Chapter 98

Inside Out.

Raven paused, she'd come to a very awkward bit in the story. The Titans looked at her expectantly, beckoning her to continue.

"This next part is kinda strange." Raven said, and thought for a way to explain it. "You know when you're dreaming you... it feels like you're someone else, with different memories and the strangeness of the dream world makes sense? Well, what happened next was sort of like that." Her frown straightened a little. "While I was under the Master's spell it was like I was half awake, half dreaming. This is what I was dreaming while under that hypnotic spell."

Where was she? Wherever it was she didn't like it. It was so dark, and cold, and... Nightmares. Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, the Master, Morgaine, the Psychic Circus, the Candy Man.

God, she wished she had some nitro-9 with her to blow them away.

Then came Light, Fenric, Kane, and the Doctor. The stupid little man with the hat and umbrella. The manipulative, selfish, uncaring toe-rag of a Time Lord.

Ace awoke. The place was dark, and quiet.

Last thing she remembered was that goth bitch going nuts. Calling for the murder of several gobshite activists. Then she'd grabbed Ace and dragged her under the little witches cloak and into darkness. The next thing she realised, she was here. In the middle of... what was she in the middle of?

Blackness.

Had she been teleported somewhere? Or was this inside Raven's cloak? Was her cloak like the TARDIS or something. Bigger on the inside?

Ace thought she heard something. It was quiet. On the wind.

'Zagreus sits inside your head,

Zagreus lives among the dead.

Zagreus sees you in your bed,

and eats you when you're sleeping.'

"Oi, is anybody there?" She called out into the silence. The peaceful silence. No, she corrected herself, the silence wasn't peaceful, it was maddening. She could hear a white noise on the air, the white noise of just nothing.

She wandered around this place for what felt like ages. She checked her watch, but the digital dial was frozen and just rolled through countless numbers.

"This isn't funny!" Ace called out to the sky. As she spun around she nearly planted face first into a stone pillar. Ace jumped back. She was in the middle of some stone circle, like Stonehenge. She wasn't trapped as there were gaps between the rocks she could easily escape through, though the sudden appearance of a Stonehenge was obviously disconcerting to her.

She took a step and her foot fell upon something. It was a book. Grey and with yellowed pages of age. It lay on the ground as if discarded. Ace picked it up. Despite not having a light source she could see the object perfectly enough to read it. Opening it she unfortunately found that she was never going to be able to read this language. It was hand written, and there were a lot of pictograms and weird circular shapes with strange patterns. Ace had seen similar designs on pentagrams used to summon the devil, only these weren't pentagrams as they lacked the five pointed star and instead had different shapes within. Ace closed the book. Odd waves were produced in the air around it. Chattering came from the book. Ace could only make out some phrases such as.

"Stay strong."

"We're sorry."

"All the best."

"It is our fault."

Ace nearly put the book down, but some strange compulsion told her to hang onto it. The tome was large, and she could just about fit it into her jacket pocket. The top of it just poked out like it was playing peekaboo.

As Ace looked around at the stones again she saw something slide away behind one of the stone pillars. Ace was being watched. Pretending to not have noticed Ace looked left, then back to her right. A shadowy head pulled back behind the pillar again. Yeah, there was definitely something there.

Ace pretended to not notice and approached the slab of rock nonchalantly. Then she reached out around it and grabbed the arm of her stalker and hauled her out.

It was Raven!

"Got you!" The older woman shouted. Raven gave her a look of utter misery and sorrowfulness as Ace yelled at her. "You've got five seconds to let me out of here and..." the girl was trembling. She was terrified. Ace would normally feel empowered to push on, but Raven just looked so pathetic and weak.

"I'm sorry." Raven said to her, "I'm sorry, I told them not to. I said we'd feel miserable afterwards, but they wouldn't listen to me."

"The hell are you talking about?" Ace snapped. Only now did she notice Raven's attire. Her cloak was of a more faded grey instead of blue, and her leotard shone in the same dull colour.

"I knew you wouldn't like me if we did it. I knew you'd hate me if I dragged you in here. I'm sorry. I was just scared. I was just so scared..."

"Scared of what?"

"I am the Doctor, and monsters always learn to fear me!" Echoed a voice from the darkness.

Raven was on the brink of crying, it was pathetic. She looked away and down. "I've... I failed him." Ace relaxed her grip on the young girl but still held her wrist firmly. "He said I didn't have to grow up evil. He said I could escape my destiny. That I could control my darker impulses. That I could become what I wanted to become, not what father demands of me. But I can't... it was too strong." Raven fell to the ground like she'd given up. "Please kill me. I'd rather be dead than feel the shame."

Ace really didn't know how to react to this. She would feel sorry for the terror, if she hadn't allowed several people to be murdered. As far as Ace was concerned she deserved to be miserable.

"Get up, and get me out of here!" Ace tried to drag the limp figure to her feet.

"Oranges and lemons, say the bells of saint Clemons" Echoed a mans voice, a very velvety sounding voice. Ace was sure she'd heard it before, but it had been slightly more raspy.

Like a tidal wave crashing through the rocky platforms a rhythm of four roared over them. Then like the wash from a wave it faded out before everything started to fall silent again.

"Obey! Obey! Obey!" Said the velvety voice high in the air, it repeated the word until it faded out. Silence

What the hell was that all about?

Ace looked down, only to see the grey Raven's form was missing. Looking around it was apparent Raven had scarpered rather than face her. Coward!

"Whatcha doin'?" Asked a voice that was much more feminine and high pitched. Ace nearly fell backwards as she was assaulted by pink. A vivid bubble-gum pink of Raven. Only she was smiling, like she was happy. It was almost creepy in the way she moved now. Full of pride, confidence and joy.

"What happened to you? Did you fall into a vat of bubble-gum?" Raven laughed. Her cloak was such a rich pink. Even her black leotard had a pink shine to it.

"Bubble gum?" Raven exploded. "Oh, I love bubble gum. I especially like strawberry flavoured bubble gum. I like jelly babies. Do you have any jelly babies?"

"Umm... no." Ace said, taking a step away from this hyperactive girl.

"So, you didn't answer my question." She said floating above Ace like an imp playing with it's victim. "Whatcha-doin?" She said as one word.

"I'm trying to get out of here." Ace said to her.

"But I can't let you do that." Raven said, rolling over onto her front, looking down upon her while she levitated off the ground. "You'll tell on me, and that's not nice."

"Stop being childish. I..." Ace felt her head being rubbed by an invisible hand in a way that one might stroke a dog. The way Raven's hand moved made it obvious it was her doing this.

"I've always wanted a pet. But I prefer a dog, or a raven, or a cat, or a horse, or a gerbil. But not a chicken. They're only good for eggs and K.F.C."

"Oi, I'm no ones pet." Ace protested.

"You're so adorable, for a human. Maybe I can turn you into a cat. Would that make you feel better?"

"Yeah, been there, done that." Ace said. "God, even when you're happy, you're super creepy."

"Creepy in a good way, or a bad way?" Raven said, floating down towards her, her cloak trailing after her head and shoulders.

"There is a good way?" Ace asked.

"To a certain someone there is. Who you ask? Oh..." pink Raven vanished and appeared next to Ace, stepping from the left side of her field of vision with her finger up against her lips. "He's a big secret. I mustn't tell. I can't even speak of what he is to me. But he made me feel..." the smile faltered, "I never thought anyone could ever like, like, like, like me times infinity. Do you know what I mean?"

"No I don't, nor do I care." Ace cut across. "Are you going to show me the way out or not?"

"Way out? Oh, there is a way out. But it'll be dangerous." Pink Raven adopted a pose to signify danger to herself. "It'll be scary." She shut her cloak, and hid her face in the shadow of her hood. Her eyes burnt red and her teeth became sharp and pointy. "So scary." The only thing that spoilt the image was the bubble-gum coloured cloak.

"I'm not scared of anything." Ace said.

"You will be." Pink Raven said, staring at her with a creepy smile, "You will be." Then, like a spring board she was back to her bouncy self again, "But it'll be fun." She danced, away just ecstatic to be alive. "Come, follow me. Hurry."

Ace just sighed as she watched Pink Raven moon-walking in the air, gesturing Ace to follow her.

"I think I preferred you when you were miserable."

"Hey, so she was in your mind?" Beastboy suddenly asked. Raven didn't mind this interruption. Since Beastboy and Cyborg once fell into her mindscape while trying to play James Bond in her room it was understandable they'd misunderstand it.

"Not exactly." Raven said. Starfire and Robin looked between Raven and Beastboy, not understanding. None of them had spoken about the excursion into Raven's head to the other two teammates. "My 'soul-self' is part of my powers. It is, in essence a dimension that is inside me, and yet not inside me." Raven didn't know how best to explain it. "It's like the soul itself." Question marks sprouted from their heads. She wasn't being very clear about it. Half the time she didn't understand it either. That was the thing about magic. It was difficult to explain and demonstrate scientifically.

"So what you're saying is you're like a walking TARDIS?" Cyborg asked in jest.

Raven shrugged, "Yeah, kinda. But the mind is also a part of the soul, so aspects of my mind manifested too, as well as other things. Worse things."

"Worse than that Rage monster?" Cyborg asked.

"Much worse."

Where the hell had she gotten to? Ace wondered as she trudged through this odd landscape. She past through some stone gateway and ended up in a endless grassy field that seemed to disappear off into the distance. It was calm, it was peaceful. It sort of reminded Ace of the Eye of Orion, that place the Doctor always liked to visit when he wanted to mope, muse or be mysteriously stoic.

"Oi, where have you disappeared off to now?" Ace was asking.

"Technically, she didn't disappear. You just couldn't keep up." Ace spun around to be greeted by yellow. A yellow cloak. The back of a yellow cloak. Raven was holding a book up to her face as if trying to hide it. She was also speaking in a strange monotone that resonated in her nose giving her voice a more nasally tone.

"You change personalities more times than the Doctor." Ace reached out to spin Raven around, but she wouldn't turn, she was as stiff as stone.

"Please don't touch me." Raven said without emotion. She was too busy reading her book, which didn't have a title on its cover or spine, but did have a strange pattern on it.

"Oi, look at me." Ace pushed the book down, and nearly leaped back at the size of the eyes that were staring at her. Raven was wearing such thick lensed glasses that her eyes magnified to cartoonish proportions. "Why are you playing these games?"

"Games? Games are pointless. They don't build, nor create, nor learn, they are pointless to me."

"You must've had a fun childhood. What's with the Egon routine?"

"Egon?"

"You know. 'Print is dead?'" Ace said.

"Print is very much alive." Raven said holding her book open. Long black tentacles suddenly spilt from the pages, still wriggling to the ground like an octopus.

"I do not want to know what you were doing with that up to your face." Ace said in repulsion.

"Studying. That is what I do. I study, I analyse, I think, I evaluate. I am logic." Ace wasn't making heads nor tails of this.

"Listen, you little shit." Ace said.

"Insults will not persuade me to cooperate." Raven said, "and I, in no way resemble a lump of faeces."

"You do to me!"

"You're opinion is worthless to me." Raven raised her book back up to her face and continued to ignore Ace.

"Listen, are you going to let me out of here or not?" Ace said firmly.

"No." Raven said simply. Ace then tilted her head to one side.

"Is there a way out of here?"

"Yes." Raven said in a monotone.

"Where is it?" Raven pointed in a direction.

"Precisely that way." She was being very forthcoming that Ace suspected a trap. But this Raven's personality seemed to be very serious.

Ace stopped before she took another step and turned back to Raven. "Oi, you." Ace decided to test something out. "All Elephants are pink. Nelly is an elephant, therefore nelly is pink."

"Elephants aren't pink." Raven said without taking her face out of her book.

"It's logical."

"But not internally consistent with reality." Raven said.

"But say Elephants are pink."

"They aren't."

"Just say it." Ace insisted.

"No. It's not true, why would I claim a falsehood? That would be pointless."

"Would you say it to make a kid happy?"

"No." Was all Raven would say on the matter.

Ace didn't know if this was just a very good act or if Raven was now willingly truthful to a fault.

A few more steps and she was suddenly swamped again by pink.

"Hey, you're falling behind." Said the feminine voice of the now pink Raven.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" Raven asked innocently.

"Popping in and out with different personalities?"

"I'm not. Think of them as my annoying sisters if that helps." The pink one said.

"There are more of you? So you're not Raven, but one of her sisters?" Ace asked, this was making her head hurt.

"Oh no, I am Raven, they are Raven. I am she, and she is me. And we are all together. I am the walrus. Goo goo g'joob." Pink Raven laughed. Ace still didn't get what she was talking about. "Come on, slow coach." Pink Raven grabbed Aces hands and pulled her along like an excited child eager to show its parent something. "Hurry, hurry, hurry. Lazy bones."

"Oi, slow down." Pink Raven was practically hovering on the air instead of running.

"What's wrong granny?" She laughed. "Is your ankle going?"

"Slow down for five minutes and I'll show you where my ankles going!" Ace threatened.

From the shadows of this place something watched Ace following the splinter image. The something tilted its head to one side. Her pose was relaxed, and her legs dangled from the place she was perched on like a bird, watching its prey. Despite the darkness of the shadowy form you'd be able to make out large, glowing, intense eyes as sharp as razor blades, and an evil, broad toothy smirk filled with such sharp teeth.

The shadow giggled to itself like a child, mischief on its mind.

All around it came ghostly, child-like chants of...

"Zagreus sits inside your head,

Zagreus lives among the dead,

Zagreus sees you in your bed,

and eats you when you're sleeping."

The creature licked at one of her incisors.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: I have actually managed to write out a great deal of Ace's journey into Raven's soul. I just need to think of a compelling A plot with Raven and the Master to go with it. lol