Tollete Dolorum

'Take Up Your Sorrow'

Author Note I wasn't sure what to do with this. So I decided to do this. . . smiles

Disclaimer I no own, you no sue.

- - -

Chapter Five - Forever Missing

'You can't stop the fire.'

Someone screamed. She didn't realize she was the one screaming until her throat was too raw to utter another sound. She coughed once, blood staining her lips as she forced herself to breathe normally.

'You're so useless.'

"Shut up!"

She threw her hands out in front of her, muttering a spell. Her rasping voice made her sound older, and nearly dead.

She hoped that wasn't so.

'Why don't you throw yourself on those flames?'

She ignored the harping sound of her own mind and focused on the fire.

The building was a day care building for small children. She passed it everyday as she paced the streets. Something about the brightly painted sign and flower clings in the windows had always sparked something in Raven's mind.

She'd never had a real childhood. Maybe that was part of it.

Today, the place was on fire. She'd seen it and came running. She barely remembered hearing the woman who owned this place scream that there was still a little boy inside. She barely remembered forcing her way in.

Now she was surrounded, and her own powers were barely useful enough to keep her alive.

She cursed her weakening control.

It had been three months, and no good had as of yet come from leaving Titan Tower. Her control wavered more with each day.

The voices has made their appearance two weeks ago. She still struggled to ignore them.

A crash behind her, and the flames licked at her. She was suddenly very glad she'd taken to not wearing her blue cloak around anymore. She'd left it folded and tucked into a trunk of things in the room she was renting.

If she'd been wearing it, no doubt it would have already been on fire.

A whimpering sound snapped all senses onto the task at hand. Save the child. Save him before everything around her collapsed.

She was thinking about more than the burning building.

- - -

When she emerged, the small boy cradled against her left hip, she was nearly faint with fatigue and smoke inhalation. She turned the child over to frantic parents who professed their undying gratitude, and then she stumbled off.

She managed to duck away before the paramedics grabbed her and forced her to stick around.

Coughing gently, she turned back towards her little set of rooms. They weren't lavish, but they were the best she could afford.

In the three months she'd been away, not only had she not reaffirmed her control, she'd nearly lost it completely. She'd slipped into a deep depression.

Then the voices had appeared, and Nevermore had become closed to her. She was so heartily confused, she had so often considered returning to her friends.

Then the gory vision would reappear, if only in memory, and she would be forced to curl up in the corner until it passed.

No, she could not return home. Not yet. Not until she got this under control.

Not home. . . but perhaps it was time to return to Azarath. Perhaps the peaceful people would be the only ones who could help her reattain the control that had once come so easily to her.

She couldn't let him win. She just couldn't.

Her mind finally clear, she clung to that one island of safety amidst dark thoughts. Dark, evil thoughts, and a set of memories too hard to face.

- - -

"Robin?"

The boy wonder turned, slightly, and stared at Terra.

"What do you want?"

The blonde winced. He'd never said it, but she knew that he blamed her for letting Raven go.

"Robin, come inside. It's dark, and cold. You'll get sick."

He glared.

Every night for three months, he'd stood here, waiting. Once one of Raven's favorite hideouts, the rooftops had become the ruby-chested bird's nest, now.

"Go away."

Terra sighed and retreated. She knew better than to try and force him.

- - -

Closing her eyes was the final task. If she could just close her eyes, she could get some sleep. If she could take that risk, she could sleep.

Her eyes remained stubbornly open.

She was exhausted. Just, so tired. . .

Finally, she passed out.

But she wasn't alone. A white-robed woman appeared before her. She couldn't remember more than a word or two when she finally awoke, but she had the distinct feeling that she'd been summoned.

To Azarath.

- - -

-Fin

Raven the Morrigu

"You walk on by.

Walk one by.

Wondering why."

-"Comalies" by Lacuna Coil