Hello FanFiction. Been a while, hasn't it? Yeah... I understand that long hiatus' are no fun for anyone. And I can't really give any excuses, only offer apologies. Why? Because I seriously don't have any excuses to give beyond: College is hard. Don't let anyone tell you different. Between moving half-way across the country, having to get accustomed to the new digs, trying to make new friends in a new town... Anyways, I'll try and update when possible - no promises this time - and will simply assure you that this story isn't dead. It's just going to have an irregular update schedule that's prone to the whims of fate and stuff. So... yeah. I'm not gonna do a re-cap, so I suggest you faithful readers read the last few chapters to jog your memories.
Before I forget, Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Man, it's good to remember I hate writing disclaimers...
Anywho, enjoy the chapter, I hope you like it. Don't for get to Read & Review. Seriously, the reviews are helpful. It may seem sappy and/or cliche, but it's true, they help out a lot. No one wants to write something that no one will read. Trust me, I've been there, and it hurts. It hurts a lot. So please, Read & Review.
The explosion rocked the Tower, blasting out the massive windows on it's side, glass and steel blasting apart, shrapnel in the sudden burst of white hot flames. The crimson flicks of the fire blazed out the side of the Tower, and from the blast fell a shadow.
The shadow plummeted through the air, trailing the flame of it's burning cloak of darkness, death imminent below. The shadow glanced at the ground, gritting its teeth as he held onto the un-singed white book in it's hands as it fell. The shadow knew it could not survive the impact of such a fall. It had to do something.
Shadows swirled, closing into a mote of darkness, and vanished, appearing closer to the ground upon the carved stone.
"What the-?" Cyborg said as far above him, his home exploded. Shielding his eyes from the fires of the flame amidst the rain and storm, the robotic teen saw his home blaze, his first thoughts thinking to an argument getting out of hand and rage at those who would disturb the solemnity of the night's occasion.
"Cy! Look!" the green changeling cried, pointing at the swirling darkness above the memorial stone to their lost friend. The expanding shadows formed a humanoid shape, crouched upon the hewn rock, viscous drops falling from it's form. Blood spilt upon Starfire's memorial. The figure looked up at the two heroes before it. A pale face, a flash of burning eyes, the swirl of darkness about it's substance… The teens recognized the figure immediately. Their hated foe, the one who had taken those close to their hearts. The one whose image they had stared at in cold rage after many a futile night of searching. And his blood would not be enough payment for their loss.
"RAAAAAGH!" Cyborg roared, arm shifting from a chrome plated hand as the fingers split from the fingers, a massive barrel growing from his hand as the robotic limb morphed about the cannon. The blast of energy lit up the rainy night, and in that flash of light, as thunder pealed over head, the villain's visage was clear.
He was shocked. Eyes wide, burning scarlet as the energy beam came towards him. There was futility somewhere in there, some sense of fatigue, or weariness. But there was also a glimmer of mischief, of vile trickery. He knew something they didn't. He had already won. He was laughing, though no sound escaped his lips, but the knavish rogue was smiling as the blood dripped from the wounds all about his body.
One more scar wouldn't make much more of a difference.
The blast hit him full on, the line of energy blasting the villain back as the scrawny teen took on the brunt of the blast in it's entirety. With not but a whoof and the scream of Cyborg's energy cannon, the shadowy figure was carried by the blast out over the water, far from the island's edge, where at last the beam faltered, and the teen fell into the cold abyss.
Both heroes heard the splash. Silence fell afterward, but for the blaze of the fires from the explosion, and the rumble of the storm. Kyd Wykkyd never resurfaced.
The sounds of the night howled all about the girl in the massive treehouse nestled in the arboreal giants of the expansive jungle-like nightmare.
"Where am I" she wondered aloud, this dark haired girl, struggling to move. It was strange how tired she felt. It was as if she had rested for so long, yet her body felt so exhausted. So weak, she could barely turn her head.
Blinking her eyes, she asked the question once more, hoping for someone to be near, to hear her call. No one answered. Fear began to creep up on her. But she wouldn't show it. She had too much control for that. Instead, she tried to breath will back into her body.
Slowly, but surely, whatever hold was over her form receded in her mind, and with a squirm of concentration, her toe twitched inside it's boot. Then a few fingers. Fingers began to move about till the stiffness began to wear away, and in a manner of minutes, the girl was able to sit up - albeit painfully.
Face screwed up in pain as she sat up, the purple haired teen blinked away the pain. As it abated, she blinked, and took a few deep breaths, trying to figure out where she was. There was all this noise, like she was outside in some forsaken wilderness with howling and cackling and snarling and chittering. But the noise was also dulled, not so very poignant. She was indoors she realized as she glanced about.
She took the time to better familiarize herself with her new environment, try to make sense of it - something being a Titan had taught her. There wasn't much she could determine for sure, for much of what she could see and hear only brought up more questions.
She was on what appeared to be a couch, though it appeared not to be made on Earth. The way the woodwork of the frame had been carved, without apparent tool-work, made it seem as if the design had apparently grown with the wood. The texture was some combination of furred leather which appeared indigo, yet had some pale blue swashes about it. The fact that the edges behind the couch had been curved, and the art designs upon the couch's wood frame seemed to be of archaic runes which even Raven had trouble placing and understanding. Harmless, she figured. They had no rhyme nor reason to them, and appeared to have no power in them.
Still, the room was rather more bizarre. A living room from some manner of strange taste, blending eclectic Earthly manners of psychedelic patterns with a medieval motif, through rather hieroglyphic randomness, accompanied by mysticism of various sorts, and an overall sense of supernatural strangeness. What manner of place this was, Raven could not know. Instead, the young sorceress found herself wondering what that smell was, finding this idle brume wafting about, a light vapor that breathed of lilacs. Or posies. Or some mixture of them.
Blinking past the strange environment, Raven struggled to rise from the couch, supporting herself on the armrest as she groaned on her feet. How long had she been unconscious? Where was she? Where had that villain taken her?
Thoughts of the villain brought up deep rage in her being, quelled by her self control, but set her into a coldness, as she thought dark thoughts about the young thief who had knocked her out. Her memory was fuzzy, she couldn't remember how she had been knocked unconscious, just that she had finally beaten the villain who had taken her dear friend from them. Then… she couldn't rightly remember. But she knew that villain had something to do with her current predicament. She just couldn't figure out what was going on. So she stewed on these thoughts of darkness and ill towards the thief that she almost missed the sounds of movement from an archway closed off by hanging beads shaped like tantric demons. She was even more taken aback by the voice.
"Friend Raven!" it cried with glee.
Thunder flashed as Aqualad came up to the water's edge, waiting out of the bay shaking his head.
"Can't find him." the atlantean boy declared, to the dismay of the massive group of Titans gathered.
"I blasted him out over the water… the current could have pulled him…" Cyborg grasped at straws.
"I looked. Swam as fast and as far as I could. Looked everywhere. His body's gone. I have some of the underwater locals on the look out, but…" Aqualad grimaced, his eyes closed furiously. Slowly, he brought something dark up, clenched tightly in a fist.
"All we found was this."
In the Atlantean's hands was clenched the frayed, tattered remains of a black cape.
It wouldn't be me without a cliffhanger, would it? Ah, it's good to write those again.
Anywho, please Read and Review. Favorite the story if you haven't already, but make sure to review. Constructive criticism is always good!
Ready & Review! (seriously starting to sound like a broken record here).