A/N: OK I realize that Raven's mother's name is Arella but I have a reason for changing it! Just thought everyone should know :P. Well anyway here's another chapter and enjoy!

Four

Memories of Witches

Raven's POV

"Concentrate, Raven," Rorek insisted.

I breathed deeply, trying to envision the portal opening. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Azarath Metrion Zinthos," I intoned, attempting to connect myself with my home world.

"C'mon Rae," Beast Boy muttered from behind me.

I had been trying to open this stupid portal for days now, and I had never succeeded… how had I opened the gateway to Azarath before?

'Emotion,' Knowledge suggested. 'Remember, your powers are driven by emotions.'

'Right, emotion,' I answered. 'But I'm not in a raging anger.'

'Who said it had to be rage?' Wisdom asked.

'It was last time!' Happy said.

'You could release me…' Rage hissed.

'NO!' all of us cried together.

'I know what could do it!' Happy squealed.

'Dear Azar do I want to hear?' Rude drawled.

'Yep! Ya sure do! Be happy!'

'I doubt I'll be happy enough to open a portal.'

"Raven!" a voice cried, snapping me out of my trance. I looked at Rorek. "Take a break, Raven," he commanded. "Think of something that will help you to open this gateway."

I nodded and got up, walking away from Rorek. Beast Boy took my hand and walked beside me. "If Rorek's so great a mage, why doesn't he try and open it?" I muttered angrily.

"Aw, Rae you know you're the only one who can do it," Beast Boy answered. "Rorek's just trying to help, and after all, he may be the only way we can do this. He knows more about magic than you or me."

I nodded. "Well I guess I should try again," I sighed, and I turned around to walk back. Beast Boy grabbed my hand and pulled at my arm. The next thing I knew he was pressing his lips against mine.

'Oooh!' Love laughed.

He pulled me towards him and embraced me in his strong arms.

'Emotion!' Wisdom shouted.

'Ooh! Right! Azarath Metrion Zinthos! Azarath! Azarath! Azarath!' I thought.

Suddenly, lightning flashed through the sky. By the mines, I told myself. The sky turned blood red and a great hole was ripped open. Fire fell from the hole and Beast Boy and I broke… oh no. The hole was shrinking!

"Rorek! We have to hurry!" I shouted. Rorek sprinted towards us and Beast Boy and he grabbed my hands. With all my might I fought against the howling tempest around me and flew towards the portal. It would barely fit us all through. Closer… closer… My head shot through the portal above me, followed by the rest of my body and my companions…

…And I found myself plummeting towards hard ground. The sky was blood red and I was falling at an alarming speed… at least it had worked. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" I cried. A black dome surrounded the three of us just as we crashed into the hard Azarathian ground. We were knocked off our feet from the collision and a huge cloud of dust was thrown into the air.

The dust eventually faded and Rorek stood up, sweeping dust off of his clothes. "Well there was much to be desired in that landing… but at least we're here," he said coolly.

"Rae, do you know where we are?" Beast Boy asked.

I looked around… all of Azarath basically looked the same… except for here. Behind us rose a great structure made from red and black bricks. It had a huge speared fence surrounding it and its spires seemed to pierce the crimson sky. Four-eyed blackbirds circled around it and perched on its towers.

I knew where we were.

I yanked Beast Boy and Rorek's clothes and pulled them behind a rock that shielded us from the view of the castle. "What the—?"

"Ssh!" I hissed. "That is Trigon's palace! He may have seen us already!"

Footsteps came from the direction of the palace.

'Crap!' Rude shouted.

"Don't worry," Rorek whispered, and he muttered a few words.

"Uh, dude you didn't do anything," Beast Boy said.

"Silence," Rorek hissed.

The last person on earth, well Azarath, I wanted to see walked past us… Malefica. That witch was the reason we were in this position. Two flame guards escorted her, not that she needed them. Beast Boy muttered something along the lines of "Damn bitch."

"Stop," Malefica ordered. She turned around and looked directly at us. I didn't know what Rorek had done, or if he had even done anything because I could still see myself. Malefica walked up to us until she was towering above me, her cold purple eyes staring into mine. She reached her hand out and grasped for me. I readied myself to attack as her hand landed on my hair… and went right through! She touched the rock we were leaning against, and her eyebrows rose. "Hmm, very well," she continued to look straight at me. "Come then," she ordered to the flame guards and continued on.

"Oh my God, what did you do?" Beast Boy hissed.

"I made us intangible," Rorek answered. "I suppose that that was Malefica?"

I nodded. "So wait, we can see ourselves and everything but no one else can see us?" Beast Boy continued his interrogation.

"Correct," Rorek chuckled. "It's nice to have people who have such a deep understanding of magic around me."

"Look here, dude, we brought you here—"

"And I agreed to stay," Rorek's smile broadened.

"Stop," I begged. "Men," I mumbled as I got up.

"Hey!" Gar exclaimed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind… but at least I learnt know one thing… even hundreds of years ago men were pig heads," I allowed myself a smile.

Rorek laughed. "Very well then Raven, but concerning the matter at hand… where do you suppose Malefica is going?"

I shrugged. "She might be going to the mines…"

'It would be wise to follow,' Wisdom suggested.

"I think we should follow," I continued. "Can you maintain your intangibility spell?"

Rorek laughed again. "Please dude I'm Rorek, the greatest mage who ever lived."

"OK, just don't try and talk like your from the present," I answered sarcastically. The word 'dude' just wasn't mean to come out of Rorek's mouth.

"Fine," Rorek replied. "But really, time means nothing to a mage such as myself, other than a thing to be manipulated… better?"

"Much," I replied. "OK, they've put a bit of space between ourselves and them, we should get going."

Beast Boy and Rorek nodded and we set out, following that witch Malefica.

I was home again… but it didn't give me comfort, and as we followed Malefica, I could not ignore the feeling of four eyes burning into my back… and the look in Malefica's eyes as she had looked at me was forged into my memory… had she seen me? Was it possible…?

Suddenly, the memories of my mother came to mind. Shudders ran up my spine… that night was burned into my memory. Even to this day I remembered it… I would never forget it.

Malefica's POV

Shudders ran up my spine as I remembered that eerie feeling… I could have sworn that for a second I had seen Raven, Beast Boy and a man crouched against that rock… but there hadn't been anything. Yet I knew I had heard the faint sound of breathing, but when I reached out to grab Raven's hair, there was nothing.

Illusions… it had to be an illusion. It wasn't possible for them to be here… Lord Trigon had blocked the way from earth to Azarath.

The real reason I was working for Trigon returned to my mind… I had to bury it! I couldn't expect Trigon to repay me… he had no reason to. If I allowed my thoughts to surface I would be only crushed when Trigon told me he would not reward me… I knew what my fate was. Eventually my worth to Lord Trigon would expire, and then I would be killed most likely… but I would fight him. I would scar that demon as much as I could. But if I knew that was my fate, why was I still serving Trigon?

False hope filled me. If I continued to succeed, perhaps he would keep me forever. I was afraid to die… I didn't want to die yet. I didn't want to go with my parents. The last time I had seen them we were in a big fight… I went to a party and when I came back they were dead… their necks slit. The memories of that night haunted me to this day.

I was afraid to die.

Crescent's POV

"Where are you going, mommy?" I asked, wiping the tiredness out of my eyes. It was midnight.

"Mommy has something to do, Crescent. Go back to sleep, in the morning we'll celebrate your birthday," she promised.

"OK mommy. Good night," I went back to sleep.

But my spirit followed my mother… it was another one of these dreams. This night was imprinted in my memory, but only from my point of view. I floated; following my mother as she ran down streets and through neighborhoods until finally she reached the old warehouse that had been at the edge of our town.

I passed through the roof of the warehouse… and my ethereal heart skipped a beat. Trigon was facing my mother.

"So," Trigon rumbled. "Here we meet again… seven years later. Where is the girl?"

"I told you, I will not allow you to do this," my mother answered. She was wearing a white cloak and she pulled the hood off her head, shaking her dark hair.

"You did not bring Crescent?" he demanded. "I have left my mark on her, it is too late for you to do anything, Azara! You know that!"

"I do not care, I will not allow you to her revive Him," my mother clenched her fists and grit her teeth. "I will destroy you, Trigon."

"Do not make me laugh," the demon cackled. "I quiver in fear," he mocked. "You cannot stop me! Lord Karaz will rise!"

"The Portal is not here," Azara replied coolly. "You know that the Portal must be present for the Key to work… just as the Key would have to present for the Portal to bring all of you into the world if you were to be vanquished. You do not have the Orb of Karaz either."

"The Orb will be mine, you are not quite so smart as you think. And I will take the girl to the Portal," Trigon snapped. "Now, take me to her!"

"Take her yourself."

"You know I cannot enter your home!"

Azara laughed. "Well you're out of luck!" she reached into her pocket and pulled something out. It was a ring with strange symbols engraved upon it.

"You have a Ring of Azar?" Trigon asked, backing away.

"Yes, and I will use it," Azara threatened.

A snarl formed on Trigon's lips. "You have neither the heart nor the strength."

"Try me," Azara smiled lightly.

Trigon raised his claws up. "Karazon Racashaus Endere!" he cried just as my mother roared: "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

My eyes were blinded momentarily. The ring in Azara's hand flared to life in white magic while red light erupted from Trigon's hands. Pillars of crackling light shot up into the air and engulfed the city, washing over it like fire. In the sky lightning flashed and thunder screamed, and below Azara and Trigon were shrieking in pain as the contrasting magic engulfed them. The war of arcane fire slowly faded and I gasped… Azara was lying on the ground, bloodied and burned, not breathing… and Trigon was gone! But the ring Azara held in her hand was glowing and shaking by itself. In my mother's other hand was a rolled up piece of paper.

The dream faded around me…

My eyes flashed open and I sat up, rubbing my temple. I was soaked in cold sweat. "Oh my God," I whispered. The day after that had happened, my birthday, had haunted me forever… the crushing loss of my mother, and the prospect of starting over… it was branded into my mind for eternity. I shuddered and looked at my palms, checking for the red marks… they weren't there.

I lay back down and breathed deeply… and I slowly fell back asleep.

A/N: Ooh! What's everyone talking about! lol. Well hope you enjoyed : SoR