Damian paced back and forth on his four legs before a fireplace, he growled and snarled furious with himself. He should had watched his temper; he should had checked his surroundings before heading out for his morning stroll outside his castle.

Damian was walking, looking at the ground beneath him and seeing how huge his paws were. He was lost in thought, thinking back to when he once was human. A prince. He then heard the rustle leaves as someone other than him stepped them, startled he looked up to find her staring at him in shocked.

Damian's heart shattered in a million pieces, he wanted to shout, to order her to shield her eyes from his hideous form. Instead a horrendous roar escaped his throat, he felt the earth tremble beneath him, and the trees rustled in fear. Raven then ran, quickly as her two legs could take her towards the castle's main gates. Shocked to what he had done, Damian just stood there on all fours. His worst nightmare had become a reality, he rather have her be angry with him, but never see her eyes filled with fear. He was a beast after all. Damian closed his eyes hoping that this was all but a dream he was having.

Just then he heard a scream in the distance. Raven's scream. Followed by a great howl, the terrifying dog-like creature who guarded Damian's castle entrance must have spotted Raven. Without even realizing, Damian sprinted towards the gates, hoping to reach her in time.

A soft gruntle startled Damian away from his thoughts. Damian turned his head as Koriand'r, Dick's fiancé floated through the closed doorways. Damian sat on his hind legs, "how is the girl?"

"Ravenis doing fine, she awoke a few minutes ago and... she is asking for you."

Damian was startled at the mentioned that the girl he allowed to stay in his castle actually requested to see him. He believed after the events that had transpired that she wouldn't want anything to do with him. Damian looked up into Kori's eyes and could see she was smiling warmly at him, and so very cautiously walked towards the door and headed towards Raven's bedroom.

~

Raven's whole body felt like it had been succumbed under piles of bricks. Every muscle hurt, she reached a hand to rub her face and felt a small healing wound near her temple. That's going to leave a scar, she thought. Raven looked around, there floating just at the foot of her bed were Cassandra and Stephanie who looked very attentively at Raven. Stephanie appeared to be the oldest of the two, while Cassandra looked to be a year or two younger than Raven. She groined and slammed a pillow over her face, "how long have I been out?"

"About three days," one of them answered.

Raven just allowed her mind to wrap around what happened. She had managed to slip and go outside the castle, to see it's garden, fall had come and she just wanted to admire the autumn colors much closer. Just then she stopped when she had noticed a large black beast walking alone. Raven had been staying in the castle over a month now and not once had she ever seen this creature that seemed a fabrication of night itself. It was dressed in very old and worn out clothing, a single black cape covered most of its body. Raven was utterly amazed by it; she had never seen anything like it, though she couldn't quite get why it look so sad.

"A beast." Raven whispered.

She heard a gasp and turned to see both girls stare at her comment. Cassandra leaned closer, "You saw Damian?"

Damian? Was Damian the beast, Raven had seen? In truth, Raven had never once seen Damian, he always hid in the shadows whenever he was in her presence. She knew he was real or held a physical form from the spirits she had seen wondering the castle's walls. At times Damian appeared to be taller than her, other times he was at her height, but the only thing she could make out from the shadows were those deep emeralds eyes that burned with anger. She had concluded he was some demon of sorts, but now she discovered he was something else she never once encountered in her life.

"I want to speak with him." Raven said softly.

Stephanie only nodded and went through her bedroom door. Raven could hear her talk with another woman, who Raven depicted to be Kori, the tall-red headed spirit who would always sneak into Raven's room and make sure she was comfortable as she can be.

A few moments later, her bedroom doors opened as the beast, or rather Damian walked in on his hind legs. Damian turned around as giving the three girls a silent command and they exited the room as Damian closed the doors to have some privacy.

"You called for me?"

"I did..." They been butting heads since the day she arrived. Raven had come to his castle's door asking for shelter one rainy night in late summer. At first very mysteriously the doors had opened on their own, she cautiously entered and made her way towards what had probably been the parlor. There was a small fire lit in the fireplace and Raven kneeled before it, begging for the embers to embrace her with their warmth and rid her of the cold. Just then someone bellowed behind her, she turned and in the shadows was the emerald-eye master of the castle. Being careful, Raven stood slowly, she told him she will not trouble him and to only allow her to stay the night. Instead he growled and told her he could not let her leave, Damian claimed she would go and mouthed to the nearby villages of the abandon castle and its hidden treasures. Raven became his prisoner, that stormy night.

Though she wasn't shackled down in chains nor was she locked in a musty old cell beneath the castle. Instead, Raven was given a room, filled with all the luxuries she could ever imagined. Overtime, she was allowed out her room and eat in the dining hall, but she mostly ate by herself and would catch glimpses of the spirits that inhabit the castle.

"I am very sorry."

Startled from her own thoughts, Raven looked up to find Damian looking down at the carpet floors as he sat down on all fours. She could tell he was hurting from within, like he was in the center of a raging storm and there was no hope of ever getting out. Raven knew this feeling far too well; she had lived it most of her life. Though no one other than she knew of those torments.

Raven sighed heavily, "You're not at fault, I shouldn't had run off like that if it weren't-"

"If you had never seen me you wouldn't have been frightened. Your instincts kicked in and told you to run from this... monster." Damian closed his eyes in repulsion. "You had every right to be scared."

~

"But I wasn't scared."

Damian widen his eyes and brought his gaze to look into Raven's face. A soft blush had worked itself onto her cheeks as she gazed to the side at her statement. Raven then brought her amethyst eyes to give Damian a loving stare, one that held no ill-will towards him but one that wanted to comfort him. "I am not afraid of you."

Him. Raven wasn't afraid of him. In that moment Damian could feel his heart to flutter and warm his whole body with a feeling he never believed ever possible to feel. Damian continue to study her face; not once did she grimace. Instead she gave him a faint smile and reached to take his large paw in her small hands. Never did Raven shudder as she stroked his paw. Her touch was soft, and Damian could had sworn he was meeting a side of her he never met before.