By Nyassa Kaiba
I plead, "Mercy, mercy baby I do not know what this all means
It's been awhile since I've been stylin' in just my jacket and my jeans
It hurts to walk, it hurts to talk, it hurts to think about it, shout about it
Could I be sure without a doubt, that you could never live without…"
"Mercy" Melissa Ethridge
Robin found Raven two hours later with her stereo blasting Melissa Ethridge, "Mercy." Raven was flopped face down on her bed, looking utterly miserable. "Whoever it is go the Hell away."
"I was going to tell you that we're heading out to run the obstacle course before we help with the cleanup crew." Robin told her. "If you're not feeling well…"
"I am and I'm not, Azarath issues, I'd rather not talk about it." Raven told him. "But I'd gladly come. I need to blow off some steam after that hurricane and being stuck inside all that time." She flicked the button on the stereo.
"Feralae thinks that the dragons that caused it will come back." Robin told her.
"That's the last thing we need."
Feralae was waiting on a rock near the water. "Seiryuu and his followers are on their way back. We have an hour at most." She said, without taking her eyes from the horizon. "We'd better get this over with."
Robin nodded. "I'd hate to see what they're like when they come back."
"Well it's not going to be pretty, I'll tell you that much." Feralae turned back to the Titans, who were watching her.
They led Feralae to the obstacle course. "One of us should run through it first, just to show Feralae how to do it." Suggested Starfire.
"I'll go." Raven volunteered.
Feralae watched, but the obstacle course was simpler than some of the strength training she'd done with Smogran, the Mountain Dragon Knight. As Raven ran the course, Feralae's mind was in two places. The first 'place' was in pulling in the energy of the water and rock of the island, as well as the energy of the air around her. She wasn't close enough to call on the Volcano Knight for some fire energy. But these three would work just fine for her.
The second 'place' was keeping an eye on Raven and figuring out how she was going to deal with each obstacle. For example, those iron clappers would be difficult to work with if she got stuck. Feralae would need Sairys, Dragon Lord of Air, for agility and possibly Grael, Dragon Lord of Earth for strength. Of course, the laser cannons would be child's play for her to evade. Maybe she could even show off her dragon's breath, although that would be definitely odd, and the energy required might be too much after the fever that she had gotten over.
"Your turn." Beastboy told her.
Feralae nodded and raised her hands to the sky. "Sairys! Lord of Air! Hasten to my call!"
A yellow ball of energy shot down from the sky like a shooting star and hit Feralae in the back, plunging into her body. Feralae's eyes changed from apple green to gold and slitted. Feralae crouched.
"GO!" Robin told her, hitting the stop watch.
Feralae leapt into the air, ducking and zipping around the metal clappers. Beyond that were metal vines, wires almost, that tried to trip her and grab her. Feralae got caught around the ankles. Feralae growled, straining against the restraint. She needed darkness power to short them out, and this was broad daylight! How was she going to… wait a minute… Sorry Raven. Feralae whispered mentally.
Raven jerked forward as Feralae grabbed the energy she needed. "Woah!" Raven cried, the shock on her system sent her reeling. Feralae channeled the energy she'd borrowed from Raven into the system running the vines. All of them shorted out and fell to the ground, powerless.
But another set of clappers caught her. Grael! Come to my aid! Feralae screamed in dragonspeak, a loud, piercing scream. Green energy shot from the rocks. Heart in mouth the titans watched as Feralae slowly, agonizingly, pushed the clappers apart. When she came back into view Raven's eyes widened and Starfire gasped in shock. Beastboy began to cheer.
Feralae had used the energy to form a crystal breastplate that covered from her shoulders to her thighs. Sticking out of the back of her armor were a pair of glittering crystal wings. Feralae dug into the metal of the clapper for a handhold with crystal, clawed gloves and used that purchase to shoot herself out of harm's way.
The laser cannons were next. Feralae shed the crystal armor and the Earth power. Her eyes turned gold again instead of the brown she used when she channeled Earth power as she dodged the laser cannons with such speed that you could barely track her.
"GO GO GO!" Beastboy was bouncing up and down as Feralae ducked and dodged.
Suddenly she reached the cannons and took a deep breath. Feralae pointed two fingers at the ground. Green light came up from the ground into her fingers. When Feralae breathed out she breathed a bright green fire that melted the titanium control box with controlled the laser cannons. Feralae kicked off the panel and accelerated, dodging the last few pitfalls to tag the target at the far end of the course.
"TIME!" Robin called, stopping the stopwatch he'd gotten from the equipment room. "Wow, one minute thirty seconds. That's not to bad."
Feralae flew back over and let go of Sairys' spirit. "Thank you Sairys! See you around!" She bid the dragon spirit.
There was a chattering noise from the tiny ball before it faded out. "How good or bad was my time?"
"Actually, only Starfire and Terra ever made it faster than you did." Robin said with a smile. "Good job."
"All that strength training with Smogran really paid off."
"Who?" Beastboy asked.
"Smogran is the Mountain Knight." Feralae explained. "He's got the third greatest physical strength of all the Dragon Royalty. Only the King and the Earth Lord are stronger. Anywho, it wasn't too hard. Only if I had kept Grael's armor it would have slowed me down. I'll bet that depending on what Element I'm using I would get different times."
"How the heck did you breathe fire?" Beastboy asked.
"Yeah, that was wild!" Cyborg gave Feralae a good-natured smack on the back. Feralae just about fell over. "Oops, sorry."
"It's called Dragonfire, and I shouldn't have used it. That's the fastest way for a dragon mage to burn out their energy." Feralae explained.
"Just… wow." Beastboy managed, gaping.
"Are you feeling all right friend Raven?" Starfire asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just feeling a little winded." She glared at Feralae. "Okay, why the hell did you drag energy from me?"
"SAY WHAT?" Demanded the other Titans.
"Uh, yeah, about that." Feralae said nervously. "Um… see, darkness energy can short out electronics, so I used darkness energy from Raven in order to short out the vines. Since it wasn't night time there was no other source."
"DON'T do that EVER again!" Raven snapped, stomping off.
"Raven! Raven wait!" Feralae called, running after her.
Raven stopped, but refused to turn around. "Feralae, if you mess with my energy you run the risk of hurting yourself, badly I might add. Find some other source of dark energy if you can, but don't use mine. I… I don't want you to hurt yourself."
"Alright, I won't use your energy from now on. Sorry, we're… we're still friends right?"
Raven turned around, her face betraying nothing. "Yeah, we're still friends."
"Awww… that's so cute!" Said Starfire with a smirk. She poked Raven playfully on the cheek.
Raven grunted an unintelligible monosyllable. "Feralae, the way you handled the obstacle course was creative. You should be an artist, not a superhero." She gave Feralae a playful dig in the ribs.
"I AM an artist, by day at least. I train mostly at night. You should see me with a hammer and forge. I could keep going all night."
"You are a blacksmith?" Starfire asked, eyes round.
"My father taught me how to work metal when I was eight." Feralae explained. "When my cousin Kuchu was initiated in the family shrine I was the one who made his Dragon Pentacle. And my Uncle taught me how to blow, mold, and carve glass. You can't use the pipe for more than six months out of the year though, it hurts you lungs and heart." Feralae explained.
"Wow, I wish I could do that. On Tamaren women aren't encouraged to take up metal work, glass yes, wood, yes, weaving and sewing yes, but iron? It's just not considered a feminine art." Starfire's eyes widened. "What do you make?"
"I make swords, and instruments, but mostly sculptures and decorative metalwork. I can also make a flute out of glass, or a wine chalice. The things I use in my dragon rituals I make myself." The guys had gone back to the obstacle course by now. "That includes the dachi I use as a sword, my staff, my wand, the bottles that hold sacred water and consecrated sake, the bowls that I use for earth, salt, and gems, the incense holder, dagger, wine chalice and water chalice, the goddess, dragon, and spirit statues, the pentacle disk, as well as any drums or instruments. There's more of your energy in them if they're made by your own hands." Feralae explained.
"I took part in many rituals of my home planet when I was younger." Starfire sighed.
Raven rolled her eyes. Starfire was definitely developing a crush on Feralae, and that just made Raven annoyed. "Starfire, do you have a crush on her or something?" It was out of Raven's mouth before she could stop it.
"What is a crush?" Starfire asked.
"I mean are you falling in love with Feralae?" Raven demanded.
"What makes you think that?" The picture of innocence. On any other day Raven would have found this cute, but considering what was happening to her body Raven was instinctively annoyed that somebody was taking Feralae away from her.
"Never mind." Raven tried very hard not to punch her friend in the eye. Starfire didn't realize, truly meant well, but Raven's emotions had started to seesaw out of control again, especially concerning Feralae.
Robing managed to make it through the course and Cyborg took his place at the starting line. Raven watched for a few seconds, trying to blank out her emotions. It wasn't working.
Raven remembered when her mother had told her about the… the bonding that happened between mates. It was total, complete. If one died, so did the other, and the emotions from such a connection had only one resolution. Such a bond scared Raven out of her wits.
"You have not been well Raven. Perhaps you should go inside?" Starfire suggested.
"I'm fine… just… just…" Raven shook her head, trying to figure out how the Hell she would explain what was happening. Starfire was her FRIEND and she didn't want to keep secrets from her, same with the other Titans, but back on Azarath it wasn't exactly something that you shared. "You're right, maybe I should go inside."
"I'll go with you." Feralae said as she fell into step with Raven. Feralae followed Raven to the stone slab that Feralae had been standing on before. It was still a little damp, but the sun was warming the slab itself, and the water was coming off as steam. Still, one could see the clouds threatening on the horizon. "Raven if there's something wrong…" Feralae began the instant they were out of earshot.
"I'm fine." Raven stretched out on her back on the slab. "I'll be even better when this storm goes away for good."
"Speaking of storms, I'd better see what Grandma thinks about Seiryuu's presence here in San Francisco. Once the storm comes back we'll see if she knows shy Seiryuu's attacking everybody." Feralae stretched out next to Raven.
Raven looked over at her girlfriend, noting the delicate curves of her body, Feralae's slender waist, ad the long, red, silky hair that was splayed out across the rock. Feralae's round, innocent, apple green eyes only made her seem more exotic.
It happened before Raven could think. The Titan of Darkness pinned Feralae playfully to the rock. Feralae's eyes widened, but any protest that Ferale could manage was stifled by a long, passionate, almost desperate kiss. Her breath caught in her throat.
Growling softly Raven licked and nipped her way down Feralae's jaw and neck. Feralae panted softly, moaning from the pleasure and contact. Feralae dug her nails delicately into Raven's shoulder blades. It felt so good, she was completed with Raven by her side, she was warmed and…
Feralae wormed her way out of Raven's grip. "The others will see us. Let's go inside."
Raven shook her head, falling back onto the rock. "You go ahead. Sorry, I mean… I…" Raven let out an angry yell, picked up the nearest rock, and threw it into the waves.
Feralae saw her, felt her anguish. "Raven…"
"Go, for now."
"But…"
"JUST GO!" Raven growled.
Feralae nodded and sadly walked away. The other Titans hadn't heard her shout above the ocean noises and the machinery. Raven curled up, crying on the rock. Voice choked with tears, she sang, "I want to fall in you, crawl in you, surrender all in you now, could I be sure in you, pure in you, finding a cure in you, now I plead, have mercy on me…" Raven wanted comfort, but in order to keep it a secret there could be none. The pleas for mercy fell on the deaf ears of the sky.
Raven wished with all her might for guidance, wished for this scary thing that was happening to her mind and body to go away. Embrace it. The Deva again. Wouldn't it leave her to stew in misery. I can if you wished me too, but you asked for guidance and I came to give it. Somebody told you a long time ago that you would become what you conceal. The quote may be out of context, but it is applicable. It would also help Feralae. If she or her ancestors came from Azarath as you believe they may have then you MUST conseder telling them. She would be in horrible trouble if she has the same powers and problems you do, and if those powers were to get out of control... NO! Raven practically panicked. What would they think of her if she told the other Titans that she liked girls, particularly one girl? At least tell Feralae what's happening to you. It's hurting her to be cared for, comforted one minute and shoved away the next. That Raven could do. And there was one person she knew she could trust, no matter what.
"Raven." Robin came striding across the grass towards her "The storm is on it's way back. I think we should go... You've been CRYING?" Robin demanded, eyes round. This was very unlike the calm, stoical Raven that he knew.
"Like I said earlier, issues." Raven commented. "Do you think we could... you know... talk about them, privately I mean."
"Sure, come on inside." Robin blinked in surprise. "We'll talk over cocoa, okay?"
They made it inside. Raven sighed, closed and locked the door to the kitchen and sat down. She took a long sip of cocoa before saying. "When I was in the hospital with Feralae we fell in love."
"Then you're..."
"I'm not sure whether I'm a lesbian or bi or what, Robin. I'm pretty new to any kind of relationship, let alone one with a girl. But there's a... a complication. When two people from Azarath pair off, a bond forms. It starts with the first kiss and the bond develops, putting more and more pressure on the people involved. The two end up caught up in emotions that have only one resolution, sex. I'm not ready for it. I keep trying to resist the bond, and I can't stop it..." Raven fought back tears of shame.
Robin didn't know what to say. "Raven... I don't know what to say to you, except to hold on. Talk to Feralae, tell her what's going on and how you feel."
"You don't GET it Robin. The instincts I'm battling with will end up HURTING her if I let them take over. It's savage! Wild! And no matter what I do, I can't stop it! A look today, that's all it took to set me off, just looking OVER at her!" Raven burst into tears. "She's so gentle, so kind hearted, I don't want to hurt her!"
"Calm down Raven, take a deep breath and focus. Your self control has always been your strength, don't go psycho on me now." Robin told her.
Raven took a deep gulp of air, then another, forcing down the tears and panic. That was when Feralae came running. "Robin! The storm is back! And you should hear what the dragons are saying!" She was panting. "They're saying they want their treasure, they want vengeance on the thief who stole something from them! Seiryuu the Dragon King said to search every city!"
"But there's no treasure here!" Robin's eyes widened.
Raven closed her eyes. "Hang on, I'm searching the different Villain hideouts we know about." Everybody in HIVE was where they should be, cowering in fear from the storm. Gizmo was hiding in a warehouse on the water front. Slade was underground, totally safe and snug from the storm, but again, he was empty handed. Malchior was stuck in his book and Blackfire was still on Tamaren. None of the major villains they knew were out of place. "Nobody's got anything suspicious, although Gizmo is hanging too close to the tower for my liking."
"We'll take care of him once the storms over." Robin assured her. "Shouldn't be too hard."
Feralae sighed. "I think we should go to the source, appeasing the dragons should be our first priority. If we find their missing treasure and return it to them they'll stop making storms. Maybe you haven't tuned into the Weather Channel lately but there are other storms forming, one over the Caribbean, one over the Indian Ocean. Huracan is the Hurricane Knight, and his home is in the Caribbean, if you have some way to get us there we might be able to get him to stop forming the one there. The regional Dragons of India are the Nagas, we might be able to get some information about the storm forming there."
"We don't have that many people, and it's no good if Gizmo breaks in and steals something while we're gone." Robin pointed out. "He's not as bad as say, Slade for example, and he can be REALLY stupid at times, but he can cause a ton of mischief with our equipment while we're gone. So we take care of him first as soon as the storm passes. Meanwhile, have you started working on your costume?"
"Definitely!" Feralae grinned. "I know exactly how I want it to look. And the design is a direct reference to Japanese Myth." Feralae flipped open a small sketchbook. The pages had been colored in with colored pencils. "See, the leotard underneath the robes has a white Chinese Dragon on it. A white dragon is the husband of the Goddess of Music, and I AM Dragonsinger." She flipped a page. "And the cloak has my family's symbol on it, a Dragon and a Phoenix entwined. I'm going to change the belt from the one that I normally wear, but that's going to take time, a forge, and some other special materials."
Robin frowned at the page. "This looks a lot like Raven's costume."
"I did it that way on purpose. Raven and I know each other from back before we were Titans, but we're way different in personality, so aside from the dragon symbols and the phoenix on it the coloring is exactly the opposite of hers. What's blue is black, what's black is blue. Until I can get access to a forge I'm going to use the belt that I wear with my robes."
"It's actually a very good design, how do you do something like this?" Robin asked.
"My dad said that you should plan three times, measure twice, and cut once. It saves material. So I have sketches of every project that I've ever done. After awhile I got pretty good at drawing, people too, not just objects!" Feralae said with a grin. "I'll see you later Raven, my room okay?"
"I can go now, but how about the living room instead." Raven suggested. Maybe if she was in a public place she wouldn't be tempted to drown in those apple colored eyes, or to ravage their owner.
"Okee, let me get my stuff."
Fifteen minutes later the other Titans gathered around Feralae to watch her embroider her costume. The dragon's body was slowly marching up the leotard. The newest Titan had drawn out the outline for the dragon in chalk. Her stitches were tight, almost as flat as if she'd painted the design on the leotard.
"WOOOOOOWWW!" Beastboy gawked as he looked over her shoulder. "You're going to make your costume from SCRATCH?"
"I'm capable of it. Besides, when making ritual garb you're supposed to make everything yourself. It has more of your energy in it when you do." Feralae explained.
"But fighting crime isn't a ritual." Beastboy said, puzzled by her attitude towards all of this.
"Isn't it? When you participate in a ritual, you dress in fancy clothes, you don what can be considered an alternate personality that gives you power, and you cast a spell that's supposed to bring good in some way. When you dress up to go fight crime, you dress in an often colorful costume, you take on a TAG name that gives you the power of anonymity, and your actions are geared towards bringing good." Feralae pointed out. "Both require a magic of sorts, both require special gear and special training. No, to me fighting crime is just another sort of ritual."
"To each his own." Beastboy said with a grin. "Hey, maybe afterwards you can play Pikmin 2 with me! I can't figure out this one puzzle and it's really annoying."
Starfire growled at him. "Are games on video all you think about?"
"Sometimes, I also think about food." Beastboy teased, sticking his tongue out at Starfire.
"Beastboy, you are trying my limits! Can't you at least show any interest in Feralae's work? When I had my costume made I went to a Tailor! I don't have the Talent to make one myself! How can you not admire what she is doing?"
"Easy, by munching cookies and playing Pokemon Coliseum." Beastboy replied, biting into a chocolate chip cookie before turning back to his game.
"You and your Pokey monsters and their coliseum!" Starfire flounced out of the room.
"Is she gone?" Beastboy asked.
"Yes, she's gone." Feralae scooped up a couple cookies for herself before going back to her sewing. "Did you get her angry on purpose?"
"Yeah, sorta, Starfire is a little much for me. And I still haven't exactly forgiven her for hitting me in the head with a broom while we were cleaning out your room."
"She hit you in the head with a broom?" Feralae asked, eyes round.
"Yeah, and it kinda hurt." Beastboy said with a chuckle. "It was funny, but it wasn't, you know? I mean, I have a good appreciation of humor, but that went a little over the line."
"I didn't know you could hold a grudge." Raven commented. "Yeay Beastboy." She said with absolutely no tone in her voice.
"I AM human Ice Queen!" Beastboy growled. "Even if I DO turn into Animals on occasion."
"Relax, I'm not angry at you. I just haven't had a nice few days." Raven told him. She sat down on the couch. "Feralae, you're actually pretty good. I'll bet you could mend rips in my costume if it got beaten up."
"Yeah." Feralae snapped a thread with her teeth and tied it off before putting another thread on the needle. "You need a mend now?" She asked, tying the knot in place before starting over again.
"Not now, I mean if it ever happened." Raven replied.
"Oh. So Beastboy, whatcha playing?"
"Pokemon Coliseum!" Beastboy replied with an impish grin.
"Cool. I never got my hands on one. I had to trade with my friend Aneko for all the pokemon you can only get in Coliseum."
"What's so cool about pokemon?" Raven asked.
"Try it and see!" Beastboy's grin was daring her to try it.
"No thanks. You tell me."
"Oh come on! I'll bet you'd LIKE it!"
"No I said!" Raven growled.
"Oh fine, a Mount Battle Challenge is hard enough without somebody messing it up."
Reverse psychology made another triumph because Raven got off the couch and snatched the controller from the littlest Titan.
"Ack! Be careful with that!" Beastboy cried.
"Okay, Feralae, walk me through this." Raven said as she sat down, ignoring Beastboy's protests.
"Sure thing. That's a normal pokemon the enemy's using, so you begin with a fighting pokemon. And then you…"