Title: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Chapter Four: I’m Only Human

Crimson eyes blinked …

Then blinked again …

White-hot irises nodded in conformation to the dragon’s silent question.

Actually, it wasn’t a question … it was a look of the purest disbelief made certain when Malchior scoffed and jokingly snorted with a shake of his head, “Surely you jest with me? Slavery? I was quite certain that some time ago such a trade had turned criminal.”

“So did the trade of narcotics,” Cantaleen smiled softly, “but it still exist until this day. Do you not understand the point of the millennia yet dragon? Humans will do what they must, just because there is a must in doing so to break the laws, a philosophy once stated where rules will always be broken.”

Malchior scowled in utter disgust, his nose wrinkling and eyes narrowing as he upturned his eyes from not the phoenix, but to her “That’s sick. Not to mention immoral and pathetic.”

Cantaleen laughed out loud, childish, but Malchior knew better, she could very well be older than he himself was as her eyes shined innocently with a faint gloom of sadness behind it, “The years of honor are long gone my friend, welcome to the human world.”

“Now I wonder why that doesn’t cheer me up, but in all business, you had spoken of your life being in danger by one of his dolls. I thought you said he only enslaved humans?”

“He does … this one, however, puzzles me.” Cantaleen turned around and leaned her back on the rail, a deep thoughtful look upon her face. She took a deep breath and frowned with a raised brow when a sudden thought had crossed her mind, “The child did look familiar … but I just can’t place where she came from. Other than that she’s rather lovely … if not powerful … but she’s a half-breed. A demonic half-breed of Trigonian blood heritage … Christian told me, but where he even got that detail I wouldn’t –”

Malchior froze for a moment and interrupted abruptly, “By any chance, did she have violet hair, wear a dark blue cloak, have violet eyes, and paled colored skin with a red gem of focus upon her forehead?”

Kind of detailed for a dragon … how would he know her? Cantaleen thought to herself and voiced her question aloud, which would be enough to confirm Malchior’s utter shock and disbelief, “You know her?”

--

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Raven!”

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Come on Raven open up, I know you’re in there!”

Bea … Beast … Beast Boy …?

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Oooohhhh Raaaavvvveeeennnn! Wake up! It’s near the afternoon and we’re not suffering Starfire’s cooking alone! Wake up!”

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

“Raven –!”

“Come on B, never mind, she probably doesn’t want to be disturbed, you know how she is.”

“Oh that’s bull Cy, she’s just being stuck up like she always is.”

Knock … knock … knock …

“Rae … you okay in there?”

“Of course she’s okay!”

“Shut it Beast Boy. Raven, it’s us … you gonna answer the door or what? Starfire’s cooking and you know how she gets when we’re all not down there with her.”

Cy … Cyborg …?

Everything was fuzzy … everything hurt … more specifically her wrists. They felt as if someone had cuffed them, twisted them, and then cruelly dragged her on the back of a pick-up just to hear her scream. Clichéd enough as it sounded her memory was fuzzy, trying to recall what had happened made her entire body pulse and shake with a very violent shutter. Just trying to think was hurting her head. Yet slowly … ever so slowly she sat up, and immediately regretted it when her s stab of pain jabbed at the center of her brain.

Instinctually she threw herself back onto her silky sheets and clenched her eyes tightly shut in order to quell the burning ache that went through her body, even biting down on her sheets … everything hurt so bad that it brought tears to her eyes. However … what hurt the most, wasn’t the pain itself … it was being clueless to why she was burning. Whimpering slightly to herself she shook and gritted her teeth trying so hard not to scream when another shock wave washed over her body. Bring new rivers of tears that stained her sheets, her violet eyes glazing over and vision becoming increasingly blurry.

Raven took a shaky deep breath and made a weak squeak that came forth her throat … anything to get her friends to help her. Even if she did have pride, she had to have someone save her … this was just too much. Everything was just too much … death seemed to be the right reward to suffer this kind of fate.

Carefully despite her state of weakness she practically crawled herself towards her privet bathroom, opening the door and stumbling in, holding her side, and bring her free arm to try and weakly hold herself up with the counter top of her bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and nearly screamed in horror when she saw the unthinkable … “… No … how – no …!”

Human … she was … human … her skin a healthy, earthly tan, her eyes indigo blue instead of piercing amethyst, and her distinct violet hair … no more. It was dark black, wavy, long a flowing … just like it should have been if she had let it grown to touch her thigh. Yet, however human she may have appeared upon her forehead where her red gem was supposed to be was removed and replaced with a white diamonded crescent sharp and very distinct. The pain in Raven’s body was now numbed to her complete shock … Human … I’m … pure human … backing up till her back hit the towel rack.

Raven grabbed a hold of it till her knuckles turned white, feeling her legs wobble and shake, the shock too much to bear upon her knees that buckled and gave out. Dropping to the bathroom floor, the once half-bred demoness held herself still, suspended for a moment in time, realizing that … she was powerless. She wasn’t … she couldn’t be a Titan anymore than she could call herself Raven … it was all over, her life as a heroine, it was gone … But … she thought distantly, how … when did it happen? Why … why … she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

The tears that once came down because of pain now came down in frustrated confusion, expecting to feel and hear the Tower shutter under her expressed emotions … Raven screamed in disbelief when nothing happened. Everything was still … everything but the echo of her screams within her room and her bathroom … nothing shattered, nothing shook … still. Raven hid her face in shame within her hands, feeling her soft silky hair fall to cover her tear stained face she shook her head, confused about what to do she sucked it all up and got back on her feet.

Shakily walking back into her chambers she stumbled to her library and looked about for anything, anything that’ll help her understand why this was happening to her. Wiping away the tears and willing herself back into a calm state of mind she braced herself for her search for answers, but was interrupted when the Tower suddenly erupted in a red blaring alarm. Telling her the city was in a state of emergency, upon instinct she touched deep into the back of her mind to call forth her power, but couldn’t feel it.

Nothing …

Nothing was there …

Holding herself together, Raven rushed to her closet and pulled out a long sleeved skin tight blouse and quickly slipped into a pair of black pants, putting on her boots she clipped on her cape and made a dash for her door. Running out and down the hall, she immediately pulled up her hood and desperately tried to hide not only her long hair, but her forehead and eyes. Praying to whatever god out there that’ll listen to her to hope the other Titans don’t notice. Raven burst into the Common Room and kept her head down as she hurriedly walked up to the meeting.

Robin proceeded to inform the group, “Johnny Rancid’s causing trouble again downtown, standard procedure, rush him and take him in. Titans GO!”

Still keeping to herself Raven ran with along side Beast Boy and Cyborg, Cyborg actually taking notice that were was something off about Raven, she was running, “Uh … Rae … you alright girl?”

Raven nodded, “Of course I am …”

“Just asking,” Cyborg knew she was hiding something, but wouldn’t ask what. At least not yet, not until after the mission, reaching the garage he unlocked the car, jumped in with Raven riding shotgun. Waiting for Robin to take off in his cycle, Cyborg followed close behind and under no time at all the Titans reached Downtown Jump City. Raven took a deep breath and kept her head low, still trying to hide her face from Cyborg’s prying eyes.

Insane as ever Johnny Rancid was found literally tearing up the streets with a supped up guitar and a few speakers that shattered glass windows, cracked the grounds, and screwed with Cyborg’s cybernetic ears with the erratic sound waves he was emitting. Robin came to a skidding halt when Johnny stopped jamming on his guitar and grinned, “Missed me brat.”

Robin snorted, “Stealing other peoples moves Rancid? That’s weak.”

“Oh yeah, I’d like to see you pluck a string or two, take this!”

While in the mists of all woody-banter Raven gritted her teeth and quickly summoned up a charmed spell that called not only her abilities as a half-demon, but as a realistic Azarian Sorceress, “Enzic relpha aw toznt helzef!”

Holding up a hand just when Johnny played a note that blew Robin to the ground, her leader felt said ground vibrate, heard it rumble, and then felt it shutter violently before it began to slit apart. Rolling and jumping to his feet in order to stay on one side, he kept running when he saw the ground wasn’t splitting in part … it was crumbling away! Using a grappling hook to grapple onto the roof of a building, Johnny chilled and made a break for one of the buildings himself.

However Starfire swooped up and scooped him up just before he dove into an entrance and before the earth gave way under him. By the time it was all over and Raven’s life energy was drained to near nothing. What she would call a simple spell before; she now realized before she blacked out, was something the human body just couldn’t handle.

Elsewhere, bearing witness to the whole thing, the silver eyes of her once captive shined in astonishment, “Impressive girl … very impressive …”

“Damian … if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were one sick perv,” Damian raised a brow and looked over his shoulder to Christian and his blazing blue stormy eyes that were a mask all their own.

Damian scoffed, “You’re trespassing Christian … again and you’re asking for trouble.”

Christian chuckled, “Bro, I’ve been asking for trouble the day you decided to go all evil on me … just tryin’ to get by ya know.”

“By destroying everything I’ve built since the dawn of my eternity?” Damian crossed his arms over his chest and glared deep into Christian’s soul, “I don’t think so.”

“You didn’t earn that …” Christian sneered mockingly, “You stole it from half-breeds all around the world. You find a ritual that can preserve eternal life and you already think you rule the damn world … not gonna happen. Not while I’m still here.”

“This is funny coming from a thief.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Me? Stop being so hypocritical Christian, who did you steal your immortality from?”

“I didn’t steal it; I earned it, unlike you.” Christian shook his head when Damian snorted and turned his attention back to the Titans that were all gathered around the knocked out Raven. Murmuring about her sudden change of appearance and knowing that they had to get her back to the Tower. Christian watched as well, but at a safer distance than his brother, glaring at Damian when his silver eyes watched Raven like a stalking predator. “You mess with the witch and you won’t be answering to me.”

Damian blinked away from the sorceress and turned his head up to his brother with a sneer, “Oh really? Who might I be answering to than?”

“…” Christian smirked, “He’s got a very short temper I’ll tell you that.”

“Really now?” Damian mocked, “Than where was he when I stole her demonic heritage and turned her completely human … and added her as one of my many collections of dolls. She is lovely, not to mention addictive … just a drop of her blood and power unmatched consumes me.”

Suddenly Christian’s smirk dropped and he blinked slowly processing the information, he looked down at the T-car that turned the corner at the end of the block and vanished out of sight. Damian chuckled at his brother’s display of concern, and grinned when his brother’s glare returned and pinned him to the ground with intense blue eyes, “Last warning Damian … you better stop building whatever the hell it is you’re building and back off, I’m serious this time, I’ll end it … permanently.”

“Why not try now?”

“Because I’m not stupid,” Christian glanced at the moving shadows across the street a top a different rooftop.

Damian chuckled again, “You’re just too smart for your own good Christian, too smart.”

--

“A Titan … Teen Titan?” Cantaleen’s childish silver eyes watched Malchior pace back and forth over the wooden floor, running his now clawed fingers through his hair and trying to control a raising snarl. She observed the dragon and had to wonder if Raven of the Teen Titans held any significant value to him … after all, he was getting worked up over her.

“Yes …” he huffed and a black puff of smoke slithered out of mouth, Malchior stopped for a second and swallowed the heat that was raising in his throat, controlling himself and taking a breather. He seemed to calm down … but then started to pace again, “… Raven … this Damian creature … you say that he usually works with humans correct?”

Cantaleen nodded, “Mm-hmm, of course you should know why, humans are easy to manipulate.”

“Indeed,” Malchior scoffed, sounding more like a held back growl, he cleared his throat and asked, “But if he works only with humans … why did he go for Raven?”

“You have to ask Christian,” Cantaleen shrugged, “I only know so much about this grudge against him and Damian, I only discovered it when I found out my half-sister was killed by someone along Damian’s bloodline. Whatever information you need to know about Damian, you’ll most likely find it with Christian.”

Christian … Malchior stopped his pacing to think, leaning against the wall, feeling its cold smooth surface send chills up and down his bareback. He ignored it and frowned when sudden strange suspicion popped into his head, “These things run in the family.” he recalled the last conversation they had when Christian had introduced him to Burnout. It was a strange one, one that Malchior shrugged off, but bringing it back up again … he had to say, Christian was hiding something.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

Cantaleen had enough wondering; she had to know, “Dragon … why do you find this Trigonian so interesting?”

Malchior kept his cool and snorted, “She found the spell to lock me away in a book after I got out … then trapped me within an abstract world … let’s just say I’m finding it hard to believe she’s a captive.”

“So you admire her.”

Malchior caught the trap of a question and growled at the phoenix, “Don’t set me up, this isn’t about me.”

“True …” Cantaleen shrugged, “but if she’s been such an obstacle for you why bother contemplate her position, of all creatures I thought dragons were the kings and queens of holding grudges.”

“Don’t classify me either.”

“You’re such a bore.” Cantaleen giggled while Malchior scoffed and ran his claws through his hair again. Turning his back on the phoenix the dragon walked to his closet and grabbed a hanging button up white collared shirt with a light blue pin strip and the cuffs undone. He slipped it on and proceeded to button it up, straighten it out a bit and reached back in for his shoes. All the while Cantaleen watched, with a raised brow, “Where are you going? Christian will be back and then all your questions will be answered with much more detail.”

“Feh,” Malchior jerked his head back when a strand of hair fell in front of his eyes, looking over his shoulder to Cantaleen he shot her a dry look, “relaying on that thief to give me answers is like relaying on the wall to relinquish all its stories. Foolish.”

“Maybe, but still, where are you going?”

Malchior closed the closet door and walked back to the rail, jumping over and landing near soundless on the second floor. Cantaleen waited for his answer, what she got was a sigh and a quiet response as if he was trying to convince himself he was really going to do what he was going to do, “Titan Tower … you have to be wrong.”

“And if I’m not?”

“…”

--

Disclaimer: I don’t own the Teen Titans, but everything else I do own.

A/N: Sorry this took forever, I’m gonna be honest, I just put it off. Also I’m so sorry for the chapter being short, I wanted it to be longer, but just couldn’t do it. So just review, tell me what you think and … um …

L8er daez