Honey Honey

Super Music Maker

2008

The following morning dawned with an overhang of rolling grey clouds and a light drifting fog. Raven stood at the window of her room, one hand pressed lightly to the cold glass. The majority of Jump City was still sleeping, at this early hour; the fog encased the city, blanketing it until the sun was finally able to free itself from behind the clouds and burn away the haze. She sighed, watching as a few cars drove slowly down the unclogged streets of the precious city.

Cadric would prove to be a difficult fight but she was fairly confident they would be able to defeat him. After all, they had won against Trigon. Logically, she could only assume that Cadric was weaker than Trigon had been, as Cadric had needed the aid of her father. So they didn't have much to worry about.

Right?

Slade briefly flickered through her mind. Uneasily, she recalled that he too had relied on Trigon's power … and they had never beaten Slade. There was that whole falling into the pit of lava episode but he had returned even from that.

Frowning now, she turned away from the large window, scanning her books. She had to have something in here that might help.

---

Robin paced his room in these early morning hours, his hands clasped behind his back. His eyes itched with drowsiness but his mind was whirling, denying him a much needed sleep, wondering about the appearance of Cadric and would it could mean for the Titans. He had meant what he had said – he did think they could handle it. They had been through worse, recently.

"You, little bird, truly are your father's daughter."

Raven.

He scowled, pinching the bridge of his nose at the thought of her. He had been an idiot, he knew that. But as aware of his idiocy as he was, he couldn't help himself. Kissing Raven had been incredible, perfect. But there was Starfire to consider, as well as the rest of the team. Their fight yesterday had been lacking – Starfire was listless and Raven was distracted.

Not too distracted to save your sorry ass, he chided himself. Stop making shit up. You were distracted by her

Irritated, he blew several stray strands of inky-black hair out of his eyes.

He tried to uphold his recent behavior by telling himself it was for the good of the team – how could they be expected to protect their city if they couldn't even resolve a simple situation like this?

In the end, however, there was no justification for it, other than he was simply a moron.

He flung himself face first onto his bed. There was no help for it. He had to talk to her. He would lose her forever if he didn't.

"I apologized," he muttered defensively through a large yawn. "That's … a start."

His eyes slipped shut and he at last allowed himself to be cradled and rocked in sleep's arms.

---

Raven now had the most annoying song stuck in her head. She could only blame Starfire for the pop song endlessly looping through her mind, but some part of her wondered if Starfire would even listen to such a song in the first place.

Bounce with me bounce no tricks around me, I like your freaky style so let's get up on me. Do me like you just want it, Let me see your sexy body bring it on.

She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, and dropped the book she had been holding unceremoniously onto her floor.

Nothing.

She had poured through every single one of her books on spells, charms, curses, anything she had been able to get her hands on. And none of them had been able to give her any information. Granted, she wasn't entirely sure what, exactly, she was looking for. A small portion of her was afraid that she might have found a useful spell but it would be unsuitable for use, that Cadric would prove to be far too powerful. If only she could remember where she had read the original story …

So, she let the book slip from her hands while she sank onto her bed, burying her face in her hands.

"Ow," groaned the book.

"Oh, hell." She looked up, recognizing the voice at once. Had she been that distracted that she had retrieved him without even realizing it?

I say a new game just started for us. So don't speak. Don't look down, there are people everywhere. You know what time is it.

Raven decided she would kill Starfire if she ever got back on speaking terms with her.

"Nice to see you too, Raven," Malchior said silkily from his place on the floor.

"Don't get used to it," she snapped, seizing the book.

"You don't sound happy to see me at all," he whined, managing to still sound oddly charming.

"Well, being betrayed and lied to will put a damper on a relationship."

"Oh. And here I thought you just didn't like dragons."

Raven rolled her eyes.

"Malchior, tell me the story of Cadric," she said quickly, disregarding his comment in favor of this new line of discussion.

"A fairy tale," Malchior yawned; she had a mental image of Malchior waving his hand imperiously, dismissively.

"No," she argued. "We saw him, yesterday. He had all the same powers as in the story, he asked if we were the guardians of this place, talked about taking over this plane."

"Mmm," Malchior replied in a bored tone, clearly not believing her. "Well, why don't you just seal him away in a gem."

She froze at once, clutching the book tightly, her lips parted in an unasked question. Of course he hadn't meant it … he could not have known the significance of the word, of everything that had happened. And yet, the peculiar emphasis on the word troubled her.

The book vibrated weirdly in her hands – she nearly dropped it again before she realized that Malchior was laughing.

"You knew?" she finally gasped out, her mind racing wildly, thoughts of her father flying through her memory.

"Of course I knew!" he said. "Who didn't? Honestly, Raven, you are so slow sometimes."

"You didn't tell me you knew! You should have … you should …" but she trailed off, her vehemence quickly fading, and she turned again to the window. The sun had not yet appeared; the fog had made its exit but the clouds still lorded over the mid-morning sky. The sounds of car horns and police sirens, yells, cheers, and jeers all drifted from the now very awake city and toward the solitary Tower.

"What difference would it have made, if I told you?" Malchior shrewdly interpreted her silence. "If anything, it just made you more attractive. A little girl with the power to destroy the entire planet in a single go. Quite a turn-on." She could almost hear his lips curving into a smile.

"If you knew about my father, you must have known about Cadric," she insisted, slightly disturbed by his last remark.

"Now, my sweet Raven –''

"Don't call me that. I'm not yours and I'm not sweet," she hissed.

"Ah," Malchior chuckled, "Little Raven is not so lonely anymore, is she?"

She was prevented from replying by a sharp knock on her bedroom door. She settled with shooting a scathing look at Malchior before opening her door very slightly.

"Um, hey," Robin said, looking uncharacteristically hesitant. Raven was torn between the equally uncharacteristic urge to melt at the sight of him or the more appropriate impulse to slap the shy smile right off his face.

He cleared his throat, donning his usual determined look. The look he usually had whenever he was steeling himself for something really horrible. A battle with Slade. Suffering through Starfire's cooking. Making amends with Batman after a silly argument. Telling Raven how he felt about her.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked, squinting masked eyes at her.

"Did I give any inclination that any time was a good time?" Raven said coldly.

His lips curved into a devilish grin, clearly remembering their first kiss, and she made a disapproving noise low in her throat, pulling back to slam the door in his face. He grasped her hand, drawing her close to him.

"Raven," he whispered in a husky voice that filled her stomach with pleasant tingles. She couldn't decide between the desire to retain contact and the compulsion to tear herself free. Instead, she simply stared at him.

Can you try and bounce and quickly become one with me?

Come, my baby, I hit your hot spot. I can get on your SL drop top.

And then he kissed her, slowly and thoroughly. She sank against him, welcoming the embrace and reveling in this newfound, but absolutely delightful activity, and just as quickly returned to herself with a resounding crash and shoved him away.

"You can't … you asshole, you can't just ignore me for a week and then expect …" Raven spluttered, retreating into her room.

"Well, it's not like you were exactly forthcoming in your efforts either," Robin snapped for a reply, following her, but he immediately softened. "Raven, I'm sorry. I … don't know. I was being—''

"An idiot?" Raven supplied helpfully, earning a half loathing, half rueful glare.

"You're right. I'm a moron. Raven, I'm so –''

She cut him off by simply wrapping her arms around him, holding him tightly. It was slightly awkward, as though she had never quite gotten the hang of giving hugs but he was pleased by the gesture. Robin put his hands on her shoulders after a moment to look at her. They remained like this for several minutes, grinning like fiends at one another.

Malchior, who loathed being ignored and forgotten, gave a very loud cough. Robin blinked, peering at the book, which was still lying on Raven's bed. His brow furrowed thoughtfully in faint recognition.

"Robin! Oh, so it is you!" Malchior exclaimed cheerily. "I thought it might be, from the way she always talked about you—''

"And that's enough out of you," Raven said, picking him up and preparing him to dump him back into the trunk.

"I taught you so many powerful spells, Raven," Malchior sighed. "Why don't you just use them against your fairy tale villain."

"He's not a fairy tale," Raven said through gritted teeth. "And I'm not using any spells you taught me."

"Honestly, you humans hold such grudges."

"Actually, it's really just human girls," Robin interjected, still frowning at Malchior as though he couldn't quite remember him.

"I like him," Malchior said happily to Raven, who rolled her eyes and dropped Malchior into the trunk. She latched it firmly and then sat on the lid, lifting her amethyst gaze to Robin.

From farther down the hall came the shrieks of a terrified Beast Boy, followed by the roars of an enraged Cyborg.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST DID?" Cyborg bellowed; Beast Boy's shrieks were abruptly cut off, replaced by the sounds of one being violently throttled.

Robin and Raven exchanged raised eyebrows.

"You're leader," Raven said, smirking at him and folding her arms.

"I'm busy," Robin replied loftily, shutting the door.

Notes: The lyrics throughout this chapter are the English translation of Koda Kumi's song, No Tricks. It was the most irritating and ridiculous song I could think of.

Oh and ... I just read that Malchior was freed in Season 5, which I have seen none of. So I guess we're just pretending season 5 hasn't happened yet.