Chapter Twenty-Five

Griffins and Dragons

That night Raven really could not sleep that well. Part of it was the fact that she was still mulling over what Beast Boy had said about her emotions. She had never considered what might happen if she used this time to try experiencing emotions more, mainly because she was afraid of what might happen. What if when she got her powers back she was so out of practice that she blew things up? Not a good thought.

Another problem, of course, was her memories of a certain crow. When she was growing up Zipatila had been with her constantly, possibility because most of the time her mother could not. It was almost like the bird had considered her his hatchling or something like that, the way he had hovered around her. Until the day he died Zipatila was always with her…but not anymore.

It really was all her fault, she knew that. She was the one who led him into that fight. She didn't even try to tell him to stay back or anything, she just assumed that everything would turn out fine, and it had not. In the end Zipatila had been shot, and if it had not been for her he would be alive right now.

"So, are you going to mope about me all your life, or are you going to finally get over it?"

Raven shot up at the voice. It couldn't be! She looked around and there, perched on a low branch, was the dead crow. It was no surprise to Raven that he could talk, Zipatila had always been capable of speech. It had something to do with the magic around the Temple, it tended to make animals a bit smarter than they were originally. Since crows where very smart birds it had not taken much to jump to speech. He didn't look like a traditional ghost, he was not see through, nor did he have a bloody hole in his chest where the bullet had struck him. He was not rotted or decayed; he looked just as he had when he had been alive. Raven instinctively reached to stroke the black bird, but her hand passed through him. He really was a ghost.

"Zip?" she asked, still staring at him.

"Who else, h'Radoni? Now, are you going to answer me or not?"

"Please don't call me that."

"Why not? It is your name."

"In Nazlar, not English. Besides, almost everyone who ever called me that is gone. You and Hadiran-"

"And Illeria calls you it sometimes, as does Arcktos on occasion. Not to mention the wolf."

"And you all know how much it irritates me!" Raven growled.

"Why else would we do it?" the crow cocked his head at Raven and seemed to smile. "You shouldn't keep shoving your heritage away from you, not now not ever. You do it far too often."

"There is a reason for that, you know. You of all people should know."

"You shove away your heritage, your friends, your destiny-"

"I never wanted to be Trigon's-"

"I wasn't talking about Trigon! I was talking about the dragon! You know what these dreams truly mean!"

"I'm NOT a Dragonborn." Raven said flatly.

"How do you know that? You are shoving the truth away again…" the bird paused and hopped closer "Just like you are shoving me away."

"What! I never shoved you away!" Raven stared at the crow in astonishment.

"No, not when I was alive. But when I died? Raven, you have a familiar now, and the only thing you have done about it was try to stop it. You know that is wrong. Don't you realize that every time you do that it hurts me? How it hurts my memory? Besides the fact that the boy needs to know what he is capable of now."

"But what if I hurt him? What if he can't handle it? What if…he turns into something like me?"

"I think becoming more like you would be the best thing that could happen to anyone." Zipatila said with a wing flap.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"True, but I stand by what I said. At least try it, h'Radoni."

"Stop calling me that."

"No."

"Flying rat."

"Monkey."

"Death didn't change you that much, did it?" Raven said.

"Nope."

"Why in the world didn't you show up sooner, if you can do this?"

"You know that the technological interference on Earth can prevent certain magics from happening. In truth I was always there for you, but the interference prevented me from talking to you and you could not see me. I did show up once, when the world ended, but I was too busy trying to get your group together to try and find you…not to mention the fact that Trigon's birds decided I was something to chase around."

"They've all seen you?"

"Yes, but all save the green one thought I was a raven. Silly humans. Probably thought I was YOUR soul!"

"I…I missed you so much, Zip. I'm so sorry I got you killed."

"Silly girl, I would do it again if I had to. That bullet would have struck you in the heart and I could never allow that. It was not your fault and it never was. It was my decision to do it, and I do not regret it. I would, however, appreciate it if you would stop moping around about me. You were not made to be depressed, h'Radoni."

"I'm not sure about this."

"Just try it. For me. Please?" the bird tried to touch his beak against her arm, but it just passed through her.

Raven looked at the little animal that she still loved. He had meant a great deal to her, and she had been heartbroken when he died. It did not help that his death had come right on the heels of Hadiran's death. It had almost been too much for her to handle, losing two people very important to her literally in the space of a few months. She had thought she had managed to get over it, but clearly she had not.

"I'll try."

"Thank you. I have to leave for now, but I'll still be watching you."

"Bye." She said quietly as the bird faded away, as ghosts often will. She was very close to crying, but for once in her life she did not try to stop the tears. Exhausted and finally ready to get some sleep, Raven drifted off.

"You know," Malachi said as the two appeared to each other once more "we really should try to figure out why this is happening."

"Maybe we are slowly going insane." Raven said with a sigh.

"Naw, I was already nuts to begin with!" the green dragon chuckled.

"That's something to brag about." Raven said sarcastically.

"So, did you escape from the nutcase?" Malachi asked.

"Yeah…but I'm not sure about Sanath anymore…I think I was wrong about him."

"OH NO! You aen't going all 'battered wife' on me, are ya?"

Raven raised an eyebrow "Aen't?" she asked.

The other dragon shrugged. "What can I say? Sometimes my hick leaks a bit."

"I see this." Raven muttered. By now the mist of this weird dream world had faded, and she could now see Malachi pretty well now. The dragon was about as large as Malchior had been; perhaps even an inch or two shorter. She was a dark green color that was almost leaning to black. Her head was slightly horse shaped and rounded, with two little ears on her head. No horns. She looked a lot stronger that Malchior, physically. While the evil dragon had small limbs, Malachi's where large and almost muscular, even the crippled leg.

"What happened?" Malachi asked, after a few minutes of nothing being said between the two of them.

Raven paused. It was so strange, but for some reason she was starting to trust this dragon, and Raven had never been known for being the most trusting of people. She had never really trusted Terra…but then again she had been right about her all along. However, she had certainly been wrong about Malchior. She was not sure what to do. She felt very much inclined to talk to Malachi, but she was unsure if her growing trust for the dragon was real or some kind of trick.

Malachi noticed her hesitation and sighed. "Still having trouble trusting me I see." She said.

"I…look, the last time I trusted a dragon it didn't go well."

"Look, I'm not really a dragon you know. I mean, I was born a human…okay half human, but defiantly bipedal. And besides that, I'm not the dragon you are talking about, right?"

"I suppose not." Raven replied, not wanting to mention the fact that Malachi could be a certain other dragon.

"Look, I want to help you, but I can't do that if you keep shutting me out like this."

"Why? Why in the world are you trying to help me? You barely know me! You don't even know if I'm real or not!"

"Look, ever since that memory sharing thing I've started to feel a connection with you. Heck, maybe even before that. Can't you feel it?"

"I…maybe. I don't know."

"I'm not going to hurt you, you know." Malachi said.

Raven sighed. Unfortunately she did feel some short of connection with this dragon, and it irked her to no end. She didn't like people getting close to her, especially when she was not sure of their motives. She wanted to trust the dragon, but paranoia was a pretty strong aspect of her personality. On the other hand…

For some odd reason she soon found herself explaining what had happened between herself and Sanath. Malachi did not interrupt once, only snorting on occasion.

"I'm going to change my evaluation here," Malachi said "The guy needs a nice trip to the funny farm."

"Malachi, this isn't a joke."

"What makes you think I'm joking, I was serious." Malachi said "Look, when you start hearing voices it's time to get some help. I think you should find a way to catch this guy and get him some decent meds or something. It might help. He doesn't sound bad to me, just crazy. You can help crazy, but you can't help bad."

Raven blinked. Once again Malachi was right. Sanath was not an evil madman like most villains, he was a madman who was actually a nice person underneath the evil and cruelty. That somehow made it worse. It was easy blaming Sanath and calling him a monster, but it was much harder to bear when you knew that there was a decent person trapped inside.

Once again, however, the place was fading, and Raven was waking up.

There are many things you don't want to see when you just wake up: flames, a guy with a gun and a mysterious ugly person lying beside you that you are sure you have never seen before are a few examples. However, one of the worst things to wake up to is a pair of big yellow eyes that clearly belong to the species Canis lupus. Or since the wolf in question had wings, perhaps it would be Canis lupus aves. Robin, when he woke up see these eyes staring at him, nearly jumped out of skin.

"You and I," Winterwing growled. "Have to talk. Now."

"Do you people have a problem with peaceful sleep?" Robin asked. Winterwing ignored him.

"You obviously have no idea how a familiar is supposed to act, Prey-Bird, so I have come to teach you."

"Wha-"

"First off, you don't do anything to hurt your wizard, whether by word or action."

"But-"

"Second, when your wizard tells you to drop the subject, DROP the subject."

"Look-"

"And third, I EVER hear the word PET associated with a familiar again, I am going to rip a throat out! Most likely yours. I'm a familiar as well, you dolt, and I have NEVER been a PET."

The wolf turned around and started marching away. Then he paused and looked over his shoulder.

"Fourth, don't ever let her get hurt. If you ever lose her…you'll regret it. Bonds like this can't be broken; even by death…all they do is leave an ach you can't cure."

With that the wolf vanished, leaving Robin confused and agitated.

The next morning was…interesting.

For one thing, Robin was doing his best to avoid several people: the main one being Winterwing. He also did his best to avoid Illeria, who kept giving him these very nasty looks. Who knew that cats could sneer so well?

Also, Raven was acting a bit different as well. She had very little experience with emotions, and didn't know how to express them that well. She settled on trying to be a bit nicer and less snappy, which was earning her a few strange looks. Still, it was the best she could do. She was trying to listen to her emotions and doing what they suggested (despite the fact that she had lost her powers, her emotions had not changed).

She knew, however, that jumping on top of Beast Boy, as Love and Happy were suggesting, was not a good idea. The fact that two of her most annoying emotions had become fixated on Beast Boy was starting to drive her nuts. She could guess why Love was acting the way she was acting…but she did not like the thought of developing a crush on Beast Boy. Sure, he had been acting very nice to her lately, but that did not mean…did it? No way.

Trying to ignore her annoying emotions, she looked at Robin, who was trying desperately to avoid her gaze. He had been doing that all morning. Frankly, he was the last person she wanted to talk to, but he HAD told her to tell him about any more Malachi dreams.

"Robin, it happened again last night. The dreams I mean."

Instantly, everyone was paying attention to her, especially the three newcomers, who didn't know about the dreams. After a brief explanation of what had been happening, Raven told them what had happened in the last two dreams. Instantly, Robin looked worried. This dragon…was some sort of killer? He didn't like the sound of that at all. Sure, Malachi had said that it was self-defense, but Robin didn't believe in killing your enemies, and he really did not trust anyone who did.

Illeria, however, was focused on something else. "Raven…I know you must know what this means. If these dreams are real, than you must be Dragonborn."

"No." Raven growled. "There must be another explanation."

"Oh no, here comes the low self esteem again." Winterwing rolled his eyes, a gesture he picked up from humans.

"I do not have low self esteem." Raven said.

Winterwing snorted "Bullshit." He growled. "This happens all the time. You never listen to anyone when they say something good about you! Why, pray tell, can't you be Dragonborn?"

"One word: Trigon." Raven snapped.

Winterwing snarled and glared at her. "Stop using him as an excuse to put yourself down! You spend too much time dwelling over him as if he runs your life. You defeated him, shouldn't that tell you something?"

"He was my father, and-"

"HE was NEVER your father!" Illeria snarled in anger. "Flario was and you know it!"

Raven opened her mouth to continue the tirade, but Arcktos placed a hand on her shoulder and quickly spoke up before anyone else could shout.

"You know, there is a solution to this that does not involve us tearing each other apart." He said gently. "Our path leads us to the Great Rift, and we know who dwells there."

"Um, except us poor little Earth people." Beast Boy interjected.

Arcktos grinned. "I'm talking about, ironically enough, another dragon, Lightflight, who lives near the Great Rift. It is a giant hole in the ground of Azarath so deep that stretches to the Void. It is a dangerous place, but if we want to get to the Nazlar kingdom quickly we need to cross it, and Lightflight is the only being who can help us. I don't see why we could not ask him about the Dragonborn."

Robin frowned. More dragons! "What is this Lightflight like and why would he want to help us?"

"He's what we call a Second Generation Dragon." Illeria said. "Basically, he is the hatchling of one of the First Dragons, but very young by their standards. He's the son of Azar."

"And when Illeria says 'young' she means that he is only a few hundred thousand centuries old." Raven said.

"A few. Hundred. Thousand. CENTURIES!!!" Cyborg bellowed. "How old did the First Dragons get?!"

"About five or six aeons." Illeria said with a small smile.

"AEONS!!!" Cyborg bellowed again.

"Ummm, how long is an aeon?" Beast Boy asked.

"Approximately one billion years, though the current one has been going on for at least five million years." Starfire said. "Or at least that is how my people measure it."

Beast Boy held his head and moaned, unable to deal with such big numbers.

"Anyway, as Azar's son Lightflight must know something about the Dragonborn, and he might tell us. It's not out of our way, and we need his help to cross the Rift at any rate."

It was agreed, and not long after the Titans and their companions were off and heading toward the Rift.

Beast Boy was giving Arcktos a vicious glare. First Robin, and now this!

"This" was the recent behavior between Arcktos and Raven. The big dog-man had been riding beside Raven since they had left, and the two of them had been awfully…chummy. Way to chummy, in Beast Boy's opinion. The two had been talking for hours…TALKING!! Raven didn't talk!! Raven didn't socialize! But she was doing it with this mutt, and it was driving Beast Boy nuts! Okay, so Arcktos was doing a lot more talking than Raven, but still…

He licked her!! The mutt licked her! Leaned right over and gave her a lick on the ear! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Okay, she smacked him a little, but it was not as hard a smack as Beast Boy thought Arcktos should get!

Mutt.

"Hehe, you going to challenge him to a dual soon?" Said Illeria, who had noticed this. She could tell that this green fellow liked her sister, and she could not say that she objected. He seemed nice, even if he was rather stupid, in her opinion.

"Huh?" Said Beast Boy; who was daydreaming about turning into a tiger and teaching Muttface a lesson.

"Oh please, I can tell you like her."

"Ummmmm." Beast Boy said, not too sure about Illeria's intentions.

"Look….what was your name again?" she asked.

"Beast Boy."

"…okay, Beast Boy, let me tell you something. Those two were best friends when they were younger. Spent almost all their time in each other's company. When Raven was ten and Arcktos was eleven there was accident, and Arcktos's mother was killed. After that his thought it was best if Arcktos came home and learned how to rule the country, instead of receiving his education from the Temple teachers. The two have not seen each other since, though I believe that they wrote to each other frequently. So you see, they have not seen each other for years, so of course they would want to catch up."

"He LICKED her!" Beast Boy growled.

"He's a DOG." Illeria said.

Beast Boy grumbled, but he had to admit that Illeria had a point. But before he could speak again he heard Winterwing calling from up front, where the big winged wolf had been leading the way.

"I can see Griffin Cliffs. Are we going around or through it?"

Beast Boy rode up to look at whatever this cliff Winterwing was talking about was. As soon as he exited the tree line he saw it. It was in the middle of a wide plain, just looming there like a castle. It looked more like a mesa than a cliff, with a clear opening going through it.

"It would be faster if we went through it." Raven said "But we will have to be quiet about it. Griffins are very territorial, and I don't want to have an issue with them."

"What is a griffin?" Starfire asked.

"Head and wings of an eagle, body of a lion." Raven said. "And very temperamental and aggressive. Not bad people, just touchy. They let people go through their cliffs as long as they stick to the path and don't bother them."

"So as long as we don't bother them it should be alright?" Robin asked and Raven nodded. "Then I guess we are going through. We are strapped for time here."

They entered the opening, and Beast Boy soon wished they had not. He did not like the looks of this. It smelled like a trap, and it made him nervous.

It did not help his nerves when a large golden creature jumped in there path with an aggressive screech. It could only have been a griffin, judging from the fact that it…well had the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a huge lion. It prowled towards them, head down and hissing. It was staring right at Raven, and it did not look happy.

"You…monster." It snarled. "Hatchling killer!"

"What?" Raven looked at the creature in confusion.

"Halfbloods came…killed hatchlings. You are Halfblood, so you are one of them."

"Hey dude, chill, she isn't one of them!" Beast Boy rode in front of Raven and tried to get the angry griffin's attention. "It was a different group of Halfbloods, and she is not one of them."

"LIARS. Why should I believe you! All hatchling killers must be punished. Since you are with her, then you are foes as well!" The griffin let out a howl, and soon the sky was filled with his fellows, who were waiting in ambush. They surrounded the group and without warning attacked.

Robin knew there were too many of them to fight "Run!" he bellowed, and the group set off at a gallop. The griffins dove and scratched and pecked, without any remorse or pity. It was clear that they were determined to tear the team apart. The combined powers and fighting skills of the team where just barely keeping them off.

If this is the Azarathian vision of "peaceful" then I'd hate to see what they call war! Cyborg thought as he blasted a group of griffins.

They were halfway through the cliffs when Arcktos was dragged out of his saddle by a screaming griffin. Forgetting his early dislike of the prince, Beast Boy flew out of his saddle as a hawk, streaked over, shifted to gorilla and started punching griffins out of the way. He could hear the others shouting and trying to get to them.

A shadow passed over the battlefield, a huge shadow that the mad griffins could not ignore. They looked up as the shadow grew even larger and a gust of flame singed fur and feather. None were killed, but they did receive some burns.

A gigantic white dragon plunged out of the sky with an angry roar. It flared its wings, causing a powerful gust of wind to sweep over the griffins, which were blown a few feet away.

Taking this opportunity, Raven rode over to Beast Boy and dragged him on her saddle (he still had not gotten the hang of mounting a night horse, and they did not have time to wait for him to figure it out). Beast Boy knew that he could become an animal and keep up…but he was now sitting in front of Raven with her arms around him…granted that was because she was holding reins, but still…

It was just too good to pass up.

Now that they had some room, the Titans raced through the rest of the cliffs with their draconic savior circling above them, keeping the griffins at bay with occasional bursts of fire. They flew out the exit, and the griffins, due to their territorial nature, did not follow.

The dragon's shadow passed over them one last time, and the huge creature landed. Even though it was a giant, it did not make even a single tremor.

Beast Boy stared at it in awe. It looked just like the statue in the temple. Same body build, same head, same tusks (except this one had silver tusks, not gold ones) and the same look of wisdom on its face. It made Malchior look like a baby. Its feet had to be the size of a city bus!

"Guys." Raven said. "Meet Lightflight."