1Chapter Seven: Memories.

The prison was being repaired, so the criminals and convicts were scattered over the city in secure locations, under heavy guard. Many times by a few of Einderan's soldier sorcerers. They had been lucky once again. The sorcerers were a tough lot. No casualties, though in some cases it had been close. They had enough healers to keep everyone alive another night, even though more were no on the injured list, and probably would be for a while. The rest guarded the prisoners, making sure that the scattered areas were secure from the convicts in them escaping.

One of theses convicts however was taken back to the Tower, which had returned to a fairly normal state. Once the town was completed, they had moved those sorcerers who were still injured there. This one prisoner sat in a small, plain white room. One wall was glass, a one way mirror. He was seated at a small table, handcuffs on his hands. He was staring at the table with blank abandonment.

Raven was watching him, trying to catch an emotion or thought, but was unable. She felt a now familiar presence at her side.

"Hello brother."

"Raven." he replied, with a nod of acknowledgment, "How is he?"

"In a sort of daze. He is awake, but at the same time it's like he's completely blocked everything out."

"That's about normal."

"It is?"

"He just had his mind and body assaulted by a demonic curse, and it even went deeper than that since his is a bard."

"I've heard stories about them, but aren't they all supposed to be dead?"

"Supposed to be. I guess the stories were wrong in that respect, because there he is."

Robin walked in, closing the door behind him, "Raven, I have some a question for you."

"What is it?" She asked, not turning.

"You said that you knew him. From where?"

Sighing, Raven asked, "Remember that time when Mumbo escaped jail and was wrecking havoc, but I had to leave because Steel City had a disturbance as well?"

"Yes. We would have sent someone with you, but it was Mumbo."

"I know. Well, he was the disturbance. His name is Kirk Shepard, also known as 'Rocker'."

"Like Punk Rocker right?"

"Well, in his words, not mine, comparing him to Punk Rocker is like comparing a note to a rift."

"Uh..." Robin and Einderan glanced at each other, both very confused.

"A note is a single sound, and a rift is a pattern. Apparently he's met Punk Rocker, and they don't get along well. And he is actually much stronger."

"Hmmm, alright, that makes sense."

"I have a question," Einderan said, "I have met very few of anything that has his kind of power. How is it you were able to beat him?"

"Well, he's not a bad person. Just misunderstood, like me." Raven told him, "Most can't understand it, but when he is playing he's actually talking."

"Talking? How? And why can't most understand it?" Robin asked, crossing his arms.

"He just is. His emotions, thoughts, it's all going into the music. To normal people it sounds like regular sounds. But to empaths..." Raven motioned to herself and Einderan, "We pick up on the thoughts and emotions. We can hear what he's trying to say."

"And he doesn't just talk because?"

"He's mute. He was born like that." Raven said, then walked to the door to Rocker's/Kirk's cell. She walked in, and closed it behind her.

Kirk (I'm going to call Rocker by his name now, thanks) glanced up for a moment, then returned to staring at the table.

"Hi." Raven said, sitting down in a chair across from him. Kirk sighed, and slouched back in his chair, scooting back and draping one arm of the back of it. He stared at Raven, waiting for her to continue.

"How are you feeling?"

Kirk had gotten very good at using his facial expressions in the place of words, and the look he shot Raven was one that said 'Like crap'.

"What happened?"

Kirk rolled his eyes, and held his arms in the air. Raven mentally slapped herself for that one. How could he tell her?

And she didn't even bother with the mind reading thing. She had found it impossible to pick up anything unless he was playing an instrument, no matter how lively he was. Another quirk of what he was.

She created a portal and summoned a pen and a pad of paper, and set them on the table.

Kirk looked down at them, then back to her, and his expression clearly asked 'Are you serious?'.

She motioned, and Kirk rolled his eyes and began to write.

(Things in >> are written)

>>I hate doing this. Written words are so impersonal, no one ever actually get's what I'm trying to say>>.

"Yes, I know. We had this discussion last time. Now come on, tell me what happened."

Robin watched, surprised by many things. Patience, concern, things that would have shocked him coming from the dark girl on a few weeks before. Raven had changed so much...

"When she is around me, Frista, our people she can be herself. She is able to express her emotions more fully, because if her powers react to her emotions, someone is there to dispel it. She also suffered a lot of pain, a lot of guilt, but knowing that our people don't hate her for the most part has healed that. When we are gone though, she will go back to being cold, emotionless Raven. That is the way, the curse of all lone Azarathians. But now you know the person under the ice right?"

Robin nodded, "I can't really say what's in or out of character for Raven anymore. After what Cyborg and Beast Boy told about running into the different sides of her personality, seeing her when she first arrived on Earth, and now this, I don't know what's her and what isn't anymore..."

"She is complicated, even to me. So many things to deal with, I'm sure a normal person would be in turmoil. No offense."

Robin shook his head, "None taken. I doubt I could handle it. Having to keep yourself locked up, being the portal for a demon overlord, who happens to be my father to conquer the world through, not to mention already being responsible for the destruction of my home world... I would have gone insane long before now."

"Strength, that she has, and it has been like that since she was born. Strength in more ways than one. Oh and for the record."

Robin glanced over at him, "What?"

"She was nice enough. But if you're wondering if the dry sense of humor and generally sarcastic nature are new, they aren't. She is friendly with us because she hasn't seen us in so long and she is afraid that the people hate her. But back on Azarath, before Trigon, she could turn any embarrassing situation or insult back on someone else. And she would, sometimes even seeking out the opportunity. . The only people I can think to make an exception for are me, Frista, and her mother. And not all the time for the first two."

"So she was close to her mother then?"

"Incredibly."

Raven waited patiently for Kirk to get done writing. He did, he turned the pad around and slid it to her.

>>I was sleeping in my cell. Then I hear a guy outside my cell, saying he can brake me out. But what do I want with braking out? So I told him to go away. He starts saying stuff about how he knows me, and understands my problems. I listen, but then he starts going on about how I should want revenge and all that crap for the 'injustice' done to me. I get mad and told him to go away again. Well, he say's 'ok', then offers me a farewell gift right? He pulls out a guitar! From nowhere, just out of the shadowy stuff that was around him. I tried to fight it, I really did, but having a guitar right in front of me and not playing is like finding an oasis in a desert and not drinking. I grab it, and I get a real bad vibe right away. I get this real burning pain in my body, and everything goes red. From then it was like I was dreaming, then I wake up, and I'm surrounded by burning buildings.>>

Raven read it, and nodded, "Was the guy tall, skeletal looking?" She asked, sliding the pad back to him. He nodded.

She pondered this, then noticed he was writing something down, tentatively. Raven looked over, and he looked back, tears in his eyes. He slid the paper back to her.

>>Did I hurt anyone?>>

Raven knew better than to lie. She nodded her head slowly, "Yes."

He took the paper back, then wrote something quickly, in a panicked manner. This was a more serious question.

>>Did I kill anyone?>>

"No."

He sighed, the tension his body going limp again. He mouthed the words 'thank you', then closed his eyes.

Raven got up, having found out what she wanted to know, then told him, "I'm sorry. I did promise to visit, to try and help you gain control over your powers. I said I would help, but I never came. But things have gotten real bad. Things from my past coming back to haunt me... Things that could mean life or death for everyone on this world. But, it's no excuse. I could've come, but I was too wrapped up in my problems, and, I'm sorry."

She heard him scratching away at the paper, and turned. He slid the pad to her a final time, with a smile.

>>Apology accepted. It did hurt being left alone like that, but I understand crap happens. Story of my life. Don't feel bad about it. You have a beautiful singing voice by the way.>>

Raven blushed and mumbled something, walking out of the room quickly. Kirk just sighed and fidgeted in his seat. He wasn't really conscious of this, though he really would have liked to have been. He was tired, and wanted to go to sleep. His body had a habit of moving and shifting until he found the perfect sleeping position, which was not possible. He had woken up in very strange places, as well as body positions (How he had stayed asleep on a pool table with one leg bent under him and his upper body hanging off was beyond him, but it had happened. In fact, he wasn't even sure how he had ended up on the pool table. But he had a picture somewhere that proved he had...)

Robin and Einderan had both seen Raven start blushing before she could pull the hood of her cloak over her face.

"What, it's true." Einderan said with a shrug, "You were one of the most requested performers on Azarath. Not ever day a little girl not even ten is called in front of the royal court."

Robin knew what they were talking about. He and the other titans had arrived in time to hear Raven's 'performance'.

"Shut up, Indy."

"Oh come now, don't start that childishness again! I compliment you and you start up again with that infernal name!"

"Royal court?" Robin asked, finally able to process the words and ask.

Einderan smirked as Raven looked away, as if her face would literally start glowing red, "My little sister here was quite the celebrity for a while. The royal court of Azarath requested her talents for a celebration feast. As I recall, they weren't disappointed."

"I wasn't that good, or that famous..." Raven mumbled.

"I beg to differ. The Empress was not an overly kind lady. Compliments from her were worth more than Terlek emeralds. You got several."

Suddenly a black strip of magic appeared and covered Einderan's mouth. He sighed and snapped his fingers to dispel it.

Nothing happened.

He looked down in shock, then tried again. Still nothing. He began to panic, what on earth was going on?

"Hehehe..."

Einderan stopped and glared at her, eyebrow twitching. He motioned to his mouth, then crossed his arms.

"Wondering why you can't brake that spell?" he nodded, "Because you're a cocky idiot who forgot to put away his book of spells a few nights ago. Stupid."

Raven walked out with a swirl of her cloak. Robin was in shock for a few minutes, before he burst out in laughter. Einderan started taking deep breaths, but was finding it hard to keep calm and not fly after his sister.

The one way window turn black, then shattered. Kirk was currently had his legs on the table with his upper body in a chair. The sudden lack of a barrier stunned him, and he looked at them questioningly.

Robin kept laughing, until he noticed that from under Einderan's hood there was now nothing but shadow, and the room had suddenly pulled away. The sorcerer suddenly looked a lot taller, everything else seemed so far away. Einderan looked... The grim reaper came to mind.

Shutting up quickly, the boy wonder edged his way from the room.

Kirk raised an eyebrow, confused. Suddenly the pen wrote this on the paper of it's own accord.

>>My sister is going to pay for this>>

LATER...

The sky was dark with clouds, and it would probably rain soon. Perfect reading weather. Raven was sitting in the living room catching up on a book she had been reading before all the madness had started, about the life of a great wizard named Nevik Nella.

"Hello."

"Hi Frista." Raven replied, turning the page.

"What is that?"

"A book."

Frista glared at her, "I know it's a book, what's it about?"

"The sorcerer Nevik Nella."

"Hmmm... Sounds vaguely familiar. What did he do? Oh, he did something important didn't he?" Frista said, rubbing her head trying to think of it.

They heard muffled noises behind them, and they looked up. Einderan's eye was twitching, and he was desperately trying to keep himself calm. His mouth was still covered by the black strip.

Frista just stared at him, "Sir, why do you have a silence spell on you, and why haven't you broken it yet."

"He has a silence spell on him because I put it there," Raven said with a smirk, "And he can't brake it because I read a book of spells he brought with him."

Frista blinked, then began to giggle, "Oh my..."

Einderan crossed his arms and gave Raven the 'well?' look.

She didn't even glance at him, "Promising not to talk won't do you any good, because if that were true you wouldn't be wanting the spell broken would you?" Raven pointed out.

The older sorcerer rolled his eyes, and tried to look angry. He failed. Truth be told, he was rather impressed that Raven had managed to steal that book of spells at all. An impressive feat.

Suddenly a flash of lightning lit the room, followed closely by a roll of thunder. Frista and Raven both looked out the window, only half caring.

Einderan froze, his entire body tightening, his hair standing up on edge. Then after the thunder he gasped, the spell broken easily and the entire tower shook. Raven and Frista both whirled back to look at him.

This was not something they had seen before. His eyes were wide, unfocused. His breathing was quick and shallow. His body had broken out into a sweat.

"Einderan, what's wrong?" Raven asked, putting her book aside and standing up, "Brother?"

Another bolt of lightning, and Einderan sucked in his breath as if in pain, and went down on his knees. He was trembling now, his eyes tightly shut. Stuff started exploding and flying around the room like a poltergeist's Fourth of July.

Both of the girls had to dive to avoid getting hit. Cyborg, Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire (Who had been doing various other activities) ran to see what the disturbance was. They to had to take evasive action.

The amount of power filled the room with a loud roar, and Raven had to yell over it, "Brother! What's going on? What's the matter?"

Then everything stopped, debris clattering to the floor. Einderan didn't move, but his eyes opened wide, still unfocused. He whispered one word, "Please..."

A bolt of lightning, a surge of power, then he was gone. When the lights flickered back on, Raven pulled herself off the ground and looked around frantically, "Einderan?"

Frista reached out with her powers, and soon found him, "An island, about ten miles further out in the ocean."

She began to create a portal, when Raven stopped her, "He's my brother, I'll take care of it."

"But Raven-"

"Please, let me do this."

Robin stepped forward, "I can't let you do that. If he was the one causing that chaos a few seconds ago if you go after him you might get hurt."

"He won't hurt me. He might not make such an exception for you. Please, I think this is a... personal problem. The only thing that could work my brother up to that point... I think this is one of those 'father issues' Robin. Do you understand?"

The boy wonder raised his eyebrows, then contemplated. He sighed and nodded slowly, "Go. But if you don't come back-"

"I don't know how long this will take. I'll be alright."

And with that, she created a black portal and walked through it...

ISLAND FURTHER OUT AT SEA...

Raven didn't have to look very hard. It was a small island, with earthquakes rattling it. The center of power was easy to find, a small cave. Every a flash of lightning or roll of thunder would occur, the entire island would shake.

She took a deep breath, and entered the cave. Running quickly, she knew that the area right around Einderan would be safe.

However, strangely enough, the cave was devoid of all flying objects. She stopped in surprise. She was expecting a hurricane. Why wasn't it?

Then Raven saw Einderan, and it didn't matter.

He was sitting against the wall of the cave, shivering. He would flinch at every lightning bolt, and give a small cry at every crash of thunder. He was biting his lip to try and hold it in, biting so hard blood ran down his chin.

Raven was knocked over as the cave came to life, rocks and stuff flying everywhere. She didn't know why it had waited like that, but lots of things were different about Einderan.

"Azarath, Metreone, Zinthos!" She yelled, creating a barrier around herself and flying towards Einderan.

She watched in horror as he slowly started to close himself in a barrier as well. She knew that if she didn't get to him, something bad would happen. So she pressed onward through the storm of rocks and debris, even when her sheild broke.

His shield was closing, closing, closing...

Raven only just made it through. The barrier closed behind her, and she and her brother were cut off from the rest of the world.

"Einderan?" She whispered. He didn't even move.

She walked over, and got down on her knees, bring their eyes level, "Brother?"

He was staring strait at her, but he wasn't seeing her. She felt turmoil inside him, pain...

Then it was if something snapped. He looked around quickly, cringing at the sound of another lightning bolt.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

He almost tackled her. Einderan wrapped his arms around her, holding on as if he let go he would die, "Raven..."

She didn't move for a second. Then she noticed, a dampness on her shoulder. She looked, and saw tears flowing silently down her brother's face, soaking through her cloak and the cloth underneath.

Raven couldn't bear it. She almost started to cry herself.

'No' She told herself, 'He was strong for me. I have to be strong for him'

She gently wrapped her arms around him, saying gently, "It's ok Einderan. It's alright. Nothing is going to hurt you."

"He already has." Was his cryptic response. But she didn't press him to clarify, because after he said it he began to full out cry on her shoulder. And it seemed to get worse every time it thundered.

They stayed like that until the storm ended. Which was several hours. Raven had fallen asleep.

Einderan, finally getting himself back under control, and taken off his cloak and wadded it into a pillow, laying her head on it, and waiting. Silent. Just waiting.

It didn't take long for Raven to wake up after Einderan though. Her eyes flickered open, looking around groggily. She was fully awake though once she remembered what had happened, looking at Einderan with a worried face.

"Brother..."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." He replied in monotone.

"Einderan," She said, getting into a sitting position against the wall opposite him, "What happened?"

"It made me remember... Do you recall, back on Azarath when you were six?"

Raven hesitated, then let him evade the subject, "Yes I think so..."

FLASH BACK

Raven wondered around the public garden aimlessly. It was late, mother would kill her if she found out her child had been out at such an hour. But something called the little girl out here.

She heard yelling, and crashing. At first she was scared, but then recognized the voice. She ran forward, around some rather large bushes.

Stone benches were shattered, the pieces scattered around. Pieces of the stone walk way were missing, tossed aside without care. Many plants had been pulled up. The water was slowly leaking out of a hole in the side of a fountain.

Einderan went down on his knees, looking up to the sky, "Trigon... You monster... Look at what you made me... Demon... Look at what you made me become."

Then tears began to run down his face. He clenched his eyes shut, trying to stop them, but failing. Pieces of rubble began to shift slightly, but they didn't move much. His power was gone.

Raven had never seen him cry before. It was nerve racking, because he was the one who looked out for her, the strong one. He couldn't be crying. He...

She ran up to him, and stopped a few feet away, "Indy?"

"Go away Rae."

She shook her head, "Why are you crying?"

"...Him...Trigon..."

Raven walked the few steps, and hugged him. He was on his knees, but she was still much shorter so her small arms wrapped around his shoulders. Well, as far as they would go.

"It's ok. He's my father to. He is a...a...a..."

"Demon?"

"Yes. He is a demon. But just because he is a demon, it doesn't mean you're a bad person."

"I wish that were true..."

"But you're a good person! You're nice and kind, and look after me to make sure I don't get in trouble, and don't let the mean people hurt me, and are nice to me even when I'm not nice to you... You're not a bad person."

"You don't understand sister."

Raven stepped back and stomped her foot angrily, "Why do people always say that to me! I do understand! I'm just like you, I'm half, demon, and, I, I, and if you're a bad person, then I, I'm a bad person to... And, please stop crying..."

Tears began to form in the small girl's eyes as she talked.

"I don't want to stop crying Rae. I want my tears to..."

"Please... I... I don't like this. You're the strong one! I'm the one who's supposed to cry! You... You are making me sad, because, if you're sad, and..." She thought for a minute, then asked, "If I sing, will it make you happy again?"

Einderan laughed, looking down from the sky into the hopeful eyes of his sibling. Her eyes, the same as his. Demon eyes. Yet... "Yes, I think it just might. Come on, let's get home before mother finds out you've been gone and kills us..."

END FLASHBACK

"That's the night you stopped calling me Rae." Raven commented.

"Ya..." He said, then sighed. Tears were forming again, "I'm sorry Raven... I, I lied to you."

"What?"

"I... I..." Einderan stuttered. He took a deep breath, "I have been lying to you for a long time."

"About what?"

"I..."

CLIFFHANGER

What secret will Einderan reveal? Why was he so afraid of lightning? Why did he lie to his sister?

What is Kirheinse planning?

Tune in next time for Memories, Part Two, Revelation.