The Hourglass

Prologue: A Tale of Disaster

April 17, 1992

"Richard! Give it back!" A small boy's laugh followed this exclamation. The time was around seven, when the sun had gone down and everything was turning a dark inky blue, the same shade as Rachel's eyes. The foliage of the trees cast spotted patterns on the ground, looking the coat of a jaguar. The grass was a bit dewy, but the little boy running kept his footing, not once slipping. He looked over his shoulder and let out another peal of laughter. He grinned at the small, very frustrated girl behind him.

"C'mon Kor, you'll have to be faster than that to catch me!" The little boy's messy mop of black hair was becoming more unruly every second he insisted on eluding his best friend. He looked to be about four, and had recently had his birthday. Kori wasn't far behind, both in birthday time and in distance. The boy she was chasing was obviously Richard. His sapphire eyes glittered in the soft, fading light of nightfall. He glanced over his shoulder to see how close Kori was to catching him.

His best friend, male or female, was Kori Anders. He could see her jade eyes reflecting the light, and how determined she was to get back what he had taken. Her mother and father were Myan and Luan Anders, foreign royalty from the small county of Tamaran. They had left because of the small battles that were sure to turn into a war with Gordania, the neighboring country. But they had left it in good care of Kori and Komi's old nanny, Galfore. Her sister, Komi, was seven and didn't always treat Kori kindly. Kori had a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that Komi was born with weak legs and could not run as fast as Kori. A little petty, but Komi found it reason enough to sub her sister on numerous occasions because track was a popular sport in Tamaran; anyone who could not run well was considered a cripple. But Kori still tried to be kind to her, and also loved her little bother Ryan dearly. He looked like her and her parents, with red hair and bright green eyes. Komi hadn't looked like her parents, with dark indigo eyes and long black hair the same style as Kori's. Perhaps another reason for her to be a bit rebellious. Kori's flaming red hair, currently flowing freely behind her, had earned her the nickname 'Star' from Richard. Gar and Victor, his two best guy friends, had called it a pet name and began singing the song that all crushers hate.

"Richard and Kori, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-" but they got no farther that day for two reasons; one, Garfield (which was something he detested being called) was a year younger than Richard, and two years younger than Victor, the same age as Kori's best girlfriend Rachel. Therefore, he hadn't learned his whole alphabet or the whole song.

Garfield Logan, only three years old, had lived in Africa until his zoologist parents died in a boating accident there when he was ten months old. Then, after some trouble with his greedy Uncle Galtry, was adopted by Steve and Rita Dayton. Being only about one year old at the time, he accepted them easily but still used the last name he had heard all his young life. He had been horrified to learn that animals were meat and became a little vegan right then and there. He loved animals and the color green. Right now his brown hair was a spiked as it could be, given how short it was. His eyes were a forest green that rivaled Kori's, but his hair had a little green finger paint frosting the top after he had touched his spikes for the fifteenth time that day. At least he thought it was cool. Rita thought he was adorable, but at times Steve thought Gar should listen better. This was said because Gar was a cute little boy who just happened to love pranks, practical jokes and a small selection of corny jokes that annoyed Rachel to no end.

Rachel Roth was the polar opposite of Gar, with pale skin that was a great contrast to his tan from playing outside all the time. Her hair was a dark black, almost blue or violet in color. Her eyes were a deep blue that looked purple in the right light. Raven was much smarter than any other child, being very quiet and with a voracious appetite for reading. Right now she had read a little under half of the children's books at the library. And to think; she's only three. When she was younger, she had heard a reading of 'The Raven' on the radio and had spent a month saying nothing but 'nevermore'. After that her mother had affectionately called her Raven. Her mother was Angela Roth, and living with just Rachel. Trigon Ddrez had left Angela and Rachel behind a little under a little ago, which was why they had moved to Jump City and met the Graysons, the Anders, the Daytons, and the Stones.

Victor Stone, the oldest of the gang since he was five, had chocolate colored skin and friendly brown eyes. Gar, Richard and he would constantly be tussling or playing around. His mother and father, Silas and Elinore Stone, were researchers at S.T.A.R. Labs. Victor was an amazing athlete with an equally amazing intellect. His father was encouraging Vic towards a scientific career, but the boy was only in kindergarten; he would rather play with crayons than chemicals. Although he was like a big brother to everyone, he and Gar had small squabbles about meat and tofu, and trying to force the other to eat their food of choice. Vic was what you would call a small carnivore. He was also quite strong, and would often wrestle with Richard to see who was the strongest. Richard, although smaller, was learning tae-kwon-do and other martial arts at the same gym where his parents were working, making him a formidable opponent. He had tackled Victor before he could finish the song about Kori and him sitting in a tree.

Richard was in good physical condition because, in addition to the lessons in martial arts, his parents were retired circus performers now teaching gymnastics at the local gym. Richard always tagged along, begging his father to teach him how to be an acrobat; a real Flying Grayson. So John did, and Richard was a better acrobat than some people twice his age. Mary had called him Robin on occasion, since his birthday was the first of spring. His parents sometimes put on little skits from their old routine for the people if asked, and Richard watched with pride and awe as his parents soared on the small trapeze-like setup at the gym. But enough about that, back to the chase.

Richard sprinted as fast as he could through the maze of trees, trying to keep up the game as long as possible. The name of the game was 'Keep-Away'. Having 'yoinked', (a word of Gar's that he used to insist that it was legally stolen, and one of the only words he knew), her silver heart shaped locket with the pictures in it he darted into the forest. Once Kori realized what had been taken, she rushed in after him, despite the protests of both of their mothers. That brings us up to the present.

He giggled and swerved around a large pine, turning left into a circle of trees. The ring surrounded him, except for on the left. A small stream, although very wide, was there and his only means of escaping. But right now, Richard's small attention span had focused on a tree directly ahead of him, alone in the center. He was so interested, when Kori made it into the circle, panting, he didn't even turn around. She marched up to him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around and startling him.

"Richard, please return my necklace!" Her hand was held out expectantly, large green eyes watching him innocently. She watched curiously as he took her hand and led her back the tree, pointing at something with the locket still tightly grasped in his hand. Richard leaned closer to her ear to whisper something, like the tree could actually hear them speak about it.

"Hey Kori, see that thing?" His pointer finger was set straight ahead. Kori squinted a little, her eyebrows furrowing in concentration. She gasped softly.

"…It looks like-"

"An hourglass? Yeah, how cool is that?" He let go of her wrist and took a few steps forward, mesmerized. Kori's bottle green eyes flicked around, from the tree to Richard to the now-dark sky. She made a little whimpering sound; Kori hated the dark. She stood in her spot, shivering from a chilly breeze that seemed to come out of nowhere. She looked back at Richard, who was still advancing to the tree.

"Richard? Please, it is dark, and I believe that our parents will be worried if we do not return soon." She had a very sophisticated vocabulary for a four-year-old. Richard waved his hand over his shoulder like waving off her question; the sliver locket swung back and forth, catching glints of moonlight. He had reached the tree and was now inspecting it closely.

"Yeah, yeah, in a second Star." The nickname reassured her a little, but she still fidgeted in place. His hands were running over the part of the trunk with the carving in it. The locket dangled from his hand and kept sticking in the little grooves that made up the hourglass. Getting fed up with it, he unclasped it and put it around his neck, tucking it his red shirt to keep it from bumping the tree anymore. "Wow Kori, look at this, it amaze-" he was cut off again as there was a rumble in the tree, making his hands vibrate. The smooth grooves filled with blue light, like someone was pouring water into in from behind the tree.

He stumbled back, tripping over a loose root and falling sideways. He came to a stop, perched precariously at the edge of the bank. His bright blue eyes widened and his hands flailed around, trying to catch his balance as he had so often done on the balance beams. But the chilly wind had picked up, blowing him off balance and farther towards the stream. What had once looked so peaceful was now a frothy mess, steely gray waters foaming up like a rabid animals mouth. Kori bent down to keep from being blown over to the bank and grabbed a root that was sticking out of the ground. Her hair was flailing around her face, making it hard to see the terrified expression on her face. She screamed, frightened out of her wits.

"Richard!" It was hard to hear her over the din the wind was making, but he reached out his hand to try and grab something, anything.

Big mistake.

Gravity finally won the battle, pulling Richard over the edge and into the raging waters. He tried to call for help.

"KORI!"

His best friend screamed shrilly again in response. Tears were streaming down her face, being too young to know what to do. There were no adults around to help; everyone was still talking at Richard's house on the porch, talking and having a good time. How she wished they were there.

Richard lashed his arms around, trying to stay afloat. He bobbed up and down, trying to fight the forces sucking him down. What he saw continued to switch between swirling waters and the tree grove, with Kori as a redheaded blot. The water stung his eyes and he tried to take in a breath of air before becoming completely submerged. The waters grabbed him and threw him around like a rag doll. He was tossed back and forth, his head banging against a rock and making his vision begin to become black around the edges. The winds began to die down, leaving a teary little girl by the edge of the bank, peering over and trying to make out her best friend, lost in the waters. The last thing he heard before going completely under the water was Kori's helpless cry.

"RICHARD!"

After that, he was pulled under and everything faded to black.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, 'The Raven' by Edgar Allen Poe, or Both Sides of Time by Caroline B. Cooney. I don't feel like writing that I don't own her book or half the plot, so this goes for all chapters, past present and future.

Authoress' Note: Yeah, I know I should be working on Predator and Prey, but this was an awesome idea I got during U.S. History while spacing out. And yeah, this is based off the idea in Both Sides of Time by Caroline B. Cooney, which I'm reading right now. This is just like my own Teen Titans version of it; I'm don't own the idea of someone falling into time. So I only own half the plot, if that makes sense. If you read the book, you can tell which is part of her ideas and which is mine. They're alike, but different. It's really hard to explain. XD Anyways, yeah.

This was a little shorter until I added the little biographies. I tried to make them seem a little realistic and compromised their comic histories and names and dates and all that jazz with this version I made up. See if you can spot the little things I put in there.

I'm about half done with the next chapter of P&P, but this seems more interesting of an idea. For some reason I feel like writing action, don't know why. I guess it's a good day for writing; we had FCAT Writes. Why can't we write fiction instead of persuasive or expository?! And I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a little short; I wish I could make it longer but that's stuff for next chapter. With all that said and done, please please please review! (It'd make me happy and update quicker! Such a briber I am. Hee hee.)

- Christine