Shadows In A Mirror
Part Two
by Go-Go Spiders
A 'Princess and the Frog'/'Teen Titans' crossover
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)/Adult!Raven (Teen Titans)
***
Raven wasn't sure what to think of Facilier.
While there was no doubt he was a clever man, perhaps he was a little too clever for his own good. He knew the best way to mess with his clients' heads, but summoning the daughter of one of the most powerful beings on the Other Side had been an act of arrogance, second only to trying to summon Trigon himself. Facilier's power was strong for borrowed secondhand magic, but hers was stronger as it came directly from her blood. Facilier had put himself in a situation where Raven could've killed him if she had wanted to. She was not bound to her promises like he was. Choking the life out of him from within her shadow soul-self would have been simple. But Facilier had counted on her desire to be more then her demonic heritage and on his own ability to charm her.
Facilier was a trickster, a conman who swindled people who should've known better out of their money. He took their wishes, hopes, and desires and twisted them around until they were unrecognizable. But despite her better judgement, she did like him. She had to admire his intelligence; he had figured out that the 'gem' in an ancient prophecy regarding Trigon bringing about the end of the world was a daughter and not a gemstone decades before the daughter would be born. He had cobbled together a summoning circle that had both called her from her own time and withstood the force of her stronger magic. He had stood his ground against a woman of much greater shadow powers than himself.
His request was simple. A transfer of dark energy should've been quick: take them into her soul-self, infuse them with enough dark energy to reverse the effects of the light on Facilier's shadow, and bring them out again. Easy.
That shouldn't have ended in a one-night stand, but it had. During the brief moments when Facilier had been inside her soul, she had discovered a man very similar to herself; the threat of their dark powers consuming them, similar desires, similar fears. They'd started undressing each other as soon as her soul-self had returned to her body. His shadow had leered at the two of them from the wall as a slightly-dazed Facilier unhooked her ruby brooch and slid her cloak off her shoulders while she had untied the red sash from around his waist.
Soon Raven and Facilier had stood before each other naked. His long fingers had run down the back of her neck as he admired her. She had smirked at him, her eyes mischievous, and curled a finger around a strand of his dark hair as she pulled him down to the floor.
She wondered for a moment if she'll regret this come the morning. She doesn't.
***
Several weeks after their first encounter, Facilier called her again. Unlike the first time, where she had been violently ripped out of her study without warning by the summoning spell Facilier had cast, this time Facilier's shadow appeared on the wall of her study, somehow slipping past the defensive wards she had drawn around the room.
It tugged urgently at the hem of her cloak. She jerked from the spellbook she'd been trying to translate in surprise, then let out a loud breath as she recognized the silhouette. Facilier's shadow tugged again, gesturing wildly for her to follow it.
"Something's happened," said Raven. The shadow quickly nodded, still clutching the bottom of her cloak.
She appeared from a dark corner of Facilier's Voodoo Emporium to find Facilier sitting on the edge of his bed, bloodied and bruised almost beyond recognition. His shadow was doing its best to stop the bleeding with limited success.
"Hey there, darlin," Facilier said quitely, managing a weak smile as blood dribbled down his face. "Glad you got my message." He spat a tooth covered in bloody saliva into his hand and offered it to her. "If you could put this back in for me, I'd sure appreciate it."
His shadow hovered above nervously as Raven silently healed the wounds inflicted on its master with her magic. Facilier remained still as her dark energy danced over his injuries, his eyes shut and breathing slow, leaning against Raven for support. When the purple bruises had vanished from his skin and the wounds had closed, they had sat together in silence for a moment.
"You're not going to tell me what happened, are you?" Raven asked.
Facilier's mouth twisted into a bitter frown, but he said nothing before she left the next morning.
That was the last time she saw Facilier alive.
***
The next time Raven visits Facilier's Voodoo Emporium, she comes uninvited. There are cobwebs hanging from the rafters when she enters. The place is in ruins, jars broken, tapestries ripped from the walls and tables, books missing from the shelves, decks of tarot cards scattered on the floor, windows smashed.
What bothers her most of all is that she can't feel Facilier's presence anywhere.
She flies across the darkened sky of New Orleans undetected by most mortal eyes. When she approaches Lafeyette Cemetery No. 1, she feels a twinge of Faciler's magic. Just a small tug, nothing more.
Raven lands among the tombstones of the cemetery, letting the small pull of his magic lead her along through the rows of graves. She already suspects what she will find at the end.
Instead, she first finds the fragments of a clay talisman lying in the weeds across from a crypt, and she feels a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. Even broken and without the blood fueling it, the talisman still burns with the power of the Other Side, and the fingerprints of Facilier's magic still clings to it.
In a sudden burst of anger, Raven stomps on the clay fragments, reducing them to little more then dust.
She looks up at the crypt, tears of frustration and loss threatening to spill over. Engraved in relief is Facilier's screaming face, a look of pure terror in his eyes. Approaching it, Raven touches the stone relief gently, tracing the contours of the carved face with her finger.
She'd hoped he'd have more time, but the Other Side has already claimed him.