A/N: Sorry for not up-dating. I am putting new people in now to this fan
fiction that was in the book. I'll try explaining them well, but I'm not
too good at doing that. This chapter will tell you what the Teen Titans
have to do to get the cure. It might be a bit confusing at first, but try
to stay with me. Please R&R. Thanks!
Chapter 6 Hidden Falls
"So where are we all going, exactly?" Robin asked Felix as they treaded through the snow. Weeks before was that night where Raven had seen Ironclaw. They had told him everything that was happening and he said he could not help them, but he knew that his wife, Thorn Beak, and her new assistant, Betony, could help with their problem.
But the trouble was that the two lived in a big city away from the forest and over the snowy mountaintops. The Titans, Felix, Mika, and Ironclaw had been traveling for days through the snow. Felix said that last time he went to the city it was a lot faster because he and Betony flew on Ironclaw. Betony was a tangle child that helped Felix when he first came there. She was now Thorn Beak's assistant and did a good job at it.
"We are going to this city where it has lots of books," Felix said. "Thorn Beak and Betony can help us too. In this world there is only a tiny bit of books. Thorn Beak studies the stuff in them and knows all kinds of stuff about cures, spells, and history. She will know what to do."
"What if she does not know?" Mika said while walking up to the two.
Robin stared ahead trying not to think of what would happen if these two people Felix was talking could not find a cure. Felix bit his lower lip then said, "We can't give up. And we are not going to give up. Raven is most likely in the middle of the sickness. What do you think, Mika?"
"Yeah," Mika answered. "I've seen the sickness before on my planet. There was no cure for it though."
"Can you say 'kill joy'?" Robin said sarcastically as he gave a mean glare over at Mika. She did not seem to notice.
"But the old ones on my planet said there was one," she said still looking ahead into the misty white wonderland. "Of course none of us believed them. They kept talking about a Divide. I'm guessing that would be what Felix found."
They kept walking till Beast Boy started to complain about his sore feet again. They stopped and let Mika start a fire by using her powers. They all sat around the campfire in silence, but all thinking of the same thing.
"When do you think we should be getting out of the snow?" Cyborg asked.
"There is some country land coming up," Ironclaw said in thought. "It should take us only about a day to get there. I'm guessing that we should be there by noon tomorrow."
Starfire and Robin were going through cold sweats and Beast Boy was having a really bad case of the hick-ups. Raven was having fainting spells every so hour.
Bam! Raven fainted again for no apparent reason and Robin caught her in his strong arms.
"This is the...HICKUP...tenth...HICKUP...time...HICKUP...this morning...HICKUP!" Beast Boy said while nodding over at poor Raven. The others nodded in agreement. "Maybe...HICKUP...we should...HICKUP...do something...HICKUP."
Beast Boy opened his mouth again but Cyborg yelled, "Just shut your mouth! I'm getting a headache from your stupid hick-ups. Just shut up."
"HICKUP," Beast Boy let out and Cyborg got up, but was stopped by Robin.
"It's not his fault," Robin said while Cyborg sat back down. "Raven had the same thing, remember?"
"Yeah, but she did not torment me all day with it," Cyborg said while pointing over at Beast Boy who was trying to hold back a smile.
"Beast Boy is right though," Starfire said. Everyone looked over at her. Starfire had not said anything for days. "Raven is not doing well and I worry. Maybe you can fly her over to the city," She said to Ironclaw.
"That's not a bad idea," Felix said. "Do you mind? I know the way to the city. It's kind of easy."
"I don't mind," Ironclaw said. "It would be better for you all. They could figure out where the cure is while you all travel here, and I know Raven will be in good hands when we get there. I might need someone to come with me though. She might fall off my back if she faints."
"I'll go," Robin said while getting up from where he was seated. "Let's go now."
The group looked a little stunned and was a little mad that they were not going, but they knew that arguing would make it slower. They all got Robin and Raven ready and waved goodbye as the three took off.
* * *
Ironclaw slowly flew down to the steps of the huge library in the middle of the giant city around them. Raven and Robin looked around wide-eyed at the awesome sight. The huge library was really a huge hollow tree. All kinds of different animals and people came in and out of it.
"Look, a centaur!" Robin whispered to Raven. She gave a tiny smile over to Robin as she spotted the half horse, half human, animal that walked out of the library caring a boat full of books. "I sure hope this works out," Robin said as they walked up to the library that was looming before them.
They came into the main room that had a wooden floor and a tiny desk in the middle of it. As the three walked to the desk all that could be heard was Ironclaw's talons tapping against the wood. They got to the desk, but no one was behind it, so they just past it and went into the huge room full of books.
Robin stopped for a few seconds to pick out a book from an old shelf that looked like at the slightest touch it would fall. He flipped through the pages that were parchment and it was all written in ink that was fading away.
"These are as old as my grandma," Robin muttered as he closed the book sharply and put it back. He quickly caught up with Ironclaw and Raven. "This is never going to work. These books are too old to have any information about our sickness. If it was this old than they would have already founded the cure and it would not be spreading," Robin whispered to Raven.
"At least we should try," Raven whispered back and picked up her pace to get a head of him. Robin frowned and kind of lacked behind as they searched for Felix's friends. Finally they found the two.
Betony was an elf looking person with long curly blond hair that was put under a green cap. The rest of her outfit was green too. She smiled as she saw Ironclaw come up. She had been sitting on the floor with about ten old paper books around her and she was writing stuff down on a single piece of paper with a feather pin.
Thorn Beak was thinner than her husband, Ironclaw. Ironclaw was into math, but his wife was into history. Ironclaw had dark green feathers with some gold ones mixed in. Thorn Beak had just gold ones and her eyes were a pretty shade of purple. Her lion tail twitched as she saw the three come close. She had been picking out books and flipping through their pages and writing things on another piece of paper.
"Do you always have to meet us with poor humans that misshaped onto that stupid Divide?" Thorn Beak said as they came up to her. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Ironclaw.
Robin was not in the mode to just stand there and talk. He made his way in front of the griffin and Raven. "We have a sickness, so we came to Felix, he brought us here, and now he says that only you two can help us. If you can't we can leave right away."
Betony frowned as he said this so suddenly and Thorn Beak gave a little squawk and her feathers puffed up a little bit as he finished. Raven rolled her eyes as Ironclaw just nodded.
"Well, I can certainly help you," Thorn Beak said. She nodded over at Betony and the little tangle-child got up off the floor. "So what is your problem young man?" She held out a talon for him to shake.
Robin hesitated, but took it and they both shook as he answered, "That's our problem."
* * *
"The sickness you had appears to here," Betony said as she scanned the bindings of the books. She finally found a book that satisfied her enough. She quickly pulled it out and walked over to the table Raven, Thorn Beak, and Ironclaw were seated at. Robin was standing off to the side of the table crossing his arms in front of him.
She gave the book to Thorn Beak and Robin took a step closer to the table to take a look. Thorn Beck opened it and flipped through a few pages till she came to a certain spot.
"Here it is," she said and one of Robin's eyebrows rose. "It says that the monks of Half-moon got this sickness. They did not know it was dangerous till it was too late. One by one they died. The old ones finally found the cure, but before they could tell anyone they died as well. It says that the monk's monastery is still there and the cure is somewhere in there."
Robin's heart dropped. "So you're telling me that we all have to get to this monk's place to find the cure that they found? You're kidding me!"
Thorn Beak turned the page and smiled. She looked at Robin who was turning his head away and thinking of ways to get the cure. She took her claw and grabbed his head and shoved it into the book and said, "This here is your ticket out of here, young man. You follow this and the sooner you know it you will be a live man again. Now stop fusing and get with the program."
Robin looked at the map before him and half listened to Thorn Beak's words. He got out of her grip and looked at the pages in front of him. It was a map of some sort. It started with a jungle then it went into five waterfalls stacked up on top of each other with a temple looking thing on the top of them.
"Robin," Robin heard faintly. He looked up and was looking into Raven's big violet eyes.
"What do you need?" Robin asked.
"Let's do this," she said and he looked back to the map. She looked at him closer and found that under his stubbornness he was confused. "We need help. This is the only way. We need to do this."
"I know," he whispered and he looked more closely and found something else on the map he did not see the first time he looked over it. It was something written on the right hand corner of the map.
It said...
...Follow your way through the jungle to the five falling waters,
There you will climb your way to the second,
Dive in depths of its pool to find your way to the stone,
Climb the steps to the star and come out in the sun,
Grass is green and the flowers are purple, but pick the white one,
There you will lay down all your troubles.
Jak of Half-moon
"Do you see this?" Robin asked and pointed to the passage. Thorn Beak looked at it and read it out loud. She seemed to like it because she shoved Robin out of the way and her and Betony started to get deep in conversation about the little riddle. Ironclaw tried to help, but he seemed to just get in the way.
Robin took Raven to the side and said to her, "This is the cure, but it might take a long time to get there. We don't have too much time right now. You got the sickness first, you know you will die first?"
"Yes," she said while staring ahead at the three looking over the map. She looked up at him and added, "But the question I'm trying to figure out is how did we get this and no one else got it? If we got it then how come Felix did not get it and how come no one on Earth has gotten it? This is more than some mistake, Robin. Slade almost killed us last time with that time sickness thing. Keep your eyes on the back of your head. Right now we all need you."
This seemed to shock Robin. "Never really thought of that," he said quietly. "Since this stupid sickness I've been thinking too slowly. I let my guard down with Mika and I can't even think of the big picture. Climbing waterfalls is not possible in the condition we are all in. And now knowing that Slade could be out there we are badly going to make it."
When there came no answer Robin looked down at Raven. She had fainted again. He carefully caught her and laid her down against a bookshelf, which he did himself. He was too tiered to stand up and with all the worries swimming around in his brain his brain needed some down time also.
With Raven's head resting on his shoulder Robin finally dozed off to dream land. His dreams were full of nightmares though. Worries never left him, even if he were awake or sleeping.
A/N: I tried to explain stuff more, but I'm not sure if that is how the library looks or how the two griffins looked. I only read the book once, so I made up some of the stuff. The riddle I made up and you will get deeper into it the more the story goes on. It's important though. The story with the monks was my dad's idea and dream. Please give a review. Thanks!
Chapter 6 Hidden Falls
"So where are we all going, exactly?" Robin asked Felix as they treaded through the snow. Weeks before was that night where Raven had seen Ironclaw. They had told him everything that was happening and he said he could not help them, but he knew that his wife, Thorn Beak, and her new assistant, Betony, could help with their problem.
But the trouble was that the two lived in a big city away from the forest and over the snowy mountaintops. The Titans, Felix, Mika, and Ironclaw had been traveling for days through the snow. Felix said that last time he went to the city it was a lot faster because he and Betony flew on Ironclaw. Betony was a tangle child that helped Felix when he first came there. She was now Thorn Beak's assistant and did a good job at it.
"We are going to this city where it has lots of books," Felix said. "Thorn Beak and Betony can help us too. In this world there is only a tiny bit of books. Thorn Beak studies the stuff in them and knows all kinds of stuff about cures, spells, and history. She will know what to do."
"What if she does not know?" Mika said while walking up to the two.
Robin stared ahead trying not to think of what would happen if these two people Felix was talking could not find a cure. Felix bit his lower lip then said, "We can't give up. And we are not going to give up. Raven is most likely in the middle of the sickness. What do you think, Mika?"
"Yeah," Mika answered. "I've seen the sickness before on my planet. There was no cure for it though."
"Can you say 'kill joy'?" Robin said sarcastically as he gave a mean glare over at Mika. She did not seem to notice.
"But the old ones on my planet said there was one," she said still looking ahead into the misty white wonderland. "Of course none of us believed them. They kept talking about a Divide. I'm guessing that would be what Felix found."
They kept walking till Beast Boy started to complain about his sore feet again. They stopped and let Mika start a fire by using her powers. They all sat around the campfire in silence, but all thinking of the same thing.
"When do you think we should be getting out of the snow?" Cyborg asked.
"There is some country land coming up," Ironclaw said in thought. "It should take us only about a day to get there. I'm guessing that we should be there by noon tomorrow."
Starfire and Robin were going through cold sweats and Beast Boy was having a really bad case of the hick-ups. Raven was having fainting spells every so hour.
Bam! Raven fainted again for no apparent reason and Robin caught her in his strong arms.
"This is the...HICKUP...tenth...HICKUP...time...HICKUP...this morning...HICKUP!" Beast Boy said while nodding over at poor Raven. The others nodded in agreement. "Maybe...HICKUP...we should...HICKUP...do something...HICKUP."
Beast Boy opened his mouth again but Cyborg yelled, "Just shut your mouth! I'm getting a headache from your stupid hick-ups. Just shut up."
"HICKUP," Beast Boy let out and Cyborg got up, but was stopped by Robin.
"It's not his fault," Robin said while Cyborg sat back down. "Raven had the same thing, remember?"
"Yeah, but she did not torment me all day with it," Cyborg said while pointing over at Beast Boy who was trying to hold back a smile.
"Beast Boy is right though," Starfire said. Everyone looked over at her. Starfire had not said anything for days. "Raven is not doing well and I worry. Maybe you can fly her over to the city," She said to Ironclaw.
"That's not a bad idea," Felix said. "Do you mind? I know the way to the city. It's kind of easy."
"I don't mind," Ironclaw said. "It would be better for you all. They could figure out where the cure is while you all travel here, and I know Raven will be in good hands when we get there. I might need someone to come with me though. She might fall off my back if she faints."
"I'll go," Robin said while getting up from where he was seated. "Let's go now."
The group looked a little stunned and was a little mad that they were not going, but they knew that arguing would make it slower. They all got Robin and Raven ready and waved goodbye as the three took off.
* * *
Ironclaw slowly flew down to the steps of the huge library in the middle of the giant city around them. Raven and Robin looked around wide-eyed at the awesome sight. The huge library was really a huge hollow tree. All kinds of different animals and people came in and out of it.
"Look, a centaur!" Robin whispered to Raven. She gave a tiny smile over to Robin as she spotted the half horse, half human, animal that walked out of the library caring a boat full of books. "I sure hope this works out," Robin said as they walked up to the library that was looming before them.
They came into the main room that had a wooden floor and a tiny desk in the middle of it. As the three walked to the desk all that could be heard was Ironclaw's talons tapping against the wood. They got to the desk, but no one was behind it, so they just past it and went into the huge room full of books.
Robin stopped for a few seconds to pick out a book from an old shelf that looked like at the slightest touch it would fall. He flipped through the pages that were parchment and it was all written in ink that was fading away.
"These are as old as my grandma," Robin muttered as he closed the book sharply and put it back. He quickly caught up with Ironclaw and Raven. "This is never going to work. These books are too old to have any information about our sickness. If it was this old than they would have already founded the cure and it would not be spreading," Robin whispered to Raven.
"At least we should try," Raven whispered back and picked up her pace to get a head of him. Robin frowned and kind of lacked behind as they searched for Felix's friends. Finally they found the two.
Betony was an elf looking person with long curly blond hair that was put under a green cap. The rest of her outfit was green too. She smiled as she saw Ironclaw come up. She had been sitting on the floor with about ten old paper books around her and she was writing stuff down on a single piece of paper with a feather pin.
Thorn Beak was thinner than her husband, Ironclaw. Ironclaw was into math, but his wife was into history. Ironclaw had dark green feathers with some gold ones mixed in. Thorn Beak had just gold ones and her eyes were a pretty shade of purple. Her lion tail twitched as she saw the three come close. She had been picking out books and flipping through their pages and writing things on another piece of paper.
"Do you always have to meet us with poor humans that misshaped onto that stupid Divide?" Thorn Beak said as they came up to her. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Ironclaw.
Robin was not in the mode to just stand there and talk. He made his way in front of the griffin and Raven. "We have a sickness, so we came to Felix, he brought us here, and now he says that only you two can help us. If you can't we can leave right away."
Betony frowned as he said this so suddenly and Thorn Beak gave a little squawk and her feathers puffed up a little bit as he finished. Raven rolled her eyes as Ironclaw just nodded.
"Well, I can certainly help you," Thorn Beak said. She nodded over at Betony and the little tangle-child got up off the floor. "So what is your problem young man?" She held out a talon for him to shake.
Robin hesitated, but took it and they both shook as he answered, "That's our problem."
* * *
"The sickness you had appears to here," Betony said as she scanned the bindings of the books. She finally found a book that satisfied her enough. She quickly pulled it out and walked over to the table Raven, Thorn Beak, and Ironclaw were seated at. Robin was standing off to the side of the table crossing his arms in front of him.
She gave the book to Thorn Beak and Robin took a step closer to the table to take a look. Thorn Beck opened it and flipped through a few pages till she came to a certain spot.
"Here it is," she said and one of Robin's eyebrows rose. "It says that the monks of Half-moon got this sickness. They did not know it was dangerous till it was too late. One by one they died. The old ones finally found the cure, but before they could tell anyone they died as well. It says that the monk's monastery is still there and the cure is somewhere in there."
Robin's heart dropped. "So you're telling me that we all have to get to this monk's place to find the cure that they found? You're kidding me!"
Thorn Beak turned the page and smiled. She looked at Robin who was turning his head away and thinking of ways to get the cure. She took her claw and grabbed his head and shoved it into the book and said, "This here is your ticket out of here, young man. You follow this and the sooner you know it you will be a live man again. Now stop fusing and get with the program."
Robin looked at the map before him and half listened to Thorn Beak's words. He got out of her grip and looked at the pages in front of him. It was a map of some sort. It started with a jungle then it went into five waterfalls stacked up on top of each other with a temple looking thing on the top of them.
"Robin," Robin heard faintly. He looked up and was looking into Raven's big violet eyes.
"What do you need?" Robin asked.
"Let's do this," she said and he looked back to the map. She looked at him closer and found that under his stubbornness he was confused. "We need help. This is the only way. We need to do this."
"I know," he whispered and he looked more closely and found something else on the map he did not see the first time he looked over it. It was something written on the right hand corner of the map.
It said...
...Follow your way through the jungle to the five falling waters,
There you will climb your way to the second,
Dive in depths of its pool to find your way to the stone,
Climb the steps to the star and come out in the sun,
Grass is green and the flowers are purple, but pick the white one,
There you will lay down all your troubles.
Jak of Half-moon
"Do you see this?" Robin asked and pointed to the passage. Thorn Beak looked at it and read it out loud. She seemed to like it because she shoved Robin out of the way and her and Betony started to get deep in conversation about the little riddle. Ironclaw tried to help, but he seemed to just get in the way.
Robin took Raven to the side and said to her, "This is the cure, but it might take a long time to get there. We don't have too much time right now. You got the sickness first, you know you will die first?"
"Yes," she said while staring ahead at the three looking over the map. She looked up at him and added, "But the question I'm trying to figure out is how did we get this and no one else got it? If we got it then how come Felix did not get it and how come no one on Earth has gotten it? This is more than some mistake, Robin. Slade almost killed us last time with that time sickness thing. Keep your eyes on the back of your head. Right now we all need you."
This seemed to shock Robin. "Never really thought of that," he said quietly. "Since this stupid sickness I've been thinking too slowly. I let my guard down with Mika and I can't even think of the big picture. Climbing waterfalls is not possible in the condition we are all in. And now knowing that Slade could be out there we are badly going to make it."
When there came no answer Robin looked down at Raven. She had fainted again. He carefully caught her and laid her down against a bookshelf, which he did himself. He was too tiered to stand up and with all the worries swimming around in his brain his brain needed some down time also.
With Raven's head resting on his shoulder Robin finally dozed off to dream land. His dreams were full of nightmares though. Worries never left him, even if he were awake or sleeping.
A/N: I tried to explain stuff more, but I'm not sure if that is how the library looks or how the two griffins looked. I only read the book once, so I made up some of the stuff. The riddle I made up and you will get deeper into it the more the story goes on. It's important though. The story with the monks was my dad's idea and dream. Please give a review. Thanks!