Collecting the Pieces of a Broken Mirror

' Thought '

"Speech"(why do I still put this warning?)

Chapter 10: Under Locks and Keys

"Follow me," he had commanded a few minutes before. She did as she was told, watching as her supposed uncle used roofs as his path.

He stopped in front of an old building. It was huge and seemed to be about to fall down any minute. Slade stopped in front of the tall and rusted door, which opened with a very loud creak. He stepped aside, bowed a bit and stretched his arm, inviting Raven to enter first.

On the inside, the building was very different. Raven was standing in a sumptuous and eerie hall. There were no lamps, only black candelabrums hanging from the walls, the faint candlelight lightening old portraits and scarce but rather charming dark furniture. Raven looked up: the roof would be about five or six meters above her head.

Such a majestic and dark place reminded her of Azar's palace. It was almost like one of its underground wings, where she had spent most of her time, had been transported to Earth.

Slade woke her up from her trance and guided her through corridors half immersed in darkness, their footsteps echoing in the marble floor.

Then they got into another hall, the floor covered by a thick crimson carpet.

"Shall I show you your room?" Slade asked.

She glared at him, and he immediately understood what she meant: she didn't care about a room or a home, but with her past and his connection with it.

"Then let us sit. You are surely tired, and we have a lot to talk about...", he said, and a pair of upholstered, wooden chairs rose from the floor. Raven hesitated a bit but a moment later the both of them were comfortably seated.

The horizon had a greenish tone when she finally entered her room. Raven covered the stained glass window with silky and heavy purple curtains. She'd rather stay in the darkness.

Her bare feet touched the smooth carpet on the floor as she examined her surroundings.

There were three black doors, and Raven supposed they would take her to the bathroom, to the closet and to the corridor, in an order she could not tell.

The walls had a dark gray tone. There were bookshelves full of books of various sizes, and candles cast eerie shadows on busts of unknown people. The bed Raven was given was covered in dark bedspread.

She hesitated a bit before lying on it, trying to think on what to do next.

For hours she had concentrated on Slade's words, seeking an error, a fault, a moment's hesistation. But she had found nothing. "Maybe there are no faults to be found..." she thought, suddenly hoping his version of her history was right.

But she was an empath, and a woman, and she knew there was something very wrong behind those calculated cold words. There should be something, and she'd find out what it was.

Raven would never accept his story. She couldn't.

He told her that friendship blossomed among the Titans and her. Because of her powers. They needed someone strong enough to keep the city under control, and planned to use her. Slade, of course, tried to dissuade her from that stupid idea, but Raven had been too stubborn to accept she could be used as a pawn.

It all had seemed perfect, but her past's secrets emerged. They had to kill her, the Titans would never trust a half-demon. Mankind deserved to live, and she was not a part of it. She was a hybrid. Raven was a threat.

The Teen Titans had tried to kill her, but it had been unsuccessful. Slade had almost died to protect his niece, and now was stuck with machines inside his body too keep him alive. Raven had ended up in a coma, and had been in it for two years.

He told her not to worry, he would take care of her now.

And there she was. But Raven didn't want to believe.

Had she really been this stupid? Had she trusted the Teen Titans, and had they committed such a vile betrayal?

There would be only one way to find out, and it was to see their side of the story. But she could wait. She didn't trust Slade, and would like to see him make a mistake.

Condemning her mean thoughts towards the one who sheltered her in her situation, Raven slipped into a disturbed slumber.

oOo

"Great, everything is as planned. She will be ready soon... And you, take this back now. I do not need it anymore. Behave, and keep me informed." Slade said, standing in front of his new guest's door, as he handed a small book with a worn-out cover to a girl hidden in darkness.

oOo

Raven woke up, sweat running down her face. She had been dreaming, and by the position of the sun in the sky, not for too long.

She didn't move, afraid of forgetting her dream.

There was this big screen, and an irritating electronic melody. She could see three human forms, but couldn't discern details. Then a forth one entered the room, and all was black. Then she saw candles, and could smell orange juice. And there was a circus. And fire. And a mirror.

A mirror.

Where was her mirror? The Azerathrian one? The one used to check on her emotions?

She jumped to her feet and searched around the room, inside the closet, in the bathroom, yet she didn't find it.

If she had lived there as Slade had told her, her personal belongings had to be somewhere.

But she couldn't find them.

Reaching for the doorknob, she caught a blurred glimpse of herself on it.

Her gem.

Her mirror.

Her past.

Was it just her imagination or Slade had just slipped?