Categories > Cartoons > Teen Titans > Die To Save You
*
A couple puffs of smoke rose above the tree tops as Holly looked up from where she was, still leaning against the wall at her station. She started to walk slowly to what remained of the dojo when Raven touched her shoulder, lightly, as if she hesitated and was unsure. She turned to Raven, who had her hood pulled up in attempt to hide the very faint tinge of redness to her face.
“I…uh…Was wondering if you’d like to, I don’t know, like, grab a bite to eat or something. Maybe that teashop I saw on the way to the shrine…” What’s with me? I’ve never been at a loss of words like that. Is it because of this? Or just a fluke…
Holly just stared back at her, disbelieving.
“Never mind, I’m sure you’ll probably be busy anyway, I know Suki was making a training schedule last night.” Raven quickly said after the silence.
“No, no, not busy at all. Just, are you serious?”
“Yes.” Raven said, focusing on a spot on her cloth boot.
A wide smile grew across Holly’s face. “I’d love to, ah, meet you there in maybe twenty minutes? Just let me get changed and…yea.” She flashed a smile and started jogging to the clearing where the dojo still burned. Raven stood there for a second and started walking to the tea shop. If Love is wrong about this I swear I’ll kill her. None of the others would miss her too, it’d be perfect. Happy might be disappointed, but not for more than a day or so. Happy, by definition, can’t be mad at me.
*
“Dude, that’s messed up.” Said Cyborg. The four Titans were sitting on the large couch in the common room and the Professor, who had just finished telling his story, was sitting on the opposite end facing them.
“So your pregnant wife, Renee, was sucked into one of these portal things almost seventeen years ago?” Beast Boy asked, although the Professor had already explained it to them.
“Yes, the ‘portal thing’ was a dimensional collision between this world and the one your friend was sent to. Before it could only happen in theory, many thought that a passage between dimensions would simply tear apart both worlds.”
“You said that the survival rate wasn’t ideal for your machine, you really believed your wife made it through?” Robin asked, knowing he was being blunt, He was sure the same thoughts had crossed this man’s mind before and therefore felt a touch less guilty for asking him. Robin thought: This man is no criminal, just a desperate scientist trying to fix something; A brilliant scientist too, no doubt. I guess we really did miss judge him, I hope.
“Oh yes, of course. You see, my machine had never been successful before Raven went into it. The difference is that the actual portal that formed many years ago was a direct link, meaning the dimensions were right next to each other, so there really was no chance that the person could have missed the entrance to the other world.”
“But the machine isn’t a direct link between the two, how are you certain that Raven made it?”
“Mainly because it was Raven, if my research was correct, she’s an interdimensional being.” Robin silently cursed at the news coverage that had followed Raven for nearly a full year after the Trigon incident. There was no hiding her past to the public that time, but the team had managed to downplay it substantially, along with leaving out a few choice things about her past.
“If she was,” the Professor continued, “then she would have been able to control her trajectory to a certain extent.”
“Control her what now?” This from Beast Boy.
“My machine works by opening a small hole in each dimension and launching the person on a path to the dimension. Your friend would have been able to control her path, subconsciously I would assume, because of her heritage.”
“Right.” Beast Boy said again, not fully understanding what was just said.
“You said there was only a slim chance your machine would work with normal humans.” Robin said. “We can’t take any risks using a machine that could kill us, you know.”
“Of course, that’s why I came to this city to start. I was hoping to consult Raven on this matter, but as that’s no longer, ah, possible, I believe some of her tomes still hold he answers to fix my current design.”
“What are these ‘tomes’ you speak of?” A curious voice came from behind them.
“Just a fancy word for books Starfire” Robin answered her.
“…books that are in Raven’s room.” Beast Boy said, looking at Cyborg.
“Oh no way. Nope, Not happening this time.” Cyborg said quickly, holding his hands in front of him with the palms out.
“Say Starfire, Raven let you into her room once to meditate, right?”
“Oh no friend Beast Boy, we did that on the roof.”
“But still, Raven and you bonded a lot.”
“I guess, we did go to the great halls of shopping once or twice.”
“Great, so what books do you need from Raven’s room?” He asked, turning to the Professor.
Robin lightly slapped Beast Boy on the back of his head for what he was doing to Starfire, but did not protest against it. After all, Raven wouldn’t stay mad at Starfire for very long, and that’s assuming she even found out about it.
*
Raven gazed at Holly from across the table as she counted out a few coins to pay for the meal. The tea was refreshing for Raven, and the meal was good despite not knowing what exactly it was. “Fish” was all that Holly said when she asked, not being able to read the menu. In fact, Holly didn’t read the menu either; she just pointed to a meal on another table and said “The same as those people.”
Either way, it was a pleasant meal, and Raven concluded part way through that Love may had been right. Love may be right, but still, I can’t lie to Holly about who, or what, I really am. She trusted me from the start. To an extent at least, the drugged tea was a bit excessive. Regardless, she trusted me the majority of the time, and she deserves to know my past sooner than later.
“Hey, can we take a walk?” Raven said, swallowing hard.
“Sure.” Holly stood up and pushed in the wooden chair, dropping the coins she set aside on the table, not to actually pay for their food, but as a tip for the older woman who owned the tea shop, and worked as a waitress there too. The Kyoshi Warriors, as Raven later found out, would usually refuse any money or gifts offered by the villages; in response the tradesmen started helping fix their equipment free of charge, and restaurant owners would serve them free of charge as long as they didn’t abuse it.
The couple started walking down the nearest path, a small dirt trail that winded through a thick forest and led to a rocky beach; where the ocean quietly reached up across the rocks and receded back every few seconds, where the moon illuminated the water and scores of stars dotted the sky. It was the same beach that they had arrived on the day before. Incredible how it is at night, much better than the dull grey it was when arrived here.
“So,” Raven said after clearing her throat a few times, “what I wanted to say was, to put it simply, that I believe our feelings are mutual and, well I suppose that’s the only reason I’m really to say this.” Raven hesitated.
“Go on.”
“I’m sorry, but it just won’t work between us –”
“Seemed to work fine for the past hour, and didn’t you ask me in the first place?” Holly said, miffed by the turn of events.
“Please, listen and let me finish, and then you’ll see why.”
“Go on.”
“To be blunt, I’m not entirely human. My father was a feared demon –”
“Was?”
“Yes, I defeated him not too long ago, and although he still exists he was greatly weakened. Now will you stop cutting me off?”
“Maybe, probably not.”
“Again, my father was a demon and because of that I’ve seen some very, very horrible things, despite being raised by monks for most of my life.”
“So you’ve seen awful things, what’s that have to do with us?”
“So I’m half demon, and have seen what many would call Hell. None of that bothers you?” Raven looked at her disbelieving. Not the reaction I was expecting by any means, especially in this world, where religion usually has a great influence when technology is lacking.
Holly threw back her head and gave a bit of a laugh. “Trust me, we’ve all seen our own version of Hell.”
*
A few of Raven’s emotions, the ones who had come to see what was going on outside, stood close to the edge on the floating rock platform listening to Raven’s conversation.
“How dare she insult us like that! To laugh at everything we’ve gone through.” Rage spat as she struggled against Wisdom and Courage’s grip. Timid had disappeared almost immediately after Rage showed up, and now cowered behind Rude.
“Oh will you shut it? At least let her say what she needs before blowing up, will you?” Love yelled back at her, standing only inches away from Anger with her hands resting on her hips.
“She doesn’t deserve to say anything; I swear, let me just get at her for a second and –” She was cut short by Love grabbing ahold of her collar and roughly pushing her off the edge of the platform.
“What? Rage made me mad.” She said simply, shrugging as the others gawked at her.
*
Holly sat on the boulder and, after a brief silence, slowly started to unwrap the linen bandages that covered her upper left arm.
Raven leaned on the same boulder, and asked: “What are those?” pointing to the black numbers that were now partially uncovered as Holly continued to unravel the linen bandages.
“My versions of Hell.” She said. “They’re ID numbers, each from a different prison.”
Raven stared at the five numbers inscribed on the woman’s arm, each six digits, while most looked to be tattoos, one or two had less defined edges, as if they were burned onto the skin.
“That was my first one,” she pointed to the top one. “I was eight I think, or maybe nine. Wasn’t as bad as the others, really just a lot of waiting for Hiroko to come back to the cell each night after they took her. I didn’t understand what they were doing to her at that age, only later would I know.” She spoke with a hollow sound to her voice, as if reading a passage out of a book and not telling of her past. “Hiroko was my mentor by the way, only reason I’m on this island.”
“Do any of the others have those?” Raven asked with a small voice, rubbing her thumb across the burnt skin and not entirely sure if she wanted an answer to that question.
“Ko has one or two I think, but she got out before they could do anything to her. I try to keep them away from the prisons as much as I can.” She reached up and guided Raven’s hand away from her arm before starting to wrap it back up.
“So would you really want a monster like me?” Raven asked sheepishly.
“Yea, I think I would, will you put up with me?”
“I’ll manage.” Raven smirked playfully, yet relieved. “It’s getting late, want to head back now?”
Raven nodded and the two walked together back to the clearing, soon falling asleep on the cold ground.
*
…A few hours later that night, Ko, who was on the night shift, came back to the clearing where their dojo still had embers glowing in its ashes. After opening an airtight jar and picking out a small piece of salted meat for herself, she walked over to where Yumiko was sleeping and nudged her ribs a few times with her foot. The now awake Yumiko looked up at Ko, who pointed to two figures for a moment and then reached down and pulled a silver coin out of her friend’s bag. She held the coin up for Yumiko to see and started walking back to her station. “Damn.” Yumiko said under her breath and sat up. So Ko was right about them. She thought as she looked at Holly stretched out on the ground a dozen feet away, with Raven sleeping perpendicular to her and resting her head on Holly’s abdomen. Good for them, never should’ve taken that bet. Even for us that one was probably pretty low.
A couple puffs of smoke rose above the tree tops as Holly looked up from where she was, still leaning against the wall at her station. She started to walk slowly to what remained of the dojo when Raven touched her shoulder, lightly, as if she hesitated and was unsure. She turned to Raven, who had her hood pulled up in attempt to hide the very faint tinge of redness to her face.
“I…uh…Was wondering if you’d like to, I don’t know, like, grab a bite to eat or something. Maybe that teashop I saw on the way to the shrine…” What’s with me? I’ve never been at a loss of words like that. Is it because of this? Or just a fluke…
Holly just stared back at her, disbelieving.
“Never mind, I’m sure you’ll probably be busy anyway, I know Suki was making a training schedule last night.” Raven quickly said after the silence.
“No, no, not busy at all. Just, are you serious?”
“Yes.” Raven said, focusing on a spot on her cloth boot.
A wide smile grew across Holly’s face. “I’d love to, ah, meet you there in maybe twenty minutes? Just let me get changed and…yea.” She flashed a smile and started jogging to the clearing where the dojo still burned. Raven stood there for a second and started walking to the tea shop. If Love is wrong about this I swear I’ll kill her. None of the others would miss her too, it’d be perfect. Happy might be disappointed, but not for more than a day or so. Happy, by definition, can’t be mad at me.
*
“Dude, that’s messed up.” Said Cyborg. The four Titans were sitting on the large couch in the common room and the Professor, who had just finished telling his story, was sitting on the opposite end facing them.
“So your pregnant wife, Renee, was sucked into one of these portal things almost seventeen years ago?” Beast Boy asked, although the Professor had already explained it to them.
“Yes, the ‘portal thing’ was a dimensional collision between this world and the one your friend was sent to. Before it could only happen in theory, many thought that a passage between dimensions would simply tear apart both worlds.”
“You said that the survival rate wasn’t ideal for your machine, you really believed your wife made it through?” Robin asked, knowing he was being blunt, He was sure the same thoughts had crossed this man’s mind before and therefore felt a touch less guilty for asking him. Robin thought: This man is no criminal, just a desperate scientist trying to fix something; A brilliant scientist too, no doubt. I guess we really did miss judge him, I hope.
“Oh yes, of course. You see, my machine had never been successful before Raven went into it. The difference is that the actual portal that formed many years ago was a direct link, meaning the dimensions were right next to each other, so there really was no chance that the person could have missed the entrance to the other world.”
“But the machine isn’t a direct link between the two, how are you certain that Raven made it?”
“Mainly because it was Raven, if my research was correct, she’s an interdimensional being.” Robin silently cursed at the news coverage that had followed Raven for nearly a full year after the Trigon incident. There was no hiding her past to the public that time, but the team had managed to downplay it substantially, along with leaving out a few choice things about her past.
“If she was,” the Professor continued, “then she would have been able to control her trajectory to a certain extent.”
“Control her what now?” This from Beast Boy.
“My machine works by opening a small hole in each dimension and launching the person on a path to the dimension. Your friend would have been able to control her path, subconsciously I would assume, because of her heritage.”
“Right.” Beast Boy said again, not fully understanding what was just said.
“You said there was only a slim chance your machine would work with normal humans.” Robin said. “We can’t take any risks using a machine that could kill us, you know.”
“Of course, that’s why I came to this city to start. I was hoping to consult Raven on this matter, but as that’s no longer, ah, possible, I believe some of her tomes still hold he answers to fix my current design.”
“What are these ‘tomes’ you speak of?” A curious voice came from behind them.
“Just a fancy word for books Starfire” Robin answered her.
“…books that are in Raven’s room.” Beast Boy said, looking at Cyborg.
“Oh no way. Nope, Not happening this time.” Cyborg said quickly, holding his hands in front of him with the palms out.
“Say Starfire, Raven let you into her room once to meditate, right?”
“Oh no friend Beast Boy, we did that on the roof.”
“But still, Raven and you bonded a lot.”
“I guess, we did go to the great halls of shopping once or twice.”
“Great, so what books do you need from Raven’s room?” He asked, turning to the Professor.
Robin lightly slapped Beast Boy on the back of his head for what he was doing to Starfire, but did not protest against it. After all, Raven wouldn’t stay mad at Starfire for very long, and that’s assuming she even found out about it.
*
Raven gazed at Holly from across the table as she counted out a few coins to pay for the meal. The tea was refreshing for Raven, and the meal was good despite not knowing what exactly it was. “Fish” was all that Holly said when she asked, not being able to read the menu. In fact, Holly didn’t read the menu either; she just pointed to a meal on another table and said “The same as those people.”
Either way, it was a pleasant meal, and Raven concluded part way through that Love may had been right. Love may be right, but still, I can’t lie to Holly about who, or what, I really am. She trusted me from the start. To an extent at least, the drugged tea was a bit excessive. Regardless, she trusted me the majority of the time, and she deserves to know my past sooner than later.
“Hey, can we take a walk?” Raven said, swallowing hard.
“Sure.” Holly stood up and pushed in the wooden chair, dropping the coins she set aside on the table, not to actually pay for their food, but as a tip for the older woman who owned the tea shop, and worked as a waitress there too. The Kyoshi Warriors, as Raven later found out, would usually refuse any money or gifts offered by the villages; in response the tradesmen started helping fix their equipment free of charge, and restaurant owners would serve them free of charge as long as they didn’t abuse it.
The couple started walking down the nearest path, a small dirt trail that winded through a thick forest and led to a rocky beach; where the ocean quietly reached up across the rocks and receded back every few seconds, where the moon illuminated the water and scores of stars dotted the sky. It was the same beach that they had arrived on the day before. Incredible how it is at night, much better than the dull grey it was when arrived here.
“So,” Raven said after clearing her throat a few times, “what I wanted to say was, to put it simply, that I believe our feelings are mutual and, well I suppose that’s the only reason I’m really to say this.” Raven hesitated.
“Go on.”
“I’m sorry, but it just won’t work between us –”
“Seemed to work fine for the past hour, and didn’t you ask me in the first place?” Holly said, miffed by the turn of events.
“Please, listen and let me finish, and then you’ll see why.”
“Go on.”
“To be blunt, I’m not entirely human. My father was a feared demon –”
“Was?”
“Yes, I defeated him not too long ago, and although he still exists he was greatly weakened. Now will you stop cutting me off?”
“Maybe, probably not.”
“Again, my father was a demon and because of that I’ve seen some very, very horrible things, despite being raised by monks for most of my life.”
“So you’ve seen awful things, what’s that have to do with us?”
“So I’m half demon, and have seen what many would call Hell. None of that bothers you?” Raven looked at her disbelieving. Not the reaction I was expecting by any means, especially in this world, where religion usually has a great influence when technology is lacking.
Holly threw back her head and gave a bit of a laugh. “Trust me, we’ve all seen our own version of Hell.”
*
A few of Raven’s emotions, the ones who had come to see what was going on outside, stood close to the edge on the floating rock platform listening to Raven’s conversation.
“How dare she insult us like that! To laugh at everything we’ve gone through.” Rage spat as she struggled against Wisdom and Courage’s grip. Timid had disappeared almost immediately after Rage showed up, and now cowered behind Rude.
“Oh will you shut it? At least let her say what she needs before blowing up, will you?” Love yelled back at her, standing only inches away from Anger with her hands resting on her hips.
“She doesn’t deserve to say anything; I swear, let me just get at her for a second and –” She was cut short by Love grabbing ahold of her collar and roughly pushing her off the edge of the platform.
“What? Rage made me mad.” She said simply, shrugging as the others gawked at her.
*
Holly sat on the boulder and, after a brief silence, slowly started to unwrap the linen bandages that covered her upper left arm.
Raven leaned on the same boulder, and asked: “What are those?” pointing to the black numbers that were now partially uncovered as Holly continued to unravel the linen bandages.
“My versions of Hell.” She said. “They’re ID numbers, each from a different prison.”
Raven stared at the five numbers inscribed on the woman’s arm, each six digits, while most looked to be tattoos, one or two had less defined edges, as if they were burned onto the skin.
“That was my first one,” she pointed to the top one. “I was eight I think, or maybe nine. Wasn’t as bad as the others, really just a lot of waiting for Hiroko to come back to the cell each night after they took her. I didn’t understand what they were doing to her at that age, only later would I know.” She spoke with a hollow sound to her voice, as if reading a passage out of a book and not telling of her past. “Hiroko was my mentor by the way, only reason I’m on this island.”
“Do any of the others have those?” Raven asked with a small voice, rubbing her thumb across the burnt skin and not entirely sure if she wanted an answer to that question.
“Ko has one or two I think, but she got out before they could do anything to her. I try to keep them away from the prisons as much as I can.” She reached up and guided Raven’s hand away from her arm before starting to wrap it back up.
“So would you really want a monster like me?” Raven asked sheepishly.
“Yea, I think I would, will you put up with me?”
“I’ll manage.” Raven smirked playfully, yet relieved. “It’s getting late, want to head back now?”
Raven nodded and the two walked together back to the clearing, soon falling asleep on the cold ground.
*
…A few hours later that night, Ko, who was on the night shift, came back to the clearing where their dojo still had embers glowing in its ashes. After opening an airtight jar and picking out a small piece of salted meat for herself, she walked over to where Yumiko was sleeping and nudged her ribs a few times with her foot. The now awake Yumiko looked up at Ko, who pointed to two figures for a moment and then reached down and pulled a silver coin out of her friend’s bag. She held the coin up for Yumiko to see and started walking back to her station. “Damn.” Yumiko said under her breath and sat up. So Ko was right about them. She thought as she looked at Holly stretched out on the ground a dozen feet away, with Raven sleeping perpendicular to her and resting her head on Holly’s abdomen. Good for them, never should’ve taken that bet. Even for us that one was probably pretty low.
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