After the maelstrom of writer's block that hit me, I finally regained inspiration for this in the form of a sequel, more details to come. For now, though, I've got about two chapters complete including this one, with the rest planned out decently well. I don't think I'll give myself deadlines anymore as that is probably how my writer's block started in the first place; I seem to get less creative when I worry about deadlines too. Just know that I'll try to get these chapters out as soon as possible.
To FelynxTiger: Ah, I've never heard that exclamation. Is there one for every line of the keyboard, or is it just that one; seems interesting. I loved the song of the Nocturne of Shadow! And the Serenade of Water, but details. I hope the action is awesome in this chapter too, but I think this is more of a suspense section.
To pugluv24: I've always wanted to use G.I. Jane in something, and what better than for a go-get-em rambo mage? Thank you for the kind words, and I hope the delayed update time is worth the rest of this story. Also, there's more BB/Rae (BB/Brave?) in this chapter.
Thanks for reviewing, now on to the story!
The zombie lizard raised it's human-esque hand, revealing sharp claws at its cloth free fingertips, the material cut by the razors they had once covered. With alarming speed, the creature charged forward, slashing downward with its built in weapons, and Beast Boy dove to the side, the claws cutting the sleeve of his armor. He grimaced in pain when it drew blood and darted through the only hallway he could see in the room. The creature, a neophage, Raven had called it, was right on his heels.
Upon entering the next room, a little larger than the last and lit much better—more cobwebs, yay!—the changeling turned, now moving backwards, and shifted his weight from foot to foot. The thing attacked again with its claws, and he moved to the side, avoiding its strike, and drove his sword through the thing's left shoulder.
'Hah! That had to hurt!' Beast Boy though with a smirk, but the confidence quickly faded when it backhanded him hard. The changeling flew back a couple of feet before tumbling to the ground, his second blade still in the neophage's shoulder. It hadn't even flinched!
"Uh..." he let out the dubious syllable, now unsure of how he was supposed to beat this thing if it couldn't feel pain. Would cutting its head off work? It seemed to work in all the zombie apocalypse movies.
"You need to cut it's limbs off." came the explanation from Raven, and he was about to ask why when the thing lunged forward once more. With an alarmed shriek, Beast Boy dove to the side again, and the razor sharp claws cut slashes into the wall. He had to jump back as it attacked again with the other arm, narrowly missing his stomach; how could it even still use both arms?
"It's got a seal somewhere that lets it move. Separating the limb the seal is on will render the rest of it useless." Raven explained further, and Beast Boy knew he would just have to go with it. There wasn't any time to ask what she was talking about anyway. Okay, so, cut off the limbs. Yeah, simple enough, right? For some reason, though, the neophage had stopped moving as it seemed to be struggling with something. It wasn't too long before Beast Boy heard some kind of ripping sound, and he then noticed the thing's jaw was moving. Uh-oh. That couldn't be good. His body wouldn't comply to his commands of attacking as he watched the bandages over its mouth slowly start to tear apart, revealing two inch teeth that reminded him of that really creepy fish at the bottom of the ocean with a lightbulb on its antenna(1).
It lunged forward, first attempting to cut the changeling in half, and, when that didn't work as the changeling jumped to the side, it bit at him, barely missing his nose. Beast Boy stumbled backwards, his nerves making him clumsy, but immediately got back to his feet. As the thing continued to attack, the green teen flipped over a swipe, bouncing off of its shoulders and landing behind the neophage, and then slashed, cutting off the lower half of its left arm. The mummy didn't seem to feel it again, as it just turned and attacked with the other arm, prompting Beast Boy to roll under it, turning to watch it's advance as he started moving farther down the hallway. The thing chased after him, the changeling's other sword still in it's shoulder, and lunged again. There was his chance!
Beast Boy tilted to the side to avoid the attack, sword already in the air, and brought it down, cutting its other arm off at the bicep. Another quick swipe, and the thing's head was cleaved clean off. The changeling wasn't sure which one had the seal Raven told him about, but what was left of the neophage fell backwards and stopped moving. He sighed in relief as he removed his second sword from its torso and sheathed both. Man, that thing was freaky... Make that doubly freaky, as he just noticed its head was trying to bite at him still. Well, at least it couldn't move around to get to him. The changeling just hoped-
His head snapped up when he heard the sound of many feet running across the floor, and he cautiously looked down the corridor he had just come from.
"Run, Beast Boy! Run!" Raven yelled in his head right before he saw that the sound was caused by a whole horde of neophages! This was starting to feel an awful lot like a zombie apocalypse movie.
"Aah!" the changeling shrieked before turning on his heel and following Raven's very good advice.
Robin Centered POV:
Robin looked around the room at the makeshift team that had come together. Well, the two additions that made their team close to complete in number, anyway. Bushido, whom Robin had only met a few times before, had shown up while the two remaining Titans were out on a mission, helping them beat Singed, one of the new villains around town. Having none of their flying teammates, Robin and Cyborg had been having difficulties catching the thief, who could use his fire to do so. That is, until he was looking behind himself at his pursuers and Bushido heel kicked him out of the air while his attention was turned. The normally silent samurai had explained briefly that a friend had told him of their troubles, and he had come to assist until the three currently inaccessible titans could return.
Robin had been surprised, to say the least, when Jynx had suddenly shown up at the tower about a week later. After she had helped them face Doctor Light a few years ago, the Boy Wonder had heard nothing about the enchantress. Arriving at their front door, she had given a similar story as Bushido in that she had 'heard from a friend' and came to offer her assistance. Still being a few titans short, Robin could hardly refuse the offer. The villains in Jump City had quickly discovered that three of the city's guardians were currently 'out of the office', so to speak, and had acted accordingly, trying anything whenever they could. It had quickly become too much for two titans to handle alone. Bushido's assistance had somewhat calmed things at first, but they were still only three in number. It was Jynx's appearance that let the makeshift team finally start to get a handle on the situation, as they were then only one member short of a full team.
Both teens had done some growing up in the past few years, as had all of titans. Bushido had seemingly become an even better swordsman, specializing in the naginata and in duel wielding the hachiwara. Robin doubted the samurai had cut his hair once since their last meeting, as it now reached to the small of his back, pulled into a tight ponytail at the base of his head with a single strand falling into his face. His attire now consisted of a black juban, a blue kataginu—cut off at the belt—and black pants tucked into blue over black samurai boots. The thing that stuck out most as 'different' was the scar he now sported on his left cheek. He still hadn't informed the rest of the temporary team how he had received it or by whom.
Jynx had done a little changing as well. Her hair too had grown, though not as much as Bushido's. She now wore it in a single high ponytail, her bangs now partially covering her left eye. Her attire had mostly remained the same, though Robin would have sworn it seemed more pointier and more... flowy, for lack of a better term, since the last time he had seen her. The heavy black boots remained, the soles still purple, and her hair color would still stick out in a crowd. All in all, she actually hadn't really changed all that much, but it was enough to notice.
They had both proven to be good allies, but that didn't mean Robin could forget his three friends who were somewhere out there, possibly in some kind of danger he couldn't even imagine. A week after Beast Boy and Starfire had gone off to find Raven, Robin had discretely sent for the assistance of the Justice League's tracker team, as none of the trio's comm units showed up on the radar. He had done so through Batman to keep the Justice League from knowing the troubles one of his teammates was currently having—they weren't exactly known for their compassion when it came to such things—and the dark knight of Gotham had agreed to ask them when he could get the chance. Video recordings being too easy to hack into, he said he would to speak to them in person, understanding Robin's desire for discretion. Neither of them, however, had expected the duo to be out on an undercover mission at the time, and they especially hadn't expected that mission to take a few weeks to complete. To say the young martial arts specialist had been displeased would have been a grave understatement. But, thankfully, the two had set off almost immediately upon hearing the request.
The waiting was the worst part. It had been a month, now. A month since Raven had attacked the city and three of Robin's friends had left. A month since he had seen or heard from any of them... A month since he had seen Starfire. Of course he missed all of them, but he missed her the most. How could he not, he wondered as he absentmindedly fingered the metal band under the glove of his fourth finger. Only a few days ago had Robin told Cyborg that he had recently proposed to the Tamaranian Princess. Their friend had been overjoyed to hear the news, of coarse, and they had had a small celebration in the form of an outing to the bowling alley. It had been fun, but Robin couldn't keep the alien girl from his mind for very long, worrying over her well being.
Looking out the window to the city the titans had called home for years, Robin wondered where they currently were and how their quest was going. It was getting closer to summer now, and the Boy Wonder couldn't shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach that something bad was soon to happen. He only hoped he was wrong and that his friends would come home alright.
Zippy Centered POV:
The little dragon stared wide-eyed at the scene before him. He was sitting to the side of a big room he and the two heroines had entered. Upon entering, though, the three had noticed they were definitely not alone. Strange, cloth covered, creatures filled the room and had begun attacking when they noticed the trio.
The little dragon flinched as the upper half of one of those things suddenly landed in front of him. When it started to move, he quickly lit it on fire, and it soon quit trying to get to him, as all the other random moving parts sent his way had. It was odd. The pieces only seemed to be able to move some of the time, and it wasn't usually the same parts that could. An arm, a torso with only legs left, half a torso with a head and one arm, a leg. Odd. Zippy returned to his seat, watching as carnage ensued on the unlucky beasts. Starfire was cutting them apart easily with her colossal sword, and Brave easily evaded most of their attacks, usually cutting off arms, legs, and heads with her wrist blades.
After Beast Boy had saved Zippy from the cave-in and fallen down that hole, the warrior and the mage had gone on a rampage, eager to regroup with their comrade. The voice from the sky, Raven they had called it, had told them the green boy was farther in and would meet up with them soon as she told everyone where to go. He thought the voice sounded an awful lot like Brave, as had all of the other females they had met—though only after defeating them. Oh well.
A sudden high pitched and familiar shriek drew the three companions' attention almost immediately, and all turned just as none other than Beast Boy barreled out of the stairs on the far side of the room, a hoard of the creatures, larger than the one currently under attack by the two super heroines, ran out after him. After the initial shock passed, Zippy squealed in delight upon seeing his friend again and took to the air instantly. Taking in a breath as he neared the changeling, the little dragon felt the familiar glands in his throat expand, and he unleashing a stream of fire over the green one's shoulder. The wrapped creatures scattered, fire being quite effective against them, but a group of them was still lit, running around in a comically nonsensical manner as they burned. Zippy smirked mentally at his small success before turning to land on Beast Boy's Shoulder.
"Thanks, buddy!" the green titan greeted happily as Zippy rubbed his face against his cheek, chirping happily. The little dragon then noticed one of the creatures running at them, and he prepared to shoot a fire ball at it. The changeling had apparently seen it too, as he began to raise one of his swords to attack.
"Hyaah!" Brave hollered, flying over both of their heads and landing in front of Beast Boy, cutting the creature clean in half with one of her wrist blades before it could reach them. "Hooaah!" she cheered in victory as it fell backwards, the changeling and dragon sweat-dropping at her sudden yet definitely not unwelcome appearance. Starfire then cut the head and right arm off of another in one sweep as she rolled between the group, cutting the legs off of another when she landed.
"Oh, hey, guys! Or girls. Raven really knows her way around this place. I would have gotten so lost on my way here!" Beast Boy laughed sheepishly. Brave and Starfire looked about to respond, but everyone froze when the wrapped creatures started organizing themselves once more, surrounding them. The group of super teens quickly turned to stand back to back, weapons raised at the hoard of mummy-esque enemies. The changeling nearly felt like shrinking back when he looked around him at all of the growling, teeth baring lizard mummies. Of coarse. Rotting, foul stench emitting mummies weren't scary enough. Nooo. They had to have mouths full of fangs that would put all pale, light deprived vampires who aspired to be anybody to shame! Glancing at his companions, though, Beast Boy noticed they did not appear to feel the same way. Starfire and Zippy looked unworried, and Brave was actually smirking.
"Alright, guys! Let's clean house!" Raven's green-clad emotion announced riotously before leaping forward. Beast Boy was a little surprised she didn't say something like, 'Glorious battle!' as she began to masterfully tear the mummies apart.
Mixed POV:
"Friend Beast Boy, you are unharmed!" Starfire cheered delightedly as she picked the changeling up in a hug Brave was sure the Tamaranian girl didn't register as 'bone crushing'. They had just defeated the hoard of neophages, and the alien girl was beyond ecstatic to see their friend once again.
"He won't be if you break him." the green-clad mage responded simply, Zippy perched on her shoulder, and Starfire looked at her, slightly confused. Then noticing how tightly she was hugging Beast Boy, his eyes nearly bulging from the pressure, she released him, and he immediately gasped for breath. Brave was happy to see that some things never changed, even if almost everything else had. The Tamaranian Princess was about apologize to the changeling, who was taking in deep breaths with his hands braced on his knees, when he waved his hand dismissively.
"Trust me, I'm glad to see you guys too." he responded breathlessly with a lopsided grin, a grin which made the sorceress's face heat up slightly, and she quickly took her eyes off of him, looking anywhere else. She just happened to look at Zippy to notice the little non-dragon was grinning at her in an amused, if not teasing, way. This caused her face to heat up a little more, and she quickly drew up her hood, the little lizard grinning wider in victory.
"Those things are creepy." the changeling, not noticing this exchange, added as he motioned to the dismembered parts of the neophages lying all around the companions, and he flinched away from an arm when it moved to grab him. It was quickly burned to a crisp by Zippy and ceased its attempts promptly. For these particular lizard mummies, fire equaled good, so long as it was used by the ones attacking them. She doubted they liked it very much.
Soon afterward, the companions continued their trek through the maze of corridors underneath the monastery, occasionally dispatching a neophage or two along the way, and they soon reached a room that Brave immediately recognized. The antechamber to the center was next.
The large, dimly lit room they were currently in was a little unorthodox, but it had been made to be that way. The entrance quickly gave way to create a lower level along with the one they were currently on and a third level above them. Layers of rocky platforms marked the levels, and pathways made of magic snaked around the room, connecting many of the platforms. Darkness was all that was visible bellow, but Brave knew what lied withing the black depths. Spikes. The shadowed floor was covered in spikes that would impale any who fell.
"Whoa!" Beast Boy exclaimed, looking over the edge of the first platform and into the darkness. Alarmed, Brave quickly grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him away from the ledge.
"We need to be careful. Do not fall off the platforms." she said seriously when he looked at her confused. Her three companions paused before nodding, all of them catching the look she gave them that said they didn't want to know the specifics. If they did know of the three foot spikes that were spread across the bottom with four in an area of one square foot, they might grow nervous and jumpy, possibly increasing their chances of falling.
"Alright, so the door on the far end of the room is locked." Brave began her short explanation, indicating the door on the far end of the room, directly across from them. "There are four small spheres of light hidden in the room, and we need to collect all of them to unlock the door. But, because of the magic that creates a random generator of sorts, not even I know where the spheres are." the mage finished, and they all nodded again. With that, Brave quickly lead the way across the path connected to the left side of the platform.
After a few minutes of searching through the winding pathways, occasionally having to jump between platforms when the paths ended, the group found one of the spheres. About the size of a marble, the purple ball of light was floating over the center of the platform ahead. To get there, though, the companions would have to jump across two smaller platforms. That wouldn't have been so tricky if they weren't spinning around one another in a circular motion.
"So, we just go get the light?" Beast Boy asked to no one in particular, but Brave nodded anyway. With a nod of her own, Starfire stepped forward, preparing herself as one of the rotating platforms got nearer. As soon as it was a few feet away from them, she ran forward and jumped, landing in a kneeling position perfectly in the center of the moving rock—its circumference being a little more than the width of her shoulders. The changeling sweat-dropped. Why did he have the feeling that she had just made it look a lot simpler than in was? As Starfire's platform neared their destination, the second platform neared the larger group, and Brave, Zippy still on her shoulder, prepared herself. Both girls jumped at the same time, Starfire tumbling gracefully onto the platform with the ball of light and Brave landing on the second small platform, again in a way that made Beast Boy believe it was way harder that it looked. Taking in a deep breath, he too prepare himself as the platforms continued to circle. Nearer... Nearer.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon..." the changeling muttered under his breath in a attempt to quell his nerves, which didn't work all too well. Ready... There! Both he and Brave jumped at the same time, the mage joining Starfire at their destination. The changeling cheered mentally when his feet landed on the platform! …And then cursed mentally when he slipped. His back slamming hard into the small platform, he was barely able to grab the ledge with one hand as he went over, alarmed cries from Starfire and Zippy reaching his ears.
"I'm okay; I got this!" the changeling shouted back reassuringly as he got one arm over the ledge. Pulling himself up, he sighed in relief upon sitting on solid, compared to the air anyway, ground. As soon as it was in range, he lumped again, the landing on the larger platform going a little more smoothly. After the three who had had no troubles checked to see if he was okay, to which he steadfastly assured them he was fine, Brave touched the small orb of light. It zoomed off at her touch, and, the door being visible from their angle, the companions saw it land in one of four small slots, two on each side of the door.
"One has been collected!" Starfire cheered happily, and Beast Boy groaned. Were they all gonna' be like that?
Twenty minutes later, the companions had found two more spheres of light. One had been on the top level, guarded by a series of large guillotines and fire jets that would activate when someone got too close. The other had been on the first level too—well, more like between the first and bottom levels. Since it had been in the air in the diagonal path between platforms of both levels, Zippy had been the one to grab it, sending the third of four flying off towards the door; that one had definitely been the easiest.
Now, the group currently stood in front of a platform, much larger than the others, in a corner of the room on the bottom level, the final orb floating over the center. The platform being longer than it was wide, the rock wall running parallel to the group had three large and familiar horizontal slits running through it.
"More dicers, huh?" Beast Boy asked, though it wasn't really a question. Brave's eyes narrowed slightly. Something didn't seem right. That trap was far too obvious. The giant slits on the wall would hardly go unnoticed by anyone after having run into them before. Not to mention the fact that the platform had a larger base than all the others, extending about a dozen feet down before joining the rock wall. Just as her thought process was finishing, Beast Boy ran forward all of a sudden, intending to make a move for the orb.
"No, wait!" the mage shouted after him, just then realizing there was more than one trap, but it was already too late. As soon as he passed the threshold of the platform, a loud click sounded, and he rolled just as the first rotating guillotine blade shot out from the slit on the wall. The blade passed over him, and he jumped over the next, using it as a stepping stone to flip over the third. As he landed, he reached for the sphere of light, but as he touched it, sending it speeding off for the door, another click sounded. One instant, the floor beneath Beast Boy's feet was there, and the next it wasn't, fading away into nothingness. A pit filled with water was revealed, and, in that same instant, chains shot out from the water, the iron cuffs on the ends snapping shut around the changeling's ankles as he was still in midair. Unable to catch himself on anything, the suddenly and understandably distressed super teen was pulled down, disappearing into the dark depths of the water.
"Beast Boy!" both girls shouted in terror as Zippy loosed a terrified screech. Without hesitation, Brave then darted forward, also avoiding the three guillotines, and dove into the water, leaving two stunned companions in her wake. The water was cold and biting, and the much more prominent problem was the mental effects the water caused, especially when diving into it, but the green-clad emotion dove even deeper. Beast Boy had been dragged to the bottom of the ten-foot pit, ankles still clutched in the vice-grip of the enchanted leg irons, but he wasn't even trying to free himself. He was too busy clutching his head and writhing as if in pain, trying futilely to keep the images forcefully pushed into his mind at bay.
Crouching down on the pit floor, Brave activated one of her wrist blades, the sound altered slightly by the water, and stuck it in the middle of one of the chain links. A simple twist of her wrist and the link snapped. Swerving quickly around the struggling changeling, she then repeated the process with the other chain; they snapped easily, as they were enchanted to move on their own, but they were not structurally reinforced. After all, no other person—or emotion, for that matter—would have the kind of resistance to the cursed water that Brave did. While she was forced to push the images flashing through her mind aside—not a simple task, even for her—she was still able to move and think, unlike Beast Boy, who may not even know he was underwater.
The chains no longer holding him down, Brave wrapped her arms around the changeling's middle and pushed off of the pit floor. They broke the surface of the water seconds later just as the mage's breath was running short, both super teens gasping for air. As Starfire, who had rushed to the edge of the pit as soon as both of her friends disappeared into its depths, lifted the incapacitated changeling out of the water, Brave hoisted herself out. Though, now with that task done and no longer distracting her mind, the visions intensified.
Fire. All she could see was fire. The flames had consumed everything, every building in sight, reaching hundreds of feet into the air. They hungrily and unceasingly ate everything of the city she had once known as Jump City. ...She was too la – no! She wasn't! There was still time! The mage clutched her head, gritting her teeth as she forced the images back. They were hallucinations, mental manifestations of her fears. They meant nothing!
Even as she was reaffirming this notion with herself, the images around her faded to once again show the dimly-lit dungeon-esque room within Timid's realm. She breathed heavily as she lowered her hands, the hallucinations having been pushed completely away when she broke through the enchantment of the water via willpower. Looking around quickly, she vaguely noticed that her now soaked hood was somehow still up and that the swinging guillotines had been ripped out of the wall before her attention went to her three companions. Starfire, Zippy on her shoulder, was trying to calm down a frantic and unresponsive Beast Boy as he sat on the floor in a near fetal position with a look of sheer terror on his face.
"Beast Boy, can you hear me?" the Tamaranian girl asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder, but he immediately drew back, cowering away from her and only halting his movement when he got dangerously close to the edge of the platform. At this, Starfire turned to look at Brave, fear for their comrade evident in her eyes.
"Please, what is wrong? Why will he not respond?" the alien girl asked Brave frantically. Beast Boy's hands were shaking as he held them next to his head defensively, and his eyes were darting wildly around as though he was seeing something terrifying. Anyone else following his gaze would see that there was clearly nothing there to be afraid of.
"He's hallucinating. Too much of the water has come into contact with his skin." The mage responded tiredly without removing her eyes from the changeling, and Starfire thought she looked as though she was either unsure of what to do or was arguing with herself over what to do. Brave stood, looking suddenly fatigued and still in deep thought, and joined Starfire.
"Is there a way to stop them?" the Tamaranian asked, Zippy whining on her shoulder as he watched his frightened friend.
"...Yes. If one breaks through the hallucinations or is broken out of them, the water currently in contact with them looses its enchantment, and the effects wear off. He can likely still see us, even if he may not be able to hear us so... we need to shock him out of this." Brave replied, her gaze still unwavering from the cowering changing as she folded her arms across her midriff, almost as though she were uncomfortable.
"Shock him how?" This question, getting to the nitty-gtitty details of the issue drew the mage's attention away from Beast Boy and to Starfire, and the alien girl then noticed how conflicted her eyes looked, though she had no idea what about. The empath was indeed arguing with herself over... something.
"Something urgent, unusual, or unexpected... But it has to be significant. Humor won't work here like it did with Mad Mod's hypnosis. This is a much stronger illusion." This explanation erased some of Starfire's confusion, but created more in the process. What could draw Beast Boy's attention more than humor? Nothing that passed through the alien princess's mind seemed significant enough aside from one of his friends being put in harm's way. They had to think of something, though. Beast Boy was becoming worse by the second and was now struggling to free himself from something that wasn't there, apparently grabbing at him from the ground.
"I just hope he doesn't take it the wrong way..." Starfire turned to look at the mage at the barely audible sentence to see her head was turned downward, eyes closed as she still argued with herself. The alien girl was about to ask what she meant when her eyes opened once again. Her jaw clenched tightly, and she took a deep breath as though to prepare herself or to push aside any remaining doubts and stepped forward.
Kneeling down in front of the still terrified Beast Boy, Brave lowered her soaked hood, expression unreadable. The changeling seemed to freak out even more when she got closer, though his gaze was focused over the green-clad mage's shoulder instead of on her. He must have been seeing something behind her, the Tamaranian girl noticed. The aforementioned mage said nothing, knowing it wouldn't help the changeling or ease his current worries. Her next course of action surprised both Starfire and Zippy, for she placed her hands on either side of his face as she leaned forward and then pressed her lips to his.
Oh... Well, yes. ...Yes, that was sure to shock him.
The changeling's eyes snapped open wide, his brain not seeming to process what was going on. Wgeuh- huh? Wait, what was she- Was Brave kissing him? No, that couldn't be right... Could it? He blinked a few times, and the demonic creatures all around the group of companions started vanishing. The mud-like creatures that had been trying to drag him under the stone, the flaming eyes and mouth over the mage's shoulder, everything. They all vanished, none having actually been there in the first place. All except Brave, whose lips were still pressed to his.
The green-clad girl then gasped and quickly drew back, a hand to her temple as she gritted her teeth in pain. The changeling's brain was unable to form a coherent thought or question as she stood, quickly drew her hood up and moved to stand next to the wall at the side of the platform, a hand still pressed tightly to her temple with the other arm wrapped around her midriff. Beast Boy blinked a few more times before looking to Starfire and Zippy to see they looked just as shocked as he felt.
Kate Centered POV:
The trio had now moved far from the forest they had been in before. Raven had insisted it necessary as she had spent too much time there. So, once they made it to the edge of the forest, Arin had teleported them to the nearby coast; his range was limited to a few miles, and he was left nearly drained after each jump. So, now the group was sitting a the base of a large cliff, the high point of the tide a few feet from them. They had managed to find a cave on the shore, and Raven was currently sitting inside, Arin and Kate sitting outside as guards, taking turns between sleeping and keeping watch.
As the move had exhausted him, Arin was currently sleeping, which Kate knew wouldn't last long. In the years she had known him, the most she had ever seen the close-combat specialist sleep was somewhere between four and five hours. Never more, but usually less. How he never passed out from exhaustion, she never understood. Maybe it was because, for those few hours, he was out. It was one of the only times his face lost its guarded appearance, and he actually seemed calm. Surprisingly, given his quick to react nature, he was a really heavy sleeper most of the time.
Glancing at Raven in the cave behind them, Kate saw the mage was still meditating. She was one of the biggest enigmas Kate had ever encountered, and she lived at the Justice League headquarters where aliens where fairly commonplace. Usually, she could get a pretty good idea of what someone was capable of, but the empath's powers were almost a complete mystery to her. Not to mention, there was the fact that she never seemed to eat. Or sleep. She just sat there, meditating. Was meditation a form of sleep, or was it kind of like when someone was sitting down wit their eyes closed, neither resting nor being active.
"So, what's the word?" Arin asked suddenly, alerting Kate that his few hours of sleep were over, and she turned to look at him. He hadn't changed position between the two states of mind, still leaning against the wall and now looking out to setting sun.
"No one is in the area except us." Kate replied casually. "Well, us and the animals, of course." she added when a few fish jumped out of the water a ways off. Arin nodded in response, though he seemed distracted.
"...She's getting worse." he then said quietly, gaze still focused on the ocean in front of them, and Kate glanced back at said mage in the cave. It was true. In the couple of days since they had caught up with her, Raven had been getting more volatile, her temper running extremely short. If the vein standing out on her temple was any indication, she must have one heck of a headache; that was sure to not help her mood any.
Whatever she was doing, though, Kate hoped it was helping her in defeating this demon the two energy manipulators had vaguely heard about. From what they had been told, the demon was vary bad news.
Starfire Centered POV:
Starfire was almost glad when the door that would lead the companions to Fear came into view. The past fifteen minutes had been incredibly awkward, almost unbearably so. Beast Boy walked to her right while Brave walked to her left, both going out of their way to look anywhere but at the other. The alien princess couldn't avoid feeling a little helpless at the moment. After all, what could she possibly do? The mage had been forced to kiss Beast Boy as she, or rather Raven, was still sorting out her feelings for him, and the green teen was sure to be confused now, especially since Brave wouldn't speak to him—going to extra lengths to keep that from happening.
Once she had gotten over the hallucinations caused by stopping Beast Boy's, Brave had actually said very little to anyone, seeming as though she were even more focused on simply getting through the temple than before. The once locked door having been opened, the companions had made their way out if the room and into what looked like an antechamber. So, that meant that the final room was through the large, telltale doors in front of them.
Stepping forward, noting the way Brave and Beast Boy tensed when she was no longer between them, the Tamaranian girl placed her hands on the door and pushed. A relatively simple task for her but not for others, the doors creaked in an oddly eerie fashion as they moved easily inward. When the group entered the familiar dome shaped room that marked the Center of the realm, Starfire's eyes fell onto the form of Raven's timid counterpart, sitting hunched over in the center of the room.
BB Centered POV:
She was just sitting there. Facing away from them as she sat in the center of the room, Timid, or Fear, was hunched over, rocking herself back and forth as she muttered to herself. Her cloak was different than the others' had been. The original gray Timid wore was now a lot darker, and the symbols that had been glowing on the cloaks of the others were now black. Why would hers be different? He didn't have time to ponder this when, as the group cautiously approached her, the girl's head suddenly snapped around to look at them, fangs bared and yellow eyes glaring at them from underneath her hood.
"Aah!" Beast Boy shrieked surprised, raising his hands defensively as he took a step back. As Fear stood to face the group, she rose into the air, darkness closing in around the companions until they could only see a few feet in front of them—a couple feet more in the changeling's case—and the possessed mage vanished into the shadows. Alarmed, the three 'guests' turned to Brave to see her give a sheepish smile.
"I forgot to mention that, didn't I?" she asked as she rubbed the back of her neck, letting out a somewhat nervous laugh.
"How could you forget to tell us this? Isn't it a pretty big problem that she can cast darkness!" the changeling asked panicked, momentarily forgetting that he was supposed to feel awkward around her. Though, Fear's darker colors now made sense to him. No point in casting a darkness spell if you were lit up like a Christmas tree. The four companions froze, then, a strange sensation coming over them before Zippy took off into the air, flying up and out of sight.
"Zippy!" Beast Boy yelled after him, and Brave put a hand on his shoulder. Looking at her, she shook her head and glanced around them, her wrist blades activating.
"He'll be fine. They can't get to him up there, and Fear won't attack him if he doesn't attack her." She then turned her attention back to the shadows around them, and as he too looked around he thought he heard her whisper something like, "It's you two I'm worried about." The changeling was about to ask what she meant, but when he turned back to look at her, he saw no one there. Neither Brave nor Starfire.
He was alone.
Starfire Centered POV:
Where had Beast Boy, Brave, and Zippy gone? One moment they had been right beside her, and the next minute, they were gone, leaving her alone in the darkness that was closing in around her. She backed up, frightened eyes darting around wildly. She had never been afraid of Raven, but the dark had always terrified her. It wasn't out of some childish notion that there were monsters that went bump in the night. She had just always feared the dark. The dark was where she was most vulnerable. She thrived in the light, as did her powers. She had always loved the light, and, the dark being the inherent absence of that light had thus always scared her, causing great worry to cloud her mind. Were circumstances normal, she would simply create a starbolt to draw back the darkness, but she couldn't. Not now. Why couldn't she? She couldn't seem to remember.
"You always were afraid of the dark, Star." came a familiar voice. A voice she had not heard for a time that seemed far too long. Turning quickly to face the source, she saw a steel-toed boot step into the light, the rest of the figure quickly following. The fear she had felt seconds before now seemed trivial when she then looked into the unmasked and completely white eyes of Richard Grayson. No...
"R-Robin! What are-"
"You never came back, Star. We waited for months, years, but you never came. You abandoned us. Why?" he asked monotonously, and her eyes widened in horror. What? No, she knew it wasn't possible. She may not quite remember where she was or why, but she knew she had only been gone for a few days. Just a few days; they still had time! Thinking that didn't erase the dark gaze she was receiving from her beloved.
"You abandoned me. We were supposed to be married and yet you left me! How could you do that?" Anger had suddenly filled his voice, and Starfire then noticed his quarter staff was in his hand. She took an involuntary step back at the precipitous rage he was displaying, unsure of what she was supposed to say or how she was supposed to act. "It killed me." he continued, his fist tightening around the weapon in his hand.
"Pay... Pay... I-I'll make you pay!" he shouted outraged as he raised the weapon over his head for attack.
BB Centered POV:
The changeling glanced around cautiously, the darkness that loomed around him seeming to intensify. It didn't even register to him that he had taken a few steps backwards out of fear as the darkness seemed to get thicker, his mind fogging over with the growing darkness. Where was he? He couldn't remember. What had he been doing? Was it important? He wanted to leave. He didn't like it here; it felt... wrong, as though he were intruding, seeing things he shouldn't.
Movement to his right immediately drew Beast Boy's attention, but his eyes widened in horror at what he saw when he turned. An arm. The lower half of a bloodied arm had been casually tossed into the small circumference of light that seemed to follow him with every step.
"W-what... W-who di-?" he asked shakily, falling back as he tried to retreat away from the disembodied limb.
"It was you." a high pitched voice echoed around him, and his eyes widened even further.
"You."
"You did it." continued a series of echoed whispers, sending shivers down his spine.
"W-what?" he found himself asking, eyes not leaving the arm lying a few feet in front of him.
"You lost control."
"No control."
"Lost it."
"Bu-" the changeling was about to protest, sure he could do nothing so horrible as to viciously remove someone's arm. He was a Titan; he protected people.
"Monster."
"Beast."
"You're dangerous."
"Can't be trusted."
"Monster."
"N-no, I wouldn't-" the changeling shook his head in denial. He couldn't have...
"But you did."
"You did."
"Lost it"
"Monster."
"No, it's not-" he froze mid-sentence when a bestial foot then stepped into the light, its fur green in color. Slowly, the rest of the figure started to follow as a body, the rest of the arm, was dropped carelessly on the ground next to its disembodied limb, the face of the person no longer recognizable as such with the amount of carnage done to it. Light slowly revealed the features of the monster that had done this terrible thing. Clawed hands, standing on two legs, hunched over with fur covering the whole body, black stripes going down its back... White eyes. No...
The monster growled, blood dripping from its maw as it bared its fangs at the terrified changeling. No, it wasn't possible... He had gained control over it. It wasn't possible. He couldn't have...
The fiend roared in seeming protest to Beast Boy's thoughts of denial and charged forward, grabbing his neck before he could respond and and slamming him against the wall he hadn't known was just behind him. The changeling's hands clawed at the much larger hands of the monster in a futile attempt to pry himself free. He froze in fear, though, when he looked into the face of the creature that had him pinned, cold, soulless eyes staring right back.
The soulless eyes of the Beast.
The angler fish from Finding Nemo was what I was getting at with the teeth, though the neophage doesn't have the extra long teeth in the front; it's teeth are fairly uniform.
I'm still having trouble with a name for Wisdom's counterpart. I like the suggestion for Cynical made by Densharr, but I'm also looking for something along the lines of crafty or keen. Is there a word that is kind of a mixture between keen and cynical?
Thanks to anyone who's read this so far, and don't be afraid to review. I'm not the rambo mage; Brave gets the privilege of that title.