Fan Fiction ❯ Teen Titans: Shadows Inside Us ❯ Heart-Shaped Box ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

This piece of fanfiction is ©copyright 2005 by Saint Raven. All characters in this story are owned by Cartoon Network and whoever else owns Teen Titans. This work cannot be reproduced for profit or anything else without the written consent of the author, Saint Raven.
 
This story is dedicated to fellow fanfiction author Gohan Strife from Mediaminer.org and Fanfiction.net. Gohan, you rock!
 
 
Teen Titans: Shadows Inside Us
Part 3: Heart-Shaped Box
By Saint Raven
 
 
Raven free-fell through the darkness of Jinx's mind towards her subconscious. Something was amiss in the witch's mind, but Raven couldn't tell what. It seemed as if Jinx's soul had taken leave of her body and left it to someone else. But-
*That's impossible*, Raven thought. *You can't just evict your soul.*
The dark mage squinted through the darkness as she fell, unable to see any solid landmass near her. *It shouldn't take this long for me to reach the subconscious…* Raven muttered to herself.
 
Finally she landed in what, at one point, had looked like an amusement park. Everyone's mind was different; for Raven, it was a black pit filled with floating masses of rock, which branched into a happy, tree-filled place that Beast Boy had once said air fresheners came from. Jinx's mind, apparently, had, at one point, been a fun park.
Except that it hadn't faded away, like most childhood mindscapes do as the person slowly matures and grows older. Jinx's mindscape reminded Raven of the Lakeshore Amusement Park level from Silent Hill 3. All the rides that Raven could see were decimated, broken parts hanging loosely by threads. The vending machines were shattered, their contents spilling out onto the dirty ground. Even the sky was broken; large chunks missing from it, and Raven thought she could see one of them. A large piece of something had apparently crushed the carousel.
“Okay…” Raven muttered to herself. “Maybe this wasn't such a good idea-“
“ARGH!!” Someone screamed to her left, from behind the destroyed carousel.
The dark mage hurried to the carousel and looked around it to see a blue-skinned man with small hands and a scar under one eye argue with a fit-looking young woman with faintly green skin, long black hair, and a scowl on her face. “Weird,” Raven thought, “they look very familiar.”
“I'm telling you, Shego, there's no reason to hit me all the time!”
The woman replied, “But Dr. D, that's what you pay me to do.”
“What!?” the man shouted. “I'm PAYING you??”
Raven cleared her throat. The pair stopped arguing and looked over at her. The blue man raised an eyebrow.
“Um…are we feeling something new today?” he asked Raven, “because I've never seen you before.”
“That's because I'm not an emotion,” Raven replied. “I'm here because Jinx asked me in.”
“Ah, excellent!” the blue man cried. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Drew Lipsky, but you may call me…DOCTOR DRAKKE-BLARGH!!!”
Drakken collapsed as Shego pulled her fist back. “For the last FUCKING TIME, you are not Drakken, you're CURIOSITY!”
A light bulb went off above Raven's head. “Now I remember,” the mage said to the emotions, “you're from that cartoon show Starfire likes to watch!”
“Really?” Curiosity asked, looking excited. “We're famous? Oh Director, I'm ready for my close-up-ARGH!”
“Oh, sorry,” Shego replied as she pulled her foot back. “Did you like the close up of my heel!?”
“Ow…” Curiosity mumbled.
“So,” Raven said, trying to steer the conversation in a direction that would benefit her. “Who are you?”
“Me?” Shego replied, “why, I'm Vanity, couldn't
you tell?”
“I can now,” the mage muttered. “Look, I'm trying to find Jinx, know where she is?”
“Oh, the boss-lady?” Vanity asked. “Yeah, she's holed up in the frontal lobe.”
“Why the hell would she be there? No one ever goes to their frontal lobes! It's dangerous.”
Vanity shrugged. “I don't think she had much of a choice in the matter.”
“Why's that?”
“'Cause he made her go with him.”
“Who's `he'?”
Vanity shrugged. “No idea really. He just showed up one day and took over.”
 
 
 
 
Raven panted as she trudged through the House Of Mirrors that Yakko, Wakko, and Dot has assured her would lead straight to the frontal lobe.
“Then again,” the mage swore under her breath, “I wouldn't trust them as far as I could thrown them with my hands…”
So far the mage had already gotten lost three times in the mirrors, and she was just considering blasting apart the mirrors to find an exit, then she noticed, in one of the mirrors she was standing at, that she wasn't alone in the house.
Raven whirled around, her hands filling with black magic power to find a teenage girl wearing a strangely colored school uniform. The girl looked like someone had covered her in a thin, translucent layer of gray paint.
“Um, hello?” Raven asked.
“Hi…” the girl said, her voice sounding muffled and far away.
“Are you…Doubt?”
The girl shook her head. “No, I'm Despair, but you can call me Willow.”
“O…kay, Willow.” This was odd; emotions didn't ask for real names. “Willow, can you help me find Jinx?”
Willow nodded slowly. “Yes, but you'll never help her. You can't stop him, none of them can stop him. Many have tried, but all have failed. You will too, I know it. But please try to help my sister anyway, won't you?”
“What?” Raven cried. “What do you mean you're her-“
“Now,” Willow interrupted, snapping her fingers. Another girl appeared, wearing what appeared to be a shirt and skirt made out of shinny metal, with her blue hair done up in two pigtails on top of her head.
“Now,” Willow repeated. Vela, I mean, Inspiration, will take you to where Jinx is being held. Remember, I believe you will fail, but at least try to help her. For me, at least, if not for her.”
“If I didn't plan to assist her,” Raven countered. “I wouldn't even be here right now.”
Despair nodded. “Also, if you can, before you are destroyed, try to free Happiness. She's being held with Jinx, and will probably be under less guard. I'm not sure through.”
Raven nodded, and, turning to Inspiration, was led out of the mirrors.
 
 
 
 
Jinx's frontal lobe was, if possible, more dangerous than most other people's, considering all the tissue around it was charred black. Electrical pulses shot throughout the large room-like area, zapping and electrifying the flesh all throughout the lobe. Raven quickly levitated into the air so as to avoid being cooked.
The dark mage floated across the room. Turning her head left and right, she wasn't able to see an opening anywhere.
“That's not right,” Raven muttered. “The frontal lobe is supposed to be open to all areas of the brain. How is she functioning without openings?”
Raven lowered her head, trying to think of how to proceed. As her head lowered, she caught sight of something on the floor, something that looked like-
“Oh, there's the door…”
Raven floated down to the trapdoor in the floor of Jinx's frontal lobe. She seized the handle and pulled it upwards, sending a cloud of dust into her face. Coughing, Raven descended into the lower passage.
 
 
 
 
The corridor directly below Jinx's frontal lobe was a dimly lit stone passage, like a hallway from a medieval dungeon. Torches placed on the walls dimly illuminated the dark passage, casting strange shadows across the dank stone walls. A strong-looking wood door stood at the end of the hallway.
The dark mage quickly walked down the corridor, feeling the back on her neck prickle. Something evil was beyond that door.
Raven reached out for the metal handle of the door. Bracing herself, she threw it open and leapt into the room.
 
 
 
 
The room beyond the door was painted a deep red. Strange patterns covered the wall, from arcane pentagrams to a strange triangular design Raven had never seen before.
But more importantly, chained to the wall directly in front of her, was Jinx. The witch was kneeling on the ground, only semiconscious. She was naked; her body was covered in splotches of dried blood and, between her tightly closed legs, what could only be semen.
Raven took a step forward, but whirled around at a noise to her left. The mage's eyes bulged. There, chained to the wall, was Starfire.
“Star!” Raven cried before leaping to undo the Tamaranian's chains.
“No…” Jinx moaned from her place on the wall. “You don't understand-“
Raven wasn't listening as she reached Starfire. She reached out for the chains with every intention of shattering the metal with her powers. But just as she touched the first chain, it glowed bright red and blasted Raven across the room.
As the mage struggled to sit up, a familiar voice, cold and calculating, cut through the silent room; “Why Raven, so nice of you to join us.”
Raven raised her head to see a familiar face walk into the room. “Brother Blood!”
 
 
To Be Continued…