[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentions in this story. Me? Updating a fic? I'm back. I hated writing this chapter so much, I'm so bad at writing Billy. Take it anyway, I guess.]
It felt like they'd been climbing forever. After making it through the main hall of the castle, Billy and Raven had trecked for hours and hours among the maze like castle. It was obviously not in an Earthen dimension, or so Raven had guessed. Nothing here made much of any sense, it was like they were walking through Limbo. When they entered some rooms, gravity was completely gone, and there were objects just floating about. In other rooms, the walls themselves seemed to nearly growl at them for entering.
One thing remained the same however - it was eerily dormant. Not a soul breathed in the castle. There were skeletons and mummified corpses scattered about the rooms, of course, but no real life. It made Raven more than uneasy.
For once, she was almost thankful she had Billy Numerous to accompany her.
Because of Billy's constant and nonstop chatter, Raven didn't really have much time to think about the situation they were in. Everytime Raven felt that familiar drop in her heart at a skeleton, Billy beat her to the panic attack.
Billy was so...weird. Hypocritical, Raven knew, but she just couldn't wrap her head around him.
Raven was glad they'd at least found a safe place to sleep for the night.
Among the many less than safe rooms, they'd finally found a comfortable - albeit creepy - room to rest in for the night before they continued their journey through the castle tomorrow.
The room wasn't very large, about the size of a safe house big enough for one person. It was dark, and the brick walls were musty and dust covered. They'd managed to make a small fire inside the room, granting them enough light to see if any attackers were coming. When they'd first entered the room, Raven was terrified. In the middle of the room sat the skeleton of a man sitting on a throne chair, crown still lopsided on his tilted head, surrounded by now empty and broken bottles of what she supposed was wine.
Before she could storm away from the room, demanding they find somewhere else, Raven looked in to see Billy sticking his hand into the backside of the skeleton's skull, using it like a hand puppet to tell Raven skeleton puns. She didn't laugh - none of his puns were very good - but the joking did help her settle down enough to accept that they had to sleep here for the night.
So here Raven was, sleeping in her weird cot-like bed they'd scavenged and staring down Billy's slumbering face as if it would unravel before her. Raven hated not understanding things - she always had. If she understood it, then she could control it, and she knew it wouldn't be a bother to her. But she didn't understand Billy, and couldn't bring herself to.
"Are you really a demon?" Billy asked suddenly, popping one eye open to look at her.
"Yes." Raven answered quickly, putting on her mask of apathy to cover up her own frustration.
Billy gave this some thought.
"I don't think ya are." Billy said.
"...What do you mean? I've got pale skin, purple eyes, and I can use magic." Raven said as if Billy were an idiot - which she didn't doubt.
"Well...my mama told me my whole life about demons and about dealing with the devil and all that nonsense. You know - she put the fear of God in me, like she was s'posed to." Billy said, looking up at the broken ceiling and reminiscing.
"She always talked about how old red man wouldn't do nothing but bring ya to shame if ya dealt with him, 'bout how demons struck fear into your heart the damn near second ya looked at him. I've been afraid of demons my whole life - it took me nearly a full year and a half to really become friends with Wykkyd." Billy continued to explain. Billy turned and looked over at Raven.
"But you don't scare me none." Billy said.
Raven hated this, she hated not understanding why Billy was telling her this, why he was so open all the time.
"Ya know," He began, looking at the ceiling again, "I had a lil sister once."
"Her name was Marcy. She was the smallest of us. I had nine siblings growing up, but most days it felt like just me and her. I couldn't really count on none of the rest of my family." Billy said, smiling at the memory.
"She was a lot like you. She was confident, she was brave, she was strong and smart, and she was apathetic because that's what kept her alive. But really, Marcy...she was just so afraid, all the time. She was the smallest of us." Billy said, smile slowly fading.
"...Marcy died when she was twelve years old. I...I watched her die. I watched and I blame myself every single damn day for freezing up and not being able to do nothing. She died and she died thinking her brother didn't care none for her at all. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't any better than my other brothers. I was an asshole my whole life. I never played with her, never helped her when she got hurt, the only difference between me and the rest was that I would listen when she cried." Billy said, smile gone. He looked up at Raven again.
"...You're scared, too. I know ya are, I can see it. Your fingers keep shaking whenever we reach a new door, and even when we ain't in here, I've seen you look near terrified every time you say your lil magic words in battle." Billy said to Raven's dumbfounded face.
"I know ya hate me, I understand that. I can accept that. But...you're scared, and you're just like my Marcy. I'm not gonna let another Marcy die because I can't put my pride away enough to just be nice to her, and make her even a little bit less afraid." Billy stated.
Raven didn't hear anything after that. She sat there and stared at the ceiling for hours after Billy had fallen asleep. Billy had figured her out before she could figure him out. She was enraged, she was dumbfounded, she was flabbergasted, she was...relieved. So, so relieved.
Raven was a single child growing up. No mother, no father, no siblings. She learned at a young age to protect herself and to take the pain and to fight through it. For the first time in her life, maybe she didn't have to fight through the fear alone.
[Read and Review please!]