Reverse
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own the show Teen Titans, nor the various DC comics on which this fanfiction is based.
"Your confidence isn't earned, Wrath," Raven muses.
He grunts at the pressure on his windpipe, red eyes narrowed to slits as they focus on her.
Raven shivers at the anger permeating the air, fear mixing itself in to make a disturbingly alluring draw to her senses.
Something presses on her mind, the edges of her vision dimming as it pushes on her mental defenses.
Her eyes brighten, and she finds a vague red haze flowing from her brother to her.
"I swear on the Ninth Circle that I'll kill you," Jared snarls, his desire to keep her attention off the attempted manipulation apparent.
"I'm not overly concerned. You're not exactly in a position to scare me, and I'm going to be putting things into effect so none of you will be able to get in my mind again once this is over."
Jared grunts as the smoky tentacle squeezes, the muscles in his large neck creaking under the pressure.
When it loosens slightly, he tries to match his sister's expression despite the pain that coats it.
"Maybe you can do that. I don't know. But even if you can, she can't, and I promise you that my brothers are going to use that," Jared snickers with a nod at Jinx. "I heard from the vampire that his old man did a serious number on her already."
Jinx's eyes widen, her heart squeezing at the threat.
For her part, Raven's vision dims further as burning anger pulses through her, her defenses weakening somewhat as a result.
His grin grows when he notices, a snort sounding despite his lack of oxygen.
"Lust in particular's gonna' have a field day. He gets off on makin' people do all kinds of things to make him happy. Not into it, myself, but he said that when he was in your head, Raven, he started thinking of all sorts of fun things to do."
Raven's eyes turn black, the soul-self around him crushing inward and drawing an agonized rasp from her brother.
"You're choosing to have me kill you, with a death more painful than necessary. Not the smartest decision."
"Ha! I'm proving a point. You can act all you want, but no matter how much power you've got, you're not going to kill me. You're too into playing human, and we both know that when this is over, I'm walking away."
Raven floats across the ground, her muscles rippling as clawed hands tense into fists.
When she reaches Jared, the world seems to darken around them, all light absorbed by the growing black shroud around her body.
"Do not assume you know me, Wrath. He clearly had other, more agreeable options, and yet I was still chosen as the Gem of Skaath despite fighting him every step of the way. I'm more human, and just as proud of it as you are of being his spawn, but do not mistake that for being weak. It is the reason I could defeat him, and I can certainly destroy you," she hisses.
"Using His powers that his blood gave to you," Jared snarls as his anger builds. "You're nothing without that piece of you that you hate so much. How many people have you killed, Raven? I'm betting nowhere near as many as the rest of us separately. You even defeated the old man with the nagging realization that he probably isn't really dead. You don't have the stomach to kill me, so drop this sickening charade that you do!"
Raven's fists clench, blood rising from where talons meet skin.
Her body becomes unnaturally still, a sphere of darkness rising around the siblings that causes Jinx's heart to squeeze in an emotion she doesn't fully understand.
"I was intending to send you back with a warning to the others. To tell them that the next time I as much as got a hint of any of you anywhere near the people I love, I'll kill you. Brutally. If that didn't get the point across, I would make it worse each time. Now, though, I'm inclined to start early and send your skull back with a written note, instead," Raven intones.
Jared shivers at the cold, emotionless tone that suddenly appears in her echoing voice.
His fear pumps into the air around them, Raven's eyes brightening even further at the sensation.
In his fear, his own defenses fall, the strange feeling of invasion in his mind entirely unnoticed.
Suddenly his fear vanishes, a sneer curling his lips.
"All talk. Your help doesn't mean anything, and even if the meta's above those, you're still basically on your own, Raven. You can only fight for so long, and even if you are the strongest, earth-side, anyway, five of us together will have that gem in your forehead mounted on a wall a few minutes from when the fight starts. It'd be all that was left of you."
Raven's brow rises at the bravado, noticing a slight haze between their bodies once more.
This time, however, she finds it to be pure obsidian instead of Jared's red, and flowing in the opposite direction.
Eyes narrowing in concentration, she finds a dull throbbing sensation in the depths of her mind.
Her realization is sidetracked by Jared, her attempts to pull the power away from him and back into herself distracted easily.
"there's our help, too. More useful than yours, if just as sickeningly human. Except the vampire, but he's almost as bad regardless. I think he'd bring his whole Church down on you if it meant he could have you in iron chains in his bed for both of your longer-than-human lifetimes. Wotan and the other magicians would froth at the mouth at the thought of stealing your power for themselves, too. You're very outnumbered, Raven," he mocks with a sneer.
"I wonder… if I let you go, would they kill you over telling me all this?" Raven muses with a copy of his expression.
He pales, a sickly cast appearing on his skin as he thinks on it.
"I thought as much," his sister laughs. "I know where you're keeping your tools, I know how many of you there are, and I know now that I can find the others. Between Snow and you, at least when you feel a false sense of superiority, it's been a very informative night."
A thought occurs to him and his expression twists in a mix of rage and horror, a visible aura of red shining off his body.
"You bitch!"
She smirks in response, the sudden strain on her soul-self not showing in her expression at all.
"I'm going to kill you! Get the fuck out of my head!"
Jinx stares in shock at Raven, who simply meets his stare with the stoic mask the meta had thought abandoned after the last year.
Unlike Jared, though, she can see a gleam of horror in her fiancé's eyes, confirming her earlier suspicions without doubt.
What scares Jinx more than Raven's power is that Raven isn't in full control of it, both instances this night seeming entirely subconscious.
Jared begins thrashing around in the soul-self cage, the pain in his neck forgotten in the volume of his snarls and screams.
At the meta's side, Constantine snorts and pulls a new cigarette free, his amusement palpable in the air.
"Demons," he mutters before pulling a long drag on the cigarette.
Jinx's reply is cut off by a sudden explosion of red light, bringing her attention back to the scene before her.
Jared lashes out with his soul-self, sending a limb of red to swipe for his dodging sister.
She gives nothing away as she dances out of each attack, her soul-self snapping his psychic limbs whenever it gets too close.
Despite her cold facade, Jared notices the sweat breaking out on Raven's face from more than the effort of avoiding him, a sneer curling his lips.
His anger rises like a physical force around him, his energy hammering away at her mummifying hold while he continues distracting her.
His eyes flash red, the energy in the air her only warning as the newest limb vanishes.
She dives away instantly, the blast of red energy ripping into existence at the same moment.
Steam rises from the melted ground where she'd stood, her eyes widening as a red smoke billows upward from his eyes
Something snaps, and Jared vanishes into the ground from the suddenly loose binding.
Raven whirls around, a wall of black taking form just as a massive fist swings at the back of her head.
"You've brought wrath down on yourself, Raven, and it will be the last thing you do!" he screams.
His fists begin slamming into the shield, the wall of black vibrating under each strike.
Raven finds herself sliding along the road, each of his punches sending her slightly further back.
Finally, white cracks begin to form in her shield, and he releases a roar that causes the ground to shake.
Red fills her vision, and she grunts while the Eldritch magic rips away at her defense.
Feeling the barrier falling, she immediately sinks into a portal at her feet.
By the time she rises to swing her fist at the back of his skull, he's matched her movements.
His fist slams into her back, sending her crashing into the road and bouncing forward.
"I'm going to kill you, then your mate, and then I'm going to hunt for that human with you when he runs away. Then I'll start in on that Titans group of yours. I swear on the Circles that I'm going to slaughter each and every last one of you!" he screams after her.
She comes to a brutal stop when she rams into the wall of a building, bricks crumbling to dust around her.
The ensuing pain is much less than she expects, and when he appears to punch her again, he finds her on her feet and almost steady.
His fist rushes by her face, her body spinning around the attack.
At the same time he realizes his mistake, she leaps onto his back, a steely hand crushing his throat.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
Darkness swallows the pair, Jared's body crashing to the road under the sudden weight.
Her soul-self compresses around them, until his body is covered head-to-toe in it beneath her.
"You should've run when you had the chance."
His struggles are futile, even as he begins releasing magic into her hold, her own anger fueling her.
"You've taught me that I'm fallible to what you seem to think I represent, the same as you. That was a mistake to think otherwise, and I'm glad it wasn't with someone better at tactics. It could've been fatal. So thank you, Jared, for this lesson."
He goes still as his vision turns black, her power pressing in on him to strain bones and muscle.
"But you should also have figured something out before starting this fight. When you first got away. If I really am Pride, it would be natural that I'd be stronger than all of you. The ideas you all represent are borne from what I represent. That, too, was a fatal error, and you won't be coming from it knowing better in the future."
Screaming sounds from within the black coffin, audible snaps and cracks sounding as his body begins breaking apart under the pressure.
Feeling a disturbing emotion rising in her at the sounds, she snaps her fingers.
In an instant, it presses into itself, and after the span of three seconds it vanishes entirely.
Jared stares with unseeing eyes at the air in its wake, his head at an angle not quite right.
She gazes at his body, her skin turning grey once more as a revolting sensation crosses through her body.
Even when the others join her side, Raven's eyes remain glued to his body.
"It wasn't going to end another way," Jinx offers.
Her voice breaks Raven from her introspection, a brow rising in response.
"It could have, but I won't be mourning his death anytime soon."
Jinx hesitates, biting her lip as she searches her lover's expression.
"Wasn't he your brother?" Constantine asks in a completely neutral voice.
"And Trigon was my father. I killed him all the same, as I will the others. And it seems to be mutual."
Constantine nods, taking in the shattered wall behind her.
"Didn't think your body was as strong as his was," he muses.
Raven winces, casting her own gaze at the damage.
"It isn't. I should've been out of it for longer than I was…"
"Glad you weren't," Jinx offers, concern shining her expression.
"As am I," Raven sighs.
Feeling the emotions rolling from her lover, Raven pulls her into a tight hug.
"I'm fine, Jinx. Bruised and angry, but fine," she swears.
The meta nods in agreement, her tension slipping away slowly.
"For now," Constantine grunts. "As soon as that bastard gets to the pit, word's gonna' get out. They'll be coming for you."
"Not necessarily. There's no telling if they can actually communicate across the divide, and even if that were the case, I get the impression they're only slightly more tolerant of each other than they are me. I don't think they'll be looking for revenge immediately, if they're smart."
"So you've got some time. When they hear, even if they don't come, they'll make sure the info you've got's outdated by the time you can use it."
Raven goes still, the red specks in her eyes glowing brighter for a moment.
"Then I won't give them a chance for it."
Constantine snorts in response, his eyes narrowing on the demonling.
"The First of the Fallen isn't a creature to take lightly. I don't know what timeframe you're thinking of, but it'd better be soon, or this is going to get really ugly really quickly."
Jinx's eyes widen in shock as her mouth goes dry.
"Whoa, whoa, hang on! That's who the First is!? The damn devil!?"
Raven winces at the shrilled question in her ear, making Constantine's smirk grow.
"I have the information I need. I'm finishing this, tonight," Raven swears.
"Apparently not, or I wouldn't be here," he argues.
"They're planning to open the Hellmouth. That's not just some portal. What has the keys to the gate?"
A thought occurs to Constantine that makes him chuckle.
"Oh, yeah. Now that I think about it, this isn't somethin' that they can do. You, either. Last I heard, Morpheus has the keys."
The words are foreign to Raven for a moment as her mind works on piecing them together, and when she does, her own lips turn upward.
"Well then, that gives me a bigger timeframe, doesn't it?"
"Don't get cocky," Constantine warns. "If they find a way to rip a hole into his house, they might be able to slip it from him and get out before they get killed. I'd normally say that for just five half-demons, some decent magicians, and some trinkets, it'd be impossible to get around an Endless for even a few seconds, but… they've got a lot of magic stored in all that they've stolen, from what I gathered. It might be enough to get that blood in all of you to work for them. Might give them just enough of a chance to get it done."
Raven's mirth dies, leaving an acrid taste in her mouth.
"Umm… I'm feelin' like an idiot. What the hell's an Endless?" Jinx asks with a powerful blush coloring her cheeks.
Raven's frown is one of thought rather than irritation, but the meta takes longer than she expects to pick up on the difference.
"They're… difficult to put into words. They're a step above the gods that roam this planet and the various dimensions, but they aren't quite gods per se…"
"Just think of them as an abstract idea," Constantine offers. "Most do. Even playing around with demons and angels, I don't quite get what they actually are."
"And Morpheus is…? Like, the old Greek guy that worked with people dreaming?" Jinx asks while her blush fades.
"It's one of his forms," Raven agrees. "But it is possible that they could sneak around him, even in the Dreaming, if they have as much built-up magic as I think they do. So the plan's simple. Kill them, remove the objects of power they hold if I can't, and get Morpheus's attention and let him know to be prepared. If he's expecting them, even if they manage to beat me, they won't be able to win…"
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Author's Notes:
So Jared's dead. One down, five to go. I'm betting the rest won't be as "easy," such as this was, for Raven, especially if they know she's hunting them. I hope you're all enjoying yourselves as much as I am. Be sure to give me your thoughts, positive or negative, and I'll see you all next time!