cRaZyMaN676 Reportin' 4 Duty!

Hmm, I don't THINK I own the Teen Titans. What say you?

Okay, guys, lets try something DEFINITELY different. Arc 01: Let's Get This Party Started! BEGIN!!

Daruma

Chapter 1: Bang Bang, Reality

He didn't awaken slowly that day, but suddenly, with a start.

"Come on, Raven!"

Even in the darkness, which took away his sight, what passed for his ears picked up the muffled voice through the layers between them.

"I heard you say that you don't wanna go, but you gotta get out of the house sometime, don't you?"

Hmm... He could feel the power within him rising; nowhere near enough to grant him escape on it's lonesome. Possibly enough to allow him to ignore the voice outside and heckle his prisoner for the next couple of days straight. Wishing he could frown, he tried to flip over in the cramped chest.

"I know you're in there! I can smell you, so don't act like you don't hear me!"

And then... wait, where was the agitated sigh that usually happened by now? The voice was obviously directed at her, right? Was the witch actually not there, outside of the box?

"That's it, I'm not moving from this door until you answer me, Raven. The others won't leave until you or me come down, so..." A muffled thudding started up, somewhere else in the darkness.

He contemplated, choosing his words carefully, prudently as the gears grinded in his head. Even if what he was thinking was true, could it be possible? He mentally smacked his forehead - he was a freaking magical dragon trapped in a book by a demoness he'd thought that he'd aptly seduced, who, by the way, lived with a strange metal man, an even more strange orange girl, a guy too conflicted to always be a good leader and an annoying green... thing; what wasn't possible?

"I'm sorry, Raven is unable to reply at the moment. May I take a message?"

A sharper thud and a whisper of movement.

"Well, that probably needs a bit of explanation. It's not as if the girl doesn't want to answer your question, it's more like she can't."

"Who... Malchior?" Was that a growl he heard or the door swishing open?

"Oh, don't worry, it's not like your dear Raven is dead. At least, not yet, anyways."

"What did you do to her?" The question was so soft, yet threatening and so much closer, that it gave him pause.

"... That is none of your concern, boy." Who's voice was that? Hadn't he heard it before? "Be more worried about what I will do to her, once I am free again!"

Silence. Then:

"Not if I've got anything to say about it." Definitely a growl.

"Ha," he coughed, holding in a painful laugh. "What can a mere human like yourself do to stop me, a god?"

"If I remember right, Raven is just a bit more than human and she kicked your dumb ass back into that book. Or am I mistaken? And the last time I checked, gods were a little stronger than a few teenage superheroes."

He could hear something- what was it, bitter disdain?- in the voice, something he didn't quite understand. He clicked what passed for his tongue and sighed.

"So arrogant... As you should know, the girl is no longer of consequence to me. You see, at this very moment I am eradicating her power as an obstacle to me as we speak. You could say I'm erasing everything she is or ever was from her existing memory; when she awakens, after I have conquered your "world," she will either serve as my loyal queen or die. While you remain powerless to stop it." Maybe he'd gone a little overboard. He was starting to believe this story himself.

Then again, it wasn't a complete lie. He actually would have the strength to escape and overpower the demoness, even in his limited form... in a few years, give or take a month or two. And that was if she didn't realize that she needed to drain what little power he regained at regular intervals as a precautionary measure.

Which, of course, she hadn't yet, but let's not jinx that thought.

"'Powerless,' says you." Suddenly there was light! Accustomed to the darkness of his chest, his eyes squint-glared at the figure before him. "'After I save her I'm gonna rip you to shreds', says I."

She was meditating on the roof when she felt the universe tilt on it's side. The effect was so immediate, she fell out of her trance and onto her backside, wincing at the fall, wondering a single question.

What the hell just happened?

Of course, it wasn't like the question would be answered by itself, so she stretched a bit before sinking down through the roof. So focused was she on locating the source of such a shift in balance that she didn't notice the shadowed creature elsewhere on the roof. The shadowed creature that had been watching her for the last couple of hours. If she had noticed it, she might have prevented it all from happening right then, right there.

But she didn't. Smiling at the demoness' ignorance, the creature slipped through the floor, right behind her.

Now, Beast Boy didn't figure himself to be an idiot, per se, but something was definitely strange about the situation. For some reason, he was in Raven's room (identifiable only by how dark and... unsettling it was), and he wasn't getting thrown through the window. Or against the walls. Why would that be? The tattered book on top of the chest before him could account for that. He blinked.

But why was he here again? Last he remembered, he had been asking; no, begging the empath for the second half-hour straight, to come down to the beach with him and the others. Why? She hadn't gone the week before and had just about promised to come this time (if death-threats could be interpretable as promises, or in this case, duh) if only Beast Boy would stop asking that time.

Maybe she'd been having problems that day to be so rash, who knows? All he cared about was not letting her get away with it this time. So why hadn't he checked the roof first? Yeah, why hadn't he done that... Well, the creepy-slick voice in his head kind of stopped him, but that wasn't all. Oh, wait, that's what he was doing here...

Right then.

The changeling blinked at the silver object as it moved of it's own free will. He blinked as it came to rest, however momentarily, on the cover of the book. Then his mind was struck by three simultaneous questions.

1: Isn't that Malchior's book?

2: Why am I worried about that being Malchior's book? It's safe in Raven's room, right?

3: Wait, isn't that my hand?

Before any semblance of an answer registered with his consciousness, the book opened, and... He was dragged, headfirst, into his own personal hell.

He blinked, not startled, but overwhelmed by what had just happened. Was it just him, or did he sense something happening? Why was it quiet now? Why was he in darkness again? And... what was this power fading from the air?

He pondered these questions for all of a second. Now that he thought about it, after all these years, wasn't it peculiar that that certain magician had imprisoned him in such a trivial thing as a book? Even if the world was full of magic, such a thing was improbable, right? He felt a shiver of memory. Hadn't he caught a glimpse of the cover before being captured?

But... no, even if such a thing happening was possible, that couldn't be right. No way would such a self-righteous fool as Rorek go so far to imprison him... But then again, he had been foolish enough to face him, the Great Malchior. Still... the Tome of the Cursed was nothing to be trifled with, as was it's master, even he knew that... And it couldn't be possible that that was his prison...

But then, what had just happened to his entertainment as of moments ago? He'd never admit it aloud, but for once he hoped that he was wrong and the magician wasn't as crazy as he looked. If he wasn't wrong... well, he'd just have to stay awake for a long time yet. He'd been lucky so far, but as long as he didn't fall asleep again...

Wait... if he was right, then hadn't the boy just..?

If leather-bound books could have facial tics, he was growing a garden of them on this one.

'Damn the hero, and damn me for egging him on! Aw, Mal, how are you going to get out of this one?!'

So concerned was the dragon with what was going on inside the book, he took no notice of the powers clashing outside of it. Even if he had, he couldn't have done anything about it.

But he'd wish that he had.

Raven grunted as she held the shield of energy up to the barrage, focusing all her strength. What was this thing? Just as she had been about to enter her room, the seeming source of the imbalance, she had been attacked by this... thing. She backed up another step, the foot of her injured leg hitting the door. 'Of course,' she thought to herself sarcastically, 'of course I would run out of room now.'

Seeing as she had few other viable options, she finally mustered the presence of mind to speak.

"What are you?!" Dammit, why wasn't her magic having any effect? It seemed all she had been doing, all she could do was block! And even that was draining her faster than it should have. The thing stepped forward, hood still down over it's face, claws still pumping out a blinding ray.

"I am the emissary of the Ancient One. All must bow before his power, as all will. Whoever stands in his way shall perish."

"Right, you said that. What I meant was," at this she let down her shield for a second to dive to the side, only to come back up, still blocking. "Why are you here?" Why wasn't anyone else coming? Usually it was all she could do to keep them away from her room, but now that she was in trouble? Hadn't the alarm gone off by now?

"I am here to reclaim that which belongs to him. You did well in hiding it from me, but you had no chance of keeping it from the eyes of the Master."

"What are you talking about?" Okay, the bad news? Her shield was getting wavy, and most definitely wouldn't last another minute. The worse news? Her leg was killing her. The extremely bad news? Her opponent didn't even seem to be exerting himself(itself?) that much.

And the good news? What good news?

"The Tome of the Cursed. His Tome of the Cursed. The tome that he wants back."

"I don't... know..." Her aura cracked. "What... you're..." Splintered. "Talking..." It shattered, and the beam slammed through her stomach. The thing cocked it's head, quickly ending the ray as it walked forward.

"You did well, Guardian Raven, for a novice of the Dark Arts. Still, you had no chance at stopping me." What was that? She was still breathing? No... she was still very much alive. "I suppose it wouldn't do to just kill you. However, neither can I let you roam free to hide the tome again."

The last thing the empath saw from her position on the floor was the thing kneeling before her, claw reaching towards her face...

Darkness.

cRaZyMaN676, yo!!