Raven sighed, trying to get back to her meditation. Sadly, it proved impossible with the strong emotions she could feel coming from the living room. There were spikes of anger, and frustration, alongside with some hidden pain on top of it all.
Not that she was much better, Raven thought, getting up from her bed. She winced, feeling the discomfort even this small movement caused to her body. As much as she hated her demonic blood, she had to say that this time it proved really useful. Even with her unnatural healing she basically had to re-grow huge parts of her skin, not counting damage to throat and lungs. And holy water made the wounds even worse.
She knew that Earth doctors were sure she would die – and even Cyborg had doubts if she'll pull through, before she woke up – but in the end, she survived. Sadly, it didn't make the recovery process more pleasant. Much faster, and not leaving any scars, but pain was still there, all the time.
She was meditating even more than usual, escaping to Nevermore from the ever-present pain and discomfort. Her Anger was agitated by this suffering, and despite her making major step forward in controlling it, it was still restless. She needed more meditation then usual… and she was even more irritable than usual.
She was aware that she wasn't always the nicest person; it came with her childhood, the strict training and separating of her feelings, not even counting the need to keep her emotions low all the time. But now, with all the pain, she became even more snappy and rude.
Not like she was the only one. Beast Boy was keeping his true emotions hidden, but he still had nightmares from his time as a mutated monstrosity. She knew he couldn't sleep; in the end, he asked Starfire to sleep in his room, because he just couldn't spend a single night without some horrendous dreams.
Starfire was hungry. Her people took power from the sun, and even all those weeks since the attack she still had to severely limit her exposure to it. Sadly, it seemed that her body took the overabundance of sun in a way human body grows fat. Just not going out to sun was not an option, at some point just causing her hunger-like pain, so she had to go out for a short time, and spend rest of the time in barely lit-up room. They tried to just leave the light in the room, but it turned out that her body was able to absorb the light from the artificial light, but not sustain itself on it. Starfire ended up spending weeks in mostly dark room, and she suffered greatly because of it.
Fortunately for both of them, their problems matched in many ways. Beast Boy was slowly back to changing forms without crippling fear, but it helped to have someone with him at all times, so they just spend all day in his room. At night, they were sometimes flying out, and while even the moonlight was too much for longer exposure at least Starfire could get out for longer safely.
At first, Robin was protesting the idea of Beast Boy and Starfire sleeping in the same room, for some reason she couldn't understand. She was pretty sure she felt some jealousy at some point, but as usual Boy Wonder's mental shield proved to be very good at keeping her out. And she also at least tried to limit her powers and value other's privacy, as much as she could, being empath and all.
Robin's protests were cut short when Beast Boy asked if maybe he wants to sleep with him. Robin actually went speechless for a moment, and then just capitulated, focusing again on his own health. He started training the moment he could breathe safely, and with minimal help of Raven's healing got back to reasonable form quickly. Although, he was still not at one hundred percent for sure. Cyborg was making sure he's not overdoing it, as well as overseeing their health in general.
The half-mechanical Titan proved to be the great choice for their team medic, taking care of them after the attack and, on his own, helping both to save Wonder Woman and then rescue both Beast Boy and Starfire. In the meantime, he was basically covering all fronts, media, contacts with the city mayor, coordinating with the League in the current situation.
Cyborg was the least affected of all of them, but still had signs of mental trauma. Still, he was much better than some of other superheroes, even outside Titans. Green Arrow disappeared for a time, with both his arms broken (since somehow, Batman considered this to be the best way to neutralize him) while Zatanna almost lost her voice.
Zatanna. Raven was still angry at her. The sorceress used the knowledge Raven gave her, and broke her trust by creating this summoning circle. She was also, it seems, transphobic.
Transgender. That was a new word, and changed a lot in Raven's life. But for now, her musings on her life and current state of Titans were interrupted as she entered the mayhem that was living room. Beast Boy and Cyborg were arguing over some video game, and Robin was doing a facepalm, visibly annoyed.
"Both of you, stop it!" Robin shouted, which of course didn't help at all. It only made her headache worse. Everyone was sick of being ill, weak, having to stay in the Tower most of the time, and they were really getting on each other's nerves. Arguments were happening regularly, and she started to hope for an alarm lately.
Starfire entered the room, holding a lot of… decorations? Tamarnian girl, obvious to the argument, started saying something, only to be drowned out by the shouting match between the boys.
Raven sighed. "Great job, Robin, shouting is definitely going to reduce the amount of shouting in the room." Alright, that was overly harsh, she thought, seeing as Robin tries to stop himself from making equally rude retort.
Before any of them managed to say anything, however, situation went from bad to worse. The controller that the two boys fought over slipped out of their hands and flew through the room, hitting the pile of things Starfire brought.
Everything fell to the floor. She tried to catch something, but it was in vain. One pearl necklace just fell apart, white orbs rolling in every direction. Few glass decorations shattered loudly, and everyone stopped, looking at the Starfire.
She just stood there, speechless, with tears in her eyes, before saying: "Friends, please, stop this! Why are you fighting? It is Blorthog, you can't do that!"
"Blorthog?" Beast Boy asked, confused.
"Yes! It is a day of celebration with friends, to prevent the Rekmas!" Seeing how her friends seem confused, she added: "On Tamaran, this is how we call the moment close friends start to drift away. Blorthog is a yearly reminder that one has friends, and they can celebrate together. I," She stopped for a moment, overcome with emotions. "I don't want you to drift apart!"
There was a moment of awkward silence, all other Titans avoiding each other's eyes, until Robin finally answered. "Star, we're not drifting apart. We're all in pain, tired, and spending too much time together. It's normal that everyone is irritable lately. Soon, we're be back to normal."
Everyone else nodded, but Starfire wasn't convinced. "How can you be so sure of it, friend Robin? I look at you, and I see you all arguing all the time. I'm… scared." She admitted, and everyone could see it.
Before anyone managed to say anything else, the alarm sounded. Raven cursed her luck; of course, one time where they could benefit from a conversation, alarm sounds. Typical. Weaker or not, they were still Titans, and they were halfway to the T-car in moments. They jumped in, Robin opening his laptop and checking all the information on their way.
"Museum Robbery. Thief is trying to steal something called… Clock of Eternity? Ancient clock of unknown origin?" Robin winced. He hated time travel. "Raven, rings any bells?"
"I don't know much about this dimension's artifacts. But it does sound like it can be magical, in which case the situation is far worse than it seems." Raven tried to remember something about time magic, aside from basic theory and huge warnings 'do not try it' on the covers. She was thankful that warnings were written before the spells, not after, considering how dangerous some of them were. She took a look at the screen. "I will know more when we're there. How come no one thought that an ancient, unknown origin but still working clock may be magical or at least not from Earth? Didn't they think about asking Justice League for help?"
"People are not used to idea of things being actually magical, Raven." Beast Boy answered. "It's even worse in central and south America. Indigenous people were more interested in magic, and more cautious, then conquistadors. Now most of their land was stolen, and suffered horrible slaughter and genocide, so now you have bunch of rich people with no idea of magic or local history on a land full of things that can be dangerous to everyone around."
"How come every time we have some kind of problem, you make it a larger societal issue, grass stain?" Cyborg asked, driving through the city. "Do you research them in your free time, or something?"
"We're just surrounded by injustice." Beast Boy answered seriously, as they arrived at the museum. "You just need to open your eyes and look around to see them. If you had to guess, how many things in this museum were actually stolen from their owners?"
"Alright, team, focus on our thief for now." Robin said, leaving the T-car. "Let's go from the roof. Raven, try to find out as much as you can about any magic here."
They made it to the roof without any problem, and quietly snuck up to the villain. Hiding on a small balcony, they looked over the costumed criminal, who just disposed of the security officers.
Robin winced, seeing this. Security officers put up a very brave fight, despite their enemy being obviously a metahuman in some kind of powered armor and force field that just harmlessly deflected bullets. Thanks to their bravery, Titans arrived in time to catch the villain – but, just as they arrived, they witnessed both officers being encapsulated in… ice? No, Robin quickly realized, it was not ice. "Raven?"
"Everyone, be extremely careful." She answered, focusing on the ancient clock. "He is freezing things in time. I have no idea how to reverse this process if he hits you."
Everyone tensed. Fighting villain with any kind of one-hit weapon, something that could take them out in one attack, was always extremely dangerous. They needed to attack swiftly and give their enemy no time to react.
"Alright. He has some kind of force field and powered armor. Attack from all sides at my signal, and keep it up. Look for any weakness, and don't get hit." They spread over the balcony, quietly, and then, when villain was reaching for the clock, they all attacked at once.
Robin's bird-a-rangs, Starfire's starbolts, Cyborg's cannon, big metal railing thrown by Beast Boy and another thrown by Raven all hit the villain. All projectiles crashed into him, with first kinetic impact and then explosions of energy throwing him away from the clock, but apparently unharmed. He quickly got up, and a force field appeared around him, deflecting all other attacks.
"Ah, the Teen Titans!" he said in an arrogant voice. "I read about you in history books. And now, you will become history!" He fired some kind of white energy bolts from his suit, but everyone managed to dodge them. "You cannot stand against the might and intellect of the Warp!"
"Warp? Are you a big Warhammer fan, or something?" Beast Boy asked, ducking under another attack and throwing a punch that deflect off the energy shield.
"Pathetic! You are all nothing compared to my genius!" Warp stated, throwing another bolt of energy. "I know what you can do, and I can defeat you easily! It already happened, the clock was stolen right here and now!"
"That's not how time travel works." Raven answered, still trying to stop Warp, but failing to pierce his shield with anything she could throw. "Do you have a slightest idea what you're doing?"
"You are the past, and I am the future!" Warp shouted in return, shooting bolts of energy everywhere. Villain's monologue was sharply interrupted by tendrils of shadow energy that appeared inside his shields; instead of piercing it, Raven just willed her powers inside of it, grabbed the villain and threw him on the ground, causing his shield to sparkle and overload.
Warp managed to jump up and away from Cyborg's armored fist, only to be hit by Beast Boy. Moments later, flying through air, he was hit by Robin's reinforced bo staff. The fight was quickly turning against the time-travelling villain. Seeing this, he started indiscriminately blasting everything around him, throwing energy bolts, automated missiles and bombs, and causing havoc in the entire room. Priceless artifacts were broken and everything got covered in smoke as the villain fought his way out.
Starfire was the only one close enough to see him grabbing the clock, miraculously untouched, and create some kind of portal. She screamed in anger and jumped after him, seconds before other Titans tried to follow… but the portal closed after her.
"Starfire!" Beast Boy screamed, and everyone stood, looking at the place she disappeared. "No, no, come back!"
As if reacting to his words, a second portal opened next to them, and Starfire fell out of it, shaking, and holding the clock. She looked at it, and then at her friends, tears still in her eyes. "I have it! So he was wrong. I can change it!"
"Wait, Star, you were in the future?" Cyborg asked, slightly confused.
"How was it? Did you see me?" Beast Boy asked, excited, but to his surprise Starfire looked at him and cried. "Star? What's wrong?"
"Give us space." Raven walked closer and slowly sat down next to Starfire. "Star. Star, look at me. Whatever you've seen, it's only a possible future. Nothing is set in stone. I know whatever it was, may look really bad, but it's not what will happen."
"Wait, it's not?" Cyborg asked, now thoroughly confused.
"No. It was just a possible future. No one can truly and without any error predict what will happen. Not the greatest of demons, wizards or scientist can achieve that. There is always an uncertainty, and many oracles of great power and wisdom learned it the hard way. Starfire, it's alright, whatever it was it's gone now. You're here, with us."
Starfire nodded, and tried to calm herself. She relaxed slightly, and took few deep breaths, remembering the techniques Raven taught her. Seeing that, the half-demon Titan nodded, and turned around to the boys. "And now, for you. Be aware, you will not like what you hear. It's inevitable. Either you will hear bad news, and then live in paranoia for the rest of your lives, or you hear something amazing and then wait for it while it never happens."
"Speaking from experience?" Robin asked, seeing as Raven was atypically emotional about it – at least for her standards.
"I wish." She answered cryptically, not really wanting to ever tell her friends of the prophecy she carried. "For now, just let her rest, and if you know what's good for you don't ask her questions."
Everyone nodded, although she could see they were tempted. She sighed. You'd think a group of superheroes, who saw a lot of weird and dangerous things, including her magic getting out of control, would be more resistant to temptations like this. Only Robin seemed in control and cool, as usual.
"Alright, sorry but we have to go. Starfire was already too long under the sun, and we don't want to have you in a dark room for longer than necessary. Are you wounded? Can you walk?" Cyborg asked, internally realizing he was so shocked he didn't ask the important question first.
Starfire shook her head. "I'm not wounded, just… it was so lonely. Everyone was just…" She shuddered. "Let's go to the Tower, please."
Everyone agreed with her. Fortunately for them, the time-frozen guards returned to life moments later, confused but not even scratched. Robin gave short statement to police officers on site, and Titans left back home after their first mission since recovery.
Few days later, sitting in the darkness, Starfire was still thinking of the future. It was just so… her thoughts were interrupted by opening doors. To her surprise, it was not friend Beast Boy or friend Robin this time. "Friend Raven?"
Raven closed the door, and silently walked next to her friend, sitting on the floor in the darkness. "Hey, Starfire. How are you?"
"Oh, I'm splendid, friend Raven! I can get out more now, and it feels very nice. I fly a lot with friend Beast Boy during the night, it helps a lot." Starfire answered, trying to snap herself out of her darker thoughts. "And how are you feeling, friend?"
"Better every day. Listen, Starfire, I know you probably saw very bad things in the future. I know how it feels." Raven took a deep breath. What came into her in these last few months, to do things like that? Well, as she heard a lot lately in a show she started watching, friendship is indeed magic it seems. "If you… want to talk about, or have any questions, I'm here."
"Oh, thank you! I, um, actually do have a question. Warp told me that history is set in stone, that he is sure of it, and all things will happen as they are supposed to. But you say he was wrong, and I returned with the clock, so it can be changed, right?" Starfire asked with a little hesitation.
"… This is a long and complicated topic, but I'll do my best." Raven sat in silence for a minute, thinking of a way to answer this question. "There are endless ways to interpret the passing of time. Many dimensions have their own, unique way of understanding time. Here in this dimension, at least from what I learned, there is one main time stream, and many alternate realities. Sometimes someone travels through them, but most of the time they are separate from each other."
"So, when I brought back the clock… that reality remained, but this is a different one? Am I in a different world?" Starfire asked, confused.
"According to the theory of Earth Prime, every choice we make creates a new, parallel Earth. Depending on whether you believe it or not, with every moment in time, every thought and action creates new reality, and a new copy of you. That's one end of the theoretical spectrum. On the other end, you have a deterministic theory saying that no matter what we do, everything is predetermined and there is no randomness, therefore there is only one true reality; in this scenario, you just changed this reality and that future where Warp came from no longer exists." Seeing as Starfire becomes more confused, and slightly scared, Raven added: "It's better not to think about it. Most of those who tried any kind of time manipulation never existed, and thinking too much about it can easily lead to wrong conclusions."
"You mean, they died?"
"No. They never existed, do not exist and will never exist." Raven stated in a way that sounded even more serious than her usual voice. "Best not to think about it too much, Starfire. Whatever you saw, I can assure you, it won't happen."
"Thank you, friend Raven." Starfire answered, feeling a little better.
Of course, Raven thought bitterly, there will be no future for this reality if Trigon comes here. He will just rip asunder the fundamentals of existence, and everything will be his, forever.
She decided to spare her friend this sobering thought.
And far, far away, on a planet that could be rightfully called Hell itself, a powerful being looked to the sky, lost in thought.
So, another time traveler. And another timeline change. Doesn't matter; he remembered, and he knew, but his minions did not, working tirelessly under his command to bring his rule to the multiverse. No, what was truly interesting was that he could feel a shadow over the future. Something apocalyptic in power, that could affect the timeline before it even appeared. A rival approaching, perhaps?
Standing on the balcony of his mighty fortress, Darkseid thought about Earth. And he knew he would conquer it soon.
