To everybody: I am really sorry that this took so long to upload. I was having trouble with the Document Manager, and it wouldn't take the file. But it's up, and believe me, it is looooooong. There'll be plenty to keep you entertained. Before I start though, I want to answer something that TDG3RD said. I realized I hadn't put this fact up and I just want to make it clear. The 'secret' involved in the last chapter is just that Brett and Sara are Raven's parents. They didn't make it public because they didn't want somebody exploitnig it. But you are right about Trigon; he's got a big part that you'll find out about in here and you'll see in the last few chapters. That being said, read, review, and enjoy!
Chap. 7
Pieces of the Puzzle
"Dad!" Katie cried in disbelief. "But that would make you our…" Bart began to say, but the bat cut him off. "Please, don't say it just yet. I want Sara to hear it too, because then we'll both feel old together." "Who's Sara?" Bart asked. "I am." Said the Lightweaver from behind them. Both children turned around as she continued. "But I think you two should call me another name, right Grandpa?" she asked, looking directly at the Nightstalker. "OK, they can call me that, but you call me Brett, Grandma." He answered back.
At that, the stresses of the entire night came down on Katie, and she yelled out, "ENOUGH!" It drew everyone's attention, but she didn't care. "I have been chased by demon dogs, attacked by a dead villain from twenty years ago, gotten powers I don't understand how to use, found out my parents are Teen Titans, and now that my supposedly 'distant' grandparents are Elemental Knights! How in the hell am I supposed to accept all this?" she cried out. But as her voice cracked on the last word, black energy suddenly surrounded the nearby coffee table and hurled it against the wall, where it shattered into a million pieces. The debris went flying and everyone managed to shield themselves, but that actually brought more trouble. River began to fire star bolts randomly, unable to control himself. Bart poofed into a turtle and dove into his shell. Martin's hands became a huge metal shield, which debris bounced of off. As for Lisa, by the time the debris stopped flying, she had leapt into the air and trapped herself in the wall. But finally, everyone began to calm down, and the rampant powers became dormant again.
Slowly, everyone got back up,the remainsof the tablefalling off their bodies. "Well, we were going to redecorate anyway." Beast Boy said, as he looked around. "Give it a rest." Robin said, the old leader voice coming back easily. "Is everyone ok?" Jinx asked. "I think so." Martin replied, as his hands returned to normal. Cyborg watched the sight in amazement, unable to believe what had happened to his son. One by one, the other Titans saw what their children were capable off, and helped them recover. "See what I mean?" Brett asked, as he helped Starfire pull Lisa out of the wall. "Everything they've done, they've done on reflex. They have no control over this." "Then we'll help them." Raven answered, as she stroked Katie's hair. The young girl was understandably upset over what had happened and seemed almost in shock. "We'll train them, give them what they need." Raven reiterated.
But Brett shook his head. "We don't have time for that." He said. "They have to be trained now. And they need more then control, they need skill." "What are you talking about?" Jinx asked. "You don't mean official training?" "That's just what I mean." The bat answered. "Are you crazy? They are children!" Starfire argued. "Besides, what need is there for them to be trained?" "Every need." Sara answered. "Something has happened. Something that spells the end for all of us if we don't act." "What?" Robin asked, as outside, rain began to fall. "He's come back. Slade has come back. And he wants the children dead."
At that, everyone stopped. The Titans' eyes widened, knowing that if their old foe was back, it meant that he was fully capable of doing what he said. The children were just as terrified, hearing that a powerful, undead villain wanted to destroy them. Seeing their faces, the two Knights realized that they had made a most grievous error in their choice of words. "But we think we know how to stop him." Brett quickly added. "If you'll just let us explain, you'll understand why we have to train the children." "I severely doubt there's anything you could say to convince us of that." Jinx said, folding her arms around her chest. "Oh let him talk. He's told us more then you." Lisa snapped. "Young lady!" Starfire said angrily. "Apologize for that." "Why? Because you don't want us to hear any more of the truth? You lied to us our whole lives, Mom. At least they told us the truth, instead of hiding it."
Despite that defense of the Knights, Lisa found herself alone a moment later when Sara said, "Enough Lisa. We've had enough crap tonight." "You owe them more respect and you damn well know it." Brett added. "You're defending them? How can you do that? You were pissed as hell when we didn't know anything tonight." The girl said in disbelief. "True, but I understand why they did it." Brett answered. "I built their emitters, do you think I had no reason for that?We agreed with them that you shouldn't know everything until you were old enough. We simply disagreed on what that age was. Now all of you, sit down and shut up. We have a lot to go over and less time in which to do it."
Noticing that the bat's tone gave no room for argument, everyone took a seat and gave their full attention to him. With a grunt, Brett cleared his throat and began to speak. "To answer Katie's question about her relationship to us, we are her grandparents because Raven is our adopted daughter. After the incident with Trigon, Raven had no family left, here or in Azarath. Sara and I had considered her a daughter for a long time, and during that mess, we learned she thought of us as parents. We had had and lost a child of our own when Sara was human, and had wished for another for a long time. With Trigon gone, we decided there was no reason it shouldn't be a fact. So we filled out the papers with the city officials. The only ones who knew were those officials, the WILDB.R.A.T.S, and the other Titans. We stayed in the Tower for years, until everybody around us starting to fall in love. Eventually, everyone married and gave up the superhero career. For a long time,they didn't think much about powers or things like that. Then you guys were born."
"Your parents were fearful that you would have the metahuman genes that would lead to powers. They asked me to perform a scan on you, to make sure. I did so, and discovered each of you had a gene. It was too early to tell what kind of powers you'd have, but it was obvious it would be some variation of your parents'. Anyway, I figured that they'd become active around the time you hit puberty. Your parents didn't want you to have to go through the struggles that they did, or put yourselves in the danger they did. So they asked me to find a way to repress the genes. I refused, saying that it wasn't up to us to decide what you would do with your lives. We argued for a long while, but finally came to an agreement. I would build your parents holo-emitters, which would allow them to truly blend in with the public and keep their secrets from you. Their part was that when you turned the right ages, they would tell you everything. And that has pretty much lead us to tonight."
Brett grunted again and rubbed his throat, the long speech having weakened his vocal cords. At that, Sara took up the conversation. "As for tonight, something has been happening in the underworld that has taken two decades to build to this point. And it's been done right under our noses." "How has he come back?" Robin asked, clearly wanting to get the point. "From what we've learned, Trigon apparently knew that he could be defeated. So he imbibed in his most trusted servant a secret power, one that no one in Heaven or Hell knew about." "What is it?" Rivers asked. "We don't know. No one does." The fox answered. "But whatever it is, it's been building in Slade's body for years and now it's powerful enough to allow him to cross the barrier between death and life when it's weak enough." "Then why'd he vanish tonight?" Katie asked. "He's still not strong enough to stay permanently but that's going to be over by the next time." "When is that?" Katie continued. "The next time the barrier is weakest; Midnight on the night of a full moon on the Sabbath day." "Ok, what's the Sabbath day?" Beast Boy asked. "Sunday, dummy." Jinx answered. "But that was two days ago…. Good Lord, he was able to stay that long?" Sara nodded. "And next time, he'll be able to fully cross over. He'll be truly alive again." "When does it happen again?" Starfire asked. "By our counts, three months from last Sunday." "Great. Then let's figure out how stop it." Cyborg said, getting up from the couch.
But Sara held up her hand. "We already know how stop him." "How? You said you didn't know what the power was." Cy countered. "No one knows what the power is, but it's been written about, in one very old book, that was written by the High Priest of Scath, a book that resides in the library of the Tower of Creation. According to that book, the only thing that can stop it….. is the faith and innocence of a child." Suddenly, recognition dawned on each Titan's face. "Are you crazy?" Raven yelled, raising from her seat. "You actually want to send your own grandchildren against that lunatic?" "No we don't, but there's nothing else we can do." Brett answered, the calm in his voice a parallel echo of Raven's anger. "Bull! You have Knights, send them after him!" "We already have!" Brett yelled, getting up from his seat. "We all went down into the underworld, to see if we could stop this on our own. Slade blasted most of us into limbo! The only way to get them out is to destroy him and this passage is all we have to go on." That broke a bit of Raven's steam, but she still shook her head. "I can't believe you expect me to just allow this. I know it's evil Dad, but I can't just let you…." "I don't expect you to." Brett answered gently. "We came here tonight for four things. One, to show the children who they are. Second, to ask your permission to train them."
"You're asking? You've never done that, at least under these kind of circumstances." Raven said in astonishment. "As you said, these our grandchildren and your children." Sara explained. "We don't want to put them in danger, but if we have to, we want it to be with your blessings." "The time we spent with you was the best in our lives." Brett added. "The Titans and BRATS gave us everything we thought we'd never have; good friends, a family outside the Knights, a child, the chance to watch that child grow up and have her own family. We would never do anything to hurt you intentionally. I understood why you kept everything secret from them, and I apologize for revealing it like this. But they needed to know and they need a chance to choose it for themselves. But we won't do anything without your blessing. And frankly, I doubt they will either."
There was silence then, as each of the former Titans thought over what Brett had said. Before that statement, they had been balancing their anger over the revelation with the want to protect their children. But now, after hearing that speech that had meant so much to Brett, they began to wonder what the right choice was. Finally, Robin spoke. "What do you plan to do?" he asked. "That's the third thing." Brett answered. "If we're going to do this, we need the Tower's training facilities, and that means we need that access code. It won't be anything that you haven't been through yourselves. But Sara and I have to do it." "Why?" Robin asked, not angrily, but simply wanting to know why. "We have more then 500 years of experience on you guys. We can make three months of training equivalent to twenty years worth. They'll be as good as you were, maybe better." Robin was silent again, thinking over this new info. Then finally he spoke again. "Will you protect them?" "You have to ask?" Sara replied. The fox looked over at her husband then, and drew her blade. He nodded and drew his own. Holding them in both hands, the Knights knelt on one knee. They crisscrossed their blades in an X, and then motioned for the Titans to come forward. When all their old friends were around them, Sara said, "Put your hands on the blades." The Titans did so, and the Knights began to speak.
"We, Nightstalker and Lightweaver," Brett began
"Knights of Shadow and Light." Sara continued
"Swear on the names of Ralin and Rastler."
"Architects of Light and Shadow,"
"That we will give our bodies, our minds, and our souls,"
"To the protection of these children, mind, body, and soul,"
"If our hearts falter, and we fail because of our fear,"
"May the fires burn for us upon or deaths."
They unlocked the blades then, and stood up. "That is the strongest oath we can make. One on the name of our Architects." Brett said. "If we break it, we are hellbound." "Are you serious?" Beast Boy asked. Both Knights nodded. "Then I guess there's just one thing left to do." The green one said and turned to the children. "Guys, do you want this?" he asked. "It isn't going to be easy. You'll have to work hard and it 's going to be very dangerous." The children were silent, and then Rivers said, "If we don't, who will?" "We need to control this Dad." Katie said. "And I think that they can help us. Besides, if we don't, a lot of people are going to die." Lisa and Bart agreed as well. The only silent one was Martin. "Marty, what do you think?" Cyborg asked. "I think this is crap." The boy answered. "I don't want this. I don't want to be like this, but I guess I don't have a choice. I'm in, but after this, I'm never gonna do it again." "All right." Brett said, accepting the reluctant agreement. "So what happens now?" Martin asked. "Do we go to the Tower?" "Not yet." Brett answered.
"There's one more thing we need to talk about. And frankly, this one is the hardest. It's something I didn't think I would ever say, because it concerns the Knights and the impact they have on the family here." Brett said, running his hands through his hair. He was silent a moment, letting what he had said sink in. Then finally he said, "Sara and I are not the only Elementals to have children." "What?" Raven gasped. "You never told me that." "We didn't think we ever needed to." Sara explained. "Your cousin has been unknown to us for years. We weren't even sure if she was still alive. But we found her and reunited her with her father. We think we have, anyway." "What do you mean you think you have? And what's this 'cousin' stuff?" Martin asked. "This child's father is our brother Knight. The Knights are siblings in every sense but blood, and only because we're different animals. That's what we mean." Brett explained.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Right on time." Sara said, and moved to open it. Standing outside, in the fresh rainfall, was another Knight. He was dressed exactly like his comrades, except in the color of his tunic; dark brown. A gray stone hammer, with a brown gemstone attached to the end of its handle was strapped to his belt. He walked into the house, and shook, cleansing himself of the rain. He pulled off his hat and mask and flung them to the floor. Turning his face to the group, he showed himself to be a dog, his face that of a Labrador. "Did it work, Eddie?" Brett asked, with a hint of caution in his voice. The dog nodded in response. "It's done." He said, his gravely voice flecked with the traces of a New York accent. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner." Sara said. "It's ok. You had to be sure." Eddie responded. "After all the time I spent searching for her, I at least wanted that from you."
"Um, excuse me." Bart said, stepping forward. "But can someone explain to me what's going on?" The three Knights looked at each other, and then Eddie began to speak. "My name is Groundquake. I am the Elemental Knight of Earth. And if you haven't figured it out, I am the other parent in the Knights." "How did it happen?" Raven asked, curious about this uncle and the child he might have. "It happened about thirty five years ago, when the Knights were on assignment in Nevada. I met a woman there, in Las Vegas. I don't know how it happened; we must have gotten drunk. But the next morning, I woke up in a bed in a hotel room, with her next to me." "And you're a Knight?" Jinx asked. "We're not perfect. And I don't think you have any right to question me." Eddie shot back. "Anyway, when she woke up, she saw through my magic, easy to do since I had one hell of a hangover, and saw what I really was. I think you can guess the rest. I tried to find her again, but it was useless. She was terrified of me and actually ran off to Arizona just to escape me. After some time, I realized it wasn't worth it any more and I left her alone. I tried to keep my mind off it for a year, but then Chiron, my Architect, demanded I come before him. I figured he wanted to chew me out over it, but instead, he told me I was a father. The woman had become pregnant after that night, and given birth that day in Arizona."
"Did you go after her?" Lisa asked. "I couldn't. I was scared, that I would make her hide again. I ended up staying away, but I sent money and the like whenever I could. But then, after sixteen years, Chiron called me again. He said that the child was exhibiting….. powers. Her mother had passed on and she had been living with her grandparents. But now she was scared and with power she couldn't control. She'd run away and was traveling all over the country. All the Knights swore that they would help me find her. But we never could. We always found the place she had just been. She may have been powerful, but she knew how to keep concealed to a point. We kept searching, but none of us could ever find her in time. Until now."
"What do you mean?" Starfire asked. "When this whole mess started, Brett and Sara said that they would go get the troops here, but then Brett told me there might be something I could do. He said that there was something on your island that might help me unlock both puzzles." "Did you?" Raven asked. The dog nodded, and began to move towards the door. But Brett placed his hand on the dog's shoulder, halting him. Turning back to the others, he said, "Guys, this is going to be hard on everyone, but Raven, Beast Boy? This will be hardest on you two. I suspected this for a long time, but I was never sure. Eddie had had false hopes before; I didn't want to disappoint him again. But we needed all the help we could get and this was worth a try." "What are you talking about?" Robin asked. "Eddie was wrong. I did find his child. We all did."
Suddenly, realization broke on every Titan's face. "You can't mean…." Raven gasped. "I do." Brett said, as Eddie opened the door. A figure stood in the rain; slim, long hair running down its face. As it stepped into the light, the tattered armor Slade had given her became visible. Slowly, the light shone on her downcast face, until Terra, the sixth Titan, stood in front of them once again.