"Alabaster's shop of darkness, I am Auron, how may I be of service?" Asked a smooth voice on the other line of the phone.
"Hey Auron, it's Raven." She responded.
"Ah! Raven, a pleasure. Did you need anything?" he asked.
"Yeah, the day off would be nice." She answered.
"Huh? Er...uh..." He paused a moment, seeming to weigh his options.
Raven sighed, "Look, a lot has happened and I really need some time to relax. My boyfriend is a dragon from one thousand years ago who got split into two parts, we just woke up from resting after a battle with my evil demon father, and I am having a major problem dealing with my emotions right now, I really need some time off." She told him.
There was a pause, "How about the rest of the week?"
"That would be great." She answered, and then she hung up.
"What was that all about?"
"Ah!" Raven jumped in surprise and spun around. "Don't do that!" She exclaimed.
"Do what? I haven't done anything. Yet." Malchior said, smirking slightly.
"I mean don't scare me like that. And stay three feet away from me at all times, I don't trust you." She said, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Oh well in that case, forgive me oh queen for I have sinned against you. And I only have two feet, Love. But if I had three feet, I would be...this close." He said, stepping right up to her so that all he had to do was bend foreword and he'd be touching her. "Which is as close as I would be with only two feet." He added.
Raven jumped back away from him, "Let me give you a little update about the present time's unit of measurement. A foot is about this long," She spread her hands out in an estimate. "Three feet is about how far we are right now." She told him.
"Hm, not sure I understand this form of 'measurement', could you explain it again?" He asked, stepping back up to her. She stepped away again.
"Malchior, stop it." She ordered.
"Stop what?" He asked, following her lead.
"Stop getting so close to me!" She yelled, not even bothering that time.
Ssssssshhhhh
"Malchior, where did you get that shaving cream?" Raven asked calmly behind her new mask of white foam.
Malchior grinned broadly, "Bribed Zacroma for it." He answered.
"Uh huh, whatever, give me that!" She exclaimed, swiping the bottle from him.
"Uh oh, HAVE MERCY!!!" Malchior exclaimed, running away.
Dear Raven,
It looks as though your womanhood is finally catching up to you, in a normal situation where I was the mother of merely an extraordinarily gifted girl I would tell you to listen to what you're heart told you, but in this situation I am afraid I cannot do that.
It hurts so very much for me to write this, but you must not trust anyone with your heart. It was foolish of you to do so with this Malchior the first time, but I cannot fault you for it. You are, after all, still a human girl, even if that is only half of you. But you must understand, it is truly very dangerous for you to feel anything too deeply, your emotions must be suppressed constantly, and so you can never truly love until you have broken yourself of Trigon's hold.
Distance yourself from both this Rorek and Malchior, it is the only way.
As for the Baru crystal, don't worry about sending me the payment, I had an extra in my own stores. As for the Libra, keep it. The heirloom would have gone to you anyway. I wish you the best. I hope this letter finds you in good health, and make sure you write to me if there is anything you need.
Forever till eternity, Your Mother.
Raven set aside the letter and picked up the objects that had come with it, feeling very touched by her mother's generosity. She took the Libra in her hand. It was an intricately designed object, molded and welded from orihalcom and imbued with a powerful magic. It was shaped like a tiny dagger, and hung on a thin silver chain. Its purpose: to tell the barer if someone was lying or not.
Though she felt she didn't need it anymore, she slipped it around her neck anyway, tucking it so that it would poke out just underneath her cloak. She then took a piece of paper and began to write back to her mother.
Dear Mother,
You will never believe this but, I have done it! I am finally free of Trigon! He is dead mother, we were finally able to destroy him!
But now, I'm having some problems handling my emotions. My natural reaction is to suppress them once more, but I don't need to, I don't want to. But now everything seems to have turned upside down. Malchior is free of his prison, and now he and Rorek are 'merging', meaning the curse placed upon them is weakening and they will eventually become one again. Which is...good...I think...actually, I don't know.
I love Rorek, I know that now, and I know he loves me as well...but so does Malchior. I'm not sure how it works, it seems like that's the only thing they share, but it's odd...I thought that all Malchior wanted from me was his freedom...but now that he is free...I don't know what to think anymore. I don't know how I feel about him. He hurt me, badly, but he's changed a bit, one of the effects of the 'merging' it seems. Yet he's still the same, and so is Rorek. They, I don't know, they seem so alike, and yet like opposites at the same time. How am I suppose to love one and not the other? But at the same time, am I being unfaithful to Rorek for...for maybe still having feelings for Malchior as well?
I never thought of it until now, but I, I really do think I am still in love with Malchior, however much I hate to admit it. He's just...he's just...I don't know, it's all so confusing. But I feel like, like they both understand me, and that they, love me because of who I am, not in spite of. I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much in between the lines here.
Although, they're not human, they look human, but it seems every time I start to see them as such they do something very...off. Speaking of which, it was just yesterday that I thought Malchior was about to make a move on me, and then he sprays me with shaving cream! Shaving cream! Oh but that's not all, before that he and Rorek were fighting in the living room with the stuff. I don't know what they thought they could accomplish by doing that. You think they were having fun or something? That really doesn't sound right...but, again, they're not human, they're dragons taking the shape of humans.
Well, thanks, for everything. I hope, now that Trigon is dead, you can finally find the peace you seek. I love you mother, I always have.
Forever till Eternity, Raven.
"It's tofu!!!" Beast Boy's voice cried throughout the kitchen.
"This stuff is disgusting! What are you trying to do, poison me?!" Malchior demanded.
"THANK YOU!" Cyborg exclaimed. "Finally someone agrees with me!"
"Back off, he's just saying that to insult me." Beast Boy pointed out.
"No, actually I really do hate it." Malchior responded as Raven entered the kitchen.
"You okay Rorek?" She asked, noticing that the other dragon looked like he was going to be sick.
"See?! See!? He doesn't like it either!" Cyborg exclaimed.
"Well I do!" Zacroma pointed out, taking a big, purposeful spoonful from the huge bowl of tofu and eating it all in one bite.
"Just what is it anyway?" Malchior asked.
"Composed mostly of vegetables." Raven answered.
Malchior blanched instantly, "Dude!? Let me run this buy you in case you've somehow managed to forget. I, am, a, dragon, a dra-gon! I eat meat! Not vegetables! I'm strictly carnivorous!" He yelled at Beast Boy.
"No wonder I feel sick, excuse me." Rorek said, running to the bathroom.
"Rorek, did you...eat all of it?" Raven questioned, looking at the empty bowl.
"I told him politeness would get him into bad situations." Malchior said with a sigh, "But does he listen to me? Oooooh nooooo."
"Ahem, anyway, guess what my mother sent me." Raven said, showing them the royal blue stone that encompassed her entire fist.
"Uh..." The Titans just kinda stared at it.
"A baru crystal, those are extremely rare, how'd your mother get one?" Malchior asked.
"Wait, a baru—that means you can make kinetic water now, right?!" Beast Boy asked.
"It's kethnic water, and yes." Raven answered.
"Alright, considering you can use kethnic water over a hundred ways, what do you plan to do with it?" Malchior asked.
"Scurry, for Slade." She answered.
"Scurry, scurry?! You're going to waste precious baru dust for scurrying?! And exactly why can't you do this without kethnic water?" He demanded.
"Things have changed a lot since you and I have been sealed." Rorek said, coming back out of the bathroom looking much better. "Everything has become polluted and impure, even the threads of reality that allowed us some things long ago have become unusable. The air is clouded, surely you've noticed as well." He said.
"Really? I thought it was that green thing." Malchior said, jerking his thumb towards Beast Boy.
"What gree—HEY!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"Anyway!" Robin called, "When do you think you can have Slade's location?" He asked.
"Two days at least. It takes that long to prepare kethnic water." She answered. "But I also have a few other things I need to get, thankfully I know just where to find them."
"Oh friend Raaaaaveeeen! Friend Zacroooomaaaa!" Called a familiarly cheery voice.
Raven's face took on a pained expression, "Oh no, not again." She moaned.
"I have sent in many of those odd question forms from the magazines I have been studying and have come to obtain papers of shopping for the local mall and I wish to share them in girl time!" She exclaimed.
"Oh well," Raven sighed, "I've been meaning to get my hair cut anyway."
"WHAAAAAAT!?" Just about everyone yelled.
"Why?!" BB exclaimed.
"Whatever for?!" Star demanded.
"You can't do that! You're hair is so pretty the way it is!!!" Zacroma came in.
"Yeah! Just leave it that way!!!" Robin exclaimed.
"You can't just cut it! I like it too much!!!" Malchior cried.
"Keep it like that!" Cyborg said.
"It is so beautiful!" Starfire added again.
"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!" Raven yelled. "I'll just trim it a bit, happy?!"
"YAY!" They all cheered. Raven sweatdropped and let out an exasperated sigh.
"I'm surrounded." She grumbled to herself as she was drug off by both Starfire and Zacroma to the dreaded mall.
Raven let out a long yawn as she entered her room. She finally was able to set her heavy bags down and could massage her arms, chancing a glance in the mirror, she decided that this last trip was actually not that bad.
First the three had gone to a boutique, where Starfire got her hair trimmed and styled, and Zacroma got hers dyed again, a deep red-purple this time. Raven's hair got a trim, and, after talking to the lady doing it, decided to cut her two forelocks back to their original length. The two locks were then dyed black and white upon Zacroma's insistence. Raven didn't get the symbolism of this until after they were walking out of the boutique and Zacroma made a vague reference between the 'Malchior & Rorek problem' and her hair.
She was quite annoyed with Zacroma after that. Oh well, she could always remove the dye with magic if she decided she really didn't like it.
After that Zacroma dragged them to her favorite store and, miraculously, actually found quite a few outfits that Raven not only looked good in, but liked. Darkly colored mostly, of course, as the only white things that looked good on her were now battle costumes. Currently Raven was wearing a pair of grayish jeans, and a long, V-neck shirt whose sleeves fell about her arms and wrists in a loose fashion. It was dark violet as well, and had a black butterfly decorating the front. Ironic.
Raven fell onto her bed after slipping off her new boots. Her hair fall about her in an unfamiliar way, spreading out over her pillow. She'd tried to braid it last night, but had succeeded in making a big mess of it. In the end she'd just left it out, and had an even bigger mess to fix in the morning.
Stupid hair.
"Is it customary for people of this time to litter the underside of their bed with boxes?" Asked a familiar voice.
Raven didn't even sit up to look, "Malchior, what are you doing under my bed?" She asked, her voice becoming more dangerous with every syllable.
"Well, what I was doing was waiting for you to come back, but what I am doing right now is admiring your collection down here. This is a very interesting box, what's in it?" He asked, holding up an engraved silver box.
"The legendary blade of a dragon slayer." She growled threateningly.
"No it's not! I smell no dragon bane, and slayer swords always have dragon bane in the metal." He said. He slipped it back into its spot and pulled himself completely out from under the bed.
Raven twitched and stood up, "Do you have any idea how much I'm going to hurt you now for coming into my room?" She questioned.
"Hmm, no, but I do have an idea of how much you're going to hurt me for this." He said. She didn't even have time to process what he had just said before he had her form in his arms and his tongue in her mouth.
I'm gonna kill him, I swear I am going to kill him! She pushed against his chest and tried to keep him from pushing her back onto the bed. But she was a mage, not very physically strong as a human, and he was a dragon, probably with more strength than even Starfire. Nothing but an outright spell would work to get him off her. But...did she really want him off?
It was a classic case in most of the few books she read that had romance in them, her mind was screaming 'no' but her body wasn't obeying. After a moment she stopped pushing against him, and instead grabbed his shirt to pull him closer instead. She stopped resisting, and his kisses became less insistent and more loving. He caressed her cheek with one hand, running his fingers through her hair, and held her close by the small of her back with the other.
Her well of emotion started to rage as she began kissing him back as well. She had remembered, all those months ago, thinking about this moment. Spending weeks studying and working hard to free him, to be with him, just like this. And then he had betrayed her, laughed at her, mocked her feelings even. He'd used her like some toy, how could she forgive that? How could she just lay there and let him kiss her, and kiss him back no-less!
Because he was right, he was right when he told her she still loved him, he was right, and she had never been able to really let it go.
Tears were flowing from her eyes freely as they rolled on the bed so that their legs were no longer hanging off the edge. He held her close to him, twirling her hair about in his fingers. Finally their lips separated and he brought her hair to his face so he could breathe in her scent. "My Sweet Raven," He sighed, "I have truly hurt you, haven't I? Please, forgive me. I was such a fool. If only Rorek and I had begun merging a little sooner, maybe then I might have realized how much you mean to me. I love you, Raven, and I would die for you." He whispered into her ear.
He wasn't lying, he was telling her the absolute truth. She still had the Libra around her neck, hidden under her shirt. She didn't say anything, she didn't trust her voice, tears were still falling from her eyes, and she was still shaking with suppressed sobs. If she spoke she would begin to cry aloud and she wouldn't be able to stop.
Malchior seemed to sense this, though, and he didn't insist upon a response. He began planting soft, sweet kisses on her face, then down to her neck. Raven let out a soft gasp when he pulled down her sleeve and began licking her collar as well. Raven bit her lip, exactly how far was he intending to go with this? She should probably stop it now before things got out of hand, but...she didn't want to. She wanted a few more minutes of this, just a few more minutes...
Ironically, it was Malchior who stopped, giving her one last passionate kiss on the lips, and then sitting up on the bed. She sat up as well, her heart still beating swiftly. "I need you, Raven, and I can only bare to be far from you for so long. I know you love Rorek, but you have to understand, you cannot love him without loving me as well. Just as we cannot love one part of you without loving the other. He knows that as much as I do, but our natural instincts are going to make us fight over you and try to make you chose between us, as ridiculous as that may sound. We use to be a whole, and eventually we will be a whole once more, but at this time we are two individuals, and it will be difficult, even for us, to remember that we were and will be again, one person. That being said, please try to understand our actions. It is only for your sake that we're not warring with each other again." He said.
Raven swallowed her tears, "And, that's why you're merging? Because you found something you...agree on?" She questioned.
"That, among other things." He said, he lifted his hand up to stroke her cheek. "Kind of hard to fight when one of us was still inside a book, isn't it?" He said with a chuckle. He leaned forward to kiss her once more, "By the way," he said, "I like what you did with your hair." Raven felt her face go red as he slid off the bed and began to walk back to her door. "Goodnight, Love." He said before leaving.
"Goodnight."
"Malchior!!!" Rorek roared, nearly slamming the door open in his wake.
"You know Raven gets rather aggressive when someone goes into her room, perhaps, of course, because one's room is suppose to be one's sanctum." Malchior said, leering up at Rorek from his book.
"You would know all about that wouldn't you? Because you went into her room!" Rorek yelled at him.
"Must you be so loud? There are other people trying to sleep." Malchior responded, not at fazed by Rorek's accusation.
"Why were you in her room?! And don't try telling me you weren't, because that is the only place where I cannot sense you! What did you do, you b$$$$$$!?" He demanded, grabbing Malchior by his shirt.
"I did nothing, you imbecile, she bound me and then gave me a long painful lecture about entering her room and then she threw me out with a nasty threat for me to remember if ever I tried going back in." He answered.
"Why were you in there in the first place?!" Rorek demanded.
"Why do you think?" Malchior asked with a sly smirk.
Rorek threw him back to the ground. "You stay away from her! You hear me?! Leave her alone!" He exclaimed.
Malchior got up from the floor and tossed his book aside, "And just what makes you think I'm going to listen to you? I was here first, after all, if anyone should be staying away from her it would be you." He said.
"I know all about what you did," Rorek hissed, "I don't want you to stay away from her because I want her, I want you to stay away because of how much you hurt her the last time!!!" He yelled.
Malchior rolled his eyes, "I'll never hear the end of that, will I? You and I both know I am not the same as I was then, and neither are you! I apologized to her, but I'm sure as h$not going to apologize to you." He said.
"You think a simple 'forgive me' will just fix that!? You don't even belong here! Give it time and you'll see, everyone hates you, they hate you for what you did to her! And if they were wary of me because of it, think of how much they'll glare at you for being the cause!" Rorek exclaimed.
"Hmph! See if I care, I've paid my dues, I did my part, and I am doing what I can to heal the damage I've done to Raven. I have no guilt." He said, waving Rorek off with his hand.
"You think you can make things better for her?! Do you have any idea what she did to herself afterwards?!" Rorek demanded.
"YES I DO!!!" Malchior rounded with a roar. "I was there you imbecile!!! I could see her while she did it!!! I watched her!!! And you know what? I had never intended to give her such pain! Many times I wanted to speak, to try and stop her, to comfort her. But hearing my voice would only have torn her even more! I know what I did to her! But if you think I'm just going to sit back and let you do all the healing while I just stand aside you're in for a nasty surprise!"
They both glared at each other, wanting nothing more than to get at the other's throat and try to rip off their neck. But they resisted, both knowing that it would do more harm than good (even if it would make them feel better).
"We lost her once, lets not let that happen again." Malchior said finally.
Rorek pursed his lips and leered at his other half, "Very well." He said reluctantly. They grasped each other's hand in a stiff shake to finalize this agreement, and then Rorek left the room without another word, allowing Malchior to go back to his book.
A/N: FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!! And I never thought I could actually get something like this done, BUT ITS FINISHED FINALLY!!! WHEEEEEEEE!!!!! Okay, first off I would like to dedicate this to whoever came up with the script for Spellbound. Okay no, just kidding, I wanna dedicate this to all my faithful reviewers!!! You guys have been great and have put up with my spelling errors...to a certain extent, but still!!! Ahem.
As for the sequel (Which most of you are yelling at me to write, may I remind you), it may take a few days before I get it up. For one I kinda want to work a bit on my website, make it nice and cool looking (Which is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated and will take much longer still), for another, I wanna see about getting some of the stuff for it sorted out before I start writing it. (Ideas for sub-plots would be helpful)
Alright! And now to respond to some reviews that I have the words to respond with for. (Did that make any sense whatsoever?) But before I do, let us all turn our attention to a select reviewer named PrepIam who has succeeded in getting on my one last nerve with her/his nerve. If you will notice, this reviewer has been doing nothing but cussing in their reviews. They think this makes them sound sooooooo cool, and seem to be either extremely stupid, aren't getting the hint, or did not read the note I left them in the last chapter's A/Ns. It leads me to wonder if this person actually gets what is happening in this fic as they are continually displaying an ignorance worthy of a child under the age of 13. Now, I am not an easily angered person, it takes something that really grates upon my offense nerves to tick me off. But there are some things that can anger me quite easily. Cussing in a review is one of these things. So, let us erect a Wall of Shame for this reviewer who has irked me into taking such an action.
And now, on a more cheerful note!
KuteVirgo: Yes, I think we all agree Malchior is very sexy. Especially after this chapter, LOL!
Kokuryu: Heheh, yeah, I thought that would be rather evil. I almost feel sorry for Raven...almost. Of course, it's hard to feel sorry for someone who has two hot bishis (pretty boys) madly in love with her. And let's not forget that they are, in fact, dragons! (Begins to drool) But, anyway, thanks for your support, and I hope you were satisfied with the ending.
Pixie1011: Okay, now you're just doing that to annoy me. NO LEMONS!!! I put my foot down on that! So you'll just have to be happy with the Sweet Snugly Stuff!
Yukinna: Yeah, I couldn't decide which one to pick, so I decided that she should have them both instead. :D Which will ensure much chaos in the sequel. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
TheDarkAzar: Thanks a heap, hearing someone say that about their hard work has got to be one of the most rewarding things an author can experience. Especially if said author is just a humble, unpublished fanfic writer like myself.
Raven002: You got your boss reading my fic? . LOL!!! Well, I'm not gonna complain! And tell everyone at Raven's Eye that I say hi right back!
Dr. Evans: Thanks! I hope you liked it enough that you won't come and slay me, even if I perhaps finish the sequel and am therefore of no more use to you. Grins nervously
Alright, I think that's all I have to say. Save for THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT! YOU GUYS ARE THE GRATEST!!!! Except for PrepIam, and in case you haven't figured it out yet, yes, this is a flame.
Anyway, I hope and pray that the sequel will be just as good. This is probably one of my best fanfics and I really think it turned out great. So, until next time,
The End