Wings of the Raven
Chapter One: Winds of Change
The waves lapped gently against the shore of a small island out in the bay. She could hear them in the distance and she found it comforting. The rocks where she was sitting deep in meditation were familiar. She had sat here often in her youth, with her friends. Now she sat alone, one of the many changes she had experienced as of late. Years had passed since the end of the world, and with Trigon the Terrible no longer able to enter the realm of earth, life went on. The tides were falling and she knew she did not have much time remaining to enjoy the solitude. She opened one eye to see the sun had not yet risen, but false dawn sat on the sky behind her. She heaved a sigh and gently let herself lower to the ground from meditation.
Raven stood and gazed out a little longer at the ocean to the west, knowing this tranquility would be hard to maintain. At last she turned and began climbing up the rocks towards the Titans Tower main entrance. She could fly by way of levitation, true, but she found the light workout enjoyable and it provided a reasonable excuse to bow out of morning training with Robin. But she also knew if she didn't make it back to the tower for breakfast someone would come looking for her, and that was the last thing she wanted after the peaceful morning.
Things had indeed changed in the last few years.
As Raven reached the base of the tower and strolled towards the doors, she saw something coming out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to look she became a little confused. The small, round object flying in her direction was the silly little flying mailbox that Cyborg had installed some years ago. It normally sat on a strand of beach that stretched out toward the Titan's island from the mainland near the city. It would return for only one reason – someone had put mail in it. It was odd though, because in those few years it had not once returned before, always self cleaning debris and dust by way of a built in system. No one had ever sent any mail to the Titans in all that time. Everything was handled digitally and they had no use for paper mail.
Cyborg had insisted however that they should have a proper mailbox anyway and set it up. They had all promptly forgotten about it, but Raven now watched as the small sphere docked at it's station by the front doors. Raven placed a hand on her hip and gave the mailbox a quizzical stare as if asking it what it was doing, but the mailbox simply flashed it's one red signal light without paying her any mind. She shrugged and went to empty it out. It opened at her approach and she reached in, expecting to pull out a flier or bit of paper junk that the box had mistaken for a letter.
What she pulled out was a plain white envelope, which she found curious enough, but to her astonishment it was addressed to her. Her name was scrawled beautifully across the front in what she could only describe as calligraphy. Dumbfounded, Raven stared at the envelope in her hand as her feet carefully guided her toward the elevator up to the main floor. Of all the Titans, Raven had the least reason to expect mail. Her face became hard for a moment and she thought, "Who would care to send a letter to the Ice Titan?" a sneer crossing her face to think of that unwanted moniker.
The elevator dinged as she reached the main floor, and she stashed the letter away in her cape before the doors slid open to reveal OPS. She quietly made her way over to the kitchenette area of their shared space. Raven noticed that Robin and Starfire were already present, though they did not notice her as they were wrapped up in each other. Three years they had been together, since Tokyo if she remember correctly, and they remained as sweet as the first day. She was happy for them of course, but Raven was sure she could give herself cavities just by watching them. Cyborg clanked down the stairs from one of the hallways as she reached the stove and put on the water for her tea. "Morning all!" he said sidling up to the stove and donning his apron. "Bacon and waffles for everyone, coming right up."
Cyborg's jovial personality was one of the few things that hadn't changed in the last few years. He had upgraded his tech a few times, striving for compatibility with the ever progressing science of the day, but he was still the same kind and sincere person she had always known. For that Raven was grateful. She finished making her tea and moved around the table to the far end. "Morning friend Raven!" Raven took a sip of her tea and nodded at Starfire. She and Robin were still sitting unnaturally close, but Raven could clearly tell where one ended and the other began now. "It is a glorious day and I have enjoyed the training this morning as usual." Raven quirked an eyebrow and Robin just smiled.
"It is a good day," Cyborg had brought the plates to the table and sat down on the opposite side from Robin and Starfire. "Raven," he looked at her inquiringly, "The sensors are telling me that the mailbox was here this morning. Did you see it on your way back in?"
"No." Her answer was flat and discouraged further questioning so Cyborg shrugged and turned to his breakfast satisfied. Raven didn't like lying to her friends, but knew that it was necessary sometimes. If her letter were found there would be questions, and she would not enjoy enduring them.
She felt something brush against her, and a voice accompanied it that she did not welcome. "If you haven't seen the mailbox, why are you hiding this in your cape?" A gloved hand held the letter firmly in front of everyone and Raven's eyes narrowed sharply.
"Give. That. Back." she said it in her monotone, showing only the slightest hint of irritation.
"Why should I?" he ran a hand through his green dreadlocks and proceeded to the other end of the table from her. He leaned carelessly against the counter massaging a pretentious green goatee, examining the envelope carefully. "What does it say?"
"I don't know." Raven said. Her reply was nonchalant and cool as ever and she noticed that his back tensed up as his eyes narrowed. Being taken lightly was one of his new pet peeves.
"You haven't even opened it yet?" She could hear the animal growl in his voice as he spoke. "Raven, the All Powerful, first titan to ever receive mail and you're too high and mighty to even read it?"
"Clam down Beast... uh... Changeling," Cyborg said with his hands up, palms out in a placating gesture. Beast Boy had changed the most with the years, and in Raven's opinion it was for the worse. He had changed his identity to show his maturity, but there was less than ever in his actions. "Just give it back, it's her mail after all and if she doesn't want to share it with us it's not harming anyone."
"Not hurting anyone?" Beast Boy's face tightened with building rage and he slammed a fist on the counter top. "She was hiding this from us and you don't even care? It could be a dangerous object and the Ice Titan could kill us all by bringing it in here."
Cyborg shook his head at that, "I programmed the mailbox myself, it wouldn't bring back anything dangerous and Fix-It keeps an eye on it for me, so I know it hasn't been tampered with."
"You're not even the least bit curious what this could be?"
"It's none of your business Chumpling." Raven let the corners of her mouth tug up as he whipped his head to glare at her. Beast Boy was very sensitive about his new name and insisted no one mess it up.
"What did you call me?" he said, his teeth were clenched this time.
"You heard me. Hand over the letter and buzz off." She saw his face tighten and his muscles tense and readied herself for what was coming.
Beast Boy roared and vaulted over the table changing as he did so, the claws of a cheetah reaching for her, but she had been ready for him. Engulfed in black energy Beast Boy's momentum reversed and he slammed into a counter behind the table, doubling over in pain. Raven pulled the letter to her from where he had dropped it and began to phase through the floor. "Whether I receive mail is no concern of yours Changebowl." she said snidely and disappeared in a swirl of energy.
When she emerged she was in her room. She set the door lock and sighed, taking a seat on her bed. She could almost hear Beast Boy roaring at her from yards away through all the steel separating them. He had saved her life on numerous occasions, and she had saved him as many times if not more. It pained her that so much bad blood existed between them, but she knew it was her fault to begin with.
Beast Boy had fallen in love with her, something she should never have allowed him to do. There had been tension, there had always been tension, but it had changed. She had ignored his advances for as long as she could. It affected life in the tower, training, eventually even missions. Every time she thought back to that day, where it had all come to a head, she felt a deep sadness.
She held the letter up now and noticed that her hand was visibly shaking. Raven often made a show of being emotionless but while she cultivated the cold and uncaring persona she was often more affected by the things she pretended to not care about. She set the envelope on her nightstand and decided that she needed to meditate, suppressing the emotions that could cause an overload of her powers took priority over an anonymous letter.
Taking a seat on her bed she folded herself into the right position and felt the world fall away. The words of her mantra came to her almost unbidden and she entered a state of utter tranquility.
It was hours later when Raven felt the world return to her. She felt more serene and relaxed but there was still a troubled feeling about her she could not shake. As if drawn to it by the thought she reached over and took the letter that was the cause of her anxiety. It was time to read the mysterious letter and find out what portents it brought. She slid a finger under the lip of the envelope and the letter slid out without a sound.
It read:
Raven,
You have no idea who I am, but the whole city knows you. Your reputation often precedes you as you must be aware, but I have been watching you and your teammates since I first came to this city and I believe there are things most people say about you that I can not accept. You are constantly spoke of as something to be feared, yet you protect the city and it's people and expect nothing in return. No one so aloof and dangerous would do so without some good reason. I feel that the people must know you, that I must know you.
I want to know you. That must sound pretentious coming from an anonymous letter writer, but I couldn't think of another way to contact you and maintain both of our privacy. I'm no shut in, but I do value privacy myself and want to keep this out of the public eye until things are sorted. You have no reason to trust me, and I would not be surprised if you were suspicious of me. You are a mystery my lady. A mystery begging to be unraveled.
Excuse that analogy, it sounded so much less pompous in my head, but it is an accurate description of how I feel. I thank you for taking the time to read this, and understand if you choose to discard it. But I hope you will keep it and find the others that will be forthcoming.
Yours,
An Admirer.
Raven ran a hand through her hair and scanned through the letter again, puzzled. It was very polite, but she could sense a challenge in the words she was not entirely comfortable with. She read over it several more times before she heard a polite knock on her door.
"Friend Raven." Starfire's voice was muffled from the other side of the door, "I wish to speak with you. Are you there?"
Raven slid from the bed and unlocked the door with her pass code allowing the door to slide open. Starfire entered the room at a glide as usual. She was often too happy these days to just walk. The word she used was 'euphoric'. "I'm okay now Star." Raven had returned to her monotone and projected calm, even though she was still slightly shaken and confused by the letter.
"I wish to know, have you read your correspondence?" She kept her hands to herself but her eyes were darting around, looking for the errant envelope perhaps.
Raven sighed, "I have read it, and I'm not sure what to think about it." She handed her friend the letter and went back to sit on her bed. Starfire followed her and began to go over the letter herself. Years ago Raven would have had to explain certain words to her and how they were used, but though she still spoke in that cumbersome grammatically correct manner she now had full grasp of the English language.
"This letter is beautifully written Friend. The person who wrote it must be at home with a pen." Starfire went over the letter one more time before handing it back to Raven.
"I know," she said. She took the letter and slid it back into it's envelope and walked over to the ornate writing desk she kept near her bed. "Honestly it scares me. I can sense sincerity in the letter, my empathic abilities can tell me that much, but it also feels as though the writer is challenging himself, or me, in some way." She produced a key from seemingly nowhere and unlocked one of the drawers in the desk, gently placed the envelope away and locked the drawer again. The key vanished once more into thin air. "I shouldn't let this go on, but since I don't have any means to track this person down I can't do much of anything right now."
"I think it is wonderful that you have an admirer Raven." Starfire's bubbly personality overflowed sometimes and Raven could feel her happiness frothing over. "Many have called you by that ugly nickname for so long. It is nice to see someone taking an interest in knowing you better." She clasped her hands together and sighed dreamily, "Could you keep me informed of any future correspondence?"
Raven let a smile cross her face at that. "You're the only one I would trust Star," she said, "Of course I will."
"Joyous!" Starfire exclaimed. "Now I must go Friend, for there is much to do today with my boyfriend!" Raven waved as her friend zoomed out of the room and off down the corridors.
Raven's gaze found its way back to the desk drawer that contained the letter from her admirer and the smile faded from her lips. What was she going to do about this? She knew half a dozen spells that she try using to find out more, but she discarded each one by one as most would provide vague information at best and the more potent ones would destroy the letter. Raven had to rethink the last thought that ran through her head when she realized that she did not want the letter to be destroyed.
The letter scared her and could cause her no end of problems with the team and possibly the press if it got out. Raven could think of a fair number of scenarios that would end badly at best should the letter become public. Even if it never got out she could easily see things ending tragically for anyone who got involved with her. Yet she could not bear the thought of the letter being lost or destroyed and it confused her even more.
Before she could put the thing out of her mind she felt someone watching her and turned to find someone leaning in the doorway with a smug smirk on his face.
"Hello Raven," Robin said. She opened her mouth to reply but he held up a hand motioning for silence. "I know how you feel about unsolicited advice, and I would never presume to tell you how to handle your affairs." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a book that he handed to her. "Detective work took a while to get used to and though my mentor taught me many things, I would still get hung up sometimes. Whenever I was stuck or confused I started asking myself a question." Raven looked down at the book she had been given and raised her eyebrows, surprised. "That question was 'What would Sherlock Holmes do?"
The book Robin had given her was a collection of stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. When she looked up again Robin was nowhere to be found.
Author's Note: This is a new story I've been writing off and on for nearly a year now and I think its finally time to post the first chapter. I will not be rushing this story, as I want it to be properly paced and the best I can make it. I've been on a long hiatus from fan fiction in the past several years for different reasons, including a lack of inspiration, real life problems rearing their heads, and doing sporadic work on my original novel concept. I welcome anyone to read this story and I hope you all enjoy it, but please don't beg for updates as such requests will be ignored. New chapters will be posted as they are ready. Constructive feedback and meaningful discussion is always welcomed and much appreciated.
Thanks for reading,
AQ