Disclaimer:
I do not own the teen titans.

Summary:
"And the only time she touches the ground is when that little bird… dies."
What happens when a certain bird falls to prey? Will she once again take flight? Or disappear into the night?

Raven centered fiction.

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CHAPTER FOUR

A bird had died. And an apprentice rose out of the ashes.

---

RECAP:

"Night y'all." He whispered to the darkness and walked to his room.

Its been one year since Raven had gone missing. They still searched though every now and then. They had hoped that one day, she would come home. Somehow, they're all still hoping.

---

FLASHBACKS

Slade stood there frozen. Raven was sobbing! Sobbing! What the hell was he suppose to do?

"Err..Umm.. there.. there.." Yet, he still stood where he was. He was getting uncomfortable. And he was getting frustrated.

He wasn't a secret military experiment for nothing! 'Hmm.. I wonder how much she remembers.. But I want to smash her head against the wall for being such a baby! Then again.. she wouldn't trust me. Damnit!' He had made up his mind.

Sighing, he walked to her, swatting random objects with the back of his hand that got in his way. He crouched in front of the sobbing girl and grabbed both her shoulders.

"..Hey, don't cry. But you have to be calm okay?" Slade inwardly cringed, he never talked softly! He was a mercenary for crying out loud!

Raven looked up and hiccuped, she didn't know this man, and his mask scared her. Why would he hide his face?

"What- What's with the-" She hiccuped, "-the mask.." she quietly asked, looking straight at him.

She was frightened, she showed it in her eyes. 'Damn girl!'

"I was seriously hurt before, and I hide my face not to scare others, so don't worry." He was starting to hate his tone of voice..

"..Oh. What was.. that." She looked around her, referring to her powers. She had stopped crying and was wiping her eyes with her hands.

Slade released her shoulders and stood up, looking down at the girl, with his hand outstretched,
"You're very special. Just like me. I'll take care of you."

Raven hesitated, she couldn't remember a thing.. not even her mother. But some basic knowledge had stayed with her, like her usual intelligence. And she was very suspicious.. but then.. she was in a medical room.. and she couldn't remember.. maybe he could help her..

She stood up, wrapping her arms around her stomach, suddenly conscious of her leotard, which had large rips, but she didn't see any wounds. Maybe the man had healed her, she thought.

Slade noticed her insecurity and grabbed a white lab coat that was on the floor, dusting it off, he wrapped it around Raven's shoulders.

Raven looked up and softly smiled, quietly, "Thank you.."

Slade nodded and motioned her to follow him. He started to walk towards door, noticing her still standing, staring at him.

He already argued with himself that he was going to be patient with her, and that he shouldn't lose his temper at her naivety. "You'll get answers."

With that, he walked out. Raven sighed and followed him. He was the only person around, and she might as well listen to him. He seemed nice enough, and she did need answers.

Slade had stopped at a room first, and told her to stay outside while he went to get something. The room was very secured, he had a security pad next to the door. When it opened, Raven had gazed inside to find various gadgets. He walked back out with a thick bangle bracelet.

"This will subdue your.. talents.. for the moment." He opened it and motioned for her to put her wrist in it. He saw her hesitation. "Don't worry, it easily comes off, and we don't want you to breaking everything." He chuckled when he saw her slight horrified expression and quickly let him put the bracelet on.

They started to walk once again;

"Oh, your name is Raven by the way, and I'm Slade. But Sir is more proper."

Raven nodded, still confused, but had understood that her name was Raven, and this man was Slade.

"Yes Sir."

She followed him down a hall and up the stairs. The walls soon turned from plain white, to a soft caramel. He opened a door for her, motioning her to go first, she did and gasped, it was a very lavished office, the ceiling was very high, she suspected two stories high, and two opposite walls were huge bookcases, literature lining the whole wall. A burgundy desk sat in the back wall facing her, leather chairs sat appropriately by it.

Slade watched as she pulled her arms through the sleeves of the lab coat, and walked towards a bookcase wall, fingering the spines of the books as she slowly walked by.

"This is.. beautiful." She inhaled and exhaled deeply. She loved the scent of this place. It smelled so.. bookish..

"Yes. We were just at my.." He didn't know what to say, "..underground laboratory. This is the house that is on top. This is a nice office, isn't it?" He chuckled when she turned to him with widened eyes.

"Nice? It's simply magnificent." She blushed at her own boldness and walked back to Slade,standing next to him.

He nodded, and walked out of the oak double doors. He would look back every once in a while, to make sure she was following.

Raven of course, was following him, not wanting to get lost in such a beautiful mansion. She had followed him out of the office and into the entryway, she looked to the right, and assumed that was the front door. The marble beneath her feet swirled and danced into a large circled. She was gazing at this when she forgot about Slade and quickly jogged to keep up.

He paused at the bottom of the stairs as he watched her eyes glisten like a child on christmas morning, he chuckled at this,it was only marble! He watched as she shook out of trance and jogged up to him, muttering an apology while looking at the large staircase.

"..Wow..."

"Yes. You'll get plenty of exercise with these steps." The stairs were quite big compared to normal ones. The bottom steps were three times more wide than usual. The wooden rail ending, spiraling outward.

Raven looked up, and noticed the wall at the top of the stairs,she was at first confused, but looked to the sides of the top landing and noticed that the stairs went two ways. One left and one right.

To make it simpled, this was a very large house.

Someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere and bowed, Raven slightly jumped, surprised.

"Ah, this is Wintergreen, Raven. He is a dear friend of mine, and he takes care of the house." Slade had his arms behind his back.

Wintergreen bowed, "Miss Raven."

Raven nodded with a small smile, not knowing what to call him. Should she call him Wintergreen? Or sir? Or..

"You may call him Wintergreen, Raven." Slade had noticed her confusion in her eyes, 'What happened to hiding her emotions? Oh yeah. Memory loss.' He thought sarcastically.

"Oh, Mister Wintergreen. It's a pleasure, um, meeting you." Though without memories, she still had manners.

"Please, Miss Raven, just Wintergreen."

Raven smiled. "Wintergreen."

"Alright, Raven,-" Slade had turned to her now, "-Wintergreen will take you to your quarters. He will bring you clothes that should fit you. You may refresh yourself in the shower. Though, keep the bracelet on, it'll still work if its wet."

He then turned to Wintergreen, "Then escort her downstairs when she is finished. I will be in my office." Slade nodded, then briskly walked away.

Wintergreen turned to Raven, "Miss Raven, if you please? This way."

Raven nodded, and followed Wintergreen up the stairs, she glanced to her left and noticed that it was just an open loft on both sides. There was couch and a few chairs, a coffee table in the middle, and a pool table to the side.

They soon reached the top landing, and went to the right, where another staircase stood, yet only half the steps. After the stairs, you could only turn left and she noticed that to her left was a rail, and it was open to below. To her right, were just walls, and very few doors. Wintergreen stopped in front of the second to last door, the last door being the end of the hall. Which was in front of her, but her door was on her left.

"Please make yourself comfortable, whilst I get some clothes and undergarments for you Miss Raven." He nodded and closed the door as he left.

Raven let a small gasp escape her as she let her eyes wander the room. There was a queen sized bed to her left, against the wall. A large armoire to her right, next to a beautiful mirror. A simply mahogony desk underneath the window in front of her. Oh the window! It almost took up the whole wall! A door was to the left of the window, next to the mirror. She had walked to it and peered inside, smiling as she saw a large bathroom. She stepped in, it seemed the whole bathroom was as half as long as her bedroom. It was a square beauty.

To her right, held a small couch and a closed off toilet. Her left, at the end of the bathroom, stood a classic bathtub with legs. She oohed at this. The wall she was facing, was just a very long counter with the sinks and drawers.

She stepped out and noticed another door, on the other side of the armoire. She opened it and noticed it was an empty walk-in closet. She shrugged and walked out of the closet, just as Wintergreen returned with a bundle of clothes.

"Miss Raven. I hope these will fit you properly. The undergarments are unused, but I could not find any new clothes. I apologize."

"It's alright, thank you." Raven took the clothes and Wintergreen left.

---

Raven was sitting down in one of the leather chairs by the bookcase, reading a folder. Slade was at his desk, doing paperwork.

While she had been in the bath, Slade had written up several papers, containing information on Raven. He had altered some information though.

She had read that her name was Raven. Last name unknown. She was seventeen years old and she born in June. That she was taken in by Slade when she was little. Her father was not a good man. Her mother had died. No siblings. It didn't explain her powers though, or her unusual eye, hair and skin color. Only the basics.

Slade had wanted to slowly teach her to love the adrenaline of his work. He wanted to teach her control of her powers and have her feel the power of darkness. He wanted her to understand that the world will only bow down to those who show strength. He wanted her as an apprentice, a companion, someone, something he can turn into that he will be proud of.

And that's what he did.

---

Slade and Raven had just finished training hand to hand combat. It had been a year since she first learned of her name.

They were both sweating, but Raven was panting. Grabbing two towels, Slade threw one at Raven, who easily caught it.

"Very good. You will be strike tonight."

Raven nodded, still out of breath. She was very grateful for Slade. Over the past year, she had learned to control her powers and express emotion freely. She was almost as good as her mentor in hand to hand combat. She had learned of a few new powers due to her aging and the lack of influence from her father. Her skin had lost its grey tone, and it was just pale. But her eyes and hair were still of deep amethyst color, her influence she could get rid of, but not her heritage.

Her hair had grown 6 more inches in the past year, making it a couple inches past her shoulder. She was currently outgrowing her bangs, which were a little past her eyes, and were always side swept. And she had grown taller because she had started to eat healthy not just relying on tea, the excerise had given her inches. Compared to Robin who was quite tall, he was a good two inches shorter than Slade. She would only be two inches shorter than Robin. Being able to rest her chin on Slade's shoulder with ease.

Raven was still herself, except more expressive, she was still sarcastic and dark, but very bold and daring. She was frustrated at one training session a while before, running her hands through her hair and screwing her eyes shut. Slade at told her to look in the mirror and she was surprised to see that her hair was blonde, and her eyes were baby blue. She experimented and found out that she could easily change her hair and eye color.

Her teleporting abilities have gone quicker, due to another fight session, and she turned around, surprised that she was at the other side of the room. Slade had helped her build this to a faster power, making her disappear in a blink of an eye. Though it took her a whole year to make her hands stop glowing an ebony color also her powers, and she made this so she could manipulate the color, or make it no color at all. Her eyes had stopped glowing when she fought, yet if she wanted it to, she can summon it up.

"Very well, I've brought a new suit for you." Slade took something out of a compartment and gave it to her. Her current suit was just a plain black body suit with a face mask. He had tried controlling her powers through a different suit, as he did Terra, but she was too powerful and he accepted that.

"Thank you Sir." Raven accepted the bundle of cloth, over the year, they both learned to respect each other.

Slade nodded, "You will be also be using new boots and a new mask. Refresh yourself and change."

"Yes Sir." She turned into a black mist of a raven and disappeared, though she had more ways of teleporting, the raven was her favorite.

After she got out of her shower, she opened the outfit unto her bed. Boots, and a new mask next to it.

Raven gasped as she saw the outfit, it was very similar to an outfit she had seen cased next to Slade's outfits.

She knew the story behind it, though it wasn't a complete replica, but this outfit had allot of similarities to Slade's daughter, The Ravager. She was almost tearing up, happy that Slade had been proud of her enough to give her this.

She changed and walked out, her face now covered with her new mask, her hair underneath, it felt different for her because her hair was usually out. She turned a corner out of sight, and quickly reappeared walking underground.

"Sir." Slade turned around and looked at her. He smirked. He circled around her, examining the fit of the outfit.

"Very well Ravager." It was the first time she heard him call her that, so she quickly assumed that was her new name.

"Get your weapons and your ear piece." She nodded and walked to a table where a black sheath laid. To a stranger's eyes, they would say it looked like a partially flatted long black piece of shiny wood. Next to that, laid her bo-staff, Slade had made sure she had mastered in that area, she did, with Slade's opinion, she had surpassed Robin. Her staff was half as long as her sheath, but of course, it could extend, double or triple its length without losing width.

She put on her ear piece, which was of course black. It looked like a small dot, the size of a pinky's fingernail. She attacked that to the inside of her ear. It looked as if she had an inside black piercing.

She turned to Slade. "Sir."

"Yes, attack. I will give further instructions when I see fit."

Raven nodded and disappeared into the floor in a heap of black.

---

It had just turned midnight.

The cameras were covered in a black film, not stopping the footage, but just covering the view. The guards watching the cameras were asleep. How idiotic.

She stayed in the shadows, watching as guards switched posts. There was one in every corner. Of course, was, the keyword being. She had knocked all of them unconscious silently putting them to the floor. There was only one guard left, quite the belly. He was in sight of the exhibit. Raven chuckled, she might as well have some fun if he's the last one.

She appeared out of the shadows, and stopped in front of the guard, who was asleep. She had created a cloak with her powers, hiding her outfit, and her eyes were the only thing visible.

"Boo." This immediately woke up the guard and he gasped in fright.

"Who..who are you.. what.. what are you.." He was too scared to yell or talk properly, instead he just whispered in shock.

"I am.. Death." Raven inwardly chuckled at this, 'How corny!'

"Yah-you're evil!" He had fallen off his chair earlier, and was now backed against the wall.

"No. I am neither good or evil. I am balance.." Raven had read this in one of the books in the library and thought it a cool phrase.

"Am-Am I dying?"

"Yes. Come." She held out a shadow claw the size of her hand towards him.

The guard gulped and stood up shakily, he held out his trembling hand.

Raven quickly took it, tugged on it hardly, bringing him stumbling toward her, and she quickly shot out a clenched fist toward his face. She caught him in her power and silently brought the unconscious man to the ground.

She chuckled, her cloak dissipating into the air, revealing her outfit.

"That was.. very creative child, continue on." Her ear piece whispered to her.

"Yes sir." Raven was in a happy mood, she finally got to strike in Jump City. Usually Slade would make her do jobs elsewhere, saying that it was practice, and her first meeting with the titans should be ..embarassing to them. And she was ecstatic when Slade told her of the Arabian Gem at the Jump City museum, and that he wanted it. She practically cried out in joy and almost hugged him.

She blinked, and activated her infrared eyes that were a part of the mask. She moved through the moving lasers with catlike grace. She quickly got through it and stood in front of the boxed exhibit. She noticed the lasers that were pointed on the box, and the weight activation on the bottom, thinking for a moment, she covered herself and the boxed exhibit in a black dome, easily taking off the screws with her powers, she lifted the lid and took the gem. Frowning, she silently disabled the weight alarm and replaced the lid. Stepping back in her dome, she let it disappear. No alarms followed.

Smiling, she held the gem in her hands, and it just disappeared. She had the knowledge of sub space pockets when she was reading a fiction in the library, and it only took her a week to master it.

Turning around she let her eyes wander. She yawned.

"Very good Ravager, activate the alarms and meet the titans. You may add complications." The order softly said through her ear.

"Yes Sir." She smiled and lifted her hand in the air, creating a large power ball made of black. She still liked using her powers in black, but of course, she could easily do without it.

The power was now a large size of a beach ball. She grinned and threw it to the ground forcefully a few feet in front of her. The ebony ball of her power, exploded, not physically, but the black tendrils spread out in darkness, disabling everything electronic. The lights quickly turned off, and the security systems had shut down. She waited impatiently, walking around looking at the other exhibits around her. She took a quick intake of breath remembering that Slade was watching, 'Damn, I forgot.' Giving a camera back its life, it roared and moved as she moved. She looked at it and shrugged apologetically with a small smile.

Slade watched as her power took out all the power, he waited staring at the blank screen knowing that she's bound to remember. He smirked as the camera turned back on and she shrugged with a smile. 'Damn woman.'

A few minutes later she heard footsteps and walked toward the front of her stolen gem's case.

She stopped shortly, which was coincidently right in front of the case. "Freeze!"

---

She frowned at the bodies. An unconscious Beastboy at her feet. She tapped her ear, "Sir."

She talked of her meeting, and asked if she should return;

"No. There are two guards outside, let them arrest you. You may escape after you're in the van."

Raven was confused at this, Arrest? Van?

Slade continued, "Let the titans have the pleasure of seeing their failure in the papers tomorrow, I've sent an anonymous call to the press, they'll be there shortly. Continue."

"Yes Sir. Understood. Ravager out."

---

Ravager appeared walking out of the shadows, seeing Slade a couple feet away, his back to her, him watching the screens of the tower. She glanced at it, and watched Robin angry as a fire ant. She chuckled at this.

"Sir." She stood with her legs partly spaced, with her arms folded against her back.

Slade turned around, almost laughing at her position. She looked just like him!

"Report."

"Mission successful." She waved her hand in front of her and the jewel appeared, putting her hand back behind her, the jewel floated to Slade, who took it in his hand and examined it.

"Good. You're excused."

Raven nodded and disappeared.

---

Authors Note: Ooohh.. Ahhh.. Longest chapter I've written. I needed to get ride of the flashbacks! I wanted to get straight to the present! I am so relieved that I finished this chapter, I can finally write in current time! Oh and if you're confused, this whole chapter is flashbacked.

And thank you for your reviews guys, I mean seriously, each and every single one fscking rocks. It really helps me. Thank you.

Next chapter will be current time, no more needed flashbacks, maybe one or two once in a while.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, A million thank yous! I can't help but grin at my reviews!

Oh! And umm.. twiddles her fingers I really don't want to do this.. but umm.. can you guys not reveal your guesses in the reviews.. because some people.. like the suspense and everything.. IM SORRY IM SORRY!

But of course, you can still do it if you feel the total need to.

I just don't want anyone to be revealing any strong plot points and such... but always read the authors note!

I'll tell you when you can guess and it can be big of help, just don't do it if I didn't ask..? please..?

Of course I still love you and appreciate your reviews.. and you don't have to listen to me.. but yeah.

Next chappie coming tomorrow.

Hearts, Ist.