"Damian?"
Raven frowned at the blur sitting at the base of a large fir. It felt like Damian, but a little more. The hellish side passed down from Ra's and Talia was shining through as his aura darkened. Closing her eyes, Raven turned her powers down, returning her vision to its normal state.
She stepped around the tree, brushing twigs out of her face and made her way closer to Damian. In front of him, Raven noted the deathly pallor his skin had undertaken: from its usual subtle tan to something akin to Raven's complexion.
Shaking her head in amused exasperation, the demon-witch kneeled down to be at level with the sleeping boy. After studying his visage for a moment, Raven tapped him on the shoulder.
"Damian!"
He awoke swiftly, seamlessly pulling himself in to a fighting stance as if being attacked. Raven jumped backwards, startled by the sudden movement- though she should have expected it. Having realised that it was his friend in front of him, Damian relaxed his posture, sliding his katana back in to its sheath.
"Raven.", he acknowledged with a nod of his head, evidently irritated.
"Damian, what-", she stopped, having looked in to his eyes.
They reflected a blood red so unexpected it took Raven a few seconds to comprehend what was happening. When she came to her senses, all it took was one look for Damian to know she was furious.
"You told me you would take care of it!", she said, arms tightly folded.
Her irritation reverberated off of the very trees around them, chilling the surroundings with a kind of quiet rage only Raven could posses. She was rightfully upset and the forest could feel it: the branches curled away, withdrawing from the scene.
Damian knew what the consequence of his actions could be, so Raven didn't understand why he didn't take her advice. If anything were to go wrong and he ended up losing control, Raven would be the one to deal with it.
Agitated , Raven waited for an answer.
"Raven, ", he began sharply, reminding her of the Damian from two years ago, the one who found everything unnecessary -that Damian had been replaced by a more subtle person-, "it's my issue, allow me to deal with it! I told you I would take care of it, and I will. Now could you stay out of affairs that don't concern you."
She laughed harshly, "Oh, matters that 'don't concern me'?! Answer me this, who is going to have to deal with you when you loose control? Who is going to stop you from harming everyone in that, ", she gestured towards the Manor, "house?! From draining their blood clean away! Damian, I'm going to have to deal with that! You're forgetting how easy it'll be to just rip out their throats! One second of weakness is all it takes for Jon, Tim, Kori- Azar, even your father!- to be dead!"
"You think I don't know that?!", he shouted, slamming a fist through the tree besides him in anger.
He removed his arm from the trunk, shocked at the deep dent marring it. A huge hole the shape of his fist ran almost the whole way through the evergreen. Wide eyes trailed from the damage to his hand to Raven. An understanding passed between them, as they stared in mortified awe at the wreckage.
Damian finally found it within himself to speak, features contorting with frustration and...fear.
"R-raven, ", he got a hold of himself, straightening his back, "do you have a bottle with you?"
She nodded mutely.
Safely distracting herself, Raven swirled her hand, summoning a portal. Unlike the other times, where it had just been a fiery mass of purple, this time Raven could see through it and in to her room-like dimension: Raven's own pocket in the universe where she would store her personal items. Stepping through the portal, Raven brushed aside the bookshelves and chests of her items, walking straight towards a fridge at the back of the cosy space. Opening the metal door, she pulled out a bottle of red liquid that sloshed about lazily. The two holes in the lid made for easy drinking access, unlike the pouches of the stuff that lay slumped in the corner of the fridge.
Exiting her pocket dimension, Raven tossed the bottle from hand to hand biting her lip in contemplation. It was lucky that she had caught up with Damian when she had, because (judging by the unnatural power in his punch) he would soon lose control without sustenance.
He raised his eyebrows at the 'drink' when he saw it.
To which Raven replied, " O negative.", and passed it to him, withdrawing her hand as though Zeus himself had struck her with lightening.
Damian's eyes shone in their carmine hue, betraying his thirst as he brought the bottle to his lips. Within seconds the entire contents had vanished, alongside the red in his eyes- which had thankfully returned to their original jade green.
After wiping a drop from his lips, Damian turned to Raven.
"Thank you."
It sounded more apologetic than thankful, but it was a vast improvement for Damian.
'Hmm' ing in response, Raven opened a portal, leaving him alone in the forest without so much as a word.
***
"Jon, Donna, would you like to train with us?", Jaime asked the two when they walked in to the kitchen.
'Us' being Damian, Raven and Jaime, they stared at the younger teens expectantly. All of them having finished breakfast, there was nothing else for the titans to do, and since they hadn't trained together in over a month, it seemed a good idea to do so once more.
Smiling widely in her usual manner, Donna chirped a cheerful, "Sure!".
Jon agreed too, albeit less confidently. Had Wondergirl not been present, his response would have been brighter, that being said, Superboy was an utter mess in front of her: shuffling his feet and blushing profusely.
Naturally, Damian and Jaime snickered at his lovesickness, earning them jabs in their rib(courtesy of Miss Rachel Raven Roth). She shot them her signature 'shut the fuck up' look, which they were sure to heed.
Having decided to train together, the titans made their way down to the training room, the three elder allowing Jon and Donna to walk ahead: in order to speak about them -of course.
Just to be sure that Jon wouldn't be able to hear them, Jaime whispered, "He still hasn't got super-ears yet, right?"
"No, he has yet to develop enhanced hearing.", Damian said, smirking somewhat fondly upon Superman's son.
"Okay, you know the plan?"
They nodded as he went through it once more.
"Well, in the words of Dora the Explorer, vamonos!", Jaime attempted enthusiasm before cringing, "Ayy, I'm never saying that again, it was painful I tell you, PAINFUL!"
***
"Why don't we do pair work?", Jaime suggested as they entered the training room.
The eldest teen hid a smile at Damian and Raven's twin smirks, though he rolled his eyes in amusement. Those two.
"Sure.", Donna shrugged, "I'll go with Raven-"
"Nope,", Raven popped the 'p', lips curled in mischief, "I'm working with Damian."
The boy in question bared his teeth in a menacing smile, "Why don't you work with dear Jonathan?", the dramatics didn't go unmissed on anyone.
Of course, having been singled out in front of his 'crush' Jon was bright as a tomato, mumbling about 'really no issue...don't mind...s'alright'. Raven couldn't help but pity the lad- he was doing himself no favours.
"But who'll go with Jaime?"
Just as Donna finished asking the question, Adyn tumbled through the doors panting.
"Got lost.... this house... it's too BIG!", he leaned on his knees to catch his breath, champagne ringlets bobbing up and down with each heave.
Face pinker than his usual rosy complexion, Adyn, stood up straight, still breathing hard, but not as heavily. The titans stared at him, Damian raising an eyebrow at the shambolic behaviour.
"Heh...", Adyn ducked his head, looking innocently at Raven as if in apology, batting his lashes.
Rolling her eyes, Raven sighed, "Adyn, we're doing pair work. Could you train with Jaime.", it wasn't a question.
The boyish demon bounded over to Jaime, beaming and playing with his fingers.
"Why don't we make it a competition?", Donna suggested, sitting on a gymnastics beam.
It was impossible to miss the way Damian, Raven and Adyn's eyes lit up at the prospect. Never let it be said that demons did not excel in competition.
Lips raised in more of a sneer than a smirk, Damian posed in an abnormally intrigued tone, "What does the winning pair receive?"
They spent a moment mulling over the possibilities before the answer struck Jon like a lightbulb on top of his head.
Knowing that the temptation would be too much for Damian , Jon smiled as mischievously as one so innocent could.
"I've got it!", the smile grew, "Jelly beans! Coconut flavour jelly beans!"
'That little!' Damian cried internally.
Oh, shit was going down.
A.N:
Heeeeey!
I'm sorry that not much happened in this chapter and it was so short, but I guess it was alright. I just went through a particularly tough week with my mental health and it was just a bit, well, hard. Not wanting to plague you guys with my personal issues or anything, I just want to explain that when my work isn't up to scratch as usual, that's usually the reason.
But your support always help to lift me up by just that little bit, so thank you :3 I appreciate it a lot.
Also, I just want to tell you a bit about what is going on because I'm quite excited. So, in July, I'm going to the national debating competition -because I got through. It's the top eight teams in the entire UK which is just insane! And the competition is in the official debating chambers at Oxford University. IT'S MAD!
I just really needed to get that out to you guys :3 Meh, it's a bright spot
Thank youuuuuuu!
-Bats