good evening ladies and gentlemen.
i welcome you to the long overdue chapter for A Twist in Fate. a lot will happen in this chapter that will be a shocker for some and others will have seen some of the stuff coming for a long time.
also i have an announcement to make: in favor of more frequent updates i will cut down the length of updates to around what this chapter holds. this decision is final and not negotiable.
for those who actually noticed, yes i changed my pen name. the old one was a homage to a fictional character that isn't worth it anymore.
but now on with the action.
-Ω-
The next morning woke Raven softly and with warm rays of the early sun. Raven sat up on her bed and raised her arms above her head and let out a barely contained yawn. 'OH AZAR! That was truly what I needed.' Her arms dropped to her side as Raven opened her eyes and looked around her room. Many things held a very new meaning now; now that she was free. Too lazy to walk Raven floated off her bed and into her bathroom and under the shower, turning on the hot water and sighing with a very small smile on her face as the hot liquid hit her skin.
Raven quickly went over her morning routine and then dressed in her typical attire and walked out of the room and headed for OPS, Spes perched on her left shoulder.
Once there she saw some of her teammates in the room while others were not in sight. Starfire was not in sight and Raven could only guess that she was laying down some ground rules with her sister.
Cyborg was obviously in the garage, working on his new baby.
Beastboy wasn't in sight either but Raven felt him in his room, his mood dark and gloomy. That was a small shock for Raven but soon she remembered what day it was. 'The 'death day' of Terra is tomorrow... of course he would be down...'
Shacking those thoughts from her mind and deciding to talk to the shapeshifter later Raven looked at the team mates that were present: Robin and Jinx sat on the couch and watched the latest news, Jinx with Sentra in her lap and purring. Both seemed at easy with each other and to Raven that was a relief.
The last she spotted was Raziel, who for once was NOT staring at this 'piece of stone'. Instead he was floating in the middle of the room in the lotus position, all 27 Tomes of Hell floating around him in a circle. All of the books were open on a page, words glowing in each as if highlighting the word that was read. Raven suppressed a shiver as that technique reminded her strongly of how Melchior had taught her in the past. 'Get a grip Raven,' thought the demoness as she shook her head to get rid of the memories.
She went behind the kitchen counter and found Cerberus napping in front of the fridge, small burst of smoke coming from his jaws with each breath. 'Maybe an apple will do for now,' suggested Spes and Raven could only nod and quickly picked one of the fruits and bit into it with great vigor, savoring the small spark of pleasure that shot through her system.
Suddenly the room was flooded with a wave of magic and Raven's and Jinx' head spun around so quick normal necks would have snapped. Robin caught the movement and he too looked at the object of the girls' attention: Raziel and the books. Raziel and three books were glowing in a bright red color, several words flashing in the books. Raziel's eyes snapped open as he landed on the floor and quickly shot serious looks at the two sorceresses, "Jinx. Raven. Roof. NOW!" And with a burst of flames he and the three books were gone and the rest floated onto the table.
The two girls looked at each other, surprise clear on both of their faces. "What is that about," asked Jinx while she moved Sentra off her lap and stood up. "Only one way to find out," answered Raven while she summoned a black portal on her left. Jinx shivered, not liking this way of transportation one bit but she sighed and stepped through it after Raven.
-Ω-
The two teens stepped on the roof and quickly spotted Raziel standing at the edge of the tower, the three tomes floating behind him. "Hey Razy, what is this all about," shouted Jinx and Raven cringed as she felt the spike of anger and sadness in the other demon at the name Razy. Raven quickly covered Jinx' mouth with her left and and prevented any more words to come form the witch. "NEVER call him that again unless he tells you it is okay; do it nonetheless and you might find yourself in dire need of medical attention," whispered Raven quickly while she felt how Raziel fought his emotions back under control.
Jinx was surprised by the commanding words of Raven but she got the hint and nodded, making sure to post a memo in her mind to watch the names she called Raziel. Both girls turned back to the male and saw him turn around to them, his look serious and calculating. "Alright, listen up: NOTHING of this will be spoken to with the others. Is. That. Clear?" The obviously threat in his voice made Jinx cringe before she felt a swift blow to her side from Raven's elbow as said girl spoke quickly, "Crystal." "What she said," muttered Jinx while she rubbed her side where Raven had hit her, hard she'd like to add.
Raziel visibly relaxed as he spoke in a softer tone. "Jinx, what do you know about Terra?" "Stone Girl? I thought she died when she took down Slade and turned herself into a statue." "No, not dead. Trapped in her own body of stone," whispered Raven and Jinx whirled around to her. "WHAT?!" Jinx was floored at the news and yaw slacked.
"What about Terra," asked Raven, for the first time in her life praying to a god. "There IS a way to bring her back, though the works and result would be HIGHLY unorthodox." "Spill it," said Raven quickly, her eyes shining with... plea? Raziel drew a deep breath and closed his eyes, "Necromancy." Both girls spun to face Raziel as he opened his eyes and stared at the horizon. "But that is not all. The chances of success are low; the procedure is highly dangerous for all participating and she wouldn't come back as a human being."
Silence fell over the three as the girls processed the information until Raven spoke, "You... need our help for it?" He simply nodded as he glared at the rising sun. "How much time do we have?" His face darkened and a snarl appeared on his lips, "Tonight at midnight; we miss it or mess up and the next chance comes in roughly 2000 years." Both girls gasped loudly at the tight time frame. 'Oh Azar. I only hope that we'll be able to get everything prepared in time.
Jinx was wondering how SHE could help. 'With me around things are bound to go... wrong...' Suddenly a small smile played on her lips and she eyes Raziel from the corner of her eyes, "So THAT'S your plan with me; clever boy." Raziel couldn't help the very small chuckles pass his lips, "Figured it out, huh?" "What are you two talking about," asked Raven, truly not able to see what was funny to them.
"You know how my bad luck works: always making the most unlikely things to happen. Now, apply that to our situation of this shit very much likely blowing in our faces and very unlikely going to work." Raven adopted a thoughtful look and closed her eyes, thinking it through. Then she too started to smile very slightly, "Reversing odds with having Jinx run wild with her bad luck; you are a very daring man Raziel." "Guilty as charged and proud of it," said Raziel before his face became stern once more. "So, this is how we might be going to do it: There is a ritual to bring Terra back from the grave but due to the time she has spent trapped in stone her body wouldn't last very long after being revived. It would try to catch up to the years of aging instantly. To prevent that we have to revive her not as a human but as an immortal creature."
Both girls nodded, being able to follow him so far. Raven was going over all the immortal creatures she knew about, trying to figure out on her own what kind the other demidemon meant. "There is only one such creature that I am aware of that fits everything we need," said Raziel in a low voice, knowing that his next words would rock more than one world. "What creature," asked Jinx carefully, not sure she would like the answer. Raziel drew a deep breath and muttered one word, "Vampire."
Time seemed to slow down to a stop for the girls and the blood in Raven's veins froze. '... Vam-pire...' "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Raven's explosion caught Jinx and Raziel off guard and they looked at the demoness with shocked faces. "You are willing to condemn her to a life in the night, hunting the weak for their blood?!" "Easy now Raven," said Raziel quickly as he waved his hands in front of him. "That is where we two come into play." "Speak," growled Raven as she nailed him with hard gaze.
Raziel gulped and quickly explained. "With our two bloods combined we will be able to override some of the disadvantages of being a vampire." "How?" "With drink both of our blood Terra's boody should be overloaded with so much power that she immediately will become and elder vampire, maybe even a queen of blood. She will not need to drink as much blood even when fighting if she reaches the level of queen and the sun wouldn't hurt her in either state."
Raven fell silent, carefully thinking about the pros and cons. Finally, after more than 5 minutes of silence Raven sighed, "Not like we have much of a choice. How do we do that?"
Raziel sighed in relief inwardly, 'Glad that did work out.' "It is actually rather easy: there is an easy necromancy spell to turn Stone to Flesh. But we need to add a blood ritual to turn her into a vampire. And for that... we need some special items..." "What items," asked Jinx, not liking the way Raziel was beating around the bush. The demon sighed and looked at the luck charmer. "We need blood; lots of blood and of different properties. The easiest to come by would be mine and Raven's but we need much more. And it needs to have special properties."
"What properties," asked both females in one voice. "Vampiric blood. LOTS of it. At least one gallon." WHAT?!" Both girls' shouts echoed over the roof and towards the city, waking several people from their slumber. Raziel's head hung, his hair throwing shadows over his eyes. "There is no way around it... if we wish to bring back Terra we have to hunt for vampires and drain them of their vitae. And all that, including preparations and casting before midnight."
"But... how... do we find... any vampires...," whispered Jinx. She had fought this Terra chick once before and she could respect the girl for what she did to Slade. And she herself had been given a new chance by the Titans and a place to live. 'Time I pay the rent I guess,' thought Jinx as she tried to come to peace with the fought that she would be 'killing' a lot of people tonight. So far she had always been able to stay away from killing anyone; never had she actively killed anyone or wanted to to it. Sure, she wished sometimes that a few people would simply drop off the earth but she never really thought she would take lives one day.
Raziel laughed dryly as he stared into the sun. "Hah, that will be the easy part. Getting their blood will be the hard thing. To them it is even more important that to other beings so they guard it with the out most best security they can get. But luckily the vampiric scene is new to Jump and I doubt they have well protected lairs already." "But how do we get their blood," thought Raven out loud. "That will be my mayor role," said Raziel dryly. "I can draw out the blood directly from their bodies and store it in a pocket dimension until we have enough. Your job Raven will be to hold them in place while I work on them one by one. Jinx, you will help Raven and make sure we are not back stabbed." "Why can't we help with the blood gathering," asked Raven with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you have knowledge of any necromantic spell? Do you know how to cast Dawn Of The Red Moon?" Raven shook her head no, having never heard of that spell before. "Then I am the only one who knows the spell and it is this very spell that we must use to gather the blood or all will go to Hell and take us as well as all of Jump along for the ride." Both females were not happy, not one fucking bit. Sure, Raven would have jumped every idea to bring Terra back but this... this was just way too big for her taste. Jinx was simply not happy that they would have to end un-life for this.
Raziel looked back at the sun and gathered that it was probably close to 10 am by now. "Time to get going. During my search for Raven I found a couple of vampire heavens that we can raid while they still are sleeping. This will make shit so much easier." the two girls sighed but nodded their heads. They knew if they wanted to do this it had to be done now. Raziel let the three books sink though the roof before he placed a hand on each of the girls' shoulders. "And off we are."
-Ω-
When they saw again the troop of three found themselves standing in a graveyard in front of a crypt. "So cliché," muttered Jinx as she looked at the Gargoyles sitting on both sides of the door. "Sometimes humans can be right in their fantasies," mumbled Raziel as he quickly forced the heavy stone door open and led the other two into the crypt. After walking down a long stairway they stood in a round room, a good 12 caskets aligned in a circle around them. Raziel flexed his fingers as he prepared for what he was to do. "Now girls, make sure that in the unlikely event that one of them wakes up that you don't kill them while trying to subdue them. We need their blood and we need it fresh." The two nodded as they stepped closer to the caskets and prepared for whatever Raziel would do now.
The demon stepped into the middle of the circle and closed his eyes as he began to draw complicate patters into the air with both hands, muttering foreign words under his breath. Soon a small red spot appeared above him, looking like a whirlpool. Random things began to float in the air and got drawn towards the whirlpool the lids of the caskets were forcefully ripped away and revealed the resting bodies of 12 vampires, males and females alike. 12 tendrils moved from the floating whirlwind and waved around before each shot at one of the bodies and stabbed into their chests.
Slowly small trickles of blood seeped out of their bodies and moved along the tendrils and towards the floating whirlwind. The two girls watched in disgusted fascination how drop after drop of blood was drained from the vampires. They waited patiently for Raziel to finish the procedure, Jinx soon getting bored and looking around for something to do. Raven noticed the other girl's restlessness and frowned. 'Talk about short attention span.'
Deciding that it was better to occupy Jinx with something Raven summoned one of the girl's books from the tower and dropped it into the luck charmer's arms. Jinx looked at the book and then at Raven, giving the demoness a small smirk before sitting down on the dusty ground and starting to read. Raven looked back at Raziel and finally understood why he was so worried about the time: the process was slow and they would need to find at least three more of such crypts to get the blood needed. 'This will take a while.'
-Ω-
The day had flown by very fast and by now it was nearly 11 in the night. The three had managed to gather enough blood just now and Raven had transported them to Terra's 'grave'. Raziel was tired, he could admit that easily but he was not done yet. He had yet to do more. Quickly he walked up to Terra and started to in a low voice, "Listen Terra, do not fear or stop what I am about to do. We don't have time to explain or waste. We mess this up and the next chance to free you will not come before you run out of energy to keep your consciousness in this world." Not awaiting an answer from the geomancer Raziel started to mutter an incantation of ancient words and then tabbed Terra's forehead. Small canals started to carve into Terra, creating a complicate system made of filigree lines that covered all of her body. The system on canals soon covered her fully and then spread over the ground, the area that was soon to be place of a resurrection seal increasing tremendously in short time.
When the seal was finished it was a very filigree system of turns, twists and necromantic symbols, several pools for blood littered in the seal. In the end the seal had the form of words drawn in circles if you looked down on it from the ceiling. The words were 'In Nomine Noctis, In Nomine Vitae, In Nomine Mortis, In Nomine Chaos'. Raziel stepped back to observe his works and was satisfied that there were no mistakes in the seal. He started to cast a new spell and the whirlwind of blood returned, tendrils reached out and started to fill the pools with blood, only four pools right at the feet of Terra remained empty.
Slowly the canals filled with the ruby red liquid, giving the cave a grotesque appearance. Soon the blood was all in the seal and the whirlwind disappeared. Raziel turned to Raven, his voice weak, "It is time Raven." The demoness nodded mutely and stepped next to him, knowing what was to come. The two held their hands over the four remaining pools for blood and with sheer willpower alone forced large gashes to appear on their palms, blood dripping into down.
Jinx watched all of this with utter amazement and also alertness. She prepared to test her powers with the greatest challenge yet: turning around Fate. She was taking deep breaths, trying to calm her raging heart and pulse. She was doing a half decent job, managing to calm down enough so she wasn't shaking like a leaf. Several minutes later Raven and Raziel pulled their hands back, the pools filled with their blood that had a small shine to it, showing its unique properties.
Both demons stepped back, visibly drained by the ordeal. "Jinx... it is time..." Jinx nodded at Raziel as she started to channel her power through her body. A neon-pink glow surrounded her body as she let the power flow into the ground, the blood and the whole of the volcano. Raziel started to summon the foul power of Death itself and soon the smell of death, decay and rotten flesh filled the cave, making Raven and Jinx cause to suppress the urge to throw up what was in their stomachs.
A sickly green mist emerged from the ground and small rumbles could be felt. Parts of the ground around the seal started to tear open and structures made of Bones rose from down below, bringing a neon-green liquid with them. The structures looked like deformed hands reaching towards the sky, glowing in green. Suddenly the blood in the seal started to bubble and move, slowly moving towards the four pools that held demonic blood. Very slowly the canals on Terra's body stared to fill up with blood and steam rose into the air. The blood seemed to seep into Terra's body, causing it to give of a mix of red and green light. The tips of the bone pillars started to glow brighter before shooting a beam of green at the statue and suddenly screams of torment, pain, suffering and anger filled the cave.
Ghostly figures started to rise from the ground, only limbs discernible. They started to crawl towards Terra's body and alerted Raven quickly. Without knowing why she did it raven started to launch small burst of her magic at the ghosts, starting with those closest to Terra. Each figure burst into wisps of green smoke with a screech when they were hit with Raven's magic. Suddenly the green fog started to grow thicker behind Raziel and something seemed to manifest in it.
Raven's and Jinx' eyes widened as a figure stepped out of the mist, one that both recognized. The only thing they saw was a dark gray, flowing robe, two skeleton hands and two burning white eyes under the hood of the robe. Suddenly a bone that looked like a spine shot from the ground and the figure's right hand grasped it in the middle. From the tip of the spine suddenly a new one formed, slightly arched to the ground before the green light burst from the spine and revealed the full being of the item: a bone Scythe of extraordinary power. That last detail made sure of the figures standing and purpose: the Grim Reaper, Harbinger and Emissary of Death.
Without even considering that this was what was supposed to be Raven raised her hands, "AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!!" Darkness was draw to her hands while she slowly shouted the words of power. With a loud zapping noise a bolt of darkness shot from her hands only to have countless brothers and sisters soon follow the leader. All headed for the Reaper and started to pierce through the ethereal creature, making it jerk around randomly and violently. The glow of the eyes grew in strength and a long wail of pain suddenly filled the cave.
Raven reacted with adding a new curse to her spell. "Terash Noc!" Suddenly the bolts of darkness seemed to siphon the strength from the Reaper and a new wail, this time one that sounded shocked and surprised overpowered all other noise. Particles of the Reaper's robes and 'body' were ripped from it and floated towards Raven and fused into her body. Soon the Reaper was fully covered with raven's magic and torn apart quickly. One last long wail filled the air as the Scythe fell cluttering to the ground but this wail was not one of pain or anger but one of... happiness and relief. The shadows returned to Raven and wrapped her in a thick blanket before melting into her. Raven panted lightly only short out of breath but surprisingly not one bit tired.
While all of that had happened Jinx and Raziel had been too absorbed in their tasks to even hear Raven when she shouted. And that was paying off now. Red cracks formed on Terra's statue and most of the blood had been absorbed into it by now. The cracks had started from her eyes and now covered her whole body, the eyes glowing red-orange. All hearing the cracks of stone caused them to look at Terra as suddenly her fingers seemed to move. As in slow motion they saw how the stone fingers fell apart... and revealed pale skin.
All over her the stone peeled off her and revealed more and more pale skin. The first thing to be fully free of stone and rock was her hair, still of a bright blond with it quickly started to grow way past her waist and the tips turned into blood red color. Next were her hands and arms, the pale skin nearly white and the nails growing long and sharp while taking the look of being painted in neon green nail polish.
Suddenly with a giant burst the remaining stone burst away and fully freed Terra and brought her back into the world of the living with a high pitched scream ripping from her throat. Her eyes were wide open, showing the red-green color as they shone with power. The canine teeth in her upper jaw quickly grew one inch in size. Then he body got a growth spurt and she grew considerably, soon standing at closely 5'8'' tall. The rest of her body quickly adapted to her 'true age' so to speak and she went from her girlish looks to that of a growing woman, her breasts growing while her body lost all fat it had had before.
At an instant the spell stopped and the magic exploded, throwing the two demons and the luck charmer into the walls of the cave, knocking the wind out of them. As the crawled back on their feet the saw how the glow of red and green was joined by yellow and it seeped into Terra's new body while she floated a few inches above the ground. As the glow was finished absorbing into her body Terra slowly floated back down to earth and the three spectators noticed something: the girls 'clothes' had come off with the stone, leaving her standing in all her naked glory.
Raziel quickly tried to look away but couldn't help his gaze to drop and only one thought shot through his mind, 'Now we know she is a natural blond with red tips.' Realizing what he just thought he felt pressure build up before a was launched back into the walls via two large streams of blood shooting from his nose.
Jinx and Raven couldn't help but grin at the sight of a past out Raziel with blood dripping from his nose before they moved their attention back to Terra. The teen was awake and conscious of her surroundings, looking down her arms and at her hands before she brushed them all over her body. "I... am... alive... I... am... alive... I... am... alive... I... am... alive..." Muttering the same thing over and over the teen hugged herself as tears of blood started to stream down her cheeks and a grin graced her lips, showing of her canines.
Raven couldn't help but grin as she saw how happy Terra was and removed her cape from her shoulders. Slowly she approached the now kneeling teen and placed the article over the naked girl's shoulders. That action caused Terra to look up at Raven and her eyes opened, "Ra... ven..." "Shush. We talk later; you need to rest for an hour or so. After that we will talk." Terra nodded slowly and closed her eyes while her body forwards and in the waiting arms of Jinx who moved faster than Raven.
"Well... it seems like we cheated Death." the two girls looked around and spotted Raziel climbing back to his feet, whipping the blood from under his nose with a hand and an embarrassed look on his face. "Full success I would say," said Jinx cheerful while she secured her hold on Terra. "Indeed. I dare say we can congratulate ourselves for one of the biggest feats I have ever heard off," said Raziel while he started to grin in a similar fashion as Beastboy did when really happy.
'THAT is disturbing,' thought Raven as she looked through the cave and saw that the bone pillars were still there as was the seal. Then she saw the Reaper's scythe still lying on the floor and raised a hand towards it. But before she could focus on her power the scythe disappeared in a green light. Suddenly green burst from her hand and she felt her finger close around something of a cold feel. She looked at her hand and saw that she held the scythe in her hand. The bone that had been pure white before turned pitch black and the green blade of energy turned even more sickly green than before.
Raziel and Jinx had watched her in surprise and Raziel in pure and utter shock. "RAVEN!! Where the bloody fucking Hell came THAT weapon from!?" Raven looked at her fellow demon and raise an eyebrow, "It was left behind after I destroyed the owner that suddenly appeared behind you." Raziel jaw literally dislodged from its place and crashed into the ground, his eyes large as plates. "You... did... WHAT?!" Suddenly it all clicked in his mind and all pieces fell into place.
He was in a state of shock and denial but the facts were bluntly bitch-slapping him in the face. "Raven... you... destroyed the Reaper... and picked up its weapon..." "Yes, so what?" He looked up at her, his eyes filled with shock. "Raven... this... This stunt made you the new Reaper; YOU are the new Grim Reaper, the new Harbinger and Emissary of Death."
Silence filled the cave as the meaning of his words sunk into the two conscious girls. Raven blinked at him a few times before she stared at the weapon in her hand. "Uhm... ... ... ... Ups?" "Ups? UPS?! That is all you can say?!" Raziel was close to throwing a fit and Raven was developing an annoyed twitch in her left eyes before a hand made of darkness slapped him several times. "Get a grip would you? Being the Harbinger of Death doesn't sound too bad to me when you remember where I come from."
Raziel was floored, not only by the slaps but also Raven's uncaring attitude. "Wow... never thought YOU would be the type to accept that so easily..." Raven simply shrugged, "Better me than my father." Raziel paled paler than Terra was now, "Don't even joke about that! But... I guess you are right." he sighed and rubbed his temples, "Let's call it a night for now. We rest up a bit and then fill in Terra when she comes around. Shouldn't be more than a hour or two." he looked at her and smiled softly. "But damn, never really thought she would really become a Queen of Blood." The others looked at him and raven chuckled darkly, "Now you need to find one to teach her." "heh, got that covered. But please get us home for now." Raven simply snapped the fingers of her free hand and the cave was bathed in darkness.
-Ω-
well, of SOMETHING wasn't an surprise i don't know what else to throw at you people. i'd love to have any kind of feedback. also feel free to contact me if you have a question. unless you catch me in a really bad mood or your question is pretty much explained in the chapter. if the latter is the case i will simply reply with a short "see chapter X".
have a good night and stay lively.
- Nelo Akuma