"Ugh!" Tim grunted as he hit the ground and rolled multiple times, landing on his back. Bart screamed as he too landed next to Tim. "Is this really necessary?" Bart asked. He turned to Knowledge, Anguish, Joy, and Confidence.
"You can do it!" Joy cheered.
"Kick her ass!" Confidence shouted.
"Yes," Knowledge answered Bart's question. "This is necessary."
"Can't you help?" Bart asked desperately.
"Something feels…off," he said to Bart. "Crap!" he exclaimed as he dodged a black blast.
"What do you mean?" Bart said as he dodged the black energy Passion seemed to release in rapid fire.
"The other emotions–the way they're watching us," Tim said as he flipped out of the way.
"Stay still!" Passion shouted.
"This almost seems…planned," Tim said right before he took a blast to the stomach. "Ugh!" he grunted. That hurt, he thought, but…I'm not puking. It's almost like someone has told her not to hurt us. Tim looked at Knowledge. He saw her give Passion a slight nod. Yeah, they're definitely up to something.
"Passion," Knowledge called out, "Raven hasn't shown. You may need to hit harder."
"With glee," Passion smiled.
Raven stumbled into Constantine's mansion. "What was up with you today?" Constantine asked her. "Your head wasn't in it. You weren't concentrating. I know you're better than that."
"I don't know," Raven replied as she rubbed her head. "I've been having sporadic headaches throughout the day. It started when we entered Circe's domain, but now I'm not so sure." Raven plopped into an armchair.
"Hmm," Constantine said, "maybe you need a drink."
"I doubt that's the solution to my problem."
"Rum solves every problem."
Passion threw wave after wave of dark energy at the two heroes. Okay, Tim thought as he ducked and dodged while Bart zipped out of the way, she may be trying to kill us. Passion uttered a bunch of words in an alien language as she lifted her arms. Black spikes shot up, turning the ground into a minefield. Tim had to remain light on his feet to avoid being pierced. Raven doesn't like close combat. I need to get close to her. "Bart!" Tim shouted. "Whirlwind!"
"Got it!" Bart replied. Bart ran to Passion and circled her at lightning speed, creating a whirlwind. He threw a punch now and then as he ran. Passion levitated in the air and sent tendrils of magic spiraling in every direction. "Woah!" Bart exclaimed as one caught his leg and made him trip, slide, and roll.
Not giving Passion a second to breathe, Tim came charging at her with a superman punch. Passion's eyes widened in surprise as she found herself forced to defend herself against Tim's charging superman punch. "You are so annoying!" she glared as she blocked Tim's punches and kicks. Countering one of her blocks, Tim jabbed, striking her in the face. Passion stumbled back and stared at Tim with a mixture of rage and lust. "You hit hard," she smirked. "I like that. My turn." Immobilizing Tim with her powers, Passion launched her own attack, punching and slapping Tim in the face. "You seem like a guy who likes it rough," she laughed as she raked her nails across Tim's face. Bart attacked Passion from behind. She released Tim from her powers and took a beating from Bart as he was too fast for her. "Enough!" she screamed, releasing another surge of magic, throwing Bart, Tim, and the emotions back. "I'm done with your stupid plan, Miss Know-It-All," she growled. Her hands crackled with magic. "I'm gonna kill everyone!"
Raven tapped her foot restlessly as she and Constantine reviewed their mission. They'd been at it for over an hour. "Do you have a guess as to who Circe was talking about?" Constantine asked. "It's like trying to decipher a riddle wrapped in an enigma? If I had to hazard a guess, she's probably referring to some ancient bloody menace or a power-hungry sorcerer. She did mention Enchantress. Any thoughts?"
"For the last time," Raven nearly growled, "I have no idea what or who she's talking about! I don't know how Enchantress or the Lords of Chaos fit into this! We're getting nowhere! Just help me find them, and I'll kill them all!" Raven released a wave of energy, shattering every glass in the room, including the one Constantine was holding. Raven froze in shock. What just…oh no.
"Damn, girl," Constantine said. "Eh…you broke it," he whined, holding up a jagged piece of what used to be a glass bottle of rum."
"I am so sorry," Raven apologized sincerely. "But I've got to go. I know what's wrong. I'll tell you later," Raven said before teleporting away.
Constantine mournfully stared at the shattered rum bottle in his hand. He threw it over his shoulder with a shrug and said, "Pub it is, then."
Raven appeared in her room and ran to a dresser. "What!" she gasped. "It was right here." Looking around, her eyes found it on the floor. Raven lifted it with her powers and grasped it in her hands. She stared in horror at the giant crack cutting across the glass. "Trigon-dammit."
Tim had no idea where Bart was. All he knew was – his face was numb, bruised, and bloodied; and Passion had his neck in an iron grip. "Passion!" Confidence lifted herself off the ground and popped her shoulder back into place. "Let go of that handsome man!"
"I find his handsomeness irksome," Passion replied, "he irks me. I want to throttle him every time I see his handsome face!" she tightened her hold on Tim's neck. She glared at him with her four eyes. "Do you know how much your handsome face pisses me off?" she asked, giving him a shake.
"If you find him handsome, why are you so upset?" Joy asked. She sported several bruises of her own.
"Shut up!" Passion screamed, sending a weak blast of energy her way. Fortunately for Tim, Passion was growing weak and tired; unfortunately for Tim, he was already tired. He'd taken so many headshots. Passion liked and disliked his face, and it showed in her attacks. While she went all out on Joy, Confidence, Knowledge, and Bart (Anguish had vanished ages ago), she only aimed for his head. There wasn't much he could do while concussed. All he could do was slip his fingers under the ones around his neck that were crushing his airway. "I want to both kiss and hit this guy!" she screamed. "And it's pissing me off! So, I'm going to kill him!"
"You can't kill him while he's in here," Knowledge coughed. Blood trickled from her mouth while one side of her face bore heavy bruising.
Passion shrugged. "I won't know unless I try." She squeezed even tighter. Black dots appeared at the edge of Tim's vision. I'm going to pass out, was his final thought before he heard a "Stop!" Oxygen flooded his lungs as his body crumbled. Rolling onto his back, he was grateful to see a pair of violet eyes. Huh, he wondered, have her eyes always been that pretty?
"Tim," he heard. Her voice swam in his head. "Tim. Tim!" Suddenly, Tim could feel his face, and his head was no longer pounding.
"Raven," he said. Raven helped him sit up. "When did you–"
"Raven!" Bart cried out. Less than a second later, he was hugging the empath from behind, sobbing into her back. "I am so sorry. I am so, so, sorry. I will never, ever enter your room again. Please, just take us back!"
"Well, that sort of answers one of my questions," Raven said. "What is going on? What happened to Tim's face? And why isn't she locked away?" Raven pointed to Passion, who was now wrapped in chains from head-to-toe.
Passion glared at Raven. "Confidence released me," she sneered.
"Why?" Raven asked Confidence.
"It was Knowledge's idea," Confidence said.
"It was your plan," Knowledge replied.
"Yeah, but you're the smart one. You're supposed to stop me from doing stupid things."
"What plan?" Raven asked as she tried to push Bart away.
"Please let me hold you," he whispered. "It lets me know that you're the real you."
"Bart and Tim fell into the mirror," Joy bounced on her feet. She looked good for someone who just had their butts beaten.
"We didn't fall in," Tim corrected her as he stood, releasing a loud groan. "We got pulled in because Bart broke into Raven's room."
"It's a decision I regret and a mistake I will never make again," Bart said, refusing to release Raven.
"Bart," Raven said, "let me go, or I will leave you here." Bart immediately released her. "Now," Raven sighed, "what is going on?"
"Bart and Tim entered the mirror," Joy smiled.
"Yes, I know," Raven said. "Why didn't any of you alert me?"
The heads of Bart and Tim snapped towards Raven. "What do you mean?" Bart asked. "You mean to tell me your emotions could have alerted you at any time?"
"Yeah," Raven answered. "I wouldn't have been able to release you immediately, but I would have been able to keep you safe." Raven turned to her emotions, ignoring the appearance of Anguish. "Why didn't any of you alert me?"
"Confidence wanted to teach Tim a lesson because he was so mean when you first arrived," Anguish cried.
"You were part of this, too?" Raven asked in surprise. "You're usually too scared to do anything."
"I just wanted to make Joy happy," Anguish sobbed into her cloak.
"Hold on," Tim pinched his nose. "You kept us here as a prank?"
"Amusement isn't even here," Raven said. "It's just you four…and Passion."
"I don't need Amusement to pull a prank," Knowledge replied with an eye roll, "we have Joy." Joy nodded enthusiastically at the sound of her name.
"What about me?" Bart asked. "I was nice to Raven."
"You entered her room without permission and touched her things," Confident replied. "You're lucky I didn't slap you as soon as you appeared."
"We didn't pull you into the mirror," Joy explained. "That's a defense triggered when someone who isn't Raven tries to steal it."
"I wasn't trying to steal it," Bart said. "It was for Truth or Dare."
"You didn't have her permission, and that's basically the same thing," Joy grinned.
"Okay," Tim said. "So, in the beginning, when we walked through those memory apparitions…?"
"Stalling to set everything up," Knowledge said. "Joy met you first to get you to let your guard down. Making you go through Anguish's domain was our way of mildly torturing you."
"Mildly?" Bart scoffed. "I'm not going to be able to sleep for over a week."
"You let them see my fears?" Raven asked angrily. Passion immediately perked up at the surge of power she felt, and Raven had to calm herself down. "You gave them access to…me?"
"Don't worry," Knowledge sighed, "we only showed them the Nightmare Mirrors and Path of Terror. We kept them away from the Darkest Thoughts and the Forest of Lost Dreams."
"What the heck!" Bart exclaimed.
"We created a faux version of Trigon-Raven. She was 100 times weaker than the real thing."
"The giant thing? That's your version of weak?" Bart asked, his eyes wide with terror.
"And Passion?" Tim pointed to the red-clad Raven, who was desperately trying to free herself. "You just wanted to see me get pummeled?"
"Trust me," Knowledge said, "deep down, Raven enjoyed seeing a version of herself beat the crap out of you."
"That's not true!" Raven argued. "Why would you show them all of this? You may have given Bart PTSD, and Tim…why?"
"First," Knowledge fixed her glasses, "Bart's PTSD probably comes from the fact his great-grandad can't keep his hands off the timeline. And I chose to show Tim because…I wanted to get things rolling."
"What do you mean?"
"The sarcophagus has begun to crack," Confidence said.
Raven's face grew serious. "What?" she asked. "Why?"
"Well…" Knowledge gestured to Tim with her head.
"No," Raven folded her arms.
"Sorry," Knowledge shrugged.
"No."
"We can't help it," Anguish sobbed.
"I'll put an end to it," Raven said.
"What are they talking about?" Bart asked Tim.
"I honestly have no idea," Tim answered truthfully.
"Okay," Raven rubbed her temples. "I'm too tired to deal with this. Bart, Tim, I'm sorry you've been stuck in here. Though, it is clearly Bart's fault. Emotions," Raven's eyes glowed black as she turned to them, "go to sleep." She snapped her fingers, and everything disappeared.
Tim, Raven, and Bart appeared in Raven's room. Raven picked her mirror up off the floor. The crack was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't understand what happened," Bart spoke.
Raven turned and pinned him with a sharp glare. Bart took a step back. "A nsdka," she mumbled incoherently. Before Bart could move, Raven was in front of him with her hand on his head. "Forget what you saw," she commanded. Bart's eyes flashed black. He then stumbled backwards. "What did you do?" he demanded. "What did you do?" Bart paused. "Wait," he smiled, "I can't remember anything I saw. I mean, I remember going into your mirror–"
"Invading my privacy," Raven interrupted him.
"Yeah, that; but I remember nothing from Anguish's territory. This is great! Thanks, Raven! Woo-hoo! I'm gonna go tell Batman what I did and buy you an apology card with flowers. Bye." Bart zipped away. Raven turned to Tim. "Raven," Tim began, taking a step back with his hands up.
"Relax," Raven said. "I'm not going to tinker with your mind." Tim visibly relaxed. "I can trust that you'll keep your mouth shut about what you saw, right?" Raven asked, her eyes flashing red.
"Of course," Tim answered. "Raven, some of the fears I saw–"
"And I never want to talk about it."
"I need to ask this. One of the fears, on that path—I could have sworn one panel had my face on it." Raven didn't speak or blink. "Are you…are you afraid of me?"
"When I said I never want to talk about it, I meant I don't want to talk about it with you," Raven tried to hide the shakiness in her voice, but Tim heard it.
"I know I was mean, mistrustful, and unhelpful when you first arrived. I am sorry. I should have been nicer."
"Tim, I'm tired. I still have things from the mission I need to tell John. I don't have time to do…whatever it is you want to do."
"I just," Tim said, taking a small step towards her. "I need you to know—you don't have to be afraid of me. I will not hurt you."
Raven stared at him. "Please, go," she whispered.
"Okay. Thank you for getting us out of there. Once again, I am sorry for…everything."
Raven watched as Tim turned on his heel and left her room. She relaxed once the door shut behind him. Her lower lip trembled, and she closed her eyes to keep tears from forming. This is for the best, she thought. It's just a crush. It will go away. Besides, I won't be here long. A buzz from her phone got her attention. Earlier that day, she had exchanged numbers with the rest of Justice League Dark. The text she received was from Kent Nelson, or Dr. Fate. Raven's heart raced as she read and reread the text. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but the text read, I found Azarath. Raven covered a sob with her hand. Finally, she thought as a tear rolled down her cheek, I can go home.