Disclaimer: Teen Titans isn't mine

I'm sorry, I really should have updated this sooner.

"Speech"

Thoughts


The burning stench filled the air.

Scorched earth and razed villages were all a shroud of smoke. An acrid fetor, the foul taste of ash matched the scent of terror in the air...

Raven closed her eyes.

"We're here," she whispered.

"No way..." Karen looked around, squinting through the smoke. "This is..."

"This can't be," Roy breathed out. "This... this is Camelot?"

"The outskirts," Raven murmured. "I didn't dare to bring us closer." She sniffed at the air. "He's near."

"Who's near-"

Jinx clapped a hand over Garth's mouth, her face paler than usual. "That guy. The big baddie." She turned. "Rae, can you just teleport us into the castle?"

The demoness's brows furrowed and she raised her hands, but nothing happened. "He's blocking me. I could force it harder, but that would be very dangerous. It could be a trap or he could be expecting it. We'll have to go in on foot. Stay close and be quiet," she whispered and spread her cloak, letting the smoke around them thicken.

They floated silently through the deserted battlefield, closer and closer toward the shadowy figures of the tall spires in the distance; toward the soot covered castle, which, at least, still seemed to stand against the armies of the demons surrounding it… the demons surrounding it?

No, they were not there either. At first, they had assumed that the castle was being sieged, but squinting through the smoke, it did not seem like there was anyone or anything at all. All was silent, very quiet.

"Where are they-"

"Shhh." Raven hissed as quietly as she could.

She held up a finger. I don't know. The words were projected into all of their minds. This may be a trap or something. Something's wrong, but I can't quite sense anyone.

Karen looked at the city in the distance, jerking her head slightly toward it.

They didn't break in yet. They are waiting. Somewhere. Raven looked around. Let's keep going. I don't want to hold up this cover forever.

They drifted forward slowly. The sky was dark above; it offered them little light to see by, and the smoke was denser than ever. The visibility was almost negligible; they had to rely on the demoness to guide them - they had to trust her. Or, even if they didn't, it wasn't like they had another choice. Of all of them, she was the only one strong enough to do anything - they knew that much.

They moved on. The spires of Camelot seemed as distant as ever. There was so much distance between them and the castle; so much distance in which they could be ambushed. There were so many directions from which they could be attacked. And yet, nothing happened.

Raven glanced at Jinx. The pinkette replied by squeezing her hand, looking at her reassuringly. Raven let out a low, soft breath, then sighed and moved forward a little further. Her brows furrowed and the energy surrounding the small group began to swirl slightly, just a bit, as Raven's scowl deepened.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. It must have been my imagination."

"Rae, that's-"

"Yeah, I know. If my gut feeling tells me there's something, there's probably something. We should be careful."

They took another step forward. Raven stopped.

"Run," she whispered.

"What?"

She closed her eyes. "Did you not hear me? Run! All of you run! Now!"

Right as the words left her mouth, several columns of magma burst out from the ground around them, surging up toward the sky. Raven spread her cloak again, shielding them all momentarily. A second later, she turned to deflect several energy blasts and carved a path through the magma with her powers, pointing toward it. Still, the others hesitated.

"What are you doing?" Raven hissed. "Go! I cannot protect you all forever."

The three Titans paused for a moment, but as Karen began to run, Garth and Roy followed, leaving only Jinx there.

"That includes you," Raven said more softly, blocking several more incoming attacks. "You have to go. This is far too dangerous for you to be here."

"I'm not going to let you fight him alone!"

"And I'm not stupid enough to," the dark sorceress replied as calmly as she could. Still, her voice shook a little. "All I have to do is hold him off." She looked at Jinx meaningfully and the pinkette understood the message.

Raven was Trigon's target - if she entered the city, the demons would follow. It was stand and fight, or risk getting everything destroyed.

"Fine," Jinx whispered. "But I'm not going to stay there forever. I'll give you ten minutes, then I'm coming back."

Raven grimaced. "Half an hour at least. It's harder to fight with other people on the field."

"No. Ten minutes-"

"Jinx," Raven's face was pale in the magma's glow. "I do not have the energy to argue with you at the moment."

"Ugh. Fine." Jinx turned, then looked back, her eyes fearful but filled with determination as well. "I won't let you slip away, Rae. We've come too far."

The demoness nodded in acknowledgement, then dropped her barrier as Jinx left, letting the energy blasts come at her. She diverted them easily and let the fire swirl around her, gaining power slowly as the demons poured more into it. The surging magics, storming about her, ever increased in speed as she continued to hold them at bay. It grew, and grew, gathering into a fiery, tempestuous cylinder, racing around her and spiraling all the way up toward the sky. Still, she did not flinch.

"Trigon. I know you can hear me. You can't honestly expect all of these small fry to take me down. Stop hiding."

There was silence, for just a moment.

"As you wish."

Suddenly he was there, right behind the circle of fire. Raven's eyes widened and she was forced to react quickly as a bolt of crimson light tore past her, grazing her cloak. The fabric wilted away on contact, withering into dust; she didn't want to imagine what it would do if it made contact with her.

He's all business now. I don't know if that will kill me, but one hit... it doesn't matter. I know where he is now. No more surprise attacks.

She let the energy gather for another moment, then clenched her jaw and summoned up the full extent of her powers.

"Eat this," she hissed.

She raised her hands and forced her will over the demon sorcery; the magic no longer responded to the lesser demons attacking her, but bent to her devices instead, and in a matter of moments, all that energy that had gathered up was condensed into a tiny ball, so dense that she could barely move it, let alone aim it.

Raven dodged another attack from the demon lord, focusing more and more energy into the single point.

"How meaningless," Trigon's deep voice sounded from behind her. "You can't even hit me with that. What's the point in putting more power into it?"

"This," the demoness's eyes suddenly glowed brightly and she let go of her restraints on the energy.

"Wait, you fool!" Trigon's voice boomed out but was overwhelmed by the sudden rush of fire blazing out from the tiny sphere.

It all happened immediately. Compressing so much energy into such a small area was already risky and she knew it would produce unexpected results, but neither of them was prepared for the sheer force of the blast that ran out. It was so fast, so violent that the ball of expanding flames might as well have been a rock wall, slamming into everything with so much force that it crushed the lesser demons instantly - they disintegrated in less than a second.

It incinerated almost everything in a massive sphere; as it expanded further, the top of the sphere reached the sky and even the clouds began to react, spewing down lightning to add to the already terrifying chaos that was tearing around below. And then even the heavens responded, the moon and stars, the pale light blazing down with blinding intensity; everything poured its energy into the implosion that Raven had created.

It did not end. Even as the swirling of the flames slowed a bit, the added energy from above forced it to explode again, this time even more forcefully. Everything was blown apart - the fire extended all the way to the walls of the castle, scorching the white stone with ash, and all the way up into the sky, breaking apart the smoke and clouds, and then, finally, it died down, leaving tiny rivers of fire scattered around the incinerated earth.


Castle Wall

Jinx reached the gate a moment after the three Titans, coughing a little from the heavy smoke. They turned to look at her as she approached, then exchanged glances with one another.

"You sure it's a good idea to leave her out there by herself?"

"No," the pinkette replied bitterly.

Karen shifted uncomfortably. "Oh. I see..."

"Whatever. Is anyone inside? Are they going to open the gate for us?"

The dark skinned woman looked up. "Seems like nobody's here. Roy shot over an arrow, but we'll see."

A minute passed in dreadful silence. Jinx kept fidgeting, looking back over her shoulder every couple seconds to see if anything had happened, but the columns of magma in the distance had not shifted; it seemed like neither demons nor Raven were doing anything. It was not exactly clear whether that was a good or bad thing, but she wondered how much time had passed while they had been standing there. Five minutes? Ten?

Hopefully ten. She said half an hour. But she can't possible expect me to wait that long. She just can't! I have to go help her. I have to but... she also wants me to do some diplomacy stuff with these guys. I know that. She wants their help and since I can't fight them, she has to. But still... fuck these guys. Who gives a shit about 'em? I just gotta help Rae...

Jinx took a step forward, out toward the battlefield, but as she did, the gate began to open.

Ugh. But I also have to convince these guys that we're not evil so they don't attack Rae on sight. I guess these three are fine, but the other ones... 'specially that Richard guy. Yeah. Wasn't that why... why we had that huge fight to begin with, right? 'Cause I wanted to make sure people didn't think we were evil 'n stuff, but she didn't care. And now she's giving me the chance, but...

The gate opened completely.

"Fuck," she swore, a little more loudly than she had intended to, and the three Titans turned to look at her. Jinx blushed. "Sorry."

"Come on," Karen said a little hurriedly. "We don't want the demons to come."

The pinkette looked back again. "Looks like Rae's got 'em busy though."

"Yeah, but you don't want to get locked out, do you?" Roy muttered. "Come on."

"The gates aren't closing anyway," she retorted, and the three Titans looked up to check that, indeed, the gates were not closing.

"Welcome, friends," a shadowy figure approached them from within the castle. "And... others."

"Sir Richard," Garth and Roy both knelt while Karen extended her hand.

He didn't take it. "Why have you brought her here?"

The dark skinned woman raised an eyebrow. "Correction. She brought us here."

Richard scowled. "You know what I mean, Lady Karen."

"She can help us. They can help us."

"That is dangerous and it is against-"

"I thought we had this talk already, Richard." She didn't back down. "Or did what Sparky and I said not get through?"

"Sparky?" Jinx tilted her head.

"Sir Victor," Garth muttered back, smirking a little. "Her pet name for him."

"It got through," Richard muttered. "But this is hardly the time-"

"I don't see how this isn't the time. You see those villages out there around the castle? Oh wait, there's nothing left of them. We need help. Or everything's going to be destroyed."

Richard frowned, then looked at Jinx, who shifted awkwardly and stared at the ground, whistling to herself. "Well? Don't you have anything to say?"

Jinx shrugged. "I'm not a good talker. But we really are here to help. Believe me. We hate those guys' guts just as much as you do." She thought for a moment. "Maybe more."

"And what happens when you defeat them? Then you turn on us? Destroy our people and our villages as well?"

Jinx's eyes narrowed. "You hunted me and Rae. You tried to kill me. And her."

Richard folded his arms over his chest. "And she killed my parents."

The pinkette sighed. "I know. I really don't want to fight you. And I'm not in this to kill innocent people! You have to realize that! I'm not gonna do anything to you. Or anyone. We really do just wanna help."

"Enlighten me. Why do you hate these demons so much?"

Jinx bit her lip. "I, ah, well... Rae can tell ya why she hates him if she wants to. But I hate his guts 'cause he did stuff to me. Messed with my head, made me believe things I didn't wanna believe. Well, and because she hates him," she admitted after a moment. "So I hate him too." Because of what he did to her. She doesn't know it, but I picked up a few tricks too. While she was sleeping, she was talkin' to herself and I was wondering what she was thinking so I just kinda... heh, she'd probably kill me if she found out, but still...

"What is it between you two?" Richard muttered. "You seem-"

"We're friends," Jinx interrupted him. "We've only had each other for a really long time. So obviously we're really good friends." Pff. If he even thought that we were, well... together, this stiff-ass bastard would totally freak out. Can't let him think that... at least not yet.

"I see. That makes sense." He closed his eyes. "Everyone seems to want to trust you."

"You don't?"

"Not really."

"Why? Oh, parents, right. But..."

"You're not going to defend yourself? You're not going to say that she was the one who did it, not you? That she should be to blame-"

Jinx's eyes narrowed again. "You think I'd be dirty enough to do that? She's my friend, you idiot. I'm not gonna abandon her like that." Even though... Jinx's eyes shifted away momentarily. Even though I was an idiot and I kinda did that. Fuck me. "But seriously, even she says that it was wrong. She even told you that what she did was wrong. What else do you want from her?"

"You think that's enough for me? Yes, pretty words. 'What I did was wrong'. How about she brings my parents back to life? How about she brings back everyone who was killed by a foul sorceress? Or these demons. She's related to them, isn't she? How about she brings back all of these villages and-"

"That's not her fault!"

"She's related to them."

"I... well, yes, but-"

"See! Sorceresses are dangerous."

"Richard!" Karen said sharply. "Are you serious?"

"I am," he turned to her, his eyes gleaming sharply. "Whether or not she means harm, she attracts danger. All sorceresses do. Evil or not, we cannot let them near our people. Their fault or not, that is the way it is."

Abruptly, as he finished his sentence, there was a massive explosion in the distance. Everyone turned as fire began rushing out from a distant point on the battlefield, spreading alarmingly quickly.

"See, I was right," Richard hissed, earning him a glare from the pink haired sorceress. "Close the gates. We cannot let that enter the castle." He turned toward Jinx. "Well, are you coming in or not?"

"I thought you didn't trust me."

"I am not heartless. You'll probably fry if you get caught in that. Your 'friend' has probably already been blown to bits."

Jinx paled and looked back. "I'll stay out here. Just close the gates."

"Are you stupid, girl?" Karen shouted at her, but Richard merely shrugged.

"Your choice."

The gates began closing, but Jinx stepped away rather than toward them, forward as the fire came rushing at her.

"Raven!" She shouted. "Raven?"

Please tell me she's okay. This shouldn't be enough to... to... kill her. I don't think it is. She's strong.

"Raven, can you hear me? I'm coming!"

Jinx sent out a wave of pink energy, cutting into the fire slightly. She stepped forward into the small passage she had made, but the fire came rushing at her, so intense that it nearly burnt her to a crisp before she could deflect it.

"Rae! Where are you?"

"You idiot," Raven hissed, appearing out of nowhere. She spread her cloak around them and stared at Jinx from beneath her hood. "I told you to stay inside the castle."

"You can teleport now?"

"The blast must've dispelled whatever Trigon used to block me. Or it broke his concentration. But his teleportation isn't as fast as mine, so he should still be stuck in it."

"Well, uh, are we gonna be okay out here? It's still pretty strong."

"I think my barrier can hold it back." She looked back at Jinx's pale face. "Well, we can't go in the castle yet or the demons will follow us. If any are still left."

"You think there are?"

"Trigon isn't stupid enough to concentrate his army in one place. There'll still be plenty left around here. And I have no intention of letting them raze Camelot. They're just waiting for the right moment. In fact right now, this fire is a sort of shelter." She frowned as Jinx blanched further. "Don't be scared-"

"It's not that. Rae, it's gonna blow again."

Raven turned back, her eyes widening as well. "Hold on tight." She felt the other girl's arms wrap around her and raised another, much more powerful barrier, then gritted her teeth and held her ground. "It's going to blow the city down if I don't block it," she whispered. "Give me some energy."

Jinx complied, and the blackness spread, but only barely just as the energy burst out again, spreading violently past them in a wild surge of light.


As the fires died down, a series of ghastly shrieks rang through the air, agonizing, ear splitting shrieks that tore straight through the smoke as their owners began to move forward. Not a moment later, Raven rushed out of the dying flames, Jinx following close behind.

"They're coming again."

"What about Trigon?"

"I don't know. I don't sense him. But that doesn't mean-" Raven broke off suddenly and drew back as the demon lord appeared right in front of her.

He advanced forward, and as he stepped into the light, it became evident that he was burned badly, though by his posture and movements, he was still very much able to fight.

"That was a dirty move," Trigon rumbled.

"It was calculated. I could get out. You couldn't."

"So it seems. However," the demon gestured around and suddenly the pair found themselves surrounded by a horde of fiery beasts. "You have nowhere to go. Unless you wish to try fleeing. Then we will burn that castle to the ground. And it seems like your new-found allies have no intention of helping either."

"I didn't expect them to," Raven retorted. "And it'll take more than a few small fry to take us down."

"If that is what you believe."

Trigon wasted no time and as the fiery demon-creatures dove in, shadows crept along the ground and surrounded the two sorceresses, enclosing them in a sphere of pure blackness.

"Move it!" Raven shouted to Jinx. "He wants to keep us in here and roast us alive along with those things."

"Uh, too late."

The darkness spread rapidly and completely cut them off from the outside world. Raven made a noise of irritation and moved toward Jinx in the pitch blackness, finding the other girl's hand and holding onto her.

"He's dulling our senses too. And I can't break us out of here. Can you?"

"I'll try." A dim flash of pink surged forward, but was eaten up by the void quickly. "Nope."

The demoness chewed on her lip, frowning. "I didn't think that he'd still have this much fight left in him. I imagined that blast would slow him down, at least a little."

"Ya think?- ow!" Jinx yelped and hurled an energy bolt out into the darkness. "Uh, Rae. I think those things are here. But I can't see 'em."

"I told you, he's dulling our senses. I can't really figure out where these fire creatures are. But they shouldn't be able to find us either."

"Well that's great, but it's getting hot in here. Like, really hot."

"Stay close. I'm going to redirect all the heat to you."

"Okay. But what about those things-"

"Don't worry about that. I'll guard us. Just let loose when you're ready."

"But what if it doesn't break?"

"Stop worrying. You sound like me, sheesh."

"Sorry," Jinx grinned. "I'm ready." She focused her powers and a second later, pink light flashed everywhere, dispelling the darkness.

In that instant, the fiery monstrosities dove in again. For a second, everything was a flurry of fire, but then Raven swatted them back with a wave of her cloak, and turned right as Trigon shot a blast of sanguine power at her. She dodged, but Jinx made a move to block it, and then suddenly all was chaos again as the demoness dove for the other girl, tackling her to the ground before the red light could hit her. And another well-timed barrier prevented the fire creatures from burning them to death.

"What? You can't block that shit?"

"No," Raven breathed out heavily. "It's what he calls enervation magic. It'll eat up anything, even other energy, and nothing will slow it down until the whole blast is consumed. Don't get hit. The only nice thing about is he can't fire them off in quick succession."

"Sounds nasty."

Raven lowered her barrier and her eyes glowed faintly crimson. "What I'm more worried about is how long we can last." She beat down another couple fire creatures then turned momentarily toward the castle. "It really doesn't look like they intend to help us."

"I thought you said-"

"Yes, well we're defending them right now so it's not exactly like we can retreat. Remember, I'm his objective."

"It... doesn't look like you're having a hard time..." Jinx's voice came out a little strained as the fire monsters bore down on her; Raven stepped in, diverting their attention.

"Not yet. Not until - mmpf!"

Trigon suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her by the shoulders, hurling her downward.

"Raven!" Jinx rushed toward the other girl, but suddenly found herself blocked by a wall of flames.

She shot a few hexes toward the demon lord, but the fire creatures intercepted the attacks, disappearing in the process. All the while, Trigon continued pummeling Raven into the ground, striking several devastating blows in a row until after a particularly nasty one, the sorceress gave off a cry of pain and laid still. The demon lord looked up.

"That's a nice trick you have there."

"It is, isn't it." Raven's voice echoed across the battlefield, but neither Jinx nor Trigon could locate her real body.

The two pairs of yellow eyes narrowed. "Where did you go?"

"Pointless to ask, isn't it? As if I would tell you."

"Very well." He turned his attention to Jinx, who instantly paled.

Hearing no response, Trigon raised his hand - a signal - and several red skinned demons appeared, surrounding the pinkette in a circle. Still, Raven did not appear. The demons pressed in and Jinx found back, but suddenly she found that they were on top of her; two of them grabbed her wrists and she screamed as several pairs of claws tore into her back.

"Raven! Raven please! Help me! Raven..." they tore into her, again and again, and she fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. "Rae..."

Trigon frowned and glanced around cautiously. "Another trick," he muttered. "She's fast. She got them both out before I even noticed. As expected of my daughter. But..." he looked toward the castle. "I can still force you to come out. You can't make that whole thing an illusion. It is beyond your powers."

"I don't need to," Raven's voice sounded again, and instantly, the moonlit field was cast in darkness.

The soft cries echoed through the air, the ethereal screams singing from the sky, emanating from the shadowed birds that swirled rapidly around in the blackness. Everything was pitch back like the void that Trigon had cast, only this darkness was cast over the whole battlefield, dulling the senses of the demons and fire creatures, sending them milling about in confusion.

Trigon tried to draw back, but Raven was there in an instant, pinning him to the ground and holding him there as Jinx began taking out the other demons while the darkness still lasted.

"Wretch," Trigon spat. "You brought them to help you."

"Why wouldn't I?" Raven replied calmly. "You know full well they seek to end you just as much as I do."

"Perhaps they would serve to be better allies than you," the demon lord mused. "You are difficult to turn over."

"Giving up on me already? Aww, thanks daddy."

"You are a fool. I gave you a chance. Had you joined me I could have offered you so much more than these petty humans. They do not even care about you."

"You never cared about me to begin with," Raven's eyes blazed up. "All you wanted to do was use me for your own purposes. At least they don't hide their hatred of me. And you're not denying it." She began choking him.

"When you live as long as I do," Trigon replied, "you will find that the only person you can rely on is yourself." He began pushing back.

Raven gritted her teeth and strained her muscles, trying to squeeze the life out of him, but Trigon was still stronger and a kick upward knocked the wind out of her. He grabbed her and lifted her into the air as the darkness began dissipating, just as the ravens cried out in alarm when his fingers closed around her throat and began squeezing.

"Tri-gon," Raven hissed.

"You really are a fool, aren't you? Last time we fought, close combat was your downfall. Why did you expect it to be any different this time?"

"I- I..." Raven closed her eyes as she felt unconsciousness begin to close in.

"Rae!" Jinx shouted suddenly and ran past some of the fire monsters, getting slightly burned in the process but not caring.

A wave of hexes flew at the demon lord, but they were blocked again and the demons caught up to her, claws tearing gaping wounds in her limbs as she tried to break free. Tears streamed down her eyes from the pain, but her gaze remained fixated on the dark sorceress, who had gone unnaturally still in Trigon's grasp.

"This one isn't an illusion," the demon's eyes gleamed wickedly. "I'll be rid of you this time, daughter-"

And then, an arrow flew through his foot, and another buried itself deep in his shoulder. Surprised, he let go of Raven and she fell to the ground, unmoving. Momentarily shocked as well, the demons released their grips on Jinx and she kicked them away, rushing toward Raven. The fire creatures attacked again, but the ravens cried out once more, and something about their dark song seemed to cause the flaming apparitions great agony, forcing their bodies to flail around as their shrieks filled the air.

She reached the demoness shortly and knelt, staring down into her face; Raven's eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly agape, but a slight touch and she stirred, touching her throat gingerly.

"I don't think so," Trigon growled again, but another arrow pierced his palm and in the distance, a war horn sounded.

"Titans, go!" Someone shouted, and suddenly there were many cheers as hundreds of knights poured out of the castle, rushing toward the weakened demons.

The demon lord growled and began gathering up energy, but the ravens cried out once more, disrupting his concentration. He looked up warily, then at the knights charging forward, and muttered something under his breath about being underprepared.

"We're leaving," he announced quietly to his followers. "Leave the fire elementals to cover our path back. Make more if necessary, but don't stall, or I'm leaving you."

"Wait!" Jinx shouted, but Raven held onto her wrist, stopping her.

"Don't bait them into attacking right now," her voice was hoarse and weak. "I don't think I can handle it."

Jinx nodded and helped her into a sitting position as several of the knights began to get closer, fighting their way through the fiery creatures.

"Are you okay?"

Raven nodded, closing her eyes. I did something stupid. Just... never engage that guy in melee combat. What a horrible idea.

"Why would you even do something like that?"

The demoness shrugged and sighed when a couple of the knights approached them, raising their helmets. Jinx's eyes lit up.

"Roy, Garth! So you guys came after all."

"Yeah." Roy looked back at the castle, looking a little angry. "Richard didn't want to send anyone out, but he didn't have much support for that notion. He might be our leader and all, but he doesn't get to call all the shots. Besides, you two looked like you needed some help."

Jinx nodded. "How could you tell?"

"Was pretty obvious, honestly... anyway, what happened to you?" Garth stepped forward, toward Raven.

The dark sorceress merely shook her head and gestured to her throat, where several finger shaped bruises had already begun to appear. The two knights exchanged a look, but were forced to turn their attention away as more of the fire monsters closed in.

"Shields up!" Garth shouted, and the knights around them shifted their formation, blocking the attacks and slowly making a circle outward.

"Can you walk?" Jinx whispered. "Or do you want me to carry you? Oh, never mind," she laughed lightly as Raven shot her a glare, turning a little pink.

Let me get rid of these things. Physical attacks won't do any real damage to them; we'll need to help the knights get rid of them. Raven glanced up toward the shadowy figures of the birds in the sky. You can go home guys.

The ravens cried out again, but instead of flying away as she had expected, they disobeyed and flew down around her, nuzzling against her body with their feathers. Raven rolled her eyes and glanced at Jinx, who was looking at her curiously.

They want to heal me, but it's too far from Avalon. Their powers are weakened and Trigon did a damn good job of disabling my voice.

"Seriously, Rae, are you okay?"

I'll be fine. I just need some rest. Which won't happen until we can get rid of these guys.

Jinx nodded and stood, her eyes glowing pink. Raven followed after a moment, then frowned as she sensed the birds still following her. Seriously, guys, go home. The ravens cried out again and this time, they took off and disappeared into the night right as Raven's eyes blazed with light.


"That's the last of them."

"You did a good job," one of the knights approached Jinx and offered her a hand. "Sir Victor." But before she could respond, a noticeably smaller knight jumped at her, tackling her to the ground.

"Lucky!"

"Garfield? "

"The one and only."

Victor sighed. "I must apologize for-"

"It's alright," Jinx laughed. "So you guys came out too."

The dark skinned man nodded. "I presume Roy told you. Richard did not want us to come, but truthfully, not many share his sentiments." He looked around, closing his eyes. "Not after our city was burned down."

"But the castle-"

"Was only a small part of it. So many lives lost, and we couldn't do a thing. Looks like we really needed your help."

"Yeah! You really kicked ass-"

"You mean Rae kicked ass," Jinx laughed. "Which reminds me, you guys got anywhere we can stay? She needs to rest."

"You'll have to ask Richard," another voice appeared behind her - Lady Karen. "He manages all that stuff."

Jinx groaned. "Don't you guys have a king?"

"Ceremonial. The king does have the authority, but he never uses it. He's an old man, after all."

"Great. Just wonderful. How did this guy even end up leading you guys anyway?"

"Are you kidding?" Garfield replied earnestly. "Sir Richard is the greatest, most famous, biggest-"

"Asshole in all the land, yeah, I know," Jinx finished his sentence, earning her a few snickers.

"Richard actually isn't too bad," Victor said after a moment. "He can be reasonable. He's just... stubborn."

We'll have to make do, Raven's voice echoed everywhere. The sorceress herself appeared after a moment, her throat now obviously bruised heavily and half crushed, but other than that she seemed okay. If we have to deal with Richard, then it's not like we have a choice. Better sooner than later. She brought a hand up to her neck and touched it carefully. Where can we find him?

"Here." There was another newcomer - but lacking a helmet - a knight with spiky, dark hair and wearing a mask over his eyes. Richard frowned and looked at her severely. "Talk."


A/N: I'm sort of getting back into the groove of writing this story so please excuse the temporary lower quality of writing.