"So. . . What is this place exactly?"

The three made their way down a small hill.

"Its part of an ancient city built by the Greeks sometime in the 8th century B.C. The main part is up the road a bit and is a major tourist attraction but this bit never really caught on. Especially now after everything that happened."

Robin simply nodded as the followed the short path before finally coming to a clearing. Raven's eyes lit up at the sight of the ancient ruins before them. Centuries old stone made up what was once a small marketplace.

As her eyes took in each piece of her surroundings her vision caught on one specific piece of architecture. Toward the center of the site stood a circular building once a domed ramada of some form. Brilliant pillars circled about the spot though all but three of the hand carved stones remained upright, the lighter shaded stone in places giving away the restoration process that had long since been abandoned.

"The rituals took place here then?"

Dorian nodded as they continued to make their way into the ruins.

"Correct. It hasn't been touched since everything that happened. I told you about how superstitious these people can be."

Robin nodded his understanding as Dorian slowed allowing Robin and Raven to take the lead of their investigation. Robin began to look around but quickly found himself looking to raven for guidance, her sensitivity to the occult making her much better suited to look for clues about the site.

Freedom to explore her curiosities nearly brought a smile to her face, a sort of reluctant excitement about investigating an ancient ruin. Taking the lead she made her way toward the circular structure she'd seen.

As she neared the spot she began to take in the details. The location seemed to be mostly untouched, the distorted coloration of the pillars giving away restoration attempts. All else seemed untouched with the exception of a large flat stone about table height that stood in the center of the floor. The obvious scrapes across the tile floor leading from the table to the most accessible entrance told the story of it being moved into place manually and within the last few decades.

Nearing the dark stone she noticed a darker color stained its center resembling blood in appearance.

"This is where they performed their rituals. . ."

She spoke out loud though mostly to herself as she ran a hand over the cold stone. Robin, behind her, framed his face as he always does when he thinks. A thumb and a finger outstretched supporting his chin with his other arm tucked around his waist.

"Everything else seems untouched with the exception of this.."

Robin spoke his deductions though she'd already made the same conclusions. Raven ignored him as she continued to study the markings on the rock. As she studied its surface she found shallow engravings around the edge of the old stone, the shadows well hidden on its dark appearance. As she ran her finger along the etchings she began to realize the shape of the repeating character.

She quickly withdrew her hand, her eyes going wide as she retreated a few steps. Robin was quick to reach her side but before he could ask her anything a familiar symbol appeared on her forehead. Robin froze before the old mans voice caught his attention.

"What the hell?"

Robin spun on his heels ready to defend his ally but was relieved to find his comment focused on the ritual table. The etchings along the edge of the stone began to glow red with the mark of Scath. Robin turned to raven as she pulled her hood up covering her face in shadow to the best of her ability.

The ground began to shake violently and they each stumbled. Raven was quick to stay balanced so robin reached out to help stabilize Dorian who was struggling in his old age. Around circular structure the tiles began to lower into the earth revealing a darkened passage leading downward. The sight felt all too familiar to robin and raven.

When the tremors finally stopped robin and raven quickly made their way to stand at the top of the stairs looking down at the daunting darkness before them. Dorian came to stand beside them following their gaze.

"If you're planning on going down there you can count me out."

He said matter of factly. Robin and raven stole a glance at each other before she began making her way down. Robin turned to the old man. Who now stood with his mouth agape at her bravery.

"If we're not back in a half hour. . . ."

Robin was going to continue but Dorian simply held his hand up, stopping him.

"If you don't come back from down there in an hour, I'm leaving."

Robin nodded before turning and following Raven down into the depths below.

—

The entirety of their descent was filled with a sense of both dread and deja vu. It seemed to them as if it was only a few days ago that the world had been bathed in the fires of hell. Robin shuttered at the memory remembering his venture into the fiery pits with the man he hated most to save the girl who walked only a few steps ahead of him. His eyes lingered on her violet locks as they swung above her shoulders with each step contrasting perfectly with the ashen skin of her neck hidden behind her soft hair. He'd fought hard to forget the things he'd seen that day, an effort to disassociate the misfortunate girl he'd come to know from the demonic heritage that haunted her.

As that though passed through his mind his mouth lifted into a sorrowful smile. He knew a bit about bad relationships with fathers but her circumstance was more life threatening than uncomfortable. The knowledge that your own father was the embodiment of all evil that is, was, or ever will be. Immortal and impossible to fully contain. Even now having been banished to a pocket dimension of Raven's own making he still commanded legions of demons and devils alike, their influence piercing through the very fabric of reality as it's tendrils of lust, greed, and hate wrapped around the weak willed and disturbed.

Her life was a sad one, doomed to be part of such an atrocity and at no ones fault but the demon himself. She could blame no one but him and the more she did the more he won. Her anger would only feed him, her fear drive him. With every ounce of strength he gained she would only weaken, her own depression no doubt weighing heavily on her already weary mind.

Despite all this she'd found home and family in her friends hadn't she? His thoughts drifted to the times they'd had together as a team. Always laughing and having fun but the most she could show for it was a small smile tugging at her small lips. The thought only proved to deepen the sorrow of his smile. Even when she was happy, she was not allowed to be. Even that emotion could offset her balance too greatly. How could someone live such a life devoid of both happiness and hatred. Even love seemed to elude her save for her short experiences with a backstabbing dragon and their resident green vegan. The former having broken her heart in two and the latter doing the same though he'd not known or intended it.

"Grayson?"

Robin bumped straight into Raven nearly knocking them both over before she stepped back and caught her balance as he did the same. Robin shook his head to escape his stupor before dumbly looking to Raven. His expression was blank and innocent as she glared at him. She shook her head before she turned and began making her way through the arched doorway having reached the bottom of the stairs. Robin followed after into a dimly lit circular room, centered beneath the structure above with a round wooden table in the middle. Sconces lit with an unnatural red flame lined the walls where four additional arches lead to more rooms. Robin looked again to Raven for direction as she began making her way into the first room on the right.

The room was oddly formed, the wall with the door running the length of the circular room before squaring off to meet another wall at a 90 degree angle. The opposing side did much the same forming a nearly L-shaped room. More of the same sconces lit the dark room. To the left, between the far wall and the rounded one, stood three wooden beds, fit for three young boys. The end tables between the beds held up mountains of books and papers all reminiscent of Raven's personal library though notably less neat. On the right side of the room stood a small desk with an equal number of texts though a small space was cleared in the middle with a singular opened book. Raven stepped picked up the notebook, hundreds of years newer than nearly all the other literature in the room.

She carefully looked at the words, attempting to understand the foreign language at the top of the page;

Δευτέρα: Διαλογισμός

Τρίτη: Τηλεκινησία

Τετάρτη: Αστρική προβολή

Πέμπτη: Διαλογισμός (πάλι)

Παρασκευή: Τα δώρα του πατέρα

The handwriting of young child no doubt. Despite her best efforts she could not decipher any of the meanings. Still curious of the words she placed the small notebook in the pocket of her jacket to be translated later. Rescanning the desktop she reached for another book that sat apart from the stacks of spells. Opening it she found it flipped to a specific page, the edge turned down to keep it's place. The text at the top of the page was in a familiar language to her reading "Dimensional Translocation" in latin. After reading a brief description of what was a complex teleportation spell she began to piece together a story.

"Richard."

She said, her eyes still focused on the book. After a moment of silence she called out again, assuming that he'd walked off to another room.

"Richard?"

Again a moment of no sound before a strange sound resonated in the room. Immediately she felt her entire body run cold and a dull pain began to emanate from her shoulder. Confusion overcame her senses and she turned just in time to use the book she was holding to block a dagger, the blade forcing straight through the pages but stopping as the hilt hit the leather binding. Raven quickly forced the book and her attacker to the side leveraging the book to pull her assailant behind her as she stepped around to face what she could now see was an elderly woman. Her mind tried to rationalize what was happening. The strange pain she was feeling, the crazy old bat trying to kill her. She attempted to retreat a step back to put a little more distance between herself and the old woman only to stumble on something heavy beneath her feet. As she tripped landed on the other side of the object she found Robin laying in the middle of the floor, his body rigid with the hilt of a dagger protruding from his shoulder. A small stream of blood was slowly filling in the cracks of the stone beneath him.

He pain she was feeling suddenly made sense now. She quickly reached out with her powers to check for a pulse. To her surprise she could feel his heart beating as strong as she had always felt it. The beat was slowing but still steady, consistent with some form of paralysis. Recognizing he was okay, at least for the moment, her body went into fight mode. She looked up just as the old woman was readying her blade for another downward strike on her. Raven thought swiftly and raised a hand focusing on the stacks of heavy books surrounding them. A moment passed before her energy enveloped them and threw them at the woman. To Raven's dismay they only moved with enough force to stumble her.

Using what little time she'd bought she stood up and sprinted out of the room searching for anything to aid in her fight. Running straight across the hall she entered what seemed to be a small alchemy lab. Bottles of unknown liquids and concoctions lined the tables along with plants growing in pots on the shelves. Hearing footsteps approaching she frantically picked up the first bottle she could find and turned. The old woman sprinted at her and as she was about to hit her she dodged out of the way letting her pass by. Raven through the bottle at the woman and then used her weakened powers to knock over the rest of the strange ingredients. She turned again and ran back to the room where robin was.

She inspected the ground around him hoping that he'd brought his bow staff or his birdarangs, anything that could help defend her. Her eyes lingered on the ornate dagger he was impaled with but fear of him bleeding out made her disregard that option. When she found nothing on the floor around him she next looked to his belt, the back of it exposed from his face-down position. Clipped to his thick belt was a familiar red and yellow birdarang though slightly larger than normal. Shrugging off the thought she grabbed it and left the room hoping to finally have the upper hand on her attacker.

Just as she stepped out of the room the woman stumbled out of the lab, anger written in her now agitated face as unknown concoctions burned her face leaving trails of steam into the air. Raven slid her thumb up the handle of her newfound weapon to open it as robin so often did, but was surprised as a long blade emerged from the center resembling a sword. She didn't have much time to think about the new weapon as the old woman lunged at her again. Raven lifted the blade and easily parried the blow. For the first time in her life she was thankful for Robin's mandatory weapon sparring.

Another swing and another successful deflection but this time she sidestepped allowing her to stumble forward while she moved behind her. Raven gathered whatever strength she had and mustered into pommel strike on the old woman's head. She collapsed directly following the impact.

Raven stood over the old woman just watching her for a moment as she caught her breath. When she did not move she reached out with her powers to ensure she was alive but unconscious. She felt the faint heartbeat slowing yet steady as she raised her hand above her body, a faint aura enveloping her hand.

She sighed, satisfied with the moment of peace. After a moment her thoughts finally caught back up with her as she remembered the young hero bleeding out in the next room. Panic set in as she sprinted back into the room.

"Dick!"

She shouted as she fell to her knees beside him frantically looking over his seemingly lifeless form. The stream of blood that had been expanding beneath him like a spiderweb in the cracked stone had not grown much larger than it was, easing some of her worry. Now focusing her efforts she looked to the dagger sticking out of his right shoulder. Carefully she wrapped a hand around the hilt and mentally prepared herself for the waves of pain she would soon be experiencing.

In one motion she removed the dark blade and placed her other hand over the wound, activating her healing powers. Wave after wave of excruciating pain wretched through her body while she used every bit of her resolve not to scream from the intensity of it.

After what seemed like hours of torment over a few minutes she pulled her hand away and slumped up against the wall beside him, attempting to catch her own breath. She watched him, worry still present in her gaze as she waited for a response from his body. Something to tell her he was okay. When nothing came she reached back out inspected the location of the wound finding the skin to be repaired but completely black in color.

She looked back at the blade discarded on the ground beside her noting its black color and picked up the old relic. Using her powers she held a hand above the blade intent on discovering if any curses had been placed on the old weapon. After a moment the blade began to burn with green fire proving her theory.

She once again discarded the metal dagger and knelt by Robin's side again, this time placing both hands over the site of the wound. Her eyes went white as she mouthed her mantra to her self. Black and green tendrils seeped from between her fingertips as she drew out the curse. These tendrils thinned after a few moments then dissipated completely.

Just as she removed her hands he gasped drawing in as much air as he could. Raven sat back again leaning against the wall both physically and emotionally exhausted from the episode. Robin coughed a few times as his body retched trying to balance his oxygen and return his heart rate to normal. When he finally gained control of his body he shot up looking around before focusing his attention on Raven who offered a weak smile in return.

"Rae, are you okay? What happened?"

His concern for her wellbeing nearly made her blush but she pushed the emotion down as she mustered her monotone to answer.

"I'm fine. You were stabbed by a crazy old lady, I fought her off, then I healed you."

Robin seemed to relax a bit after the first two words left her mouth. That quickly turned on its head as he felt his heart tighten a bit at the last sentence recalling the pain she took on when she healed others. Despite his frustration with her selfless act he moved to sit beside her against the wall.

"So.. where's the crazy old lady now?"

Robin turned to look at the exhausted girl. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms around them hunched forward a bit. Her head was tilted backwards so he crown of her skull was resting against the cold stone wall. She looked up at the ceiling listlessly.

"Unconscious. In the other room."

Her answer broke the illusion of her composure, her voice sounding tired and worn down. Robin could faintly hear her breathing but he swore he left her heartbeat slowing as well. Robin faced forward trying to focus on what he was feeling through their bond. He could feel her exhaustion but also a sense of relief, peace, l...

A sudden weight on his shoulder ripped him from his thoughts. Looking over he found violet locks draped across his shoulder as Raven rested her head there. A smile tugged at his lips as he watched her fade in and out of consciousness. Were they anywhere else he would have let this state last forever, fearful to move lest he ruined the perfection of the moment. Despite how much he wanted to let her rest he knew they weren't safe there.

Robin took his hand and shook her gently. Her tired azure eyes blinked open before she looked up into his icy blue ones. They were locked like that for a long moment as if waiting for something to happen. Raven moved away as soon as her mind came back to her, turning away to hide the furious blush now burning in her cheeks. Robin, using his own tactics to hide his embarrassment, stood up and brushed himself off. After a moment he extended a hand to Raven and helped her to her feet. After one last sweep of the rooms the two ascended the long circular staircase back to the surface and their guide.