Tales of the Teen Titans: The Taking of Terra, One, Two, Three

by Nitebreaker

The threat of the hidden Osiran Lord is over, but at a terrible cost. What will a transformed Kitten do now? Will she stay in the light, or return to the shadows? What of Slade, Angelique, and the Kindred? What of the Hunters? Sequel to "Shadows of the Empire." NOW COMPLETE.

1. Chapter 1: Prologue: Families

Sorry for the length of this chapter, but try as I might, I couldn't break it down any further. I know I'm using a lot of OC's here, but it will all come together, in time. Please be patient. And thank you all for your kindness and encouragement...we all need some of that, from time to time.

Oh, and I don't own the Teen Titans. Just thought you should know.

Tales of the Teen Titans: The Taking of Terra, One, Two, Three

Part One: Prologue: Families

Morning at the Tower: Kitten had flown back with them, and had spent the night in Omega's old room, getting things in order. "I need to come up with some way for you to control that matter manipulator manually. Omega hooked into it directly, but that's not an option for the rest of us." She turned to Robin. "But I won't actually need to be here for that. Maybe some heavily modified computer-assisted design program….I'll send you the specs. Don't guess I have to tell you, keep this thing under wraps. Don't even let anyone know about it. I mean, I got shot over some mutant bugs, of all things. This thing'ud probably start World War Three, Four, and Five concurrently." She paused. "You got those other specs to Cyborg?"

"Yeah. He's looking them over right now." Robin, Starfire, Raven, and Kitten were in Omega's old room "Kitten? You, uh, do know you don't have to go, don't you?"

Kitten actually smiled, the first time she'd done so in at least a day. "You're offering me membership in the Titans? The bad girl? Your sort-of arch-nemesis? Thanks, but no thanks. It's just not for me. I'm not the hero type….."

"I said that same thing, once," murmured Raven.

"….and, in any case," and here she looked around the room, eyes misting over, "I couldn't stay, you know, here. Too many….memories." But how can I stay anywhere else? A part of me will always be here.

"Kitten?" Starfire's voice was softer than usual. "I once hated you, because I thought you were trying to take Robin away from me. But…I sympathize with your loss." She looked down at her feet. "I know that helps little, but…."

"That's okay, Starfire. It helps more than you know. And, and I guess I'll be alright. Just….just takes some getting used to, is all."

"When my parents died," continued Starfire, "I thought the pain would never go away. And it doesn't, not completely. But it gets better, with time."

Kitten didn't know what to say to that, so she just murmured, "Thanks." Then, "Well, I'd best be getting on. Dad's up on the roof, waiting…"

"Kitten?" Beast Boy and Terra had just entered the room. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but don't be a stranger, 'kay?"

She smiled, sadly. "I….won't, BB. In fact, if Cyborg needs any help getting that contraption to working, gimme a ring. And that's something else: you might wanna consider sending it up to the Watchtower, and storing it there. At least, I would, if it were mine. It probably won't be totally safe there, but better there than here, where every Tom, Dick, and Slade can steal it. Or cause mucho grande misery tryin'."

"Guys?" asked Terra, "Could I have a moment alone with Kitten, before she goes?" The others agreed, puzzled, and filed out of the room.

Terra sat by Kitten on the bed, the same bed Kitten had slept in when she had been staying here, after her transformation. The same one she'd shared with Omega. Did everything in the blankety-blank universe have to remind her of him? It felt like an empty space, a physical hole had been carved out of her soul. "Did Robin mention to you about maybe joining up with us?"

"Yeah. But it's really not for me. At least not now. I mean, after all the times we've crossed swords, I can't see them as really trusting me anyway. And I just don't care for 'probationary periods', either. Been there, done that, got the bright orange jump suit to prove it. Besides. You guys don't need me; you're all at full strength. I'd just be in the way."

"Gar and I are planning on a kind of semi-retirement after we get married, so we won't be as available as we have been. I don't know what Robin and Starfire's plans are—you heard he proposed, didn't you? Yeah. Actually popped the ol' question on her one night. They may continue on as before, or they, too, could sorta back off being full time members. After all, this kind of lifestyle just isn't conducive to raising a family, and that's what Gar and I plan on doing.

"Beside." And here, Terra paused, drawing her knees up into her arms, "I'm not being totally one hundred percent altruistic here. I'd much rather have you for us than against us. And doesn't that make a certain amount of sense to you, too? Having people you can count on to stand by you, in a crisis?"

Kitten looked at her. Terra might look like your typical California beach ornament, but there was a shrewdness about her….she definitely had a little bad girl in her. Maybe more than a little. She smiled a kind of a lopsided smile. "Well. Since you put it that way…..I'll think about it. That's the best I can do for right now."

"All I can ask. Say, Gar and I are gonna go shopping later. Wanna come?"

"No way. I'd weird everybody around you out." She gestured at her bright red skin.

"Uh, Kitten? Have you seen my fiancé lately? He's green? And changes into animals?"

"He doesn't have a tail."

"True. Most of the time. Kinda fun when he does, though."

"Uhm." Kitten rubbed the side of her face, to shake that mental image. That was almost bordering on Too Much Information, but it was deliciously naughty to think about. "I, uh, get your point. But…still. I really better be getting back home. It's almost suppertime, and my father trying to cook is a Defcon stage alert."

"Well, as Gar said, don't be a stranger. And think about that offer, would'ja?" Terra put her hand on the other girl's arm, Kitten's higher body temperature not bothering her overly for this brief duration. "I mean, everybody needs someone, sometime."

"I will, Terra. And thanks."

But once back home, it seemed like the silence in her room was almost deafening. She didn't have any appetite, even though her father praised the dinner she'd fixed for them highly. She made polite excuses and left to return to her room, which had never seemed so lonely before. His eyes followed her worriedly as she went upstairs.

Once there, she threw herself down onto her bed, face down. Again, the tears came, unbidden. Had she been such a terrible person, done such horrible things, that her life had to suck this much? First, she'd gotten shot by an ape over some bugs. Then turned into a walking freak show by some crazy mad scientist, for God only knew why. Now, this: the only guy she'd ever really cared about, and the only one who'd ever really cared about her, or ever would, went all super-saiyan on some bad guy's ass, blew himself higher'n up, all to save the world from mental slavery.

What, really, had she done to deserve all this?

It just wasn't fair, dammit!

…..

A short time before: Angelique had been moping in her room at the hive of the Kindred, when someone signaled for entrance. This was not an Osiran custom, but one her new extended family had come to adopt when they adopted her. She quested the Link for the identity of the person seeking entrance: it was Father Alpha himself. {{Come in, Father,}} she replied, sitting up, all the while wondering what he could be here for. He was always so busy.

Alpha entered, and stood with his hands behind his back. {{Daughter. You are upset.}} It was not a question.

Angelique lowered her eyes. There was no point in hiding it from him. {{Yes, father, I am.}}

He came over and sat beside her on her bed, hands on his knees. {{And your unease has something to do with Slade.}} Again, it was not a question. Angelique was silent. {{Maria? Has he tried to hurt you in some way?}}

{{No, Father. He—he's been very good to me. He's taught me a lot…}}

{{You are concealing something from me.}}

Angelique was silent. Then, {{Yes, father, I-I guess I am. I suppose I'm actually concealing it from myself, really. Or trying to.}}

For a moment, Alpha was silent in the Link. Then he gently placed his overly-long fingers on his adopted daughter's arm and said, just as gently, {{Tell me what has happened. Tell me of your suspicions and what led you to them. Tell me everything.}}

The relationships in families are varied and complex. There are times—many times-when a child needs her mother, and no one else will do. And then there are some things the same child can share with her father, that simply cannot be shared with her mother.

Sometimes you need sugar. Sometimes you need salt.

And so Alpha listened to Angelique's story with a mounting sense of disquiet, shifting into suspicion, culminating in an emotion he'd never really felt before: anger.

…..

In his new lair, Slade was monitoring his news feeds and spybot info dumps. The girl, Tara, had gotten away from him before he was ready to "recruit" her, but she'd have been perfect: another Terra, but this one totally untrained in the use of her powers and unable to fight back against the neuro suit he'd put her in. Well, perhaps something could still be salvaged from the fiasco; she was currently with Titans' East; perhaps she could be "persuaded" to return home. And there were other clones, but finding them was proving more problematical than expected….

Suddenly, his displays cleared themselves simultaneously. Slade Wilson, flashed a message across each screen. What? Had someone hacked into his computer banks? But that wasn't possible….

He reached for the keyboard, to type in a response, to buy time. That won't be necessary, Slade Wilson. I can hear you when you speak. And I am standing right behind you.

Slade whirled. Standing behind him, about twenty feet away, was a small, almost frail-looking creature, pale white in coloration, no more than five feet tall, wearing a loose-fitting grey coverall-type garment, with a large, bulbous head and great black staring eyes. The creature had almost no nose, and only a small line where the mouth would be on a human. It might've been Slade's imagination, but that mouth seemed set in an expression of distaste.

Or anger.

His overhead speakers came online, staticky at first, but forming recognizable words. The creature's mouth did not move, but the words emerged from the speakers. "You are Slade Wilson. I am Alpha, leader of the Kindred. The one you know as Angelique is my adopted daughter."

Slade found his voice. He'd been all over the world, fought foes most men couldn't even imagine, and did not scare easily. Nonetheless, he was….tense, for some reason. The Thinker (for so it had to be) faced him with complete calm, almost as though he were the master here.

Then he remembered how easily the being had subverted his systems. Maybe he was.

"Ah, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir. Your daughter has told me a lot about—"

"You placed nanoprobes in her pet, Charlie."

"Ehrm. Yes, to monitor his health condi—"

"I've neither the time nor the inclination to deal with your mendacity. I know the purpose of the probes. I've examined them myself."

"You…have?"

"They were to take over a vital part in the animal's immune system. Should Charlie be moved from beyond the range of your short-range communication system, Bluetooth, I believe you call it, or should you, for whatever reason, decide not to send a 'reset' command, they would cease to function, leading Charlie to suffer immediate health problems, to be followed by a slow, no doubt unpleasant death. Unless, of course, reinfected with another set of those self-same nanoprobes."

Slade said nothing, but beads of sweat were running down his face behind his mask. He couldn't recall ever having been quite this afraid of anything before…..

Alpha cocked his head, studying the human in front of him, like a bug under a microscope. From the speakers: "You have done a great deal for my daughter. You have taught her self-control, which is always useful. You have given her some insight into how the world—your society, as it currently is—works. This, too, is useful information. And, though your reason can be faulted, you did give Charlie a place to stay. For a while.

"These are the only reasons you will survive the terminus of this conversation.

"I have instructed my daughter to have nothing further to do with you. I now instruct you to do likewise."

Slade's mouth was very dry. "Or…..?"

Now Alpha actually smiled, slightly. From the speakers overhead: "The self-same nanoprobes—somewhat modified, of course-you placed in Charlie…are now in you, Slade Wilson. I control them. And, should you require further incentive to comply, be it known that if any harm comes to my daughter from any avenue under your influence…..I will simply let her mothers deal with you. I do not think you would like that. In fact, I will go so far as to say that I think you would dislike that for a very, very long time. They are quite protective of her, you see. Even more so than I. And very passionate in her defense." And with that, the Osiran glowed brightly and faded from sight, teleporting away.

Leaving Slade alone to ponder this…..most unfortunate turn of events.

…..

It was midnight. Kitten found she couldn't sleep. Well, no texting Omega this time. Now stop that, girl, you'll start the waterworks all over again. So she decided to just take a walk in the park. Without thinking about it, she unconsciously headed for the self-same park bench she'd been sitting on when she first met Omega, so long ago.

Realizing that, of course, didn't help anything, and she started crying again. Dammit, how much longer is this gonna go on, anyway? You'd think I'd run out of tears sooner or later.

"Lady? What's wrong?"

Kitten looked up. Standing there was a little dark-haired latina girl, maybe about eight or so, holding a small dog. "Are you alright, lady?"

"Lady"? Reality check, here. Well, I guess I must look older'n dirt to a kid her age. "Yeah, kid, I'm alright."

"Then why are you crying?"

"I, I don't think you'd understand."

"Try me. Please? Maybe I can help."

Well, that was kinda….sweet of her. Time had been, when Kitten would've told the kid to buzz off, but she'd matured some since then. Plus, the little girl really seemed sincere. She came over and sat by Kitten on the bench, still holding the sleeping puppy. "Well, if you really wanna know, my—my boyfriend's dead. And, and I miss him." I miss him so much.

"Who was your boyfriend? And how did he die?"

"You probably don't know him. He was a member of the Teen Titans. His name was Omega, and he died ridding the world of a monster."

The girl gasped. "Omega? The Osiran Prime warrior? I met him! He was your boyfriend?"

"You, you met him? How?"

"At Taco Bell. He was getting some food for a friend…wait. That's you, isn't it? You're the friend he was trying to help, aren't you? The one who got…changed?"

"Yep." She sniffled, trying to dry her eyes. "That's me. He was h-helping me get through some rough times. And, and….well. We fell in love. And now he goes and dies on me." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand; she didn't have a handkerchief on her, but she needed to blow her nose.

The girl seemed to be pondering that. "So he's dead. He seemed really nice." She turned to Kitten. "I really feel sorry for you, lady. I….know what it's like to lose someone you love." She looked down at the sleeping dog in her arms. "I lost my mom-I mean, literally lost her, I don't know where she is—a couple of years ago. But I mean, I hope to find her someday. But, but I miss her terribly."

Kitten dried her eyes further and stuck out her hand, which the little girl accepted. "I'm Kitten, by the way."

"I'm Angelique. And this," and here she indicated the dog in her arms, "is Charlie." She paused. "I used to work for Mr. Slade, but he did a bad thing to Charlie, an' now my father's told me to stay away from him. But now I don't have a place for Charlie. He can't stay with my family…."

"Oh, so you're Angelique. Well. I've heard quite a lot about you. You're pretty powerful, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes. And I'm getting better all the time."

Inspiration came to Kitten at that moment. "Angelique? Maybe…maybe I, or somebody I know, could help you find your mom. Would you like that?"

"Oh, yes! More than anything!"

"Okay." Kitten turned sideways, facing Angelique. "I'll need you to do some things. Nothing big; just come with me to Titans' Tower and let me introduce you to the gang. Then we can go over your story, and Robin can start looking for your mom. 'Kay?"

Angelique bit her lip, looking doubtful. "I—I dunno. I, I think I killed one of them, not long ago….."

"No, you didn't. So. Will you come with me to the Tower? That's the only way we'll get things really moving, an' let Robin do his thing. He is a detective, after all. And since you're not working for Slade anymore, they're no longer your enemies. Will you come with me to the Tower, tell the others about finding your mom?"

"Well….okay."

Kitten summoned her flying platform. Angelique didn't need it, of course, and Kitten marveled at how easily the child shifted into a miniature jet form for flight. Charlie, of course, was inside the cockpit, paws against the window, looking out with his tongue dangling in delight.

On the way, Kitten called Robin. "Hey, Rob. I, uh, got somebody you need to meet. Wanna assemble everybody on the roof? We're not too far from there now."

Angelique and Kitten touched down lightly on the Titans' helipad just as the Titans were emerging from below. Kitten took the now-humanoid-shaped Angelique's hand in hers, and, with Angelique still holding Charlie, approached the group. "Guys, I want you to meet a new friend of mine. Of ours, actually." She turned to the girl beside her, who was fighting the urge to hide behind her. It was one thing to fight someone; it was quite another to meet them face-to-face. That required a different kind of courage. "Guys…..This is Angelique."

There was a stunned silence. Everybody there remembered the battles they'd had, Beast Boy in particular remembering how she'd almost killed him, and would have, had not the Orb intervened. But nonetheless he was the first to come forward, kneeling before Angelique. "So you're Angelique."

"Yes." She couldn't meet his gaze. "I—I'm sorry I tried to kill you. But Mr. Slade said all of you were, were bad people who, who went around causing trouble for everyone, taking people's money, and hurting them." She looked down at Charlie, in her arms. "He lied to me. You aren't the bad guys; he was."

Garfield was silent for a moment. Then, "That's alright, Angelique. I understand. I know what it's like to be lied to, to be used like that. It's okay; I forgive you. Apology accepted. Shake on it?" He offered his hand, which she accepted, grinning.

A blond girl came and knelt beside him. "Hi, Angelique. I'm Terra, and I used to work for Slade myself. So I know how he can twist things up, say the words you want to hear, make you believe almost anything."

"Yeah, I remember you, from the bank. You can move stuff with your mind, can't you? Man, that is so awesome! I wish I could do that."

Robin broke in. "Okay, people. Tell you what. Let's move this party downstairs to the conference room. We can get some snacks goin', and find out what we can do for Angelique here."

Once down in the conference chamber, soft drinks and chips all around, seated at the table, Angelique told them the whole story: her mother, the white powder, the scary men and what she thought they wanted to do to her, her adoption by the Kindred, and her transformation, finally ending up with meeting Slade on the street, with his proposal of helping her find her mother. "But nothing ever came of it. He said it was like she just vanished from the face of the Earth." She looked at the assembled heroes, very much a little girl despite her awesome power. "Can you help me? I, I really wanna find her."

"We'll try, Angelique," promised Robin, "But just understand: sometimes, when people get involved in illegal matters, they change names, identities, everything. So it's not a matter of just looking her up on the internet, or a phone book or something. We'll probably have to do it the old-fashioned way: finding people who knew her, and asking them. And," and here his voice turned grim, "while we're at it, we'll find those men who took you from her." He smacked his fist into the palm of his hand. "I'd really like to meet them." Murmurs of agreement went around the table. "I think it's safe to say we all would."

Angelique smiled, suddenly at ease despite these unfamiliar surroundings. She'd respected Slade, up to a point, and she loved her Kindred family dearly, but this was different. Now, for the first time in her life, she had met some people with whom she could be friends. True, they were older than she was, but she could feel the warmth of their camaraderie even as they spoke. They truly cared about her. "Well, thank you. Thank all of you. But I still gotta find a place for Charlie to live…."

"Oh, that's not a problem," spoke up Kitten, "Charlie can stay at my place. I mean, it's got a fenced in yard and everything. And my dad can't possibly object, since he's, ah, uhm, let's just say, extremely well equipped to take care of biological organisms anyway. One little puppy can't be that much trouble." She turned to Angelique. "So whaddaya say? Wanna go meet my dad? I gotta warn ya: he's a little different looking, but he's basically good people."

"Oh, yes, please!"

…..

Far, far out in space, something slowed down from moving at relativistic speeds. It really wasn't a thing, as such, so much as it was a condition in space/time. It had been traveling through intergalactic space at nearly the speed of light. But now, for whatever reason, it began to slow.

By sheer coincidence—or perhaps not—it just happened to be in the general vicinity of the planet called Earth.

An unconscious figure fell out of the wormhole's mouth, tumbling end over end. The figure was humanoid, but unlike most humanoids, did not expand and explode from internal gas pressure, as would normally happen. Instead it simply fell through space.

It was too far from any source of light for human eyes to actually see it, but, had anyone been able to, they might have taken note of the being's ivory-white skin and hair, the black and silver uniform….

…..

Apokolips: Darkseid, Lord of the planet, was visiting his son in DeSaad's medical chamber. "You disobeyed orders, Kalibak. Again. Being of my blood will only preserve you and your incompetence so far."

Kalibak was bound almost head to foot in bandages and splints. "Yes, father. I am sorry." He couldn't meet his father's red-eyed gaze. But then, few could.

"You certainly are. Now. Tell me of this creature that did this to you."

Kalibak's eyes glazed over in memory. "It—it was fast, father. Very fast. And, and powerful." He looked up, suddenly. "I could have handled it. But it moved so fast…."

"Enough. Describe it." When Kalibak had finished doing so, Darkseid turned, thoughtfully. "Hm. A new race…or perhaps the remnants of an old one? I must check the records." He turned to Kalibak, still lying in his bed of misery. "Very well. For this information, you have earned one quarter day's cycle of pain relief. But I have instructed DeSaad to withhold such relief from you, save for that necessary for the continuance of your miserable life. Perhaps that pain will teach you to follow instructions, next time."

"Yes, father. Th-thank you." Darkseid turned to go. In so doing, he missed seeing the fleeting glimpse of a feral smile on the face of the creature on the bed behind hm. Yes, "father." I will follow instructions.

But not necessarily yours.

….

The rain was coming down in buckets, washing against the windows of Titans' Tower, as Raven walked down the hallway. She'd been having trouble sleeping, lately—no, strike that; she'd been having disturbing dreams lately that made her question the value of sleep.

She remembered some of them. Usually, they consisted of her and Beast Boy either making out or outright having sex. This shamed her; Garfield was, after all, engaged, and to her friend to boot. She would never, in her waking time, try to do anything to come between them.

It hadn't always been this way. These dreams had started up only recently. Why? Well, that was no mystery: His and Terra's wedding day was fast approaching, and it was kind of a no-brainer that her subconscious was telling her to "make her move," as the saying went, while there was still time.

Maybe it was her demonic heritage. Demons thrived on negative energies; maybe her darker nature was trying to get her to stir up or in some way cause some trouble in order to feed off the negative emotions such an action would surely produce. Well, if so, it was in for a disappointment; she was still in charge, and she wasn't going to let her dark nature bring harm to her friends.

Her relationship with Hank just didn't seem to be going anywhere. There was nothing wrong with it, it just…somehow wasn't satisfying. He was respectful, kind, considerate, and she could sense he truly cared about her. Looking at the matter objectively, he was everything she wanted in a man. So why couldn't she return the emotion?

She went into her room, into the bathroom. Looked at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. "You are one grade A classic piece of work, you know that?" Her reflection nodded. "You want the unattainable, the 'forbidden fruit,' as it were. Here he was, all along, and you did nothing. Now he's getting married, and now you get the hots for him? Well, it's not going to work." She set her jaw in an expression of determination. "If I have to, to go away until they're safely husband and wife, I will. I will not cause them misery. Besides, I'd only be making a fool of myself, anyway. Beast Boy doesn't see me that way and never has. He's just my friend, my best friend maybe, but still." She straightened up, ran some cold water in the sink, and splashed it on her face. "I have more self-control than that."

"Rrraven…."

Raven jerked her head up. For the briefest of instants, she thought she saw another figure in the mirror besides her own. She whirled around, defensive spells ready, but there was nobody there.

Cautiously, she examined her room, inch by inch. Not only was there no sign of any intruder, but there was no astral impression that anyone had been in here in the last few hours. But she was certain she'd heard someone call her name.

Someone or something.

People and other beings who use, or make use of, magic, are subject to a unique danger: they tend to stand out to the various supernatural entities that exist in the otherwhere. So magic-users tend to draw attention to themselves, simply by existing. And more often than not, they draw the attention of predators. Unearthly predators.

So Raven very carefully went over not only her own room, but the entire tower, sitting in the lotus position, floating above her bed. Only when she was completely and thoroughly satisfied that there was no unwanted intrusion did she relax her guard. One last check to make. {{Orb? Are you there?}}

{{Yes, Raven, I am here.}}

{{I thought I sensed something here in the tower with us. Have you sensed anything unusual?}}

{{Puzzlement. No, Raven, I have not sensed any other presences besides those who normally reside within this domicile.}}

Raven breathed a sigh of relief. If the Orb didn't sense anything…. {{Perhaps it was just my imagination, then.}}

{{Are you troubled? Do you wish to talk?}}

She smiled, slowly lowering herself down onto her bed. {{Not tonight, Orb. We'll talk tomorrow. But if you sense any intruding presence, please alert me immediately. Alright?}}

{{Of course, Raven. And do not worry. I will not let any harm befall you or your friends.}}

{{Thank you, Orb.}} It never ceased to amaze her how something so alien, so strange to mortal beings, could, at the same time, be so friendly. But perhaps that very strangeness made for a better friend: fewer points of conflict. {{Well. I am going to bed now. I will see you in the morning.}}

{{And I will be here. Thank you, Raven.}}

She was startled. {{For what?}}

{{For being my friend. It is something I treasure immensely.}}

Raven was taken aback. Even though she'd never really been a "people person," still, she'd had a number of years of having friends under her belt, and perhaps she'd come to take that for granted. Sort of. {{Well, thank you for being my friend. That's something I value as well.}}

{{Raven?}}

{{Yes, Orb?}}

{{I sense how you feel about Garfield Logan. It causes you pain.}}

Dammit, dammit, dammit. Too late she remembered the Orb was an emotiphage, able to sense the feelings, as well as the thoughts of others. {{Well, that is…..something I should not feel, Orb. But we humans are not always in control of our feelings, as you may have surmised.}}

{{So I have gathered. Raven? I realize that I know nothing of human love, but I hope you can take a certain amount a comfort in knowing that, in my own way, I love you. Very much.}}

Raven smiled, her eyes misting. What were the odds? The most alien form of life yet encountered, and it knew about love. Too much of Raven's life had been spent dealing with demons, who knew all about hate, but nothing about love. Or with humans, who knew all about self-interest, but little about interest in others. {{Thank you, Orb. I love you, too, as a friend, of course.}}

{{You are most welcome. Now rest. Sleep. As before, I will watch over you, to ensure that no harm befalls you.}}

And, as before, Raven slept.

…..

In her room at the Kindred's hive, Angelique twisted and turned in uneasy slumber. While it was true she no longer needed sleep in the same way humans did, she found it restful for clearing away the cobwebs of thoughts and feelings of the day. It gave her what psychologists called "closure," and so, she sought it each night. Then too, occasionally, her dreams were…..enlightening.

Such was not the case now. Now she found herself standing on a rocky landscape, all sharp angles and great stone columns rising up from various points in the ground, for no discernible reason. A dull red glow spread over everything, coming from a point behind her. And the smell was awful.

She turned around. There, before her, was what appeared to be a vast sea of molten lava, stretching as far away as the eye could see. The ground she was standing on was a basaltic, volcanic shoreline to this lava sea, which lapped sluggishly against the rocky coastline.

She looked up. The stars overhead seemed dismal and wan, somehow. Although the night sky was just as black as any ordinary night sky, it seemed to her that she could see objects moving in that vast expanse, objects that produced no light of their own, that she could somehow nonetheless see. They didn't look like planets or stars. In fact, some of them looked like….

….it hurt her mind to think about what they actually looked like. But somehow they gave the impression of being living beings, beings of colossal size….

"Mmaria…" It was the barest whisper, but she recognized her name. Someone or something was calling her.

Angelique had long mastered dream control. This was only a dream, albeit a strangely disturbing one, even though she couldn't really say why. It wasn't like her former nightmares of the scary men; this was some sense of a vague, omnipresent danger from some source she couldn't identify. But, for all that, it was still only a dream, and so should present her with no danger.

Where was Bear? Usually, when she had bad dreams, Bear would appear, and walk her through the worst of them, even protecting her, showing her that they were only dreams, and she was in control. But Bear wasn't here, and he didn't appear when she called for him. She began to be a little bit afraid; that hadn't happened before.

"Maria!" A voice, a clearly human voice, startled her. It was coming from the shoreline, from the lava sea. "Help me, Maria! Save me!" She ran over to the very edge of the shoreline and gasped to see her new friend, the red girl, the one called Kitten, clinging onto a ledge projecting out over the lava. "Help me, Maria! I can't hold on much longer!"

"Don't worry, Miss Kitten, I'll save you!" But try as she might, she couldn't morph her arms into anything long enough to reach her new friend. No matter how far she reached, she couldn't quite reach Kitten. That was weird; her new friend couldn't be more than twenty feet away, but even morphing her arms thirty, forty, fifty feet seemed, for some reason, to fall short of that mark. "Enough of this." She morphed into jet mode, and launched herself off the cliff, curving around in a trajectory that would bring her up under Kitten, where she could easily grab her and fly her to safety.

But again, she couldn't get close enough. Even though she firewalled her engines to the max, producing enough thrust to force herself bodily through a small mountain, she still couldn't seem to get close enough. There was no hindrance to her, nothing blocking her, like a force field; rather, it was like a mirage, where the object one pursues appears to grow ever more distant the closer one gets to it.

Now she sensed something rising up behind her, from out of the lava sea. Part of her instinctively wanted to turn and see what it was, but another, more ancient part warned her not to. What was coming up behind her wasn't something she wanted to see; just the mere seeing of it would, would do something bad to her. Something really bad. But she had to get to Miss Kitten. She had to save Miss Kitten.

Straining her abilities to the utmost, she grew a pair of arms and reached out, ever farther out, seeking to reach the girl clinging for dear life to the cliff side. And, as before, her arms didn't quite go far enough. But maybe…"Miss Kitten! You'll have to jump! Jump into my arms!" The figure on the cliffside turned, got a better purchase with her claws, and sprang towards Angelique's outstretched arms….

….only to fade completely out of existence before she reached them. "No! Miss Kitten! Where are you?" Angelique was left alone, hovering over the lava sea, with some monstrous, unnamable thing rising up, endlessly up, from the bubbling lava behind her.

A thing she now sensed had noticed her…

She awoke, gasping, in her bed at the Kindred's hive, Bear clutched in her arms. She held Bear at arm's length, looking at him accusingly. "And where were you, Mister? I called for you, but you didn't come."

What would appear to mortal eyes to be only a stuffed toy gazed at her. {{I was here, Maria. I was here all along.}}

"So why didn't you come? You've always been able to come into my dreams before. What stopped you this time?"

{{You were not dreaming, Maria. Not in any sense I was able to recognize.}}

Angelique's eyes widened. "You, you mean…that was real?"

{{I am unable to answer that. You, your body, your physical self, was here in your bed. But you were not in a dreaming state. Thus, I was unable to communicate with you. The part of you that I communicate with, whether awake or asleep, was not present.}}

Angelique thought and thought hard. She only had the barest understanding of premonitions, the Kindred really didn't believe in them, nor was she familiar with any state where the essential her would have left her body. A quick internet consult: astral projection, maybe?

But if what she'd just experienced was no mere dream….

"I have to know if Miss Kitten's alright. Bear? I'm going over there. Cover for me, would'ja?" Not waiting for an answer, she stuffed him under the sheet and turned to her exit.

In flight mode, she jetted over the silent lights of the city, zeroing in on Kitten's house. Her extended senses could already see into Kitten's second-story room, and showed her friend apparently asleep on her bed, with Charlie curled up at her feet.

Softly, she carefully and soundlessly opened the window. Miss Kitten appeared to be asleep, but if there was some funny business going on, she wanted to be sure.

But she didn't want to wake Miss Kitten. She knew that grownups sometimes get upset when you wake them up, and she didn't want to upset anybody. But without doing that, how would she know if Miss Kitten was alright?

Charlie woke up and wagged his tail at her. "Hey, boy," she whispered, picking him up. "Everything okay over here?" Charlie, of course, made no reply, but just wagged his stubby tail all the harder and tried to lick her face.

"A-angelique?" Kitten rolled over in bed, waking up. "Angelique? W-what's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Kitten. I just had this crazy dream that you were in danger. Only it wasn't a dream, at least, that's what Bear said….."

"Who's Bear?"

"I'll have to introduce you sometime. But he can talk to me, especially in my dreams. And he said I wasn't dreaming, so I got worried. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake you."

Yawning. "That's alright, kid. I suppose I'd have done the same thing." She stretched, coming fully awake. "So. Tell me about this dream. What was it about? You say I was in it?"

A few minutes, and several rounds of Old Maid, later, Kitten was still a bit puzzled. "Sounds like a pretty bad place, Angelique. Almost like He-, uh, I mean…."

"I know about Hell, Miss Kitten. My mom took me to church, back when I was living with her. And I know about Heaven, too, where Jesus and the Blessed Virgin live. And you're right; this place was sorta like what I'd think Hell would be like. 'Cept I didn't see anybody else there, and aren't there supposed to be a lot of bad people in Hell?"

Kitten shrugged. "That's what I was always taught. But who knows." She played a hand, winning the round. Angelique scarcely noticed, even though she usually won. Her mind, her worries, were elsewhere.

"Miss Kitten? I gotta question." Kitten raised an eyebrow. Angelique frowned, trying to find the right words. After living for so long with the Link, it was sometimes difficult for her to find the right words in any human language to express her thoughts correctly. "Do—do you suppose there's something worse than the Devil?"

"Whoa." Kitten was taken aback. "Where'd that question come from?"

Angelique looked down at her hands, folded neatly in her lap. Dammit, did the child have to sit in that Osiran kneeling posture? It reminded her too uncomfortably of…..someone else. "I dunno. It's just…..I thought I sensed something there, something huge and powerful coming up behind me." She looked off, towards the window; she'd have to be getting back soon, as it would soon be daylight. But first, she had to warn Miss Kitten. "It wanted me. It wanted us both, and not in a good way, either. But the Devil, he just wants your soul, right? But this thing, whatever it was, wanted all of us. Everything we've ever been or ever will be." Her voice sank to a whisper. "It scared me, Miss Kitten. Not just for me, but for you, too." She looked up at Kitten, alarm in her eyes and voice. "So, just…..just let's us both be careful, okay? I, I really don't wanna go to that place again. Okay?"

"Hey, I'm all for that. I guess….we just have to keep on doing what we know is right, and then the Devil, or whoever, can't touch us, right?" That didn't seem like a completely satisfactory way of explaining things, but it was all she could come up with on the fly.

"I guess so. Well. I guess I better be getting back. I left Bear in my bed, but Mother Delta won't be fooled by that for long." She turned and impulsively threw her arms around Kitten, careful, as in all her dealings with humans, not to squeeze to tightly. "Be careful, Miss Kitten. I'll be seein' ya." And with that, she turned and left via the window she'd come in by.

To be continued….