Spellfire Chapter 18: The Spider's Web, a teen titans fanfic

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

The Raven, By Edgar Allan Poe.

"Sanguineus Factus Spiritus, Factus Cendere, Factus Aura, Factus Aqua, Factus Ventulus, Factus Humus, Factus Fulmineus, Factus Lux, Factus Nox, Factus Mortis." Dark Raven chanted, her eyes half-closed in a trance, and her hands drawing indistinct images in the air with the silver blood she was releasing from her fingers as it fell into Cyborg's body. He was biting his lip, trying with all his might to keep from screaming.

Raven repeated the chant a few times, and Cyborg's body began to change. Not just on the inside, but on the outside as well. The metal was turning into a gold color, while the blue fluid tanks were becoming red. He was being brave through this, but Raven new the ordeal was excruciating, more so than it had been for Robin.

But when it was over, instead of instantly passing out, Cyborg got up off the makeshift alter, and walked himself into his room without needing anyone's help. Zacroma, however, had to be awakened so that she could drink down a potion Rorek had concocted to help her. She was able to carry herself to her bed as well after this.

Raven, on the other hand, stayed conscious just long enough to accept Malchior's donation of blood, revert back to her human state, and then she blacked out, having to be carried up to her room.

It fluttered, swayed, like liquid, so beautiful, so pure. White, white! Cloth, it flowed out of her reach, she fell back, the white shirt, the white dress faded and darkness became dominant. Utter darkness! Nothing for even a demon's eye to see, only the sensation of falling, the doom, pounding in her ears, the feeling of utter failure. Failure, failure to succeed, to protect those she cared about, she had failed, there was nothing she could do, nothing.

Paper white skin, long black hair, four horizontal slits for eyes glowing red, black clothing torn and ripped, insanity, blood dripping from fangs. And there were horns upon the crown, black demonic wings protruding from her back, hands and feet had become claws. It was a monster, she was a monster, standing upon a rock, an ocean of blood around her, blood that she drank greedily. Oh the power! To rip the soul from the body, to take the heart and sink her teeth into it, the blood it still pulsed to pump gushing down her throat like the most delicious of wines.

And something glittered, then shone. Pouring out light that filled the desolation with a ray of hope. A shape, obscured by the glow, the beautiful light that enveloped it, a cross?

Falling, falling, what was happening! No, it couldn't end this way! She had to hold on!

A glimmer, a bottle, crystal blue with a woman's figure engraved in delicate silver. The handle felt warm, the small amount of water in it glowed brightly, almost humming with a promise of hope.

Silver, a mirror like liquid, was it mercury? No…it was something else, it was beautiful…silver…

A sinister green snake with a blood red underbelly raised its head, gliding slowly towards her, its fangs dripping with a venom that could melt bones in an instant, its eyes, red slits, it's flat nose flaring, it came closer, hissing seductively, and then it struck.

A dagger, curved and wide with hooks on the back and ancient runes on each side, pulsing with power, with magic, the hand that held it was obscured in shadows, it hurled at her, piercing her stomach, into that very place, the very same spot in her heart, the very tip of its point sank just a little into the surface of that most precious muscle.

Raven let out a scream, coming from her stomach, to her chest, and out her lungs with such a force that her room seemed to shake with it. She bit down on her hand to stop it, but even though she could suddenly taste blood, that pain was nothing compared to what was in her stomach. Burning, pulsing, searing, oh how it hurt! The pain, tears were seeping from her eyes in torrents, and she was only vaguely aware of the beings around her, crying out in concern. They sounded far away, like they didn't matter much, all that mattered was the pain.

One hand clutching her middle, the other hand being bitten into so hard blood was running down it freely, Raven tried to fight the sobs, but couldn't. She cried, she couldn't help it, such emotions were tearing her apart from inside, and only when she'd cried herself horse, only when the pain had subsided into a mere throb, did she notice one pair of powerful arms holding her close, while a pair of gentle hands were clutching her free hand and stroking her face and head, whispering comforting words into her ear.

"That's the worse that it's ever been. This time, I could feel the blade, I could see it, I could tell where it went in, and where it had caused its damage. I felt like I was dying, but the emotions I felt…it was like a feeling of hopelessness, like I had lost everything, including the will to live, and I just let the blade come without the slightest bit of effort in trying to stop it." Raven explained, setting her nearly-empty cup of tea down. The next moment Rorek refilled it again.

"Keep drinking until it's all gone." He advised.

"Could you see the person holding the blade?" Asked Robin.

"No," Raven answered, after taking another long drink. The pain was nearly a memory now, and the raging emotion was as well. But the dream was not, the few vague images she remembered felt as though they'd been burned to the back of her eyelids, she kept seeing them, remembering thought processes. "I saw a hand shape, but it was all shadowy."

"What was the dream like?" Zacroma asked from her spot on the couch (icepack secured to her head and a different batch of Rorek's tea being poured into her cup by Beast Boy).

"Vague, yet vivid at the same time. The first thing I remember was seeing the white dress again, or shirt, whatever it was. Some form of white clothing. And I was falling, it seemed to be fading into darkness, and then," she stopped, remembering what had come next. She shuddered.

"What?" Asked Malchior.

"I saw…I saw myself, but, I wasn't me anymore, I had changed, completely. I was the demon, devouring human flesh, innocent or not, it didn't matter. I was surrounded by a sea of human bodies and blood, killing without purpose, insane." She shook her head. "And then there was a cross, it was on fire too, no, it wasn't, it was enveloped in a bright light, a ray of hope I think. Then I felt as though I was falling again, like a continuation of the first part of the dream, and after that I saw this bottle, it was made out of a blue crystal substance and had a woman's figure as a set for its handle, there was a little bit of water in it, and the water glowed brightly. Then I saw something silver, it looked almost like a liquid substance, but different somehow. After that, I saw Judora's familiar coming after me, I think it struck at me, but I didn't feel that. And then there was the dagger." Raven explained.

"Those might be symbols of some sort, some of them at least. The snake, well, we know what that represents. I doubt we need telling really." Zacroma said. "The white cloth could symbolize your purity being taken away from you, and then you'd be left with the demon."

"Yeah, and the cross could symbolize some way of reversing the process? Or stopping it altogether?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.

"So we find a cross that glows brightly all the time and have Raven wear it. How is that gonna help us?" Malchior snorted sarcastically. "We've learned from experience that Raven doesn't exactly dream in symbols, not often anyway."

"But what about the bottle? You think that would have something to do with reversing it as well?" Robin questioned.

"Perhaps friend Raven must drink the water in order to change back." Starfire suggested.

"Of course, this is all assuming the dream's a warning, and not a memory." Rorek put in. Everyone sighed.

"But how could Raven's demon side be a memory?" Starfire suddenly came up.

"True, meaning some of it could be a warning. But what's a warning and what's a memory? I'm pretty sure the knife, the pain in her chest, is a memory. Whether Judora is sending it to her somehow or Avelona experienced something like that herself which had nothing to do with Judora, we don't know. It could be how Avelona was finally killed, I mean, you'd think someone like that might have the secret to eternal youth, so we can rule out old age." Rorek agreed.

"So what, Judora was betrayed by Avelona, and then Avelona was betrayed by someone? It feels too similar to me, too much of a coincidence." Raven said.

"So then Judora might be sending that dream to Raven? So what makes us so sure she isn't sending Raven those other dreams as well?" Beast Boy questioned.

"She could have absorbed a little from Judora. I mean, if Raven even had a drop of Judora's blood splatter on her while in demon form, it would make sense." Malchior put in.

"But, remember, I had that pain before we met Judora. It could have something to do with the connection Avelona and Judora had, though. Maybe Avelona regretted her actions after she killed Judora?" Raven questioned.

"But if that were the case, how did Judora survive?" Asked Robin.

"Reincarnation isn't hard so long as the body is still roughly in tact, especially when dealing with a Tainted being. The fact that she's still around doesn't seem all that surprising, even if her body was utterly destroyed, so long as her familiar was still there, the body could be re-made, sometimes even more powerful than before." Raven answered.

"Oh." He said.

"That sucks." Beast Boy added.

"The knife that pierced you, what kind of blade was it?" Asked Malchior.

"It looked like a sacrificial dagger, but it was…well, it seemed to be made out of a red crystal." She answered.

Malchior summoned some paper and a pencil, "Draw it." He said, handing them to her.

Raven furrowed her brow, taking a moment to remember (which wasn't hard) and began to sketch.

It wasn't perfect, but it got the basic idea across. "There." She said, holding it up to show everyone. Malchior took it to study, his expression was oddly grim. "What?"

"This sort of blade…it was popular once, used as a bane against evil and for a lot of spells regarding the banishment of said evil." He commented, "They have since been turned into sacrificial implements for dark rituals."

Raven frowned, "Once good but turned evil." She said in recollection. "They'll be a favorite for dark rituals now. But a long time ago…"

"Yes." Malchior nodded.

"So what, was that part of the dream from Judora, or Avelona?" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"We don't know." Rorek answered.

"Hey Raven," Zacroma hailed, "You think I could come with you to Shenira's today?" She asked.

Raven blinked, "I guess, why?" She asked.

Zacroma shrugged, "Well, I was thinking about trying this obstacle coarse out myself." She answered. But Raven could tell there was an uneasiness about her for some reason.

"Alright, might want to put on a simple spandex outfit, I'll be leaving in about 5 minutes so hurry up." Raven told her.

"Okidoki!" She said brightly, running up to her room.

Five minutes later, Raven teleported both of them to Shenira's place. It was a patch of land, cleared out and with a very well cared for lawn, surrounded by large, study trees which all seemed to support some sort of object that would account for its use as an obstacle coarse component. The house, however, had a sort of run-down look to it. Raven knew it was kept in perfect condition, however, Shenira encouraged the look by letting the windows get so dirty on the outside you could barely see through them, allowing the porch to creek a bit, and she even plastered some remnants of paint over the actual layer to make it look as though it had been pealing for a while. Even the roof had a look of disrepair to it. On the inside, however, the place was as well kept and clean as you could imagine. It was decorated with dark, gothic themes, not least of all was the spider theme Shenira was so fond of, and she kept the lights dim most of the time, along with heavy curtains over most of the windows, so it was a different kind of creepy/spooky on the inside than out.

"That's odd." Zacroma muttered.

"What is?"

"I could have sworn the day was a little brighter than this, oh well." She said with a shrug..

"Huh?" Raven questioned.

"Well, the place looks…I dunno, dimmer, like the sun can't come through as well around here. It could be the atmosphere your friend purposely put up though, probably has an odd effect or something." She answered.

"I don't doubt it." Said a voice behind them. Raven turned, calmly, and was about to greet Shenira, had Zacroma not wheeled around and suddenly shrieked, dodging almost instantly behind Raven.

"Uh, Zacroma?" Raven asked. She looked over her shoulder, eyebrows furrowed. Zacroma was sheet white, staring at Shenira with an almost petrified expression on her face. "Zacroma what's going on?" Raven demanded.

"I change my mind! I change my mind!" She exclaimed. Raven just stared at her incredulously.

"What?"

"What's with your friend? Is she afraid of spiders?" Shenira asked, unable to keep the smirk from her face.

"Um, I did tell you she had a lot of spiders, didn't I?" Raven asked.

"A-a-I, Raven I think we should g-go, now!" Zacroma said, shaking Raven a little but keeping her eyes on Shenira.

"Zacroma if you're scared you can leave, but I didn't think you were afraid of spi—"

"I'M NOT AFRAID OF SPIDERS, SHE'S GOING TO KILL YOU!" Zacroma burst, jabbing an accusing finger at Shenira.

"What? Why in the world would I do that!" Shenira demanded, looking utterly bewildered.

"I don't know! You tell me you back-stabbing harlot!" She yelled, suddenly reversing their rolls and putting herself in front of Raven, "I'm not going to let you hurt Raven, you hear me! Raven let's go now!" She said.

"Zacroma what has gotten into you!" Raven demanded as the girl formed her duel daggers from her gem and crouched into a fighting stance.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME! Teleport us back to the Tower and I'll explain everything!" Zacroma shrieked.

"Mind Stun!" Shenira suddenly exclaimed, her voice seeming to echo as a wave of force hit Zacroma, and caused her to fall to the ground. "Unfortunately, I can't allow that." She said, her expression suddenly changing from bemused to deadly.

Raven immediately readied a spell in her hands, but it was too late. "Power of mana, grant me ropes of binding!" Shanira cried out. "Mind Stun!"

It was cold, freezing. Her entire body felt like a block of ice, and it was dark, but not too dark.

Groggily, Raven's eyes gradually began to open. The scene before her was blurred and unfamiliar, as if her eyes were just now getting use to seeing again. It seemed that way with all her senses, slowly she began to smell odd things in the air, to hear the movement and the crackling of lit torches. She was in a large room, it was darkly lit, and she was positioned up on a wall, her arms out and her head bowed, tied down with something strange. There was an alter in the middle of the room, and a circle around it, but not like any circle she'd ever seen before. And there were a few tables, shelves, and odd tapestries whose pictures she couldn't make out. For a moment, she could think of nothing, remember nothing, not even who she was.

And then it all came back to her.

"YOU!" Raven shrieked, spotting Shenira, who was currently mixing something in some strange apparatus. Shenira jumped and spun, staring at her with a wide expression on her face. "Who are you? Why did you attack Zacroma and I!" She demanded furiously, trying with all her might to get at her, but finding that she was bound hopelessly to a wall, or was it a wall?

Shenira frowned, "I guess I shouldn't be surprise you broke from that spell so swiftly. You always were famous for the impossible." She hissed.

"What? What are you talking about! Who are you and what do you want!" Raven exclaimed, fighting with all her might against the white substance holding her down. It gave only a little to her efforts, but refused to break or let her go, kind of like some extremely stubborn rubber.

Shenira walked calmly over to her and looked up into her eyes, "You don't remember? Not even now? I know you have some memories, I could see it in your eyes, you know me in some way but you don't know what."

"Look, if this has something to do with all that 'Avelona' crap, forget it! I have nearly no recollection at all, and I can tell you right now that our only connection is the whole reincarnation thing. I'm my own person, so if Avelona did something to you in the past, taking it out on me isn't going to do a bit of good." She said.

"You, fool." Shenira said evenly, still glaring up into Raven's eyes. "This isn't about what you did, it's about what you are. An abomination, a creature that should never walk the face of the earth ever again. You loathsome, self-righteous, monster! I was the only one who wasn't fooled by you and your trickery! The only one who wasn't cast under your spell. Yes, others did have doubts about you, but they didn't do anything about it! And Mother! You stole my Mother from me b! You paraded about the castle, as if you owned it! And then you had the gall to come up to me and tell me you'd 'purified' yourself! You seemed to have been working extra hard to win me over, probably because I was the most resistant to your enchantments. But it didn't work, did it? And now you've come back to darken this world again! Well, Avelona, I will not let you. Your little puppets couldn't save you last time, and they won't now!" She ranted.

Raven just stared at her, her heart was beating strongly in her ears. Realization was flooding over her, the dreams came back in full force. Betrayal, hopelessness, ultimate depression, and no will to live. Raven felt the emotions begin to build up and seep out through her eyes, "You…you were…but I thought…" She croaked. "That, wasn't Judora, it wasn't her memories I was having, it wasn't Avelona's diary I was reading. Those were my memories, that was your diary."

"Yes, you read my diary," She snarled, unsheathing the very knife that Raven had dreamed about recently, that very dagger with the curve, the hooks on the back, and the runes etched into each side. "You read it just before I finally killed you."

"All I ever wanted, was to be someone, you would call, your sister, Chire'ni!" Raven exclaimed, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

Suddenly a bright light burst from her, destroying the spider silk that bound her and illuminating the entire room. But it also seemed to strike at 'Shenira's' skin, ripping it off and taking bits of her hair as well. When it had died, Raven was standing there, her eyes brimming with furious tears, and Chire'ni, Avelona's adopted sister, was standing before her. Her skin black like coal, her hair as white as snow, her ears elongated and pointed, and her eyes, blue with green rims. The very eyes that haunted Raven's dreams.

"You've remembered. Maybe you'll finally cut all your 'sister' crap now and face me like a real woman."

Raven clenched her teeth and glared at Chire'ni, there was a torrent of emotions welling up inside of her, rage, betrayal, and a deep seeded yearning. But not hate…no, never hate.

Zacroma struggled relentlessly against the spell that held her mind, and therefore her body, practically in a useless state. Her hands clenched and unclenched, she ground her teeth and tried to move, but she could barely lift her face. She fought hard, making furious attempts to move, until finally her arm shot down to her side, and the spell seemed to shatter around her.

She was barely even up in a sitting position before she snatched up her communicator and punched it to get Malchior's.

"Hello?" Came his voice.

"Malchior! It's me, it's Zacroma!" She cried, her voice slurring a bit as she was still experiencing the aftereffects of that hex. "Get, get Rorek and, the others! Raven, Raven's in trouble! That woman, Shenira, she's going to kill Raven!" She exclaimed, tears streaming down her face.

"WHAT! Where are you! What's your general location!" He demanded.

"V-Valley park, hurry!" She sobbed.

She didn't have to wait long, the next second Malchior and Rorek had appeared, both of them running towards her. "What happened?" Rorek exclaimed.

Zacroma burst into tears again, "That woman! Shenira, I had a vision and she killed Raven! She was, she was different, but it was her! I tried to, tried to stop her, I tried to warn Raven but, but she put a stunning spell on me, and somehow did the same to Raven as well because now, I don't know! I don't know where they are!" She exclaimed. Malchior tried to place a steadying hand on her shoulder, but this didn't exactly have the effect he was hoping for as Zacroma practically launched herself into him and started crying hopelessly.

"Hey! Calm down and get a grip, woman!" Malchior ordered, taking her shoulders and pushing her away so he could shake her a bit, "Raven isn't dead yet, we'd know if she was. So there's still some time left, and likely, they're in the house. So snap out of it and let's go!" He ordered.

Zacroma whipped her face in a furious attempt to banish her tears, "You're right!" She croaked, slapping herself. "But what about the others?" She asked.

"No time, Malchior yelled out what was happening and then he and I teleported. We can't wait for them." Rorek answered as Malchior helped Zacroma to her feet.

"Right, okay." She said, her voice clearing up. She then picked up her duel daggers and ran practically head-long into the house, Malchior and Rorek coming in after her.

A/N: CLIFFHANGER! MUAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh man, I had you guys going didn't I? Wooo! And so the plot twists around like this wad of sticky tack that I can't stop playing with… ahem! Anysway, in case you all were wondering, Chire'ni is pronounced: Sheerey nee, though the Shee is pronounced swiftly, the r is a merge between r and l pronunciation, and the nee is just ni, like The Knights Who Say 'Ni!' in Monty Python. That kind. It's Japanese pronunciation with the vowels and the 'r', so yeah.

Troubled-ego: Well, I use to be into Neopets, but I am a huge fan of Legend of Zelda, it's like my most favoritest game ever, well, for Nintendo. For Playstation it's DDR, so yeah, that works! As for names, well, most I get off the top of my head, but usually you have to work to get a really evil name down which is easy to pronounce so you can get the evilness of it fairly swiftly.

Me(?): Um, no, necromancy is something you find in a lot of places like Diablo 2, Aurian book series, and other places I can't remember. If you looked it up on the internet I'm sure you'd find a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with the Sabriel trilogy (Which reminds me I need to check those books out, they look interesting).

Runeka: Let me guess, you're one of those who keeps getting dropped into different dimensions, on top of bishonen more often than not, and just happened to keep landing on those two because they're mega super ultra bishonen? Yeah, I understand, I happens a lot. You know I think the fates just like messing with some people that way, someone should flame them about it, it can be really irritating, especially when I get flipp'n human males landing on top of me! Which really doesn't happen too often because daddy gets mad whenever that happens and…okay I'll stop right there.

Pandora Kattalikis: Well, they're not exactly running on magic, more like angel blood, which has a vague number of varying effects with the way Raven uses it. It isn't really suppose to be magic at all, in fact it isn't, but what you see that isn't blatantly magical is a sort of force, from Zacroma's blood. But yeah, you're right, it is stretching the line a bit. But it's not like I ever clamed to be perfect! Besides, this is a very Raven centered fanfic, and Raven's power is magic, so, I'm allowed to stretch the line a bit as it's fanfiction. Haha!

Well, that's about it. And while you guys are still suffering from shock, why don't you press the pretty button and express that emotion into words which will find their way into my inbox!

Ja ne