A/N: Aaaaah, Friday night, a night to play Dance Dance Revolution until your sick and then have to take a shower and then get to writing…yeah, it rules.
XP
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
Sir,' said I, or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.
The Raven, By Edgar Allan Poe
XD"Malchior! What are you doing! Where's Raven!" Rorek demanded.
"Will you calm down! I told you I had everything under control." Malchior snapped right back. "If you must know, I am fixing Raven some tea, and she is currently in her room resting." He said.
"What happened!" Robin demanded.
"I'm not exactly sure, but she suffered a very nasty wound on account of a small metal arrow, but I took care of it. Seeing as how fast her body seems to heal and how well it responded to the magic I used it should be just fine by the end of the week. But in the meantime, she'll be needing a lot of rest." Malchior explained.
Most of the titans stared at him, then Cyborg said, "You know, I don't think I'm ever gonna get use to all this magic stuff. I have never heard of a bullet wound healing in such a short time!"
"Yeah, well, mystics never play fair." Zacroma said, causing several of them to snort in laughter.
Malchior just raised an eyebrow at her, "Whatever," He said, shrugging it off, "I'll just take this to her if she's still awake." He said.
"No you won't, I will." Rorek said, taking the cup from him with a distrustful look.
Malchior rolled his eyes. "Fine. If anyone needs me, in which case too bad you're not getting any help from me, I'll be in my room reading." He said.
"Pft, like anyone cares." Beast Boy muttered when he was out of earshot.
"Beast Boy!" Zacroma chided.
"What? It's true! I mean, come on, Rorek's our friend, he isn't. Why is he even still here?" The changling demanded.
"Because we can't get him to leave." Rorek said, seeming to have the same opinion as Beast Boy.
"And we'd rather he be here and not out somewhere were we, excuse me, Raven, can keep him in check." Robin pointed out.
"Aw, come on you guys. He's not that bad, he's just, well, different is all." Zacroma defended.
"And it would not be fair to Raven if we were to make him leave either." Starfire interjected. Rorek faltered slightly.
"Yeah! Besides, I think under that bad-boy dragon exterior he wants a friend as much as anyone." Zacroma said.
"He has a funny way of showing it." Cyborg glowered.
"I think this would be a time when Raven would come up with some wry comment about people being close-minded, but I can't think of any right now, can you?" Zacroma asked Starfire.
"No." The tamaranian shook her head.
"I'm, going to take this to Raven." Rorek said, escaping the conversation as soon as possible.
XD"Everything was fine until you came around! And we were much better off when you left, you should have just stayed there! Leave us alone! I hate you!"
"NO!" Raven grabbed her chest, shooting up in her bed as a sudden piercing pain shot through it. Her cry wasn't loud, but that was a mixed blessing as it felt like the pain was constricting her throat, and therefore her breathing as well. It was like fire! Screaming in her ears, clouding her vision, making her gasp and heave, forcing herself to take in air and push it out again. She could still hear those words ringing in her ears, as if they had been burned into her mind. They weren't leaving, they weren't fading away like these dreams usually did.
And they hurt. No, it wasn't just the pain in her chest, those words hurt more deeply than a physical wound. She didn't know why, she couldn't remember anything else but those words.
And those eyes.
They were the same, the same blue green rimmed eyes, but younger, fearful, and harsh.
This time the dream wasn't leaving, though the pain was gradually subsiding. Still, she took her notebook and wrote down the exact words that refused to leave her mind at peace, and then wrote down the memory of those blue green rimmed eyes.
So, there were two sets it seemed, maybe they represented a period of time. Maybe these words were spoken much earlier than others, and so the meaning behind the words might be in the past instead of the future. Perhaps there was something she needed to know…but it seemed fairly straightforward, "Go away" "you ruined everything" and "I hate you". But what about the pain in her chest? Was she being stabbed? And the emotional pain, was it someone this person thought she could trust?
Raven turned the page where she had written all her and Rorek's observations down and added this to it. After that though, she didn't think she could take it anymore, she took a few sips of the dreamless sleep potion and laid back down, waiting for it to take effect.
XD"Aw come on, just try it, pleeeeeeeease? I promise it's better than last time!" Zacroma begged.
Beast Boy began to sweat nervously at the dish of tofu in front of him. Now, ordinarily he would be having either Zacroma or Cyborg time him on how fast he could consume the entire bowl at once, but this was different, this was Zacroma's homemade tofu. And after a near-death experience with a few of her other attempts at cooking, Beast Boy was more than just a little wary of this. "Uuuuuuh…" He trailed off.
"Pleeeeeeeeeeease?" Zacroma begged, giving him the look that made her unbearably adorable. A look that would make any guy turn to jelly, not excluding Beast Boy.
He grimaced and took a spoonful, regarding it like a poison he had no choice but to take, and stuffed it into his mouth with Zacroma watching him intently for a reaction. He fainted.
"AIEEEEE! MEDIC! ANTIDOTE! SOMETHING!" Zacroma yelled, running around the room in panic.
"What's wrong?" Cyborg asked, running into the kitchen, "What happened?"
"I made him eat my homemade tofu!" Zacroma cried. "It didn't taste that bad when I tried it myself…" She wined.
"Of course it didn't, you made it yourself, you weren't going to find anything bad with it." Malchior said, rubbing the inside of his ear with his pinky. He took a spoonful of the stuff and sniffed it. "You overcooked a few things and put too many spices in it. If those are spices." He told her.
"But, but Beast Boy he—"
"He's conscious, he's just trying to get out of eating anymore." Malchior said with an airy wave of his hand.
"Thanks a lot man." Beast Boy grumbled, getting back up off the floor.
"You know you could have just told me." Zacroma grumbled, glowering at her green friend.
"Uh…" Beast Boy started sweating nervously.
"Um, is there a problem?" A voice asked from the door. Everyone turned and stared.
"Dude! Raven you should be in bed!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Heck, you should be in a hospital!"
"I'm fine. Do we have any Raisin Brand?" She asked, walking over to the pantry.
"Are you sure! I mean, it doesn't hurt or anything? Is it bad?" Zacroma asked.
"Yes it hurts, of course it hurts, but not that much." She answered sternly, starting to get irritated with this new treatment.
"You should still be resting." Malchior said.
"Oh and what am I suppose to do when I get hungry? Yell?" she asked sarcastically.
"Exactly!" He answered.
Raven rolled her eyes, "Alright, everyone, read my lips: I am not a child and I can take care of myself." She said in a very clear voice.
"Now you read my lips: Too bad." He said, and before she could react he picked her up off her feet in one swift, fluid motion and started carrying her back up to her room.
"Malchior! You put me down right this instant!" Raven yelled, struggling against him.
"No. You are going to bed and you are going to let us wait on you hand and foot until that wound has completely closed up. And it will heal a lot faster if you do." Malchior told her firmly.
"I'll bring up your Raisin Brand." Zacroma called.
"I'm not going to yell for someone just because I'm hungry." She told him.
"Then you can use your communicator." He replied.
"No, I'm no—"
"Yes you are. That spell I placed to make your wound heal faster is going to use a lot of strength in the process. You may feel alright now, but trust me, in a few moments you'll wish you had just stayed in bed." He told her, entering her room. He laid her down on her bed and took her cloak off once again.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." She grumbled, falling back into her pillows.
"Hnhn, oh come on," He said, pressing his lips to the jewel on her forehead, "I thought all women liked to be pampered. Just take this time to relax, it might be good for you." He said.
"I prefer to do things myself."
"I know that, you have a very independent personality, which is one of the many things I adore about you. But just think of this as a forced vacation. It's only for a few days, so be patient." He told her.
"Room service!" Zacroma's voice called from the doorway.
"Room what? I thought you were Zacroma." Malchior called back as she opened the door.
"Ha ha, you are so funny, not." Zacroma said, setting Raven's bowl of cereal down on her desk. "I know you know what room service is, we explained that to you just the other day when Beast Boy was trying to get Robin to consider a vacation."
"Did Robin ever agree to that?" Raven asked.
"Nope, as far as I know anyway. I've been trying to get Starfire to sweet-talk him into it, but I think she's a little inept in that department." She answered.
"Really? How so? You'd have thought with all those magazines,"
"Yeah, I know! But she keeps skipping the 'talking' part and going on to the 'making out' part, which doesn't do us a bit of good." Zacroma said with a pout.
"I think I'll leave now." Malchior informed.
"Bye, bye." Zacroma waved, but she turned back to Raven, taking Malchior's seat. "Anyway, you missed it, Beast Boy actually passed out after eating Tofu." She said.
Raven's eyes widened, "What? But I've seen him eat 3 gallons of the stuff in one setting!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah well, it wasn't the tofu I made him." Zacroma said with an innocent look on her face. "By the way, your boss called, wondering if you were ever coming back, and guess who answered the phone. Come on, guess."
"He didn't!" Raven exclaimed, a pained expression beginning to take over her facial features.
"He did, in fact he's taken a bit of an obsession with the phone, after he used up the last of my shaving cream. He's been answering just about every call when he can get away with it. Thankfully, I was there and I had the honor of rolling on the floor in laughter upon hearing it." She said with a smile.
"I know I'm going to regret this but, what did he say?" Raven asked.
"Something like this, ahem," Zacroma positioned her hand to her ear as if it were a telephone. "Hello? No this would be Malchior…Raven? Yes she's here…No you can't talk to her… Because she needs her sleep…No she's not sick…Because she's recovering from a gunshot wound…Yes she's alright…no she won't be coming into work you imbecile!…When I feel she's good and ready…Oh she told you did she? Well in that case yes I am her boyfriend…No I'm not Rorek, I'm his dark side…Do you really want to know that?…No you cannot speak with Raven…I am not waking her up…No, she will call you…no I'm not going to tell her you called!…because she shouldn't be bothered by something so trivial…No you have to contend with me…I said no, and if you call again I will track you down and have your arm for my evening meal."
Raven smacked her face with her hand. "He said that?" She asked, almost fearfully.
"He said a lot more than that, but that was the basic gist of it." Zacroma answered.
Raven buried her face in her hands, using her raised knees as a support, "I'm gonna hear it when I go back." She moaned. "Especially from Elsa."
"Who?"
"My co-worker. She's a play-goth. Looks the part, and maybe likes the same stuff, but she doesn't act it very much. She can be very annoying sometimes." Raven answered.
"Oooooooh, that type. Yeah, she'll be bugging you about that, unless she doesn't like you." Zacroma added.
"Ah, well, she's admitted to liking me…not in that way! So therefore I will be hearing it." Raven sighed, taking her bowl of Raisin Brand.
XDThe story behind the painting I drew is already told
No more tearstains on the pages of my diary
Tired but unable to give up since Im
Responsible for the lives I saved
The play is done
The curtains down
All the tales are told
All the orchids gone
Lost in my own world
Now I care for dead gardens
My song is little worth anymore
Time to lay this weary pen aside
The play is done
The curtains down
" Where are the wolves, the underwater moon
The elvenpath, the haven of youth
Lagoons of the starlit sea
Have I felt enough for one mans deed?
Or is it time to challenge the Ancient of Days
And let the virgin conceive"
All the tales are told
All the orchids gone
Lost in my own world
Now I care for dead gardens
Raven listened to this Nightwish song with more focus than she had before. She'd heard it, many times, and she did like it, but she just hadn't given the words this much thought before. The song was called 'Dead Gardens', there was little chance it could have anything whatsoever to do with her dreams, but still, it could hold something that might give her an idea.
Painting, she'd done it before, and she was quite good too, well, not that good, but she was decent enough. Perhaps if she just let her brush do what it wanted, it might turn into something significant, it might not. Too bad she was out of several colors, and didn't have a canvas.
Knock knock.
"Come in." Raven called, closing the open book in her lap so she could set it aside.
"Room service." Came Rorek's light-hearted voice.
Raven chuckled, "Been talking to Zacroma?" She asked as he brought in a plate of warmed up leftover pizza. Afrado (sp?), her favorite.
"No, she's the one doing the talking." He answered, sitting down in the chair that now had the official use of being for her visitors. "It's hard to believe she's the same person we fought against those weeks ago." He said.
"She's a very good actress." Raven said.
"Yes she is, and she's been demonstrating that talent by doing an interpretative reading of one of Shakespeare's sonnets, with her own translation after each verse. Unsurprisingly, she did it in such a way that Beast Boy and Cyborg actually enjoyed it." He said.
"She mutilated it, didn't she?"
"Well I wouldn't go that fa-okay yes she did." He answered, causing Raven to snicker a bit.
Raven sighed, "I don't suppose you could add your magic to Malchior's and make this wound heal even faster, could you?" She asked.
"Malchior could have cast a stronger spell to make it heal twice as fast, but demon or not, you're body is not that physically strong. Anything stronger could be more dangerous than its worth because that spell uses the subject's own strength to speed up the healing process. You could slip into a coma, or worse." He answered.
"I was afraid of that." She sighed, taking a few bites of the pizza. "By the way, I have more written down." She said, gesturing to her notepad.
Rorek nodded and took the pad, he flipped through the first few pages, and a rather startled look crossed his features when he read her newest entry. "'Everything was fine until you came around. And we were much better off when you left, you should have just stayed there. Leave us alone. I hate you?' well, that's…straightforward." He said, looking very awkward.
"What do you think it means? Is it some sort of coding like the last two?" She asked.
"I don't think so, it disturbs me that you were able to remember these words so vividly, and write them down. Are these exact?" He asked.
"Yes, very exact." She said. "When I woke up I felt a sharp stabbing in my stomach, it made it hard to breathe, but those words, and that voice, I can still hear it even now if I think about it." She told him.
"What does the voice sound like?" He questioned.
Raven closed her eyes, and listened closely to it in her mind, "Afraid, nervous…it sounds young as well, but it's very strange. I don't know why, but it is, like it's not fully human, but that could mean anything. And it sounds…familiar, but not to me, like the other person has known the voice for a long time. And I saw those eyes again, but they were young, harsh…judgmental." She said.
"And what about the feelings tied to this? Were there any?" He questioned.
"Yes, a deep sense of pain that went beyond what I felt in my stomach. It was like being betrayed." She said.
"By…Malchior?" He asked quietly.
But she shook her head, "No, more like being betrayed by…Starfire. A friend." She told him. "Someone I was suppose to be able to trust."
Rorek sighed deeply, looking at the notes with a grim look in his eyes. "This…concerns me. It's too vivid to be the regular prophetic dream." He said.
"You think its something else?" Raven questioned.
"Probably but…" He trailed off, "I just don't…"
"Don't what?" Raven asked.
He looked up, blinking slightly, "Oh, sorry, I was just thinking…it really doesn't make sense. To me anyway, maybe things have changed since I've been sealed. I've just never heard of this sort of case." He said.
"Should we tell the others?" She asked.
He shook his head, "No, they probably can't help much, and it would be useless to worry them. You say the eyes were young? So this might have happened in the past. So this particular aspect of the dream is just some knowledge to help us in the future I suspect. Best not to tell the others unless we know something's about to happen." He advised.
"Yeah, alright. But I think we should probably tell them soon, especially if my next dream is like the last one." She said, looking at her pizza crust in thought. "Um, Rorek?"
"Yes?"
She shifted uncomfortably, she wasn't use to this sort of thing, sure she expressed her thoughts plenty of times, but not ones that seemed so fickle and full of emotional drama. But she needed to get it out, it had been bugging her for a while. "Lately it seems…well…um…we haven't really…spent time together…very much. Not since Malchior came around…" She said awkwardly.
"No, we haven't." He agreed, a sad tone in his voice.
"It seems like we can't just talk anymore without him interrupting." She said. "So, I was wondering…" He looked up at her, his eyes seemingly hopeful, "Why don't we go out sometime? By ourselves. We can sneak off the roof." She said, feeling more comfortable.
Rorek blinked, "You mean a, what's it called? A 'date'?" He asked.
"Um, yes," She answered blushing, "A date."
"Er…well there's a problem." He said, Raven looked up at him incredulously. What, did he not want to go out with her or something! "The guy is suppose to ask that girl if she wants to go out." He said.
Raven's face fell and she leered at him, "Should have known it would be Starfire to explain that to you. But when, exactly, were you planning to ask me?"
Now it was his turn to blush, well, she couldn't see it, but she knew it was there under his scarf, "Ummmm…."
"Thought so." She grumbled.
"Alright then, how about, ah, next week sometime?" He asked.
"Sounds good." She answered, glad that was over with.
There was a bit of a pause between them, and then, "You must kiss her now, Rorek!" both of their eyes widened and they looked at Raven's open door.
"Starfire!" Zacroma exclaimed, tackling the other girl to the ground. Raven twitched. She used her magic to make the door slam shut.
"Um, next time I'll make sure it closes behind me." He said apologetically. He hesitated for a moment, but then slipped off his scarf and bent down to press his lips to hers.
It was soft and sweet, as it always was with Rorek. But he didn't kiss her quite as often, which was just one of the things that made her relationship with him so different from the one she had with Malchior. While Malchior craved dominancy, Rorek preferred being a bit more recessive in the relationship. He was actually quite timid when it came to this sort of thing, which was kind of funny, but not unlikely at the same time. He was just that type of person. He was strong and powerful when it came to battle, aged and knowledgeable when it came to wizardry, and proper yet lighthearted when it came to social aspects, but he was almost too much of a gentleman when it came to relationships. He was a little romantic, in the knight in shining armor sort of way, which was just fine, she liked it. But stand him up next to Malchior's bad-boy attitude and he just seemed like, well, a 'sissy'.
When they broke apart Rorek gathered up Raven's leftovers, "Well, I guess I'll leave you to rest some more, while I go and get my ear squealed off by our two friends at the door." He said with a grimace.
"If they ask, refuse to tell them anything." She said.
He chuckled, "I'll do that." He said, exiting through the door.
Raven took in a deep breath and sighed, sinking into her pillows. This was so…so stupid. No, it wasn't stupid, it was frustrating, check that, it was driving her insane! How can you comfortably have a good clean relationship with two—well, clean relationship with one, and a more heated relationship with the other, but still! She was sure none of Starfire's magazines could help her in this situation. You were suppose to decide on one boyfriend, not keep two. And if you did, it was called cheating. This, it felt like cheating in a way, but they both knew about it. She knew they were working very hard to keep themselves from harping at her about choosing one of them. Malchior was naturally the jealous type, and Rorek, while not exactly a dominate person, still wasn't the type to 'share' something that had that much significance to him. And so they kept fighting with each other in various ways. And it wasn't going to stop until the merge was complete.
She couldn't choose, she loved them both. In different ways, yes, but she still loved them, and it was driving her insane.
XP
A/N: Hmmm…well well! You guys have all been doing a good job reviewing! Let's see if there's any I have a response to…(looks through them) Hm, not much it seems, but here we go!
Wrathchild: Yes Malchior is a sex god, I completely agree! His tail is so hot! And yeah, Rorek will have a bigger part eventually. He's just getting shoved aside by Malchior because of their personality trates. IT'S NOT MY FAULT, HONEST! THESE CHARACTERS WRITE THEMSELVES!
Bishquet: You and the rest of the female population.
Crimsonsun-rk: Don't worry, Rorek will have his revenge soon enough, as you can see. MUAHAHAHAHAHA! Er, ahem.
Storm Front: To be honest, the white shirt was just something weird at first, but then I thought it might be neat to use it (as it was random) as something more meaningful in the next story. And thank you very much for your lovely review.
Well, that's about it. thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews and keep them coming! They give me the inspiration and drive I need to keep on writing, and of course, we all want to keep me writing on this don't we? Lol, j/k.