Ataraxia Praeteritum, Perdidit Futurum

Chapter 36: Impact

"Why is it that we always have to spit up?" I asked myself as my piece of the T-Ship fell towards the planet below, the reinforced glass shaking as it was superheated by the friction with the air.

Looking at the altimeter I figured I had about a minute till I made contact with the ground below.

Grabbing my flight stick I tried to pull up hard but to no avail.

"Fuck it." I said as I powered up my ring and started to slow down the pod.

Apparently I was closer to the ground than I thought because I could only slow it down slightly before crashing into what felt like a jungle below.

Limbs snapped as I collided with them, the pod rapidly decelerating and accelerating between branches before finally coming to a stop on the forest floor.

Exhaling loudly, I pushed the glass open to get a better view of my surrounds as well as not wanting to get caught in an explosion that might occur from leaking fuel.

Hopping out onto the ground, or rather lack thereof.

With no ground I was in freefall before shifting into a bird. Stabilizing myself I saw where my pod had landed, there a multiple thousand-pound spacecraft was wedged neatly in a tree.

Shooting up above the canopy I looked around to see if I could spot any others, specifically Cyborg as I would meet up with him eventually.

I looked up into the sky to see a black meteor falling from the heavens.

Bingo.

Heading off in its general direction I watched as it finally made contact with the forest below, black smoke marking its position.

Now it was only a matter of flying there.

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In less than 5 minutes I was close enough to the pod to touch down.

Cutting through the undergrowth I came upon the crash site, expecting Cyborg to be in pieces and thrown around the area I began to look for him.

"Cyborg, you there?" I called out, but I received no answer, then I realized the canopy wasn't even opened and it was full of smoke.

Alarm rang through me as I rushed over hoping I wasn't too late, while Cyborg's cybernetics couldn't be hurt, his organic brain still needed oxygen.

Turning into a gorilla I ripped the canopy off to find someone I didn't expect, Raven.

God dammit.

Quickly ripping her flight harness off I pulled her out of the crashed vehicle and it was only then that I realized just how bad her injuries had been. Blood flowed down her cheek from the base of her hair and she had a rather large gash down her side from jagged metal in the crash as well as a large quantity of cuts and bruises.

Not paying attention to the smaller injuries I ran back to the pod to get a small medical kit Cyborg had installed, ripping it out of its crumpled position it was mostly destroyed.

As I opened it I found that the dressings were still viable and set to work just as the pod behind me exploded.

Noting how lucky it was that I got here in time I wrapped her head in the bandages, the white cloth slowly turning red. I gently rolled her on her side to get a better look at her side and it was worse than I had previously thought.

The gash went from her hip to the small of her back and curved up, it was deeper at the hip but there wasn't much room till it hit something important, with this amount of damage I was surprised she didn't instinctively go in a healing coma.

Pulling out what stitching wasn't broken I found that I was having trouble threading the needle as my hands were shaking. I finally gave up and used dark energy to thread it and proceeded to not use my hands when piecing her skin.

For what felt like two hours I slaved over the gash, but eventually I had just enough material to close it and put dressings over it.

The sun was beginning to set over the forest we were in, shelter and water would be paramount.

One flare was included in the emergency kit which would be enough to start a fire, and I could easily assemble a lean-to.

I quickly set about the tasks, first was fire for Raven, I wasn't sure how cold it would get on the planet, it seemed like so long ago that we were here.

Gathering rocks and dry materials I started a pit, igniting the flare I used the flame to ignite the small materials and it slowly engulfed the pit.

Turning my attention to structural materials I just used dark energy to cut nice sized pieces of wood, five in total. I used vines to bind two to 90 degree angles and placed them against a tree. Taking the fifth I placed that at the center point of each making a simple frame and filled in the gap between all to form a roof.

By now night had fallen and I began to hear small little droplets hit the forest floor.

Great.

Soon enough an entire storm was upon us, relatively high speed winds rocked the structure. I would be able to hold it down with dark energy, but I would be required to stay awake, not like I wasn't going to already, Raven hadn't woken up yet, though she had started to hover meaning she was healing.

I hated to see any of the team like this, least of all her, especially now with Trigon looming over her, a burden I could sympathize with.

I once asked why bad things happened to good people, but I was never able to find the answer till I met Harvey Dent or should I say Two Face.

That was the day I understood, I had faced the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Slade, Captain Boomerang, I had met lots of people, but when I faced him a finally saw the truth. There was no reason for it, only that the world is cruel and unforgiving, that it has no compassion, it knows only chance.

The world knows no bias, it's not prejudice, it's not raciest, nor is it xenophobic, all it is cold nothing more, everyone has the same chance, in a way its far, but it shows no pity. Dick could have been a circus performer the rest of his life, perhaps he wouldn't have had to face the death of his parents if the performance had been a day later or sooner, but instead he was called into another profession.

Would I have been this way if I hadn't been playing too far away from my parents? I probably would have died on that boat, or I wouldn't have been on the boat and I would have parents, and this entire reality wouldn't exist.

All life was a clusterfuck of numbers, chances that were taken and the results weighed in.

Suddenly the cracking of a tree brought me out of my thoughts as it fell right in front of our small shelter.

The wind seemed to have that one last hurrah before ceasing. Loosening my hold on the lean-to I looked over to Raven.

I rolled her in the air and pulled away the ripped leotard to check her dressing, it was closing, but only slightly.

I laid her flat out again and checked her head. Using my hand to look for the gash that had been oozing only hours earlier I was relieved to see that it was nearly closed up.

Leaning in to see just how deep it was at the moment I couldn't see any bone which relieved me, but just as I was that close Raven's eyes shot open.

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Looking back on it now I realized that my back must have been in much more pain than my fist after I struck Beast Boy. In my defense he was less than a few inches away from my face and waking up to his would make anyone willing to punch it.

However, as he jumped back the pain in my back exploded, letting out a painful yell it felt like fire was burning off my flesh.

"Jesus Raven you've probably broken your stitches!" Beast Boy shouted as he rushed back to my side. I was as defensive as I was only moments earlier, but be couldn't have been bothered less with my objections as he tried to roll me over on my side to check my back.

The pain eventually forced me to comply, it was humiliating having beast Boy attend to my wounds, I wondered if he even had any medical training.

"You're lucky, you just stretched it out, I won't have to do anything, just yet." He said as he reapplied dressings over the damaged flesh.

He tried to help me roll over, but I batted him away "It's not like I can't do this on my own." I said which was followed by a slight wince as I finally settled.

"Since when we have emergency lean-tos?" I asked.

"We don't, Cyborg forgot to pack that." He said sarcastically before we both went silent for a few moments as he put more wood on the fire in front of us.

"Who built it, Robin?" I asked looking at the structure, it was sound enough to be deemed steady.

"Actually me," He said.

I looked at him incredibly "You must be joking." I said in a monotone voice.

He shook his head, "No, I haven't found anyone else, I saw your pod and headed towards it.

Slight panic ran through me, if we couldn't find the others how were we going to get off this rock?

"We have to go looking for them, they could be hurt or…" I said before Beast Boy cut me off.

"And what are we going to do, hmm, you can't even get up, we can't just go hiking across the planet."

"We have to do something!" I said, not trying to hide the annoyance in my voice.

"I don't think you realize just how injured you are, you have a cut on your forehead, probably a mild concussion and you have a gash going from you hip and hooking around to right under your lung, I can't move you Raven." He said sternly.

"Then you go, I'll stay." I said abruptly, I would be damned if we were stuck here forever with him as my only company.

"And leave you here defenseless to that thing that wrecked the station and our ship?" he asked.

Just then a thunderous roar was heard throughout the forest

"Great," I said and turned back to Raven "you stay here, I'll deal with it." I said getting up and dusting myself off.

She just stared at me "And what exactly are you going to do?" she asked, but I just shrugged in response,

"I'll think of something."

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The only reason I attacked the life form head on was to keep its attention on me and not Raven, that didn't turn out so well for me though.

The Shreiker was able to combat a charging Triceratops and effectively stop it in its tracks.

Before I could change tactics the beast came charging head on, instinctively I shifted into a turtle as it slammed into me.

This pattern seemed to continue forever, rhino, elephant, it didn't matter each was beaten back, a trail of broken trees in our wake

Suddenly an idea struck me in the head, I wasn't sure how my younger body would react, but it was worth a shot.

I readied myself and tried to shift, focusing on the creature in front of me I drank in every detail I could. I could feel myself changing, my height growing and my mass shifting.

For a moment the Shreiker just looked at me, probably confused as to why I turned into one of its kind. That was right before he was thrown back by a hostile roar.

Apparently it didn't take well to being attacked with its own frequency so I continued to advance on it, as it steadily fell back.

Eventually I was within arms distance of it, landing a massive blow on its torso I could hear all the foliage move from the shockwave which sent the creature flying.

Chasing after it I finally came to the smoldering crater where it had landed.

Shifting back, I bent down and look closer into the debris, only to be thrown back when the creature, bruised but not broken, launched itself back out.

Landing a few yards back I picked myself up as it charged again, like a raging bull.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted as I sent a spear of dark energy shooting towards it.

I heard the crack of armor and saw exactly what I had done, I threw my arms wide open and the creature exploded into two halves.

Green blood spilled down all over the ground and I was repulsed by the smell.

I looked down at the two main pieces of mangled flesh, their attached limbs still twitching from incoherent signals received from a mangled brain.

I instantly felt nauseous, I remembered a promise I made long ago, now I was here, that promise was broken.

I took off in a hurry as I transformed into a bird to fly back to Raven I couldn't help but notice the pain coursing through me as I flew.

My body hadn't been ready to shifting into more complex organisms like that one and I would be paying the price for the next few days, I just hoped it wasn't too bad.

Upon reaching the crash site I saw a semi-repaired T-Ship had landed nearby and three more figures standing around, a large crowd of small creatures gathered around them.

Even from this far off I heard their chanting "Booya."

Yes, yes I know this episode happened after the Prophecy, but it just is so much better here, the entire layout of season 4 is a bit uneven.

REVIEWS

Beakers47- Thanks man.

Mochafraptor- The chapters are getting slightly longer, but I don't have all the time in the world to write (to my disappointment).

The Dimensional Reader- Alright, take it down a notch.

Pikachewy- Wow, you literally have the same thoughts as me when it comes to Time Travel, always a pleasure to agree with someone and as for Val Yor all I'm going to say is that he will show up, eventually.

Alright that's it for this week, but I do have a warning I probably will not upload next week, I was incredibly sick this week with some virus or the flu and basically couldn't write anything new. I also don't have any more chapters in reserve as I got major writers block for a few chapters so I need to write more. DON'T WORRY JUST BECAUSE I DON'T UPDATE ONE WEEK DOESN'T MEAN I ABANDONED A STORY!

Now that we have that out of the way, until next time.