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FLASHBACK CHAPTER

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IT HAD BEEN one long year since Juniper had seen a familiar face. Other than Raven's that is.

The Juster Leaguer's cat, Elvis, was in fact not a freakish monster sent from hell to eat all human souls, but a complete opposite to Raven and her styles. It was startling to Juniper.

Elvis was the love of Juniper's life—or so she claimed. A white fluffy Persian kitten that was just as antisocial as herself.

That's probably why Raven liked him so much.

For some reason, the kitten had taken a liking to Raven's new roommate—causing Elvis to do a complete 180 on the antisocial scale. Only around Juniper, though.

Today, February ninth, 2007, Juniper Evans was completely filled with joy. The news of seeing one's parents after being separated for a year would do that to a person.

It was odd when Juniper woke up to Raven staring down at the girl while she slept, only uttering the words; "your parents will be here in an hour," before leaving the younger girl's bedroom.

The odd part wasn't the way Raven approached her—hell, that was normal—it was the fact that the news was so out of the blue. Beth and Carter Evans were some of the most organized people Juniper knew. . . Always calling to tell her if a package was being sent to her, or asking a year in advance what she wanted to do for her birthday—it just didn't make sense.

What was so important that they had to drop everything and visit?

Elvis sat comfortably perched in Juniper's young arms, the pink of his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth while dead asleep and being held as if the kitten was a newborn baby. Sometimes he wondered if she'd ever find someone more suited for her than the cat.

Oh, and Wally.

Back to the sight of a coddled Elvis, Juniper had been stood in front of the dark wooden door of the apartment awaiting her parents for the past hour. If the scarlet haired girl didn't have all that adrenaline rushing through her system she'd be sure to be as dead asleep as Elvis. It was 8 o'clock in the fucking morning, even more of a reason to be concerned about the suddenness of the visit. Beth and Carter were morning people, but they knew their daughter was most definitely not.

"Sit down," Raven's voice startled the younger girl. "You haven't moved in, like, fifty minutes and I'm starting to think Elvis grew snakes from his head and turned you to stone."

In the open plan apartment the two girls shared in San-Francisco, Raven sat in a chair at their kitchen table, the only lights in the place coming from the large windows. A lot of brightness to light up the entire apartment, but enough to keep Raven shrouded in the shadows at the table hidden behind the kitchen wall.

The girl then gently placed the white furred feline upon the cold wooden floors. The beautiful kitten—more like a cat from how much he's grown—meow'd in protest at the instant lack of comfort, but not wasting a second to curl up around his favorite girl's ankle.

Juniper turned her head over her should and crossed her arms over her chest. She was about to question Raven if she knew why her parents were coming—more over about the fact Raven was allowing them into her home. Raven hated guests and she made that very clear the entire first month of Junipers long term residency.

The question died short on her tongue when a knock sounded from the door before her.

"You better open the door because I'm not getting that."

Juniper cleared her throat. "Right," her hands smoothed down her grey sleeping tank top, pajama pants with The Flash logo—ones she got from her uncle Barry—were worn on her bottom half.

This was as neat as she was willing to get at 8 in the morning.

Her auburn hair flicked over her shoulder when she reached out to flick the lock open on the door. Her nerves were all over the place, not because of seeing her parents for the first time in a year, but because she wasn't used to their lack of preparation.

Before she knew it, Juniper was twisting the knob to open the door. There stood Beth and Carter Evans, a tearful smile lining her mother's face.

"Hi, honey,"

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The moment Juniper Evans's parents walked through the door, Raven had made an announcement that she was heading out and would be back before her parents left to return to Central City.

Loneliness was no new concept to Juniper, constantly feeling alone among the shadows her mentor loved to hide in. It was nice to feel like she was actually sharing the space she called home with people who made it feel less empty.

However, through the joy and happiness that took hold of the young hero's senses, she tried her best—honestly—to ignore her mothers sunken face and thinning hair, the way she smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Juniper had been studying all forms of science since she could walk. She knew the signs she was seeing clear as day. Thank god denial was a psychology thing.

The Evans family were huddled on the couch, two pairs of eyes gleaming, yet teary—to an 'unbeknownst' reason to Juniper—eyes watching in adoration as their daughter very animatedly stood before them and paced talking about all her adventures and how much shes learned since coming to San Francisco.

"Oh! And there's this thing I can do where I make the red magic turn into an actual person," The young girl dramatically threw herself onto the couch next to her mother, completely ignorant to how Beth Evan's grabbed onto her husbands hand for the stability from the very minor movement shaking her bones.

Carter smoothed a hand down his wife's back. "Show us, hon,"

Both of her hands came up to push her locks of hair behind her ears while she pursed her lips. "Well, I can't really. . . control it?" The only response she got a was curious quirk of the brow from her dad. "I don't know," She shrugged. "No matter how hard I think or concentrate on one person I can never choose who I want to create with the magic."

Maybe it was the subconscious controlling that aspect of her abilities—or maybe it could've been destiny paving its path once again just like it did in her epileptic episodes. Juniper just thought of it as an inconvenience.

"We want to see it anyways. We're proud of you, June, and we want to share your excitement for these things, too," since arriving, this was the first time Beth had really spoken up.

Juniper's tiny heart only melted at the long forgotten nickname.

A smile tilted her lips when she made eye contact with her mom, attempting to create an image of the woman who birthed her.

Once the forever image of her mother infiltrated the young powerful girl's mind, Juniper clapped her hands together in a quick motion to only then immediately pull them apart with ruby red magic tethering the space between each appendage.

Her concentration seemed effortless this time—her emotions reeling with the closeness of her parents and the love she can feel practically radiating from them.

Juniper has never felt so much control towards her powers.

And like a spider weaving its own intricate web to call home, Juniper was making her own. Except this home of hers would be a person, her mother, and Juniper felt the freedom of her magic finally bending to her will.

This was the gate that had been holding her back—now at last, she felt the hinges creaking open and the flush of red behind her closed eye lids. It was so perfect that Juniper now understood what her powers were trying to tell her all this time training under Raven's wing; she didn't have to tell the magic what to do and how to work, she realized that she was the magic and her connections to the gift she was given was as simple as her mind thoughtlessly telling herself to breathe.

She was happy and content, the way her parents reminded her of their unconditional love was the final nail in the wall. She was creating a physical 3D image of her mother based off the emotions she connected to her.

Juniper could see it all now behind her closed eyes. . . There were feet, then calves, the knees of her mother just then coming togeth—

A nasty cough broke Juniper's well placed concentration.

The glow of red vanished from behind closed eyes and replaced with the rarely sunny view of Raven's San Fransisco apartment and half of a pair of legs looking like they were strewn together with red yarn.

"Mom..?" Her body lurched toward the woman who gave her life, grasping onto the arm opposite of the one her father was seizing in hopes to keep the wheezing woman upright.

Carter Evan's rubbed at his wife's back while delivering soothing words with the lips that were pressed into Beth's hair.

Juniper's small hand was supporting her mother's bent elbow when she finally allowed herself to accept the signs quite literally placed into her hands.

The shaking in Beth Evans's now brittle bones was only the tip of the iceberg. The older woman's once thick, rich red hair was a thousand times more thin and stringy since the last time Juniper had been this close—and the blood. . . oh, the blood was new, but the way it splatter from Beth's mouth and into her shaking palm was all the evidence Juniper needed.

Juniper's great-grandmother had gastric cancer that caused her to pass away before Juniper was born. She had hoped their families curse with the disease had finally come to an end.

Unfortunately it had not.

Juniper's great-grandmother's mother had died from it, and so did the woman before and then two more before those deaths.

The men never got it somehow, but this only meant Juniper was next in line for the roller coaster ride to the gastric cancer graveyard.

Genetics rule.

Carter let out an exhausted sigh, rubbing a palm down his taught features when noticing the realization flit across his daughter's young face.

A lump formed in Juniper's throat and when she swallowed it felt like stones being digested and pumped into her heart.

She rose from the couch on two unsteady feet, eyelids spread so wide that the red swirling in her irises seemed like Mars floating on a milky Oceania of utter despair.

"Mama—" Juniper was calling out to the woman on the couch—and maybe even the man, too. But to her she was calling out to an empty room, the place devoid of all colour but the familiar ruby running through her veins.

She wanted comfort—she wanted home. But home was on the couch looking three seconds away from death, and God only knows what her father will become once the love of his life has perished from earth and given back to be bones in the ground.

She wanted home and there was no one left to be her home and no one that would call her theirs.

People wouldn't be surprised to see an impatient twelve year old. All pre-teens were annoying little impatient whining machines, all except Juniper. Juniper who would stare at the liquids in her beaker as the slowly changed colours for hours on end.

But the universal control of fate didn't have a care what level of maturity the young girl carried with her when it sunk its own impatient claws into her subconscious.

Her fists formed into round full moons at her sides while her finger nails bloomed crescents inside her palms.

"Baby, please—let's just enjoy the rest of the evening," Beth, slightly breathless, tried to coax her daughter out of her spiraling panic.

The dwellers in the room could sense the sudden buzz the objects began to hold, a sheen dusting of vibrate red folding over the layers of the room like fog.

Juniper's eyes were unfocused and manic as she stared at one of the many, many plain walls of the apartment. "How long have you known," the shaking to her voice brought forth the question as more of a demand than an optional answer.

Carter and Beth Evan's didn't dare to move.

But that didn't stop the male Evan's from attempting to reason with his kin. "Juniper we didn't want to worry you—"

The protégé's head snapped so violently to meet her father's eyes. "Worry me? Worry me! My mom is dying and you didn't want to worry me?" She began to slowly stalk towards the older man. "What would've happened? I come home after a few more years on the promise of a home cooked meal and when you open the door to greet me it's all 'hey hon, mommy died a few years ago, welcome home!' Let's not forget to mention how I am entitled by genetics to be informed immediately!"

Beth's eyes soften towards her daughter's completely reasonable outrage. Even throughout the thrumming magic pulse the now scarlet red apartment had taken on and the floating objects that added more chaos to the mix, Beth was still trying to stay strong. "You know it's not like that."

A strange wind had picked up in the living area, forcing the curtains shut, completely unnatural for a place devoid of any open windows or doors, causing the Evans family to shout over the raging sounds.

"Then how is it like, mom? Were you even gonna tell me while you were here?"

"Of course—"

A warping sound caught everyone's attention. Juniper recognized immediately what it was.

Raven had obviously sensed the pandemonium that has become of her home from miles away—anyone with any sort of magic could most likely sense it, too.

Juniper heard Raven before she saw her. "Juniper, quit this," the front half of the black haired woman had barely made it through the portal when juniper raised her hand towards it, clenched her fist in a ball like she would if she was scrapping a piece of paper.

"No," Juniper ordered. She didn't know to whom, though—maybe the magic or to Raven who Juniper realized knew about her mother's condition before she had.

With barely even a sliver of a thought, the auburn haired girl sent Raven back through her black void and zipped it shut with her own void of red and a closed fist. Juniper didn't know she could do that—Control someone else's powers.

She didn't want to do that ever again.

There's one thing Juniper forgot to factor in when realizing the capabilities of her emotional powers.

She couldn't always control her emotions, therefore her powers could become unstable when presented in a compromising environment.

Just like this very one.

"I don't understand. . ." Even though Raven's portal had vanished, Juniper could feel the tendrils of darkness clinging onto her magic and seeping its way into her chest.

Like it was clawing itself into her roots and digging out the scarlet to refill it with voided black. If this is how Raven felt every day, then Juniper felt utterly horrible for the young woman.

From the space in the wall where Raven had attempted to enter, the red fogging magic had begun to roll over itself like crashing waves as it faded into a black stardust and the objects swirling in the air taken over by tendrils that could only be mistaken as claws from the demons Raven has told her so much about.

Juniper wanted it to stop. The fear of her mother's impending death, the possibility of her own, taking control of Raven's powers, feel them retaliate and take control of her. . . "No. No, no, no, no. . ." Her small chest began heaving up and down in terrified little gasps.

"Make it stop! Please—" the finger nails Juniper had recently painted red were scratching and clawing at her pajama covered chest like she could somehow reach in and remove whatever darkness that was trying to eat her from the inside out.

Her parents just sat in shock. What else were they supposed to do? One 30-something year old woman on her death bed, and a man who doesn't believe in magic but is continuously proven ignorant.

Thankfully—though that word sounds unfitting in this situation—Raven had appeared through the front door, completely human and rocking a bob of platinum blonde hair. It's funny because even with all of her hysteria, Juniper could've sworn Raven's hair had been black when she saw her not even 30 seconds ago.

"Your body is rejecting the power!" Raven shouted over her roommate's cries and theatrical wind. "You are a human withholding demonic entity powers—give me your hand or you will die."

Juniper could feel it. The tears sliding down her cheeks weren't clear and salty—they were vibrant red and glittered in the light that the cracks in the curtains let in.

She looked like a model from an art piece titled 'beautifully tragic'. Beautiful, because who has ever seen tears the colour of scarlet and glitter like the night sky, and tragic because those very tears just so happened to be Juniper's magic seeping from her eye sockets.

Raven's darkness was trying to make room for itself but it'll soon realize there's not enough room in Juniper's human mind and body and try to move onto the next host.

"I'm sorry, Raven, please I didn't mean to," the fear of disappointment and what could possibly happen next clung to every word of the girl's sentence.

Raven tried to be calm, she really did, but you have to understand that without her own powers—her birthright—she was crumbling from the inside out. . . Raven was a shell of a creature walking among foreign plains. "Get out!" Raven waved her hand at the old couple on the couch.

Carter was quick to obey as he grabbed his wife's hand and made a movement to stand. However, within a split second, the creation of what was supposed to be an inanimate 3D portrait of her mother had been taken over by pitch black wisps of magic, curling every-which-way to create a moving monster of the night.

Except it wasn't her mother created from the darkness. . . it was that guy. Yeah, the exact one you're thinking. Her not so soon to be husband. The man was controlled by a thought in the back of Juniper's head, a command she didn't even know existed until the anxiety of her parent's evacuating the apartment and never coming back piled on top of every other overwhelming emotion she was feeling.

So the man who was nothing more than a shadow managed place a forceful limb upon Juniper's father's shoulder and pushed him back onto the ratty couch.

Looks like the Evans family wasn't going anywhere.

The demon daughter was careful when she scanned her eyes over the chaotic setting before her. There seemed to be nothing she could do about her trainee's relatives when being held back by a guard dog with the spirit of a demon and the face of a man.

It was basically a hostage situation.

Meh, Raven has put Juniper through much, much worse training exercises. The newly platinum blonde woman figured she'd just treat Juniper as any other hostile who has put civilians in danger.

So she reasoned with her.

And as Raven's pale skin cracked like a porcelain bowl, she raised her voice over the unnatural howling wind in her confined apartment. "I can fix this, Juniper, I can make it all go away,"

The shattering woman went to take a hesitant step towards the younger girl when the shadow flinched away from the occupants on the couch and came to stand directly behind its mastermind. It was a conflicting sight to say the least.

"You. . ." Stunned, Raven trails off as she took in the grown face of the shadow she could have sworn she's seen before. She didn't dwell much longer on it. "You just have to get rid of him."

She was hysterical. The auburn haired girl didn't know up from down, much less the words coming from her mouth. So she continued to face her mentor with her arms cuddling herself and her head shaking wildly back and forth, muttering the words: "Just fix it, just fix it,"

So Raven tested the waters once more. She raised her foot—as one does when they go to take a step forward—but was ultimately stopped when the shadow appeared to have formed a set of mystic cords and growled in disapproval, raising a cloaked hand before a massive dome of black sheltered Juniper and her protector.

In the chaos of false night, surrounded by nothing but darkness, Juniper could still make out the faint red glow of her powers mixed with the shadowed man-creature to give her an outline of his body. Juniper was scared of the dark. Never found it interesting, never saw peace in it; but here with the memory of a man she's never met? She felt safe. Even if he was merely a figment of her imagination. For now that is.

Juniper Evans just wanted Raven to help rid her of the evil eating at her human soul, but she couldn't do that with the man she seemed to control stopping her every move.

In the dome of darkness everything was quiet. No thrashing winds, no demons whispering in her ears, no worries of what is to become of her future—it was just her and her shadow.

"P-please. . . just go away." She sobbed, unraveling her arms from herself and letting them fall to her sides.

When the red illuminated shadow didn't perish, Juniper let out an angered wail and flung her arms into her (k)night in shining red sparkles. But to no avail, he still wouldn't leave her mind—and the thing is. . . Juniper didn't think he ever would.

The mid section of his torso dispersed into the black surrounding them when Juniper's arms made a dismissive swipe at him before collecting back his starts of red shimmer and reforming his body. "I said go away! Why—why couldn't you have been anyone else! Anyone! I don't want you, I don't need you! You're not even real. Everyone else who loves me will leave or get taken away while I'm stuck here. So do yourself a f-favour," Juniper took a deep calming breath in when she stuttered through her anguished words. "And just give up now before you get stuck with me in the future." There. She said it. The girl who is known as an otherwise happy person spoke the words she thought about every night before bed.

She also knew what she was telling the man in front of her was impossible because it wasn't like the guy himself was actually in the room with her, no, it was just herself talking to what was literally an extension of herself. It was a lonely world she was forced into.

She beat her hand against a chest that was no longer just air to be moved around and reformed, yet she knew it was still a conjure of her magic because it was merely a canvas of air that solidified with her power.

Juniper screamed and cried, the only answer being the echoes of the dark void she had found herself in—not being able to see her own hand as they gave up on their frustrated assault and rested against the taller being's chest, now only the mix of her silent tears and ruby magic flowing down her ample cheeks when her forehead came to rest with her hands.

God she was just so tired of everything. She was cold in the lonely home of darkness she's created for herself, she was bored with the reoccurring misfortune in her life, and she was scared that when she died she would feel the same coldness Raven's powers stuffed into her soul.

When Juniper felt the shadow's arms begin to move up from his sides, she didn't fight it. Not when the hands that wrapped around her wrists were warm—a stark contrast to the cold she could've sworn was built into him.

And it was nice. To be able to feel a warm embrace connected to the face of a man that's confused her and given her anxiety over almost a year now. So she closed her eyes and fell into the simple touch of warmth encircling her wrists.

Believe it or not, Juniper was beginning to feel. . . better—like inevitable death Raven's powers were bringing her had been moved back to a later date just to spare her this one moment.

"I think that's the closest I've ever been to dying." A chuckle escaped Raven's mouth that seemed to be directly about the young girl's ear.

Juniper froze. Because now it wasn't her shadowed stranger she was embracing, it was her mentor. And for a second Juniper thought she did die because the only place Juniper can picture Raven laughing is in hell as she sat upon her throne overlooking all the sinners burning for all of eternity.

She knew it was Raven's body she was hugging like it was the only thing tethering her to the earth, but pushed the thought to the back of her mind and continued to pretend like it was the man she was yet to meet. Because she hoped he would like her when it was finally their time to be together—holding onto him was like holding onto the hope that maybe if she squeezed tight enough he wouldn't leave her like everyone else tended to.

And even if Beth Evan's didn't know it, at least she got to see her future son-in-law before she eventually passed away in a hospital bed in Central City a year and a half later.

The service was quiet. Juniper not wanting many people there because she hated the idea of people pretending to grieve for a woman they hardly knew.

But Beth was now at peace and that's all Juniper could wish for such a kind and caring mother.

chip speaks !!

VERY IMPORTANT YOU KNOW THIS IS NOT EDITED !!!!

(to be fair the reason this chapter is posted later then I said it would be today because I spent over an hour looking for memes and then totally forgot about it.)

istg one tv show is reccomend for the rest of my life is Arcane.

Like I don't usually find myself enjoying animated films and such but ARCANE TAKES THE TROPHY HOT DIGGITY DOG

I remember finishing the finale episode for season one this time 3 years ago and I cried because it seemed so far away until the next season came out AND GUESS WHAT IT JUST DID AND IM FINNA STAY UP TILL 3AM FOR ACT 2 TO RLEASE TN