A/N I'm not so sure about this chapter. It almost seems a bit random to me. Anyway I don't own Teen Titans.
CRACK! Zaven looked at the rock face in front of her. Little spider webs were appearing from beneath her fist where skin had met stone. Breathing heavily the girl drew back her arm and stared at her knuckles. Skin was torn and it looked like she had broken a few bones. Bones and skin that was already healing. Groaning the girl turned and leaned against the cliff face.
"Now tell yourself, what was the point of that?" she sighed, flexing her hand. The digits responded smoothly, like they hadn't just been broken. The girl sighed again and rubbed her face. As her hand dropped a smooth, cool grip slipped into it.
"A desert. Nice choice," Schatten said, looking around at the dirt surrounding the two. Zaven grimaced a smile. She turned her gaze up to the stars, searching for the ones from Azarath. "They're going to be in different positions."
"Hen…" Orange eyes traced the meteor as it streaked by overhead. A quiet voice in her head started telling the legend of Orion as Zaven picked out the familiar three star belt. She listened to it for a while, before realizing it was Raven's voice. "Fuck I'm tired." Schatten smiled slightly as the girl beside him slid down into a sitting position.
"Cinderblock was found three blocks away from the crime scene," he explained, sitting down beside her. Zaven raised an eyebrow. "He was contained by shadows and nearly missing his head."
"Thanks," the girl breathed out. "I take the Titans still don't know about you?"
"You get the credit for the job." Zaven smiled tiredly and leaned against the shadow ghost. Her eyes didn't even open as he squeezed her hand.
Later That Morning
Zaven jerked off her friend, gasping and sweating hard. Firmly she closed her lips to the name rising unbidden to her tongue. Even though she was alone, again, it didn't mean she could easily call out that name.
Wind blew softly, toying with the demoness hair. She sat, staring at the paper in her hands. Schatten had left a note, written in the language she could understand, saying he was going to check on the situation at the tower. Zaven shook her head, having all but forgotten about the Titans in her fury. Although Robin did stay on her mind as she was pretty mad at him.
"Dude did you do this?" The teen looking girl jumped at Changeling's voice. The green superhero rose his hands hastily at the fire dancing in the girl's. Zaven relaxed slightly but still glared at him.
"What do you want?" she growled, burning the paper. She rubbed her face, hoping like hell the usually tears weren't showing. Changeling sat at her side, pulling a water bottle from the bag on his back. Then he surprised her and pulled out a bag of beef jerky. Spicy beef jerky.
"To talk. Robin doesn't know about this. Only Cyborg and your shadow buddy."
"You met Schatten?" Zaven slowly took the jerky, wondering just how the hell he had found her. Changeling chuckled slightly.
"Yah after he scared the living daylights out of me by dragging me into a cactus shadow." Zaven managed a weak smile at that. She had feeling it hurt for someone unused to shadow travel. Cautiously she took out one of the beef strips and sniffed it. The spices made it smell sharp and fire like. Changeling watched as the girl took a bite and almost instantly lit up at the taste.
"So why doesn't Robin know? I mean isn't he the team leader?" Zaven asked around the jerky. She would defiantly have to find out where the green man had got this.
"Well yah but he's not so good when dealing with um…" Changeling wasn't sure what to call the girl without offending her. Zaven looked at him and realized his hang up. She swallowed the jerky with a sigh.
"Look I'm perfectly okay with being a demoness. It just means that Father can't kill me directly like he tried to do before leaving Azarath. As I know the only one who can kill me is Raven. And she doesn't exactly know that I think." Zaven looked away, feeling guilty to the extreme. Nervously she ran her fingers along the sword on her right hip, the shadow sword.
"She lost her memories." Zaven gasped sharply and turned to Changeling.
"How did you know that?" Changeling blinked at the tone of Zaven's voice. It was almost close to panic. Was a demon capably of feeling panic?
"Jinx told me," he replied as if it was the most naturally thing in the world. "She's a fri…well a sort of friend. Like we talk and all but she's on the other side of the law. How did you know?" Zaven squirmed uncomfortably and nervously chewed her lip. Changeling put things together slowly. "You stole her memories."
"It was an accident! I've always been able to do it! I just don't have much control over it when I act on instinct." Zaven's eyes widen and she firmly clapped her mouth shut again. The girl winced and touched her lip, having driven one of her fangs into the tender muscle. Changeling watched as the small hole healed instantly.
"You've always been able to steal people's memories?" he asked hesitantly. Zaven looked nervous as she nodded. "And the instinct thing?"
"I was attacked. A lot. And usually by people my own age. I would only steal the memories of deciding to come after me and for why. Then that way they could continue to live. Older people…well I sort of killed them. I guess since Raven was the only I actually physically attacked then that sort of happened." Zaven looked down and pulled out another piece of jerky.
"So you stole her memories without meaning to because we attacked you?" Changeling finally said. Zaven looked up from the now empty bag of jerky and nodded. The green man let out a breath. "And you don't know how to give them back?"
"Well no. I've never done that before. I have a bunch of memories in my head that aren't even mine." That had caused for some serious headaches from time to time.
"Y'all that ain't right," Cyborg said walking up. Once more Zaven jumped to her feet but her hands didn't light on fire this time. The big man held up his hands. "Woah calm down Zae. I ain't going to hurt you."
"Don't call me that," Zaven growled, igniting one hand. Much to the surprise of the two boys tears gathered in the girl's eyes. "Don't you ever call me that. My name's Zaven."
"Okay okay. Zaven it is then." Cyborg made calming motions with his hands. Forming a fist Zaven put out the fire and rubbed her sleeve against her eyes. While her sight was blocked the two friends exchanged looks. Changeling shrugged in confusion. Zaven brought down her arm and suddenly Schatten was there too. The demoness smiled slightly, welcoming the comforting and supporting embrace from the shadow ghost.
"So if we want Raven to return to…some what normal we have to give find a way to give her memories back?" Changeling said, looking out over the desert. The Nevada sun was just barely starting to peek over the horizon. If it weren't for him and Cyborg the two newcomers could be acting out a part in a movie with the two lovers on the run because of angry parents.
"Yah. Do you guys even know where she is?" The two boys exchanged a look again.
P.O.V. Switch
Raven woke up slowly. The light that assaulted her eyes wasn't something she was used to but then again neither was the pair of warm arms wrapped around her. The empathy snuggled gently into the source of the warmth next to her, closing her eyes again. It was way too early to be up and she wanted to savor this moment. For some reason she got a feeling she wasn't supposed to be experiencing something like it.
Beside her Jinx blushed slightly as Raven's grip around her tightened. The grass beneath the hex caster tickled her bare skin confirming that last night had not been a dream. After the little kids had gone home Raven had told her about the coming meteor shower. And so the two stayed to watch it. Somewhere during that time Raven had ended up in Jinx's lap and there she stayed. And fell asleep, wrapped snug in Jinx's arms and the hoodie she now wore.
Okay so maybe I like Raven. Like like Raven. So why didn't I figure this out sooner? Jinx shook her head and reached up a hand to stroke the girl's head. Raven turned into the touch, a pleased smile tugging at her lips. In turn the hex caster smiled. Maybe because she wasn't like this before? Actually responding without worry of powers going haywire? It's odd that they haven't.
"Mmm Jinx?" Raven mumbled, trying to open her eyes again. The hex caster made a small noise of affirmation. The empathy yawned. "What time is it?"
"A little before sunrise," the girl responded, still petting the empathy. Birds were just starting to chirp and flitter about. "Hey I know of a place we can see it better." Raven finally managed to open her eyes all the way and keep them open. She started to sit up with a yawn. "Guessing you want to go?"
"Yah. I think it was something I did often. You know before." Jinx nodded in understanding and stood up. Raven followed, still yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Smiling Jinx slipped her hand in the empathy's and led the way.
There was very little people out and what few people there was didn't even look twice as the two girls walked by. Maybe it was because of the pre-dawn lighting. Maybe it was because the people who were out were the crack-of-dawn exercise people. Or maybe they just didn't care. But for whatever reason the two were able to walk through the park without some random person going all hating lesbian on them. Jinx was pretty glad for that as she had hexed one man before for that reason. And Raven probably wouldn't approve of something like that.
"I wouldn't approve of what?" the empathy asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. Jinx stammered for a response, her face turning red. She had forgotten that while Raven lost her memories she still had her powers.
"That I'm about to attack you," Jinx finally managed to say as the two reached a clearing off the beaten path. Raven's eyes widened at the comment before Jinx pinned the girl and started to tickle her.
"Oh!" The empathy gasped in surprise and dissolved into laughter. She had felt a brief moment of panic but this was way more fun than what she had thought. Jinx grinned as the empathy squirmed beneath her, trying desperately to get away.
"Give up?" Jinx breathed against Raven's ear. Breathlessly the purple haired girl nodded, a bright smile on her face. "Great. Now look over there." Still trying to catch her breath Raven turned to where the hex caster was pointing and gasped softly.
At the moment the sun was just coming above the tree line. Light red surrounded the sky and gave way to the light blue of dawn. Birds flittered and danced in the trees and splashes of sunlight beaming through the leaves. Raven watched in awe as the sun rose further still, causing the shadows to shift away from a deep pool at the base of the hill they were on.
"Jinx…I…wow," Raven gasped, looking at the sky. Jinx smiled and wrapped her arms around the empathy's shoulders. Absently Raven reached up and grasped the hex caster's hands in her own. Jinx made a small noise of content and nuzzled Raven's ear aimlessly.
Hiding in the trees Starfire smiled softly. While she realized Jinx had left the side of good and somehow convinced Raven to join too she also realized that her two friends were in love. And that Raven was being a lot more open about, like she was almost normal. So for that reason she wasn't going to tell Robin about it. Especially after the episode from yesterday between him and Zaven regarding the HIVE team.