A/N: Uh…nothing funny to say…sorry
XP
They fell, Malorek unknowing, unsure of what he was to do, of what she was going to do, was caught in her claws by the impact, and they fell. Her wings wrapped around him in a tight cacoon that blocked out all light and took the impact of the demolished building they hit like it was nothing. Several times they broke through some surface, and when they finally stopped the impact didn't feel much more jarring than the several times they went through.
The demon Raven held him tightly in her clutches, binding him with arms, legs, and wings, a bind he could probably get out of…
If he wanted to.
God love and rest my soul
With this sundown never-ending
The feel is gone but you ant gonna see me fail
She tore off his scarf and bit down on his neck, but rather than continuously drink, she sucked only a little, and then began to lick the wound in a very seductive manner. Her tongue moved from his neck to the edge of his cheekbones, licking him, kissing him. Her lips found his, her tongue pushed into his mouth, tasting him relentlessly, hungrily,
Like an animal.
"Raven." He whispered when her lips left his mouth and she began to kiss a trail down his neck. She didn't respond, her tongue teased his skin and she gave him another bite. "Raven, stop, Raven listen to me!" He exclaimed, wrestling out of her grip, taking her shoulders into his hands. He shook her, which was hard due to the fact that her wings made substantial amounts of movement difficult. She snarled at him, her red eyes glowing in the darkness, her claws caught his skin through his bodysuit and ripped it.
I am the decadence of your worldI am the eider covered in oil
Happy hunting, you double-faced carnivore
"Malorek!" A familiar voice called from somewhere overhead. Demon Raven let out another snarl and shrieked in fury, opening her wings and raising her head towards the voice. But it was just Raven, the other Raven, and her demon self only seemed able to stare. "You…" The other Raven swallowed, "You promised." She said.
Malorek stared at her, his heart seemed to stop, his face paled. He looked from her, to the Demon, whose face was unreadable, but she was staring at him, her eyes piercing. She opened her mouth, "Promisssssssed," she hissed, "You promissssssed."
Malorek shook his head, his eyes pleading, turning from the demon to Raven, whose face was set. "No, no…I…I can't….Please…" The demon let out a shriek, picked him up, and threw him into the wall.
"PROMISSSSSSSSSSSSE!" She screamed, her face, once again, twisted in rage. "PROMISSSSSSSE MEEEE! PROMISSSSSSSSE!" She bellowed, her voice reaching a horrible pitch, terrifying, inhuman.
Tell me whyNo heart to cry
Hang me high
Malorek stumbled back out of the hole he'd made, his face hidden by his silvery hair, and then he raised his head, his expression hardened with pain. He let out his own cry of fury and sent a bean of blazing golden fire at the Demon Raven, who dodged it by taking to the sky once more, flying through the holes that they had made themselves.
Raven teleported back to the others, whom she had ordered to wait, "Let's move farther away." She told them, her voice hard and her expression unreadable.
No one argued, there was a ledge far from their current location, they all moved there and turned, just in time, to see a dragon emerge from the now completely demolished building.
The music is dead the amen is saidThe kiss of faith is what I beg
A loving heart 'n soul for sale
Silver scales blazed in the light of The Cross, like living metal, his belly an almost blinding gold with fierce eyes of glowing violet. His roar shook the earth and the fire that emitted from his mouth was violet, the very hottest of fire. The Demon, rather small by comparison, tried to use her size to her advantage, but Malorek was obviously use to fighting opponents smaller and faster than he was, he cut her off at every turn, prevented her claws from finding their way upon his skin, though his arms had already been bleeding, it was very shallow. He moved, twisting and turning with unimaginable grace and speed, like a dancer in the sky, his fire being used only when he was sure it would damage only the demon rather than the city.
Tell me whyNo heart to cry
Hang me high
But the demon was swift and powerful, her dark projectiles hit his scale armor and blood often flowed from these wounds, but he ignored them and continued on. Still, it soon became apparent that, while the two were fighting, neither of them were putting very much effort into it, as though neither one truly wanted to kill the other.
"MALOREK!" Raven yelled furiously, tears were welling up in her eyes, "MALOREK I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, BUT YOU HAVE TO DO THIS, YOU PROMISED ME, YOU PROMISED HER! IT'S BETTER, BETTER TO DIE, SHE WANTS TO DIE, MALOREK, SHE NO LONGER HAS A SOUL, SHE WANTS TO DIE! YOU HAVE TO, YOU CAN'T GO BACK ON YOUR WORD, IT WOULDN'T BE FAIR, NOT TO HER, AND NOT TO ME!"
Leave me beAnd cease to tell me how to feel
To grieve, to shield myself from evil
Leave me be
Od of lies is killing me
Romanticide
Till love do me part
Malorek snatched the Demon Raven out of the air, she struggled and hissed, but his grip was firm, and he began to chant a spell, a powerful one, his entire body began to glow and not just by reflecting the light of the Tower, his eyes blazed violet, and the demon became still, alive, but staring at him.
With a tone of regret in his mighty voice, Malorek finished the spell and opened his hand. The Demon's body was ripped apart from the inside, a fierce darkness filling her veins, tearing them apart, leaving absolutely nothing behind but the remains of her clothing, which fell into Malorek's hand. A small spark flew from his mouth and ignited them, and he let them drop, ashes long before they would hit the ground.
See me ruined by my own creationHe flew towards them, blood tarnishing his beautiful flesh, he appeared defeated in spite of his victory. He transformed back, a meld of silver and gold becoming armor and hair, and landed on the platform in one fluid motion. He didn't look at anyone, but grabbed his time's Raven and buried his face in her hair. He held her so tightly she felt as though she were going to be crushed, but she wrapped her arms around him. What could she say? That it was okay, that she was still right here, that they would make sure this never happens again? He knew that already, he knew, he knew she was there, right there in his arms, but that didn't erase the fact that he had just been forced to kill her, even if it was a demon, even if the soul had long-since left the body, that did not erase the fact that the blood of his one true love was on his hands.
Leave me beAnd cease to tell me how to feel
To grieve, to shield myself from evil
Leave me be
Od of lies is killing me
Romanticide
Till love do me part
Guilt weighed heavily in her heart for doing this to him, but it couldn't have been helped. He had promised her, and she'd had a very good reason for making him do so. There was nothing that could have been done to prevent this, the Demon would not have rested, would not have relented, she would have kept coming after him until he fulfilled his promise.
He was shaking, and she had to turn her neck around in a rather uncomfortable position in order to speak to the others, "I can teleport us all back to the ship if I have to, someone take my hand and the rest of you make sure you're all touching." She told them.
Shila was the first to come and grasped Raven's hand obediently, the rest followed suite, with Chire'ni, still as a dragounet, holding Daniel's shoulder in her claw-like hand. Raven concentrated, she didn't think she'd ever teleported this many people before, but soon Malorek's magic came in to mingle with her own, and the next thing they new they were in the main room of the ship.
Dead boy's alive but without senseI need a near-death experience
Heart once bold, now turned to stone
Perfection my messenger from hell
No one spoke, but Raven said, "We'll want to get into the air, best find a place to hide for a bit while we plan our next course of action."
"I'll do it." Shade said, taking the driver's seat and getting the ship into gear as Raven lead Malorek into their shared room.
Malorek simply stood there while she removed his armor and his shirt in order to get to his wounds. He simply sat on the bed, his eyes seemed dead while she worked with his wounds, able to heal most and close the rest. It was as though he were lost, like something had died within him and his sense of self was completely gone. This helplessness was almost worse to see than anything they had experienced thus far, he didn't look at her, but when she wasn't touching him he reached out to touch her, as though to make sure she were still there, that she hadn't left him.
Wine turns to waterCampfires freeze
Love letters burn
Romance is lost
Lord let me be wrong in this pain
Finally, after removing a particularly nasty cut on his chest, Malorek's hand clasped around her wrists, and he stared straight into her eyes, "Why?" He whispered, his lips barely moving, he stared at her with every appearance of a broken man, something that caused her to hate herself. "Why?" he repeated, "Why…why did you do that to me?" He closed his eyes, a single tear fell from them and he pressed his lips to the inside of her hand, then held it against his cheek.
"I'm sorry." Raven whispered, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, tears welling up in her own eyes, "I'm sorry…I didn't know it would effect you like this…I…but, it couldn't have been avoided, she wouldn't have stopped, not until you killed her. You know that."
"Raven…I don't think you truly understand." He whispered, his arms wrapping themselves tightly around her form, capturing her in a binding embrace. "I meant it, I meant it when I said I'd rather die than kill you. Raven, right now, I wish I were dead, I really do." He told her.
Temporary pain, eternal shameTo take part in the Devil's chess game
Spit on me, let go, get rid of me
And try to survive your stupidity
"No," She whispered, her voice cracking with her own hardly-suppressed sobs, "Don't, don't say that, it'll be okay, we'll get through this somehow, we'll make it so that none of this needs to happen, we—"
"No, Raven," he said, pulling her back to look her in the eye, his expression stern, and his eyes filled with a torment that broke her heart, "You don't understand, I cannot easily let go of this, and it's likely that it is never going to leave me. I'm not human, I'll say it a hundred times if I have to, I can't just let go of this sort of thing, I can't just go to one of your psychologists and get treated for it all. I can't let go, this wound is not going to heal for a long, long time." And then he pulled her back into his arms, "I love you," He whispered, "Dear gods I love you so much, I'd do anything for you, anything, but this…Raven this isn't something I am going to be able to forgive very easily." He told her.
"I…I'm sorry." She said, choking on her own sobs. Guilt like fire coursed through her, making her hold onto him even tighter, "If I'd known…I didn't think…I'm sorry, there's no excuse, I'm sorry."
He rubbed his cheek against her hair, stringing his hand through it with a tenderness and affection that only made her feel worse. "It couldn't have been helped," He whispered, "I did promise, but that doesn't make it any better, and I won't do it again, Raven. I swear I won't, I can't. Next time you will be the one to kill me."
"Then let's make sure there isn't a next time. Let's destroy this nightmare and make things right." She whispered.
Leave me beAnd cease to tell me how to feel
To grieve, to shield myself from evil
Leave me be
Od of lies is killing me
Romanticide
Till love do me partXD
You can't keep running away, Raven, you can't continue like this, whatever you tell yourself. There are things that run too deeply to get rid of, the spells you cast to rid yourself of your darkness, the cleansing, the purification, the continuous study of the mind and magic, you want to destroy yourself, you try to make yourself human, but nothing works. So you simply forget, forget what you are, forget everything, ignorance is bliss after all. You cannot hide from your true self, you cannot escape what you are, you can run all you like, but this will never leave. You must accept it.
There is no need to run, there is no need to be afraid, come into my arms, let me embrace you with my burning chains, and let the fire reveal your true form.
It was like a thousand nails been jammed into his flesh, his blood ran with fire and ice as every inch of his mind awoke and began to work at top speed. Fear so great he felt it in his very bones, shaking, vibrating with every instant that horrifying scream took place. It sounded like a hundred souls being tortured at once, a scream of true terror, a scream of something worse than death, emitting from the very bowels of hell itself, rising to grab his heart so that it ran a thousand miles an hour. He struggled to grasp what was going on, but all he could think of was the scream, the terror and concern that gripped his heart, and it was a moment before he realized that Raven was still in his arms.
"Raven!" He gasped, shaking her, willing her to come out of that nightmare, wanting to grab her and drag her out, back in her body. He began to panic, he slapped her, shook her, yelled her name, but she kept screaming.
"What's going on?" Chire'ni yelled, running into the room with others behind her.
"Stay back!" Malorek yelled at her, "Get out of the room and stay back!" He ordered sharply over the screaming. They all backed away swiftly.
Suddenly Raven stopped screaming, she sat straight up, her eyes bulging wide, her expression blank with terror, for a moment it looked as though she wasn't breathing, and then she suddenly gasped, taking in huge gulps of air. She began to choke and splutter, grabbing at the collar of her leotard and practically tearing it away, as though she were choking on it. She grabbed at her throat, her nails making red marks in it and he had to stop her from harming herself.
"Raven, listen to me," He said in a voice that was as calm and consoling as he could make it, in spite of the fact that he was shaking almost more violently than she was. "Calm down, you have to calm down, take deep, slow breaths and let them out." He instructed. "Lay down, just calm down."
"I…"
"Don't speak," He pushed her back down on the bed. "Just breathe." He said, taking her hands away from her neck and stroking it gently with his own, taking away the marks her nails had made. It seemed to help, she was breathing more slowly, calming down. She swallowed.
"I don't think that was one of my usual nightmares." She whispered, bringing a hand to her head.
"It's okay, just take it slow and tell me what you saw." Malorek said, wiping sweat from her brow.
Raven pulled herself up and leaned over, using her arm to prop her face up from her knee, "It wasn't…so much what I saw, I'm not sure I saw much of anything…chains, and a woman, probably Judora." She took a deep breath and let it out, "She's trying to get to me," She said flatly, "She's invading my dreams, I don't know why what she said caused me to react that way…but I almost…" She shuddered. "She's trying to weaken me."
"Then we can't wait any longer." Malorek turned to the group gathered outside Raven's room, "Everyone get ready, we'll meet in the control room." He told them. They all nodded, wordlessly, and left.
XD
"These are the plans I was able to draw from what we remember previously about Judora's hideout. There may be a few changes, but this is all we have. When we infiltrated her hideout she had a store of enemies for all of us to fight against, most of them enemies from our pasts, and she put us in these rooms by separating us all using her circles. Now, after we get that jewel broken into parts for each of us, this isn't going to be an easy task for her, but that doesn't make things any easier. It's going to be difficult, because we are going to need to use her own circle to teleport Malorek and me back to the past." Raven explained.
"Divide and conquer is Judora's favorite strategy, she likes to get Raven on her own, to gloat usually, but at the same time Raven's too powerful for her to defeat in a one-on-one match, at least she was, there's a good chance Judora may be more powerful now, so the one thing we have to focus on is making sure Raven doesn't stand alone." Malorek told them all.
"She knows she can't defeat me surrounded by friends, so she will do everything in her power to separate us all. Simple solution: We can't let that happen." Raven said.
Shila raised an eyebrow at this, "'Surrounded by friends', how does that work? How is it harder for her to defeat you with people with you, when she can summon a bunch of demons to take care of us and focus on you, than one-on-one?" She asked.
"'I cannot hope to defeat you as you are, surrounded by friends, and we cannot hope to kill your friends as they are now, with you close by. But separate you from them, and I win.' That's what she said to me before she sent me through the portal. The other Titans had, previously, been infused with an extra amount of power and protection by me, much the same way that I gave the seven of you power, but using a very different method. Still, a part of me was in them, and them in me, together our powers were greater because of that connection" Raven told them.
"It's because they were all an asset to your power." Malorek explained, "Remember? You were the one who gave them the protection using Zacroma's blood, a part of you had become a part of them. It's like what I said about these three," He jerked his head towards Shade, Daniel, and Michael, "Only to a smaller degree. But now you have a total of 7 friends, all of whom have your own blood coursing through their veins and so, if we do this right, they will be able to act like extremely advanced forms of familiars, more powerful in your presence as you are more powerful in theirs. So, we need a way of staying together, or at least a way of knowing where each other is, especially you, Raven. Judora will want to get you alone most of all." He said.
Raven nodded and turned to Chire'ni, "The guys told me that you made these gems that allowed you all the ability to pinpoint the others' location, once we break the jewel, could you weave the same spell around their individual parts?" She asked.
Chire'ni bit her lip and considered a moment, "Yyyes, I believe I could, it'll be tricky, but I can do it." She answered.
"What it sounds like we need," Began Daniel, "Is a way to enter without being seen. You think there's a possibility of that?" He asked.
Malorek pursed his lips in thought, "Typical invisibility would be useless, Judora doesn't need eyes to know where we are most of the time, especially if we're walking around her domain. And with the jewels, well, they'd offer us a shield from view, yes, but at the same time Judora would know exactly where we were due to the fact that she would see our shields themselves, or rather she would see the holes that these jewels would create in her ability to sense the entire fortress." He said.
"What if we tried to make ourselves look like demons, would that work at all?" Shade asked.
"No, we'd have to make our individual energies look like demon energies, and that would involve something far too close to Tainting to be safe. And I don't really think it would be possible with Malorek and Chire'ni." Raven answered. "Aside from that, I don't have the materials that would be needed." She told them.
"Wait a moment, you said you've been in her hideout before, right?" Mace asked Raven, who nodded.
"Yes, why?"
"Well, I'm not sure how your Teleportation thing works, but it makes sense to me that you at least have to have a firm idea of where you're going to get there, so what if you simply teleported us into Judora's hideout, maybe into her 'Throne Room' or something, that would be unexpected, she wouldn't have had time to prepare anything unless she knew, in advance, that we would be appearing right there at that time." He reasoned.
Everyone stared at him, Raven and Malorek looked at each other, stunned. "You know, I believe that is almost stupid enough to work!" Malorek said.
"Normally doing something like that would be utterly foolish, but for that reason…She simply won't be expecting it! How can she? She 'knows' we're too smart to just teleport right in the middle of a supposed 'trap', so if we did just that, we'll definitely have the element of surprise on our side." Raven reasoned. "The only problem will be the barriers she's undoubtedly placed all over the area, but with…You Know What, that wouldn't matter in the least." She said.
Shila suddenly rounded on Mace, "Since when did you become the genius?" She demanded, half indignant, half in awe, the other two of her group let out impressed murmurs, but were, as usual, still silent. Mace just shrugged, but that didn't erase the smugness of his air.
"Alright, as soon as we get the jewel ready, we attack." Raven told them.
"What, so soon?" Mace asked, surprised.
"The sooner the better. We have already sat for too long, Judora is likely waiting for us to make our move, and if we don't move first, then she will." Chire'ni answered.
XD
It was best to teleport from exactly where they were, Judora would have no inkling as to when they'd attack that way and therefore would have even less time to prepare for them. Shards of their protective jewel hung around every neck, with the largest piece staying in the ship to keep it safe, just in case.
"Everyone ready?" Raven asked, taking Malorek and Shila's hands.
"As ready as we'll ever be, let's do this." Daniel said, taking hold of Shila's other hand with the rest following him.
They made a circle, each hand joined, and Raven closed her eyes to focus, "I'm going to go right into the room Judora transported us from, be prepared to fight as soon as we get there." She told them all.
Everyone nodded, and she counted down, "Three, Two, One." The next moment they were in that exact same area, but there was nothing there.
Instinctively, everyone turned around, backs to each other, and got into fighting stances, but the room was bear, not even the alter stood in it, there was no carpet, but there were blood stains that looked many years old. Shila summoned light for the others to be able to see, and for a moment they waited, but there was no cry of alarm, no indication that there was anything there or near them. The place felt dead.
"What? I felt sure there'd at least be something here." Raven murmured.
"Can you sense anything?" Malorek asked, pulling down his scarf to sniff the air, "I smell demons, but it's feint, old, they're here, I know that much." He said, pulling the scarf back up.
"I think I remember another large room, or set of rooms, not sure, if we go down from here we can reach it from the room below." Raven told them.
"Right, so lets all join hands once more." Michael said. "This time there's a good chance we'll be surrounded."
They did so, and Raven focused on phasing them all through the floor at once, this was tricky, she hadn't done this before. But she managed it.
Michael was only half right, they weren't surrounded, exactly, but two humanoid demons were sitting across from each other on a table, apparently playing some form of card game. One of them was laughing at the other's bad luck, "I win again!" He exclaimed, neither noticed the huge group that suddenly appeared until Malorek made a coughing sound. They turned, and chocked.
"What tha—" The winner exclaimed.
"Hi." Shila greeted pleasantly.
"We were in the neighborhood and were wondering if you happen to know where a particularly psychotic snake woman might be staying at this time?" Daniel asked, cracking his knuckles.
Both demons swore profusely and scrambled into battle positions, but Raven had already acted, the shadows that played across the floor suddenly rose to grab them, it wasn't a very tight grip, but before they could do anything Daniel moved in, sending a fireball their way, joined by a lightning bolt courtesy of Shila. Then once that was done, Mace decided to try his skill out, and he trapped the still-dazed demons in icy prisons, leaving only their heads exposed. "Right, now that that's settled, where's Judora?" Raven demanded, stepping up to them.
"Traitor!" One of them snarled, his eyes glowing red, "Filthy half-blood wretch! How dare you aid these pathetic humans and their allies! You think we can't tell, do you? We can smell your blood! ROT IN HELL!" He yelled at her.
Raven twitched, "Alright, we'll try it this way." She muttered, summoning up Malorek's dagger and slicing her wrist open. She banished it just as the wound healed itself, her skin becoming paper white. It was getting easier and easier to transform. She turned to the two demons, both were staring at her with wide-eyed realization and fear, "I repeat myself, where is the Tainted One?" She asked coolly, approaching the one who had yelled at her with a dangerous air.
"L-Lady! Y-you, you…what, but…why, Lady, why?" He gasped.
"Why? Simple reason: I hate you. Don't make me repeat myself again." Raven hissed.
"But…but it wasn't…" He stammered, and Raven's hand came around his neck, her nails dangerously close to cutting him open.
"Trust me, you do not want me to draw blood." She hissed. "Start talking, and fast, my patience grows thin."
He swallowed, "She said, she said you wouldn't…wouldn't come…"
"Wouldn't come? Why?"
"She said you'd wait until after she, she defeated you. I don't know, she just said to expect you here when she defeated you for the last time, but that wasn't to be for another three days! She said—"
"Three days? And when did you hear these orders?" Raven questioned.
"Only…only a few hours, ago." He answered, sweating. "We—we were suppose to, suppose to guard…" But he closed his mouth, "I don't know where she is, honest I don't know!"
Raven leered, "What were you suppose to guard? Answer me, the quicker the better, or I will draw blood." She told him.
He swallowed, "The sacrifice! We were suppose to guard the sacrifice with a bunch of others! But she hasn't summoned them yet, you weren't suppose to come for three days!"
"So she doesn't know, good." Raven murmured, "Where is this sacrifice?" she demanded.
The demon jerked his head to the door that went towards the big room.
"What do we do with these two?" Asked Chire'ni.
"Destroy them, we can't risk them getting lose to warn Judora we're here." Malorek said.
"I'll do it then, my power signal will be less familiar to Judora, less chance of being discovered." Chire'ni told them, summoning up her sacred dagger.
"No! We, we told you everything you wanted to know! We won't say a word, promise!" The other demon cried, finally speaking.
"Psh, yeah, right, like you would have shown us that kind of mercy." Shila snarled, sending a bolt of lightening towards the both of them, they let out cries of pain, and then Chire'ni broke their prisons with a Mana Arrow so it would be easier for her to drive her dagger into their flesh. The two of them screamed shrilly when the blade entered, dark blood issued from them, being sucked up by the blade where it was destroyed. They began to convulse on the floor, their bodies rotting away in front of their eyes until there was nothing but ash left, and even that was absorbed by Chire'ni's dagger.
The group simply watched this with contempt, and, wordlessly, moved to the door. Raven kicked it open, and they began to run down a flight of stairs.
"Raven," Malorek said suddenly, "There's something that's been bothering me."
"What is it?" Raven asked.
"Judora, and I know that's bothering all of us, but this is something different. Doesn't it seem to you as though she has a great amount of authority among the demons, even the Higher Demons? Is that normal for a Tainted? From what you told me, they're typically humans who've absorbed demons into their bodies, shouldn't the Higher Demons be in charge? I mean, even those demons who are high enough a class to be humanoid, they do the bidding of a simple Tainted." He answered.
"That does seem odd." Chire'ni commented.
"What, you mean Judora was once human?" Demanded Shila, almost shrilly.
"A Tainted is a human who, through countless acts of horrific ritual, has successfully summoned a demon to enter their body and fuse with them, not just any demon though, one of Trigon's children. Generally, these Tainted are given the highest of ranking by the Church of Blood, but…Malorek's right, this does seem off." Raven commented. "Higher demons are usually those who give the Tainted orders, not the other way around. Perhaps Judora's a special case somehow. It could be that she has earned a place of honor, but what could she have done to do that?"
"Indirectly get rid of the great White Magus?" Malorek suggested.
"I don't know, there's something missing, what could she have done? Perhaps, as we've suspected before, an extremely heavy tainting."
"We can consider this later." Chire'ni said, as they all approached a barred door at the end of the stairs. Raven lost no time and blasted this one out of the way as well, fully prepared to berral in and start fighting other demon guards, but there were none. And what she saw in that room made her stop short with a gasp and a chock.
"MOTHER!"
The room was large and bare, except for an array of murals depicting a number of things. Raven had expected something like a dungeon, with many cells on either side of a hall where they'd have to look for the sacrifice. Instead a lone woman was standing in the middle, chained to the ceiling with her arms stretched out. She hung there, her knees too week to support her anymore, with cuts all over her body, whose only bit of clothing was a black shaft tied with a red sash. Her long black hair fell down about her, but enough of her face was visible for Raven to recognize, and her scent was unmistakable.
Raven's first reaction was to run to her, but both Malorek and Chire'ni grabbed her arms at the same time. "No!" They exclaimed in unison.
"It could be a trap!" Chire'ni said.
"It is, look at the circle around her!" Malorek hissed. Raven looked down and saw it.
Raven let out a string of swearwords and shrugged the two off her. "Right, get rid of the circle." Raven said, and she summoned the veil of Robin's blood that Malorek, as Malchior, had gotten for her. She sprinkled it about the circle, and then, once she knew there was no harm, began to use her boot to completely nullify it, making sure it would on no accounts be able to heal itself so that it was, therefore, destroyed. "That should do it." And then, without another word, she rushed forward.
The chains broke easily in her hands, and Arella slumped into her daughter's arms, limp and week, she was barely breathing, but she was breathing, and still alive. "Mother, can you hear me?" Raven asked, laying her down softly as the rest of the group came to join her, surrounding Raven almost protectively just in case there were any hidden traps.
"R-Raven?" Arella whispered hoarsely, her eyes opening slightly. "Raven…is it really you? Have you…come back?" She raised a hand to touch Raven's cheek.
"Yes mother, it's me, I'm going to get you out of here." Raven answered, lifting her into a standing position.
"No, Raven…you…have to…" She gasped, and slumped against Raven, who wrapped her arms around her in an effort to keep her standing.
"What do we do with her?" Asked Chire'ni.
"We'll take her back to the ship, she'll be protected there." Raven answered as Arella's arms clung to her form tightly.
"Raven…no…have to…" Arella wheezed, her arms held Raven tightly, and she shook, as though there was something important she had to say.
"What is it mother?" Raven asked, "What's wrong? Is it Judora?"
"…Actually," Hissed a voice that, in no way, belonged to Arella, "No, it's just that you won't be getting away quite so easily." It told her.
Raven heard something like a cry of alarm, and the next thing she knew she was somewhere else, her 'mother' was no longer holding her, and in front of her was none other than Judora herself, smirking. "Welcome, Lady Raven, I hope you'll forgive the hasty preparations, but, as you must have gathered, I did not expect you for another three days." She said, pleasantly.
Raven's blood seemed to freeze in her veins.
XP
A/N: BASK IN MY EVIL CLIFFIENESS! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahem, anyway, yeah, I actually almost cried while writing the first scene…almost, okay yeah I did…a little…
Ahem, anyways! Kinda light on the reviews here. You know you don't have to be shy, you may, in fact, yell at me that I'm an evil crazy witch who enjoys to torture you with painful cliffies (And, yes, if any of you actually decide to put that in a review I will laugh).
Lea Cat: Sometimes it's tiring, especially when I'm not sure as for what's gonna happen next, like I know point A and point C, it's just point B that I'm having trouble figuring out. That kinda sucks. But it's really fun! Writing anyway, And I wanna be an author too someday, so GO US FUTURE AUTHORS, WOO! HI FIVE! Okay that's not gonna work.
Pixie10111: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ANOTHER HORRIBLE CLIFFIE BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And Malorek's getting bold because he feels like it, it's like when there are times when you just feel like being crazy, and other times when you're just not in the mood and everyone around you just needs a chill pill. It's that kinda thing. Overall though, I hope I'm doing alright getting their personalities merged into one!
Trenin: Why THANK YOU! Heheheheheh. I am QUEEN of the Cliffies! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—okay no, I'm not, but I still suck for them! (Did that make sense?)
Delirium24: You and the rest of the world, JUST KIDDING! Yeah, right, like the rest of the world reads my fanfic, (Snort), BUT ANYWAY, thanks for reviewing. ALL HAIL THE POWER OF THE SPORKS!
Alright, I think that's all I have to say, REVIEW PEOPLE! It gives me motivation to write faster, and is therefore in your best interests, heheheheheh ;)