A/N: Well here's another chapter, and just so you know the italics are flashbacks. Enjoy! And please make my day and review :) SoR

Eight

In the Mines

Raven's POV

Beast Boy and I walked side by side a few feet ahead of Rorek, who was constantly looking around for signs of attack… ever since Malefica's assault on us I was considerably warier too, but seriously, Rorek's eyes were darting around like arrows… arrows. I fought the image of Speedy and the other Titans in these terrible mines. My spine tingled strangely as I remembered these pits… thousands had died in them. The air was rank with sulfur and noxious gases, and the work was tiring… I couldn't imagine why Trigon would be mining them though. All they held were the semiprecious Azar Stones, which had little value except for about ninety earth dollars. But Trigon was interested in money… he had to be seeking something else.

The mines weren't far away, and as we drew nearer to them I pulled Beast Boy to the side, and Rorek followed. "Ssh," I put my finger to my lips and waited to see if anyone was coming in or out of them. I turned to the side of me… and gasped.

A mountain of corpses rose behind me. "Sweet Azar," I whispered. "This can't be…"

"A mountain of bodies… the remains of once innocent people. The fruits of Trigon's evils," Rorek whispered thoughtfully.

"That's sick," Beast Boy managed.

"Sick, but perhaps we can use it to our advantage," Rorek thought out loud.

"What?" I asked.

"Well we can't very well waltz—"

Beast Boy chuckled… "No one says waltz anymore."

Rorek raised his eyebrows and smiled shortly. "We can't just walk into the mines like this… it's far too obvious. No one will notice three more slaves."

"Except for Malefica," I answered.

"We'll just have to avoid her," the mage replied. "Now here, help me get three of these rags," he said the last word with eminent disgust.

I reluctantly nodded and went over to a young girl around my age… and I fought the tears from my eyes… should I search for them?

'They're alive,' Trust said softly. 'Trust me.'

I had to believe that they were amongst the living still, I couldn't give up hope on them. I just couldn't! I stripped the girl of her rag and pulled it over my head. "We can't just leave the three of them here naked," I insisted. "It's an insult to their legacy, to their pain," I said.

"Fine," Rorek waved his hand and three white robes covered the bodies of the three corpses. "Happy?"

"Very," I smiled, and I levitated them to the back to the pile, hoping that no one would notice. I wasn't really happy, but at least their lives were honored. "Now come on, we have to move."

I entered the mine and my eyes stung immediately, the presence of the terrible gases hadn't been very prominent outside, but in here it was. There was no one around, not a soul was near to the light.

"Well, this isn't exactly a desirable living condition," Rorek wrinkled his nose as Beast Boy wiped his eyes. My eyes were watering from the sting. "Here," Rorek muttered a few words and the stinging faded. "That should protect us from that."

"Thanks," Beast Boy said and we walked forward into silence. For a long time it was just a straight path, and the farther we walked in, the fainter the light became. "This is creeping me out," Gar looked around nervously. Then we came to a fork in the path, and I heard footsteps coming from the left.

"Quickly," I hissed and pulled them to the right fork and we remained completely and totally still and silent. The footsteps grew louder and at last the person came into view.

'Malefica!' Bravery shouted. 'Attack! Attack!'

'Don't let your courage make you naïve,' Wisdom warned. 'Even with the three of you, Malefica would be almost impossible to take down.'

'But…' I trailed off. 'We have surprise.'

'No!' Wisdom shouted.

'Let me feed on her soul!' Rage hissed. 'Let me drink her blood and slurp her eyeball out of her sockets! Let me feed on her innards!'

'Ewww that's disgusting,' Happy cried. 'Raven, Rage is creeping me out!'

'Shut up,' Rude snapped.

I sighed mentally. 'Stop.'

I held Beast Boy tightly as he began to move towards Malefica… luckily this time she didn't hear us and continued walking towards the light. Eventually she was out of sight.

"That was close," Rorek admitted.

"We could've taken her!" Beast Boy complained.

"No," I answered flatly. "Now come on! If Malefica came from that direction then that's where we should go."

"How do you know?" Rorek asked.

"If she was there it's gotta be important, right?" Beast Boy asked.

"Well it's better than nothing I suppose," Rorek supposed. "Let us go."

We crept through the dark path that Malefica had come through. It was illuminated only sparsely by torches that did not burn very brightly. "I don't like this place," Beast Boy whispered.

I took his hand in mine and held it tightly. "Everything will be alright," I assured, looking around nervously… and more than once saw a few huge crawling creatures! I shook the disgust out of me and finally we reached a large cavern. It was lit up fairly well by larger torches, but it was filled with dirty, ragged slaves and flame guards. I tugged my friends to behind some rocks.

"The last thing we need is to be sent to work," I hissed and we crept behind the rocks. Luckily, no one saw us as we slithered along on the ground. It seemed to take forever to get around the cavern… it was even larger than I had expected!

I poked my head out from behind the rocks and saw we were in a less populated part of the cavern; it seemed to separated into small cliques of people. One girl was working by herself, I could only see the back of her head, but she had dark hair. She sat down after awhile and rested against the rock we were behind. I heard her speaking and my heart skipped a beat…

"Oh, Aqualad… why did I do that? Why did I let you get attacked like that?" I heard her moaning and sniffle. "Why! Why did you have to just leave me here, mom? What kind of mother are you!" she hissed.

I shivered as memories of my mother came back to me…

"Mommy, where are you going?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes from the staircase. My mother turned around and walked up to me, taking my nine-year-old head in her hands. She looked straight into my eyes.

"I have somewhere to go, Raven… and remember everything I do is to protect you," she smiled. It had been about a year since we had moved to Jump City from Azarath.

"Does it have to do with daddy?" I asked naively, still not grasping what had been prophesized.

She looked deep into my eyes and tears filled her own. "Go to sleep, my dear. I promise everything will be alright…"

I listened to my mother and went back up to my room.

The next morning I was rudely awakened by a bunch of policemen in my room.

"Wha?" I asked. In front of them was an almost ethereal woman… she had long dark hair and she wore a flowing dark robe. A strange silvery aura surrounded her. "Who are you?" I asked softly.

"My name is Azar, and I have come to take you to complete your training… you're mother is dead."

"Raven," Beast Boy whispered sternly.

"What? Oh right… did you hear what that girl said?" I asked softly.

"Aqualad… I know," Beast Boy replied.

"You know him?" Rorek asked. We nodded. "Then we should talk to her," he responded. I nodded again and crept quietly out from behind the rocks and tapped her on the back. Her head whipped around, and my heart froze.

The long dark hair. The deep eyes. The almost gray skin. The glint of a red diamond on her forehead.

"Oh my God," we whispered at the same time.

"What's your name?" I asked, almost scared for the answer.

"Crescent," she whispered. "What's yours?"

"Raven."

It couldn't be.

Things had just gotten a lot more complicated…