Pagan Poetry
Chapter six
"Teardrop on the fire
Fearless on my breath
You're stumbling in the dark
You're stumbling in the dark"
-Massive Attack, Teardrop
……………………..
A person, a figure, shifts in their bed in their home of Titans Tower.
The figure's closed eyes tighten.
'What is that smell? Ugh it's horrible…'
Shifting,
turning.
'It smells….familiar….I can't put my finger on it…it smells like…'
Their face contorts to the intensifying smell.
'It smells like…..'
Amethyst eyes snap open.
'FIRE!'
Raven shot up from her bed to find her room covered in flames, smoke lingering above her.
Her eyes widen in fear.
'What in the world happened?'
Raven choked on the quickly forming smoke.
She coughed.
Focusing her energy the best she could,
attempting to form a shield
"A-Azarath M-Metrion...ZINTHOS!"
Nothing happened.
Her eyes broadened with shock.
'Why isn't my power working? No, calm down Raven…focus…fooocus…'
She tried again.
"A-Azara-Azarath..Met-Metrion…."
Raven coughed violently.
The smoke and the lack of oxygen was getting to her.
'I-I have to get out of here…'
She gasped.
"T-The others!"
Raven tried levitating, but fell in the process.
She couldn't focus.
'The fire and smoke couldn't be possibly be doing this! It has to be something else!'
Fire raged around, and she covered her self with her cloak.
Watching it slowly burn.
"I-I have to get everyone out…"
She coughed again.
Raven struggled to get up, feeling her legs weaken, her sight blurring.
Once stable, she ran at her door and yanked it open…
Raven's eyes arched in fear.
Fire was everywhere.
Every hallway, every ceiling, and every room the Titans Tower had.
Raven's voice cracked.
"H-How could this have h-happened?"
She looked around for the closest room…
Beast Boy.
She took off at full speed towards his room,
Once reached, she yanked his door open, to find his whole room on fire.
"Beast Boy!"
She yelled into the fire, hoping that there would be a reply.
"BEEAST BOY!"
Nothing.
She looked down, to find his blue gloves…burnt…charred..
She picked them up forlornly….
Was it a sign? Did he make it out okay? Did something happen?
The fire roared around and sent her crashing into the singed railing.
Her eyes shook with fear, watching Beast Boy's room crumble.
She tucked his gloves into her belt, and ran to the nearest room from his…
Starfire.
Raven tore open her door, to find her room engulfed in flames as well.
"STARFIRE!"
She yelled hoping for a reply. Tears now pouring out of her eyes.
She coughed.
"S-STAREFIRE PLEASE ANSWER!"
Nothing…
She looked down, and found Starfire's boots, like Beast Boy's gloves, burnt…charred.
She picked them up, holding them dearly.
Raven didn't notice, but something was wrong… nothing shattered….
Emotion clearly showing.
She tucked the boots into her belt and to the nearest room from her…
Robin.
Raven jumped down from the second floor, since the stairs were burning intensely.
She landed perfectly, and ran to Robin's door, and yanked it open.
Nothing but fire.
"ROBIIIN!"
Only the sound of the flames answered.
Raven fell to her knees.
Crying.
When she opened her eyes, she found Robin's belt, burnt and charred like the gloves and boots.
She picked it up and clenched her hands around it.
'What the Azar is going on here! How did this happen!'
Robin's door crumbled in front of her, Raven screamed as she jumped back.
She took Robin's belt and put it around her waist, joining hers, and the lone possessions of Beast Boy and Starfire.
Garfield and Koriand'r…
She sped off towards Cyborg's room, hoping that he was at least still there.
She tore open his door and yelled.
"CYBOORG!"
Everything was ablaze.
Everything in his room was in ashes… destroyed…
"No!"
Raven broke down into tears, as she fell to her knees…
She slowly opened her eyes, to find only thing remaining of Cyborg.
Her eyes amplified with fear, she fell backward…terrified.
She leaned forward to pick the up burnt...charred head piece that held his robotic eye.
Raven hugged dearly, gently…
Tears running down her cheek freely.
Raven ran out of his room before it collapsed…
She ran into the main room, the one that they used to spend all their time in.
Knowing it wouldn't do any good, she shouted into the blazing hell before her.
"CYBORG! S-STARFIRE! BEAST BOY! ROBIN!"
"They can't hear you…"
A deep voice said, it echoed around her, as if the fire was speaking..
She ignored it.
The flames raged on.
She tried again.
"VICTOR! GARFIELD! KORIAND'R! DICK!"
"They can never hear you again…"
She ignored it again and sat down, disregarding the fire.
She had basically lost the will to live…to carry on…
She spoke to no one.
"H-How could this had happened? Why aren't my powers working?"
"Both of your problems are your fault. YOU killed them. YOU let your emotions run free.'
"No…"
Raven strained to talk. Smoke was invading her system. Her lungs and brain lacking oxygen.
"Don't ignore the truth. If you do the worse are yet to come."
"St-stop it… you're -cough- lying…"
"It's your fault that your precious Titans are dead."
"No!"
She hugged the possessions of her friends closer to her. She would never let them go.
"They're not dead! I didn't kill them!"
"You're duty was to kill…and you succeeded…"
"SHUT UP!"
The glass from the window shattered from the heat, falling around Raven…she ignored it.
Outside the window…everything was burning…the city...the water…
People were set in stone, never to move again.
"I didn't kill them….no…no….NO!"
Raven's eyes open, blurred with tears…
Her eyes widen.
A woman with a white cloak, untouched by the flames appeared before her, facing away from Raven.
Raven couldn't quite make out who it was…she coughed from the smoke.
"Y-You h-have to get out of here! Go!"
The woman stayed still. She spoke softly…
"It is too late for Earth, just as it was too late for Azarath..."
"M-Mother?"
"The gem was born of evil's fire. / The gem shall be his portal. / He comes to claim. He comes to sire / The end of all things mortal."
"W-what? N-no…it's not true...no…."
She faded away into the flames, and the voice came back.
"I have a message…it will be delivered…"
Raven stood up, still holding her friends possessions...oxygen quickly fading, fire engulfing her.
"G-GO AWAY! STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Skies will burn,
flesh will turn to stone,
the sun will set on your world,
never to rise again."
A face materialized on the Teen Titans screen.
A face all too familiar…
Cold maniacal laughter arose.
Beast Boy's gloves, Starfire's boots, Robin's belt, and Cyborg's head piece, fell to the ground, as Raven shouted the first thing that came to her mind with the last of her oxygen.
"SLAAAAAADE!"