Disclaimer: (Insert witty comment here)
A/N: This is incredible. I have nearly twice as many reviews for this story than any other. I was convinced that everyone would hate my stories. I never imagined that any of them would become popular; especially my very first attempt at romance. I appreciate those of you who reviewed. It means a lot to an aspiring novelist such as myself. Also in case anyone cares I have updated the Bio in my Profiles page. Enjoy the rest of the fic.
Chapter Five: The Plan
The furry green dog that had now returned to being Beast Boy retreated to the camp center to eat breakfast next to Terra. Raven looked up at the smiling face of Sword. "The others said that they had another one of those dreams." She took the bottle and he helped her up. "I sort of figured that you might need these." Just touching him sent a shock of pleasure up her arm. He released her hand and walked with her to the camp center for breakfast.
"So," she asked, "What's on the fire." He looked back at her and grinned.
"Special," he said, "Bell peppers and beef." He stooped, picked up a plate, and handed it to her. She looked down at the food on the plate and frowned. Sitting on the platter were indeed plenty of red, yellow, and green fried bell peppers. There was not any meat at all.
"Where's the beef?" She asked this with a slight amount of confusion.
"Oh… that," Sword smiled nervously, "Cyborg ate most of it." Raven sighed and sat down. She picked up a set of silverware and began to eat while waiting for her headache to abate.
((()))
Later that day the Titans gathered around Sword. He had his "seeking stone" as Starfire had called it and was searching the directions. After this he informed them that they were near the "palace" of the Daemon Cargan. "Alright everyone we will need to be very careful." He looked around at the Titans. "When we get inside we won't encounter much resistance unless we activate the alarms. Everything valuable is wired to a mental alarm. If anything valuable is moved even an inch out of place we will have every intelligent demon on us within the space of eleven heartbeats."
The Teen Titans all nodded. "Once inside you must follow my every direction." He waited for the rest of them to agree. When they did he continued. "The Daemon Cargan is dangerous. I've met him once before and I barely escaped with my life. Mearnoz is a bit more civil. If it were him who had stolen the diamond we could maybe have bargained with him to get it back but I'm sorry to say Cargan isn't overly fond of me. The last time we met I took one of his most precious toys from him."
Raven was curious, "What was it?" Sword sighed and shook his head.
"He had obtained an artifact from one of the worlds that I had already sealed and it would have been enough to give him dominance over nearly half of this world."
"An artifact?" Raven was prompting him to reveal what it was.
"It was a legendary magical pot called the Lotus Battery. It provided sufficient amounts of fresh magical energy and came with a glove called the Hanara ~ Krim. It allows the bearer to create natural resources. I couldn't let him keep it. If he had none of the worlds I hadn't sealed would have fallen to his reign."
Raven waited for the other Titans to leave to prepare for whatever they might encounter before she spoke again. "You'd risk your life for worlds that you may never visit again?"
"The reason I left my home world was because I had nothing there," he sounded solemn, "I had money and fame sure. I was a popular novelist and game designer but that wasn't enough. I was getting old and I had been searching for a way out of my pitifully mundane world. My world had no Mana in it. It was a defective plane of existence. The people couldn't perform real magic." Sword slumped to the ground in a half sitting position, "Magicians did parlor tricks, sleight of hand, for entertainment. I alone knew that there was a way out of that miserable life of drudgery. I looked long and hard to find a way out." As he spoke Raven sat down beside him to listen.
"How old do you think I am?" He surprised her with the question.
She blinked twice and then answered, "You look like you're nineteen." The hero sighed and shook his head.
"I am closer to two hundred and forty years old," he sighed again and looked at her. "I was forty-three years of age when I found this sword," he pointed to the sheath at his side, "I found it in an unknown cavern deep within the bowels of the earth. It was somewhere under the Atlantic Ocean. It is named the Tefarmechtana. It is a word in an ancient language that means "Wanderer of Worlds" It gave me eternal youth and power on one condition."
"What was that?"
"That I do as it wishes me for two centuries. I still have three years to go before I can relinquish it. Once it leaves me I will be free to travel abroad and stay where I please. I will be able to live freely, and most importantly, love freely." Sword rose from his sitting position and looked out across the wastes of Xith. He turned to Raven, as she was about to leave and called her name.
"Yes?"
"After we are done with this mission I will be leaving you and the Titans to finish the last three years of servitude to the sword," he reached inside his coat and pulled out an azure colored stone set in a simple string necklace. "I think I will return to your world. I think…" he paused as if afraid to say what he wanted to say, "I think I'm falling in love with you and I would like to return to you after I am finished." He carefully placed the necklace around her head. The pale blue stone shone in the bright wasteland sun. "When I return this stone will give you a sign. It will mean that I have returned to you."
He then turned and walked off into the blood colored desert to meditate.
((()))
Raven stared at the gift he had given her, her mind not comprehending what he had said until he was no longer in sight. When it finally registered what he had said her eyes widened and she placed her hand over her mouth and gasped. He was falling in love with her! Had he really said that? Were her ears fooling her? No he had definitely said what he had said. Sword was falling in love with her!
She looked once again at the simple necklace he had given her. It was irregularly cut and wasn't the highest quality, but it meant the world to her. Raven was in love and loving it. She decided then and there that she would never remove the priceless gem from around her neck. He had said that he would be leaving after their mission to finish his servitude. She would wait forever for him.
For the first time in her life Raven was truly happy. A goofy smile appeared on her face as she went to the campsite to await the return of her friends. When Robin, the first to return from preparations, asked why she was smiling all she could do was shrug and continue to smile.
((()))
They had no trouble sneaking into Cargan's so called palace. The structure was a large roughly shaped dome. Inside were caves lighted in the same way the small gallery that the Titans had stayed in earlier. The gems that lit the palace hallways were an ugly orange color that made the already blood colored walls look even more disgusting. Interspaced among the walls were alcoves and shelves that held what demons would consider priceless art and valuable items. Most of them were the horns of defeated Daemons that had fallen during one war or another.
The trouble came later on when they were closing in on the location of the Lost Innocence diamond. Sword was in the lead using his seeking stone to guide them through the eerie halls of the palace. Robin and Cyborg came just behind him as though to be bodyguards. Starfire was floating alongside Terra after them. Beast Boy and Raven remained bringing up the rear.
Raven, despite her earlier bliss, was now thoroughly pissed. She had to drag Beast Boy away from every interesting item lining the walls and warn him to stay with the group. He had stopped one more time to admire what looked like a demon's razor sharp claw. Raven turned to grab him when she saw something horrible happen. Beast Boy sneezed. The force of his nasal explosion caused the claw to fall from its shelf.
Just as Sword had predicted, within the space of eleven heartbeats the halls were swarming with demons.
"Everybody run." Sword placed his seeking stone into his pocket and unsheathed his sword. Immediately he began to swing in wide arcs at the demons in front of him. Starfire began to fly as high as the ceiling allowed and Beast Boy transformed into a bull elephant. The charge left the hallway with the wounded and dieing.
The party passed through a large doorway into what could only be called a throne room. In the center of the back wall stood an uncomfortable looking high backed throne. On it sat a hideous humanoid creature. It had four arms and two legs. Its face was all fangs and eyes. There was no nose to speak of and five large sharp horns stood from its chalk white forehead. Its hair was a vivid red and its teeth were long, sharp and protruding. It was taller than if another Cyborg were standing on the original's shoulders.
Its upper right hand was clutched around the Lost Innocence. Its three other hands held very unpleasant looking weapons. To everyone's horror the thing stood as its servant demons gathered around the edge of the throne room to watch the impending fight.
"Back for another beating Aemontath?" The things voice was deep and heavily accented. It seemed to chew on the words as he spoke. "You would do well to leave this place. I told you never return if you valued your life."
"I would gladly have stayed away from your disgusting world. I could not, however, leave you with a way to conquer and destroy." Sword seemed to grow as he spoke, "Fight with your brother Daemons if you must but leave the other planes away from your battleground. The stone you hold is the last I need to seal the last world and complete the barrier I have created."
"Then you and your friends will perish here and now!" By this time Sword was at the same size and height as the Daemon. "I will deal with you first and then I will torture your companions."
The two immense figures then initiated the battle with the steely ring of sword on sword. The Daemon Cargan had an advantage attributed to his extra set of arms. Raven watched in awe as the warring giants collided. The two seemed evenly matched and were in a stalemate until Sword pulled a stunt that would gain him the upper hand. He feinted left and swung right. A cry of pain and anger could be heard, as black blood sprayed from the place where the Daemon's lower left arm would have been.
Taking advantage of the momentary lapse in defense, Sword lunged in and swung a quick combination of swipes. He slashed at each arm in turn until two clangs were heard as the other two weapons hit the floor. With a third slash two of the Daemon's horns were cut to stubs. As the final thrust was delivered Sword grabbed the only remaining arm and wrenched the black stone free from the Daemon's hand. He did not come away without an injury however.
Sword had not only taken severe wounds from the duel but as he had pried the Lost Innocence from Cargan's fingers, the Daemon had taken a powerful bite into the shoulder of the man. The gray-cloaked hero walked to the Titans looking a mess. The lesser demons, recovering from the loss of their master, began to close in on the team. "Everyone hold them back!"
The Titans began to move out in a circle. As Raven moved out to protect her first love she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find Sword holding on to her. "Stay here. I am weakened and may need help standing." And just as Raven placed herself under his arm he nearly collapsed.
As the others defended the position as best they could Sword held the dark gem aloft and began to chant. The words were sharp and the tone swift. As the climax of the chant was realized he spoke in English. "With this spell and amplifier I bind this world from all others. The barrier is complete let us stay here no more!"
The world began to blur and with it the demons became intangible. The surroundings fuzzed over even more and then cleared to become the den of the Titan Tower. The others turned toward the center of the circle to see that Sword had fallen unconscious. He was lying on the floor and Raven was on her knees holding him. Robin, always the first to speak, said, "Lets get him to his guest room and clean him up. He'll have to recover before he can do anything else."
A/N: Well I hope you enjoy that because it may take a while for me to come up with something else to add. I have the rest of the story pretty much figured out but I may need some time to work out the details. Happy Reading.
