Crimson Beast - The story of Raven Blair

"And finished!"

Enthusiastic words put the final touches on a long, long amount of work. Raven clapped his hands together as he stood in the center of a Magnolia Town street. He looked up at something across the street form him, a look of great pride on his face. A small, two-story building sat in the center of a row of the same, a red neon sign placed across the front reading "The Crimson Beast", the end shaped into the image of a single rose.

Raven put his hands on his sides.

"Let's open this thing for business!"

He declared to no one as he made his way in, closing the door behind him, but not before turning the closed sign on the front of his store to the open side.

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RING! RING! RING!

The bells of a very old-era phone screamed through a larger room. Oak-wood floors met with the walls of a very similar color. Multi-colored light flowed from a classic jukebox sitting in the corner of the room, illuminating walls on two sides, dozens of various weapons mounted in great pride, from pistols to rifles to swords and axes. Close to everything a warrior could love could be found.

Two door ways sat on either side of a large desk where we find the phone causing the ruckus. Out from the door on the left stepped the tired image of Raven Blair. From the ragged hair, narrowed eyes, and the fact that all he wore were a pair of black pants, it was clear this call was coming at very early in the morning. Raven kicked the chair infront of the desk back, turning and falling back into it. As he did, he brought his heel down on the desk, the force enough to launch the phone piece off of the desk and into the air as Raven crossed his other leg over, catching the receiver in mid-air, and placing it to his ear.

"Crimson Beast Shop, Raven Blair here."

"Mr.Blair.....it has been quite some time."

Raven arched and eyebrow.

"Who is this?"

"You know me all to well, Mr. Blair, and I you."

Raven was obviously irritated with the games this individual was playing. Damn prank callers. Ever since he opened up shop it was all he got. Nobody seemed to want help with demonic or dark entities, a shocker in this age.

"Listen buddy, it's 3 a.m. and I woke up for this. If you're looking for someone to joke,congrats, ya got me."

There was a simple laugh at the other end.

"I assure you, this is no joke. The anniversary of the time we first met is coming, and it is time I finished the job I set out to do. Your Father was quite strong, I wonder how you have grown?"

It set in. The day of his villages destruction.....of the death of his family was in a few days. This voice, it was involved?

"Y-you did that?"

Raven's fist clenched.

"You won't be killing me, whoever you are, because I'm coming for you first! I'll search until die!"

"Very well, we'll make it a game. First one to die loses. You have four days until my minions come for you and everyone you hold dear. This is what you get for betraying your kind."

Silence. Raven hung the phone up, the moment setting in. He would be fighting again, but he had time to prepare. He needed some time to rest. He went back to his room, knowing what he had to do in the morning.

"Raven Raven Raven Raven Raven!" Called Ima as she knocked on the door of his shop. "Are you awake?" She rather hoped he was, most humans were up by now. It was noon.

Granted Ima wasn't human and had been up all night, but still.

She wondered if she should just go in, but figured it would be rude, so she just waited to see if her friend would answer.

A loud yawn was heard from behind the door before the doorknob turned, the door opening to show Raven Blair, surprisingly still dressed like he had been earlier. It was noon, but that was time to wake up for him. He scratched the back of his head.

"Heya Ima......what's up?"

He smiled again as he blinked squinting eyes. He didn't know why his friend had arrived on his doorstep, but here she was. Might as well invite her in.

"Hi Raven!" Ima smiled happily as she skipped through the door. "I heard you were finished with your shop so I wanted to come see! I was really curious...and a bit bored."

She giggled as she saw how sleepy he still looked. "You look tired. Didn't you sleep last night? Or do you already need a nap?"

Raven walked into the darkened room, his body slump forward just slightly in his fatigue. He sat ontop of his desk, looking around at the dozens of weapons before looking back to Ima's smiling face.

"I got.....woken up last night, had some trouble sleeping."

He wasn't the best actor, so trying to hide his true thoughts was useless, especially against Ima, but he tried anyway.

"But yeah, the shop is officially open for business. Ima, welcome to my brain child "The Crimson Beast"....nice lookin' place, ain't she?"

Ima looked at Raven, concerned. "Make sure you get enough sleep. It's bad for your health when you don't." It sounded like there was something deeper to his words than he was letting on, but Ima got the feeling that it was personal and decided not to pry. "If you want to go take a nap, I'll come back later."

"But yeah, this place looks really neat!" The teen said as she walked over to look at one of the many weapons around the room. "Are these all yours? There are so many..." Resisting the urge to touch the one she was looking at, she turned to Raven. "Hey, why do people call stuff 'he' or 'she' when they aren't boys or girls?" She had never understood that, and Raven claimed the place to be female.

Humans could be so odd.

Raven pushed off of the desk, walking over to the position Ima was at, his hands behind his head. His eyes looked up to the left in thought. That was a good question.

"Ya know, I have no idea. I guess we just kinda....do."

He chuckled under his breath. Could he still say "We" after what he had found out. He wasn't human, or at least not fully. Screw it, he had been human his whole life, now he was just a human with a special ability. He placed his hand on the sheathed Katana-like weapon Ima had been looking at.

"This one here is really special to me. It belonged to someone I really looked up to when I was a kid. It's one of the only things I have left from that time."

Raven's eyes seemed to mix with the happiness of his memories, and the sorrow for the very memories he had lost. It was destined that this enemy, whoever it was, would be coming now. He would get revenge, for his family. His Mother, his father.....his brother.

"As for the sleeping, I'm fine. I have more important things to worry about right now, anyway."

Crap, he let that one slide. He knew he would have some explaining to do now.

Ima smiled understandably as Raven's eyes fogged over with unspoken memories. It happened to her sometimes too, the reminiscing. Though Ima had a feeling that the reminiscing that she did and the reminiscing that Raven did were vastly different in some, if not many, ways.

She sighed. The alien wanted to go home.

At Raven's mention of something else to worry about, Ima gave her friend an odd look. She looked...torn. Then she looked down. "...I'm trying very hard not to ask, but I'm getting very curious..." The girl confessed. She twiddled her thumbs absentmindedly.

"You also want to help me, don't you?"

Raven smiled as he walked away from the sword, sitting back upon his desk. He placed his hands on his knees, looking back up at her with the smile now gone. He knew that Ima was going to be able to help him, but he did know this was going to be intense.

"I....have something I need to do. Something from my past I need to take care of."

He sighed. For all he knew this little girl didn't comprehened the severity of the situation. She was so young, yet Raven seemed comfortable when she was around. Much better then the usual women of his age, those conversations never ended very well. He laughed at the thought on the inside, but his seriousness never left his face.

"There's someone I need to fight."

Ima nodded when he asked if she wanted to help. Of course she wanted to help! He was her friend, of course she would want to help whatever was troubling him. At the same time she knew there were somethings that a person needed to do alone.

She knew she did.

At the last part she looked back up at Raven. "Who?" Was all she asked.

"Long story....."

Raven trailed away, trying to avoid talking about his past. It wasn't exactly something you bring up to a friend in a conversation.

"There's more types of things like I am, a whole land of them. I had a bad meeting with them when I was young. They.....they took something important from me. Now they want to take me too. I won't let that happen."

He was getting a bit too dramatic, but the time called for it. He shrugged. Ima probably thought he was crazy, let alone a monster after seeing what he truly was on the inside.

Ima didn't understand what Raven meant when he said 'types of things like I am', but she nodded anyway. "Do you want me to help?" She asked, blinking her big and childish blue eyes at him questioningly. "I will. But only if you want."

Ravent thought hard on the question. Did he want someone else coming along with him on this journey? He couldn't gaurantee Ima could handle the situation, hell he didn't even think he could, but it was something he had to do.

Screw it.

"Why not? More the merrier, that's what they say."

He hopped off of the desk, walking over to a door placed on the side of the room, opening it up to a large closet. A few trench coats hung there among other things, mostly signature attire of Raven.

He reached in, pulling out a long coat composed of black leather with red lining.

"I'll be right back."

He left the door open as he walked out of the room into his bedroom, closing the door. Preparation had begun.

Ima nodded, glad that Raven would let her help him, and looked around the room a little more as she waited for him to finish.

The girl couldn't help but find herself staring at all of Raven's weapons again. He had so many of them! Just how many were there anyway? Ima was about to start counting if only to satisfy her curiosity when something caught her eye.

Raven didn't close the door to his closet.

She stared. And stared. And stared. And mentally debated as she stared some more.

Ima's face slowly gained the mischievous smile that all teenagers knew as she grabbed one of Raven's outfits and skipped off to find somewhere to change.

Raven exited his room, his body now covered in the black trenchcoat he picked out. He walked over to one of the walls that held his dozens and dozens of weapons. Already on his back his mysterious sword, the weapon raven would take with him everywhere.

He removed two of his black handguns. He needed these too. He placed them in the holsters behind his back, the new location he had worked on in his spare time. He surveyed the bladed weaponry. Two daggers needed to come along, and they did, the same with a few throwing knives. His selection went on.

Then he realized.....Ima wasn't there.

It was the moment that Raven figured out that she wasn't there that Ima skipped back into the room.

In Raven's clothes.

"Raven, Raven! I look like you!" Ima giggled as she twirled around in his clothes. Or attempted to. The outfit was much too big for her, and she ended up tripping and squeaking and falling to the ground in a heap. "Gao." She muttered.

Ima soon recovered though, getting back up and giggling again. She pulled out her guns and struck a pose that she had once recalled Raven doing. "Let's get this party started!" She said, trying to match Raven's voice.

Key word being trying. Her voice was far too high and childish and girly to sound anything like Raven's. The attempt was endearing though.

When she was done with that she put her laser guns away and threw her hands up. "Yay!"

She laughed happily.

Raven looked in a fit of confusion, trying to figure out what in the hell was going on. He shook his head and turned his face to the floor, his expression masked for a moment. Just then, he threw his head back, laughing out loud at the child's act. Mimicry was the greatest form of flattery.

"Not bad, kid!"

He said,smiling.

"If you're going to dress like me though, we should probably get you a fitting coat."

He placed his hand on his chin.

"Looks good on ya, though. I guess that's why I'm the most stylish Demon Hunter to ever live!"

He laughed again.

Ima nodded, agreeing with Raven. "Yeah, your clothes are much too big for me." She said as she twirled around again. This time she lifted herself with her gravity powers slightly so she didn't fall over. "I had a hard time keeping the pants on, they were so big...good thing I found a belt!" She giggled.

She just laughed and nodded again at his mention of being 'the most stylish demon hunter to ever live'.

Raven smiled, turning back to his weapons, grabbing a few more minor tools, before settling himself in.

"Alright!"

Raven rose a hand into the air, a single finger extended to the sky.

"Let's rock!"

He pointed to the door, following suit as he turned to Ima, as if waiting for her to say she was ready to go on this tireless journy.

The teen threw a fist in the air enthusiastically. "Yeah! Let's goooAH!" She started to cheer, but shrieked and fell to the ground. She had tripped over her pants again. Or rather Raven's, but she was wearing them.

She didn't bother to try and move, instead looking up to Raven with a sheepish grin. Ima chuckled. "Um, maybe I should change back into my own clothes..."

"Unless you have a shrink ray."

Raven laughed at the young girl, unable to get past the hilarity of this little girl in his clothing. He'd be offended by anyone else, but for Ima it seemed just fine.

"So go get ready, then we'll get going!"

"Alright!" Ima used her gravity to get up and float away to where she had changed. She didn't trust her feet right now. Or the pants for that matter.

It wasn't long before she was back, wearing her usual attire. She smiled at Raven. "Okay, NOW let's go!"

TIME SKIP!!!!!!!!

The sun settled just beyond the horizon, the orange and pink hue of a setting sun covering the land. Tree tops brustled as the wind sailed through their branches. It was unknown as for how long it had been since the duo of Ima and Raven had left the comfort of Magnolia town, especially since they had no clue where they were going.

Raven had told Ima he could smell the direction. He said the feeling of a Demon was unlike anything else on the planet Earth, and that he could sense them better than anyone. That was all they had.

Raven walked through a clearing in the trees, looking up to the twilight sky.

"I don't know if continuing would be a good idea right now. The darkness isn't exactly our friend in this case."

Ima nodded in agreement. With the sun going down, Ima knew she would gradually be worn down until she was too tired to move and eventually ended up going...what was the word? It was a weird one. Humans and their funny words...

Realizing that Raven might not be able to see her in the coming darkness, and that she was standing behind him she added aloud. "I agree."

Raven surveyed the area. He spotted a tree that looked just right, and remove a dagger from his side. He lunged forward, slashing a few times in rapid succession before returning the blade to it's sheath. As he did, the branches he had slashed fell to the ground. He returned to the area, setting the branches up just right, and holding out his hand. A small ball of black and red fire formed to which he threw onto the wood, setting it ablaze.

Shadows danced on the ground around it and on the face of Raven as he sat down, looking at the embers sparkle.

His ears perked. Things were moving in the trees all around them, he could hear them, but what were they? For all he knew they were just animals, but the type of animal he didn't know. This was a strange place.......

........but it felt so familiar.