Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Raven sighed. "I'll be fine, Mr. Kent. It's just a trip to a couple libraries."

Mr. Kent stared. "Libraries in Hell itself."

Technically, it was in the Six Kingdoms of Trigon, which was a pocket dimension and not Hell itself. But for practical purposes, it was still Hell.

Raven let her second pair of eyes manifest. Her skin turned demonic red, and her four eyes glowed the same. "I'll be fine."

"Then why are you wearing that extra cloak as a disguise?"

"I want the hood to hide my face so I have the element of surprise if anyone wants to make trouble. It revolves around some demonic society traits that would take too long to explain. For me, walking the streets of Hell to an archive is only as dangerous as another High Schooler taking a walk to the library."

"Go ahead, then. I trust you."

Raven took a strip of cloth and blindfolded her upper eyes, then let her human appearance bleed through again. She opened a portal and stepped through.

Raven looked upon the city in the Six Kingdoms of Trigon. Kyriarchía. "Home, sweet home." She felt Trigon's power growing within the gem on her head, and redoubled her focus on his restraints.

____________________

Shigal the fear demon saw a brave mortal walking the streets of Kyriarchía ahead of him. Their courage was belied by how she tried to hide her mortality underneath a large cloak. He had to punish the arrogance of a mortal walking through Hell. Shigal ducked into an alleyway and used the eldritch dimensions to walk out the other side right and face the mortal as she turned a corner.

"You are brave, mortal. Who holds your soul?"

"I do," she responded.

"Not for long."

A couple motions later, Shigal was flat on the ground with a boot on his neck.

"It is a brave demon who tries to fight me."

"I surrender!"

"Some fear demon you are," the mortal sneered. The pressure on his neck eased, and Shigal looked up. How had she known he was a fear demon?

Were those mortal's eyes glowing? Had her skin bled to red?

Oh. Not a mortal.

He ran away, outmatched.

____________________

Wricken, Keeper of the Archives and demon of greed, saw a cloaked mortal enter her sanctum of knowledge. "You are bold, mortal. Whose permission do you have to access Trigon's Archives?"

The mortal held out a card. "Trigon's."

Wricken glanced at the card, then did a double take.

"P-Pride?" she sputtered.

The princess lowered her hood, then lowered a blindfold. Her skin bled to red and her second pair of eyes manifested.

As quickly as the "mortal" had confirmed her identity, the princess of Kyriarchía, Pride Trigon's Daughter, raised her hood again.

"Welcome, your Highness. What knowledge do you seek?"

"Recent cults of servitude to my Father going back 50 years, present demonic realms in Los Angeles on Earth, and the past 50 years of demonic contracts with mortals."

Wricken flipped through the Archives' index.

____________________

Raven hadn't planned on asking about realms in Los Angeles. The city had felt wrong when she was traveling to Jump City, but she didn't know why. Returning to Hell, it felt clear.

The power in Los Angeles was demonic.

Fifty years of history was probably overkill, but the cults could be running on the scale of demonic plans instead of human timescales. She sat at a large table and waited for the Archivist's servitor demons to bring her the documents.

The documents came in three small binders, one per topic. She started with cults. Even the forces of Hell mocked the Latin of the cult Batman and his family had just dismantled, but they had been trying to summon her specifically. That was doomed to failure whenever she was already on Earth. She recorded the cultists' names and kept looking. Most other cults were irrelevant small-timers, seeking only very minor demons or services.

She looked over demonic contracts. None of the names matched the cultists, though one name was present three times: sold to Nergal, to Ashox, Second of the Fallen, and to Beelzebub, some ex-ruler of Hell. Assuming that it was the same "John Constantine" listed in the three contracts, none of the claimants to his soul were in Trigon's domain.

She made a note

Unbidden, Trigon sent her a thought, I almost bought his soul, too .

She went over cults again, and found references to some sort of splinter cult in Los Angeles, but didn't see more about that. She recorded the details for further investigation.

Demonic realms in Los Angeles... six. She recognized one of the names, Nergal, but didn't know anything about the others. Six more topics to research, though their operations' domains of influence were on the map. Their general power levels and methods of torment were useful knowledge, too.

...Nergal.

Raven looked her information over. More information on the demonic domains and their masters would require... services at the least, even for her. She went back to the Archivist.

"I've finished with the documents I asked for. I require in their place copies of all contracts for anyone with 'Constantine' in their name within the past 70 years." John Constantine was less than 70, right? "I also require information on the main cult of an entity called 'Brother Blood' whose offshoot cult appeared in Los Angeles, 2012."

The documents appeared complete... Wait, Nergal?

She looked at her notes. Nergal was both a ruler in Los Angeles and a claimant to John Constantine's soul. She made a special note of that. He foolishly sold his soul, but recovering his soul... I don't even know what to do from there. Nothing bad will come of recovering it.

Constantine could be useful. The contract on his soul, even more .

Brother Blood's cult, the Church of Blood, was only exceptional in that it had lasted a few centuries by virtue of Brother Blood possessing an immortality metahuman power and a sense of when to cut and run.

She returned the documents, then exited the Archives.

Turning the corner into an alleyway, she opened a portal and walked through.

Wait, why am I doing this?

____________________

"Beelzebub" a feminine voice called.

Beelzebub turned and saw a creature covered in cloaks and robes. The creature wanted to look mortal, but failed to hide her magical power. A portal made of dark purple energies faded and closed behind her.

"Who are you?" Beelzebub demanded.

"A nightmare of many names. I'm here about a soul I'm given to understand you own."

The nightmare produced a document with COPY written all over it.

"Constantine is mine !" Beelzebub snarled.

"About that..." the nightmare produced two more documents, both contracts for Constantine. "Do you feel like going up against an Arch-Duke and the Second of the Fallen?"

"Probably." It was only half a bluff.

"I could simply leave. Or I could take responsibility for dealing with your fellow claimants if you'd sell Constantine's soul to me. I think I can get some worth out of it and won't mind going up against those two. And I mean it when I say I won't mind. The question is, are you willing to sell, and for what price?"

How had the nightmare demon known?

The nightmare pulled out a mirror that made Beelzebub shudder, then whispered eight wretched syllables that made their skin crawl. "Show me the likely futures with the thrones."

She turned the mirror to show them two images.

The nightmare ruling over Trigon himself. And the nightmare serving just under Trigon.

"Are you willing to gamble on me taking either of those positions? A place under my command, moving up... I could see you returning to partial rulership of all of Hell, not the small domain Etrigan reduced you to, centuries ago."

Beelzebub looked at the nightmare. "Your offer of a gamble is not enough. Would you like to discuss the price of his soul?"

More than one of three contracts grants.

"Not his soul. But one claim on it, yes."

____________________

A couple hours later, Raven stepped through a portal back to Earth, owing a specific favor to Beelzebub -- not an open-ended one, she knew far better than that -- and holding one of Constantine's three contracts. A demonic sigil burned on her left arm, an unbreakable Vow to fulfill her debt.

Wait , she thought. Was it my idea to seek out Constantine's contracts... or Father's?

It didn't feel like something she'd have thought of on her own.

But it was... no, thinking it was an intriguing idea was definitely Father twisting her thoughts to his ends.

I need you alive, Daughter. Or I'm trapped in this Hell.

"All you have to do is learn to appreciate peace and love. And then my spell cannot hold you," Raven replied.

... HAHAHA! I get it! I'm so proud of you. Oh, I never realized you were capable of such vindictiveness. Next sibling you have, I have to remember what I did to raise you so I can do it again!

Unnerved, Raven created a portal back to Earth and stepped through.

____________________

She did not come out near Mr. Kent's apartment, nor even in the city. She came out nearby the Wayne mansion. She sent a quick message to Mr. Kent, I'm back. Heading out for a quick errand. Then she buzzed for Alfred Pennyworth to let her in so she could speak with Mr. Wayne. Mr. Pennyworth likely knew who she really was. If he didn't, then Raven was still known to the Waynes, so he'd let her in.

Mr. Pennyworth did not answer the door.

Damian answered.

"Raven, I saw you on the security cameras. Pennyworth's running comms for Father and some others in the League while I was running the cameras."

"What caused this?"

"There's been a slaughter."

Chapter Text

Damian let Raven into the mansion, but kept an eye on her. Between her timing and some of the sigils matching the other cult that she knew more about than she should, there was more to this than anyone realized. He recalled she was an empath and tried to push some thoughts out of his mind.

"What sort of slaughter?" Raven was as reserved as ever, which told Damian nothing.

"It's all over the news. Where were you?"

Raven's voice was slightly more crisp as she replied, "I was doing some research. I found a few details about the ritual you and Batman asked me about."

Damian kept watching Raven as he led her to the Batcave "I couldn't find much about real magic when I was going around the bookstores. The occult sections told me nothing I could make sense of. I found a few diagrams that looked close to the ritual and bought those books."

"I can review them. What happened?"

"You don't know?"

Raven's eyes narrowed. "What are you implying?"

"Aside from a lot of gang members dead, The Joker, the Penguin, and Bruno Mannheim are all dead. Multiple piercing wounds of various sizes, some clean slashes that Father thinks were near-missed attacks. There is currently no evidence who did it. Volcana, Two-Face, Bane, and Mr. Freeze are all in the hospital and under heavy guard. Mercy Graves, Perry White, and both of Kent's parents are hospitalized and not under guard."

"Wait, Ma and Pa Kent are hurt?"

Damian took a breath and, though not visibly in his Robin uniform, shifted his mentality to being Robin.

"And between the survivors and bystanders, there are multiple witnesses whose accounts are very similar," Robin continued. "A red-skinned wraith of shadow, in a blue-and-black cloak. The wraith had your body shape."

Raven's eyes widened in shock. Robin had never seen that reaction from her.

Robin allowed himself to remember that he'd -- activated multiple security systems to trigger if Raven attacked.

"You think that was me?"

"Most reports of the magical auras don't quite match the color you use, and the wraith had four glowing eyes. The auras were more red than purple, but the powers are otherwise an exact match for what you can do, including flight, waves of destructive darkness, and spears of shadow."

Robin turned to face Raven fully. "What were you doing at the time of the attacks? ...And what's with that headband? It looks like a blindfold."

Robin couldn't have gotten more of a reaction from Raven if he'd pulled out his great-grandfather's katana and stabbed her.

"I told you, I was doing research." Raven held up some papers. "I recorded the important bits, about recent cults and sigils. I'm fairly sure the cult your family took down the other day was just an isolated incident, though I found some evidence of a cult that is not isolated on the other side of the country."

Robin waited.

"The big thing is that, yes, those were summoning runes, although their grammar meant they were more likely to banish the entity they sought to summon."

Her words were more cautious than usual.

The mansion behind him opened, and he let himself remember that the moment he and Pennyworth saw her on the security cameras, Pennyworth alerted the League.

"You say 'the entity' and not 'the demon' or 'child of darkness' that they wrote. You reacted very oddly when I spoke of a red-skinned wraith. What are you hiding?" he asked.

Batman, Constantine, Cyborg, The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna all burst in.

____________________

Batman watched Raven whirl around, her eyes wide with fear. A couple lights burned out. Some hardening foam burst out targeting Raven to immobilize her. He'd told Alfred to be trigger-happy with the foam.

He wished he'd had more space to outfit the mansion with devices to neutralize magic users. Constantine and Zatanna would fill in for that.

They didn't need to. Raven didn't even try to fight.

"Where were you," Batman growled.

"Researching the ritual! I have my notes."

Batman looked at Constantine. "I'll look at those," the sorcerer declared. "Huh, I would never have realized Batman was Bruce Wayne if you hadn't told me. Actually, I wouldn't have cared. Nice place."

Raven breathed deeply and sounded much more calm, "I only just found out when Robin told me. I've only seen that wraith he described once. In my dreams. My nightmares. Until just now, I thought it was only a nightmare. A demon's been tormenting me with them."

"Hey, Batsy," Constantine called. "Her notes on that ritual seem real. I'd love to meet that cult so I can laugh at their grammar, though. They were doomed twice over. Once because their grammar was going to banish the demon. The other, I know 'cause Raven used the first person here: because their target was her, and she was already on Earth. Can't summon what's already on Earth, you know?"

Everyone stared at either Constantine or Raven.

Constantine muttered a few words and gestured at Raven. Batman thought he heard the Latin for "Reveal truth of form."

Raven's skin bled to the same red as the monster. She grew a second pair of eyes that glowed from underneath what he realized was a blindfold.

Raven's eyes widened and turned... sad. "Now you know..." she whispered. "But that means ...how about the easy way? John Constantine, you know about demonic Vows?"

"You offerin' one?"

Cyborg spoke up. "What's a demonic vow?"

Zatanna turned to him "Vow, with a capital V. Vows to or from spirits, even Demons, are magically binding. If she Vows that she had nothing to do with this... then she didn't."

Batman turned to Raven.

"I Vow upon my eternal essence, the essence of Hell itself, flowing through my body. I Vow to the throne of Hell, I had no knowing or willing part of the attacks told to me by Damian Wayne, nor did I have any information that they were going to happen, nor did I know that they had happened until he told me."

Constantine stepped between everyone. "So far as Vows go, that's pretty comprehensive for something she didn't have time to think about ahead of time."

Zatanna nodded. "I'll work on something more comprehensive, but for now I think we can trust she isn't the one who's been doing this."

Cyborg glanced around. "I can put most of her story together from the reports about her mother. I didn't see much to worry about except what we're talking about now."

Batman growleed. "Then where were you?"

"I was researching, just like I said. ...Just not where I wanted you to think I was. I went down to Kyriarchía. It's the capital city of the Six Kingdoms of Trigon. I looked into demonic activities and cults. Didn't find much, other than confirming a few things I already suspected. As John Constantine said - it was him, right? - the cultists were trying to summon me. I'm the 'Daughter of Darkness' they wanted.

Constantine circled Raven. "I don't think I've seen a demon like you."

"I'm not a demon. Not fully. Cambion. On Earth, my human half shields my demon half from holy artifacts. In Hell, my demon half shields my mortal half from other demons.

"Who's your demon father then?"

Raven took a deep breath. "Trigon."

Constantine took a step back.

Batman thought his eyes wouldn't narrow any more. "Is that why you went to Trigon's domain to research?"

"Yes. John Constantine will know what I mean when I say he sold it three times, and I have one of them now. Arch-Duke Nergal, Beelzebub, and Ashox, Second of the Fallen."

Batman kept his eyes on Raven, but everyone else stared at Constantine.

"That I do, mates. Which one sold?"

"Beelzebub."

"Anyway, I believe she was doing things down in Hell when this all happened. What was that about a nightmare, though?"

"When the League started to take me in. When Miss Diana -- right, just Diana -- let me stay at her place, I dreamed that I was looking in a mirror. I was in human form, but my reflection was in demon form. It reached out and told me, 'You are mine .'"

"Nightmares..." Batman considered. "Starfire told me the Teen Titans all had nightmares about Raven when she first stayed with them."

"I think that was not my doing."

____________________

Robin stayed when the League went out to find the monster. "You can follow if you want, Raven. I'm going to run comms while Pennyworth cleans up this room."

Raven shook her head. "I need to find Mr. Kent. You told me his parents are in the hospital. I should be there, too."

"Then I'll call Kent and tell him it was an unknown monster wearing your face and we know it wasn't you." Robin named a hospital. It was not in Metropolis or Gotham. "Look there."

Raven opened a portal and left without a word.

Chapter Text

Wrath spoke first this time. "I teamed up with Envy to slaughter a path for Greed to take over."

Envy nodded. "And I sowed what distrust I could by taking Pride's form. Unfortunately, I did not realize the League had access to people who know about our Vows. Still, the public at large will distrust her if she shows her true form, and drive her to us."

Greed looked at the others. "I'm in position to take over the criminal underworld and use it to generate problems and a safety net for you five."

Gluttony nodded. "And I'll be ready to respond to the problems before Superman or the other League members can do so."

"I'm ready to take over the underworld if Greed is ousted," Sloth declared. "Until then, I'm going to feed the media whatever secrets Lust can dig up for me."

"I've got access to almost everything," Lust confirmed. "But I'll need your host's name to contact you."

"Riddle me this... who is worthy of my best work, and who will I use my worst against?"

"Got it."

Greed sighed. "We may need to reveal one of ourselves, or else ask the splinter of Father to create a messenger for us."

Lust's essence shook his head. "We'd need to summon someone to relay the message. We can't go back home without locking ourselves there."

With that, they returned to their hosts to pursue their task and think on their problem.

____________________

The ancient shadow awakened in full. Across the world, perception of time and light and darkness shifted, though neither was truly affected by the ripples of perception. Nightmares plagued the world for twenty-four hours. The dreams were all the same: A wraith of pure pain, reminding each dreamer of their every indiscretion.

Even those who could not feel a shred of empathy were forced to do so, that night.