A/N: Surprise! I know I haven't been great about updates recently, and not just on this story, but I managed to get the lead out for this fic's first anniversary.

Reviews!

Kurayamikara: Thanks! I always appreciate another reader.

OblivionKisame: Yes, while she certainly could attempt to torture the information out of him, but there are several factors preventing her from just slaughtering anyone who inconveniences her. One of the harder things about writing an overpowered character, especially one whose moral code is not very strict, is imposing realistic reasons why they can't just wave their hand and solve all their problems, and I feel like I've done at least a decent job of that.

kotomi101: Okay, that's my bad for... I guess it would be, for lack of a better term, misreading the situation. Sorry, I'm not great at articulating my personal thoughts, in fact these author's notes regularly take upwards of fifteen minutes to write, but it's good to know everyone is still on the same page.

XI

It turned out Raven was right about how she would have to ascend this obelisk; natural grips were few and far between, and even those only supported the tips of her fingers. She was about halfway up at this point, wishing she had had a different plan to get Jinx under her father's radar.

Well, there was nothing to be done about it now, anyway; she'd already made it this far, no point in dwelling on "what-ifs".

Her idle mind wondered about her parents' potential responses after finding out what she'd been up to. Mother would almost undoubtedly be the one delivering the lecture, and it would be a hefty one that at least one of her siblings will end up going on about for far longer than anyone wants to hear. Father was less predictable, and his actual reaction was susceptible to influence from a number of factors, and she could only hope he was in a good mood at the time.

Any further introspection was halted when her hand found purchase on solid ground. Quickly hauling herself up the remaining distance, she stood and gave her new surroundings a once-over.

"This certainly eliminates any room for possible doubts, though it begs the question of why so many are needed." Raven could count at least twenty Jaguars in different spots around the area of the castle that she could see. Despite easily noticing her less than graceful entrance, none of them made any move to approach her. Taking that as good a sign as any that she was welcome to continue, she did just that, walking at a brisk pace up to a pair of heavy stone doors.

The interior of the building matched the outside perfectly, leading to an overall generic feel that would have blended seamlessly into any medieval set piece. Exploring the entrance hall, she couldn't help but think that a place like this stood in severe contrast to the rest of Jinx's mind, only adding to her curiosity over this "sentient spark".

"Speaking of which..." Raven stopped her observations when she felt a new presence enter the foyer behind her. "You're proving to be quite the mystery so far. Tell me, how did you come to be this..." She trailed off after seeing her host's surprising appearance. "It seems they weren't exaggerating when they said you were different."

Really, it was just one difference, but it was a jarring one. For the most part, she looked nearly identical to her fellow mindscape residents in all other regards, but she was visibly older, by at least a decade. She was also more... full-figured, a detail that caught Raven's attention in a way she hadn't experienced before.

It was no secret to anyone that knew Raven that she wasn't fond of other people, or rather just other living beings in general, but there was something different about seeing someone she was so close to looking this... mature. It was as if she was seeing her in a new light, and it struck her as... honestly, she wasn't sure how to feel about it, she'd never considered it before.

It wasn't as though it would be frowned upon, either by her family or her people; she simply hadn't put much thought into relationships, and basically none at all the thought of one with another woman, especially a human. But the idea had been seeded now, and she would have to find time to play with it later; for now, she had a job to do.

"Are you done staring at me?" She asked, giving a small laugh that only further distracted Raven, who shook her head, trying to refocus.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment. You know, you remind me of someone, and not just Jinx. Your facial features are very familiar to me in a way I can't quite pin down."

"So, did you come here for a reason, or did you just want to continue studying me? Because I think Jinx might start getting impatient soon."

"A fair point." Raven nodded. "I've also been told you're more powerful than the others that live here; does that mean you're the one responsible for the loss of my magic?"

"Oh, yeah, that. Just a little safeguard I implemented as a precaution. Let me take care of the for you." Her hands lit up in pink, and she cupped Raven's cheeks, causing a blush to spread at the point of contact. It only continued to grow as her face got closer and closer, where she placed a quick kiss on Raven's forehead.

Raven now felt like all her blood had migrated to her face, and did her best get her mind back on track. She pulled her hood farther forward and cleared her throat before speaking.

"Thank you. You said you were the one to put that safeguard in place? Does that mean you can act independent of Jinx's will?"

"Hardly. I'm still an inherent part of Jinx, which means my will is her will, just on a subconscious level."

"Alright. Are you opposed to what I'm going to do?"

"Well I'm not thrilled about the idea." She deadpanned. "But Jinx is willing, so I'm kinda on board by default."

Raven nodded, calling her power forth and speaking in her native tongue while making precise movements in the air. Shadows started bending in her direction, and a few seconds later, ethereal black rings appeared on the older woman's wrists. They could easily have passed as bracelets if not for the obvious magic about them. Immediately, their effect made itself known in the dulling of their wearer's coloration, her hair and eyes getting much paler.

"Hmm, interesting..." She tried testing them, attempting to make... something happen, though Raven had no idea what, as nothing was produced, unsurprisingly.

"Am I correct in assuming you won't tell me who else's influence resides in you?"

She laid a hand on her chest. "And just what makes you think there's anyone else in here to begin with?"

"I'm good at reading people, even people who aren't real people." Raven stated confidently. "And you're much more physically affectionate than Jinx."

"Well, sorry to disappoint, but that's not something, I can tell you. This particular surprise is better left unspoiled."

Raven narrowed her eyes. "The enigmatic approach to withholding information is rather played out, don't you think? But if you're going to keep it to yourself, then we have no further business together." A shrug and a smile were all she got in reply, so she wasted no time in recalling herself back to her body.

"Oh, you're back." Jinx was quick to take notice when she resurfaced.

"And your eyes are grey."

"Really?" Jinx pulled up her phone's camera and examined herself. "Huh, would ya look at that? Guess it's safe to assume it worked, then. Kinda weird lookin', though." That wasn't the only change, however. Her hair had kept its vibrancy, but had lost its natural horned shape, and now hung loose around her shoulders. "Damn, it's been a long time since I've seen my hair down."

"How do you feel?"

"Eh, pretty much how you said; kinda empty inside, and a little cold, I guess, but not much else. I did have some pretty wild mood swings while you were in there, though; what happened?"

"I, er, met some facets of your person, and I spoke to your spark just before I returned."

"Facets? Like, personifications, or were they more abstract?"

"The individual aspects were mostly identical to you in appearance, however, your spark appeared to be a good bit older older than the rest."

"Seriously? Well did she really look any different?"

"No, um, not to a significant degree." Raven coughed and looked away; she knew it had to be said, but it was going to be uncomfortable for both of them no matter how she phrased it.

"Raven?" Jinx noticed her friend's behavior and took on a serious tone, a rarity for her. "What did you see in there?"

"Well... one of the aspects I met was the personification of your affinity for nature."

"Alright, and?"

"She..." Raven took a breath. "She had a very natural way of living, in every sense of the word..."

"What do you...? Oh... Oohhh!" Jinx's eyes went wide in realization. "So, you... saw her?"

"...Yes."

"Which means, you've seen me."

"Yes."

"Oh... Well, this is awkward... Hey, uh, we don't need to leave immediately, right? Like, this can wait until tomorrow, can't it?"

"That's fine." Raven said, happy to change the subject. "I'll need to let Melanie know we're going to be gone for an extended period, anyway." She considered leaving to do that immediately, but she knew she wasn't quite done, yet. "There is one other thing you should know."

"Is it more embarrassing than you seeing me naked?"

"No, it's... more potentially concerning. I discovered while I was in there that you have some residual influence attached to your magic."

"Do you know who it's from?"

"No, she refused to tell me, but she did say that she could act somewhat outside your conscious will. There was also the fact that your emotional aspect was unable to recall past a certain point in your history."

"Right, that... doesn't really surprise me..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't really, uh, have any memories from before I turned nine."

"None at all?"

"Nope. The earliest thing I can remember is waking up on a cruise ship headed for New York. Other than that, I don't know anything about my life before. I mean, I only know I'm from India on account of the fact that I woke up only speaking Hindi."

"You're from India? That's... surprising."

"Yeah, I know, everyone's always shocked when they hear it. Anyway, there was, luckily, another passenger who volunteered to be my translator for the rest of the trip, and when we docked, the state had me in a few different group homes for, like, two months before I was picked up by a Dark Way Prep recruiter. That school was where I met Mike and Baran, and for a few years, nothing really major happened in my life, until I met you."

"That's quite the story."

"Yeah, sorry to unload all my baggage at once like that."

"No, it's... it's fine. I've heard a fair number of unusual and, often tragic tales from many others before, but you are the first that I've known personally. I'm not very experienced with comforting others, as you might imagine, but I... would like to help with this, if you want."

"Well, I definitely appreciate the offer, believe me, but I've already been to a whole slew of mystics and psychics, and they all told me that the memories aren't just covered up or suppressed or whatever; they're straight up gone, like, completely erased."

"That does pose quite the challenge." Raven admitted. "And of what I know, only exceptionally powerful beings, and those related to them by blood, would be able to so completely remove a person's memories this way."

"Does that include you?"

"It does, but only the one who took them in the first place would have the power to restore them."

"So it's hopeless?"

"It would seem that way... You don't seem very upset about that."

"Well, five years ago, that probably would have sent me even further into depression than I already was, but now? My entire personality is built from a specific point onward, and to add in another four or five on top of that... I don't even know if I'd be the same person after effectively doubling my life experience. I dunno, I just sorta, stopped caring about it after a while. Is that weird?"

"I don't think so. I think it's very reasonable to want to avoid that kind of risk. Sense of self is an incredibly important thing to demons, and most would probably feel the same way you do."

"Speaking of demons, you should probably go talk to Melanie before she leaves for the night; you were only in there for an hour, but it was already kinda late when we got back. Oh, hey, we're takin' the boys with us, right?"

"I don't see why not." Raven said, before leaving to finish the final task of the day.

Twenty minutes later, and with no results, Raven was fairly sure she was too late. She'd exhausted every plausible location she could think of, and was close to giving up for the night when she felt a wave of magic hit her.

Although she knew there were no registered magic users in either the student or staff rosters other than her and Jinx, it still wouldn't have been cause for concern if not for the fact that it was chaos magic she'd felt. It'd lasted less than a second, and there was no trace of it now, but she'd been exposed to far too much of it not to recognize even more.

She knew it couldn't have been Jinx's, for both the obvious reason, and the fact that this didn't feel like Jinx's. It felt similar, enough so that if she hadn't already muted Jinx's aura, this blip wouldn't have even registered with her, but she had no doubt there was another source somewhere relatively close.

She spread her senses out, searching for possible candidates. Curiosity turned to confusion, and then frustration as she got a couple of miles out without finding anything. Her awareness was starting to get a little thin, so she pulled herself back together, not noticing another presence until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Instinct took over, and before either of them could blink, Raven had the offending party pinned to the wall under threat of the void-laden spikes currently pressed against their vital points.

"You know what?" Melanie said. "That's on me for sneaking up on a demon."

Raven quickly recalled her power. "It certainly isn't among the wisest moves one can make, especially at night. I've been trying to find you for a little while now, I need to talk to you."

"Shoot."

"My teammates and I will be leaving for a while. I'm due for a visit home."

"Home... you're all taking a trip to the Underworld?"

"Yes, my parents will eventually start to worry if I don't show up at some point, and I think we'd all like to prevent that."

"I'd have to agree; are you leaving tomorrow, then?"

"Ideally."

"Alright, I'll let the other staff know. Is that everything you needed?" Raven nodded, bidding her goodbye and teleporting back to her room.

She'd have thought that Jinx would be asleep by now, or at least be trying to. Instead, she found her obsessively braiding and unbraiding her hair in different fashions.

"Are you having trouble with that?"

"Nah, it's just been a while since I've actually been able to do anything with my hair. Normally, it stays up on its own, even when it's soaked, so I don't have many opportunities to style it."

"I wasn't aware of that. I simply thought it was your preferred look."

"I mean, I don't hate the way it looks most of the time, but it would be nice to be able to do something else with it sometimes, ya know?"

"Hmm, I suppose I don't; I've never cared much for doing anything with mine other than keeping it clean."

"What? But you have great hair!"

"You think so?" She pulled a snowy lock in front to look at it. "It's always just been sort of, there, to me."

"So you've just worn it loose your whole life?"

"Well, my mother did attempt to get me interested in that sort of thing when I was younger, but that didn't go on very long as she's never been one to try and force anything onto her children."

"Uh, how many of you are there, anyway? You said you had a few siblings."

"I'm the oldest of seven, with the youngest being two. Most of them are more... energetic than I am, and they can be a bit much to handle all at once."

"Wait, regular energetic or demon energetic?"

"The latter. I'll see if I can keep the introductions to one at a time."

"What about your dad? Is there anything I need to know beforehand?"

"The only advice I can give you is don't lie to him, don't interrupt him, and pray to a god that isn't him that my mother is there when we talk to him."

"Good to know... Hey, is it... is it ever, hard, having someone like Trigon for a dad?"

Raven took on a pensive expression as she thought about her answer. "At times, yes. From the moment I was born, my upbringing was decidedly different from that of my siblings'. As the first born of Trigon the Terrible, I am, naturally, more gifted than most demons. So much so, in fact, that my body would have burned out from the excess power if most of it hadn't been sealed off from me. Aside from that, I was also raised to one day take my father's throne, whereas my siblings are not subject to the same burden of expectation."

"Wait, so all the shit I've seen you do, that's you holding back?"

"Not of my own volition, but yes. Would you mind if we stopped talking about this; I'd prefer not to dwell on my weaknesses."

"Oh, yeah, sure. I should be getting to sleep, anyway; gotta be well rested for a descent into Hell, ya know."

"More than most." Raven said, switching off the lights and finding something to do on her phone for the next few hours.

"Alright, so we've got the candles, the sacred salts, the blood... Uh, whose blood is it, exactly?" Jinx questioned.

"I have no idea." Raven admitted. "I took this from the storeroom in my father's church, so it was likely from a ritualistic sacrifice."

"...Okay, so is that everything we need, then?"

"As far as supplies go, but we still need a place to perform the spell; this portal will scar the ground permanently."

"Alright, well, while you find us a place to set up, I'm gonna tell the guys it's time to go."

It didn't take long to find them, which wasn't a surprise, given their sheer presence together and the fact that they were usually doing something ridiculous that either she or one of the staff would have to put a stop to. Not Raven, though. She preferred to watch, or, if the activity was deemed chaotic enough, join in herself, at which point, Jinx tended to just give up and get out of the way.

Today was pretty tame, it seemed, as she found Mammoth engaged in an arm-wrestling match with Mr. Cell with Gizmo watching from the side. It actually seemed to be an even match between them, as weird as that was, and Jinx decided to stick around to see the outcome.

They must have been going for a while before she showed up, because it didn't take long after for the winner to be declared.

"Holy shit." Jinx said quietly. "I don't think I've ever seen that happen before." It wasn't something Jinx paid a lot of attention to unless they were an enemy, but without his usual lab coat, it became much more prominent that their chemistry teacher had all the definition of a marble statue, with apparently more than enough power to go with it. He nodded to the three of them, momentarily raising a brow at Jinx before bidding a quick goodbye.

"First for everything, I guess." Gizmo said.

"Yeah, but I didn't even realize he was a meta." Jinx said. "How ya doin', Baran?"

"I'm fine." He shrugged. "There's always someone stronger out there; can't get hung up on not being better than everyone."

"Glad to hear it, cuz it's time to go."

"So we're really doing this, huh?"

"Yeah!" Jinx said excitedly. "Don't tell me you're afraid of a little fire and brimstone."

"No, just the things that live in it." Mammoth said, crossing his arms.

It seemed to Raven that her presence, understandably intimidating as it was, was something her fellow students simply wouldn't be getting used to any time soon. Even after being there for months, she could still effortlessly part a crowd just by going near it, and while it was undeniably convenient, it had ceased to be amusing some time ago.

"I wonder if Father feels this way with everyone? He certainly has more experience with it than I do."

Figuring she was getting nowhere by looking on her own, she decided to find the nearest staff member to ask where she could go.

"Oh, good morning, Raven." Mr. Jacobs said. "I've actually been meaning to talk to you myself; I'm glad I caught you before you left."

"Hello, I was hoping you could tell me if there was an appropriate place on the grounds from which to open a portal."

"Ah, yes, Ms. Fields already informed me of your departure. You should find the school's basement serviceable; no one uses that floor these days, so a bit of damage to the cement won't matter. Now, there is the little matter concerning your lessons."

"Is there an issue with my progress?"

"Quite the opposite, in fact." Mr. Jacobs smiled. "You've advanced more quickly than I had anticipated. The problem is that I am being called away on assignment again, and this one will last much longer than the last. With this in mind, the Headmistress has approved an aptitude test, which will determine whether further lessons are required. I won't be here when you take it, but I was the one to write it up, so I know you should have no problems passing."

"That's good to hear. Nothing against you personally, of course, but it will be nice to have one less subject to worry about."

"I understand; good luck with your father, by the way."

"I may need a bit more than luck in order to placate him." Raven sighed. "And that's without him knowing what Jinx is..."

"Alright, no one needs to go to the bathroom before we leave, right?" Jinx looked between Mammoth and Gizmo, both answering in the negative. "Good, we ready, Rae?"

"One last thing." Raven said, opening a hole in the air in front of her and reaching in to pull out Lilith, setting her down in the center of the group. Next, she produced two vials from the folds of her cloak, levitating them and spilling the blood over the salt lines of the pentagram.

Once again reverting to her first language, Raven began chanting the words necessary to open the dimensional barriers and allow them to travel through into the Underworld. To the humans present, it didn't sound like anything but guttural, inhuman gibberish, but there were no doubts among them that it was working as the circle surrounding them started glowing red.

As Raven kept going, she steadily got louder and faster, and the light grew brighter and brighter, until the red shifted instantly to blinding white, and everything fell silent.

When everything settled, Raven looked at her three guests, each of them looking awestruck at their new surroundings, while Lilith climbed onto her shoulder, seeming very happy to be home.

"Welcome to Hell."

A/N: Okay, I really went back and forth on this chapter for a while, specifically regarding Raven's interaction with Jinx's spark and whether what happened was too much progression at one time, but ultimately, I'm satisfied, as this will not change the pacing, but rather just served as a way of having Raven realize she might not be as straight as she thought.