An Author's note: You actually got most of it right, Gaxe. Zipatila was indeed one of Arella's familiars and he did indeed die, but he wasn't a raven. He was another type of bird. As for Raven being responsible for his death…well just keep reading and see. Hint: Ever seen the episode Go? Ever notice that Raven looks like she is about ready to burst into tears in that episode? Okay, I'm exaggerating about the tears, but she does look very upset about something, or at least to me she does. This had something to do with that.
As for why Arella wants her familiars to follow Raven, well think a bit about what a familiar is for a while and see if you can come up with something!
Oh, and just to clear one thing up, those two light beams mentioned in the pervious chapter are emitted through the minotaur's horns. Sorry, I was not clear on that.
Wonder what happened to my first reviewer, TDG3RD. The rest of you guys have been sending me feedback every chapter, but this one does not. Kind of makes me wonder if I somehow scared this one off…oh well. If you are still reading let me know please!
On with the show!
Chapter Fifteen
Late Night Chats
"Dude, what is that guy's problem?" Beast Boy asked as they lead there horses to the tower stables. Beast Boy checked over his shoulder and found that Arucules had decided to let them take care of the night horses themselves and had entered the tower. That was fine with Beast Boy, he was afraid that the big minotaur would randomly attack them again.
"He was just testing me, and you guys too, most likely. I was his last student remember?" Raven said.
"So he just randomly attacks his students?" Beast Boy asked, still a bit put off.
Raven nodded "According to him it's meant to teach you how to think quickly, but all it did for me was make me a bit ill tempered."
A bit ill tempered? Try extremely ill tempered. Beast Boy thought as he followed her into Falcon's Eye Tower's stables. They looked a bit on the abandoned side, as if they had not been used in a while. Aloud he said "So he randomly assaults you and calls you names? Who does he think he is?"
"He and I are last two Makhar in existence, Beast Boy." Raven said "And he also happens to be Azarath's answer to Superman. He's taken down more monsters than any of us have and as far as I know he has never lost a fight. Trust me; you don't want to get on his bad side. Just don't tell him that he resembles a cow, minotaurs hate that." She lead Mithrah to a stall, then glanced over Beast Boy's head and said "Cyborg what are you doing?"
Cyborg, after sticking his horse in his own stall, had just walked out and was proceeding to leave while his poor night horse stood there still saddled and looking offended to the extreme. It was not that Cyborg had purposely tried to abuse the night horse; it just never occurred to him that he needed to take care of it. He turned and gave Raven a puzzled look. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Raven pointed to the problem "Question Cyborg: would you be happy if I had borrowed your car but then brought it back to the tower and put it in the garage with mud all over it all the lights on and the engine running?"
"No way!" Cyborg said in a hurt tone.
"Then what makes you think you have the right to leave a night horse you borrowed in a stall still fully saddled without taking care of it properly?"
"Ummmmmmmmmmmm." Cyborg said, realizing that she had a point "Look I barely know how to ride the thing-"
"Cyborg?" Raven said through gritted teeth "just get over here and learn how to take care of your night horse. If you can spend five hours waxing an inanimate object you can spare ten minutes for a living thing."
Sheepishly Cyborg went over and listened as Raven went over how to properly take care of a night horse. He felt a bit bad, not because he like the things, in fact night horses were swiftly becoming his least favorite animal, but because Raven obviously thought that he would put his car above another living thing. Sure he loved his baby, but he knew that it was just a car. Hadn't he destroyed it once when Overload took it over? He wouldn't place the car above another living being. However, as it turned out he was much better at taking care of the night horse more than he was a riding it. It was over and done with quicker than Cyborg would have thought, and frankly he was glad for that. He was also glad that he was not the only one who needed instructions; even Robin with his familiarity with horses needed some help. The General was the only one she did not bug. He had taken care of his steed long ago and had left the Titans alone to be instructed.
After Raven had made sure that everyone had taken care of their night horses right she led them into the tower, which seemed almost as deserted as the stables.
"Does anyone live here?" Cyborg asked, looking around the deserted hallways.
"Just Arucules, really. Weren't you listening when I said that he and I were the only Makhar in existence?" Raven answered.
"He dwells here all alone? How sad!" Starfire said.
"Doesn't really seem to bother him, though." Raven said just as a familiar bellow echoed throughout the tower.
"GIRL! Bring those Earth people to the dining room! Unless they want to starve!"
"How can you stand being treated like this?!" Beast Boy growled.
"He's a minotaur, they're all like this." Raven said as she led the way.
As they entered the dining hall they found the General already seated and eating, as well as Arucules. The big table they were eating at was obviously designed to hold a lot of people, at might have at one point in time. It was made of beautiful mahogany, but the lack of people made it look to large and intimidating. Cyborg wondered if he would be faced with the horrible prospect of green leafy food, since their host…well…kind of resembled a cow. However to his delight he saw a large roasted bird of some sort on the table. There WAS a bowl of salad next to it, but Cyborg was determined to ignore it.
They dug in. Most of them partook of the large bird, but Beast Boy, still intent on his vegetarian ways, practically hogged the salad. While they ate Raven filled her old teacher in on the details of their visit. His reaction was similar to the General's, only Arucules was much more descriptive, almost to the point that he made the others sick.
When they were done Arucules suggested that they all go to bed for the night. Since they were very tired from the ride here they all agreed willingly. Besides, it was not like the minotaur had a Game station hidden in the closet, so what was the point of staying up? Since the place was basically deserted Arucules let them have their choice of rooms. The Titans basically took over a wing full of small apartments, one Titan to a room.
However, Beast Boy just could not sleep. He hated unfamiliar beds in unfamiliar rooms. It made him feel a bit on the lost side. He needed the comforting smells and sounds of his real room, and he was restless without them. He tossed and turned on his bed, trying to find a comfortable position, but to no avail. Finally, he got up and started pacing around the room.
It was about ten when he heard someone opening and closing a door in the hallway. Wondering who was up, he sifted to a mouse and peeked under the crack in the doorframe, just in time to see the tale end of a blue cloak disappearing around the corner.
What is she doing? He thought. Unable to hide his curiosity, Beast Boy wiggled completely out of the room and scurried after Raven. He caught up with her and followed at a distance, not wanting to get caught. She took several stairs downward, so much so that Beast Boy was certain that they were headed underground.
Then he smelled it. It was a musty odor that attacked his senses. It was the smell of a place that was not used very often. They had come to a door, and Beast Boy was certain this was where the smell was coming from. Raven opened the door and Beast Boy slipped in. He could see a large shelf like thing above his head. Making sure that Raven could not see him, Beast Boy climbed up the shelf and saw…
A dead body in a see through coffin.
Beast Boy squeaked in surprise and fell of the glasslike coffin lid scared out of his mind. His overactive imagination latched onto thoughts of zombies, but when no rotting hands tried to grab him he settled down. Choosing another shelf he discovered yet another body, and then another and then another. Finally he was realized what this was. It was a tomb. In a rare moment of logic he decided that this must be other Makhar, Makhar that had died and had been buried in this tower. But why would Raven want to visit a tomb?
He realized that he could hear Raven talking in the distance. He knew that he should not look, this was probably something private. But his curiosity was still to strong. He followed Raven's voice until he saw her; she was hovering over a single coffin and was talking to the occupant. With a pang Beast Boy realized she was doing the same thing he did when he talked to the picture of his dead parents. This person, this dead person, must have been someone close to her.
"You were right all along, Hadiran. Sanath was a lunatic, and only you could see it. I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you to begin with." There was a strange, strangled quality to Raven's voice "And you were right about people getting to know me. I've made friends, Hadiran. No, not friends, they're like a family. I never thought that people could accept me, but they did. And…about my destiny, you and the General were right about that as well. I BEAT him, Hadiran. I beat my father. Actually it was mostly my friends who beat him, but I did contribute."
The strangled quality to Raven's voice grew stronger, and all of a sudden Beast Boy realized that she was crying again. Thoughts of not getting caught evaporated in Beast Boy's mind, replaced by the need to comfort Raven. He sifted back to human and placed a hand on Raven's shoulder in an effort to comfort her. He almost gave her a heart attack. She turned and looked at him. She glared when she realized who it was, but she could not hide the fact that her eyes were red and puffy looking.
"Is privacy a foreign word to you, Beast Boy, or are you just dumb?" she asked.
"I know what it means; I just ignore it when my friends start crying. Raven, are you okay?"
"Yes!" she growled and tried to slap Beast Boy's hand away. For once he did not get upset, he just kept looking in her eyes, seeing the lie for what it was. Finally she looked at her feet and said "No."
"Would you like to talk about it?" Beast Boy asked.
She looked at him "How much of this are going to blab?" she asked.
"None, if you don't want me to say anything. I do know how to keep a secret!"
She sighed, not believing she was doing this. She nodded and then gestured toward the coffin, inviting Beast Boy to take a closer look. He did so, and saw the body of a young man about Raven's age with brown hair and a peaceful expression. He was wearing a black robe cut the same style as Raven's that for some reason reminded Beast Boy of the color of her powers. Next to the body was long spear thing with an odd curved blade that looked familiar. Then it hit him, he had seen a weapon like this in the museum. Robin had told him it was called a naganata, or something like that, and it was Japanese.
"Who is he?" Beast Boy asked.
"He…was the only other student learning the ways of the Makhar from Arucules. He was also one of my only real friends before I came to Earth. His name was Hadiran."
Raven looked at the corpse sadly.
"What happened?" Beast Boy asked.
"It's a long story."
"I got time." Beast Boy gave her an encouraging smile.
She hesitated, then started talking "When I first came here I was alone, but then a few months later he came along. He wanted to be Makhar, because his father was one before he died. His powers were a lot like mine, only a bit weaker because he's not part demon. Arucules decided to train us together; in fact we were a bit like partners. Notice that his cloak is black like my soul self? Well his aura…is blue. The same color of my cloak."
"So you matched up? I'm surprised, Rae. I never thought that you would color coordinate."
Raven shrugged. "It was his idea, actually. A lot of things were his idea. I don't know how he did it, but he somehow could manage to convince me to do almost anything. At first I didn't want to be his friend, but he somehow grew on me. For years we trained and lived together, and we became close friends even though he knew what I am.
Two years before I came to Earth I met another Halfblood named Sanath. Like me he was half Nazlar, but his other half was minotaur, not human. You know how badly our kind is treated, well; Sanath wanted all of that to stop. The things he said…made so much sense at the time…I thought he really wanted to help people, but it was all a lie. In a way, Sanath was a bit like Malchior, but Sanath didn't hurt just me, he hurt Hadiran as well."
"What do you mean?" Beast Boy was scared. This was starting to sound a lot like the Malchior incident.
Raven hesitated, but then went on. "Hadiran never liked Sanath. He said that he could feel something wrong with Sanath, but I was too caught up in Sanath's vision to listen to Hadiran. Then, on the night that Hadiran and I graduated, Hadiran threw this big party deal. I didn't really want to go, but Hadiran kind of strong-armed me into going. He even danced with me at the end, even though he knew I can't dance. Sanath was there too and…and he had such an ugly look on his face. I thought he just didn't like the party, I never dreamed that he…" Raven paused, but then went on.
"Later that night I hear the most awful howling. You see, Hadiran had a familiar, a pure white winged wolf named Winterwing that was literally as big as Mithrah. It was him I was hearing. I left my room to find out what was wrong, and I bumped into Sanath. He…he had murdered Hadiran. He'd broken Hadiran's neck." Beast Boy could see the tears forming in Raven's eyes, and this time she did not even try to stop them.
"But why?" Beast Boy said.
"I…I'm still not sure. Sanath said it was because…because Hadiran had no business touching me, because he was Fullblood and I was a Halfblood. He said that no Fullblood would ever care for me because of what I am. I think in his mind Sanath was trying to protect me, but…he was crazy Beast Boy! He kept on saying that in order for us to be free we had to destroy or conquer all the Fullbloods and make them pay. I realized that Sanath didn't want freedom, he wanted war. He wanted to kill everyone who got in his way, and in his mind Hadiran was in his way. When I saw Hadiran dead I lost control. Remember my demon form? That was the first and only time it completely took me over. I…don't remember exactly what happened. I think I attacked Sanath. I think I might have tried to kill him. The next thing I knew I was being magically restrained by the Matron, who was practically screaming at me to get control of myself. Eventually I did, but I really don't remember much about when I transformed. I suppose I blocked it out.
After that, people really became afraid of me. Even though by some miracle I hadn't killed anyone people still saw me as a monster. At one point I was almost…well take a look at this."
She pulled down the collar of her leotard just a bit, and Beast Boy saw a faint mark that circled her neck, as if someone had tried to hang her.
"Oh my God!" he breathed. "Raven, did they try to…" he couldn't even get the word out, but she knew what he was trying to say.
"Yeah, it was a lynch mob. They almost killed me that day."
"Why didn't you use your powers?"
"I…was afraid to. I was afraid that I would go insane again. And…I was not sure if I wanted to stop them. Don't look at me like that, Beast Boy. I don't mean I was suicidal, I didn't seek out death. I just didn't fight it when it came."
Beast Boy remembered the first time he met her. He had thought at the time that she was just being creepy and strange, but now when he thought back he recalled how sad she had looked. Was this the reason?
"Is this why you came to Earth? Because people wanted to kill you?" he asked.
"No, the Matron kind of took care of it. She made it perfectly clear that she would not tolerate lynch mobs trying to murder a High Priestess who technically had not done anything wrong. I came to Earth because of Hadiran. He had always wanted to go there and fight crime. At first I did too, until I learned that I was supposed to destroy the place. But he still kept encouraging me to go. In fact he was going to leave the next day, but…" She stared at her fallen friend a moment more with a haunted look in her eyes.
"What happened to Sanath?"
"I'm not sure. I never did find out, and I'm not sure I care. I don't ever want to see him again." Raven yawned at that precise moment.
"You should probably get some sleep. It's pretty late." Beast Boy said.
Raven nodded and got up to leave. She was unsure of what to say now; she had never told anyone about this before. It was strange, she felt so relived. She really needed to confide in her friends more often than this. Beast Boy now knew more about her than anyone else on the team, and he still so understanding and kind. Beast Boy was the last person she thought would be understanding. She thought that maybe she had misjudged the grass stain.
They said nothing more as they headed back to their rooms, but somehow they did not need to.
Meanwhile, Robin was having a late night discussion of his own with the General. The elf had barged into his room with barely a knock, and had nearly terrified poor Robin out of a few years.
"What do you want!" he practically screamed, not used to people who just walked in on you when you were in nothing but your boxers preparing to sleep for the night.
The General glared at him "Keep your voice down you imbecile! I thought you wanted to know more about Raven and her father didn't you?"
"Yes," Robin admitted "but I was asleep! Do you ever knock?"
"Do want me to talk to you or not?" the General said and Robin immediately stopped complaining. "I have something important to tell you," the General went on "I think I might know what the unicorn meant about Flario."
"What?" Robin asked.
"Raven," the General said "is remarkably similar to her father. By that I mean she is like Flario. Both of them wanted to help others from an early age, and both wanted to do that by fighting injustice. Both of them left Azarath for Earth for that exact reason, and both were extremely loyal to their friends. In fact, you could almost say that while Raven inherited demon powers from Trigon, her personality came from Flario. For a while Flario was a hero, just like Raven is now."
"What happened?" Robin asked.
"He and a friend of his, a human who called himself the Curse, were battling an evil wizard. The Curse was killed in that battle, and Flario somehow fell into an interdimensional rift. I don't know where he went, but when he came back he was possessed by Trigon."
"This is interesting, but I don't know how this will help Raven." Robin said.
"For years I told Raven that her father's name was Flario. I told her that he was a great hero and a mighty warrior. I did not tell her that he was possessed by Trigon. The reason I did this was because I wanted her to see what I consider to be the truth. Trigon may have Flario's body, but he is not Raven's true father, Flario is. I wanted her to see Trigon as the beast that murdered her father, not as her real kin. I had hoped that when Trigon came for her that she would fight him, not aid him. It…did not work. When she was about to leave for the Makhar a very vindictive old witch of a woman told her about Trigon and Flario, and I had to tell her the whole truth. She thought I had lied to her when I told her that her father was a hero, and she refused to hear any more good things about her father. Eventually she forgave me, but she refuses to talk to me about Flario."
"I'm still not sure why this is important." Robin said "Raven banished Trigon back to his realm. The crisis is over."
"I think…" the General paused. "I think that the unicorn wants the same thing that I want. Somewhere out there is a way to free Flario from Trigon's influence, and I think that Raven is the only one who can do that. But if she sees Trigon and Flario and interchangeable, than she would not want to make the attempt. I think that what the unicorn wants is for Flario to be free, and for that Raven must accept that Trigon and Flario are two separate people."
Robin was not sure about this, but it deserved some thought. He wanted to talk to the General some more, but the elf had already left. Sighing, Robin flopped into the bed, pulled the covers all the way up to his mask (he wore the thing even in his sleep) and was soon snoring soundly.
Far away that same night another conversation was going on that night, one that could only lead to trouble.
"Are you sure it was her?"
"Positive, my lord." The servant cringed in fear at the voice of his master. The servant knew how merciless his master was, and he did not want to say the wrong thing and end up dead. Or worse, eaten by those…things.
"She has lost her powers?"
"Yes, my lord. Our spies are certain."
"It is no matter." The master said "I do not care about her powers, it is her I want. You shall make sure that she is escorted to me. I care nothing for her companions. Kill them if at all possible, but bring her to me alive and unhurt. If you fail…" the servant felt a long claw touch his neck and he made certain not to breathe too hard "you know what will happen."
The servant scurried out in a near panic. His master looked out the window for a moment, lost in memories.
"Raven," he muttered "You will be mine, this time for good!"
The early morning sun saw the five Titans and Jinx riding their night horses to the north, while the General headed in the opposite direction back home. He was both happy and sad to see the back of them. Sad because he had wanted to spend a bit more time with Raven. Happy because he would not have to listen to that annoying green pestilence who even now was whining about his abused hind end. How Raven dealt with these hoodlums the General did not know.
As for the Titans, Arucules had been kind enough (even though he was still a bit crotchety) to give them a supply of food for the road. Most of it was of the dried jerky type, and I will not say whether or not it was beef or something else, but there was also a bunch of carrots. Turns out that Beast Boy was indeed going to spend the entire trip living of carrot sticks.
They trotted their way through more plains. Jinx and Starfire were having the time of their lives looking the scenery, and even Beast Boy managed to stop whining to admire the rolling hills and the large patches of multicolored flowers that literally seemed to glitter in the sun. Robin was only interested in watching Starfire cavort around. No matter what he could not get his eyes of her, though he tried to be subtle about it. Raven was also enjoying the ride, but she was not as loud about it as Starfire was. Only Cyborg was bored by the beauty around them. To him a plant was a plant and tree was tree. He did not see any reason to exclaim over them. He was not lying when he said he was a city boy.
Soon however, they came to what any fantasy buff would have expected: a rather dark, foreboding looking forest. It was the kind of forest that looked like it had the kind of trees that ate humans alive. The shadows were deep and creepy and even Raven felt a chill go down her spine. Despite this they entered, each Titan feeling like they were being watched.
And who was to say they were not? Deep within the shadows a pair of eyes that resembled the green muck on the top of a stagnate pond followed their every move, and a long horrid tongue ran over black, broken, cavity ridden teeth in anticipation. It watched as the Titans entered its forest. It then disappeared into the darkness.
To summon the pack.
An Author's note: You didn't think Sumal was the only villain they would encounter, did you? If he was this story would be completely boring. Who is this nasty guy who wants Raven? And what does he want her for?
Wait and see.
MWAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, I'm showing my evil laugh side again, aren't I? I'll try to keep a lid on that.