Sorry for the wait. Nanowrimo took up all of November and editing/exam prep/Christmas crap took up nearly all of this month.

Corrections to be made:

I goofed and said Bruce was an actor, not a businessman.

I said in a note that the library wasn't a library, but it is a library.

I'm kind of sliding from Raven's character a bit, but I'm chalking it up to stress.

Anyways...

Back to da story!

"Did you miss me, dear?" he asked, cocky. I wanted to slap him, but I couldn't move. He stood in the dead center of the philosophy section, blocking my path. His eyes glinted with a cruel light that seemed uncharacteristic somehow. Slade was always calm and composed, just as Batman was, but he now seemed unbalanced, as if his soul were teetering on the edge of...something. I wasn't sure what. Sanity? No, he was already insane. Control? Didn't the Joker have control over Bruce completely?

"Not in the slightest," I replied, gaining control of my emotions. I summoned some of Anger's strength, and pushed Fear and her friends into a corner, where they wouldn't bother me. "What are you doing here?"

"What you're doing, I assume," he chortled. "Checking out a book." He held up a book, and I gasped. It was the Book of Exorcisms.

"Give that to me," I demanded, snarling. "You have no need of it." But he only tilted his head to one side, and I imagined him smiling, though of course, I couldn't tell.

"But of course I have need of it," he replied conversationally. "My fireplace needs a dusty tome like this to get it started. I figure it would be better than anything else in this place."

"Find another, then," I growled, and Anger took over for a brief second. "I need that one."

"Sorry, little miss slut," he growled back. "You'll have to fight me for it."

"If you insist," I replied, and grabbed the nearest book off of its shelf. I hurled it at him, and he ducked easily. He laughed and would have surely made some stupid remark if I hadn't used the opportunity to grab the book with my black aura. His eyes turned and he yanked the book away, breaking my connection. He ran to me and kicked me in the gut, sending me back into the bookcase behind me, sending it to the floor in a crash.

Clunking footsteps, and Cyborg was right beside me, looking down at me with concern. I waved him off and stood, eyes flickering red and black as I struggled not to lose complete control. I launched myself at Slade and the book with everything I had, physically and mentally. He leaped above me and flipped mid-air, landing fleetly and looking over his shoulder at me. This opened him up to Cyborg's sonic blast, which hit him square in the gut. He flew into another bookcase, which knocked into a wall with a bang.

I leaped for the book, but he caught me by the neck. He held me to his face, and Anger fell away at the fury in his own face. He launched me back, crashing into Cyborg.

"You honestly think to stop me?" he asked. "You honestly think you can? You are nothing, either of you. Cyborg, you're just a sad excuse for a living being who should have died a long time ago. You think you cheated death by betraying your own kind. You think you escaped him, became immortal, just because you added a few extra parts. You didn't. You just mutilated yourself. You are a freak, and you have no right to life." I looked at my friend with concern, but he seemed unaffected by this impassioned speech.

"As for you, dear Raven," he continued. "You have less right than your metal friend here. At least he was once human. You are a demon, and freak of nature, a nobody. You are nothing, so you seek to seduce the humans to gain attention, only to betray them and the whole human race. You are a bitch, a waste of life. You are nothing. You are nothing. You are nothing!"

"I beg to disagree," a voice, cold and calm, stated from somewhere behind him. He turned to the side, revealing Bee, Robin, Star, and Beast Boy. Star let loose a series of starbolts, knocking Slade to his back. Bee flew up to him swiftly, struck him across the head before he could react, and took the book. She nodded to Robin, who ran forward and began attacking his father. Instead of attacking back, Slade jumped back, looking anxiously for the book he'd held seconds earlier. But it was too late. I had it, and waved it at him.

"Too late," I called to him. He snarled and lunged for me, but I flew back and shot a series of books at him. He jumped back almost impossibly high, and landed on a high bookshelf. "It's over. You've lost the book. And once I complete the spell, you will have lost everything."

Slade surprised me by laughing, cold and clear. Fear gripped my heart, and a book spiraled into the air, never to be seen again. Was Joker taking over? Was Bruce giving up? Going insane? Dying? But the laughter ended quickly, replaced with unshakeable arrogance.

"Foolish girl, you can't even begin to complete that spell!" he laughed.

"Then why didn't you want me to have it?" I challenged him.

"I didn't want to get your hopes up, of course," he schmoozed. "After all, I take care of my prostitutes."

"I am not your hooker," I said. "Now get lost, or I will end you where you stand."

"Dearest, you wouldn't have the guts." Despite the jeer, he leaped into the air, and vanished seconds later. I stared after him in mixed anger and exhaustion. Why wouldn't he just give up already? It would make things easier on everyone. I turned to Robin, who seemed to be shaking from rage that Slade escaped. Azar only knew how much easier things would get for Robin if Slade gave up. How the Hell was I supposed to tell him about all of this?

"You got it, Rae?" Cyborg asked, and I was pulled from my reverie. I nodded and walked to meet him and the others. Robin was only getting redder and redder in the face, but I couldn't decide if it was funny or scary.

"Do you mind explaining to me why you did not tell me you were coming back?" he asked in a deadly calm. I flicked my hood up to buy me time. I hated when he used his interrogation voice.

"It was intended to be a brief stop-through," I explained. "We did not believe we would in town long enough to actually visit."

"You still should have called," he said, but he let it go, and I relaxed. "What's the book for?"

"It should contain a spell that can defeat Slade for good...without killing him," I added for good measure. "I'm afraid I can't go into too much detail, but you just have to trust me on this one." He nodded. I looked down at the dusty thing, walked over to the nearest standing table (a good thirty yards away), and opened it up. The others waited patiently, murmuring greetings to one another quietly, but I ignored them. The book was in a mixture of Latin and Ancient Sumerian. I was fluent in both, but I was slower reading them then I was in English. Soon enough, though, I found the page, and began to slowly read it. It wasn't long before I saw why Slade was so sure of my failure.

Both of his children were needed to say the chant with me.

I needed Terra back.