…Um, yeah. Should I introduce myself, or do you still remember me? Well, it has been over a year. I honestly can't believe I let it go that far. And since I've been in a huge updating rut lately and I've also gotten myself into this plot where I can't remember what I was planning to write, I'm afraid this is where the story of Choices must end. It's been fun, but it's time for me to say good-bye.
When Richard opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the ground, like some discarded piece of trash. When he thought to himself, that was what he basically was. He looked and saw Kori and Slade standing over a computer. As soon as he saw her, he felt sick to his stomach.
He just wanted to close his eyes and pass out again. He felt disgusting. He wanted, needed to get out. He closed his eyes and pretended to pass out as he saw Slade coming.
"You're finally awake?" someone said from beside him. He opened one eyes carefully, almost frightened of what was to come. He knew it was female, but couldn't process who.
Raven smiled back at him, lying in an awkward position on the floor. He made an attempt to smile at her, but he didn't know what he was smiling about. Her outfit was torn in various spots, her mask was in who knows where, her hair was mussed, and she was injured all over.
She palmed her hands on the ground, and with a lot of stealth, but almost no noise, she effortlessly moved herself across the floor to where Richard was.
"What's wrong?" he asked her, motioning to her strange movement.
"My leg is broken, and I can't heal myself." She pointed to a small electronic brace that was located around her left ankle. "Those bastards beat the crap out of me, and to top it off, they completely disable me with the broken leg and my inability to heal now. If anyone is going to be doing some fighting, it's going to be you Richard."
He looked at her before looking away. "No, I can't. I won't."
Her eyes narrowed at him. "Richard, stop this bullshit. Drop your cocky stubbornness. Either we're both going to die, or you're going to have to stand up and pull yourself together to kick their butts. I need you Richard. I need you more than ever," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper, placing her hand on his shoulder as she pulled him closer to her.
He turned and looked her in the eyes. Her brow was furrowed. But past her look of determination, he saw pain in her eyes. She was hurting. "Okay. I'll do it." He got to his feet, but before he did, he kissed her softly on the forehead. "I love you."
"Stop being corny and go beat them up, because I know you can," she ordered harshly. But as he turned his back to her, he saw the smile on her face.
It took all of his energy to get the ankle bracelet key from Slade. Once he did, he practically ripped it off Raven. She healed her leg as quick as she could, and they both fought together to defeat Starfire and Slade. They both took their true nemesis: Richard fighting off Slade and Raven fighting with Starfire.
"You'll never make him as happy as I just did. We're not even in love, but I can tell he enjoyed it," Starfire said evilly as she threw starbolts. Raven froze in horror. Did she just say that?
Rage grew within Raven. And something began to happen that she hadn't felt in 5 years. She began to feel her demon side take over.
How was this happening? She had gotten control over her emotions. It shouldn't be happening.
After all these years, Starfire could still say those little things that could get to her. And after all these years, Raven still couldn't stand it as her defenses began to crumble.
She fell to her knees, clutching her head. Jealousy, anger, rage, lust, betrayal; all those emotions were swarming back into her mind.
In the mean time, Richard was still battling with Slade, which had become unusually easy. At one point during the fight, his focus went to the two girls. Raven was one her knees clutching her head while Starfire stood over her, relishing in the moment.
He started to go there when Slade kicked him in the side, sending him flying backwards. Richard got up and went after Slade
Raven tried to call out to Richard, but it was too late. Her eyes became red. And with that, she couldn't remember anything after.
Richard stopped when he heard loud scream. A scream he had heard in the past. When he turned, he saw Raven with blood-red eyes. Her purple hair was blowing backward. Long black shadows were pushing her upwards towards the ceiling.
Slade was mesmerized by this. "Finally," he said. As he was staring her, Richard kicked him in the stomach. When Richard did, he disappeared. A metal disc fell to the floor.
"He was a hologram?" Richard asked himself. He was so confused. What was the whole point of this? He got Kori's plan, but creating a fake Slade?
When he ran over to Kori saw her with what looked like a large pointer with a gun on the end. "What is that?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
"While researching Raven's past, I learned that she is most vulnerable to injuries in demon form. She can't heal all her injuries that she receives in demon form. So if we are ever going to be together, I have to get rid of the one thing standing in our way," she replied calmly.
"Be together? Since when are we going to be together?" Richard exclaimed.
Kori turned to him. "You love me Richard, you know you do. Nothing will stop you from loving me. This child will keep us together forever. And no little demon tramp is going stop me from having the perfect family!" she shouted before turned back to Raven and pushed the button. Electricity began to fly forward, hitting Raven. Kori began to laugh and walk closer.
As she did, Richard grabbed the end and pulled it out of her arms. He moved it and pushed it into her back, causing her to be shocked. He left it there, driving it into her back as she screamed.
She dropped to the ground. Richard, wanting to make sure that Kori was finished, pulled the pointer and stabbed her with it repeatedly. He drove into her chest on last time. As her body dropped to the ground with a loud thud, Richard dropped the weapon on top of her.
He didn't understand this. Raven had told at the party that she had gotten control over her emotions. So how had this happened?
No matter, he needed to get her back into human form. He tried to think back to the other times that she had done it. When he couldn't think of any times where she had just turned off the demon switch, he just began to talk to her.
"R-Raven, come on, I don't know what's going on. And when I don't know what's going on, it's pretty scary. We all know you're the brains of the two of us, so you have to come back to me. I'm not sure what Kori said to you to trigger this, but whatever it was, it wasn't true. In any way. You have to trust me. You've trusted me to save you before. I'm going to do it now. You just have to help me help you," Richard said.
With that, Raven gasped. All within a few seconds, her eyes went back to normal, the winds stopped blowing, and the shadows disappeared. Richard was right under her to catch her when she fell.
When Raven woke up the next day, she was surprised to find herself in Richard's apartment. She couldn't remember anything that had happened.
She pulled back the comforter and saw she was in pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She smiled at his awkward cuteness.
"Oh, you're awake," someone said from the door, starling her. Her head snapped up, bringing her eye to eye with Richard.
"Yeah, I just woke up," She said with a smile.
"Hold on," Richard replied as he walked out. A moment later he walked back in with a mug of tea. "Sorry, no herbal. Just black earl grey," he stated as he sat down on the bed next to her.
"That's alright. That's…sweet of you," she answered, taken back by the action.
"Um…what I wanted to talk to you about was last night, if that's okay with you of course," he mumbled.
She pushed her hair behind her ears. "Why not? What's wrong?"
"Well, at that party, which happened months ago, you told me you had gained control over your emotions. Were you lying to me, or what? What happened last night?" Richard questioned.
Raven cleared her throat. "I didn't lie to you. Last night, Kori managed to get to me. Usually, Kori was the one who got to me. She said some nasty things that shook me and made by bad stronger emotions become too powerful. When too many emotions become too powerful, that can lead to me going into the demon form. But I highly doubt that'll ever happen," she responded quietly, running a finger around the rim of her cup.
Richard nodded. "You know, I honestly thought you were going to leave. You surprised me."
Raven chuckled under her breath. "Really?"
"What made you stay?" Richard said in a more serious tone.
"I talked to Vic, and he gave me some advice," Raven shrugged.
Richard nodded, knowing that wasn't it.
Raven sensed this too. She sighed. "Alright. I knew that if we were in each other's positions…if say we were on Azerath, you were going to be King of Earth or something and you had to leave me, even though I begged you not to, I knew you wouldn't. You never would," she told him, as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"You're right, I wouldn't. I could never," Richard said to her.
Raven smiled at this. For some reason that was unknown to her, she began to laugh hysterically.
"What?" Richard demanded. "What was so funny about that?"
Raven shook her head, trying to answer that nothing was funny; that she liked his answer. But nothing came out.
When she finally caught her breath, she said to him, "You're so cute."
Richard grinned in disbelief as he raised his eyebrows. "Me? Cute? You've got to be kidding me…"
Raven smiled back at him. "Which is why I love you…"
Wow. That was probably the MOST awkward 14 sentences in a story in the world. Otherwise, I really liked the way I ended this story, considering I started the whole 'kori is an insane psychopathic monster who wants to kill raven and have richard's children' without knowing where I was going to go with it after. Anyway, it's been fun. It took me two years to write seven chapters…but if you like this story and you haven't read forbidden, go read it. NOW.