"What, pray tell, haunts your dreams, young champion? What are your fears? What crafts your nightmares?" Starfire jerked at the voice and opened her eyes. A soft red light covered the empty building and leaked in through the shattered windows. She looked about, sickened by the sight of the stains on the walls. Starfire began to walk towards one end of the hall, wondering why exactly she was in this place. "Come now, hero. Tell me what frightens you. A demon needs to know these things." "Who are you?" Starfire demanded of the voice. "Where are you and why am I here?" The voice chuckled slightly and Starfire shivered, suddenly reminded of the demon Chaos. She gathered her energy in preparation for an attack and looked behind herself in caution. When she turned back about, she came face to face with blood-red eyes. Out of terror, Starfire threw her star bolts at the person standing before her, but to no avail. The person fell straight through the floor, their body sliding cleanly through the dusty concrete. Starfire threw a few more blasts at where the person had vanished, but the floor neither revealed her quarry nor acquired any damage in the scuffle. The alien began to tremble now, her fear causing her hands to shake terribly. Hands suddenly slid through her hair, gently holding her chin and pulling her back against someone. "Now, now," the same voice as before murmured in her ear. "No need for violence. No violence from you, at any rate. Now why don't you just tell me what frightens you." Starfire shook her head and tried to jab backwards with her elbow. Unfortunately for her, her captor suddenly vanished into the floor again, Starfire's strike missing completely. "The only reason I'd like to know is because I'm certain your sister Blackfire knows," the voice said. A person, a demon woman, stepped out of a wall a few feet ahead of Starfire and smiled at her. "Why do you speak of my sister?" Starfire questioned, her fear that much lessened by seeing the demon wasn't Chaos. "Who are you?" "The name's Kali," the demon replied, bowing rather sarcastically. "Consider this a warning. Your sister is free and here on Earth. She's hired me to kill you and anyone else that gets in my way." Starfire's eyes widened and she shook her head in objection. "No," she murmured. "I know that my sister said she would have her revenge, but she would not try to...kill me. My sister is not that kind of person." Abruptly, Kali was standing in front of her, holding her chin in her hand. "You poor, naïve little thing," Kali snickered. "Your sister is as blood-thirsty as my Chaos is. Revenge flows deep enough to make those seeking it willing to bathe in blood. If the only way to show that I'm not lying to you is to give you just a taste of the pain you're in store for, then I guess I will." The demon lifted her broadsword and slashed Starfire's bare abdomen. Starfire screamed in the sudden pain and automatically fired a sphere of energy. Kali dodged with the agility demons were gifted with and swung her sword again. The second gash tore a long line up Starfire's left arm and she cried out once more. Again Kali slashed the girl's flesh, ripping a streak on Starfire's thigh. The alien fell to the ground in her agony, staring up at her assailant in terror. Her heart throbbed within her chest, her breath coming swiftly in her fright. Kali knelt down and laid the sword's edge against Starfire's throat. The sword cut a small wound with the slightest pressure and Starfire whimpered. Tears streaked her face as she prayed for something to rescue her from this awful torture. The red light was swiftly replaced with purest white and Kali glanced up from her sadistic torment. "Leave her be!" Raven ordered as she sent her magic to capture the demon. Kali grinned and fell through the floor, utterly vanishing. Raven ran to where Starfire lay sobbing in pain and horror. She knelt down and gathered Starfire to her. "Wake up, Starfire!" the sorceress pleaded. "Wake up! This is a dream! Wake up!" ---------- Starfire's eyes snapped open as she gasped. She sat up only to cry out in pain. As she looked at herself, she found that the wounds inflicted in the dream were real, and pulsing red blood. As her eyes traced the painful wounds, she began to sob, her screams carrying through the tower. "Starfire!" Raven's voice reached her ears as hands gently closed on her shoulders. "Starfire, it's all right! Calm down! I'm right here!" Starfire flung her arms around Raven and she sobbed into the other girl's shoulder. A door burst open and Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy rushed into the room. "What's going on?" Robin asked as he vaulted over the couch. He drew back at the sight of blood. Beast Boy paled under his fur and Cyborg looked quite ill. "It was a demon!" Starfire cried. "A demon attacked me!" A cold quiet consumed everything, only broken sporadically by Starfire's sobs. Robin turned to gaze at Raven, who ignored him and concentrated on healing Starfire's wounds. "Chaos can attack us in our dreams?" Beast Boy shrieked in horror. "She's a real-life 'Freddy Krueger'! We're all dead!" "It was not Chaos," Starfire murmured, her breath a bit more even with Raven's healing. "It was a demon named Kali. She said that...my sister hired her to...to...I do not believe it! My sister would not wish that of me! My sister is not a murderer!" Another uneasy silence fell on the room. After a moment, Raven brushed the tears from Starfire's face. "It'll be all right," the sorceress said gently. "You should go to bed and rest for now. We can figure out something tomorrow. Come on." She stood and pulled Starfire to her feet, leading the taller girl away. Robin did not watch them go. ---------- Raven paused at the door when Starfire sat on the edge of her circular bed and stared at the floor. Unsure of what to do, she took a tentative step forwards Starfire. "Raven?" Starfire asked. In response, Raven crossed the distance between them and sat down next to Starfire. "Do you believe my sister would do such a thing?" the red-haired girl questioned, her voice sad and scared at the same time. "Does my sister truly want me...dead?" Raven gently put a hand over Starfire's and looked into Starfire's tearful eyes. "I don't know," Raven answered. "I don't know what Blackfire is really capable of. Maybe she's just angry with you about what happened before. Anger is a powerful emotion." "I do not believe that!" Starfire hissed, shaking her head in denial. "The demon said the same thing! Anger would not make my sister wish me dead...would it?" Faced with those innocent, trusting eyes, Raven swallowed and looked away. "I really can't say, Star," she replied. "I honestly don't know." She began to stand up, but Starfire took her hand. Her entire body was trembling. "Please do not leave," she whispered. "I...I do not wish to go back to sleep." Raven sat back down and gazed at Starfire. She could see how much the taller girl was quaking. She was utterly terrified. After a time, Raven took both of Starfire's hands and pressed her lips against Starfire's palms. "Tell me what I can do to help you get back to sleep," Raven urged gently. "I'll do whatever I can." Starfire looked to Raven, her face wet with tears. She wrapped her arms around the sorceress and began to cry quietly against her shoulder. "How can I fight my dreams?" Starfire questioned through her tears. "How can I defeat something that attacks my mind?" Raven shushed her with a soft, lingering kiss. "I can take whatever dreams you have and make them mine," she explained. "If Kali decides to try to hurt you again, I'll be able to help you before anything happens." "Will you stay with me?" the red-haired girl asked. "Please. I am still frightened to close my eyes." Raven nodded and began to stand once more. However, Starfire pulled her back down into her arms and lay down. Blushing slightly, Raven glanced up to the taller girl's face. Starfire merely let her eyes close slowly, her arms tight around Raven. There was no disputing anything. Starfire managed to slip off into sleep and Raven followed soon after. They were not plagued any further that night by haunted nightmares. ---------- Kali opened her red eyes. She let her magic calm and sighed heavily. As she took another stolen bottle of liquor in clawed hand, Kali looked up to ceiling. It had been decades-no, centuries, since anyone had come so close to actually capturing her in her world. If she remembered correctly, it had been three hundred years since her first and only injury in her world. "Of course, only you were able to hurt me there, my Chaos," she murmured after swallowing. "Only you were ever able to catch me and make my world my nightmare." Kali idly began to trace an 'x' pattern along the front of her torso, her claw following the indented scar in her skin. She threw the bottle against the wall, sending glass shards flying in every direction. "And you left," Kali said. "You left after that night. I can only remember that you vanished when I woke up with this scar. You gave me this never-ending scar, Chaos. You hurt me, and yet...I still love you." She sighed once again and stood up from the floor. Her red eyes scanned the room she had rested in. After a moment, Kali walked out of the room with her broadsword in hand. "I need to kill something," she grumbled.
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