Hello, Sora here! I realize I'm a little late with the chapter of Returning. My apologies. However, now I am here with the eighth chapter! There isn't really much to say right now except for Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. I am really thankful for all of the people who have stuck with me so far. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!
I don't own Teen Titans, but I suppose I'll survive. Well, on with the story. Here we go!
Raven turned to look at the intruder to her thoughts. She sighed with a small quirk of her lips. "Garth, it's your wedding night. Don't spend it talking to me."
"Don't worry. Star fell asleep," Garth replied. Raven looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow.
"You wore her out already? Damn." Garth turned a flaming red color.
"Raven!" he all but squawked. Raven shrugged.
"Just pointing out a fact."
"I'd rather keep bedroom matters where they belong."
"We're skirting the subject," Raven said suddenly. "What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
"And more specifically?" Garth sighed in aggravation.
"More specifically, what's going on back on Earth? Something has you spooked. What is it?" he asked.
"Let me ask you something first," Raven said. Garth nodded.
"Fire away."
"Did you know, that nearly everyone on Earth thinks I'm dead?" she asked. He looked completely floored.
"I'm sorry, come again?"
"For all intensive purposes, Raven Roth of the Titans was killed several months after the Titans split up." Garth glanced back to their respective doorways.
"Terra never mentioned that to Star," he murmured.
"Because Terra never knew," Raven explained. "All I told her was that I put everything behind me. I never told her how."
"Okay, so you kill your tie to the Titans, I can't say I approve, but what does this have to do with what's going on back on Earth."
"I'm getting there. The next thing you have to know is that I moved far from Jump City. Some people took me in and I took a new name. I was Kira Arellan."
"Kira?"
"Gaelic for Dark Lady."
"Fitting," Garth muttered. Raven shot him a look. He waved a hand for her to continue.
"As Kira Arellan, I attended college and worked as a patrol officer in the local department. It was a suitable job for me...at least until I noticed some changes."
"Changes? What kind of changes?" Garth looked both curious and concerned.
"Little things," Raven said dryly. "The commissioner turned up dead; well, brutally murdered actually. He wasn't the only one either. Several officers met a similar fate. Rather shady characters began taking their place."
"Sounds pretty ugly."
"It gets better," Raven answered.
"Go on then."
"The balance of the city was clearly changing. Petty crime was almost nonexistent, but industrial crimes saw a 200 percent spike and it was impossible not to notice the restlessness of the underworld."
"Hell?"
"No, the criminal world. If things were restless in hell, we'd be dead. Rumors started to circulate about a mastermind of sorts. Most of the rumors involved the name 'Death Stroke'. Apparently even the small time thugs were answering to him."
"This still sounds manageable," Garth said skeptically. "What are you so worried about?"
"I'm concerned about the new head of the police force: Commissioner Wilson."
"Wilson…that sounds eerily familiar."
"It would. It's commonly associated with the first name Slade."
"Hneh Alorn!" Garth swore in Atlantean. "He's back?" Raven nodded. "And you think he's working with this Death Stroke character?"
"No. No, Slade never liked to work for anyone...especially after he met my father. My guess is that Death Stroke and Slade are one and the same."
"So he's more powerful?" Garth asked. Raven briefly touched her upper arm.
"I…don't know," Raven said slowly, not meeting his eyes. "I do know he's trouble though and I can't take him out alone. That's the reason I'm here. Well, the real reason anyway."
"You're looking to bring the Titans back," Garth accused tensely.
"They knew how to fight Slade."
"You'd be putting Starfire in danger."
"Yes," Raven answered, again she could not meet his eyes.
"And Terra."
"Yes."
"Yourself," Garth continued in frustration.
"I knew the risks coming into this."
"Do they?" Garth demanded, gesturing at the sleeping quarters. "They have no idea what you're leading them into."
"I'm aware," Raven finally snapped. "Do you honestly think I'd send them in with no idea what they're up against? Do you honestly think I'm such a person?"
"Well, no," Garth said cooling down.
"They will know," Raven continued vehemently. "They will have choice. They do not have to join me."
"Then why haven't you told them yet?"
"I want the Titans to hear it together, I guess. I want to see them together one more time."
"You never struck me as the sentimental type."
"The years can change a person."
"They've changed you a lot. You're a lot more…expressive."
"I'm a better person for it," Raven said with finality.
"What happens if they refuse?" Garth asked suddenly. Raven slumped against the wall. Her voice, when she spoke next, was laced with anxiety and desperation.
"I don't know, I'll think of something. He's too dangerous to go unchecked," she said almost frantically. Clearly something more was going on, but Garth chose to let it slide for the time being. He was lucky to get that much out of the anti-social sorcress. He settled on a different course of action.
"I know, I know," Garth soothed, glancing around nervously for anything that could explode. "If it will put your mind at ease, know I've got your back, and I'm sure Star does too."
"It's a start," Raven said simply.
"Loving the gratitude."
"I don't gush. I appreciate it though."
"Okay," Garth said, "so when we go to Earth, who's our first target?"
"I'm hoping to get Robin first. I think he'll be the best at convincing the others. He was their leader after all," Raven answered
"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Garth asked slyly. Raven gazed at him.
"Beg pardon?" she asked warningly. Garth smiled as he began to see the Raven he had always known fall back into place. This new and worried Raven was disconcerting.
"Aw, come on Rae-Rae," he cajoled using Beastboy's nickname for her. "You can't deny you felt something for the guy. Toward the end all he'd have to do was look at you and you blushed." Garth looked thoughtful for a moment. "You always looked so odd when you blushed.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Garth never knew what hit him. The next morning, though, Starfire awoke to find a large hole in her wall and her husband embedded in the wall opposite.
"You know, dear husband, it is not wise to upset Friend Raven. You are not the first I have discovered in a wall." It was all Starfire said on the subject. Garth could only groan in what was either pain or agreement.
Well now, that's the end of chapter eight. I hope you all have enjoyed it. I probably won't update this until around New Years, but I never know. Thank you for staying with me. Have a safe and wonderful holiday. Until next time! Sora out.
