
"We think Rorek is heading to your location," Robin said. "You need to get Malchior and Raven and prepare for his assault!"
Beastboy threw a quick salute. "Aye, aye!" He said. He was not looking forward to fighting a madman that could beat his friends senseless, but it couldn't be helped. He skidded to a halt in front of Raven's door. He pounded on her door. "Yo Raven! We've gotta go!" He pounded on the door. "RAVEN!" He shouted. Finally he turned into a gorilla and pounded on the door. It fell inwards.
The room was totally empty. "What- I could have sworn I saw her go in here!" Beastboy looked around. "I've gotta find her." He turned into a small bird and began flying all over the tower. His search was fruitless however, and not necessary. Rorek the Black was not interested in Titans Tower at the moment.
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Malchior's eyes snapped open and he lurched to his feet. He and Raven had been meditating for the better part of an hour and he had shut out his second sight the whole time. He now realized what a mistake that was. "Raven! He is here!" He grabbed her arm and jerked her to her feet.
"What?" Raven said totally baffled. "Who is here?"
"Rorek!" Malchior exploded fearfully. Raven's eyes widened in horror.
"Here?" She choked out. What had happened to her friends who went to help Titan's East? What had happened to Beastboy, all alone in the tower? Had Rorek been there too?
"Yes! You must go!" Malchior shoved her towards the deeper recesses of the cavern.
"But he'll kill you!" Raven protested.
"This day of reckoning between my brother and I was inevitable, and I have delayed its coming many times. I cannot do so any longer," he said. "But you-" He gestured at her and suddenly Raven found herself flying deeper into to caverns against her own will.
"Malchior!" She shouted helplessly. She heard the sounds of an epic battle, then finally a scream of agony. "No!" She said throatily. When Malchior's spell dropped her she began flying back towards Terra's statue. Suddenly the tall figure of a man blocked her way. He was easily as tall as Cyborg, but he was thin and muscular. Raven stopped short in midair.
"So we meet at last," Rorek the Black said, his eyes blazing. "I've heard about you in my travels, Daughter of Trigon." He moved with an eerie grace. "I almost thought you were a myth." He bowed to her. "I would introduce myself, but you must already know me."
Raven edged back from him. "Your Malchior's brother, Rorek."
Rorek blinked, then his grin widened. "Well, that's a new take on it. It almost sounds more sinister than Rorek the Black, considering the origin of Mal's name. Yes, I'm the elder of the brother Noll, Rorek the IV." His movements were highly theatrical. Raven tensed, ready to strike whenever she got a chance. Rorek suddenly swooped her hand up and placed his lips upon it. "You are an exotically beautiful creature. I never doubted you would be." Raven snatched her hand away. Even this did not stop Rorek from grinning. "And such spirit!"
Raven got the feeling that something was very wrong. Rorek was toying with her. "What do you want?"
"Want, want, want. Everybody always asks me what I want," he bent over so that his face was at the level of hers. "They assume that because I am evil, I must 'want' something," he accented the quotation marks with his fingers. He drew back up to his full height. "Maybe I don't want anything at all. Maybe I was just visiting this planet to enjoy the scenery and to catch up with darling little Mal."
"You killed him," Raven choked out.
"Me? Kill Mal? Ridiculous. That would spoil all the fun of chasing him from planet to planet and watching him panic as I approach," Rorek leaned against the rocky wall. "And no, I didn't kill your miserable little friends. I only broke them a little."
"If you don't want anything, then why are you talking to me?" Raven asked.
Her jerked up off of the cave wall. "Aha! Now you ask a question with an interesting answer!" He vanished for a moment, then appeared behind her and whispered into her ear, "I have heard that you are the most powerful woman in all of the universe, yet you hide most of that power for fear of the evil that comes with it." Raven wanted to twist away from him but his hands locked onto her shoulders. "Embrace that evil Daughter of Trigon. Embracing it will help you cast off the bonds that your father holds upon you! You will have all the power you desire, and no one will stand in your way!"
Raven used her powers to free herself from Rorek. She stared at him, wide eyed in horror. Embrace her demonic nature? That would deliver her right into her father's hands. "The forces of evil never free those in their grasp!"
"Are you so sure?" Rorek said, his grin spreading. Raven felt her stomach turn and twist with fear. "Can't you feel it Raven? The sheer power that I have? I could destroy you without batting an eyelash because of all the dark power that I have. Yet I am still in control. There is no demon possessing my body, no evil puppeteer pulling my strings." He wrapped his hand around Raven's chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.
They sent a wave of cold fear down her spine. His eyes looked exactly like the eyes of Rorek in the book. They were the eyes that haunted her in her sleep. The eyes that had held her spellbound. They were clear, though. There was no other force within Rorek the Black but Rorek himself. Raven realized her situation, put her hands out in front of her and screamed "AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!"
Raven had aimed to throw Rorek miles away, but after skidding only a few feet back Rorek broke free of her power. Raven had never known anyone able to do that before. Rorek's grin turned into a furious scowl, and he clenched his fist. Raven felt her arms pinned to her sides. Rorek used his other hand to gain power over her cloak. He twirled his finger in the air and the cloak wrapped around her, tying her neatly and covering her mouth. Then Rorek's grin returned. "You are stronger than I initially thought, even without tapping into your true power. Why don't you follow me for a while?" he began walking along, and Raven found herself floating behind him unwillingly. "I'm going to show you something."
He strolled casually along, whistling the whole way. Raven was getting more frightened by the minute. His power didn't seem to have any limits. He had been battling the other Titans for almost two days, he had fought his brother, and she had lashed out at him, and yet there wasn't a scratch on him. Now he was dragging her along like a rag doll, showing no sign of strain. Where did his power end? They stood in the natural doorway to the chamber Terra's statue was in. The cracks on the statue had multiplied ferociously and she looked like she was going to be free any moment. Was Rorek going to kill her?
Rorek instead gestured to the ground. There Raven saw Malchior, laying on the ground. His sightless eyes were staring straight up. His body was rigid, but his chest moved as he breathed in and out. Rorek turned to her. "You're probably wondering why I showed this to you." Raven said nothing, but he was correct in his assumption. "Simply this: I am not a liar. I told you that I left my brother alive, and here he is." He reached down and patted Malchior's head, fondly ruffling his hair. "Poor little naive Malchior," he said. Then he stretched. "But back to you, my half-demon beauty."
Raven struggled violently. She thrashed within the cloak that bound her. Half -demon beauty?! She raged. I will not be called that!
"What? You don't like being called a half-demon? Malchior said, almost reading her thoughts. "That's what you are and you know it. Until you are rid of your father you will be bound up in that old 'eternal struggle between good and evil'." He walked away waving a hand in the air as if to dismiss the idea. Then he whipped around. "But you have the potential to be so much more. You can be like me. I broke free of the restraints my father's blood imposed upon me. I made it part of my very being, then I was able to destroy him." He walked back up to Raven. "You can do the same. I can help you." He gestured, and her cloak released her. Raven found her arms free once again. "The question is, will you allow me? Choose wisely sweet Raven. Much rests on your answer."
Raven looked at Malchior and Terra. Chips were beginning to fall off or Terra's stone form, the final phase of the spell was starting. Malchior, on the other hand, looked comatose. Rorek's expression showed growing impatience. Raven clenched her fists. "You hurt my friends, you insult me, and you wish me to embrace a part of my nature that I have spent my entire life fighting!" Raven shouted. "I will never accept anything someone like you has to offer me! Azarath metrion zinthos!" Raven's power struck out at Rorek again and again, but he easily blocked the assault.
Rorek's grin became a thin pressed line. "I offered you exactly what you want, to be free of your father, and yet you refuse my help and spit in my face. My dear Raven, you know that even now your mind is suffering worse ills than your body. Because of what you are your mind, by nature, is broken."
The look in his eyes and the return of his grin froze Raven to the spot. How did he know what her mind was like? How did he know that her emotions were splintered pieces of her personality? Her fastened one of his hands around her neck. Raven grabbed his hand with both of hers, even reached out with her powers, but she could not break his grip. He was not trying to strangle her, but he was denying her the normal amounts of air. Her vision was blurry and she focused her powers on ripping chunks of rock and metal out of the cavern walls and trying to smash them into Rorek. He only had to slightly flick his head in the direction of the oncoming object and it flew away harmlessly.
"My people make all sorts of silly phrases to teach children what they should and should not do with their mystical powers. They particularly pound in what you shouldn't do to another person's mind. Mental assault has a very specific warning attached with it." He cleared his throat. "Once broken, twice shattered, three times destroyed." Raven's eyes could not widen any more with fear. "It describes what happens to a person's mind when attacked by a full mental battering of the highest order. Your mind is broken- as if it has all ready been attacked once."
Raven threw everything she had into struggling against Rorek. Her valiant efforts were not as strong as they could be, due to the partial deprivation of oxygen. Rorek's eyes widened with a sort of sadistic joy.
"Oh, yes, you realize now what is happening. If you won't agree to let me help you achieve your full potential then I am going to have to force you into it." He held her up higher, so that her feet no longer touched the ground. "This is really for your own good."
He released her but she hung in the air. She stayed there for only a moment, but it seemed like an eternity. Rorek's eyes locked with hers as he pulled back his arms then thrust them forward in a pushing motion. Raven threw a shield up around herself but it shattered. As the mental barrage hit her she screamed in purest agony as her soul and her mind were tugged in every direction at once.
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"Where the heck is she?" Beastboy yelled kicking the bedpost of Raven's bed. He had returned to her room after covering every inch of Titan's Tower and seeing no sign that Raven was there. He had even managed to figure out how to work the Tower-wide intercom system and yelled at Raven for twenty minutes. Beastboy glanced at the hand mirror on Raven's dresser. He was tempted to see if he could use it to locate Raven, but he knew better than to touch it- or anything else in Raven's room for that matter. Everything there was dangerous unless you knew how to use it. Beastboy's eyes fell on the chest in the far corner of the room. He walked over to it and opened it. There sat the magic book with Malchior the Dragon trapped inside. Shutting the chest, Beastboy made his way to the door.
The loud echo like scream that filled the room stopped him dead in his tracks. "Raven?!" He yelled frantically, recognizing his teammate's voice. "Raven where are yo-"
He was about to finish his question when the hand mirror on the dresser exploded. He didn't have time to transform, only to throw his arms up in defense. The pieces flew around the room
"I didn't even touch it!" Beastboy shouted at no one. The scream faded into a pained moan, then a whimper, then weeping.
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What was-? Where was-? No! No! Raven couldn't order her thoughts at all. Her emotions tormented her, all rushing in at once to fill her. Raven screamed again, but this time her scream carried power. The whole cavern around her began to shake, engulfed in her shadowy power. Her power expanded through the bedrock of the entire city, creating an earthquake like there hadn't been in years. Rorek the Black laughed as the cavern began to shake around him. Raven tried to throw herself at him, to choke him with her bare hands while she could still function, but the falling stones separated the two opponents. Rorek vanished behind a huge boulder and Raven looked up to see the ceiling coming to meet her.
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"What is going on?!" Beastboy yelled as the tower began to shake. He looked around him. The mirror, Raven's absence, that scream, this sudden earthquake. The pieces suddenly began to fit. "Oh god! Raven! That mirror represents her mind and it exploded!" Beastboy practically dove out of the window, his eyes focused on his communicator. He turned into a hawk and held the device in his claws, glancing down every so often so that he could trace the little red dot that was his teammate.
When he got to the location, Beastboy's feeling of dread worsened. It was Terra's cave. The tremors had stopped for the most part, but that only made Beastboy more worried. He turned into a mouse and scurried down the tunnel quickly avoiding a huge amount of new debris.
The cavern that held Terra's statue was an absolute wreck. If he had been human Beastboy wouldn't have been able to find much room to walk towards where Terra's form once stood. He could see only shattered pieces of stone where the sixth titan used to rest. "Terra," he whispered. He had promised to find a cure for her, and now she was gone.
There was someone else that needed his help now.
"Raven!" He shouted. "Raaaaaaaaaaaaven!"
"Beastboy?!" Came a frantic cry. He recognized the voice instantly. It wasn't Raven's but-
"Terra?!" Beastboy shouted in shock. Some of the rocks began glowing yellow and shifted. Terra was wearing a pretty beaten up robe of some sort in a shade of gray. Leaning heavily on her was the gasping Malchior. "What the heck happened?"
Terra shook her head, "I don't know. All I remember is waking up, totally naked and there was Raven, going absolutely ballistic! I had to do everything I could to make sure me and alien boy here weren't crushed. After that he made his scarfy thing into this for me," she gestured at her outfit. "Beastboy, I've never, ever seen Raven that insane before!"
Beastboy's heart raced. "Do you have any idea where she is?"
Terra pointed. "She was over there when last I saw her, but you shouldn't go over there! She nearly killed both of us when we tried to approach her!"
Beastboy ignored her warning and rushed over to where Terra was pointing. He couldn't see any sign of Raven at all. "Raven, Raven!" He shouted. Terra came over and began helping him search, removing rocks. Malchior, recovering from his brother's beating, was finally able to regain his second sight.
"Beastboy!" Malchior pointed. "There! I see her aura!" The aura was warped and folded, and there was something severely wrong with it, but it was Raven's nonetheless.
Beastboy followed Malchior's directions and saw nothing. He was about to say as much to the alien sorcerer when Terra gasped.
"Oh no! On no!" She totally forgot her powers and scraped at some smaller rocks by hand. Once she had swept the dirt away Beastboy could see why Terra had reacted the way she did.
"God, please no!" Beastboy moaned.
There was a corner of Raven's cloak visible and it was drenched in blood.
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A/N: I have nothing to say but: Muwahahahaha!