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Brother Blood’s palace is a stunning display of engineering with marvelous fountains and ornate carvings. When she left Azarath, she never could have imagined that such a beautiful place existed on Earth; she thought humans hateful creatures – though now she sees their penchant for destruction masks their capability for grand construction. Under Brother Blood’s rule, human ingenuity has been enhanced and celebrated, not a trace of destruction to be seen. They live in peace, thrive in peace, each day better than the last.
In a dark corner of her mind, she has an inkling that perhaps this isn’t quite correct, that violence has marred their beautiful lives. There’s a wall crumbling from the Titan’s most recent assault in the courtyard – but that can’t be true… Brother Blood’s fortress is impenetrable…
She frowns. Then quickly smiles again as the realization hits – it must be that they’re doing construction in the courtyard. There are no signs of the Titans past battles – and by battles she means defeats, she really ought to be referring to them as Brother Blood’s triumphs – in the courtyard.
Her room isn’t dark, damp, and musty like she remembers Titans Tower being. It’s really quite nice! Her bed smells of lavender and the paint on the walls isn’t chipping – the flaky design is an intentional modern trend in interior decoration – she’s gotten compliments that it’s very vintage. The windows are wide allowing the rays from the sun to wake her without any bothersome curtains. And when she’s meditating the bars provide a slim shadow that perfectly covers her eyes, perfect for soaking up the warmth on her face without being blinded. Her room is fit for royalty.
“Did you know that nobility used to keep rats as pets? They are quite intelligent creatures.” Richard doesn’t stir at her voice, still sprawled on the floor where the guards drop- gently placed him down. She supposes he’s still napping. It’s odd that he hasn’t woken since conversion- no not odd, simply to be expected. Some converts do take longer than others, he must have been exhausted by his travels anyways. She senses no pain, there’s nothing she can do except lightly shake his shoulders.
“Richard, you need to wake up. You will miss Brother Blood’s ceremony if you continue to lounge about.” And what a glorious ceremony it shall be! She should be preparing for it as well. She leaves Richard be and nearly skips to her closet, throwing the door open. A puff of dust - no not dust – glitter! Glitter rains down on her and she laughs, spinning and sneezing – cheering! She cheers until she forgets why she was cheering and peers at her options.
White cloak one or white cloak two. This is a very important decision; she must look her best for the occasion. Decisions are so hard for her though. “Richard, which do you prefer?” She pulls each of the cloaks out and holds them against herself. He twitches once. Then twitches again. “Ah, the second one. Great choice!” Now that she’s looking at them critically, she can see why he picked this one – clearly it is the better option. It’s so kind of her friend to help her with this small dilemma.
There’s no where private to change. “Keep your eyes closed, please.” She requests. Richard twitches an affirmation in response, his eyes still shut. Quickly, she disrobes and changes as fast as she can – that way she’ll be able to return the favor and help Richard pick out an outfit!
As she pulls the cloak over her head, she sees that Richard is still twitching. He’s starting to shake violently – oh perhaps he’s dancing! He must be so excited to see Brother Blood he simply can’t contain himself. How lovely! She shakes in response, twirling around the room and leaping in excitement.
“Oh, my!” It seems Richard’s gotten ahold of red paint, he must have eaten some earlier, because it’s pouring out of his mouth. “Richard, stop that!” He seems to ignore her reprimand. Quite rude of him really, though she can’t stay irked for long. Letting the negative emotions dissipate, she does her best to clean up the paint with her bedsheet and soon, Richard stops dancing.
Unfortunately, now her bedsheet is ruined – not! Now it matches another one of those new-fashioned trends – it’s splatter paint! She spreads it across her bed to dry and admires the beautiful piece of art she created with her best friend. How thoughtful of him to provide the paint, she’ll have to find something to do to repay him.
The outfit! She can help him out of his frankly smelly clothes. She tries to remember how they got so drenched with sweat – ah the conversion – she was there for that. He resisted, the silly thing, it only heightened the pain for the both of them… that’s not quite right though… Brother Blood would never hurt her... The clothes must be damp because they went swimming earlier today. Now, she remembers, it was so funny, she starts laughing aloud again at the memory of Richard jumping in the pool, clothes and all.
She hopes the other Titans will convert soon because then they could all go swimming together! Brother Blood would surely be willing to allow them to swim, and perhaps he could even join in himself. Excitement bubbles in her chest and she quickly swallows it back down - she’s not even worthy to stand in Brother Blood’s presence, she can’t possibly dream of swimming with him.
“Raven?” Richard croaks from his place on the dingy – soft floor. Pain creeps like tendrils across the ground, radiating from his body. She easily whisks them away with a hand on his shoulder. “What…?” His confusion is a muddy brown against her joyful white aura. She wipes that away too.
Richard blinks, then smiles giddily. She giggles back, it’s so wonderful that Brother Blood magnified her powers, and she found a way to repay Richard for his help earlier! Counting her blessings, she offers a hand to Richard and helps him to slightly unstable feet.
He glances around and sneezes. His brow begins to furrow in deep thought. “It’s dusty in here.” His smile falters as murky brown pools around his ankles. How disappointing, perhaps he simply needs time to adjust. She found the days after conversion a bit difficult at first too… didn’t she? No, now that she thinks about it, it was wonderful. She’s not sure what his problem is. “I… I…”
“Isn’t it beautiful here?” She interrupts, sending little pulses of joy through her fingertips interlaced with his and smiles all the wider. The confusion is stubborn and pushes back at her. Richard’s pushing back at her – silly her, she forgot to explain. “For years my powers seemed like a curse.” Pausing, she sighs happily. “I used to only take other’s pain, but now I can share in their joy. I can even share my own happiness with others. It is only me, Richard, let me help you, I am your friend and I care for you. I can make you well.”
“Something’s not right.” He mumbles, swaying deliriously. Purple paranoia crawls on his skin. His hand sweats in hers but doesn’t let go. “I came to…” He stares blankly at the door. Gray frustration clouds start billowing out from his ears. “Raven?” Turning, he stares through her. “What happened to Raven…?” Sad black droplets drip from fingers into the muddy pool growing at his feet.
Pity swells in her heart and she pushes that away too. Richard’s knees buckle as pain explodes from his head like a firecracker. She recoils, startled by the popping pain. He shakes uncontrollably – no no no not shaking not in pain, she doesn’t want pain, pain doesn’t make sense - this is wrong! “Don’t – no – argh! Stop it! Please – hurting me – I can’t!” She begs, her own head bursting with his, collapsing near him, blindly reaching out and pushing everything away.
Peace settles over them and the room falls eerily silent. Somberly she opens her eyes, the earlier joy she had gone. And then she sees Richard. And she remembers… one of her best friends converted… she’s not alone here any longer… and she smiles, she never needs to be alone again… she laughs, the joy is back, she grabs Richard’s hands and fills him with it too.
His eyes snap open and he starts laughing along with her. “Raven!” He tackles her in a hug. “I can’t believe it’s you! I missed you so much, I’m so glad Brother Blood brought us together!”
“I know, it’s simply lovely.” She basks in his emotions, a wave of blue caring mixed with golden love crashing over her. Her aura of joy swells with their laughter and mingles with Richard’s happiness combining into a blue mist that fills the room in a happy fog.
“Your room is gorgeous, what a wonderful place to live!” He helps her to her feet and surveys the room, his eyes settling on her bed. “A splatter paint design, how modern!”
She beams. “We made it together, remember?”
“No… Yes, yes actually, it was so much fun. We did it together earlier on our picnic!” She has to think about that, she was pretty sure they made it while dancing. After a moment she remembers the picnic.
“Ah yes, wasn’t it such a wonderful time? The little birds nearly stole our food and you chased them away with the blanket.” She laughs at the recollection of one landing right on Richard’s head. He laughs with her and sparks of pink happiness trace patterns through the mist around them. “I’m so glad you came; I had such a lovely time.”
“I’m so glad you’re alive! Thank the gods for Brother Blood.” He wraps her in a wonderful hug again. “Everyone will be so happy to see you. I can’t wait until they’re converted as well.”
“It is simply a matter of time.” She agrees. Perhaps, her vision of the future isn’t so fantastical after all. She’s here with Richard now, more of their friends will follow. If there’s anything she’s learned, where there’s one Titan, more will follow. Soon, they’ll all be united under Blood and help usher in an era of peace and love to world. She smiles, soaking up the emotions she was denied for so long. “I cannot wait to see them.”
The bell chimes, echoing through the halls in a jolly melody. The ceremony will happen soon, Blood will go worldwide with his message, and they’ll be there, standing at his side. “Come along Richard, let us fulfill our destinies.” She laughs, skipping out the door, linked arm and arm with her best friend. She smiles to herself, she could have never imagined that her life would turn out so well, what a perfect day.