"So whatcha thinking off?" Beastboy asks Nightwing who is visiting Vic in the workshop, Nightwing blinks returning to the real world.
"Sorry spaced out there, I was just wondering how Raven is doing."
"How can she not handle a week and a half on a sunny beach island populated only by gorgeous women?" Beastboy asks like it was rhetoric question, Nightwing and Cyborg roll their eyes at him.
"You seem to be thinking that Raven is wearing your shoes B." Cyborg says. "Besides when did Rae ever 'do' sunny beaches, if this Themyscira is really like the League file claims it is; she will be like a fish out of water, not to mention she will probably cook under that cloak of hers if she is outside."
"Besides Wonder Woman took her there for Amazon training, which I know from Batman is not a stroll in the park." Nightwing mentions, quietly wondering if they would know if Raven had a heatstroke.
"Pfff. I say you both worry too much, it's not like none of us could do it." Gar says while thumping his chest, punctuating his own manliness, Nightwing sighs as his friend's lack of knowledge.
"You do realize your average Amazon is far stronger, faster and more durable than the average human, they don't age and abide by a strict warrior code, in short they would send Red Sonja packing." Cyborg rattles off the stuff he knows about the female warriors, knowing Beastboy had a period of watching the fictional redhead's movies too often. "Oh and they happen to dislike men."
"Just because they haven't met me." Beastboy says while crossing his arms and closing his eyes, sounding like he has been offended. The others give up arguing him out of his fantasy world.
"So how do you think Rae is handling herself over there?" Cyborg asks while tightening a screw.
"Either she is making an enemy out of the entire island by refusing to do anything physical or come out into the sun. Or she is killing herself during training." Somewhere in Nightwing's head he has not quite adapted the fact Raven is no longer the same almost frail girl he worked with years ago.
"I think she just stared at them before going back to her books." Beastboy quips.
"If she can stare Diana away, she's gotta be exceptional." The deep voice belonging to Steel says before the man is actually seen coming out one of the two corridors leading in and out of the workshop.
"Hey Steel, my man, got my engine yet?" Cyborg asks as he stops fastening screws. Nightwing blinks a few times; I was unheard of Cyborg to share his designs with anyone.
"Actually we are having trouble with that and we need your help with it." The metallic hero admits, Cyborg sighs.
"Ok, let's get going then, you can show me your place while we are there." The pair walks out of the room leaving Beastboy and Nightwing behind.
"Soo, why is it we don't just borrow one of the League's ships?" Gar asks while looking at the skeleton of a ship.
"Two reasons, first one we are not in the League and two their Javelins don't have the fuel capacity to reach Tamaran and get back, not with any guarantees that is." Gar looks around the workshop a bit.
"So you fancy Raven?" Nightwing sighs at the changeling's question.
Raven spends the next few hours in a state of near disbelief, a part of her, mainly the grey cloaked one, didn't really believe that it had really happened. But it has; she's an Amazon now, a citizen of Themyscira. When she met up with her new friends outside the arena, she was met with a few embraces and many a "Congratulations", Artemis settled with congratulating her and informed her that she would be waiting for the day when Raven returned for the rematch before disappearing. The others and Diana drags her off to find her a room, which turns out to be a small Spartan affair, which is the norm since the fewest Amazon spend many of their waking hours in them, overlooking the southern part of the harbor. After ordering a bookcase Raven is informed that most of the books on Themyscira are written in Hellenistic Greek, she calmed them by replying in that language, to which the others said it is the first time they heard it spoken with an accent. After that she is given a full tour of the island, both her and Diana had completely forgetting their wounds, paying visits to the Royal Library, the small rooms of the others and paying their respects to the graveyard where all fallen Amazons are remembered, even if their bodies were not there; as per tradition the Amazon dead are burned and they could not take those with them who never made it off the mainland in ancient times. Those who have died on Themyscira have their own tombstones while those who did not have their names listed on a large weather-beaten stone, Raven goes over the list slowly reaching out to touch a certain name; Clio.
"In my memory, she was my cellmate." Is Raven's answer to why the others see a single tear roll down her cheek, Antiope informs her that Clio never made it off the mainland, her life ended by an arrow in her back before the seas parted for the rest of them. Another stone slab with names written on it catches Raven's attention as they make to leave the cemetery, unlike the other one, which is a free standing boulder; this one is carved into the foot of the mountain with two stone sentinels flanking the list of names.
"Those are the ones that have given their lives paying for Hippolyta's folly, each name and the guards are carved by her own hands." Raven gives them an odd look at Antiope's explanation, but is told she will be informed of it by the Queen when the time is right.
Later that day while Raven is being informed of a row of Greek islands that contains a number of various mythological monsters, most of them live beneath the surface of the islands or in the sea surrounding them, they are informed that they are all invited to a formal dinner with the Queen. The rest of the day is spent getting Raven a dress, something she proves to be very much opposed to. Eventually they managed to get her into a midnight blue dress, after being informed even Artemis wears a dress when invited to the palace for this reason. Raven, however, still felt like being trapped in a room with five Starfire's. Who suspected the warrior women could be so, well, girly? The dress is long enough in the back to need lifting when walking so it doesn't drag along the floor, it leaves her left shoulder exposed while being held up by a single golden broach on her right shoulder. As a group the women move around to each other's dwellings to get them all dressed and cleaned up, Diana has to leave them after getting Io and Antiope dressed as she needed to get into her own which is at the palace.
Later that evening the group of five is walking to the palace, after finally getting Philipus to select a light blue dress from the assortment she has. Antiope is wearing a light brown dress, while Penelope is in a pale yellow one; lastly Io is in a snow white one. Raven noted how uncomfortable she looks in it, with her short hair and powerful build she looks like a man from behind. With Ravens long hair she decided only to comb it so it at least didn't stand out in weird ways like it had done since the arena. Penelope and Antiope let theirs out of their ponytails while Philipus had hers curled. At the entrance they are met by a woman in a red dress in the same style as theirs, Ravens eyes widen considerably when it turns out to be Artemis.
"What?" Artemis asks in a tone indicating that in her mind there was nothing to look at.
"Nothing, just didn't think I'd get to see you in a dress." Raven answers in a flat tone.
"From what I hear, sister, you in a dress is a special event as well." The redhead counters with a smirk.
"Touché, sister." Raven smirks back before the group enters the palace. They are met in the throne room where a table has been prepared for eight, Diana and Hippolyta is waiting there, Hippolyta in her regular attire and Diana in black dress with spaghetti straps going over her shoulders, unlike everyone else's hers end at her heels and shows off her curves.
The dinner proves to be an enjoyable affair where Raven noticed that the Queen is a warm person when she wants to be. They are served a much more varied selection of foods than what Raven has experienced so far, with wild boar and deer and fish served along with an assortment of vegetables and bread. They are offered wine or water as drinks, Diana has a single glass of wine for starters before trying to stick to water, Raven and Hippolyta have water while the four others have wine. Hippolyta said it was because she is the monarch and Raven explained she didn't want to ruin it all by blowing random stuff up if intoxicated. Artemis and Io proves to be hardy drinkers while Antiope and Penelope try to keep up, Philipus proves to be the least hardy of them. Diana also seemed to be a usual non drinker when her fortitude fails her and she also begins sticking to wine when goaded to by Io and Artemis, that or the wine is very powerful, since she begins sporting a vacant look in her eyes after finishing her second glass. Being the two only non-drinkers at the table, leaves Raven and Hippolyta plenty of room for talk, when not interrupted by the others.
"Those were quite impressive moves you displayed today, far more than I expected you to learn from your time with Penelope." Hippolyta opens the latest conversation with the purple haired woman next to her. "Where did you learn them?"
"You know I was part of a group of heroes before?"
"Yes, Diana informed me you were."
"Well four years ago we split up, the others leaving me with the city we used to defend as a team. One of them left behind a series of instructions for what I use, I haven't perfected it yet as I had no one to actually teach me. I generally just copy what he left behind while adding my own touch to it."
"The teleportation?"
"Yes, amongst other things, but I can't do that for long while in my own shape as it is tiring to do rapidly."
"The sandstorm and the broken weapons?"
"The weapons were what's known as telekinesis, basically I put a small portion of myself into an object so I can move it with my mind." Raven demonstrates by lifting a knife to her hand. "The bolt I threw at Princess Diana was basically an extension of that. The sandstorm was a mild form of magic I know, I'm not as powerful in that field as some has come to believe." Raven says and casts a glaze at Philipus who she knew was one of them.
"Like the one that Diana says struck you down on the space station?"
"She wanted the others to believe I was controlling their minds by magical means, I might be able to do that, but noting at that scale she accused me of. And Zatanna is far above me in matters magical, sadly."
"So what magic do you know?"
"I have the knowledge and the repertoire of a dragon I once knew, he claimed to be something else at the time and needed to teach me his craft to get what he wanted from me."
"Which was?"
"His freedom, he was trapped inside a book I found by chance."
"Yet you don't use his knowledge?" Hippolyta asks.
"He pretended to love me at a time where I felt alienated amongst my friends, also I found out I have very little control over the most of the magic he taught me so I have resisted to actually use it."
"I see, so do you know your limits?"
"Physically I know I am not a match for Princess Diana or Superman in either form unless I get lucky. With my other abilities I don't know."
"Batman says you lifted a warship with you mind." Diana breaks into the conversation, her mother silently sighs at her intoxicated daughter, but her words does piqué her interest.
"Follow me Raven, I would care to see this feat." They both get up and walk's over to the pool sunk into the floor. "This is my Scrying Pool, from here I can observe Themyscira and the world beyond, as well as looking into the past, sometimes even the future is revealed to me." Raven looks into the still pool with new interest, the others sneak up behind the pair to have a look as well. "Just hold your hand over it, and the pool will do the rest." Raven does as instructed.
The pool ripples as if something was dropped into it before it turns white, before a black spot appears and the pool begins to churn like a whirlpool. The image settles, to Raven's amazement and worry it is not the Gotham docks, it is Jump City as it looked during her father's visit and the scene is the one she saw after Robin had retrieved her from Trigon's realm. The Titans meet and fall, leaving Raven to banish the demon overlord in a flash of white. The scene shifts to Gotham, Ravens meeting with Etrigan and Nightwing and the ensuring fight. Again it shifts, this time to the docks with her and the others emerging out of her shadows, to be met by the Tamaranian ruler and her platoon. As the fight proceeds the others let out as light gasp as Raven is punched away by the royal guard landing at the USS Gotham, Raven doesn't see it but the others eyes grow a bit wider as she disappears into the ship before it is embraced by a shadowy veil before slowly rising out of the water. Raven notes it is a good thing the pool does not convey sound as the massive cannon batteries fire as one. After the ship is put down again the scene shifts again and they are all witness to what Raven thought she saw when Ares met her. Thought her eyes, they see a dark tunnel with an open door at the end showing the evening sun outside. As she makes it out they see the battle of the escaping Amazons, Ravens vision is cast side to side before settling on a group of gathering Amazons with Hippolyta shouting orders. As Raven begins to run towards them, a massive shape all of them recognize too easily lands in front of her, he is a giant of a man, bare-chested with a green skirt covering his lower body he has long curly brown hair and a full beard, the son of Zeus; Heracles. They can see him speaking as he towers over Raven, but is image seems to flicker in and out being replaced with the armored shape of Ares. The image of Heracles is replaced with Ares completely as he touches Raven's shoulder, the image blurs as the fight commences. Hippolyta lowers Ravens hand ending the vision with Ares's red eyed stare.
"Unfortunately the pool is fickle when it comes to show what was." Hippolyta says almost apologetic. "Nonetheless an impressive past."
"Thank you my Queen, yet it is not one would wish upon anyone." Raven replies, oddly thinking of the stone in the graveyard. "My Queen, may I ask of the stone in the cemetery, I was told you carved yourself?" Hippolyta looks at her sternly for a moment.
"You may, I once made a mistake like yours, I fell in love with a god who used me to open the gates of Olympus when he raised the flag of rebellion against his siblings. After the war he was condemned to Tartarus. For my part in the rebellion, I was tasked with guarding his prison. Beneath this palace lies the gate to the underworld, where Hade's resides today. The stone you saw is where I put to memory those who have fallen in guarding the gate from the horrors on the other side, those who have paid with their lives for my mistake. And you may be called to one day fight before it as well. For centuries we kept the gate shut and the key shattered to the four corners of the world, but a few years ago a foolish man made a bargain with Hades that caused the gates to be opened, we have yet to seal the gate to it old state, possibly we may never be able to. For that reason are your bracelets special, like Diana's and others who journey off the island if needed I can send a signal that will summon you." Raven nods respectfully before asking what might easily become the case.
"Not to be disrespectful of our charge, but if we are otherwise occupied?" It was something that might happen; they could end up choosing between catastrophes'.
"I trust you both to know where you are needed most, but rest assured I will only call if our need is dire." Raven bows at her, accepting the answer.
"You are too formal you know, sister." Io says behind her.
"I have been given a rare gift Io; I won't risk losing it by appearing rude to our monarch." Raven answers with a small smile.
"Indeed and I suggest you remember your manners when that wine makes itself felt." Hippolyta instructs the group. The dinner party makes its way back to the table, where Hippolyta and Raven continue to engage in talks about the island, duties and the outside world, on the note of the League, Hippolyta let her know they do not know of the incident with Ares. She also let her know that the League is for the sake of independent opinions going to review all their impression of Raven when they all had their time with her without letting each other know how it went.
"Won't it send a strong signal if I come back as an official Amazon?" Raven asks timidly, while motioning her bracelets.
"It will, but you normally wear long sleeves, correct?"
"I do."
"Just wear them over them, but I insist you wear them or keep them close in case of emergency." Raven nods at the instruction, silently wondering of the reactions she will get when it is eventually revealed.
The meal continues, with the others drifting further and further away from soberness, Diana included. The Queen retires an hour or so before the others leave, with Raven as an escort after promising the Queen she would get them all home. Diana looked sad when Raven convinced the others they have had enough wine and bid her good night.
One by one they are all deposited home, exiting the palace the five are singing tunelessly to an old song of battle. Philipus proves to be the first who is overpowered by the amount of alcohol and loudly deposits it on a sandy area between two buildings, Raven buries the mess with her powers before having to steer the group away from a street leading down to the harbor. After safely depositing Philipus with a bucket, they make their way to Antiope's where they leave her with a bucket as well. Penelope deposits her contents on the way over to her room before passing out, this time it is on a cobbled street, so Raven resorts to quickly moving it and themselves away, with Artemis and Io singing loudly while carrying their friend between them. After depositing Penelope, Raven becomes the unwilling support of Io who seems just a little too happy with her. Thankfully without incident, Io is back in her room and asleep as soon as she lies down, emerging from Io's dwelling, Raven finds Artemis missing.
"She can't have gone far in that dress." She muses before looking at the most likely direction the redhead could have gone. She thinks about sending out her soul-self to look for her before her thoughts are interrupted by quiet sobbing from an alleyway. Raven sighs when she sees Artemis sitting with her back up the wall looking quite miserable in her red dress. "Artemis?"
"Go away." Artemis' green eyes keep boring into the ground.
"Come on you can't sit here. And I can't leave you here." Raven moves a little further into the alley, hoping no patrols are due to pass here.
"Why should you care?"
"Because I promised the Queen that I would." Artemis sighs before letting her head slump down.
"Nobody cares about me." Raven was hoping to avoid something like this, people revealing a completely different side of them while intoxicated.
"Lots of people here do." Raven tries to be optimistic.
"No, they don't. They all whisper behind my back, call me names." Raven closes her eyes for a second feeling guilty; she is a part of this.
"Why do they do that?"
"I am not one of them; they all consider me a heathen since I chose my own path over that of the gods."
"Yet here you are after all these years. Tell me Artemis what kind of people would only let you live amongst them and let you rise to the position you have, and hate you at the same time?"
"I…I…" Tears begin to fall from Artemis' eyes; Raven sits down next to her and gives her a hug.
"Shh…don't worry, look I am sorry if I hurt your feelings, but you are a hard person to like." Artemis coughs amidst the tears.
"I am a horrible person aren't I?"
"No, just hard to like." Raven feels an odd sensation as she rocks Artemis from side to side; noticing too late Artemis has fallen asleep and without leaving Raven with an address.
"Who is in there? Reveal yourself!" A stern voice snaps Raven to the entrance of the ally, spotting two guards with spears, one guard narrow her eyes. "Sister Raven is that you?"
"It is, any of you happen to know, where Artemis lives." Raven leans back to reveal the sleeping Artemis. "She's had too much of our Queen's wine. And if you could keep this to yourselves it would be appreciated by her, even if she doesn't say it."
"She lives in Constantina Street 40A, its in the Bana Quarter." The speaking guard says after casting a look to the other who nods at her. "We didn't see you." She says before resuming her patrol. Raven has a vague idea where that is, she covers both herself and Artemis in a bubble of her powers before taking to the sky where they are practically invisible against the night sky. Silently observing the sleeping city, she spots the street where she thinks Artemis' room is. Touching down near a street sign she proves to be lucky, after a short trip down the street she pushes Artemis' door open, revealing a mess of pieces of armor, leotards and a few weapons and the single bed Raven gently places Artemis on causing the Amazon to stir.
"You...are a real friend…sister." She mutters before drifting off to sleep again, leaving Raven to find a sure-to-be-needed bucket.
It has taken Raven nearly two hours, to get the others home and return home herself, while wearing a long dress; she has taken a rough stab at the hour being later than two in the night when she finally reaches her own door. She receives the second shock of the night, Artemis being the first, as the pale full moon shines its light on her bed, revealing another figure in it.
"I thought you'd never get here." Ravens mind short-circuits as Diana's voice reaches her.
"Uh, Diana what are you doing here?" Raven asks, praying to whatever gods that are watching, that this is not going where she thinks it is.
"Waiting for you of course beautiful." A very naked Diana purrs as she gets off the bed and steps into the moon light, ever since Diana herself had mentioned it, Raven has dreaded a moment like this. For one thing she has no idea how to handle it other than with her stony cold façade she tries to maintain and thankfully no sober person here had approached her. But this is something else, for one it's an intoxicated person asking; meaning stone cold facades won't work as intended unless enforced with hostility and for the other, this Diana of Themyscira, Wonder Woman. Ravens head parts into four options; run and hide somewhere the rest of the night, do what most of the male population in the world would do in an instant and one or both of them would probably regret it in the morning or kindly try and convince her otherwise, failing that forcing her. "Come here." Diana reaches forwards to kiss her; Raven can smell the alcohol on her breath.
"Diana please!" Raven exclaims, holding the woman's arms from herself, thankfully Diana seems to have lost much of her strength or she is not trying very hard. After a bit of struggling Raven manages to pin Diana's arms to her sides, Diana just gives her a silly grin after Raven realizes how close Diana's face is to her own.
"Oh you like it rough, I can go with that." Diana says before leaning forwards, Raven nearly jumps back letting go of Diana's arms.
"Diana wake up!" Raven hold up her hands in front of her in a defensive gesture. "Don't do this."
"Aw, but I want to." Diana almost manages to corner Raven as she back into a wall, but jumps to the side at the knowledge.
"No, no you don't Diana, not like this." Raven acknowledges that a part of her wants to go ahead and do it, but she won't, she learned long ago that suppressing an emotion is not the same as denying it's there.
"It's only now I'm brave enough to ask." Raven curses Diana inwardly for not seeing anything other than what she wants right now.
"You are brave Diana, but we will both regret this in the morning!" Raven dodges another attempted hug by moving to the side, leaving Diana to crash onto the bed. "What would Bruce say if he saw you like this?" Raven knows it's a risk and a low blow against Diana, but she is running out of options. Fortunately it seems to wake something in the woman, since she sits up on her knees and stares into the wall.
"He wouldn't approve…" She sighs; Raven thanks the makers for Batman's ability to make such solid impressions on people.
"No, he wouldn't, go home and think about it till the morning Diana."
"I will…" Diana gets off the bed and heads for the door, Raven stops her with a hand on her shoulder.
"You should get dressed first."
"Oh…You're right." Diana says absentmindedly before moving back and gets her dress on in an almost mechanical fashion before heading out of the door, watching her stumble down the street, Raven sighs knowing she can't risk having her fall asleep on the way. Silently staying in the shadows, Raven spends the next hour shadowing Diana who eventually makes it to the palace; interestingly the guards pretend not to even see her.
Emerging back in her room, Raven notes with a degree of annoyance there are a few emotions in her head that now needs putting in place. Sighing she slips out of her dress before sitting down in front of her window in her meditative stance, exhaling and inhaling deeply she slowly floats off the ground, sitting almost naked in the moon light. She feels all the emotions that have been building up during the day slowly recede back into their proper places; time slowly seems to lose its meaning to her as every thought leaves her conscious mind. Everything is almost right again in her head before…
"The light of Hecate is especially beautiful tonight, don't you think?" A female voice says behind Raven, instantly breaking her calm and focus causing her to land hard on her rear, emitting a slight yelp before scrambling up to cover herself with the dress before facing the intruder. Ravens mind reels in the presence of the floating woman, who by all accounts is naked as well, except for a long pink cloth that seems to float around her form on its own, covering only the two most critical spots. She is blond and is oddly enough for the time, is wearing a pair of slim sunglasses.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" Raven is at her wits end, not sure if she can handle fighting off another woman, it shows that she backs up into a corner between her bed and the outer wall.
"Why it's I Aphrodite, do you not recognize me?...Oh." Aphrodite takes a peek over her sunglasses. "So you are the new one? I must say the hair and skin looks beautiful together." She smiles at Raven still hiding behind her dress. "No need to be shy, Aphrodite finds beauty in all things. You seem shocked, there is no need to be, here." The floating woman's eyes gives off a golden glow, which seems to calm Raven immeasurably.
"Forgive me, but I don't trust people who sneak up on me, especially in the middle of the night." The woman keeps smiling at Raven who keeps up her dress like shield.
"Ah but it was not you I was actually seeking, she seems to have left. I was hoping to confirm a feeling that she was finally ready." Raven drops back into freaked out mode.
"If it is Diana you are referring to, I had to send her home." Raven felt utterly trapped, but as long as the woman does not act, she will not move.
"It was she, ah so you must have been the lucky one?" Again Raven has the idea about what the woman had hoped to find.
"Sh-She was intoxicated…"
"Oh and you are not? I can fix that." Ravens eyes widen in horror when Aphrodite's eyes start to glow again.
"NO! DON'T!" Raven drops her dress and charges the woman who disappears and reappears a few feet next her previous location, leaving a naked Raven in the middle of the room.
"Oh, it was not what you wanted? Have I not been gracious with my gift upon her?" The woman sounds almost insulted.
"Please no that is not what I meant, Diana is a lovely person. But no one should take advantage of her while she doesn't know if it is what she really wants." Raven tries to explain while covering herself with her arms.
"But wouldn't you want to?" Raven is caught off guard by the question.
"I…I…I…yes, I would, even if it would be the only time…" She stammers feeling compelled to say it.
"Phew, I thought I had gotten it wrong, she's been so long about finding someone." Aphrodite replies in relief.
"I think she has had her sights on someone else, but he is consumed by his own mission." Raven decides it's best not to mention either the man's name or alter ego before the goddess decides to go 'fix' something about him.
"Oh? One like my dear Hephaestus?"
"Y-yes." Aphrodite sighs at Raven's reply.
"I have done too much then, and I fear she will see him grow old before he realizes it. Oh well that's love for you, and I would know." She smiles knowingly. "Well let's talk about you then, who's the person in your life?" The goddess asks with a sly smile.
"I…I…I don't do…"
"Oh of course you do, even if it's dangerous, copying his moves wasn't the only reason you watched all those videos." Raven cringes, it's like being blackmailed for nothing but someone else's enjoyment.
"Please don't do this, I can't, I just can't, not now maybe never." Aphrodite sighs, before smiling again.
"You are more alike to Diana than you think, but don't fret when you decide it to be, it will be you giving the blessing." The flash of lightning and a distant thunderclap announces the departure of Aphrodite, Raven stares the vacant spot for a moment before slipping into her dress again and promptly resigning herself back into meditation.
Diana wakes up next morning still in her dress, with a thundering headache.
"Not now Ares, go have your chariot races somewhere else…" She says out loud to her aching head.
"Ares is not here, thankfully, but someone else was." Hippolyta's voice makes Diana jump, instantly her skull feels a few sizes too small. "Where were you last night?" Diana's headache is not helped by the sudden influx of images, ones of a grey skinned female in a blue dress and a lonely walk down dark streets.
"I am not sure." Diana replies with grinding teeth and closed eyes as the light hurts.
"Then let me tell you, one patrol saw you stumbling around Raven's room before you disappeared into it." Diana groans covering her face with her hands before sitting down on her bed as the rest of the memories return to her. "For heaven's sake child, you went to go sleep with her, didn't you?!" Hippolyta's voice floats between accusatory and concern. Diana leans back on her bed covering her face with a pillow, nodding after moment under it. This is an embarrassment unlike any other for her. Noticing her mother is waiting for an explanation of some sort, she finally pulls off the pillow.
"I did, but she managed to convince me otherwise."
"Thank the gods for small mercies!" Like most mothers Hippolyta is angry and concerned at the same time over her only daughter sneaking off into the night.
"You said someone else was here?" Diana groans trying to change the subject.
"Roughly an hour after you were reported entering the palace a lightning flash and a thunderclap was reported, we have yet to find out who and where it was."
"Have you asked Raven? She seems to attract them." Diana groans again, her head is not kind to her today.
"I thought it would be more fitting that you did that, also so you two can come to terms with last night." Diana sighs, knowing a command from her mother when she hears one. Hippolyta makes to leave her daughters chamber before turning adding; "And one other thing, until you feel better, you are not flying your plane." Diana groans as the door slams shut.
An hour later, a hung-over Diana finds herself knocking on a certain door.
"Raven it's me Diana, can I come in?"
"If you are sober, then yes." Is her flat reply, Diana enters cautiously, seeing Raven floating in front of the window with her back towards her, in the outside world it would be around nine. "I take it your mother sent you?" Diana moves to lean against the outer wall, noticing the rings forming under Ravens closed eyes.
"She did, I have come to apologies for my behavior last night, it was inappropriate." Raven opens her eyes slightly; Diana notes they are a bit bloodshot.
"It was, but at least you aren't waking up regretting worse." Diana nods, she wasn't often drunk and this had probably been one of the worst.
"I feel I owe you more than that." Diana admits.
"Shall we call us even, I stopped you in this and you stopped me from attempting to kill the armored manipulator." Raven floats down to stand on her own legs, still in her dress, Diana finally notes.
"Agreed, sister." Diana says with a smile, holding her clenched fist forwards. Raven gives a wry smile back before doing the same, making their bracelets connect.
"Sister." She enforces.
"So I assume there's something behind you still wearing the dress we fought so hard to get you into. I must have freaked you out." Diana notes.
"Not you, I had relieved myself of it before receiving a very unwelcome visitor." Diana looks up in surprise. "You should check back with Aphrodite, she came looking for you hoping to catch a look at who you decided to 'bless', as she called it." Diana sighs at this, Aphrodite did have a very nasty habit of appearing when least expected or appreciated, and she was well aware that the deity had a particular interest in her.
"So, it's because of her you apparently haven't slept yet?"
"Yes, having the lust goddess appear next to you tends to rattle my control."
"I think it may be a good thing we return to the outside world tomorrow when I am allowed to fly again. The gods seem to gravitate towards you."
"Yeah, back to the world of being the creepy woman and the funny looks it brings…"
"Will make Themyscira shine all the brighter when you return." Diana ensures. "So what happened to the others?"
"I made sure they got home, considering the amount they took in, I'd say they are still there." Raven decides to leave out what Artemis did, and that if whatever she said was true, then it was not Raven's fight to change it.
"Even Artemis?"
"Even Artemis, who lives in a mess by the way." Diana smiles at the remark, never having seen the room herself, Artemis is notoriously private about her sanctuary.
Abandoning the idea of spending the possibly last day on Themyscira asleep, Raven decides to continue the training alone, with the five others in no shape to even get out of bed and Diana's pounding head. Of course without the others and Artemis in particular to pace her, it becomes a little more relaxed than it used to be.
"So Bruce, when are you going to make a move on Diana?" Richard asks out of the blue during dinner in the mansion.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Bruce looks up from his poached salmon, Richard smirks, Bruce not getting away that easy.
"Sure you do, like you can ignore the woman hovering over you." Bruce stares at Richard for a moment, trying to make him drop the subject but failing.
"My relationship with Diana is purely professional." It is a standard Batman reply to the question, one that ignores the Bruce Wayne beneath the cowl.
"But does she know that? Bruce sooner or later you are going to have to figure out your own feelings for her, like I had to figure out Starfire."
"I see the elusive Miss Diana is being discussed?" Alfred interrupts without breaking stride while clearing the empty plates.
"Dick seems to have a grudge against me for grilling him over Raven the other day." Bruce replies with smile.
"Ah so the ideal woman hovers over the dark and brooding man, and the ideal man hovers over the dark and mysterious woman?" Tim snickers at Alfred's comparison, the other two sighs.
"Gee thanks Alfred for putting things into perspective." Dick replies with mock annoyance.
"I do what I can, Master Richard." Alfred smirks.
"Might as well face it you two, you both have a tendency to attract most women without batting an eye. Yet you're either ignoring them, or scared of them." Tim receives the combined stare of both Bruce and Dick telling him to be quiet, Tim just smirks at being right.
The morning of departure finally comes, and Raven feels miserable when looking at the rising sun knowing it. Fortunately the departure is first planned for noon, Raven suspects it's more for Diana's sake as Raven came with very little. Much to her surprise her bag, and the contents in it, had survived the fight in the barrack intact which meant her leotard also had. Around nine, a guard informs her that Hippolyta wishes to see her.
"You wished to see me your Highness?" Raven asks while bowing to the Queen sitting on her throne.
"I did. Walk with me." Hippolyta rises out of her seat and begins walking down a corridor to the left. "In the event I spoke of yesterday, we have a law here on Themyscira; All must have a weapon ready within their dwellings if not on their person. I know you may not want or need one, but that is the law." Hippolyta says while turning down a corridor closed off by a pair of large bronze doors. The two guards outside that lower their gazes at the coming Queen before pushing the doors open, revealing a huge armory inside, only lit by torch fire. "I wish you pick one to have in your dwelling. The only exception is the sword in the glass case." She motions at a long blade prominently displayed in the center of the circular room. The walls are covered in all sorts of ancient weaponry, maces, swords, axes, spears and bows are on display in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. Also there are a number of weapons that fall out of the usual categories, like the staff with blades at both ends, or the blend of an axe and hammer. Also on display is a pair of suits of armor made to give the wearer the appearance of having been swallowed by a metallic eagle. Raven's skin is tingling in the room, the presence of so many magical artifacts are making an impression on her.
"Am I correct in sensing many of these are magical in nature?" Raven asks.
"They are, most of them are enchanted to cleave the flesh that lurks beneath the palace. Others have different enchantments worked into them."
Raven thinks about it for a moment, if she is to go into a battle with a swarm of demons, she would want to be fast, her own strength will be enough, yet she will need something that she is most familiar with. It's like the answer has been looking at her the whole time, a thin curved blade at almost a meters length mounted on top of a standard Amazon height staff, a little short of 2 meters, made of metal. Nightwing would have been able to give her a lecture on the niginata she had chosen, that it originated in feudal Japan, was a samurai weapon, a female samurai that is and that Japanese women still practice with the weapon as a form of sport today. Picking it off the wall she finds it amazingly light.
"One of Io's experiments, as you have seen many of our sisters prefers the sword and shield. If I remember correctly it is not enchanted yet." Hippolyta notes.
"I believe I have made my choice my Queen."
"I will have Io commissioned to enchant it with something appropriate." Hippolyta motions for Raven to follow her out, but now Raven notes there is several suits of plate armor standing behind the two she originally saw.
"Queen Hippolyta, can I ask what those suits are for?"
"Those are for when our fiercest warriors are expecting to face foes many times stronger than they, fortunately we have not had many causes to use them yet. They are all forged from a metal vein we found here, so far it has proved virtually indestructible, but that has still to be properly tested. The one in the back will most likely never see use, the Deceiver paid Io a visit during its construction." Hippolyta motions to an almost black suit that has had the eagle features of the others replaced with those of a winged serpent. "But besides that one, no finer suits of armor exist that were made outside Hephaestus' forge. They are all enchanted to grant greater protection than what the amount of metal would imply them capable of, the one Ares corrupted is suspected to enhance the wearer's battle prowess but at the cost of losing one self in the bloodlust that mimics the gods own. Come, there is one other thing I wish you to see."
Hippolyta leads Raven out of the armory and through the throne room, down a corridor on the right that curves, she pulls a certain torch forwards, revealing it to be a switch that opens the door that was hidden in the wall. Inside the secret corridor is a winding staircase, leading down, framed with brick walls and filled with a scent of age, Raven had in her travels visited a few places that smelled like this, but not in this magnitude. When they emerge at the bottom of the stairs, they see a vast underground cavern, large enough to contain a small city, and by the ruins around the place, it most likely had. The entire area is covered in a thick layer of grey sand, at the far end of the cavern; they can see a small light illuminating what seems to be a gate fit for a castle.
"What you see in the distance is Doom's Door, the Gate into Tartarus. If the alarm sounds you will find us here. Since the key was destroyed a few years ago, we have kept physical watch over it, one day you might find yourself guarding it." Raven nods solemnly before they leave.
After a short lunch with Hippolyta and Diana, Raven finds herself in her room again staring at her leotard. For some reason it fills her with an odd sensation, it represented a different side of her that existed somewhere else, but not on Themyscira. Slipping into it she finds there are some changes that are definitely needed, while wearing the toga she didn't notice them, but the sunburns definitely makes themselves known now especially around her shoulders. Also she finds it oddly more constricting than she remembers.
"Time for a change I guess." She says to no one before placing a pale hand on her shoulder, muttering something under her breath, slowly at first the fabric beneath her hand begins to disappear until it resembles the image in her head. Copying the design on her other shoulder, she flaps her arms around feeling satisfied that her movement doesn't feel quite as restricted anymore. Where her leotard was once a one piece set, it is now much more resembling what Artemis is usually wearing. The sleeves are still there, but now they end just half way up her upper arms. Her shoulders are now bare till the area just before her neck. The bracelets are hidden beneath the sleeves and the cloth cuffs that's a part of them. Raven sighs out of relief that her usual boots can be rolled up high enough to cover most of the variation of her skin color left by the sandal straps. Finally clasping on her cloak, she realizes that the modification to her leotard won't matter so much in a slightly colder climate as her cloak usually covers the area anyways, and as long as her shoulders sting, she can just have it hanging behind them if it begins to bother her. Looking back into the small room, she sighs once before closing the door as she leaves.
"So you want to use the special spear I made?" Io asks, as the training group has assembled at the landing platform, all of them well enough to be there.
"I have more experience with staff weapons and it pretty much is one, with an edge on the top." Raven replies as has her hood down and the cloak behind her shoulders.
"So what do you want done with it?"
"I wasn't given a catalogue, but I trust you to find something appropriate for something that will warrant me to use it."
"I'll get hold of Magala and we will think of something special." Io says with a smile.
"You come back to us sister, I need you to teach me some of those tricks you know." Philipus interrupts.
"I'd be stealing Penelope's job if I did that."
"Heck, I want to know a few of those moves as well." Penelope claims, also smiling broadly.
"Better prove yourself to those people, sister, or we will have words with them." Antiope says sternly while putting a hand on Raven shoulder.
"I will, I've promised a lot of people that I would, including myself. And I will come back." Raven confirms, turning to the last person on the landing pad that's not leaving.
"Strange as it may sound, but I want you to come back as well, sister, I need a good sparring partner." Artemis says with a smirk, letting everyone else know she is kidding, there are other reasons for wanting Raven to return as well.
"And I still need you to train me in a great many weapons." Raven replies. Before getting mobbed by the other four in a group hug. "Sisters, you're getting all mushy on me." The others let go while giggling.
"Go with the Gods Raven." Philipus says before the others echo her.
"You too sisters, you too." With that Raven floats up into the plane to the waiting Diana. As the pair takes to the air they spy a solitary figure standing on the top steps before the palace with an arm raised in silent farewell; Hippolyta.