Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans. (You know it's been too long when you can't remember the word 'disclaimer'.)
Warning: ...and live to fight on... is a line break.
Chapter Five: Awaken Time
It was cold. Ice cold. Needles, thousands of tiny pinpricks stabbing me. Blue and white light blinding me through even my closed eyes. And throughout it all, the whirling, falling, painful sensation, the feeling of her hands on mine, holding me as the universe seemed to tear us apart.
For the second time in what seemed an eternity forced into a moment, Keol hit the unforgiving ground. Too tired to groan he pushed himself up after a long moment to regain his breath. Then, staring at his right arm, the boy flexed his fingers. No pain. No numbness. What had happened? Then the rustle of cloth made him look up, eyes growing wider. In front of him, backs the only part he could see, were two strange men. They were conversing softly in a language he didn't know; when one moved Keol caught sight of the foreign clothing and bronze shield, metal tipped spear glinting in the sun's light.
What? Concentrating, he unlocked hearing and language and listened intently.
"They burned the croftiaka yesterday." The other guard grunted in satisfaction.
"But wasn't she almost dead when they caught her?" He asked after a moment. Keol leaned forward, listening intently. Maybe he could figure out where or when he was by their talk.
"Ai; idiotic croftiaka had… herself… been…" Bursts of the chattering language interrupted as the effects of his power faded; Keol grimaced and stood without thinking. Instantly the men whipped around; though as startled as he was, their sharp spear points poking him roughly in the chest prevented any sudden movements on his part.
"Umm… hello?" Keol tried nervously. The strange humans jerked and grazed the tips across his skin. The Titan decided that was a bad course of action and obediently let them jab him to- well, wherever.
...and live to fight on...
Sometime later the young boy sat against a wooden post, his hands tied behind him and around the pole. People who seemed to be villagers hurried by, some stopping to stare at him in their own foreign clothing. He couldn't figure out what time period he was in, but right now, it didn't matter. The two guards who stood on either side of him firmly ignored his attempts at conversation, and so now he sat, watching everything around him.
Movement caught his eye- a girl lifted a hand in a gentle wave. Keol blinked and then looked closer.
She had what seemed to be steel gray hair, almost spiky pieces of it falling over darker gray eyes. A simple white dress fell around her as she gave a hesitant smile, watching him with those strange eyes of hers. Something about them woke some previously unknown feeling; strangely enough, if was as if it wasn't his feeling, but someone else's...
What was it? Unable to pin down the rogue emotion, Keol sealed his mind tighter, and it vanished. Thoughtful, he looked up to the guards. Normally they chased off the spectators- why weren't they shooing her off? Then he did a double take as he looked at her again.
She was floating. Her feet dangled mere inches above the scruffy grass; it wasn't levitation, because he knew the signs of that, and it wasn't an illusion either.
What was going on? Just as the thought passed through his mind, she lifted a finger to her lips in the universal sign of silence- and vanished.
Momentarily stunned, Keol opened his mouth and was shoved by a spear butt. Closing his mouth with a snap, the Titan looked intently at the spot where the girl had been, and wondered.
...and live to fight on...
Armory sat, curled up by the wall in a 'comfort' chair, reading one of Raven's history books. The door to the private room she and her sister shared opened; the young woman didn't look up until Mirror put her hands on the table, breathing uneven. Instantly her sister's blue eyes snapped to Mirror's face. The lime haired Titan closed her own eyes in pain; her frame tensed against some hurting truth.
"Changeling knows." The words registered and brought visible shock in Armory's face as she watched Mirror's internal fight. Her sister lifted her head and met that gaze, torn emotions and tears in the green eyes.
"He knows." Armory didn't speak as Changeling's daughter gasped for breath as though drowning, shaking her head.
"But I can't let Him out! I can't bring those horrors onto this world. Even though Sel promised he'd stop me- even though I know I shouldn't give up- I would kill myself rather than let Him free. I was going to. And I knew you and Raven would- but he knows." Sobs shook the Titan; slowly, agony in her own eyes, Armory placed her arms around Mirror and rested her head against the shaking shoulder.
"She knows that death is no escape, and fights to the end."
And then, unbiddenm unwanted, but given all the same, in their heartbeat, the pulse of their blood, and every piece of their souls, came the desperate cry.
"CHANGELING!"
"Come back soon, Keol." Armory whispered as she began to cry. "Hurry home. Please."