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The Titans: Triptych	By : hentaigoten Category: DC Verse Cartoons - Teen Titans > Crossovers > FemmeSlash Views: 1932 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or JLA. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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#7

Inner Dark

Chapter 1 of 3: The Revel

Koriand’r was buzzing with excitement. The mere thought of what was going to happen had her going into palpitations as she thought of what would happen.

She wished it was happening right now. But then, that would remove the anticipation, it would remove everything that would lead up to the event…

Her buzzing thoughts were starting to give Raven a migraine.

“Be. Patient.” She all but growled at the younger woman, a tic crossing her face, centred above her right eye.

“But I am so very much looking forward to-”

“I know. You’ve told us. And you’ve been thinking of nothing else for the past three days, since it was announced.”

“You have...been hearing my thoughts?”

“Does it look like I want to? Or that I haven’t tried blocking them out?”

“Oh...of course.”

Koriand’r moved out of the room, humming happily to herself. Raven sighed in relief as she moved away, trying to get her focus on the book she’d been gazing at for the past hour. She’d spent all of it on the same page, rereading the same sentences without absorbing any detail.

With a sigh of annoyance, she closed the book, rubbing her forehead with the heel of her palm. She felt like strangling the entire city council of Jump City. She wasn’t quite sure quite why she wanted to do it.

Was it because putting them on display- even for a good cause- rankled against her nature?

Was it because she dreaded meeting the great and mighty of this city?

Was it because she imagined with terrified anticipation the sight of Koriand’r drunk and happy, the oblivious centre of attention…

Ah.

What an image.

It was the latest image to throw itself in front of the traffic of her forebrain. It wouldn’t be the last.

She saw it with crystal clarity. Almost as if she could…

Koriand’r wouldn’t really be drunk. That wasn’t like her. Red cheeked and tipsy from the beverages she would have tried with innocent gaze. Yes, that was more like her. Smiling slightly drunkenly as everyone around her. Telling everyone how wonderful they were, meaning it even without the drink.

Perhaps stumbling slightly, perhaps needing a shoulder to rest on. Perhaps-

Raven tried to cut off the stream of thoughts, reminding herself of the danger. But to no avail.

A glass cracked and shattered nearby.

She couldn’t.

Even if she wanted to.

Even if she needed to.

And even if she could risk her powers running out of control. Even if she could risk the dangers this sort of thing always presented. Even if…

What if Nightwing was wrong?

Even more terrifying, what if he was right?

What could she do?

What?

She couldn’t think here. She couldn’t think here, as her powers picked up, a telekinetic breeze stirring through the room, slowly picking up force.

She teleported away, into her room. There, she could go through these thoughts, allowing only her own quarters to be ripped apart.

She couldn’t be seen like this. Not in front of her team. She couldn’t let herself be seen like this in front of her…in front of Koriand’r.

It was four days after they had been told. Another four days until the actual event.

And Koriand’r was shopping for a new outfit. Going through hundreds of different outfits, in dozens of different shops. She had to find the right one, of course. After all, important people would be there, and showing up in uniform would be bad manners.

It had taken nearly a full day, but she’d persuaded Raven to come with her, and get an outfit herself. After all, it was a charity ball. They needed to look good- or so she’d read, at least.

Raven was so far barely taking an interest every time Koriand’r showed her something that’d be just right for her, but she was holding off most of her scathing wit, and she hadn’t teleported away. It was a good sign, surely…

She held up another outfit in front of Raven.

“Suitable for a seventies disco.”

Well, maybe only a fraction of the wit was being held back. But it was better than nothing, Koriand’r reasoned.

“A disco is a place of dancing, yes?”

“Back in the seventies, yes. Apparently Green Lantern was a big fan, back in the day. Still dances to disco music, even now.”

“How’d you hear about that?”

“Wonder Woman.”

“Oh. I see.” Koriand’r said, holding up another outfit to examine it. “This ‘ball’ has dancing, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Oh good. I have been practicing my ‘hop’ moves.”

“Say again?”

“Is that not the dancing that is done on this planet? With the arm movements and shuffling feet? I’ve been practicing…”

“Er, different kind of event. This is more...formal.”

“Oh.” Koriand’r said, her expression dropping as she suddenly thought of being unable to dance properly. And if she didn’t know how to dance properly, then how could she get to know everyone properly…?

It was a conundrum.

“Listen,” Raven said with a sigh, “I can teach you.”

“You can?”

“Yes.” She replied simply. Koriand’r gazed at her inquisitively. The older woman shifted on the spot slightly, before adding, “Former teacher I had. He had a thing for ball room dancing. A bit batty. But, he was a good enough guy, I suppose.”

“Oh, good.” Koriand’r said with a smile. “But first, you need an outfit.”

Raven grumbled in disagreement, but let Koriand’r drag her off, deeper into the chaos of shops and outfits.

“Listen, listen, listen- can you shut up about your fancy new RAM, the new pet project you’re working on with Steel, beating up Doctor Light- like there’s anyone who hasn’t-, what colour you painted your toenails, and whatever the hell it was you ate for dinner and answer my damn question?” Garfield said, glaring at the screen before him and, more importantly, the person on it.

And here he was, thinking maybe he’d chill out after a while commanding his own team. How wrong was he?

“Yeah, sure. Like we think your cross dressing is interesting.”

“‘We’? What are you, a collective community up there? Going in for a hippie commune feel or something?”

“Well, I don’t hear any complaints about the free love that’s all over this place like Bruce Wayne and Hugh Hefner decided to team up and have a party to end all parties…”

“Hey, well, so long as you’re having to compare yourself to a dumbass from Gotham, hey, who am I to complain? And can you answer my question, anyway?”

“And what question is that, Garf?”

“Do I look hot, or do I look hot, in this outfit?” Garfield replied, striking a pose, trying to show off the best of him in a fancy suit, which probably cost more than he could afford.

“Like I modified my freezer to keep Doomsday kept in storage for the next hundred years.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m so badass, and- hey! That was an insult! Man, that’s so uncool.”

“Yeah, well, just giving my opinion…” He deadpanned in reply, smirking despite himself.

“Like you could carry off wearing a suit. Or a tux.”

“As a matter of fact I can, and I did. You know, at that party in Metropolis. You might have heard about it- famous scientists, a couple of Hollywood people, half of Broadway, a fair few superheroes. Plastic Man, for example.”

“...bastard.”

The quarters each member had were remarkably spacious. But then, given the size of their headquarters, it was hardly surprising. Most rooms in the tower were used for little more than storage, but some had a more practical purpose.

Koriand’r found herself waiting in the room Raven used to store her library of tomes. She’d been explicitly told not to touch anything. Most of them would react badly if touched by someone without the right protective magic’s around them.

The place was lined with shelves, filled with books and scrolls. Papyri scrolls thousands of years old, books of skin that dripped tar, scrolls written on the hides of long extinct animals, books of metal and of gold, crystal tablets, books stored in steel boxes, scrolls preserved by immersion in water and other fluids…

The shelves lined the walls. Book cases, waist high, took up more than half the room. The other half, near half obscured windows, was dominated by a large desk filled with tools to repair bindings, stacked high with notes on translations. A large lamp hung above the table, and a huge chair, as ancient as the desk itself, faced the windows.

The windows were huge, like all the windows in the tower. Unsurprisingly, Raven had put up huge curtains that obscured a good two thirds of the glass even when nominally open.

Walking around the room, Koriand’r found numerous small inscriptions carved into the wood of the shelves, into the brick and metal of the walls, into the doors…looking up, she saw that the ceiling bore inscriptions too. She tried to identify them, but couldn’t. They weren’t any earthly language she knew.

“The symbols.” Koriand’r jumped as the voice spoke, somewhere behind her. “They are a combination language I crafted, a private language for use in magical rituals and rites that require inscriptions, amongst other uses. They include the language of my…of my people. They include elements from many languages of this world, from several para-dimensional languages, as well as elements from several alien worlds.”

“Oh, I see.” Koriand’r replied, turning and watching as Raven emerged from the shadows. “I thought I saw something in them, but…I could not tell what exactly. What do they mean?”

“They’re protection. They’re especially noticeable in this room, because my concentration is usually on study. And working in the proximity of such tomes as I have here is not a healthy occupation.” Raven said in way of explanation. “And I’m not surprised you recognized something. I did use Ancient Tamaran in the construction of my language code. The symbols are multi-dimensional, so you probably only saw certain elements out of the corner of your eye.”

“Ah.” Koriand’r said, nodding as she listened to Raven’s explanation. She rarely gave such explanations, and she treasured the little bit of insight this gave. “You used Ancient Tamaran?”

“Yes.”

“So the book I gave you was useful?”

“Yes. It provided some interesting insights into your culture, and I incorporated a number of elements from the ancient languages in it into my own language code.”

Koriand’r beamed as Raven walked deeper into the room, pulling back her hood. “I am most glad. I did not know you liked it so, or else I would have-”

“It was more than enough.” Raven said with a shrug, turning away and walking to the window.

“So, ah...did you find an outfit, eventually?”

“Of course. I got it one hour and forty minutes into the session. I saw to the purchase while you were distracted by what was in the fourth shop we entered.”

“Oh…did you do it in the same manner you just appeared from the shadows, then?” Koriand’r replied, a knowing smile on her face that Raven did not see.

“No. And besides, if I revealed all my secrets, I’d be out of a job.”

“Turning into Mumbo, are you? Wish to turn me into a cat?”

Raven didn’t reply, but Koriand’r was certain she heard her say something.

“...wouldn’t be as...”

“Pardon?” Koriand’r asked, stepping closer to Raven, trying to figure out what she had just mumbled under her breath. Raven turned around abruptly, facing the taller woman.

“Fair enough- I’m not him. Not by a long shot.” She said with a shake of a head, before resigning herself to giving an explanation with a shrug. “In the shop, it was slight of hand. As for the shadows…I’ve been researching, experimenting, and practicing in certain forms of magic. One of them includes an increased ability to use shadows. I’m trying to perfect my ability in that regard.”

Raven gestured to the room behind Koriand’r. “Do you wish to begin your lesson?” She asked with a hint of a smile.

She was, as ever, an attentive student. Her usually incessant, irredeemably cheerful, banter was replaced by a ferocious attention to the lesson at hand. After a while, Raven’s intrigue made her bold enough to ask at last about it.

“Oh, it’s just the way I was raised, likely more than.” Koriand’r replied, not breaking her rhythm with Raven.

“Just the upper classes, or is this across your whole civilization?”

“As far as I know, everyone is taught to be like this. If a thing is worth learning it is worth learning properly.”

“Same as your attitude to doing things?”

“Yes, that is so.” Koriand’r said, before glancing down at Raven and asking, “Did not the book I gave you tell you this?”

“In so many words, no. Mythology provides a broad sweep of a culture, but very rarely the specifics of the culture and society as it is today.” Raven replied, nearly automatically.

“Ah.”

The lesson continued, instructions and questions traded back and forth. Minutes passed, and the Tamaran said,

“The symbols in this room…how much do you use them?”

“Only in formal ceremonies, or for the embedding of my protective weave into the physical world. I’ve put more of them about the tower in the past year- previously, I only had them in my room, and in this room, barring a couple of others. Now, I’ve ensured they’re placed everywhere. I don’t…want to be caught unawares.” Raven said, her voice tightening in the last few words.

For a while, Koriand’r didn’t reply, as she considered her reply.

“Then I am glad. I know you would not let any harm become us.”

Raven’s lip twitched upwards slightly, the air shifting around her, before she said lightly, “Anything for you.”

The waiting ended, soon enough. Garfield and Koriand’r were waiting for Raven to finally emerge from her room, and Garfield wasn’t wasting any time in enthusing about his outfit.

Apparently, it was all the rage up and down the coast. Apparently that Shreck company- it had some name, but he couldn’t remember it- had recently produced a range that was going down like a storm. The finest materials, the best cut, a kick ass colour combo of black and just the right shade of green to complement his skin and fur tones. But-

“It doesn’t change size.” Garfield said with an incredulous look. “I mean, I tried to see what it’d look like if I decided to change form or something, but all I managed to do was look like a badly dressed dog. I’m just glad I didn’t try seeing how a elephant would look in it, huh?”

“Yes, it would not have looked very good in the slightest bit at all.” Koriand’r agreed, nodding vehemently.

What time Garfield hadn’t spent going on about how his so-amazing-it-can-dance outfit was going to dazzle everyone, he was offering a stream of comments about how her outfit was going to scoop some random award invented on the spot for sheer brilliance and audacity.

She was, naturally enough, carrying off an audacious outfit as only royalty can. The dominance of purple was all but predetermined, and she made it work. It was a happy coincidence, that the colour had the same connotations here as it did back on Tamara. Connotations of wealth, of power, of being the cream of civilization…

Of course, such things were more openly stated on her home world. Simpler, more honest in a way…but the complexities of the social structure on earth was something to explore, delving into it, seeing it from the view of a true outsider in a way few ever could.

At first glance, she seemed to be dressed in nothing more complex than a well cut purple dress, with ornamentation provided by silver jewellery of a design unseen in any retailer on Earth. But closer inspection would reveal a gradual shifting in shades, resolving into a complex pattern that entrapped the eye.

She thought it was quite witty, really.

“Tell me about it! I mean, can you imagine the embarrassment? I mean, it’s not like I’m some kinda weirdo who goes around wearing my costume under my clothes. Can you imagine how much I’d sweat? I mean, fur, costume and a kick ass outfit? I’d be a bag of bones by the end of the night!”

“Yes, that is a most reasonable thing to be said.”

“And anyway, where is out illustrious dictator, beloved el presidenta-” Garfield started saying, before clamming shut as he heard footsteps.

Raven stepped into the room, and raised an eyebrow at Garfield’s sudden, conspicuous silence, and the half worried, half amused expression Koriand’r bore in relation to it.

“Er...just wondering where you were…you know, our wonderful leader…can’t go anywhere…without…our leader…”

“...whatever you say.” Raven said, turning away, but not fast enough to conceal the smirk that crossed her face briefly.

As Garfield breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t going to be hung, drawn and quartered at noon, Koriand’r spoke up. “A most wonderful and fitting outfit, Raven. I see why you wished to try and surprise us with it and it’s wonderfulness.”

Raven paused, considering the words, then shrugged, concealing the twitch of her id ruthlessly, not letting a single muscle move out of place.

Clothed in a dark, midnight blue dress, simplicity was the keyword. Her arms were left exposed, as well as her upper back, revealing the uppermost top of a tattoo that adorned her. A simple black stone, notable only be it’s smooth ness being broken into a jagged slice, as if it were torn in two, hung from a metal cord round her neck, and she lacked any other ornamentation.

Garfield finally recovered, and said, “Hey, since when did you have a tattoo?”

“Since I was fourteen.” Raven deadpanned.

“Whoa, you’ve had that thing for six years? Ah, why do you have to be so badass like that, and just when I thought I’d figured you out, too!”

“But...it doesn’t mean she is any different.” Koriand’r said, giving her opinion freely.

“That’s not the point, Star- the point is, she’ll act like it’s nothing cool!”

“It was just a ritual, Garfield. A necessary part of my learning process.”

“See? See! That’s what I’m talking about! Oh man, you’re so going to be in the gossip pages now…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Raven stated, waving her hand dismissively. “You’ve got other things to get attention to yourself.”

“Oh, really?” Garfield replied sarcastically.

“Such as explaining how you can live in the same building as me for three years and not notice a simple piece of body art that covers my back.”

“Aw, why’d you have to depress me?” Garfield complained as Raven’s energy field surrounded them, contracting to nothingness as she teleported them all out of the tower.

She considered, briefly, that teleporting straight onto the red carpet was a bad idea. Several people had jumped back in surprise, and at least one reporter had collapsed upon finding himself facing one blank faced Titan and two eager, near-hyperactive, Titans.

Stepping past the reports and general crowd as they quickly regained their focus, Raven spent a bare second being bombarded by camera flashes. As Koriand’r struck a series of dignified poses, and Garfield a series of considerably less dignified ones, she made her way inside the building.

Last time she’d been here, she’d been leading the Titans in an effort to stop a small army of Slade’s robots from tearing apart another event very similar to this one- namely, one stocked with the rich and the powerful.

It was...strange...stepping into here without the accompanying chaos that her memory insisted should be in here.

She shook the thought off. There was nothing here, besides a brief opportunity to network. Something Grayson had managed to do well, even while operating purely as Robin. He’d learnt those skills somewhere. She knew she’d do alright, but she wouldn’t be a duck to water…

Briefly, her mind recited what he’d said to her, back in Gotham. Three weeks it had been churning through her mind…

With greater passion, she wished Koriand’r was here.

The minutes and hours passed smoothly for the Tamaran woman. Though she was long out of practice, the routines of courtly behaviour had been deeply etched in her mind, and she held true to them.

Moving from person to person, making sure not a single individual was left without receiving her presence, and a considerable portion of her attention.

She concealed it well, but it was still there. Her attention was, with ever increasing regularity, being consumed by thoughts and concerns revolving around one person. Ever since the revelations of three weeks ago…

Raven...she wondered, briefly, what other secrets she held. She couldn’t begrudge her them. She didn’t know the cause, but those secrets she had learnt of…she felt she could understand why Raven had kept them secret for so long.

But, for the past three weeks, she had been…oddly behaved. At times, she seemed almost cheerful. At others, more morose and bleak than she usually was. And, most frightening and worrying of all, she had become, with increasing frequency, cold and isolated, as if she were rigidly controlling every thought that passed through her mind, adopting a type of isolation she’d so rarely used.

She’d spotted Raven leaving the grand hall easily enough. Extracting herself from the group she currently was in was easy enough. Half the people in the hall were focusing on Garfield’s current favourite party trick- cramming two dozen quail’s eggs into his mouth at the same time.

She guessed Raven’s route, and soon found herself on a large balcony, large enough to house a not inconsiderable garden. Dozens of trees, fully in bloom, adorned the place. As she walked in, a couple was leaving, sharing a joke and laughing at each other’s wit. They didn’t give Koriand’r a second glance.

She found Raven, her arms resting on an ornate railing, looking over at the patterns of light of the city as they lit up the night.

“Noticed I was gone, huh?” Raven said without turning.

“Yes.” Koriand’r said, not needing to ask how she’d been detected. She was probably radiating emotion. “I wanted to see how you were. I suppose it must be a bit much in there.”

“You suppose correctly.” Raven said, turning round at last. She smiled weakly, and added, “Thanks for the concern, but…I just needed some air. And some time away from the pulse of emotion.”

“Didn’t quite manage it, I saw.”

“The couple? Tell me about it.” Raven said with a roll of her eyes. “They were radiating it. I managed to tune most of it out, but still…”

“There is only me here now. I’m sure you know how to tune me out perfectly.”

Raven shifted her gaze, looking fixedly at Koriand’r for a moment. Then, shifting her focus, she started to walk slowly, her eyes roaming over the surroundings, running her hand along the railing.

Koriand’r followed, a couple of steps behind Raven. Several steps in, and she spoke again.

“I could tune you out completely, but…I’ve grown used to it. I’d be missing something important. I just don’t listen in to any thoughts if I can help it, maybe tune out some more extreme emotions…”

She stopped beside one of the carefully cultivated trees, and turned to face Koriand’r. She was skilled enough at reading Raven’s expressions to know she was conflicted about something, undecided on something that troubled her.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you something.” Raven began, haltingly. “But I’m not sure how.”

“You can tell me anything, Raven.” Koriand’r said with a smile.

“I know. I can tell you anything, but…” She trailed off, looking away. “It’s complicated, Kori.”

“Those that are, are worth cherishing.”

“Didn’t realise you were a philosopher too.” Raven said. Koriand’r shrugged, smiled, didn’t say anything further. “I’ve been meaning to say…I’ve been wondering…”

She paused again, and as she did, the air shifted around them, a gust of wind moving through, shaking loosely held petals loose in a cascade of colour.

“Here, let me.” Koriand’r said, plucking the petals out of Raven’s hair. She didn’t move or speak, gazing silently up at Koriand’r, all thought of speaking driven out of her.

She marvelled at the sight. Immersed her mind in it. Memorising every contour, every movement. Memorising it all over again. Every slight sensation…

She felt herself twitch fractionally as Koriand’r removed another from her hair.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Raven replied. Koriand’r gazed at her, a faint quizzical expression crossing her face. “Kori, I-”

She froze mid sentence.

There was something here with them.
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The Titans: Triptych