This Prison

Chapter Seven

Which is Worse?

"No!" Robin said. "How'd you escape?" He demanded, shaking me again. His eyes were narrowed in sheer determination, fists clenched over any fabric he could find. I felt his bony knee on the armor covering my stomach. I laughed inwardly. Did he really think that could hurt me?

"Spells, Robin. Simple as that." I saw the ebony-skinned man's human eye widen in realization of who I was. The floating princess's eyes grew larger than her over-caring heart and her tanned fists glowed with emerald fury. The green one was not far behind.

"You son of a bitch! How'd you break that curse?" He shrieked, pointing at me with brows furrowed. "What the hell did you do to Raven this time?" Everyone looked on in amazement at the harshness of the changeling's words.

"Charming." I said sarcastically, brushing the Boy Wonder aside with ease. I stood and pulled a bit of lint from my hair.

"You bet your ass it's charming!" Beast Boy spat, waving his finger at me. (A/N: this is the chibi scene. Ya know, when everyone is all small and BB is all monstrous and looks like he's gonna 'splode. Starfire starts crying, Cyborg's mechanical eye springs out of his head, Robin's eye twitches. Malchior's in monster BB's shadow with an annoyed look. Holds up a finger after sweat-dropping. Yeah…)

"What the hell did you do to her!" the elf demanded, grabbing my collar. He stared into my eyes with unbelievable intensity. I rolled my aqua eyes skyward and stood up, raising a finger.

"Did you ever think she doesn't want you to know?" I inquired. He stumbled to grip some words; he tried to grasp a clever retort, but to no avail. I smirked. "I do recall several occasions where she told you "Keep your mitts of my stuff" or "I'll throw you down the stairs again" and "Piss off". Did you already forget how much you whimpered?" I teased him. He fumed, raising a challenging finger again, failing to speak. He turned to the side, defeated. He was about to turn around but whipped back to his pointing stance.

"If you've been sealed away in that nasty old book, how do you know what's been happen-" His words slowed as they rolled off his tongue and he turned to face Raven. "He's been outta the book the whole time, hasn't he?" He frowned, letting a look of defeat spread across his impish features. It was Raven's turn to falter with her words.

"It's a long-" I began, sensing she could not or would not continue.

"Shut up, Malchior!" Raven barked. I let out a huff of annoyance and let her continue. "No. He's been in the book, but he was able to see everything that went on in the tower." Beast Boy paled and Starfire shrieked.

"Don't worry." I said, turning to Starfire. "I did not watch anything I shouldn't have." As if I'd watch her when sweet Raven was around...

"I still do not allow the trust." She replied, flying over to me. "You are a Chlore Bag." She poked me with each sentence, leaving a dent in my armor. "You are grumpy and rude. You have no respect! You should not be watching at all! In my home world, if you were caught doing the evesdropping they would do the screaming into your ear until it bled and then cut off one of your fingers! Whatever you did to hurt friend Raven, I do not approve!" (A/N: Another chibi scene, but BB's the one crying.) Somehow, I think her little speach would have been a lot more profound if she spoke more normally.

An awkward silence filled the void. The Titans gave me daggers for glares- especially Robin. They pierced into me, tearing me apart from the inside out. Finally, I couldn't stand the negative attention. I love attention, but this was a little much. I coughed a bit, breaking their stares.

"You're going back in the book." Raven said suddenly.

"Somehow, sweet Raven, I don't think so." I raised my arms, lifting the book that was my prison. It was enveloped in black and red- my magic aura. "Laserith." The book was set aflame and burned in mere seconds, leaving ashes to drift to the floor. As they hit the dark carpet, they disappeared with sparkling flashes. I looked up at her horrified face. "I do not wish to be imprisoned in that godforsakenbook any longer. I believe a thousand years is enough. Besides-"

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" The girl chanted, attempting to grasp me in her powers. Her claw only phased through me. I chuckled, walking over to her.

"Our powers are too similar." I told her. "We can't harm one another." I lifted her hand to press against mine, as if comparing size. "It has to do with heritage, I believe."

She stepped backward to avoid me, but Robin gladly stepped in. He threw a punch to my face, but I blocked it with a magic field. He grunted, cracking his pained knuckles. "Did I forget to mention to be careful? My apologies." Sarcasm dripped from my voice. My hand flew up to my mouth in mock surprise. "Oh. I'm sorry, Boy Wonder. I forgot she's marked as yours."

You could have heard a pin drop after that one. Too bad Raven has carpet. The others gave the two lovebirds questioning looks. Out of the blue, the armored one and the elf broke into a frenzy of laughter, bracing themselves on their knees. They continued on like this for a few moments and laughter began to die.

"Marked…" the green one said.

"As…" the ebony-skinned one continued.

"Yours!" they spoke in unison, standing up. Their childish chuckles halted but sputtered back to life again the instant they looked at each other. They wiped tears from their eyes.

"Friend Robin has branded friend Raven?" the Tanmaranian was lost yet again.

"No, Star." BB spoke up, laying a hand on her shoulder. "They only do that to farm animals." The green one's companion fell to the ground in a laughing heap, choking out "farm animals".

"Beautiful." Raven and I said together.

"He thinks Robin and I are together, Star." Raven droned.

"Oh. Haha." the redhead faked a laugh.

"Farm animals!" the armored one shrieked from the floor, sending his immature little friend into yet another fit.

"Only in America." Raven said. Robin shook his head, watching the two roll about the floor, choking for breath. Violet eyes met mine. "The book looks a hell of a lot better right now, doesn't it?"

………………………………...

A/N: Okay, this is going a lot slower than I thought it would…whatever.

Vote for the couple!

Rae/Mal

Rob/Rae

LIKE IT? REVIEW IT!