Authors notes: What I'm going to attempt to do now for the rest of this story is something rather difficult and that is retroactively try to get Raven from where she is now in this story, to how she is at the start of the Teen Titans TV show. I've made her a lot more dismissive and unhelpful than she is in Teen Titans, so I might send her off on some mini adventures with the Doctor to smooth her rough personality before she ends up on Earth.

I think I'm getting the hang of her character and I have to admit, Raven is becoming pretty fun to write for in this. She is just the opposite of what you'd expect from an ordinary companion because she's really not interested nor invested in the situation at all. She also seems to have a duel nature in the way she thinks she should be vs. the way her humanity tells her to be, as if there are two sides at war with each other.

I know I originally said Raven wasn't going to become a 'companion' to the Doctor because she is too O.P. But in a sense she still isn't a proper companion, as you'll see in this chapter.

-Hope you enjoy it, dear reader.

Chapter 8

The Reluctant Companion

Raven stepped from the TARDIS into the undergrowth. The air smelt fresh and it was cool, it was near pitch dark, and it was also deadly silent. She had been in the TARDIS so long she'd gotten used to a slight 'hum' on the edge of her perception being in the background. Now it was gone and she was deafened by the silence.

The TARDIS had landed in a forest and was surrounded by bushes. Raven pulled up her hood and for the first time regretted her attire. Why did she have to pick something which exposed her legs? They were getting cold.

Raven checked she still had the TARDIS key, it was tucked under her cloaks broach. She was about to move off when she stopped, reached back and pulled the Police Box doors firmly shut to stop unwanted visitors or vermin from getting in.

The way the TARDIS caught the moonlight made the Police Box shell look both alien and yet somehow it looked like it belonged there. She blinked. It was weird. It was like it was there, it shouldn't be there, but something was telling her brain it was supposed to be there. She got the same feeling in the Temple on Azarath when she first saw the TARDIS. But it was like the moment she tried to really focus on it some spell was trying to deflect her attention elsewhere. If it wasn't for the void it created in reality she probably would never even notice the TARDIS at all. It was like the thing was messing with her perception of it.

Putting that out of her mind she turned away from the box and looked around. What am I doing out here? She thought to herself. I'm just wasting my time. But still she pushed on, through the night. She could always find the TARDIS again by focusing on the void in space it created.

She stopped, turned back to the Police Box and for good measure cast a spell to freeze the TARDIS lock, just in case the Doctor did come back while she was out and he wouldn't be able to get in and takeoff without her. If that was the case she'll let him back in when she returns. It would serve him right for staying away for so long and making her worry.

Worry? I'm not worried, She told herself I just... she thought ...I just... she knew what she wanted to think but pushed it aside ...I just need him to fly the TARDIS. Yeah, that was it.

What for? Said another voice in her head. You don't care where the TARDIS goes. You stay locked in its depths like a ghost. She commanded that voice to shut up.

To make her search easier she floated up above the trees and cast her mind out searching for the Doctor. He had a distinctive brain pattern and heart beat so hopefully he'd be easy to find. If he is still alive. She morbidly thought. Don't think things like that! Said another voice in her head. Shut up! She commanded them both.

Smoke or steam was crawling over the moon in the distance and a light... a blue glow seemed to appear in a clearing of trees. A settlement? Or a camp? It was probably where the Doctor was and so that's where she headed. Floating above the trees, her cloak flapping behind her giving her the image of a blue ghost.

As she came over the trees she saw a large town. The buildings were made of wood, mostly two or three stories tall. The tallest structure being some kind of tower in the middle. Maybe a site of some religious worship? She reasoned.

Raven set herself down. The place looked quite primitive and she didn't want to upset the people here with her presence, and she didn't want them to bother her, but she had an idea. Taking inspiration from the TARDIS she cast a cloak of perception over her so she could walk freely and not be noticed. They would see her, but not acknowledge her existence. She was effectively a ghost now, and she walked into town.

Looking at the people around her they honestly weren't dressed that differently than she was, except maybe for her leotard. Her hooded cloak would've blended in nicely if it wasn't for a few things.

The first being that her cloak was a vivid blue, theirs was of a brown cloth made of poor materials.

The second thing being these creatures, though bipedal, were a pale shade of blue and their eyes and ears were big and dark, other than that they looked human. Clearly they had evolved to be used to low light conditions. Was this planet in perpetual darkness? If this was true then the street was still well lit despite their nocturnal nature.

She looked at what was casting the strange blue hue around the place. There were pedestals in the street like lamp posts, but instead of lanterns or burning fire like she'd expect, there was instead a kind of crystal like structure in each of them that glowed a pale blue and was putting out more light than any fire would. It kind of made the place look ethereal. Like something from a fantasy novel.

Curiously she felt drawn to one of the lanterns. She reached out, touched it and it instantly turned black instead all light vanishing from it and it looked like it radiated darkness instead. Raven's hand snapped back and it glowed blue again. Some of the locals noticed, but thanks to her cloak of perception they didn't notice her. She wondered why it turned black when she touched it but decided to put it out of her mind. It was irrelevant to her search and she'd hopefully be off this planet soon anyway.

Raven decided to hover just above the ground instead of walking. She got the feeling that though she could fool these creatures visually with her cloak of perception spell, their large ears would certainly be able to hear her footsteps and so floating would solve that problem.

As she wandered like a spectre she realised how primitive these aliens were. They didn't seem to have any form of higher technology. It was more like how Earth used to be in the medieval times. Their most dangerous weapons were just sticks and axes made out of metal and wood. No threat to her, obviously. Honestly, being here depressed her and she wanted to go back to the TARDIS. These people didn't interest her at all, they were existing, they were living, they were surviving. The ins and outs of their society were pointless to dwell on.

She turned her attention back to the Doctor and she cast her mind out to find him. But she found something else which caught her attention instead. It made her come to a stop just in time as a large body of water came down in front of her and splashed to the floor leaving a large puddle. Wherever she was they clearly hadn't invented the toilet yet as someone had dumped a fowl smelling bucket out of their window into the street. She passed over it quickly before she gagged on the smell and followed the strange thing she could sense in her mind.

In the middle of town there was a stone well, and there was something about it that caught Ravens attention. This thing was the strange presence that she could sense. But why? She approached it and the closer she got the more it unnerved her. She looked down into it but she couldn't see much since it was still night. How long did nights last on this planet anyway?

Staring down into the blackness made her feel like she was peering into her very soul.

Hel...hello she called down telepathically, but whatever was down there it didn't have the capacity to answer her back, or it wouldn't answer back. She felt cold and a deep queasiness of anxiety rose up in her, but she forced it down to remain calm, and serene. The last thing she needed were her powers going haywire here of all places.

Now she heard the sounds of cheering and whaling of a crowd being carried by the wind. Something was going on in the next street and the villagers loved it. She glanced back at the well for a brief second and decided It didn't matter, and she floated away to investigate the crowd.

Floating over the houses and into the towns square she saw the villagers tossing vegetables at a man in stocks. A man she instantly recognised. It was the Doctor.

Raven admitted she got some small pleasure seeing the Doctor get pelted like that with smelly vegetables. That serves him right, she thought. A small, throaty giggle escaped the bottom of her lungs, she'd decided she had changed her mind, she didn't want to go back to the TARDIS just yet, this was good entertainment.

"No, listen, just listen to me, please!" but the Doctors words were squashed as something impacted and exploded in his face showering him in fowl juices.

As the villagers pelted the Doctor, Raven used her powers to sneak some blue looking vegetables out of someones bag and hid them under her cloak. A small, almost evil smirk played on her lips for what she planned to do with them.

It was a good few minutes before the crowd was forced to disperse and the Doctor was led away at spear point. Three guards in some kind of battle fatigues marched the Doctor away. Raven followed them around the back of a large building and to a smaller, stone building half built into the ground and the Doctor was thrown into one of the underground rooms. A cell of some sort. The door being locked and bolted behind him.

"No, listen to me, please." the Doctor pleaded. "I think you're all in terrible danger."

"Quieten down, mad man" said one of the guards banging on the bars "You deserve worse for what you've done" and the guard walked away.

"But I never did it, you have no proof." But the Doctor gave up when the guard left, locking the outer door behind it. "Why do they never listen?" the Doctor sat down and looked like he was contemplating what to do next.

Raven waited until the guards went away before she cast a spell, and a dark portal formed in front of her. She manipulated it so it connected to the Doctors cell, and smirking again she used her powers to catapult two of the squishy blue vegetables she had through it and got the satisfying sound of a splat as they hit the Doctor.

Raven then passed through the portal herself and finally let her feet touch solid ground. The portal vanishing behind her. She quickly hid her smirk as the Doctor, hair dripping with slimy juice, spun to look at her.

"Raven?!" the Doctor exclaimed wiping the mess from his face. "Am I glad to see you."

Ravens face didn't show any greeting, she looked at the Doctor with a neutral expression. "I think I should leave you here." Raven said "Whatever you did, I'm sure you deserve it."

"They think I'm the cause of their problems, and that I'm some kind of 'pale demon'!" the Doctor exclaimed indignantly.

"Welcome to my world" Raven said flatly.

"Listen, did you notice anything strange as you came into town?" the Doctor asked "Anything that disturbed your finally tuned senses?"

"Yeah, you. You need a bath." Raven said looking at the Doctor up and down. His velvet coat was ruined as liquid and juices had soaked into it, same with his shirt, trousers and waistcoat.

"I'm being serious." The Doctor insisted.

"Yeah, so am I" Raven replied. She knew a spell that would clean everything off the Doctor in a split second. But she was enjoying his discomfort too much, though she didn't show it externally. She tried to remain dead inside, from the outside at least.

"I meant anything of a psychic nature?" the Doctor continued "Over the course of 'three moons' -what these people call months- it seems people have been disappearing."

"Fascinating" Raven said dully, she wasn't interested at all "Now, are we going back to the TARDIS?"

"No" the Doctor said firmly "There is a presence here, and I suspect it is malicious."

"So?" Raven asked.

"So?" the Doctor echoed, he looked at her as if she was some immoral demon. Well, she was. Why did that surprise him? "Haven't you been paying attention? People are vanishing, they might even be dead. Don't you want to help them?"

"I don't know them." Raven said now staring at the Doctor like he was some mortal. She also hoped it would unnerve him. But it didn't have the effect she wanted of it. In fact the Doctor didn't even notice.

"Would you even help them if you did know them?" the Doctor asked. Ravens eyes rolled a little as if that was a stupid question to ask of a demon like her. In reality, she wondered if she would. Likely the answer was 'no' but she wasn't sure. "Look, just help me. Just do this... this one time for me?" For him? What do I owe him? "Just this one time? Please!" Who is he to tell me what to do? Does he honestly think, 'please' will make me do anything?

Raven sighed slowly "Okay, fine" What?! What am I saying? She thought. But she knew the Doctor wasn't going to come with her willingly, she could drag him away but she knew she wouldn't hear the end of it from him. Best to do what the Doctor wants, then she can return to her reading.

"You're a star" the Doctor said clapping his hands together.

"No." Raven said more to herself rolling her eyes, "I'm just a sucker."

Raven helped by teleporting both herself and the Doctor out of the cell. She wanted to teleport him directly to the TARDIS and force him inside. But at the last second her mind teleported them to the strange well she'd found. Where the Doctor wanted to go.

"Tell me" the Doctor asked "Did you notice anything out of the ordinary about this planet?" the Doctor stepping from the portal.

"Is that a serious question?" Raven asked, everything was out of the ordinary for her on this planet. She sighed and resigned herself to the fact she was about to get a lecture.

"The planet is tidally locked between it and it's star. Meaning it rotates as fast as it orbits its parent star, so this side of the planet never gets sun light, but the other side gets roasted. The same way the Earths moon is tidally locked with the Earth so only one side faces the planet." the Doctor said, he was rattling off ideas more for his own benefit than for Ravens. "The only light this side gets is from the moon. But here is the big question." the Doctor paused for dramatic reasons, Raven rolled her eyes for tolerant ones. "The planet orbits a red dwarf star, but the moon shines a pale blue. Which means?" he was asking her a question.

Raven couldn't care less but she found herself answering it in her mind. She knew little about science, but from what little she had read she knew what the Doctor was implying. A red dwarf star would only put out redder hues of light. So why was the moon glowing blue?

The Doctor waited and Raven refused to answer or play this stupid game of his. "Come on" the Doctor encouraged her.

Raven sighed again and gave up "A red dwarf star emits only red light, the moon should be red." she said like someone indulging a child. "Anything else, teacher?" she added mockingly.

"No, that was exactly the answer. Very good, miss Rae"

"Don't call me, Rae" Raven cut across.

"Well, don't give me that attitude" the Doctor quickly said, and before Raven could react the Doctors lips were flapping again. "Fascinatingly the disappearances happen whenever the moon is either blocked by clouds, or is on the other side of the planet." the Doctor finally was coming to the point. "Now interestingly, this well is built at an awkward angle. It's not going straight down, it's tilted at a ten degree incline in such a way that the moon shines directly into it." Raven looked at the well. He was right, it wasn't perfectly straight, but it was such a mundane detail she never picked up on it. "Why?" the Doctor asked "Subsidence? Or was it built like that? What did you sense down there?"

Raven sighed again like a moody teen and told the Doctor what she'd sense down there. Some kind of presence but it wasn't a complex one. Or one that could, or would answer back to her telepathic calls.

"Is any of this relevant?" Raven asked afterwards.

"Is a grain of sand relevant?"

"No!" Raven insisted.

"And that just shows the failure of your imagination." the Doctor said as he leaned over the edge of the well, holding some kind of flash light he used to shine down the throat of the well. "Little Timmy!" he cried and his voice echoed back "Can you hear me?" Raven rolled her eyes.

"Not everything is going to be connected." Raven reasoned.

"And until we can clearly eliminate certain things as irrelevant, lets pretend they are." the Doctor said. Raven was astonished at the Doctors ability to answer her back at a million miles per hour "Have you noticed the glow stones that light this place?" he turned to Raven again and pointed up "Remind you of anything?"

Raven looked up, saw the blue glowing moon. Understood what the Doctor was saying, that those stones came from the moon. Probably blasted off the surface by meteor impacts and later fell to this planet years later. When Raven didn't play along the Doctor began to verbally explain.

"The rocks must come from the moon, blasted off when..."

"Okay, I get it!" Raven said, not shouting but in a higher pitch to stop the Doctor talking.

"Well, your social skills are a lot to be desired" the Doctor said "But that explains why the moon glows blue, not red. It doesn't glow because of light reflected from its parent star. It curiously produces the glow itself." The Doctor was now rubbing his fingers over his knuckles as he thought, almost like a poker player hiding his cards.

"Right," the Doctor said "That's as far as I'm up to. Where do we go from here?" he wondered to himself.

Back to the TARDIS! Raven wanted to say, but she bit her tongue.

"Let's work out what we don't know." the Doctor said, drumming his fingers on the back of his head. His eyes wandering everywhere as his brain ticked over.

"Yes, lets." Raven said sarcastically.

"We don't know what's taking these people. We don't know why the people are being taken, we don't know what for, we don't know what criteria they possibly meet that others don't. We don't know how this odd well fits into all of this, if it indeed does. We don't know why the attacks happen when the moon is covered."

"We don't know why we should care" Raven said out loud, the Doctor ignored her.

"We need some information gathering" the Doctor said "I'm sorry Raven, but you're going to have to talk to some 'real' people."

Raven's face fell more than normal "No" she said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. She'd agreed to help the Doctor out, but this was crossing a line. She didn't 'do' people. She didn't 'do' crowds. She didn't 'do' socialising. She didn't 'do' adventuring. She didn't 'do' helping.

"I can't do it, they'll lock me back up again in two heart beats the moment they see me" the Doctor said.

"And I'm tempted to let them do it." Raven said giving the Doctor a look which still clearly and firmly said No.

"Your purple eyes means you look almost like them. The blue hue of the lights makes your grey skin look like a similar hue to theirs. The ears might be a problem." the Doctor commented.

"You're not doing anything to my ears!" Raven stepped back away from the Doctor, ready to cast him into another dimension if he laid a finger on her.

"Don't be silly, just keep your hood up, and your cloak closed, and you can pass for one of them." the Doctor insisted.

"And what are you going to do?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to find a glow stone to examine." the Doctor said, pulling out some kind of tube device. It looked kind of like a big spoon on the end with a red shaped bullet pointing ninety degrees to the handle. She'd seen him using it when he was working on the TARDIS console. It produced a high pitched noise Raven found highly irritating.

Raven sighed deeply, a raspy noise escaped showing her irritation. But then she had a thought. She quickly realised she could bargain for something here. If the Doctor wanted her to do this then he'd have to give her something in return and she knew exactly what she wanted. "Okay, I'll do it, but only under one condition." she said, "that you have the TARDIS move my room closer to the library, and I want the bathroom moving closer to me too."

"Done" the Doctor said and was already moving off.

"Wait" Raven called. The Doctor stopped, turned to look at her as Raven charged her powers. She formed black energy over the Doctors skin and blasted it out with such force that all the rotting vegetables he'd been pelted with came flying off him, including the juices that caused him to stink. He was now as clean as he was when he left the TARDIS and with no awful scent. She figured he'd suffered enough indignity of looking like he crawled out of a trash can.

"Thank you." the Doctor said. "This saves me a trip to the dry cleaners."

"I did it to save my nose. Not save you your dry cleaning" Raven said. Liar! A voice in her head said. Shut it! She commanded of it.

"Of course you did" the Doctor replied, showing he didn't buy it and walked off leaving her alone to learn how to socialise by herself.

I really, really, hate you, Doctor! She thought, and that she did mean.

Okay, here goes. Raven thought as she walked among the residence of this town. Dropping her cloak of perception spell. She looked around wondering where on Earth does she start seeking information about missing people? How does she go about talking to these people, at all?

In her stomach a small amount of anxiety bubbled up, but she forced it down. She guessed most normal humans would be concerned about giving offence to these people if she said the wrong thing. But since Raven wasn't invested in the Doctors game, nor was she concerned that those people could hurt her because of her powers, she just walked up to the nearest person and asked.

"You! What do you know about the missing villagers?" the reaction was exactly how she predicted. They hesitated and walked around her like she was a threat and looked at her as if she was nothing they'd ever seen before.

She sighed, Okay, you've read enough books. Where do people go when they need information? She asked. A pub? A bar? A restaurant? But what if these people didn't have their own equivalent of alcohol? What did they even eat?

She attempted to be more casual, so she walked up to someone else a few streets later and said "Interesting weather we're having tonight." but there must've been something wrong with her delivery because the creature stared at her before saying "It's horrid!" and it moved on.

She sighed again deeply to clear her irritation. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. Though she couldn't tell, her attempts to be 'friendly' with the locals actually did make her sound like some unnatural devil spawn. Which is what she was. But that image wasn't helping and she didn't know how to put on any other face to reassure them.

"Hey, are you lost?" and Raven turned around and looked down. It was a child, a child of these people. It was looking up at her curiously. Raven wanted to recoil. She still didn't like children.

"Ye..." she stumbled "Yes." she was on her guard in case this little monster tried to trick, or do something to her. Her powers were ready and she was focused on this creatures neck ready to inflict damage if it tried to attack her.

"You must be from the Northern settlements!" the child declared. "They look really funny." Raven didn't bother taking offence, it would be pointless. After all, to her they all looked funny.

Part of her told her to kneel down and bring herself down to the child's level. But she stopped herself as she moved to do it. If she knelt down she'd be exposing herself and relinquishing whatever sense of dominance she might have in this situation if this creature acted up. She never considered that giving up her dominant stance might be a good thing that would put the creature at ease.

"I..." she hesitated trying to choose her words wisely "Is this place safe for me?" she asked "I've heard stories of people going missing."

The kid looked sad "We're not supposed to talk about it."

"P..." she stopped, and she had to force the word out of her mouth "Please..." she decided to play down her dominant position a little though she still refused to kneel down. "I'm a small, lonely little girl and I need to know if I should stay here." She failed to notice the tone in her voice was very robotic, even for her, as she said this.

"Girl, what's a girl?" the creature asked, and Raven realised they might not even have genders on this planet. She wasn't interested, so she didn't ask.

"Is it safe for me in this village. Yes or no?" Raven was losing her patience, and the child looked scared, like it knew something but was too scared to say it. Or maybe it was scared of her. Raven tried kneeling down now, giving up her dominance over the situation altogether, but she'd already scared the child and Raven's attempts at a reassuring smile didn't help. Raven didn't realise her smile looked more creepy than her blank expression. The creature looked frightened and intimidated and was starting to retreat after Ravens smile faded to a frown and her eyes betrayed the anger she was feeling.

"I don't have time for this!" and before the creature could get out of her grasp Raven's right hand came out of her cloak, like a long, slender, bony claw and clamped down on the child's head firmly so it couldn't pull away and Raven dived into its mind. The things mind was simple and she found the information she wanted quickly, it was close to the surface, and Raven extracted everything she needed from it about missing people. She pulled out before the child knew what had happened, and as she removed her hand the child stumbled back having felt Raven rummage around inside its head.

Raven stood back up and said "Thank you" and the kid ran away in terror, screaming, and so it should. Run away, Raven thought here comes a monster.

"I really, really hate kids" Raven said aloud.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: As I said at the start, Raven is not like any ordinary companion, in fact she's failing at being any kind of companion to the Doctor because though she is conflicted she is ultimately selfish. At this stage in her life she is greatly disinterested in any mystery the Doctor is investigating and isn't invested in it at all. Yet she feels compelled to help anyway. Plus the Doctor is used to fighting monsters, and here is Raven, a girl who honestly believes she is an evil monster in her heart and at times can act like one.

Her social awkwardness also means that despite her powers shes pretty much useless in the usual companion role, especially when it comes to information gathering. Which is why Raven goes down the easy and more dark route of forcing people to give up information by force, instead of reasoning it out of them. She really doesn't understand why its wrong to do it even if its for a greater good. And this way of thinking is going to eventually impact her relationship with the Doctor in future chapters.

I've brought in a little bit of a playful mischievous nature to her, which I guess she assumes is just her evil side.

I've added some small characterisations to the eighth Doctor that were not present in the TV Movie, nor the audios. But were present a little in the books.

I haven't fleshed out the village all that much in the story, mostly because Raven has missed the Doctors portion of the adventure where a culture is explored. Also Raven is not interested in it at all, so she's doing that thing where she judges things on surface value. Hence why she refers to everyone as 'creature' 'thing' 'child' or 'it'. Plus, I'll leave it up the imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks as the civilisation is supposed to play second fiddle to how Raven is trying and failing at being a companion to the Doctor.