Disclaimer: Welcome, Welcome all to the fourth installment of Crimson Darkness. Teen Titans is the copyrighted trademark of D.C and Cartoon Network so don't sue. Ladies and gentlemen enjoy the show.
Chapter 4: Scars of Birth
"Does it always rain like this here?"
"It's what we get for living in the middle of the bay," Victor said from the couch and turning back to his video game just as Beast-Boy past his car and won. "What! No way! That's not fair! I was distracted!"
"I still won man, tough luck dude." Julian shook his head and continued to stare out the window. From the back of the room, piercing eyes warily watched Julian from over the rim of an old book.
"I wonder what's going through his mind right now, why did he even come to this place, what does he want from me?" Raven wondered. "I don't sense any form of power from him or any of his emotions, what did he mean by what he said in my dream? Is he even the same person? If he was, why come to me?" Raven felt the hair raise on the back of her neck as she got the feeling someone was watching her, she spun around and saw only the shadow bathed hall behind her chair. As she turned back around she saw something move out of the corner of her eye before it disappeared. She shook the feeling off and started to read her book again.
"I've been getting the same feeling." She looked up at Julian who was still facing the window. "The feeling that some one's watching you," he said.
"What are you talking about?"
"I think you know," he turned to look at her. "Any questions or doubts you have will be sufficed in time, but until then I suggest you keep your mind to yourself." Raven shuddered. "How could he sense I was reading his mind?" There is definitely something weird going on here." She stood and left, needing to meditate badly.
"If any of you two see Tim, tell him I need to speak with him," Julian addressed Gar and Victor as he too left. "I'll be in my room."
"You got it Jul," Beast-Boy replied as he, yet again, beat Victor in their video game.
"Have you found what I have requested Krieger?"
"Yes master Katanga, the transformation begins at the start of the next new moon, but it seems to me though that the vessel is unaware of it, he might not know of his birth right."
"The new moon is to night," the necromancer paused. "No matter, we will just have to move our plans ahead won't we? Summon the wraiths, we will proceed with the next phase."
"As you wish master." Krieger dove into the shadows at his feet, disappearing into the night. The necromancer stood, snapping his fingers, a figure stepped forth from the shade cast by the doors over hangs.
"You wanted to see me boss?"
"I am in need of your skills."
"What is it that you need great one?"
"Jinns, several of them if you will."
"As you command master," the figure whispered, several shadows in the room began to ripple and grow, taking on form, several demonic looking creatures rose from them, towering high over the necromancer.
"Thank you my dear Alan, you may leave now." The figure nodded, merging back into the darkness of the room.
"You will accompany me and the wraiths to retrieve the scrolls, see to it that any interlopers are taking care of properly, leave the vessel intact," Katanga addressed the Jinns. "Do you understand?" The creatures nodded.
"Good then let us begin."
"It looks like there's going to be a new moon tonight." Julian turned and saw Robin standing in his door way.
"It seems so, but one can never tell because this infernal storm." Tim smirked at the comment.
"You get used to it after a while, the others said that you wanted to see me."
"Indeed so."
"Before you say anything though Julian, listen." Julian raised an eyebrow. "About what you said earlier, you're right."
"Then you understand what I meant?"
"Enough of it, who are we to really to pass judgment like gods, some people can be saved others cannot, some are too far gone in their ways and others don't have a choice whether they can do good or evil they're forced into actions that they cannot control. But know this, no matter what you say or do it won't stop me from doing what I believe is right."
"I see, remember this though, life is not black and white, there is no true boundary between good and evil. There are only people who wish to do good and people who only wish to kill and destroy. These people are the righteouses who think they are sinners and sinners who think they are righteous. What you have to do is ask your self which one of those people are you? I once thought I was the righteous one, but in truth I was the sinner and I paid for it dearly, I still am."
"You think a lot like an old friend of mine Julian, I didn't want to see this before and I deeply regret that."
"Life is always full of hard ships that we must face, sometimes the people we are closeset to are the hardest of them all." Tim stared.
"Do you always spout that fortune cookie shit? Or does it just come and go?" Julian glared at Tim in annoyance. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as the Tower's alarm went off.
"Trouble!" Tim shouted and raced out Julian's room.
"What do we got?" Robin asked as he and Julian entered the briefing room.
"An unknown group has broken into one of the ancient civilizations exhibits at the museum, Victor said from the computer going over the security camera's video feed.
"What about the guards?"
"From what I can figure from the security feed they were off duty, but I'm not sure."
"Well we better go check it out, Titans Go!" Making their way down to the garage, Victor ran ahead of them and up to a large tarp covered object.
"May I present to you all, the latest in titan transportation, found nowhere else, but here, the T.U.V!" He said pulling off the tarp to revealing a Jeep grand Cherokee made out of the same material Cyborg was.
"Don't you mean S.U.V?" Raven asked.
"No, I mean the Titan Utility vehicle." The others all stared at him with raised eyebrows.
"Lets just go." They got in the dubbed T.U.V and Cyborg drove them out into the city.
"Have you retrieved the scrolls Krieger?"
"Yes master."
"What of the Titans and the vessel?"
"They are on their way sir."
"Good, leave the wraiths with me and return to base."
"I understand."
"So how do you like the way my baby handles?"
"Your mechanical child has a good handle friend Cyborg." Kori said from the back seat.
"It's got some good trunk space," Julian added from, well, the trunk. The T.U.V pulled to the front of the Jump City ancient history museum and the site before the Titans shocked them all.
The entire front of the museum was torn off in large piles of twisted rebar and concert. Impaled on the remains of the main entrance where several of the museum guards, their blood pooling around them and pouring from their mouths in trickling streams.
"I guess the guards were on duty after all," Victor said looking disgusted.
"Keep close together and your eyes open for anything," Robin ordered as they entered. They drew deeper in to the museum and found several more of the night guards all brutally murdered, a few of which had been disemboweled, their innards spread out like a twisted display of human anatomy.
"My god, what kind of monster could do such things?" Starfire asked fearfully.
"Something that doesn't deserve to be in existence, they're wraiths, that's what did this Kori, Wraiths," Julian answered bringing up the rear.
"He's right I feel something here, something evil," Raven interjected.
"I'm picking up several life signs in several of the exhibits and I have a feeling that they're not the night crew," Victor indicated to the scanner in his arm.
"Alright, split up, Cyborg your with me, Raven you and Starfire go that way," Robin ordered pointing in the direction of a secondary exhibits. "Julian, you and Beast-boy check out the exhibits in the next hall, Titans go!"
"How do you know what did this?"
"I had a run in with wraiths a few times before when I was younger," Julian answered as he and Garfield entered one of the displays across the hall.
"What are they like?"
"Fast, Strong, Ugly, and angry, they'd rip out your heart and eat it if your not careful." Beast Boy gulped. "Don't worry, I've beaten some of these things before and you have super powers so we shouldn't have any problems with them."
"Strangely I don't feel comforted."
The room Raven and Starfire entered was in complete ruin. Glass and pieces of broken displays where strewn all over the place. Standing in the center the wreckage was a creature roughly the size of a linebacker covered in silvery scales. It had no face and where its eyes should be where empty black holes. It's arms ended in crude blades and a series of membranes attached to short spines ran down it's back.
"What is that Raven?" Star whispered.
"It's a wraith, a very angry wraith." The wraith turned its eyeless sockets on the two Teen girls and let out a piercing scream. Star covered her ears and fired a burst of green energy form her eyes knocking the wraith of its feet and cutting off it's screaming. The creature stood, shacking the dust off its self it charged at the girls. It hurled one of its sword like arms at Kori, who dodge to the side as the blade wedged its self in the floor. She jumped on the blade, ran up its length, delivered a punishing kick to the wraith's head, which sent it flying across the room, and sent a barrage of starbolts as it went. The wraith crashed into the wall on the far side of the room causing it to collapse on it.
"Are we victorious?" As if to answer the pile of rubble on the creature shifted and the wraith stood letting out another scream.
"How does it scream if it has no mouth!" Star shouted covering her ears again.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" An orb of black energy encased the wraith as it made another charge and Raven hurled into another wall in a repeating motion. "Let's see you get up from that," she spat. The Wraith stood again with a groaning sound, a stream of metallic blue fluid flowed from a several gashes over its body. Where the blades met it's arms the skin began to swell and the blades launched off of its wrists before it was slammed into the ground once again by a combination of starbolts and solar energy from Starfire's hands and eyes.
"Eeep!" She squeaked as one of the blades flew right at her. She dodged, but she wasn't quick enough and the blade grazed the side of her face and wedged its self in display case. She and Raven moved cautiously over to the unmoving wraith. "Is it dead?" Star asked kicking it slightly. The wraith moaned slightly and started to stir.
"Eeek!" Star fired another burst of starbolts blowing the wraith's head off and covering the girls in its metallic blue blood.
"It is now," Raven sighed wiping her blood-smeared face. "Are you alright?" She indicated to the cut on Kori's face. Raven put her glowing hand over the cut, removing her hand revealed it to be completely healed.
"Thank you friend Raven."
"You are welcome, we better go check on the others," Raven replied and they both left, the wall were the wraith lay collapsed burying it under concrete and rebar.
"I got the sonic if you got the boom," Victor said arming his sonic cannon. Tim nodded hurling a number of explosives at the two remaining wraiths in the room. The sonic waves from victors gun detonated the discs prematurely and bathed the two wraiths in flames. The creatures' scales protected them from the heat, but the resulting shock wave knocked them both flat on their backs.
"Time to switch tactics," Victor grinned retracting his sonic cannon as a mini-missile system extended from his chest and his right and left arms converted into an auto-cannon and a mini-gun. "Booya!" He shouted firing clip after clip of burning lead and armed warheads into the wraiths, which resulted in an explosion followed by a shower of undead blood.
"Nice job Vic, but don't you think that was a bit of an over kill?"
"You know what they say fearless, go big or go home," Victor smirked; smoke issuing from the spent weapons.
"We better regroup with the others," Tim ordered and he and Victor left the ruined room.
"What the hell was that?" Beast-Boy shouted as the room they where shook violently.
"I believe that the others have run into wraiths as well," Julian replied breaking the wraith's neck and throwing it over his shoulder.
"Damn so that's how you bet Slade, super strength, " Beast-Boy quipped, sending the other two wraiths into the third impaling them on their allies arm blades via the form of a tyrannosaurus. "So were you born with it or did you get it in some other form?"
"That's not important at the moment, we should check the next exhibit and see if there are any more of these things," Julian snapped.
"Right, but you don't need to get touchy," Garfield whined. "So what do you think is in the next exhibit?"
Julian shrugged as they entered a darkened room that held multiple displays of ancient books and writings. Crimson tapestries covered the walls with Latin embroidered on the fabric with gold thread. Toward the front of the room stood a figure hunched over an empty display case surrounded by several hulking forms.
"You must be Beast-Boy," The figure said turning around, they could not see his face because of his hood, but the lack of view only made Garfield more uncomfortable. "Ah, and Julian it's so good to see you again, enjoying your time in this new era?"
"Dude you know this guy? And what does he mean 'this era'?" Before Julian answered the hooded man snapped his fingers and the large forms stepped forward revealing them selves to be creatures twice the size of the wraiths with tentacles for hair, wicked claws and teeth, and cruel bloodthirsty eyes.
"Go my pets, do what you want with the green one, but leave the vessel intact," the man ordered. The creatures faster then Julian or Garfield could react, pounced on them. Julian lashed out at the monsters, but the creatures' tentacles blocked his swings. Another one appeared at Julian's side and pinned his arms behind him while the one he had put on defense went on the offense and started positioning its fists into his stomach. Julian, unable to block, raised his legs and kicked the one punching him in the throat causing it to stop its attack and stumble back making rasping sounds. With the opening Julian flipped the one behind him over his shoulder and into the other one. Now free Julian ran over to aid Beast-Boy who was not faring as well. Even in his T-rex form the creatures where able to knock him of his feet. Beast-Boy switched to the form of a Utah Raptor and began lashing out his claws in a mockery of professional kickboxing."What the hell are these things?" He cried managing to gut one of them only to see it regenerate and come after him again.
"Their Jinn," Julian shouted dodging one of them as it tried to grab him. "The Jinn are wish granting demons born from the children of angels and humans, they take things to literally when it comes to wishes, if you say the wrong thing it could kill you!" As he reached the first Jinn attacking Gar, another one came from behind him and sucker punched him, picked him up, and hurled him into the two he had fought a minute ago.
"This is not my day," he muttered as he was uppercut by a third Jinn and sent flying into the others. He was caught by one of their tentacles, which was then joined by more tentacles and claws. Julian struggled to get free, but the Jinns tightened their grip on him. He watched in shock, as the rest of the Jinns hoisted up a bloody and unconscious Beast-boy. Hurled him with such force into one of the walls, which it collapsed on impact burying his friend under a ton of rubble.
"Garfield no! You Bastards let me go!" He shouted struggling harder to get free. The hooded man approached him, his shadowed face twisted in a chilling smile of insanity. He snapped his fingers and one of the unoccupied Jinn pulled one of the tapestries from the wall uncovering a window and revealing the clear night sky. Dark light from the window poured down on Julian from where the Jinn had held him.
"It is such a shame that on the new moon you cannot see the wonder, but you know it's there from this light that you now bathe in," The man laughed and gestured to the light Julian was surrounded by. "But no matter it grants its power just the same." He produced a small knife that had a pentagram carved in the hilt and made a small slit in his finger and raised to Julian's forehead where he drew an upside down cross with the blood.
"From the heart of thy father on this moonless night, by your birth right awaken, rise in dark light, rise, come to being in the form you were meant to have, " the man chanted. The bloody cross began to glow and Julian screamed, smoke forming where the cross-burned it's way into his skin.
"Release him, we have done what we came here to do, we shall watch what unfolds later," he ordered. The Jinn's released the screaming Julian who fell to his knees and disappeared into the shadows at their feet. Before the necromancer departed he removed Julian's jacket and slit Julian's shirt, freeing the half demon's skeletal wings and grinned insanely as they grew and doubled in size. He then too, departed.
Julian's screams had brought Garfield back to consciousness. "My God what are they doing to him, can a human even scream like that?" He thought horrified. With a groan, he changed in to an elephant and pushed his way out of the rubble. Garfield switched back to human form and looked around the room, he saw none of the Jinn or the man in the hood only Julian who lay in the center of the room screaming. Beast-boy gaped in horror, large gashes had opened up on Julian's skin, blood pouring out in torrents and what appeared to be large bat wings were forming on his back.
"Julian what did they do to you man, come on we got to get you out of here before you die of blood loss," he said worriedly placing his hand on Julian's paling shoulder. Julian looked up at him, his face contorted with pain as the skin around his eyes split open and more blood poured out, blurring his vision.
"Go! Warn the others! You have to get out of here before I finish changing! If I do you have to kill me before I hurt someone!"
"No, I'm not leaving you, I can't let you die!"
"GO!" Julian roared in a voice that wasn't his own any more. With a sickening, wet, tearing sound the remainder of Julian's flesh ripped off him. Beast-boy looked close to vomiting as he stumbled back away from the blood-covered creature that raised it's self from Julian's destroyed body. From what was left of Julian stood a creature with a snake like body as thick as a school bus and twice as long. It had no legs, but its arms ended in cruel claws and muscled enough to make even the hulk jealous. It turned its head and glared at beast-boy with pitch black eyes that held slitted crimson pupils. Massive amounts of saliva drooled from its wickedly sharp teeth jutting out from its horribly elongated maw. What was once Julian's uber long hair now was an immense crown of horns that curved, and twisted in a gnarled fashion. Beast-boy had a feeling that the creature that was once Julian was thinking about whether or not to impale him on those horns. To make up for its lack of legs, the creature/Julian had gigantic bat like wings that arched over its head.
Garfield grew pale as demi-Julian slithered close to him and brought its head closer so it teeth where almost 3 inches from his head. Garfield could smell its foul breath and for a moment he could still see some of the human Julian in its eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a blood lust. The creature opened its mouth and let out a blood-curdling scream that caused Beast-boy to wet himself. Demi-Julian reared back to swing one of its claws at him, but he changed into a cheetah and bolted from the room. The creature let out another roar, a much louder roar, one that shattered every glass in the museum and shock it on its very foundation. A roar that made Raven collapse and cover her ears, screaming in terror.
"Raven! What's wrong?"
"What the hell was that!"?
"My god it's Julian! He's been changed some how!"
(A/N): Well here you are, the fourth installment of Crimson darkness. If you are reading this, it would be much appreiciated if you reviewed, i'd like to know what the hell im doing wrong. To all those wondering, my Danny Phnatom Fiction is going to be on hold for some time, due to writers block. Till next update, so long and good night