Chapter . . . 9, right? Yeah, nine.

Enjoy!


Chapter 9

The Hunt for the Girl

Raven's party was Kole, herself, and Aqualad. Currently the three were searching through their part of the territory.

The attic.

"It's disgusting up here," Kole commented. Then added lightly to Raven, "No offense."

"No, you're right," Raven agreed, "We don't use things up here, it's like the basement but with less stuff."

"I didn't even know you had an attic," Aqualad sneezed. "One of the privileges of living underwater is," sneeze, "No dust."

"Are you allergic to dust?" Kole asked.

"No," he insisted, sneezing again.

Raven raised her cloak, avoiding projectile. "Here," She handed him a packet off tissues she carried around always ever since Beast Boy had caught the flew and sneezed on her.

"Thanks," He said. He took the packet and held a tissue to his nose.

"No problem," Raven replied.


Beast Boy was feeling extremely uncomfortable at the moment.

"So, when ya gonna kiss her?" Kid Flash asked, laughing.

"I don't know," Beast Boy replied icily, "How long did it take for you to kiss Jinx?"

Kid Flash stopped laughing, "I-!"

Speedy's laughing drowned him out. He wiped a tear from his eye, "But really dude, on an honest level, when are you gonna get things going between you two?"

"As soon as possible," Beast Boy said sarcastically.

Kid Flash found his revenge. "OH! Okay then." He flipped out his communicator, Beast Boy heard the click. "Hey Raven, Beast Boy has something to-."


Raven watched something gray flash across the screen and then it went static.

"What was that about?" Kole asked.

Raven shrugged and put her communicator back into her belt.


"Don't. Ever. Do that. Again!" Beast Boy panted, glaring hard at Kid Flash.

Beast Boy had tackled Kid Flash to get his communicator, and it had hung up as soon as it hit the ground. Both boys were getting back to their feet.

Speedy snickered, "How much do you wanna bet she'll call back?"

"She won't," Beast Boy assured them. Then he went pale, "Er-, at least, I think-."

"HA!" Kid Flash shouted, "So you do like her!"

"I think we've established that," He mumbled.

A pause, then-.

"Hello?"


"Think we've . . . that."

Raven looked around for the sound, "What's that?"

Kole pulled her communicator out of her pocket, "Hello?"

The view was a dark screen before a stream of threats from someone that sounded like Beast Boy saying, "I SAID KNOCK IT OFF!"

"Give it here," Raven said, Kole handed it over.

Something sounded like it popped from where they were before someone said, "Oh now you've done it!" followed by a, "O sh-." from someone else.

"Boys," Raven interrupted the person. After a short argument of who was going to answer, Kid Flash's fearful face appeared.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you calling us!?" She shouted at them.

The transmition seemed to shake . . . or the hand holding it. Then it was snatched and Speedy appeared, "Kid Flash is being stupid." There was a background, "Hey!" but it was ignored. "It won't happen again. Sorry."

It was taken again, then Beast Boy was there, seeming irritated and scared at the same time. "And if it does," He said, "Don't listen to anything he says!"

"Okay Beast Boy," Raven said, a small smile on her face.

He seemed relieved, "Thanks, Rae."

Raven pulled her hood over her head, "Whatever." And then she closed it, smile still intact.

Until she saw Kole and Aqualad's admiring faces.

"What?" She demanded, the smile once again disappearing.

"Oh, nothing," Kole said innocently before turning and continuing exploring.


Beast Boy threw the communicator at Kid Flash, who was hit in the head, and after picking it back up, they continued. Their section of the tower was the higher up part of the basement. Robin's section had the middle area's (rooms and such) and Jinx's had the upper-middle sections (rooms like the evidence room).

The basement was cool, in the boys opinion. There were a lot of things that were old, and dusty, and spiderwebs covered most of it, but nonetheless-.

Speedy tripped over something, "Ow!"

"Hey, a radio!" Beast Boy shouted. The wire of the radio was what he'd tripped over. It was plugged into the wall already.

"Does it still work?" Kid Flash asked, neither concerned about their fallen comrade.

"Let's see," Beast Boy flicked the switch and began playing with the twisters. It wasn't till a few minutes later he realized it was a CD player, and hit play. "Heh, my bad."

What the boys didn't know was that there was a heating vent, that ran through almost the entire Tower, and it was right behind the CD player.

A guitar began playing, and then drums.

Robin's head snapped up at the sound of it all, and Cyborg shared a look with both him and Bumblebee.

"Beast Boy," Jinx's group all said at the same time.

Downstairs, the boy's were confused.

"This is a recent song," Kid Flash stated, "I've heard this song."

"But who would've been down here to change it?" Speedy had long since gotten up.

Realization hit them all at the same time. "Starfire!"

The shout echoed through the vent and hit Robin's group first. He had his communicator out at once, "Calling Beast Boy. This is Robin."

Beast Boy flipped his out, "Robin! I was just about to call you! I think we found Star's trail!"

By then, all signals were connected, "Off a song?" Kole questioned.

"That's just it!" Speedy shouted into it, "Nobodies been down here for years, and you would've heard the music had anyone been playing it, so who would've taken the time to change it and not listen to it?"

Beast Boy morphed into a hound dog and was sniffing around, searching for a scent.

"We'll be down in two seconds," Robin said.

Raven eyed Beast Boy's dog form through the screen, "And tell Beast Boy not to mark his territory." This got an indignant woof, but nothing else. The signals were lost.

"Find anything, pup?" Kid Flash asked. Beast Boy growled, but said nothing.

"Okay, so how come Raven can say something but I can't?" He demanded. Beast Boy ignored him.

Then, at the same time, the others appeared in different ways. Robin and Jinx's group through the door, and Raven's party evaporated from the roof.

"You got anything?" Robin said, panting.

Beast Boy didn't stop tracking, but stopped and stared. Then-.

"AROOOOO!" He howled. He morphed back into a crouching human and beckoned with his hand. "This way!"

They darted into the deeper boxes for what seemed like entirely too long. And then they all froze.

Someone was huddled in the middle of the room, their back facing them, her red hair falling down it as she hung her head, as if she had done something terribly shameful and was depressed beyond imagination. But Starfire was wearing her wedding dress.

"Starfire!" Robin began running over.

In two seconds flat, he was grabbed around the neck by Starfire, who seemed to have been crying. Her eyes were wet, red, and her cheeks had crusted where the tears had fallen. "Robin, you must understand, I could not contact you! She said you could only have me if you found me!"

"Star?" Robin had her arms around her, gently letting one run through her hair and the other around her waist. He pushed her away, "You don't seem like yourself-."

Starfire whimpered, "Wini-Winifred!" She cried into his shoulder, so her words muffled. "Robin, I was so afraid! She believed I was her sister, and I had to convince her that I wasn't by saying you would find me, because I'm more important to you then I am to her!"

Robin backed up, "Who are you?"

"What?" Starfire asked, shocked.

Something black knocked Starfire and Robin apart. When he looked up he saw Raven standing in between Robin and Starfire, her back to Robin and her arms spread out to her sides, as if protecting him.

"Raven?" Jinx demanded, "What're you-?"

"That's not Starfire," Raven hissed at the seemingly fearful and confused girl on the ground.

"Raven . . . Robin?" Starfire began. "You-?"

"Ghosts are almost masters at mimicry by birth, and make any error invisible," She interrupted.

"But one thing you forgot," Robin glared hard at Starfire, "Is that my Starfire has an accent."

All eyes stared. Starfire smirked.

And then the figure on the ground morphed back into a half-visible girl, with the same smile. "You're Starfire, the one you want, is that way." She pointed left and then disappeared.

"Is she lying?" Robin asked, swallowing.

"No," Raven said, "Ghosts don't lie twice in a row. Standard rule. It's built into their drive, you could say . . ."

Robin wasn't listening. He'd already raced the way Winifred had pointed, and they all waited in the same spot. When he reached the sight, he felt as if someone had knocked him across the face. Starfire was in her wedding dress, and there were bruises on her arms. He was next to her in an instant, sliding one hand underneath her hip and the other under her neck, lifting her and shaking her. "Star? Starfire, can you hear me?" (Me: I just realized that, for those of you who know Kingdom Hearts, that if you've seen the seconds ones beginning video, Kairi and Sora's little "Kairi, Kairi, open your eyes!" looks like this. Sorry, random.)

No answer. He picked her up in his arms very gently, shaking the pain and fear away from his face before coming out with the paling girl in his arms.

"Is she gonna make it?" Robin asked Raven, who was examining her face.

"Yes," Raven said. "But we need to do something first . . ."


"The ghost takes a part of each one of the people it copies," Raven was explaining. "The original person, I guess you could say, appears . . . incapacitated until the piece of the ghost that fills the space in the person is removed and switched back." She was searching through her book, "Though thankfully, the ghost no longer has to be a willing participant. She probably won't even notice."

"Good," Robin said curtly. Everyone could tell he was having a hard time with it.

"Don't worry Robin," Speedy assured him. "Raven will get Starfire back in no time." He turned to her, "Right?"

"Five minutes," She said, placing a piece of silver in Starfire's hand. "Tops."

Starfire had been placed on the coffee table, silver in hand, and her other on her stomach. She was on her back. There was white dust surrounding the whole area in a white circle, and she seemed content with the sight. She began to mutter something:
"Piece of you, piece of me.
Different from what's come to be.
Asleep for now, asleep in death.
Do not make this your permanent rest.
Take this piece of heart of and return it home.
Let her piece of life be shown."

Raven kept muttering the curse over and over again. Then, the little piece in Starfire's hand began glowing, and her chest began moving. But she still wasn't breathing. Raven got louder and louder, though she never seemed to raise her voice. Then, by magic, her head tilted back, and her chest rose higher then the rest of her body. Out of her middle, through her clothes it seemed, some little piece of what could've been vapor that went about a foot above her head before exploding, blinding them for a few seconds. When their vision returned they were just in time to see a more pronounced piece, a shade of almost green, float back into Starfire like a feather. The place it landed glowed in a circle for a moment, and then color returned to Starfire's face, her bruises faded, and her breathing started up again in choked gasps. Raven stopped chanting.

She gave a long, hard look at Starfire before nodding and gesturing for Robin to come forward. "You can take the silver out of her hand."

"Does is make a difference if I do it?" Robin asked, nervously.

"You'll be the first person she sees when she wakes up," Raven said, smiling reassuringly. "Do you think that makes a difference?"

Robin didn't reply and kneeled down and gently removed the silver from Starfire's hands with everyone watching in anticipation. The moment he'd dropped it to the floor (by accident, of course) Starfire's eyes snapped open and some invisible force propelled her forward, making her sit up with an astonished look of shock and confusion.

She turned and stared, "Robin?"

Everyone simultaneously let out a sigh of relief, and Robin seemed more so then everyone else. "Starfire!"

Robin had her in his arms in a second, and, though Starfire wasn't complaining, she seemed more confused then two seconds ago. "Robin, are you 'the sick'?"

Robin didn't let up, "I've never been more relieved to here you talk," He said quietly. She blushed, and then he added louder, "No, I'm not sick. I'm fine. How about you? What happened?"

Starfire was released, and began explaining after acknowledging the presence of her friends.


Starfire growled in frustration before grabbing Winifred's shoulders and shaking her, surprised she could touch her at all. "YOU are the one who has been altered! You are dead! The name of my sister is Blackfire, and you are not she!"

Winifred stared at her, Starfire knew how painful her grip on her probably was, but she made no move to release her. Finally though, her self-proclaimed sibling closed her eyes and sighed. "Of course you aren't."

This stunned Starfire beyond belief, "Y-You believe me?"

"Oh yes, very much," She eyed Starfire conspicuously. "My sister is no slut. She'd never dress like you were. I just had to make sure."

Starfire felt as if she'd just been slapped, "What does this word 'slut' mean, again?"

Winifred grinned, as if she'd hoped Starfire would've asked this. "It means you're a tramp, deary." Starfire knew that word. Once, when Raven and her had watched a Disney movie called 'Lady and the Tramp' and why Beast Boy had called the name 'inappropriate' Starfire had asked why. She turned red, and her eyes glowed a furious green. "Understand?"


"She called you a slut?" Jinx snorted.

"And a 'tramp'." Starfire reminded her. "I believe I was correct in becoming angry, yes?"

"Yeah Star," Raven confirmed for her. "You were. And so then you attacked her?"

"Yes, she said, while switching us I believe- for I was badly injured, friends- that she did to 'double the check', she said."

Raven knew she meant 'double-check'. Ghosts were thorough with those kinds of things. It wasn't the first time someone had been kidnapped for one of their 'investigations'.

"Damn," Aqualad muttered. "Alright, I'm officially creeped out. How do we get her to leave?"

"Background check," Raven answered. "Ghosts will only stick around if they have a reason to. In this case, it's probably her sister."

"So what, we gotta find her sister?" Kid Flash asked.

"No," Raven replied. "We've got to prove she's dead."

"Wait," Beast Boy interrupted, "How did Winifred die?"

Starfire coughed, "I . . . I believe she was, murdered, yes?"

Beast Boy stared, "Whoa . . ."

"That would be . . . a lot more difficult to get rid of her then." Raven breathed. "Revenge . . . is never easy."

Everyone was uncomfortable now. Starfire spoke again, "I believe they did not enjoy their father, he was, abusive . . ."

Raven swallowed hard, and Beast Boy noticed. He cracked his fingers, getting peoples attention. "Well, what're your orders, Rae?"

Raven let the name slide, releasing for once she was supposed to tell others what to do instead of Robin. She slid a stray hair behind her ear and put her hood up. Everyone could tell she was apprehensive.

"We'll need to get my books," She said after a slight hesitation. But her voice did not waver.

"Beast Boy can go with you," Kid Flash said at once.

Beast Boy looked up at him, his eyebrows furrowed. "I will?" ("She's stressed, get it?" He hissed at Beast Boy so only the changeling himself could hear.) "Oh, yeah, right, I will."

Raven didn't seem to involuntary to the idea, and turned towards the door. Beast Boy gave everyone a reassuring look that said, 'I'll take care of it,' before trailing silently behind her. When the doors closed, Robin gave Kid Flash a disapproving look.

"What?" Kid Flash demanded defensively.

"You shouldn't manipulate Beast Boy liked that," Robin stated, arms crossed. "You know how he feels about her."

"I wasn't!" Kid Flash insisted. "I was just trying to help Raven, and," he smirked, "We all know that Beast Boy's her antidote."

Down the hall, thankfully, they were traveling fast. Otherwise their conversation would have been overheard, and they would've had some explaining to do to each other. But now, Beast Boy, very unlike himself, remained silent as they headed to Raven's room.

Raven was forced to break it instead. "You're awfully . . . quiet." He looked up at her, "It's now something I've seen you do. Ever."

He gave her a look she'd used on him so many times. "Gee, thanks Rae." She smirked. "You know, you've been letting me get away with calling you that. Are you like, immune to it or something?"

'Sure, let's go with that.' "I guess," she replied.

"Darn," Beast Boy muttered. "Now I've got to find something else to bug you."

Raven rolled her eyes and said nothing. They reached her room and the door slid open, allowing them access. They must have forgotten to lock it when they left the last time to get supplies for Starfire.

"You know," Beast Boy began, looking around Raven's room. "I think I've been in here tonight more then all other times added together."

"Me too," Raven said.

Beast Boy glanced at his watched and sighed. It was around midnight now, and yet a few hours had felt like days.

Then, he noticed a shudder from Raven. "You cold?"

She stiffened, as if having forgotten he was there, "I-."

"Never mind, you're gonna lie to me," Beast Boy said, turning to Raven's clock to see if his watch was right.

Raven hissed at him, "Excuse me?"

Beast Boy shrugged, as if it didn't matter. "I just . . . I don't like you lying to me."

"How do you know that I was?" Raven demanded, angry.

Beast Boy turned and looked at her with such utter calm and innocence that it nearly knocked all of her anger out of her. Nearly. But now it was only mild irritation and curiosity.

"I just did," He said simply.

Raven didn't reply, but then turned. "What are you doing?"

"It's music," Beast Boy replied quietly. "And . . . we never finished our dance, ya know. Ghosts and all . . ." He laughed nervously.

Raven stared at him, "You . . .?"

Beast Boy and her just held out his hand, more confident this time in asking. "Wanna dance?"

Raven, thought, still hesitated. "Eh . . ."

Once again though, she gave him her hand and he pulled her into a close embrace, seeming all to comfortable with it. They danced in a circle for a while until the words started.

"Down to you," Beast Boy spun Raven out. "You're pushing and pulling me down to you." He dipped Raven, then let her come back up, leaving Raven staring at him. "But I don't know what I-. Now when I caught myself," Raven looked away, going back to having to spin in a circle. "I had to stop myself."


"I'm saying something that I should have never thought.
Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself.
From saying something that I should have never thought of you, of you."

Raven allowed herself to get closer to Beast Boy, letting her head touch his chest lightly. Beast Boy's hands rested on her back.

"You're pushing and pulling me down to you,
But I don't know what I want,"

Raven honestly was beginning to hate the CD she'd been listening to.

"No I don't know what I want.

You got it, you got it,
Some kind of magic."

Beast Boy raised a hand to Raven's head, stroking her hair.


"Hypnotic, hypnotic,
You're leaving me breathless.
I hate this, I hate this,
You're not the one I believe in.
With God as my witness."

Raven looked up just in time to see a far-off look in Beast Boy's face, but when he noticed her looking at him, he grinned. She looked away again.

"Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself,
I'm saying something that I should have never thought."

Beast Boy let Raven out of his embrace, spinning her a few times. "Having fun?"

". . . A little."

"Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself,
From saying something that I should have never thought of you, of you.

You're pushing and pulling me down to you.
But I don't know what I want.
No I don't know what I want."

'I really regret putting this CD in here,' she thought to herself.

Then, their communicators rang, and Beast Boy quickly flipped off the music and both opened theirs. "Yessir?" Beast Boy said.

"Where are you two? You've been gone for seven minutes," Robin's voice stated through both of their communicators. (Somewhere in the background they could hear someone making some suggestive comment, but it was ignored.)

"Robin," Raven showed him the stack of books she'd already divided, "We were getting all the things we needed, and I just did a run-through to double-check. Seven minutes is hardly anytime anyways."

"Didn't you guys teleport?" Robin asked.

"No," They both said in unison.

"Oh . . . well that explains it," He added more to himself. "Alright, well, hurry back."

"Gotcha Rob," Beast Boy flipped him a thumbs up.

"Beast Boy and Raven out," Raven closed her communicator, as did Beast Boy.

"Come on," Raven said, "Before they start getting the wrong idea."

"Or the right one," Beast Boy winked at her, she ignored him.


That's the end of chapter nine!