An Author's note: Oh yeah, that comment about the maw of doom that read "Abandon All Hope ye Who Enter Here? That came from Dante's Divine Comedy…Inferno to be exact. I don't own it…I'm not that old.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Family

Raven jumped when she felt a rather large hand on her shoulder; a large metallic one with circuits running through it.

"You know you really need to stop blaming yourself for everything he does, Rae." Cyborg said gently.

"I know," Raven's shoulders slumped, but it was hard to tell it this was because she was depressed or because Cyborg's hands weighed so darn much. "But I came from that monster, Cyborg. I hate him, but I can't change that. I can still feel his evil inside of me, even though I banished him back to where he came from. I'm still his…spawn."

"Rae…you're wrong." She looked up at her friend in confusion. "You didn't come from Trigon. Sure he gave you your powers, but that doesn't mean that you're like him. You said so yourself that he's not your dad, so why do you keep dwelling on it?

"You're, right. It's just…I'm going to meet HIS parents, Cyborg…and…I don't know."

"Rae..." Cyborg finally noticed the second painting; the one with the blue sea serpent. Suddenly his mind made a connection.

"Hey Rae," He said as he walked over to give the painting a closer look. "I thought you said that sea serpent who Trigon took over was dead?"

Raven nodded. "Yes, that is what I was taught."

"Then who is this here?" Cyborg asked. "Looks like the same guy to me."

Raven joined him in looking at the painting "Hmmm, this is odd. It has the exact same markings as the one in the other painting. Weird."

"Hey, it's the same snake!"

"Maybe it's a picture of what the serpent was before Trigon took over?"

"Then why does he look like he was mauled by a dragon? Look at those claw marks! Is there anything else that can make those marks?"

Raven did not have an answer for that. "It must be another serpent."

"I don't know Raven, sure looks like the same one."

"What then, are you saying I was lied to!?"

"Raven…sometimes people do lie to kids for a lot of reasons. I-"

"HEY ARE YOU TO COMING!?" Beast Boy bellowed from where he was a little bit ahead of them.

The two of them shrugged and continued to walk down the aisle. Raven was lost in thought. Was it possible that she had been deceived her whole life? If so, why? Why would it matter if she knew that a sea serpent that might not still be alive today broke free of Trigon's control?

"So, Your Highness, ready to meet your family?" Beast Boy popped up beside her with a grin.

Raven winced. "Don't call me that."

"Aww, come on! Don't you think this is just too cool?!" He was practically bouncing in joy and anticipation.

"Not really."

Beast Boy ears drooped. "But you're a practically a princess! Don't all girls dream of that?"

"Beast Boy…I don't want you to treat me like a princess-"

"You're right my mistake! You should be treated like a queen!" He leaned closer to her and tried to wiggle his eyebrows in, what he believed was, a sexy manner. He ended up looking like a demented Muppet.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "You got a crop of corn growing in that mouth?" she said, but Beast Boy thought she was kidding with him…maybe.

"Maybe," he grinned again.

Raven rolled her eyes again. "I don't want my friends to treat me…weird. I liked how things where and I didn't want anything to change."

"Raven, trust me. We'll always be your friends. That's not going to change, so just try to enjoy this! Besides, it's about time you got some respect around here!"

Raven muttered something inaudible to even Beast Boy's ears. Beast Boy gently placed his arm around her shoulder. He could feel her tense a bit, but he had half expected that. He had a feeling that she was just not used to human touch, so he did not mind at all.

He did, however, remove his arm when they close to the throne room. He did not want to embarrass Raven in any way, especially since this was the first time she was meeting these people.

Raven, for her part, was surprised to find that she kind of liked his arm there and did not want it to go away. This thought, however, was quickly eclipsed by her discovery of the herald.

See, although she objectively knew that there were these guys called heralds who would bellow the names of whoever was visiting the king and queen of whatever kingdom loudly she had never really thought about what this might mean to her. To say that she was startled when they opened the big door to the throne room and she and the others where announced very loudly was understatement at best.

It did not help that the man did it right in her freaking ear.

It also did not help that he referred to her as "Highness".

"Someone please kill me now." She muttered after she had landed from jumping a mile in the air. She looked around the room she was in. It was a pretty large throne room with all the necessary décor. Raven noticed several banners with the Nazlar kingdom coat of arms: a light blue field with a large black saber toothed ram. She couldn't help but wonder if saber toothed rams were real animals, or if it was just a statement that although Nazlar where basically bipedal sheep they were still, in effect, predators.

She finally looked in the general direction of the throne, and was surprised to find that, instead of staying seated on it like a normal ruler, King Zarule was instead standing up and striding towards them…at least Raven assumed it was the king heading towards them seeing as how he had just stood up from a throne. She was even more shocked when the huge Nazlar blew past the other Titans as if they where not there, strode up to her and swept her up in a huge hug, which she did not enjoy at all. She supposed that he did not get the memo that said she was NOT a huggy person.

"What are you DOING?" she bellowed, temporarily forgetting that this was a king she was talking to in light of the fact that she was being held in the air against her will.

Zarule put her down and gave her a look she had never seen before. It was a least two thirds love and one third pride with just a hint of regret there as well.

"I think," he said "that I am making up for seventeen years of affection I could not give to you because your mother despises me and never let me see you."

Raven was not sure how to respond to that. Instead she gave the grandfather she had never known a bit of a look over. Like all Nazlar he was huge, but a bit less so than most. He looked more around seven feet tall than eight or nine. Maybe it had to do with his age. His face was eerily similar to Raven's; it was no wonder that Lightflight had said that they looked alike, except for the fact that he was male and had sideburns (a bit like Trigon himself, actually, but Raven chose not to think about that). Even their eyes were pretty much the same color but his seemed to be developing cataracts.

For his part, Zarule looked at this young woman and could not help but be reminded of his lost son. It was the eyes. It was an interesting fact that all three generations actually had the exact same eye color. Zarule wondered if anyone had told her that she had her father's eyes…most likely they had not. Still, Zarule could not help but think of Flario when he saw her, and he felt a bit of sadness at the memory of his poor trapped little boy.

He could not help but wonder if she had stopped growing. Technically, Raven was a normal sized human, but by Nazlar standards she was practically a runt.

Probably comes from that HUMAN blood. Zarule thought with a mild level of distaste. He didn't like humans that much.

Speaking of humans…his eyes turned to the rest of the Titans. He could not say that he was impressed at all. That one that dressed like a clown was, to him, scrawny and not too impressive at all. Zarule knew, however, that the scrawniest of humans could actually turn out powerful, so he was determined not to underestimate any of them. His eyes strayed to the red-haired…what WAS THAT? Zarule could tell that she was no human, and he wondered what this creature was. His eyes turned to the little green one, who to him resembled an orc a bit, or perhaps a goblin. He had a feeling that this was not what the green one truly was, but it reassured Zarule a bit. He could understand an orc or a goblin much better than he could a human. The next human was a short female with…was that pink hair? It certainly was. How strange. The last human was partway mechanical, and the technological hum coming off of him was loud and a bit obnoxious.

To say the least, Zarule was not too impressed with the Titans.

"I assume that this is the human group you joined, correct?" Zarule said, trying not to let his general dislike of humans come out.

"Yes, these are my friends..." Raven paused, not sure what she should call this man. True he was a king, but he had also just hugged her like she was…well a long lost relative, which she was. After a moment she finally settled on what to call him. "Grandfather."

His eyes swept over the Titans as if he was still sizing the up. He then said "You know that our people do not call others 'friend' lightly, don't you?"

"I do…I suppose if you want accuracy then you should call them my family." Raven said.

"Really? That is truly what you would call them?"

"Yes." Raven said. Although she had very little contact with Nazlar she did know a few things about them. For example, she knew that if a Nazlar called someone family, even if they were not blood related they usually meant it. Nazlar didn't take this kind of thing lightly. Basically she was letting Zarule know that she saw the Titans as more than just people she worked with.

Zarule was a bit grouchy about this. As if they did not have enough humans in the family!

Oh well, he supposed if that was how it was then that was how it was. He was not going to spoil this opportunity to get to know his granddaughter just because he did not like the people who "adopted" her.

Zarule finally actually looked at Robin "You are the leader of this team, correct?"

"Yes I am Your Majesty."

"I welcome you and your kin to my home, cousin. How long are you staying with us?"

"We didn't come for pleasure, sir." Raven spoke up. "There is an army headed your way determined to conquer this place."

"They already took my kingdom, Your Majesty." Arcktos said.

"Really?" Zarule's voice was filled with concern. "What happened to your father?"

"He's gone." Arcktos said, his ears lowering in sorrow.

Zarule blinked, his own eyes filled with a sorrow similar to Arckto's. "He was a great ruler, Arcktos. I knew him rather well. Why would anyone want to kill him?"

"We are dealing with a madman, Your Majesty," Robin said. He would have gone on if Zarule had not interjected.

"As important as this certainly is it will have to wait. At least until after more important things are taken care of."

"What can be more important than this?" Robin asked.

"Family of course. We must introduce Raven to the rest of our family. In a few hours it will be dinner time, and I suppose it will be best to it then. In the meantime I will make sure you have suitable quarters here. We'll discuss this invasion afterwards."

"Okay, why does this huge and incredibly expensive looking room have all these beds?" Cyborg glared at the room in question. It truly was a huge room. It was easily as large as the Titan's own living room, minus the television and the computers. It kind of looked like a typical palace bedroom, except for the fact that there were enough beds to fit the Titans, Illeria, Arcktos and even Winterwing all grouped in a circle in the middle of the room.

Winterwing chose a bed, jumped up, circled three times and laid down. He then yawned and spoke. "Nazlar are pack animals by nature. All family groups sleep together, sometimes even in a large pile. The only ones that do not do this are those whose children leave the 'den' or anyone who has lost a mate. As the king is now choosing to view your team as Raven's family unit it is natural for him to assume that you will all sleep in the same room. Natural for him at least."

"Sooooo, he wants us to sleep together…in the same room…won't that be awkward?" Cyborg looked around nervously.

Winterwing grinned "How so?"

"Ummm, you know!"

"No, I don't." Winterwing's panting and huffing, however, told them that he knew exactly what Cyborg was talking about but was just choosing to be difficult.

"Ya know…hormones."

"Why Cyborg," Winterwing doggy grinned even wider "are you saying that humans are so savage and wild that they cannot control their own hormones?"

"Well-"

"And it is not even mating season…Oh! But humans are always in season, aren't they? Kind of like bunnies?" Wintering grinned even wider as all the humans in the room started turning red. Illeria and Arcktos tried to contain their snickers. It was common claim among non-humanoid races that humans and there ilk were constantly "in season" and that they could not control their own hormones. Even Raven was smirking a little bit, which Cyborg noticed.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked.

"Technically I am smirking, and I'm doing it because it is true."

"But you're human!"

"Half-human. And I it IS true."

"Ummm, they're kind of right, Cyborg." Beast Boy piped up "Most mammals do have a mating season, and only humans, rabbits and great apes do not."

"I would think not, seeing as how humans are apes." Illeria rolled her eyes at the shocked looks on Robin's and Cyborg's faces. "What is your problem now?"

"We aren't apes!" Robin bellowed.

"What are you then? A fish?" Illeria replied.

"We don't think of ourselves that way!" Cyborg bellowed.

Arcktos snorted. "And therein lies the problem. What is it with you humans? Look at me, I am clearly a canine as is Winterwing. Illeria is a feline and those nice people out there," he gestured outside the door to indicate the Nazlar "are ovine-"

"Huh?" Cyborg interrupted.

"Sheep. Genus Ovis." Beast Boy said.

"Huh?" Cyborg said again, not liking the fact that for once Beast Boy seemed to know more about what they were talking about then he did.

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Dude, don't you know anything about animals? Sheep are in the genus classification ovis. That's were he's getting the word ovine from. Like canine is a word for dog? Ovine is another word for sheep."

"How do you know this?" Cyborg stared at his friend as if he had grown another head. "You can barely work a VCR and you know animal classifications?"

"Dude, I can turn INTO animals! What kind of person would I be if I didn't know SOMETHING about them?"

"Oh…umm…okay."

Long pause, then: "What where we talking about?" Cyborg said

"Ummm, I think we were talking about the…room arrangements." Robin said.

"Right…so what are we going to do?" Cyborg looked over at the beds.

"I suggest you pick a bed." Arcktos said, selecting one he liked and plopping his bag on it.

"But…can't we get separate rooms?" Robin asked a bit desperately.

"We could, if you want the king to think you are a group of typical humans." Illeria said.

"Typical?"

"You know: can't control your hormones, constantly craving sex of any kind, no self control, and unpredictable, crazy, rude." Illeria counted off these qualities on her fingers "Need I go on?"

"No…I guess not…anyone have a problem?" Robin looked about the room, desperate for someone to give him some wiggle room.

Jinx tested out a bed by leaping onto it in a sitting position. "Unless you are planning anything strange in here, than no." She said.

Starfire, who had been very confused during most of the conversation, did not seem to have a problem with it either. Strangely enough, it seemed only Robin and Cyborg found this arrangement uncomfortable.

Robin was in a very sticky situation. As it turned out Starfire insisted that they have beds next to each other, and even though it was perfectly innocent on her part (she was actually trying to arrange it so that Beast Boy and Raven would be…close to each other, not realizing the implications of this at all), that did not stop Robin's own male human hormones from having a little party in his head. However, if he refused than he would have to explain to Starfire why, and he was afraid to hurt her.

Not to mention the fact that he would be accused of not being able to control his hormones. Which he could do!

Really.

He was sure of it.

Dinner, as it turned out, was very interesting. For one thing no matter how many times Robin tried to talk to King Zarule about the invasion he would always be told to talk about it later. No matter how urgent Robin thought it was it was clear that he would not be swaying this ruler one bit. Zarule was determined to have a nice family meal here, and by Azar that was what he was going to get!

Another interesting aspect was the Royal Family's table manners…or lack thereof. While not quite as bad as it had been on Starfire's planet (none of the Titans were going to forget THAT anytime soon), the Nazlar still were very…loose.

The first indication of this was when Beast Boy asked one of the twin Nazlar boys, it was either Holft or Kale (the Titans could not tell), to pass him a roll. Beast Boy was completely taken off his guard when Raven's older cousin TOSSED him the bread product instead of PASSING it. It was lucky that he did not drop the thing. It was like that all around the table. Nazlar where just leaning across people and things to grab whatever bowl they wanted, they would toss food to others around the table when they were asked for anything, and they did not seem to grasp the need for utensils at all unless they happened to be eating a soup, and even then they seemed content to drink straight out of the bowl. They were not MESSY, at least not on purpose, but anyone who came to this table expecting impeccable Victorian manners would have been shocked.

Cyborg and Jinx immediately fell into this attitude with obvious relief. Both had been a bit nervous about insulting Raven's family, but it appeared that this was not going to be the case. About halfway through the proceedings Cyborg even managed to get into a belching contest with the Nazlar around him, who seemed to find this quite amusing. Jinx just placed her feet on the table and relaxed. No one paid her any mind at all.

Robin watched all of this with mild surprise. This really was not what he expected from royalty at all.

"So, you are confused?" the person beside him said. This person, Robin forgot his name for a second, was a smallish Nazlar boy with crystal blue eyes that frankly reminded Robin of Raven in a way. Not their color, but their…depth.

"I guess I thought that royalty would act a bit more polite than this." Robin said.

"This is polite for us. Impolite would be if we ignored you and acted stiff around you. Your 'polite' is our 'rude'." The boy said with a smirk that once again reminded Robin of his wizard friend again.

When Robin thought for a bit it did make some sense. After all, if family was so important to Nazlar then it would make sense for them to act like a family. That was all this was: a family acting relaxed around each other.

"Sorry, but who are you? I don't think I caught your name?" Robin said.

"Seerka, I used to be the youngest here until Raven came."

"Really?"

"By about a year or so." Seerka shrugged. "I know I'm a bit small for a Nazlar. I'm a bit of a runt you see."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? Did you do it?" Seerka said.

"No, I was just being sympathetic."

"Then just say that next time, don't act like you did something when you did not."

"Is she always that jumpy?" Seerka asked, now studying Raven, who was being questioned by her relatives. It seemed like they all were trying to catch up with her. You could tell the attention was bothering her a bit.

"She doesn't like attention that much." Robin said.

"Hmmm, so I see…what is wrong with that green fellow? He has not eating any food at all."

"He's eaten the salad."

"Like I said. No food at all." Seerka replied.

"That is food to him, he's a vegetarian."

Seerka's eyes widened. "Really? Is he ill?"

"No, he's a vegetarian."

"Like I said, is he sick?"

"He doesn't like meat. He won't eat it."

"Have you found a way to cure him yet?" Seerka gave Beast Boy a worried look.

"He's not sick, Seerka. He doesn't like to eat meat because he can change into animals. He thinks it is immoral."

"What could be immoral about following your nature? Nazlar are predators. I am a predator. Am I immoral?"

"Well, I don't think so, and I'm sure that Beast Boy does not think like that either…he just prefers to eat a non-meat diet."

"Poor fellow. Such a life must be horrible." Seerka was now giving Beast Boy a sad look. "Anyway, tell me about that big metal guy over there…"

And it went on from there. Seerka talked to Robin about every single member of his team. Robin wondered why he was so interested, but decided that it could not hurt to humor him.

Around the table similar behavior was going on. The Nazlar where extremely open with the Titans, and the gathering soon turned into a kind of strange family reunion, at least that was what it was beginning to feel like.

After the meal and the subsequent dessert, this turned out to be an assortment of different kinds of sweets including cakes, ice creams, puddings and the dreaded pie, Zarule finally looked at Robin and asked about the invasion.

Robin rose from his seat and explained about Sanath and what they had discovered in the Caninoid kingdom. Occasionally Raven would interject a fact or two, but Robin did most of the talking.

When Robin concluded Zarule leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I never thought I would have to see my people ever fight again. I thought we were done with that sort of thing. But if this Sanath wants a fight then that is what I will give them!"

"Father," Nakla, Zarule's eldest daughter and heir spoke up "do you think we should contact the orcs? They have been our allies before, and certainly they will see the wisdom in siding with us in this conflict."

Zarule nodded. "Maybe so….it would not hurt to send someone to talk to them."

"The Warriors of Azar will be here as well." Raven said, but Zarule was shaking his head.

"While the Warriors are good fighters it is not a good idea to rely upon them in a crisis. You never know when their Counsel will call them back. I hate to say this in front of you, Raven, but the Temple folk are not too reliable."

Raven bristled. "What does that mean?"

"Surely you know what I am talking about. There have been times in history when the Temple has gone against their word or changed their minds. The only people there who are even slightly trustworthy are your sect, the Makhar."

Raven wanted to argue, but the sad fact was that he was right. It annoyed her, but that did not mean it was untrue.

The Titans and the royal family talked into the night, strategizing. When ten o clock rolled around Zarule suggested it was time to turn in, due to the amount of yawing that came from the table.

The Titans stumbled into bed without any complaints about the bedding arrangements. There would be no interesting incidents that night, as they all swiftly fell asleep.