Rain pelted down from the darkened sky, covering all who walked about the streets. The sound of screeching tires filled the air as the hours of night ticked on. The harsh weather did nothing to slow the fast pace of one moving vehicle; determination was laid thick on the driver's face.
A black motorcycle covered with distinct bat-like shapes sped through the parading water from above, projecting a most obnoxious noise as it accelerated through turns until it reach the open freeway. Robin's face, though hidden by the mask and helmet he wore, was bent in utter disgust. As his mind became clouded with recent revelations, his heart picked up the feel of arms clutching him tightly. His behavior was most likely scaring Starfire, but she knew as well as he did that he had a right to feel this way.
Raven was a traitor.
----
"Your friend, Robin, has been deceiving you."
Zatanna's final words seemed to slap the Titan leader across the face. Never throughout the course of the team's existence, had he doubted his mysterious friend regardless of what his companions thought when they opposed his trust in her. Raven would never backstab him. They had been through so much together.
The dark boy was convinced; Zatanna was lying.
"I don't believe you!" Robin shouted, slamming his gloved palms against the metallic table as he stood from his seat. "Unless you have enough proof to change my mind, I will not stand for you accusing her of something like that!"
"Sit down, Robin," Batman nearly shouted as he grabbed the flustered boy and forced him back to his seat. The older man was not pleased with the disrespect his former understudy had just displayed to a highly esteemed member of the JLA.
Nodding in Bruce's direction, Superman shifted his gaze to Zatanna. She obviously knew a few things about this Titan girl that he was unaware of. The prospect of learning something new gave him a determination that matched that of Robin's. "Please, Zatanna, continue with your explanation. I'm also curious about this girl."
The woman bowed her head, her voice coming out just above a whisper. "It was six years ago when she came here searching for salvation…"
----
The leader grunted loudly, cursing the Justice League under his breath. He could feel Starfire's grip on him tighten and for some reason, it came as a comfort to his shattered mind. After having been forced to hear of Raven's unthinkable treachery, he wasn't sure what to believe anymore. At least Starfire had not changed. She was a constant within him that continued to keep him moving forward.
The alien could feel her friend's muscles tense under her arms. Having bared witness to the previous displays of affection between the dark teens, Starfire assumed it was Robin's heartfelt feelings for Raven that caused him so much pain when hearing of her true nature. For Starfire, the pain was very different. The empath had become her best friend and a part of the Tamaranian still believed that Raven was not evil, that she was still who they thought she was in the past, but the rest of her mind fought against that seemingly foolish hope.
As she felt their borrowed vehicle speed up beneath her, she began to wonder if Robin's anger was caused by their friend's new face or the fact that he had not been able to detect her dishonesty sooner. Perhaps his fear of facing the dark girl was what was causing him to ignore his communicator, which was currently ringing its familiar call. This thought only served to remind her of the story she had heard Zatanna tell at the meeting. The tale played within her mind as if it had been a memory she had experienced long ago.
----
Footsteps sounded off in the distance; cold steps against an aged floor. The members of the Justice League appeared to be unaware of the noise, but Zatanna was not. Her raven hair fell across her face as she jerked quickly in her seat.
They were not alone.
Batman looked back at the girl, joining her in her standing position and signaled the others to do the same. Something was certainly not right. Zatanna was never one to make sudden movements; something had caught her off guard.
"Is everything alright?" Bruce's deep voice sounded.
"We have a visitor."
Almost immediately after the black haired girl had spoken, the door behind her creaked open. Sapphire eyes pierced the darkness as they were the only things visible to the onlookers. Coming forth from the shadows was a small girl cloaked in blue. Her face showed no feeling as she moved closer to the inhabitants of the room.
"Who are you?" Hawkman demanded, his gruff voice stopping the mysterious girl in her tracks.
"I come from the dimension of Azarath," the intruder's voice came in a calming tone. "I seek the means to protect this world from evil."
"We've already got a handle on the crime fighting here. Are you asking to join the team?" Green Lantern questioned as he tried to make sense of the girl's motive. She was awfully young to become a member of the league.
"Please," she continued, her face still hidden from them beneath her hood. "I come only to ask for your assistance against a great evil."
The girl stopped as she watched one of them approach her. The woman was hardly clothed compared the one she was walking toward, but her outfit clearly distinguished who she was; Wonder Woman. A warm smile was written on her face and though they were strangers, she was able to bring comfort to the flustered child.
"Tell us, little one," the kind woman began. "What is your name?"
Seeing the lady before her begin to reach for her hood, the young girl moved back, pulling down what had kept her face hidden from them. The unmasking of her face caught the eyes of those who looked from afar in the room. Her skin tone was unmistakably alien and it served well to compliment her amethyst hair, a color none of them had seen so brilliantly before.
"I am Raven. I hail from the peaceful world of Azarath where I am known as Metrion…the Summoner," Raven let her full introduction linger in the echoes before continuing. "Please hear me. There is a demon who threatens this world, a demon of an evil none of you can imagine."
Wonder Woman looked behind her, exchanging a look with Batman, and receive his silent approval of her handling the situation. Turning back to the mysterious girl, the black haired woman smiled gently, doing her best to show Raven that she had no reason to fear them.
"How old are you, Raven?"
The girl's eyes widened slightly, making it clear to the others that she was unaccustomed to others caring about seemingly insignificant details about her. All seemed to share a mutual feeling of sympathy for their visitor; all but Zatanna whose face was shrouded in uneasiness.
"I-I am twelve years of age."
"For such a young child, you seem to have a great amount of knowledge," Zatanna spoke, her voice holding a strange sense of ice. "How do you know of this?"
"I have seen it in visions. I have heard it spoken to me by the monks of Azarath. I have fled from my home in the hope that I can save this world. Please, say that you will help me."
Batman gazed at Zatanna, her cold tone having caught him off guard. There was something strange going on within her and the dark knight was positive it had everything to do with this unexpected guest.
"Perhaps we should do as she says," Hawkman spoke, his earlier roughness now a thing of the past.
Green Lantern nodded in approval. "If what this girl says is true, then we're in for some serious trouble. Better be prepared for the worst. I say we let her stay here awhile; she seems to know all about this evil that's coming."
"The evil is not coming! It is already here!" Zatanna shouted as she shot forward to stop any of the Justice League fighters from approaching the girl any further. "Do not trust her. I sense a dark evil within her. She may very well be leading us into a trap!"
"No!" Raven shouted as the low murmurs of shock worried her. "My father! He is the one who threatens this world. Trigon the Terrible is-"
"The daughter of the Eighth Devil of Hell?" Zatanna gasped as she moved back, locking her eyes with Batman. "Send her away! She is the child of Satan!"
"No! Please! Hear me!" Raven pleased.
"Enough!" her accuser shouted. "We will hear you no longer. Your treachery is not so easily blanketed by your lies. I do not adhere to human words, which are so easily twisted, but only to my instinct and my foresight do I submit and they betray what you have spoken. The help you seek will not be delivered. Go back to where hence you came!"
The young girl searched the eyes of each person before her, desperate to find salvation in one of them. All she could sense was a deep distrust embedded within their minds. The only hope that was she given was the deep sympathy emanating from Batman and Wonder Woman, but uncertainty was clearly written across their facess. She would find no comfort here.
Throwing a painful look at the two who seemed to pity her, Raven lifted the edges of her cloak around her, her black leotard dress flowing in wind she had created. Grasping the blue cloth firmly in her ebony gloved hands, her eyes glowed white. She began to sink slowly into the confides of her cape until it, too, turned to shadow and flew off in the form of a raven shaped by black energy.
----
Beast Boy sighed as his eyes bored holes into the small yellow circle in his hand. He been calling Robin for the past two hours and yet, he had not gotten a response. The strange vision Raven had previously had was still fresh in his mind as he continued to call their lost leader again. Receiving no answer, the changeling threw the contraption to the floor and bowed his head into his hands.
The past few days had been a nightmare to say the least. First, Raven had been drenched in her own blood, being stalked by Slade in her own room. Then, she had a vision of Robin dying and Starfire simply nowhere in sight and if that wasn't enough, she had completely freaked out on them when they asked her what happened and ended up smacking him into a wall before she disappeared into the floor.
"Still can't reach 'em?" a familiar voice asked gently.
"No, Robin's not picking up. They haven't even called us since they left! It's been a week! What if Raven was right?" Beast Boy whispered as he gazed at his approaching friend, watching as the cybernetic man took a seat next to him on the couch. "What if they really are dead?"
"Don't talk like that. You know as well as I do that Rae's kinda out of it right now. Maybe that was just some far-into-the-future vision or somethin'," Cyborg reasoned, doing his best to nullify the worst case scenario.
"Then why don't they answer?"
The robot sighed; he wasn't liking this conversation. "I don't know, man, but I'm not gonna just say they're dead, okay? Remember the first time The Hive attacked us? You and Raven were pretty sure Robin was gone for good, but he showed up, didn't he? That guy has a habit of disappearing for awhile, but he always comes back."
The changeling smiled at his friend. Maybe he was right. Standing from his seat, the boy stretched his tired limbs, looking around the dark room before gazing back at the older man. "What time is it?"
"It's pretty close to midnight," Cyborg laughed as he joined the boy in standing. "Wanna call it a night?"
Before Beast Boy could respond, a familiar chill shot through his body. There was an unmistakable presence within the room. Letting a soft smile graze his lips, the green boy turned to look behind him, his emerald eyes locking with approaching sapphire. Raven had decided to join them.
"Well look who's here, y'all!" the silicon man chuckled as the girl approached them. "Whatcha doin' up so late, little lady?"
"I couldn't help but become curious about the fear and worry you two were emitting. Have you – have you been able to reach Robin?" Raven spoke just above a whisper, her head bowed in shame for having distressed them yesterday.
"I'm sorry, Rae," Beast Boy voiced with genuine sympathy. "I don't know what's happened to him."
"I see."
Cyborg shifted his gaze between the two distraught Titans. This was getting ridiculous. Their life had become a never-ending soap opera and he was sick of being left in the dark. Taking a few large steps forward, the giant approach the empath, determined to hear the truth.
"Alright, Raven," he began. "Enough of this mysterious stuff. You've got some serious explaining to do."
Sighing in defeat, the dark girl led them back to the couch, wordlessly motioning for them to sit with her. Shifting through the many things she could possibly tell them, the sorceress attempted to pick and choose what was most pertinent and what should be concealed for the time being. Content with her final decisions, she began to speak.
"Look, I…" Raven began, her voice fading with nervousness.
"You said you were trying to cut symbols out of your skin," Beast Boy's concerned voice called to her. "What are they?"
The empath took in a deep breath. "They're birthmarks…a warning. Something is coming, a great evil, and those marks serve to remind me of that."
The green man shared a quick glance with Cyborg, allowing the robot to ask a question of his own.
"So, why was Slade in your room?"
Seeing the fear within her pain-stricken eyes, Beast Boy moved closer to the girl, placing a comforting hand on her left shoulder. Though he was beyond eager to hear the answer to the question, he refused to push her. The poor girl had been through so much lately and it would be cruel to force her into anything she was uncomfortable with.
Looking into his eyes, Raven felt a kind warmth flood her. Beast Boy was being patient despite his curiosity. That alone was enough to give her the strength to swallow her fear. She shrugged off the thought of them accusing her and relaxed, knowing full well they meant only to understand.
"The symbol on his forehead," she began softly. "It's the sign of a demon. He-"
Raven was abruptly cut off when the sound of opening doors filled the dark walls of the main room. The three Titans turned to face the intruder, but their eyes were not quick enough. Steel-toed boots collided with the floor with such speed that the noise seemingly faded by the time it had sounded.
A powerful wind pushed the dark girl back, knocking her from her feet and pressing her against the nearby wall, her legs forced to dangle in the air as she was lifted up. The air was knocked out of her lungs, causing her mind to spin as she felt a stiff arm against her neck. Unable to draw in a breath, Raven choked out a gasp and forced her eyes open, swallowing the pain her body screamed as her bandages gave way and her wounds began to reopen.
There, holding her against her will was Robin, his mask bent down in hatred.
"Robin!" a shrill voice called. It was Starfire.
"Yo, man! What are you doing?" Cyborg shouted, his words drenched with fear.
"Put her down, you jerk! She's hurt!" Raven could hear sorrow behind Beast Boy's voice as he let the words fall from his lips.
"Who are you?" Robin spat as his arm pressed against her neck even harder, causing her to cry out in pain. "Answer me, dammit!"
The empath swallowed her agony as she forced her voice to speak out in her defense. Lifting a scarred hand, she wrapped her fingers around the gloved wrist that was lodged against her. One eye shut as the pain threatened to return to her, but the other stared down weakly at her attacker, the disbelief within her clearly written in blue.
"Robin…it's me….Raven….please…"
"Traitor!" he shouted to silence her. "You little liar! How could you? We trusted you from day one and then you turn you back on us! When were you going to tell us, huh? Right before you killed us all?"
"Robin! Enough!"
A flash of red and purple was all the brushed Raven's vision before she felt the weight against her body fade away. Still confused by her friend's odd actions, the empath was unable to summon her powers to break her fall. She closed her eyes tightly as she prepared to keep down the pain she would face when her tattered form collided with the floor.
What she expected never came to be. Strong arms caught her, lowering her gently to the floor. Raven opened her eyes merely to be faced with an image of Beast Boy crouching over her, as he sent an intense glare at their leader. She could feel the warmth his arm supporting her back, his fingers grasped her left shoulder softly. His right hand was stretched over her, its palm pressed firmly against the ground by the girl's left side. He looked like an animal protecting its mate and Raven was uncertain if this was comforting or frightening.
"What is your deal?" the changeling yelled. "What's she ever done to you, huh?"
Robin pulled himself out Starfire's arms, and as Raven watched this, she became fully aware of the meaning behind the two colors she had previously seen. The alien had thrust the boy off of her.
"She's not one of us, Beast Boy," the dark boy challenged as he approached slowly, the shadows of the night shielding his face from them. "She's been fooling us from the very beginning. She doesn't deserve to be a Titan."
Raven's eyes became wide with the same fear that struck Cyborg and Beast Boy as they watched their trusted leader spell nothing by hatred with his words. Before any of them could speak, the tower was drenched in red light, a familiar alarm calling out to them.
A/N: Alright, first off, Raven being called Metrion on Azarath is not from the comics. I found a translation of "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" somewhere and it supposedly means "By the power of the Land of the Shadow, rise to my command". Rise to my command…summon…it's the same concept. So, since in the comics Raven was not welcome on Azarath, I figured they would give her a name in their own language that had a negative connotation. She is the one who will summon Trigon, so that's what, in my story, they have named her. I believe I've heard someone wrote a fanfic with Raven being called Metrion by her mother, but in my story, only the monks called her that.
Okay, I have serious issues with keeping track of the time flow in my story, so I'm gonna go and edit the previous chapters…some have scenes that randomly happen at night when the chapter is suppose to be set in the day time. Oh well. The majority of this story is supposed to be set at night anyway.
But yeah, Rob and Star have been gone for 7 days. They spent a 2 days on the road, were unconscious for two days, spent one day with the JLA, spent one day with Batman afterward (that's where they got the black motorcycle), and Robin sped home in a day. Add it up and it makes 7. I didn't show the scene with Batman giving them the motorcycle since it was unnecessary, I hope I implied it well enough. I'll try better with the time regulation. I know it's kinda confusing.
So how long has it been since Chapter One? goes back and reads the whole story I'm seeing it as being 12 days, but you guys are welcome to have your own opinion. The story started a week after Birthmark took place, they speculated through that unwritten about week and 5 days after the start of my story, and then Robin and Starfire left for a week in Gotham.
This story has a long way to go. Next chapter will be aimed toward Robin and the others finding out a few things about Raven from the enemy they're about to do battle with. So, Chapter 17 is basically going to be my equivalent to The Prophecy episode. I'm hoping to make the next chapter a bit creepy, kinda like Chapter 12…I hope you guys don't mind.
Wow…this is one long Author's Note…sorry! I had a lot of stuff to explain.