Raven shuddered in the cold as her eyelids lifted. The room was dark, the walls were worked stone. She shifted, feeling the strange weight at her wrists. Sharp points dug into her head in a circle. She glanced up to see she was bound by metal shackles, standing upright against the slick wall. She strained at her bonds. She shivered again, then realized she was naked!
That's it, I'm getting out of here. "Azerath metrion ZINTHOS!" She focused her energy in an attempt to break the shackles--but nothing happened. Concerned, she tried again. Nothing. Frantically, she lashed out with everything she could muster, producing absolutely no result. She yanked at her chains again uselessly. Raven choked back a sob of despair, then started breathing deeply and slowly, trying to calm herself. I can't panic. If I panic, I'll never get out of here.
"That's it, struggle. It is so amusing to watch someone with no hope fight against the inevitable." Raven gasped as Slade melted out of the shadows. There was no sign of any demonic limbs anywhere. He looked normal, except for the malevolent green light that emanated from his eye.
"What do you want from me? And what happened to the demon parasite?"
"Demon parasite? I've never had one," Slade said conversationally as he stepped closer. "As for what I want from you..." She flinched as he stroked her cheek. "I want nothing more from you than to make you suffer." He drew his hand back quickly as she snapped at him. "Feisty, aren't we. I'll have fun breaking you." He walked halfway across the room and stood with his back to her. "I'm sure you've noticed that your powers don't work. That's due to the lovely little device I placed on your head." Raven was conscious of the points digging into her head. "It also has another function.." He trailed off, drawing a long knife from a sheath on his leg. Slade whirled and threw the dagger, the point burying itself in Raven's right eye.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Slade chuckled. "The Crown of Torment won't let you pass out from pain, nor will it allow you to die. Your eye will grow back after I remove my knife." He seized the hilt and twisted it viciously, provoking another scream from Raven. "Oh, yes, this will be fun, little Raven."
---
Jinx sat on the roof of the tower, staring at the sunrise. Things had been going horribly since Raven's disappearance three days ago. Robin was constantly searching the city for signs of Slade, not even taking time to eat or sleep save when Starfire forced him to. Beast Boy took out his frustrations in the gym while Cyborg studied every scrap of the robots, trying to find any sort of clue. It wouldn't have been so bad if there had been some crime, some villians to take out anger on, but absolutely nothing had happened in Jump City lately.
Hello, Jinx.
"Great. This is just what I need, for my schizo side to flare up again."
You know you can't get rid of us. We're inside your head.
"I'm really not in the mood for this."
Shut up, you stupid dyke whore! You don't know anything! No one cares what you think!
"Stop yelling at me!"
It's your fault Raven's gone! You're nothing but bad luck! You don't deserve her!
"It was Slade, not me!"
It was your bad luck! Why else would there be a broken mirror?
"I'm not listening to you."
You can't do anything right. Why don't you do the world a big favor and die?
"Lalalalalalalala..."
The knife.
"Not again...please..." She picked it up. She couldn't stop herself as she made the first cut.
I know how to do it. One deep cut, that's all it would take...
---
How long had it gone on? Hours? Days? The pain didn't stop, he made sure of that. The first few times after she closed her eyes, he drove tiny nails into them to keep them open. He would force her to watch him carve her up. He would cut and say, "Do you see?" Cut and say, "Do you see?" Blood everywhere, and every second of it she was awake. She couldn't even sleep. The most shocking torture came during the time he'd cracked her ribcage open. Words failed to express the horror she felt watching him rip out her still-beating heart and squeeze it into unidentifiable goo, only to have it slowly and painfully regrow inside her chest. He'd take some of her intestines and tie them around her neck, then just watch as her lungs withered and died. It seemed like he'd managed to mutilate every organ in her body a few times, to say nothing of the broken bones that took hours to reset themselves, the braided cords of flesh he made into bracelets and necklaces for her, the obscenities carved into her over and over again, the time he drowned her in her own blood by stuffing her mangled heart down her throat...It was maddening.
Raven couldn't really say how she held onto sanity. The times when he left her alone in the dark were the only reprieve she got, and those came seldom. Her best defense was to retreat, to gather all of her conscious mind and bundle it into the back of her head, far from having to witness her own torture. She mostly dwelt there, only coming back to reality far enough to fool Slade into thinking she was paying attention when he wanted. All the while she planned Slade's death, how she would pay him back for everything he'd ever done. She knew that killing him would cross a line, change things in a way that couldn't be undone, but part of her simply didn't care. Murder would change her forever, and she hated herself for considering her father's methods, but the thought was all she could do to stop from giving in to despair.
Time passed.
He'd been gone for a while, longer than usual. He'd left her almost whole, as well. Even the nails in her eyelids were gone. Her throat burned from dyness. The last liquid she'd had was her blood, and it had dried stickily in her throat. Her eyelids felt covered in rust, her head swam from exhaustion and blood loss. Slade's remarks to her just before he left currently occupied her thoughts. "When I come back, we're going to play with fire," he'd said. Oh god, please let this end. I can't take it! It hurts...She closed her eyes and hung her head limply, fighting back sobs. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry again, especially when he wasn't doing anything to her. Someone stepped into the room then, and she raised her head weakly.
The figure that approached her was short and slim, far too small to be her captor. "Funny thing running into you here," a feminine voice reached her. The girl stepped forward and started fiddling with Raven's shackles. She blinked dazedly. My mind has to be going. That can't possibly be who I think it is. Her hand fell to her side as the manacle opened and her rescuer began working on the other one.
"Who are you?" Raven managed to croak out.
"Almost got it...there!" Raven slumped forward, unable to stand properly. The other girl caught her and lowered her gently to the floor. Concerned blue eyes studied her. "Rest here for a minute, I'll be right back." The girl left quickly, and Raven tried weakly to sit up. She could barely summon the strength to lift her head. After several minutes, the girl returned, carefully draping a blanket over Raven's battered body, and lifting her head up gently. "Drink this." Raven sucked at the water in the jug being held to her lips. It stung horribly going down, but her thoat felt a bit better afterwards.
Raven turned her head akwardly, trying to get a good look at the other girl. "Why are you helping me? Why not just escape?"
The girl snorted. "You think I'm going to let that filthy bastard keep one of my old friends?"
"What?" Raven painfully levered herself into a semi-sitting position. She was still being supported, but she was able to see the other girl clearly. The long blond hair, boyish build, youthful, innocent features. A girl she'd thought was dead, someone she never thought she'd see again. "T--Terra?"
Terra grinned suddenly. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Sort of. Didn't you have amnesia?"
The other girl looked away, features hidden by a wave of blond hair. "I did, but apparently Slade wasn't satisfied with leaving me alone. I remembered everything while he was torturing me." She turned back to Raven. "But we can catch up later. We gotta get out of here." Raven nodded agreement, and Terra pulled her to her feet. They managed to stagger akwardly into the hall.
"How do we get out of here?" Raven wondered.
"Don't worry," Terra said. "We're underground right now, so the ball's in my court." She gestured with her free hand, enveloped in a yellow glow. The section of floor they were standing on broke free and began drifting upwards. At the same time, the stone above them opened into a tunnel, and they shot through it rapidly.
Daylight was a shock for both of them, and Terra nearly dumped them on the ground. She did manage to set the chunk of rock down gently and seal up the tunnel they had come from.
"Now what?" Terra sounded frustrated. Desert stretched from horizon to horizon. The sun baked them mercilessly, and nothing of civilization could be seen.
Raven had scrunched her eyes closed almost as soon as they had come out. "I can teleport us home once this crown's off." She reached for it shakily, but Terra stopped her.
"Once you take that thing off, all the fatigue will catch up to you." Terra shook her head. "You'll be out for hours. At least, I was when I got mine off. We should find a good place to rest first." The slab of rock lifted off the ground again.
Raven felt Terra tense. "What are you doing?"
"Making sure he can't follow us," she replied. The ground nearby simply...collapsed with a roar and a cloud of dust, burying Slade's underground lair. "Hopefully he was still in there," Terra growled as their stone platform skimmed away.
---
Several miles away and several hours later, a small fire burned under a rocky outcrop. Night had fallen and so had the temperature. Raven lay on the ground, resting. Since the crown had come off she hadn't gotten any stronger. Fortunately, Terra knew how to camp in the desert. They'd most likely be able to make it back in the morning.
Terra sat across from her, staring into the fire. "You don't trust me."
Raven stirred and propped herself up on her elbows. "Why do you think that?"
"You never did, right?" She smirked ruefully. "Even when you had no reason to distrust me, you did. That's just how you are. I know how suspicious this must look. I mean, what are the odds I'd just happen to remember everything when I was captured by Slade, and that I'd just happen to be able to rescue you?"
"When you put it like that, it does sound suspicious, but..." Raven paused. "I don't think you're a spy or anything. If Slade wanted to use you like that, there are much easier ways to infiltrate."
Terra raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"I guess I'm not as paranoid as I used to be." She shrugged slightly. "Things have changed since you've been gone."
"I know some of it. About Trigon, the Brotherhood...at least some of it."
"How?" Interested, Raven sat up fully.
Terra looked at her through the flames. "When I was a statue, I could still hear and see. I was aware of everything that went on around me. Every time Beast Boy visited me, he'd tell me what was going on with you guys."
Raven studied her. "How did you get free?"
"Actually, it was because Beast Boy made me cry. Or feel like I needed to, anyways."
"Let me guess, he told you a really bad joke."
She shook her head, then stared up at the night sky. "He...told me he loved me. When he said how much he missed me..." She appeared to be holding back tears. "I wanted to make him stop crying, but I couldn't. After he left, somehow I started to cry myself, and the next thing I remember is waking up in a normal bedroom, getting ready for normal school. No idea how it happened."
"I didn't know he felt that way about you," Raven remarked.
"Don't tell him I said that," Terra said, meeting her eyes. "I don't think he wanted anyone to know. It kinda surprised me, too. I mean, I always figured you and him were...y'know. Doing it."
Raven paled. "Okay, regardless of anything he's ever claimed, I have never done it with Beast Boy, I have never wanted to do it with Beast Boy, I never will do it with Beast Boy, and I think I just gagged on my tounge." She grimaced and swallowed hard. "Besides, I'm...taken."
Terra sat up straight, leaning forward excitedly. "No way! Who is it? Anyone I know?"
Raven blushed slightly. "Well, you remember Jinx, right?"
"That crazy pink-haired chick? You mean you're..." Raven nodded. "That's kinda surprising."
"What? Do you have a problem with it?"
"Nope." Terra grinned. "Actually, I had a sneaking suspicion you were like that. I just meant it's surprising you're out of the closet." Raven growled, and Terra put up her hands defensively. "Hey, no offense. I'm just saying you're usually very secretive about personal stuff."
Raven lay down cautiously. "She's a Titan now."
"That's pretty cool. Does that mean I'll have a good chance of getting back on the team?"
Raven gave her a flat look. "You're still on the team, remember? Besides, I don't think you could stay off the team if you tried." She rolled onto her side. "I'm gonna get some sleep. Teleporting as far as we have to takes a lot of energy."
Terra lay down on the other side of the fire. "Right. Good night."
"Night."
---
Jinx was sitting on the roof again, one leg dangling over the edge. She had wrapped her arms in cloth, hoping no one would notice the wounds. Perhaps it was a good thing that everyone seemed to be avoiding each other. Shouting matches were common, mostly involving Robin and Beast Boy, although last night's arguement was still fresh in everyone's mind. Starfire had gotten mad and chucked Robin and Beast Boy out into the harbor to stop their arguing. Everyone was walking on eggshells after that particular incident.
So, are you going to use that knife you're playing with?
"I still haven't healed from the last time. Why do you want me to do this?"
Why do you still listen?
"I bet the day I can answer that is the day I finally get rid of you." Jinx unwrapped her left arm and stared at the pattern of scars. She had tried to spell out 'Raven', but there were too many cuts for it to be clear. She drew the knife parallel to a long cut, creating a twin. Blood welled up.
The air behind her shimmered like heat waves in the summer sun. Jinx turned swiftly, holding the knife like she intended to use it. Familiar dark energy coalesced and flickered, forming into shapes. Terra stood uncertainly on the roof, supporting Raven. Jinx stared at them in total shock.
"That didn't take as much out of me as I thought," Raven commented. The knife clattered to the ground, and Raven and Terra turned towards the sound.
"R--Raven?" Jinx flung herself forward, knocking them both onto the ground. "You're back! I missed you so much!" She sobbed into Raven's shoulder. "Where were you..."
"Ow. Someone's happy to see me." Raven patted Jinx's back akwardly. "Can we get up now?"
"Would you two lovebirds get off me!" Terra squirmed, trying to get free. Somehow, they managed to stand up, although Jinx didn't let go of Raven the whole time.
Raven felt a familiar wet stickiness on Jinx's arm. She lifted it, seeing the crisscrossing cuts. "Did you do this to yourself?" Jinx nodded, avoiding Raven's eyes. Spots appeared in her vision suddenly. It took her a moment to realize Raven had slapped her. The empath's voice was ice. "You will not do that again. Ever."
Terra flinched. "Yeow. Was that necessary?"
"I have no tolerance for that sort of behavior," Raven replied coldly, not taking her eyes off Jinx. She cupped Jinx's chin gently and looked at her. "Hurting yourself never helps. Believe me."
"I know, but..." She was interrupted by a shocked gasp from behind them. Beast Boy stood on the roof with his jaw hanging to his knees.
Terra smiled at him. "This is the first time we've seen each other in how long, and all you can do is stare at me?" He responded by tackling her exuberantly. "Gah! How many times am I gonna get jumped today?"
"Well, Starfire still has to say hi, so probably one more." Raven smirked.
"I did kinda miss getting hugged to death." Terra answered.
Jinx buried her head in Raven's shoulder. She's back. Everything's gonna be okay now. Raven's okay!
---