As fights go, this one had been on the easier end of the spectrum. The 'Demon hunters' they'd gone up against were embarrassingly deficient in terms of training and morale, and had only lasted around two minutes. The clean-up, on the other and, was the sort of pain in the ass that can only be achieved by a dozen fanatics armed with big guns that they didn't actually know how to use.

"You okay, Rae?" Gar asked Raven.

"I'm fine," She replied. "Not even a black eye this time."

"I know!" Her husband chuckled. "No black eye for you, no life-threatening injuries for me; I think these guys lost their touch!"

"Scum!" One of the dispatched zealots howled, spitting in Gar's face. "How can you bear the touch of that creature?"

"Very easily!" Gar replied cheerfully, forcing Raven to suppress a smile.

"You lie down with a demon?" The hapless fool demanded. "By choice?"

"Every night." Raven interjected. "And not just to sleep."

"You've damned him!" The madman shrieked. "Who could possibly be welcomed in the kingdom of heaven with carnal knowledge of a demon?!" That one hurt just a little more than it should have.

"I'll take my chances." Gar replied.

"You fool!" The self-proclaimed demon hunter hissed. "You're soul shall spend an eternity in hell!"

"Have you seen her legs?" Gar joked. "Worth it."

"You think she loves you?" The lunatic scoffed. "An abomination like her isn't capable of such a thing!" That one hurt a lot more than it should have. "Run, before she corrupts your soul beyond redemption and destroys all that is good in y-"

"I never asked to be like this!" Raven howled, tears in her eyes. "You think I want to be this way?!" And with that, she teleported away.

It just wasn't fair! She helped people every day, she cared about her friends, she loved Gar so much, but none of that could change the fact that she was a demon. It couldn't stop people from viewing her with hatred and fear, and it couldn't change… that. She'd only worked with the Justice League Dark for a week, and yet, months later, she couldn't forget what she'd seen. So much blood…

"Hey there Morrigan." Gar murmured, walking into her room. "You wanna talk about it?"

"No." She replied curtly.

"Okay." He sighed, sitting down next to her, the matress sinking slightly under his weight. For a minute they sat in complete silence, Raven counting down the seconds until Gar inevitably broke it.

"It's not just what he said." Raven blurted out, not quite believing that she broke first.

"I didn't think it was." Gar shrugged.

"It's because of that job with the JLD," She went on. "I… saw some things."

"So," Gar replied. "You're finally ready to talk about it."

"They wanted my help because, well…" She hesitated; was it really a good idea to tell Gar about this? "Because they were tracking my brother."

"You have a brother?" Gar asked, surprise colouring his aura.

"Half-brother actually." Raven corrected. "Seven that I know about, probably a lot more."

"And I'm guessing your half-brothers don't share your keen sense of right and wrong." Gar said.

"They're sadistic monsters," Raven confirmed bluntly. "And one of them was loose." She shuddered at the memory. "He'd been on a killing spree. There wasn't even any reason for it; he was just killing people because he could."

"I know where this is going," Gar began. "And I'm stopping it before it starts." He laid his hands gently on either side of Raven's head and looked her dead in the eyes. "Listen to me; you aren't your brother. You're not your brother, or your father, you're Raven."

"Raven the half demon." She whimpered. "It's only a matter of time until I lose control; evil is just a part of me."

"Okay honey," Gar began, and somehow 'honey' calmed Raven down, just a little, through how utterly mundane it was. "I'm about to go in a seriously lame direction with this, so bear with me, alright?" And with that, he took out his communicator and typed furiously. "This," His communicator displayed a picture of a huge, red-skinned man with horns broken down to stubs and a massive stone fist. "Is Hellboy."

"Gar, that's a comic book character." Raven pointed out.

"Hey, I said bear with me, didn't I?" Gar had that twinkle in his eye that told Raven that this was either going to be incredibly stupid, or astonishinly insightful. "Hellboy's the son of a demon and a witch, and he's a hero. Even though he needs to hide away from the world, even though there are people who think he's going to cause the apocalypse, he still saves people. This," The screen now showed an image of a katana-weilding young man with messy black hair, wreathed in blue flames and with little horns and fangs. "Is Ren Okumara. He's the son of Satan, and he's a hero."

"And an anime character." Raven muttered, more to herself than anything else.

"The organisation he works for don't trust him, but he still saves people. He's been insulted, attacked, even threatened with execution, and he doesn't care. And this," An image of a black-skinned figure with huge horns. "Is a Tiefling. They're a playable race in Dungeons and Dragons."

"Seriously?" Raven demanded. "You're using D&D to support your argument?"

"I know," He shrugged. "It's stupid. But it's what I've got, and I'm using it. Tieflings are the descendants of demons. Or devils. Or daemons."

"It sounds like your game has too many types of demon." Raven quipped.

"Look, that's not the important part; they're the descendants of demons, and they have no allignment restrictions." He looked smug.

"I'm sorry, but was there a point to all this?" Raven asked, genuinely confused.

"I was kind of hoping I'd come up with one by the time I finished." Gar chuckled nervously. "Best I can offer right now is that, to me at least, half-demon never meant evil." He smiled warmly and lay a hand on her shoulder. "The way I figure it, you have the same choice as anybody else, it's just… more important for you."

"No." Raven intoned simply. "No, this is not happening. I refuse to be swayed by an argument that uses Dungeons and Dragons as its lynchpin!" She had to fight back the laughter she felt welling up; th whole thing was just too absurd.

"It's a metaphooor!" Gar whined, pushing Raven over te edge and causing her to succumb, allowing a burst of laughter to escape. "Not my best work?" He asked jokingly.

"Not really." Raven confirmed. "But I understand what you're trying to say." She rested her head aginst his shoulder. "You're telling me that you believe in me."

"Not quite," Gar corrected her, kissing the top of her head lightly. "I'm telling you that I believe in you, and so do thousands of geeks." He wrapped his arms around her, and she let herself melt into the love radiating from him. "All over the world, there are people just as geeky as me, and as far as they're concerned, all that 'inherent evil' crap is barely enough to slow you down. And as long as people still read comics and watch anime and all that other geeky crap, they're going to look at you and see someone who'll always be better than where they came from."

"And what about you?" Raven asked. "How much do you believe in me?" She didn't need to ask. She was an empath; she could feel his unshakeable faith in her fill the room. But she asked anyway.

"Enough to fall in love, take a bullet and propose." He answered simply. "And even more than that."

"Then that's all I need." Raven whispered as she wrapped her arms around him, content to stay like this until the next time someone needed her help, the next time she'd give it her all, even if people hated and feared her. After all; she couldn't let Gar down, now could she?