Here's chapter 13! Malchior's insanity is explained in this one, so hopefully it'll be weird enough to suit him!
I don't own Teen Titans, so don't sue me Cartoon Network!
"Jinx, this is awful!" Raven was practically shouting into the receiver. "Malchior's my new next door neighbor!"
It was an hour after the meeting with Malchior's father in the elevator, and Raven was now sitting in her new bedroom, trying not to look at the toothpaste walls. She and Angela had finished unpacking their bags and Angela's box, and Raven was now talking to the only person she could: Jinx.
"You're kidding, right?" Jinx sounded disbelieving.
"No I'm not!" Raven fell onto her bed, facing the ceiling, which was painted a light green color. "He lives across the hallway with his dad!"
"That sucks," Jinx said slowly.
"What am I going to do?"
"Um, ignore him?" Jinx stated this as a sarcastic question.
"That's not exactly an option, Jinx. Mom and Ryan, Malchior's dad, kinda clicked when they met, so guess where we're eating dinner?"
"Ooh, bummer."
"Yeah. I didn't have a chance to tell Mom that it was Malchior who took our notebooks and stalked us. I mean, what was I gonna do, say all that right in front of his dad?"
"Well, you can hope that his dad's nice, I guess."
"His dad is nice!" Raven sighed. "I wish Malchior was more like him. Maybe then he wouldn't have taken the notebooks or followed me and Gar around."
"Hey!" Jinx exclaimed, obviously struck by a sudden thought. "Maybe you can ask him for the notebooks back during dinner! I mean, he can't really say no with your mom and his dad right there, can he?"
"I've asked him a hundred times at school already. I don't think two people are going to make a difference."
"Well, then excuse yourself to go to the bathroom and instead go look for them."
"That sounds like so much fun," Raven's voice was the sarcastic one now. "Unlike you, I've never been poking around someone's house before."
"Hey!" Jinx sounded insulted. "I only snuck into your room to–"
"Nevermind," Raven interrupted hastily. "Look, I've got to go. We're going over in a few minutes."
"Good luck," Jinx tried to sound encouraging as she hung up.
"Yeah, I'll need it," Raven told the ceiling as she dropped the phone onto her bed next to her.
- - - - -
Raven was not pleased with the seating arrangements at Ryan and Malchior's table. Angela and Ryan sat across from each other, as did Raven and Malchior. Neither of the two teenagers touched their food; Raven was too busy trying to ignore Malchior while he sat staring at her the entire dinner. Angela and Ryan talked together during dinner and did not notice a thing.
"Raven, you didn't touch a thing," Angela sounded surprised when Ryan went to get dessert and she noticed her daughter's full plate. "Don't you like it?"
"I'm just not hungry," Raven pushed her fork through the pasta dish in front of her. "I guess the toothpaste walls and green ceilings made my stomach a little queasy."
"Yeah, the walls did that to me too," Angela laughed. "Don't worry, we'll redecorate soon."
Ryan returned at that moment with the dessert plate. On it was a small chocolate cake. It was iced and decorated to sport a small brown armadillo.
"I baked this one yesterday," Ryan said as he placed it down carefully in the middle of the table. "Malchior decorated it. I think we make a good team, don't we, Mal?" He nudged Malchior in the arm, which jerked him out of his trance-like state of staring at Raven.
"Huh?" he looked around wildly before settling his eyes on the cake. "Yeah, whatever, dad." Raven noticed that he put an almost sarcastic emphasis on 'dad.'
"Why is there an armadillo on it, Malchior?" Angela asked, admiring the cake.
Malchior simply shrugged at her, then turned back to stare at Raven.
"Um, can I use the bathroom?" Raven looked up at Ryan, biting her lip.
"Of course!" Ryan took a step back from the table and pointed off to his left. "The bathroom is the second door on the right."
"Thanks," Raven stood up and walked quickly across the room. She entered a toothpaste hallway not unlike the one she and Angela had in their apartment. There were four light green doors, two on the left and two on the right.
Raven opened the first door to the left and found herself looking in on a very clean and neat bedroom. A large bed stood majestically in the very center. This room also had the toothpaste walls. As Raven scanned the room from the doorway, she figured it was Ryan's room; Malchior's would definitely be messier.
She tried the first door on the right next. This time she was right.
Malchior's room was indeed very messy. Books were strewn all over his light blue carpet, and his bookshelf seemed to have no sense of order whatsoever. His bed, which had light green sheets, was not made, and his pillows were both lying on the already book-strewn floor. He had tacked posters and pictures all over his toothpaste walls.
As Raven looked closer, she realized that all of the hundred or so books Malchior owned were written by the same author, as his name was emblazoned in large red letters on the cover of every single book. Raven picked one of the books up, but dropped it a second later from shock.
On the cover of the book was a picture of Malchior and her.
Well, it wasn't really Malchior and her. It was a picture of two people that had an uncanny and almost frightening resemblance to them.
The Raven in the picture was clinging to the Malchior in the picture. Her long purple hair created somewhat of a cape around her, and she wore the skimpiest dress Raven had ever seen, whether in real life or in a picture. It was little more than fancy underwear with a long but revealing skirt. The picture Raven wore a look of terror.
"That's gross," Raven instead turned her attention to the picture Malchior. He had the real life Malchior's white blonde hair and icy blue eyes, but the rest of him had no resemblance to the real thing. This Malchior was wearing a long white tunic with black stockings. He wore brown boots, a long black cape, and a golden belt. With one hand, he held a sword out in front of him, and with the other he held the picture Raven close to him.
"This isn't creepy at all," Raven said sarcastically as she continued throughout Malchior's room. "OK, Raven, just find the notebooks and get out of here."
As she looked around Malchior's room, she noticed that not only were all the books by the same author, but there were only three different books. They were all part of a trilogy that Malchior was obviously obsessed with. He had at least ten different copies of what seemed to be a standard version, but then he had a collector's edition, a color illustrated edition, and many other versions of the book.
Raven's shock at seeing this grew when she noticed that all the posters hung around his room were posters for this book as well. The pictures were all drawn by Malchior himself, and they showed what seemed to be different scenes from the book.
"Like it?"
Raven spun around as she heard the voice from the doorway, her heart pounding.
Malchior stood there, leaning on his doorframe lazily. A smile played around his lips, and one of his eyebrows was raised. He had his arms crossed in front of him, and seemed to be enjoying himself.
"Sorry," Raven shook her head. "I was just leaving."
"For the bathroom?" Malchior barred her way as she attempted to pass him. He let out a chuckle. "Sure, the bathroom. I know what you're looking for, but you won't find it here."
He began walking into the room, stretching his arms out to either side of him so she could not pass.
"This is my destiny," he motioned to the books around him. "This holds the fate of all."
"Whoa there," Raven put up her own hands. "No fictional book holds my destiny." She bent down and picked up one of the books. "And what's up with these people on the cover?" She thrust the book at Malchior, and he looked at it with a smile.
"That's us," he said fondly, tracing the outline of the picture Malchior's sword. "This is what our future holds. This," he held the book out to Raven, "is our destiny."
"So my destiny is to cling to you in terror while wearing a skimpy dress?" Raven asked sarcastically, smiling coldly. "Look, all I want is my notebook, and Gar's too. Can I have them back, please?"
"No," Malchior's answer was the same one she had been getting for a week. "I must shield you from the enchanter's curse. I must save you."
"Save me?" Raven let out a dry laugh. "I don't need saving from anyone!"
"You are under a spell," Malchior said slowly as he walked over to his bookshelf. "The enchanter Logan has taken you away from me so I cannot complete my mission." He pulled three books off the shelf and handed them to her.
"What are these for?" she asked, looking at them distastefully. All three of them had the picture Malchior and the picture Raven in them. Malchior stood in a heroic pose while Raven clung to him in terror on two of them, and the third showed the two of them kissing, a sight that made Raven's empty stomach turn over.
"They are for you," Malchior took her by surprise as he knelt before her, bowing his head. "They will help free you from your enchantment, my queen Rae."
"I'm nobody's queen," Raven backed away. "And I'm not enchanted!" She threw the books to the ground. "Look, I just want my notebook. I need it."
"It contains evidence," Malchior told his carpet.
"Yes," Raven was taken aback by this. "I need it for evidence."
"There is evidence of the enchanter Logan's treachery," Malchior continued, speaking softly to his floor.
Raven raised and lowered her hands in exasperation. Malchior was obviously convinced that this book, whatever it was, held what was to happen for the rest of his life. Nothing she said would help.
"Malchior," she took his chin in her hand and forced him to look at her, "I'm not under any enchantment. These books," she bent down and picked one up, showing him the spine, "were published by TOR Fantasy. That's a publisher that puts out fictional books. Nothing in these books has happened or ever will happen."
"You're wrong!" Malchior stood up and began shouting, his eyes blazing with anger. "Everything in here is true!" He took the book from Raven and put it back on his shelf carefully. "For your information, many things inside these books have already happened. I will see to it that I will fulfill everything that is in these books. I swore it." He took a deep breath and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Then he continued, obviously calming down. "Sorry. I forgot, you will of course be under the spell and will be so until I lift it. It is only natural for you to doubt every word I say."
"This isn't real," Raven shook her head. "These books are fiction! The person who wrote them had no idea that there was someone named Malchior out there somewhere that would take every word for granted. And in case you haven't noticed, there is no one in my life named Logan. Your enchanter theory has been disproved."
"Garfield…" Malchior trailed away, his eyebrow raising.
"…Logan," Raven finished, looking into Malchior's face in terror. "You don't really believe that, though. Right?"
"Logan is the evil enchanter trying to stop me from fulfilling my duties. He wants to take over my kingdom, and to do so, he has to take you from me." Malchior picked up three of the larger and more elaborate versions of the books. He pressed them carefully into Raven's arms. "It's all in here. Just read them. Maybe this version, the illustrated version, will help you understand. Just, please, read them."
"I'll read them if you give me my notebook," Raven shifted the books in her arms so as to hold them better. Malchior looked to the ceiling, taking a deep breath and releasing it.
"Very well," he crossed the room and opened the door to his closet. Inside hung neatly ironed shirts and pants, and a few copies of the same books lined the shelves. As Raven watched, Malchior moved two of these books aside. Under them were her and Gar's notebooks.
"Here," Malchior held out the one that had been on top. Raven walked over and took it, recognizing it as hers.
"And the other."
Malchior sighed dejectedly as he handed her Gar's notebook.
"Thank you."
"You will read those books, won't you?" Malchior looked at her, obviously nervous.
"Sure," Raven said quickly. She turned her back on Malchior and walked out of his room, muttering, "Right after I parade around this building wearing a bunny suit."