Heya all and welcome to the second chappie of 'What is to Come'. I was bored, so I decided to type the second chapter shortly after I posted the first...special thanks goes out to Lain the FLuff-Master for being my first (and faithful) reviewer!Evil Nevermore bird plushie for you!
Disclaimer: I could own Teen Titans…but I don't...(please don't sue me! I have about two quarters that I found in the couch cushions and a lint ball! You don't want that!)
Oh, and some answers coming up, even if you didn't have any questions.
WARNING: if this chapter or the rest of this flippin story seems anything like 'Birthmark' or the ep. coming up, 'The Prophecy' it is not my fault. Entirely. I had the idea for this story long (well, not too long) before Birthmark was even mentioned on commercials. But I have ensured that this story is going way off the road and into the ditch when it comes to being like either of those episodes. There, you have been warned.
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What is to Come
Chapter Two: The Telling
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Raven's eyes widened and Xaphtious smirked mischievously, beginning to glow like Karigan, only his aura was black instead of red. Before anyone could react, a giant black fireball formed in Xaphtious' hands and he slammed it into the ground. The impact caused a cloud of dust and debris to fly up from the ground and an incredibly white light emitted from the fireball, both temporarily blinding everyone but Xaphtious.
Karigan felt a hand clasp over her mouth and her arms being restrained. Xaphtious' fiery breath blew against her cheek as he leaned in close to her.
"So you do have powers," he hissed quietly, "The Doom is coming, Crossfire, check the book." And before Karigan could throw her father over her shoulder, he was gone, almost dissolving into the air. The Titans gathered where Xaphtious had stood, coughing as the dust cleared.
"Everyone ok?" Robin asked. They all nodded.
"Dude, what was the point of that?" Beast Boy asked incredulously. No one knew the answer to his question; at least no one voiced that they knew. Two people knew what had happened and why, but they weren't about to say anything.
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When the Titans returned to the Tower Karigan and Raven both retreated to their rooms, leaving everyone else wondering why. (well, mostly about Karigan…that's normal behavior for Raven tho…) Once Karigan was safely locked in her room, she began rummaging around in the back of her closet. She soon found what she sought; a box of rarely touched but not forgotten books - Mysteries, the occasional Sci/Fi, horrors, and a few Edgar Allen Poe poem books. But at the very bottom of the collection lay a simple-looking black leather-bound book. Karigan pulled it out of the bottom of the box and sat down on her bed. This book, this simple black book held so many confusing and ancient secrets. This book had been given to Karigan on her 7th birthday by her father, the demon Xaphtious. She hadn't understood what it said or why it had been given to her at the time. Andrea had let her father give her the gift, but not stay long; the two had begun fighting over something and her mother had kicked him out, telling him to never come back.
Xaphtious never came back in the following eight years of, and Andrea had taken the book and hidden it until Karigan was 12. Karigan herself had flipped through the book once or twice, but it was in a strange runic and written language that she didn't understand at the time. As she leafed through the book now, different pictures and symbols popped out at her. Karigan stopped at a page that caught her eye. On the left side of the page was an intricately drawn picture of a ball of flame, half in white, half in black. To the right of the strange but interesting picture lay a stanza of another language that Karigan didn't understand. It seemed to be composed of the same sounds as English, so she tried her best in saying it out loud.
"Mathair is daonno, athair las muigh de anam , an paiste cruthu.." Coincidentally, Raven was outside Karigan's room when she uttered the stanza. Something in Raven's mind clicked, and she knew she had heard whatever Karigan was reading before; most likely from one of the many books there were on Azarath. Raven knocked on the door and it soon slid open, revealing Karigan.
"Where did you learn that?" Raven demanded. Karigan's eyes widened and she let Raven in.
"Um…a book." she replied slowly. "But how do you know it?" Raven looked around.
"I know my share of Prophecies." she stated. "Where's the book?" Karigan walked over
to her bed and pulled the simple-looking book out from under her pillow and handed it to Raven, who opened it. She obviously knew of it or knew what it contained because her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed.
"Where did you get this?" Raven hissed, her voice low. Karigan was stunned by the dark girl's reaction.
"From, from my father." she replied hastily.
"Xaphtious."
"Right. Wait. How did you know that?" Karigan questioned, curious.
"I heard him talking to you; more so the thoughts echoing in your head. He called you Crossfire, right?" Raven returned. Karigan nodded slowly. "Funny," Raven continued, her voice empty of all humor, "that you should come upon the page that may concern you." Karigan cocked her head to the side, puzzled.
"What do you mean?" she asked slowly.
"The caption you just began to read was a Telling, about Crossfire, and then Xaphtious called you Crossfire; piece it together." Raven replied, not meaning to sound irritated, but came across as so.
"So I'm Crossfire." Karigan responded, understanding what she had been hinting to. Raven nodded.
"Yes, but even more so your powers. Let me guess, he gave you the book on your seventh birthday." Karigan nodded
"But how do you know that?"
"Seven circles of the Underworld, seven days in a week, seven supreme rulers in the three existing planes. Seven is the age a demon fully comes into their powers." Raven explained, never changing her tone. Karigan started to say something but Raven cut her off, knowing fully well what she was going to say.
"Xaphtious isn't a supreme ruler. He's a follower, a hit man, the right hand of Trigon, a puppet. Nothing more, and possibly everything less." She explained further, "Could you read the book when you received it?" Raven continued. Karigan shook her head.
"My mom took the book away and didn't give it back until I was 12, and even then I couldn't read it, I just skimmed through it." Raven exhaled calmly, and sat down on Karigan's bed.
"Did you understand what you just read?" Karigan just stared at her like she was crazy.
"How could I?" she asked incredulously, "it's in a totally different language." Raven rolled her eyes and sighed. Karigan was not making this easy.
"When children with demon parentage settle into their powers around seven, they automatically know or recognize the language demons use. Though it's weak at first, the knowledge grows. I'm guessing you didn't understand this is because your human side is so strong. Just concentrate hard enough and you'll get it." she finished, standing up and heading for the door. "Trust me." the dark girl added, leaving a very much puzzled team mate behind.
Karigan tried her best to take all Raven had explained in. Some of it was jumbled together, but she got the main idea. Karigan had known ever since she found out she had powers that she was half demon. She had never told anyone, keeping the secret welled up inside herself, hoping that she would never have to tell anyone. But the day Karigan had always dreaded was rapidly approaching; why she didn't tell her friends when they accepted her onto the team was beyond her, but now Raven knew the truth and she had to tell they others sooner or later. But for now, Karigan was keen on reading the book and the Telling, so she pushed all other things aside and concentrated. She sighed and read the Telling again in her head. (again, say this how you will, I don't know how to either…)
Mathair is daonna, athair lasmuigh de anam, as paiste cruthu, toil tabhair leat amach an michinniuint.
That didn't work, she was still in the dark. Karigan tried again, only placing the book against her forehead and murmuring the stanza out loud. Still nothing. She was becoming frustrated and even that was frustrating her.
"For all the bloody frikin shit!" Karigan growled fiercely. "Why the hell can't I read this!" She pounded the book maliciously, making herself feel a little better. Then her hand began to glow red as a result of her anger. Karigan rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Oh great." but refusing to give, Karigan looked down at the book while kicking her powers and emotions back into her control. But very much to her surprise she found that she understood the words on the page!
"Well that's different." she commented, beginning to read the Telling.
"Mother is human, father without soul, the child created will bring forth the Doom." (HA! I have a different name for the end of the world! take THAT!) At the top of the page was the title, 'Telling of Crossfire', and now Karigan fully understood what Raven meant. What she had not noticed before was a good-sized caption (only because the runic language uses big, um, runes) on the other page that described this prophesized person. (if it seems corny and very confined-ish, that would be my fault. Duh. I made this up really fast, and I was half high on sugar or something…I don't much remember…)
'Born of a human mother and a soulless father, the child will be a half-demon girl. The child's powers can go to good or evil, the bringing of the Doom all down to one Choice. Her powers are of mostly elemental fire, thus the name Crossfire.'
(if you think about it, the person that supposedly 'told/wrote' this in Teen Titans land was most likely high on cheese, thus the crappy description…) Karigan looked up from the book.
"Hmph. Well that clears some things up." but then another thought came to her. "Why did Raven come here?" she asked her empty room. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it didn't make any sense. Her room was next to Robin's way on the far left side of the Tower. The only reason Raven would come here was to talk to either of them; and Karigan knew for a fact that Robin was downstairs, so Raven had come to talk to her; but about what?
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OoO so did that clear some things up? Hopefully so, probably not. don't worry, the next chappie is going to clear and muddle things even more! The language I translated the Telling into was Gaelic, or Irish. Your pick. But anydiddlyhoo, please review. If you don't, when I dominate the world, you will be my guinea pigs on brainwashing tests!MWAHAHAHAHAHA!-gag- I choked on my mint!