I'll tell ya what: When I actually DO own the Teen Titans, I'll let you know.
'Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break.'
-Malcolm, William Shakespeare's Macbeth
In the form of a giant raven of blazing black fire, Raven's soul-self soared over the great expanse of water that separated Jump City from Titan's Tower. It passed into the Tower's walls like a ghost, phasing through room after room before it flapped to a stop ina wide, empty gymnasium. Opening its great wings, the sorcerous bird deposited Raven onto the blue mats that were the gym's floor, where it then disappeared like a blown out candle.
Her head throbbing, Raven feebly fell to her knees, thankful for the soft mat below her. Hood drawn back, Raven's mauve hair was a curtain over her hanging head as she breathed heavily down to the floor. Flooded with unfamiliar panic, Raven's heart punched wildly against the solid cage of her ribs.
"Azarath, metrion, zinthos…Azarath, metrion, zinthos…" she whispered her mantra under her breath; seeking the calm center as she tried to banish the fear from her mind.
As disciplined as the Sorceress was, fear wasn't as accommodating an emotion.
Raven's breathing stopped as a pair heavy armored boots stepped into view. "That was rather rude, Raven." Slade admonished from above her. "Leaving that bookstore in such a mess, I thought you were a lover of literature."
Gasping, she tilted her head up to face him…only to gaze at empty air. Slade's mocking laughter seemed to echo endlessly from all directions. Fear gave way to something entirely more destructive: anger. Slade was playing with Raven; taunting her, twisting her around like a puppet on strings.
Eyes white, Raven brought herself to her feet. Her powers demanded release, anger hungering for satisfaction. It took most of the dark-girl's willpower to suppress her powers back within herself.
"What do you want from me?" she demanded the empty room.
"How well we pay attention," Slade said. Wheeling her head, Raven found him leaning casually against a wall beside her, arms crossed over his broad chest. "If you had bothered to listen, you'd know that all I want to do is talk, Raven. Of course, maybe we were too busy trying to bury me beneath half of the bookstore's stock, hm?"
He had finally shown himself. The white fire in Raven's eyes intensified. "I'm not interested having a chat with you," She spat.
Slade chuckled. "Dear child, you're assuming I've given you a choice in the matter."
"Leave me ALONE!" Anger overflowing, Raven sent her powers loose against Slade like releasing the leash of a feral beast. The racks of weapons resting against the gym's walls shuddered and glowed black as they lifted into the air. Motioning her hands at Slade, the wooden swords and practice staffs rocketed towards the man.
Slade didn't so much as bat an eye.
Slamming against the wall like torpedoes, the flurry of weapons shattered into splinters on impact.
But they had struck the wall, not Slade.
Faster than Raven could blink, the man had vanished again.
"Again, with your temper," Slade chided. Turning her head, Raven found the man had reappeared just feet from her, hands patiently clasped behind him. He had the superior air of a teacher trying to convey a simple idea to a thick-headed student. "If you keep rudely interrupting me, we're never going to get anywhere, my dear."
Snarling in frustration, Raven extended her shadow wrapped-fist. A beam of black lanced towards Slade's chest, a heavy bolt of magic that would send of him careening. But the man simply stood there as it punched against him; it had no effect at all.
He tilted his head. "Are we quite done?"
Raven stumbled back in weariness and shock. She had invested so much energy into that attack…
"You're not really here, are you?" she realized aloud.
The student finally understands, slow as she was. "In a manner of speaking, no, I'm not truly here at all. However…"
Slade's face was suddenly inches from hers in half a heartbeat. Lifting his hand, he prodded Raven's forehead with two fingers. "I am exactly where I need to be…right here."
Raven flinched when his cold fingers tapped her head at the last two syllables. She had felt it. Just as she finished blinking, Slade had retreated back again as quickly as he had arrived.
"You and I have much more in common than you realize, Raven."
"Our people skills?"
Ignoring Raven's sarcasm, his dark eye glared at her sternly. "We were, both of us, enslaved by Trigon. You imprisoned by Destiny as his daughter, myself forced into his service."
"Like I could help who my father was," Raven replied crossly. "I was born with Trigon, you chose to join him."
"And what other alternative did I have!" Slade snapped, usual veneer of control wavering under his temper. "Humiliating as it was, you Titans defeated me. Worse yet, Terra's betrayal entombed me in that volcano, beneath crushing, incinerating layers of molten earth. I died, Raven. But in the oblivion on Death, your father came to me with a proposition: In return for my service, I would be given life again, granted incredible power, and best of all…an opportunity to have my vengeance against the Titans that damned me."
"Oh, how could you refuse?" she grumbled.
"One does not refuse Trigon the Terrible," Slade pointed out grimly. "I swallowed my pride for the lesser of two evils." He held out his arms with the triumph of a man who has escaped from the very jaws of Death itself. "And now, Raven, Trigon is no more. I am free of his servitude- resurrected- with a new lease on life, so to speak."
"Congratulations, you've cheated death," Raven commended wryly. "What are you going to do next? Reform? Give back to society? Disneyland?"
Ever patient, Slade regarded Raven with slight bemusement. "My plans are something far grander than that. I'm arranging a celebration of sorts forthe Titans, call it my Homecoming. And you, dear Raven, are my Guest of Honor."
"I'm not a 'party' kind of girl."
"Oh, but all your friends will be most certainly be coming," Slade said with mock-regret. "Rest assured, it'll be quite the bash."
Like a passing breath of wind, Slade disappeared yet again. His chilling laughter echoed behind like a haunting ghost.
"Why me?" Raven asked the empty room. "You said it yourself: Trigon is dead. There's no reason for you to be after me now!"
His bodiless voice chuckled darkly. He sounded so close, it was as if he were speaking into her ear.
"I have reasons of my own, dear child. I found out so many interesting things about you, you've just gone and sparked my curiosity."
The dark-girl's senses weakly buzzed through the pain of her migraine. Raven froze where she stood.
I wasn't just as if Slade were talking into her ear...
Paralyzed, she couldn't even cringe as his iron hand clasped onto her caped shoulder. She felt his hot breath vent from his mask onto her shivering neck. Raven centered herself, standing in eye of a storm of emotions.
Fear
Panic
Anger
Despair
Defiance
Slipping from Slade's grip, she turned to face him. Floating inches above the floor, her eyes blazed ivory.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zin-"
Slade cut her chant short, steel-gloved hand smothering her face as his grip tightened.. Raven's control faltering, the controlled tempest that was her powers dissipated violently. It burst out like an explosion in the gymnasium, booming like thunder as the force tore the mats off the floor.
The entire room broken and cracked around him, Slade stood undisturbed in a small crater as his fingers tightly squeezed the dark girl's head. Steam hissed from the brow beneath Slade's hand, Raven screamed to a familiar agony.
"We will see each other again in three days," Slade told her. "When the time comes, you will betray your friends, and you will be helpless to stop it."
Slade released her.
Breaths rasping, Raven fell painfully to the floor. The Mark of Scath burned on her forehead like a bloody brand. Groaning in pain, the girl curled on the floor and fell into unconsciousness.
Holding out his hand, Slade conjured a computer disk with a flicker of black flame. It was emblazoned with the sharp 'S' that was his ensign; there would be no mistakes who sent this.
Tossing it lightly on Raven's sleeping form, he looked down at her. "I have great things in store for us both, my dear."
Darkness spreading over him, Slade's body dispersed like wafting smoke until there wasn't a single trace of him left…
Besides the innocuous disk resting on Raven's lap.
Sorry this chapter took longer than I expected. I had been working on it for a few days, but I just couldn't seem to get a proper flow. Frankly, I'm just glad I wrote it decently enough.
As usual, any reviews, constructive criticism, or general comments are always appreciated. With luck, I'll have another chapter done within the next few days. We'll just hafta see.
Until next update,
-Cy