:Writing Key:

The Changing Tides

Weapon and Her Magic

"Talking"

"Mind talking"

'Thought'

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WARNING: Contains scenes of cutting, possible death and sexual activity, not particularly in that order. You have been warned.

This first chapter was written years ago when I was still in High School so please forgive it. I promise the writing gets better. Hope you guys enjoy! -EA

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Raven languishingly watched a couple talk and share a few sweet kisses together. She looked away quickly as a familiar pain entered her chest. 'Malchior, why did you have to betray me?' She thought to herself while sitting in her favorite dark café. 'Why couldn't you have just told me you were a dragon? I would have understood. Hell, I'm a half demon!' She was sitting alone in a booth in the very back of the café. There were only a few people there tonight and none of them were anywhere close to her; just the way she liked it.

"Excuse me," said a man with a smooth voice. "My lady, is this set taken?" Raven turned to look at him, ready to glare the man away. He had a mane of long black hair and skin that was pale and flawless. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt and black pants with chains going down the sides. Raven gasped when she recognized his eyes, the scarlet rubies gazing into hers.

"Malchior…" She said in no more than an astonished whisper.

"Hello, my sweet Raven. Oh, how I have missed you." Raven made a move to charge up her power to attack him but he raised a hand quickly. "Ah, ah, ahh," he said tisking a finger at her. "I wouldn't do that, my sweet Raven. It would be a shame if the other people in here got hurt, wouldn't it?" He said coolly with an air of triumph, narrowing his scarlet eyes at her with a smirk on his lips. Raven's eyes widened and she quickly banished her power.

"What do you want, Malchior?" She fought to keep her voice monotone. She did not want him to know that she was afraid. However, unfortunately for her, the dragon in front of her could smell her fear.

Malchior smiled at her showing the tips of his fangs. He moved to be sitting in the booth right next to her. Raven scooted back into the corner as much as she could from him so that there was at least a foot of space between them. Malchior smiled, relaxing into the booth while eyeing the few people in the café, making sure they would go unnoticed.

Satisfied that they would not be bothered, he turned to look back at Raven on his left. She had pressed her back against the booth, not taking her amethyst eyes off him, which glowed with fear. Malchior found himself caught off-guard by the amount of fear in her eyes. To smell one's fear was different than seeing it. He found that it hurt him in his chest to know that her fear was directed towards him. He closed his eyes and shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. "You can relax Raven; I'm not going to do anything to you." He paused for a moment. "Yet, at least…" He glanced at her with one eye opened to judge her reaction to his confession.

Raven glared back at him with hatred in her eyes. "What do you want Malchior?" She asked venomously again. "I thought you were going to stay trapped in the realm the Herald lives in." 'I thought Herald said he could keep him imprisoned there! And if Malchior did escape why didn't Herald tell me and the rest of the Titans!' Then a thought hit her like an arrow through her gut. 'What if he hurt him…? Or worse! Killed him!'

Malchior smiled and laughed lightly. "Relax Raven; I didn't eat your friend. He is merely trapped in his own realm for a while. I just came here to see you." He looked into her eyes and held her gaze for a moment. "I… I wanted to…" He seemed to have trouble forming his words and after a deep breath, he spoke in a hush tone. "To say I'm sorry…" Raven's reaction was not unexpected but he had hoped it would not have been the reaction he would have to face.

Raven growled at him and tightened every muscle in her body. "I don't believe you, you son of a bitch." Malchior sighed and closed his eyes, looking away from her. "If you ever come near me again, I swear people or not, I will fight you and I will kill you. I will never let you near me again." Raven stood up, pushing the table before them into the other booth and quickly made her way past Malchior in the tight space, making sure not to touch him. She glared at him as she stopped before him. Only now did he look back up at her face. "I will never fall for your lies again, you bastard."

With those last venomous words, Raven quickly left the teashop leaving Malchior alone with his thoughts. 'But this time… I wasn't lying…' He sighed as his thoughts wandered. 'I can't leave it at this though Raven… Don't you understand; I always did want you as mine…'

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Raven stormed out of the teashop and the moment she felt the sun on her body she teleported straight to her room. She quickly jumped onto her bed and grabbed a pillow, which she proceeded to scream into until she was crying. Her powers danced around her room, violently throwing books off the walls, smashing her lamp and toppling her bookcases. After a few choking gasps Raven began to pull her emotions back into the depths of herself and calmed her powers. She was shaking badly as she sat huddled together on her bed trying to force herself to think instead of cry.

'Calm down… I have to stay calm… I can't let this get to me. He won't come for me, he has no reason too. He has his freedom now, he doesn't need me anymore. He just wanted to gloat, that's all…' She said to herself, trying to rationalize everything and keep from panicking again. 'He was just lying to me again, just trying to see if he could toy with me. I won't fall for that again though.' She swore to herself that she would never let another so close to her again. There is no such thing as Love for a Demon after all.

Raven struggled to clear her thoughts but failed as the past crept into her mind and flooded over her thoughts. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the memories. The feelings she had felt for him were over whelming her once more and the love that she did not know was fake clouded over her senses. How was she to know that the love he had shown her was lie? It was the only love that she had ever known… She started to cry softly, choking on the pain filling her chest. She needed release from this pain, anything but this pain again. Anything to keep from having to hold this suffering inside of herself…

With her mind made up once more, she crawled off her bed and shakily stood up, trying to gather herself and hold onto the shattered pieces of her soul that were left. 'Just one last time… then I'm done…' She told herself, knowing deep down she had said those words before…

Raven closed her eyes and forced herself to focus on physical things rather than her emotional pain. Her hands went to her broach and unclasped it, letting her cloak fall to the floor. Sliding her left hand behind her back and grasping the zipper of her leotard, she slowly pulled it down until she could carefully strip herself of the garment and her belt. Her boots slipped off easily as she stepped out of her leotard. Her eyes were still closed as she approached her desk; her body knew the way to what she desired. The items that were once on her desk now lay scattered on the floor but it was what was in her drawer that she sought. She opened her eyes as her hands opened the drawer. She pulled out all the parchment and quills inside of it, setting it all on her desk meticulously. Then she looked back into the empty drawer. Her hand slipped in once more and found the small hole that she could slip in her finger. She lifted it up, revealing a secret compartment hidden underneath. Her breath caught in her throat as her other hand reached out and grasped the slightly curved bone handle of a short dagger with a silver blade.

She held it to her chest with both hands now, blade pointing down as some part of her, in the back of her mind, tried to come up with some reason not to do this, a slight fear pricking down her spine. Nevertheless, as she was afraid, she was excited too. Raven knew that with this, she would not hurt anymore. A different pain would cloud her and lift her away from all this suffering. She carefully walked to her bathroom, stepping over the items and books that laid scattered around her room like a librarian's battlefield. She dared not use her powers just yet, knowing she had very limited control with her emotions trying to drown her.

Raven stepped into her bathroom, turning around and locking the door. A passing thought that only she and Robin had bathrooms connected to their rooms crossed her mind. She had a basic layout, a sink and cabinet with a mirror closest to the door then a toilet and a rather large shower tub area. The room was mainly white but had dark blue flecks in the tiles that covered her walls and floor, which were sealed smooth. Her shower curtains were the same dark blue color as the flecks.

She carefully sat the dagger down on the sink as she stripped herself of her black lace bra and matching underwear. Raven grabbed her dagger once more now that she was free of anything that would be ruined and stepped into her tub and sat down. She laid the dagger at her feet as she finally looked at her arms and the bandages that wrapped around them tightly. Her breath caught in her throat as she slowly undid the wraps and looked at her pale arms, more importantly the long bloody cuts that covered them.

She could not really remember when she had started this habit… For she knew it was a habit. Sure, she could stop, she told herself that repeatedly; but it would not solve anything. She would just have to go back to meditating and forcing her emotions deeper into herself until she over flowed and killed everything. This though… This felt like it was giving those emotions a way out, keeping her from filling up with them and hurting the ones she cared for. So what if it meant she had to bleed? So long as her friends were safe from her wraith, she was fine with doing this to herself.

Raven watched as a bead of blood fell from one of the longer gashes on her arm. She knew she had not cut in weeks but looking at her arms you would have thought it had only been hours ago. She did not know why these wounds did not heal, when every other injury did, but figured it was her power's way of reminding her just how broken she really was.

Raven took a breath and leaned forward, turning on the water faucet. The cold water rushed out and chilled her feet and legs as it hit her making her shiver. She focused on the sensation and grabbed her blade setting it on the edge of her tub. The water started to become warm and once it felt burning hot against her skin she put the plug into the drain and let it begin to fill.

She grabbed her blade once more in her right hand and stared down at the gashes on her left arm. 'Last time I do this…' She weakly told herself as she counted six bloody marks on her pale skin. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in deep before opening her eyes and bringing the blade down on the first cut. She felt the tip of it pressing into her wound and whimpered softly as she drug it down, springing forth a fresh wave of blood. She watched as her blood dripped from her arm and landed in the water that was still rising around her.

Raven took a shuddering breath and brought the blade to the next cut and then the next. Each time a new wave of pain would creep up her arm and that deadly rush would follow and fill her mind. The sickening pleasure that followed the pain filled her with a sense of relief. She could feel her emotions leaving her as though they dripped from her blood into the bath.

She paused in her ritual to turn off the water. She leaned back once more and began to finish what she started. She looked at the last gash on her arm. It was long and wide where her skin was split. She saw the small line of blood already leaking from it, the warm water having softened it. 'It isn't deep enough…' Some part of her mind whispered and she agreed numbly. She gripped the dagger with a steady hand and pushed the tip of it deeper into her skin. Raven hissed in pain but it was followed by the dark pleasure that gave her strength. She drug the blade across her arm feeling and hearing the sharp knife cutting away fiber after fiber of her flesh.

She gasped once the damage was done and looked down seeing so much blood pouring from the deepened wound like the trickle of a stream. She smiled as a numbness filled her as she watched herself bleed. Her dark blood flowed down her arm as she held it up to watch her blood flow into the water where it stained it red. She sat her dagger down onto her lap in the water as she laid her arm down, letting the warm water burn her cuts. She watched with a morbid fascination as her blood leached into the water. She could see it changing color before her eyes and soon a reddish pink color replaced what was once clear and pure.

She leaned back against the tub and closed her eyes letting herself enjoy the high that she was experiencing. She was not done, oh no not yet, but this was a taste of her numbing perverse pleasure. After a while, she grabbed her blade with her left hand and began her work again on her right arm. The same number of cuts as on her left marked her right, though these were not made with as steady of a hand. They were deeper and jagged showing an uneven marking. She did not care though; they were beautiful marks of her suffering. 'Last time…' She told herself again but with even less resolve than before. Six times, the blade found her flesh. Six times, she cried out silently and shuddered from agony. Six times, she moaned as her dark pleasure took over her mind and body. She finally collapsed after the sixth and let her dagger fall into the tub with her arms. Raven lay in the darkening water, her eyes closed, chest gasping for air. A soft thought of sinking into the warm depths brushed along her thoughts but she pushed it away.

Minutes turned to hours as the water cooled and a level of unconsciousness flowed over Raven's thoughts. Slowly however, she began to feel again, when the water grew too cold around her. She groaned and shifted as her eyes opened slowly. She glanced at the water realizing she had been in it for too long by the dark blood color of it. She leaned forward and forced her arms to move as she pulled the plug and waited for the water to drain out. Once she could see her dagger again, she grabbed it, set it outside of the tub, and stood up very slowly.

Once standing she leaned against the wall feeling very dizzy. She reached out and turned the water back on. While it heated up once more, she pulled her dark blue curtains into the tub and turned the showerhead on once the water had gotten hot again. She relaxed into the shower allowing the steaming water to wash away the scent of blood that lingered over her. She grabbed her shampoo and held it tightly in her weak grasp as she washed her hair and then proceeded to wash the rest of her body with her soap.

She was careful not to touch the cuts knowing she needed them to stop bleeding soon and did her best to keep the soap from entering them. Once finished, she turned off the water and wrapped herself in a towel. Raven carefully stepped out of the shower and went to her sink, opening the cabinet beneath it and pulling out a box. She sat down on the floor and opened it, pulling out scissors, gauze, a small case, and wrappings. With practiced skill, she began working on her left arm. She used a small towel to pat dry her cuts and clean away the fresh blood. Once dry, she opened up the case, pinched some of the powder within using her right hand and sprinkled it over her cuts using it to help them clot and stop her bleeding. She laid gauze over them, taping the end of a strip of wrapping to her skin and then started tightly wrapping her arm. She made quick work of the awkward task and soon was finished with both arms. She inspected her handy work and found it good enough to hide her cuts.

She always had to be careful because she could not let her friends find out. Raven knew they would be angry with her if they did. They just did not understand what it felt like… The dark girl sighed and put away her supplies making a mental note to restock soon. Raven stood up after double-checking that everything was put away. She grabbed a small bottle on her sink and opening it up, spraying her arms with the perfume that smelt like vanilla. She had to use it to keep Beast Boy from smelling her blood; she had learned that the hard way.

Raven glanced around her room and sighed. "I'm having tea before I clean this up…" She said to herself as she looked around at the mess. She walked out of her room, careful to not step on anything, after getting dressed and found herself down stairs in the kitchen. It was dark and quiet downstairs, meaning she had passed out for far longer than she had first thought. She started making her tea quietly, putting her kettle on the stove gently.

"You're up late." Said Robin as he walked into the kitchen and went to the fridge to grab a snack.

"So are you." Raven said turning to watch him.

"I'm always up late." He said with a smile as he grabbed an apple and took a bite. "You okay?" He asked walking up to her with concern on his face. "You look really pale…"

"I'm always pale, Robin." She said trying to brush off his concern. She reached into the cabinet and grabbed her container of tea.

"Not this pale…" Robin commented softly as he watched. "You sure you're okay?"

Raven sighed and looked at him with a bored expression. "Yes, Robin. I'm fine. I just had a bad dream, that's all."

"Alright." He said smiling softly to her, taking her at her word. "If you want to talk about it, you know I'm here."

She smiled softly to him. "I know, thank you." She took her kettle off the heat and put a tea bag in. She thought about telling him about how she ran into Malchior but decided better of it. Mentioning the dragon would only cause Robin to worry more and it was not as if she was ever going to see him again anyways, right? "Why are you really up?" She asked turning the focus to him.

Robin's grin faded. "Just working."

"You mean, 'beginning to obsess again'." She countered as she poured herself a cup of tea with a raised eyebrow.

Robin sighed and took another bite of his apple. "Yes and no… I just would have thought Slade would have shown back up again after everything."

"Did you think that maybe he just doesn't want to deal with me anymore?" She asked taking another sip. "I did kick his ass you know."

Robin chuckled. "Yeah, you did. Scared the crap out of us to see you use that kind of power…" He watched her shrug her shoulders while holding her cup of tea by her lips, cooling it with a soft breath. "Why don't you fight like that? I mean if you've always had that kind of force behind you… Why don't you use it?" Robin asked letting his curiosity take over this thoughts.

Raven sighed and put down her tea. "Because it scares you guys…" She looked away from his masked eyes. "I don't like how it feels… going all out like that… Makes me feel too close to losing control… What I did to Slade… If he hadn't been dead already… I would have killed him…"

Robin nodded and stepped closer to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I understand. I won't ever ask you to fight like that Raven, I promise." He said smiling to her and giving her shoulder a soft squeeze.

Raven smiled back softly. "Thanks… Now do me a favor."

"Anything." He replied with his trademark grin.

"Go sleep." She said with a grin of her own as she took her tea and headed to her room.

Robin laughed lightly and took another bite of his apple. He watched her leave until the door closed behind her and then stared out at the moon through the huge wall windows. Once he was finished with his apple, he tossed the core in the trash and left to get some sleep, as she wanted.

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Raven sighed when she entered her mess of a room. She called up her power and started to carefully place things back where they belonged. Thankfully, her powers had not destroyed anything; except the lamp, just… rearranged everything. Once her room was back to normal she slipped into her bathroom and grabbed the dagger she had left on the floor, putting it away in her desk. 'I'm done with it.' She told herself with a slight level of conviction. 'I don't need it anymore. That will be the last time I ever see that lying bastard.'

She put her now empty cup down on her desk and stripped out of her uniform, careful of her arms. She went into her closet and came back out with a silk nightgown that had long sleeves. Slipping into it, she went to her bed and curled up under her covers feeling very tired. She soon entered unconsciousness with a dream-filled sleep claiming her.

Unbeknownst to her however, Raven was being watched by a pair of red eyes. "Oh, my sweet Raven…" The man whispered as he watched her shift in her sleep from outside her window.

-END OF DAY 1-