*A/N* I'm back. This chapter was very tricky to write, especially the second part. Raven's state of mind ain't easy to put on paper. But I'm satisfied with what I've produced, so I hope you'll find it satisfying, too. A small warning, but this movie contains major spoilers for the film Opera, but I doubt any of you really care, so... Enjoy! *A/N*
"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer…"
Anton Scissors sat handcuffed and shirtless in the back of a police car, being driven downtown to the station. Despite his situation, he was all smiles, singing loudly and drumming his feet on the ground. The dial in his chest was now absent, leaving a small metal indentation above his sternum, two red lines marking where the tubules once were.
The officers up front, Officer Drake and Officer Moore, exchanged disbelieving looks. Scissors noticed this motion and stopped singing, giving an exaggerated grin to the cops up front.
"Hey… I recognize you." He said, turning to Drake. "Yeah, weren't you the guy that caught me at Trent's house? Drake, right?"
Officer Drake sighed. "Yes, I was, Anton. You were trying to light wet newspapers on fire on his front porch."
Anton looked flattered. "You do remember!" he exclaimed. "Long time, no see, buddy!"
Drake, a heavy-set African-American man in his mid-thirties, looked into the rear view mirror at his prisoner.
"We aren't friends, Anton. I'm actually very upset that I had to pick you up this afternoon."
Anton's face fell. "Drake… I thought you'd be happy to see me again." He said, his voice full of hurt.
"I was very disappointed to hear that you broke the law again. How long ago did you make parole, eight weeks? Anton, what are your parents going to think?"
Anton shrugged. "Who gives a damn? Dad gave up on me when I was still learning to walk, Mom's off with Trent… And I don't think Uncle Gus would care if I jumped off of the Chrysler Building."
Officer Moore, a younger white woman with blonde hair tied in a ponytail, turned to Anton.
"Doesn't that make you sad? That nobody out there is upset to see you leave again? Look at all you've thrown away."
Anton shook his head. "Nope. All I threw away was a bunch of people who'd rather have a dog to take care of than me."
And with that, he went back to singing.
"98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer…"
Moore looked to Drake, who shook his head and mouthed the word "crazy."
At a red light, Anton spoke up again.
"So… you guys think I did alright against the Titans today?"
Drake looked into the mirror again. "No. As a matter of fact, they kicked you into next month."
Anton chuckled. "Oh, come on, I didn't do too bad for my first time. It was all Raven, really." He smiled greasily. "She's pretty hot, if I don't mind me saying. Next time I see her, I'll have to get her number."
Drake laughed shortly. "Next time? There isn't going to be a next time, Scissors! You're going to be spending 'next time' in a strait jacket."
Anton extended his lower lip, making a pouting expression. "Says you."
Anton remained silent after this. The three rode in silence for a while. The silence was broken when Officer Moore spoke up again.
"Do you smell that?"
Officer Drake wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, I do. What is that?" The air had become permeated with a hot chemical smell, like melting metal.
Drake turned back to Anton, who was lazily staring out the window.
"Uh, Harry." Moore said, turning his attention to the dashboard. A small blue light had blinked to life above the odometer reading "Check Brakes."
"Great." Drake said. Before he could make his next complaint, another light blinked to life, red this time, reading "Check Drive Shaft."
"What the hell is wrong with this piece of…" Another light. "Tire Pressure Low." The car gave a pained wheeze and grinded to a halt in the middle of the overpass.
Anton leered at the two confused officers. "Car trouble? Yeah, sorry guys. Tell me how it works out." Anton then got up from his seat and vanished through the floor.
"What in the..?!" Drake and Moore exited the car immediately, looking into the back seat. A hole, seemingly burned through the bottom of the car, glowed with heat, and molten metal dripped from the sides. The hole bored all the way through the bottom the car, so far through that the two cops could see the freeway's pavement.
Anton rolled out from underneath the car, and sprinted towards the guard rail. Drake and Moore made chase, but both slipped on a patch of black ice Anton placed in front of them. Moore managed to fall onto her rear, her heels sliding out from under her, but Drake fell forward and his head met the road painfully, bouncing and leaving a large contusion.
Anton, now perched atop the guard rail, separated his hands after melting a few of the chain links on his cuffs. The vehicles behind the stalled car screeched to a halt, and onlookers chattered to each other and pointed to the perpetrator.
"Sorry, Harry, But there is going to be a next time. You think taking away my dial takes away my powers? I still have fluid in my blood, you know." Anton said smugly. Officer Moore drew her pistol.
"Drop down from there, NOW!" she ordered.
Anton shrugged. "Okay."
He fell backwards off of the overpass, the crowd gasping in horror. Moore hurried over to the rail and looked over. Anton was nowhere in sight.
"Goddamn!" she exclaimed, hurrying over to the radio.
"Dispatch, we have a 10-78 and a 10-56a! I repeat, 10-78! Anton Scissors has leapt off of the I-74 overpass!
Raven, cloak on and hood up, stared out at the ocean. Standing out on the end of a dock at the harbor, she watched the grey water naturally sway back and forth. A few men working on a nearby loading crew watched her curiously. She was tempted to shout at them to screw off, but that wouldn't do anything except make her feel worse.
"Rae."
Raven instantly recognized the voice that came a few yards away from her. She couldn't bring herself to face him, so she simply remained still, studying the steely water below.
"Raven, I'm not going anywhere without you."
Raven ignored his voice again. She just didn't want to face the embarrassment. She had to stop herself from flinching when a set of arms embraced her from behind and he rested his chin on her left shoulder.
"Beast Boy, please… I'm not in the mood."
"Neither am I. I'd rather be back at the Tower, personally."
Raven took his hands and squeezed them firmly. "Garfield…"
"Raven?"
"Do you… want to know why Opera is my favorite movie?"
Beast Boy, a bit taken aback by the weird inquiry, moved his head back, but soon rested it back on her shoulder so his mouth was facing her ear.
"If it'll make you feel better, tell me. You said you could relate to it or whatever, right..?"
"In the film, the main character…"
"We watched it together, remember?" Beast Boy whispered.
"…discovers that the man tormenting her is the ex-lover of her sadistic Mother. She defeats him in the end, and she says, 'It's not true! I'm not like my Mother! Nothing like her, nothing at all!'"
"Rae, I remember." Beast Boy insisted gently.
"The first time I saw that scene, I remember exactly what I did. I stood up, pointed at the screen, and said 'That's me.' Just like that. And it was true, it was like the story was made for me. I know that I come from a lineage of pure, unabashed evil. But that isn't me. I was like the girl in the movie. I fought back against my 'destiny' for hurting others. That expressed my moral compass perfectly."
Raven took a moment to swallow at a growing lump in her throat as she stepped away from Beast Boy.
"But," she said, her voice wavering. "Look at what I did. I nearly killed a man, and I liked doing it. That goes against everything I've worked to achieve. Every time I've meditated, every time I've fought against my own emotions, I've been fighting against the evil inside of me. And it all came spilling out of me in a split second. Everything I did to prove I wasn't like my Father, gone! Even after I prove that I'm more powerful than him, he still beats me!"
"Now hold on…"
"All I've done my entire life is try and cleanse myself of the filth my Father left inside me! Well, now I know that I'll never be able to, because I am that filth! I'm just like Trigon!"
Raven drew a shuddering breath. Lights around her became bleary and pointed as tears began welling up in her eyes. She couldn't keep her lower lip from trembling.
"Raven…"
Raven simply shook her head.
"You don't understand what it's like… When all you want to do is help other people, but every time you try, you do harm…"
Beast Boy, at this point, had no idea what to do. He had to admit, he hadn't seen this coming, but he understood why she was so stricken; the defeat of Trigon had given Raven another chance to live out her life without her demon instincts taking over, and all of a sudden, they come back, not only intensely, but publicly. He would have been devastated if it had happened to him. Now he needed to do something, quick. The first thing that came to mind was to cradle her in his arms and tell her everything was going to be fine, but he knew that wouldn't be strong enough to keep her from slipping any further into misery. What could he say? He had to think of something…
"Raven, look at me." He said.
Raven shook her head.
"Rae, please."
Raven slowly raised her head to look up at the changeling. A few teardrops were on the verge of slipping from her eyes.
"I knew it." He said
"Kn-knew what?"
"You're crying."
Raven's brows knit in anger.
"How…how could…" she began.
"Raven, demons don't cry."
Raven stopped formulating her retort, and cruel irony dictated a few tears to come loose and trail down her flushed cheeks.
"Demons don't protect hundreds of people. Demons don't risk their lives for people they love. And demons especially don't go on dates with green idiots like me!"
Raven sniffled, appreciating Beast Boy's attempt at levity, even if it didn't work.
"Raven, don't you see? You didn't lose anything today, you gained something! You showed all of us that the good inside you is so much bigger than the evil! You can stop your evil side from having its way, even when you're at your angriest! You're nothing like your Dad, understand me? You do good, you laugh, you cry, you make other people happy! You aren't a demon! You're a beautiful, caring, wonderful girlfriend!"
Beast Boy immediately wished he could have taken that last statement back. It had involuntarily slipped out, and the effect was clear. Raven flushed a deep red, and, in a rare display of femininity, put a hand over her mouth in shock.
Before he could refute his last statement, Beast Boy was nearly knocked onto the ground by Raven. For a moment, he thought that she was attacking him, and would have forced her off if he didn't realize how tightly she was holding onto him. He felt her body shake as her emotional wall finally cracked, finally allowing herself a good, honest cry.
Beast Boy smiled and returned her hug, softly rubbing her back. Now was a good time to go with Plan A.
"It's okay, just let it all out…"
Neither of them remembered how long they stayed together on the loading dock. So much communication was given off with barely any words, only Beast Boy's occasional reminder for Raven to catch her breath.
When Raven's crying finally lost all of its fuel some time later, she retracted herself from Beast Boy's shoulder. Her eyes were red and somewhat puffy, and a small amount of residue was left beneath her nose, which she wiped away on her sleeve.
"Sorry about your shirt." She said. Beast Boy looked down at the stain Raven left behind on his Hawaiian shirt.
"A little snot never hurt anyone." He said. "You feel any better?"
"Yes. I needed that." she nodded. "Thank you for everything you said."
"Hey, I meant every word." He said, putting a hand on her cheek. She leaned into his palm for a few moments, and allowed him to briefly run his fingers through her soft, dark hair.
"We should head back." Raven said.
"What should we tell the others?" Beast Boy asked.
"The truth."
"You sure? Robin'll kill us."
"I think we'll survive being chewed out. It's nothing you aren't used to, anyway."
Beast Boy grinned. "The old Raven's back." Raven gave her trademark smirk before she put her hood down.
"I'm not sure what came over me. I can't remember the last time I really fell apart like that."
"There's nothing wrong with falling apart every now and again, it does a person good. I would have been pissed off at myself too, but you don't have to be anymore. You stopped it, and no one got hurt. If you ever need to ruin my shirt again, I'll be there."
Raven raised an eyebrow, but a smile ghosted her face before she pecked him on the nose.
"Don't expect it anytime soon."
*A/N* Poor Raven was just too upset with herself to hold back her pain anymore, but she's lucky that she's got someone who's willing to listen to her most personal dilemmas without a second thought. And now Weatherman is back in action, so Jump City's in for some serious trouble. Until the next time. *A/N*