A/N: And now, what you've all been waiting for, THE EXPLINATION! Or, at least, most of it anyway. Heh.
XP
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as Nevermore.'
The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe.
XD
"Look! Look at it, this line right here!" Raven exclaimed, shoving the book practically in both Malchior and Rorek's faces.
"'In all of history, only one has obtained full ability to manipulate and control blood with such precision it was as if it was an element. Only one has mastered the entities of life and death, only one. A brilliant mystic, sorceress, shamanist, magician, wizard, witch, alchemist, and even scientist, with the ability to bend the laws of reality, to do what was thought impossible, and the only one to have mastered all forms of magic. And her name was Avelona.'" Rorek read aloud. "What's this have to do with anything?" He asked.
"Oh, right, it was Malchior I asked about that. Well, when I was fighting Judora, for some reason when her familiar cast the spell to revert me back into my original state, she mistook me for someone named Avelona. This is Avelona! It has to be, Judora muttered something about it when she saw my demon form was able to manipulate this blood entity somehow. I'm sure this was who she was talking about, this has to have a connection with my dreams!" She explained, practically jumping with suppressed excitement. Finally, they were one step closer to getting to the bottom of all this!
Malchior took the book and read the next line, "'Little is known of Avelona but her name and her ultimate prowess. Most records have been destroyed, but enough was salvaged that I learned in my research that she had traveled throughout the world, healing and mending those who were thought lost, destroying dark beings who were thought immortal, and working against all darkness. Her greatest achievement was in the banishment of one of the most powerful Demon Lords, Trigon. Defeating him and sealing him away forever.'" Malchior blinked, and then looked up at Raven, who stared at the book.
"I, hadn't read that part…" She whispered.
"You told me Judora was saying that you'd become what you hated. This would explain it." He said.
"'He used you?', so that's what she meant. But what makes her so sure that I'm this Avelona?" Raven asked.
"How much do you look like your mother?" Rorek asked.
"I look a lot like my mother, especially the eyes. Only she has black hair." She answered. "Why?"
"Well…."
"It's very likely that Avelona was your ancestor, on your mother's side." Malchior finished. "I mean, how much do we know about her? Only this little bit, and if Judora thinks you're her, well, it could just be that you look like her. I mean, I'm not saying reincarnation is impossible, especially if this person is what we think she is, but, I mean, well, it's very unlikely that you are she." He added.
"Somehow, I think so too. But still, what if she's still alive, but needs help? Could it be possible she's trying to reach out to me because I'm her descendant, I mean, assuming all of that is true?" Raven questioned.
"That could be what the dreams are about. And Judora, well, she could have been a rival of Avelona's, or just an enemy. She could even have been the one who sealed and/or killed her." Malchior said.
"However, what makes us so sure that Raven isn't Avelona reincarnated? But somehow Trigon had used her soul in order to create his Chosen and it's a conspiracy instead of a coincidence like Judora seems to think?" Rorek questioned. "These dreams could be symbolic of memories instead. Dreams are the mind's way of releasing information, so these could be dreams she's had in the past that she's having now." He said.
"Or memories, but how would Trigon have done something like that? You'd think a great sorceress like that wouldn't just allow her soul to be trapped by Trigon when she died." Malchior pointed out
"True, for that to happen, her soul would have had to have been sent to the same dimension she sealed Trigon in, and we can rule that out. If she's as great as the book says she is, she'd have had to put herself there, and why would she do that just so Trigon could use her?" Raven asked.
"But what if she cast a spell to be reincarnated as a descendant? What if she knew that one day Trigon would find a way to emerge? After all, it wasn't Raven, exactly, who destroyed Trigon, it was the half-demon souls of his failed attempts for his Chosen. Kind of ironic if you think about it, but what if she cast that kind of spell. The book did say she was skilled at doing the impossible." Rorek pointed out.
"If that were the case, wouldn't she just seal herself instead? And what if she's sending me these dreams because she can't undo the spell on her own?" Raven questioned.
"Alright kiddies, let's try to agree on something, as impossible as that might be. Personally, I think Judora's a nutter. Besides, do you know how old she'd have to be in order to know this Avelona? Old enough for her memory to be a bit bungled. She probably saw a few resemblances and put the two together without too clear a picture to go by. What do we have as proof? Judora's little spout at seeing Raven non-demon, and the name she happened to utter showing up in Raven's book. It could all just be a big coincidence and none of this has anything to do with Avelona at all." Malchior put in.
"But then again, it could be a conspiracy as well, we can't rule everything out unless we have proof." Rorek said.
"Remember the strange voices I keep hearing? One of them came from my own mouth at one time, I think whatever I'm getting is from the viewpoint of someone else. So if Avelona is connected, then somehow her dreams are becoming mine, like Rorek said." Raven put in. "Can't you two think of something? I mean, this happened over a thousand years ago, roughly anyway. That's about how long ago it's said Trigon was first defeated, that's in your timeframe, surely you'd have heard of her." She said.
The two of them looked at her for a moment, then at each other. "Well?" She prompted, "What's the problem?"
"Well, ah, know what I said about Judora's age? Well, that applies to us too." Malchior said, shifting uncomfortably.
"Our memories aren't perfect either, and when your conscious of everything that goes on around you, a lot of new memories push the old ones aside. And that is over a thousand years of new memories. I was the centerpiece of a lot of fine jewelry for a while I was worn by all manner of people, nobles, commoners, royalty, and even went around the world being passed through different cultures as well. I know a lot of languages now, and have learned a good deal of new things because of it." Rorek explained.
"So how come you were so inept with modern culture at first?" Raven questioned.
"Well, I was shipped from a place called Africa, having been made into a lovely necklace and then put on some flying mechanism I now know is called a plain. From what I understand, Africa is a 'third world' country, and isn't exactly up to speed with most technology. Well, the part I was in anyway." He answered.
"Also, some of our separate memories and information might seep into each other, adding to all the new things we remembered." Malchior put in. "I know I remember a few things that never happened to me. For one I was never someone's wedding gift. I was a scholars collection item." He said.
"What about the White Magus who separated you two in the first place? Do you remember her at all?" She asked. Almost immediately, Raven knew she'd touched some kind of nerve. As one they bristled, looking uncomfortable. It was as though they could remember her clearly, and it was not a very pleasant memory, for more than one reason it seemed. "Well? What's going on? What have you two been hiding?" She demanded.
"It's, not that we've been hiding it, per say…" Malchior began.
"It's just the subject never really came up." Rorek added.
"Nor was there a particular need to bring it up."
"And it's really not that important."
"So why don't we just stay on topic as I doubt she has anything to do with all this?" Malchior finished.
Raven looked at them, eyebrow raised in suspicion. Their expressions were exactly the same, and so were their nervous postures. If there was one thing they could have done to tell her they were hiding something, it was to agree about it. "Okay, what's up? You're both hiding something from me, again." She demanded.
They faltered.
"Um, well, it's just that," Malchior shifted.
"We think, we're not sure, but," Rorek added.
"Well, we didn't want to tell you but,"
"The Judora woman, she, well she's very familiar for some reason and,"
"She said she was the Black Magus, so…."
"WethinktheWhiteMaguswentevilandisnowJudora." Rorek blurted out. They both braced themselves for the outburst they were sure was about to come.
"That's it?" Raven asked, sounding exasperated. They relaxed a bit, looked at each other in amazement, and then back at her. "Okay, let's start at the beginning, somehow you know Judora, are you sure of this?" She asked.
"Positive." Malchior answered swiftly.
"And for some reason you think she use to be the White Magus, what makes you think this?" She questioned.
"Well…" Rorek said, thinking hard, "She was always fairly…dark. She was only called the White Magus because she liked to wear white a lot, but she really wasn't the kind that smiled much. I can't really remember her very well anymore, I don't even remember her name."
"Neither of us do, those memories were split in half and fumbled up." Malchior put in. "I do remember, that something happened, and she just seemed to change, and she turned on us, splitting us in half." He said.
"Wait, wait, wait, so you knew her before she did that?" Raven asked.
Realization, and fear, dawned on both their faces, they looked at each other again. "I thought you told her!" Rorek exclaimed.
"I thought you did!" Malchior came back.
"Tell me what!" Raven demanded. They paused.
"Your turn." Rorek said.
"D# you." The other muttered.
"Out with it!" She pushed.
Malchior took a deep breath, "TheWhiteMagususetobeourlover." He got out.
Raven paused, going over that statement, and then re-evaluating Rorek's spout.
"WHAT!"
XD
"Hey Rooooooreeeeeek, guess what! We got a new multi-player gaaaaAAAH! What happened to you two?" Zacroma exclaimed when she found them. Rorek and Malchior looked as though they had been thrown into a ring with a bunch of pro sumo-wrestlers, and then tossed neatly into a pile outside of Raven's door, with Malchior on bottom of course.
"Mental note, do not knowingly keep any secrets from Raven, she'll find out, and pound us for it." Rorek moaned, gathering himself up with Zacroma's help.
"I'll admit I didn't expect her to take it very well, but it appears that was one secret too many." Malchior added.
"What, exactly, happened?" Zacroma asked them, her eyes wide.
"We just told Raven about an old girlfriend." Rorek explained.
"Needless to say, she didn't take it too well, mostly because we 'waited to tell her until she dragged it out of us'." Malchior put in. "I think I'm gonna need a new spine, this one's broken." He said, trying, and failing, to get up.
"You know, I know a bit of healing magic myself, and I would use it for you, if you didn't deserve this." Zacroma said, turning on her heel and walking back down the hall, arms bent behind her.
"I have a few potions in my room." Rorek muttered, staggering towards his door.
"Great, can you bring me one?"
"Heck no, you started this!"
"Grrrr, d# you, too beat up to argue." Malchior grumbled. Well, at least the upside was that, after giving him a good smack or two (or three or four or a hundred), Raven usually forgave him when he messed up. Hopefully she would this time as well.
XD
"Purgo, Ratus. Accumulo Spiritus, Accumulo Iubar Lux. Aqua Factus Iubar Inriguus, Factus Spiritus!" Raven chanted. The half-moon in the sky above her was reflected perfectly in the water of her cauldron, which was being held above the blue fires by the rim instead of the handle, allowing the water a full view of the moon's light. She spread the lotus petals over the surface so that they floated, and began the chanting again, adding a few grains of baru dust for each word, doing her best so that the dust landed inside the floating petals. Then she dipped the wax of the silver candle she'd been burning into the caldron, and began mixing up more ingredients while repeating the chant. The lotus petals were undisturbed, even when she accidentally spilt something on top of them, it seemed to miss.
Then the water began to bubble and she added the last ingredient, a handful of salt. Then the water began to stir itself, the lotus petals, each still with their pinch of baru dust, spun round and round the surface, sparkling in the moonlight. Raven stood back and waited. A slight darkness crept itself over the tower, just enough to be noticeable, but not enough for it to be unexpected. The water had stopped, the lotus petals were nowhere to be seen, but their specks of dust were still there, working feverishly to absorb all the light in the area.
Raven put the fire out with a swift wave of her hand, and then put up the sign she had made for this. "DO NOT DISTURBE CALDRON IN ANY WAY! The darkness is natural and will continue until the next full moon, so best to stay off the roof for now." She set it up, making sure that nothing would knock it over, and then, just to be safe, put a few protection and barrier spells around the cauldron. Then she gathered up all her things and went back inside, yawning.
What a day! First with that business with Rorek, and Malchior busting the TV, then with the both of them keeping, yet another, secret from her (and that whole thing has about a hundred and one possibilities tied up with it alone). She'd healed them back up when she came back from work, having been able to calm down there (Justin wasn't much of a talker, but he was one heck of a listener, preferring to listen to other people's troubles than handle his own), and then she'd had to rush to get everything ready for midnight. Most of which telling both Malchior and Rorek that, no, she didn't need their help, and no she wasn't still mad about the whole 'White Magus' thing anymore, she just needed some time to think it over some more.
She did not want to think about it. There was only one thing that could be thought on this subject, and to go any deeper would mean one big headache. First off, the White Magus was Rorek and Malchior's lover when they were one being; secondly, Judora was the White Magus, but is now the Black Magus; and finally, Judora was going to give them all hell.
She hadn't even begun figuring out how she was going to tell the rest of the Titans all this. First, she knew, they might be a little irritated at the three of them for keeping Raven's dreams a secret for this long, and second came their reactions to the whole Judora thing, which was probably not going to go over very smoothly, though she doubted anyone was going to get angry enough to transform 10 of the way into a demon and beat them all up over it. Yes, she very well could have handled that better, but she'd about had it with their secrets and lies, even though they hadn't really meant to keep it from her this time. Still.
Now, it was time for bed, and woe be to Malchior (who she knew was going to be waiting for her) as she was not in the mood, and this time he was going to respect that whether he wanted to or not.
XD
"So, why'dja get that bruise?" Zacroma asked.
"Don't ask." Malchior grumbled, still holding the ice-pack over the lump on his head.
"Well, anyway, I have an announcement to make!" Zacroma said, calling attention to the table, without much luck. "Okay, let's try again. Ahem, I am gonna marry Beast Boy!"
"WHAT!" Everyone exclaimed, jerking their attention to her.
"YES!" Beast Boy cheered. Everyone stared at him. "What? It's a joke!" He exclaimed.
"Okay, now that I have everyone's attention…uh, where's Raven?" She asked.
"In her room, she was up late last night and doesn't want to be disturbed." Malchior answered.
"Oh, well we can tell her when she comes down. Ahem, anyway, this coming Saturday night is going to be the Saturday to end all Saturdays! It's gonna be of da hook yo! For I, with Robin's permission of course, will be hosting the first ever Teen Titan all out Shaving Cream War! For anyone who wishes to participate, some restrictions apply." She said.
"YES!" Cheered Beast Boy, Cyborg, and, of course, Malchior.
"Prepare to loose pitifully, oh puny mortals! For I am the Shaving Cream God!" Malchior exclaimed, for all the world as if they were about to engage in a fighting competition.
"That's not all you're the god of." Zacroma snickered to the side.
"And just what's that suppose to mean!" Malchior demanded.
"The rules are, we cannot have it in any carpeted rooms, the training room is also off limits, so are personal rooms, if you break something you buy it, that includes body parts, and you cannot leave the game at any time until it is over or you loose and the rest of us get to make taunting and sarcastic remarks for the length of an entire month because of it. At the end, which will be decided by Friday, tomorrow, we must line up in the kitchen and have Robin, an impartial judge, name the winner. So, who's in?" Zacroma asked.
"We are!" Beast Boy and Cyborg exclaimed.
"I would love to participate in this festive event!" Starfire exclaimed.
"I think I go without saying, as I am, of course, going to win." Malchior snickered.
"Um, I'm going to pass…" Rorek said.
"Awwwwww, come on, please?" Zacroma begged, giving him her cutest look. Rorek sweatdropped.
"Er, no, thanks, I'm not much of a fan."
"Ha! You're just afraid that I'll beat you! Admit it, sissy boy!" Malchior taunted.
Rorek merely looked at him, "So how did you get that extra bruise, Malchior?" He asked.
"Hey! Don't change the subject, that's my dirty trick!" He exclaimed.
"By the way, the losers have to clean the mess." Robin added.
"While wearing these kyooot frilly pink aprons I bought just for the occasion!" Zacroma said, unearthing said aprons. Malchior burst out laughing.
"Prepare to go down yo! I an't gonna loose this time!" Cyborg declared.
"Also, if you leave in the middle, you have to clean it up all by yourself, and be the only one to wear the frilly pink apron. That's so you can't cheat out of wearing the apron, of course." She added with a wide grin.
"That's not fair, yo! You and Starfire are girls, you're not gonna mind wearing pink like we would!" Cyborg exclaimed. Both Zacroma and Malchior started making chicken sounds, and Beast Boy actually turned into a chicken to puak at him. "Hey shut up! I'm not scared!" He defended.
"Then prove it! 'Real men wear pink' after all!" Zacroma pointed out.
"What? How does that work!" Malchior exclaimed.
"Well, manliness is about being tough and not caring what others think of you, so if you wear pink, it's like you don't care if you get made fun of or anything, you're gonna wear pink whether they like it or not! That kind of thing." Zacroma explained.
"I still don't get it." he said.
"Okay, whatever. Anyways, now we just have to see if Raven's gonna join us." She said. Everyone snorted. "Okay, yeah, fat chance. So! This event is going to require a lot of shaving cream, which, to make the game more interesting, will be spread out all over the tower in the places that we can mess up, which is mostly the halls and a few empty rooms." She explained. "So, who wants to join me in getting all of it, besides Malchior as he will just start using it the instant we get to the right aisle?" She asked. Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire raised their hands.
"I'm gonna regret this, I just know it." Robin muttered.
XD
We gave her freshly killed beasts of the underground to try satisfying her blood-lust, but it didn't work. Her pointed teeth found their way into piercing the skin of others, and herself. It seems she'd rather eat herself than others, but we can't let her do that, Mother says that is worse. So she lets her drink from her own arm.
…But Mother couldn't keep giving her blood by herself, so others who saw her as a special case 'donated'. I continued to keep my distance, I played with my friends and stayed as far away from her as possible.
It felt like I was the only one who saw her as she really was, I was the only one who could tell that there was truly an evil inside of her that had to be destroyed or it would destroy us. I knew no one would believe me, until that day.
We were discovered, discovered by a kingdom who had placed themselves just above us. The small bit of 'city' outside of the castle was evacuated inside the stone walls, but it did little good. Human wizards, knights, and even elves came to destroy us. They stormed the castle, killing anyone they could find while Mother tried making sure as many people were hid in the castle's secret passages as she could. She tried to find her, but she couldn't. They found her, the land-dwellers.
Not a single one of them survived.
Our losses were few, an entire army had stormed and tried to kill us all, there were far more of them than us, maybe even three times as many, and they had all been ready for battle. Yet we counted only 7 dead on our side, and over 5 hundred dead on their side. Because of her.
…They still don't believe me! Can't they see what she is, what she can do? White Magus, what a laugh! There is nothing white about her, it's all a charade, a façade! Now that she's had a taste of the surface world, she will finally leave us in peace and her dark cloud will loom over the beings of light, but for how long?
She will come back, I know she will. She will become more powerful, she will only use the demons within her for her advantage. She never meant to rid herself of them. She will set them upon us, she will turn us into demons as well, or worse, she will tell the surface dwellers about us.
Mother is a fool to trust her, and Val'hilran was never trustworthy herself, she would help her do it! I now know what I must do, what I have to do. I will rid the world of this evil, and I shall not rest while such darkness walks the earth! By this Holy Blade passed down to me from my mother, and from her mother to her, I shall commit my life to purging this world of all evil!
Raven shot bolt upright in bed, gasping, and clutching her hands to her chest. She could feel that stabbing pain again, the betrayal, burning sorrow of loss, of hope, seeing a form that she should have been able to call sister, walking away from her, stabbing her with her harsh words. But was this Avelona's betrayed feeling, or Judora's?
The memory of the last dream she had which resembled this was still unusually clear, so she brought out her notepad and began to scribble that one down first, and then the next. She contemplated the words as she wrote them, some of the entries felt like there was a good length of time between them. Especially the one that started with, 'they still don't believe me!'.
But it made sense. What if Judora had been Avelona's adopted sister? And this place, it sounded like a sort of asylum, or something, probably for those who were unwanted in the human world. They probably took Judora in, and tried to help her. Then it might have seemed as though she was better, so they let her to the surface. But Avelona never trusted her, and it seemed she had good reason too, but what if Judora turned into the Black Magus because of Avelona's betrayal? That would account for a lot of animosity between the two. But then if Judora had been so powerful, how did Avelona get enough power that records of her survived, but not of Judora?
"You've become that which you most hate…", it made sense. Avelona hated demons, so she could have turned on Judora, and a rivalry had begun. "All I wanted…was to be someone you could call…your sister…" She remembered that as well.
But what about the blue, green-rimmed eyes? Surely they didn't belong to Avelona, Judora would have remembered a detail like that and wouldn't have mistaken Raven for her.
Raven scribbled all of this down swiftly, and then she checked her clock. 10:15? Ye gods, I slept late!
XD
"Hey…uh, why's it so quiet?" Raven asked as she entered the living room.
"Zacroma, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg have all gone to get shaving cream." Malchior answered.
Raven blinked, "Whyyyyyyy?" She asked.
Malchior grinned evilly, "Well, we're having a shaving cream war." He answered.
Raven's eyes widened, "So, ah, when is this war being held?" She asked.
"Saturday evening." He answered. "Why, not planning to skip out are you? Come on, it'll be fun! Sissy Boy over here isn't participating because he's afraid I'll beat him, so if you joined I might actually have a challenge." He said.
"No." She said flatly. "I think I'll just disappear to Alabaster's until it's over." She said (A/N: Liar, heheh).
"Party pooper." Malchior sulked. "Well now you have to join in, sissy. I need someone I can target." He said.
"Target Zacroma, or Beast Boy." Rorek said, not even looking up from his book.
"Hm, I do need to get her back for that nick-name she decided to give me. 'Mal', of all the ridiculous…" He muttered to himself.
"Ahem, anyway, since I have you two relatively alone, I think I have a few things figured out." Raven said, holding up her notebook.
"You had another dream?" Rorek asked, shutting the book as Malchior scrambled up out of his seat to take a look.
"Not only that, but I remember something that came to me while meditating, and this dream was very similar. It was like I was reading these very words, either that, or I was writing them. I'm not sure. But I think I was remembering Avelona's diary. By the way, did Judora, if she's the White Magus, ever have an enemy?" Raven questioned.
Rorek and Malchior looked at each other. "Now that you mention it, she did. And, so far as I remember, was defeated by this enemy somehow. After we were split of course." Malchior answered.
"So now we have an idea of her connection to Avelona, and probably why she hates her and vice-versa." Raven assessed.
"Hang on, let me read this, you got a lot here." Malchior said. He sped-read it, the expression in his eyes wide at some parts, and then narrowed at others. He read her own assumptions, and then handed it over to Rorek. "Yes, she did have demons I think, I can't remember too well. It sounds very much like it fits, but this Avelona…I don't know, something just feels…off. But everything's so fuzzy." He sighed. "And I don't know anything about any underground civilization, though that might have been due to a lack of interest at the time."
"We think Judora is this White Magus, yet whenever you talk about her you seem to get this angry tone to your voice. Can you think of why?" Raven asked.
"No, other than when she changed, she changed drastically and made us hate her for splitting us up. We probably tried to kill her, but obviously that wouldn't have worked. But it does seem to fit." Malchior answered.
"Yes, but again, it's all quite fuzzy." Rorek said as he finished as well.
"So, if I was really the reincarnation of Avelona, then this whole thing is seeping with irony." Raven commented with a frown. The next moment she found herself being embraced at both sides, with Rorek's arms around her shoulders, and Malchior's around her waist.
"Let's not talk about it." Malchior whispered to her ear, nuzzling his side of her neck in affection.
"It's all in the past. For now, and forever, we only love you." Rorek said.
"I love you too." She whispered back.
XP
A/N: Okay, yeah, that was a little sappy, but it isn't as bad as some TV shows.
Crimsonsun-rk: She didn't, it just happened :) heheheheh.
Storm Front: Sorry, this one's kinda an information chapter too. I'm gonna have those. But never fear! Action is soon in coming, MUAHAHAHAHA! Ahem, yeah, anyway, now you have a lot more info on Avelona, well, not a lot, but more and, yeah I'm gonna stop there. PS: I have no problem whatsoever with long reviews :D
Kage no ni yoru: . Oh boy, that would be worse than hell. I'LL BE GOOD, I SWEAR!
Demon:afrit: It's simple, I train my brain to come up with ideas and then get those ideas into a decent storyline, but really fast, and then I train my fingers to move as fast as my brain. Which they don't, but I'm getting there…Ahem, yeah, NIGHTWISH IS THE BEST BAND EVER! YAY NIGHTWISH! Heheh. Yeah, Ghost Love Score is what I listened to a lot while writing Spellbinder, though for Spellfire it's just all of the songs. It's great. I think their music contributes a lot to the whole atmosphere of the story. That and writing it with a black background and white font seems to set the mood better for me. I don't know why, but it does.
Anonymous: Uuuuuh, rating? What, you think pg-13 isn't a high enough rating for this? Or do you want me to change the rating so I can write some lemons? If the latter is the case, the answer is 'no'. I will not writ lemons, as I very clearly stated in the A/Ns of Spellbinder. So it's sticking with pg-13. Alright? Alright.
Well, that's about it, until next time! Ja ne