Of Shadow and Flame
Chapter 5: Relocating
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I don't even have a share in Warner Brother's or DC Comic's stock, so don't sue me if something shows up here that unintentionally matches the comics, or somebody else's ideas. Also, the whole real scenario here is mine, as well as all the new characters I bring in.
Author's note: Well, this is it. The rap up for this story. Don't worry though, I'm leaving it very, very open ended and with plenty of room for antics later on.
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Raven dragged her eyes open wearily. She felt like she'd slept a hundred years, at least. Her emotions had put up a remarkable fight, and she wasn't sure they were entirely in hand even now.
"Awake at last," Falchion said quietly. Raven jerked her head sideways; she was certain the ceiling above her belonged to the Titans Tower medical bay, so why would he be here?
"Falchion?" Raven asked, wincing. Her right lung didn't seem to be working right.
"Shh, don't talk. I did what I could, but your lungs are still weak. It's only been two days, after all," Falchion said, coolly raising a finger in front of Raven. "I can't have you splitting open again."
"I...," Raven started to say, but the pain in her chest stopped her. Falchion shook his head and sighed, standing up in a mass of brown cloak. It turned out, amazingly enough, that there was actually a chair under there he'd been sitting on.
"I had to remove something from your body by force. As a result, I had to re-grow a large piece of your chest quickly. The repaired tissue is still weak, thus the pain, and will remain so for several more days," Falchion explained calmly as his hood, seemingly by itself, slid up to cover his head and he turned to leave. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need some rest. I'll tell your friends you're awake, and you can call me if you need anything else."
"Wait," Raven called as loudly as she dared. Falchion turned back to face her, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
"Thanks," Raven said, smiling as best she could. Her body was quite weak, and her lips hardly moved at all.
"It was my duty," Falchion said icily. "Nothing more. Save the sentimental nonsense for your friends." And with that, he spun on his heel and stalked out of the room.
Raven was still staring after him when the other Titans rushed in, with Beast Boy in the lead.
"You are healed?" Starfire asked, floating next to Raven's bed with Robin at her side.
"I think so," Raven said quietly, trying hard not to stress her body. Raven looked at them in wonder. Three days ago three of them had certainly been very badly hurt, yet there wasn't a scratch on them.
"Not quite, it sounds like. Frankly, I'm amazed you're even alive," Robin said quietly, looking her over for at least the thousandth time. He kept seeing her with a hole the size of his head in her chest and green flame pouring out of Falchion's hand, writhing towards her wound like a nest of snakes. But of course, that same flame had healed all of them, so he had no reason to doubt its purpose.
"Sooooo, uh, Raven, Cyborg and I were wondering..." Beast Boy said sheepishly, toeing the floor.
"We want to know if, now that you're back, you're gonna stay on as a Titan again," Cyborg said, taking up the slack for the changeling.
"I don't know," Raven said, averting her eyes. "My powers aren't under my control."
She felt all of them staring at her then. It just didn't seem like Raven at all; she was the voice of reason, the one who always kept calm and under control. "Aren't under my control" wasn't how any of them ever thought they'd hear her describe her power.
"Are you perhaps hungry? I can make a Tamaranian stew to speed up the healing, or..." Starfire said, hovering ready for any command Raven had for her.
"No, I don't need food. My powers can sustain me," Raven said quietly. "I only used to eat with you as a courtesy."
"Don't need to eat? What do you mean, don't need to eat?" Cyborg said agape. "You mean I could have had your share all this time?"
Raven couldn't help but smile at that. The wall behind her cracked as a result. Cyborg snapped his mouth shut and Robin's eye twitched slightly. Starfire didn't seem to notice it, and Beast Boy tried to smile back at Raven like nothing had happened.
"Oh, sorry," Raven said quickly, fighting her emotions back.
"Let's all just let Raven rest for a little longer," Robin said quietly. "Come on, we can all check on her in the morning."
Raven glanced at the window as her friends reluctantly marched out under Robin's watch. It was pitch black outside, and most of the lights in the city were out. It had to be close to midnight.
Raven was touched that they had all gotten up in the middle of the night to check on her...not that it was really anything out of the ordinary; they were all used to getting up at a moments notice anyway.
The door slid shut after Robin. Raven started to lay back down, but stopped. Too many questions were nagging at her mind for rest, and there was no one to talk to until morning.
With a sigh, Raven crossed her legs and slowly said the familiar chant. It'd been so long now that it felt a little odd, but a few weeks gap in a five year repetition was nothing that could stop Raven.
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Her lungs were feeling almost normal again by morning, but her curiosity was growing as steadily as ever. Crazy theories about Falchion and Slade and everything strange that had happened over the last few weeks dashed around Raven's mind, despite the chant, each new theory more insane than the last. And most maddening of all, the only person who knew what was really going on was Falchion and he'd probably just make up a fake answer if she asked.
"Well, I might as well give it a try..." Raven said in her old monotone as her eyes slid open. "Falchion, I need you!"
"Hrmm?" Falchion mumbled as he trudged through the door teapot in hand. "Need something?"
"I want to ask you some questions, and I don't want you to lie about them this time," Raven asked, scooting around to face him, noticing that she was in her old costume. "First of all, who dressed me?"
"Starfire," Falchion said hastily, pouring a cup of tea. "I suppose you'll still want tea, even if food's out of the question?"
"You're not telling the truth. Starfire would get my clothes back to front," Raven said dully. "And yes, I still want tea."
"Very well. Would it make you feel better if I said, say, Beast Boy dressed you?" Falchion said quietly as he handed the cup in his hand to Raven.
"Beast Boy wouldn't be dumb enough...," Raven said, taking the tea, but Falchion cut her off.
"Raven, you were half-dead. Do you really think the Titans would leave you even for a moment? They were all there when Starfire dressed you, getting everything in order." Falchion said quietly, setting the teapot in his lap as he took his place in the chair and crossed his legs. He was, to Raven's mild amusement, wearing a fluffy white dressing robe with blue long-necked, golden beaked geese on it. It clashed horribly with his eyes and hair, which was slicked back from his face in a freshly washed looking straight mass of bright silver.
"I guess not. Then they all saw, well..." Raven trailed off, looking away.
"It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Falchion said, taking his teapot in hand and rising to go.
He was halfway out the door by the time Raven realized what he was doing.
"Hold it!" Raven called angrily. "I know what you're doing!"
"Oh? What am I doing?" Falchion asked, raising an eyebrow. Only his head was still showing around the side of the door. He'd nearly weaseled out of answering again!
"You're trying to get out of answering my other questions, now come back here," Raven said triumphantly. Falchion sighed, slumped his shoulders, and turned to come back in.
Beast Boy and Starfire shot through in front of him, looking for all the world like a couple of kids at Christmas.
"Friend Raven! You are well? You must tell us all about what happened!" Starfire all but yelled in Raven's face as she hovered over her bed.
"Yeah, and why you left in the first place!" Beast Boy said, not nearly so energetically. Raven recognized it as the same shy way he used to act with Terra.
"Wait, no, get out of the way!" Raven said, forcing her head between her two friends. But she was too late. Falchion had escaped again.
"Something is wrong?" Starfire asked innocently. Raven was starting to wonder if she had even seen Falchion.
"No, Starfire, it's fine. By the way, did you see which way Falchion went?" Raven asked as she stood up.
"Falchion? Dude, that guy's still hogging the bathroom!" Beast Boy said angrily.
"You didn't see him?" Raven asked, staring at the two of them. "What about you, Starfire?"
"No, he was not here. He has been washing his hair...," Starfire said, looking slightly bewildered. "Is this the same as when Robin saw Slade?"
"I doubt it. His hair was wet," Raven said sarcastically as she headed for the door. Starfire and Beast Boy followed her all the way to the bathroom.
It was empty. Nothing odd there; he wouldn't be caught so easily. Raven sighed and turned for the main room.
"Hey, when are you going to explain what happened?" Beast Boy asked insistently. Frankly, explaining wasn't very high on Raven's list of things to do.
"Let's get Robin and Cyborg first...and Falchion, if we can find him," Raven answered, grinding her teeth. She didn't expect to see Falchion again until she was preoccupied with something else.
The smell of eggs greeted them when they stepped into the main room.
"Hey, Raven!" Cyborg said loudly, standing up and walking across to her. "I was just coming to see you!"
Raven glanced past him at the game on the screen. He hadn't had time to pause it.
"Right..." Raven said sarcastically.
"So, Raven. You're looking...normal," Robin said, smiling as he walked up to her.
"I feel like I'm back to just how I was when I left...with too much power and not enough control," Raven said, shaking her head. It took her a moment to realize that if Robin wasn't cooking and Cyborg wasn't, and Beast Boy and Starfire were with her, then that only left....
"Falchion!" Raven yelled as she walked past Robin hurriedly.
Falchion turned around, blinking mildly as if he hadn't meant to avoid her at all. He managed to look vague and detached, even though he was vigorously stirring and flipping a pile of eggs in the largest pan in the tower.
"I'm a bit busy right now. Could you wait a moment?" Falchion asked kindly before he turned back to the stove.
"I'll wait, but I'm not letting you out of my sight," Raven said as she took a seat at the counter. The Titans looked on in wonder and exchanged glances. Then Robin smiled evilly.
"So, Raven, how was it you met Falchion again?" Robin asked as he took a seat next her. Starfire floated down beside him and Beast Boy took a seat on the other side and Cyborg leaned on the counter behind him.
"Yeah, we're all real interested in how you met such a tall, dark, handsome stranger...except he's not dark...," Beast Boy said, growing more and more envious as he went. What was it with tall guys? They always got more attention than him!
"I saw a poster advertising work in his shop and decided it would be an okay place to hide until the quarantine was lifted," Raven said quietly. She was serious about not letting Falchion out of her sight; every time he ducked under the counter for a pan, she half stood up so he wouldn't sneak off.
"Odd. Starfire and I came to the shop because we saw a poster," Robin said, turning to Falchion.
"Interesting coincidence, eh?" Falchion said calmly, serving out food. "By the way, breakfast's ready."
"Yes, isn't it? It seems odd that we'd see that poster and come to the shop just in time to be called away to fight Slade," Robin explained, narrowing his eyes. "And considering what happened to Raven, it couldn't all just be a coincidence."
"Very well, someone set it up. It's not my business if someone, say Slade, moves a poster to get you to come to my shop to meet Raven," Falchion said, smiling. "Now, I'd appreciate it if you tried some of my cooking. Raven said it tastes good."
"Oh, Raven ate with you as well?" Starfire said innocently. "What did you not do together?"
"We shared lunch. That's all," Raven said quickly. Then it occurred to her that Falchion was leading them off subject again.
"I've been thinking, Falchion, it seems like every time someone tries to talk to you about something serious, you always have a convenient excuse to get out of answering," Robin said suddenly, looking up from his eggs. "I have one more question before we eat. What were you doing before you came back to the shop the day Slade attacked?"
"I was fixing one of my scrolls," Falchion said simply, leaning back. Raven stared at his apron. It was, quite possibly, the most ridiculous contrast she'd ever seen. Over his somber, dark clothes he was wearing a huge pink apron with an immense red pig profile on it. The extremely fat, cute pig had a small pair of wings on its back, an immense piggish grin on its round face and a mischievous glint in its visible beady black eye.
It took all the self control Raven had not to start laughing.
"Raven, is that true?" Robin asked, stonily calm. Evidently he'd already encountered the apron.
"He said so then, but I don't believe him. He's had plenty of practice dodging questions with me, after all," Raven said, stifling her sense of humor to attain her monotone. "Personally, I think he went to see someone."
Falchion threw a murderous look at Raven and looked down at the food in front of him quickly. The others didn't seem to notice, but there was no guarantee Robin didn't just file it away like any other observation.
"You should eat before it gets cold," Falchion said quietly, picking up a fork.
"No thanks, I don't need to," Raven said, smiling maliciously.
Falchion turned around and stabbed his eggs viciously a few times. He could put up with a lot, but when people insulted his cooking...! He calmed down and told himself that she was just trying to keep an eye on him. Heh, like she could!
"Raven, could you pass the salt?" Falchion asked sweetly, like a winter chime.
Raven wordlessly reached for the salt, but stopped suddenly and snapped her eyes back to Falchion.
"You don't ever make mistakes in your cooking. Not once did you add anything to something you cooked once it was on your plate." Raven said slowly, staring into Falchion's bottomless green eyes. "And the salt is closer to you, anyway."
Falchion sighed and set down his plate.
"That one was pretty bad, huh?" Falchion said, frowning. "I suppose you'll insist I answer all your questions now?"
"Of course. So, who are you, really?" Raven said calmly. Surely she had him at last.
"Omriniad Grias enwe shrenkoi junra," Falchion said, smiling. Raven's jaw dropped and she all but drooled.
The Old Tongue! How in the world did you learn it?" Raven asked, envy practically glowing in her eyes.
"Oh, it wasn't that hard. A few books here, an acquaintance there..." Falchion said, closing one eye and tilting his head up and to his right, smiling broadly. "You get around in my profession."
"I'm sorry, you misunderstand. I recognize the language but I haven't the faintest clue what you just said," Raven said, shaking her head. It was hard enough for her to read the language, let alone speak it. Legend has it that only a few chosen ones ever learn to speak more than a few words of it.
"Well, I guess you'll just have to research it, then. You'll have to win an answer in English if you want one," Falchion said smugly. "A battle of wills...a game, of sorts, if you will."
"Game?" Raven stared at him in surprise. The other Titans had managed to finish eating in time to stare at her. Raven looked at them out of the corners of her eyes quickly.
"I'll supply the books and give you a few hints, if you want to do the research. Otherwise, I'm open to any other fair intellectual battle, such as those your friends seem so interested in," Falchion said, smugly, as he swept his hand in an inviting way. "If, of course, you agree with my terms."
"I'll do the research," Raven said quickly, letting her eyes droop slightly. She'd never live it down if her friends caught her playing one of those ridiculous computer games. After all, she was the one that had called them mindless idiots for playing them at all.
"So glad we could make a bargain," Falchion said, widening his smile. "I'll hold you to it."
Raven groaned.
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"So, I take it everything's cool in the Tower?" Glasses said quietly.
"Yes, for now. I let them talk me into an agreement with Raven, though I doubt her friends will honor it," Falchion said coldly, lacing his fingers. "Now I want you to answer something in return. Where's Slade?"
"Slade, my friend, is holed up recuperating from his fight with Terra in a facility eighty miles east of here waiting for his arm to heal," Glasses said, leaning forward and tipping his glasses down. "And I promise you, my man, he didn't even know somebody'd got out his old robots."
"So I was right...Vronse used Slade's machines to get around the Binding," Falchion said, tipping his head down and smiling in a pained way. "I'll have to stick around the Titans then, or Raven will most likely fall under 'His' control."
"Sure, that's real smart! What happens when Raven tells them about me, eh? Manhunt, anyone?" Glasses said, shaking his head and leaning back on his seat. "You're crazy, man. You had the opportunity to kill her and instead you healed her! I can't figure you out!"
"I've told you before. I'm Bound," Falchion said coldly, flicking his green eyes to Glasses. "And so are you, after a fashion. I understand those crystals I gave you are quite useful to you. Go back on our agreement, and they'll loose their power."
"Hey, man, don't be hasty now, I never said anything about me letting her die!" Glasses said hurriedly, waving a hand in defense. "I'll protect her and the Titans, if I get the chance! I've gotta get in good with them sometime, or else I might end up in jail someday!"
Falchion cracked a wry smile as the car pulled up a block from the tunnel entrance to Titans Tower.
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Raven trudged wearily towards her room. The Titans hadn't been joking when they said they wanted to know all about the last few weeks; it took two hours to satisfy them, and Raven was almost certain Starfire still had more questions. Girly questions.
Of course, they hadn't left her alone after that. Tests had to be run; they had to see just how healthy she was, how much she'd grown, and how much greater her powers were. That took another two hours, and after that they'd all discussed the issue of letting Falchion stay on permanently. His presence had been a necessity when Raven was injured, but they'd agreed he would doubtless be a valuable asset.
They'd decided to let Falchion decide.
Raven was so exhausted after the day's work that she actually walked past the door before she noticed it. It used to be a broom closet, and thus of virtually no importance to Raven.
It wasn't so any longer. Raven did a double take and stared at the door, not quite sure she wasn't just imagining it, or worse, missing the shop, of all things. But no, it was there when she reached out a hand and touched it. How, of course, she hadn't the faintest clue.
Falchion's famed backroom door, down to the exact runes, had replaced the broom closet.
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Author's note: That's it! It's finished! That's it for the introduction fanfic, at least. Keep an eye out for the next in the series, Honor Born, Honor Bound. It's got two fights that are on a whole other level! Meaning, of course, they last for more than a thousand words each. Don't miss it! It'll answer most of your questions and show you just what powers Falchion has and whose side he's really on!
Character talk
Me: It's over.
Falchion: Yeah...
Vronse: Hey, wait, it can't be over! You don't know who I am yet!
Raven: And I still don't know who Falchion is! Where's that blasted book on demonology?
Beast Boy: And I'm not getting to exploit my crush!
Me: Crush? You mean crushed when Raven says you're a loser, right?
Falchion: That's cold.
Vronse: Even for me.
Me: Oh come on! I've got somebody else for Raven, and besides...Beast Boy might have somebody heading his way.
Beast Boy: Terra!
Me: I'm not promising anything! Get out of my face!
Vronse: Well, since they're busy, I guess I'll give the preview!
Falchion: Next series, Honor Born, Honor bound! Guess who the star is? (shoves Vronse out of the way and poses)
Vronse: I don't believe it! I even get my part knocked down here!
Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire: No kidding.