Adjustment
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.
The women are encased in Raven's soul-self, and they quickly sink into the floor.
In the next moment, they're standing in a familiar room.
Jinx sighs in relief as Raven's aura washes over her, the energy feeling oddly pleasant after the Order magic had been grating on her mind.
Raven seems to agree, her entire body releasing tension neither had known was there.
Despite the strange sense of safety coursing through the meta, she finds herself surprised.
"This isn't the Batcave," she observes.
"I… would rather give myself a few moments to adjust. If it's alright with you," Raven says nervously.
"Well, shit, you've been falling your way through life since… since we last left here, pretty much. I ain't gonna' complain," Jinx quips.
She quickly pivots on the balls of her feet, putting herself at Raven's front.
The empath shivers as her chin is gently clasped, red eyes meeting pink.
"Before I let you get to it, though, I need to know. Are you okay? Everything about you seems… different, at least physically."
Raven frowns in contemplation, slowly cataloguing all parts of herself.
She immediately regrets doing so, as all of her new senses assault her at once.
Her muscles, as she'd suspected when first coming out of her coma, are much stronger than previously.
So much so that, as she twitches her hand, a ripple of pain launches up her entire arm.
Staring down at the hand in confusion, she frowns as she realizes that focusing on it suddenly makes the appendage considerably sharper to her sight, sending a stab of pain to her forehead.
She realizes as she stares down for a moment longer that her skin is no longer the grey color the past years have made her accustomed to.
Then, the pain becomes horrible, and with a wince, she closes her eyes.
With the orbs closed, she begins wondering at what caused the pain in her arm.
When she again flexes, the same thing happens, and she analyzes the sensation.
"You, uh, okay?"
With her eyes closed, Raven's hearing picks up, making the slightly high pitch of the meta's voice go from soothing to painful screeching directly into her brain.
At the same time, she picks up on a steady thumping that reaches her.
It takes her only a moment to realize she's hearing her meta's heart, sped up in concern.
She bites back a whimper, and slows her breathing in the hopes of forcing her mind to calm down.
"At the moment, nothing is okay with my body," she groans. "This is not like accepting my own demon was."
Jinx blinks in surprise, the first part of the admission one she'd expected the empath would be too stubborn to give.
Realizing how much pain that indicates, she finds herself suddenly wishing she'd been the one to spot Trigon in the Dreaming so she could have punched him in the face.
Even if it likely would've ended up with her mind destroyed.
Jerking her head to clear the strain of thought, she brings her hand up to caress Raven's face.
Raven discovers that her newly strengthened sense of touch, at least, is not making everything worse.
"What can I do to help?" the meta murmurs, voice dripping in worry.
"Can you… speak a little more quietly?" Raven responds.
She feels her lover's hand stiffen, and immediately returns the gesture to soothe.
"It is not you. My senses are stronger. I need to adjust and, well-"
"Headache ain't going to help," Jinx supplies the grasping empath, her voice a bare whisper.
"Yes. Sorry. I'll work on that in a minute."
She feels Jinx's nod by way of the shifting in the air before her.
With her headache quickly subsiding, she again flexes her hand.
The pain resurfaces, but much less strongly.
"What's goin' on there?" Jinx asks when she notices the gesture.
"My body needs to adjust and compensate to new stimuli," Raven guesses. "Flexing seems to be doing damage, since I haven't gotten used to how strong the pull is now."
"Can I-"
"Only way to adjust for this is to keep going through it," Raven interrupts with another wince.
Jinx huffs in frustration, glaring at her girlfriend's closed eyes.
"Is there anything 'sides being quiet I can do? I feel useless, here."
"You are not, I assure you."
"Can I… y'know… try to siphon some of that off into myself? That's got to be one of the perks of connected souls, right?"
"You can certainly try, but I would advise not," Raven responds around a stifled groan.
"I can take it," Jinx assures as she lets her eyes slip closed.
"Who knows what would happen? My senses are hurting me, and they're my senses. If you try it, you could end up doing serious damage."
Jinx stops herself, staring at her lover's closed expression.
As she watches, Raven continues flinching with each slow stretch of her limbs.
"But you're in a ton of pain," the meta complains. "An' I can help."
"Yes, but everything so far that we've done has been unconscious. Neither of us has ever actively tried for it. Until we test it out, it's very dangerous for the both of us to actively try something like that."
"Fine. No playing with our souls," Jinx huffs. "Damned masochist."
Despite the pain rolling through her, Raven feels herself grinning.
"Don't," Jinx warns sternly when she opens her mouth for a retort.
Chuckling, Raven shrugs and returns her focus to controlling her new muscles.
"I'm glad I decided to come here, first. I don't think being in a dark cave right now would be the best plan."
"Yeah, gotta' say, you'd be havin' a pretty hard time if the bat wanted to fight you and you couldn't make a fist right."
Among other things," the empathy agrees.
Slowly, Raven finds the pain subsiding, her body adjusting far less quickly to the new strength than she would like.
The banter with her fiancé is helpful, she finds, and they keep it up for what feels like hours, but in reality was likely only a handful of minutes.
She heaves a sigh of relief when the pain vanishes entirely, and grabs Jinx's hand.
A smirk forms when she actually hears the meta's heart speed up at the contact.
At the same time, she's assailed with a strangely sweet smell.
"You… gonna' open your eyes anytime soon?" Jinx murmurs.
Raven picks up on the nervousness in her lover's voice, and suddenly dislikes the smell a great deal.
Her eyes are pure lenses of red when they open.
The world is thrown into harsh, painful contrast, drawing a groan of what was almost agony from the empath.
Minor details that even her previously excellent vision had missed are now thrown into harsh clarity.
Everything has a faint glow around them, no matter where she looks in the room.
When she looks at Jinx, she fights back a reaction at the supernova of harsh, pink light that meets her gaze.
Even through the aura, though, she can see the reflections of her own hellish, red eyes in Jinx's own gaze, and is startled by the realization.
"My eyes…"
She closes them once more, and concentrates hard.
The energy flowing through her tightens under her control, and she feels the demonic aspect of herself pulling away from the surface as she has many times before.
The world is considerably duller the next time she opens her eyes.
While still far more detailed than her previous vision had been, she no longer feels as though her eyes are going to explode along with her brain.
Her skin, she realizes, is also still slightly reddish in color.
She again looks into Jinx's eyes, though, only to find herself still staring at red slits reflected back at her.
"I don't think that's goin' away, hon," Jinx murmurs.
She ponders it for a moment.
While she'd never been perfectly happy with her physical traits, she had never wished to look different, either.
Her skin, the thing about her that readily told everyone who looked that she wasn't a normal human, is now nearly pink enough to be missed by all who are unobservant.
She laughs at the idea that all it took to fit in was to become far more demon than human.
Her previously violet eyes had been one of the things that she had actually liked, though she suspects at least part of that was Jinx's doing.
"Damnit, I liked my eyes," Raven complains aloud around a sigh.
Jinx's lip curls slightly on one side, her other hand joining its pair on Raven's face.
"So did I. It's not the end of the world, though."
A brow rises in response, making Jinx's full Cheshire cat smile appear.
"If that was a joke, it was poorly done," the empath groans.
Jinx laughs, then, the sound like a balm to her mind.
"Oh, c'mon, can't blame a girl for tryin'."
"You can talk a bit louder. And it is… somewhat appreciated, I suppose," Raven sighs, though she feels her own lips curling upward.
Jinx's hands tighten on her, and Raven meets the meta's gaze.
"So what's goin' on in there? Freaking out? Wondering about all the ways you can kick even more ass now? Thinkin' about how to take over the world?"
Raven's eyes narrow at the last part, earning an apologetic smile and a heavy blush immediately from the meta.
"Sorry. That was a shitty joke. Other than the pain, how're you doin'? Do you want me to run and grab some Thanagarian booze for you?"
Raven smiles at the joke, her body releasing even more tension.
She realizes that normalcy is very good, for dealing with a change on this scale.
"It did not work so well on me before, and now my metabolism is likely faster. And I would prefer you not destroy our new house on accident, if it's all the same."
"It was one time," Jinx bemoans.
"All the same," the empath muses. "But other than the discomfort in my own skin at the moment, I seem to be otherwise okay. Although I will definitely need to work over the next few days to grow quickly accustomed to my father's… to my abilities."
"So it wasn't just a power boost?"
"His senses were nearly omnipresent. If what just the past minute has suggested is any indication, I will need to learn how to handle that, or my mind may end up broken."
"Yeah, definitely not good," Jinx agrees.
Raven ponders how dangerous she truly is in that moment.
Despite the utter lack of finesse with her new muscles, she can nonetheless feel the power now sitting in wait for her to use.
She truly did take in what remained of Trigon.
Analyzing the power inside of her, she realizes how terrifying that prospect truly is, for the first time.
Shivers run through her as she realizes that if something ever happened to her mind, if some force took control of her body and its powers, the world would not even have a new Trigon on their hands.
They would have something far, far worse, if the supposed force had a way of using her full potential.
She jerks her head, forcing the thought away.
Jinx watches her fiancé's inner debate, growing increasingly more worried with the shift in Raven's expression.
"Not good is possibly the biggest understatement for the situation," the empath finally responds.
"Right… Well, uh… We'll work on that, then. Together. After we get back from Wayne Manor."
Raven's eyes lift from the floor, then, and a smirk again curves her lips.
"A bit eager."
"Hey! How many millionaires do you know? I might be out of the whole thief game but… c'mon. That's like a candy store up there. Besides that, the guy's a freaking legend," Jinx defends with a powerful blush.
"Uh-huh. You know, I'm sure I could buy you a new pair of handcuffs, if you still want-"
"And I'm insatiable? It was just a joke," the meta groans, much to Raven's amusement.
"You are, and it was an interesting idea."
Raven's face scrunches suddenly, and she tightens her hold on Jinx's hand.
"Though, then again, I think I'd rather I be the only one cuffing you."
"How sweet," Jinx snarks.
Raven smiles, the normalcy of the discussion calming her mind significantly.
"I live to grant your wishes," she returns.
"Oh, great genie, I wish we could move on, please," the meta responds immediately, though with a smirk of her own.
"To the cave, then?"
"Only if you think you'll be okay heading there now."
Jinx's eyes lose their mirth, and she returns to scrutinizing Raven in worry.
Raven squeezes the meta's hand, her smile softening.
"I think I'll be okay. As long as I've got you, I can likely ground myself."
Jinx's blush turns almost neon, and she sputters a noncommittal response.
Raven steps closer, her arms wrapping around Jinx's waist as the meta's own close around her neck.
"All the same, I want you to be careful, Jinx."
"I'm always careful."
Raven shakes her head, a sudden somberness to her expression.
"Batman has called for us to come, immediately following a meeting discussing if we're dangerous. It is… a little suspicious."
Jinx rolls her eyes at that.
"Well, duh. For all we know, he could agree with Zatanna and have something waitin' for us. Geez, give me some credit!" she huffs.
The statement settles a very disturbing thought into the back of Raven's mind, though she refuses to acknowledge it.
"So we go in, an' if he tries anythin', I'll bring his whole house down."
Raven gets the distinct impression that Jinx's flippant attitude is purely for show.
There is a hard edge to the meta's expression that few have walked away from seeing.
Even as prepared for violence as Jinx appears to be, Raven still feels that they're going to be facing something distinctly unpleasant in the Batcave.
With a nod shared between the two, soul-self wraps around them.
As they rise from a rocky floor, she only has time to think of how much she hates being right before the world goes white…
...
Author's Notes:
A bit on the shorter side this week, so apologies. I wanted to play with the idea of Raven absorbing Trigon for a bit. It would make sense that it would be significantly different to when she took her own demon side in, since Trigon wasn't a natural part of her physiology.
As always, I hope you all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing! Be sure to let me know, one way or the other, and I'll see you all next time!