Magic in the Blood (working title)
CH. ONE
In the small, perfumed tent, the smoke of the oracle wrapped itself around the slender shoulders of the young seekers with translucent tendrils. The teller was a woman of undeterminable descent, her skin a deep and creamy toffee and her dark eyes brimming with sensuality and knowledge. Dozens of slim bangles bounced off one another as she laid out the tarot cards on the table.
"Pretty girl, you are to be represented by the Fool," the teller murmured in a husky voice that hinted of incense and silk. "An innocent heart in a the body of a born lover, as we all once were. See here, the Fool is young and pretty, smiling as he walks off the cliff. Such is to be the lot of a true fool, walking into danger because of the lack of knowledge." A manicured nail tapped the card. "Off the edge of the cliff he walks, with only the bark bark of a small dog to tell him of what lies ahead."
"I do not understand," said the pretty girl. "If I am to walk off a cliff, it will not be a problem. My people have the gift of flight. Also, the dog in this picture is white. We have no dogs at the Tower excepting when Beast Boy becomes one. And he would be green." She shifted in her chair, the candlelight flickering over the curtain of her red hair. "You are a very nice woman, but I do not think your cards are correct."
Beside Starfire, Raven sighed. "Starfire, the cards are metaphors."
"Oh! They are like the cooling of tempers, or like when we barbecued the informant--"
"--when we grilled him, Star."
"Or when Cyborg is so hungry he wishes to consume a stallion."
"You mean when he says he's hungry enough to eat a horse." A second ticked by. "On second thought, that one might not be a metaphor."
Starfire smiled brilliantly at her friend. It was enjoyable to do the hanging out with Raven, she thought, and particularly rewarding when she was able to understand her friend's peculiar sense of humor. She herself preferred Beast Boy's jokes and funny movies with the angry golfing man. However, when doing the hanging out with Raven, Starfire had to work to understand English on a level that the boys rarely required. 'And to think,' she mused, 'Raven is not even a native speaker!'
"Uh, Starfire?"
"Young lady?"
"Oh," breathed Starfire. "I am sorry! I was letting my thoughts take a walk." As Raven unsuccessfully hid a smile under her hand, the fortune teller waved her graceful hands.
"My pretty young lady Starfire," the woman murmured, now dancing her fingers over the tarot cards. "I am to not speak in those terms, I am thinking. I shall speak more plainly." Her gaze darted over the spread of cards. "There is a young man in your life, dark and handsome, tall and mysterious."
Starfire's nose crinkled in thought. "Robin is not tall," she whispered to Raven, only to be given a smack on the arm.
After a moment, Raven added, "He will be someday." Starfire could tell from the roll of Raven's eyes that the other girl was not impressed by this gypsy woman.
The fortune teller spoke over them. "Though you consider your fellow to be as a mystery, in the days that follow this he shall be as plain for you to read. It is other cards in your spread and others in your life that you must pay heed to you. There is danger to the High Priestess here, and to the Sun." The woman furrowed her brow at Raven. "You, my dark young lady, you are to be watching yourself. There is another, represented by the Sun, that is to be reversed."
Starfire felt a chill, though when she looked to Raven, the sorceress showed no sign of feeling the same. She wrapped her arms around herself, and said, "Please, tell us more. I am sure Raven is simply... very focused on what you are telling us, madam."
With a gentle smile, the woman reached out and cupped Starfire's face, stroking with her thumb one blushing cheek. "You are to go on a journey, though the journey is not entirely yours. Your strength is to be your heart."
Raven sighed, and Starfire looked up startled as she stood. "Thank you, ma'am," said Raven flatly, and left the tent.
"I am sorry," Starfire muttered, setting down several dollar bills, and she hurried after her friend.
The air outside the tent was considerably cooler on Starfire's cheeks, and she was able to quickly catch up with Raven. "Friend Raven," she said, carefully gripping her by the arm. "Why did you leave in the middle of the fortune telling session?"
"Because she was a quack," shot off Raven, and at Starfire's confused look, added, "She was fake. She was just like... Mumbo. Mumbo with a couple of books on gypsies and a pack of cards."
"I am sorry," said Starfire, unsure of what else to say. "I did not realize. You are surely more likely to be able to tell such a thing." She watched Raven for several moments in silence, as she usually did in these situations.
Eventually, the dark-haired girl sighed and flicked her hood back from her face. "No, I'm sorry, Star. You didn't know any better. Earth is filled with quacks. I just hope you didn't pay her too much." With the kind of smirk Starfire knew to be a signal that Raven wished to switch the subject, she finished, "So let's go find the guys."
"Yes, let us locate the guys," trilled Starfire, floating along the beaten fairground, her bronzed skin and firey hair bright in the twilight. "Beast Boy wished to go on the Zipping Machine and the Tilt of World! I am hoping it is not too late to join him in such a thing!"
"Then you're in luck," said Raven, pointing. Under the rainbow of the fairway's lights, the trio of boys were swaying dizzily. Robin held out most manfully, staggering over with a grin. Cyborg finished the large cloud of cotton candy in his hand with ease, and hoisted a cross-eyed Beast Boy up under his arm with similar ease.
"Hey, Rae," Cyborg said. "You hold this for me. I gotta get more tickets. Plus, I think he's gonna yak. Don't want that gettin' in my metal bits." He was gone, leaving Starfire pondering how fleet his large and heavy feet were, and how well they would serve him when Raven gave in to the rage bubbling up in her pink cheeks.
"Grrgh," she expressed eloquently as Beast Boy wound his arms about her neck. "Ragh."
Starfire and Robin exchanged a glance.
"Raaaaaaaae," moaned the changeling. "I was a merry-go-round horse. My back hurts from kids. And all the juices in my head are swirling around!"
Starfire's eyes grew very wide. "They are?"
"For once," said Robin in amazement, "he's right. That is... what makes you dizzy. Something with your inner ear."
"Oh," said Starfire. "But I thought he was to become a... yak?"
"Nah," said Beast Boy, from the rigid Raven's arms. "He means he thought I was gonna puke." He giggled. "Hey, Rae. Hah, that rhymes, man. Hey-Rae, I didn't realize you cared! The strong and silent type, huh?"
"If you don't shut up and pull yourself together, I will TURN you into a yak," came the dark mutter. Though Raven appeared to be about to continue, there was a brilliant burst of light in the night sky above. Those on the ground oohed and aahed their appreciation, and the Titans joined them, with Raven slightly reluctant.
Starfire was a little surprised to find a warm hand taking hers, and tore her attention from the lightshow above to see a sheepish and flushed Robin entwining fingers with her. "Ro--" she started, only to be muffled by his other hand.
"Shh," he said, pointing at Raven and Beast Boy. "Don't draw attention." He gave her a crooked smile, and she stepped closer to him, lightly squeezing his hand. If he wished to partake of the hand holding in this setting... she was simply happy to be there.
The crowd enjoyed the show for several more moments, clapping and cheering. Though Starfire felt like joining them, she stayed quiet, an euphoric calm settling over her. Finally, she whispered, "What a lovely warm breeze..."
Robin glanced at her, a similar look of calm on his features. "Breeze?"
"Can you not feel it?"
"I guess--" The calm on his face cracked, and as Raven turned rapidly towards him, the air around them cracked as well. "HIT THE DECK," he roared, and pulled Starfire with them. The air was exploding with... energy and hot wind. Starfire opened her eyes just a bit to see a glittering rain that was not wet at all, and a figure shrouded in lights.
When the air stopped crackling enough to stand, the four Titans were immediately on their feet, with a resounding thudding behind them that indicated Cyborg's return. "What the shit is this?" he shouted.
"What the shit indeed," murmured Raven.
Before them stood a woman, tall and lovely. Her silvery hair reflected the multi-colored lights around them, looking jewelled and glowing. While a long and gleaming sword was clutched in her delicate looking hands, Starfire was more alarmed by her eyes. They were as beautiful and horrible as the rest of her, cold and pulsating with pale colors, finally setting on a pearly pink. Behind her, two shimmering wings unfolded themselves. The woman gestured with her sword at the crowd.
"Leave," she cried in a high and resounding soprano. "Leave this place that I may dispose of... the Teen Titans." The crowd seemed eager to please, dispersing in record time.
Robin seemed unimpressed, Starfire noted with a vague relief. "Titans, GO!" he shouted, and there was not time to think any longer. She could only hurl herself into battle with the usual aplomb, starbolts flying from her fingers at the strange woman.
"Identify yourself," called Raven over the din, and the woman stopped, her white dress whirling about her.
"I am... a Queen," she said, "I am Queen Mab of the Fairies."
Beast Boy popped from tiger to green boy. "Uh, you're a fairy? Or like, just in charge of fairies? You look a little big for a fairy to me."
The Queen turned on him, rage flooding from her cold eyes. "A changeling. The lowest of our kind."
"Hey, dude," snickered Beast Boy nervously. "I'm no fairy."
Starfire had been edging towards the rear for a surprise attack when she felt Raven's hands on her arms. "Keep her distracted," was the soft command, and Starfire zipped to the front.
But what was she to say? "Yes!" she tried. "You are large for a fairy! How ridiculous you are! And... and... you are unattractively pale!" That earned her a glare, and as the Queen's sword began to vibrate with silver energy, she heard three of her favorite words in all the universe.
"AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!" The Queen staggered under Raven's attack, and when the resulting clash of energy dimmed, she was... an entirely different person. Her hair was now a vibrant green mass of curls, and she was much smaller, her dress shorter and her lips painted bright blue. Starfire could tell by the silence around her that she wasn't the only one staring.
"You BRAT," Mab shrieked, turning to Raven. "That was a BRILLIANT entrance, ruined by a little wannabe witch!"
"Hey, yo," interjected Cyborg. "Rae's no wannabe. She's a real witch."
"She weighs the same as a duck," added Beast Boy solemnly.
Mab whirled back to the green boy. "YOU. CHANGELING. Was it you who granted her the powers to dispel my glamour?" Her eyes, still a pale pink, narrowed, and her wings fluttered furiously.
"I wouldn't know if I bought a bunch of books and LEARNED!" he cried, ducking a shot of energy from her sword. The fight began in earnest again, and while Mab was not quite as frightening as she had been, she seemed more dangerous for it. She was certainly more vicious, Starfire noted, gently rubbing her head where her hair had been yanked.
Raven, however, appeared to have the upper hand, drawing Mab's attention towards her with growled incantations. "You may be Queen of the Fairies, but you are queen of a dead army! The strength of the fairyland is gone," warned the sorceress, her cape wild behind her like the wings of her namesake. "There are no more fairies."
The Queen was, by this point, on all fours in the dirt, her hair tangled in her face. She flicked it back, and rose into the air. "If you are the witch you claim to be," she spat, "you know that magic does not disappear. It simply changes shape." With a dark smile, she razed her thumb over the edge of her sword, and her blood was golden.
As she began to approach Raven, both chanted spells, the energy and tension of the battleground rising. Starfire pulled herself up from the stand she'd been tossed into, ready to charge the Fairy Queen--
and was too late. Already, a large green bear galloped towards Mab, and then leapt, pouncing. While Starfire began to cheer, Raven let out a cry that was heart-rending. "NO!"
At Raven's scream, the other Titans charged as well, dragging a now person-shaped and unconscious Beast Boy from Mab, who easily slipped away. The Queen floated up above them, sucking her thumb. "Fate works in mysterious ways, doesn't it, Teen Witch? I think that I've achieved all I could ever hope for here."
Starfire hurried to Raven's side as Beast Boy was scooped up and prodded. "Raven, should we pursue her?"
Raven shook her head. "No. Not now. We need to get Beast Boy back to the Tower. If she did... there's a lot of things she might have done, but if her blood... if he..." The girl was visibly shaken, and Starfire took her hands.
"If what, friend?"
"If..." Raven trailed off, looking away. Her frame stiffened as she surveyed the damage, a little too suddenly to be the result of taking in what they'd done to the place. "Nothing. We just need to get back now." She flew over to Robin and Cybog. "I'll take him from here. Just hurry up and follow."
Letting the voices fade into the background, Starfire let her gaze track where Raven's had been. What had so disturbed her friend? Ah, was that--
another girl? Starfire gathered the impression of golden eyes under a heavy black fringe and an impassive mouth, and then whoever had been there was gone.
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AN: These are your disclaimers; none of the Titans or their universe is mine. While Mab and other OCs are being characterized here by me, their bases are in mythology and literature. Title is a work in process and is subject to change in the future. Reviewing and commenting makes me a happy writer.