Chapter 12: The Kiss of Gossamer Wings: Part 2

Raven motioned for Beast Boy to stay in the room while she was out. Beast Boy nodded uncertainly, his hands still covering his ears. Raven hesitated before she left. Waving her hand lightly a black bubble consumed the boy. She winced as pain shot through her arm but felt more at ease knowing Beast Boy would not hear the siren's song. Her eyes glowed white again and she entered his mind a second time.

"You can uncover your ears now, but don't move or try to get out of the barrier around you, understand?" Beast Boy nodded again, but he looked displeased that Raven was going out on her own. She still seemed a little weak. Indeed she was, but Raven felt well enough. After pausing to steady herself she had felt much more strength coursing through her veins then she had in the last three days. Beast Boy pressed his hands against the black shield and watched as Raven stoically left the room, locking the door behind her. Once out of the room, Raven pulled up her hood and allowed the folds of her now black cloak to settle around her. She moved darkly down the hall, her blazing red eyes piercing through the shadow cast over her face. People walking to their rooms instinctively shied away from the girl and stared on as she glided down the hall, each taking note of the strange red rose emblazed on the back of her shroud.

Raven would put Lark in her place once and for all. Banging open the door her hair swept about the inside of her hood as she was greeted by the icy cold of an Azarian night.

"Lark," she snapped at the figure standing silhouetted in torch light a little ways down the side of the inn. The figure did not move nor did it cease to serenade her window with the chilling wail of a melody. It sounded entrancingly beautiful but Raven had been born quite immune to the song of a siren and found the tune detestable. Striding angrily up she reached out a hand and turned the girl hard by the shoulder. Raven took note to the claw-like appearance her hand currently bore. The music ceased and the girl stood rigid before the empath. Dressed in a dark, deep green cloak with a sheer veil cover all but the girl's eyes it was hard to be sure she was really looking at Lark. Raven felt a tiny twinge in her mind but blocked it; suddenly very sure this was indeed Lark. "Lark. Show yourself. You loathsome monster!" Raven spat.

"Capria… do be kind…" the harsh hissing voice drifted out of the being with a mocking tone. Sirens… the ultimate deceivers; breathtaking songs but morbid voices, wretched true forms but lovely shifts. A shift was a body recreated out of another's memory… usually a very pleasurable memory or one that would cause the memory's owner much pain upon seeing the familiar face drawn out. The only thing a siren could not change was her height.

"I already told you, Lyora, you are to never call me by that name. I am RAVEN," the empath hissed. Raven hovered up into the air, her eyes glowing fiercely and her cloak swirling around her. A dark sneer crossed the girl's face. One pale hand slipped the confines of her ominous cloak and was encased in ebony aura. Ignoring the fresh stab of pain the rocketed through her she used her powers to wrench both cloak and veil off Lark.

The siren stood exposed, her sickly yellow eyes flashing with wrathful indignation. Her hair fell in kinky whitish coils down to her knees in a wild tangle and sprouting like sores from her back were a pair of large, grey, wings all ruffled and in disarray. The siren's body was completely absent of clothing but had putrid colored scales from lower hip down and her wild hair covered her upper body well enough. The siren's teeth curved into tiny, sharp fangs and a forked tongue flickered angrily out from black lips.

Raven gave a sharp intake of breath at the horrifying siren's appearance. She had known the siren's true form was terrifying but this… was nearly as disgusting as Trigon. Raven's outstretched hand dropped and sheltered itself within her cloak again and she dropped back down to the ground. She shuddered and moved backwards, scrambling to get away from the fowl creature.

"Don't ever come near me… or Beast Boy… ever again. Don't ever come close to either of us if you value your life. Don't ever come…" Raven turned wildly and fled the morbid spectacle, chased by Lark's sinister laughter. She made it back to the room where Beast Boy was anxiously awaiting her return. Flinging herself across the bed, she proceeded to vomit on the floor, the pain of using her powers and the sight of the siren were too much. Beast Boy, ignoring her command, shifted into tiger form and slashed himself out of the black force field. Moving to her side he took the huddled heap of a girl into his arms and proceeded to help clean her, unfazed. Raven looked up at him with distressed eyes. The siren… had been so terrible. To see her lure Beast Boy into her trap would be unbearable. What you shall use him for… is just as unbearable. A little voice reminded her mentally. Raven's thoughts flickered to the small book in her bag.

"We need to leave tonight, Azerath isn't safe for you," Raven growled. She gathered herself away from the changeling and proceeded to pull out one of the astrological charts Beast Boy had brought along in a business-like fashion. Unrolling the parchment her hand again glowed in black aura and again she felt pain sweep up her arm. "Ithin Sirol," Raven muttered, waving her hand over the surface of the chart. To Beast Boy's shock the stars began to move across the page. Finally stopping their movement, Raven allowed her hand to fall to her side. "We go Zinthos to and I will be able heal myself completely. Then, we travel to … perhaps on Zinthos we will find a guide…" Raven closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. She felt threatening tears sting the back of her eyelids and she willed them in earnest to go away. Raven felt a tear slip down her cheek, hot and wet and absolutely horrible. She tried to suppress them but all she succeeded in doing was letting out a choked whimper and more tears. Raven felt Beast Boy's hand come to her cheek and brush the tears away. She opened her eyes at his touch and Beast Boy hardly noticed the nightstand next to them snap because for a brief moment her eyes flickered violet.

Raven must have felt it change because her hands flew up to her face in shock. Beast Boy just stared. They were still red but… for a moment he'd seen her again… Raven, the confident and self-assured Raven… his Raven. Somehow the two titans had found themselves leaning close to one another because somehow their lips met in a desperate kiss so extremely different from the one in her mind. Their kiss was full of need and desire and it seemed both were trying to find shelter in the other's touch. They broke away and Raven looked away from him.

"We need to get to Zinthos…" Raven said quietly and Beast Boy's heart fell.

Wings

A Butterfly's wings,

Flit by a gentle swish.

Fly across moonlight,

Dance by the trees.

Sing by the water,

Slip into my heart.

Concealed beauty as,

A dark bird.


Author's Note: Oh my... can you believe I almost got them togeather? I mean seriously... we're on chapter twelve of an estimated twenty five and I almost got them togeather... wow... I must be out of it... Oh, well, hope you enjoyed my little tease at the end there. Scubagirl, you were right, Lark is a siren... a very persistant siren. You definately haven't seent he last of her. I hope you liked how I envisioned Azerath. I sort of thought the various royal planets would be kind of stuck in that middle ages type era, being a time when stories of wizardry and magic ran rampant. Well anyhow, now it's time to visit the exotic Zinthos which I believe shall have a more tribal feel to it. Maybe... Either way, I would love your reviews!