Bananas

By Concolor44

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Chapter Two: Morning Light

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A/N: You knew there was more to the story, right? There always is, even if it doesn't get written down.

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Titans' Tower, 9:14am

One eye cracked open.

Light! Hiss! Light! Evil light is bright!

The eye closed again.

"Ugh."

Slowly and carefully, Jinx rolled over away from her window and blinked bleary, sticky eyes at her alarm clock … or where her alarm clock should have been. The side table seemed to be missing. She sort-of-fell onto her back and draped a forearm across her face.

"Ugh. What a head." She had to wince at the thundering sound of her own voice.

The next thing she noticed was that her bed was crooked. The bed's head was split roughly down the middle and was a few centimeters lower than the foot. Then, after blinking several more times, she saw a couple of cracks in her ceiling, which alarmed her enough to sit up. Then she noticed the door of her closet lying on the floor, and a large, irregular blackened spot next to the hole it left in the wall. What the hell?

She stumbled out of bed and gained her feet, albeit unsteadily. Turning toward the en-suite bath, she stopped, her mouth dropping open at the sight of her dresser: all six drawers were pulled completely out, and two of them were in splinters.

"Did I sleep through a raid? What kind of …"

She spotted the empty bowl that had contained the wonderful Bananas Foster she'd made, and stopped dead. Her world drew in and condensed until that bowl was the only thing in it, and the one word that echoed across her mind was:

Raven.

She dropped her face into her hands and sank to her knees. "Oh, no. No, no, no." She peeked through her fingers again at the bowl and groaned, "Holy … shit."

Bits and pieces of the previous afternoon and evening floated to the top of her consciousness. The more she remembered, the redder her face got, until the blush had crept halfway down her torso.

Did … did I really … seduce Raven? Holy shit. I mean, Holy Shit!

After a minute's contemplation (killer headache notwithstanding) she was forced to admit to herself, that yes, she had enticed the empath into a very creative make-out session.

And this morning she was still, unaccountably, alive. How the hell did that happen?

A sudden thought occurred to her and she scrambled up (drawing in a hiss of air at the discomfort in her nether regions) and made as thorough a search of her room as her throbbing temples would allow, but her efforts failed to turn up a body. Okay, no corpse of Raven. So she's probably alive somewhere. Which still makes my continued ability to draw breath confusing. Unless … unless maybe she didn't stay and sleep with me? If she woke up in her own room … The details of the later evening were quite fuzzy. She couldn't recall whether they had gone to sleep together or not.

The details from before that, though, were clear enough. She eased herself down onto her lopsided bed and groaned into her palms.

How am I ever gonna make that up to her? I all but raped her!

There was no question of an apology. Jinx just hoped she could get through it with all her internal organs more or less intact. But first, she'd have to find the empath and maybe, possibly try to feel out what she already knew or had guessed. Of course there was also a chance that Raven simply hadn't awakened yet. She'd go check her room first, and …

"Hell with that," she muttered as quietly as she could. "Can't talk to anybody 'til I've had my coffee, imminent death or not."

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. . .

Nightwing was the only one in the Common Room when she stumbled through the doors. Over the rim of his coffee cup he noted her haggard appearance and gestured at her with his free hand, commenting, "You don't look so good."

Not bothering to respond, she weaved her way toward the kitchen, squinting at the illumination. Someone must have replaced the bulbs that fell to Raven's power surges. Panning the rest of the big room, she realized someone had done a lot of cleaning. The main window was still cracked, the big flatscreen hadn't been replaced yet, and the couch was missing two cushions, but most of the rest of the damage had been fixed. She blushed again, this time in shame over the work she'd caused the others.

"Did you, ah, not get enough … sleep?"

Her blush deepened at the intonation he'd placed on that last word. She only grunted in answer, and turned back to the kitchen. The coffee pot was gloriously full. She fumbled a mug out of the cabinet and poured it to the halfway point, sloshed it a few times while blowing on it, and tossed it off. Then she filled it again and turned to her new leader.

He looked at her more closely. "You've got a hangover!"

"Nothin' gets by you." Deciding to just bluff it through, she returned his stare with change and brought the mug to her lips. *slurrrrp*

"Jinx … you're underage! I realize things were different in the H.I.V.E., but …"

She held up a hand. "Wasn't drinkin'. Used rum in a recipe. Didn't burn enough of it off."

"Oh. Um …"

"Have you seen Rae?"

"… This morning?"

"No, last Christmas. Yes, this morning! I was gonna go by her room first, but if you've …"

"I think she's on the roof."

Jinx nodded (carefully) and said, "Thanks."

Nightwing studied her. "Aren't you going to ask me another question?"

"Nope."

"Really."

She drew a long sigh. "Okay, look. I realize I screwed the pooch in truly epic fashion. I'll make my apologies to her and – assuming she lets me live – pack my things and scram."

"Jinx, listen …"

She showed him her hand again. "Save it. I did something unforgivable. I know. Caught that. Just … just let me finish my coffee and I'll start cranking up the guillotine."

Regarding her with thinly-disguised amusement, he finally shrugged and walked off. "Try not to get blood on anything that'll be hard to clean."

"Hardy-freakin'-har-har. Don't quit yer day job."

The doors slid shut, leaving her alone in the big room. She leaned back against the counter as she worked through the rest of that mug of coffee, then she made herself a piece of toast, and ate that with another dose of the caffeine-laden beverage. Finally, she placed the mug in the soapy water, leaned on her hands at the edge of the sink for a moment to gather her courage, and headed for the elevator.

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The ride was over all too quickly. Jinx stepped out onto the slightly resilient polymer surface that covered the steel-clad synthetic concrete, and scanned the perimeter.

There she was.

Raven sat on the western edge of the roof, gazing out into the Pacific, so all Jinx could see was her back. It looked like she had her legs drawn up and her arms around them, but details were tough with that cloak in the way. Raven's hood was down, though, so she could see that luscious violet hair stirring in the light breeze. It still being early spring, that breeze was the tiniest bit chilly, and Jinx's arms and feet were bare. At least the roof's surface isn't cold. She hugged herself and sort of ambled over in Raven's direction, noticing with puzzlement that the empath had exchanged her blue cloak for a lavender one. What was up with that? Jinx hadn't even known she'd owned such a thing.

She stopped about two meters behind the seated girl, waffling over how to proceed. Would her chances of grisly death be higher if she spoke her piece from here, or if she took a spot beside Raven? The close proximity of her demise was robbing her normally agile mind of much of its horsepower, so she was having a hard time making a decision.

Raven, though, appeared to suffer no such lack. "Sit down." That monotone brooked no refusal.

Jinx scurried to sit, opting not to dangle her legs off the side. No sense in making things too easy. "… Um … Uh … That is …"

"You don't need to be talking just now."

The pinkette stilled.

No other sounds came from either girl for several minutes. Finally, Raven said, "You don't know about Malchior."

It wasn't a question. Raven's tone made that much obvious. And it was true; Jinx had never heard the word before. But she didn't know if she was supposed to say anything or …

"He was a mage. I found him in a book. An evil dragon named Rorek had imprisoned him in it via some extremely strong dark magic. We began talking. He was able to materialize after a fashion, made himself a body out of the pages of the book, but he could only manifest it inside a thaumaturgic circle."

That gave Jinx mightily to pause. Raven was talking about sorcerer-supreme-level magic!

"He wanted to be able to escape, and I wanted to help him. He began teaching me the magic necessary to break the spell, and a lot of other magic besides. We became … close. He didn't flinch around me, didn't mind that I was half-demon. He didn't think I was … creepy. He began to pay me compliments. Told me I had talent and power, and that I w-was … was beautiful. I began to … develop … feelings for him. I trusted him. I may have … loved him. A bit."

This was a shocking revelation for Jinx. She'd had no idea!

"We effected his release. I was so filled with joy that day, joy over being able to help him, joy over the prospect of … of spending time with him. The real him. The Malchior who could hold me and …"

She was quiet for more than a minute. Jinx, who was fighting down some pretty stiff (though irrational) feelings of jealousy, thought she detected a very slight vibration under the cloak.

When Raven continued, there was no trace of tremor in her voice. "But he had deceived me."

"… What?"

"Malchior was not the sorcerer. Malchior was the Dragon."

"Oh, shit!"

Raven turned her head, her steady gaze pinning Jinx to the roof like a butterfly on wax. The pink-eyed girl shrank in a little. "… sorry."

Raven's gaze sought the sea again. "His desire had not been for me. Practically everything he had told me was a lie. In fact, he tried to kill me as soon as he was free." She floated up about a centimeter and turned in the air to face Jinx. "We fought him. It was a close thing. Dragons are not to be taken lightly, even those that have been imprisoned for a thousand years. But I was able to seal him back in the book. I have not ventured into any sort of relationship since then."

Clear, liquid lines shimmered along the bottoms of Jinx's eyes. She sniffed and muttered, "Oh, gods." When she blinked, the tears raced down her cheeks and fell onto her thighs.

Raven regarded her solemnly for a moment, then moved forward and gently wiped the tears with a thumb. Jinx turned her head away.

The empath made a tsk noise. "Look at me."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm too ashamed."

"Are you, now?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

" 'cause I'm even worse than I thought I was."

"You're certainly sillier."

Jinx sat up a little straighter at that. "Sillier?"

"Absolutely. You haven't let me finish."

"… Finish?"

Raven made herself comfortable, arranging the cloak in a drape. Cocking her head, she observed, "You haven't said anything about my cloak."

"Um … well … that seemed kinda … minor. You know, given … um … the, ah, other stuff."

" 'Other stuff'?"

"Yeah."

"What other stuff?"

"God, Rae, you gonna make me say it?"

"Call me curious."

Jinx's mouth opened and shut a few times before she threw up her hands. "Fine! Okay! I'm sorry I se-se-seduced … damn it. Sorry I seduced you and … and … did all that."

"All what?"

Jinx stared at her. She'd known the half-demon had a tiny cruel streak but this took the cake. "Just how much detail d'ya want me t' go into?"

"How much do you remember?"

Pink eyes closed as she bit her lip. "Well … see … that's part of the problem. I don't really remember all of what I did to you. But it musta been bad. My room looks worse than my old one did after I chased Wally out of it." She glanced up at Raven. "How … how much do you remember?"

She said nothing for a quarter-minute, then shrugged and answered, "Enough."

Jinx squeezed her eyes shut again.

"So about my cloak …"

One eye peeked open a fraction. "You not gonna kill me yet?"

"I'm not going to kill you at all."

That made Jinx sweat. "But … but what's worse than being killed?"

"Well since you ask," she said, showing pointed teeth, "any number of things. Been there, done that. But that's beside the point." She held up her hem. "Cloak. Focus."

"Um … yeah. Okay. It's not blue."

"Correct. You also probably didn't know (unless Star or 'Wing told you) that the color of my cloak is dependent to some degree upon the state of my emotions."

"… Huh?"

"When Malchior had trained me in the first course of his magic, my cloak turned white. That was indicative of a melding, a sort of accommodation that my Emotions made with each other."

"Your emotions? What does that mean?"

"You know, Jinx, before you go hopping into the sack with a hybrid demon, you should probably find out a little about what makes her tick, don't you think?"

Jinx's face flamed. She couldn't meet Raven's eyes.

"When I was young, my soul was partitioned."

"… That sounds painful."

"It was excruciating. They enacted the spell every twenty-one days. As each Aspect of my 'self' was peeled off, it turned my cloak a different color. I went through much of the spectrum over a period of about six months."

"… I thought you grew up in a monastery!"

"I did."

"But … but that's just plain evil! How could your caretakers have been that cruel? How are you even sane after being abused like that?"

"Who said I was sane?"

"Saner 'n I am," she mumbled.

"Not arguing that point. But at any rate, they had their reasons. It does make it easier to control them when they are compartmentalized."

"And you need control, otherwise …"

"Things happen such as what happened to your room."

"God, Rae, I am SO SORRY!"

"Yes, I can sense that. You ought to dial it down a bit."

"How can I do that? I'm horrible!" She jumped to her feet and began to walk off. "If you're not gonna kill me, I'll go ahead and get out of your life so you can …"

"Who said I wanted that?"

Jinx froze.

"Dear Heart, you seem to be laboring under a number of false assumptions."

Pink eyes swiveled around to meet amethyst. "… What sorts of false assumptions?"

Raven held up the cloak with both hands and shoved it toward Jinx. "What do you think this means?"

She had to stop and think that one over. "You got … partitioned again?"

"Not partitioned. That doesn't happen spontaneously. But the growth of a new Emotion? Oh, yeah."

"That happens?"

She nodded. "This will be the second time."

"So … so what new emotion is lavender colored?"

"Love."

A few quick rushes of static chased themselves over Jinx's skin. Her head was suddenly very light. "Love?"

"Mm-hmm."

Processing: 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8 "And you got that new color … this morning?"

"Woke up with it."

Jinx stared at her, frowning, for better than half a minute. Then she took three long strides, knelt in front of the violet-haired girl, and gathered her tightly into her arms. "I am so getting you back for this."

Raven's arms snaked up around Jinx's neck. "I am quite sure I have no idea what you are referring to."

"Pssht. Right." She leaned back. "That Malchior story the real deal?"

"Every word. And then some."

"I'm gonna flatten his sorry ass so hard!"

"You're going to leave him strictly alone. He's out of your league. By a league."

"But just telling that story made you cry! I can't let …"

"I wasn't crying. I am so over that bastard, and all out of tears on his account."

"… Huh?"

"I was straining every muscle in my torso to keep from laughing."

"… What?"

"Your reaction was priceless."

"WHAT?"

She smirked. "You swallowed it. Soaked it up like a sponge. It was classic. Gar would have been proud."

"You! … You! …" Jinx popped her shoulder and flumphed down, arms crossed, but then she winced at the sudden jarring of her head, rubbing her temple.

Suddenly concerned, Raven asked, "Hangover?"

"Uh-huh."

A slender hand reached over and rested on the pink hair. A blue nimbus outlined Jinx's head for a moment, then disappeared.

The pinkette looked up, blinking in shock, and stared at Raven. "You just do that?"

"I did. How do you …"

"You have any idea how much money you could make any given Sunday morning?"

"Not interested."

"Your loss. But thanks. It doesn't hurt at all now!"

"You're welcome."

"So … does all this mean I'm, like, forgiven?"

A tiny chuckle escaped Raven's lips. "That's funny, too."

"… Why?"

"You didn't do anything." Holding up a hand to forestall objections, Raven continued, "Yeah, sure, you started things. But after that last explosion in the kitchen, after we decided to go to your room, I was driving. Alcohol seems to have a marvelously lubricious effect on my inhibitions … and libido. I was the one who ripped off your clothes while we were still in the hallway. I was the one who smeared the Bananas Foster on myself, and made you lick it off." Her eyes darkened as she described the events of the previous evening. "I was the one who guided our joining. Every time."

Those pink eyes got very round. "What'd'ya mean, 'every time'?"

Raven gave her half a shrug and half a smile. "I lost count."

"… Lost … Huh. Guess that explains why I'm sore."

"I had to heal you twice."

Jinx gave her lover a long, thoughtful look and then took a seat on the edge of the Tower, swinging her feet off. Raven hovered around until they sat side by side.

"So this Malchior dude …"

"Yes?"

"He's a guy?"

"He is male. He wore the aspect of a man."

"But I'm not."

"Oh, no, Dear One, you are most definitely not male!"

"And that don't bother you at all?"

"All demons are bisexual. Most of us are bi-gendered. It makes procreation a lot easier."

"Oh. Good for me, then." She swung her feet out and in, out and in.

Raven glanced over at her. "You taste very nice, by the way."

*blink-blink* "Taste … you mean when we kissed?"

There was that smirk again. "Yeah, that, too."

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A/N: Jinx prefers to come out on top, usually. In this case, I don't much think she cares.

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