AN: Man I'm on a roll. Right after finally finishing SS and proofreading it by hand, I'm already moving on to ASSIB while I wait on a beta to fix mistake I may have missed. I really want this story to become really popular. I have high hopes for it. So on with the story. Wow I wrote this months ago. I know I'm taking a while with these chapters, but I've made a new pact with myself one chapter a month. That mean writing it, proofreading it by hand, maybe giving it to a beta if they don't make it too complicated, and uploading it before
Last chapter I was fixing it up for fun after I was finished with this and I realized that I missed over twenty 'Rachelle' when trying to fix them to 'Rachel'. Sorry about that but once again read the AN of chapter two understand I changed it to Rachel. This won't happen again as I have learned a new way on the computer to make sure I don't miss anymore name mishaps. You learn new stuff everyday! Sorry once again about that.
Also I'm tired of repeating myself. So I'm putting this is bold: Saya does not exist in this story. She is being replaced by Raven (or rather Rachel). You'll find out more in later chapters so quit asking me question that will only give away the story if I answer them. Killjoys!
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans the Cartoon Network series or Blood+ the Adult Swim series. Or at least I think it's still on AS. I haven't been watching in a very long while since it became too complicated to watch in the second and third series. Miss one episode and you have no clue what's going on the next!
"Talk"
'Thought'
A Sword Soaked In BloodChapter 3"Raven! Yo, Rae! Girl, are you in there?!"
Rachel sprung up from her bed at the sudden sound of her name being called. Someone was knocking on her door. She flung off her sheets and was about to answer door until she noticed something in her vanity mirror. Her eyes. They were still their brick red color. Those would surely be noticed by Raven's friends. Ignoring the knocking for a few more moments she placed her right hand over her eyes. She transferred her power to create a glamour over her eyes to make them appear lavender like Raven's. She quickly checked her body for any other difference. Seeing no problem, she put on her cloak and slipped on her boots. She walked briskly to the door while smoothing down her hair, unlocking it so it would slide open.
It was Cyborg. His balled fist was over her head as if poised to knock again, but stopped when the door opened. He instantly lowered his hand.
"Hi." Rachel said casually, inwardly wincing as she thought that maybe that was out of Raven's character, she never was the best actor.
"Uh… hi…?" Cyborg said apprehensively. "You okay? You've been in there for a long time."
"Oh yeah… I- I'm fine. I was just resting." Rachel began privately smash her head into a wall at her stammering.
"For five hours?"
"Yes. For five hours." And with that Rachel pushed past him to walk to the meeting room, Cyborg having no choice but to follow her.
They walked inside to see the other already in there. 'I guess they have assembled for a meeting.' She thought. This conclusion, however, did not stop her from moving over to the kitchen even if she did notice Cyborg join them. She calmly went to a cupboard to find a metal pot, finding it easily as if she had lived there all her life.
"Raven." She heard Robin speak behind her but she did not stall in her movements as she created her cup of herbal tea.
"Yes." She said coolly as she filled the pot with water and then put it on the stove. She turned it on.
"We need to talk." He stood up and began to walk over to join her in the kitchen.
"Maybe later." She said just as evenly as she set down a mug and bag of herbal tea.
"No. Now." Robin placed a hand on the counter in front of her to get her attention and to stop her from continuing what she was doing. Rachel paused, simply staring at the gloved hand before moving her eyes to Robin's face. Robin looked her dead in the eyes, meeting her defiant look with his own determined ones.
Finally, after a minute of a nonverbal conflict, Rachel decided to stand down. He was the leader after all and it would probably look suspicious if she stood up to him like this much longer.
"What about, Robin?"
"About what happened last night."
"What about it?" Rachel decided playing the amnesia ploy would be the best course of action at the moment.
"Raven!" Robin yelled in frustration.
"What Robin! I have no idea what you're talking about! I think if you're going to question me about something, then you should at least be a bit more specific about the information you want."
"Who were those people?" Cyborg asked to prevent of the confrontation that was about to escalate.
"Who were what people?" Rachel inquired not meeting anyone's eyes. It would be better if they knew nothing of Rikku or Haji.
"Who was that man? And that kid? Who were they?" He continued.
"I don't know what you're talking about?" Rachel asked.
"Do you not remember what happened, friend Raven?" Starfire asked.
"No. What did happen?"
"Dude! There were these monsters and there were chasing and you were like passed out or something! And this weird guy came in and did something to you and then you got all scary with these red eyes! And they were creepier that the usual red they used to turn to! And then you used this sword and sliced and diced those monsters to pieces!"
Rachel remembered that clearly, it had been sort of her way of letting out some steam after being Asleep for so long and those Chiropterans were the perfect outlets.
She feigned surprise, her brows rising slightly. "What?" she said in shock.
"You really don't remember, do you?" Robin mumbled, not expecting her to hear but Rachel shook her head anyway. She still refused to meet anyone's eyes, content with looking into her empty mug.
They were interrupted from their thoughts when an alarm went off. The lights started flashing red. Robin was about to leave Raven but then he suddenly turned around and looked Raven in the eye. "We're not done yet, Raven. We still need to talk." And without waiting for a reply he left her to go over to the master computer. He typed in a few keys to bring a map of Jump City. A flashing light popped up on the map in the downtown area.
"It's the New City Bank." Robin said.
"Again?" Beast Boy groaned in frustration. That bank was one of the most broken into bank in the city. It had to have been robbed like fifity times since they lived there, it was starting to get old.
"Yup." Robin answered. He pressed another key to bring up a security camera playing live footage. "It's the Hive again."
And there they were, Gizmo dragging out bag after bag of money as Mammoth carried large piles outside while Jinx watched near by.
She must have felt herself being watched because her eyes turned towards the camera. With a wicked grin she raised a hand at the camera and released her powers of bad luck, breaking the camera and the Titans' connection.
"Let's go Titans!"
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"Come on guys! Hurry it up! Put your backs into it!"
Mammoth groaned as he picked up another five hundred pounds in gold bars. "Ya know, we could do this faster if you helped."
"Yeah!" whined Gizmo.
Jinx laughed derisively as she said, "Pfth! And break a nail? Yeah right! Get back to work, idiots!"
"I don't even know why you bother doing all that work. It's pointless!" A voice rang through their arguing.
They turned towards the source and narrowed their eyes in irritation when they saw whom it was.
"You're just going to have to put it back!" There were the Titans standing in the rubble that the Hive had created.
"Ha! Make us, butt-sniffers!" Yelled Gizmo as Mammoth and him dropped their work to get ready for a fight.
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Rachel had no idea how she ended up fighting the overly large teenager known as the Mammoth. But here she was standing at the ready in front of this guy. She didn't really think that this would be a problem, but it just seemed a bit troublesome to deal with.
Mammoth chuckled as he looked down at this tiny girl. "Looks like the little Birdie is afraid of me."
Rachel had to suppress her desire to roll her eyes. "You wish." She raised her hand and encased a mailbox from behind him to knock it into his head. Mammoth staggered forward at the attack, but it did not do much to hurt him; only piss him off.
"Why you little-!" He slammed down a fist but Raven easily dodged the attack. Mammoth picked up a rather large piece of rubble, which Raven caught with her magic and turned it back at Mammoth. Mammoth was knocked back and growled in irritation.
He started another tactic of raging at her in a mad charge, running at her like a rabid bull. This time Rachel did roll her eyes and simply stepped out of the way. He ran into a wall that seemed to be rather weak as it collapsed under his ramming. The rubble covered him completely and he made not another sound, seeming to be knocked out.
'That was too easy.' Rachel allowed herself a sigh of annoyance before turning to the other battles seeing who may need her help. Robin and Cyborg seemed to be doing fine fighting Gizmo and Starfire and Beast Boy were doing quite well against Jinx.
All of sudden, she sensed danger coming her way and turned around to see Mammoth with a metal traffic pole, but before she could protect herself he was swinging it into her body like bat and she was the ball.
As the pole made contact she instantly felt white pain as several of her ribs broke inside of her. Blood flooded her mouth and leaked past her lips. She felt a nauseating lightness as she flew through the air and then she heard her skull crack as it hit a wall along with the rest of her body. She could practically the concussion forming in the back of her head. Her left shoulder dislocated she grabbed at it as more blood fell from her mouth staining, her white teeth.
She was nearly blinded by the pain. Her eyesight had turned red as she looked at the smiling Mammoth still holding that traffic pole. She instantly started have this intense want to cause as much bodily harm to this huge male. She heard someone yell Raven's name but in her anger she did not bother to acknowledge it
All of a sudden, her pain started to decrease she could feel her bone moving back into place and mended themselves, her skull seal its cracks and her concussion disappear. Her shoulder went back into place with a sickening pop that made Rachel wince. She gripped the wall as she slowly rose from her limp position. She spit out the blood that had been clogging her lungs. "Okay… now I'm angry." She stood totally erect as if she hadn't just been struck dead on with a metal pole.
Everyone who had seen it (meaning everyone who was on the battlefield) were now frozen in shock and disbelief. They couldn't believe that Raven was back on her feet like nothing happened when the proof of the event was on her bloodied and torn leotard and the blood that stained her lips and teeth.
Rachel knew that she should be keeping a low profile, especially after that little fiasco not even a day before, but right then she couldn't give a flying fuck about the consequences that could follow. At that moment, all she wanted to do was beat the shit out of this oversized behemoth that dared try to kill her.
She walked calmly towards him but everyone could see the living flames burning in her eyes. The Mammoth seemed oblivious to the pain that he was in for as he gave another swing down onto the dark witch's head.
Rachel, expecting it, braced for the impact and caught it with one hand before it reached her crown, effectively stopping its movement. Mammoth looked stunned at this sudden show of extreme strength and lost his grip. With both hands, Rachel snatched the makeshift weapon out of Mammoth's own.
She smirked evilly, "Let's see how you like it." She said as she brought it back for her own swing. She swung it but being the bulky man Mammoth was, the bar bent at a 90˚ angle as it hit his middle region but caused no damage to his person.
The other had then officially stopping fighting, too shocked to this side of Raven to continue. Instead, they pleased themselves to watch how this fight would end.
"Heh. Heh. Stupid Bird!" Mammoth smiled mockingly as Raven dropped the bar. "You really thought that some little piece of metal could hurt me?" He pounded his pecs to prove his point before snarling. "Looks like Birdy's got some muscle. But it's nothing compared to mine." Raven said nothing to this. She only stared at him with a blank as if she was looking at the imbecile of imbeciles.
"Got nothing to say?" Still Raven said nothing and this only served to piss him off even more.
"Why you...!" He growled. "Try to catch this!" He charged at her and then brought down his fists with the intention to crush the smaller girl but Rachel still showed no fear. She simply raised both her hand and caught his wrists.
She chuckled lightly before she muttered with a mocking smirk, "Nice try." Her smirk grew to a full grin when she saw Mammoth look completely stunned and in a daze at his predicament. She gripped his wrists tightly and then swung him easily over her body, smashing him into a wall and knocking him unconscious. Raven stared at the still Goliath before e she turned towards Gizmo, who was visibly shaking in fear. Being encountered with her frozen fiery stare he squeaked, and readily ran behind Cyborg who he had just been battling with.
"I'll go to jail now." He muttered in panic still shaking.
Jinx had been dazed like the others until at the spectacle but, at Gizmo's words, she shook herself out of her stupor. "What the hell, Gizmo? What's your problem! It's just Goth girl, for Christ's sake!"
She deserted her fight with Beast Boy and Starfire and instead ran for Raven, a fist raised to punch the dark girl in the face. Raven easily dodged what came her way, making Jinx stumbled as she only hit air. Her back was bare to Raven so she simply drove a well placed elbow into Jinx's back, knocking pink witch to the ground. The girl squirmed in pain but did not rise again.
Gizmo began to cry in panic and then screamed and begged to be taken to jail to be safe from Raven.
Robin shuddered from his stupor to take out his communicator to contact the police chief that it was safe to make the appropriate arrests.
Rachel had by then quelled her anger enough to realize what she had done. She spared a glance at the unconscious Mammoth and Jinx and then at the hysteric Gizmo and inwardly smacked herself for letting herself go like that. She was supposed to be undercover.
She was interrupted in her thoughts by Beast Boy's yelling. "Woah! Raven! That was so cool! It was like watching wrestling! Super-powered wrestling! How did you do that?"
"Yeah Raven." Robin followed up on Beast Boy's commentary. "How did you do that?"
Raven said nothing. She felt a slight sense of dejavu as this was almost like in the kitchen.
"Raven?" Robin repeated.
This time Raven did react. She simply turned into a dark energy and melted away; most likely to her room.
"What did I tell you, man? Unlocked memories are a strange thing." Cyborg said as he stood beside his leader.
Robin thought for a moment before he began to walk towards his R-cycle and without another word donned his helmet, got on the motorcycle and drove off toward the tower for the obvious reason of talking to Raven.
Cyborg sighed before turning towards a flabbergasted Starfire and Beast Boy, "C'mon on… Let's go home."
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Unbeknownst to the Titans, on the top of a building nearby, there were two people, two men actually. They stood calmly, not speaking a word as they observed the battle that had just taken place. Or more specifically, one pale girl's fighting until she left. And that's when they spoke…
One of the men, a rather young man with pale blonde hair and green eyes chuckled to himself. He smiled as old memories were brought forth in his mind. "Heh. Same old Rachel."
The other, a man who looked be in his forties. Looked at his partner in thought before he said, "I disagree, Solomon. I don't think I've ever seen Rachel be so physical with an opponent."
"Oh come now, Amshel! That look! That beautiful look of hers that can strike fear into the heart of the strong as well the weak. It's the same as it had been all those years ago. I have to admit, I missed seeing her face. It's been too long."
"Yes it has. And look what time has done to her. That costume of hers… Rather ridiculous if you ask me. I would have thought she would pick something better."
"Well… maybe she had to fit into superhero protocol. After all, almost all superheroes look like idiots."
"Enough of this drabble. We've spent too much time here. We must go back now. " Amshel turned from the scene and began to walk into the opposite direction. Solomon watched him walk before he followed behind him.
"Should we tell her about this?" The blonde asked as they jumped into an alley from a fifty foot building as if it was the easiest thing to do.
"Yes we should." They walked coolly into the city surroundings and blended into the crowd of citizens.
"I just don't get why we should. She knows everything about Rachel already. What would make this any different?"
"Because she is our Mother, Solomon. And we must be eternally loyal and tell of everything we see that pertains to her enemy. Don't let your feelings for Rachel blind your judgment, younger brother." His voice turned to reprimand in an instant as he sneered at Solomon.
"How can I not, Amshel? She is after all to be our bride. I feel an almighty connection to her-"
"But we must ignore that connection and continue to be loyal to Mother. No matter what." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Do not worry, Solomon. We shall have our bride soon enough."
"I hope you're right, older brother." And with that they lapsed into silence as they continued for their destination.
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"Raven! Raven open up!" A yell could be heard down a familiar hallway. Anyone could tell who it belonged to: Robin. Open up: It held more than one meaning as he yelled through Raven's door.
Robin banged on the door again when he got no answer. "Raven! I know you're in there!"
The door suddenly opened making Robin stumble inside. To his surprise the curtains were raised, and he nearly overlooked Raven, who was staring out her window seemingly in thought.
"Raven?" he mumbled quietly, almost not expecting her to hear this call and it almost seemed like she hadn't as she didn't make a move in response. A few seconds went by before Raven finally turned towards Robin.
"Yes, Robin?" She said calmly as if she had done nothing wrong. And to tell the truth she hadn't really done anything bad. She had defeated and single-handedly locked three baddies in one afternoon. That kind of feat should be celebrated, but for some reason the way it was brought about just wasn't… Raven. That sort of brutish violence just wasn't her style hs usually ended things quickly and safely with her powers, which she had begun to do. It wasn't until that hit in the stomach with that pole… that everything about her changed. She never had played with her opponents like she had with Mammoth. The others might not have seen it that way, but having once fought in a city like Gotham, Robin could see it clearly. Those eyes that also held something else in those icy depths. That familiar sort of sick amusement in wanting to hurt someone. He had seen it more than once and was well versed its many forms. Raven's hadn't been exactly evil, but it hadn't been very good either. It was sort of hard to explain, however, the gaze had given him chills nonetheless.
He shook off his shivers. "What was that, Raven?"
"What was what, Robin?"
"RAVEN!" Robin yelled in aggravation. She was blatantly skirting over an issue that was becoming steadily more and more dangerous. Did she think him stupid to not ask what was going on in that head of hers after last night's incident and now this? This was becoming ridiculous! "Oh no! Not this time, Raven! You are not avoiding this!"
Raven glanced towards him before looking back at the sun that was slowly starting to descend.
Robin huffed at the deliberate disregard of his authority. Raven's never been this rebellious when he had to play "follow the leader". She usually followed his orders without complaint (or at least with only one or two sarcastic quips attached). This change was really starting to worry him.
He sighed in tried frustration. He walked over to the vanity in the room and took the chair that sat before it… which was weirdly designed with only three legs. He placed it a few meters behind the dark witch and sat, simply staring at Raven's frozen back before speaking again. He spoke calmly as he asked, "What's wrong, Raven? What's going on?"
Once again Raven chose not to speak. Her eyes never left the window, but somehow Robin knew that she was following his every move.
"Raven… you know you can trust me, right?" Still no answer. "Raven… we have a connection, you know that. Ever since that time with Slade, you remember? I can feel something's wrong with you. Something's different, Rae. What is it?"
More silence followed. "Does it have to do with that man… or that boy… or those creatures? What were those things, Rae? Cyborg tried to do a search on them but there was no such thing on the databanks. Who were those people-?"
"I already told you I don't know them." Rachel finally spoke and it was a denial of all things.
"Do you know what those creatures were?"
"No. But I plan on doing research on them. They could be supernatural for all I know. I've never seen them before." Lie after lie began to fall from her lips and easy as flowing water and once she started she couldn't stop. She felt guilty about deliberately leading her leader astray but there was nothing she could do. 'This is for his and rest of the group's safety. The less they know the better.'
"What's happening to you, Raven? What was that back there? I never… you've never fought that way before. I mean when I saw you get beamed by that pole, I was really worried about you and then you just… you got up like it was nothing, but it had be something! People don't just get up after being knocked into a brick wall! And then you pull off moves that were completely unlike you! You scared me, Rae? What is going on-?"
"I don't know, Robin!" Rachel finally yelled in frustration from the interrogation. This conversation was starting to ware of her nerves and she wanted it to end now. She turned her head to give him an irritated glare.
To Robin's surprise, for once nothing exploded or flew through the air when she yelled and showed emotion. 'She must have stronger control over her powers.' He thought idly.
Her voice brought him back to the subject at hand. She had visibly calmed as she turned her back to him, but she still held annoyance in her tone. "I don't know what happening to me. It's all so sudden as if a new strength has come forth. I know it's not natural, you don't have to remind me." She sighed as turned to look at him again. This time she showed tiredness on her face, a look that almost seemed foreign on her usually unaffected features. It somehow made Robin feel instantly guilty about what he was doing to her. She was his teammate. His second-in-command. His confidante. His best friend. And he was just interrogating her like she was just another criminal with dangerous information. He couldn't find it in him to look her in the eyes at that moment so he looked at the floor.
Once again, her voice brought him back to reality. "I'll do some research on it. It could be connected to those creatures. Maybe when it scratched me or something, I don't know." What was she saying? Connected? They couldn't be anymore connected to what was going on with her. 'The less they know, Rachel… the less they know.'
There was silence as Robin tried to find the right words to reply with. He leaned back in the chair, forgetting it's weird design and fell back hard on the (fortunately) carpeted floor. He groaned as he back hit the floor. He looked up with dazed eyes to see Raven looking at her with concern.
"I'm okay." He groaned as he slowly rose from the floor, rubbing his back and picking up the chair and replacing at the vanity. He saw Raven roll her eyes before she smirked at him. Robin was happy that he was able to unintentionally ease some of the tension in the room, even if it was at his expense.
"Way to go, Boy Blunder. Really smooth." Raven voices was slathered in sarcasm and hidden laughter at his folly. Rachel couldn't think of where the nickname came from, it simply seemed natural as it came from her mouth.
"Yeah. Thanks." Robin quipped in return. He looked back the chair. "Why do you have such a stupidly made chair, anyway? It's only got three legs, for god's sake!"
"It's made to test one's balance, Boy Blunder. A test that you have failed pitifully." Her smirk grew to a full real smile.
"Yeah whatever." He gave his backside one more stroke before giving Raven a nervous smile. "Hey… you wanna get some dinner? Cyborg's probably cooked something by now."
Raven seemed to give it some thought before she replied; "Sure." and walked to her door, opening the door. "Coming?" She asked as Robin made no move to walk.
"Uh yeah. Just give me a sec." He smiled reassuringly to show he was okay. Raven gave a small smile herself before starting down the hallway.
Robin gave the dark witch's room a cursory scan. Just seeing if it was any different from the last time he was in here. He knew something was different he just couldn't put his hand on it. He looked over at the large scenic window that gave a large and beautiful view of the city across the cape; and that's when he realized it. The curtains were pulled back on the window. Raven never pulled back the curtains; at least not during the daytime. All the time he had been in here the curtains were all put down leaving the room in eternal darkness. Now the light of the sun was flooding the room making it seem less creepy and more like a teenager's bedroom. The walls for once didn't look black but the deep purple that he remembered helping Raven paint it with. Most of the things in the room that had always looked black to him were actually different shades of shadowy purple. It forced Robin to keep in mind that despite the way she acted sometimes, Raven was still a teenaged girl and appreciated color just as much as anyone else.
"Hey, Boy Blunder." Robin jumped at the sudden voice and turned to see that Raven had returned and was leaning on the frame of the door looking at him skeptically. She gave him a look that clearly said, 'What are you still doing in here?' She smirked and said, "Get out of my room." Rachel said it so naturally as if she had said it her whole life.
Robin couldn't help but chuckle. Now that's more like the Raven he knew. He walked out the door and Raven moved out of the way. She closed it as he exited and they walked to the main room together.
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AN: Hopefully you've read my top AN so I won't have to repeat myself. Somehow the files that I had emailed myself at the end of school disappeared. So until I can get to school computer I won't be able to give another chapter of SS until like maybe late August and by that time, I'll be to deep into another chapter of this since I already have the next chapter of this started. I cut some stuff from this chap off to put in the next chapter so it wouldn't be too long and wouldn't end crappily. The stuff that was there would take too long explains and would be worth another chapter to write. Thanks for staying loyal through my procrastination. I hope my system works.
Also people might be a bit confused by this chapter or the fic in general, but don't worry. More will be explained in later chapters.
And thanks to those who have reviewed with such good feedback and encouragement. It really boosts my self-esteem as a writer. Thanks again and keeping reading and reviewing. Buh-bye. ^_^