Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

If you've read my previous stories then you probably know that for each story I choose a band and name the title of the story and each chapter after various songs by said artist. For this story, Halestorm seems perfect.

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Unbreakable Promises

Chapter 1: Rose In December

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11:45 p.m.

Fifteen minutes until Christmas morning and Raven was sitting alone on the couch in the common room. The room was lit by the multi-colored flashing lights on the Christmas tree to the right of the huge television. An angel stood delicately at the top of the tree with a harp in her hand. The others were all out enjoying the night with the ones they cared about. Robin and Starfire went to go watch fireworks at the local park, Cyborg took Bumblebee out for a romantic dinner and then they were going to hang out at her place until morning, and Beast Boy went to see the Doom Patrol. Of course, they were worried about Raven not being able to handle an emergency, but she convinced them that everything would be fine and they should go out and enjoy themselves on Christmas Eve. The only things that could be heard were her steady breathing and the occasional sound of paper scraping against paper as she turned the page in her book. Suddenly red lights started flashing and an alarm was blaring obnoxiously loud; trouble. Raven looked up at the computer screen to see what the disturbance was and saw that it was just Red X robbing a small jewelry store, nothing she couldn't handle on her own. She teleported to the center of the store and looked around through the darkness to find the criminal.

"Where's the rest of the cavalry?" Red X asked. He was sitting on top of one of the display cases rolling a diamond ring around carelessly in the palm of his hand.

"That's none of your business," Raven answered threateningly.

"Testy, testy, I was just wondering what they could possibly be doing that you weren't important enough join them."

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven shouted her mantra and threw the cash register in X's direction. He easily jumped out of the way and shot a red X at her. It wrapped around her body and she fell to the floor, her eyes glowing black.

"Azarath Metrion Zin-," she started but Red smacked another X over her mouth so she couldn't finish.

"Merry Christmas, Sunshine," Red X said. He patted her on the head, grabbed the bag he filled, and headed out the door.

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After a while of struggling, Raven finally freed herself and decided to go for a walk through the town. Everything was covered in a soft blanket of snow that gave the Earth a look of grace and peace. The cold night was serene and still, the main reason why winter was her favorite season. It was late so no one else was wandering the streets like her. She passed a house and, through the window, saw a mother and father placing presents under their tree for their children. Raven smiled to herself as she thought about the looks on the kids' faces when they woke up the next morning and saw that Santa had come for them. The smile quickly faded and turned into a grimace as she remembered that she only experienced such a thing but a few times when she was very young. When she was five years old the monks took her away from her mother and never again did she wake up on Christmas morning and expect anything special; it was just another day of being feared and treated like a monster. She shook her head of such thoughts and tried to think about how much her friends cared about her, they were her new family and family is the only thing that you need to be happy for the holidays. But the optimism was tarnished when she looked around and saw that she was alone, not in the company of her makeshift family in the warmth of the Tower. She was alone, just like all those years of being locked away in the temple where she was taught that her emotions were deadly and that, unless she wanted to truly become the monster that everyone believed her to be, she would forever have to suppress them. Never again would she be allowed to express joy, excitement, fear, etc. unless she wished to harm those around her. A street light blew out, almost as if to prove her thoughts true. Raven took a deep breath and tried to calm herself; self pity wouldn't make anything better, it simply made things worse. Her friends did love her and she knew that for a fact. But then Red X's words flowed back into her mind; 'you weren't important enough to join them.' Not important enough. She was never important enough, not important enough for her mother's love, not important enough to be with someone on Christmas Eve, not important enough to even be considered a person, just a portal that would cause the end of the world. That's all she was, the devil incarnate, a source of pure evil that could only bring around hatred and destruction. She sighed deeply and looked up to see a small café in front of her.

'Why not?' she thought to herself as she walked in. She sat at the booth and ordered a cup of herbal tea to calm her nerves. When she finished she decided that it was no use continuing to stall the inevitable and teleported back to the tower. She looked up at the clock.

12:58 a.m.

'Merry Christmas, Raven,' she thought as she headed for her room. She opened the door and put on her pajamas; a pair of gray sweatpants and a black tank top. She put her hair up in a bun and turned to go to her bed, but froze mid-step. In the center of her bed was a single blood red rose. She carefully walked over to her bed and gently picked up the flower. She touched her index finger against one of the soft, delicate petals. It's strange how we always treat flowers with the utmost care, as if if we held it just a little too tightly it would unleash the most demonic and satanic creatures to ever exist to wreak havoc on the world. Raven inhaled the sweet, pure and intoxicating scent and sighed contentedly. She put the rose back on her bed and walked over to her closet. She pulled out a rectangular box, about the size of a shoe box, and placed it on her bed. She sifted through a few layers of tissue paper before pulling out a vase. It was midnight blue with a black rose at the top and the green stem was wrapped around the vase a few times. On the vase there was a message engraved:

My dearest Raven,

Know that even in the most barren of wastelands,

Hope and life can be found if you only know how to look for it.

I shall be your rose in December.

Love you forever and always,

Mother.

Raven's mother gave this to her on the last Christmas that they shared together; it was almost as if she knew that the monks were going to take her away. Raven walked to the bathroom with the vase in hand and filled it with water. When she returned to her room, she carefully put the rose inside and placed it on her nightstand. A small smile graced her lips as she looked down at her most cherished possession. She then slid into bed and slipped away into a peaceful slumber.

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Love,

Hello Helicopter.