Disturbing Past

Chapter 2: Remember

Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

"I am." X'eltaroth repeated, as emotionlessly as the first time. "What you see in me is merely solidification of ethereal materials so I don't dissolve."

Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire looked utterly confused.

"Dude…what did you just say?!" asked Beast Boy and shock. "Did you say that you were dead?"

X'eltaroth appreciated the horrific emotions that were being channeled to her mind.

"Yes." Raven said simply. "She died."

X'eltaroth's grey eyes focused on the four unfamiliar friends of her accomplice.

"What have you encircled yourself with, dear Raven? A court jester, a ditz, a robot and short stuff? "

"I don't have a choice." replied Raven.

"You have softened, Raven…" X'eltaroth was cut off by an astounded and curious Robin.

"You can't be dead. We wouldn't be able to see you. You could be a solidification of Raven's suppressed memories." Robin said, recalling when Raven conjured up all the monsters when she refused to admit that she could experience fear.

X'eltaroth was instantly agitated by Robin's attitude.

"You think you've gotten it all? No, you are quite wrong. Firstly, I came here to see Raven and warn her about personal affairs and to get some help from her. Secondly, I was killed. I'm not telling you how,"

The ghost turned to her ship and it promptly disappeared. She closed her eyes and sniffed the air, a strange smell emanating from her body, causing Starfire to get really dizzy. X'eltaroth noticed and made a mental note. The alien was unused to death.

"X'eltaroth. I don't know why you have searched out for me, but in order for you to curse yourself to be a permanent apparition, you must be desperate. I'll help."

"I have been cursed to not having an afterlife. Forever." X'eltaroth started out sadly. "I'm ultimately powerless and powerful at the same time. You see, for everyone I kill, I gain their ability. I gain their weakness, their strength, and their sorrows. It is a great burden."

Starfire tried to speak. "I am sorry."

"You shouldn't be sorry. I deserved it. But that is not the point. Raven, in Azarath, there is a bounty on my head. The highest bounty ever. A trillion pieces of gold if I am captured."

"You're not wanted dead or alive?" asked Beast Boy, intending the pun.

"No, I'm just wanted so they can torture me. Feed me to scorpions limb by limb or whatever they can think of. Raven, you are wanted as well. For high treason. So I'm here to warn you. And to retrain me. I have…devalued in your absence. I need to be retrained."

Raven remained impassive. "I'll do it." She rose and took her leave.

She turned to Robin. "I need a place to stay. I just need a couch or a sleeping bag. I don't need food or water or anything. Please?" X'eltaroth was very unused to being nice, but she needed the assistance.

"Yeah, sure. Under one condition." He trailed off mysteriously. "Tell us why you and Raven are wanted."

X'eltaroth was in Robin's room, recalling all the reasons that they could possibly be thrown in jail. It wasn't very hard to do, as she herself was an Anjou Murderer- a murderer whose soul paid eternally for the innumerable sins she had committed. Raven had a curse of her own: cursed to never love. Ever. The incident itself was called the Zinthos Death Strike: when every teacher and student was murdered in cold blood. They all fought back, killing X'eltaroth and cursing Raven.

"I was killed in the Zinthos Death Strike. Raven left her home in fear for her life, and came to Earth for relative salvation. When I was killed, a student at the school cursed me to never resting in peace. It was called the Curse of the Living Dead. I have finally mastered it, since I killed the person who did it to me. Raven met you here, and joined forces with you. How naïve you all are. She joined you so she could experience the thrill of knocking someone out cold. Put them so close to death's door that her victims would die solely because of their fear of dying. How ironic this life is. You thought she was being a good person, but she most definitely is not. She satisfies both your team and herself."

Robin's eyes widened behind his mask as these new chronicles of the depths of Raven's mind were revealed to him. Could it be possible that Raven only helped the Titans to satisfy her lust for bloodshed?

His mind quickly refocused.

"You still haven't answered my question. Why are they after you?" continued Robin, not having a single clue as to who the "they" were.

X'eltaroth picked up that he wanted to know who, what where, when and why everything was how it was.

"Well…the Knights of Azarath, Metrion and Zinthos teamed up with each other in order to exterminate myself and Raven, but Raven was too smart for them and I could kill them all in a single swipe of my dullest, oldest, most rusty katana. Because the Platar Knights- that's their name- couldn't do it, they put an inter-planetary bounty on our heads, mine being the highest in all history. I've had some bad encounters so I need help. Raven's help. Raven should watch out too."

"I'm sure she'll help you to the best of her ability. I'm not entirely sure that I believe you, but since you're a friend of a team mate, you're a friend of ours. Welcome to Titans' Tower."

X'eltaroth was taken aback by the friendliness of Robin. She had ripped his heart out, but he was still a friend to her.

"Thank you," she said meekly, her cold death-tinged voice softening to that of a normal teenage girl. "You are truly a hero, Boy Wonder."

She floated through the wall and trekked down to the room where she would be staying. It was Starfire's old room, and therefore she cringed in disgust at the décor. There was only a bed, chest of drawers, a lamp and a bedside table, all of them varying in tints and shades of fuchsia and purple.

The ghost sat in the center of the bed and tried to redecorate.

"Saranac tamaris xeric," she muttered as a black light emitted from her body until the entire room was black, as she had wanted it.

She then concentrated on getting all her weapons, which was retrieved quickly. All of her katanas were in a spiked box, that only ghosts and any demon could access. She placed it in the darkest corner. She used her telekinesis and broke the only light bulb in the room, leaving the glass wherever in fell.

Raven watched intently as she made all the necessary preparations to make her room fit for her habitation.

"You have learned much," Raven said as she entered the room, looking very similar to hers. "I see that I have influenced your decorating style."

"Mentor Raven, thank you so much."

"You're welcome."

X'eltaroth was becoming friendlier, actually staring to smile and socialize with the rest of the Titans. She was currently learning how to play on the Game Station. She was absolutely terrible.

At that moment, the barrage of alarms rang out, indicating trouble.

"Trouble. It's…it's…I don't know what it is," announced Robin finally.

Raven looked at the screen. "It's the Platar!"