My procrastination knows no bounds. I hate studying so heres another chapter. :)


The following morning, Beastboy had waltzed into the common room having followed the sweet scent of cooking waffles. Cyborg as per his usual, woke up early in the morning along with Robin who ventured to the roof with a sleepy Starfire trailing behind him. They had recently taken to watching the sunrise together but she still wasn't used to waking up so early. Now the two were gathered at the kitchen table, sharing secret smiles, while Cyborg stood by the stove in a hot pink apron and stacked another sugary bread comb onto a rather wobbly tower of them. The tower was now about as tall as he was and had started to lean to the right.

Cyborg turned to the approaching Titan and grinned as he said, "Morning BB! Grab a stack!" He then turned back to the stove and added another 5 waffles to the leaning tower. Beastboy, eager to soothe his growling stomach, briskly journeyed to the tower and grabbed a pile as tall as himself. He began pouring a large jug of syrup on them when Raven walked into the room grasping a book. Cyborg turned to her and smiled as he said, "Made your favorite Raven! Waffles! Got a plate waiting right here for ya!" Cyborg presented a large tilting stack that he could barely keep steady. Raven however, had simply grabbed a cup, filled it with hot water and a tea bag and retreated back to her room without saying a word. Cyborg frowned, lost concentration, and dropped the stack with a floppy crash! His lip quivered in disappointment, having had spent a great deal of his morning preparing them for her (cooked using a batter of his own creation). Cyborg was quickly picking up the waffles and muttering under his breathe about the five second rule.

The others were only slightly surprised and weren't concerned as they were used to her reclusiveness. They shook it off as Raven being Raven- too absorbed in a book to notice the others or purposely ignoring them for some reason or other. Beastboy however, knew that she must have still been shaken up by whatever had happened last night. He wanted to follow her and make her explain so that he could help, but instead chose to sit at the table with Robin and Starfire. He thought he should tell the others about Ravens nightmare, she had, after all, created a house of horrors before because of them, but she would tell them if they were in danger. Raven was reclusive and sometimes proud but she would never put herself before the rest of them. She was one of the most selfless people he knew; and he worked with heroes so he knew what he was talking about.

Robin could sense something was off with her but decided the best approach was none at all, to merely observe and wait until the time was right. He couldn't explain it, but ever since she had bonded with his mind that night long ago, he was getting hints into her own mind. It was nothing more than a soft hum, like a buzzing noise that seemed to say she was anxious about something. It was in the air surrounding her like a shield and as soon as she was gone so was the feeling. He hoped she would open up this time and let them help but that was another thing they shared; that instinct to go at it alone. Robin was trained to figure things out on his own but Raven was raised that way. It wasn't that they didn't trust the others. They wanted to protect them.

The alert suddenly rang throughout the Tower. The team gathered around the front console to see what was going on.

Robin announced, "Adonis. He's downtown at a computer research facility."

Cyborg groaned, "Wasn't he locked up? How do they keep getting out of prison? Maybe our next mission should be to make a better prison. I hear Star City has an entire island for their bad guys."

Beastboy added, "maybe we could borrow theirs! Robin can you get the Arrow on the phone?"

"Nows not the time. Adonis has his suit already, he nearly destroyed half the city last time! Let's go!" and started heading out the door.

Beastboy whispered to cyborg, "I'm sensing a road trip!" Cyborg nodded excitedly.

The others followed, Starfire asked, "What about Raven?" The others finally realized the 5th titan had never appeared.

Robin paused waiting to hear any sound she was on her way. It was quiet. she would have been here by now he thought. "We'll have to go without her."

The others glanced at each other questioningly but followed their leader out to battle. Raven, they knew, wasn't the chattiest of the group nor the friendliest, but she was loyal and protective; to have her ignore an alert was more than unusual and the surest sign that something was wrong.

Beastboy wondered about the nightmare she had and the mysterious cut she had on her arm earlier. Starfire thought perhaps it had something to do with her father, or the home she had lost. Cyborg questioned her sanity, and whether or not the red version of raven was beginning to reappear. There were many reasons why Raven could be upset, just as the others had many reasons of their own to be upset and seek solitude at times. They could only hope that she would allow them to help eventually and open up to the possibility that she didn't have to carry whatever burdened her alone.


Raven hadn't slept the rest of the night, partly because she was scared that Trigon would reappear, and partly because she desperately wanted to speak to her mother again. Instead, she had gathered all the books she owned and searched for the symbol that was imprinted on her left palm, and when the suns rays began hitting the city she had found nothing. Her library wasn't complete but she had a feeling that there was a certain library not far that could help.

While the others were rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, Raven had disappeared to the city's oldest library. The building was now mostly destroyed, with pages scattering everywhere in the wind around the rubble of the fallen pillars and burned bookcases. Ashes lay in piles all around as if the fire was only moments ago. To Raven, it was a sad sight. Despite the memories, to see books burned to dust was like walking through a cemetery; like the ideas and stories contained within died along with them.

The books she sought though, would not have been among the others waiting to be checked out; they would have been buried along with the rest of her secret. She found the opening and began to delve further into the ground. Now that she wasn't the gem, the barriers wouldn't open and even though the library had all but been obliterated, the entrance remained untouched. She used her dark energy to walk through, and continued to use it to guide her through the passage. It felt hollow now without the ghosts keeping watch, and ancient without Trigons influence. It was an eerie sensation to walk those corridors after all that time. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand alert. The darkness that plagued this area had lingered like a bad smell and even now she felt like she was walking to her doom.

Finally she made it to the first three arches, read the symbols above, and traveled down the middle. At the end was a large dark pit that seemed to go all the way to the underworld. With no stairs, Raven levitated into the abyss, still surrounding herself with dark energy to see the layout. It seemed like she had traveled for miles, the air getting colder, thinner, and muskier the further she went. Then there were shelves surrounding her, filled with books of all different shapes and sizes. Some books had been stacked to resemble cones, some had chains as if to keep the contents locked inside, others levitated on their own, while others seemed to weigh tremendously and bent the shelf it laid on. Looking down, she found that the shelves continued even farther without end. It was overwhelming. She was pressed for time and there were too many options. She couldn't read them all in time to save her mother, her people, and herself. She looked around the top shelves, reading the titles by the glow of her energy; all seemed invaluable but none that would help her now.

Finally she came across a small book, had almost floated right passed it but something made her stop. It was nothing special, almost more like a pamphlet than a book, but it felt important and Raven realized that that feeling was what she was waiting grabbed the book and quickly flew back up to the surface. From where the sun was positioned she probably hadn't been gone longer than an hour. She had immediately started reading when she returned to her room. It wasn't a spell book to return her home, it was a spell to project a figure across inter-dimensional planes. Arella was alive somewhere and wanted to communicate.

The book was small but dense. Raven had only read the first two pages when she realized how dehydrated she was. She went into the common room for tea without looking up. She had a vague sense someone had talked to her but time was of the essence. Briefly she thought of telling them what was going on but there really wasn't anything they could do to help. This was something she had to do on her own. She went back to her room muttering the words of the book under her breathe.

"To speak to another across domains, you need the symbol for which they reside." Raven looked at the symbol burned into her hand. "It's a place." She quietly noted. She read further and found the actual spell. It was shorter than she thought it would be but the spell was tricky. It required precision and complete focus something she felt she was faltering on ever since that night. Her hands had been shaking since.

She gathered her supplies, a few candles, a certain green dust, and spread them out in the pattern the book illustrated, looking something like a flower imbedded with a grid. She sat in meditation above the symbol. She hesitated as she rubbed the wound on her arm and remembered what was at stake. It wasn't just her home that was in danger but her own life. The Azarathian monks might have an idea how to stop him from coming back.

She focused back on the task. Her eyes glowed as she raised a hand on either side of her face palms out, and chanted, "Et adducam vos in corde tuo ostende mahla!" On the last syllable, the Teen Titans alert blared throughout the building. It was too late for her to stop. The symbol on the floor was glowing green ready to go. They'd have to go without her. Her thoughts now turned to her friends and hoped the alarm wasn't anything serious. She slammed her palm with the symbol into the symbol on the floor, it glowed bright white then vanished only to reappear as the sand arranged itself into it. Her palm was now empty of the symbol. This was her only chance. She concentrated with every ounce of her body on her mother and her people. She raised her hand, expecting to raise her mother, but instead, a white portal raised and enveloped her within the blinding light.


I guess chapter 3 will be up by tomorrow then if I keep avoiding those stupid textbooks. Hope you liked it :)