Chapter 14
In the Azarath of the past...
The travel-smoke in Azar's private quarters cleared enough for Raven to confirm what she had already felt from the library. Rinzen was cradling the shaking form of the almost-goddess in his arms. The many layers of Azar's robes flowed over the hard tile floor as her attendant struggled to lift her. Black ink dripped from the book stand that towered over them. It was pooling in the floor and soaking her sleeve. It had spilled from an overturned bottle and flowed like a river across the large tome resting there, as if the book itself were wounded.
"Azar!" Raven cried out as she scrambled across the room. She helped Rinzen carry Azar over to one of the long padded benches in the study. The girl's chest felt heavy, partly from fear and worry, and partly from the shrieking of her foster-mother's pain. Raven perched on the narrow couch beside Azar and held one hand to the deeply wrinkled face. "You are ill, Teacher, let me-"
"No!" Azar growled. Rinzen grasped the girl's wrist and pulled it away from the lady's face. "Remember... remember what I told you, my child. Remember..."
Through blurry eyes, Raven glanced from her teacher's face to her robes, noticing how the normally brilliant red dress was drained of its brightness and how that magnificent mane of white hair was now so dry and brittle. Her mighty teacher was now so frail. She could feel the powerful presence that had always surrounded her slipping, slipping away. The ache in the woman's chest was radiating out to the rest of her body, and she knew that Azar's limbs felt as if they were filled with lead.
With a rattle in her voice, Azar weakly lifted her hands to her attendant and said, "Rinzen, my rings... the book … remember ... we must... please help me..."
Rinzen nodded, and gently held first the one hand, then the other, slipping off the golden orbs that rested on her gnarled fingers.
"No," Raven protested as Rinzen placed them on her own younger fingers, "these are yours, Azar, I-"
"No, they are yours now," Azar said, more sternly. "You must... accept them... wear them always... and remember... remember what I have taught you when look at them... and know... know my heart walks with you... Rinzen... go and fetch the others to the Eternal Flame, then help... help me into... my armor... there is... not much time... Arella... have Tynan fetch Arella... and remember... my instructions... the book...my book..."
Rinzen clasped her hand to his chest and nodded, seeming not to care about the ink from her sleeve smearing across his own gray robes. He gently passed Azar's hand to Raven's smaller ones, stood, and disappeared into a cloud of thick smoke.
"You cannot die, Azar, you-"
"I am mortal, I assure you, I can." She coughed weakly, then pulled Raven closer to her. "While we are alone, I must... must tell you... do not make their mistake, my dear, dear friend. I am no goddess, though they wish it were so. If they do what I think they will do... promise me, promise me..."
"P-Promise? Oh, Teacher...oh, no..."
"That you will not... not pray to me... that you will not worship... me. They will, once I have ascended, no matter what I say. No divine creature am I, but a created one... but do not tell them... they will not accept it, this promise is... is between us... promise me..."
"I do, I promise, anything, just do not leave me," Raven replied with a quiver in her voice, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "I am afraid ... of ... of being without you. Who will teach me? M-mother is afraid of me. Coman hates me. You have to stay..."
"No... no... little one, do not fear Coman or the Council," she whispered. "Learn from them what you can, listen to your Mother... learn how to protect... protect our mother world... and if you must leave the temple to protect it, then leave," she rasped. "Before they find us... my dear friend ... there is one more lesson I must teach you..."
Later...
The heavy door to her chamber thudded shut, closing out the worried faces of Arella and Coman and the rest of the Temple and leaving Raven alone, truly alone, at last. The golden orbs, the only jewelry she had ever been given to wear, were as heavy as great stones on her hands. For the first time since Rinzen had slipped them onto her fingers, she realized that while they were heavy, they were not too big for her. She would have guessed earlier that any rings that would fit her teacher would be loose on her small fingers, but they fit perfectly, as if they had shrunk of their own accord. She turned her palms over and saw the stains of the ink that had soaked Azar's sleeve across her gloves. She bit her lip and refused to let the tears flow. She had promised.
She slipped out of her cloak and shoes, curled up on her great bed and drew the curtains in a vain attempt to shut out the ocean of grief and pain that swirled around her. Some of it flowed from the throng of mourners still holding vigil around the Eternal Flame for their lost goddess, and some of it was her own. She stroked one of the rings with the tip of her finger, recalling all the times she had watched them glittering on the hands of the one who had guided her for so long. They made her think of the armor that no longer stood silent in the Hall of the Gray Eagles; it was now encased in the tomb of her foster-mother. She mulled over how with her last words Azar had asked Arella to take over her education; she was unsure of having her wish to be with her mother come true at last. She thought to herself, What will my life be like, now?
She remembered the last secret, the one that Azar had whispered to her before the others had come to carry Azar to the Eternal Flame. She cherished what Azar had given her: the number, the path that would lead her from Azarath's dimension to Earth's. The most important treasure in all the worlds, and Azar had given it to her. The image of Azar's death faded and was replaced by a vision of another world. She chanted that secret, like a mantra, curled her mind around the image of it, imagining the number glowing with the blues and greens and tans of that world that she had seen in the mag-a-zine, embracing it with all her being.
She would go there some day. She would see a real blue sky. She would walk in the sun and swim in the sea. She would keep it safe, like she had promised.
"Good night, Earth," she whispered.
"It's a matter of safety, Mr. Stone," the principal had said. "We can't afford more attacks like this."
"Think of it this way … she's not a really a minor … she's not required to attend school," her literature teacher had said. Her literature teacher, the former Marine, the one Victor had worked with to get her into the school, the only one until today who knew her real name, the one that had tried to help her, had been unable to keep her there.
Now sitting in the safety of the tower meeting room, Raven tried to replay the events of the last two hours in her head. They were surreal. The snippets of poetry, the chemistry equations and even those unnerving triangles she had danced with earlier in the day were fading in the face of the stranger that had come and taken it all away. That face frightened her in a way that the mirror-image she had met in Jericho's mind had not. Now her secret identity stood revealed to pretty much anybody that had watched the cell-phone video of the whole incident. It was on the internet before they had even left the courtyard. And after that, she found she was no longer welcome there. Death of a dream, indeed, she thought as she remembered the words of her attacker. And why did this happen?
"Because I dared disturb the universe," she muttered softly. "Normalcy. I should have known better."
"Oh, don't go all Prufrocky on me, Raven," Bart said. "Why do you need that stinky old school, anyway? I get out of going to mine as often as I can. If you wanna read some Eliot, we'll go see Cats or something!"
"Prufrocky?" Azar asked, eyebrow arched. "Language has changed so much!"
"It's from a poem somebody wrote, kind of a sad one," Bart replied. "I read a lot of poetry, and a whole lotta other things, in the city library a while ago. I'll show it to you sometime. Raven, I'll tell you everything I read there if it'll make you feel better. Who needs a school when I'm around? You'll like the book about the jellicle cats, I promise!"
"Later, Bart," Cyborg broke in. "Right now-"
"-we need to find out who attacked you," said Gar.
"- we need to plan an assault," said Azar.
"-we need to calm down!" said Cyborg.
"-we need to go camping!"
Everyone turned to Bart. He continued, "Well, we've got some thinking to do, right? And we need a quiet place to do it before the Superheroes Tonight crew bugs us about this. Again. And what if that other girl comes back here looking for you? The tower is the most obvious place in the world for you to be." He stroked his chin and closed a single eye, deep in thought. "Charlie and Karen keep asking you to come and visit, right? And she probably doesn't know about them, right? He's an empath, like you, right? Maybe he'll have some advice for ya, Raven."
Gar's hand tightened on her shoulder as Bart spoke. "You know, hun," he said finally, "it's not a half-bad idea. We could get outta here for a while. Think about what happened. About what we'll do next."
"And we could go too, y'know, for uh, moral support. Yeah. Sit by the fire and tell ghost stories. Yeah."
"The young Shogun offers sound counsel," Azar said as she nodded in agreement. "Fire is sacred to our people, and the right place for learning truth and for healing. I think you need a little of both, my lady. I believe I know what has happened today, but in order to understand you must know some of your own history. I can tell you my tale in the proper way, if you will hear it, Arjh-no-ree."
"I'd like to hear it, too," Bart said to Raven. "That is, if you don't mind."
"So would I," whispered Gar, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since her attacker's disappearance. His eyebrow had arched when he heard Sian use that strange title. He leaned in and brushed his cheek against hers. "It might help us figure out what happened today."
"I agree," Vic said. "Raven, we need to know as much as possible in case your attacker returns. She did seem to recognize Sian as an Azar, which makes our friend's stock go up with me just a little bit. And I'm pretty sure she will return. On top of that, I'd really like to know how you destroyed that light barrier, Sian."
"Yeah!" yelped Bart. "It was like aikido in a suit! That was seven shades of awesome!"
"I- I am so confused right now," Raven stammered as she looked from her beloved to Victor, avoiding the eyes of the Azar. "I thank you, Sian, for helping me. I do not know who that was. I do not know what to believe. And now... with no school... I do not know what to do." They were standing too close to her, hovering over her, their concern – and fear- weighed on her and made it difficult to breathe freely. Gar's mixture of sadness and anxiety were making her queasy, and some cacophony of feelings from Joseph's corner of the room made her chest tighten. Sian was a closed book now, and the only thing she could read from her was determination and conviction of her own words. The empath had not stopped shaking since they had returned to the tower, and she wondered if she was able to read others correctly at this point. She felt more lost now than she had when her first Teacher had left her. The Rings of Power that Azar had left her had disappeared long ago when her own original body died, and she was bereft of even that feeling of guidance.
Bart interrupted her reverie. "Well, for now you can learn how to roast some marshmallows! It's a valuable skill, you know."
Gar said, "I think you could use a break, I really do." He sighed. "I know I could."
In the background, one of the tower phones was ringing again. No one made a move to answer it. Azar nodded in the direction of the sound and said, "My lady, time is short."
Raven replied with a choked sigh, "Actually, I suppose I have time aplenty, now." But there was a slight hint of excitement behind all the fear and uncertainty as her thoughts chased one another. Could it be? Could it be that I am not the one who brought Trigon into this dimension? I am not the one that destroyed Koriand'r's homeworld? Could it be that I am not who I believed myself to be? That I am not... a demon? She studied the young stranger across the room from her. A few hours ago, she had sensed that her attacker believed her own words. She sensed the same belief in her rescuer now. Somewhere in between must be the truth. So many questions burned within her as she turned her gaze to the young man sitting next to her and wondered how he would take the answers. And if that is so, what will my life be like, now?
"You want to help her, don't you?" Blood's almost-voice curled around in Jericho's mind. "So do I … my wife should not suffer like an ordinary mortal. But I'm not sure why she seems so devastated. She doesn't belong there with those children, anyway."
Jericho found himself replying to the voice in spite of himself. "Of course I want to help her. But I can't even touch her. Not with Gar around."
"Oh, but you can," the hidden voice purred. "You can do things for her that he can't. Just will her to be calm. Tell her to go, and to bring us along, so we can get out of this accursed tower and discover who attacked my wife. And who stole my book. Honestly, I suspect that they are one and the same. Silently tell her that, and then watch."
Jericho's jaw tensed, and he hoped Raven could not sense his internal dialog and that no one else could see his silent struggle. For now, though, her current turmoil seemed to be shutting everything else out. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, tell she didn't need that school, that she had everything she needed right here. But the thought of treating someone else like a marionette made him ill.
"You just want to make her feel better. That is now within your power," Sebastian coaxed, the silent inner voice sliding effortlessly through his brain. "What harm is there in that?"
A veil of serenity that usually only appeared after hours of meditation fell over Raven. She did not know its source, but she was thankful for it. She took a few deep, slow breaths. She could almost hear the voice of Thunder Horse whispering to her soul that this was a path she should follow.
She lifted her face to meet Sian's eyes for the first time. She felt ready. "All right. I will call my cousin."
Slade's communicator crackled to life. "Deathstroke, old buddy, old pal, ready for some more intel?"
Slade looked up from the imposter Book of Blood he was examining. "Listening in on the tower again, Noah?"
"Oh, hell no, better than that," the Calculator replied with a snort. "Didn't you catch Bill Betterman tonight?"
"You know I don't have time for that garbage," Slade growled.
"Ouch, that hurts, amigo, considering I sell them some of their best stories. One of our favorite capes was the guest star of a little clip they showed tonight. Sending you a link now. I suggest you take a look."
Slade watched the video with ever-growing curiosity. The now-familiar butterfly that had been traveling with him flitted about behind his head in a nervous fashion. It seemed as shocked as he was to see the old face of Raven fighting the new one.
"Pret-ty freak-y, wouldn't you say?" came Noah's voice again. "It's like Kirk and Evil Kirk, but I can't tell which is which, if you take my meaning? It's probably gone viral at this point. I don't think Betterman made this up, either. Even if he didn't get it from me."
Slade stroked his beard as the butterfly landed on his shoulder. "Any clues as to where this other girl came from?" he asked.
"Well, I did some facial recognition searches," the Calculator replied. "Don't worry, I just added the cost to your tab. I did find her in a few places, snatching clothes and food here and there, and guess what?"
"Black smoke?"
"In most of the clips. So that's an even better match. I followed the timestamps backwards, and the earliest one was from a convenience store not far from a national park. That's funny, one of my former customers used to keep a weapons cache there. Twilight Canyon. Interesting. Hey, Wilson, you know what I've been thinking?"
"You're thinking that if Raven didn't take the Book of Blood from Manhattan College, then maybe this other girl did," Slade said. The butterfly opened and closed its wings slowly on his shoulder, as if it were pondering something along with him. "She has the same abilities and if she's connected to Raven or Blood at all, maybe the same motivation."
"Exactly," Noah responded. "Some of the later shots of her were all the way over near the Big Apple and Bean Town, like she was hunting for something."
"Massachusetts? Buzzard's Bay, I presume? Blood's east coast cathedral used to be there."
"Used to be is the operative phrase there. But at the college, they only had a security camera on the outer door and not in the room where the book was. So there was no reason for her to appear on their security tapes. Guess they didn't think too many people would be coming after it." He paused a moment, and then he muttered softly, "Damn, that's a skill I'd love to have."
Wouldn't we all? Slade thought.
"Hell," Noah continued, "she might be the real Raven and the one at the tower might be an imposter, for all we know."
"Who is the other young lady? The one in the armor?"
"She's not a member of the team as far as I know... The weird thing is, I did the same search on her, and her earliest vid sighting comes from about the same area as the other gal. Maybe they're connected. Nightwing didn't even seem to know her when I listened in last time, and he knows every cape that's out there. But whoever she is, I'd love to get my hands on that tech. Oh, and if you find her?"
"Yes, Noah?"
"Ask her if she wants a job."
Author's Notes:
- Raven's promise to Azar: In the Tales of the New Teen Titans #2, Raven's origin story, there was a couple of panels that were confusing to me, so I wanted to write something to make them make sense. Arella commented privately to Coman that Raven usually skipped prayers and always ran over to meditate. Raven mentions in some little yellow boxes that she could not enlighten her and break her word to Azar. I never really understood what that promise really was, as it must have happened off-panel. So I decided to fill in that little gap.
- Azar's Armor: In the same comic, when Azar is dying, she is wearing armor. It is only for a few panels, but it seemed rather bizarre to me that a pacificst goddess would be wearing armor. (Remember Raven wondered the same thing in the last chapter.) The new Azar here is also wearing armor of a different sort. I do intend to explain that in Sian's story. But those panels really begged for some filling in of the gaps, as it was another Azarathian mystery.
- the Book of Azar: in one of the panels in the same comic, in the sequence where Azar is training Raven, there is a picture of her standing over Raven, helping her read a very large book. That is where my idea for the Book of Azar came from (which will also be part of Sian's story). Also, the Book of Azar was mentioned in the animated series at one point. I REALLY don't want to cross over with the animated world. I enjoyed that series, but I want to keep them separated for the most part in the Hunterverse. However, that does not mean that a few of the ideas (and maybe villains at some point in the future) won't cross over. Some day, Matt Logan should go up against Control Freak, my favorite villain of the animated series. That would be an awesome story, if I ever get the time to write it.