This is Master-Aricitic reminding you that stealing is bad. If you get caught bad things happen. If you don't get caught you (should) feel bad... So lets all be good people and not steel...

Anyway, sorry it's been so long, I'd been in sorta a mental funk, meaning I couldn't write. Not that I'm out of it now just I've decided to post the three chapters I was holding off on. I'll start up on the story again as soon as my inspiration and desire to write starts up again.
Thank you for your patiance.

That night, after they fully explained what had happened, of course leaving out the part that the man was in fact Timothy, and they had all gone to bed she fell asleep and found herself once again in the small world within the mountains. This time, though, something seemed different. She noticed that she was holding the book she had somehow extracted from herself earlier that day. Ever since they had arrived at the tower she had been trying to read it, but all of the pages were blank, and in the back there was a place for a deck of cards but the cards were missing.

Slightly frustrated she sat down; wondering if she would have any better luck here she reopened the book and flipped ahead a few pages. She knew that the older Timothy would find her, he always did, and then she could ask him about it. For now, though, she resigned herself to, once again, trying to read the blank pages.

Running her fingers across the impossibly smooth page she tried to visualize what text the illusive book may contain. As she did so her mind began to create text that she knew from books she had already read and as the words were formed in her head they began to appear on the pages. Surprised she read and reread the text she had come up with, it was from the book of Azarath. Suddenly an idea began to form in her mind and she turned a page. She began to focus on another book she had read, but this time nothing happened.

Maybe I need to be relaxed. Raven thought to herself and allowed her mind to relax again. Once again she thought of the text within the other book and slowly the words formed both in her mind and on the page in front of her. Excitement flowing through her now she turned the page again and tried it again. Again and again it worked until at last Raven began to decipher how she may be able to read text from the book itself.

Reacting to a quick thought she turned back to the previous pages and noted that they were once again blank. Now she was ready to try and unlock some of the illusive secrets of the book. She relaxed her mind, trying not to focus on anything in particular, and looked back at the blank pages of the book. She tried to see into its blank pages and read whatever they contained and this time as she did so the text began to form without her.

As she watched words began to form on the page. Much of the text was not text at all but fragments of the letters and symbols that would appear, and as they moved and came together she began to see what letters they formed. Some of it she honestly couldn't read, but others...

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos... Raven, the prophecy child of Azarath and the dark lord Trigon, what do you seek to learn from these pages..."

She stopped reading. Had the book actually just asked her a question? Well, if so she could find out easily enough. She began 'reading' again...

"The knowledge you seek, knowledge of yourself and your history..."

And as she continued reading her history was played out in the text. Everything from birth to now. Some things were left out but nearly all of it was there in exquisite detail. As she finished reading and turned what she assumed to be the final page she noticed two diagrams on the next two pages. The one on the left was of her but she was wearing her dark blue clothing and her hood was up showing four glowing eyes. The one on the right, however, was of her in white clothes and her hood was down. The diagram was so similar to the one she had seen in dragon's book that she nearly thought it was the same. But it was different, she could see symbols around it that somehow she understood. Somehow she began to realize that the darkness within herself was nearly gone, her father's influence was nearly gone. That meant that the first diagram was her previously and the second was her now...

"That's right..." said an old voice from behind her. "I am truly impressed, child, that you were able to begin to understand the book so quickly."

Raven jumped up and turned around. Standing, now in front of her, was a very old man, about half her height. He was wearing a hooded cape which was worn and grey, but the hood was down showing his nearly bald head. What little hair he had left was in a long braid trailing beneath the cape. His arms were coming from beneath the cape and his hands clutched an old walking stick which looked as though it had been well used for more years than Raven cared to guess. The man's hands were gloved but that didn't prevent her from seeing how old and frail they appeared, though she could see that in his face as its wrinkles sagged under their own weight. His eyes were sunken so much that it appeared as though they were closed. His entire body sagged under its own weight and he was nearly doubled over onto his walking stick.

"Who am I, you ask." The old man said. "You should be able to guess that child, but perhaps it will be easier if I tell you that the man you see before you is who... no... what I really am." He paused to see her reaction. "Yes child, it is true. I am far older than you can possibly imagine. I have witnessed more years than I care to remember... but still I live on for there is still work for me to do."

"So... you are Timothy." Raven asked, her voice weak. "And the age I normally see you in is..."

"It is the age I choose to live in. it is the equivalent age of my soul." The old man said. "I may be old but I am still young. As a timeless one it doesn't matter I suppose."

"Timeless?" Raven asked.

"Oh, I thought you had already been told." The old man said. "As a timeless soul I exist outside of normal time and can exist in any time that I wish. I have no real age now because time does not apply to me..."

"But..."

"This is just an appearance, child." The old man said. "Allow me to see the book." He said holding out one frail hand.

Raven hesitated but handed it to him in the end. The old man opened it to its center and, holding it with his left hand, he placed his right in the center of one of its pages. At first Raven thought he was going to fall but as he continued to stand thus she relaxed.

"Rheptharis," the old man said and the book illuminated, light pouring out of text which had not been there previous.

Suddenly the light engulfed the old man's body and he began to change. It happened rapidly and nearly all at once, like a badly rendered computer image morph. His body straightened and his skin rejuvenated; all of his hair returned, growing like thread being quickly pulled. Finally the older, and yet younger, Timothy stood in front of Raven.

"See. I really have no true age." He said. "I hope showing you my physical age won't affect you negatively."

"I... I'm just shocked." Raven said. "I had no idea..."

He smiled and stepped closer, closing the book as he moved. In one quick movement he reached her saying, "You weren't meant to, child. You weren't ready..." and kissed her on the forehead.

Raven woke up and realized that he had placed the book back within her. She felt the place, where her two sets of ribs met and formed one cage, where she had first extracted the book from. It seemed strange, but since it was just below the heart she could understand why it may be stored there.

---

Elsewhere in the tower and a few hours earlier Robin had just fallen asleep. As he entered his dream he found himself in a circus tent, where he and his family had once lived and worked. He turned to look into the center ring and saw a flash of his parents. The memory of their death flooded all too quickly back into his mind.

"I am sorry Robin." A voice said behind him. "I couldn't save them then, and I doubt I could revive them now."

Robin turned around and found someone he nearly recognized sitting in the stands. It was the teen that he had seen nearly three times now. The memory of those events came back to him as quickly as the memory of his parents deaths, and with the same unpleasantness.

"Who are you?" Robin asked.

"Who I am, really, I cannot tell yet." The teen said. "But you know me as Timothy."

"You're Timothy?" Robin asked, shock striking his voice.

"I know, shocking isn't it?" Timothy said. "But it is true. The little boy whom you and the others found holds so many secrets. Even this isn't my true form, or at least the form in which I choose to live. But Robin, though I know a great deal which you wish to know time is short and I cannot reveal all the mysteries to you. Some you must discover yourself."

"I don't understand..." Robin started.

"You aren't meant to." Timothy said getting up. He began walking closer and as he did so his appearance began to change. Taking on a liquid quality it shifted and adjusted until he was an older man. He continued to walk to Robin and stopped a little more than four feet away. "But you will begin to understand more soon enough. You won't always be out of the loop..."

Timothy walked directly up to Robin and reached out his hand. "And now I must go," he said. "Till next we meet... Oh, and don't try to talk to the younger me as you do as your asleep. He knows very little at the moment."

The older Timothy took Robin's hand and shook it. On the third shake he vanished and Robin suddenly found himself in a normal dream...

---

After Raven woke up she left her room and headed towards the common room. She wasn't sure why but she had a feeling that she needed to deal with something there. As she entered the room she glanced over at the rising sun and the beauty it was creating around it. Slowly, quietly, again she didn't know why, she moved to the living room part of the common and to her surprise found Terra asleep on the couch with Beast Boy, in the shape of a kitten, curled up against her. She also found Timothy watching the two of them, a very curious expression on his face.

Now Raven knew what she had been drawn here to do. She walked quietly over to Timothy and gently put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, his wide eyes happy and joyful. Slowly he stood up and followed Raven out of the room and up to the roof. It was cool, but getting warmer, and every so often a brisk breeze would blow past, blowing their capes around as it passed.

"Timothy," Raven asked, sitting in mid air. "You have tried before but are you still really unable to talk?"

Timothy nodded, opening and closing his mouth a few times. It was apparent that he wanted to but simply didn't know how to. That was strange itself because he had been around people talking for more than a week now, he should have picked up at least some of it by now... unless the reason he was unable to speak was because of a learning block, such as the inability to create vocal sounds...

"Try saying something." Raven said, testing her theory. Timothy stared at her as if asking what to say. "Try saying my name."

Timothy opened his mouth and began to form the word but no sound came. So, she was right, Timothy was unable to create sound. Now she just had to find out why. They began working on things that might make his voice come to him and as the sun slowly rose they slowly made progress. Then, at about seven in the mourning, Raven had been getting up even earlier lately, something new happened.

Taking a break Timothy looked out over the ocean towards the sunrise. He rubbed his throat and watched something moving off in the distance. After a minute or two he stood up and walked towards the edge of the roof pulling his cape closely over him and putting his hood up. A second later he ran as quickly towards Raven as he could and jumped into her just as a wide beam of light flew at her.

Startled Raven looked around to see where the beam had come from but she couldn't see anything. Suddenly she felt herself be knocked over again as Timothy pushed her out of the way of another beam. She looked down at the little boy, silently thanking him for helping her dodge the beams. He was looking sternly over the rooftop at something that Raven couldn't see.

Suddenly Timothy ran full speed back at the edge of the roof and jumped off at whatever it was that was attacking Raven. He disappeared over the edge of the roof and a second later Raven heard a splash in the ocean below. She ran to the edge to see if he had fallen into the water but as she did she heard, "Watch out!"

"Timothy?" Raven called.

"I'm over here." Timothy called. "Look up a foot or two."

She did and noticed that Timothy was hanging onto something invisible in the air. After about a second her eyes adjusted and she realized that it was a trick of the light, someone was floating in the air using a machine to bend light around them.

"Dr. Light, come back to fight me again?"

"Well, now that my cover is blown..." he said and Timothy waved through the air for a second. "I'll shed a little light on the situation." He appeared and Raven stared in disbelief at the new suit that he had on. It was like his old one but bigger, bulkier, and more ridiculous. "Allow me to illuminate the situation for you. With this machine I have found a way to break through your darkness and bathe you in light. Finally I will win and your darkness will haunt me no more."

"Do we really have to go through this again?" Raven asked, her eyes narrowing. "Timothy, come back here."

"Uh, but if I let go I'll fall." He yelled back.

"I've got you..." Raven said jumping off of the roof and floating over to him.

"No you don't!" Dr. Light said and aimed his weapon at Raven. Out of his hands came a light brighter than any she had seen before. She quickly put up her shadow shield but, similar to the battle fought with that group of villains shortly after Timothy arrived, the light cut directly through her shadow shield. It hit her full on and she felt a burning-electrical shock. The beam shot her back to the roof where she hit the wall, hard...

"He must have a crystal." Raven said.

As the beam continued to hit her she felt something build up within herself. She moved her hands to the place where the book had materialized twice before and felt it appear a third time. She opened it and found herself looking at the page of her wearing white again. At first she hadn't realized the full extend or meaning of this picture but remembering what Dr. Light had just said, 'bathed in light', she suddenly understood. She closed the book and placed it back below her heart; then she looked back towards where Timothy was dangling helplessly.

"You know, normally this would have worked on me, Dr. Light, but you waited to long." Raven said. "You see, I've already been 'bathed in light.'" That said, and not really knowing how she did it, she somehow unlocked two things within herself. The first was her true power, the power that she had gained herself, a power similar to her father's but superior in many ways, and, of course, of light rather than darkness. The second thing she didn't really understand but it was like a state of serenity, emotions were not meaningless, just not required at the moment. Her powers soured beyond anything they had ever gone and a white light fought the beam back as her cape and cloths turned pure white, as they sometimes did.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she cast her usual spell, but as she did so another one came to mind. "By the power of Azarath, and the power of Aritaris, I invoke the true form of Absolution!"

Suddenly everything went dark as though all light was being drained from around them. The beam disappeared completely and Dr. Light looked around confused, and helpless... Then, with out any warning, except for the darkness, a ball of pure white light appeared between Raven's hands. The ball grew larger until she could no longer hold it within her hands and she released it.

"You know, you really should have found one of those crystals that the other villains seemed to find." Timothy said, looking up at the look of pure dread on Dr. Lights face. "It would have given you enough power to counter that... Too late now I suppose." and he let go of Dr. Light's leg.

The ball hit Dr. Light and he was forced backward. He disappeared very quickly because of the speed and sheer force of the ball. Parts of his new machine fell to the ground, broken and slightly melted. Raven looked at the fading ball, a look of shock on her face. "I hope I didn't kill him." She mumbled to herself, then remembered Timothy and looked around.

"I don't think you killed him." Timothy said from her side. "Your power may have spiked but I doubt you actually put enough into that to seriously harm him... besides, it's called 'Absolution', how much damage could a spell called 'forgiveness for someone's sins' do?"

"You can talk," Raven said, fully realizing it now.

"Yeah, I guess so." Timothy said. "Thank you, I guess you helped me find my voice."

"Yeah, uh, I think I liked you better when you were quiet..." Raven said, her look dead serious.

"Really?" Timothy whimpered.

"No!" Raven said and grabbed him in a hug. "Thank you."

"For what?" Timothy asked, his head resting on her shoulder.

"For helping me all of those times."

"Oh, right..." Timothy said. "Thank you... for taking me in when I had nowhere else to go."

There was a tapping on the glass next to them and they turned to look into the window. Terra and Beast Boy were looking up at them, grins on their faces. Raven and Timothy looked at each other and suddenly dropped the hug, backing away and blushing. Behind Terra and Beast Boy were Cyborg, Robin and Starfire. They were all grinning or smiling at the embarrassed two floating just outside the common room window.

"Hey, I think you have grown." Raven said looking at Timothy again.

"Really?" Timothy asked looking over himself. He was now somewhere around the age of fourteen. "Yeah, I guess I have. That's one heck of a growth spurt we caused."