Freedom

7

RAVEN
I settle down on the couch, focusing on my emotions. The afternoon sun gleams in from the window, setting a warm comforting feel. I cross my legs and relax against the frame of the couch. Starfire sits next to me, watching as I breathe.
"Is there a chant that must said?" Starfire asks.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," I chant slowly, and repetitively. She joins in, leaning back. I focus on her breathing until she achieves relaxation. When I feel she has achieved such liking, I focus on my breathing. I control each emotion in my mind, following the chant. Meditation is the only way for me to keep my emotions in check, and to keep my powers from getting out of hand.
"Yo, dudes, they look so relaxed!" a high pitched voice says, shattering my meditation. I feel anger coming out, overcoming all other emotions, but I push her down.
"How long have we been doing the meditation?" Starfire asks innocently.
"Maybe an hour or two," Cyborg says lazily.
"Oh, I feel so much calm," Starfire says, turning to me with her green eyes. "Thank you, Raven, for showing me this amazing thing. May we do this again?"
Honestly, her chi was nice, bright in comparison to mine. I didn't mind her being there. "Sure."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Starfire says happily and excited, almost as if she had won the lottery.
"So, Raven, where are you from?" Cyborg asks, sitting beside me. Do I really tell them?
"I am from a monk group that use to meditate on top of a mountain," I answer, being as vague as possible.
"Cool!" Beast Boy says excitedly. "Can you like do magic and stuff?"
"Kind of, yea," I say.
"You good at any sports?" Cyborg questions. "Because Beasty, Robin and I always go and shoot some hoops."
"I'm not a sports person," I say drearily. Is this interrogation over?
An alarming beeping noise comes around the tower. The gem Robin had given me this morning begins to flash, just like he said it would. Robin busts into the room.
"Trouble!" he announces, slipping on his gloves. "Titans, go!"

"Congrats on another defeat, Raven," Cyborg says as we walk down to the common room.
"Thanks," I shyly say.
Honestly, it was an old man who just wanted to show some patriotic pride. Yet, the job was easier said than done. Whatever, he's in jail now and that's all that matters.
"Training tomorrow morning," Robin announces. "It'll be a great day to figure out what you can do, Raven."
"I'll be sure to try hard," I say with a slight hint of sarcasm. "I'm going to go to bed, goodnight." Just about to the leave the room, when Beast Boy grabs my hand.
"Oh come on, mama!" Beast Boy whines. "We were going to watch movies!"
"I'm just going to go sleep," I say monotonously, wrenching my hand away from him. I walk out of the common room, levitating myself to my own room.
I sit down on my bed, cross-legged. I try to meditate once more.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," I chant.
My subconscious feels the same.
My aura a stricken dark blue, until the color begins to change. A bright red and then a dark red. I try to calm my breathing but everything stops. Fire erupts around me, until a shadow appears. The shadow morphs, changes into the figure of my father.
"Time will tell and time will come," the voice growls. I try to attack the shadow, but the flames materialize and tie me around, stopping my magic. "Don't try to run, dear daughter, you are me, remember? You are mirror image of myself."
I try to yell, tell him that I am not, but I cannot speak. I struggle against the burning flames, but nothing works. My skin begins to char, but pain means nothing. Nothing can get me out of his grasp.
"Time will tell and time will come," the shadow hisses with one last breath, disappearing. Everything darkens.
My eyes open to my room, quiet except for the ticking of a clock. Two hours had passed. I was under my father's spell for two hours. Cold sweat slides down my face, my breath heaving.
Forget. Forget. Forget. Forget. Forget.
I am not my father.

"Alright, Raven, the course is simple," Robin says from the control panel that is elevated over the course. "Fight the drones and grab the flag at the end. You will be timed."
The course is a cement wall maze with robots that attack and lasers, of course, lasers. The purpose is to grab the flag and defeat the maze in the minimal amount of time. Simple, really. Except these robots can easily kill me.
"Ready, set," Cyborg says. I let myself levitate a little, looking at the drones in the maze-like course. "Go!"
I fly around the first few robots, avoiding their lasers. Using my telekinetic powers, I encircle rocks with black and throw them onto the robots. The robots crush and break under the weight. I quickly maneuver through the maze, opening circles within to easily cut through.
A robot comes at me with a laser. I quickly flash a shield around me, before wrapping my black magic around the robot, pulling a dark rope until the robot cuts in half, breaking down. I focus my energy on bravery, pushing through the circles, seeing the flag not far by.
A trap. The flag should be guarded at all costs. I crouch down and focus my powers. I form myself into a large dark raven, melting into the Earth and reappearing beside the flag.
Silent and quietly, I morph back into myself and grab the flag. Feeling victory shatter as an alarm blares and all the robots are looking at me, their lasers ready to fire.
Such deception.
Maybe you're weak. My father's voice shrieks in my mind, forcing myself to the ground. Maybe you're useless.
I have a message for you. Another voice booms in my head. But time will tell when. For now, I will haunt your dreams, you weak little girl.
Slade.
"I am not weak!" I shout, getting up with double the amount of eyes I normally have. My legs are gone and large tentacles swoop from my body. Each tentacle grabs a robot, squishing them to dust.
I shrink back down, away from the mess I created, the flag still in my hand. I fly over to the rest of the team, whose jaws are hitting the ground. Game over. Now they see me for the monster I am.
"A new record," Cyborg says unbelievingly, slamming the timer down.
"Dude, I think you'll need new robots," Beast Boy mentions.
"Raven, why did you never say you had such strong powers?" Robin asks, coming down from the control panel.
"Never came up in a conversation," I respond quietly.
"Good job, Raven," Starfire cheers, clapping her hands wildly.
"Alright, Beast Boy, you're up," Robin announces. Beast Boy turns himself into a cheetah, ready at the start line.