Title: Masks and Men
Chapter Title: Ravens and Wolves
Rating: T for swearing and mild violence and mature themes
Disclaimer: I don't own this… I think that's why there's Teen Titans Go and no season 6.
Author Notes: Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! Ya'll are A-W-E-S-O-M-E! I 3 You!
I still have the Epilogue and a bonus scene that's kind of unrelated and really more of an excuse to include Wintergreen. Anyway, in this chapter, it follows Titans cannon in the sense that Raven gets turned into a child, Slade goes to help, yadayadaya with some modified dialogue at the end and the inclusion of Brother Blood (because that guy is seriously creepy in the comics).
Funny story: I always thought that Slade was represented by a wolf because he's an Alpha male, a lone wolf, and an excellent "hunter," but at the same time, he wants to be a leader of a very small "pack" a.k.a. his apprentices. I did some research and guess what? Wolves are often accompanied by ravens and the two have a symbiotic relationship. What. Even nature ships my OTP...if Slade is a wolf anyway. It depends on which version, I suppose... He could be a snake or maybe honey badger or something else... I digress. Still, I thought that was pretty funny and extremely coincidental.
Please enjoy!
"Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light."
–Norman B. Rice
It's the End.
He wakes up and she's beside him. But she's not the Raven that he remembers, but the Raven he saw as he waltzed with her in her memories. Raven-the-child. Raven-the-survivor. The Raven that had always been alone.
It's the End, and all he cares about is if she's okay.
He gently touches her wrist, praying that she's all right.
He heaves a sigh of relief when he feels her heartbeat.
It's the End, but the story still continues. He's alive. The Titans are alive. (The End may have happened, but hope still springs eternal.)
Raven-the-child stirs. Her amethyst eyes blink groggily. "Who are you?"
"A friend." He can feel her fear spilling over from the bond. Slade tries to approach her, but she draws back further into her white cloak, terrified. He reaches out through their mental link, trying to send some sort of reassurance, and she shrieks.
"What are you doing?" She vaults to her feet, hands clutching her head. "Get out of my head!"
Slade immediately retracts his mental feeler, but it's too late. With a blast of furious black light, she blasts him into a wall and races off into the darkness of the ravine. Even Deathstroke doesn't feel good about terrifying a little girl. Slade Wilson is downright frantic, and Slade is at a loss of what to do.
Part of him is hurt that she would ever shirk from his touch.
Another part of him is shocked that he feels pain from that. Pain? Skeletons don't feel pain. Removing his glove, he is sees his own flesh and blood. One last gift from his favorite bird.
(His heart hurts all over again.)
It's the End, but really, it's only the beginning, the beginning of a revolution, the beginning of hope.
He finds the Titans as he wanders through the flames and fury. They are so like her, with determination and hope reflected in their eyes, bright specks of light in a starless sky. They attack him; he doesn't even bother fighting back.
"I'm not here to fight, Titans." He raises his hands defensively. "Believe it or not, I'm here to help."
They exchange stunned glances. It didn't take a genius to realize they didn't believe him.
The Ring of Azar gives him a nudge. Give me to them, it seems to say.
Reluctantly, he gives it away and he feels a little emptier inside. Hell may be burning, but right now, he feels so cold.
—
"Why are you helping us, Slade?" Robin demands. His friends are busy distracting Trigon as the two of them go further into the depths of hell.
It isn't a complicated question, but it feels like it is one. But in the end, the answer is quite simple—because he cares about what happens to that foolish, troublesome, brilliant woman. (Girl, Slade Wilson reminds pointedly. Deathstroke mentally smacks him on the head and adds Woman for good measure.)
He has chosen to help her friends. He has chosen to save her.
He's helping them because he wants to. Nothing more.
(She is a weakness he cannot have, but at the same time, she is his greatest strength.)
"My reasons are my own," he replies coolly. "Do you want your friend back or not?"
"Hmph." Robin stalks away. "I still don't trust you."
"Good." Slade gestures to a trail disturbed by child-like footprints. "You'll find your friend down that path."
Robin's eyes narrow. "What about you?"
"Oh, don't mind me." Slade's eye finds Brother Blood concealed in the shadows. "I'll simply be saying hello to an old friend."
Slade watches Robin disappear in the distance with Brother Blood carefully following. He knows that look in Brother Blood's eyes, and Deathstroke takes over from there.
(It's quick. Brutal. Efficient.)
He drops Brother Blood's dismembered corpse into the lava without a second thought.
Slade regrets nothing as he cleans off his bloodied knife. He is still a wolf, even if he is more of a man. He is still a predator that is burning with the thrill of the hunt and the primal need to protect.
(And what wolf doesn't enjoy the company of a raven?)
In the river of lava, he looks down and sees his reflection.
Deathstroke looks up at him. Slade Wilson looks back.
In the End, he is both a mask and a man.
(In the End, he is Slade, no more, no less.)
He immediately springs back into the fray when he feels the Ring of Azar shatter. Its destruction sends out a call for help that cuts through all of hell to reach him.
He's finally in his element. Slade Wilson and Deathstroke are both going for the kill. Vaulting himself into the air, Slade brings a flaming axe down onto Trigon. Once. Twice.
He lands on his feet, and Trigon's two prized horns lands with him.
They're winning. Shocking. He had thought that Trigon the Terrible would put up more of a fight…
Slade screams in pain as he's caught in Trigon's sudden magical blast. He kisses the earth. Hard. Groaning in pain, Slade tries to push himself up, but gravity wins and he isn't strong enough to fight it.
Raven-the-child is trying to wake her friends. Raven-the-woman wouldn't have been so weak.
He reaches out for her again through their bond. He can feel her protesting, but she's too shaken to stop him. Her mind is full of darkness and chaos and fear and utter terror. He finds her, huddled in a corner, her soul just barely shining through the darkness.
You can do it.
She nearly jumps a foot in the air from his voice alone. Recovering her bearings, Raven-the-child frantically shakes her head. I can't. She curls up into a little ball. He's too strong.
You're stronger. Kneeling down, Slade holds out a beckoning hand. You're the light in the darkness. It's time for you to fly, Raven.
I can't.
You can. He touches her shoulder. You are the most hopeful person I know.
Slade finds himself being pushed out of her head, a gentle shove that still sends his head reeling.
When he comes to, he finds Raven on her knees before her father. Her robes of white are tattered and torn and stained red, but her eyes have that familiar fire in them, an inextinguishable flame that will just burn, burn, burn…
(And he knows that his light has returned.)
"You're no match for your master!" Trigon cackles. Magic blazes on his fingertips, and his very shadow engulfs her small figure. "Give up, little girl!"
Raven-the-child stands up, eyes glowing white. "No."
—
—
Ravens were perhaps the smartest animals in the world. Put them in a cage and give them a pick, and soon enough, they'll be long gone and flying free.
She just found a way to break the lock.
He watches her as she transforms from a child to a fully-fledged adult adorned in white. She stands tall, and her father's cast shadow suddenly looks small.
She engulfs him with her very soul that tears through the darkness, through hell itself, to consume the Devil until he's nothing more than ashes and dust. She blasts him with a brilliant, unrelenting light that shines brighter than anything he has ever seen.
The cage of darkness that once trapped her soul is gone. That brilliant raven is no longer caged by the darkness.
It flies free.
—
Slade steps back from the light and returns the shadows. His job is done. She doesn't need him anymore.
But then he feels her mind tangling with his, feels her gratitude seeping into every bone of his body. (She might not need him, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want him.)
And he now knows that this isn't quite the End.
—
—
—
(After all, ravens and wolves made good hunting partners.)
Thank you for reading!
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