---

Raven Wing and I stared blankly at each other. When we returned our gaze to her, her grin had broadened. Her little dimpled cheeks almost seemed to glow with childlike joy. Knowing an ancient deity of charm and pranks lie in wait behind those innocent eyes made the whole surreal experience all the more unsettling.

“So do you want to ask us something in return?” I asked. She grinned.

“You just used up your question, but yes. I do.” Raven Wing elbowed me lightly, causing me to flinch. I settled on the ground beside her, waiting for the spirit’s response.

“What is love?”

---

Three weeks had passed since Mother’s assault and subsequent coma. In that time I had transitioned to leading our team full-time while, at the same time, focusing on the Raven situation. I couldn’t bring myself to go back to our empty house in the suburbs, so I ate and slept at the base. I asked Raven Wing on several occasions to come stay there as well, but she refused, so I never pressed the subject.

We increasingly spent time together though most of that time we invested in research. Still, the surrealness of having my ‘arch foe’ at arm’s length and on speed dial had finally worn off. More and more I began to consider her a dear friend, and perhaps more. I couldn’t deny my feelings for her, but at the same time we had more important problems. The media, of course, had a field day when the story broke. It didn’t help that Mother ‘mysteriously disappeared’, as one reporter put it. I had to lie and tell them she was on a sabbatical in Ireland and couldn’t be disturbed.

I was at my wit’s end with the situation with Mother, though. I couldn’t even pass by her office without breaking down. Our med bay nurse did everything she could to keep her condition stable, perhaps more than could be asked of anyone, but her condition simply would not improve, and I was getting desperate.

I began getting in touch with doctors the world over, quietly bringing them in to examine her, or sending them the relevant data on her condition, but her condition baffled them. This morning I had met with three different doctors, two medical technicians, and an acupuncturist. Mother’s physiology, like mine, is so far out of the ‘norm’ though that I think I heard one of them mumbling about consulting an exorcist instead.

“Excuse me, young lady,” an older male voice roused me from my somber reflection. A half-empty pizza box sat on the conference table before me, but I had only taken a few nibbles off one slice, Volcaness and Rose having doing most of the damage prior to an emergency calling them away. When I looked up, my gaze met his. Stormy grey eyes stared back at me.

He had an odd sort of smile. His long, gray hair rested about his shoulders, his face weathered and rough with age. His darkened, reddish skin gave away his nationality immediately, though more than that, I couldn’t have placed even with the amount of time I had invested in Native American lore lately. I managed a weak smile as I motioned for him to come closer.

“Yes, can I help you?” I tried to sound cordial. He looked down at the book in my hands, a leather bound hardback edition of a guide to ancient spirits, as a slow smile crept across his lips.

“Actually I am here to help you.” I stared at him for another moment. Something about him felt so familiar, but wrong somehow. It was then that I noticed it. He had a single raven’s feather braided into his hair just at the back. He chuckled to himself and smiled, shaking his head. “I am not who you think.”

I stood, slowly stepping around the conference table. I had thought to put forth some sort of air of authority or intimidation, but when I stopped in front of the man, and I looked up, realizing just how much his tall form dwarfed mine, I just couldn’t go through with it. I could no more be Mother than Raven Wing could be her father.

“I’m sorry, but my Mother’s life is too important for these games.”

“Then it is more serious than I thought,” he answered solemnly. “As I have said, I am not who you believe me to be. I know what torments you, Aria Blade, the Child of Fate. I come bearing a gift of wisdom.”

“What… What are you talking about?” I stammered, even more confused. I was certain this was the Trickster playing yet another of his games. The old man’s lips curled into a more curious smile.

“If you win, or if you lose is not important.”

“Of course it’s important! Raven Wing’s life is-”

Suddenly, my earbud communicator sprang to life with the excited voice of our nurse. “Aria get down here, quickly! She’s awake! I don’t know how, but she’s awake!”

My eyes widened. I looked up at my nameless guest, and he smiled back at me. He winked then stepped aside, motioning toward the door. “Do not let me keep you.”

I dumbly nodded. What else could I do? I raced past him, slamming right into Maria in the process. She groaned as she stumbled backwards, but laughed. She quickly reached out to help me up. “Sorry chica. I heard the news and came running.”

“It’s okay,” I managed, the shock shaking me from my stunned silence. “Hey why don’t you-” I began, turning back to the old man. He was gone.

“Uh, you okay?” Maria asked, peering over my shoulder into the empty room.

“The old man… He was just here a second ago.”

“I’ve been here all afternoon. Nobody’s come or gone without my knowing about it, and I definitely didn’t sense anyone new. C’mon, let’s get down to med bay. You can fill me in on the way.”

As we stepped off the elevator together, Maria shook her head. “I’m telling you, it sounds like there’s more going on here than we realized. Old men and little girls who come and go as they please, science-spawned psionic monsters. What else did he say to you?”

“It’s really weird, Psy. He… said that winning and losing aren’t what’s important.”

She shook her head slowly, furrowing her brow. “More cryptic riddles. I’m a certified genius and even I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean. How can winning make no difference when the stakes are so high?”

“Welcome to my world,” I whined, burying my head in her shoulder for just a moment. She smiled and planted a light kiss on the top of my head.

“Poor baby. You know your friends are here for you. Now come on, Banshee’s going to want to see you as much as you wanna see her.”

I nodded. As we rounded the corner into Medical, the nurse met us at the door. She looked exactly the way I felt, as though a ten ton weight had just been lifted off our shoulders.

“I don’t know how it happened,” she offered, shaking her head. “I was just going over the latest test results, getting ready to fax a copy to Doctor Lang over at the University Medical Center when the motion sensor went haywire. I thought it was Tank coming to check on her again without warning me, until he came barreling through the door wanting to know what was going on.” She chuckled as she led us further into the medical bay, down an off-shoot hall to the private room where Mother had been resting.

Tank was sitting by the bed which had been inclined to let Mother sit up. Despite the chill winter outside, he wore only a sleeveless white t-shirt and ragged, faded jeans. He had his head down, holding Mother’s hand. She smiled as she waved us over. Tank looked up, quickly clearing his throat and standing.

“Hey, there you are. I been fillin’ Banshee in on what went down after she was attacked, and how you took charge in her absence. I’ll juss’ give you some privacy.” He gave Mother a lazy two-fingered salute, which caused her to genuinely chuckle.

I stepped closer, a little cautiously, but she smiled. “It’s alright, I’m not going to break,” she spoke in a motherly tone. I felt my knees buckle as I reached her side. Somehow she managed to catch me, pulling me into her arms. I lay like that for what felt like an eternity, crying into her shoulder.

“I was so scared. I thought I had lost you forever!” I wept. She pulled away my blonde wig, stroking the black tresses that had been hidden beneath. She let my hair fall naturally around my shoulders before cupping my face in her hands and lifting my chin. She smiled.

“I am so very proud of you. You are everything I could have ever asked for in a daughter, and so much more.” Her smile brightened, and we embraced again. Maria tentatively stepped closer.

“Banshee, I … I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. When you were attacked, I had to go inside your mind to find out what happened. Your thoughts were unshielded. You have my absolute word that I won’t tell another living soul what I saw in there. I didn’t even mean, or want, to see anything. It’s just, I…” Maria stammered.

Mother shook her head. “You did what was necessary. I would have ordered you to do the same with any other member if it meant saving them. I’m sure Silver Sentinel will be as understanding. After all, that was twenty years ago,” she answered simply.

I slowly looked between the two of them. More secrets, but at least this, whatever ‘this’ was, happened before I was born. Maria shook her head ‘no’, and Mother remained stone-faced, so I instead changed the subject.

“What was it like? Do you remember anything?”

“It was as close to death as I can imagine death being. I felt as though my body and my spirit were in two different places. I can’t describe it, and I didn’t know how much time had passed. For me it felt both instantaneous, and like an eternity. I suddenly heard a voice calling out to me. It told me my role was played out, and that I could return. I awoke to Tank standing over me, apologizing profusely.” She chuckled lightly.

“It wasn’t… an older male voice was it?”

“No,” she answered, shaking her head. “More like a small child: a little girl.”

Maria and I stared at each other. “Do you think the old man works for the Trickster?” Maria asked. I just shook my head.

“None of this makes any sense. I need to let Raven Wing know you’re okay though. I don’t know if Tank mentioned her to you, but she almost sacrificed everything to avenge you.”

“She… what?” Mother asked, utterly stunned. She looked between Maria and me, then back at Maria. The psychic nodded.

“I saw it with my own eyes. She was doing the same ritual Aria Blade stopped the first time, when she tried to destroy her demonic father. She would’ve given up who she was to avenge you, ma’am.”

Mother took that bit of news in silence. She glanced away for a moment. I stood, bending down to hug her one more time before turning to follow Maria out. She needed her rest, and we had just bombarded her with quite a bit of information.

“I don’t get it,” I spoke up again as we left the med bay. “You said that you thought that monster stole her life force, right?”

“Emphasis on ‘thought’,” Maria offered sheepishly. “We’re dealing with powers beyond my understanding. If I had to guess, knowing what I know now? I’d say your Trickster probably saved her life. The psycho probably thought he killed her, when in reality the Raven god snatched her away, like what happened to you when you tried to take Raven Wing’s hand that first time, you know, to mess with your head some more.”

“I’m going to kill him,” I grumbled. Maria giggled.

“Hold your horses. Jumping to conclusions is what got me in trouble, remember?” She gave me a sisterly smile. “Remember, he’s sometimes seen as benevolent in lore. His games benefit some and punish others. Maybe there’s more to this than what we can see.”

“So what do you suggest?” I asked, trying to maintain my calm.

“Well, he’s obsessed with truth, at least in this ‘game’. Have you tried asking him directly what he wants?”

I blinked. I stopped in my tracks and turned to stare at her. That was the single craziest thing I had heard all week, and yet she might have been right. Neither Raven Wing nor I had actually stopped to ask what he/she wanted from us.

~oOo~

“Where is he now?” I asked hesitantly. We stood beneath a very large, very old oak tree on a small hilltop, in the New Heathridge City Cemetery. Raven Wing sat on the recently placed tombstone of a young woman that rested beneath the ancient branches, as though disrespect for the dead were a completely foreign concept. I cringed, causing her to shoot a concerned glance my way.

“What is it?” she asked, confused. “And to answer your question, I really don’t know. I haven’t heard from the little girl in three days now. It’s almost creepier NOT having her constantly invading my thoughts.”

“So why did you want to meet in a place like this anyway?” I asked, trying to ignore her continued desecration. She smiled and rolled her shoulders.

“You don’t like graveyards? Look at that sunset. It’s so peaceful here. The dead don’t say much, and the ones that do are usually fun to talk to.” I shot her a glare, causing her to giggle. “Would you relax? She’s not here. What was so important anyway?”

“Mother’s back. But it’s the way she returned that has me worried.”

“Uh oh.” She hopped off the tombstone and stepped closer, looking me in the eye now. “Aria, what happened?”

“I had a visitor today. He looked like a medicine man right out of an old west movie or something. He had a message for us about the Trickster.” I proceeded to explain to her everything that had happened. I even told her about Mother’s reaction to her nearly sacrificing herself to avenge her. When I finished, Raven Wing slowly shook her head. She placed her hand to her forehead as she sat beneath the tree, lightly rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“That makes no sense. So what does matter then?”

“This gave Maria a headache too,” I offered. Raven Wing laughed.

“Oh good, it’s not just me. Um, one question. You said Banshee heard a voice calling her back. Was it the old man who disappeared?”

“No, that’s the weirdest part. It was … well, it was a young girl’s.”

“What?” she stated, more than asked, as she stared up at me.

“Maria thinks that the Trickster stole mother’s spirit in order to make the madman think he killed her,” I began. She picked up on it immediately.

“So that he would leave about his business, just in time for us to converge with Tank and beat him senseless. But if that’s true, then the vision she received…”

“Would have been planted there by the Trickster,” I continued her thought this time. “Yeah, that was her thought as well. Raven, I’ve been thinking,”

I moved to kneel by her side. “This … thing is obviously interested in both of us. Why?”

“I have no idea,” she answered honestly, and with less bite in her tone than I expected.

“Exactly,” I offered. She stared blankly back at me. “Truth. It’s obsessed with truth. Maybe we should ask, and see what happens?”

As if on cue, the sound of leaves and grass crunching beneath small feet caught our attention. The small girl, dressed in an adorable red velvet holiday dress, skipped over to us. The high gloss of her Mary Jane shoes reflected the setting sun as she curtseyed deeply.

“So why don’t you ask?” the little girl echoed with an enigmatic smile.

Raven Wing stared silently at her. It was as though she suddenly found herself frozen in time. Finally, she closed her eyes. “What is it that you want with us? Why did you choose us?”

“Ah-ah,” the girl answered. “One question. That was the game you chose to play with Aria that first day, isn’t it?” she teased. “For your first question, I want to play. Isn’t that obvious?”

Raven Wing and I stared blankly at each other. When we returned our gaze to her, her grin had broadened. Her little dimpled cheeks almost seemed to glow with childlike joy. Knowing an ancient deity of charm and pranks lie in wait behind those innocent eyes made the whole surreal experience all the more unsettling.

“So do you want to ask us something in return?” I asked. She grinned.

“You just used up your question, but yes. I do.” Raven Wing elbowed me lightly, causing me to flinch. I settled on the ground beside her, waiting for the spirit’s response.

“What is love?”

“What?” Raven Wing stammered.

“Love is a willingness to sacrifice yourself for the good of another, whether or not they know it. Love is bearing your soul willingly even knowing you could get hurt. Love is trusting that you won’t.”

Raven Wing slowly turned to stare at me. “Love is a kiss between friends who have every reason to hate each other.”

The spirit giggled. “So cute! Okay, Ms. Wing, your next question is…?”

“I stand by my original question. Why did you choose us?”

“I didn’t,” the spirit answered simply. “You chose her.” She nodded toward me. Again Raven Wing and I stared at each other.

“What do you mean she chose me?” I asked, turning back to the spirit. She giggled.

“You still don’t get it, do you?”

Raven Wing grinned. “And you just used your question.”

The spirit looked, for a moment, to be completely shocked by Raven Wing’s comment. She stared baffled back at her, and then started to giggle. “So what is the answer?”

“No, I don’t get ‘it’. I don’t know what ‘it’ is.”

Raven Wing though, had a calculating smile creeping across her lips. “Why do you call Aria Blade ‘Child of fate’?”

The spirit practically cackled with glee as she clapped her hands together. “Because that’s exactly what she is. Yes, she was ‘born’ of mortal parents, once upon a time…”

“Wait a minute,” Raven Wing continued, turning back to me. “Remember what Banshee said? When you became a girl, you also became her daughter! Come on, Aria, don’t tell me you don’t see it too!” She had begun to sound like the Trickster now, but I could see where she was going with this.

“So I’m a demigod?” I asked. The little girl slapped her palm to her face, shaking her head.

“So close! My turn, my turn!” She stepped closer, looking Raven Wing in the eye. “Why do you love her?” She tilted her head curiously, her tone sounding as though she were asking Raven Wing’s favorite flavor of ice cream.

Raven Wing’s cheeks turned bright red. “I… she’s different. I can’t explain it.” She slowly turned to face me. “Even when we were fighting, part of me wanted to just reach out and embrace you, and never let you go.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you keep trying to kill me?”

Raven Wing giggled as she shook her head. “If I wanted you dead, you would’ve been a long time ago. I was trying to get your attention. That’s all. When this…” she paused, nodding toward the child, who smiled innocently back at us, “little brat came into my life though, things changed. I suddenly didn’t hurt anymore. Not as much. I saw the world, for the first time, clearly, and I realized that what I was doing to you was … “wrong”.”

“So you see, Child of Fate,” the little girl continued, “My gift to her was empathy.”

“Um… Whose turn is it again?” Raven Wing asked, apparently trying to change the subject. The spirit giggled.

“Hers,” she nodded toward me. I knew what I wanted to ask.

“Why did you become involved with us in the first place?”

The spirit gave a sage nod, and a wry smile. “Because you asked me to. Did you not even realize who it was you invoked, when you so brazenly sought empowerment?”

“I-I thought I was invoking the ancient Banshee.”

The girl giggled loudly. “You actually believed that silly legend?”

Raven Wing grinned. “Sorry, only one question per turn,” she teased. I high-fived Raven Wing. The spirit seemed less amused this time. It was slipping, which could be either good, or bad. I wasn’t sure which, just yet.

“Very well. Ask your question.” The spirit nodded toward Raven Wing, who smiled smugly, clearly enjoying the reversal of fortune.

“What did the other spirit mean when he said that winning doesn’t matter?”

The girl furrowed her brow, genuinely surprised. “Wait, hold on a moment. WHAT other spirit?”

“Setting our little game aside a moment,” I offered, “The old man who came to see me shortly before you freed Mother.”

Again, she shook her head, confused. I stood, holding my hand up. “He was about this tall with gray hair and silver-ish eyes. He looked like some sort of shaman or medicine man.”

“I see… What was he wearing?”

“The only thing that really stood out was that he had a raven feather braided into his hair, a bit like those you sometimes leave behind.”

She scowled outright. “That is why I did not know.” Her tone shifted, becoming more serious and foreboding. “What did he say to you? It is vital that I know, word for word, what it is that he said.”

“Not so fast,” Raven Wing answered, standing. “You’ve been teasing and screwing with us for months now, and now you expect Aria Blade to just be completely honest with you? Why should she trust you?”

The spirit exhaled slowly. “You are right. You have no reason to trust me, so I will give you one.”

The spirit stepped closer. She took my hand, placing it in Raven Wing’s. “I have been testing you, ‘teasing’ as you put it because I wanted to see where your potential lies. I wanted to know if you, Raven Wing, were truly worthy of my name.” She smiled up at Raven Wing. “You have bested me at my game, and in exchange I will give you a small portion of my power. Now, do you believe me? Will you trust me?”

Raven Wing hesitated. She turned her gaze to me. “What about Aria? What does she get out of all this?”

The girl laughed. “I thought we already went over this. She had her wish granted, though not exactly in the way she desired.” The girl winked playfully at me, then turned back to Raven Wing. “But does she not also have you? … Do you not love her?”

I smiled wryly. “She’s right, you know. Whatever your feelings for me, you were willing to sacrifice yourself for my mother, and for me.”

Raven Wing slowly turned to face me. She stared in silence back at me for several seconds. “You very nearly got yourself killed trying to save me too, you know.”

I turned back to the little girl and knelt. “The old man said that he had come to help me.” I closed my eyes, thinking back to the conversation earlier that day. I could almost hear his voice in my thoughts as I recited it. I felt Raven Wing’s hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to look up at her.

She was pointing at something. I stood to see the old man standing a mere few feet from us, his arms folded, and a crooked smile on his lips. He brought his hands together slowly, methodically applauding.

“And the last piece falls into place. So this is where you have been hiding yourself, old man, behind the face of an innocent. I knew if I waited long enough, these fools would lure you into the open.” He smiled smugly.

“It is time to stop all this foolishness and leave these mortals to their well-earned fate. You and I have unfinished business!” I felt my body suddenly wracked with pain. I fell to my knees.

“STOP IT!” the little girl shrieked. A clap of thunder echoed across the horizon as a sudden gust of wind knocked the old man backwards.

“You will pay for that!” he barked, staggering to his feet again. He hesitated, smirking. “You wear that form well: fragile and useless.”

I could barely move, but Raven Wing somehow seemed unaffected. She raced forward, slamming a shadowy fist into the old man’s jaw, which sent him reeling. Before he could recover, she began a rapid barrage of punches in his stomach. As he keeled over, she raised her knee to his face, sending him flying backwards. He landed with such force that the earth shook beneath us.

“Give it up old man. It’s over!” she sneered. He stumbled to his feet and began to laugh.

“Over? Oh I think not; it’s only just begun.” As he spoke, his voice shifted, darkening. He stomped closer and snatched up the little girl. “Useless, pathetic whelp. Die with your little mortal pawns!” he shouted, flinging her to the ground. To my surprise, she cried out in pain as she collapsed at my side.

My energy was almost spent, but I reached over and pulled her into my arms. I held her close, and I began to sing, attempting vainly to shield her, to shield us both. Raven Wing shook her head slowly.

“You disgust me. You’re just like my father — a coward who only shows any real initiative when picking on little girls.”

“Little girl?” the old man’s voice echoed as he laughed a dark, bone-chilling chortle. “Your father was a weakling, unworthy of my gift, even after all that time in the stone prison. You, though. You could have been so much more. You could have been a Princess among demons, and you chose this path instead?”

He outstretched his arms and at once, the sky turned red. He grew taller, and his form began to shift. His muscles bulged and contorted, tearing his clothing to shreds and leaving a large scaled demon in its place, two giant, bony horns jutting from his forehead. His scaly hide blackened, his eyes burning with hatred. He glowered at her, showing his teeth, now each sharpened to a fine point, as he parted his lips to speak. The little girl turned to look at me. She smiled, winked, and fell unconscious in my arms.

“I gave you your power. I can take it away again, and then you will be left with nothing. I give you one final chance. Submit, or die.”

Raven Wing turned to look down at me. She smiled, and turned back to our assailant.

“I would gladly sacrifice myself to save the life of the one I love, but I will not become the monster you want me to be. Take my power and kill me if you must. Leave her out of this.”

The creature snorted with disdain. “I hate it when you mortals grow a spine. Fine.” He stomped closer, clutching her entire face in his massive, clawed hand. I watched helplessly as he transferred shadowy motes of energy from her back into himself. He attempted to throw her aside though, and found that he could neither move her, nor pull his hand away. I looked down to see the girl I was sheltering had disappeared. In her place, a single black feather rested on the ground before me.

“What is THIS?!” the demon shrieked angrily. The little girl’s giggle lilted on the breeze.

“Justice,” she whispered. Bright light began to radiate from Raven Wing as the demon howled in pain. He struggled vainly to free himself, even attempting to bite off his own arm, but he was stuck fast and helpless. A full thirty seconds passed before the demon exploded in a brilliant flash of light, leaving nothing behind but shreds of clothing.

Raven Wing staggered back a step then immediately turned to me. “Oh my God, Aria,” she yelped, scooping me into her arms. “Please say something!”

I smiled weakly. “I’m alive. I can barely move, but I’m alive.”

She breathed a deep, relieved sigh at that, shaking her head. “Don’t ever scare me like that again! What just happened anyway?”

“I… think you just became the champion of a god,” I offered, uncertain. The only confirmation we received was a lilted giggle on the wind.

“We can figure it out later. Right now let’s get you back to med bay. I don’t know what that freak did to you, but it sounded painful.”

“It was,” I managed a weak groan. “Raven, I…”

“Aria, I love you,” she whispered as we left the ground behind. I smiled up at her, using the last bit of energy I could muster to lean up and kiss her cheek.

~oOo~

I had lost consciousness. That was all I could be certain about. Was it all a dream? Did any of it really happen? Raven Wing? Where was Raven Wing? I slowly sat up to take stock of my surroundings. I found myself back in my bedroom at home. I glanced down to see I was dressed in a white nightgown. I was still Aria Blade, at least. In my dizzy state, I couldn’t take anything for granted.

“Oooh,” I groaned. My head throbbed. I heard a familiar voice close by.

“Hey, you’re finally awake,” Raven Wing whispered. She squeezed my hand as she sat on the edge of my bed. “The demon did a number on you, but you’re going to be okay. How much do you remember?”

“I remember you saying you loved me,” I offered meekly. She laughed and leaned down to kiss me.

“I do. You showed me what real love is. I’m ready to take you up on that pizza date whenever you’re feeling better.”

Pizza date? … The trickster! “Hey, what happened with the raven god?”

She smiled and glanced at the door, where a little girl with her hair in pigtails peeked around the corner at me. She stepped further into the room, carrying a pitcher of ice water and a small glass with a drinking straw on a silver tray.

“It seems I’ve adopted a little sister, at least for awhile.” She mused. The girl giggled.

“The demon was right that this form suits my purposes well. I am familiar to you like this, and someone must teach Raven Wing the extent of her new abilities.”

“Remember that shadow trap I used against you when she first appeared?” She asked even as she reached over to pour me a glass of water. As she offered it to me, she continued, “Apparently she took the idea and turned it against the demon. She used me as a trap to take him out. In return, she’s given me some of her … well, ‘his’, I guess, power.”

“What happens now?” I asked.

“What do you mean ‘what happens now’?” she responded, confused.

“You’re not going to leave again are you?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Wild ravens couldn’t keep me away from you.” She paused, glancing at the little girl, patting her head lightly. “Not even this one.”