Chapter Six – Canyons

Night was falling. The crimsons and ambers in the walls around them were deepening in the shadows, blending in to the coming darkness. A few stars were peeping through the liquid sky. The clouds had not yet arrived.

"Full moon tonight," the green burro informed his rider. "Have you been on a moonlight ride before?"

"I have never ridden before," she replied. "No offense intended, but it is not entirely comfortable. My hip is still sore." She shifted slightly and pulled the cloak underneath her legs forward. There was no other way to create a barrier between her and his back. Even without her empathic powers, the touch felt too . . . intimate. . . otherwise.

I hate being so useless. Without my powers, I am just a liability. Underfoot.

The burro brayed. "Yes, and I'm sure everyone is going to tease you for walking funny tomorrow after riding me all night."

She knitted her brows. "Why would they do that?"

"Sweetheart, sometimes you . . . oh, never mind. Let's just say that I'm always willing to make an ass out of myself for you."

Never one for small talk, she did not pursue the thought.

"Sooo. . . how do you like Charlie Horse? I saw you talking to him for a long time before we left."

"We were discussing our relationship."

The burro paused mid-stride. He rolled his eyes up at her. "Relationship? That's a little, um, fast. Hrmph. Isn't he a little old for you?"

"Not that kind of relationship." She rested her hand on his neck. Even with her senses dulled, she could tell where he was going with this. "Garfield, I do not often get a chance to talk to you alone. May I share something very, well, personal, with you?"

The hoof that was frozen in midair found its movement and the path to the ground. "Personal. Sure."

"I told him what Victor told me last night. Charles is my cousin."

"Cousin? Excuse me? How?"

"His grandfather Thunder Horse is my great-grandfather. On my mother's side." Let's not talk about the father's side.

"Hmmmm. Dickie the Detective again. So that's the part Stone left out of the briefing."

He started trotting again. Light was disappearing from the rims of the canyon above them. Raven switched on the flashlight and aimed it at the ground ahead.

"I do not want you to break a leg right now. I cannot heal you."

"Good idea. So, you have a relative now? What did he say?"

"He seemed happy, but his true feelings are hidden from me now. But he said he was not surprised since we have similar abilities. He had always wondered what had happened to my mother."

"Rave . . . what exactly does he know? I mean, I know your story, but does he . . . "

"Know about my father? No. I did not want to –"

"Open that can of worms?"

"Correct. I have no wish to frighten him away on our first meeting. He might not be so . . . welcoming."

"Well, beautiful, I know your story. And I'm still glad you're here. The team just wasn't the same without you around, you know."

She paused. "Why do you call me that? Beautiful?"

"You know I flirt with all the girls. I can't exclude you just because . . .. But you are. Beautiful. You mean a lot to me, errrrr, us. You're more than just our First Aid Kit, you know."

The fist relaxed a little more. You mean a great deal to me as well.

"It makes sense that you don't trust him yet. How do you feel about him?"

She did not reply. She could not answer, even if she wanted to. Without the emotions of others raging through her like a river, she only had her own to deal with. And they were confusing her. The dam of Compound 27 had shut off the flow of anything her friend might be feeling. The small stones left in her own dry riverbed left her puzzled. One said TRUST. I don't trust Thunder Horse. Yet. Who am I trusting?

"So what else did you tell him?"

"I told him I grew up elsewhere and about the powers we share. I will tell him more when I . . . when I know him better. He also gave me a name. A Sioux name, since I am in his family now. He called me 'Twilight Child'."

"After the canyon? That's pretty. It kind of fits you, don't you think?"

"Yes. Light and dark. But mostly dark. Of course it suits me." Other stones in her rolled over as the fist stirred again. She withdrew her hand from his neck and rested them on her knees again.

"Ah," was his only reply. How he felt about that outburst, she might never know.

They fell silent while he walked. They had reached the end of that stretch of canyon. A rocky plain stretched out like a lake between them and the next stretch. The canyon wall stretched in a circle in all directions. Sheer sandstone wall blocked the sky all the way to the other side. They were looking into a bowl, a void, in the landscape. The full moon spread its light out there, making the ground glow softly as if it were covered with snow. She shifted her weight on his back. He broke the silence first.

"So many stars out here. You sure don't see those in the city. I wonder what it looks like when the moon isn't full."

"You have held this form for a while. Do you need to rest?"

"Yes, but I need to get you –"

"I am not suffering." Liar, she scolded herself. You are. And you now understand the meaning of 'saddle sores'.

She dismounted and removed her cloak from his back. He resumed human shape and rubbed the small of his back. He bent down to adjust his boots.

"I am not too heavy, I hope. I do not wish to be a burden."

"You, heavy? Never! I –"

The communicator beeped.

"Yeah, tin man?"

"BB, listen," static crawled in Cyborg's voice. "Weapons . . . missing . . . We caught one . . . "

"Without us? How did we miss the party?" He winked at her.

"Wasn't easy. But we think . .. more . . . Compound missing . . . "

Beast Boy shook his head at the static.

"Vic, you're breaking up. Do you think he's headed our way?"

"Not sure . . . stay put . . . on our way…"

The communicator shattered in his hand. Raven pushed him around the massive boulder and down to the ground, out of the reach of moonlight and metal. She cupped her hand over his mouth to stifle his yelp. She released his mouth but remained crouched over him. Bullets seared her cape as it fluttered to the ground where they had stood just a moment before. Her communicator was still attached to it.

Warning shot, she thought. If the Underground is as deadly as we've heard, he could have just killed us then.

And I can't sense him!