Updated especially for Quinn and His Quill, who scathingly reminded me not even half and hour ago that this was still rotting unfinished in cyberspace…
I am so sorry about updates on this. I really need someone to kick me over this, you know…
Thankyou to: Kitty-Katz-Katz; TheFallenAngel67; dragonprincess1988; LoopyLouise123; Guardian of Azarath; Quinn and His Quill; Brendan Aurabolt; Amara-chan; Dancing through the Storm; dlsky; Me; The Fate of an Amaryllis; Azar's Curse; Narroch and Simmie!
By the Book
"It looks pretty much fine to me," Raven said, leaning back in the chair at Robin's desk.
"What do you mean, "pretty much"?"
"Well, you've translated a little word wrong here and there, but-"
Robin handed her a pen.
"Fix them for me?"
Raven sighed and pulled the notebook towards her.
"You're a perfectionist, you know that?"
"Raven, this has to be perfect…" The Boy Wonder ran a hand through his ebony hair. "We only have one chance at this. It took me so long to find the book we've left the spell to the last possible moment…"
"I know. I'm sorry." Raven sucked on the end of the pen. "This is my fault. If I hadn't… if Happiness hadn't been…" She trailed off and sighed. "You know what I mean. I could have found this spell in an hour, but instead you were left to do it all by yourself."
"Raven, it isn't your fault." He sat on the desk and she looked up at him. "Really, it isn't your fault. You couldn't help it… I'm just so glad you've finally snapped out of it."
"You can thank Starfire for that," Raven said softly, looking down at the notebook.
"Hmm. Yeah, Starfire…"
There was a surprising amount of venom in his voice.
"Robin, don't fall out with her over this," Raven warned, not looking up.
"She could have killed you!" Robin snapped.
"I know." Raven didn't sound very affronted. "She is dangerous when she's angry. We've always know that. You saw her when she first came to Earth…"
"That was before we were her friends!"
"Robin, she's jealous," Raven said calmly.
"Of what?" Robin slid off the desk, spreading his arms to accentuate his inquiry. "Of you? Raven, you're carrying an evil demon child that is going to kill you if we don't get rid of it before tonight! Don't tell me she's jealous of that!"
Raven shook her head.
"She's not jealous of the fact that I am pregnant," she said patiently, crossing through a word and writing another one above it. "She's jealous of the fact that you and I have… well, had something of a relationship, and behind her back at that… I mean, not that I haven't shared… There was that little slip-up a while back where Seth loosened his hold on you and you got your hands on her, but… Robin, she really likes you, and…"
"Don't make excuses for her!" Robin snapped. "I don't care how much she likes me, and hey, yeah, maybe I even like her, but I don't want to hear excuses for her behaviour back there! It was uncalled for and she could have seriously hurt you."
Raven looked up and turned to him.
"You want me to tell you a little something about Starfire?" She asked drolly. "Something you might not realise?"
"What?"
"Take this from me; I have been in Starfire's body and have used her powers. Tamaranean energy is channelled by emotion – it is like mine, but in reverse. If I wish to levitate, I must suppress my emotions, clear my mind and focus; if Starfire wishes to fly, she must think of something joyful. Again, if I wish to move something with my mind, I must clear my mind and focus on it, let it become a part of me – while Starfire, to fire her starbolts, must feel something she calls "righteous fury"."
She noticed him tapping his foot impatiently and sighed.
"Look, what I'm saying is that Tamaraneans are… emotional beings, at best. They depend on being able to unleash their emotions to use their abilities. Starfire has been trained that way, and you will notice that she always says how she feels. It is her way to let everyone know if she is happy, or sad, or angry, and when she feels something strongly, she cannot contain it. What you saw today was jealousy, and blame me for making excuses for her if you will, Robin, but Starfire cannot help being that way. She could not control that jealousy – it overtook her completely, to the extent that she probably did not even know what she was doing…"
"So you don't mind that she was going to blast you with eye lasers?"
"I do mind." Raven went back to the notebook. "And I'm glad you and Cyborg stepped in. But I also understand her…"
"And I don't, is what you're saying?"
"Not as much as you should, as team leader…"
He relented and gave a weary little sigh.
"Guess we all still have a lot to learn about each other…"
"And every new thing we learn is something precious," Raven cited ominously.
"Where'd you hear that?"
Raven shrugged.
"Read it somewhere, probably…"
He leaned against the desk.
"You think I'm a lousy leader, Raven?"
"You do just fine…" She put the pen down and handed him the notebook back. "And if you decide that leading a superhero team isn't for you, I think you've got a bright future as a translator…"
She smiled at him as he took it.
"For a first attempt, that was excellent."
"Well, you wrote out the chart and gave me the books."
"You mean Happiness did."
"Why'd he pick Happiness, anyway?" Robin asked, referring to Seth. "I mean, if he wanted you to seem normal so we wouldn't get suspicious, why didn't he pick Sadness or something?"
"The primary feature of the ring was, in the rare event of his death, to protect the child. If left to my own devices, I would have destroyed it. Happiness would be the emotion that would contain my maternal instinct, and Happiness was very pleased at the thought of having a baby. So he chose Happiness because "she" would be the one emotion most likely to protest at the mention of an abortion. Because, to "her", a baby would be a joyful thing…"
"He really thought of everything, didn't he?"
"He was a smart guy," Raven agreed mildly. "Evil, slimy and arrogant, but a smart guy…"
"You think Jonathon would have stopped him if Seth hadn't killed him?"
Raven shrugged.
"I couldn't say." She looked at the book. "He came to you in a dream?"
"Uh-huh. And then I had some more questions, so I got hold of him through a séance."
"Ironic that he is more helpful now that he's dead," Raven muttered. "When he was alive, all he did was be a pest at meetings…"
"I couldn't have done this without him. I'd probably still be searching for that book…"
"On the other hand," Raven reminded him, "if you'd just broken the news to the others right at the start, Starfire might have wrenched the ring off a whole lot earlier…"
"True."
"Well…" Raven looked at all of his notes and charts and smiled. "You should be very proud of yourself. Considering you have no knowledge of magic, this is really excellent. I'm very impressed."
"Raven, like I had a choice. It was either do this or let you die."
"I know…" Her voice was soft now.
"Well, I have some stuff to get together and I have to practise and everything, so…"
Robin trailed off; he didn't really want her to leave, but…
"I know, I'll make myself scarce until you're ready…"
He heaved her out of the chair and helped her to the door of his room.
Starting out of the door, she turned back to him.
"Robin, I…"
"It's okay."
"I just…" She eventually looked down. "Thankyou… for doing this for me…"
"You know I wouldn't let you die, Raven…"
"I know, I-"
He put a finger to her lips.
"I'll see you later," he said quietly.
And he shut the door.
With a heavy sigh, Raven tottered over her own bedroom door; kitten heels and a heavily-pregnant bump were not a good combo.
Damn that Happiness…
Still, she knew that other maternity wear had been purchased, and planned to change as soon as she got into her room into something more comfortable and less…
…well, as Robin had said; she was wearing a freaking cocktail dress…
It was after she had shut her bedroom door that she felt a sudden staggering pain in her middle.
That she gave a little gasp as she felt something suddenly wet between her legs.
That she looked down in horror at the small puddle on the bedroom floor and realised that her waters had broken.
—
Once Raven was gone, Robin went to his closet and opened it, rooting out yet another cardboard box and carrying it over to his bed. Inside, carefully piled up and some items sealed into little plastic bags, were all of the things he would need for the spell tonight.
He had pilfered the lot from Raven's room.
At the bottom of the box, wrapped in a red silk cloth, was the Blade of Azar, a length of thin black velvet ribbon, and a black obsidian pentacle that he had found in a silver box in one of Raven's cupboards – she had five-pointed stars made of almost every material imaginable, including metal, crystal, paper, beads and various stones.
Before this – and perhaps ignorantly – he had always believed that the pentacle stood for Satanism; but now he knew that this was a stereotyped, and more to the point, incorrect, assumption. Each of the points extended towards each of the five elements needed and acknowledged in Wicca or Paganism. The topmost point extended to infinity above, and clockwise, the next pointed to the element of water, the next to fire, the next to earth and the last to air.
Each of these would also be represented within his casting circle.
In a little purple velvet bag on top of the red bundle was a tiny bottle of frankincense oil, and a few fragments of turquoise and black obsidian.
For his cleansing bath.
He could hardly wait.
Unwrapping a length of blue ribbon he had stolen from Starfire's crafts box, he took a pair of scissors and cut it into eight equal lengths; then tied them together and put them back into the box.
Getting up, Robin went back to his closet and pulled out once more that big crate of designer clothes Bruce had sent to him – only this time he did not require clothes that he felt would make him look less like Robin.
That would make him look different – so that he didn't resemble what he truly was.
A mask to cover a mask.
No, what he needed… was something blue.
Digging through it rather unceremoniously (in a mole-like frenzy), he located a Ralph Lauren pale blue button down shirt and pulled it out, inspecting it.
Perfect.
He shoved the box back into his closet and went to his desk, clutching the shirt; and sat down, tugging open one of the drawers and rummaging around until he found a blue permanent marker. Spreading the shirt out on the surface of his desk – presenting him with the back of it – he flipped open his notebook to the relevant page.
A page on which he had sketched four Wiccan runes.
Each of these needed to be carved onto four casting candles within his circle – but for now, he was putting them to use for something else.
True, he was no fashion designer – but, being a powerless mortal, he needed all the help he could get.
Across the back seam – shoulder to shoulder – he carefully drew, with the blue pen, each of the runes, in a single straight horizontal line.
The first was Eohl, which stood for protection itself; it resembled a capital "Y" with an extra line through the "v" shape, so that it in fact began to look more like the foot of a bird on a kid's drawing.
The second was Daeg, which represented hope and promise; it looked a little like a tiny hourglass turned on its side.
The third was Sigel, standing for victory; and resembling a sharp, stylised "S".
And the fourth and final rune was Wyrd, representing the inevitable; and the easiest the draw. The symbol for Wyrd was, in essence, nothing – and so it was represented by a rectangle with the corners rounded off.
The blessing of protection itself.
Hope and promise that the spell would work.
And when it did, there would be victory.
And the remembrance of the inevitable – that the world kept on turning, kept on living, kept on breathing.
To be perfectly honest, Robin was getting sick of this Wicca business already.
—
With a weary little groan, Starfire lifted her head and sat up. Her left shoulder ached a little and she vaguely remembered Robin above her, pressing down on a muscle somewhere—
And then nothing more.
The alien princess curled up miserably on her pink circular bed, hugging her knees and legs – in their long purple boots – to her chest.
She remembered everything before that.
And she was deeply ashamed.
Somewhere within, a little flame of jealousy still burned; for yes, she was deeply hurt and angry that Robin—
That Raven—
She whined miserably under her breath. Robin had been stolen away from her without her even realising – before she had even had a chance to…
He knew how she felt, surely? And surely Raven…?
She closed her eyes and fought to crush her jealousy back down.
She was jealous; of course she was. She deeply liked Robin, and now… Raven had gotten there first.
And not only that, but she was pregnant by him. Did it even truly matter that – and if – the child wasn't his? They had still made a baby together. And to make a baby—
Starfire put her head in her hands, fighting against her wild and exuberant emotions. As much as she wanted to go completely crazy and rip her starbolts into everything in sight to relieve herself, she knew that she could not.
This wasn't Tamaran.
It wasn't acceptable.
She felt melded anger, pity and remorse in relation to Raven; angry at the other girl for stealing away the boy she liked, pity for her predicament (if she truly was going to die unless the child was destroyed) and remorse for her own behaviour.
She understood why Robin had been so angry with her. Attacking a friend and team-mate was not acceptable.
This wasn't Tamaran.
Feeling very ashamed of herself, Starfire decided to find Raven and apologise. If Raven didn't accept – because even Starfire had noticed that the telekinetic girl hadn't been acting quite right lately – then it didn't matter; Starfire had played her part.
Too depressed to fly, Starfire slipped off her bed, left her bedroom and sloped down the corridor, her head bowed.
She hoped that she did not come into contact with any of the boys.
Lady Luck was playing in her favour; and Starfire reached Raven's room without having to deal with either Cyborg, Beast Boy or (especially) Robin.
She raised her hand to knock—
--And her sharp Tamaranean hearing picked up – very faint, and beyond the door – a groan of pain.
Raven.
Suddenly scared for her friend, Starfire elbowed the door, her alien strength making it buckle and pop open despite the fact that it was locked. Stepping into the dark bedroom, Starfire raised one fist, lighting up a starbolt as she looked around.
She quickly found Raven on the bed and stepped towards it; the pregnant empath was curled on her side, one hand grasped at her stomach.
Raven opened her eyes; and then they became wide and rather frightened.
She couldn't defend herself in this state.
"Azar…" She backed up against the headboard. "Starfire… not now, please…"
Starfire came right up to the foot of the bed and lowered her hand.
"Raven, I do not wish to attack you again," she said, her voice very small. "I wish to… apologise for my behaviour earlier. It was unnecessary and not how a friend should behave. I am very sorry."
Raven was taken aback; but managed a pained smile.
It was difficult to hide the contractions.
Truthfully, Raven was very frightened; she was in labour already and in severe pain, and although her empathic abilities were able to numb it considerably, she wasn't sure how long she could keep this up.
That, and the fact that it was only 1:15pm.
A long time, to say the least, until nightfall and the shining of the first star.
What if the child was born before then?
Pushing the thought away, Raven hauled herself into a sitting position; she had changed her clothes, opting for a pair of soft white maternity jeans and a long-sleeved, high-necked royal blue top. Her cloak was thrown over the top of these garments.
The dress was thrown in a corner somewhere, along with those stupid kitten heels.
"It's alright," Raven sighed in her jaded tone. "It wasn't pleasant, but I understand, Starfire. I know how your powers work. I know you… couldn't really help it…"
"I am still most terribly sorry," Starfire pressed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I am most dreadfully ashamed of myself…"
"Well…" Raven grimaced and shifted. "…I'm sorry too."
"For what, Raven?"
"For… Robin… I know how much… you like him…"
Starfire looked away.
"Well, he has you, and…"
Raven gave a little laugh.
"Starfire, Robin doesn't love me…"
Starfire looked up again sharply.
"He… does not?"
Raven shook her head.
"Weren't you listening this morning? The child I carry isn't Robin's – it's Seth Elliott's, and he used Robin to impregnate me. And to do so, he had to fabricate a bond between us – Robin and I thought that what we felt was love. But it wasn't. It never was. It was him forcing us all along. Robin and I love each other… as very close friends. Nothing more."
Starfire looked down at her lap.
"I did listen. I just… did not believe it…"
"Starfire…" Raven leaned her head back. "I know it's difficult to understand. But Seth Elliott… he was something else. He manipulated everyone – all of us. Robin, myself, Slade, the entire Azarathian Senate. No-one had any choice in any of the matters he fabricated. Robin has always had feelings for you, Starfire; but Seth never allowed him to feel them. Seth wanted him to love me, and he only wanted him to love me so that I would trust him to the extent that I would be relaxed enough to give him a chance to make me pregnant with Seth's child. All along… that was all he wanted."
"Robin is not angered by that?"
"Of course he's angry. He's furious. Why do think he is working so hard to destroy Seth's child?"
"For you."
"Partly." Raven shrugged. "But because he would never let a friend and team-mate die, Starfire. Not because he's in love with me."
"You are lucky to have shared so much with him…"
Raven raised her eyebrows, looking down at her swollen stomach.
"There are some things I would rather not have experienced with him… This entire ordeal has brought us much closer together, but I would not say that the majority of it is happy memories…"
"Do you think…?"
Raven smiled.
"I can't read the future, Starfire. You'll just have to wait and see…"
Starfire gave a little smile of her own.
"Perhaps…"
Raven shifted again uncomfortably.
"Actually, Starfire, I suppose I should thank you for attacking me…"
Starfire blinked and looked up in surprise.
"Why is that, Raven?"
"You pulled off the ring." Raven held up her hand to accentuate her point. "And that was what was making me act so… not like me…"
When Starfire only served to look confused, Raven quickly explained the implications of the ring; focusing on the words to take her mind away from the agony she felt.
"So my attacking you was actually a good thing?"
"In this case, yes…"
"Oh…" Starfire gave a sheepish little smile. "Glad I was… able to help…"
Raven gave a little nod; and then gasped and doubled over, groaning again.
Starfire leapt to her feet.
"Raven!" She cried. "You are in pain!"
Raven straightened up.
"In labour, more precisely…" she muttered.
Starfire spun on her heel and made for the door.
"I am going to get Robin!"
"No!"
Raven concentrated and slammed the door shut with her telekinesis, stopping Starfire in her tracks – even though she could get out if she wanted.
She had certainly gotten in.
"You mustn't tell Robin," Raven ordered as Starfire turned back to her.
"But you are in pain. The child is to be born soon – and is Robin not to stop that from happening?"
Raven shook her head, grimacing again.
"Not yet. It isn't time…"
"But what if-?"
"No, Starfire!" Raven patted the bed. "Please, just come and sit down again. There is nothing you can do. The spell cannot be done until after the light of the first star tonight. Please, don't tell Robin that I am in labour. It will panic him and he will rush, and probably mess up."
Starfire sat again, looking at her friend in concern.
"Is there anything I can do for you, Raven? Anything that I might get for you?"
Raven actually smiled weakly.
"Well, seeing as you asked… a cup of herbal tea would be nice…"
He was thankful that it was October; with its long dark nights.
At 5:30pm, it was already dark.
Lying in his candlelit cleansing bath, Robin was very bored. It didn't feel special at all; the scent of frankincense was heavy and overpowering and the crystals scattered at the bottom of the tub were digging into him.
He closed his eyes and let his mind wander; going from the spell to the recent events induced by Seth Elliott to questioning if the Justice League had rounded up all of the escaped criminals from Arkham Asylum yet to wondering if Luke Perry would ever show up on any other TV channel but Fox.
When he had lain there for as long as he could stand – about three-quarters of an hour, at most – he got out, towelled off and then wrapped the towel around his waist, blew out the candles and put on the light. Fishing out the crystals, he washed them off in the sink and drained the bath. Then, wrapping the crystals in one of the hand towels, he left the bathroom and went back to his room. He took the blue pen from his desk and, sitting on the bed, drew in a vertical line up the length of the underside of each forearm – from his wrist to the crook of his elbow – the four runes; Wyrd, Eohl, Sigel and Daeg. Then he took the lengths of blue ribbon and tied them up his forearms, across the gaps between each rune – four on each arm. Taking up the pen again, he drew, on the palm of each hand, a "3"; for 3, he had learned, was the magical number of Wicca. He pulled on his green pants and utility belt and boots, but in place of his shirt and cape he put on the customised blue Ralph Lauren button-down, loosely buttoning four of the fastenings and leaving it untucked. Towel-drying his hair, he ran a little gel through it and then pulled out his communicator (a new one) and radioed Cyborg, who was standing up on the roof on a sharp lookout for the first star.
"Cy? Anything yet?"
"Uh-uh. Can't be long now, though. It's completely dark. Maybe you should go down and start setting up."
"Alright. Call me when you see it."
"Will do."
The comm. line was cut off and Robin put the device back in his belt, picking up his cardboard box and leaving his room.
They had decided that the Operations Center would be the best place to perform the spell; right in front of the huge window overlooking the bay, so Robin headed down that way. Beast Boy was on the couch button-mashing on Super Ninja Fury, but looked up when Robin entered the room.
"Is it time?" The shape-shifter's green eyes glittered with excitement.
"Not quite yet. Cy's gonna call in when that star shows up."
Beast Boy turned off the Gamestation as Robin passed him, restoring the TV screen back to the window.
"Can I help?" He pleaded, hovering over the Boy Wonder as he knelt down and began to take things out of the box.
"Yeah, just let me get it all out…"
"Cool!" Beast Boy threw himself down next to Robin. "This is gonna be like… Harry Potter!"
Robin raised his head, looking at him for a long time; eventually Beast Boy gave a nervous little laugh.
"Or, uh, not…"
"Beast Boy, please, this is serious…"
He handed the shape-shifter a plain blue (for protection, yada yada…) candle and a birdarang from his belt; then pulled out his notebook, flipped it open to the runes page and pointed to Sigel.
"Carve that into that candle, please."
"Okay…" Beast Boy sat cross-legged and began to cut into the candle with the sharp wing of the weapon, his tongue sticking out in concentration.
Meanwhile, Robin began to set up his working circle, his heart thudding in his chest; he pushed the coffee table aside, being presented with a large empty space of red carpet right in front of the window, and then got together his equipment. Unwrapping the Blade of Azar and the stone pentacle, he spread the red piece of silk out on the floor as an altar cloth, then placed the knife and the star on it, side by side. In between he laid the length of thin velvet ribbon, and to the side a silver candle snuff and a sheet of paper on which he had written out the entire spell in case he forgot it. Around the rectangular cloth, on a wide circumference to create a circle – and at the points of a compass – he set four items to represent each of the elements he would need to call upon within his spell.
At the north he placed a tiny bonsai tree he had swiped from Raven's windowsill to represent to element of earth.
At the east he placed a stick of sandalwood and cinnamon incense, lighting it, to represent the element of air.
At the south he placed a long red candle, which he left unlit, to represent the element of fire.
At the west he placed a small silver dish of water to represent the element of water.
Moving back to his "altar", he placed a thick white church candle to the left of it, and a thick black one to the right; to represent the sun and the moon – the masculine and feminine elements of Wiccan practices.
Before he could go any further, the doors opened and Cyborg came in.
"It's out," the cybernetic teen announced, thumbing upwards at the ceiling. "Just spotted it."
Robin nodded.
"Cool."
Cyborg came over and knelt down.
"Anything I can do?"
"Help Beast Boy carve those symbols into the candles. One on each."
"Will do."
Robin handed him a birdarang and Cyborg got to work on Daeg; Beast Boy had already done Sigel and Eohl.
"Anything else I can do, Robin?" Beast Boy asked, his ears twitching excitedly.
"Go up and get Raven for me."
Beast Boy saluted, bounded to his feet and left the room.
Then he came back.
"Should I get Starfire too?" He asked.
Robin shook his head.
"No. I can't deal with her right now…"
Beast Boy nodded and left again.
"Meant to say, Robbie," Cyborg commented lightly, "you're lookin' sharp."
Robin snorted.
"Bruce would kill me for doing this to this shirt."
"Expensive?"
"Ralph Lauren."
"Ouch." Cyborg winced. "Jeez, burn the evidence when you're done."
"I think he'd be even angrier if I burned it."
Cyborg shrugged.
"Ah, how's he gonna know, anyway?"
"I wouldn't wonder," Robin muttered, more to himself. "Those candles done yet?"
"Sure." Cyborg finished Wyrd and handed all four over.
Robin set them up at each quarter, beside the objects representing the elements; Eohl at the north, Sigel at the east, Wyrd at the south and Daeg at the west.
Then he knelt in the middle of the circle, bowed his head, and went very quiet.
"Hey, you meditating?" Cyborg asked sharply.
"Sshh."
"Are you?"
"I'm trying to. Now shut up; I have to do this or I'll screw up."
Cyborg obeyed and was quiet.
For a few moments.
"Robin?"
Robin didn't answer; although his brow furrowed as he tried harder to concentrate.
"Robin!"
"What?" Robin hissed through gritted teeth.
"You… really think this is going to work?"
Silence.
And then Robin looked up again.
"It has to work, Cy," he said softly. He clenched his fists on his knees and looked out of the window at the dark sky – with one star (now visible through the glass) glinting like a diamond on a sheet of black velvet.
"It just has to."
Oh, god, I was so into the Robin-angst when I wrote this… O.o
All the magic stuff is real. Blue for protection, the symbols are all real Wicca symbols, and NSEW stuff… Ugh, I mean, I just read up on stuff and then smashed it all together in a spell I made up, but the actual components of it are real…
Rawr…
I'll update sooner this time, I swear to God!