Hey yo, author here! Bit of a wait for this one, but a lot of re-writes and me being fussy made me re-arrange stuff. Not too much to say this week, so as usual thank, you to everyone who's favorited/followed/reviewed and hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
Ch. 29 Nevermore (Part 2)
Raven had always had nightmares for as long as she could remember. They were simply a part of who she was at this stage. Whether they came in the form of painful reminders of time's gone by that she rather were forgotten or as glimpses into a future that was to come, she was more than used to sleepless nights after waking up in a cold sweat. Raven's imagination didn't simply paint dreams or nightmares. They painted her own reality, no matter how much she wished they didn't. However, what she was not used to or prepared for, was having someone else see one of those recurring nightmares that she begged would go away but simply never did. She was vaguely aware of Beast Boy calling her name, but she didn't budge, so transfixed on the emoticlone in front of her, which towered above her head like some kind of earthen god. She sneered down at the empath.
"What's wrong Raven? Do you not like my domain? I thought it was fitting. How many times have you truly lost control in your life enough that I was allowed to act freely…twice, three times maybe?"
The emoticlone's four red eyes moved from Raven to scan the room they were in. "But this…in this place…in that moment…Azar, you lost all control. The anger…the rage…it was so rich and personal. Even in being bested, our rage only grew. To this day, beneath Jump City in those tunnels…it was the only time you threatened to take a life and I know it was not an empty threat...it it wasn't even entirely driven by me."
Raven, having gained some sense of composure by remembering where they were and why they had come, dawned her signature calm exterior. She knew Rage would see right through it, but if anything, it was a comfort for her to know she could still fall back on it.
"I do not care for the location you have chosen Rage. It is from a time best left in the past. As for your little story, it seems a touch dramatic, don't you think?"
In the blink of an eye, the earthen Raven bent downwards, it's body of swirling mud swerving around the empath, who jumped back in shock. Rage's voice echoed from behind her.
"But my dear Raven…the story was not for you."
Raven whipped around to find that Rage had foregone the muddy appearance she had been wearing, in favour for her signature brilliant red cloak. Four eyes of burning red malice still sat pride and place on her face. But that wasn't what made Raven's skin crawl. Rage had come to stand behind Beast Boy, where she had decided to place both her hands on his shoulders. Beast Boy looked tense under the contact, his posture rigid. He looked at Raven with a wary look in his eyes.
"Raven…what is this place?...what happened here?"
"Gar…I…"
Before Raven could get out another word, Rage twisted Beast Boy around, with one of her arms sliding in over his shoulder, with the other arm gesturing outwards at the metallic room, which was still slowly filling with water and mud.
"No Beast Boy. She won't tell the story right…how could she? She is biased because she resents everything about what happened here…she resents her adversary, she resents me and she resents herself for letting it happen. So allow me to show you what happened here."
Suddenly, two spots within the mud in the centre of the room began to bubble and rise upwards, the sludge slowly morphing from undistinguishable mounds of Earth into two humanoid shapes. One figure was clearly meant to be Raven, her hood down, her belt and hair obvious in the outline of the mud mold. But that was not what caught Raven's attention. It wasn't even the other figure. It was the sharp intake of breath from the changeling in front of her, Rage still draped over his shoulders. She didn't need to see his face or read his emotions to know what he had seen.
"…Terra?"
Raven finally glanced at the other figure. The likeness was nearly flawless. From the metallic shoulder and elbow plates, to her long hair, to the large S that was emblazoned on her chest, Raven also felt her breathe escape her on seeing the likeness. And yet, she was completely made out of mud, no trace of skin, or light in the eyes. The statue of Terra the Titans had left behind may as well have decided to go for a walk and come to Nevermore. Raven's eyes snapped back to the pair in front of her as soon as she heard Rage open her mouth.
"Yes Beast Boy. The one and only. Tell me, did Raven ever actually tell you about her one on one encounter with the geomancer?"
"…no."
"Oh well then…allow me to show you how it played out."
Raven went to take a step forward but nearly fell over as her feet refused to budge. Glancing downwards, her eyes widened as she realised her boots had sunken into the mood, which had now hardened, trapping her where she stood, flecks of dark magic still dissipating from the ground around her. Ahead of her, she heard an evil chuckle.
"Now Raven…let Beast Boy enjoy the show."
Raven panicked. "Beast Boy, please, do-"
Raven was cut-off as the two figures burst into life, launching a series of attacks at each other. She could only watch as the back of Beast Boy's head moved to follow the figures around the room, his ears flattened back against his head. Turning her attention back to the fight, she couldn't help be slightly horrified. The way Terra had launched her sharpened rocks…the piece of machinery that Raven had launched which had exploded on impact. There was no denying…at least initially, they hadn't been fighting to leave the other alive.
Then came the voices. At first, Raven thought it was a trick of the mind, a whisper at the back of her thoughts as she watched a memory play out before her eyes. But it wasn't. The voices came through, louder and louder, increasing from whispers to shouts that echoed throughout the metal confines of Rage's domain.
"Beast Boy told me all about your temper tantrums."
"Anger is pointless…my emotions are under control."
Terra got the upper hand, just like Raven remembered, and she could only watch as the memory of Terra in front of her walked down her earthen steps towards her former self.
"What stings the most…that I tricked you?...that I nearly wiped out your team?...that everyone liked me better than you?...or is that deep down inside you really believed that I was your friend?"
The mud Raven exploded outwards, her form increasing massively to tower over Terra, four burning red eyes appearing on her face, but just before the rest of the memory began to play, the two figures lost their shape and the mud that made them up fell harmlessly back to the floor, resulting in a thick sloshing sound echoing throughout the room. Silence was only allowed to reign for a minute before a clap of hands brought it crashing to an end. Raven, who could still only see the backs of Rage and Beast Boy, felt the mud fall away from her feet. Rage turned just as Raven made to move forward.
"So Raven…how does it feel? To see your moment of weakness back so clearly?"
Raven couldn't help it as she felt her magic tickle her fingertips. "You restrained me…nobody restrains me."
Rage held up a hand apologetically. "Ah but Raven, it was necessary…otherwise our guest wouldn't have been able to see the show."
Just like that, all the fight flew out of the empath, as her eyes flicked to the back of Beast Boy's head. The changeling still hadn't turned around, his vision focused on what Raven could only guess was the spot where the memories of herself and Terra had fallen to the ground.
"Beast Boy?...I didn't tell you the nature of my encounter with Terra because…she'd hurt us enough at that stage…she'd hurt you enough at that stage…and I'm not proud that I lost-"
"Control?"
Beast Boy turned around for the first time and Raven was completely caught off guard by how calm he appeared. Rage, for the first time since the pair had arrived in her domain, dropped her smug exterior, not being able to hide the slightest expression intrigued that slipped past her façade. Beast Boy took a deep breath.
"You and Terra…you didn't like each other and that was before she betrayed us…if I were you and I had a teammate tell her all my secrets…and then she said all that…I probably would have lost it too."
His face gave away nothing, but his voice gave him away. It was forced, an uneven tone that conveyed exactly how hard it had been so see what Rage had forced him to witness. She had no doubt that his understanding was genuine, but that certainly didn't make it any easier for the changeling. At once, he wheeled on Rage, his neutral expression morphing to one of anger.
"What was the point of this Rage? To make me mad at Raven? To make me feel bad for falling for Terra's lies and endangering the Titans? Cause if so, I'm sorry, but you'll have to do better than that."
Rage's intrigue melted away in an instant, and for the first time, she dropped her façade of playing to cool as she bared her teeth, which were almost closer in resemblance to fangs. Her nostrils flared and she levitated off the ground. Raven stepped forward with the intent of putting herself between her and Beast Boy, but Beast Boy was standing his ground, as he stared up at her in defiance. Rage glared down at the changeling.
"You dare speak to me like that in my own domain!? I care nothing for your past mistakes! Our anger for Terra was strong, but do you not see the strength I can give Raven! The strength we can have together! Perhaps another memory might make things more clear!"
Raven and Beast Boy didn't even have a moment to react as the floor beneath suddenly faded into nothingness. The two fell straight through, both giving a yelp of surprise as they began to plummet into the awaiting darkness. Raven tried to levitate but it almost felt like the shadows around her were dragging her down. Beast Boy contemplated shifting but as he fell, he caught a view of Rage staring down after them. Maybe it was because she thought they couldn't see her anymore or maybe she had been hiding it the whole time, but her face was…different. Beast Boy closed his eyes tight. He knew the reason he was here and with that…maybe he just had to take a leap of faith. Beast Boy felt his arms move out to his sides and he allowed himself to fall alongside Raven into the darkness below.
Cyborg had always thought he had been an expert at being to find order amongst chaos when it came to fighting crime. His robotic eye was always constantly scanning a battlefield, or the environment he was in, processing information, feeding it into his system in a continuous flow of information that he could sort through and decipher. He prided himself on being able to predict an enemies reaction, their strength, their weakness. Everything could be calculated and reduced down to probability if he had the time to do so. However, once he had safely tucked away the mirror into his arm, it immediately became clear that time wasn't a commodity that the Titans were going to be blessed with.
Before the compartment on his arm had even fully slid shut, the three demons were on the move. The demon Starfire was the quickest off the mark, launching herself across the room in a split second, far faster than Cyborg could react. Luckily for him, the Titans had their own Tamaranean with reflexes just as fast. Starfire took the air as well, flying forwards and putting herself between Cyborg and her demon just before she arrived, where they smashed into each other, sending the pair of them spiraling upwards, where they proceed to lay into each other with vicious punches before they careened downwards, landing in the kitchen with a resounding crash.
At the same time, Cyborrg's demon had attempted to move forward, but found himself unable to move. His anger morphed into surprise in an instant when he eyed the glowing red claw hand that was wrapped around his waist. From behind, he heard someone clear their throat. He craned his neck, only to see Argent, a look of rage on her face.
"I'm not finished with you."
The demon Cyborg grinned at her, an evil glint in his eye. "Is that so? What are you gonna do Argent? You don't have the stomach to take any of us out. Not like we already did to your precious little trumpet player."
Argent's eyes went wide for a split second, her magic faltering for a moment before it came back even stronger, causing the demon's words to catch in his throat as he felt the grip tighten around his waist. Argent's narrowed her eyes at him.
"Let's see exactly how far you've driven me then."
With that and a roar of effort, Argent pulled her hand back and the demon was yanked backwards and sent flying out of the Tower window. With only the briefest of glances back at the other Titans in the room, Argent flew out after him. Nightwing and Cyborg didn't have time to think on Starfire or Argent though, as both of their attentions turned to the one demon left unmoved in the centre of Main Ops. The demon Beast Boy had remained surprisingly still, almost like he was simply happy to enjoy the carnage that was going on around them. He turned his gaze towards Nightwing and Cyborg lazily, cracking his knuckles as he did so.
"Looks like it's up to me to take the mirror so."
Nightwing got into a defensive stance while Cyborg fired up his sonic cannon. "Try it little man. You were nothing once BB and I switched last time. What makes you think it's gonna be any different?"
Cyborg didn't like the grin he received in response, the single fang glinting out of his mouth now looking far more intimidating than Beast Boy had ever managed to make it look. Cyborg took a step back. The demon Beast Boy noticed, taking a step forward. He licked his lips.
"Because this time…I know Garfield Logan's party trick."
The change wasn't smooth like it had been the last few times Cyborg and Nightwing had seen Beast Boy change. This was very much a throwback to when it happened for the first time. Bones cracked, tissue ripped, ligaments tore and rearranged themselves over agonizingly slow seconds. Nightwing and Cyborg grimaced as the hulking form of the beast slowly took shape in front of them, the grey and black colour palette, alongside burning red eyes only seeming to add it it's aura. Nightwing snapped back to reality, turning to his teammate.
"Cy, how did you beat these guys last time?"
Cyborg shook his head and looked down at his sonic cannon. "Punishment…hit them hard enough and they'll go retreating back to where they came from. But they were tough last time…and we've always struggled with the Beast."
Nightwing withdrew his escrima sticks as he turned to face the demon version of one of his best friends, in the form of a creature that had inadvertently caused the Titans so much pain. "Yea well…we have one advantage that we've never had fighting the Beast before."
Cyborg looked up from sights on his arm to Nightwing in question. "What's that?"
"It may be the beast, but it isn't Beast Boy…it isn't even really alive…so there's no holding back this time. We don't have to pull punches."
Cyborg's eyes widened in realization before he shot Nightwing a grin. "Well then…I never get to use these normally but…"
Cyborg pushed his knuckles together as if he was trying to crack them. However, instead of the resounding crack that would typically accompany such an action, the tops of Cyborg's metallic knuckles sunk inwards into his hands and slid underneath the metal that made up his arm. Emerging from the beneath to take their place, a new set of knuckles emerged, the key difference being that this set where topped with three inch spikes, one dotted on top of each knuckle. Cyborg flexed his fingers as Nightwing stared on. Cyborg noticed his leader's surprise.
"I made them in case we ever had to fight Malchior again. Sonic cannon always seemed to do jack against the dragon and well…like you said, these things aren't even really alive."
Nightwing opened his mouth to respond but was cut-off as an ear-piercing roar echoed throughout main ops. It was a roar that at this stage both Titans were more than familiar with, feeling at this stage more like a sound cue from a horror movie more so than the cry of an enemy. Both of them had seen Beast Boy with his new found control. This was not the same. This was primal…a call back to a foe that neither of them had ever wanted to face…or see again. Cyborg's gaze steeled.
"Let's take this son of a bitch down."
Nightwing moved first. Moving sideways across the room, only vaguely aware of the scuffle occurring in the kitchen, the demon Beast couldn't help but allow its eyes to flicker from Cyborg, if only for a moment. Unfortunately for him, that was all Cyborg needed. Briefly dropping into the position an Olympic sprinter would hold prior to a race, Cyborg left a dent in the floor with the amount of power he generated as he launched himself from a standing start. Using the overturned couch in front of him, Cyborg vaulted himself into the air, his fist pulled back at the apex of his ascent. The creature below him may have looked like the Beast, but Cyborg knew different. The relationship Beast Boy had with the Beast was unique…special…this was a cheap knock-off at best. This was just the monster and nothing of the animal, let alone the man. It's senses were nowhere near as keen as Beast Boy's. Cyborg almost smiled in satisfaction as he was proven correct, the demon Beast raising it's fists to block the blow, only to howl in pain when Cyborg's spiked knuckles dug deep into its grey skin.
Landing in front of the demon Beast, he looked up at it with a grin. "Seems you didn't notice my upgrade. Here's a closer look…"
The demon Beast turned its attention from its punctured fist to the metal Titan in front him, only to be immediately greeted with a similar spiked fist digging dip into its chin as Cyborg delivered an uppercut that would have broken the jaw of any mortal man. The demon Beasts head reeled back and it staggered. Nightwing took his chance, coming in low and sweeping it's legs out from underneath it, bringing the creature crashing down on it's side with a sickening thud. Nightwing didn't hesitate, following it up with two round strikes of his escrima sticks, both swung with enough force to crush a living creatures skull. But this was no living creature…this was a demon, through and through...and it had a job to do.
With speed that Nightwing couldn't follow, it rolled out from underneath his strikes, his sticks missing it's head by millimeters, before it abandoned all tactics and wheeled around on the floor, sinking it's teeth around his ankle, causing the Titans leader to give a pained grunt. Cyborg rushed the Beast once he saw what was happening, but with a mighty heave of it's muscled neck, the demon Beast swung Nightwing by his ankle like a rag doll, sending him flying towards the metallic titan. While Cyborg was able to brace for the impact, the speed with which Nightwing was moving was still too much and the two of them were sent sprawling across the room, landing in a tangle of limbs.
Nightwing quickly pushed himself of Cyborg and attempted to rise to his feet, but nearly stumbled and gave a cry as the ankle that he just been swung by buckled when he immediately put pressure on it. He didn't have time to wait though as the demon Beast was already in pursuit of it's prey, bounding across the room. It launched itself from a distance, sailing through the air towards the injured Titan leader. As Cyborg rose to his feet, he knew he wouldn't be able to make it in time to help his leader. But Nightwing was just as quick, even with the injury. Timing it to perfection, Nightwing dropped to his side as the demon Beast landed, just bypassing it's crushing grip and used his momentum to swing inside the creature's guard, using it's massive neck as grip. Swinging himself around, he found himself on the back of the massive demon where, using his two escrima sticks, he did his best to put the creature in a chokehold.
The demon Beast began writhing and stumbling, desperately attempting to dislodge the leader of the Titans. Cyborg saw his opportunity, and from his half sat-up position on the floor, he aimed his sonic cannon, before unleashing a concentrated sonic blast, which promptly connected with the centre of the demon Beast's chest, sending it flying backwards. Nightwing, sensing the direction the Beast was travelling in, released his grip and attempted to jump away. However, he wasn't able to generate enough power with his injured ankle and just as he thought he had avoided danger, he felt a clawed grip around his foot. The demon Beast had made a desperate swipe for Nightwing and succeeded in snagging him by the ankle and the pair were both sent flying backwards, with one pulling the other, until they both collided with the wall of Main Ops.
The demon Beast turned to the Titan he had managed to snag but only managed to catch the slightest glimpse of him before Nightwing had thrown a handful of smoke bombs down which he had stored in his utility belt. The demon roared in anger as he slammed his massive fists on the ground around him in a desperate attempt to connect with the Titan who had dared to evade his clutches. Unbeknownst to the demon, Nightwing had managed to slip away in the smoke using his grappling gun, the hook of which he had managed to embed in the roof, pulling him away with barely a sound.
He swung away from the quickly spreading smoke cloud, coming to land on the far side of Main Ops to the kitchen, where he surveyed the scene. Neither Argent or the demon Cyborg had yet to return from window that they both went through and Cyborg was near the entrance to the room, his sonic cannon focused on the smoke cloud, his cybernetic scanning the spreading fog for any traces of movement. Nightwing's attention was about to shift to trying to find Starfire when his hopes were answered…just not how he wanted them to be.
On the other side of the smoke, Nightwing's keen hearing latched onto a series of loud bangs. He tried to squint into the smoke only to jump back in surprise as an orange-skinned Tamaranean was hurled out of the smoke cover, her body sailing through the air before embedding in the wall near Nightwing with a dull thud.
"Starfire!"
Nightwing hobbled over to her as fast as his ankle would allow him too, watching her slide down the wall and land in a heap on the floor as she did so. As soon as he arrived, he crouched down beside her and lifted her head, which was hanging down over her chest.
"Star? Kori? Are you with me?"
He tilted her head back and part of him almost wanted to laugh. Starfire was still very much with him. Her eyes were burning brighter than he thought he had ever seen them before, which he could only assume, based on the expression on her face, was due to the amount of rage she was feeling. Oh yea…she was definitely with him. She looked up at Nightwing and her face didn't soften.
"Of course I am with you Nightwing…I am not done with these demons…oh no…not by a long shot."
Starfire's tone sent shivers down Nightwing's spine and he would never be more grateful for anything in his life that it wasn't directed at him. He was about to reply when a cry from across the room drew his attention.
"Ugh guys! A little help whenever you're ready?!"
Starfire and Nightwing's heads both whipped across the room to where Cyborg was stuck in a battle of strength with the demon Beast, both holding each other's arms over their heads. Starfire gave a gasp and immediately rose to her feet and launched herself through the air towards her teammate. Nightwing was about to follow when he froze. If Starfire had been launched from the kitchen…where was her demon?...
He realised too late. He scrambled forward, desperation in his voice as he called out for his teammate.
"CYBORG! MOVE!"
Cyborg's head twitched to the side only for a second towards his leader, but the distraction meant he never saw the attack from the other way coming. Nightwing saw the flash of red in the smoke, the coloration of the demon Starfire's star bolts, and in a split second, she emerged from the cover like she had been shot out of a cannon, headed straight for Cyborg. She wheeled her hand back and summoned her powers to her fingers and at maximum speed, with one well placed, charged chop, her hand sliced through Cyborg's arm, which contained the mirror, like a knife going through butter. With his strength halved, the demon Beast quickly gained the upper hand, using his now free hand to grip Cyborg around the neck and send launch him towards the Main Ops main entrance, where he skidded across the floor before coming to a stop, his severed arm landing on the ground in the middle of the room.
Nightwing was preoccupied due to the demon Starfire not even hesitating to move onto him after she had launched her sneak attack. Starfire came to land by Cyborg's side, but the metal Titan brushed her away.
"No! Forget me! My arm! The mirror!"
Starfire's eyes widened in realization and she wheeled around, only to be confronted by an approaching grey and black demon Beast, it's red eyes burning a hole straight through her. Cyborg's arm was between the pair of them and with a quick flick of the eyes from the arm back to each other, Starfire and the demon Beast both launched themselves at their target. As Starfire reached out for the arm, she realised too late that the arm wasn't the creature's target. Just as her finger tips graced the metal, the demon Beast's finger's gripped around her wrist and using her own momentum it pulled her over it's head, sending Starfire flying across the room, before bouncing across the floor, skidding across the broken glass from the shattered windows.
Cyborg watched in horror, only vaguely aware of something moving behind him, as the demon Beast turned from following Starfire's messy landing back towards the severed arm. Cyborg was about to heave himself to his feet to act as the last line of defence when he paused. The demon Beast had stopped advancing and was instead staring at Cyborg in confusion…or above Cyborg's head in confusion. It then dropped into a defensive position and gave an ear-shattering roar. Cyborg didn't think now was the time for posturing, considering how weakened he was, but he nearly jumped out of his skin when an equally load roar sounded from behind him.
He didn't even have time to turn in confusion before a small, female voice echoed through the room.
"BOBBY, GET HIM!"
Cyborg was suddenly enveloped in shadow and he could only watch as the goliath of a teddy bear known as Bobby sailed over his head before landing a few feet in front of him, where he proceeded to barrel into the demon Beast, tackling it like he was one of the best defensive tackles that college football had ever produced. Cyborg felt a presence come to stand beside him and could only look up in silent shock at Melvin, who was scanning the room, eyes wide.
"Cyborg? What's going on? Who are these people?"
Cyborg snapped back to his senses. He didn't want Melvin involved and said a silent thank you that her brothers still seemed to be somewhere else in the tower. He quickly pushed himself up onto one knee, before rising up fully. Without hesitating, knowing that everyone was preoccupied, he sprinted to his severed arm, sliding across the floor to grab it, before returning to Melvin's side. Ripping open the compartment, he reached in and pulled out the mirror. He looked at Melvin, feeling a little sick at the thought of dropping her into this situation, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"Melvin, these are demons sent by Deeathstroke. Their goal was to kidnap Raven, but currently, her and Beast Boy are –"
Cyborg held up the mirror to the wide-eyed girl.
"In here, in a place called Nevermore. They don't know what's going on out here and we can't go in to get them because if we let these demons get their hands on the mirror, they could kidnap both Raven and Beast Boy right now. We can't let that happen. So I need your help. Can you and Bobby help me keep this mirror safe until we defeat these things?"
Melvin's eyes had only continued to widen as Cyborg went on, but the metal Titan didn't miss the way they narrowed when he mentioned Raven or that her and Beast Boy were in the mirror. She looked up at Cyborg with determined eyes. "I'm a Titan and I want to fight and if anyone's trying to hurt Raven or Beast Boy, they're going to have to deal with me and Bobby."
Cyborg looked at the young girl with pride. "That's the right attitude to have."
The pair of their heads whipped to the side as a dull thud rocked the room. From what it looked like, the demon Beast had managed to launch Bobby into the ground, leaving a crater where the teddy bear had impacted. But Bobby didn't look any closer to slowing down, heaving himself out of the crater almost as soon as he had landed. Cyborg turned back to Melvin and then with the slightest amount of hesitation, knowing he had nowhere he could store it for now, he gave Melvin the mirror. He looked at her, noticing her surprised face.
"Protect the mirror. Let Bobby do the heavy lifting okay?"
Melvin's face didn't change. "But I'll have to stay in the room! I can't go to far away otherwise Bobby will disappear!"
Cyborg nodded and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I know. Just stay out of sight. No ones knows you have the mirror and I intend to keep it that way."
Melvin nodded silently and immediately moved towards the back of the room, tucking herself away behind the living room couch which had been sent flying their earlier during the fight. Cyborg looked around and once he realised that that was probably the best place she could go where she could still control Bobby, he turned back to the scuffle with a grimace. With only one arm, Nightwing preoccupied with the demon Starfire and the real Starfire only slowly rising to her feet in the last few moments, Cyborg clicked the spiked knuckle back onto his one good fist and sprinted across the room, fully intent on diving back into the fray with a demonic version of his best friend and a teddy bear.
Raven liked to control her own outcomes and decide how she wanted to act…not let her fate be decided for her. For all of that, she could now confirm she disliked the feeling of not being in control in her own mind even more. She was used to giving a certain amount of control to her emoticlones during her visits to Nevermore, but this felt entirely different. Rage was an unknown to Raven. She didn't visit her in Nevermore often, if ever. Now, as she descended through what seemed like a darkness that went on forever, she didn't know if Rage was trying to show her something or actively trying to kill her…or potentially both.
Raven had lost sight of Beast Boy in the darkness and part of her couldn't help but worry that Rage had separated the pair. There was a reason Raven never contemplated allowing people to enter Nevermore before, besides from her emotions revealing thoughts that she would rather her friends didn't know. Nevermore was dangerous and volatile and her emotions could be as well. If Rage had made the decision to trap Beast Boy in her mindscape out of spite or anger…Azar, she didn't have even the faintest idea of how she could even begin trying to find him.
Raven was distracted from her worries as a small light finally appeared below her, only growing in size the longer she fell. She was eventually able to identify that she was rapidly approaching a floor and attempted to levitate again, only to find her powers blocked. When she was only a few feet away, her eyes closed tight as she expected to make contact with the surface…but the impact never came. She tentatively opened her eyes and found herself hovering just over a foot off the ground, where after a few more seconds, whatever was supporting vanished and she hit the ground with a small thud. Rising to her feet immediately, she scanned her surroundings and found herself…in her own bedroom?
"Confused Raven? You came here trying to learn about finding Balance, right? So I thought we could pay a visit to one of the times you achieved it."
Raven whipped around at the sound of Rage's voice but found no one. Instead, her blood ran cold as her eyes locked onto something else…an item the she would very happily have never seen again. In the centre of the recreation of her room, sat atop a pedestal, an old book was laid out, it's pages on full display. Raven recognized it immediately. She would never be able to forget those grey eyes on the page and the voice that had spoken to her when she opened it for the first time.
"Anyway…I'm much more interested to see our guests reaction to how you were when you…ahem…achieved balance the first time."
Raven eyes widened as she suddenly remembered that Beast Boy was with her. Her eyes eventually landed on the form of the shapeshifter, who was just starting to rise to his feet from the ground, the fall seemingly having a greater effect on the changeling.
"Beast Boy!"
She went to take a step forward, but was cut-off as tendrils of dark magic wove their way around her wrists and ankles. Within a second, Rage appeared, rising out of the floor, placing a finger on Raven's lips. "Not until after the show…also…I'm aware of the agreement you had with the others…and I don't want you interrupting when I ask Garfield my question."
Raven opened her mouth to protest only to find a tendril of black magic weave it's way around her face, silencing her. She could only watch in desperation as Rage glided across the room towards Beast Boy, who had just risen to his feet. He shook his head before scanning the room, where his eyes immediately fell on Raven, but before he could move, Rage was in front of him.
"She'll be perfectly fine Beast Boy…as long as you watch the show without interrupting."
Beast Boy's eyes flickered to Rage before going back to Raven. The empath did her best to nod her head, to convey that she was okay. Beast Boy eyed her, seemingly unconvinced, before turning back to Rage.
"What show?"
Rage laughed, a certain darkness to her tone. "Well, you came here in search of a way for Raven to achieve balance…I just want to show you a little snippet of Raven's memories. Up above, I showed you her Rage when she allows me to be released without control…this time…a little snippet of what balance can do to her."
Rage dropped into the floor, seemingly melting out of sight, but Beast Boy didn't have time to focus on that as the seemingly still room suddenly sprung to life. Beast Boy's eyes were drawn to the book on the pedestal, the pages of which had begun to move, like they were being hit by a strong gust of wind. Without warning, pages began flying out of the book, coming together in mid-air until they eventually formed the rough outline of a person. In front of the person, a version of Raven appeared, but it wasn't quite her. Her form was wispy, almost disappearing at the edges. Beast Boy could only guess that it was the effect of being shown a memory, where traces of the finer details were lost to time. He wasn't a fool. He knew that he was looking at Malchior before he had turned on Raven, but what was the memory…
"Hey Raven? Um…it's like almost noon and you haven't come out of your room?"
Beast Boy wheeled around in surprise as he heard his own voice come from the door behind him, albeit a much younger sounding version of him.
"Just in case you're mad, I'm gonna go ahead and say, sorry I called you creepy last night."
The realization struck him like a tonne of bricks. He remembered the day down to the last detail. He hadn't slept at all the night before. He knew calling her creepy hadn't been fair…and downright mean. He'd regretted it the second the words had left his mouth but Raven was never one for allowing quick apologies. He'd waited in the kitchen for her to come out and make tea or have dinner so he could apologize…but he'd waited in vain because the empath had never emerged from her room. He'd gone up to the roof the next morning earlier than he ever usually would have been out of bed in an attempt to catch her before the day started to no avail. He was only able to stay from her room for so long before he found himself outside her door.
Beast Boy turned back to the memory of Malchior and Raven. The pair of them had started moving, but their movements seemed unnatural, like they were both being controlled like marionette puppets, their movements disjointed and sharp. He watched as Malchior leaned into Raven's ear.
"Perhaps if we're quiet, he'll just go away."
He'd heard that the first time and he'd heard Raven's laughter in response too, but even he could admit, despite the fact that it was just a memory…a replay of events that had already happened…it hurt to see it from the other side of the door. The memory version of Raven suddenly walked towards him before passing straight through him like he wasn't there, heading to the door where Beast Boy knew she was basically going to tell him exactly where he could stick his apology. After a moment, she returned.
"Sorry Machior, he won't bother us again."
Beast Boy had almost started to turn his head away before he realised…this wasn't his memory…it was Raven's…and the two figures in front of him were still moving. All those years ago, he'd left after Raven had closed the door, figuring he'd give her some more space. This was Rage's game…showing him what until now, had remained clearly behind closed doors. Past the figures, Raven eyes were wide. Realization had sunk in for her from the second the scene had formed. She had never wanted to Beast Boy to see this. She was being manipulated by Malchior, she didn't mean anything she said, she was…dammit it, she knew she had been a fool.
Malchior moved towards Raven, putting his paper hands around her shoulders. "Good, good. Honestly Raven, for the potential you have…the power you possess, I don't know why you would choose to associate with the boy…it seems to me that he doesn't offer much."
The version of Raven in Malchior's arms tensed for a moment, before relaxing into his touch. "He has his uses…he makes an excellent sniffer dog."
Malchior laughed. "Ah yes…a form where he has no voice…like a family pet…I can see it."
Beast Boy wanted Raven to deny Malchior's claim. He wanted her to wrench herself from his arms and lambast him for suggesting something like that. But he understood Rage's game…he knew where this was going.
The faded memory of Raven also gave a chuckle.
"I mean, when you put it like that…"
The two froze in their places. Beast Boy wanted to look away, but he simply couldn't bring himself too. Raven in Malchior's arms, a smile on her face…something he had tried to get her to do for years…and Malchior had achieved it in one day…at his expense. He knew it was in the past…years ago and that they had been through so much since then…but damn, it still hurt. He also knew that the next time Raven left her room, she had assumed her white form. Putting two and two together, she'd managed to find some sort of balance, when her opinion of him had probably been at its lowest.
Suddenly, the entire room began to shift. The appearance of Raven's room began to enlarge and brighten considerably. It wasn't long before Beast Boy found himself in a memory version of Main Ops. His eyes moved around the room until they fell upon a gathering of people at the kitchen counter. All the Titans were there, himself and Raven in her white form included. Unlike the last memory, this didn't seem to be playing out. This one was like a static image, the exact moment frozen in time. Beast Boy recognized it immediately and he couldn't help but feel his skin crawl. The way his past-self was positioned, having just fallen on his head…Raven's smug expression.
Raven, finally felt the magic binding her dissipate and she nearly stumbled forward when she felt herself get released. Without even thinking she made a move towards Beast Boy, who's eyes were transfixed on the still scene before. Her mind was still entirely on the memory he had seen in her room. She was vaguely aware of what the scene before him was, but she didn't understand why it was so important that Rage had decided he needed to be reminded of it.
"Beast Boy, I –"
Before Raven could reach out to the changeling, Rage appeared between the two of them. "Just a minute Raven. As I am one of your precious emoticlones, as part of Knowledge's deal, I believe I am entitled to a question for Beast Boy as well and I intend to claim it right now."
Raven stepped towards the emoticlone, her magic rising to her fingertips for the first time since she arrived in Rage's domain. "No Rage! You have taken this too far! You know what is at stake and yet you're trying to play mind games! I refuse to l-"
"Ask it."
Raven stopped mid-sentence, her eyes softening immediately as she looked past Rage towards the changeling, who still hadn't looked away from the scene in front of him.
"…Gar…you don't have to –"
Raven turned towards and Raven, although his eyes were fixed firmly on Rage…or maybe more accurately, not on Raven. "I said ask it."
Raven couldn't help but feel her heart break just a little at Beast Boy's response. Rage on the other hand couldn't hide her intrigue. A grin spread across her face as she had to resist licking her lips. "Tell me Garfield…what's the angriest you've ever been…when did you experience the most rage in a single moment…tell me why you were angry and how it felt…and I'll know if you're lying."
Beast Boy shot her a look so venomous that even Raven nearly flinched. "It seems like you know the answer already."
Rage slammed her hand against the nearby wall, causing small cracks to form on it's surface. "Don't stall Garfield…much like her quest for balance, it seems like Raven is unaware of the truth…so please…answer the question for the whole class please."
Beast Boy's eyes flickered to Raven for just a second, before he returned to Rage. Raven, completely horrified by what was going on at the moment, thought she may have seen a glint of something in Beast Boy's eyes…but also, maybe she was just hoping she had seen something.
"I'll answer…but you weren't there when the agreement was made, so I propose one small change…I get to ask you one question in return."
Rage looked at Beast Boy with bemusement. "You want to ask me a question? A question you could not simply ask your…dear friend?...beloved?...Raven? I agree to your terms."
Beast Boy nodded before turning back to the static scene in front of him. "This…this was the angriest I have ever been…nothing comes close."
Raven's felt her blood run cold at the lack of emotion in Beast Boy's voice. "Beast Boy? What do yo-"
Beast Boy turned back to Rage and Raven, cutting Raven off as he did so. "Raven hadn't been seen for a few days. I was worried about her, so yes, I eavesdropped on her and Malchior. I didn't know who this dude was, and I didn't trust him. Then Raven came to the kitchen, all decked out in white….and happy. I'd spent the days beforehand only thinking about how I'd been a jerk to her, but clearly, it hadn't been on her mind at all. She didn't even acknowledge me…or any of us. But then…"
Rage was leaning in, her teeth bared, like a child who was excited to get to the favorite part of a story they had heard a hundred times before. "But then…go on Beast Boy…tell her what she did."
"She morphed me."
Raven, who had been hanging off of every word Beast Boy had been saying till now, couldn't help but be confused by Beast Boy's statement. Beast Boy looked at her for a second and she couldn't help but feel like he was disappointed with the reaction she was displaying. He turned back to Rage.
"It was so casual…just a dip of the head…a single, off the cuff thought…and she took away the one thing that was mine. In a split second, she weighed up whether she thought she had the right to change my form, against my will and she didn't even hesitate. It completely blew my mind…I thought at the time we weren't friends…but that made me feel like she didn't even see me as a person. I was just an object…or a tool…or just so insignificant that the idea that I wouldn't like someone doing that to me didn't even need hesitation…I've never been so angry in my life."
Raven had taken a step away from the changeling, as she fought to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks. It had never even crossed her mind, either at the time, or since then, but hearing out loud…Azar, it was so obvious. Malchior may have taught her the magic and filled her head with false promises but that…that was all her.
Rage's smiled widened. "Go on…and how did it make you feel?"
Beast Boy looked at Rage with a look of defiance. "Sad."
Rage began to laugh before abruptly stopping, as if she had been anticipating him to say something else and she had been caught off-guard. She looked at him, her glee morphing into anger. "Sad? What do you mean sad? You just said you were angry!?"
Beast Boy held his poker face. "I was angry…of course I was angry. But even though it was the angriest I've ever been, that doesn't mean anger was the main thing I felt…whatever friendship I thought Raven and I had…I thought it had ended that day…I had way more to be sad about than I had to be angry about. But hey…things change. When Malchior was defeated, I found myself at her door once again…cause whether I thought we could be friends still or not…in that moment, she needed one…and then a few weeks later after the Beast came out for the first time…she was a friend to me when I needed one…and you know I'm not lying.
Rage looked like she was about to erupt, her four burning red eyes suddenly becoming very prominent on her face. "How dare yo-"
"My turn."
Rage looked at him in confusion. "Your turn!? For what?"
Beast Boy folded his arms. "For my question. We had a deal."
Rage looked like she wanted to rip Beast Boy's head clean off and leave his body for the shadows to feast on. Raven could only watch the scene from a distance, unsure of where she stood with either occupant of the room.
Rage took a visible deep breath, before she spoke through gritted teeth. "Ask your question."
Beast Boy looked pensive for a moment, his gaze flickering to the empath, who was pointedly staring back at him, before returning to Rage.
"If you hate Raven like you seem too and Raven hates you like you think she does, why would you align with all the other aspects of her to save my life when I was fighting Deathstroke?"
Almost instantly, the room around the three of them began to change again. The appearance of the common room began to melt away, the counter tops and shelves melting down into the shadows on the floor, the wispy recreations of the Titans fading away until it was they had never been there at all. After a moment, the walls of the common room began to shift, the marbled textures morphing into solid grey stone. In the centre of the room, a massive grey platform began to rise out of the ground, a staircase spiraling around towards the top. Beast Boy mouth dropped in recognition.
"I don't hate Raven."
Beast Boy looked back towards Rage, who now bore a face similar to the one he thought he had seen when he was falling earlier. She was angry, no doubt, but there was something else there…something deeper…acceptance.
Beast Boy raised an eyebrow all the same. "You don't?"
Rage looked up to his meet his gaze, her face nearly turning the same red as her cloak with an anger she was clearly trying to hold back. "How can I hate Raven you fool!? I am Raven! For years, I was the part of her that was affected by Trigon's powers…his aspect. She feared me. I couldn't be trusted. Anytime I did get out, she would be sure to try and put me back under lock and key."
Rage turned away from Beast Boy and stared pointedly at Raven. "When you expelled Trigon from Earth, you freed yourself of his influence. You knew this! Azar, you told everyone this! But tell me Raven, did our understanding change? Better still, did you even try to change it!?"
Raven opened her mouth, but couldn't find any words. "…I don't hate you Ra-"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!"
Rage's cloak whipped up in the wind, revealing the bare skin beneath and Raven gasped when she saw the marks of Trigon on her body. Beast Boy simply looked on in silence. "This is why you hate me! For what I was! Not what I am now! But you haven't come to terms with that! Do you known how often I actually play a part in your life!? Hmm!? Those connections with Beast Boy while he was away…the message that got through his thick skull…who do you think drove that!? Or when you were fighting Mallah after he had kidnapped those three little brats!? It wasn't bravery that sent you through those doors! You said it yourself…no one touches my kids. Since Trigon's influence has left you, I've tried to play my part like the others, but it is YOU that doesn't make the effort to understand me!"
Rage turned back to Beast Boy, leaving a completely shellshocked Raven in her wake. "I don't hate her. Azar, I couldn't if I wanted to...and I really want too... but I hate how she ignores me…this aspect of herself. As for saving your life…"
Rage paused for a moment, clearly trying to find the right words for whatever she wanted to say. Beast Boy was almost tempted to reach out to her, but decided against it, when he saw the way she was gritting her teeth.
"You're an idiot…a fool who still struggles to appreciate what he has. You're immature, messy and you hamper your own happiness by not being able to see the bloody obvious. It is infuriating."
Beast Boy's ears dropped against his head. However, Rage was not done. He could practically hear her teeth grinding.
"…but you are also good for Raven…as much as I am loathe to admit…she has come to understand herself better since you two...grew closer. So yes, when you were on death's door, I fell in line with my fellow emoticlones and provided Raven with the balance she needed. I placed faith in you that at the time, I was not sure you deserved…but you have earned it now…somewhat."
Beast Boy looked at Rage with a mixture of sadness and confusion. "But…why show me everything you showed me today? What was the point of all this?"
Rage and Beast Boy had a stare off for a moment, before Rage gave him a grin that was more akin to a wild animal who had identified it's next prey item. "All those moments…times where Raven lost control…whether via anger or the influence of another. You know what it's like to be seen as a monster…and you know what it's like achieve balance with the monster…and lose control anyway."
Beast Boy thought on Rage's words for only a second, before his eyes widened in realization. Rage, seemingly realizing Beast Boy had got the message, turned back towards Raven. "You want to achieve balance to defeat Deathstroke? Know this Raven…the responsibility of that lies with you…not me…now…get out of my domain."
Immediately, two portals opened up beneath Beast Boy and Raven that the pair promptly fell through, without so much as being able to say a word of protest. Beast Boy was only able to manage one last glimpse of Rage's face before the portal closed above him and emerged, tumbling into a heap, on the far more familiar ground of Nevermore. Hearing a groan to his right, he turned immediately to find Raven rising to her feet. They rose to their feet at the same time. Beast Boy was about to step forward when he couldn't help but remember everything that Rage had shown him. He understood why she had shown him now and maybe…just maybe he could help Raven with achieving balance…but that didn't mean what he had been shown was an easy watch. Raven seemed to be thinking along the same lines as the changeling as she glanced his way.
"Beast Boy…I…I never wanted you to see some of the things Rage showed you…but the decisions were still mine…the things I said and did while I was with Malchi-"
"It's okay Raven…but if it's okay with you…can we just…can we head for the Forbidden door?"
Raven's words fell away and she couldn't help but note the pang in her chest at how dejected Beast Boy sounded. A quick scan of their surroundings revealed that Rage had deposited them on the path they had followed to come to her domain in the first place. It was a simple walk back…albeit not a short one.
"Gar, I…yes, of course we can head back."
The two headed off, following the path upwards, ascending from the darkness into the slightly brighter surroundings of Nevermore, not a word spoken between them as they moved.
Cyborg winced as he slammed against the floor, where he had been roughly deposited by the grey and black beast, which in all honesty, he was beginning to get pretty sick of. Despite the numbers advantage, the Titans had never quite been able to get the upper hand. Bobby was a more than welcome addition, but the return of Cyborg's demon, without Argent, had levelled the playing field. With memories of their last encounter fresh in his head, Cyborg had left his demon to Starfire to deal with, while Nightwing and Bobby were trying to contain demon Starfire. That currently left him in a one on one fight with the demon beast...and even if he had both his arms, he was pretty sure he would still be losing.
He rolled over onto his front, his eyes widening, as he watched a massive fist descend towards his head. Instinctively, he rolled backwards, missing the blow by only millimeters. He came to a stop a few feet away, where a quick load of his sonic cannon allowed to him to land a shot to the demon Beasts abdomen. It staggered where it stood, but only for a moment, before looking at Cyborg with something akin to a grin. For the first time since he shifted, the form of the beast disappeared and Cyborg was left staring into the burning red eyes of his best friends inner demon, a smug grin on his face.
"Cyborg…c'mon man. Stop putting off the inevitable. Just give us the mirror and we'll leave and you and the rest of your friends can breath for another few days…deny me the pleasure of killing you right now."
Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon at the demon Beast Boy. "Oh yea, cause giving up to survive one more day sounds great."
The demon Beast Boy chuckled. "It wouldn't be the first time you gave up on Beast Boy…in fact, it wouldn't even be the second."
Cyborg winced but held his cannon firm. "I don't intend to make it a hat-trick."
The demon Beast Boy outright laughed. "Right, cause that's such an honorable thing to be able to say. I only failed you twice but it won't happen again, I swear!"
Cyborg could feel his jaw clench. "Say whatever you want to say…I know Beast Boy…screw that, I know Garfield Logan, and if you think he would want me to give Raven up to Deathstroke…or even worse…to some dollar store discount version of himself having a bad day…you're gonna have to find the mirror after you've left me to die."
The demon Beast Boy snarled before his cocky grin was restored. "Well then, don't say I didn't offer you a way out."
In a second, the demon Beast Boy had been replaced by a massive gorilla, which closed the gap between the two of them in an instant. If Cyborg had both his arms, it would have been a simple blow to block, but with only the one, he could only raise it in front of him with nowhere near the resistance required. He flew backwards, slamming into the wall beside the upturned couch. When he hit the concrete, he couldn't help but pick up on the faintest gasp of surprise from beneath the overturned furniture and he turned back to face the demon Beast Boy, his blood ran cold. The gorilla was gone, replaced with the demon changeling. His ears were twitching above his head as he stared at the couch with interest.
"Well…I should have guessed that the brat who controlled the bear was in the room."
Cyborg rose to his feet immediately and looked wildly around the room. "BOBBY!"
Immediately, on the other side of Main Ops, the goliath of a teddy bear raised it's head from where it was trying to catch the demon Starfire in it's grasp. He didn't know if it was possible for a teddy bear, but he swore he could see it's eyes widen. With a roar, Bobby turned away from the fight he was in, leaving Nightwing to handle the demon Starfire alone. He began to bound across the room towards the couch, much to the apparent annoyance of the demon Beast Boy, who had to drag his gaze away from the couch to analyze his new opponent.
"I've always hated kids and their dumb toys. Starfire! Cyborg! Get the girl behind the couch! She has the mirror!"
As the demon Beast Boy shifted back into the Beast to deal with the oncoming assault of Bobby, Cyborg's cybernetic eye scanned the room. Both the demon Starfire and his own demon had stopped fighting Nightwing and Starfire and their attention was now firmly fixed on the tipped over couch at the back of the room.
Starfire and Nightwing weren't clueless to the situation and when the demon Beast Boy gave the call to arms, they acted first, abandoning their individual fights and coming to land beside Cyborg in front of the couch. Cyborg looked at Nightwing, a hint of desperation in his eyes. "Nightwing, what's the play?"
For all of Nightwing's experience in battle planning, for once, he was at a loss. None of these demons seemed to stay down, and with Kid Flash down, they had no way of getting Melvin out of here with the mirror. "I'm working on it…for now, for the love of God, we defend the kid and the mirror."
That was all Nightwing could get out before the demon Starfire was upon them, although her movements were not aimed at the trio of Titans, but at the couch itself. Starfire managed to intercept her counterpart before she could decimate the couch, but her demon still managed to get her fingertips underneath the top of it, flipping it over, revealing a terrified Melvin beneath it, clutching Raven's mirror tightly to her chest. Starfire pulled her demon back, her eyes glowing green with pure fury.
"YOU WILL LEAVE THE TINY TITAN ALONE!"
With that, Starfire unleashed a punch so vicious into the face of her demon, that she went flying backwards, straight out of one the few unshattered windows that was left in Main Ops. Starfire went to fly after her, but Nightwing grabbed her wrist. "No Star, we gotta stay, protect the mirror."
The fury in Starfire's eyes dissipated ever so slightly and she nodded in affirmation. "Apologies…I may have gotten the carried away."
"STAR, INCOMING!"
Starfire, momentarily distracted, hadn't seen Cyborg's inner demon approaching and would have been waylaid by a punch, if Cyborg hadn't barreled into her, pushing her out of the way with his good arm. The Tamaranean rolled on the floor until she came to a stop as Cyborg and Nightwing began to engage Cyborg's inner demon. Her eyes briefly flickered from their fight to the other side of the room but when she spotted the other contest that was currently happening, her heart plummeted.
"Oh no…"
In reality, Bobby versus the demon Beast was a mismatch from the start. For all of Bobby's size and power, he was still a teddy bear, going up against a creature with claws that could slice through metal like it was paper. The bear was covered in slashes and cuts, his inner stuffing spilling out of the gashes. With one final roar, capitalizing on a mis-timed swing of one of his massive fists, the demon Beast plunged it's clawed hands into a cut on Bobby's chest and pulled outwards. Bobby began to split from the middle upwards, stuffing spilling out onto the floor as the cut just became bigger and bigger. Starfire heard a small cry from behind her and turned her head to see Melvin clutching her head in pain. When she turned back to the scene, Starfire could see that Bobby was starting to fade away. The stuffing that was on the ground was disappearing, his massive form slowly dissipating into thin air. With a final desperate roar, Bobby completely vanished, as Melvin lost the ability to hold his form.
Starfire sprinted for Melvin and took the girl's hands down her face, forcing her to look into her eyes. She stroked the side of her head. "Friend Melvin, we cannot dwell on this right now. I need you to give me the mirror."
Melvin handed the mirror to Starfire without hesitation as she sniffled quietly. "Bobby isn't gone Starfire…but I can only keep him here for so long when he takes damage like that…I'll be able to bring him back soon but...for now it just hurts."
Starfire's heart broke for the young Titan and she had to resist pulling her into her arms, instead choosing to usher her towards the door. "Run to your brothers Melvin. Stay with them and keep th-"
That was as far as Starfire got before she was cut off by a pained cry escaping her mouth as the blast of a sonic cannon collided with her side, sending her flying across the room towards the broken Main Ops window. Still clutching the mirror to her chest, Starfire rose unsteadily to her feet, only to hear Nightwing yell at her from across the room.
"STARFIRE, BEHIND YOU!"
Starfire had been preparing for turning and facing one of the demons of Cyborg or Beast Boy. What she had briefly forgotten about was that her own inner demon had been sent out the window by herself not a few minutes earlier. She felt the blow to the back of her head before she even detected her presence, crashing back to the floor. Within a second, her inner demon had floated above her so that Starfire was now between it and the window.
"That was a bit rude of you don't you think? Allow me to return the favour!"
Starfire's inner demon delivered a vicious backhand to the Tamaranean, who she had almost helped back to her feet. However, the demon didn't realise that Starfire was currently in possession of what everyone was after. As the sound of the backhand reverberated throughout the room with a resounding smack, Starfire briefly lost all track of where she was, feeling the mirror slip out of her grasp as she wheeled around. Realizing it almost immediately, Starfire turned in mid-air and both her and her inner demon could only watch, one in horror and the other in confusion, as Raven's mirror sailed out the broken Main Ops window.
Starfire didn't hesitate and the second she hit the floor, she scrambled across the broken glass and allowed herself to tumble out the window, knowing she could slow herself when she caught up to the mirror. The demon Starfire, who copped on to what was happening only a few seconds later, gave a wicked grin and dived out the window after the mirror and the Tamaranean. Starfire could feel her demon on her tail, but her entire focus was on the mirror, which was still falling in front of her as she spiraled downwards, the rocky ground of Titans island only coming closer and closer.
Starfire reached out as she got closer to the mirror, only to have her arm retract as she gave cry, elicited by her inner demon coming to fly alongside her and digging a savage elbow into her ribs. Starfire faltered in the air for only a moment, but it gave her doppelganger the chance to move ahead of her, her arm now outstretched for Raven's mirror. Starfire grit her teeth and felt her eyes burn green. With a surge, she moved up beside her inner demon and grabbed her outstretched arm by the wrist, causing her to look at her in anger. Starfire matched her rage.
"I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR LANDING!"
With that exclamation, Starfire surged past the demon and swung with all her might, catching her off guard, propelling her forward, past the mirror, and onwards towards the ground which was now far too close for comfort. Just as Starfire managed to latch her fingers around the handle of the mirror, her demon collided with the ground with a resounding thud that shook the very ground of the island. Starfire floated upwards and surveyed the impact zone. When the dust began to clear, Starfire could just make out the shape of her demon, but with a satisfied smiled, she noted it was losing its form. She lifted an arm weakly at Starfire, some final comment on her lips when her shape gave away entirely, with a two red beams of light erupting from where she had once lay. One beam collided straight with Starfire, just like what had happened the first time her inner demon had been defeated. However, the contrary to that occasion, the second beam of energy rose upwards and Starfire could only watch in confusion as it headed across the bay towards the mainland.
Shaking her head, and with one demon down, Starfire grasped the mirror tightly in her hands before flying back up towards the broken Main Ops window. As she flew in the window, a voice called out to her immediately.
"Don't move Troq."
Starfire quickly scanned the room and when she realised what was happening, she felt her heart sink into what now seemed like a bottomless pit in her stomach. Nightwing and Cyborg were both primed to attack, weapons aimed at the two demons left in the room. The demon Cyborg was grinning at the pair of them, a cannon aimed at each, although it was clearly him that had addressed Starfire. The demon Beast Boy was currently restraining a terrified Melvin, a clawed hand held under her throat. He turned to acknowledge Starfire's appearance.
"Thank you for saving the mirror for us…would have been a real shame if that were to have broken. Now…hand it over and I'll release the girl."
Melvin looked at Starfire through wide eyes. "Don't give it to him Starfire! Protect Ra-"
Melvin was abruptly cut off as the demon Beast Boy roughly clamped his other hand over her mouth. "Now now…let's not encourage Starfire to do something stupid...I'm already not happy with her for disposing of her better half…one more word and a claw might just…slip"
Starfire looked towards Nightwing, desperation in her eyes. She couldn't give up the mirror. Even taking the fact that Raven and Beast Boy were some of her best friends, Deathstroke needed Raven for his plans which could simply not be allowed to come to fruition. For his part, Nightwing knew the two demons had them in a corner and for all his initiative, he couldn't think of a way out. The room fell silent as Starfire stared at Melvin, the mirror held in her trembling hands. The demon Beast Boy and Cyborg slowly began moving across the room, their gazes concentrated on the Titans in front them, heading in Starfire's direction, eventually coming to a stop when they were both only a foot away from the broken windows.
"So Starfire…what's it gonna be?"
Starfire stared at the demons helplessly. "….I can't gi-"
The demon Beast Boy looked away from her, his ears flicking atop his head. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the room, before his eyes widened in realization. "Cyborg, move!"
Beast Boy's demon may have still had his animal senses, but Cyborg's had no such luck and he only had time to turn to his partner in confusion before Bumblebee came flying in from outside the tower like she had been launched out of cannon, letting out a scream of rage as she collided with the metallic demon, driving the pair of them across the room. Nightwing may not have sensed it, but his reactions never faltered. Seeing the two approaching as they flew across the room, he vaulted onto a nearby table that was in there flight path, withdrawing two birdarangs and forming his sword as he did so. Planting his back foot into the wood, he braced for the impact.
"BUMBLEBEE, LET GO!"
Bumblebee heard the message loud and clear, dislodging herself from the now airbourne demon who sailed through the air alone, before he collided with Nightwing's braced weapon, the tip of the sword going straight through the metallic demon's back and out the other side. With the additional weight, Nightwing was forced to drop his weapon, leaving the impaled demon to fall to the ground. He had barely grazed it's surface when his form lost all shape and a beam of energy surged from his body into Cyborg's while another shot straight out of the window. However, Nightwing didn't get the enjoy the moment as a scream dragged his attention back across the room.
Where the demon changeling had once stood with Melvin, the Beast now stood and Nightwing could only watch as a ferocious backhand sent an unsuspecting Starfire flying straight one of the walls of Main Ops, the mirror still in her grasp as she disappeared in a cloud of debris. The beast took one moment to look around the room before reverting back, having seemingly evaluated it's options.
"Seems the mirror isn't an option anymore…but Raven cares for this kid…so I'm sure she'll come pay Deathstroke and her a visit."
With that, and without hesitation, the demon threw Melvin out of the window, her scream catching on the wind, before he turned into a pterodactyl and dove out as well, rising up a few seconds later with Melvin firmly in his clawed grasp. Nightwing sprinted to the window's edge, alongside a stunned Cyborg who had also just arrived.
"Bumblebee! Stop him!"
He didn't even hear a response, but within a few seconds, a buzzing sound rushed by over his head and Bumblebee flew off in pursuit of the demon. With no way to fly, all Cyborg and Nightwing could do was watch as Bee attempted to catch up to the creature, Melvin still in its grasp.
Raven was well used to traversing Nevermore in quiet contemplation. Whenever she was discussing something with an emoticlone or making her own way back to the forbidden door, the different aspects of herself usually knew when she would prefer to have some quite self-reflection rather than speak openly. What she wasn't used to was walking alongside someone who she silently wished would say absolutely anything. Since Beast Boy and her had emerged from Rage's portal, Beast Boy had elected to remain almost completely silent. Not that she could blame the changeling. It wasn't like Rage had shown him visions or possible scenarios. She'd shown him her memories…things she had done…things she had chosen to do… things she wasn't proud of.
At this stage, the forbidden door was in sight, towering over the black and grey environment of Nevermore, but Raven didn't want leave yet, not before she had a chance to talk to Beast Boy. She had been actively trying to find the words to try and get the ball rolling but nothing seemed to sound right in her head. However, she knew she was running out of time. She took a breath, lightly tracing the outline of the silver Raven around her neck as she did so.
"Beast Boy, can we stop walking for a minute?"
Beast Boy stopped moving forward and turned towards Raven, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he did so. "Raven, I already told you, it's fine, I just want to ge-"
"Gar please…I don't need to be an empath to see that it's not fine."
Beast Boy simply shrugged. "Well what else is there too it? I know you don't think those things now and I no you didn't morph me at the time because you thought it would upset me…it was just hard to see. Like…I don't know what else there is too it? Also, I think I understand why Rage showed me those memories in particular…she didn't do it just to make me hate you or anything…"
Raven folded her arms, dropping her hand down from the Raven pendant. "There's plenty more to it, I…we had our ups and downs in our early years as a team, but if there's one thing I'm getting now it's…well, you always put in an effort for me…in your own way…I didn't give you the same courtesy at times…even with Malchior manipulating me like he did…I didn't have to say those things or use magic on you without even thinking of how you felt…that was all my doing…and I'm sorry."
Beast Boy gave her a half-smile. "Rae, it's in the past and correct me if you think I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you've put in a lot of effort for me since then."
Raven gave a small laugh. "You're a lot of work."
Beast Boy chuckled back. "I know, I know…look, I won't lie and say knowing you once agreed that I would be better off as a pet doesn't suck, and when you morphed me…I was mad…really mad. But, am I any better? I blabbed to Terra about every Titan on the team all because she smiled at me a few times. I didn't trust a friend's instinct because she told me that she thought I was funny. Getting toyed with…it ain't fun. So yea, it's okay honestly…just needed a minute to process it."
Raven's smile receded slightly as she nodded. "I understand…you said you think you why Rage showed you those memories?"
Beast Boy's face turned serious. "Yea, I think I do…call it looking at it from my perspective, but I'm looking at you and Rage like how I like at myself and the Beast. Rage showed me one time where you completely lost control fighting Terra and another time you found balance, but you still didn't have control, which is why you said and did the things you did. She didn't show it, but she mentioned all the times he has helped you before. Just seems to me like you view Rage like I viewed the Beast at the start, before I came to understand it. I know it was the part of you that Trigon had influence over for years now…but that's not who she is anymore and it's not who you are. I guess what I'm trying to say that it may just be a case of understanding that you can tap into anger and rage when you need it…hell you did it subconsciously to save my life…but Rage said it herself…you need to be okay with her being a part of who you are."
Raven sighed. "You make it sound so simple. Beast Boy…nearly every day until I turned sixteen, I kept that side of me under the best lock and key I could. It's not easy to undo years of work like that."
Beast Boy gave her a full smile this time. "You know, a super wise friend once told me…ahem…having that thing inside of you doesn't make you an animal…knowing when to let it out is what makes you a…woman."
Raven raised an eyebrow at the changeling. "I don't think that's how the quote goes."
Beast Boy winked at her. "Nope, I'm 100% sure that that was it."
Raven pushed him lightly on the shoulder before her expression turned a touch more reserved. "I'll try…time isn't exactly on our side though."
Beast Boy nodded somberly. "You're not wrong…but hey, if it took me like…two months, than it would probably make sense for you to be able to do it in two days."
Raven nodded and stared walking ahead. "That is a fair point."
"You were supposed to argue that!"
Raven smiled to herself as Beast Boy caught up to her as they both headed for the forbidden door, feeling much lighter than she had been a few minutes beforehand, despite the uncertain future that lay ahead. When they arrived at the door, Raven extended her hand. "Hold on. I'll try to make this as gentle a trip as possible."
Beast Boy gave her a grateful and slipped his hand into hers, giving it a squeeze as he did so. The empath looked up at him and gave him a small smile. With that, Raven and Beast Boy stepped into the forbidden door, their bodies vanishing from Nevermore in an instant. Once the pair had left, from around the corner of a nearby boulder, two emoticlones who had been watching two in silence emerged. Knowledge turned to Wisdom, adjusting her glasses as she did so.
"Normally I can make educated guesses at these things…but for Raven coming to an understanding of Rage…what do you think?"
Wisdom looked at the Forbidden door where the two Titans had just vanished from. "I truly do not know friend…I truly do not know."
The first thing Beast Boy noticed when he emerged from the mirror was that he wasn't in Nightwing's office anymore. The second thing he noticed was that it was absolutely freezing for being indoors. Beast Boy wheeled around where he was standing and he felt his jaw drop in horror. Beside him, he was vaguely aware of Raven's almost inaudible gasp, as she came to the same realization as him.
Main Ops was completely destroyed, the walls almost completely obliterated, all the furniture overturned, the kitchen demolished. The windows had been shattered, allowing crisp, frigid December air to come blasting into the room. Beast Boy quickly looked around himself and spotted Raven's mirror sat on top of a cleaned out space on one of the only tables left standing. He snatched it up and handed it to Raven, he took it without a word, drawing it into her cloak. She squeezed Beast Boy's hand.
"Azar…what happened?"
Suddenly, a grinding metallic noise drew the attention of both Titans who jumped around, both landing in defensive positions immediately, only to be greeted with a bruised Nightwing, clambering through a sliding door that wasn't quite on it's hinges anymore. The two Titans were beside him in an instant. Nightwing acknowledged the pair with a pained smile.
"Welcome back you two…you didn't miss much."
Beast Boy slipped an arm under his shoulder and walked him over to one to the kitchen island, where he quickly righted a chair for the leader of the Titans to sit down on. Once seated, Raven skipped the small talk. "Explain in a minute. What's hurt?"
Nightwing simply motioned down towards his ankle, which Raven bent over to inspect and couldn't hide her grimace when she saw the deep bite marks in his skin. Beast Boy whistled.
"Holy…Nightwing, what happened?"
Nightwing looked up at Beast Boy as Raven began healing his ankle, her healing magic seeping into his skin, immediately soothing the wound. He gave a sigh of relief.
"Inner demons…one of you, Cyborg and Starfire. Cy and Star said you fought them before."
Beast Boy's face darkened. "Yea, when you went to go dig Raven out of hell and we kept Trigon busy. Damn, what did th-"
Nightwing cut him off. "They came for Raven but managed to figure out the two of you were in the mirror at the time. We were caught off guard because they didn't have to break into the tower. Knew all your pass codes. Aqualad, Kid Flash and the Herald are all up in the infirmary being looked after by Argent. Starfire, Cy, Bee and I are...as good as we can be."
Raven looked up as she finished healing Nightwing's ankle. "I'm guessing you were victorious then."
Nightwing's face darkened immediately. "We managed to take down the demons of Starfire and Cyborg…but Beast Boy's got away."
Raven looked at him inquisitively, a pit forming in her stomach. "Something else happened…"
Nightwing looked downwards in defeat and Raven could feel the anger and sadness rolling off of him in waves. "We had to protect the mirror and we were caught off-guard. We couldn't keep the fighting contained and…"
Nightwing looked up at Raven, who at this point, felt like her entire body had tensed up.
"Raven…Beast Boy's demon managed to get away…and he took Melvin with him."