Important AN: I know I should be working on Summoner's Sadness, but the beginning of this story came in my head before I could think of something for the other. So I'm gonna write another chapter for ASSIB and then work on SS. So here we go. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions about something that confuses you, ask me and if it's not going to give the story away I will answer so you understand. This took me a while to get to. Sorry had a lot going at the same for a long amount to time. Not really gonna explain myself. Plus I thought I had put this up already. Whoops.
Okay no disrespect to the person who had tried to help me with the logistics of the upcoming medical, but to put it frankly, I'm not doctor nor do I aspire and this is first and foremost a fanfic, as in fanfiction, as in not real, therefore it doesn't have to be true or real at this point. Calm down. If I get any flames on it, I will curse you out harshly. That means anyone. So back off.
Also you will notice that I changed the spelling of Rachel', who is technically Raven, name has been changed and here's my reasoning. According to , Joel who is the root of the Blood+ mishap is, his name's origin in Hebrew. Now when I first wrote this I spelt it as Rachelle because it looked more elegant, but later found out it was French. So later I changed the spelling to the Hebrew spelling Rachel, thinking that Joel would probably name her something to match his name. Also the Saya doesn't mean anything its made up, so I really didn't see a need to use it.
Can anyone help me here? I'm trying to figure out where the location of Joel's study has been but am getting nothing no matter where I look. I think it's in France, but I still not sure.
Thanks for listening.
Disclaimer: I don't own either of the worlds that occur in this story.
"Talk"
'Thought'
A Sword Soaked In BloodChapter 2
Rachel opened her eyes for the second time in over fifty years, the first having only been about seven hours ago. The first thing she saw after so many years of darkness was a contrasting burst of white. She closed her eyes from the brightness and groaned at the splotches of color swirling under her eyelids. She gave herself a few minutes to adjust to the light shining above her before she opened her eyes again and took a slow but efficient look at her surroundings. She realized that she was in hospital of some kind; maybe a hospital wing to a building.
"Titans Tower…" she murmured to herself. She didn't know why she said it. It just popped up into her head. She was in the hospital wing of the Titans Tower. This memory was probably Raven's doing.
Rachel twitched a finger and then a toe, before raising a hand gradually to her face. She watched as her fingers flexed to get some feeling into them. They curled slowly into a fist before stretching outwards. She lowered the hand and sighed as she began the task of standing. She steadily swung her legs over the hospital bed she had been laid upon and landed shakily onto her feet. She studied the sickening white room one more time before she looked down at herself. She was bare foot. It was only then that she noticed how cold the white tiled floor was. She found a pair of dark blue boots that she could only assume were hers on the other side of the bed. She slipped them on and then went back to study the changes of her body. She wore nothing but a black leotard that covered all of her upper body but none of her legs. She saw bloodied bandages wrapped tightly around her left calf all the way up to the middle of her thigh. She unwrapped them to see that the skin underneath was clean and smooth with no wound in sight. This was no surprise to Rachel. She had always known of her incredible healing abilities. It came with what she was.
'My cloak…' she thought aimlessly, wondering just what "her cloak" looked like. Her eyes scanned the room once again until they landed on a dark blue cloak that was hung over a chair. She picked it up and hurriedly draped herself of it, noticing the red-gem belt that was under it and donned that as well.
That's when she heard footsteps moving steadily to where she was. From the number of footfalls she could hear, there was more than one person coming. It was maybe three or four people. Rachel began to feel a dose of panic rise up her spine as she thought of a way to escape before the door opened.
'My room…' Another random thought, courtesy of Raven. Already the memory of where "her" room was filled Rachelle's mind and she activated her powers over darkness to phase through the floor. She didn't stop her travel until she reached the front door of her room. It was a plain gray door that blended well with the gray walls around it. The only thing on it was the name "Raven" in bland black letters labeling the room as "hers". She disregarded this sign for obvious reasons and went inside. The door slid closed automatically as she entered, enveloping her in total darkness. Rachelle frowned at this. She had been in darkness for half a century… she certainly didn't want to be in anymore if she could help it. She quickly found the light switch and the lights went on, allowing her to see.
The room was the absolute definition of darkness. The walls were painted a dark purple, almost to the point of being black. A dark purple bed with black sheets and purple pillows sat against the wall to her left. The right wall had a black bookcase filled with books as well as a small dark blue vanity and a dark purple dresser. A large window was opposite of where she stood, covered by a black curtain. Light was filtering out of the sides so Raven deduced that it was daytime or at least morning. A door that was painted dark lavender was a few feet from her bed. She opened to find that it was a small walk-in closet. Another door was next to her bookcase. She opened this one to see that at was a private bathroom. It had a tub, shower, toilet, and a mirrored medicine cabinet inside. She walked over to the mirror to see what has become of her person after her longer-than-usual Sleep.
She hadn't changed much: same lithe body, deathly pale skin, and same softly featured face. She recognized her features. They never did change when she Slept or when she Woke up. Her hair had grown but only a few inches so that it reached her shoulders. It's usually much longer when Rachel awoke, to her thighs actually, but she guessed that Raven was the one to cut it to shoulder length. It was still too long.
'I'll deal with that later…' She thought as she ran her fingers through the same lavender hair. She focused on her face. There was band-aid on her cheek. She tore that off and saw no cut or blemish to show why it had been there. Her face was as it always had been. All the way down to her brick red eyes. She strangely felt a sense of déjà vu as she saw a girl who looked exactly like her. She stared back at Rachel with cold lavender eyes; eyes that matched perfectly with the blank expression on her face.
Rachelle's own red eyes widened in shock and she gasped in surprise. The girl disappeared and Rachelle once again saw her own face staring back at her with a shaken expression. Rachelle forced her breathing to calm and her heart to slow before she focused back at the mirror.
"Raven…" she said to herself as she ran a hand down the reflective surface.
She exited the bathroom and decided to search the room for something… anything that would help her know where exactly she was and who "she" was. What had Raven been like before Rachelle had taken over again? Who were her friends and what did she do? She could feel Raven's memories merging with her own, but it wasn't coming fast enough. She needed the knowledge now if she was to interact and not raise suspicion with Raven's acquaintances. She searched through the books but found nothing worth noting for right now. Most of them were books on the history of Earth and Azarath and magic books about ritual and dark magic. No hidden pictures or letters between the pages, either.
Only when she had looked under the bed did she find a treasure trove of information after about an hour of fruitless looking. It had been hidden inside a black box so it blended well with the shadows. But having great eyes when it came to dark places, Rachelle found it easily.
She opened it to find pictures and a diary. The pictures were bound tightly together into a large bundle. The diary was a simple small black book that had Raven's name inscribed in purple letters. She put the diary aside to look at the pictures, studying every detail. There was Raven. She looked exactly the same as Rachelle; the only difference was Raven had eyes as lavender as the flower itself and Rachelle's were burgundy color reminiscent of dried blood. Rachelle hardly saw a smile on Raven's face in any of the pictures. A true smile anyway; mostly just the smallest of smirks. Her eyes sometimes had a spark of amusement or mirth in them, though.
There were lots of pictures of people who seemed to be Raven's friends by the way they surrounded her with warming smiles on their faces and friendly gestures.
A girl with long red hair, orange skin, and big, wide, emerald green eyes with a midriff showing purple dress and a unusual height looked at the camera with a bright smile that seemed to light up the pictures. She looked to have a bubbly and sunny personality; an innocence that most would kill to have. She was almost like a polar opposite of Raven who usually stood next to her, dwarfed by the female alien's height. In yet by the looks of it, they were friends. 'Starfire…' The name entered her mind automatically.
The next one was an African-American teenaged boy who looked to be part human and part robot. He didn't wear any clothing or for that matter didn't need to. As Rachelle studied his features in the pictures that showed him, she started feeling a strange sense of warmth and protection. Almost like this was her big brother she was looking at, even though she knew for a fact that she didn't have a big brother. She only had an adoptive little brother and blood sister… a twin sister. Sapphire blues eyes¹ flashed in her mind before she shook her head to rid herself of the vision. She didn't need to think about her right now. No… this was definitely not the time. Rachelle focused back on the teenaged boy and his name popped up in seconds. 'Cyborg…'
She went to the next person to see a green skinned boy with wide forest green eyes and hair of the same color. She didn't see very much of him in the huge pile of photos but she was pretty sure that the green birds, rhinoceroses, kitties, dogs, T-rexes, pterodactyls, and snakes that she had seen were all the boy and that he was a shape-shifter. The name "Beast Boy" ('Huh… figures') clicked off in her head so she moved onto the last person she needed to study.
She saw a dark-haired boy wearing a costume that reminded her of traffic light with the overwhelming combination of red, green, and yellow. On his face was a plain black mask that covered only his eyes but still did its job to hide him from the world. There were a lot of personal photos where it was just he and Raven. There was one where he had his arm around her small shoulders and was holding her close in a friendly fashion. Rachelle not only felt wave of warmth, but she also felt a deep adoration for this boy. He must have been like a best friend to Raven. 'Robin…' For some reason, Rachelle smiled at the name and then began to gather the photos. She rebound them and placed them back in the box with care before she moved onto the diary.
The was a red gem in the binding in place of a lock to keep it from being opened, but when Rachelle looked at it, the knowledge of how to open it rushed into the front of her mind and she knew what she needed to do. She put a finger to it and then put a bit of black magic into it. The gem turned onyx black before opening with a click and Rachelle opened it. She noticed that Raven's handwriting was surprisingly messy and loopy but still readable. She turned to the first page and began to read.
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The other Titans entered the hospital wing only to see an empty room and a black portal that was quickly closing as soon as they came inside. Raven's cape, belt, and shoes were gone as well as herself. The obvious had just occurred: Raven escaped to her room.
"Should we go get her?" Beast Boy asked as he turned towards Robin. His eyes were shifting restlessly at the exit, avid to find Raven and find out what had happened last night.
Cyborg didn't give Robin a chance to answer, "Naw…" He walked into a back room of the hospital wing. "Besides," he yelled from the other room so the others could hear, "I have something to show you anyway. Something I found very interesting about Raven."
Hearing that, the other Titans settled into a chair or bed to hear the news, but Robin remained standing. Cyborg returned with a file folder under his arm that had Raven's name on it.
"Ever since the end-of–the-world fiasco last year, whenever Raven is sent to the hospital wing due to a wound or just needed rest, which is really rare, I sometimes take a brain scan to make sure everything is alright up there."
Robin was only a little surprised at this statement. Cyborg was the doctor of the group so he was allowed to do something like this if he thought he needed to. He hardly ever took brain scans, but Robin could understand why Cyborg did it for Raven. Her mind could be very fragile at times.
Cyborg began to speak again, "Every time before now I always found this in my scans." He took three pictures out of the folder and pinned them against a bright light board. He turned on the light so they could be seen.
The scans showed shapes of normal brains but their colors in different splotches of color. There was no uniformity of the colors and each scan was different from the last. But there was one thing that each one had that Robin had a feeling wasn't normal or really supposed to be there. In the very back of the brain was a big neon purple cloud. It was in the same place in each picture and stayed the same size, never increasing or decreasing in girth.
Robin eyebrows furrowed in fascination as asked, "What is that cloud thing?"
"I was waiting for you to ask that," Cyborg said, "In my small experience and from what I read from books after I saw this thing. It could be a suppressed memory."
"Suppressed memory?" Starfire repeated in confusion.
"Yeah, and by the size of it, I'm guessing it's a pretty big one."
"Wait," Beast Boy said, "what exactly does that mean?"
"It means that some of Raven's memories had been locked up somewhere in her mind so that not even she can see them or remember them. Most are caused by a trauma but someone else can force them to happen. Most people have small ones, though. Whatever was locked in there had to be big."
"Was?" Robin asked, truly interested yet worried about where this was going.
"Oh yeah," Cyborg chuckled at his forgetfulness. "Well, last night while she was still asleep from whatever happened yesterday, I decided to make another scan to make sure everything was okay… and I found this." He went over to the medical computer and took from the printer a freshly made brain scan. He hooked this new one onto the board next to the other three and what the Titans besides Cyborg saw shocked them.
The giant purple cloud that had taken up most of the back of Raven's brain was completely and utterly gone! There wasn't a trace of it anywhere. It looked like it had never been there in the first place.
"Hey!" Beast Boy exclaimed, "Where'd that big blob go?"
"Well, I'm guessing that the memories inside of it have been released somehow. Most likely some time last night at the power plant." Cyborg answered.
Robin was silent thus far in thought before shouted, "That guy!" The memories of that kiss between that man and an unconscious Raven flew in his mind as he said those words. "He must have done something to Raven to unleash the memories."
"That's what I was thinking. Problem is I can't tell if it was a bad thing or a good thing that the memories were freed. Suppressed memories are usually a bad thing to have, but with Raven you never know…" Cyborg trailed off as his mind wandered in worry of the possible outcomes of these happenings.
"Should we confront friend Raven about this?" Starfire asked confusedly.
"Yeah I think we should," Robin said, "This could be dangerous to not only Raven but to others as well."
"I'm with you man. We need to see what happened to Raven back there?" Cyborg inquired.
"Dude, I know! I had never seen Raven so scary before; even when she was angry at me." Beast boy said with a shudder.
"I believe friend Raven may need our help once again, yes?" Starfire asked.
"Real question is: Will she accept our help?" Robin queried as he slouched into a seat with a exasperated sigh.
Cyborg looked at his sadly and replied, "That, man, I don't know about either."
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It took Raven almost two hours to read the contents of Raven's little black book.
It was rather interesting and more informative than most diaries usually were. It almost seemed more like a biography/bingo book than someone putting his or her deepest, darkest secrets inside. The only difference was that Raven inserted her own feelings and opinions rather than stay neutral about the subject.
Robin was Raven's best friend and understood her more than anyone else on the team did. They shared a both metaphorical and literal bond that made them know the most about each other. From the reading, it seemed as if Robin had been Raven's first friend.
Cyborg was sort of a big brother to Raven, the way they spent time together working on his car, which he had dubbed as his "baby", just talking while doing the task, and how he is so protective of the small pale girl. He also thought of her as the little sister he never had so the feelings between the two were mutual.
Starfire was sort of an annoyingly innocent friend that Raven seldom hung out with or had anything in common with besides the fact that they were both girls and aliens somewhat. There were times when Starfire would try to get Raven to go to the mall with her, but it usually consisted of Starfire buying nothing but pink clothes and trying to convince Raven into wearing blouses and skirts with floral prints (all of it being in vain). Raven still liked her, but they just weren't very close compared to Robin and Cyborg.
The same went for Beast Boy, too. Raven seemed to think of Beast Boy as an annoying brat most of the time, but who could also sometimes be sweet and maybe (but rarely) thoughtful, in his own dorky sort of way. He could be really irritating, even if his heart was in the right place most of the time. He liked to do pranks on the other Titans, especially on Cyborg. He is constantly challenging Cyborg in videogames and despite their eating differences.
Raven had been a super heroine and was part of the superhero team, the Teen Titans. Robin was the leader and was their main strategist with some help from Raven.
She had been sort of the brainpower and the serious person of the group. Her maturity, intelligence, and her ability to stay calm in most situations is the reason why Robin had made her second in command if anything were to happen to him. Her emotions had to be strictly controlled in order for her powers to work or else it can cause a lot of trouble and destruction. Rachel couldn't help but nod her head in understanding. Rachel had had the same problem when she found about her powers over darkness that had been given to her by her father, Trigon. She had learned about them fifty years into her life and it took her another fifty years to fully understand how to use her emotions without destroying the Earth. It had been hell to learn but it was worth it to be able to smile and laugh again and be able to feel anger without killing someone. It was a wonderful feeling.
The book also held some stories that Raven had experienced while being a Titan. Such as when Starfire's and Raven's bodies were switched and they had to understand each other in order for them save the day. Or when Trigon had been brought to Earth and was going to destroy it, but the Titans were able to defeat him in the end. Rachel shuddered when she read this, somewhat glad that she had been Asleep and had not had to face him. It showed the informative contents of the all the enemies that they had fought in the past, what they could do, and what they have done.
Rachelle started to receive a headache. Absorbing three years of another girl's knowledge and memories in one's mind took a lot of brainpower. But she did have to know this so that Raven's friends won't think anything is amiss. She will be leaving them, no doubt about that, but that won't have to happen until she makes another move and goes somewhere outside of Jump City. Who says she can't stay here for at least a few more months until that happens?
The throbbing in her head increased, causing her to groan and hold her head. She focused her healing powers on her head and the pain diminished slightly. Rachel put the diary back in the box after locking it, and slid the box back under the bed. There was still an aching that had to be fixed. She couldn't go outside yet to get something for it. Much too early and she was in too much pain too think of a good enough explanation for her behavior last night. She walked back to her medicine cabinet in the bathroom and found it mostly empty except for a few girl things. One thing it was unfortunately vacant of painkillers for her headache. Rachelle sighed heavily in annoyance, making a mental note to go to a store and buy some aspirin. She decided that she would just sleep it off. The pain hopefully should be gone by then. She walked over to the large bed and felt the sheeting, finding them remarkably soft. She stripped off her cloak and boots and slid under the covers, resting her head on the soft pillows. She smiled at the comfort and warmth she felt underneath the sheets.
Rachelle loved sleeping. She thought of it as a luxury that mostly everyone took for granted; to be able to dream of your wildest fantasies. This was always a comfort for her to have for more than a year since she usually was Asleep by then. And that kind of sleep was always dreamless. The only thing she did not like about sleeping: nightmares. Over her long life she has done a lot of scary and gruesome things and those adventures amplified ten-fold by a nightmare is not on her top ten of things to have.
Rachelle let her mind wander as her eyes drifted close and her breathing slowed. Within seconds she was asleep.
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The other Titans disbanded from the hospital wing to be left to their own devices; to do something to take their minds off of Raven until she left her room and they would have a long talk of what had happened. Robin was in the gym training as always beating a punching bag with more umph than necessary. Cyborg was in the garage, working on his car, though it seemed a little boring without his number one partner around to help him. Beast Boy was in the living room trying to play some videogames, but finding it hard to focus. And Starfire was in her room; studying teenage culture from a teen magazine, but was barely reading the words before her.
Robin kicked and punched at the punching bag until a well-placed punch created a hole in the bag. Robin removed his hand and watched as the sand leaked and spread across the floor, panting heavily and massaging his aching knuckles. He stared at the hole blankly. Plopping unceremoniously down onto the padded floor, he let out a frustrated sigh. He laid down, ignoring the feeling of the grain digging into his skin, and looked at the ceiling as his mind wandered towards what happened in the power plant
He'd have to give a report to the Chief of Police on what happened. They had left the scene before the police had arrived. In fact they had left before anyone had gotten there to get
Raven some help and Robin's back was still aching from that metal door so he wasn't in the mood to verbally give his report.
He just had no idea of what he was going to write for the Chief. He couldn't write that something strange had happened to Raven and she was the one that killed those things so brutally. The man already didn't truly trust Raven, the dark witch of the Titans, to his city. Robin could already imagine what he would do if he found out that Raven had gone all bloodthirsty like that. No matter that it was to protect them.
The thing that worried Robin the most was that Raven had been keeping something else from him and the team; something else that had endangered their lives to dramatic degree. Gloom flowed through as he realized that all the talks that they had had together had done nothing to build more trust between the two. She still didn't trust him enough to tell him about something like this. Whatever this was.
But it didn't matter. Robin is going to find out about this no matter what. He could never forgive himself if he were let something like this be left alone like the last time and then end up almost or succeeding in causing tons of destruction. He was not going to allow Raven to endanger herself ever again. This was a promise that he was determined to keep.
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End of Chapter
AN: Well finished with this. Third chapter will come soon. I had been working on that before I realized that this hadn't been put up yet. Whoops again.