The Disclaimer - I don't own Teen Titans or the other original characters portrayed within this work of fan fiction save for Kate Rivers. And since I'm tired of repeating myself, there will no longer be disclaimers. Take that American legal system! Now, let the insanity commence. Oh, and no more third wall breaking of the previous caliber, I promise.

Gods' Playground

03 - Nine Days of Hell

Life in Titan Tower returned to as close as it ever got to 'normal' in the following days. For the most part, thoughts of the supposed-amnesiac rarely—if ever—crossed the Titans' minds. They hadn't heard back from Star Labs after sending them Kate's blood sample. The only thing regarding the girl that was of any importance were the results to the speech-pattern analysis Tim ran through Oracle, from when she first awoke. The recording had been sent to several linguistic experts and all but one had been utterly confounded.

"She's saying 'get away.'"

Tim had garnered as much, but the question still remained... "Yeah, but in what language?"

Dr. Anne Polanski—PhD, graduate of Harvard, and researcher of dead languages for nearly thirty years—had been just as baffled upon first hearing the recording as everyone else, that is until she'd somehow stumbled onto what amounted to a breakthrough. "It's ancient Macedonian—a language that hasn't been spoken by man since well before the time of the ancient Egyptians."

"So it's old."

"Very. Where did you find a girl that could speak it?"

Tim suppressed a groan. "Don't ask."

Dr. Polanski grinned. "Fine, fine. But I would very much like to meet this mysterious young girl. She does speak English?"

"Yeah, for all that's worth."

"Hmm?"

Deciding that elaborating a little wouldn't hurt, Tim did so. "We think she's an amnesiac... that, or she's a half-decent actor. We've got proof she attended a public high school, but based on her actions I don't think she can read."

Anne laughed. "Well, you supplied yourself with the answer as to why she can't just now."

"The public school system does suck," Tim agreed, grinning. "But I doubt that has anything to do with it."

"Well Robin, I have to get back to work. The slave driver here keeps us on a tight schedule. It was interesting talking to you. If, by chance, you come across her again... do you think you could send her my way?"

"We'll see. Take care, and thanks again."

"Oh, you're very welcome."

Tim hung up then gave his chair a half-spin before getting up. "Macedonian..."

Let's go back a bit to Kate's first day with Jason Blood...

After showing the girl to a spare bedroom and making sure she was properly fed and washed, Blood had sent her to bed before retiring for the evening himself. Tomorrow, he would begin to delve into just what made the walking idiosyncrasy tick.

As for Kate—she hadn't so much decided to go to sleep as her body had decided for her, and she literally passed out the moment she hit the sheets. Being only the second (not counting the first time, since she didn't remember actually going to sleep) time she could ever remember sleeping, she was unaccustomed to dreaming. She didn't have the presence of mind to question the phenomenon though, and the majority of them were forgotten upon waking the next morning, but a sliver of one did manage to stick...

"You are dying."

"Yes."

"You wish to start over?"

"Yes."

"Form a pact with me and be reborn in death."

Kate sat up in bed quickly, the word 'pact' forming on and leaving her lips without her realizing it. Only a moment later though she flopped back down with a sigh. The first rays of daylight were beginning to peek through the curtains of an unfamiliar room and it took her a moment to remember where she was. As soon as she knew that, an insistent tugging at her wrist directed her to stand. Her arm jerked forward, leading her to the door, which she opened before following the sensation down the hall, down a flight of stairs, and through several rooms until she reached a large dining room.

"Good morning," Jason Blood greeted from his place at the end of the table. He hadn't expected her to be up so early, but since she was, he might as well get started immediately.

The tugging at her arm abated—content to leave her alone for the moment. "Uh... hi—Jason was it?" she asked, thinking back to the events of the previous day.

Blood nodded. "Yes. Have a seat," he waved towards the many chairs surrounding the dining table.

Shrugging, Kate chose the seat closest to the man's right. She started to speak, ask exactly what she was expected to do here, but was cut off as her stomach loudly insisted that it was empty and would like something to fill it, please. "Got anything to eat?"

"Certainly," Jason smiled, standing and leading the way into a small kitchen off to the side of the dining room. "Is there anything in particular you would like?"

"Should there be?"

Blood chuckled once, softly. "I suppose not. Eggs then? I make a mean omelet," he offered, receiving a response somewhere between a shrug and a nod. When he finished preparing the meal, he watched as the girl ate like a man starved for days—but that was understandable. When she finished, he took her plate and placed it in his sink. "Well then, shall we get started?"

"With what?"

"I shall explain along the way," he replied, walking from the room.

Kate followed, curious to know just what was going on. "Where are we going?"

"You will see. How much do you know about yourself, Kate?"

She shrugged, thinking back to the previous day. "My name is Kate, I have green eyes and black hair—though now it's partly green, I think... Is it?"

"It is," Jason agreed, leading her deeper into his home. "But that isn't what I meant."

"Oh," she replied, sounding disappointed.

"What I meant to ask is: do you know what makes you who you are? What do you possess that separates Kate Rivers from everyone else in the world?"

"What makes me... me?" she repeated quietly. She was quiet for a moment before finally giving up. "I don't know. What do I have?"

Jason smiled—he had known she wouldn't be able to answer. He—Jason Blood—was one of the three (or so) oldest humans on the planet and he still didn't have the answer to that question. He had asked it simply to put the idea into her head that perhaps she should look more closely at herself. "You should think more on it, later. Do you remember your first meeting with the Titans?"

Kate nodded. "Of course. You woke me up and I jumped off the bed and they looked ready to..." she paused.

"To...?"

The thought slipped her mind. "I—uh... I don't know. Something not good?"

"Indeed. They were preparing to defend themselves, should you attack."

"Attack? With what? Why?"

Jason turned a corner, heading down a flight of stairs. "That is what I hope to find out."

"Why?"

"You have something somewhere inside of yourself that worries them. That was not the first time you met them, you see."

Kate frowned. She didn't remember anything between 'going to sleep' somewhere in Jump City and waking up in Titan Tower. "It wasn't? When did I? Was it when I first came to the city? I don't remember any of what happened after running into an alleyway..."

Jason nodded, making another turn. "Yes—from what I gather, you became unconscious at some point during their battle. Shortly thereafter, while their medic was examining you, you woke up again and did something they later described as impossible."

"It was a good thing though, right?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not," he replied. They were drawing nearer their destination. "I want you to do it again."

Kate blinked. "Why? Can I?"

"Possibly. I want—" Blood paused mid-sentence. Something was amiss. Further away—inside a box no mortal but he could touch, protected by a room covered in wards and spells from floor to ceiling, guarded by a hallway with even more enchantments—shards of something once great (though those same shards were great in and of themselves) stirred briefly, then went silent as if nothing had happened. Glancing back at his charge, Jason noted that a few of the tiny runes covering one of her bracelets were glowing a soft orange. He continued on. "I would like to see it for myself and perhaps teach you how to use it."

"What do I have to do?"

"Not much."

Shrugging, Kate rubbed her wrist. It had felt like something had twitched there, but the feeling was gone now. "Will it be easy?"

Jason grinned. "Not at all. Nothing worth anything ever comes easily—you might want to remember that."

"Ok."

They reached a set of double doors and he pulled them open. "We are here," he stated, leading her into the room and past a pedestal. On the other side of the room stood another door, this one just a single door and not a set of two. "Do you want to go through with this?"

"I don't know," she answered quietly. A tug on her arm, gentler and not quite as insistent this time, changed her mind. "Yes. I want to know."

Jason, despite Etrigan's insistence that he turn the girl over into his 'care,' spent the next several hours attempting to convince Kate to draw upon her power—with no success. Convincing her to tap into whatever power resided within her wouldn't be as simple as just making a few suggestions, or even teaching her as he would normal students...that is, should he have any. Though, perhaps in retrospect, it would be—the circumstances simply weren't right. In any case, Jason had expected some lack of progress. Finally though, Etrigan's insistence that treating her delicately wasn't going to cut it won out. Blood decided to resort to violence. Perhaps catching her off guard would force her to react.

Kate was becoming mildly frustrated. How was she supposed to use something she couldn't feel, sense, and didn't even really know for sure was there? With a sigh, the closed her eyes and rubbed them gently with her fingers... and then the sound of chanting reached her ears. She had almost turned around completely when the runes on one of the bracelets—this time on the opposite wrist as opposed to the last time—flared an angry red and the metal band began to shudder slightly. A fierce wind caught her attention before she could look however, and she managed to catch the last of Jason's chant.

Suddenly, Kate found herself flattened face-first against the far wall—a tremendous pressure holding her there like a giant's hand. She couldn't move—she couldn't breathe! After a moment though, whatever force was holding her in place let go, and Kate fell to the floor. Lying there face up she rolled her eyes towards the only other person in the room. "Why did you do that?" she groaned.

Jason didn't answer. Instead, he silently tapped into one of his magic abilities which would mimic telepathy and invaded her mind. His intent was to simply stir things up a bit—the mental equivalent of grabbing a person and giving them a hard shake. The reaction was instantaneous.

Kate shuddered and curled into a ball, hands clutching her head and eyes squeezed shut. "Get out," she whimpered quietly.

Jason ignored her pleas applied more pressure.

"Get out, get out, getoutgetoutgetout..." her body was starting to convulse violently at this point. Vessels ruptured and blood dripped quickly from her nose, pooling onto the floor where it began to crystallize. Her arm was being tugged at again. "Please, make it stop."

Frowning, Jason redoubled his efforts. He knew he was getting dangerously close to causing serious permanent damage, but his instincts told him she would react soon.

Kate's ears and eyes began to drip as well and she could feel herself slipping. She would pass out soon if he didn't stop. Why was Jason doing this? He had been so nice earlier—perhaps she had been wrong in trusting him and coming here. Perhaps she had been wrong in waking up at all...

'No. Stand.'

Kate stood. Eyes opened wide and her head jerked upwards—she gave into whatever force had guided her thus far. "Get out of my HEAD!" the normally soft-spoken girl roared, dual crest flaring to brilliant orange life above her eyes before fading out again. That didn't matter though... she had power now—if only for a moment—and she knew how to use it...and her wounds were gone. Bringing up her fist, she thrust it towards the one invading her mind.

Blood smiled when he felt the force of the girl's attack. Had Etrigan been standing in his place, the demon would have found himself buried chest deep in the far wall—of the next room, simply because Jason had prepared several spells to defend against such attacks and didn't really feel like mending broken ribs today. He stopped his own attack.

The blood crystals on her face had begun to flake off now, but Kate didn't notice. She had a killer headache, and she was tired—very, very tired. She wanted nothing more than to go back to that comfortable bed upstairs and rest for the next three days. "Please don't make me do that again," she mumbled, not knowing exactly what it was she had done, but accepting that she had done it nonetheless.

'Her power manifested itself as telekinesis this time,' Blood thought towards his companion. 'That was nothing like what was described to me by Raven. The only corresponding details are the fact that she was in pain when it happened and the markings that preceded her attack.'

Etrigan responded that he didn't care much about what the half-demon had said—he just wanted to see more of what this child could offer. Perhaps she would prove entertaining. Asking Jason once more for the opportunity to 'help,' Etrigan was mildly surprised when Jason relented—but only mildly so. He knew that Blood hadn't exactly enjoyed that. He, on the other hand, had no such qualms.

A brief chant and a burst of hellfire later and Jason Blood was replaced by the demon Etrigan. Grinning, Etrigan hefted the girl in one massive fist by the scruff of her neck. "Upon your luck you do rely, if you continue you shall die, even the beasts with instinct strong, without practice do not last long. The power that leaves you quaking, is truly yours for the taking, if I cannot teach you with my yelling, perhaps you'll find this impact telling!"

He casually tossed her the length of the room, where she rolled to a stop against the wall. She stayed down. "Offer prayer to that you revere, I promise none shall interfere, until I see your full potential, your pain will grow 'most exponential."

Her response would have disturbed anyone listening—anyone but Etrigan. Kate laughed. It wasn't very hard, or for very long, but it was laughter nonetheless. It was a type of laugh the demon was familiar with: that of the damned—those who accept their fate and willingly give in. "Do your worst—I've got nothing left! I can barely move, let alone do...that again." It was true, she was barely awake and everything hurt and she just wanted to lie down and die.

"I found your mirth most insulting, you think that it will be resulting, in pity from a demon heart? If you think that, a fool thou art! I grow weary of repetition, but I suppose in your condition, you need a reminder of you position, well listen well to this exposition! Stand now and fight, as I said before, or I'll beat you 'til you'll WISH you were sore!" Etrigan growled, kicking her in the general direction of the center of the room.

'Maybe laughing at it wasn't such a good idea,' she thought randomly, spitting up blood and watching it begin to solidify. 'I wonder why it does that.'

Kate's train of thought, admittedly pretty shaky at the moment, was further derailed when the demon decided to pick her up again. This time, instead of simply throwing her, he loosed a punch into her stomach—albeit a very weak one. He didn't want to tear the girl in half after all. No, he had much more in store for her than that. Still, the punch was enough to bruise her ribs and send her tumbling elbows-over-ass, as he'd let go the moment his fist had connected.

When she came to a stop this time, she somehow managed to speak again. "I told you—I can't do it again. I don't know how I did it the first time!"

"My patience is a fading ember, come on now, you MUST remember!"

"Do whatever you want. I'm tired of playing," she sighed, closing her eyes.

Etrigan growled. Humans with pathetic attitudes really got on his nerves. It was time to teach the girl a lesson. "If you seek to throw away your life, then let me provide fire of strife! You'll wish you'd resisted, this I do tell, when you play with the truly CRUEL demons in hell!" With that, he opened his maw and began slowly drawing forth hellfire, giving her plenty of time to react to her oncoming demise.

This close to the demon, Kate could feel its annoyance (along with the intense heat radiating from the general vicinity of its mouth), spite, and deep-set rage... and for some reason, she didn't hurt quite so much any more. Still, it wasn't nearly enough that she could get back on her feet, so she stayed where she was. Let it burn her to a crisp. The tugging at her wrist increased to an all out heave, drawing her into a sitting position.

'You will not forsake our pact like this, Kate Rivers. I will not let you,' an almost-familiar voice from somewhere near her ear forced her to open her eyes, if only to make sure she and Etrigan were the only ones in the room. She didn't notice the demon's eyes narrow. 'I'm completely drained, there's nothing I can do,' she thought in answer to the proclamation.

'You still have tools,' it whispered again before fading completely, but not without drawing her attention to her wrists. There, the two forward-most bracelets were alight, their runes spinning around their circumference fast enough to blur. The runes stopped and the glow flared.

Etrigan abandoned his bluff in order to watch what happened once she girl sat up. He squinted as two of her bracelets' luminescence increased blindingly, almost missing it when they fell from her wrists completely and were engulfed in that same orange light.

Kate's hands drew themselves forward instinctively, catching the sword—a long but thin, silvery blade covered in the same runes as her bracelets, which broke into a sort of helix three-fourths of the way down before flaring out to make a thin pommel directly above a flat, rectangular hilt—by its hilt before it could hit the ground and bringing it up quickly, before stopping just short of Etrigan's stomach. "I don't want to talk to you any more. Can I please leave now?" she asked, poking the sword into whatever fabric covered his form.

Etrigan laughed softly. "I am amused, I grant you reprieve, of my own volition, I grant you my leave."

"Goodie. Mind showing me the door? I'm afraid I'm going to stick myself with this thing if I try to stand," she mumbled, regarding the sword in her hands. 'Now what do I do with it?' she wondered. A flash later, the sword was gone and her bracelets were back in their customary place. "Odd."

Etrigan stood back and began chanting under his breath. A moment later, he was replaced by Jason Blood, who knelt and helped Kate to stand. "I apologize for that."

Yawning widely, Kate shrugged. She understood now what his aims had been. "Please tell me we're not going to do that again any time soon."

"Not today," Jason answered, leading her from the room. The second she stepped out, her injuries and the few rips to her clothes vanished. "You did well."

"Why am I only mildly surprised?" she asked, glancing down. 'At least I can walk on my own now.'

Blood led the girl back to her room where she promptly collapsed and wouldn't wake again until late that evening. Making his way through the house, he found himself in an often-used sitting room, complete with fireplace and leather chairs. Sitting down, he regarded the hearth and a moment later a fire sprung up inside it. "What did you think?" he asked as the face of Etrigan appeared in the flames.

"A pleasant sport she did provide, though her skills I did deride."

Jason nodded. "Do you suppose those bracelets are what drew what is left of the Fang's attention?"

"If my mother had informed me, I would assume that she had scorned me, an accomplishment great, her little blade, a nice end to my forceful raid," he replied. He didn't need to mention that the sword the girl had created had actually pierced his demon-hide, even if it was half by accident.

"What of the interference?"

Etrigan snorted. "Like Excalibur and the Lance of Longinus, it fairly reeked of a godly promise."

One of Jason's eyebrows rose in question. "You're not suggesting she's...?"

"You'd think her on par with mighty Zeus? Nay, merely a godling with ego bruised, perhaps in combat, perhaps in fate, they are now closer than any mate."

"They could be using each other, somehow. Some kind of agreement, perhaps? The Titans said that her records listed her as deceased—perhaps it made a deal with her as she was dying," Blood suggested.

"A charming girl, or so I'm told, but no deity's attention she'd hold. Only the best can make such a deal, and she lacks a flavor, perhaps a zeal."

Jason shrugged. "I would not be so quick to presume. What are we going to do with her next—and should we inform the Titans?"

"A cruel, cruel man you seem today, you'd grant me a toy, then steal it away? As for the Titans, why cause them worry? She'll likely reveal herself in a hurry," Etrigan answered, grinning.

"You're suggesting we teach her enough to use that power at will and then dump her back onto their doorstep? Do you think they're going to take kindly to being forced to baby-sit?"

"I beat her 'til she's black and blue, you wish me to act as father too? Nay, 'tis not my game, let the Titans play, fate led her to them anyway."

Jason was forced to agree. "So, about tomorrow?" he asked, as he and demon began to formulate a plan to further draw forth the girl's power.

Kate groaned, trying and failing to ignore the fact that one of her arms had pulled itself away from her body and was now shaking insistently in an attempt to wake her. Reaching out her other hand, she grabbed the offending appendage and pulled it back under the covers, where she then promptly rolled over onto it. "Go 'way. Katie needs sleep."

The arm pulled itself out from under the rest of her body, grabbed the edge of the bed, and pulled until she was laying on her back. It then jerked itself back in the other direction until it was even with her head. Kate flinched when she felt her own fingers begin to thump her forehead. When that didn't have the desired effect, the hand rose up a few inches, then fell back down. "Ow!" she yelled, sitting up and rubbing the place on her forehead where the bracelets had landed. Grabbing the offending limb, she pulled it up to her eye level and addressed it directly. It had never been quite this insistent before. "What do you want? I need rest."

Her index finger curled downwards before making a pointing gesture in that direction. Looking down, she noticed that her other hand—the one she was holding the possessed appendage with—was covering both her bracelets. She released her grip and found that several lines of runes along both were shifting. A moment later, they stopped and several of the characters along each lit up. Kate was about to complain that she didn't understand, but stopped when she realized that somehow, she did. Two words glowed clearly upon her wrist: "Awaken," and "Blood."

Groaning, she allowed herself to be pulled from the bed and directed out the door. "Don't I at least get a shower?" The tugging stopped... then reversed its direction towards the washroom. "My, how thoughtful of you," she mumbled sarcastically.

After getting cleaned up, Kate was lead back downstairs and along the same path she was taken the previous day. This time, she skipped the dining room and was drawn straight into the adjoining kitchen. Blood greeted her with a breakfast of bacon and toast—he'd lived for centuries and knew how to cook, but he'd also learned that people prefer simpler things sometimes.

"You are up early again. Are you always this punctual?" he asked, seating himself after pouring a glass of juice.

Kate glared at her now-seemingly-innocent hand. "I don't know, but someone was being rather insistent this morning."

Jason managed to keep a straight face before he asked, "Who?"

Glancing between the questioner and her limb, she looked puzzled. "It wasn't you?"

"No."

"Then I suppose I don't have a clue," she shrugged. That was becoming an all-too-often-used excuse. "Please tell me I don't have to play with your friend again today—or you, for that matter. I don't feel like being abused."

Blood chuckled, considering her request. "How do you feel about going into the city?"

Kate shrugged again, swallowing her mouthful of food before answering. "If it means I don't have to see that room again any time soon... What's it like?"

'As its name suggests, Gotham is a bit dreary—which is why I like it. This time of year though, it is a bit livelier."

"This time of the year? How so?"

Taking a moment to sip from his glass, Jason answered. "The businesses will have Christmas decorations up, and the streets will be crowded with shoppers."

Kate didn't understand half of that, but she nodded anyway. "When will we go?"

"As soon as you are finished eating," he said. "We should probably get you some new clothes as well—and shoes. There is an inch of snow on the ground this morning and it does not look as if it will stop any time soon."

"Snow?"

Snow, as Kate soon found out, was pretty...but damnably cold. She hadn't really noticed how cold it actually was outside until her feet first came into contact with the powdery stuff. She had immediately run to Blood's car, hopping from foot to foot until he opened the door for her. "Why is it so cold all of a sudden?" she asked as they neared the city limits.

Jason didn't point out the fact that it had been nearly as cold since she began her journey. "It is just that time of year. It is always cold like this in the winter."

"What's a winter?"

"One of the four seasons of the year—spring, summer, autumn, and winter. It seems you've much to relearn."

Kate frowned, pulling her gaze from the window to the other occupant of the vehicle. "'Relearn?' You mean I used to know?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Then why don't I know anything now?"

Shrugging, Jason brought the car to a stop near a department store. "I do not know."

After a moment of watching the people walk by through the frosted glass of the windshield, Kate sighed. "I want to remember."

Kate pressed a hand against the side of her head, attempting to rub away her headache. After purchasing several new changes of clothing, a jacket, and some shoes (they still didn't fit, and she didn't like the way the sales clerk had looked at her feet when asked if they had something a bit narrower) Jason had led her deeper into the city. The streets were crowded and every little noise seemed to make her head throb. Finally, it became too much. "Can we go inside somewhere soon? My head really hurts."

Stepping away from the crowd, Jason stopped in front of a store and feigned interest towards the things displayed within. When Kate was again within earshot, he spoke. "Not just yet. Tell me more about what you feel."

Frowning, she realized that she wasn't going anywhere until she had completed whatever task he had for her now. "I don't know—I feel... sick. Everyone is being too loud and it's making my head pound, and I can barely think."

"Metahuman abilities usually first become apparent at an early age—in the early teens, for the most part. Metropolis' Southern District Charity Hospital had you on-record as being a metahuman when you were admitted. Therefore, it stands to reason that your power had already manifested," he stated, watching her reflection in the glass.

"What power? The one you want me to use?"

Blood shook his head. "No—that one is different. It is my belief that they are mostly separate from one another. I am referring to your empathic abilities."

Kate squinted her eyes and tried to ignore the pain behind them as she took a few steps closer to the glass. "Sure, if I knew what that meant..."

"You feel what those around you feel, am I correct?"

"I don't know—sometimes, I guess. I haven't really been around anyone but you for very long."

Jason glanced towards the crowds behind them before turning his eyes back to Kate. It was his guess that if he could just make her aware of what she was doing, she would find a solution to it herself. "Clear your mind and try to imagine yourself separated from the crowds by a wall," he suggested, wondering if the same tactic described to him by the few telepaths he knew would work for the empath.

"Fine. But can we please go inside soon?" she asked. After a moment with no answer, she sighed and closed her eyes, doing as he asked. For a while, nothing happened, and then gradually the pain behind her eyes lessened—though it didn't disappear completely. It was more of a dull throb now, but even that was welcome in comparison to the near-migraine of a moment ago. "...How?"

"I know a few others with gifts similar in nature to your own. Besides—despite that you can not seem to remember much of anything, you can still talk. It stood to reason that being able to shut out others' feelings would come nearly as naturally."

"Yeah, but it's still there... it just isn't as loud as it was," she pointed out, resisting the urge to flinch as a woman pushing a stroller and attempting to control three screaming children walked directly behind her. "Oww."

"Hmm?"

She pointed towards the woman, who was now thankfully almost across a nearby intersection. "She was really upset, and it made my headache worse when she walked by."

Jason nodded, stepping away from the window. "I see. Come along, there are a few other places we should visit while we are here."

"Stop, it HURTS! I said I can't do it!"

Etrigan would have rolled his eyes. The child was being stubborn again and he had decided to give her some incentive to draw upon her power... by slowly crushing the fingers of one of her hands. "Life is pain and pain is life, why should it be a cause of strife? This is a lesson you should know, and to teach it I'll eat your finger or toe!"

They had been trying to get her to use her power by her own will for well over three hours now and had met with little success. She had managed to form her sword again, but Etrigan demanded she put it away as that wasn't what he wanted. She had sulked, whined, and generally acted very much like a petulant child but she had persisted. And now, it had come down to this: for every failed opportunity Etrigan gave her to make him stop, he would break one of her fingers. Kate was down to five fingers and two thumbs.

"A moron could this lesson learn, when abused, attack in return!" he growled out, swatting her into a nearby wall. Chance dictated that she would eventually snap and forcibly dig into that power—it was only a matter of time.

Clenching her uninjured fist, she swung it towards the demon...and missed completely. "A belch, a fart or mayhap a glare, have much more strength than that punch there!" he quipped, flicking her forehead with a finger...which sent her head cracking back into the wall.

For all his threats and actions, Kate knew that the demon was just toying with her—and that made it all the more humiliating. No matter what she did, she'd never be able to put a dent in it. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to remember what it was she had done to bring about her powers the last time. Even the familiar tug at her arm was gone, seeming to tell her to figure it out for herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a foot slammed into her side, sending her sliding across the wall and leaving a trail of quickly-crystallizing blood. Once more, the demon was in her face. The scent of brimstone assaulted her senses, further distracting her. Etrigan's next words however gave her pause for thought. "Did your mother drink with you in her womb? HIT ME NOW OR FACE YOUR DOOM!" he roared, slamming one massive fist into the wall next to her head. Maybe that was it—maybe she was simply trying too hard. Thinking back, she now remembered what had been different between the last time and now: she hadn't called upon anything—it had up and demanded she open herself and use it.

Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind and simply...let it happen. A tingle at her forehead and a slightly odd feeling in her hand, then the pain of several broken fingers disappeared. 'Ok, I'm stronger now... but I don't think it will last. What can I do with it though?'

Kate brought up her arms and threw all of her newly-acquired superhuman strength into shoving the demon away from her. Etrigan unmoved. That was to be expected from a being whose physical strength rivaled that of the Man of Steel, but she didn't know that. He grabbed a handful of cloth and gave her a good fling in the general direction of the opposite wall. "I shudder to ask, since my student is slow, but can you control your powers that glow?" he asked—eager to see what she had to offer him.

Standing, Kate attempted to catch the breath that had been knocked from her lungs. Sure, her previous wounds were gone, but she had new ones now—cracked ribs, judging by the fact that it felt like something was stabbing her sides every time she tried to breathe. The power she'd temporarily gained faded to nothingness. "Maybe. Hold on a second while I try to do it again."

Her forehead tingled again as the crests flared to life and faded out, leaving her able to breathe again. "I am so liking this," she mumbled, grinning a bit. The feeling of nigh-invulnerability was a good thing. Then she remembered exactly why she had been hurting. 'What can I do this time?' she wondered idly, flexing her new power... then she knew that she could alter the local gravitational fields, which should allow her to fly—along with other, more creative things which may or may not annoy her demonic mentor/tormentor. "This should be fun."

"My girl, you're looking awfully orange, you…" Whatever Etrigan could find to rhyme with orange was lost to time when he slammed into the ceiling...and then the floor, and then the ceiling again, and finally the floor once more. He stood, noting that the girl was sitting down again.

Looking up at the demon she had just tossed around like a rag doll—albeit a very, very heavy one—Kate grinned. "Katie's done for the day. That took way too much out of me. Night-night," she mumbled, promptly losing consciousness. It seemed that, though she could find the ability to do something, that didn't necessarily mean she had enough energy to do it.

"A reward, I suppose, is her due, so I will give her a rest, lest her wrath I should rue," he mumbled. Etrigan was annoyed, though mildly amused as well. It seemed she had rid herself of the defeatist attitude he loathed so much.

"Tell me what you have learned so far," Blood asked over breakfast.

Putting her fork down, Kate thought for a moment before answering. "I can feel what other people feel, but only if I'm close enough, and crowds give me a headache—too many people in too small a space. But I know how to block some of that off, so I don't go crazy just from walking down the street. And if someone feels something strongly enough, I feel it too—whether I want to or not, I guess."

Blood nodded—she was making progress, now that she was mostly aware of what she could do. "Go on. What about your other power?"

"I think I can use that when I want now—or at least when I need to. Well, I don't really try to use it so much as it just happens... And I think that the abilities it gives are pretty random, though usually beneficial to my current situation—and they're pretty draining."

"What else?"

"I can make a sword! All I have to do is imagine holding one and it's there," she grinned, playing with one of the bracelets used to make the sword.

"Is that all?" Jason asked. He already knew all of this—he wanted to make sure she knew it. It seemed to help.

Kate thought for a minute, trying to remember anything she had forgotten. "I think I can read everything but modern languages ((this had been made embarrassingly (for Jason, anyway) obvious in an incident involving an Egyptian exhibit, several passerby, and one hysterically laughing Kate mumbling something about 'the fleas of a thousand camels')), but I don't have any real control over that—it just sort of comes and goes. And I think something's wrong."

Jason noted the look of worry that crossed her face. "Why do you say that?"

"Remember when I did that thing the last time?"

Blood nodded. He hadn't been able to figure out exactly what power she had drawn on that time, but assumed it was another form of telekinesis. "What about it?"

"Well, I can do this now," Kate mumbled before lifting one foot and bringing it back down to the floor, which sent her several inches off the ground. It took a moment for her feet to make contact with the ground again. "I think part of it stuck."

Now Blood understood. She had tapped into some form of gravity manipulation. "What else can you do with it?" he asked curiously.

Kate shrugged. "Jump good? Fly maybe?" she asked, not sure herself.

"We will have to test that later. Anything else?"

"Nope, I think that's pretty much it. Oh! And I noticed that my wounds go away when I pull in a new ability."

"I noticed that as well," Jason nodded. "Do you think you can predict or control what you channel?"

Shaking her head, Kate took a few bites of her breakfast. She couldn't seem to ever get enough to eat lately. "I don't think it works like that."

"Would you like to learn to read and write?"

"Uhhuh," she mumbled around a mouthful. Swallowing and taking a sip from her glass, she looked at her benefactor hopefully. "You'll teach me?"

Blood nodded, standing. "Certainly. Are you finished?" he asked, indicating her now-empty plate.

"Yup!"

"Come with me then," he said, leading her through several hallways before entering a room he had set up the previous night. Contained within were all the things he figured he would need to teach her the basics of reading and arithmetic—after all, if he could teach squires such things to squires in the dark ages, then this should be a piece of cake.

It had been eight days since Kate Rivers had accompanied Jason Blood to his manor. In that time, she had made a startling amount of progress in learning how to channel the power than Jason was now certain belonged to a broken godling, as well as her own innate empathic abilities. She still didn't have full control over her natural ability, but Blood doubted she ever would. The few telepaths he knew of had taken years to perfect even a simple block...and she had done it only minutes after he first suggested it—but other than that, her empathy seemed passive at best, which would make it nearly impossible to ever control.

Aside from the development of her abilities, she was progressing fairly well in learning how to read. The way she took in everything around her brought to Jason's mind the process of how a child learns to walk and talk, though on a scale close to being exponential in comparison. She was also maturing mentally, though more slowly than in any other area—but his guess was that it wouldn't take long before she would be thinking as a fully matured adult...or at least someone her own age. Now, they could begin testing her on what she had gleaned from his and Etrigan's instruction.

That is where we rejoin Etrigan and Kate—in that same white-walled room. Currently, the demon was outlining the conditions of their oncoming match. "The number of blows you must land is ten, upon this demon, Etrigan, but these should not be a fart's breath, as was before, or I swear, I'll smash you through the floor!"

Kate knew better. Getting past Etrigan's defenses and avoiding his offenses would be next to impossible, trying, and most likely very painful. "Gee, that sounds like so much fun."

...It seemed she'd also started to grow a sense of sarcasm.

Etrigan didn't reply verbally—he simply charged and swiped his fist in the general direction of her midsection. He wasn't expecting his fist to collide with some form of barrier inches from its target. Kate grinned. "Is it my turn yet?" she asked, ducking out of the demon's range. 'Shield won't last long if he keeps that up,' she thought frantically. His first blow had pretty much drained her hastily borrowed power.

The demon's answer was to inhale quickly before spitting out a jet of hellfire. Eyes wide, Kate dropped the shield and jumped, calling on her limited control over her own gravity and narrowly avoiding the blast. 'Can't keep this up either, it takes up too much energy,' she thought, reorienting herself in midair before coming to rest on the ceiling. 'Maybe I can surprise him...' To her credit, her next stunt did manage to catch Etrigan off guard—she'd never before taken the offensive. Unfortunately, she overestimated her control over the stuck ability.

Launching off of the ceiling, she waited until almost the last moment before forming her sword and twisting her body around to slash at the demon as she flew by, cutting deep into his arm. Of course, that's about the time she realized that she couldn't slow down and she collided with the floor before bouncing up and into the wall where she came to a stop. "Oww," she whined, attempting and failing to sit up. "That hurt just a bit."

Sparing a glance at the cut on his arm, Etrigan turned around slowly to regard the girl. "One blow, huzzah, a victory for you, but you shall never reach number two!" he snorted, stepping closer. He grinned, pulling his foot back and intending to kick her head into the wall, thereby knocking her unconscious. Mere inches from her head, the now-familiar crests there flared to life, and the girl...disappeared—only to reappear a fraction of a second later above his head. Her foot impacting somewhere in the general vicinity of his ear wasn't painful so much as annoying—she'd landed another blow.

"Two!" Kate crowed, picking herself up from the floor. She hadn't expected to be able to teleport, and suddenly being able to do so had been exhilarating—but she'd only had enough energy left for one. And now, she was mostly spent. Unless she could find a way to stall for time, this fight would end here and now.

Etrigan chuckled, approaching the girl even as she backed away. He knew that she was done-for now, and he knew that she knew it. Gaining the ability to teleport had been a massive stroke of luck—but only in the short run, because it had obviously depleted whatever energy stores her body had. "I see your strength and weakness too, your powers bring great change to you, many strengths you pull from your ass, but it seems you pull them far too fast! Your frame, though fair, lacks the energy to give you endurance to spar with me."

"I'm burning myself out too quickly," she agreed, circling around the room and trying to stay out of the demon's range.

Moving too quickly for the girl to track, Etrigan dashed forward and slammed the flat of his palm into her solar-plexus, then used his momentum to paste her against the nearby wall. "One new lesson, and one of old, the latter I have already told, you must deal with pain in battle horrid, from the lightest blow to hellfire torrid. Your second lesson, which you already know, you have great strength but your mind is slow, your abilities many, but your wisdom is nil, if you don't use them correctly, I'll move in for the kill!" he ground out before bringing that same arm back and smashing it into her elbow, obliterating the joint.

Etrigan snorted as she slid down the wall and fell onto her face—no witty banter, no last-ditch attempts at throwing off her attacker... just a quick plunge into blissful unconsciousness. Or that's what Etrigan assumed anyway, as he turned away from the downed girl. Perhaps he should have rolled her over to make sure she was unconscious.

It had taken an ungodly amount of willpower not to scream and do exactly what Etrigan assumed she had done when the demon decided to turn her elbow to mush, but Kate had managed somehow. The crests flickered across her forehead momentarily as she laid face-down, panting softly. The pain faded though, and she grinned. 'I really, really like that,' she thought, wondering what she'd drawn out this time. She didn't feel any new temporary skills flow across her consciousness, nor did she feel any different from a few moments ago. ...Scratch that—she felt a hell of a lot better.

Furrowing her brow, Kate concentrated on her body, trying to pin down every subtle nuance of the rise and flow of power within it. After a few seconds, she realized that her energy was returning—slowly, but surely. Her hopes of recovering all of her spent energy were dashed however when she heard the demon approaching again. 'He'll take one look at me and know I'm awake. I have to think of something...'

Picking the fallen girl up around the waist, Etrigan hefted her over his shoulder before turning to leave. 'Katelin, Katelin, burning bright, admit it Blood, she lost this fight.'

Etrigan had the distinct impression that Jason Blood was smirking when he next heard his voice. 'I would not be so sure.'

Before the demon could ponder that statement, Kate drew on her fluke ability, shoving herself off Etrigan's shoulder. Arching up into a flip behind the demon, she let go of that power and almost smiled when her feet touched the floor and she didn't fall on her ass. 'Ok, so if I keep in mind how much power I'm using when I first push off of things, I can glide for a bit before letting gravity catch back up to me—nifty.'

Kate drew her sword and made two quick slices across Etrigan's flank before running towards the nearest wall. 'I don't use as much energy when I do that in short bursts, and if I'm careful, I can keep using it like this as long as I'm still recharging or whatever.'

"Well done, my girl, such a skillful fake! But I shall not soon repeat that mistake!" Etrigan applauded dryly, mentally adding two more points to her tally.

Grinning, Kate shrugged. "Today's my lucky day?" she asked, the beginnings of a plan of attack forming in her mind.

"This I say, this I tell, that shall happen on a COLD DAY IN HELL!" Pulling in a breath, Etrigan roared and began discharging balls of hellfire.

Yelping, Kate ran up the wall and across the ceiling before dropping down directly in front of Etrigan. "Err, oops."

"Oops, indeed, and now you BLEED!" he grinned, swiping out his claws...only to miss.

"I thought about what you said, and I think I've figured it out—at least for now. See, at the moment I think I'm channeling something that's actually restoring my energy reserves, and if I use the power over my own specific gravity carefully, I'll be back up to full power in no time! All I have to do is avoid you, of course," Kate explained, dropping from where she'd decided to 'fall' towards a nearby door (she had been standing on it sideways, in relation to the floor), thus avoiding the demon's reach.

Turning his head to regard her, Etrigan smirked. "From my experience, you've already lost, you've made some blows but at what cost? Your luck stays with you, that I'll grant, but you won't run forever, you simply can't!"

"True," she agreed. That brief respite had finally faded, and she was back to square one--well, almost. At least now she had a new trick or two. "But maybe I'll get lucky if I keep surprising you."

"I doubt surprise will be your ally, if you rely on it, you shall soon die."

Kate shrugged, opening herself to that odd power once again. '...I think I can toss out energy now,' she realized, grinning. 'The only problem is that this'll probably drain all that I've gained back.'

Etrigan charged, deciding to see for himself what new power she'd gained. As he drew closer, his instincts told him that she would probably try to dodge by going over his head again. He would let her, if only to see just how much longer she could last. His assumption was proven correct as she attempted a clumsy flip overhead (well, it was more like she suddenly decided that the ceiling was the floor and then changed her mind halfway there to land behind him). What the demon hadn't foreseen was getting nailed from behind by a hail of energy bullets.

Having landed, Kate had turned around and opened her palm, sending out a small energy ball. Halfway to the demon, the ball had split into four smaller pieces of itself and caught him in the shoulders and neck. "Does that count as eight?" she asked. Deciding not to give him a chance to answer, she charged in and swung as he flung his arm out. Blade intercepted clawed hand and came off better, as the demon's hand was split through between two of his fingers. "Hey look, red snow!"

Etrigan frowned, sparing a glance at his already-healing appendage. Enough was enough. She had become too self-confident. Stepping in quickly, he slammed his shoulder into her midsection, sending her crashing into the far wall, where she slid down and did not get up. Having learned his lesson the first time, he rushed over and folded his massive hand around her head before pounding it into the wall. He had enough strength to literally turn her head into pulp—giving her a concussion or seven was downright gentle in his book.

Picking the girl up again, he glanced around for her dropped sword before realizing that it had dissolved back into its bracelet-form the moment she lost consciousness.

'So does she pass?'

Etrigan snorted, stepping through the exit and making his way towards her bedroom. 'Her efforts were sufficient, but barely it's true, but I suppose that it will do.' he allowed. He was impressed, if only with the fact that the girl seemed to have a lucky streak a mile wide.

"Now, write your name."

Kate frowned, her tongue poking out one side of her mouth as she sloppily scrawled 'K-A-T-E' across the top of a piece of paper with—of all things—an old-fashioned writing quill. Jason seemed to prefer those at times, for some odd reason she didn't understand and likely never would since he never brought it up and she didn't know it was odd enough that she should ask. "Like that?"

Glancing at the paper, Blood nodded. "Good enough, for now. You will need to get someone to help you practice."

"Who? You're not the only one here? ...Besides the big meanie, that is."

Jason laughed. In all his years, he'd never heard Etrigan referred to as 'that big meanie.' "No, it is just myself and Etrigan here—usually only myself. Actually, I will be taking you back to the Titans today."

"Why?" Kate asked. She didn't really want to leave, now that she'd grown accustomed to the place. Besides having to 'play' with Etrigan, it was nice. "I like it here. It's quiet. There isn't as much noise." That though, wasn't entirely true. Soon after first going into Gotham, she had begun to crave similar contact again—if not on such a large scale.

"You need to interact with children your own age," he answered, taking her quill and paper and tucking them away into a desk drawer.

"What am I to do there?" she asked, standing and following him from the room, towards the house's main exit.

Opening the front door, Jason led her to his car. Her belongings were already packed away into a small duffel bag, stowed carefully in the back seat. "Grow up, essentially. Learn how to act as one of your own age. Do you not desire to know who you were, before you became like this?"

Closing her door, she buckled her safety belt as the car started and thought on the question for a few moments. "Should I? What if that other me wasn't a very nice person? Should I really be her again?" It seemed she'd had time during her stay to start to question her current state of existence and had begun to have doubts.

"I'm sure you were a fine individual," Jason assured her. "Everyone has a past Kate, and they all have to face it at some point. Do you not believe it would be better finding out about yourself with friends there to help you rather than having it thrust into your face when it is least expected or wanted?"

"Friends? Wouldn't you help me?"

Jason frowned—they were getting close to a subject he didn't much like thinking about: his own past. "I would, but I will not always be there for you. That is not my place."

"Oh."

They spent the rest of the drive in silence, both plagued with thoughts of the past—one, a past he would have to live with for the rest of his many, many days; the other, a past she didn't know if she wanted to be a part of again at the moment.

"Can you train her?" Blood asked of Tim, once again seated in the Titans' living room.

"What?"

"Can you keep her here—take her under your wing, as it were?"

Tim almost sighed—almost, but didn't. He owed Jason Blood one too many favors as it was, so he would be hard pressed to turn the man down now. Still, he'd like to know exactly what they were getting into. "Why us? What do you know?"

"She was lead here first. She is like a child, Tim. She needs to be around people her own age," Jason answered.

"Lead by what? And how much of a threat is it to my team?"

Shrugging, Jason grinned slightly. "I am not exactly sure," he lied. Well, he wasn't really lying—he and Etrigan had their suspicions, but they weren't entirely positive. "She is more of a threat to the populace at large. Being here with people who know how to deal with such things would help her immensely." He also didn't mention that she was advancing at an almost frightening pace—Tim didn't need to know that and would likely figure it out on his own in due time.

"What did you mean by saying she's like a child?"

"When I first took Kate into my home, she was the mental equivalent of a six-year-old. Essentially, she thought like a child, not like a person of her age. Do not misunderstand, she is very intelligent. She is learning quickly, but she does not understand the concepts behind so much of what goes on around her."

"How mature would you say she is now?" Tim asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Jason shrugged. "It is difficult to judge with her, but I would say between ten and fourteen—give or take."

"That's better than Rob," Noel quipped from the doorway to the kitchen. He'd only caught the tail-end of the conversation.

"What can she do?"

Again, Jason shrugged. "Her powers—save for empathy—seem to manifest at random, and only last a short while. One of her abilities stuck with her though, so my guess is that it could happen again."

"So," Noel said, taking a seat beside Tim. "You're saying she possesses a medley of abilities that could show up at any given time and she doesn't know how to use them?"

"Well, from what I gathered, she does know how to use them—just not what their limits are."

"What about her family?" Tim asked. "I'm sure they're pretty disturbed about the fact that their daughter's body just vanished from a morgue. It might be weird seeing her alive and in the flesh again, but she is—they should know."

"I get the feeling her family does not know her body disappeared," said Jason. "You are of course welcome to look into it..."

Finally, Tim did sigh—this time, in defeat. "Ok, fine. We'll keep her here for a while—even send a couple of people to her home check things out when she's ready."

"Thank you, Tim."

"It is time for us to part ways, Kate," Jason said, opening Kate's door and urging her from the car, then taking her bag from his back seat and handing it over.

Taking the duffel, Kate glanced towards the tower where Robin stood waiting—in sight, but giving them a moment alone. "I'll see you again, right?"

Jason smiled, ruffling her hair. "Perhaps. I will keep in touch."

Impulsively, Kate reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, her forehead pressed against his chest. "Thanks, Jason—for everything."

They separated and Blood walked around and got into the car. "Take care," he called, starting the engine and driving away, leaving Kate standing at the base of Titan Tower. 'Your compassion confuses, my companion of years, she is not of your blood, so why all these tears?'

'You haven't been quite yourself either,' Jason pointed out, ignoring the question. Etrigan gave the mental equivalent of a huff. 'Now that I think about it though, we've both been acting differently since we came into contact with the girl. Perhaps her empathy is more than just passive, after all. Or...'

Etrigan's silence was answer in itself.

Kate turned towards the Tower—Jason's car was well out of sight. Robin had been standing behind her, waiting, for some time now. "I can stay with you?"

Tim nodded. "Yeah. Come on; let's get in out of the cold."

"Ok."

"Think you can keep a secret?" he asked out of the blue.

Kate nodded. "Sure. What secret?"

Walking through the doors to the bottom floor of the tower, Tim glanced at the girl beside him. 'I doubt it would hurt to tell her who we are—someone is bound to slip up and say the wrong name anyway.'

"I'm Tim."

Author's Notes: First of all: Thank you Bobcat and Legend Maker for fixing Etrigan's lines (and for much more help, advice, etc)—you've saved my ass. In case you're wondering: no, there isn't a chance in hell that Kate could have even scratched Etrigan at that point... well, save for with the sword. And no, it isn't the all-powerful kill-a-hundred-demons-with-a-single-blow Fang, or a knockoff thereof. Noel did more damage to the demon in Legend Maker's Black and White, and vice verse. Etrigan was just toying with her—he could have easily killed her at any time. And if Jason Blood wants to drive from Gotham to Tokyo in an hour an a half, I'm sure he probably could, so going halfway down the eastern seaboard in a couple of hours should be a breeze. And I'm not going to explain away everything at the end of every chapter—use your imaginations because I don't want to spoil things... if anyone is actually reading this, anyway.