Unsuspected Heroes

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

Earlier

Raven growled subconsciously as she flipped the pages of her Japanese textbook. "Oh come on! It can't be that hard to find!" Snorting in exasperation, she flipped to the back of the book and looked for page numbers that it would be on. Finally finding them, she opened to a page with a picture of a samurai in full armor upon it. He finger trailed over the page until she found what she was looking for. "Bushi…warrior."

She sat back to ponder what Ker's words had meant. How are heroes and warriors different? Why doesn't he think that he can do a job like mine? She would sit there for quite some time.

Present Time

"Damn girl, calm down!" said Cyborg as the Rachel-disguised Raven bounced from foot to foot as she waited for Cyborg to be ready. "Shouldn't you meditate or something?"

"We don't have time for that," said Raven pointedly. "Sarah said he was finally coming back to school today, and she kinda seemed…strange."

Cyborg raised his remaining eyebrow. "I could have sworn that we always had time to stave off emotionally charged telepathic destruction."

"Yes, yes…and the calming effect would be at school. Let's go already." She got in the car and started drumming her fingers on the door.

Her response stunned Cyborg for a few seconds, who got in and looked over at her slowly. "Raven…did you just say what I think you said?"

"Your audio sensors are good. And you don't seem to be infected by any viruses. Can we go?"

Cyborg started the car and started driving. "I know I said that it seemed like you were starting to care about this guy, but shouldn't you be a bit more careful? I mean…emotions are a dangerous thing even without powers attached to them."

She sighed. "I know, I know. It's just…well, soothing, I guess. His presence, I mean."

"Huh. Well, I guess it could be that going along with some of your emotions might be better for you in the long run."

"I can see the logic behind your point…as with any psychological case, fighting against something always creates more turmoil than going along with it, but attraction, like, lust…they're pretty fickle. And eventually, I'd have to come clean, right? That's where the idea breaks down."

"So you like him? What about love? You didn't mention that one."

"Sweet Azar, I hope I don't love the guy. There isn't an emotion more dangerous than love, and that includes rage. I mean, the chemical make-up of it isn't so far removed from obsessive-compulsive disorder." Raven looked down at her lap. "And even if I don't, him loving me wouldn't be very high on my list of things I want to happen. I'd be doing to him what Terra did to Beast Boy."

Cyborg stopped the car a short way away from the school. "Girl, I can't believe I'm actually going to suggest this, but have you considered quitting? Just become a normal teenager? It's not like there aren't others there…we know that, and we've known it for a long time. We'd miss you…but it might be better for you."

She shook her head. "Atlas can't shrug, Vic. Once you take up the responsibility, you can't put it down. Besides, the truth would be that Rachel was just a fake identity, no matter what." The melancholy half-demon stepped out into the cold.

The teen who had been mutilated so long ago sighed and looked after her, closing the door behind her. "Is she really?"

Raven shivered. Cold winds were blowing in off of the bay, and her slight frame didn't provide her with much of a capacity to keep heat in her body. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a girl of her build, but she simply hadn't dressed warmly enough today. Tucking her arms in close, she blew out a breath that condensed in front of her and started making her way towards the school's door.

It felt nice to have a familiar-smelling jacket draped around her shoulders, even if it's owner was wrapping her in a web of emotion that seemed apt to undo her. "Hello Ker," she said somewhat shyly. The male, normally so warm towards her, seemed at a remove, in his own thoughts, much as she was. She didn't press it, instead just walking into the school with him, worry upon worry flitting through her mind.

It came to a head at lunch. Neither was eating, both lost in thought as they glanced at the other, sitting right next to them. Then Ker's hand slid across the table to in front of Raven and withdrew, leaving the teardrop-shaped golden pendant with the jet-black kanji inscribed in it. Raven couldn't readily translate it, and found her hand involuntarily rising to rest covering her heart. Oh damn, she thought as a band seemed to constrict around that organ at her core. "Ker?"

Her voice was barely even a whisper, but he heard it just fine. "That's belonged to you for some time…I'm not sure how long, but I'm sorry I didn't give it to you sooner."

Her fingers traced over it. "You made this, didn't you?" He nodded and she could feel very unfamiliar tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you, Ker…so much."

"It's only a representation…I'm sorry I couldn't give you more." Raven found herself in a tender hug that she found herself welcoming. But the words whispered in her ear, only half-understood but heavy with feeling, made her freeze in shock. "Sayonara…koishii."

And Ker was gone, striding off across the lunchroom. Raven didn't break out of her shock until her mind finally translated the kanji etched into the pendant. Ai…oh Azar… Her hand tightened around the pendant and she stood up, trying to find the other teen.

"I see you finally came to your senses and dumped her?" asked Faris of Ker, as the lighter colored of the two boys paused at the school exit.

"In a manner of speaking," said Ker heavily, not looking over his shoulder at his old friend, who was walking towards him. His eyes narrowed as Faris's ethereal reflection in the glass of the door visibly slumped in relief.

"Thank the gods, and all other assorted higher powers. I knew you'd regain your senses."

"You can't regain something you never had, Faris. I'm through putting ninjo before giri."

A scowl turned Faris's handsome face ugly, and he clamped his hand down on Ker's shoulder, spinning him around. "There is no way in HELL that you're going to go join those damn Titans! You can't give away the secret!"

Ker bared his teeth and grabbed Faris's forearm, triggering a pain point to make Faris release his shoulder, then twisted Faris's limb into a series of joint locks that left Faris helpless and in pain on the ground before him. "Did I say I was? Huh? No…I'm gone."

"You can't abandon your friends like that!" accused Faris.

"If I can walk away from Rachel after giving her the pendant, I sure as hell can! You know what that pendant says!"

"AI!" spat Faris, "Dammit, Ker, I know! There's one just like it around Sarah's neck! She's never taken the cursed thing off, even if it doesn't mean anything anymore!"

"Oh no…it still means something. Past, present, or future, that one character is truth! You know the translation full well!"

"Love," came the soft word from the Middle Eastern-blooded boy's lips. Then a hard set creased his face and a flash like a piece of magnesium burning smashed into Ker's eyes, making him release the other teen's arm and stumble backwards into the door. He was just blinking away the afterimage when Faris's punch slammed into his jaw. "I KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT IT MEANS! IT MEANS THAT THERE WON'T EVER BE ANOTHER PERSON THAT CAN COMPARE! IT MEANS THAT SARAH WON'T EVER BE WITH A PERSON WITHOUT LOVING THAT DAMN HUNK OF METAL MORE THAN THEM!"

A kick slammed into Ker's stomach and he found himself flying through the door. When his vision cleared, he saw a spent-looking Faris standing there, looking defeated. "Why did you have to steal her from me?"

Ker had no answer, instead getting to his feet and turning before putting one foot in front of the other…walking away.

Ker stared down at the two cloth bags that rested in the trunk of his car, both curved by the form of their contents. With an exhaled breath, he picked up the special leather belt that lay coiled between them and undid the one he wore now, exchanging it for the new one, which had special fittings on it. Resting his head against the trunk's metal, he gathered himself for a few seconds before putting his hands on it to close it.

"Leaving town?" asked a voice from behind him, one that seemed to be trying to stay flat, but was not quite managing it.

Ker closed the trunk and turned to see a blue-cloaked and hooded figure looking at him, face in shadows. "I can't say I expected to be seeing you…nor would I expect you to really care that I am."

"I shouldn't…but I do," admitted Raven.

"The most controlled of the Titans cares that some civilian is leaving town even though the sum total of her contact with him was a healing session," scoffed Ker bitterly, sitting back on the car. "You'll excuse me if I don't believe you. Are you here to take me to the police because my actions in the mall violated some societal law? If so…" He held out his hands, wrists together. "…But it seems monumentally stupid to punish someone for doing the right thing, even if the right thing isn't what law says is right."

"You are not just some civilian," corrected Raven. "You are bushi, neh? A warrior."

Ker gave a sharp nod. "Kitsu. Then you understand why I must leave."

Raven moved closer, still hidden under the cloak. "To an extent. What I do not understand is how you can give up friends, a life, a love…all so easily."

"Giri over ninjo. Duty is far more important than one's own feelings. It is simple…but it is hardly easy."

"Why leave, then? Why not join with us?"

"Because this city has plenty of heroes, and it certainly doesn't need a warrior. You Titans have always come through for the city."

"By the barest of margins! A warrior could only be a good thing! We always need more strength! Don't you remember when Jump was taken over? It was only that one resistance group that fought on while we were all gone that let us even make it to Slade!"

Ker's face was a picture of disbelief. "Nanda?"

"Oh, don't tell me that you've not heard of them. They saved thousands of lives by delaying the advance through the city, and it was only their sabotaging of the surveillance system Slade put in place that let us even show our heads after Terra defeated us. As far as I'm concerned, they should be part of the Titans! There's swordsmen out there who are owed a great deal…wait…"

Ker drew in a deep breath. "A warrior does not fight for praise. They do what they do because it is the right thing. Duty. But only one of the swordsmen really deserves credit for the deeds."

"That is not true, even if it was your father that did most of the work."

"I'm not going to ask how you know it was my father that was the one who organized that fight. But…"

Raven interrupted him, pulling down her hood. "Perhaps you should, Ker." Sadly, she unfastened the cloak's clasp and let it slide to the ground, letting her 'Rachel' clothing show. "I'm sorry that the girl you loved wasn't real." She held out the pendant. "Here. I wish there was something I could do to make this better, but there isn't anything but the truth."

Ker's expression was pained. "That pendant belongs to you. I cannot take it."

"I am not Rachel. My name is Raven. You did not fall in love with me! You fell in love with her." The last sentence was bitter, then her tone turned pleading. "Take it back. Please…I can't take this from you."

Ker's hand folded hers around the pendant. "If you are not Rachel, then I did not fall in love with Rachel. When I looked into your eyes and saw your beautiful soul, it was no lie. That pendant is yours."

Raven's eyes closed tight against scalding tears as she held the necklace to her and a pair of arms wrapped around her. "Must you go?"

Ker pressed his lips against her forehead, then released her with a sad smile. "Hai…ai shiteru."

"Sayonara…"

Later, as Raven sat on a bench, pondering this newest turn of fate, pendant caressing her skin, she was surprised to hear Sarah's voice. "You know, you really should have said ja ne, not sayonara."

"What?"

"He'll be back. His prophecy isn't over…and for better or worse, it's entwined with yours."

"How do you know about these things?" asked Raven sharply.

"Perhaps I should reintroduce myself," said Sarah. "Call me…Soothsayer."

A/N: If you're surprised by how this chapter went, you're not alone. It took on a life of its own about halfway through Raven's reveal, and sent the plot in a somewhat different direction than I had intended. But this is where things are really starting. What you've seen so far is nothing but some introduction...some foreshadowing and setting up of characters. As the song goes: "You ain't seen nothing yet."