Crimson Beast - The story of Raven Blair

Ima didn't really pay attention to the fire, opting to look at the stars through a patch in the tree leaves. The stars always made her feel...what was the word?

Nostalgic. That was it.

Humans and their funny words...

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts and failing. She gave up soon, sighing and looking back to the stars, wishing her home was in them.

"You look.....kinda home sick."

Raven said, leaning back slightly.

"Then again for all I know you never stay in Magnolia town that long, so being home sick would be weird."

He shrugged, naive to the real situation. He warmed his hands by the fire, opting to look back up to the stars just like Ima. Celestial symbols, things he had studied but knew nothing about.

"So Ima.....there's something I've kinda been meaning to ask you.....from the last time we went out on a little trip like this."

Ima snapped her attention off the stars and giggled. "Maybe I am homesick." She told him, but didn't offer anything more in the ways of an explanation.

She smiled at him then. "What is it?"

Raven looked away from the fire, struggling on his thoughts. He forced back what he wanted to ask for the longest time, not even wanting to admit it to himself, but it was something he had to say.

"I.....hmmm....ummmm....What happened during that fight with Wesker...."

He looked back up to the sky, then back across the fire at the young girl, the flames climbing up around his eyes as if they had been trained to do so.

"I......wasn't me. Well I was, but I wasn't."

He didn't know how to phrase it.

"That thing I turned into......I'm sorry you had to see that. For all I know you think I'm a monster and the smile is an act. I just don't want you to fear me."

Was he really concerned about that?

"Raven, you are my friend." She said, in a voice that made it seem like this should be obvious. "I couldn't be afraid of you if I tried. I trust you too much to think you would do anything that would purposely hurt me. I will never fear you."

She smiled at him.

"Raven is Raven. That is who you are. What you are doesn't matter one bit."

She thought for a long moment. Maybe...

"Maybe I'll tell you a story later, Raven."

Raven smiled at Ima. He was glad that she felt that way. Out of all of the friends he had made during his travels, he felt like Ima maybe the most sincere. He looked back down to the fire.....then it went out.

Raven's eyes shot out into the darkness. They were concealed, yet it was like he could see everything, like the darkness was a part of him.

"Wind?........."

Wrong.

The rustling in the green came back, this time louder. shadowy figures emerged, still concealed by the darkness around them. Piercing red eyes glowed in the shadows, the only things completely visible.

"Ima, are you ok?"

Ima nodded, keeping her hands in her pockets and ready to pull out her guns if need be. "I'm alright. But what's happening?" She asked. Weird things like this always seemed to happen at the worst times.

The alien wondered if she was a trouble magnet.

"These things always seem to happen to us, huh?" She added.

Raven laughed through the seriousness of the situation.

"All part of the fun."

He turned back to the attackers, his eyes too burning a deep crimson, lighting up the darkness around them.

"So you show your true self, half-demon?"

A wicked, hissing voice spoke through the masking shadows at raven.

"And you brought a snack for us, thank you!"

The unseen invaders all laughed, their eyes narrowing.

"You touch her........"

Raven reached back, removing his sword from his back. He pointed it at the direction of the invaders, each one stepping back in a show of fear, not from the blade, at least not from the edge. There was something about it they couldn't stand. Raven's eyes were dead serious.

"And I'll cut your tongues out!"

The creatures waited out, before one launched, yelling out. Raven spun, laying in a slice to the darkened figure, the sound of flesh splitting on steel screaming out before hitting the ground.

Ima brought out her guns from her pockets and began firing at what she could see, which was limited. The only things she could make out clearly in the darkness were Raven and the glowing red eyes of the monsters.

She aimed at those, hoping she hit them. Ima didn't like this...

The lasers illuminated their path, but nothing more. This darkness was unlike anything they have ever encountered before. Screams of pain acknowledged that their marks had been met.

Raven took a stance, waiting for the next attackers. Two lunged, one eating the spear head of the sword, spinning around at full force, Raven slammed it into the second and pressing it into the ground.

"Thought the darkness helped, huh? Ya cowards!"

Ima frowned in confusion. What was with this darkness? It had never stopped her lasers from producing a little light to see as they went along. Granted it wouldn't have helped her eyesight at all the light was so small, but it was an oddity nonetheless.

It made her very curious.

She fired at a few more pairs of red eyes and waited for any more.

A beam zoomed just by Raven's head, a few strands of hair singeing in his silver locks, but nothing compared to the intense burns and damage inflicted on the shrouded attacker it connected with, glowing eyes fading away into the shadows.

The eyes backed up, sneers whispering through the night.

"Interesting, our master will be pleased to know that you've grown so strong, Raven. This data we've collected will be of great use."

The eyes all closed simultaneously, and with that, they were gone. the darkness began to lighten up, while still night time, the light of the fire illuminating the area around them once again. Raven stabbed the end of his sword into the earth, resting his elbow on the end of the hilt.

"You ok, Ima?"

"I'm alright, but that was...weird." She said after thinking of a good adjective to use. "What did it do to make everything so much darker? I want to know..." The alien, though it had cooled down in the years past, was still actively curious about all things that she didn't know. She just had learned when to ask...mostly.

The girl turned to the older man. "Hey Raven, why-" She stopped short, and stared at the singed piece of his hair. "Is your hair on fire?"

Raven shook his head, taking the time to whistle out a deep breath as he turned his head, his eyes locked on the small girl.

"Ima, darlin', you're dealing with things that not everyone can understand. This is my world now."

He looked up to the night sky, the attack playing back to him a thousand times over in his head. They already found them, and they only had been walking for a day or so and the hunting parties were on them. Great.....

"As for my hair, that little toy of yours gave me a new hair do."

He laughed.

Ima cringed a little hearing that it was her fault that Raven's hair was on fire. What if she had missed? Her laser wouldn't have stopped, as she wouldn't have known better. She felt incredibly guilty. "Sorry." Ima murmured as she looked down.

She'd need to be more careful.

Raven sighed, walking over to her as he placed his hand on the top of her head, messing her hair up just a little bit as he moved it back and forth.

"No worries, not like you did any real damage!"

He played with the burned section of hair with his other hand.

"I've been meaning to get a hair cut anyway."

He chuckled again as he returned to the fire, leaning back onto his sword as he looked at the flames dance. It was late, and sleep was needed to continue on witht he journey.

"You should catch some rest, I think I will."

He closed his eyes. He knew what was ahead of them but he knew Ima had no clue. The terrain here, the trees, was going to be left behind by tomorrow. Harshness was going to be a theme.

Ima nodded, though she wasn't entirely convinced. She might not have done any damage now, but what if it happened again later? The girl hoped it wouldn't, she didn't think she'd ever forgive herself if she did.

She nodded again when Raven mentioned going to bed. She didn't feel like reading anyway. "Alright. Goodnight Raven." The alien walked a bit closer to the fire and lay down so her back was to the flames and Raven. Ima then closed her eyes and feigned sleep, a practice she had long since perfected.

Her kind couldn't sleep, after all.

Raven kept his eyes closed for as long as he thought was necessary, opening them once again once Ima was, at least to his knowledge, asleep. He silently looked up, past the trees to the world beyond, trying to map out their path. His eyes locked upon a shadow in the distance, raising high above the range.

A mountain.

He then looked for other ways to go ahead, but he could find nothing better. The woods, they could hold how many of those attackers, and if they would strike while they were in the heavy brush, they were goners.

The only way to get through safely, using the term lightly, was over the pass. Raven could only fear what was there, and what was on the other side.

He looked down at the fire, then at Ima. He didn't know if she would be able to take the intensity of the mountain, but she would have to. Raven wasn't going to let anything happen to her while she was with him, after all this was his issue.

He decided to stay up and keep watch. Those things could still be watching them. He had to be ready.

When Ima deemed the hour to be appropriate for a human to wake up, she did, giving a big yawn and stretching before she sat up. She looked around a bit, noticing the dying embers of the fire.

They looked almost like stars.

She shook her head. This was not the time to be homesick, it was time to help her friend. She could deal with her own problems later.

The teen stood up and stretched again, before turning her head a bit. She didn't see Raven...

"Mornin' kid!"

Raven walked into the opening with his sword on his shoulder, a few freshly-cut fruits carried with care inside his other arm. He stepped over to her, tossing the food to the ground. He took the time to admire his sword before nodding to her.

"Thought we should grab some breakfast, got a big day ahead."

He turned his back to her, looking up to the mountain now clearly visable in the distance, clouds gathering at the very top. His eyes were a bit darkened with the lack of sleep, but not to the degree as it should be for the normal human. He mustered up a laugh as he spoke.

"Going to see what's over that big boy right there."

Ima noticed the darkness of his eyes but didn't comment, feigning ignorance. She had heard him up all night after all.

"So we're going to go over the mountain?" She asked as she grabbed an apple, taking a small bite. It probably wasn't the best idea, as her body didn't react well to food, but not eating would probably worry Raven. "It looks like a long way up..."

Raven nodded.

"Yup."

He kicked one of the apples at his feet with enough precision to launch it up slightly into the air, the red skin smacking the palm of his hand. He took a large bite, grinding it with his teeth. He began to walk toward the massive peak, talking through the bite of fruit, his words jumbled.

"So we should get goin'!"

He pointed ahead with an energetic thrust, his charisma infectious as he had hoped it was. It would be a long journey, and they would need to be in perfect mental condition for it.

Ima laughed, having finished her apple. It was hard not to laugh around Raven, she noticed. She skipped after her friend, still giggling as she did. "Let's go!" She chirped in a sing-song tone.

Trees passed by, twigs broke at their feet, and the forrest seemed to simply go away as they approached, closer and closer to the mountain. The ground changed into an incline, the two making their way into an open field combined with rocky patches. As more time lapsed, the closer they drew to the foot of the mountain.

Raven looked to the sky as he felt the cold bite of snow upon his nose. He looked down at the rocks at his feet, then around to the snow before the duo. He turned to look behind him, seeing the forrest in the distance. It was a long time since they entered into the trees, yet there was nothing. No attackers. Where did they go?

He wanted to brush it off, but he couldn't. Something there just wasn't right.

He looked on at the sign placed in the rocks on the side of what seemed to be a path up the mountain. He didn't know what was stranger, the fact that a path up a mountain existed, or the fact that the sign read the name "Mt. Everfrost", such an obvious name for it, seeing the endless snow and gray stone.

"Well.....only way to know what's up there is to climb. The path should make it easy."

Why a path existed, he had yet to know.

Ima stared at the white things that were falling down from the sky and that covered the ground. And kept staring. And staring. And staring.

And then she got too curious.

Experimentally, the alien stuck her hand into a snowdrift; only to squeal and pull her hand out immediately pull it out when she discovered it was extremely extremely COLD.

She paused, and then tried the same thing with the other hand, with the same results.

"Raven, what is it?" The teenage girl asked her friend, motioning to all the snow. Her eyes were wide with curiosity and childish wonder.