Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titan's or this song but the plot and non-Titan Characters are mine.
Note: The POV changes between Raven and Beast Boy.
Chapter 4
In every creature
In every star
In your reflection
They live in you
I opened my eyes and blinked in confusion trying to understand how we had suddenly appeared here and where exactly here was. It felt as though we were underground in a cave but I couldn't see either the walls or the roof. Before us was a giant pool of water smooth as glass. The strange man and woman were gone and it was only us. Beast Boy stood looking at the pool warily and his face was closed in trepidation. He had some idea of what was about to happen and it was making him nervous and a little edgy. Robin looked around as though he was puzzled to be here and looking at him and Cyborg I could tell that they both had the same little nagging feeling in the back of their minds that they knew this place deep in their bones they recognised it and it wasn't an altogether comfortable feeling. Starfire was simply looking around in confusion. She obviously had no idea where we were or what was going on. I almost envied her.
"Beast Boy what is going on? Why are we here and who was that woman?" Robin said focusing on our green team mate. Beast Boy's shoulders sagged a little and he turned to us.
"You need to ask that Robin? You honestly need me to answer that?" his eyes were wary and bruised, the shadows that had never seemed to touch him revealed themselves in the emerald orbs. He rolled his right shoulder as though trying to settle himself, preparing himself for some task that lay ahead.
"It would be a help yes." Robin answered taking his feelings out on his friend for lack of a better target. Beast Boy sighed and turned away from us once more and flopped onto the dirt floor.
"Think Robin what was your first thought when you all saw her?" Robin's eyes narrowed.
"Powerful, she was incredibly powerful." he said reluctantly to the green teens back.
"I'd met her before somewhere." Cyborg said simply, then his human eye narrowed, "I just can't remember where."
"You have Cy, Robin and Raven probably feel the same way." he'd dropped his head and looked abandoned and miserable.
"I do not feel as though I know her." Starfire spoke up and took a step towards Beast Boy then hesitated. "Why is that?" she asked and Beast Boy raised his head again and looked to the pool.
"Because you aren't from this planet Star. You came from a place different then Earth. Life evolved under a different set of rules on your planet. Earth took a more hands on approach." he said the last sentence not much more then a whisper fading off to nothing at the last word.
"You're not making any sense Beast Boy. Who is she?" Robin demanded to frazzled to think clearly. Something had obviously thrown him for a loop and he couldn't manage to get back on. Finally I spoke as the answer came to me like a ancient memory.
"Think for a moment Robin. She has something to do with Earth and nowhere else. The three of us feel as though we've met her before. Think." I said turning to him for a moment, "What force could transport all of us to who only knows where and yet we recognise that we've been here before." I felt a presence enter the room and turned to face the woman. "Mother Nature." I said softly and she gave us a small smile.
"Some know me as that yes." she walked forward and Beast Boy turned his head to watch her. She moved with a silent grace as though she was one with the earth so when she stepped it made no noise, even the air hung undisturbed at her passing. There was a power around her but it was passive power, a power that hung like a calm serenity cloak and stilled everything that fell within it.
"Wha, but I thought that was only a story?" Cyborg said watching her warily. The woman turned to him and smiled softly.
"Where do you believe that the stories came from, why does every culture on every continent have the same belief that there is some greater power, a being that is more then them?" she chuckled softly when Robin and Cyborg had no reply. "You see me in this form because that is how your own instincts interpret how I must be. But in other times in other places I have been many things." she gave us all a soft smile. I felt myself relaxing I couldn't find any malice within this woman. Suddenly there was another presence in the room and we all turned to see the man who had fought with Beast Boy enter.
He was unchanged from how he'd been in the dream, he moved with a flowing lethal grace. His hair hung silver and his eyes glitter that pale tiger blue with only that single gold fleck marring their purity of colour. Where the woman's power was passive his was almost volatile. Flickering within him testing a level control that reduced me to awe. I'd longed to have that kind of control over my powers and somehow this man did. He watched us with a distrustful gaze and I shivered as it passed over me and Robin glared right back.
"Don't mind him," the woman spoke softly, "he'll only harm you if he decides you're a threat to me." she said softly and Beast Boy looked at her, his gaze never leaving her form as though she was the anchor that held him here. She looked at Beast Boy and spoke softly in a language that I felt tug again at memory as though I knew what she was saying but at the same time I had forgotten it. Beast Boy raised his shoulders then dropped them almost with a shrug and at the same time let out a breath. The same flowing slightly musical language slid from his lips more naturally then English and they conversed for a moment and I realised that inside the strange words was a shadowy undertone that said this same language used in anger would strike terror into a mortal heart. Finally the woman nodded and the two hand she had clasped loosely at her waist were raised before her palms inward and slender fingers nearly touching then she spread them wide as though embracing the invisible.
A single call tolled through the chamber and the closest I'd ever heard to it was a beautiful silver bell that had tolled only once on Azerath. The silence that followed was even purer then the first sound. Within my thoughts I could almost see the results of the summon even though I didn't know what she was calling. Animals would have frozen for a moment prey and predator standing side by side listening to messages within the silence. The wind would have stopped everything on earth would have froze in place for that soundless thunder. In the cities of the world millions of people would have suddenly stopped and looked towards the direction that it had come from curiously unable to understand what it was everyone else heard. Even the insects buzzing in the air and crawling on and in the earth would have stopped to listen. Plants would turn flowers and leaves also as though dreaming minds within them sought to listen before returning to sleep. What I didn't know was what would happen when the tail end of the thunder passed. What kind of message would it leave behind?
I was broken out of my reverie as shadows gathered around the edges of the cavern. They were backlit silhouettes some that I recognised and others I'd never dreamed of. The black shadow of a lion and lioness came forward as did the towering neck of a giraffe. A bull stood in the shadows to my left and two wolves stood closest to us. I turned around and realised that it seemed as thought every form of life that wandered the planet was in the room with us. At the back of the crowd creatures that seemed larger then life loomed, lost rulers of an age long past. A T-Rex, a Sabre-toothed tiger and strange creatures archaeologists had never seen before. I swallowed as a snake slithered to the front of the crowd and insects littered the fringes.
"My Children," the woman spoke and I realised that this was what the summons had been for. "The day has come, the Cub will take the tests, will you stand judge and jury for him as you have for those that came before." I stared in awe as every one of them bowered their heads. I saw then for the first time the birds that sat above the crowd watching with interest. But still as the others, only silhouettes. "To find his place he's come before you, with us here are the Family, the partial watchers that will witness. You know them, do any object?" she asked and again not a creature contradicted her, here she cast a look at the man that seemed to say I told you so. Then she turned back to the crowd of creatures. "I present the Cub." she looked over at Beast Boy who rose and walked the five paces to her hesitantly. When he reached her side she placed a hand upon his shoulder and spoke to him yet the words were for the creatures. Again they were in that strange language but this time they translated themselves for my ears.
"Do you swear to follow the laws my son?" she asked.
"Yes great Mistress. You're laws are mine." he replied.
"Do you accept the brethren judging you?" again Beast Boy agreed.
"You're children are more worthy then I Great Mother."
"Will you accept the judgement of your Brethren?" Beast Boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath then looked up at them and spoke softly.
"My Brother and Sisters shall be my Jury, my own actions my judge." the woman allowed a smile to slide onto her lips then she looked again to the crowd.
"What do you say my children." the noise was deafening as every creature let out a howl, roar, or whatever sound was theirs to make. The woman smiled and nodded as the sounds faded.
"Then let the Tests begin." she said. It was a proclamation and it was what we'd all been brought here for. She turned still keeping her hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and made a motion for us to come forward which we did and we all stared at the reflections that were revealed to us in the still crystal clear waters of the pool.
Robin's reflections wasn't of him but of a dark shadow, red scars crisscrossed it but it stood strong and defiant in the face of danger his soul tossed its head at the challenge. Cybrogs revealed a tall black skinned boy with glowing blue eyes and a easy smile, his soul was just as powerful as ever even partially encased in titanium. The power in his blue eyes was that of a warrior the same as the one that had defied Brother Blood. Starfire's soul revealed itself as a warrior queen, a circlet upon her brow and a bow in hand, sewn into the soft fabrics of her dress was a strange symbol I didn't recognised but appeared faintly Tammarian yet uniquely belonged to the golden eyed, sapphire haired, woman. I took a deep breath and glanced at my own reflection. What sort of soul would mine be revealed to be?
A version of me stood clothed in white while darkness flashed around it, unable to touch it yet hiding it from view. "You are not the evil you believe yourself to be dark daughter. You are a child of one of my fallen children and true his blood runs in you but your soul shall never belong to your sire. You've proved it by banishing him back to the hell that he's created for himself. Stay strong. You have earned the life you live…" My violet eyes flew over to the woman but stopped when they saw the soul that laid in the water as well. A gangly teen small for his age with bloody red hair and pale celtic complexion stood there. His sapphire eyes grabbed mine for a moment then the teen melted down to a small child less then fire years old but I knew the spark in those eyes. Then the boy faded down and a ebony wolf rose in it's place it's eyes flashing gold then it was gone as well and a formless emerald wrath oozed malice then the teen was back and I saw the will in the sapphire eyes that was so well hidden I barely saw it. Though I'd never seen the like of it before I knew what it was. Beast Boy's soul was a survivor. I raised my eyes for the pool and watched as the green teen took a deep breath then he raised his eyes took a last look at all of us and dove into the pools clear crystalline depths…
… I opened my eyes to see that I was no longer in the room with a pool instead it was a room softly lit by an indistinct light source. Robin, Cyborg and Star were curled up on their own pallets. I rose and shook my violet head then tiptoed out. The mother was where we had left her hours ago watching the Tests Beast Boy was taking in a small bowl that held a portion of the pool waters. I took my customary place next to her and leaned forward to look in the waters as well. He had been in there for three days now and I learned that nothing was as it seemed in this place. I'd had nothing to eat or drink in the time I'd been here and also the sneaking suspicion that time wasn't really passing. At the same time all I had to do was look in the bowl to see that wasn't the case for Beast Boy. The details of what happened were always foggy within my mind and when I asked her about it she simply gave a soft smile and said that we would each only remember what our hearts deemed worthy of remembrance. Time wherever that pool had led Beast Boy was absolutely flying, in the last three days he'd aged nearly thirty years and I had the feeling that he had lived everyone of those days. The Tests didn't just test the body and mind they tested the soul in a way I'd never be able to understand. They felt out and searched for every crack every strength and every weakness, and they exploited it and followed it till they couldn't anymore. Then they found a new one.
I sat and watched intently following every motion Beast Boy made. His hair hung thick and heavy around his head his body was no longer a teen's or rather, as I'd come to realise, a child's. He appeared somewhere between his mid twenties to his mid thirties but his eyes held all the years his body didn't show. He'd fashioned himself a strange type of clothing more like a pair of primitive leggings with a loin cloth they hugged the well developed muscles of his legs and butt. Not the over defined under used muscles like a body lifter and even though I hated to say it like Robin and Cyborg. No these muscles were from simple necessity, honed down and toned by the miles and labours of each new day. I knew there were many things that were happening, undercurrents that I couldn't fathom. In silence I watched as the images blurred out before my eyes and I looked at the Mother curiously.
Only to find her staring at me expectantly. Her ancient golden eyes glittered softly with knowledge and a sharp intelligence tempered softly with understanding. I looked at her then glanced away. Looking into her eyes was unnerving as though she was listening directly to my soul and there were no secrets.
"You had a question?" she asked simply and I looked up at her feeling a blush slid across my face to my mortification which only added to the colour.
"I can't hide it from you can I?" I said simply and her lips slid into an easy smile but she didn't reply.
"I was just having a few more questions about everything." I told her softly. "He isn't like us is he?" I told her gathering my courage.
"No, he's not. None of my children have been like him before and none will ever be again. That's why he must take the tests. He is something that evolution didn't count in it's formula."
"That dream I had, the night before. You sent it to me?" I asked her and she tilted her head to one side.
"You mean the two visions? Yes I sent you the first one. But the second wasn't my gift." she replied and I narrowed my eyes.
"If you didn't send it who did?" a semi-familiar aura slid against my back and I knew. I turned around to meet the blue eyes of the man. He smiled revealing slightly over pointed canines.
"You did." I said softly answering my own question. The man gave me a considering look then glanced over at the woman and I felt a message pass between them.
"I think you can answer this one." the woman leaned back and I saw again the challenge that had been in her eyes. She was in charge but they worked as a duo and he was as powerful in his own way. He snarled at her then looked over at me.
"I know the pup better then she," he stressed the word and gave the woman a glare, "gives me credit for. In order to finish the tests the pup must find the meaning, the reason he is." he glanced at the bowl then at the woman momentarily distracted. "He's close isn't he?" the woman nodded.
"He's always known it in a way he merely needed to tests to aid him in proving it to the rest of him." she looked up at me, "for him to believe that he was worthy of it." the man looked at the bowl again as though he could see through the mists that hid Beast Boy from my sight.
"Anyway in order to leave he needs to have an anchor on this side of the pool. I merely nudged your thoughts the proper direction." he shrugged. I had no idea what memory you picked up from him till you saw it. I never expected him to remember that conversation." the woman chuckled.
"You never did give him credit."
"That's because he's an idiot." the man snapped back and the woman let out a whoop of laughter.
"No he's just got enough Human in him to try your patience and make him far more curious then anything else. You've never had the patience." the man snorted but I knew that that the woman was right. Though I thought that Beast Boy was rather prone to the stupid as well.
"That's all I can say. It's not time for the rest." the man snapped and giving the woman on final glare disappeared.
"Is he always that testy?" I asked her and the woman chuckled again.
"No child, he's always been like this when someone takes the tests. You see he's typically male and to our female minds inexplicable. He's over protective of the children even the ones he doesn't get along with. They're all his after all and the Cub is different." she trailed off and I looked at her with interest.
"How?" I asked and the woman met my gaze and her eyes flared.
"You tell me." I drew back in surprise at her tone then my eyes flicked back and forth over the ground as I struggled for an answer somehow compelled to reply.
"Because.. Because…"
flash
-"Our blood! You gave him our blood!" the man interrupted and the woman's eyes narrowed on his in annoyance-
flash
"He's literally your child. That's why he can change into animals, you gave him some of your own blood." the woman leaned back a satisfied smile on her face.
"Yes. That is why he's different. Why there will never be another like him. Few souls in the world could draw our gaze from the millions to their one. And never in 8 millennia have circumstances and fickle chance placed a soul of that select group into a situation that made what happen possible. It will not happen again. He is now that last of that particular genetic family that made it possible."
"What do you mean? You're saying that there was something in Beast Boy's DNA originally that let you, give him your blood." the woman nodded.
"Only two separate families held the single flaw in their DNA that allowed it. In the Cubs case his Great Grandparents joined the two strains. The strain was particular. It could only be passed down from a holder to child. If a child was born without the flaw then no children of theirs would carry it and only one child was born with it. The Cubs Grandfather held it. Then his mother. She was an only child, when she married his father the strand should have been overwhelmed but circumstances around the Cubs birth made it possible for the strain to stay with him."
"What circumstances?" I asked and the woman gave a sad smile.
"In the womb a babies DNA develops with the fetus, the strand controlling everything from when the baby kicks to birth marks. The cub was born three months early. He barely made it and it was that early birth that allowed the strand to survive. It was suddenly forgotten about while his mind and body struggled to survive." she looked back at the bowl. I did too as Beast Boy appeared again in the water and I realised that he'd aged even more…
… I shifted in my sleep a presence pushing uncomfortably against my aura. When the discomfort continued I reluctantly awoke and froze when I opened my eyes directly into that of a Siberian tiger. Seeing I was awake the tiger jumped off the bed and shifted into the form of the man.
"Come." he said simply and started out of the room, none of the others even twitched as he passed by them. I looked at them curiously then followed him out before I was even aware of having decided to. He led me to the strange wooden doors at the end of a large corridor. I stopped behind him faintly remembering entering through them when we'd been taken from the big cave and pool. The doors swung open before him and I followed as he swept into the room with the wary confidence of a seasoned warrior. The mother was standing by the edge of the pool and the myriad of animals still circled the room. She looked at me and then at the man.
"Raven, Dark daughter, Hope." she said softly as though presenting me to the crowd. I looked around curiously wondering what was going on. The Man pressed a hand to my lower back and propelled me none to softly across the room to the woman. She must have seen the questions in my eyes because she gave a encouraging smile and spoke softly to me.
"The tests are done. It's time for the cub to return. It is usually decided by the brethren who retrieves him. They've called on you dark daughter, will you retrieve your friend?" she asked and I froze then looked at the pool.
"Why me?" I asked softly not seeing why I should be the one to do it.
"Because it is their will. They may tell you after but their reasons are each their own. You will do it won't you?" she asked and I looked at the pool once more then swallowed my nerves and quelled the doubts and nodded.
"Yes, I'll do it." the woman nodded and met the mans eyes then stepped to the side giving me a clear path to the crystal waters behind her.
"Kneel on the edge." she instructed and I did as she bid and again the image of my soul leapt up and the white clad woman stood easily in her bubble of darkness. She knelt beside me and spoke softly. "Have you wondered what it means?" I knew instinctively that she was referring to my reflection.
"Yes, but I don't understand it." I told her and she gave a soft smile.
"The blackness the surrounds it represents the taint from your fathers touch and the dark magic you were born with. The woman clad in white is you. It is the proof if you accept it that you are not the evil being that you mistakenly believe yourself to be. See the white, that represents both goodness and serenity." she looked up from the water and gazed at me forcing my eyes to meet hers.
"Clever and powerful you name sake may be but like you, it is never truly evil unless it believes it's self to be. You defeated your father, stopping the prophecy and shattering his only hope into coming into this world." she tenderly brushed a strand of hair away form my face behind my ear, "You were the gateway and for choosing to stay locked I bless you. While your powers are still as they always were, remember that true serenity only comes from accepting all emotions as what they are, responses that can't be repressed or controlled merely worked around." her smile was soft and sad.
"Now look into the water and call him with your thoughts. Project yourself diving into the image that you see there." I turned back to the water and my image shifted to look at me then smiled encouraging and confident. I looked hard and saw the second image behind my own. The shifting landscape of the world Beast Boy had gone to. I felt my consciousness slip out of my body and I dove into they water to get him…
… I looked up at a soft step approaching my fire. A scent was in the air, something totally foreign that I knew the likes of which had never trod upon this land before. My skin prickled at their approach. All my senses rushed to try and place this new occupant. I hadn't spent the last two hundred years in the place to not learn anything. My left hand shifted into a claw and I prepared to fight or run depending who was coming. They were coming for me this I somehow understood, if not whether they were friend or foe. They paused at the edge of the firelight I could see their outline but even with my eyes improved vision I couldn't see any of their features. They were slender and I understood a femininity that belied the slightly masculine build of their shoulders that placed an adolescent, not yet full grown. A growl grew in my chest unconsciously as this newcomer made me uncomfortable. They made a noise that caused my memory to flicker and I tilted my head curiously recognising that they were unsure as well. I struggled back through the ages searching for the memory that had recognised the sound they'd made. "Beast Boy?" the two words brought an image to mind. Slowly I thought hard for the words to come from the own throat.
"Who is there?" I asked surprised softly by the depth of my voice. The form stepped into the moonlight at the edge of the forest and I understood in a moment who they were and why they were here. "Raven?" I said in wonder and rose, my hand shifting back easily. She was slightly transparent as though she wasn't truly in front of me. The wind rose and doused the flames casting the night into the stark bounds of black and moonlit silver. The silver slid like a caress over her pale cheek and as I watched her body filled out and expanded as time around her bloomed and she aged from girl to woman. Her hair fell to waist in a long luscious violet curtain and she was clothed in a white moon blessed shift. It hung off her shoulders clinging coyly to the swell of her breasts then tauntingly over her hips. It fell to her knees sleek and alluring. She glanced down at herself and her expression said that suddenly ageing into adulthood hadn't been mentioned to her. "Raven what are you doing here?" I asked her forcing my eyes up to her face. She looked at me and gave a small smile.
"It's time for you to come home." she said and I watched achingly, she was so beautiful… I held out a hand to her and she looked at it for a moment then placed her own in it. It was so small, pale and delicate in my big palm. I drew her close and for the first time truly noticed the changes that had been wrought on me.
I stood a close six feet and was broader in shoulders then Robin would ever be yet not as bulky as Cyborg. I possess almost a dancers build and when I bowed my head forward slightly to look at Raven, who nestled against me, both of us were unsure what was going on. I hugged her close relishing the first contact I'd had with another creature since I'd dove into the pool. Sure the prey I'd hunted since then had been comforting and the packs of animals I had run with had been security but with Raven was the first time I realised how alone I'd been. I let her go, the muscles in my arms rippling with the movement. She tilted her head back then looked around then back at me.
"Swear to god you never tell anyone what I'm about to do?" she asked and I tilted my head curiously as my own lips twitched, she seemed to be considering something that was nagging at her thoughts.
"I swear." I told her and she nodded then put a hand behind my head and pulled it down as she gave me a quick kiss on the lips she pulled back a hair's breath then said softly.
"I missed you. Now lets go home." she took her hand away and held it out to me. I placed mine in it my head still reeling. It quickly settled itself as the air around us warped and suddenly I wasn't there anymore…
"Welcome back Cub." The woman said and I opened my eyes and stood up from where I had kneeled at the edge of the pool. Beast Boy kneeled down before the woman in all his feral glory. I quickly looked down at myself and let out a breath of relief to see that was back in my own body and no longer the woman who'd fetched Beast Boy. Beast Boy was still in that adult flesh and I realised that the other Titans were with me now, how they'd gotten there I didn't know. Beast Boy answered the woman softly in that strange lilting language that the two of them had used before.
"Look up at me my child." Beast Boy did as he was told his eyes were gold now where they'd once been green. The Woman raised her arms to the crowd. "What is thy judgement my Children?" she asked and suddenly a strange haunting call rose from them, a blending of each and every sound they made into something far more beautiful and majestic. She smiled and softly a golden light gathered around her mingled with the silver blue of he man next to her, slowly as though reluctant to leave it's watery home a emerald green began to rise from the pool as it brushed past Beast Boy it snapped and crackled taking on hints of red. The three colours collected in the woman's hands and the raw power of it took my breath away and I stared in awed silence.
"The Brethren have spoken, they are unanimous, welcome my son. I give you the gift of yourself." the energies had concentrated into a roiling ball and it suddenly expanded and encased Beast Boy head to toe. I watched as the faint outline visible within the chaos began to shrink and twist as the energies shifted to form like a second skin over his body. Only it was no longer the body of a man, the years and maturity seemed to melt off his bones revealing the form of the small teen that we knew so well. The energies gave him the appearance of a spirit merely captured and holding a chosen form then they began to absorb into his skin till only Beast Boy remained looking for all the world that he had never dove into the pool and we had just arrived. Even his uniform clad the slender body as though it had never left. His head was still bowed and his eyes closed. The only difference was his hair, once forest emerald and close cropped now hung in a loose shag around his face and the odd strand flickered red and rose up as though something was running through them then they too went dark green and were still. Beast Boy swallowed and looked up at the woman who gave him a benign smile and spoke softly in that strange lilting language. Beast Boy's response was less then a hairs breadth later. He laid his head upon her knee and she rested a hand upon his hair and he was looking at me when the final change happened.
His incredible emerald eyes that always played with an inner fire dilated and softly gold the same shade as the woman's eyes rose from their depths then faded back. Except for a tiny sliver, which nestled contentedly in his left eye. The woman looked at me and her eyes glowed with remembered power. "You have passed your test as well daughter… You have proven yourself worthy…" Before I could consider what she had meant Beast Boy closed his eyes and softly murmured to the woman. She waved one hand gesturing to the millions of occupants in the cave with us.
"The tests are over. I present the Cub, once the child of all and the child of none, now the child off all and the child of one…" Beast Boy rose and looked around and every creature bowed their head in homage. Then the woman looked at us and gave a smile once more. "Thank your for witnessing my children. You may go home now." With a flash we were gone.