Chapter 4: Calling Birds
On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Ravens sleep was interrupted again. Her eyes opened to stare into the dark abyss of her room. She had been dreaming, the same dream as before. Concentrating a moment Raven tried to recall the words.
Some melody that had filled her dream was now lost far in her subconscious. To occur twice in a row it had to be important. Her powers sometimes created dreams that were meant to tell her things.
Quickly she sat up and folded her legs under her. Taking up her lotus position she closed her eyes.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." She drawled off feeling herself rise into classic meditative pose. Her energy surrounded her body drawing out her thoughts.
She was going to chase the vanishing thoughts that had been in her dreams.
Raven found herself in the dark word that her own mind put together in a solid form. A few red eyed birds cawed at her return.
The world was just as she had left it, or so she thought. As soon as she started moving a twisted melody rose in the background. Raven stopped, and so did the music.
Quickly irked she started walking again. It was a slow rapturous melody she had never heard before. Raven walked faster down the brackish rock landscape. The music in her head sped up. With each step she found it getting louder.
She was in intelligence's territory she knew now. She recognized the particular look of the jagged rocks.
Raven heard a chorus start up with the notes. She was still too far away to interpret the words.
Something pricked her hand. Turning she threw a furious glance at the culprit, but there was nothing there. That only meant it had to be in the real world. The girl brushed it off eager to catch up with the dream.
There was another prick further up her arm this time. The groaned stopping. The music slowly began to fade away.
Looking up into the space like sky she willed herself out. Raven felt the familiar rush of her soul pulling out from inside her mind. There was a drop as she was quickly pushed back into her body.
Opening her eyes again the half-demon dropped back onto her bed. Angrily she turned to find Ebony fanning its wings on her arm.
"Damn bird, I almost had it," She hissed moving her arm making the raven fall onto her bed. Raven pushed back her hair and got off her bed. It was no use trying now, she was too unconnected to her subconscious.
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"Wanna play Raven?" Beast Boy greeted her that afternoon when she had finally left her room. Him and Cyborg were at the game station just about to set up a new robot game.
Raven shook her head settling down on the couch. Beast Boys smile fell before he stuck his tongue out at the her and turned back around. Raven rolled her eyes.
She opened the book in her lap and let her eyes settle on the page. Though she looked to be reading her eyes hadn't moved from the word at the top of the page.
It was almost noon and no gift had arrived at her door. She didn't even let herself think for a second it was over.
So far she hadn't seen Robin today. That was suspicious since putting Slade away he shouldn't have had to spend as much time tracking leads. Of course she hadn't seen Starfire either, and there was much to be said about the two of them missing.
"Hold on, I'll be right back," Cyborg paused the controller and got up from his well sought out post. Raven's eyes never moved from the page but her attention flickered toward the two.
"Man why do you always keep pausing the game and getting up?" Beast Boy whined as Cyborg started toward the stairs.
"What are you a detective?" Cyborg chucked to himself right about the stairs. Raven listened carefully taking note of the conversation.
"Yes I could be the mighty Sherlock Holmes! I could start by following that trail of garland." Somehow Beast Boy then had a magnifying glass and pretended to snoop around.
It took all of Ravens discipline not to look over near Beast boy. If there was garland, it might be something important, and if it was did it incriminate Beast Boy?
"On second thought I will play, if you have a third controller." Raven finally looked up from her book. It was desperate and out of character but if she could just get them out of the room for a few minutes...
"Yes!" Beast Boy grinned and Cyborg looked mildly shocked. The green boy scurried after Cyborg yelling over his shoulder he'd get the controller and be right back.
She waited a full minute after they had left. When she was sure they weren't near she threw down her book.
Getting up she moved over to where Beast Boy had been. Sure enough there was a trail of garland bits.
Raven bit at her lip recognizing the four inch pieces. She stepped toward them and quickly picked them up. She could feel her own aura around them.
They were the pieces she had gotten in the books. The ones she had left on the carpet in her room. She grit her teeth.
In her room. They had been in her room.
Forgetting her book and Beast Boy she rushed toward the stairs. Her cape blew after her as she made her way toward her room. One of them had been in her room.
She couldn't even count one of them out. Both Cyborg and Robin knew the codes for all the Titans bedrooms and Beast Boy had done the 'fly on the wall' thing a few times.
Turning down the hallway she spotted her door, it looked undisturbed. She wondered when exactly they would have gotten in without her noticing. Raven was almost at her door when the impossibly infuriating alarm started.
She stopped where she was. Raven had a duty to protect the city from whatever villains. That was always top priority.
Grounding her foot into the carpet she turned back around and headed back to the living room. She'd have to check her room when she got back. She dropped the garland pieces in a corner she could come back to.
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Raven opened the car door and stepped out onto the Jump City street. Beast Boy got out after her while Cyborg set his T-car on its shut down sequence. Starfire was already floating near them with Robin.
Raven turned to spot out the villain. It wasn't hard, she simply had to follow the shrieking civilians. Currently a near-by bank was being robbed, so typical.
The titans grouped together and made their way toward the bank. Just as they got close the bank wall was blown out. When the smoke cleared the titans were looking at the armed Dr. Light.
"So we meet again?" The mad doctor hissed looking over the titans. He looked a second longer at the dark goddess remembered their earlier account.
"Titans, go!" Their leader called. That's all it took to get the team moving.
Starfire got there first throwing shimmering Star bolts toward Light. She missed and Dr. Light threw something in her direction which exploded in a giant flash of light.
"Let's see how well the Titans fight without sight!" He cackled at his own lame pun and tossed more of the light bombs at the Titans.
Raven shielded her eyes with her cape when the light erupted. When she was sure the blast had passed she fixed her cloak and turned to find the rest of the titans. Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg were clutching their eyes.
Beast Boy stumbled about crying he was blind. Starfire laid where she had fallen unable to determine what she should be doing. Cyborg groaned and squinted moving around using solely his robotic eye.
Raven turned around to find Robin already engaged in battle. Deciding to help she flew toward them. When Robin twisted around getting a blow to the Dr.'s stomach he spotted Raven.
Nodding the same way they communicated in the training room Raven got closer. Robin got him with his bow-staff across the back when Dr. Light was trying to hit him with a light bomb. Raven took the chance to envelop the doctor in her power and levitate him off the ground.
Carelessly she shook him upside down. He yelled profane words at Raven as his gadgets fell from his pockets onto the ground. When she was sufficed all his weaponry was gone she dropped him hard onto the cement.
The defeated villain groaned happy this encounter had not ended as ghastly as the last, even if he hadn't gotten away with any more money.
"We done?" She asked no one in particular controlling some wiring and wrapping it tightly around Dr. Light.
"Yea," Robin called moving towards the blinded Titans.
"Why can I not see anything?" Starfire cried, her hands in front of her face.
"Yea man, what'd he do!" Beast Boy howled stumbling about still.
Raven smirked at the pitiful bunch.
"Don't worry, the flash was only temporary blindness." Robin assured them helping up Starfire and leading her over to Raven.
"Can you fly Star home? I was going to drive the other two back." Robin asked pushing Star a little closer to where Raven stood.
"Sure," She put a hand on Starfire's shoulder to keep the girl from moving. Raven waited until Robin had the other two back into the T-car before trying to get Starfire home.
"Ok Starfire, I've got to fly you home."
"B-but," Starfire was stammering and had clamped onto Raven's arm.
"Star," Raven sighed tiredly. "It's fine, just imagine we're playing a game and I'm going to blindfold you and take you to the start line."
"Oo-ok." Starfire let her grip slacken and Raven conjured up her magic. She noticed the T-car was gone by now.
Halfway back to the tower Starfire regained most of her sight. When it had come back Starfire became hysterical and nearly fell from the sky. Raven cursed Robin for purposely leaving her with the distressed alien princess.
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Raven walked up to her door feeling a familiar lump in her throat. All of the titans had regained their sight for the most part by the time she had gotten Starfire back. She had made the mistake of letting all three of the guys get back to the tower before her.
She saw something in front of her door as she neared. Another god forsaken box.
Her fists clenched as she summoned the box, angrily throwing it into her room ahead of herself.
When it landed on her carpet something shuffled and made a whistling noise.
"I swear, if it's more birds I'm going to..." She paced a few minutes contemplating.
Finally deciding it wasn't helping the situation she grabbed the box and sat back on her bed. Flipping open the lid she poured out whatever was inside.
Into her lap four little stuffed animals fell. They looked like ravens colored deep black. She picked the one up that had a little piece of parchment on it. Unraveling the paper she tilted it so she could read the script in the lighting.
Raven,
Being quite the detective aren't we?
-An Admirer
She paused paper still between her fingers. Hadn't Beast and Cyborg said something about a detective earlier?
What exactly was it? She pressed a finger to her temple trying to recall that morning.
It had been something about Cyborg leaving the room. He had asked Beast Boy if he were a detective and Beast Boy had said he was Sherlock Holms. Or was it Robin having overheard and used it as a fake clue? Or was it one of the two being obvious because they knew she would look to much into it and-
And where exactly was Robin this morning?
And what the hell was it with birds?!?Raven felt another giant headache emerging. She'd gotten four gifts and was no closer to figuring out who it was.
Raven picked up the four little ravens and noticed the other three had something around the necks. She gritted her teeth as she carefully untied each one. Left in her hands were the same three pieces of garland. Three different colors.
He was going to pay.
Growling as her anger flashed she grabbed the four ravens and the garland and stalked to her door. A few things were knocked over or blown up as her temper raged. Ebony cawed somewhere behind her.
Raven pushed open her door and viciously threw the objects out. They landed somewhere out in the hall producing chirping sounds. Great, they were chirping stuffed ravens. It may not have been helping the situation but it eased her anger a little.
She slammed the door knowing the noise rang throughout the tower. Raven slid to the ground her back pressed against the cold metal door breathing deeply.
After a while Ebony hopped over and began nipping at Ravens boots. Groaning she smacked her head against her metal door once.
"This is so aggravating," she spoke to no one.
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Elsewhere in the tower he had heard the metallic slam. Curious he followed the sound and found himself nearing Ravens door. Quietly he moved closer catching sight of four birds on the hall floor along with the garland.
Smiling he quickly picked them up glimpsing at her door.
He heard a loud thump against it and for a moment panicked. He heard her voice and it sounded as though she were leaning against the door.
"This is so aggravating," Her voice was clear even though the metal.
Containing a chuckle he turned and quickly left from hall planning what further torture would meet Raven the next morning.
—————————————————————————————————Wow reviews are awesome, thanks! I have chosen the admirer, aren't you all just dying to know? (someone suggested 3 different endings, anyone interested there?) I'm planning more crime near the end somewhere, any particular villain anyone want to see?
I'm trying to update about every other day to make sure I stay motivated and get this finished before the holidays. Still, I really hated this chapter, it's so blah.
I love to see you all picking up on all the clues (and some I didn't even notice I put in there) XD. Review on your way out, thanks!
-Dragonslayer527