Scath Roth (Jinx x Raven)

Chapter 15: The Date, Part 2

Friday, February 26, 1999
The coffee shop 09:45

"Raven. You don't mean- Trigon is real?" She asks, completely astonished and paralyzed with fear. She's shaking. She's terrified.

I place my other hand gently on top of our connected ones and rub circles with my thumbs, hoping to calm her down.

"You know of him?"

"Blood used to praise him. He has a whole following called-"

"The Church of Blood. I know. I've been investigating them for years now. I've... 'closed' many of their 'churches' now. There's only one left, and it's here in Gotham." I explain, putting extra emphasis on the word "closed".

"Wait. So he's- you're his offspring." She's shaking again.

I nod and say "I'm sorry." She pauses, baffled at this.

"You're sorry? What do you have to be sorry for?"

"For not stopping Blood sooner, I know what he's done to The H.I.V.E. and many others. And for being the spawn of a monster. A literal demon-."

"You-" She makes me look her in the eyes. "-have nothing to be sorry about. You can't control what they did. And you have no choice in who your birth father is. None of what they have done is any of your fault. None of it. You are hero. You save lives. Despite your blood, you have the heart of a true hero. Anyone can see that." She spoke with such passion and conviction. I know she means every word. I feel a weight lift from me.

"Thank you," I thank her, trying not to tear up. "But that doesn't change the things I've done towards his followers."

"What exactly do you mean when you said you "'closed' many of their 'churches'?"

I stay quiet, not wanting to admit aloud what I've done.

She seems to understand. "Well, the world is a better place without them. Blood told us about the 'rituals' they used to perform. Killing people as sacrifices and offering up young women as 'brides' to demons, for their own selfish gains."

We stay quiet for a moment as I contemplate what she told me. I'm glad she's not scared of me now that she know about the less-than-moral things I've done. I know many people, most of my family included, would not agree with my actions.

"Now. Time to lighten the mood. Tell me about the rest of your family. I bet they're way more amazing if they've raised a hero as great as you," she encourages. I nod.

"When I came out the other side of the portal, it brought me to Gotham, in an alleyway near a park that was holding a farmers' market that weekend. As I'm sure you can guess, being around nothing, but monks who's most negative emotion was fear, then being suddenly exposed to such strong negativity was a bit of a.. rush. My powers spiked out as, until defeating my sire, they were controlled solely by my emotions. The most selfless man I've ever met found me. He somehow managed to approach me and calm me down. When he first approached me, I accidentally lashed out. A trash can lid hit him right in his midsection." I'm interrupted by Jinx's laugh and join in myself.

After our laughter calms down I continue on. "He pressed on though. More worried about the crying child, than his own injury. He continued talking to me, telling me to focus on him and his voice, and that everything would be okay. After I finally calmed down, he asked me where my parents were. I told him that I had none left, that they had just died, and I passed out shortly after. He took me home, laid me in a bed, and stayed by my side until I woke up. When I did, he immediately offered me food and water. He never pushed for an explanation, just offered me comfort. On the third day, I told him everything. He immediately comforted me, told me it wasn't my fault, and offered to care for me for as long as I wanted him to. He introduced me to his adoptive son, who had been away for business, and we had an immediate attachment to each other. And though he was old enough to be my father, the son became my big brother and taught me many things, including how to fight and shield my mind. Even though he doesn't have powers of his own. A while later, I was adopted. Eventually though, this city of psychopaths became too much for me and I had to leave. At first I went on business trips with my brother, but that wasn't really any place for a kid and I eventually had to leave completely. That's when I met the Titans for the first time, they were fighting each other actually. Starfire was wrecking the city, while Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were trying to stop her. Using my powers I figured out Starfire's true intentions and managed to help them sort things out passively. After that, they asked me to join them in stopping a group of rogue aliens that Star was originally after and I agreed. Then we decided to all stick together and become the Teen Titans. The rest is history, really."