Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile Chapter 10: No Place Like Home, a teen titans fanfic

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 10: No Place Like Home

Back at the arcology, the male and female warriors were sharing a moment of downtime, resting momentarily. {{What of your sociological forecasts? Have you any new data?}}

She decided to quit, as Raven had said once, "beating around the bush." She didn't understand why someone would beat around a bush in the first place, as it seemed an ineffectual way to gather information, but the phrase had a nice sound to it. {{Does this have to do with your plan to get rid of the Lords?}}

He sighed. {{I can keep nothing from you, I see. Yes, it does. But so far I have gotten nowhere. The Lords are immensely powerful, both physically and mentally. And there are many of them. I keep running into that whenever I run any equations. I certainly don't have the physical power to overcome them.}}

{{You know we don't use ki, except as a last resort, and you know why.}}His face took on a haunted expression. {{But it may come to that.}}

{{Then maybe it isn't about sheer power. You remember what Raven said her friend Robin, back in that other world, told her once: you don't have to have super powers to save the world. Just the determination to do whatever it takes.}}

He nodded. {{Perhaps she—and you—are right.}} There was an odd undercurrent to his thoughts that she didn't catch. Then.

He couldn't deny that. {{Yes. Yes, it does. I cannot help but think of the misery that will ensue, once matters become critical.}}

She made a decision. Getting up, she tugged on his arm. {{Then come with me.}}

{{Just come with me.}} And she led him into a back room, one shielded from warriors' senses.

{{But what is it? I really wish you'd tell me—oh!}} She'd removed her uniform.

{{I cannot solve your problems for you. But perhaps I can take your mind off of them, at least for a little while. Perhaps is so doing, the solution may come easier to you.}}

He found himself unable to argue with her logic.

….

Our universe: the great crystal sphere inserted itself into orbit around the Earth, its occupant noting the Osiran probe in orbit. He would have sighed, had he been human enough. Such wasteful destruction. But then, Osirans were justifiably famous for that. For that matter, so were humans.

With casual ease, he reset the timer for the probe to a date far in the future. If he was successful here, the Earthians and whatever Osiran allies they had could deal with it at their leisure. On the other hand, if he was unsuccessful, the probe's resetting the universe to a higher quantum level might easily be the least of everyone's concerns.

…..

Raven was preparing for bed when someone signaled at her door. "Who is it?" she called, through the closed door.

There was no reply. Odd, she thought. If it was Jasson, he'd usually say something. She went to the door and activated the hallway monitor, to see who was calling at this hour.

The monitor showed the male warrior who looked like Omega standing just outside her door, looking up and down the hallway, somewhat nervously, she thought. He had something like a large television remote clipped to his belt, and was carrying something that looked like cloth. What could be going on?

She opened the door, surprised to see him here at this hour. "Yes? What is it?" He had some sort of cloth sack over his left arm. He raised his right arm, pointing it towards her. Raven, read his reader, This is vital. Please trust me on this. Do not make a sound. Understand? No sound.

"Uhm, o-okay," she replied uncertainly. This was unlike him. Whatever was happening? "But what-*"

No time. Here. And he unclipped the device from his belt and, with one motion, clipped it onto her belt. Remember, don't make a sound. And without another word, he flipped the sack he was carrying over her head, bringing it down around her feet, and, picking her up, carried her off into the night.

To say she was surprised would be a vast understatement. What was all this? But she implicitly trusted him, a fact which surprised her. Raven had never been one to completely trust others.

The journey didn't take long, and she shortly felt him set her on her feet. Off came the bag, her hair frizzing with static electricity from it sliding up and off her. Unsurprisingly, she found herself back in the singularity research lab, with the female even then closing the lab door, and sealing it shut. They both looked decidedly uneasy.

"Look," she asked them. Their heads turned to her. "Do you suppose you could tell me what's going on? Please keep in mind, when you Link, I can't hear you."

The male raised his reader. Of course, Raven, and I'm sorry for the abruptness of my actions. But there was no time. The Lords are looking for you.

"What? Why?"

They've determined that the virus was of otherworldly origin. They've since cross-examined everybody who came in on any of the returning human ships during that time period. They know it was none of them. That leaves you. They have your description, but not your name or whereabouts. He paused. We can't let them find you.

"So you brought me here? To the very center of their power? Was that wise?"

They cannot directly sense you here. The research we do here requires massive amounts of shielding. That will obscure their senses, as well as the senses of the warriors out looking for you.

She pointed to the sack he'd thrown onto a nearby console. "I hope you didn't think that would hide me from warrior—or Lord—senses."

No, but this did. He smoothly unclipped the device from her belt. Portable shield generator. We use them for transporting the singularity-producing elements from our manufacturing site, some kilometers to the southwest. He did something to it, and placed it on a nearby table. When activated, as it was, it has the side effect of obscuring our senses. To any Osiran observers, you were an indistinct blob, and they hopefully assumed I was simply transporting more of the elements. The bag was just to hide you from any human observers who might be out.

"Oh. Okay. But what's the danger? So they find me, what then?"

The two warriors looked at each other momentarily. Then the female raised her reader. They would determine that you came here from another timeline. And that you came secretly. That would look suspicious to them. They would envision the worst. They would then scan you. Deeply.

"And?"

Such as scan would reveal every thought, every memory in your mind. And leave nothing of your mind left. The only good thing about it would be, you wouldn't feel the fires of the incinerator they'd shove your still-breathing body into.

Gulp. But then, a burst of guilt: she had caused the deaths of several people, including Jasson's family. "Maybe…maybe they should. Maybe I should turn myself i-*" And right between the vowel and the consonant of the word, in between the tickings of the clock, an image avalanched through her mind, as real as the image of the lab where she now was…

An earthquake a hundred, a thousand miles wide, God's own invisible meat cleaver slicing into this world from space, splitting the entire globe in half like an orange; volcanic action visible from Mars. Then, the nickel-iron core of the planet speeding up to thousands upon thousands of rpms, to the point where it became the biggest bomb in the solar system, blowing the Earth not just into fragments, but into powder, the moon knocked from its orbit into a trajectory that would send it off into the emptiness of space….

…..the sun itself destabilizing, exploding into a supernova of awesome fire, vaporizing the inner planets, and scorching the outer gas giants, their atmospheres boiling off into space….

…..And herself, somehow untouched by the chaos and ruin around her, mouth open in a silent scream, falling, falling into the abyss thus created by the cataclysm, falling until she was engulfed in a blacker-than-black aperture…..

….and the eyes, behind the starry void of space: "The portal. Now."

"*-n," She was shaken, more deeply than she had been in years. The image that had cascaded through her mind had left her with absolutely no doubt whatsoever that not only could the Entity do something of this magnitude, but that it most definitely would.

Ever since the Entity had first contacted her, back in that other world, Raven had toyed with the notion, the possibility that there was no Entity, that it was all her, that she was simply insane, somehow, and all this was her own subconscious in action, just a part of her own schizophrenic mind. After all, what, really, had it done? Had it really done anything that her own powers, whatever their state, couldn't have done? Could she have been, essentially, talking to herself, this whole time? Could all her experiences be explained some other, more mundane way?

But now there was no doubt. Not even in her wildest fantasies did she ever possess that kind of power. And certainly not here.

And then in the next nanosecond, another image flashed through her mind: the road, where she'd first come into this world, and the open portal, just as it had been on her world, hanging calmly in empty space, waiting for her. Again, there was no doubt.

The male's wrist reader was "speaking." We don't want that to happen to you, Raven. Besides, we aren't being totally selfless here. If the Lords scan you, they'll find out about us.

Oh. Right. "Well, what can I do? I can't stay here."

{{She's right,}} Linked the female. {{When the Lords cannot find her, they'll naturally look in those areas not so easily accessible to their senses. They'll probably look here first, simply because it's closer.}}

"Look," began Raven. This was about more than just her. "There's a chance—if I could get back to the place where I entered this world—that the portal I used to get here might still be open, to some degree. Sometimes they take a while to fully close." Like about one-thirtieth of a second, but she saw no reason to elaborate on that. "Why don't the both of you come with me, if it is?"

The male thought furiously. Then, raising his reader, Let's use the readers, to let Raven know what is being said. He turned to the female. This world is becoming decidedly dangerous for us all. Can you get her back to this place she's referring to?

Of course, but what of you?

I will create a diversion. No one will follow you. Go ahead, take her there; I'll be along as soon as I can. He handed her the portable shield and the cloth bag.

"Uhm, if it's all the same to you, could we do this without the bag?"

Flying back to her point of entry, Raven asked the female, "What sort of diversion will he create?"

I do not know, "said" her reader. Raven was holding it; apparently, it didn't have to be physically on the female's wrist to translate her nonvocalized thoughts into holographic words, we were not using Link, so I was unable to pick up any hint of what he actually planned. Were it me, I would probably cause the shielding to fluctuate, producing what would appear to be an emergency situation. Other warriors would be summoned to deal with the threat, and the Lords themselves evacuated to safety.

"Where would the Lords go?" Raven shivered; they hadn't stopped by her apartment to get her clothes, and the night air was chill.

They undoubtedly have some place of safety they have prepared in advance. But I do not know just where. Is this place where you entered our world close?

"It should be right around that turn up ahead. I know it was close by a farm field….."

Back at the arcology, the male gathered up another portable shield generator, and a few other items. Then he checked the Link for the Lords' schedule. They were still convening, the matter of the strange virus having alerted them to the possibility of invasion, something no Lord took lightly.

He made one brief stop on his way down to the Lords' meeting chamber.

"I don't know," Raven was saying to the female, "it should be right around here." And sure enough, there it was, the portal hanging open, a two-dimensional disk visible from only one side, vertical to the road, just as she remembered it from when she first came. "There. That's it." Something was nagging at the back of her mind, something having to do with the warrior she had known in her world, her counterpart to this world's warrior. Something to do with the Lords….. "I suppose we'll wait for him? I know the portal will take us back to my world. I have to admit," she said, a bit bashfully, to the female, "that I'm glad you two will be coming with me. I've….grown fond of you both. I know I have to leave, and I have to leave Jasson behind; after all, this is his world. But your mate is right: it's becoming too dangerous for you two."

The female had put her wrist reader back on. In a way, I, too, will be glad to be going with you, Raven. We are fond of you, as well. And this world you've described….well, it sounds like, like…. The word she was groping for was rare in the Osiran language.

"Like fun? Well, yes, it is that. But it's also a world where you're both needed. I can guarantee you at least one thing: neither one of you will be bored."

The female smiled. That is another word rarely encountered among our kind. But a new world….perhaps that is the very thing we both need. It will be….an interesting experience, to build a new life somewhere free of the Lords' domination. A new world, a new life, she added, a faraway look coming over her heart-shaped face, together.

In the Lords' chamber: the male strode into the circular pit, where he would address the assembled might of the Lords of Osira. All around him, the Lords sat at their seats, their attention focused on him. {{Well, you have requested an audience with us. We trust that this is important. After all, we've a possible invasion to deal with.}}

He stood facing them, his face calm, his stance relaxed. Carrying his shielded container. {{It is very important. But before I begin, I have someone I must introduce to you all.}} There was a flicker in the center of the amphitheatre as someone teleported in. Someone carrying another shielded canister.

In appearance, it was a Lord, wearing the rich black robes and tiki-like mask of the Osirus himself. At the sight of the intruder, this world's Osirus rose from his seat, his face impossible to read behind his mask, but alarm in his stance and in his Linked communication: {{Who are you?}}

{{I am your counterpart from another timeline, one where our policies have generated much misery and anguish. I bring you a gift.}} The seated figure gestured to the male warrior, standing next to him.

{{I bring you,}} the robed figure began, even as he brought the contents of the warrior's canister into contact with the one he was carrying, {{the gift of oblivion.}}

"…singularities….produced by the combining of two elements, neither one native to the eleven dimensioned space you and I call reality…."

The singularity formed faster than the assembled Lords could teleport away.

"….you don't have to have super powers to save the world. Just the determination to do whatever it takes…"

Miles away, Raven looked up in alarm. The female had risen, her face registering shock and dismay, as she looked back towards the city. "What-*" And then, she saw it: the growing, silent radiance, a color impossible to describe, that had no description, shining over and above the lights of the city they'd left behind.

No no no…. The wrist reader repeated the words over and over.

"What…what happened?" But even as she asked the question, Raven knew. Too late she remembered her version of the warrior, and his suicidal crusade to end the Lords' reign.

The female stood alone, head bowed, a silent figure of misery, her chin-length hair obscuring her features from Raven's eyes. After a long, long moment, her wrist reader came back to life. I should have known.

"You…you couldn't have known. There was no way," began Raven, even as she moved to comfort the alien woman. But the Osiran raised her hand without changing her stance, pointed her wrist reader at Raven. Go.

"Come with me. There's….there's no longer any reason for you to remain here."

No. I cannot. I must return to the city. There are other, lesser Lords, elsewhere on this world, but the destruction of these here will cause mass confusion, possibly even war. The other warriors and Thinkers—and the humans—will need….guidance. They will need help. The remaining Lords will have to be dealt with, plus the conditioning they've imposed on the humans…some way must be found to break it. I cannot leave them to face that alone. It—it wouldn't be….right. The female raised her head, a pained smile on her face, as though remembering something. Go. Your friends, your world, await you. She pointed to the portal, waiting silently, patiently for Raven to step through.

Raven moved towards it. "Will—will you look after Jasson for me?"

As I would my own. Thus reassured, Raven stepped through the blackly glowing portal.

Behind her, the female turned to face the city, the rising sun, and the future.

…

Raven found herself back in her room at Titans' Tower. She turned; the portal was gone.

She started to call to the Entity, to tell it off good and proper. No matter how powerful it was, she had still lost a good friend this day, probably due to its rushing matters, and she was angry.

There was a knock at the door. "This'll have to wait," she muttered, partly to herself and partly to the Entity. No doubt her friends were curious as to who was intruding into her old room; it had been several weeks since she left.

It was Beast Boy. "Rae? We're about to start the movie. You sure you don't want to join us?"

Movie? What movie? "Uhm, movie?" What was he talking about?

"Yeah, you know. Pretty Pretty Pegasus. Terra and I both just went off-shift; Rob and Star are on. And you know Cyborg; he'll work a double without getting sleepy."

Movie? But that was…weeks ago…."Garfield? What, er, what day is it?"

"Day? It's thirty minutes after I asked you last time. Rae, are you alright?"

"Uhm, yeah. I guess I just lost track of time."

You certainly did. She could sense the Entity grinning like Alice's Cheshire cat. "Shuttup," she muttered over her shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Not you. Uhm, never mind" Her mind raced. Only thirty minutes?

"Raven?" He looked at her suspiciously. "You, uh, you aren't reading any more 'really good books' in there, are you?"

Tell him yes. Watch him freak out. She had to grind her teeth together just to keep a verbal retort from slipping out. But she managed to shake her head.

"Well, anyway. I just thought I'd see if you'd changed your mind. Have you?"

She shook her head again, more in control now. "I appreciate it, Gar, but I really should—*"

Oh, for the love of Me. Something gave her a physical push out into the hallway; she fell right into Garfield's arms. Blushing crimson, she righted herself. "Sorry, Gar, I guess I got overbalanced or something-*" She turned back to her door, which had closed behind her, trying to hide her face.

It wouldn't open. Her security code wouldn't work, either. Nor would the override code. And don't bother trying to phase through the wall, either, said the voice in her mind, the door will open at midnight. Go on; give it a try. Things might be different now.

She turned back to him. No point trying to escape it, she guessed. But she was definitely gonna give the Entity an earful when she had a moment. Assuming it had ears. "Well, I suppose, since I'm out here anyway, maybe, maybe I will join you two, at least for a little bit. If you're sure it's okay. It is, isn't it? Alright. And thank you."

"Awesome!"

Back in their room, Terra was already in bed, in her sleep shirt. "Hey, Raven. Glad you could make it." There was genuine warmth in her voice.

Garfield had slipped into the bathroom to put on his sleep pants. "You're sure I'm not intruding?" Raven asked Terra, trying to hide her nervousness. She was still taking it all in. Evidently, while several weeks had elapsed for her, only a few minutes had gone by here. Intellectually, she knew how the process worked: time passed at different rates in some universes than in others. But she'd never actually encountered it before.

"'Course not. It was kinda both our idea. We're glad you could join us. Here." Terra got up and brought her a blanket, shoving the armchair around so she'd have a good view of the big-screen TV on the far wall. "Besides. If we eat all these chips and dip ourselves, we'll both be sick."

The movie started, and Raven, sitting in the recliner, promptly dropped off to sleep.

Lying next to her fiancé, Terra nudged him, motioning towards the softly-snoring Raven. "Look."

"I see. Isn't she cute?"

"Yeah. Poor thing. Whatever spell she was working on must've taken more out of her than she thought."

"Must have." He got up, and picked up the sleeping sorceress. "I'll take her back to her room." He carefully propped Raven's head against his arm so as not to obstruct her breathing, and started towards the door...

"No, Gar, don't. It's too far down that hallway. She'll wake up."

"She sure can't sleep in this chair; she'll be stiff as a board." They'd taken the couch out of the room long ago.

Terra thought, kneeling on the bed, chewing on her lip. Then, she scooted over towards the far side of the bed. "Here, Gar," she motioned towards the other side of the bed. "Put her there. There's plenty of room."

Garfield looked at his fiancé as if she'd gone crazy. "Oh, I know what I said," Terra said, to his look, hands on her hips. "But something's different about her. I don't know what. But I'm not getting the same vibe from her I did. Come on," she urged, smoothing down the sheet with her hands, "it'll be alright."

"Okay. If you're sure." He gently laid the sleeping girl on their bed, lovingly lowering her head to the pillow, smoothing her hair out from her face. Raven's face was completely relaxed, and she was smiling softly. Garfield looked at his friend with undisguised love. "Look at her. She looks ten years younger like this."

"She does, doesn't she? Well, come on to bed, lover. We need our sleep, too." He got into bed beside her, and wrapping his arms around her, prepared for sleep. This is actually kinda cozy, he thought, even as he stilled his mind, readying for sleep, My two favorite girls….Sorry, Starfire, I love you, too, but it's true.

About ten thirty, they fell asleep.

Around eleven thirty, a sleeping Raven turned over in bed, and threw her arm over the couple next to her. None of them woke up.

Shortly after midnight, Raven gradually awoke from a most pleasant dream. Where was she? This wasn't her bed. This wasn't her room.

And her arm was around somebody. Two somebodies, in fact. One of whom had a bare green back. "Oh, no…." Had she crawled into bed with them?

She ever so carefully removed her arm from around Garfield and Terra. This was terrible. No, this was beyond terrible…

"Raven?" Terra, on the other side of Garfield, rose up slightly, yawning. "You awake?"

"I…I, I, I," she stammered, her normal composure evaporating like water on a hot griddle. "I, I, I'm sorry, I-*"

Another yawn. "It's okay, Raven. I had Gar put you there. You were out like a light, and sleeping in that chair would've positively beat you up. I know; I've slept in chairs. But it's alright. Let's just don't wake Gar."

"You….had Garfield….put me here? It, it's okay? You're not….?"

"Sure, it's okay. Let's just both get some sleep, 'kay?" And she drifted off back to slumberland.

Lying on her back, Raven examined her own thoughts….and feelings. It really was okay. She wasn't feeling those damnable urges that had so wrecked her peace of mind just a few short weeks before….it was okay that she was with her two friends. In bed, yeah, but not that way. Just a, a sleepover. Kind of. It was okay that Garfield was to marry Terra. Yes, she still found him….desirable. Sort of. Attractive, in a way. In a friend sort of way. And he was her friend, as was Terra, and she was okay with it all.

You, she directed her thoughts at the Entity. What did you do to me?

Me?! What makes you think I did anything?

Don't give me that. I'm….calmer now. More in control. You did something to me. What?

Actually, Raven, I really didn't do anything to you. It was all you. Think. You went on a journey, visited an exotic land, made new friends-*

One of whom is now dead.

-So? And learned about yourself. You learned about your own feelings, and you learned to express those feelings with others, and learned, furthermore, that such expression neither killed you nor made you look weak. You learned how to reach out to others, to give comfort to those in pain. You learned how to care about others—and how to allow yourself to be cared about. In short, you grew up. Some. Oh, I might've accelerated the process a little, but really, it was nothing that wouldn't have happened on its own, regardless. You got more in touch with yourself, and discovered that wasn't such a bad thing after all.

You matured, Raven. There was no magic, no super-cosmic power at work. One of the greatest strengths human beings have is the ability to adapt, to change, to grow. To love. You exercised that power. You grew.

So….that was all it was?

Wasn't that enough?

Raven was silent in her own mind for a moment. Then, I'm not sure whether to thank you or cuss you out again.

You'll probably do both, given time. Maybe simultaneously. And now she sensed the Entity sobering, becoming deadly serious, its resolve unshakeable. But it was something you needed, Raven. Especially now. Especially with events unfolding the way they are.

The war's coming, Raven. My war. I'm coming. I'd much, much rather have you stand with me than against me, but, either way, for or against, stand you must.

Now go back to sleep, sweet Raven, and know that you are loved. Tomorrow really is another day.

The End.

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