The Tree of Black Leaves

Chapter 1: She who dared to die

Raven Roth knew how relatively simple her life was, born from a young woman tricked by a demon, taken to Azarath with her mother- sent back to earth to live her life until her sixteenth birthday when she would become a portal for her father to pass through.

Yet there existed hints that pointed to the contrary. When her father emerged from his prison his words were "Finally! I have waited far too long for this!" in the heat of the moment her mind shut down, but since then she would only wonder why 'far too long' sixteen years for a demon was nothing-a blink of an eye.

When the Doom Patrol came to visit the first words out of Mento's mouth were "It's good to see you again Raven"

"Again?" she asked, something passed between his wife and him after she looked past Raven.

"Sorry, I was mistaken, you looked like someone else for a moment" she didn't believe them.

Then there were the dreams. Images of hundreds of people in odd clothes surrounding her, cursing and jeering at her. They screamed as something below her feet sparked and heat radiated towards her, she couldn't move, nor look down, the pain continued to burn her before it would fade from her consciousness. Then she would away in a cold sweat, panic radiating from her skin like sulfur in hell.

Then came Psycotopic and things were answered. By going through the darkest pits of the Underworld.

Psycotopic was a telekinetic much like Raven, she wore a dark purple cloak that covered all of her body save her face with was hidden by a mask much like Robin's but she was very fair skinned with shoulder length black wavy hair. When the call came out the villain was robbing the bank.

Instead of the normal witty banter this particular baddy hopped right to attacking, flinging various objects around the room towards the group of heroes-trying especially hard to hit the green boy jumping around quickly from kangaroo to turtle to hummingbird to whatever else he needed to be. Raven managed to slip behind a counter and extend her powers to feel why she was targeting Beast Boy-to her surprise it was fear. Mind-numbing tremor inducing terror.

At some point in the struggle the villain threw the vault door at the titans, Beast Boy dodged just enough to avoid getting hurt-his shirt was torn away from his body while Raven couldn't get far enough away and got a portion of her side ripped out by the hinges, the other dodged by a wide margin. Raven clutched her side and fell to her knees as she tried to heal herself but stopped. The blood wasn't flowing-in fact the blood that was on the vault door turned to dust and she watched it settle over her injury before it reformed.

She stared in shock until a growl got her attention. In front of her was Beast Boy, his entire torso covered with tattoos that she faintly recognized as a dead language, something that was said to have unparalleled power-and with it risks. His eyes were not the playful ones she knew but harsh flecks of the purest jade. In a voice that wasn't his he cast out words in a harsh melodic tongue that she couldn't understand. The woman who hurt her collapsed on herself with a shriek and a transparent blue copy appeared in front of the green man before he cast an order "Never stand before me again or I will steal your soul" the blue copy shivered in fear before returning to her body.

The tower was deathly silent, Robin, Starfire and Cyborg stood mute as Raven stalked behind Beast Boy who calmly sat in one of the bar stools. Another moment of tense silence passed by. It started when Robin asked "What happened back there?"

In a bland matter-of-fact tone he received his answer "I pulled her soul out of her body, temporarily. Very tricky, took me several years to learn how" the others waited for more, but none was forthcoming.

Starfire and Cyborg knew they were out of their league with souls, Robin looked to their specialist who countered "It's impossible to pull a soul out of a body without killing the person!"

Very calmly the changeling pulled out a cigar from his suit and lit it, slapping away Robin's hand as he tried to take it, he looked back to Raven "Only if you sever the Threads of Fate"

Things started floating as Raven seemed to grow more and more enraged "But to do that would require, at least, an intimate knowing of the subject, you'd have to know them better than they themselves know!" she hissed out the pent up breath and sighed "and you'd have to be a high level necromancer, which I'm damn sure you aren't"

"Correct" her eyebrows shot up at the changeling who crossed one leg over the other and laced his fingers together in his lap "necromancer is the term for a human drabbling in the arts of life and death. And that's what I would be if I was human"

Starfire looked more shaken than anyone else "You are not of human nature?"

"No. I am a bioaccersitus- taken from Latin meaning 'life summoner' it's far more accurate as to what I am"

Raven scoffed "I've never heard that before"

Robin, Cyborg and Starfire had taken seats around the table watching as Raven argued at their green friend "Because those who call me that do not speak"

"What calls without speaking?! A tree?!"

"Correct"

"What?"

As he tapped the ashes off the end of the cigar he continued "Trees contain a basic level of sentience that expands as we age. I am the oldest, I've lived through the dinosaurs and the ice ages that killed so many of my kin."

Robin's confused face mirrored his words "But that doesn't make any sense!"

"As I said we have an expanding consciousness. By the time we enter adulthood we are able to see the flow of nature around us, the streams of time and sands of life. And more importantly we can create ourselves in different forms" the others stood in silence. This was something none of them could ever imagine before "I was born some 300 million years ago. My seed found ground high in the mountains in a crag that no predators could enter and with the decay around me I grew very well. But I survived long enough until I realized something seventeen years ago…I was mind numbingly, soul stiflingly bored. I lived so long on luck, I couldn't change the things around me. So I left my body and let my soul wander to a couple near me. I couple with a stillborn babe. I took the body as a vessel. When I was born I knew nothing of my time as a tree, I loved my parents very much but when I fell sick things started to change. Their antidote removed the barriers from my mind, in essence I started to remember being a tree. But they died before I could remember enough to do more than watch as they drifted away."

He lit another cigar and Raven glared at him before pressing her powers against him before shooting back. He wasn't lying. Cy started "…so what happened after that?" this was more than he expected. Everyone but Beast Boy's past was known. This was his only chance to understand what shaped his friend.

"I wandered in the forest practicing my abilities until two thieves kidnapped me. They forced me to steal things for them. All I could do was obey. Until I remembered enough. One night as they slept I called the vines to break my cage and strangle my captors" the Titans stared in horror as he continued on "they were men who murdered, stole and raped until they couldn't move. To kill them was a mercy. From this point on this is a private conversation between myself and Raven"

The girl looked shocked before she shook her head "If they were with me through Trigon they can hear this"

A small bit of pride lit the green eyes- and for some reason Raven felt a weight lift off her shoulders "I realized I needed someone to help me survive until I could reach adulthood. I wandered back into the jungle, followed the strands of life until I found the remains of someone who died before their time. I called you back to your body. I brought forth your powers to protect me. At the time I felt it was an even exchange, you would protect me until I could go out into the world in return for your own life back" the room was utterly silent save the sizzle of the embers burning back the wrapping on the cigar "Then the Doom Patrol found us. I told them that you were my sister, they didn't believe it but they had no choice but to accept it. After we were…displaced we wandered this city until I saw Robin. I asked you if you wanted join-you told me that if we didn't we'd go our separate ways. I sealed off those memories from your leaving Azarath to your arrival in Jump so that you may be who you wanted to be. I would never hold any sway over you again."

Raven fell silent as Robin seemed to absorb her earlier anger "Then why the Hell did you still act like a child?!"

Beast Boy sighed deeply "Because the team needed it. Cyborg needed someone who he could feel human around until he realized he never became anything else, Starfire needed someone who was able to connect with her through her lack of understanding at the time when she joined, Raven needed someone to help pull her out of the darkness that she believed she was destined for, you needed someone to assert your authority over-someone that you felt could never reach your level."

Cyborg broke the tension "I think we've all had an overload today. I think we should all just go to bed" Beast Boy nodded before flashing his signature smile at them and walking to his room.

Robin nodded "Yeah, sounds good" but they could tell inside he was a bit lost. They all were.

But they weren't dealing with six years of memories kept hidden. Raven wondered what all powers were still hidden in the thin frame as toil, triumph and failures washed over her.

That night was hard. Each of them had to deal with a false front constructed so perfectly that nobody ever saw through it. The only one who could have slept in peace wasn't. he was cleaning his room, now at least they could see a bit more of who he was instead of the façade of the immature boy.

As the morning came Beast Boy came in early- not as early as Raven but before Robin and quietly made his own breakfast and sat on the couch watching the sun rise above the city. They all gathered, Cyborg had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep while Starfire and Robin seemed listless. Raven was at peace, she remembered things he had not told them, things that only she needed to know.

As they all sat around the table Beast Boy warned "Guys, I want you to stay out of my room, there are things in there that don't particularly like to be seen"

Cyborg chuckled tiredly "That sounded really ominous"

To his surprise the green man chuckled back "Yeah, that did…I want to know how are you guys holding up?"

Starfire gave a shake of her head "I am lost friend Beast Boy, I though you were one person but you are not…I see why you disguised yourself but I am not happy with it"

Robin sighed "I wish I would have known, things could have turned out so much differently"

Cyborg stared out the window until his name rallied him back "…I'll get back to you when I know"

Raven stared at the table "Don't ask me, you know me better than I know myself"