Planning
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.
Jinx looks up as golden light once again fills Fate's Tower.
The metahuman has been awake roughly since the time Doctor Fate received his call, the echoing shrill of sound stirring her.
A ripple of very unpleasant sensation runs through her entire body as the mystic's magic briefly reaches her again.
And then, it's gone, and she breathes a sigh of relief.
Raven, however, violently shivers in her unconsciousness, nothing but a thin layer of healing magic keeping her separated from the grating magic.
Jinx pulls the empath closer to herself, violet hair feathering out along her stomach.
The demonling makes a quiet murmuring sound, and after squirming for a few seconds, settles back down in the meta's embrace.
Fate takes the scene in, Jinx's expression incredibly soft as she helps her sleeping lover become more comfortable.
It takes nearly a full minute before pink, feline eyes lift up and meet his own gaze, a light blush creeping across her cheeks.
The mystic simply stands in place, letting his senses expand.
All around the women, pink and black electricity sparks through a wall of brilliant, white light that encompasses both of their bodies.
The black is noticeably dimmer than usual, being nearly grey in its possessor's unconsciousness.
As Fate watches, the colors move together, almost dancing around each other as they swirl in completely random patterns.
He frowns behind his helmet, realizing the display is decidedly not normal.
Auras do not mix as theirs do, under most normal circumstances.
With a start, he understands why something being off had never really occurred to him.
Their auras had been that way since he first began working together with them, though the colors merge and mix together more as he watches than they ever have before.
And, as he watches, he notices something.
The color of Jinx's aura has changed over time.
On first meeting the meta, he'd been started by the brilliant, bubblegum-like shade of pink to the energy that rolled around her like a small set of armor.
The same shade as her eyes.
Now, though, as he stares at her eyes and watches the flickering colors pass over them, he notices the two are no longer identical.
Darkness has crept into the pink of her aura, making it decidedly more scarlet.
Although not the stark color of Raven's eyes when she transforms, the color is now more similar to that shade than Jinx's own.
The realization further confuses the mystic, making him unsure of what it means.
"Can I, uh… help you, Doc?" Jinx asks in discomfort.
Fate jerks his head slightly, a touch embarrassed that he'd apparently been staring at the meta for long enough to be noticed.
"Apologies," he murmurs. "Has there been any change?"
"You were only gone for, like, fifteen minutes. She's still not wakin' up," the meta adds with a worried glance down at her lover.
"I would be surprised if she wakes up before tomorrow, honestly," he agrees. "Damage to the soul is not easily mended, and nearly impossible to entirely reverse. Taking damage in her astral realm as she did, following everything the two of you have been doing, could quite possibly have simply killed her."
Jinx grimaces, her hand unconsciously running along the empath's cheeks as she looks back up at him.
"How'd that whole thing go?" she asks with an upward jerk of her head.
"They'll be evacuating Gotham, and the League will be staying out of your way. I will be accompanying you to your fight, assuming Batman can discover where they'll be."
"Any chance you'll tell me who the Kryptonian'll be sending after us as soon as the dust clears?"
Fate again meets her eyes directly, noticing cold calculation hardening her expression.
She would fight anyone putting the two of them in danger without hesitation, he realizes while taking that expression in.
She seems to realize something, and the expression disappears as the blush resurfaces.
"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I wouldn't want to put you in a bad position with the league. Forget I said anything. Not like it matters, anyway. If it ain't someone prepared to kill, they'll lose."
The absolute certainty in her voice doesn't surprise the mystic, though it does make him suddenly have an urge to re-consult the helmet's visions, just in case.
While he has no vision before him, he nonetheless can see the scenario before him.
The metahuman would make none of the attempts to de-escalate such a thing that her partner would.
"Constantine and Etrigan were on your side, as was I. In the end, Superman stated that as long as no civilians are injured, he'll leave you to the others coming for your heads. Partly due to the fact that he likely already considered your response a possibility," Fate admits.
"Seriously?" she asks, eyes widening.
"He didn't seem to be lying, either. There were others who didn't entirely agree-"
"Zatanna?" the meta quips.
"-among them Zatanna," he continues without missing a beat, "who may act regardless, but it would be action that isn't condoned by the League."
Jinx's tightened muscles relax just a bit, a sigh escaping her lips.
"If you, Etrigan, and Constantine are out of the equation, I'm not worried."
"Do not underestimate Zatanna. She has many years of practice, and her magic is powerful, if not quite on yours or Raven's level. There is a reason she's one of the League's chief magical consultants," he warns.
"Maybe, but unlike the bunny, you're the only one I'm, like, 98% certain could take both of us on our best day and still kick our asses," she responds flippantly.
"While your confidence in my power is interesting, I'd rather you didn't fight her, if it's all the same. Despite your differences, she is ultimately an agent of Order as well, albeit perhaps one who is a touch tunnel-visioned at times. And despite what you think, you might not win against her, if she put all of her training and education in the mystic arts into destroying you."
Something darkens in her expression, and she sends another look at her unconscious lover.
"I've seen Zatanna's magic, and I didn't make it this far because I took things at face value. Even Raven thinks I don't take her seriously… That's the point. I just like pressing the shiny buttons she leaves open that mess with her head, and it will throw her off down the road. Taking personal shit out of it, I don't actually want to fight her, either, because really, what do I gain if one of us ends up laid out and unconscious or dead?
"But?" he prompts, seeing the way her body coils a bit more around Raven, as though protecting her even more with her body.
"But she already planned to screw with Raven once, and like you said, she's on the side of Order to a fault. I'm pretty sure at least part of the reason she hates the both of us so much is just the kind of magic we use. I don't want to fight her, but if she decides to attack Raven, she'll have to get by me to do it, and I will defend myself."
Her eyes brighten slightly, the lights around the women moving even faster in response.
"She'll come at me, thinking I don't know what she can really do. She'll pull out the all the stops and count on it throwing me. Give her an openin'. And when she does, I'll be ready, and I'll take her down before her next blink."
Fate watches the magic tangling and weaving around the metahuman, seeming to draw on her anger.
As she becomes angrier, the pink begins turning slightly darker.
While he ponders her words, he realizes that she's likely correct about the way such a fight would go.
Her confidence had always been charming, before, and more than a little amusing.
Now, though, he realizes that she is far more dangerous a creature, regardless of the cause, than she had previously been.
It's much less amusing now that he's certain she can follow through on such threats.
"All the same, I'd recommend figuring out a way around that. If you do hurt, or worse kill, a League member, Superman will immediately call for a war on the both of you. If you manage to dodge all of us, you'll be on the run for the rest of your lives. And I don't need to remind you how long either of your natural lifespans are, do I?"
She stiffens as golden magic lightly coats the air around him, again giving him slightly more presence than he already possesses.
"I can't teleport, and I can't fly. If Zatanna comes at us, and Rae's…"
She chokes at whatever thought crosses her mind, the edges of her eyes gaining a noticeable shine to them that has nothing to do with magic.
"If Rae's out of it from kickin' her brothers' asses wholesale," she continues with a quivering voice, "there is no flight option there. It would probably be a very good idea for people to convince her, and any who would agree with her on this, to not try, then, instead of telling me to be a punching bag and putting more than just my own life in danger."
Her mind seems frozen on the possibility that torments her, and he watches as the colors steadily shift.
The darkness seems to become darker somehow.
After a moment, he realizes that the darkness is gaining its color by draining it from Jinx's telltale pink, leaving it steadily lighter.
While still not the color of her eyes, the color is significantly less dark and angry when the process is done.
Her entire body loses its tension, her eyes refusing to leave Raven's face as she continues running her hands along it.
Raven's lips curve into a very small smile, and her head turns slightly further into Jinx's touch.
The black color of her aura pulsates and slowly turns to its usual obsidian.
Jinx seems oblivious to the way her hands spark with nearly invisible bursts of pink light as they continue brushing against Raven's face.
As the action continues, Fate notices that the demonling's skin is steadily losing its pallor, just as quickly as the black energy darkens.
"How long has that phenomena been occurring?" he asks with a nod at the glow.
Jinx briefly raises a brow at him, before following his gaze.
Her eyes widen as she sees the light rising from her, seeming to feed into Raven's skin.
"Uh… I don't know…"
"Since we first became romantically involved?" a voice suggests.
Jinx jumps in response, and Fate himself fights a similar urge, as Raven's eyes slowly open.
Her gaze is unfocused, the small smile slowly turning to confusion.
"I am… not dead," she observes.
"You are conscious far earlier than expected," Fate corrects, staring at the demonling.
Raven reaches up slowly, entwining her hand with one of Jinx's.
At the touch, the colors around them brighten, almost painfully so, and her skin returns to its usual coloring.
Her eyes immediately clear, and with a huff of effort, she rises to sit.
Jinx gives her no room, pulling her back to rest fully against her front as soon as she's up.
Raven folds her arms over Jinx's letting her hold her stomach as pleasant sensations continue growing in her awakening body.
Her eyes move to their connected arms, staring at the swirling colors.
"We've had our energies mixing for a long time," she continues.
"How long would quantify long, exactly, were you to estimate?" the mystic challenges.
"When we first met again, I took her into Nevermore unprepared and without a filter like my mirror. It had an… adverse… effect. After that, we fought together, and it didn't take us an overly long time until we were mixing our magic for the best offense. Then we were, erm… closer, and have only become more so over time. By this point, we're practically symbiotic."
Jinx stares at her as though she's sprouted a second head while Fate frowns behind his helmet.
"You've continued to fight like you have, knowing about this?" Fate asks.
"How long have you known about this?" Jinx demands simultaneously.
Raven winces at the accusing tone in her lover's voice, feeling the tension around her.
"I didn't know about it. Not until the Dreaming, anyway, and I haven't exactly had the time to bring it up with everything else," she defends.
Jinx hears the wounded tone creeping into her voice, which joins her recent return from near death to make the meta feel very guilty.
She can't let the issue go that easily, though, regardless.
"But you just said it's been like that pretty much since we met. You're pretty observant, Rae."
"Our magic is inherently compatible, and when people are emotionally close, it's natural that their auras will tend to adapt to each other. They can sometimes even become similar under scrutiny, depending on how close they are and where their auras was a time that was probably taking in parts of the Titans' auras as well. But even that's a far way away from soul-level merging to the point that just being close will heal, What's happening isn't even usually feasible for any beings that aren't pure energy."
"You couldn't have possibly known," Fate agrees with a nod, his concerns quickly vanishing.
"So, I mean… what does it actually mean?" Jinx asks, looking decidedly uncomfortable.
"That your energies affect each other's auras. It is something in your favor," Fate supplies. "Etrigan brought up your experience falling through Hellfire up in the Watchtower. This is a much better alternative to the other possible theories I had."
"Hang on. What happened in the Watchtower?" Raven asks, already feeling tired again.
"Meeting to figure out if they wanted to ice us more than they wanted the universe to stay running. Looks like they like living. What about the Hellfire?" the meta asks without pause.
"Apparently, when you were in Stonehenge, you fell into waves of it when he was helping you destroy the circle. A fact both of you seemed to deem trivial."
Both women grimace at the chastisement, but Jinx's speeding heart distracts her quickly.
"Yeah, that happened. We figured it was just one of those 'looks like I can do that now' moments we tend to have. So, what? Are you sayin' the only reason I'm not long-dead is because I'm takin' in some of Rae's demon?"
"You'd be taking on my energy, not turning into a demon yourself," Raven corrects.
The empath's face scrunches in thought, a finger tapping her jaw as she gets lost in thought.
"Which makes sense, thinking about it. Being so close to demonic energy and magic all the time, and occasionally taking parts of it into your own aura… it would be akin to a very minor vaccination," she continues, theorizing to herself.
"So, what? You throw Hellfire at me, and I'll just walk through the stuff? Cause, not for nothin', but that could be hella' convenient, given who we're gearin' up to fight," Jinx says, her eyes alight at the potential.
"Even I will not simply walk through Hellfire. It still has mass, and velocity driving that mass. That said… in theory, and only in theory, because I do not make a habit of fighting demons skilled enough to wield such magic… I could feasibly only take the damage of impact."
"So… you still get burned. That's a little… disappointing considerin' what I was hopin' for," Jinx admits with a wince.
She squeaks in surprise when Raven's finger taps her forehead, the empath turning her head to give her a frown.
"Hellfire has no heat. No burning. That's not how it works. In theory, the effect that comes with it, the reaction of the souls making the flames up draining the surrounding world, would have no effect on me. If it's all the same, while I can't say your thought wouldn't be nice, I would prefer if you didn't get hit by Hellfire to test it out."
Jinx blushes at the sudden worry practically glowing in the empath's violet eyes.
"Just being in the vicinity of Hellfire can cause a great deal of health issues for humans, and even the majority of metahumans and mystics with stronger resistance. If you can avoid it, do so, Jinx," she continues.
"It was just a thought," the meta defends with hands raised in mock surrender.
"All the same, it is a legitimate concern," Fate interjects. "Your brothers are more versed with their demons than even you. They will undoubtedly be using everything at their disposal, including Hellfire."
"Good point. And don't even think you're gonna' tell me to sit this one out," Jinx warns, eyes suddenly narrowing.
Raven nods in acknowledgement, her face scrunching in thought.
She grows more agitated the longer she thinks, until her aura is visibly sparking from the tension.
"I will teach you," she finally mutters.
Jinx blinks in surprise, a mirrored reaction hidden behind Fate's helmet.
"Teach me… what?"
Raven presses lightly against Jinx, rising to her feet when the arms holding her loosen enough.
"Demons are the only species equipped to handle that magic," Fate admonishes. "It would burn her soul to cinders."
Jinx jumps to her feet, staring at her lover in shock.
"Whoa, you're gonna' teach me how to throw that shit? Thanks for the sentiment, hon, but I'll give that a pass. That can't be good for me."
Raven glares at both of them, her skin slightly paler than usual.
"Of course not! It would be suicidal to try it, and would go against the point."
She quickly jerks her head to the side, clearing her irritation away in an instant.
"However, it can't be ignored that if I do not kill them all in one strike, a very minimal possibility at best, they will likely be using it on us. There's no returning that fire, for you, Jinx."
"So what're you on about?" Jinx demands, ready to pull her hair out.
"As with all fires, if you can contain or destroy the fuel, the Hellfire is snuffed out."
Fate's eyes narrow on Raven, who refuses to meet the glare.
"That's very dangerous magic you're planning to teach her, Raven."
Jinx's stare moves between the two, her mind reeling as she tries to catch on to the hidden meaning she's missing.
"What? Like… I de-power the Hellfire? Like all those artifacts?"
"That would be the result, yes," Raven agrees, though her eyes remain glued to the ground.
Jinx's stomach tightens as she begins to figure the problem out.
"It's not just breakin' the shit like with the artifacts, is it?"
"Hellfire is made of cursed and damned souls. To destroy it takes magic that works on a soul-level," Fate explains. "Think of it like snuffing the oxygen from a house fire. And if Raven happens to be using her soul-self, her very essence, at the time-"
"I am stronger than Hellfire," Raven cuts in, meeting his eyes as she does.
"But you are, nonetheless, mostly made of your soul. You can live without your body, but not your essence. If you're using your magic at the same time she's destroying the fire, it will get inside you. And it will destroy you."
"I couldn't do it if I'd wanted to when fighting Wrath, and my brothers and I will all be the same. We have shells, defending our souls until our deaths. We are… tethered, protected. Hellfire is bare, and made of very weak souls."
"Which become stronger as they feed on the world around them," Fate corrects.
"But are nonetheless weak in and of themselves. The components of what I am and what Hellfire is are fundamentally different. Besides, even were that not the case, our auras are linked. It would do no more damage to me than it would Jinx, even in the event of something like that happened," she argues.
Fate meets her stare for a small eternity, while Jinx's mind works rapidly to process the new information.
"The point you're making might be valid," he reluctantly agrees. "However, it's still far more dangerous than even dealing with your brothers will be. That is dangerous magic, Raven. You shouldn't even know that kind of magic outside of theory."
"I know a lot of magical theory that you could say the same for. Actually, you taught me some of those," she challenges.
Jinx finishes processing, and her teeth clench in horror at the images running through her mind.
"No. No, not only no, fuck no! Raven, there is no way in Hell!" the meta screeches, her body seeming ready for a physical fight.
Raven turns to face the meta, her expression completely guarded.
"Both of you made the argument that they'll be wielding Hellfire. I won't lose you, Jinx, and I won't let them win. You either have to work with me to deal with that problem, or you will need to chew me out for an eternity after I've picked you up from looking after the children at the monastery after the dust has settled. I will not let this be a pyrrhic victory."
Jinx blinks, feeling another blush cross her cheeks.
"Uh…?"
Raven fully turns her attention to Jinx, seeming to entirely forget Fate's presence as she gets close to her.
"I will not lose you in the process of destroying the Sons of Trigon. It would be… I won't let it happen."
Jinx starts at the hint of moisture in the empath's eyes.
"I do not want to teach you this kind of magic, if I'm honest. It is not the kind of magic that's meant for mortals, myself included, to be able to wield. And maybe it will turn out to be overkill, and I would regret doing so… But I will not bring you with me if you can't reasonably defend yourself against everything they can throw at us."
"Hey! Now hold on just a second. I can handle myself-"
"I'm not saying you aren't," Raven interrupts. "Your magic is strong, as are you. But Hellfire is caustic to anything in this realm. It's not their magic, or really even their empathic abilities, that I have worries about your ability with. If you cannot wield Hellfire, you cannot redirect it, and you have only your acrobatics to avoid a potentially large-area attack. In short, you must be able to destroy it, or be willing to step back."
"Better plan. How about you take care of the defense, for once, and I'll kick their asses?"
Raven blinks in surprise, as does the forgotten mystic.
"You just said that you think I can take 'em in terms of their magic and empathy. And you can deal with Hellfire, if they use it. So we kick their asses, and you start takin' the defense if they start flingin' that shit around. How's that for a plan?" Jinx asks, more than a little pride shining in her grin.
"That… is actually not a bad plan," Raven muses, quickly getting over the shock. "As long as they do not separate us, that could actually work."
"I have my moments," the meta quips.
Unnoticed by either, Doctor Fate releases a silent but heavy sigh of relief, unknown tension relaxing.
He had not liked any part of where the conversation had been heading.
"That is a fine plan, I think," he supplies.
Both women jump, as though they really had forgotten his presence, much to his amusement.
"Now that that's settled, Batman mentioned that he would gain much from Raven's help, once you were both awake. Perhaps the two of you together can pinpoint exactly where your brothers will be going. He is a smart man, but the nuances of magic are a little beyond him, I'm afraid."
"Wow. Never thought I'd get to meet the Bat without bein' in cuffs," Jinx muses, her eyes slightly wider.
Raven smirks at her lover, a brow raised in question.
"If you'd like to live up to a dream-"
Jinx moves quickly, clamping a hand over the empath's mouth while her face turns bright scarlet.
"Thank you very much, Rae, but I'll give that thought a pass."
Raven laughs into her hand, before wrapping an arm around her waist.
"Very well. No time to waste, I suppose."
Her eyes move to Fate, and her expression immediately sobers, though her cheeks turn a light pink.
"Thank you. For a lot more than you know, you have my thanks. If… when we make it through this, I will make sure to begin repaying the massive amount of debts I owe you."
"Saving the universe will be considered a blank check," he responds with a shake of his head. "If and when you win, all imagined debts will be paid."
…..
Author's Notes:
I'm finding that I enjoy writing Jinx more as I get further into the story, and writing scenes with her is getting to be increasingly more fun. We're getting to the end, people, and will be shortly returning to the action.
As always, I look forward to your inputs and thoughts, and I'll see you all next time!