Chapter Two
She ran quickly towards the sound, going down the hallway, then joining the mass of Titans who had heard the scream (who didn't?) and were on the way there as well.
"What's going on?" she asked as she ran with the throng. "And where are we headed?"
"Dunno, but that scream was definitely Star's. Or Kole." Beast Boy said as he ran beside her.
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"Who is it?" Jinx asked as she ran through the halls of the tower. Lots of other Titans ran with her, and many shrugged as they heard her question. Apparently, none of them knew who was screaming or why said person was screaming.
"Heya Jinx." Kid Flash said as he suddenly appeared.
"Hey Wally." She responded automatically without glancing at him, and then looked at him. "Where were you?"
"Oh, here and there." He answered vaguely.
"Ugh, never mind that! Do you know who's screaming?"
"Yep. Starfire."
"Why? And who attacks in the middle of the night? Knowing that there's a mass of Titans currently living in this tower, and not just five? I'm gonna beat the crap out of them!"
"Sorry to disappoint, but there's no attacker."
Jinx rolled her eyes. "Then what is it?"
"Eh, not quite sure."
She sighed as they turned the corner and more Titans appeared. "This is hopeless." She muttered. "We're never gonna get there."
Kid Flash raised an eyebrow. "Really? Jinx, my dear girlfriend, never say never! You want to get there?" she nodded, and he picked her up. "Then we'll get there!"
"OI TITANS! OUTTA THE WAY, SPEEDSTER COMMIN' THROUGH!"
Kid Flash plunged quickly through the crowd with Jinx in his arms holding on to him tightly.
Some Titans moved a little over as they heard his announcement, and in no time, the two were through.
"See? We made it." Kid Flash said, setting Jinx down on the floor outside of the room everyone had been headed to. Surprisingly, there was no crowd outside the door.
"Huh, I guess they didn't know which way to go." Jinx commented.
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Raven sighed. It was totally hopeless. There were simply too much Titans, and not enough space.
"Hey, Raven?"
"What is it Beast Boy?"
"How come you're running and not teleporting?"
She halted suddenly, and he stopped as well, crashing to the floor from the unexpected stop.
"God, I'm stupid." Raven muttered, wanting to smack herself. She had still been thinking about her dream, and that had distracted her. Also there was the fact that she had thought there was no need to teleport within her home, but had forgotten about the mass of Titans that had recently joined the tower.
"Hey, why'd you stop?" Beast Boy asked.
"Because I'm going to teleport." she stated.
"Oh! Sweet! Can I come too?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.
Raven shrugged. "Sure, why not. But why didn't you fly?"
Beast Boy slapped a hand over his face. "Duude! I totally forgot!"
Raven gave him a look. "Whatever, let's just go." She said, creating a dark portal on the wall in front of her, and then walking through it with Beast Boy following her. It dissipated as soon as they were through.
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They reappeared in a white room, coming through the wall just as Kid Flash and Jinx opened the door and walked inside.
"Hey Kid Flash, Jinx!" Beast Boy said as he noticed the two walk in.
"Hi Beast Boy, Raven." Jinx replied and looked around.
"So… where is she?" she questioned, giving her boyfriend a glance.
The room seemed empty. The four Titans had come up expecting something serious had happened, but seeing nothing there confused them.
Until Raven remembered something about this particular room and spoke up.
"Beast Boy…. Isn't this the outer room?"
"Huh? Uhhh…" The green Titan glanced around, went outside, and came back in. "Yea. Yeah, it is."
"Then the entrance to the inner room would be…" Raven walked over to the far wall in the back. "Here." She stated, pressing her hand on a small dot. It was well camouflaged with the wall, only a tint darker. Hard to notice, but if you had sharp eyes that took in detail well, and were looking for it, it was visible enough.
Her hand glowed red as the machine inside the wall scanned her hand, and then turned green. Raven took her hand off as the other three came closer. Black lines appeared, revealing the hidden door's location on the wall. As soon as it opened, the four stepped through…
…and gasped.
Inside, was another room, and yes, it was white. It looked exactly the same as the other room, except for a difference.
Something red was on the wall, but it wasn't from a Titan, because a quick glance told them that neither Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Bushido, nor Hot Spot were injured.
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"What's going on, Robin?" Kid Flash asked, zooming over to stand beside the five.
"That." Robin pointed to the wall and Kid Flash followed where his finger was pointing at. Once glance at the wall made him jump at least two inches back. "Whoa. Creepy."
Jinx, Raven, and Beast Boy exchanged a look before also going over to the six.
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"Well? What is it?" Jinx asked after looking at the wall.
"I'm analyzing it right now." Cyborg said from his position next to the wall.
"Who could have done such a horrid thing? And such an awful message too." Starfire's voice was worried.
"I don't know. But we'll find out who did this, why they did this, and what it means." Robin said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, guys, anyone know these weird pictures on the wall?" Beast Boy suddenly asked, and they turned to him.
"What pictures?" Bushido and Hot Spot went over to Beast Boy.
"Duh, these pictures." Beast Boy moved over so the rest of them could see what he was pointing at.
Indeed, next to the message on the wall, there were a series of symbols. However, none of the Titans had seen them before.
"Shouldn't we figure out the message first?" Kid Flash asked. "Like, asking ourselves what it means, and why it's all capitalized."
Starfire looked at him, confused. "You can understand my language? But I do not believe that I have not taught anyone besides Cyborg."
The Titans turned to look at her. "Your language? You mean Tamaranian?" Beast Boy's eyes were wide.
"Yes. The message is in the language of my people, and I do not quite know how you understand it." Starfire explained.
"No way! Star, that's in plain English! Even I can tell that!" Beast Boy argued.
Starfire shook her head unrelentingly. "No, you are quite mistaken. That message is in the language of my people."
"Wah?" Beast Boy slapped a hand on his head. "Somebody, please tell Star it's in English, and not Tamaranian."
Starfire crossed her arms. "I do not understand why you refuse to believe me."
"Okay, well, Starfire, how come you think it's Tamaranian? It looks plain English to me." Kid Flash remarked.
"English? You're wrong. Clearly, it is Japanese." Bushido stated, causing the eight of them to look at the Japanese warrior.
"Japanese? Whatcha talking 'bout?" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"Yea! It's not Japanese! It's Arabic!" Hot Spot exclaimed, this new outburst causing the eight to turn their attention to him.
"Arabic? Whaaat?" Beast Boy threw his arms up in the air.
"Looks Hindi to me." Jinx commented casually.
"Are you all blind? It's freakin' English!" Beast Boy yelled.
"You're all wrong." They all turned to Raven now.
"Aww man! Not you too! Please don't tell me you think its some kinda otherworldly alien language like Azarian or something!" Beast Boy begged, clasping his fingers together, and begging comically on his knees in front of the blue-cloaked teen.
She looked down at him and quizzically raised an eyebrow, replying in a sarcastic tone. "Gee. How did you guess? And yes. It is in the ancient language of Azarath: Azarian."
"…" There was moment of silence, before arguing broke out among them.
"It is freaking ENGLISH!" Beast Boy yelled.
"No, it is Tamaranian." Starfire argued.
"Jinx, I'm not trying to be offensive or anything, but I have to ask. Why do you think its Hindi? 'Cuz I know you know it's English." Kid Flash said in a reasonable tone.
She glared at him. "Speak for yourself, Wally." She spat, and put her hands on her hips. "It is definitely Hindi. I would have said it was English like Beast Boy over there, but it's not, so deal."
"Japanese? Japanese? You're crazy, man! It's Arabic!" Hot Spot shouted at Bushido.
"I beg to differ, for you are the one going crazy and not I." Bushido responded indignantly, crossing his arms. "It is Japanese and not the language Arabic."
"QUIET!" Robin yelled, and those who were arguing looked at him.
"Okay. I know that we're all confused. Starfire, you think it's Tamaranian. Raven, you think it's Azarian. Jinx thinks it's Hindi, Hot Spot thinks its Arabic, Bushido thinks its Japanese, and both Kid Flash and Beast Boy believe it is English."
Jinx put a hand on her hip. "What's your point, Robin?" she asked.
"Well, it seems like a lot of different languages, but in my eyes, I have to agree with Beast Boy and Kid Flash." He held up a hand as they opened their mouths to protest while Beast Boy gave Kid Flash a high five. "But! What if it was all of them?"
He had their attention now.
"What do you mean by all of them?" Raven asked.
"I mean this." Robin said. "Think about it! You all believe it is written in your native language, correct?" They nodded and he continued. "Well, what if it is? What if, the person who wrote it, cast some kind of spell on it so that whoever looks at it will see the message in their native language?"
They looked at him, then each other. "Is it even possible?" Hot Spot questioned.
Robin turned to Raven. "Raven?"
She looked at all of them, and nodded. "I think it's quite likely."
"…"
"That may be, but I do still believe it is Tamaranian. However, that is a reasonable answer for why we all see such different things." Starfire said.
"Well, then why don't we read it?" Hot Spot suggested in a derisive tone.
"I agree." Jinx replied, ignoring Kid Flash for the moment.
"Hey! What's there to argue about! It's English!" Beast Boy shouted.
"No, it is Japanese, can you not see?" Bushido said, gesturing.
"I can tell you exactly what it says." Raven said.
"I will not be outdone!" Starfire declared, caught by the competitive tension in the air.
The six of them glared at each other, and abruptly turned to the wall.
"Beware. Doom befalls you all and your world. All is lost, hope unattainable. You cannot fight back, for it is impossible. Doom comes, and destruction will cause havoc, havoc that is the bringer of chaos. You cannot run, you cannot hide. The end is coming.
Take heed. The shining light of hope has dimmed, and all is lost. Time turns, turning continuously. All will fall, and the destruction will come."
All six of them spoke at the same time. Robin, Cyborg, and Kid Flash glanced at each other.
"Same message alright." Kid Flash quipped as soon as they finished speaking.
The six of them stared at Kid Flash, and turned their attention to the door as it opened.
Aqualad stepped into the room.
"Hey, you guys?"
"Yes, what is it, Aqualad?" Robin asked.
"Bumblebee says to come to the living room."
"Why?"
"There's a . . . situation . . ."
"What kind of situation?" Robin demanded.
"Someone wants to talk. Claims it is important and demands for you and Raven to come immediately."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Me?"
Aqualad nodded.
"Well, do you know who it is?"
Aqualad shook his head. "Nope. But the others are waiting."
"Alright." Robin moved towards the door, and the rest of them followed him out.
"By, the way, neat writing on the wall. Bad message if you ask me, though." Aqualad commented.
Beast Boy looked at him. "So, what language is it? The message I mean."
Aqualad looked at him curiously. "Huh? Atlantian, of course."
The nine of them groaned.
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They met Speedy in the hallway.
"Bumblebee is talking to the guy right now. Trying to get the truth and sort of stalling at the same time. But you should come in now." Speedy told them.
Robin nodded. "Thanks."
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All eleven Titans walked into the living room, hearing Bumblebee talking to the screen.
"It's so urgent that the world will end? Do you really think I'm gonna buy that? Because believe me. That line has been waaay overused."
A quick survey of the room let the eleven Titans who entered see the rest of the Titans who currently resided in the tower.
"Bumblebee, what's the situation?"
Bumblebee turned her head to look at them. "Good, you're here. He claims it's the end of the world."
Then, she looked directly at Raven. "He claims to be your father."
The tension in the room silently increased, every Titan in the room focused their attention on Bumblebee and Raven.
"What's his name?" Raven's voice was impassive.
Bumblebee's gaze didn't leave Raven's face. "He calls himself," she moved, and suddenly, the screen was clearly visible to the Titans who had recently entered.
It showed a person's face. He had red skin, white hair, and brown antler-looking things for what seemed to be his eyebrows. He had four glowing red eyes, and Raven stared at him with an unfathomable expression.
Bumblebee finished her sentence.
"Trigon."