Something Wicked
She has never been much of a clock watcher, modern technological gadgets had a limited usefulness in her life. A modern day philosopher alledgedly made a commentary once that magic and science often walked hand in hand, it was just that the rules of magic or natural philiosphy, take your pick, had not been as clearly defined as the rules that governed scientific inquiry. It's distracting, holed up in her room in the Teen Titans's tower, reading about those things, trying to keep her mind and boy occupied and not have to watch the clock.
The digital readout on the analog clock that floats beside and directly below her hovering body, reads 9am. Never has she wanted this badly to have time fly by. She mentally throws the book away where it fetches up against the far wall, coming splayed downward like a exhausted butterfly. She envies it, she's exhausted too from the amount of energy she has expended to not think about the prophecy attached to her day of birth.
Raven has anticipated this day with ambivalence. She holds out some hope that it will not turn out as bad as she expects that it will. Tomorrow is her birthday. Most teenagers would be excited and looking forward to a party, perhaps a party with friends and loved ones. Not Raven. She has dreaded this particular birthday's arrival because she knows that there is a prophecy attached to it. Dire things are supposed to happen.
A pounding on her door of her room snaps Raven out of her deep mental trance. "I told everyone, I do not wish to be disturbed!"
"Hey, Raven, come on out. I've got something to show you!" Beast Boy gushed, cautiously peering around the edge of the door, half in and half out of the entry way. He knows better than to rush heedlessly into Raven's room uninvited.
"See those uh, footprints on the floor."
"Yes."
"All you have to do follow them and you'll get a big surprise."
The footprints led to the living room and she noticed that it has been decorated and festooned with brightly colored ribbons and streamers, Cyborg delicately balancing something a tray with a cak with multiple layers and looked like a leaning tower of multi- flavored ice cream. She realizes with a start, that her friends knew it was her birthday and have thrown a surprise party for her. She hates to burst thier happy, cheerful bubble and tell them she is no mood for a party or levity. It would spoil her dour, dreadful mood.
Somehow, without her conscious control, her power and everything in sight simply implodes including the streamers. which fall from their stays, and the cake rises up and t finally surrenders to the law of gravity it comes down directly on top of Beast Boy.
The awkward moment passes in stunned silence.
Raven almost wants to laugh at the image of Beast Boy covered head to foot in slowly melting ice cream, but the sound of the emergency alarm interupts the moment, and the opportunity is lost.
"Titans! Go!" Robin shouts, and the team mobilizies and faster than it takes to tell it.
That battle with Slade, returned from the dead, somehow aware of the connection of my birthday with my powers is not the worst of it, and the fact that we lost, stung the most. We lost. Badly. Not somethting the Titans are accustomed to dealing with, but that's not the point, is it?"
The team splits up, to scour the city for both their missing teammate and the returned from the dead, Slade. But that was only after we manage to dig our way out from under a pile of rubble. There's irony for you. I remember Cyborg saying something about being more than happy to bury Slade again from whatever rock he crawled out of.
Right now that abandoned factory and everything inside it was nothing more than a smoking pile of stone blocks, metal parts, and fused circutry.
Robin doesn't know or care what kind of twisted circumstances allowed Slade to resurrect himself from the dead. Right now that isn't his biggest problem. It's more like the Titans' stock and trade. Granted, it might be the first time that an old nemesis returned and more or less sidelined him to b-squad, but aside from the damage to his ego, he needed to focus on Slade's agenda. 'What could he possibly want with Raven? And what was up with this incessant need of Slade's to deliver a message?'
The way the battle went it appeared as if they weren't going to arrive at the answers to any of the questions piling up, if the entire building, roof and ceiling crashed down upon them.
The wind shear of the speed she reaches attempting to out fly and out manuever Slade's pursuit makes her eyes tear up. Her hair whips around her face and gets in her eyes. Its unbeliveable to her that Slade is matching her attack for attack, telekinetic force and inanmiate objects she hurtles at him. If she were close enough to see the expression on his face, she would have almost have termed it a smirk, a confident, arrogant, prideful smirk. And it's not the fact the he knows about the prophecy, all she can hope for right now is that none of her friends, her teammates heard him. She can't respond to his taunts, her entire concentration is given over to energy surging within her body, and finding a way out of this current mess.
Slade finally corners her in a deserted street, the sky scrappers, and lesser buildings silent witnesses to this deadly confrontation. Slade has evaded everything she could think of to throw at him, and then some. How is it possible he counteract my powers so easily. He never had or exhibited any sign of those kinds of powers before. So why now? These thoughts run through Raven's head, as her breath comes in shorter and shorter gas, to use Robin's term, she's running out of gas, and fast.
She hears Slade utter the word of the prophecy, and a part of her concious mind hears him, and all it is white noise. She doesn't accept that her destiny is already set in stone, so it can't be true, even when uttered by someone else.
He's too close for comfort, and then without warning Slade grasps a handful of her cowl attached to her purple cape. He tilts her head back and stares into her eyes. "Let me show you what is destined to come to pass."
Raven's eyes roll back in her head and she can barely breath. Suddenly Raven is no longer aware of her surroundings, instead in her mind's eye vision, or the twisted one that Slade is forcing to her to experience, she sees the Titans' tower floating in the water of the of river. The sky is dark, and the entire landscape is painted in shades of red and black. When she can think clearly again, regained a measure of control, the ordinary world returns in a sudden rush. She jerks away from Slade's painful grasp on her body, thrusting away him with her hand.
"This vision, that's all it is. It's not real. And as long as there is breath in my body, I will make certain that it never comes to pass."
"Defiance is all well and good," Slade whispers. "Oh, it will come to pass."
"You're wrong!" Raven shouts.
"You must understand, Raven, when I found out about the power lurking inside of you, I must say, I was impressed." Slade leaned so close that she could smell his breath, like smog and air, "Congratulations, my dear. You're destined to destroy the world."
"No!" Raven screams.
Conclusion
"Raven. You okay?"
"I can't walk." In fact I can barely move. That last energy blast took more out of me than I imagined."
"Your ankle?"
"Focus, here. My twisted ankle is the least of my worries right now."
"What's up with Slade?"
"It's complicated."
"You can trust me."
"The problem is can you trust me. After what I'm about to tell you, you may not ever again."
"Come on, it can't be that terrible." Robin tried for a coaxing reassuring tone, something to break the tension he could feel building up. He looks around at their present surroundings, the shell of what must once have been a beautiful place of worship, but now was an abandoned ruin. Through the broken windows of the remnants of the stained glass slants of light crept down, causing layers of dust to gleam in rainbow puddles. After a few moments of silence Robin turns his attention back to the problem at hand, noticing how she curled into her body, favoring her left ankle. "You don't have to if you don't want to."
"It's my birthday. On this day, the anniversary of my birth something terrible is supposed to happen. Something about fulfilling a prophecy."
"It's not fixed in stone yet? You can still change the outcome, right?"
"That's the problem, Robin." I've always been the glass is half empty girl. It's difficult for me to see the upside of this situation."
"I'm sorry.
"Why?"
I couldn't stop Slade. I couldn't prevent this from happening."
"Don't. It's not your fault. No one could.
"Whatever happens, just now that we're for you. I'm here for you.
"I know. Let's go home. It's been a long night."