Warning: May be more mature than other chapters due to extremely mild language.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the storyline and any original characters. Everything else belongs to DC Comics.
Chapter Ten
The room stands in deafening silence. Raven stares at Malchior, but her gaze often shifts to her "saviors". Her team doesn't understand the implications of Malchior drawing first blood. Rorek and Jinx do. Malchior and Raven do. Raven fights the urge to cry, and then she realizes she has no reason to. Their situation is just as much her fault as it is Malchior's.
"Why did you come?" She asks her team. Her voice is pleading, her eyes are desperate. She has no way of knowing Malchior won't harm her friends. After all, he hurt them when he first kidnapped her. That was different though, wasn't it?
"We came to save you," Beast Boy says, clearly not understanding what just happened. "We came to bring you home," Robin counters in a slightly more confident voice. Raven shakes her head. "You can't. I can't go home now." She turns away. Malchior crosses to her. He stares down at her. Raven stretches out her arm, knowing he wants to see the area he cut.
He waves his hand over it. The wound disappears. She sucks in a breath, not having expected the sudden rush of pain. He closes his eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry," he tells her. She nods once.
"The only way Raven can return to Jump City is if I accompany her," he announces to the team. Rorek and Jinx are unsurprised, they had already figured that much out. Their knowledge of formal duels tells them that Raven is basically a war prize.
Rorek meets her eyes. "Do you remember what you told me when you left for Earth?"
Raven nods again. Rorek doesn't say anything else, he doesn't need to. Raven tilts her head though. "Why are you here? You need to be defending our kingdoms."
Malchior hovers closely behind her, half expecting her to run to Rorek's arms, but fervently praying that she doesn't. Raven can feel his emotions clearly. Remorse is one that seems to be frequent in both their hearts.
"You need me more."
Raven wonders if she's about to break his heart. She sends a swift and silent prayer to Azar that Rorek doesn't love her as much as she loves him. She prays that he doesn't hate her for loving Malchior at the same time- even if she is currently putting on a front of abhorrence. She knows the front won't last long, and she can't bear the idea of her best friend detesting her.
"No, I don't. I need you defending my home."
Rorek's eyes flash with pain once, before he remembers his resolution in the corridors. He watches his beloved slide his signet ring off her finger. She makes a small show of it, but none of the Earthlings or the Tamaranean notice her slipping it into a pocket dimension. She doesn't give it back to him; she just takes it off.
"I'm sorry," she mouths. He smiles at her, summoning the courage to be happy through the pain. He turns and walks away, ready to rejoin the war.
During her exchange with Rorek, Raven barely notices Robin fervently denying Malchior's orders. "You don't get it, do you, Robin? He beat me in a duel. He dictates what I do. You should be glad he's even considering giving me allowance to return to Jump. Most wouldn't. He will allow me to remain on the team." Raven shoots Malchior a look, silently daring him to try and keep her away from crime fighting. "He will stay out of our duties, but he will remain at the tower. He has his own ways of paying for his keep. I swear to you that his demon form will not make an appearance."
Robin opens his mouth to protest the arrangement again when Jinx steps forward. "Listen, Robin, Raven isn't joking. If you don't accept this deal, she won't be coming back to Jump. Well, she will, but not with you. She lost a magical duel. She's bound to her defeater now. Maybe you don't understand what that entails, and that's fine. What you need to understand is that my sister has a strong sense of honor. She's going to honor the arrangement she made. Hell, Malchior is going to honor the arrangement he makes! Just accept it. There is nothing you can do to change it."
The Titans' leader engages in a staring match with Malchior. He isn't going to back down. Neither is Malchior. They're both far too dominant for that, and besides, they're after the same girl. On the other hand, Robin would rather put up with Malchior in a place where he can keep an eye on Raven, than not be able to see her at all.
"Fine."
"So, how long have you two been dating?" Beast Boy asks Cyborg and Jinx. "We only dated while Cyborg was undercover at the H.I.V.E. See, when I was sent here, I didn't have the luck of running into good guys. I made buddies with Gizmo and Mammoth. I strayed from the path I'm meant to be on. Cyborg made me realize what'd happened, though I didn't know about him being a good guy. When he betrayed us, well I didn't forgive him. Not till he apologized anyway."
Raven glares at the person she considers her favorite teammate. "You hurt my little sister?"
"I didn't mean to, Raven. 'Sides, how was I to know then that Jinx is your sister?"
Malchior raises his eyebrows from his position in the corner. He'd planned on not participating in any conversation, or intruding in any way. Its common sense that Robin wants Malchior's interference to remain as minor as possible.
"Look at them. Can't you tell they're sisters?"
He has a point the other Titans note upon examining the sister mages. While Jinx has pink hair and eyes to match, and Raven has purple, most other things are the same. Although Raven's skin has a much grayer tint to it than Jinx's.
"There's one thing I don't get about you two being sisters," Robin says. Jinx gestures for him to ask his question. "Why didn't the two of you react to seeing each other in battle before… all of this happened?"
"We were sent here for two entirely different purposes," Raven answers. Jinx nods in agreement. "Raven was sent here so she wouldn't be a liability. I was sent here for… other purposes. It involves my mother. Anyway, we knew that acknowledging each other would blow our covers, so we chose not to. Instead, we just tried not to fight each other."
Raven turns on a steely glare for a moment, her purple eyes burning holes into Robin's mask. "Of course, you made that all the more difficult by telling me to fight her all the time. Why would you assume that putting two magic users against each other was a good idea? Hint for the future, it's not."
Jinx grins. "SO this is what Raven's like when she has no prophecy hanging over her head. Maybe I should join up."
Cyborg's eyes widen. "Are you joking?"
Jinx blinks repeatedly. "…No?"
"You were a criminal, Jinx," Robin says flatly.
"Oh, please, Robin? Jinx is such a good friend! And she is our dear friend's sister!" Starfire begs. She allows her eyes to become puppy eyes. To add to the effect Beast Boy morphs into a small puppy and jumps up onto Starfire's lap.
Robin rolls his eyes, throwing his hands up in surrender. "Fine, she can have a trial period. One step out of line and she's gone!" He walks off grumbling about changelings, dragons, mages, aliens and robot-men.
Raven finds herself smiling weakly. She's home. She can deal with everything else in the morning.
AN: The reason for extremely quick updates is that this story ahs the entire layout done. All I have to do is go through and make chapter summaries into full chapters. Hence quick updates. I'm hoping to be done with the story by mid to late September (there should be twenty-six chapters) and I will debate the sequel I'm currently playing around with in my head then.