There was a flash of bright energy, white light pouring forth as a merciless streak in the air. It was blinding, searing, painful, inches from Starfire as she flew out of the way, her hair flying behind her in a red streak and becoming singed.
She flew fast, away from the searing canon's light. She circled, flying around high within the air, hoping to be out of range from the evil minions of Slade's. With their focus diverted, she swooped down, green fire burning from her very core, and rammed into them, tearing their robotic bodies apart with crackling wires that threatened to explode.
Taking a single body within her hands, she flew high up, rotating and throwing the artificial corpse far, far out, until it transformed into a small little dot that was now somewhere descending into the sea.
Dark black energy crackled around the room, filling it with dread as the soulself of Raven emanated forth, large and screeching and terrible. With white eyes glowing and body relaxed into her meditative state, the raven surged forward, consuming the heat of the air with it and entering into the circuitry of the robots.
Their bodies exploded in a cacophony of searing red and burning orange and whooshing smoke.
Not a scream or a cry or even a mumble or whimper. They were dead from the start, and you could never kill something that was never alive. So the robots were all destroyed, with a ferocity that none of the Titans would have thought possible a few years back.
But now, with their emotions strung out and raw and bleeding away from them, their fighting style had changed. Even villains that had once given them a run for their money started to notice the change, and they started shrinking away.
Just as Raven's evil side had subdued Dr. Light, so too were the villains of Jump City fearing their newfound wrath. It had been hidden away for such a long time, and now it was there for all to witness. Protect the innocent, but fear not hurting the truly wicked.
Another scream was torn from a Titan's throat, Nightwing's throat this time. A punch had landed him hard in the stomach, just below the center of his ribs, and so he screamed as pain ran through him. His escrima sticks dropped to the ground, and he clutched at his body in a vain attempt to ebb the pain away.
Just as the assailant made its move to attack once more, Raven was there.
Using her powers, she caught hold of the escrima sticks, still sparking dangerously with electricity, and shot them forward through the air and straight through the robot's artificial chest. There was a cacophony of sounds once more, the sounds of systems failing, and gray smoke rushing into the air, and of harsh metal giving in on itself and crashing to the ground.
Raven brought the sticks back and set them within Nightwing's hands.
But still he seemed to weak to move.
"Don't worry," Raven told him, "you'll be safe."
Raven joined with Starfire once more. By the look exchanged between them, they knew what the other was thinking. It was time to end this fight. They nodded silently in their consent, binding their hands together and spinning into the center of the room.
A whirlwind of green and black and painful energy mixed with eerie darkness. It shrouded the room, and all that was left of their enemies was shattered away.
Cyborg and Beast Boy had pulled Nightwing safely away, seeming to know what they had been thinking too.
Their powers crashed and clashed together, power and danger increasingly evermore, and they could feel the effects starting to drag on their bodies. They clung to each other tighter, feeling the surge of struggle flowing through their bodies. They dared not let go, for fear of what would happen to them. Black lightning and green lightning, finally subsiding.
The two of them sank down onto the concrete floor together, leaning heavily upon one another, too tired to move or even to think. Starfire's eyes peeled open, taking in the sight of a drained Raven before her eyes slid closed in exhaustion once more. She hoped that they would not try that again anytime soon, and would not have to try that anytime soon.
"That was most painful," she said hours later, when she had finally found her voice.
She sat on the edge of her bed, almost fully naked. The short, purple skirt was still on her body, but aside from that, nothing else. Raven had asked her to remove them so that she could heal her, and upon removing her clothes the feeling of cold honey started to flow into her veins.
Nightwing had said that it was more like morphine.
He should know.
Her vision was still blurry, so she stumbled when she walked and wavered when she flew and tilted strangely when she lay.
"You have a new scar," Raven told her, and when the tips of her fingers brushed up against the newly cut open, raw skin, Starfire shuddered. Goosebumps appeared on her flesh, and a sizzling sensation ran through her veins.
But just as quickly as the burn when through her body at the touch, so too did the cold honey of Raven's healing powers. Soft and gentle and liquid-like in consistency. It felt so good to her body, her muscles and veins and spine.
Like a seamstress, Raven slid her finger down the scar upon Starfire's back and the broken skin seamed together once more, sewed up with whatever magical trick that she knew. Starfire loved her all the more.
A small, native curse fell from her lips when she felt the cooling magic pull away from her.
"How can something so destructive be so beautiful?" she whispered.
Blue magic still seeped from her hands, swirling around her fingers like thick mist, ready to heal whomever she touched. She seemed misted, but Starfire felt she knew better. This was Raven, stoic, emotionally-in-control Raven. If she hurt, she kept it away to herself.
And that was why it was so much more special that Starfire had her heart.
She hummed once more, delighted at these thoughts, and lifted her hands up to her breast. The crystalline gem Raven had given her hung from a thick cord, resting upon her chest so that it was next to her own heart. It was warm from the beating, but Starfire's blood ran cold when she felt the damages.
"No!" she gasped, utterly in despair.
"What's wrong?" Raven asked her, suddenly alert. The blue around her hands became stronger, more intense, ready to ease whatever pain Starfire was in. Leaning around, though, she could see the amulet that Starfire clasped in her palms.
The art of her blood, her heart, cracked and split open from the force of their earlier fight.
Tears were spilling down her eyes, faster than a rushing river, and her head bent down so that her lips touched her fisted hands. She kissed at them while she wept, and gave Raven her apologies. Raven didn't know what to say, or how to react. It should never have been broken. Not ever.
She thought back to the creation.
"That should never have happened," Raven whispered at last. Starfire spun around, flinging her arms around Raven and pulling her in tightly, still asking for her forgiveness for damaging her heart. Raven's mind was completely numb.
Shaking her head, she asked, "Where did I go wrong? The piece of my heart should never have been broken. I made it strong."
Starfire suddenly pulled away from her. "Piece?" she asked.
Raven's violet eyes widened, knowing she had said too much. The wrong secret to the wrong person, and she knew that she was about to suffer for it. She held her hands up, seeking Starfire out, about to spill all her secrets and explanations from her lips, but Starfire never gave her the chance.
"This is but a piece?"
The gem lay innocently in her palm, teardrops upon it.
"Starfire, just let me—"
"No!" she said, standing upright on her feet, despite the scream of protest that when through her scars. But they meant nothing now, she could feel nothing over the overwhelming powers of her emotions. Her body seemed green.
But the look of betrayal of her face…
"I asked for your full heart. Your complete trust. And you told me you had entrusted me with it. I wanted you to be mine, but you weren't. And still aren't." She looked down. "This is but a piece? Why did you lie to me?"
Raven's words were stuck in her throat.
"Why did you lie to me?" Starfire asked again, more forcefully this time. She towered over Raven, as if daring her to tell her more lies, demanding the truth from her by the sheer force of her will.
"I did not lie to you," Raven finally said. "I did give you my heart. I gave you all I had to offer. All of it." She wanted to say more, to tell her everything she had thought, but now was not the time.
First she had to win back Starfire's trust, then she could explain the complexity of it all.
"You did not. You gave me a piece! A small little piece! I knew that you were being strange when you literally gave me this, for in Tamaran we give our hearts metaphorically! That should have been my first premonition!"
More tears.
More words.
Starfire clutched her first tighter around the gem. She held onto it as if that could somehow take her back, back to the time when it was her full heart. Or that it would make it so within the future. She clutched it close to her chest once more, right over the pulse, and blood sprang onto her palm.
Surprised, she opened her palm, and saw that she had shattered it.
Raven was now in betrayal.
"You—"
She could not even speak after that. Her eyes were locked upon the broken pieces of glass that Starfire had shattered. Raven's violet eyes glanced down to the broken gem, back up to Starfire, and back down to the gem again. And then she seemed to morph into stone.
Jaw set, she rose from the bed.
With her black magic, she gathered up all the shards of glass and freed blood, and left.
"I am mine," Raven said defiantly to the mirror, but her words rang hollow. Her eyes dropped, unable to look at herself, and she released a sigh from her lungs
She was not on Azarath anymore, and she had to keep reminding herself of that. She was on Earth, with a Tamaranian, and things were different, so much different now. And amongst all the differences that she had gotten used to and come to love, it was all being ripped from her.
Surveying her room, she saw the boxes piled up, some of her possessions already stored away within the cardboard, but most of them still out where they should be. She didn't want to store them away in the cardboard boxes, for doing so would mean that she was ready to leave, disband and go her own separate way.
And she was not ready for that. Not ready at all.
The Titans disbanding was the most painful thing in her life, aside from her birthdays and the death of Azar. If her emotions were not so dangerous, she would have cried for all she had lost, and all she was losing.
Nightwing and Beast Boy were going to join the young heroes on the team they had created on their own, Cyborg was to join the Justice League, and of course those three could all stay together. Starfire had been accepted to both teams as well.
But not Raven.
As a half demon, she was kept away. She could not join her friends, and once more she had the cruelness of her existence thrown into her face.
Starfire had said no to both teams, promising to go with Raven. Wherever she went, Starfire would go. They were lovers, and friends, and Starfire didn't want Raven to go off alone once more. Now, Raven wondered if she ruined that.
That Starfire would no longer follow her, wherever she was now to go, and she would join Nightwing on his team.
Pain surged through her chest, and the tear ducts started swelling, welling up with tears that she would never shed. She was too in control of her emotions, and to cry would do no good. It would not help the situation, and it wouldn't solve the situation. What would it do besides making her feel worse about herself?
"I am mine," Raven whispered once more.
If she kept whispering this phrase to herself, she would become stronger once more. Independent, not needing anyone to be with her anymore. But she knew it wasn't true. She needed companionship, just as everyone else did. And Starfire, her lover…
Raven opened her palm once more, looking down at the shards of glass. She had been squeezing them within her hand, and now the sharp edges had cut through her skin once more, and droplets of blood coated her entire palm. She didn't care, could not even feel it.
"I am sorry," she whispered to no one.
But Starfire was on her mind as she said this.
Her palm felt far too heavy with the weight she bore upon it. She clasped her fingers tightly into a fist once more, squeezed her eyes shut to free the sheen of water upon the, and effortlessly making her way to the side of the bed. A small vase sat by her bed, with a lid on top. She dropped her broken heart into the jar, and crawled under the sheets, wanting nothing more than to sleep.
After the day she had had, and the days that were soon to come to her, this was all she could think to do.
Dark shapes played upon the ceiling, transforming before Raven's eyes and morphing into different images entirely. She watched this bizarre show, the array of patterns dancing before her burning, tired eyes that she just couldn't seem to shut. Late night turned to midnight to early, early morning as Raven lay upon her bed, doing nothing and thinking of nothing.
She had lulled herself into a trance.
Not a meditation.
She floated a foot off the bed, her eyes vacant and unseeing. Her breath was steady and slow, coming out so sparsely that you would have to wait and listen to hear that she was still breathing. Truly a perfect trance.
Not even broken when there was a knock upon her door, and then slid open as Starfire walked in without invitation. Raven could sense her, her essence of being wrapping around her body like gossamer strands of silk.
"Raven?" Starfire called out gently.
Raven breathed deep, wondering whether or not to ignore her. She didn't really decide, but only peeked an eye opened and watched her in the dark, her nocturnal eyes piercing through the thick cloak of darkness. She was dressed in her nightclothes, and looking so unsure of herself.
"Raven?" Starfire asked again, her green eyes putting out the faintest glow.
Once she had seen that Raven was watching her, she rushed forwards once more, using her power of flight to no step too loudly upon the floor. Not on the floor at all as she lifted herself up and sat gently down on the edge of the bed, still nervous as the what Raven would do.
"I am sorry," she whispered, jumping right in to what she wanted to say. "Raven. I am sorry. I am truly, so very sorry. I have never been more sorry for anything in my entire life than in this instance where I am sorry now…" she cut, realizing she was speaking in circles.
Raven, after a long moment of doing nothing more than floating within her trance, finally broke down. She sat down on the bed and straightened herself. Cold purple eyes set upon the alien, and regarded her steadily.
Raven could feel it, sense it as much as her own sense of self. Starfire was honest, and she was sorry. She regretted it, and she wanted Raven to forgive her. But the problem was, Raven did not forgive her.
"You broke my heart," was all Raven whispered.
Starfire shrunk back.
"I know that now. I realize that you are complicated—" Once more her words were cut off, and a look of mild horror decorated her features. Had she said too much? Had she said the wrong thing? These thoughts passed through her mind and swirled like a maelstrom as she waited for Raven's reaction.
"You broke my heart, literally."
Pressing her lips together, and then licking them, Starfire tried choosing her words more carefully: "I did not wish for you to give a literal heart. Only a metaphorical heart. A poetic, imaginary gesture to show the connective bond between people."
A groan escaped Starfire's lips as she realized she was speaking in circles again. She wished she were better at this language, perhaps then she would be able to say what she was trying so desperately to communicate to her. Starfire hoped with all her heart that Raven would understand her, understand what she was trying to say.
Out of everyone on the team, and perhaps out of everyone she ever knew, Raven understood her so well. If not for her ability to read people, then the empathic ability to feel them.
"Please. I am sorry, and I wish not for us to fight anymore."
Raven could only look down and shake her head sadly. Starfire choked back on her tears. She had ruined it, and the pain that it put within her body was too much for her to bear. Tears started welling up and falling down, and she put her hands to her breast to try to ease the discomfort.
"Please, Raven. I have forgiven you. I have realized the error of my ways. Please. Grant me the same courtesy."
"I need time," was all Raven said. With that, she laid back down, closing her eyes and rolling over on her side, away from Starfire. She tried going to sleep, but she knew she couldn't. She knew she couldn't go back to her trance either, for the odd mental stillness was gone from her mind, filled with Starfire's words.
Starfire still sat at the edge of her bed, full of sorry and regret. And, Raven could feel, a faint sense of hope. She had said that she would need time, and Starfire hoped that meant that she would have her forgiveness in due time. She only had to wait.
"Do not wait forever," Raven said to her, still not bothering to turn around.
"I shall not," Starfire said in a mellow tone. She got up to leave, floating an inch above the ground as she made her way back to the threshold. Her emotions were thick in the room, feeling just how a throat felt as it was closing in with tears of sobs. Raven swallowed.
If a heart could be broken anymore than it already had, then it had for Raven. To see her like that.
"Starfire?" Raven called out, almost shyly.
Starfire spun around to meet her stare. "Yes?" she replied, curious as to what Raven would say next.
Taking a small breath, Raven told her, "You're very lucky to be in love." Without another word, she lay back down onto her bed, leaving Starfire floating within the empty space between her and the door.
"I am indeed," Starfire whispered, and spun back around.
Raven watched her leave. With another sigh, she focused her eyes into the outside world, wishing to feel the fresh night air upon her skin. But she wished not to be alone.
"I just need time," were the words whispered into the pillow.