Sorry. That's all, just, uh, sorry. This took longer than expected to finish and it's still rather short. I cry
Chapter 7
"I've been here before," Arturo said in reference to the massive art gallery they stood in.
"When?" Raven asked, taking a sip of her wine as she turned to face him; their bodies were mere inches apart, and she tried to decide how she'd feel if he tried to kiss her.
"When I impersonated the mayor to steal a priceless artifact from this gallery," he replied nonchalantly. Raven blinked, furrowing her brows as she looked up at him, confused. Surely, she had misheard him. She looked down at her glass. How strong was this stuff?
"Wait-" she started, but before she could get another word out, Arturo's hand was wrapped around her neck and he was pushing her toward the nearest wall. Raven dropped the wine glass as her hands flew up to wrap around his wrist. After a moment, her back slammed into the wall and she winced as the wind was knocked out of her. Arturo smiled cruelly as he continued pushing, sliding her upwards until her feet hovered a few inches from the ground. Raven sputtered as she struggled to draw air into her lungs, and she suddenly realized that something was off with his eyes- she hadn't been paying very close attention before, but she was sure that his eyes weren't this dark. If she squinted, she could see a hint of golden color, but at first glance the irises appeared almost black. Her own eyes glowed white as she fell gently through the wall, phasing from the ground twenty feet away a moment later.
She spun around, sneering at the man. "Azarath, metrion-" An impossibly long arm shot out and wrapped its hand around her ankle, interrupting her mantra as it yanked her down roughly and dragged her back toward him.
"What are you?!" she screeched, scrambling for purchase against the smooth tiled floor.
"You haven't figured it out yet? I'm offended." She glanced back to see Arturo's expression flash, something transforming for the span of a blink before it became his face again. Raven managed to catch the base of the sculpture she'd previously been admiring, but the short pillar gave way almost immediately, nearly toppling over onto her. She ceased it with black energy, flinging it at her assailant. The gnarled hand gripping her leg released and slithered back lightning-fast, and he narrowly dodged the projectile as the arm snapped back into place, not quite the same length as the other. The more she looked at him, the more odd he appeared. The skin of his face sagged more than it should for a young man, and his gait was disturbingly off-center.
The stone crashed against the floor, shattering into thousands of pieces and pulling Raven from her daze. She was back on her feet in an instant, sending a bolt of dark magick at Arturo. He wasn't quick enough this time, and the orb caught him in the middle of his chest, sending him sailing back. Raven flew toward the door they'd come in from, but Arturo made a quick recovery, appearing in front of her as she neared the exit. He weaved to the side when she got close and pressed a hand into her back, hurling her into the door with superhuman strength. She slammed into the slab head-first, buckling when she came into contact with the floor.
Raven braced herself on her hands and knees, panting heavily and willing the world to stop spinning. She begged her mind to sober up, knowing the alcohol was having a negative effect on her powers and reaction time. Her head pounded mercilessly, and she raised a hand to swipe away the blood trickling into her eye; though she blinked and blinked, stars continued swimming in her vision steadfastly. Shakily, Raven rose to her feet, eyes and hands glowing as she turned back toward Arturo.
Except, he wasn't Arturo anymore. Instead, Raven found herself face-to-face with Madame Rouge, or at the very least a sickly version of the doppelganger, sporting the same unusual characteristics she'd observed with Arturo moments before. Raven had never fought with Madame Rouge, but she'd been briefed on her years ago, and this woman looked far worse for the wear than the pictures she'd been shown. Even so, Raven kept her guard up, recalling that the villain was nearly impossible to defeat in her hayday.
"So," Madame Rouge croaked in her thick Russian accent, boredly fidgeting with a fingernail, "This is the infamous Raven." She coughed, a boisterous, wet hack before looking the empath up and down, wearing an unimpressed expression bordering on disgust. "Your reputation preceeds you, girl. I actually got my hopes up that this may be something of a challenge."
Raven tried to steady her stance, but the pain pulsing in her brain intensified, and she dropped to her knees again, swaying as the room wavered angrily. "Where is Arturo?" she grit out. Madame Rouge? Why? What the hell did she want with Raven?
"Oh, in a closet somewhere," Rouge waved her hand casually, her nonchalant tone at odds with her appearance as she staggered over to Raven. "There are more pressing matters at hand. You must be wondering why I'm here... though, I do love a surprise." She crouched down in front of the empath, gripping her chin so hard she felt it may break under the pressure, and yanked it up to look her in the face. Sickly breath curled around Raven's face and her eyes flashed white, but it was accompanied by a jolt of red-hot pain, and she winced in spite of herself. The shape-shifter smiled, revealing a row of yellowed teeth, then pulled a syringe from behind her and swiftly brought it down. Although her vision still faltered, Raven caught sight of the thing as it drew close, too close, and blasted Madame Rouge away at the last possible moment. The woman caught herself easily on elastic limbs, lazily cartwheeling into a standing position ten feet in front of her and chuckling.
"Stupid girl," she taunted, the laugh seeping into her tone as she raised the syringe again, her hand stretching higher and higher until it hovered just below the ceiling. "I can reach you anywhere." She swung the needle down again, but Raven threw up her hand, and it glanced off a small energy shield that dissipated instantly. Rouge raised the arm once more, still inhumanly quick, but Raven managed to be faster as she used her powers to lift the remains of her wine glass into the air. She ducked as she heaved them toward her, and she was almost surprised to hear a body collapse a few seconds later.
Raven rose from the floor slowly, looking at the motionless heap in front of her. Blood pooled around the body, and as she slowly closed in, heels clacking lightly against the tile, Raven noted that the liquid was disturbingly dark, almost black like Adonis's. Her throat went dry as she stared down, the sudden stillness in the air weighing down on her gut as she came to terms with what she'd done.
But then... the body twitched. Raven jumped back, watching in horror as Rouge slowly contorted her body upright, one limb at a time. She smiled, the expression unnaturally wide for her face, a ghastly cheshire grin as the blood pooled and spilled over her lips. Piece by piece, shards of glass began to pluck themselves from her body and clink to the floor, splattering crimson droplets onto Raven's feet where she stood still, mouth agape. The last remnant slowly dislodged itself from the center of her forehead and fell, the sharp sound echoing around the room until it was silent again.
"So," Madame Rouge spoke calmly, cocking her head to the side with a twitch before her voice morphed into an identical impression of Garfield. "How are you feeling now, Raven?" The question jogged a memory, her earlier conversation with Gar at the cafe popping up in her head.
"That was you?" Raven seethed. Her thoughts were becoming muddled, the pain and anger mingling together and leading her to question reality. Which of her interactions were lies? Was she even really here right now?
In lieu of a response, Madame Rouge swooped toward her, an arm stretching beyond to catch her ankles from behind and send her skidding to the floor. All at once she was upon her, knees pinning arms to the hard floor and holding a dagger to her throat, the syringe laying forgotten where she'd fallen before. Raven reached out with her magic to pull a painting from the wall and hurl it toward the woman, but she reached back with her free hand and smacked it away into a nearby wall, where it splintered into pieces.
"I am to- to bring you alive," Rouge stuttered, another tremor wracking her body before she continued, "So be a good girl before I decide to take a pay cut and have some fun."
'Go with her...' Raven lurched when the voice spoke up suddenly, wincing as the blade dug into the delicate skin of her neck. It was coherent for the first time, but it was not her voice. It was not any voice she recognized, in fact, and she came to the jarring realization that this may be someone else's doing, rather than her own mind playing against her.
"Perhaps someone else would be more effective while we finish up here," the doppelganger teased before long, orange hair suddenly brushed against Raven's face, and it was a sickly, pitiful Kori hovering over her now. "You wouldn't hurt me, would you, friend?" she pleaded, tears leaking down her face.
Raven's expression darkened, her eyes becoming a chilling shade of red. She was dizzy, confused, and in pain, but more than anything she was pissed off. "Enough," she hissed, a demonic growl seeping into her voice. "You may be able to regenerate, Rouge, but I know that you still feel pain. I can taste it." Her own sadistic grin sprouted upon her features, while the villainess transformed back into her true form, rolling her eyes and opening her mouth to retort. Before she could speak, Raven's silver hairpin bolted forward, the sharp tongs plunging deep into her left eye.
Madame Rouge let out an agonized scream as she fell back, and Raven shot up, catching sight of the shattered picture frame some fifteen feet away. She stumbled toward the woman's gangly frame, meeting a long, jagged piece of wood mid-air as she approached. Rouge snapped her head around, gnashing her teeth like an animal, but Raven slammed her eyes shut when it became Victor's face in front of her. She plowed the stake through his chest, not daring to open her eyes until she heard the body thud to the floor. Madame Rouge wheezed on the ground before her, but the hairpin was already slowly sliding from her eye, and Raven bolted as best she could for the room's exit. She tried to take to the air, but her whole body throbbed with pain and she fell back to the ground, staggering forward in those damn heels. She was so close, she just needed to get back to her friends...
Raven finally reached the handle and wrenched the door open, but just as she had nearly slipped through the gap, a sharp, stinging pain pricked at her shoulder blade. She stumbled, glancing behind her at the syringe laying at the threshold, now empty. With a grunt, she shoved the door shut and continued down the hallway, darkness already creeping into the edges of her vision. She could hear the muffled sounds of the party taking place somewhere in the massive abode, but the noise seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. She leaned heavily against the wall as she slithered down the long hallway, praying she was going the right way.
The floor fell out from beneath her, and Raven thudded roughly to the hardwood. She groaned as she tried to push herself back up, but her arms held her for only a moment before she collapsed again, her cheek colliding with the ground. She willed her eyes to stay open, peering around at the nothingness that surrounded her. No one was here. No one was coming.
'Maybe if I just rest for a second...' She knew better, but the darkness was taking hold, and she was helpless to stop it as her exhausted body gave in.
Garfield glanced down at the pale girl in his arms as she shuddered, and adjusted her into what he hoped was a more comfortable position as they trekked toward Richard's luxury sedan. His blood still boiled at the recent memory of how they had found her, after some poor house staff happened upon Arturo knocked out in a coat closet. Even in his human form, the pungent scent of blood overwhelmed his senses, and it had been sheer luck that he'd glanced down the hallway where her crumpled form lay unconscious. Gar hadn't felt that kind of fear since that time the world almost ended.
He stayed with Raven while the others helped search around for the culprit, eventually watching Madame Rouge (what the hell was she doing here?) gasp and writhe on a gurney as she was wheeled out. He'd scooped Raven up wordlessly, following behind the medics and unable to help the proud smirk that arose when he overheard a muttered "on death's doorstep". They all watched as the impaled woman was loaded into the armored ambulance, and now they found themselves here, walking down the long driveway in silence.
Victor fell in step beside him, occasionally holding out his arm to scan various parts of Raven's body and squinting at the small built-in monitor. Gar listened to the sporadic beeping, allowing it to lull him into a daze as his body still worked to calm itself. They arrived at the car, and he almost didn't notice when Raven's eyes suddenly snapped open, studying his face groggily for a moment as she came to. Then, he nearly dropped her when she gasped and began thrashing about in his arms.
"Put me down," she commanded, and he did so as gently as he could with her sudden flailing. She stumbled back against the car, eyes wild and panicked as tendrils of black energy swirled around her hands menacingly.
Garfield glanced back at his old teammates, all of them unsure what to do. "Hey, Rave," he said cautiously as he returned his gaze to her, not daring to move. Her features were contorted with distrust, and his heart broke a little at the abject terror in her eyes. She seemed utterly disoriented, and the last thing he wanted to do was frighten her further... for her sake, of course, though he also didn't have any particular desire to become roadkill tonight. "It's just me-"
The glow orbiting her hands intensified, her eyes joining in with an ominous gleam. The effect combined with the dried blood spattered on her face made her look downright sinister, and Gar warred with his instincts to take a step forward rather than back.
"Get away from me," she snarled dangerously, "I know it isn't you." She sounded convinced as she said it, but even so, a rogue tear rolled down her angry face.
"Friend..." Kori said gently, trying to move closer but hindered by Richard's protective grip on her arm. Raven snapped her attention to the alien girl, and Gar took the opportunity to take a couple more steps toward her. Her gaze flickered between them all, and she pressed her back harder against the car, a soft groan escaping her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut against a fresh wave of pain.
"Just stay away from me," she pleaded. Garfield moved closer, only a few feet away now...
"Raven," he called gently, earning a wince when she dared not open her eyes, "Raven. Look at me." After a moment, she slowly met his gaze, and the magick trickled from her hands, though she stayed firmly pressed against the back door of the vehicle. She fixed him with a stony glare, but her watery eyes betrayed her, and he knew the expression was a ruse to cover up her fear.
"I promise," he continued as he stepped within arm's reach, watching her shoulders relax ever so slightly. "You're safe, Rae."
Raven lowered her hands with a shallow sigh, not of relief but of exhaustion, slumping against the car dejectedly. She didn't fully believe him, but her last pitiful wisps of energy had dissipated and there was nothing left. She couldn't find it in her to care about anything other than the intense, constant ache throbbing throughout her body, and she fought the enticing blackness threatening to take her over again. Garfield closed in, near enough that only he could hear what she whispered next.
"If you're not Gar," Raven said softly, looking up at him with tired eyes, "Just get it over with. I can't-"
"I'm me," he assured her, then opened up the door and helped her inside the car, Richard and Kori following suit while Victor went to his own vehicle behind them. Raven, still unsteady, clumsily knocked her head on the frame as she ducked inside and hissed in pain. Gar frowned as he climbed into the back seat behind her, watching her curl up against the other door.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine, I just need to rest and I should be healed in no time..." she replied, staring out the window as the car lurched into motion.
"That's not what I mean, Rae."
She looked at him then, studying his face like she was searching for some clue that he was deceiving her. "I just... I still don't know what to believe," Raven finally mumbled. "Your aura feels like you, but I fell for her tricks before."
Gar quirked an eyebrow at that. "She pretended to be me? Wait, no," he shook his head, forcing his curiosity down. He caught Richard's eye in the rear view mirror, though he immediately returned his gaze to the road and pretended to not be listening. Gar lowered his voice. "Ask me something only I would know."
Her brows knitted together as she contemplated his demand. Something minute shifted in her expression, and she suddenly looked away shyly.
"Do you remember... what my favorite tea is?"
It only took a moment for the memory to resurface, and Gar smiled, fighting the urge to tease her about the light blush coloring her cheeks.
It had happened during their last year as teammates. In the last few weeks, in fact, before they knew that their time was coming to an end. Gar had woken in the middle of the night and headed to the kitchen for a midnight snack, and found Raven there also, nursing a steaming cup of tea. They'd started out making small talk, both expecting to split ways after a few minutes. But somehow, those few minutes had turned into hours of sitting on the couch talking, the t.v. he'd turned on completely disregarded as background noise. At one point he'd asked the fateful question:
"Is that your favorite tea?"
Raven hummed into her third mug, mulling it over before answering.
"No. I like this one, but it's not my favorite." She'd gone on to describe an obscure blend from India that she'd only gotten her hands on once, and had yet to find again. She got lost in the conversation, rambling about why she'd started drinking tea in the first place and why she liked it so much. And as silly as it may sound, Gar had never seen her so... uninhibited. Like she'd completely forgotten about her usual responsibility to remain stoic and keep her emotions at bay, the passion for one of her favorite things overriding the burden. And Gar loved it. He'd seen a brand new side of her that day, a person with enthusiasm and interests so tangible he could almost pluck them from the air for the first time ever.
"Can I kiss you?" He thought for sure he ruined everything when he'd blurted it out. Her eyes had gone wide and he was already kicking himself, accepting that he wrecked it all and would never have a moment like this with her again. But then, as he stared at her, shocked at what he'd let slip... she nodded. A slow, nervous, barely-there-but-definitely-still-a-nod movement. Both of their hearts pounded as he moved closer to her, sliding a hand gently across her cheek and into her short hair. She was stupidly beautiful. How had he never noticed how beautiful she was? He took a moment admiring her features, suddenly grateful that his filter failed him, because if he couldn't kiss her right then he felt like he might die. He took in every inch of her face, violet doe eyes staring up at him in anticipation. His gaze finally made its way to her soft lips, and he couldn't wait a second longer. He leaned forward-
And then Starfire walked in. Raven had panicked and instantly teleported to her room, leaving him to flop back onto the couch and just about rip his hair out. Starfire hadn't said anything, but he knew she was aware what she'd walked in on, though she mercifully chose to act oblivious.
Two weeks later, right after they'd found out they were being canned, he'd gifted her the exact tea she'd mentioned, dodging every question about how he'd gotten his hands on it (tea couldn't really count as a black market item, right?). Raven had hastily pecked him on the cheek before disappearing to her quarters for the rest of the day, and he'd grinned like an idiot for hours.
"Silver Tips Imperial, from Makaibari," Garfield said, returning to the present.
Raven smiled at him, blushing furiously now as she knew he'd remembered, and the air between them became charged with forgotten feelings. His gaze drifted to her lips like it had back then, and he felt like a teenager all over again, old emotions boiling over and making him forget how to breathe.
Raven snapped herself out of the reverie first, clearing her throat awkwardly as she looked anywhere but him.
"Okay, so you're you." She spoke flatly, prying the emotion from her voice, though her cheeks remained flushed as she returned her stare to the outside world, trying to ignore the flutters prickling in her chest.
Yes, Silver Tips Imperial is a real, rare tea. It doesn't have any deeper meaning for this story, but it is really interesting and you should Google it! The next chapter should be up in the next week or so; I've found that planning each chapter out makes the writing process a lot easier for me, and I did not do that with the last couple, so I've been struggling with some hefty writer's block. The next one should be up more quickly since I've figured this out the hard way :') The BBRae vibes are getting heavier, eeeee! I'm excited. Okay, eat a snack and enjoy your day! 3