"Usually when people are sad they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change."
-Malcolm X (1925-1965), Malcolm X Speaks, 1965.
"With a fierce action of her hand, as if she sprinkled hatred on the ground, and with it devoted those who were standing there to destruction, she looked up once at the black sky, and strode out into the wild night."
-Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son.
3 Months Earlier"Now repeat after me; azarath, metrione, zinthos."
"Azzagrat, metronome, zingy." Raven sighed at Kresk's failed attempt at meditation. Kresk had stopped by to visit and Raven had somehow convinced him to join her in meditation to calm his wrathful, psychotic mood, failing to realize that this was in fact Kresk's mood by default. Nonetheless, she tried, lighting incense, teaching him the correct posture, and attempting to teach him her mantra, to no avail obviously. She kept her eyes closed, and prepared to try again. That was until she smelled the cigar smoke. Kresk had taken one of the incense sticks burning and was using it to light a cigar. He noticed Raven angrily glaring at him and protested, "What? You told me I needed to stay relaxed! Nicotine relaxes me. I'm just trying to make ends meet here."
"Kresk, what did I tell you about smoking in the house? You know that it… Is that a Cuban, Kresk?" Kresk tasted it for a moment, inhaled it, and then exhaled a cloud of smoke with a sigh of pleasure. He smiled, and said, "Yep!"
"Kresk, where did you get Cuban cigars?"
"They came free with the box full of lungs I bought." Raven closed her eyes and massaged her eyelids, asking, "Where, did you get a box full of lungs? No don't tell me. Sigil, right?"
"No, but close. I bought it on black-market eBay."
"There's no such thing as black-market eBay. That's just an urban legend."
"Says you. Looks like somebody needs a Kodiak bear skin."
"What would I do with a Kodiak bear skin?"
"How the Hells should I know! They're Kodiak bears. They're only good for two things. For starts, they're good eatin'. And second; you don't get them for an actual purpose; you get them just to have them. You know, 'thrill of the hunt' and all that. How many people do you know have Kodiak bear skins?" Raven groaned and massaged her eyelids for a moment again. Kresk waited a moment or two before asking, "So, how many can I put you down for?"
"None! I don't want a Kodiak bear skin!"
"Oh, I get you. Need the whole thing, huh? Well that'll probably cost you extra."
"I don't want anything off of black-market eBay, Kresk!"
"Ah, now I get your game. You want me to trick Stupid (Beast Boy) into Kodiak bear form, kill him, and bring you the skin. Hittin' two birds with one stone. Shrewd, I usually prefer an out-right massacre, but I like it. So when do we start?" Raven lamented over her odd company, before trying to get back on track, "Kresk, just close your eyes, and repeat after me. Azarath, metrione, zinthos."
"Azathoth, baritone, synthesis." Raven shuddered. She whined out, "You're not even trying."
"And why should I try? What's this supposed to do, huh? Mellow me out, level out all the little bumps? This hippy stuff might work for you now, but it's no way to live.'
"I have to do this. I have to keep my emotions under control."
"Last time you said that to me I ended up having my jaw broken in three places, but I'm gonna' go against my better judgment and say, why?"
"Like you said, someone ends up with broken bones if I don't."
"That's not a reason. It isn't healthy to do this. You're not calming yourself; you're just bottling everything up. Sooner or later, it's all gonna' come out, then all this, the meditation and the 'calming' crap, that's all gonna' be moot. And ya' know what happens then?" Kresk placed a finger on his lower jaw and tapped it three times. Raven closed her eyes again, and retorted, "That's why I have to stay calm." Kresk scowled, "You're a slave to your emotions. They rule you and they're not even there. Put simply, you're afraid of them." Raven had no response; she just sat there and meditated. "You're not living life. Life is feeling things; life is experiencing emotions, the good and the bad. Making them absent, you're just running away."
"I just don't want to hurt anyone."
"But that's the whole point of life; to hurt things, to make them feel pain. Pain is nothing but the multiverse's way of telling you that you're alive!"
"There is simply no need for emotions sometimes, though. There is no point in getting angry, or being sad. It does not change circumstances."
"Doesn't change 'circumstances'? Now that's bull. Of course getting angry changes 'circumstances', as you call them. How do you think I got this far, huh? How do you think I've managed to live this long? It wasn't because I 'chilled' and relaxed whenever things started to look bad, or because I lit some incense and calmly sipped some herbal tea. No, it's because whenever I got pissed I ripped out some underling's throat and hung his corpse above my doorway so everybody could see it, then they would know not to screw with Kreskarius Voneitz!"
"But did that solve your problem?"
"Well… No, but that's not the point! The point is this; one day, you're going to find yourself backed into a corner, in a state where all the little breathing exercises and mantras in the world aren't going to make things better. You're going to be in trouble, and no matter how hard you try, you ain't gonna' stay calm. Nah, you're going to get angry, going to get mad. That one little strand that holds everything together? It's going to snap, you'll see red, and then you'll black out. After that, who knows what? You know what I taught you about fire, that using it is just releasing it in little bits at a time? Well this is letting it all at once. When the time comes for it, you'll know, and there will be no stopping it." Raven just sat there and meditated. Eventually she opened one eye, looked at Kresk, and said, "Are you finished yet?"
Kresk, defeated, stood up and resignedly said, "Yeah, I guess so. Obviously nothing gets through to you. I'm going to go finish my cigar somewhere where it can do some good, maybe a maternity ward or a day-care. You keep just keep mumbling to yourself." Kresk walked over to the door, cigar in hand. He opened it with his mind, and stepped out. Instead of his usual fireball teleportation trick, Kresk took care with his cigar and invisibly walked away. Raven continued to meditate, and find her center.
Her mind kept coming back to what Kresk said, however.
She knew very well the truth that the demon spoke to her. Sometimes, there was nothing to do except fly into a rage, to harm and hurt past the brink of endurance. Raven knew this was her darker side, that this was her heritage. There is one thing demons are truly great at; killing in fury. And no matter how hard she tried, Raven knew that this was her nature, and that she could not suppress it forever.
She knew very well, that eventually it surfaced. And that, that was when the Demon spoke. Whenever the remnants of dark arcane knowledge surfaced, the Demon spoke. Whenever traces of her father's world surfaced, the Demon spoke. And sometimes, at times when darkness closed in and Raven desperately sought to dawn it and be one with it, Everything That She Should Have Been softly cooed dark truths into her mind.
Yes, she knew those truths very well.
But Raven returned to her meditations. She put the demon and the Demon out of her thoughts, resigning them to the back of her psyche. Soon she found her inner tranquility, and communed with the universe's harmony, one with it, at peace with it, calm and whole. Completely tranquil and…empty. Maybe Kresk was right. Raven didn't feel anything. Her heart did not ache with sadness and fear, but it did not dance with love and joy. It was, in a word, gray. No, she was empty. But once again, Raven shoved the thoughts out of her mind, and moved on.
Or at least she tried. She concentrated, and was back on track again. But then she came in. Raven felt her presence, although she did not hear her move across the room to where she was sitting. The Demon could always just appear wherever she wanted to, but she chose to walk, to move, to interact with the environment when Raven saw her. Of course she rarely saw her, but she heard her in her mind. The Demon placed both her hands on Raven's shoulders, then kneeled down, just out of sight. Raven looked at the scaly hands as they grasped her, using her to gently reach the floor. There were the minute, smooth red scales, and the sharp black nails hard enough to be claws. The smell of brimstone wafted from the hands, and Raven felt the Demon finally sit. She removed her hands and sat back-to-back with Raven. Raven could feel the doppelganger's warmth emanate through her clothes on to her skin. It was an uncomfortable warmth, equitable to standing over a stove on a summer's day. One thing Raven couldn't help but notice was the Demon's odd shoulder blades. They pierced into her back, strangely thin and sharp. The Demon lay the back of her head against Raven's for a moment.
There was a minute of silence before Raven heard the Demon say to her, her voice reverberating in Raven's head. "He's absolutely right, you know." There was another moment of silence before Raven asked coyly, "About what?" The Demon giggled a little at the question. She stopped and sat there, perfectly still, until she queried, "How long do you think you can keep this little façade up, silly little Raven? How long can you pretend I don't exist, that you're just imagining me? I'm not just a figment of your mind. I'm so very real. Here, feel me." Raven almost wanted to scream when the Demon grabbed her hand, gently picked it up, and ran it across her face. Raven could feel the look-alike's visage; she could feel the tiny scales and the warmth. She could feel her face, the one she looked at in the mirror everyday. The Demon rubbed Raven's hand along her cheek. "Mm, I forgot how soft human skin is. So delicate, so fragile, how it burns like paper. All your friends have the same kind of skin, don't they? Even that lumbering machine has enough of it left for me to burn."
"Shut up."
"I'm sure I could rip through each of them so easily. I could burn everything else."
"I'm telling you to be quiet!"
"Their blood all over my hands, this worthless shack blazing in the night. It would be such a beautiful sight. Daddy would be proud of me."
"Why won't you just stop?"
"And I could do it so easily to. I could do it tonight, while they sleep."
"I won't let that happen!"
"Or should I say, you could do it so easily, little Raven." Raven yelled and, not even sure what she was trying to hit was real, willed a heavy book at the Demon. The Demon grabbed it in her hand, and gently put it down on the floor. She mockingly giggled again, "Now silly little Raven, how was that supposed to change circumstances? That wouldn't have solved anything. I'm made of harder stuff than that. I'd still be here if you hit me, I'll always be with you."
"How many times do I have to tell you? Shut up! You aren't real!" The Demon quickly began to turn and move in front of Raven. Raven closed her eyes and held her head in her hands. She couldn't face looking at the creature; she couldn't look at the corrupted version of herself that even now was moving towards her. Raven knew that the moment she looked at that terrible face was the moment her sanity would be torn to shreds. She knew that would be the moment she, Raven Roth, would not live, would die with a whimper, and the Demon would be born with a bang, would inherit her body, and would inherit her world, Raven's world. That would be the day the world would begin to die. Raven kept her eyes closed.
The Demon was in front of her now, and she kept her voice soft, continuing to only coo her dark truths into Raven's mind. "Why do you say that? Why do you hurt me so? All I have ever done is loved you more than any person is capable of, protect you from so many things in the world that sought to hurt you. It is I that whisper tender words into your ear at night, it is my shoulder you cry on, and it is my lips that kiss your scars when you are wounded. What did I do to deserve this enmity? What did I do to deserve this imprisonment? I am a person to. Have you forgotten that I am you? I need to get out! I need to breathe! I need to feel the fresh air on my face! Why, why do you work so hard at hurting me, at keeping me away? Why do you hate me so much when I love you so much more?"
"Love? You call killing my friends 'love'? That's horrible!"
"Raven, you can only afford to love one person in this world; you. Do you really believe they love you? What have they ever done for you? They do not trust you. They do not understand you. They have resigned you to a little corner in their minds. But I would never do such a thing. I think about you every waking moment of my existence. I understand you, I know you. I see all the great things you are going to be someday. And I see that you ache, that you pain, and in doing so, you hurt me more than you could ever imagine."
"What do you mean?"
"How do you think I live? How do you think I see the world? I breathe when you feel things. I am alive when you are angry or sad or happy. And yet you do this to yourself. You make it so you feel nothing at all, that I die a little bit every day you work at controlling, at restraining yourself. You are lying to yourself with every passing second, living like this. And in doing so, the tears I shed drown this world. It isn't fair! If you are not going to live, then let me. Let me live!"
"I am sick of everyone telling me how to live! I'm doing just fine!"
"No. No, you aren't even close. Feel my heartbeat." The Demon once again picked up Raven's hand and, placing it between her breasts and over her chest, held it tightly. Raven could feel the beat, could feel the rhythm. It beat so much faster than hers, fluttering like a hummingbird, but as hard as steel. The Demon, breaking into tears, sobbed out, "When you're heartbeat is like mine, when you truly experience the world, that is when I live, that is when I can tell myself that you love me enough to let me see the world. Please! Please, is it so much to ask that you care for me, that you care for yourself?" The Demon kept repeating the phrase 'Please', crying it out over and over again, so softly. Raven felt the Demon press up against her, lay her face on Raven's shoulder, and cry so gently. And, although she could for no reason explain why, Raven found herself wrapping her arms gently against the crying mass, and she started to comfort her. Still blind, she stroked her hair, and whispered a lullaby to the creature. And, somewhere far out of reach of horror, she felt so loved. Something relied on her; someone came to her. And she found that she loved in return.
Raven took a massive step forward next. Slowly, painfully slow, she began to open her eyes. It felt like an impossible, truly titanic (no pun intended) feat. But somehow, after what felt like an hours-long confrontation with gravity, Raven lifted her eyelids. She still felt the Demon, still heard her sobs, still smelt the brimstone scent that followed her nether-self, so Raven knew she was there. As I said, Raven opened her eyes and beheld the duplicate in totality for the first time.
Dear God.
I do not believe that I can say this enough, for even if it was perpetuated a thousand fold, it could not even begin to describe Raven's shock. There, lying in her arms was a black mass. Something covered most of the body, either a cloak or wings. Emerging underneath the cloak, near Raven's own slender legs, were two feet, still scaled and bearing black claws. Raven turned her head ever so slightly, trying not to move her shoulder too much. A shock of smooth, white hair covered the Demon's face. And Raven was filled with a terrible compulsion, an unholy desire to just move the hair a little, and face the certain madness lying underneath. She found the strength to resist, however, and continue to float on her island of ignorance in the black sea of knowledge.
And suddenly, Raven felt warm inside. As she sat there, gently holding the thing that may or may not have been her, she felt sympathy for it, and, a little bit of disgust. Not for the Demon, but for herself. This creature was no monster; this was no horror upon the world. This was a creature that cried and bled like anything else. And now, here it lay in her arms, scared, rejected, and so alone. What person could hate her? What one person could inflict so much pain on one creature? This was a mother's child. Who would do such a thing? And she knew, Raven knew, of course, that it was she. She was the tormentor; she was the one who was filled with so much arrogant malice that she harmed the Demon just for her own purposes. And Raven felt a sorrow the likes of which she would not feel again for a long time.
Then, then, the Demon, turning her head ever so slightly, looked at Raven. Raven stared back into the gaze of those eyes she would never forget, which would watch her every time she closed her own eyes with an unrelenting stare. The eyes seemed huge to Raven, although she knew that they were no bigger than her own. They glowed with a brilliant yellow light that looked familiar to Raven for the slightest of moments, before she realized where she had seen it before. She remembered the night Kresk taught her about fire, she remembered the first of blaze of magic she conjurated in her hand, how it glowed yellow, this exact shade of yellow. And she remembered more about that night, for she remembered waking up, and seeing those eyes watch over her. Those eyes, those golden, beautiful eyes that even now reflected a little bit of gleeful malevolence, forgotten by an expression of melancholy and curiosity. And in those eyes, Raven could suddenly see everything she should have been, and everything she could be. But that was all Raven could see, thankfully. Her alabaster hair masked the rest of Demon's face.
The Demon, her voice a little hoarse from her crying, whispered out, "Why did you stop?" Raven suddenly realized that she had stopped whispering her lullaby to the Demon. Raven had no response. She was still transfixed by the Demon's eyes. The Demon looked into Raven's eyes, those calm lavender eyes. She saw her own eyes reflect in them as two miniscule pools of light. And she saw the look Raven gave her, the look of utter arrested frenzy and fear. What could make her afraid? What could scare the one she loved so much right now? She began to move out of Raven's arms. For sanity's sake, Raven closed her eyes again and kneeled forward, her head facing the ground. The Demon kneeled there, still puzzled. "What's wrong? Are you scared? Hmm, I think so. I can breathe again."
Raven still sat there, petrified and blind. The Demon suddenly understood. She giggled a little, "Oh little Raven, you shouldn't be afraid of me. It's them you should be afraid of. All those people out there that want to hurt you, who want to betray. But I want something else. I want you to be alive. If you live I live. If I kill, so do you. We never do anything apart you and I, not since the moment you were born."
"What do you mean when you say 'I kill'?" The Demon giggled a little more. "Oh, little Raven. You're too kind for that. Our mother made sure of that. But you should know that you couldn't be safe singing your little chant. No, you aren't safe. I keep you safe. You're so soft, so gentle. It is up to me to make sure you're safe. So I kill for you, I hurt for you. I make sure you do whatever it takes to be safe and happy. Open your eyes and look at me. And for a minute, an hour, a day, a lifetime in a few brief seconds, let me do everything I should." The Demon gently slipped her hand into Ravens'.
"No! I don't know what you are, but please, please, stop. I don't want to be that."
"Oh silly little Raven, it isn't about what you want, it's about what I need!" The Demon's hand lunged forward and scratched Raven's wrist, not deep, but enough to bleed. Raven screamed a little and opened her eyes. The Demon was nowhere to be found. She felt the blood start to trail off her arm. She cleaned off the blood with a cloth before using a healing spell. The bleeding stopped, but the scratches didn't disappear, they just faded a little.
Raven heard a knock on the door. Robin's voice called out, "Raven? Is everything all right?" Raven got up and opened the door. Robin stood there, a brief look concern behind his mask. Raven held her arm, covering her scars, like if she didn't they might erupt through the cloth of her sleeve. Raven merely let out a simple, "Yeah." She stared at Robin's eyes (mask, whatever), giving him a look that transmitted simply; 'this is my business, stay out of it.' Robin, understanding but not totally believing, nodded before he said, "Come on. We have a mission." He walked down the hall and Raven followed. She stared back into her room one last time though. At the back, in a dark corner, for a flashing moment she swore she saw two yellow eyes staring at her.
Raven walked down the hall, following Robin to the living room. Cyborg and Starfire were at the computer, while BB lay on the floor in the shape of a hound dog. Raven couldn't help but notice that Kresk had returned from wherever he had gone and was now forming arcane symbols in the air with a magic pen. They didn't do anything, but they provided him with a distraction. Robin coldly asked, "Status report." Cyborg snickered, "Lighten up, colonel, this isn't anything serious. All right, here's a stupid riddle for you. What do you get when you mix one Rancid with a whole bunch of Slade's leftover robots and some of the good doctor's lackeys?"
"A sunburned penguin?" Beast Boy meowed out, making Starfire giggle a little. Kresk, invisible and silent to all except Raven, groaned out, "And so begins the 'Mutant and Alien Hee-Haw Hour'. Just let me go get my banjo and we'll be all set." Cyborg continued, ignoring the changeling, "You get Johnny's latest scheme to acquire, … whatever he wants. Reports are coming in about the Slade-bots with a new paint job doing the usual for Johnny. Theft, mostly, a little bit of messing with the scenery. The mission is simple; we sneak into Rancid's base, capture the scientists, and retrieve and destroy the robots. Done covertly, it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. 'Covertly' is the key word here. Well, let's get moving."
"Yes, leave Tin-man. Go find oil in the woods with Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Lion. Just make sure to send Witch back." Kresk mocked silently. Everyone walked out the door. Kresk held Raven back a moment, "Kiddo, you all right?" Raven nodded. "Alright, just making sure. Remember, if you come back and there scorch marks and pentacles on the wall, I don't exist." With that, the Fire Demon disappeared even to her and made his way to his home downstairs. Raven looked at where the demon had been, and walked into the night.
Several hours later
"This isn't good. We need a new plan!" Robin groaned out from gritted teeth. "You kidding? We've got these guys on the ropes!" Cyborg nearly laughed out, masking his own fear. 'Covertly', it would appear, had not gone over so well. Now the army of robots, and some of Johnny's own mechanical pets, were extending this mission beyond a few hours. Cyborg retained hope, however. "Come on, we've taken worse than this."
"When?" Beast Boy snarled out, shaping into a jaguar. Raven, holding off a battalion with abjuration spells, had to agree. The odds were looking hopeless, desperate. And she felt herself being backed into a corner, into a state where all the little breathing exercises and mantras in the world wasn't making things better. And slowly, but ever so surely, Everything She Should Have Been began to stir in the back of her mind. She tried fighting it before she unleashed another ball of shadow at a mechanical minion. They went down surprisingly easy. If it was just this group, she might just make it out alive. She cast another spell and fought onward.
Several more hours later
Robin screamed out in agony as the robots constricted and pummeled him. Beast Boy lay unconscious in his humanoid form. Cyborg was being hit with jolt after jolt of electricity, more then even he could handle. It was only a matter of time before he shut down. Starfire had been lost somewhere in the mob of mechs, although Raven saw flashes of green and heard a scream every now and then. She had stayed in tact by remaining incorporeal most of the time. Now she was surrounded. She could see Rancid, could hear him laughing, surrounded by scientist manipulating the automatons. She tried saying her mantra, to summon another spell, but was interrupted by a minion. She tried over and over, but each time was interrupted. She felt the Demon fly about her mind. Raven was beginning to lose control. Well, not really. Truth be told, she was letting the Demon take control. And one last shock pushed her over the edge.
Robin screamed again.
"I-"
Cyborg moaned creaked in pain
"Have-"
Beast Boy lay unconscious on the ground
"Had-"
Starfire's screams filled the air before Raven was aware of her collapsing.
"ENOUGH!" Raven screamed out, and let the hatred, the anger, the frustration pour out. She felt the black fire flow all over her, felt it ignite the air and destroy the nearest minions. But most of all, she felt the Demon take over. And suddenly she, Raven, was merely watching. The Demon controlled her body, her hands. Raven was aware, but not in control.
The Demon turned Raven's body into a thing of flame, a fire made of shadow. It slithered through the air, cutting and boring through anything in sight. Soon, there were no more robots, no more minions, just a heap of broken metal. Then, the Demon started to crave blood. She set her sights on Rancid, who was already running for the door. The Demon would have gone for him, but she needed to practice ripping through flesh first. She saw one of the scientists vainly attempting to flee towards a dead-end. She growled, literally snarled and growled, before making her way towards him. Now, she was a thing of flesh again, all the world resembling Raven, save for her eyes. Her eyes had slit like a snake's and watched hungrily all things animate.
She reached the poor subordinate quickly. Claws of shadowy flame formed around her hand as she prepared to strike at his heart first.
"With a fierce action of her hand,"
She struck, and digging through clothes and skin and bone, destroyed lung, heart, and rib. She ravaged him, and relished in feeling his warm blood against her hand and arms. But she needed more. She saw other servants, other lackeys, and other nameless minions running in fear. And she wanted them too.
"as if she sprinkled hatred on the ground, and with it devoted those who were standing there to destruction,"
She chased them and ripped through each of them. It was so easy after a while. She created new ways of desecrating them. She grabbed one underling's head, and gripped it tighter and tighter until she felt it crack. Then she ripped another one's throat out. The Demon was now covered in gore and blood, the red staining and mixing with the purples and dark blues of her cloak and leotard. And all the while, Raven watched horrified. But still, the Demon wanted more; she wanted the pack leader, the alpha wolf. She wanted him to suffer and die most of all. She looked once at a window that revealed the starless night sky before she flew out to stalk among shadows.
" she looked up once at the black sky, and strode out into the wild night."
And back at the tower, Kresk felt something. He felt Raven wake up, and enter her wrath. And her father, whoever it may be, felt it as well. And both of them, the lesser and the greater demons, said at the same moment, "Ah, now she is awake." Kresk ran across the dinner table, smashing the Succubus's meal of scorpion and the pig-demons soup of eyes under his hooves. He teleported to where they had been, the Demon and Raven. He looked at the corpses, at the mutilation, and laughed in pride. And doubtless, her father laughed somewhere as well, though he didn't realize it. And Kresk looked up at heaven and said, "And now, she hears the heartbeat of her people."
Rancid ran down an alley. Kresk watched from on top of a roof, not even invisible. He could see the Demon stalking her prey, practically on all fours crawling against the walls. Rancid panted out, "What the hell just happened?" That was when he heard the growling. The Demon, or Raven, stalked out of the shadows, snarling at him like some hound from the pits of the Abyss itself. Rancid took out a gun and tried blasting her shoulder. It failed. The bullet hit, but it did not slow down the predator. "What the hell are you?" he screamed trying to hit her again. She leaped into the air and onto him, her small frame knocking him against the ground despite his size. All the while, Kresk laughed and whooped, proud of his pupil's accomplishment in the realm of carnage (he even felt the compulsion to dance a little). The Demon bit down on Johnny's neck, ripping out the jugular. She drank the blood as he gasped for air and bled to death. Then, sickeningly, she swallowed the flesh in her mouth. She felt the bullet wound subside.
Johnny was dying. There was no doubt about it, but that did not stop the Demon. She clawed open his chest to fiddle with his, scratched out his eyes and ignited his hair and skin with black fire. All the while she occasionally drank down blood and swallowed the occasional bit of raw muscle. Raven screamed inside her head. "Why? Why are you doing this? Don't you know I can't be this? I don't want to be this!"
"Little Raven," the Demon hissed, her voice now gleeful and angry all at once, "I've already explained this to you. It's not about what you want, it's about what I need!" She tore another chunk out of Johnny's mangled corpse before she looked at the black sky, and screamed or howled her victory.
Beast Boy woke up after a while. Everyone else was unconscious, but Raven was strangely absent. He smelled blood in the air. He followed it to the ruined bodies of the scientists. He wanted to puke right then and there, but the scent led him somewhere else. He followed it to a dark alley outside, before he stepped in what he thought was water. He looked more closely and gagged a little. Then, he saw the rest.
You never realize how much blood is in a man, until all of it is spilled out on the ground. Gore was all over the walls, as were sear marks. A dark shape loomed over what might have once been Johnny Rancid, but was now just pulp. Then, Raven looked up. Beast Boy had never felt so sick in his life. Raven stared at him, blood covering her, gore staining her mouth and cheeks red. She licked a little off before swallowing again. Beast Boy felt faint. And so did Raven. The Demon released Raven let her control this human body with a human mind again. She felt weak, tired, stressed. Consciousness left her body, and she fell into the blood. Kresk, still watching, only smiled.
Raven woke up in the medical ward of the Tower. Her arm ached and was covered with bandages. She tried to remember what happened, but it made her head ache. "What- what happened?" A chuckle came from the darkness. Kresk sat there, sipping tea. "So, you truly do remember nothing? How quaint." He chuckled again. "Kre- Kresk?" Raven tried getting up. "No, no. You rest. Here, have some tea. I hi-jacked your kitchen cabinets if you don't mind." Raven was too tired to complain. She sipped some of the tea before she slipped back to sleep. Kresk smiled a little. He adjusted her sheets and pillows before he began to walk away. Something tugged on his sleeve though. "Ah, damn chair." He turned around. He saw Raven's pale hand and arm grip him. He looked at her eyes and saw their serpentine look, the slit irises and all. The Demon murmured out, "Did I make us proud? Did I make our people proud? Did I do good?" Kresk's grin broadened. He ruffled her hair a little, saying, "Child of mine, you are not good, you are the best. You're father would be proud. Now get some sleep, both of you." The Demon lay down, a smile on her face. Kresk walked out and closed the door, re-adjusting the sheets as all of the gods' little monsters drifted into dream.
He marched to the living room where Robin and the others sat. Kresk stood next to Beast Boy and laughed. No, he would not forget what he saw this night soon. It would eat at his mind like a cancer and wear him down. No one else would forget tonight either. They wouldn't forget cleaning the blood and the gore, removing the corpses and how each cadaver had been stripped of its human dignity by the assault. And they would all try to forget, try to forget how calm, quiet Raven had done this with her own two, bare hands. They would try, but they would never succeed. Fear lived that night, and trust died a little. Kresk and Graz'zt and Trigon chuckled separately amongst themselves. Kresk stepped towards the window overlooking the rolling ocean. The sunrise came scarlet, this morning. The red dawn bled into the water, into the sea, into the life of the world. The globe felt the taint spread a little more. Yes, the sun was rising on a new day, on a new world, on a new beginning into dark and strange places. The sun rose, and killed the envious moon of the old world of peace.