A Haunting Past Part 1

“Come back here you little Rat!” Arella yelled as she chased her brother, Lucian down the hallway. Who was ironically morphed into a rat, which only made Arella’s statement true. As they entered into the Common Room, they were stopped by an all too familiar gray palm freezing them in their place.

“And what exactly is going on here?” Raven asked as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot. Lucian morphed back to normal form and looked up at his mother.

“Lucian went into my room again, Mom.” Arella said in her dull monotonous tone. She may look more like her father, but she acts just like her mother.

“So, that was a good enough reason to cause so much noise in the Tower?”

“But-”

“Not ‘buts’ Arella. You know the rules.”

“I’m sorry, Mother.” She lowered her head in defeat.

Raven turned her attention to Lucian, “And what were you doing in your sister’s room?”

Lucian shrugged, “I wasn’t doing anything. I just wanted to look at all of the girly stuff she has.”

Raven raised an eyebrow, “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Curious bones, just like your father.” Raven shook her head at the two of them, “Get out of here, you two.” Raven sighed and shook her head as she walked back over to the couch and sat down. She remembered before Lucian was born how excited Arella was to be a big sister. Now she can’t stand the kid, but she supposes that was normal, typical sibling rivalry. She was an only child, however, so she knew nothing about it. Actually the only one of her friends that had a sibling was Starfire. She had a psychotic power-hungry sister who, thankfully, is locked up for good. Starfire flew into the room with Nightwing following behind her, on the ground of course, along with their son, Nicholas, and daughter, Mar'i.

“Hello, Friend.” Starfire hugged her as she flew over.

“Hi, Star.” Raven hugged her back.

“Hi Aunt Raven.” Nicholas and Mar'i said at the same time.

Raven smiled at the two and gave them a hug, “How are you guys doing today?”

“Good.” Mar'i answered for the two.

“Staying out of trouble?”

“For the most part.” Dick answered with a smile on his face.

XxX

“Arella?”

“What do you want, Lucian?” She asked him as she turned left down another hallway.

“Where are we going?”

“’We’ aren’t going anywhere. You are going back to your room.” She told him as she came to a door at the end of the hallway.

“I wanna see where you’re going.” Lucian complained.

“God, you’re so nosy and annoying.” She looked down at him and saw his lip quivering. Guilt washed over her and she bent down to his level, “I’m sorry, Luke.” She ran a hand through his hair and kissed his forehead. She stood back up and placed her hand on the handprint recognition scanner. The door opened to reveal the archives.

“What is this place?” Lucian asked her, his eyes gleaming in excitement.

“This is the archives room. Mom and Dad can’t know we were in here, so don’t touch anything.”

“Too late.” He said as an old version of the Titans Communicator was going off as if someone was calling it.

Arella sighed and silenced it,” You are walking in front of me from now on.” She told him as she pushed him in front of her. She never imagined the archives room to be so huge. She didn’t know where to start. She stopped at a display case that contained a mask, half of it black while the half was orange.

“Mask of Slade, disappeared after ‘The End’. Still thought to be hiding in the city.” Arella read out loud.

“Slade?”

“Must’ve been one of their old enemies. Judging by the dust on this case, they never found the guy. He’s probably long gone by now.” She said as they continued walking.

“Sis, what are you even looking for?”

“I remember overhearing mom saying she keeps her old mirror in here.”

“You wanted to come in here for a mirror?” Lucian asked confused.

“It’s a special mirror.” After walking around the archives room for almost twenty minutes, Arella had found what she was looking for. She carefully opened the case and removed the mirror.

“That’s creepy looking.” Lucian told her.

“Maybe it’ll help me though.” Lucian didn’t understand why she needed the mirror as he wandered away from her.

“Hey, Ella, come here look at this!” He exclaimed.

“I hate that nickname.” She muttered to him as she walked over to the opposite side of the room.

“What is that?” She asked as they stared at what looked like part of an animal’s horn.

“It isn’t behind any glass. Maybe it’s one of Wally’s souvenirs.” Arella shook her head at the mention of Wally. He always was a character to be around. He and their father always seemed to be thinking the same things. Lucian reached forward and touched it.

“Don’t touch that. We don’t know what it is.” Arella told him.

“It’s alright. It feels like an animal horn.” Arella reached forward and placed her fingers on the artifact. She gasped as images began to flood her mind.

“No! Let me go! I wanna go home!”

Arella’s eyes glowed green as she saw a smaller version of herself being carried away by someone. She didn’t recognize the man, but however it was he frightened her.

“Arella!” Lucian yelled to her as she collapsed on the ground.

“What are you two doing in here?” Lucian turned around and saw their father standing in the doorway.

“Dad, something’s wrong with Arella!” Lucian told him. Garfield ran over to them and picked up Arella, who still had a grip on the mirror.

“Arella, come on, wake up.” Her body remained unconscious as he continued to try and wake her.

“We have to tell Mama.”

“I know.” Garfield looked up and saw where the children had been standing. He looked at the display in anger and fear.

Trigon the Terrible; all that remains