Thirty-Two

                                    

                                          
My little baby off to destroy people~
                          
I had five people asking me if I was okay at the same time. I honestly didn't know how to answer, but their ceaseless questioning wasn't doing anything to help me.

                          
 All I could do was flip through the information we had collected from Mars, Bialya, and Mohenjo Daro that I'd taped into a journal reminiscent of my father's. I couldn't scratch the itch that the sites had something in common, and something to do with my parent's disappearance. 

                          
I closed my eyes, trying to block out all the noise around me.

                          
"Everyone, be quiet!" I snapped. Everyone listened, except for Miss Martian, who was still shaking from her encounter. 
                          
"Too much darkness, too much evil," She whimpered in the shelter of Superboy's arms.
                          
My parents were missing. Cassie was missing. Kaldur was missing. 
                          
And I needed to find them.
                          
"Dad, if Rama was so scared of Rankor, then why did he fight him?"
                          
"He had no choice, Kiran."
                          
"Because Rankor kidnapped Princess Sita?"
                          
"Yes, but more than that.
                          
"It's because he was brave, and he knew what he had to do."
                          
My eyes shot open, catching a full view of the iconography Cassie and Kaldur had crashed into. Prince Rama, backed by Hanuman and Laksmana, as they crossed into the demon realm to stop Rankor and save Sita. Hiding behind his army with his prize was the ten-headed demon king Rankor, often known as Ravana, but leading the demons was an armored ghoul, as if the monster we had just fought had leapt from the walls themselves. 
                          
My eyes flitted to Sita in her golden robes, helplessly frozen.
                          
I needed to find them, but I wouldn't do it alone. I couldn't do it alone, not when I had so many people willing to help me.
                          
"What...what was that thing?" Beast Boy asked. The rest of the team had gathered around me, staring up at the wall in wonder.
                          
"I think Miss Martian already answered that question for us," I nodded to her as Tigress and Superboy helped her to her feet. 
                          
"Savitar, the demon general."
                          
"What does that mean?" Guardian asked.
                          
I frowned for a moment, thinking.
                          
"It's from a story my parents read me early and often in my life," I started. "The Hindu epic the Ramayana.
                          
"In order to confront the great demon king, sometimes called Rankor, the god Vishnu was reincarnated as a human in the form of the Prince Rama. His destiny-- to rid the world of Rankor and his demon army."
                          
To end the darkness, Mum liked to say.
                          
"As if tempting fate, Rankor kidnapped Rama's love, Sita, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of his own demise. With his allies,  Rama destroyed the demons of this world and ventured to the demon realm itself to vanquish Rankor once and for all."
                          
"Let me guess, this Savitar works for Rankor?" Rocket asked.
                          
"Yes," I nodded, "Which means that since it's taken Wonder Girl and Aqualad, they're lost in the realm of the demons."
                          
I swallowed the tears. "And so are my parents."
                          
"So how do we get to this realm of the demons?" Tigress asked, hands on her hips.