Chapter 9

"I hate to break this up, but there's some unfinished business to take care of." Cyborg said, bringing Robin back to the real world.

"Whoa, what did you do to him Raven?" he gasped, seeing Mathias encased in crystal.

"I didn't." Raven replied, looking over at Anella.

"I did." Anella said, "Although it wasn't for lack of trying on her part." she added, "Raven felt that, since my husband was supposed to be guarding us with a shield spell, that your being attacked, by Memnoch, meant that either Mathias didn't do the spell correctly. . . ,"

". . . Not likely. . . .' Raven put in.

". . . or he was in league with Memnoch." Anella finished. "When she attempted to use the Crystalis spell on my husband, I saw her reasoning, and came to her aid." she related, "You are, indeed, powerful, Daughter of Arella, for without your distraction, even I wouldn't have been able to successfully complete the spell.

"It's not that I'm not grateful for your helping Raven, but how could you turn on your husband so fast?" Robin asked.

Anella looked over at her imprisoned husband sadly. "It was, by no means, a hasty, or quick decision." she answered. As she tried to put her thoughts into words she looked at the ground in embarrassment, "Since you found me, and I was reunited with my husband, I've had this feeling, that something wasn't quite right about him. I convinced myself that it was just a residual effect, from being under Memnoch's influence, but when I realized what was going on, I was forced to face the fact that Mathias may have turned."

"What do you mean, he acted different?" Beast Boy asked.

"To be honest, I doubt anyone but myself would have noticed." Anella replied, "Mathias and I, have been married for about four years, and, even without my empathic powers, I can tell when something is bothering him."

Robin nodded his understanding, knowing that even without as long a time, or as close a relationship, that the rest of the Titans had a good feel for each others moods. "So how do we get him out of that?" he asked, looking over at the crystal encased Mathias, "and do we really want him out?"

"If nothing else, we need to find out what happened to him." Raven replied, seeing the uncertain look on Anella's face, "and he can't very well talk like that."

Anella nodded her agreement. "You will have to stand ready, to restrain, or confine him, if he attacks when I free him." she said to Raven.

Raven nodded, and moved so she was standing a few feet to Anella's right, the rest of the Titans behind them.

Taking a moment to center herself, she held her hands up, toward Mathias. "Crystalis vidicto!" she chanted, and a beam of blue power leapt from her hands, and struck the crystal. After a few seconds, with no visible effect, she released the spell, and stood there, looking at where Mathias was still imprisoned, her head cocked to one side quizzically. "He's resisting the release spell." she said, incredulously.

"That's not possible, the Crystalis spell is supposed to strip the person it's cast on, of their power." Raven said, drawing a nod, of agreement, from Anella.

"Maybe, because you were both putting the spell on him, you need to release him together." Starfire suggested.

Anella opened her mouth to reply, a 'that was a stupid suggestion' look on her face, but saw the glare Raven was sending her way, and that she had one of her hands primed with her power, "Couldn't hurt to try." she relented, after a moment's thought.

"Glorious!" Starfire said gleefully, as the mix of Anella's blue power, and Raven's black, formed a deep purple aura around Mathias.

Unfortunately that was the only result. "Your husband has an extraordinarily strong will." Raven commented. She went over, and put the palm of her hand on the crystal, and, after a moment, she stepped back, a thoughtful look on her face. "There is a more direct approach." she said, moving back to where Anella was standing.

Without waiting for an answer, or comment, Raven took a stance, that braced herself. "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!" she chanted, holding her hands in front of her, wrists together. The black beam of her power struck the crystal, and Raven groaned slightly as she struggled to move her hands apart.

"Sweet Azar!" Anella gasped in wonder, as she saw cracks forming in the crystal, "she's doing it!"

"Aaaerrrraaahhhh!" Raven shouted, as she flung her hands apart, and the crystal shattered, leaving Mathias standing there, as she sagged to one knee, her head down, panting heavily with the effort.

"Something's wrong." Anella shouted anxiously, and Raven looked up. Mathias was still standing, and Raven could tell that he was struggling with something. His fists were clenched, and every muscle in his body seemed to be taut, his face a study in concentration. As they watched, he raised his hands to his head, and let out a scream, as he sank to his knees."

"De X'Hal, what is that!" Starfire gasped, as a white mist seemed to emanate from Mathias' body, and slowly raise up from him.

"Titans get ready!" Robin called, as he got into a fighting stance, his right hand with a birdarang, his left with explosive discs between his fingers. Slowly the mist coalesced into a human shaped form. "Memnoch!" Robin shouted, recognizing the spectral shape suspended above Mathias.

"Azarath, Metrion Zynthos!" Raven chanted, and the form was surrounded in a globe of her power.

"That's only an astral projection of himself Raven, you won't be able to hold him." Anella warned.

"Watch me." Raven muttered, sounding, for all the world like Robin.

'She's right child.' a voice said, from inside Raven's mind. 'You have no hope of holding me here, or defeating me, ever.' They all watched as the form entrapped in Raven's globe raised it's hands, and struck the globe with a beam of power. 'Humm, powerful little witch, aren't you?" the voice in her mind mussed, seeing the blast had no effect, 'Well then, let's see what fun I can have with you.'

Robin glanced over at Raven, when he saw that she had jerked her head, as if avoiding a blow, and he was astonished to see that her eyes were now glowing red. He almost called out to her, but realized that breaking her concentration now would be disastrous.

"Get out of my head." Raven warned, her voice low, but no less menacing. Robin saw her flinch again, and now her face was dominated by four red glowing eyes. "I said, get out!" she yelled, her voice now the distorted, demon, voice that Robin had heard before, when they first fought Doctor Light.

Suddenly Memnoch let out a scream of his own, as his spectral form recoiled inside the globe that held him captive. "You!" he shouted in horror, "The one that defeated Trigon! No, that's not possible!" it shouted once again, then shot a huge blast at the part of the globe, that joined with the beam of power Raven was feeding it with.

"RAVEN!" Robin cried, as the recoil of the blast sent her flying backwards. Anella reached her first, but recoiled in shock, as Raven snarled at her. "Raven, calm down, focus." Robin shouted, as he ran up, and stopped a few feet from her.

Not slowing a bit, Raven raised her hand, and gestured toward Robin, a shadowy raven claw rose from the ground, and grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides, as Raven laughed demonically.

"Friend do not make me hurt you, and free Robin." Starfire said, hovering a few feet off the ground, and a few feet behind Robin, her hands green with energy.

"Starfire, no!" Robin managed to shout, "Don't hurt her, reason with her. . . Aarraahh!" he told her, then cried out in pain, as the claw tightened it's grip.

"Friend Raven, concentrate, find your center." Starfire urged urgently, then pressed on as she saw Raven's face seem to relax somewhat. "Focus on calm thoughts, and your mantra, Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos." Starfire almost breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Raven's normal voice repeat the chant.

Suddenly, the claw holding Robin vanished, and he fell to the ground with a groan. He looked up, just in time to see Raven's face flash with embarrassment, as she pulled her hood up, her cloak around her, and she turned away. "Raven." he called softly walking up to her, to try to calm her down, as tentacles of black energy kept flicking around her. He pulled up short, when a shield of her power blocked him from getting any closer.

"Please Robin, allow me to try. I believe I will have a better chance at reaching her" Starfire said softly, as she moved past Robin, and closer to Raven.

"Why would a tro, Tamaranean know Raven well enough to help?" Anella asked, as she came up to Robin's side. They watched, as Star managed to reach Raven's side, and put her hands on her shoulders.

"It is okay, my friend," she soothed, "It is over, and you are among friends."

Raven turned, so she was facing the flame haired Titan, and her hands came up to grip her shoulders. "He, made me. . . . I. . . " she gulped out, still not in control of herself, her face flashing from fear, of what might have happened, and shame, for what did. She glanced over, and saw Robin watching her, concern written all over his face. "Sweet Azar, what I did to Robin." she gasped, laying her head on Star's shoulder.

"Be calm Raven." Star said softly, as she gently pulled her into a comforting hug. "I know how much, what he did to you, cost you."

"How could she know?" Anella insisted.

"She's not just any Tamaranean, she's Starfire." Robin replied, knowing, all to well, why Star was able to relate to Raven's pain, and shame. He looked over at Anella, "We had a run in, with someone calling himself The Puppet King," he related. "All of us, except Star, and Raven, had our will, or soul, I'm not sure what to call it, transferred into puppets that were made to look like us." he explained, then turned again to glance at the two as they stood there, Raven seemed to absorb the comfort from Starfire. "Somehow, Starfire, and Raven switched bodies, and, from what I've learned, it was an. . . interesting period, as they learned about how each other's powers worked, so they could rescue the rest of us."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Anella said softly, looking back at Starfire, seeming to re-evaluate her opinion of her.

"That's the second time, you've had to change what you were going to say about something concerning Starfire." Robin said testily, "The first, was when she gave her suggestion, about getting Mathias out of the crystal, and the second, was just a moment ago," he went on, "I heard the beginning of a word, other than Tamaranean, that you were going to use to describe her, and I never want to hear you refer to her as that." he told her, anger written on his face, and apparent in his voice. "Shouldn't you be seeing to your husband?" he concluded.

Anella stared at Robin for a moment, seeing how firm his resolve was, on what he just told her, then she nodded her head ,and went over to where Mathias still lay.

Starfire did, indeed, know what Raven had gone through, when Memnoch caused her to loose control of her emotions, especially her anger. Before the incident with Puppet King, she thought Raven was mean spirited, and cold, disliking everything. Then she found herself trapped in Raven's body, and found that she had studied with the Azarathian monks, not to learn her powers, but how to control her emotions, to keep her powers from destroying everything in the vicinity. Star learned that Raven didn't hate her, like she thought, but rather envied her, for her ability, and ease at displaying her emotions

"Star?" Raven called softly, as she moved to break the hug, Starfire had her wrapped in. She pulled back a bit, and looked up into her friend's eyes, one of her hand cupping Star's cheek. "Thank you." she said, then was surprised to see the alien girl blush profusely.

"No friend, it is I who thank you, for allowing me to help." Star said quietly, sighing inwardly, with relief, at seeing Raven with her usual, calm face. "There was a time when you wouldn't have allowed it."

"And there was a time when you wouldn't have known how to give it." Raven replied, then took a deep breath, and Starfire could feel the slight trembling, her friend had been doing, cease. Raven then stepped clear of the comforting embrace, and settled her cloak around her.

"He is well, just worried about you." Starfire said softly, as Raven looked around her, toward where Robin stood, a fair distance away.

"Yo Robin." Cyborg called, shaking him from whatever line of thought he was following. "Looks like Mathias is awake."

"How is he?" Robin asked, as he walked over, to where Anella was kneeling beside her husband. He noticed that she didn't appear to be using her healing powers on him.

"Well." Anella replied, as she stood up. "From what I can feel in his mind, he was possessed by Memnoch." she added.

Just then Mathias groaned softly, and slowly sat up, his hand going to his head as if trying to ward off a headache.

"How do you feel?" Anella asked, her face concerned.

"Well, not counting the thousand man army marching, double time, inside my head, I feel just fine." Mathias replied, his voice weak. "Who was it that hit me with the Crystalis spell first?"

"That was me." Raven answered, as she and Starfire came up.

"I should have known." Mathias said, as he stood up. "Anella's try at that spell I've been able to successfully block, but you managed to get it half way through." he told her.

"But it was Anella who was able to complete the spell." Starfire said.

"Only because he was using quite a bit of his power to resist my spell.' Raven explained, then turned to Robin. "I'm sorry about before." she told him.

"It's alright," Rabin said, "you weren't yourself." he added, "I'm happy to see that you're back in control now, though." He turned to Mathias. "Care to explain?"

Mathias looked around, and noticed that he was now in the center of a circle, formed by the rest of the group. "I guess one would be in order." he said embarrassedly, "When we were coming down into the first chamber, I hurried on ahead, to see if there was any sign that Anella might be alive, when I was over powered by Memnoch, he used my desire to find my wife, to trick me into reaching out with my mind, to find her, and I couldn't resist his entering into my mind. I'm truly sorry Robin, and Starfire for what he put you through, with my help. Before he wasn't strong enough to attack, without the help of a trained mind, and I just happened to be the first one he found."

"So he could have used mine instead." Raven said.

"Actually I don't think so." Anella replied, "I actually think he fears you, now that he's had a glimpse of your mind."

"What!" Mathias asked, in astonishment, and Anella filled him in on what happened after he collapsed when he was released from the crystal.

"Are you up to traveling again?" Robin asked, and Mathias nodded his head, and the group headed down the next cavern, toward the large doors, Slade and Robin opened, while heading down to rescue Raven.