OOC: Ah, I writing frenzy! Yay! Anywho...heres chapter three.
Disclaimer: If you want it, go back to chapter one and read it...
One week later.
Mirage and Logan had been welcomed into their "family," though one more so than the other. Logan was immediately loved by the guys and Star. He had a quirky personality, very competitive yet fierce. He was jokester and spent a lot of time trading jokes with Beast boy. Being handy, he spent time with Cyborg in the garage. Robin was constantly showing him moves he learned and spent time teaching them to the new boy. And to top it all off, he was charming. He treated Starfire and Raven like proper ladies but still joked around with them.
Everyone said he was perfect for the team.
After one week it was as if he had been there for just as long as the rest of them. It was Mirage who was different.
Perhaps that was why Raven felt herself so attracted to the girl. One the third day there, raven invited Mirage into her room. Before hand, the twins slept on the couches in the living room. They only had one bag between the two of them, so a room didn't mean much, especially if they weren't planning on staying.
Mirage was quiet, soft spoken, yet fierce in her own way. She had that way of commanding attention in just one word. Raven found herself quite startled when she walked into a room to see Mirage meditating in front of a window, and since then they meditated together in Raven's bedroom. They seemed ti be exact reflections of each other, matching yet flipped around. While Raven was sarcastic and outspoken, Mirage hissed her insults in her mind, keeping them to herself or sometimes sharing them with Raven.
Raven laughed more in that week than ever. She and Mirage barely stepped outside Raven's eerie room, spending hours talking and comparting histories.
And so it was today- the 8th day after Logan and Mirage had arrived. Afternoon had settled comfortably upon the Titans. Raven sat upon her bed, legs folded across one another while Mirage lounged on the other end.
"Raven, you meditate a lot. What other types of meditation do you do?"
"A few other types... I use this mirror sometimes, but most times just the same as you do."
"Ever try joint meditation?"
"No... I've never even heard of it."
Mirage looked carefully at Raven, turning her position and facing her fully. Raven noticed that she wore an old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, no doubt something old. "Its when you...connect your mind to another. You share the meditation, share the thoughts, and make yourself completely vulnerable to the other. It takes complete trust and concentration, and a lot of clarity."
"Sounds complicated."
"It is."
"And why are you telling me this?" Raven leaned back on her bed, resting her bed on the headboard.
"Well, why don't we try it?"
Raven hesitated. Was she willing to open her mind to this girl? Look what happened the last time someone got into her mind.
"Look, we can do it so that your mind isn't opened to me. Its not like I have acess to everything, just the topmost thoughts you think of. If you're thinking of purple ducks, I'll end up thinking of purple ducks. Just like that."
Try it.
Why was it that the voice in her head seemed to appear only a few days ago, hissing instructions and advice to her. Was she going insane?
Raven shook her head as the voice hissed to her again. It won't hurt you, just try it.
"I'll try it."
Mirage took one of her hands in her own and pulled herself up to a seated position. The two faced across from each other and held hands.
"You were telling me that you once got into Robin's mind. Remember the free flow you said you felt- let that flow into my mind."
Raven closed her eyes. "Azarath Metreon Zinthos..." Mirage remained silent, her eyes open and staring at Raven.
A black shaped seemed to flow from Raven's forehead, sweeping across to where their hands met and entering through Mirage's. The black shape then engulfed her, disappearing a moment later into her head. Mirage closed her eyes.
Raven gasped as a vision was thrown at her- a thought from Mirage's mind.
She was there, feeling the heat of the huge bonfire upon her cheeks, tasting and smelling the burnt wood and burning flesh around her. She was there, yet she wasn't. She was but a pair of bodiless eyes staring out of space.
A ceremony...
Black hooded figures, circled around the bonfire. The firelight flickered upon their cloaks, outlining intricate red designs upon the black fabric. They seemed to be chanting and slowly Raven could make out the words.
Ashes and fire, flesh and skin, become one.
Into flames we burn, our skins to be undone.
From the ashes we are reborn to life,
Never again to feel the pain of death.
Another hooded figure appeared, this one wearing a blood red robe with the same designs etched in black upon their cloak. The figure approached the fire, carrying a body in its arms. Long black hair fell across the naked pale body. Silver eyes were wide awake and aware, staring straight at Raven. Two silver eyes.
The figure dropped the girl into the fire and pulled out an odd wooden instrument. He lit it on fire and began to drift around the edge of the fire, waving smoke in the air and tracing symbols. The circle continued their chant.
Human sacrifice- that was the first thought to Raven's mind. They were burning her, burnign her alive, yet she heard no screams of pain and torture.
At long last the red figure approached the fire and pulled the body from the flames. The body was the same, a naked girl, a bit paler than before, yet now with one difference- the eyes.
Instead of two silver eyes, one eyes was colorless, a milky white hiding the pupil.
Never again to feel the pain of death.