Here I am again! Many people that review my story have started searching for DARK FALL: THE JOURNAL. So, I thought I might help them on their quest. Number one, its not a recent game, so its in one of those CD case-sized boxes. The smaller ones, y'know? Number two, and most importantly, THE ADVENTURE COMPANY makes it. Find The Adventure Company by going to or something, and it'll lead you straight to Dark Fall… and several other choice games in the horror-puzzle genre. I don't own Teen Titans, so on with the show!

Raven's Game

Part 4: Oliviak

"Okay, we got the list now." Beast Boy put up a big, hastily-made posterboard for all to see. Gesturing to Robin, he sat down.

The boy wonder stood. "I don't think that Raven was kidnapped. She's a super hero, after all. Plus, we would've received a ransom call or something…" he waited for that to sink in. The others seemed to agree, so he went on, "I think that Raven is still somewhere in the tower, but… maybe only a part of her. Remember, we're talking about the same Raven that keeps her emotions in a mirror." He pointed to the poster board Beast Boy had drawn up. On it was the name of every room in the tower, compliments of Cyborg's schematics of the place. "Now. We're going to have to search the tower, room by room, corner by corner, for any sign of her." They stared at him, and he emphasized. "Not just Raven herself, either. I want you all to look for locks of hair, a shoe, or a piece of cloth that might be hers. Leave no drawer, box, or room unexplored." He pointed to them each in turn, but finally he stopped on Starfire. "Starfire, you're the only other girl here, so I need you to search her room yourself. Look for any signs that she might've left for some reason. If she's still in the tower that's good, but… just in case, y'know?"

"Why do you wish it to be me to search Raven's room for something out of place?" Starfire asked, tilting her head. "Surely Cyborg's eye of night or Beast Boy's canine nose would aid us better in the focus of our search?" She seemed nervous to be entering the goth girl's room when she was not at home. "If Raven suddenly appeared, she would be very angry with me…" she looked uncomfortable.

"You gotta look there because it's a girl's room, is what Robin's tryin' to say." Beast Boy forced a laugh. "One of us might be a pantie thief, looking through her drawers all day!" That got a laugh from Cyborg, but Robin glared them both down.

"Yeah well… something like that. You might see something that boys wouldn't recognize as abnormal since you're female." He looked at his team sideways, but then turned back to the list of rooms. "I want you all to spend at least twenty minutes in each room depending on its size, and then report anything unusual on this board. Starfire, spend longer than that in Raven's room." He held up a blue, red, and green marker, choosing black for himself. "Look at every detail f the room for anything out of place. Then, move onto the next room if you're sure. Everyone understand?" They all nodded. "Good. Titans, search!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven sat in the common room, her head in her hands. She'd searched the common room for any symbols, trying to think of a reason not to go to Starfire's room. Her room was where that thing had taken her, she'd remembered what Beast Boy's Diary had said.

She'd opened the disk port in the Gamestation hoping for a symbol, but got nothing but more dust. She searched between every DVD and music CD they owned with a magnifying glass from the junk drawer, opening each one in turn. None of them had any clues, circled words, or anything that pointed to a new symbol. Raven peered under the couch, half afraid the shadow-thing was under there waiting for her. Scolding herself for such a childish notion, Raven sat down on it again. Surely there was at least one symbol in the common room? It was where the Titans spent most of their time!

Sighing in defeat at last, she rose and stuck the magnifying glass in the purse with her other useful items. Starfire's room awaited her.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beast Boy was a mouse, given the job to search the ventilation shaft. Surely Raven wasn't hiding there, but Robin said search everywhere. But, was she hiding? If she'd left the tower, their entire search would've been pointless, but… she would've left some signs of a hasty departure. And, so far, none had been found. Not a scrap of her clothes… or a lock of hair… or anything. Beast Boy's little black mouse nose wiggled. He was starting to get really worried.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven stood outside of Starfire's room for a long time, unsure. Something in Starfire's room was giving off light. The light was peeking through the crack under the door, blinking with a fizzing, popping sound. What was it? Was it safe to go in? Was the shadow-thing in there waiting for her? She couldn't hear any whisperings… she decided she wasn't getting anywhere by just standing there.

Reaching slowly and carefully, she gripped the doorknob. It was ice cold. Summoning her courage, Raven threw the door open. A tornado had paid a visit to Starfire's room. Half of it had been blown to pieces. Raven quickly walked to one of the blast marks on the wall and touched it. No… Starfire had caused all the damage. The dark Titan suddenly put two and two together. Beast Boy's diary told her that Starfire had last been seen fleeing to her room. She'd guessed on her own that Star had fought the darkness when it came for her… and apparently damaged her room in the process. Had no one heard the battle and come to help her? Raven heaved a troubled sigh, placing a hand on one of the blast marks. She leaned on it for a moment, and she heard the wall groan in protest. It was barely holding up. The last thing she needed was a cave in… Quickly standing straight again, Raven began her search of the room itself.

She gasped when she got a better look at one of the walls. A half-drawn binding symbol decorated the grungy surface, drawn with… was that lipstick? Raven made an educated guess right then. She'd heard the darkness coming, and had jumped up to draw a binding symbol on her wall since she'd somehow forgotten to do so earlier… she must've been too upset that Robin didn't believe her about the shadow-thing to remember to do so. Raven reached and touched the half-drawn symbol, frowning unhappily. Poor Starfire… in turmoil with the one she loved, taken by shadows and whisked away to God knew where… Raven tried not to think about it.

The next of four walls had something equally disturbing. A pair of scissors were stabbed into it.. Deeply shaken by such an image as Starfire trying to stab anything… she approached it to have a better look. There were words slashed into the wall with the scissors! Raven peered closely, but couldn't make them out. Getting the flashlight out of the purse she'd borrowed from the Tameranian princess, she angled it so that the scratches had shadows in them and were thusly readable.

EVEAL EM ENOLA

"Eveal em enola?" Raven whispered, her brow furrowing. "Is that a lyric to one of the words…?" she pondered for a few moments, staring at the haunting handwriting. "No… the other two were only one word…" she knew it couldn't have been what she was looking for, but still… "Eveal em enola…" Raven murmured, trying to figure out what it meant. Was it some kind of Tameranian warding spell, to keep evil away? Starfire didn't seem like the type for magic… Raven swallowed loudly, tracing the large 'E' in the first word with her finger. It was so sharply done… as though in desperation.

Of all things, she looked under Starfire's bed next. What she found there was something she didn't expect. It was one of Robin's uniforms. She drew it out, laying it on the bed and examining it. Had she and Robin been messing around…? No, she'd been upset with him before she'd disappeared… or been taken. Shaking the horrible thought of Starfire being dragged away by some shapeless evil from her mind, Raven suddenly yelped in pain. Something had pricked her finger, drawing a drop of blood. Her finger jumped to her mouth, sucking and grunting in annoyance at the pain. There was a needle for sewing sticking out of the lower back of the uniform. Raven looked closer, and her eyes widened in shock. There, sewn into the uniform itself, was a tiny binding symbol. "She was trying to protect him…" Raven whispered, an icy chill going down her spine. "Putting it on the lower back where he wouldn't see it… she was trying to protect him… he didn't believe her, so she stole one of his uniforms to help him…" She gritted her teeth, a brand new hatred for the darkness forming in her mind. She tried to hate Robin, for all his bull-headedness. But… it was no good. The others hadn't had any proof, so who was to say it wasn't all a big prank? But still… he should've noticed how desperate they were for help. Raven thought for a moment, and stole a glance at the scissors embedded in the wall. Upon closer inspection, she found that they were sewing scissors. They were made to cut fine thread, and were thusly very sharp. "Hmm…" Leaving Robin's uniform on the bed, Raven went on searching for anything out of the ordinary.

She went to Starfire's dresser, where her mirror and make-up was kept. The large mirror was dusty and old-looking, barely able to give Raven a good look at herself. From what she could see, she looked wary, desperate and scared. Trying to calm her features, she pulled the drawers out one at a time, thoroughly searching each in turn. "Maybe she didn't have a symbol." Raven muttered, sitting at the stool that was in front of the dresser. Raven knew she liked to sit there and experiment with make up, hair curling, and whatever else she could think of. The stool's padding was cracked, and the foam that made it easy to sit on was stale. The wood grunted, threatening to give out if she put anymore weight on it.

Raven sighed, leaning forward and looking closely at the mirror. There were little bags under her eyes, as though she hadn't slept in a week. Not knowing how long she'd been in this horrible world, she didn't know how long it had been since she'd slept. But… she wasn't going to let that stop her. She wasn't tired just yet. She heaved a mighty sigh and let it out, scattering some of the dust on the mirror. She saw the 'evael em enola' in the mirror, backward –! Raven stood, whirling around and toppling the stool with a clatter. "Evael em enola…" she whispered, going closer and touching it with her hand. She looking in the mirror, then back to the scratching. Then, she put it all together. "Leave… me… alone! It's backwards!" she cried, gaping in open shock. "She wrote it on the wall backwards with scissors, though…" she licked her lips, trying to find the logic in this. Maybe, she'd thought that the shadow would see it from the other side of the wall? Like a backwards version of her message, from the other side of a barrier? "She must've written that, and then tried to draw the binding symbol when it…" she squeezed her eyes shut, forcing back the tears. "When it got her." Her voice had cracked, and she touched the scratching on the wall. "Starfire, tell me… please… where's the third symbol?" she looked at the scratching as though it would help her, but got no answer.

Fully depressed at having figured out what exactly had happened, her eyes wandered the room aimlessly. Then, they came to rest on Starfire's jewelry box, over on her dresser in front of the mirror. No… it couldn't be that easy… Raven approached it and opened it. A tinkling, romantic version of the song 'Amazing Grace' made itself known when she did so. There wasn't much jewelry inside since that wasn't exactly Starfire's thing, but there were a few trinkets that made the box worthwhile. There was even a locket, although Raven found it odd that a locket-shaped picture of Robin was separate from the locket itself, but still in the box.

A little ballerina was slowly turning inside the jewelry box… and she was holding something in one of her tiny little hands. Was that… a slip of paper? Raven's attention was snared, so she got the flashlight and magnifying glass from the purse. Turning on the flashlight and aiming it into the box, she held the magnifying glass in front of her eye. From the ballerina's point of view, one of Raven's eyes became enormous as she zoomed in on her little plastic hand. "C'mon… c'mon…" Raven whispered, hardly daring to breathe.

Suddenly it came into focus, and she saw the third symbol.

A tiny piece of paper had been carefully glued to the ballerina's hand, displaying the sacred writing. It looked like a Christian cross with a backward S leaning on it from the bottom-right side. It suddenly flared with every color of the rainbow, making Raven squint. It returned to normal, looking innocent as any other piece of paper glued to a ballerina. "Where's the lyric, Starfire…?" Raven breathed, barely even able to hear her own voice. She carefully inspected the ballerina's tutu, face, legs, and slippers. It wasn't written anywhere on the dancer itself… Raven looked up from the magnifying glass, looking at the locket-sized picture of Robin. "Wait… why would he be out of the locket? Was she really that upset with him…?" Raven stuffed the magnifying glass back in the purse and picked up Starfire's prized golden locket. Swallowing and praying she was right, she popped it open. A little picture of a smiling Starfire greeted her… and an odd word was written in the other window. "Gotcha…" Raven whispered as she read it for the first time.

OLIVIAK (Oh-live-ee-ack)

"Oliviak…" Raven murmured. A soft shimmer of light glittered near the floor, and Raven looked down just as it faded. "Huh…?" She didn't see anything, and moved to sit on Starfire's bed. "Let me guess…" she pulled off her right shoe, inspecting her foot. Sure enough, the symbol of Oliviak had been emboldened on the top of her foot. Raven wriggled her pale little toes to spawn a smile from herself, but didn't get one. She put her shoe back on and stood, still holding Starfire's locket. She made to put it back in the jewelry box, but paused. "Mmm…" she said softly. Without really thinking about it, Raven undid the latch and put it around her neck. The picture of the happy-go-lucky Tameranian smiled up at her… and she clicked it shut. "For good luck…" she murmured to herself, dropping it inside her leotard and between her breasts.

"Eeeee!" Raven's heart did a flip-flop at the sound. It was Starfire! Raven whirled around, seeing only the mirror in the direction the sound had come from. Then soft, sputtering sounds were coming from the mirror itself. Raven, summoning her legendary courage, came close and sat on the stool again. She peered closely at the mirror, but saw nothing but dust. "Why does he not believe me?" Starfire's voice moaned, as though in great agony. "I have done nothing to betray his trust in the past… I thought… he loved me…" Raven's expression softened. Was this some kind of recording Starfire had made? Raven thought that she was the only one with a magic mirror, but apparently she was wrong. "He gave me a necklace made of a precious earth metal called gold… a long time ago…" She went on, hiccuping and sniffling. Raven couldn't see her, but she knew there must've been all sorts of tears flowing.

"This was when Robin didn't believe her about the monster…" Raven murmured, eager to hear more in case it gave her another clue towards her goal.

"It has what is called a locket on it. A pair of pictures are inside of it. One of him and one of me… it is… precious to me…" she fell silent for a few moments, and Raven leaned forward. "I do not care!" There was the sound of the locket being thrown into the jewelry box and slammed closed. "He does not believe me, and he does not love me!" Raven's heart began to sink as she started rambling. "I… I have no earthly world for my feelings!" she screamed in Tameranian for what felt like a whole minute to Raven, then came to a stop… huffing and puffing. Then, she was back to crying. "Why does he not believe me when I speak of the darkness that haunts our home…?" she sniffed softly. "I… I cannot stand it! I cannot take it anymore!" Raven suddenly had a really… really bad feeling about this. There was a long silence, the sound of shuffling within the mirror. "This darkness… it is too much… ohh… friend Robin…" her words were softer, and Raven leaned further forward on the stool, trying to hear her. Her nose was almost touching the glass of the mirror… "I… thought you loved me…… ohhhh…" Starfire's voice was so soft… Something red dripped into Raven's view, and she recoiled with a cry.

There was blood dripping down the mirror!

"Starfire no!" Raven screamed, grasping the sides of the mirror until her fingers started stinging. "Don't do it! Suicide's not the –!" Starfire appeared in the mirror quite suddenly, laying against it as though it were on the floor. Raven's face turned ashen. There was blood all around her, and a horrible look of sadness was on her face. Her eyes were blank, though. Raven trembled trying to get a closer look none the less. Was she wearing the locket…?

Starfire's arm came out the mirror, grasping Raven's throat. The teenage girl yelped, choking as she was lifted off the floor! "You cannot stand against this darkness either, friend Raven." Starfire was no longer Starfire, but a horrible monster. Raven clutched at her throat, trying to pry her away. Slowly… Starfire started pulling her towards the mirror. She kicked at air, unable to brake free. "Do not try… it is too powerful…" Starfire hissed almost lovingly, squeezing harder.

The choking goth dangled helplessly in her grip, her eyes starting to roll into her head. "No… Starfire… guh…!" she hacked softly, her vision starting to cloud over. "I can't… die here… ahhn…" Raven's pale face was starting to turn blue. She writhed in agony, the mirror drawing ever closer. EVAEL EM ENOLA started gushing blood out of the wall, leaving a sickening trail of red across the carpet. Every time Raven tried to exhale, the grip tightened. With only a few seconds of air left in her lungs… "K… Kars."

The mirror exploded into a thousand pieces, shooting across the room like darts. Starfire vanished completely, dropped Raven to the floor. The blood stopped flowing from the scratching on the wall, silent again. Raven lay there sprawled on her back. Coughing and hacking and trying to regain her lungs, she lay there for a long time. Had her neck bruised? She couldn't tell. As soon as she could Raven rose and staggered out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She leaned against the door once it was shut, sliding to the floor. It was there that she openly wept. What sort of horror had she become a part of? How much more would like that would she have to witness before it was over? Would she even survive that long? Speaking one of the twelve words seemed to save her ass whenever she was in trouble… but she knew each one would probably only work once during the smaller incidents. Heh… smaller incidents. Raven groaned at how what had just happened would eventually be called that. She couldn't use Lussa or Kars anymore until the final recitation… now all she had was Oliviak. She knew she would have to save it until the last moment, like the others. The words were her only ammunition against the darkness.

Tears flowed down Raven's face. Her powers were virtually useless now, she knew. She was so scared at what she had seen… all she had… were the clues Beast Boy had left behind for her. She leaned against Starfire's door for the longest time, breathing and hoping her windpipe hadn't been bruised shut. The gothic girl lay there trembling, not really feeling so gothic anymore.

With wet cheeks and bloodshot eyes, she forced herself to stand at last. She swallowed several times before she was able to speak properly. "It's gonna be a long night."

Well? What do you think? Fill me in on any questions or comments you might have, n'kay? N'kay! Oh! I'm open to suggestions as to where Raven might find any symbols! I am trying to stay away from the obvious though. Remember there was no symbol in the Gamestation? That was an obvious place to look. Let's give Beast Boy some credit for coming up with some good hiding places, huh? Thank you in advance for any input you give me! You win a nice cookie if your symbol location gets used, and I'll mention you in my comments at the top or bottom of the chapters! Oh, and by the way? All the symbols are already determined as far as looks and words to go with them. I just need a little help with locations, m'kay? I've got a few in mind, but I don't have all twelve hiding places yet… any ideas, readers? Please review and let me know your thoughts!