A/N: I specifically waited four days to post this. Not to revise, although I did do that a few times, but so that it would be posted on the 10th. Why? Well, I realized last week that I started this story exactly one year ago, on 10/10/13. Which makes me extremely happy that I didn't check that date a day or two too late. But also kind of depressed—because in an entire year, I've only made it through twenty chapters (And I have no excuses for that). So, happy 1-year anniversary, guys! And so much thanks for sticking with it, even despite my awful writing when I just started out…and my possibly-still-semi-bad writing now that I'm slowly improving.
Now, let's just hope it doesn't take me another year to finish it.
So, on a side note, I did get around to redoing chapter one after I realized that only about 1/2 to 1/3 of the people continued onto the second chapter after reading / opening the first. I changed it pretty drastically, such that instead of the Professor being insane and wanting the titans to come (which doesn't make much sense considering the subplot of him finding his daughter) I made it so Raven entered the A:tla world due to more of an accident. I'll have to revise some of the other chapters to take out any references to them fighting now, but I'll get around to that eventually.
Oh, and this chapter, along with the remaining ones, will be almost exclusively conversations and whatnot. I'm thinking that I'm done with writing action scenes for this. That being said, there were ways in which I could have, and really wanted to, make Robin come out as much more of an ass than he is in this story. However, I think that he genuinely mean well (which leads to one of my favorite lines in the story so far). Oh, and a lot of people hate on Robin, and write him as a bad / insensitive person etc. I thought that would be the easier way out of this, and heck, who would ever want to read about that? On another side note, there were also alternate endings for this story that I had relatively well thought out. One of the originals involves Holly dying, and the epilogue starting with Raven making a deal with Trigon to bring her back. (Okay, so I may have had only half of that ending thought out.)
So, now that you've scrolled through my A/N, and maybe saw the bolded words only, enjoy!
.
*0o
.
"Raven? Raven, we need to talk." Robin said as he saw the other woman sitting in the chair outside of the medical bay. It was just over an hour since Robin had returned, and he had used the time to take a short rest and collect his thoughts for the discussion he knew was to come.
"It can wait." She dismissed him, her attention on one of the textbooks that Cyborg lent her.
"Raven, what happened back there—…Excuse me?" Robin started talking before he took in what she had said, not expecting to be turned away
"I said we could have this conversation later." Raven looked up from the textbook. "Now is hardly the time."
"I know you've been through a lot, but this is important. Now we have to discuss what you did back there, what you did to those soldiers—it was unacceptable."
Raven took a mental note of the page number she was on and gently closed the thick book. "Go on." Does he have any decency? Who the hell would want to talk about this now? There's no avoiding it, I guess…
"I want you to tell me everything that happened before we rescued you."
Rescue? Does he think so highly of himself the he believes he was rescuing me? "I seem to recall that people were dying. Then I attempted to stop it, only to fail when you stuck a few needles into me—which I do not appreciate, by the way."
"Raven, I'd like to believe that you were helping people, but…but that wasn't you when we found you. The person you are right now I respect as a friend and a teammate—not the thing that took you over back there on the battlefield." Robin leaned against the opposite wall in the narrow hallway.
"That thing, as you call it, was me, albeit a different form of myself. And you'll have to accept that who I am now and what I was then are one in the same." She stated, opening the book back up and looking at it, if only to avoid eye contact with Robin. "I've accepted that as a fact when I found a common ground with my other half."
"Raven, how could you just lay down and accept that? The entire time I've known you, you worked hard to become your own person. You can't just throw all of that away!"
"I've tried to separate my human and demonic halves, and have failed miserably. I didn't separate them, I suppressed them both. I sacrificed any emotions that I could have felt through my human side for safety in knowing that my other half was equally suppressed. And, quite frankly, being apathetic for my entire life seems like a poor tradeoff for a trace amount of safety. Thus, I refuse to continue to do that; at least to the extent that I previously was."
"Trace amount? Raven, if your "other half" gets out of control, the consequences are very serious."
"Except I will not. I've found balance with it, and unless something unthinkable happens, it cannot harm anyone.
"And what that it does happen? It's too much of a risk, Raven."
"If that happens," if I lose Holly, "then I imagine that I would be at more of a risk to myself than others."
"No." Robin shook his head. "Raven, you have to fight it. Whatever this "balance" you found is, it can't be real. You've never found balance with you demon before, what makes you think it would want to now?" Robin pressed his hand to his forehead, mulling over the situation at hand. "What could make you think that a demon would ever want to find peace with a human? It makes no sense."
"It cannot be real?" She restated what he said, venom seeping through in her voice. "To say that is to insult not only my intelligence, but my emotions as well. I'll take into consideration that you are ignorant on the subject, but I advise against saying something foolish like that again. Now is there anything else, or are you leaving?" Not real? I swear, if he insults me, if he insults us, again, then he will be truly sorry.
"Alright, let's take a few liberties and say that you found balance with it, and that somehow it's genuine. That still doesn't justify what you did to those soldiers."
"I wasn't under the impression that I had to justify my actions to you."
"Raven, ever since I had that…fiasco…with Slade, and you helped me by forming that mental link—heck, ever since we formed this team, I've considered you like a sister to me. I just want to help you."
"You're under the impression that I need help. You are wrong. And from my understanding of this, you're trying to blame my demon for my actions rather than accepting that it was me, all of me, both halves of me, that killed those soldiers. It's a poor idea to assume such things."
"If it was you that did that to them, then you were conscious, in control, during it—weren't you, Raven?" Can't he stop using my name in every other sentence? It isn't necessary, and he's saying it like it's derogatory…
"Conscious? Only until I was sedated by you." She narrowed her eyes at him. "In control? Less than you think."
"You knew what you were doing, that you were killing them, and you did it anyway."
She gave a slight nod. Does he want a medal or something?
"I'm sorry, then, but the Raven I know must be still in that other world."
Robin stood back up and started walking away, only to turn around just before he rounded the corner.
"One last question, did you enjoy it when you were killing those men?"
Part of me did.
Raven didn't give him an answer, and stared at him until he turned around and left.
Raven flung her head back and released a long sigh. Well, that could have gone better. A felt a sinking feeling in her chest as she realized that their discussion was not yet over, and would surely be continued once he had solidified his argument further.
.
*0o
.
"Hey, Raven, you can come on in now." Cyborg poked his head out of the door to the Medical Bay right after it slid open, just over an hour after Robin left. "She's awake. Doc was goin' to put her under for a day to keep an eye on her, but he didn't think was completely necessary—as long as she don't walk on it for a few days."
Raven didn't bother bookmarking her page in the maintenance manuals from Cyborg's old prosthetics before dropping them to the floor and wedging her way past Cyborg and into the white-walled operating room. In a single, swift, and fluid motion, Raven went from standing at the doorway to embracing the injured Warrior as tightly as she could without putting pressure on the brace that immobilized her shoulder.
"Hey now, pretty, I know it's been like three hours, but I'm not sure I can take it if you're going to be this clingy." Came the strained response from Holly as Cyborg and the two Doctors watched in amusement. "Try to loosen up a bit too, will ya'?"
"Shut up." Came the muffled response from Raven—who had her face buried in the small crevice at the base of Holly's neck and shoulder. She stayed there for as long as she could, taking in the scents of the sweat and the dried splatters of other people's blood on the other woman's clothes, all with the underlying scent of hospital-grade disinfectant that filled the entire room.
Holly tried, unsuccessfully, to push her off with one arm after several minutes of Raven squeezing her tightly. Only after Cyborg stepped over and pried Raven off the woman did the sorceress step away and look down at the floor, sheepish and bashful, embarrassed to show such emotions in front of her teammate and the two doctors.
.
*0o
.
Every room in the tower was doused in red light as the klaxon sounded, signaling yet another disturbance in the city.
"C'mon, she's in good hands." Cyborg said to Raven as he gently ushered out of the room. Raven formed a portal on the hallway wall and stepped through it, leaving it open long enough for Cyborg to pass through it to and enter into the tower's common room.
"Hey, you didn't use your mantra for that." Cyborg noted as the two waited for a minute for the others to arrive.
Raven gave a shrug in response. Maybe I'll tell him later about how Rage has amplified my powers…it'll have to come out eventually. And I'd rather tell him myself than let him find out through Robin.
Within a few seconds, Beast Boy came up on the elevator. Of course he would use the elevator. And a minute later, Robin came in, with Starfire trailing closely behind him. Robin made his way over to the council and shut off the alarm, before getting on the intercom and tell the remaining Honorary Titans that they would handle it.
Robin hung up the intercom and turned around to face the team.
"Raven." There he goes with that damned tone, I swear if he keeps doing that… "Why don't you sit this out and take the time to get settled back in? We can handle this one just fine."
Raven grunted out an unintelligible word or two and phased through the floor, closing her eyes as she did so.
An exchange of concerned looks between Cyborg and Starfire later and the team was off, racing to the scene of the ongoing crime.
.
*0o
.
Cyborg knocked four times on the Med Bay's sliding door before letting himself in. His chest plate and a piece of armor that made up his forearm was caved inward, damaged from the unexpectedly intense battle that he just arrived back from. He was greeted to the sight of Raven still leaning against the wall, watching and scrutinizing the doctor's every move as one went over maintenance with Holly and the other pushed and pulled on it, and occasionally adjusted it accordingly. Ah, I forgot just how much these guys are engineers as they are doctors…Cyborg reminisced as he watched the scene for a brief second.
"A fight shouldn't have taken that long. And where are the others? I don't sense them in the tower." Raven said in her characteristic monotone, staying focused on the doctors and not looking at Cyborg.
"Robin is still filling out paperwork. The police aren't happy with how much damage was done to the street this time. Beast Boy took off somewhere, he seemed pretty distracted the entire time, and I'm pretty sure Starfire went to talk to him."
"Oh." Raven said as Cyborg stepped past her and opened up a cabinet on the far wall. He pulled out a bulky, tissue-box sized device, which was made of his signature circuitry. He latched it onto his undamaged arm and stood there for a full minute—letting the box take its readings as he, too, watched the two doctors' fuss over their patient.
"Aww man, I just replaced that pump!" Cyborg groaned as he saw the reading show up on the screen of the device, which spit out the damage received by each system and subsequent part that made up the robotic man. "Yo, Raven. I'll need your help to replace this, if you aren't done holding up that wall." He said in a light tone, one that could never be taken as harsh or criticizing by anyone.
Raven cracked a smile, which earned nothing more than a raised eyebrow from Cyborg. The sorceress looked back at Holly, who ushered for Raven to go with her teammate, before stepping out of the room and waiting for Cyborg to collect a few more things from the cabinets and join her.
.
*0o
.
"I thought you needed help repairing your arm." Raven said and Cyborg stepped into the elevator and pushed the roof button.
"I do, but I've got everything I need right here." He gave a small toolbox he was holding a slight shake. "Besides, fresh air is good for the body, even if it is half machine."
Raven said nothing and waited for the elevator to stop rising. The two stepped out a few seconds later and chose a shaded area to take a seat on the edge of the tower. Cyborg went right to work, removing his damaged plates and a few of his good ones, in order to get access to the internally damaged areas.
"Looks like it was a bad fight, who was it this time?"
"Mm, Dr. Light, haven't seen him in a while so he must have been upgrading his suit. It wasn't a good fight, I'll tell you that." He said, picking up a tiny screw driver and loosening some of the wires that were sizzling hot.
"Why didn't you call me? It didn't have to a bad fight. Didn't have be a fight at all…"
"That's the thing. Robin said something about you and your powers. I didn't really catch it all, I mean, we were getting shot at when he said it. Either way, he said he was going to discuss it with us tonight. I wanted your side first, so I looped you into helping me. He does have a habit of only giving half of a story, you know."
"Thank you, it's much appreciated. Although, I would rather not discuss it at this time." Raven said as she got up, only to be stopped by Cyborg holding her wrist.
"Girl, you have nowhere else to be right now. That girl down there is in good hands, and you're only hurting yourself by watching it all. Ain't nothin' that can go wrong now with her now—so sit back down." Raven gave a frown but returned to her spot on the ledge anyway. "So if you don't want to talk about that, then tell me about her. You're worried sick over her, so how do you know each other?"
"She found me when I first arrived, I was unconscious on a road somewhere. She took me to a shelter and watched over me until I woke up—and I traveled with her for a while, had nobody else to trust out there, so I saw no harm in it."
"Right, by the way, I never did catch her name."
"It's Holly."
"So you've been with this person for the entire time that you were in that world? You two do seem…close." The last word the Cyborg said lingered for a few moments.
"That's one way of saying it."
"Right." He said, and went back to replacing the fried wires in his forearm—allowing a long silence to follow.
Cyborg let out a groan, breaking the silence between them.
"Why am I so out of the loop in all of this?" Cyborg complained, a rare thing for him to do.
Raven just looked at him with a raised eyebrow, expecting an explanation.
"Nobody will tell me anything! Robin wanted me to stay back and "protect the machine", which maybe that was the logical choice, but it sure didn't seem like it. Because of that, I don't know a thing that happened in that world. And Robins been acting weird since he came back, something did happen and nobody will tell me. Not to mention Beast Boy is all depressed for some reason." He shook head with another sigh.
"I can't speak for Beast Boy," Or I'd rather not, at least, "but swear to me that you won't look at us, Holly or myself, differently, and I'll tell you what happened in the other dimension."
"I would like that very much, and of course I won't, you're my friend."
I might not be after this. "Fair enough. In the other dimension, I traveled with Holly—as you already know."
"Yep."
"Well, I traveled with her until she got back to her home, a small island. And I kind of settled in with them."
"Them?"
"Her and a group of Warriors that she was a part of. Not very different form ourselves, actually. Except they were fighting a war, not criminals."
Cyborg nodded, letting her continue.
"I made a home there with them, a good one at that. Although that, right now, is unimportant. Point being, when Robin and the others arrived, they stepped into the middle of a battle. The Fire—err, one of the countries in that world was invading the island. Every farmer and villager on that bit of land was fighting for their lives when Robin showed up. At first, we—they, were winning. Or so it seemed. When you guys arrived the formation the soldiers had was starting to collapse. If it was overrun, there would be no escaping from the enemy." Raven took a deep breath. "To protect those who I had come to consider my family, Rage took over, and attacked the other army. Robin…happened to see the worst of it."
"Is that why he didn't let you fight today?"
"I believe so, he seems to think that Rage has taken complete control of me, and not accepted that I have found balance with her."
"Balance?" He said, with a curious tone laced with well-grounded caution.
"I'd like to elaborate, but it may not be wisest thing for me to do at this time. I assure you, though, that I am perfectly stable so long as nobody does something stupid."
"Okay, I'll take your word for it. So you're stable, and you do seem to be right now, they why wouldn't Robin let us call you for help during the fight with Dr. Light? Star and I tried a few times, but he stopped us. Didn't really say why, though."
"That…may have something to do with how I was 'protecting' those people when Robin arrived."
Cyborg raised his only eyebrow, silently urging Raven to continue.
"You see, deep down, I think that Robin's a good person with good intentions. The issue lies in the fact that deep down, I'm not. And I think he realizes that. I protected my new friends by releasing Rage at their enemy, fully aware of what Rage was capable of. Perhaps I could have protected them without resorting to that—at least I'd like to think so. In truth, I took the easy way out. I let out Rage because I wanted it to end quickly, not one did I consider the lives of the enemy soldiers."
"Raven, what matters is that your friends are alive because of you—"
"No, if they even are still alive right now, it's because of Slade. Ironic, isn't it? And still, I didn't make a deal with Rage to help those people; I turned to her because I couldn't bear the thought of losing them. And to preserve their lives, I resorted to taking the lives of others."
"People were trying to kill your friends. Trying to kill you, too. I'd bet that nobody would think you were a bad person for protecting your friends—motivations aside."
"Perhaps, yes, but I didn't just kill the soldiers." Raven hung her head and looked away from her robotic friend. "I made them suffer. I hated them for trying to harm her. I knew that they were only doing what they thought was right, but I played with them before killing them—I made them go through pain just to satisfy myself. I know what Robin's been thinking—that doing that was unforgivable. And honestly, I agree with him."
"Hey, look at me." Cyborg said with a newfound sternness, but Raven didn't comply. "C'mon, girl. Look at me." He demanded once more, and Raven glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Nuh-uh, that won't do." He shook his head and shifted himself so he was facing Raven, then pulled at Raven until she was facing him.
"This isn't necessary. Not to mention uncomfortable."
"Maybe, maybe not. But in all seriousness, we've all had tough calls to make before. Sometimes they go well, and pay off. Other times they don't, but it doesn't matter. Now I may not be the most qualified person for advice like this, or for most advice, actually, but you'll have to learn to live with what you did. So you killed them. So you played with them. Yeah, that's bad and all, and it probably was excessive—but the point is that you did something. If you didn't, and they killed your friends, then you would've had to live with knowing that you did nothing. Not to mention that we've devoted years to saving people. How many lives have we saved? I'm not sayin' that can justify anything, but you aren't a bad person. And anybody who thinks that just doesn't have their head on straight."
"You've got it wrong again. I didn't join the Titans to help save people. I thought that maybe I could do a little good in this world before I destroyed it, something along the lines of atoning for my sins."
"And I joined this team because I didn't fit in with anybody that I once knew. Thought that maybe I found a bunch of people who liked me for just being me. Does that mean that everybody I've helped before is meaningless?"
"Of course not, and while I see your point, it brings up another concern of mine."
"Alright, I'm listening."
"Being that Trigon is no longer a threat to this world, my original reasoning for joining this team is no longer valid."
"You thinking about leaving?"
"It is an option I must consider, especially concerning the…events, of the past months."
"So you and Holly are a couple, then?"
Raven tensed up and jerked her head to the side, away from Cyborg. Behind them, a small ladder that was bolted the side of the elevator shaft was encased in dark energy and crumpled into the size of a volleyball. It stayed there, clinging onto the wall by a single bolt.
"That obvious?"
"Well, she did day "hey, pretty" when she first saw you after the operation. That, and that you would hardly leave her side once she woke up."
"Does Robin know?"
"Doubt it, he locked himself up in his room for most of the time before Dr. Light showed up."
"Good. I trust you not to say a word to him about it." She said with a glare.
"No worries 'bout that." He shot a broad smile at her, and the glare soon faded. "Hey, you know that with her foot being bionic now, it'd be a real bad idea for her to go back home with it. Bein' that their tech isn't so great and all. If it needs to be fixed, and it will, there's only so much you can do by yourself." He stated, turning serious again.
"Yes, I've considered that already. And while it wouldn't be easy for her to leave her teammates, she could lead a better, perhaps normal, life here. And I think she knows that."
"Hmm, things that bad in that world?"
"I couldn't say for certain: I was in a single area most of the time. But surely she got the worst of what it could offer." Raven took a minute to collect her thoughts. "Which comes to another point: Melvin, Timmy, and Teether. I hate it how they're being forced into the role of a superhero so early on. They're being deprived of a childhood, and I can't stand by and watch it happen. You can understand that, right? You are one of the few of us that did experience a normal life before we formed a team."
"Sure I can understand what you mean, and why too. But before you went to that world, you seemed to be okay with their training. Why bring it up now?"
"I wasn't okay with it, but at the time I thought that I couldn't do anything to stop it. My discomfort with it was only fortified when I met Rena. She's a kid back on Kyoshi that lost her father a little more than a month ago, and her mother long before I came."
"Must be rough for her."
"You'd think. But Holly was also a longtime family friend of hers, so we ended up taking her in. The thing is, she has this spirit about her that I envy—it's like she keeps finding joy in every little thing she finds that she doesn't understand. Her appetite for knowledge is voracious, to say the least. At first I thought she was in denial after her only remaining parent died, but I think now that she just loved life too much to let it get in her way. It was like watching what could have been my own, normal, childhood being lived out by another person."
"So what are you thinking? About Melvin and the kids, I mean."
"Well, I was thinking that should I quit the team, I could see about adopting them. I'd have to talk it over with Holly first, assuming that she does stay in this world. We would have to figure something out with Rena too; bringing her here would be the best option, being that Holly is the closest thing to a family she has left. That, and I think that she would love the education available here. If I leave the team on good terms, I don't think I should have an issue getting the mayor to fast-track the adoption process."
"You've had a lot of time to think this over, haven't you?" He inquired, looking over the sunset that painted the rooftop in hues of red and yellow.
"There's been more than a few nights were I go without sleep. Thinking about it tended to pass the hours more quickly."
"Nah." Another person said from behind them. The two Titans looked over their shoulders to see Holly, leaning heavily on her scabbarded katana, standing there with a lopsided grin and half her torso in a large brace that kept her from aggravating her shoulder injury. "I think it was pretty face that passed the nights."
"Funny." Raven retorted. "How'd you even get up here?"
"The stairs, how else?" Holly said as she lowered herself down to a sitting position.
"You dunce." Raven rolled her eyes and looked back over the bay. "Didn't the doctors tell you to keep off of your foot for a while?"
"Yeah, I'm off it now, aren't I? But really, how else would I have gotten up here?"
"We have an elevator right next to the stairwell." Cyborg answered, jabbing a finger in the general direction of the elevator.
"Oh, that box with the magic doors?"
"Don't bother, Cy, I've tried to explain it to her before." Raven turned to her inamorata. "How much of our conversation did you hear, by the way?"
"Well, I don't think Rena would mind a younger sister and a few brothers. To say the least."
"Not to intrude," Cyborg started, "but Raven, are you having trouble sleeping?
"No, I'm sleeping fine. Why does it matter?"
"Just worried, that's all. There's more than a few things that can cause sleeping issues. And you said before that you spent a lot of nights awake..."
"Nah," Holly spoke up from where she was sitting behind the two titans, "she meant that she…oh, umm, Raven, does he know…?"
"Yeah, he knows we're together."
"Oh, good. As I was saying, she spent most of those nights awake because I have…issues…with sleeping. She, uh, well, it helps when she stays up with me sometimes."
"I see." Cyborg said, his voice distant. "Regardless, how's your shoulder holding up?" He drew his thoughts back to the conversation at hand.
"Not bad so far." She said, thankful to have the subject changed. "By the way, who bandaged it? Neither of the Doctors answered me when I asked 'em."
"I did, actually. Did it while they were preparing for the surgery." He said with a glimmer of pride shining through in his voice.
"Oh, then you saw…" Holly glanced at Raven.
"I saw a few scars, if that's what you mean."
"Yeah. It'd be appreciated if you kept quiet about those." Holly said; it was now her turn to look away from the robotic man in shame.
"Sure I will, no worries about that. But it's hard to hide a secret when it's written across your body."
"It's a bit easier than you might think."
"Alright, I'll leave you two alone for a while now. Need a new circuit, so I'll be in my room for most of the night. So if I don't see you both tonight, goodnight then."
"Thanks for helping me." Holly said as she gave him a small wave and a grateful smile. Her legs were stretched out on the steel floor and every so often, she would unconsciously rub her fingers over the sore area where her skin stopped and the metal started. It'll take some time to get used to it, but I guess it beats not being able to walk…
"So," Raven said after she saw the elevator door close with Cyborg inside, "you're okay with having a prosthetic?"
"So far. You know how long until it take until it stops hurtin'?"
"You'll have to ask one of the Doctors to answer that, but walking up two flights of stairs probably didn't help." Thank Azar that she doesn't hate me for deciding to have the operation done. I don't what I would do if she did—heck, timid would never live it down.
Holly stuck her tongue out at her and playfully scrunched her face at Raven "Will you be there to help out with the physical therapy? I don't know when they want to start it–"
"Of course I will."
"You sure? I don't want to take you away from your team."
"Mm, about that. Do you plan on returning to Kyoshi? If it's possible, I mean…"
"Heh, go back and leave you here? I think the Warriors might kill me if I did."
"Then what do you think about settling down? I've told you about Melvin and the kids, and I don't know if you heard or not, but I don't want them training to be superheroes. Not until they can decide for themselves, at least, and until they have a taste of what else they can do with their lives."
"Thinking of starting a little family, are we?"
"It…has been a dream of mine ever since I met those kids. But one that I didn't think I could ever achieve."
"You have any idea how to get Rena to this world?"
"Yes, actually. But I'll need you to help me out a bit with it—" Raven stopped speaking, distracted by the faint vibrating of the new communicator that Cyborg had given her. She plucked it off of her belt and, with a flick of her wrist, opened it to see the screen filled with nine faces crammed together.
.
*0o
.
"Are you sure that's right?" One of the Kyoshi Warriors said to nobody in particular.
"Of course. She was showing me how to use it one day." A small voice answered from behind the group of Warriors. Raven saw Rena climb on one of the Warrior's shoulders to get in view of the camera.
"Ow." Ko complained, bowing under the weight of Rena on her shoulders. "I'm still injured, ya' know."
"Stop bitching." Yumiko shot back in a lighthearted tone.
"Hey, come on over here, Rena." Yuna said from the side, shifting around to create a gap for the young girl in between her and Suki.
"How do we know if this is working?" Suki, who was holding Beast Boy's old communicator, asked Rena.
"Well," Yumiko spoke up, "if there's a pale woman with a pretty sunset behind her on the screen, it's probably working."
Suki looked up and noticed Raven's picture looking back at the Warriors. Smiling sheepishly, she squeaked out a quick "shut up" before greeting Raven.
"Hey, is, erm, did Holly make it?" Suki asked the sorceress who had yet to say a word, instead opting to watch their antics in amusement.
"Alive and well." Raven shifted the communicator until the front facing camera was focused on her partner.
"Shit, did the fighting end that quickly?" Was Holly's first response to seeing her fellow teammates.
"Heh, we had some help. Couple of those machines decided to stick around, too. We have to find and nab them still, but we wanted to know how you were first." Ko answered with a worn, but relieved, expression.
"Help? Machines?" Holly started to ask, but Raven whispered in her ear that she would explain what she knew about it later on. "Oh, okay." She corrected herself.
"Well, we're glad to see you made it out good." Yumiko stated. "We still have some ass-kicking to do here, so we'll call you back once the villagers are settled in again."
"Sounds like a plan." Holly said, giving a nod and returning the Warrior's waves of farewell before the screen went blank, and Raven flipped shut the communicator.
"Thank the spirits they're alive."
"Yeah," Raven nodded in agreement. "Now let's go, you need to learn what an elevator is before anything else." Raven stated with a new confidence.
The duo walked in silence to the waiting elevator, with Holly steadying herself on her partner's shoulder while she hobbled along on her new foot.
.
*0o
.
Hope that wasn't too long of a chapter. Speaking of which, if you guys think that the three longer chapters (15, 16, & 18) we're tedious to read and should be split into two chapters each, do tell! I'm not quite sure myself.
Not too many more chapters left until things are wrapped up for this story. Then I'll start the epilogue and Holly's backstory whenever I can—although those will be updated more leisurely (although I'll try finish them in less than a year…probably).