AN: I'm not quite as satisfied with this chapter as I am with the first one. It seems a bit hectic to me. I'm also not that good at writing either Beast Boy or Cyborg, and I'm also terrified of contradicting cannon (I only starting watching the show a month or so ago, when we started getting the network) However, I hope it doesn't dissapoint.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?"

Raven turned to see Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg standing at the foot of the stair in full uniform. It was Beast Boy who had spoken, of course.

"I see you've finally made it,"drawled Raven.

"Robin!" Starfire cried delightedly from on top of the stranger.

"Um... Starfire," said Robin, looking at her through his mask, "I think you can get off of him now."

"Are you sure?" said the man on the floor, "because I'm perfectly comfortable right here."

But Starfire had already jumped up and ran over to stand beside Robin. "Raven and I found this strange person wandering around here in the dark. He says he's here for Raven, but he called her a strange name. Lady-"

"Aleran," the intruder completed as he got to his feet and brushed himself off. " Lady Aleran Metrion of the House of Zinthos. You say she calls herself Raven here?"

The Titans nodded.

"I'm Laros Kuruk of the House of Teleth." He smiled. "I do see how she created her new name. In the ancient language of the Words, Aleran is 'black' and Metrion is 'bird'. Black bird. Clever."

"Raven was my parents' name for me," said Raven. "My teachers and my friends called me that as well. Only servants and strangers knew me as Aleran."

"You never told me that," said Starfire with a slight pout.

"I must have forgotten. Besides, Raven is my name, my true name, that is.." She strode forward so that she was standing close enough to Laros to stare directly into his black eyes. "Did my father send you?"

He snorted. "Do you think Hailorn would send just one person to fetch his long lost daughter after four years trying to find her? If he knew where you were you'd have a swarm of Sentinels in your den."

Raven considered this for a moment. What he said did make sense. "In that case," she said at last, "who did send you?"

"It was Bentris."

She couldn't help smiling at that. "So the old man's still alive? I'm glad to hear it. How is he?"

"That's what I came to talk to you about." Laros' wry smile vanished and he looked suddenly grim. "He's sick."

"Sick? How sick?"

"We don't think he'll live through it."

Dazed, Raven closed her eyes. Her most trusted teacher was dying. She, realized, however, that it wasn't unexpected. He was old. Old people die. Her eyes snapped back open. "Well, you've told me, you can leave now."

"It's not just that." He reached up and pushed his blue-tinged hair out of his eyes. "Hailorn, your father- he's getting worse."

"Worse than he already was?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but yes. He's hunting down anyone who opposes him. Some he kills in horrible ways and hangs their bodies from the wall..."

"That's nothing new," Raven interrupted.

"Yes, but only he kills some of the people he takes in. Others are gone for a long while and when they come back, they're changed. It's not like they're suddenly fanatically loyal to Hailorn, but afterwards they're... well, they're blank."

"Blank?"

"Yes, blank. It's hard to explain. It's like they're just sort of living without really living, without thinking or feeling. They're dolls, dummies, shells. And with this on top of losing Bentris... " He shook his head despairingly. "In short, the Secret Sentinels need a new leader. You."

"Wait just a minute here!"

Everyone jumped. During this entire conversation the other teenagers in the room had been watching Laros and Raven intently. Now, however, Beast Boy was striding into the middle of the room waving his skinny green arms frantically. He inserted himself between the two of them and looked up into the Laros' face.

"Are you telling me Raven's dad is some sort of evil overlord guy? "Cuz I can definitely see how that could happen. I mean, where else could Raven had gotten it? And where's this planet you're talking about anyway?"

"It's not a planet," said Raven, "it's a dimension, and if you will all excuse me I have to go and... think things over. Goodnight." With that she turned and walked swiftly toward the stairs.

"Lady Arelan!" called Laros.

"My name is Raven," she said without turning around.

"Uh, Raven," said Cyborg tentatively as she passed, "you left your book in the hall."

Raven snatched the book of poetry out of his outstretched hands and promptly disappeared up the winding staircase.

After she was gone, everyone was left standing about in awkward silence, Beast Boy beside Laros, and the rest bunched together near the wall. It was Cyborg that spoke first.

"Hey! What happened to my chair?" He had finally noticed the pile of blackened wood lying scattered in front of the door.

Laros scratched the back of his head. "I sort of, um, blew it up it." Eyeing Cyborg's bulk warily he added, "On accident, you understand."

For a moment Cyborg seemed to glower in fury, but suddenly his face broke into a wide grin. "Don't worry about it, dog. Raven was blowing up stuff for months after she got here."

Laros breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"So, weird alien dude," said Best Boy, "are you gonna tell us now?"

"Tell you what?"

"You know, Raven's back story. Her mysterious origins and all that. I don't know about these guys, but I've been dying to find out about her for ages."

Starfire raised her hand to stop his talking. "I don't think Raven would like us discussing her without her here. It is a very rude thing to do. If she wanted you to know her history she would have told you like she told me."

Robin nodded. "I agree with..." He paused and looked at Starfire. "What do you mean 'like she told me'? You know where Raven came from?"

"And you didn't tell us!" burst out Beast Boy.

"I was told in confidence," she said in a very dignified voice.

"But did she Aleran tell you the whole story," said Laros, "or only her story."

"I do not understand what you mean."

"You see, our blackbird's story began when she was born, less than twenty years ago. The whole story, the story of Azerath, stretches back for centuries before that."

"He smiled broadly at Starfire. "Should I continue?"

She bit her lip. "I suppose you can tell us that, as long as you promise none of it is about Raven."

Laros placed a hand on his chest. "I swear on my honor as a Secret Sentinel."

"What does that mean?" Robin was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Laros from behind his mask.

"If you'll be patient for just a moment, mysterious masked figure, you'll find out. Do you mind if I sit down? It's a long story."

Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire shook their heads. Robin merely continued to stare fiercely at Laros, who ignored him and sank into Robin's chair, stretching his long legs in front of him.

"The first thing you all should know, I suppose, is that the world of Azerath has only one city."

Starfire's green eyes widened. "Only one?"

"Yes, and it's not like this strange city either. It's much larger, for one thing, and the buildings aren't thrown about randomly. They're all connected, seamlessly, almost making one huge building."

"What is your city called?" asked Starfire.

"The City. Whoever named it wasn't being very creative.

"Anyway, for miles around the city there's nothing but the grey desert. Beyond that there are mountains to the north and west, and the Sea to the east, though only few have ever seen it. It's generally believed that the desert goes on forever to the south, though some say that there's another city in that direction, surrounded by grasslands. But that's just a myth.

"No one's ever gone very far away from the City, at least no one that ever returned. There are creatures in the wilderness, you see, dangerous creatures, and with them as well as the Arek-ai, there's not much exploring done."

"Arek-ai?" It was Beast Boy. "That's a nasty sounding name."

"And it suits them. They live in tribes in the mountains, and every one of them is brutal and violent. They have black-"

"Like mine?" asked Cyborg.

"No, not at all like yours. Yours is brown, theirs is pitch black. Their hair is

red-"

"Like mine?" It was Starfire this time.

"No, their hair is of a much brighter red than yours, like cherries. Their eyes are red too, and I see none of you has even somewhat red eyes so I'll move on. The point is that they aren't always content to stay in the mountains and wait for some foolish Azerathi to come out and find them. Every decade or so they'll band together all of their tribes and attack the City. What with them and the monsters roaming everywhere, it was a very dangerous world. That was, until the Sentinels were founded.

"All Azerathi have some psychic ability, but the Sentinels... The Sentinels are, or at least they were, people who were talented to begin with, and then spent their lives distanced from the rest of society, meditating and honing their skills. They grew to be immensely powerful, and it was their duty to protect the City and its citizens.

"This worked well for a while until, about a thousand years ago, a brash young Sentinel-in-training named Veldrek came along."

Beast Boy snorted. "Nice name, I wonder what the kids at school called him."

Laros ignored this outburst and went on. "Somehow Veldrek got it into his head that he could wipe out all of the Arek-ai on his own, so he snuck out of the City in the dead of night and traveled to the mountains to find them. He did not find the Arek-ai, but something else instead. When he returned much later, he brought with him a mysterious object, strange and evil powers, and an extra set of eyes."

"Four eyes!" Beast Boy and Cyborg yelled at the same time. Everyone turned to look at them.

"I know it's probably disturbing to you..." said Laros.

"Nah, it's not that. You see, a while ago we went into Raven's weird mirror thing..."

Cyborg clapped one large, metallic hand over Beast Boy's mouth. "That reminded us of something we saw once in Raven's room, is all. You finish your story."

"There's not much more to tell. The Sentinels who Veldrek could not convert to his cause he killed. Since then they have ruled the City cruelly and absolutely. Those that had once been charged with protecting the people became their prison guards and tormentors. And so it has been for the past millennia."

Robin was still looking at Laros suspiciously. "Didn't you say you were one of these Sentinels? How do we know we can trust you?"

"Do you see four eyes? I'm a Secret Sentinel, part of an underground group that studies the old ways, increasing our powers through meditation and balance rather than through unnatural means. As for why you should trust me... You don't have to. I only need Lady Aleran to trust me."

"Her name is Raven," said Robin.

"Um... boys?" Starfire raised one hand weakly into the air.

There was a pause before Cyborg answered, "Yeah, Star?"

"I'm going up to talk to Raven."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Beast Boy. "She'll probably rip her head off and feed it to her creepy, four-eyed pet birds."

"I'm sure," said Starfire, and, turning, she started up the stairs.