CHAPTER 18: Unleashed
"But I-." He began, but he was cut off abruptly by what he saw. His whole body tingled, and his jaw simply dropped. He was back in his room, and everything seemed normal.
He sat up sharply and hit his hand on his wall, partly to make sure it's real, and partly to test if he was dreaming or not.
He wasn't dreaming, and the wall was most definitely real.
"No… this is just some sort of sick joke. It can't be true."
"Oh, so you believe that the world ends one night, but yet you find it hard to swallow that it, well, got better?"
How could he answer that? He rose from his bed, stumbling forward and falling to the ground. His legs still didn't operate and obey the commands given to them by his mind.
He winced in pain as he extended his legs and started to rub them vigorously. He was still in shock.
"No. It's not true. I don't care what you say."
"Maybe the world ending wasn't true? Perhaps that was just a dream."
"But it felt so… real" He spoke softly to no-one in particular.
"How can this happen? It makes no SENSE!" Mark's hair started brightening, and he quickly closed his eyes and willed himself to relax.
"Maybe… it was just a dream. Or maybe a vision. I don't know…"
Mark broke down and cradled his head in his hands. Everything was so overwhelming, all the pain he had endured, and all the torment and heartache he had been through. Was it really just a dream? Impossible…
"It was not a dream… A greater force played a part, and sent you back to where you belong."
I didn't believe it, but something struck me as suspicious.
"I belong here? But what about… my home?"
I grinded my teeth. I knew what was about to be spoken.
"This is your home."
Strangely though, now that they were spoken from a being so eerily familiar, yet with infinite more wisdom, the well-worn saying made a lot more sense…
With a gaseous 'Whoosh', the door of his room opened, and he was greeted with five pairs of astonished eyes. Mark's eyes widened in horror, and he stumbled back, looking wildly around his room. He was unable to speak, unable to question the fact that everything seemed normal.
"Mark? Are you ok?" Robin asked slowly, Raven standing right beside him.
"Raven?"
"Raven? But how did we… I mean, how did you… What happened?"
Raven gave him a perplexed look, but wasn't able to reply.
Robin answered the question for him. "Er… Nothing happened. We were sleeping, and then we all heard a bang coming from here. Are you ok?"
Mark looked at his room once again, and with a hesitant nod, he replied.
"Yeah… I think so."
Beast-Boy rolled his eyes despairingly.
"Well, that's good enough for me. I'm going to bed." He exclaimed, and trundled off to his room.
Robin eyed Mark wearily. There was something different about him. It was like the warehouse all over again.
With a slight shake of his head he withdrew himself from Mark's room and left for his own, closely followed by Cyborg and Starfire.
Raven stayed behind. Something tingled from within her, it was a strange feeling, she had felt it while she was sleeping, and that is why she had awoken. She approached Mark and sat on his bed, gazing at the confused teenager.
"Mark, what happened?" She asked, precise and to the point.
Mark looked at her strangely for a moment, and then he replied.
"You mean, you don't remember?"
Raven shook her head. She didn't.
"But… It was so… real. So vivid! How could you not?" Mark asked desperately.
"I don't know what happened, Mark."
"Mark, I found something before…" She began, withdrawing a long, burgundy coloured piece of material from her thigh pocket. Mark eyed this item closely, and then he gasped silently. It was his school tie.
"It was in the bin. Why did you throw it away?" She asked, her azure eyes gazing deeply into Mark's.
Mark averted his gaze and looked out his window.
"I thought… I felt… That I wouldn't need it anymore." He finally replied.
Raven tilted her head to the left slightly, her purple hair swaying slightly.
"Mark, we will find a way to get you back home. I promise. But you just can't throw away something that is most probably the only thing you have left to remind you of where you came from. It's a part of you, you can't just discard it."
Raven began, her monotonous voice strangely comforting to him.
Mark lifted his gaze from the window and looked back at Raven.
"Come with me." He simply said, and led her towards the window. He opened it slowly, and floated out, with Raven by his side.
He looked upon the majestic city below, its proud pillars of steel and concrete still remaining firm and unmoved. Not a single resident had any idea what horrors they could have endured, had it not been for Mark and Crow.
"Perhaps, they are yet to endure what is to become an inevitability."
"I don't exactly know how, Raven, but if it wasn't for us, the city, and perhaps the world, would have simply ceased to exist."
Raven looked at Mark strangely.
"Ugh." Raven exclaimed as she clutched her head. She had been getting sudden pangs of pain recently, and she could feel the hate bubble and boil beneath her delicate porcelain skin.
"Raven? What's wrong?" Mark asked worriedly.
It was pointless to keep the truth from Mark, as he most likely already suspected it.
"Lately, my…evil side has been trying to get out. Trying to escape. She's getting stronger, Mark. I can feel it. I don't know if-." Mark raised a hand to cut her off.
Raven had been brought up to fear hatred her whole life. She had never realized that, for an emotion so powerful, it is ultimately self-destructive. There were no 'multiple personalities' in Raven's mind. They were simply manifested emotions that took on a form that best suited them. She had rightly feared her emotions, never allowing them to get out of hand. Hatred, however, had dominated in her mind. She was constantly in battle with it, Reason versus Madness, Hatred versus Love. This battle tore her, ran her down, until she began to seclude herself from others, building up an impenetrable wall and cutting herself off from the emotions of others. She had stopped feeding her emotions, and it had put her to rest, for a while. Now a newcomer had arrived, and had torn that wall down in less then a week.
Now Mark had realized what the voice had meant. This was the final step in his journey. He began to speak.
"Raven, Hatred may be getting stronger, but it never was, and never will be, the strongest." He started. He had eyes only for her now, and she him.
"Hatred isn't the strongest emotion…" He pulled Raven closer gently, tentatively wrapping a hand around her slender waist.
Their eyes were mere inches from each other, and Raven opened her mouth to finish his sentence.
"Love is." That was it. She had no idea how she knew this, but deep down, hidden in a dark corner of her heart, that word had been dying to be freed, to escape its cold prison.
Mark pulled Raven even closer, and with his eyes closed he kissed her passionately, and time once again had stopped for the two. Raven was stunned for a mere split-second, and with a silent cry of passion she kissed him back, unleashing all her emotions of love and adoration upon him. Mark didn't feel any pain, only elation, as Raven's black magic enveloped the two. It sparked with fury, but neither of them was affected. A white orb emerged from Mark's heart and merged with Raven's, turning it into a dull gray, much like the figure's cloak that had banished Trigon an hour, yet a lifetime ago.
Their world melted away into the starry night's sky, and all they knew was each other.
The two had become one, once more.
Time is an inevitability. It is the only force on this physical plane that dictates our actions, and not the other way around. It is also the only force that we have never been able to manipulate, only speculate. Many theories have arisen regarding our past, present, and future. One thing is certain however. Two thousand, three hundred and sixty four years ago to the moment the two beings kissed, the cradle of civilization and life itself was fighting a desperate battle against the forces of Satan. From the ashes of a fallen demon, a new hero would be born. This is for another time however, as you, the dear followers of this tale, deserve a well-earned rest. Farewell young listeners, and soon his tale will be told.
Well everyone, there you have it. The final chapter, and the conclusion to my story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and keep an eye out for my sequel which I will re-write. Pay no heed to the ones that are already up if you had read them before I took them down. I'm making a fresh start almost, and I hope you can read it and respond once it's up.
Cheers, and goodbye for now, from your resident Dimmy.