Fallen Wings
Castles: Yes, I'm a bad Castles, I've abandoned my 'Satan's Child' dedication, and I haven't been seen around for weeks…
The truth is, I took a month off the pressures of being an author, being on Skool holidays and all that. So, I've been working on my ever-creative mind, and now I'm back, with the Dawn of the New World!!! (Or something like that…)
Kittens With Claws: (Or the new unison of Kitty and PSLK) We're back too! (Castles doesn't own the Teen Titans.) Where would Castles be without her faithful muses?
Castles: A lot better off. Please note that I am starting Year 10 (9th Grade) on the 7th of September, and therefore am starting the preparation for my GCSE's! (The big scary exams next year, which decide on my future fate…) So, updates will be when and as I can manage them. Please be patient with me. On with the ficcie!!!
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The world was quiet around her. Silent, still little beings existed inside the tall, stone cold buildings, long silenced humans who had been crushed like the midgets they were. They didn't have freedom; they didn't have free speech or rights. Nobody would dare stand up, and say 'This isn't right'. The darkness had consumed them, and only the adaptable were able to survive in this new world.
Nobody likes change. People have always wanted routine, people have always been used to the usual day-to-day life that they've existed in. They haven't given a shit as to how good or bad it was, the truth is that they didn't want to adjust to a new way of things. Humans are used to their miserable little lives, and most of them haven't wanted to change it.
And here, 'survival of the fittest' was a very wide used saying. Only those who had adjusted themselves to a new way of living had been able to survive in this strange desolate new world.
She quite frankly wondered what had ever happened to the reign of the Titans.
Being a former member didn't help. When the Thorgrians had invaded, now being the current rulers of Jump City, the Teen Titans had been forced to separate, the strain of working so closely with each other inflicting fights and struggles amongst them.
One by one, the Titans had become history.
Summoning a golf-ball sized starbolt, Chromia, A.K.A., Kory Anders, shot the Starbolt into the skies, causing a lime green lightning streak to briefly flash across the moonlit city. Almost immediately, a similar looking black ball was shot into the sky from the opposite side of the city, erupting into a raven shape.
Chromia took off from the rooftop, heading towards the harbour. She observed the bleak, empty streets around her, occasional yells as the Thorgrians took a rebel away to their certain doom. For anyone who turned against their new law were taken to what people called the 'Uncertainty' for nobody who went in ever came out the same. Even if they acted, talked and behaved as they had done before, most simply had a look about them, a haunting, empty look that was held about their eyes, and eventually, the person would turn against them.
Then there were those who simply disappeared. Some were never seen again and presumed dead, others would reappear years later, having become entirely different people altogether, often being leaders of certain aspects in the city, such as rebel control, and food rationing. These people changed so much, that friends and families simply exiled them from their lives, saying that 'they didn't know that person anymore'.
That was how the Titans had lost the one person that meant the most, the one person who once held the team together with such passion in his heart. The one Chromia had loved and once lost, never to be seen again.
Only one aspect of the Titans existed now, and that was the few fledgling members of Titans Underground.
It didn't have to be this way; it didn't have to be such a lost world, with nothing and no one to live for. It didn't have to be, shouldn't be this way.
The Teen Titans had lost themselves, torn apart by hurtful words, and underlining fights. Wounds amongst them now would never heal; the scarred memories would never fade.
She didn't want this, nobody wanted this. If only they had managed to hold on, the huge rift that existed wouldn't be there.
People had died because of the stupid blindness they all shared.
And nothing was going to change this new world. Nothing.
Unless, - unless they found another way.
A voice echoed down the corridors of the ever-tainted base within the harbour walls. It was here that the last few members of the once great Titans lived and died; fighting to try and reverse the damage they had done to their selves.
Chromia stopped for a few seconds to listen to the ever broken song of the Raven, as she sung the few words she could remember of what they had used to call the 'Lost Song'. It was soothing to hear the small fixture of life and sanity still within their Raven bird, even if she threatened to kill them all at times.
" We were meant to live for so much more, - but we lost ourselves. We were meant to live, we were meant to live…"
"Nice to see you haven't lost your touch." Chromia commented as she entered the main room.
"Not yet. She'll lose her touch on the day she mercilessly slaughters us all." Jinx said with scorn in her voice, from where she worked tirelessly at her workstation. Within seconds, she found herself pinned against the wall, Raven's hand gripped around her throat.
"Nothing left yet. You'll know when I decide to lose myself even more than I'm already lost." Night Shade, A.K.A, Raven, spoke with the same tone Chromia remembered from her past trip into the future, the insane tone of one driven to madness through sheer lack of plain compassion.
No one had shown compassion for years. Hardened, withdrawn, lost souls, that worked night and day like machines.
"Have you found another way Shade?" Chromia sighed when Night Shade spaced out, slapping the half demon roughly across the face to get her attention.
"What?" Shade muttered.
"Have you found another way?" The alien spat.
"Maybe. After all, this world is merely one of many dimensions in the universe, on a path that has thousands of possibilities. If we can harness the pathway of a dimension that holds a suitable future, we can do anything. Anything at all… Anything at all… " Shade spaced out again, muttering her thoughts to herself as she hugged her knees to her chest.
"It is a way yes. Whether we can pull it off is out of the question." A tall, muscular, and well-experienced Garfield Logan, known to the world as Shape Shifter, entered the chamber.
"They won't believe us…Won't believe us… Never trust those who cannot trust them…." Night Shade shuddered in her chair, shaking as she stumbled over her words.
"Then we must make them believe us. Come on, I'm a known criminal in their world. " Jinx replied.
"Makes no difference. You only joined us because you had to. Otherwise you'd be wiped out like the rest of those Hive jerks.
"I guess." The sorceress purred. Even though she had to beg the Titans to help her, she still bore the same arrogance she had always carried in her personality.
"So, tell me properly of this, plan. Shade is too incoherent to tell me anything in proper detail." Chromia said with exasperation, as Night Shade continued to mumble strange things to herself as she shook.
"Give Rae her injection first. You know she'll start attacking us if she doesn't have her sedative. And at the rate at which she goes into shock, I think we're going to need a better form of sedative to seduce her quicker. " Shifter ordered, watching the alien go to the cabinet at the end of the room.
"Shade. Show us the dimension." Shape Shifter commanded as soon as Chromia had injected the troubled woman with a sedative, and her little panic attack had faded.
"Dimension…Dimension…This dimension has Bird Boy…And naughty, naughty Slade, trying to kill them all…" Shade whispered, pointing to the Jump City shown on the screen.
It was the modern Jump City that the universe knew. The most famous, with the crime fighting talents of the team all united. Of course, the Titans now were older, in their 20s/30s. In the dimension on the screen, Gar couldn't be much older than 13.
"What are you planning this time?" Chromia asked with disdain.
"We are far too gone to turn back time, - 'cause we lost ourselves…We can't turn back time, and love again…" NightShade sang with fear in her voice, as her big violet eyes trembled, tears welling up. Long ago, the famous moody Goth that Raven of the Teen Titans had been, had somehow closed her mind away from the world. Always with the same tune, Night Shade tended to show any thoughts, or answers through song. Victor Stone had once described it as 'talking in riddles', a saying that had become a slight motto amongst the unfriendly group.
"I know what we've done. Are you saying you've found a way to change it at long last?" The alien bent over Shade, looking at the happy 5 faces on the screen.
" We need to find a suitable dimension. Once we find it, we'll teleport ourselves there, where the technology that Cyberion is building will harness the destiny of the Titans. Unfortunately, it will mean that their destiny will be held captive inside Cyberion's machine, thus destroying their world, and meaning that they will cease to exist. However, it is a small price to pay if we are to reverse the damage we have done." Shifter winced as pain shot through his right eye.
"You okay? Want another morphine shot?" Jinx asked the changeling. Long ago, through long forgotten events, Gar had been hospitalised for a month, after which he had been left with a huge long scar across the right side of his face. The scar cut above his right eye, and cut across his lip, giving him a slight lisp, as well as affecting his vision. Often, he would be found naturally blinking his right eye more than his left. His eye still gave him pain, giving the once insecure, immature changeling a bitter, withdrawn personality.
"No. It will pass." Shifter turned to leave, eyes still filled with loathing disgust at the thought of what they had to do to reverse the harm. "Chromia, Shade, work on how to get us to this dimension. And find out all you can about everyone in it. Jinx, find Cyberion and check over plans with him. I'm going to try and locate Night Wing."
"We will try and uncover the unknown, the secrets of this world. We will try to find, we will try to find..." Night Shade's voice echoed down the halls, being the last words Shape Shifter heard before he entered his quarters.
"Nothing will stop us from pulling this off. " He whispered, as he stared out of the small box window, into the cold black darkness of the new world. " We will reverse all the damage we've done. No matter what it takes…"
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Far from the quintessence of the New World, in a world where freedom, peace and courage existed, the Teen Titans, - as everybody knew them, were unaware of the danger coming.
They were actually having a game of volleyball, minus Raven, who silently sat meditating at the edge of the roof. She uttered her famous mantra, as her friends batted the ball backwards and forwards. Sometimes, they half-expected the ever-unhinged Terra to rise up on her rock, a smile across her face, her former friends unaware of the betrayal awaiting them.
Although they had gradually put the traumatic events behind them, the hurt and pain still pushed it's way to the surface every so often. Raven had once found Beast Boy, stood at Terra's stone cold self; tears falling softly down his green skinned cheeks. He had been hit hard by such betrayal, and she wouldn't be surprised if it took an eternity for the ever-scarred changeling to get over it.
She herself still felt the pain and hurt from it all. If she could relive the whole thing again, she wouldn't have just let go. She would have gone further, she would have let the fear, and the pain and her still undying rage to tear the bitch apart take control.
But then, if she had the chance to do that, she would have probably killed Terra. And for that, Beast Boy would have never forgiven Raven.
So she had to live with that never-ending rage. And the half-demon was terrified that one day she would lose control of that anger, and take out her wrath on her friends.
For which she would never forgive herself. Living like this, living in the shadows, in the very fear of her powers was certainly taking its toll on her. Raven was finding it harder and harder to keep control, sinking deeper and deeper into depression and misery.
She wanted to die on some days, wanted to just let the pain ebb away, and find something of eternal peace.
How wrong she knew she was.
"Yo Rae, look out!" Cyborg shouted as the ball zoomed towards her. At the last second, it was encased in the girl's black and white aura, flung back at such a pace that it hit Beast Boy in the stomach, - winding him.
"Ow…" He stuttered, doubling over in pain.
"You really need to learn to not throw the ball at Raven. She isn't exactly one for playing sports." Robin, the still barely muscular and even naïve young superhero, jumped up, kicking the ball back at Cyborg and Starfire.
"That's against the rules Bird Boy!! You're supposed to use your hands, not your head, feet, or any other part of your tiny anatomy!!" Cyborg shouted, tempers flaring as the two fell into another argument, Starfire intervening, and trying to keep the peace.
"Immature boys" Raven muttered, standing and pulling her hood up. She melted away into the shadows; her mind fighting once more against her tightly locked control.
"Not now…Please not now…" She whispered, clutching her head as pain ripped through it. Voices, thoughts, memories, whispered and churned around her head all at once, blinding her vision, the pain almost unbearable. Raven fell to the floor, a blur of colours and sudden voices making her feel nauseous, as the world eventually faded around her.
"No…no…go away, please leave my mind…" Ever since her fight with Terra, Raven suffered terrible onslaughts, when Trigon tried to invade her mind. She would often black out, awakening hours later. She didn't know how much more she could take, which was leading her to a rather painful decision.
But for the time being, the Goth lay unconscious, sprawled out, as her cloak covered her shaking body…
"Master Slade Sir?" Slade sat in the darks shadows of his lair; his latest plan being put into action. Wintergreen bowed before his master, introducing the latest arrival to his dark army.
"Yes Wintergreen?" Slade drawled in a bored tone, not bothering to look at his butler.
"Um, I give you Shinobi, the renowned dark ninja of the HIVE academy. She is highly experienced in the ninja arts." Wintergreen nervously announced.
"Hmm, you do possess that 'do not mess with a ninja' look about you. But looks can be deceiving. If you want to work for me, you must prove that you can fight." Slade stood as he spoke, moving towards the dark cloaked ninja standing in the spotlight before him.
"How may I prove my worthiness to you, Master Slade?" The Asian girl bowed before the criminal, earning herself both interest and approval.
"You will go back to the HIVE my dear. And you will remove the Headmistress, and any of her lackeys. Permanently." Slade's previous cool tone hardened, becoming grim and stone set. The ninja raised her head to attention, her chin held in a perfectly still position.
"Consider it done, Master Slade." Bowing, Shinobi turned sharply, disappearing into the dark shadows.
"She could well be of some use to me." Slade muttered under his breath.
Nobody knew, in the darkness of the room in Slade's lair, that they were being watched. Watched on a monitor, from the hideout in the cold breath of the New World.
"Slade…Bad…bad Slade…" Night Shade whispered.
"That dimension, what shall we call it? We need a name for our little future, as our current one here does as well." Shape Shifter commented.
"How about the New World?" Jinx piped up.
"Try again." The growl replied.
"I meant for here. Our current future here. Lets call our dimension the New World." Jinx said in an irritated tone. "And for there, - how about…the Future World?"
" Very well. And so it begins. We will need Slade in order to carry out our mission. Find Nightwing. We must take him to the Future World with us." Shape Shifter ordered. Almost at once, Chromia took off in the direction of the doors, setting off to find the lost soul of Dick Grayson. Jinx followed, while Shade continued typing at her keyboard.
"Why will we need Slade?" Jinx asked as she reached the door, turning around with a look of confusion on her face.
"We'll need something to lure them to us with." The green skinned changeling replied with a smirk on his face.
"Oh." Jinx could say no more, a look of awe on her face.
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Castles: Don't think I'm trying to rush things here. The New World is full of hidden surprises… :P
