As you all know, I own nothing, so stop asking. I am sorry for taking so long between chapters, but I am writing this as I am moving across the country, or at least this note and the beginning of the chapter. Also this will be the final installment of this series, not the last chapter, I still have a ways to go, but it will all be wrapped up here. If you have stuck with me for this long, thank you so much for sticking around, those of you that stumbled upon this, welcome, and all flames are welcome. So lets get this party started shall we?
Raven awoke in her bed. What happened? That was one weird dream. She thought to herself. She shook her head, glancing at her clock and noticed it said 3:15 AM. She rubbed her eyes thinking she must be sorely mistaken, but when she opened them again, it said the same thing, almost mocking her with its red digits. "What in the world is going on? And why can't anything ever be normal around here?" she said aloud, to the thin air, or so she thought.
"I remember the time I asked you that when I was younger, and you told me it was because we are all different, what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. You also told me that everybody goes through life differently, everybody is fighting their own demons, so think before you speak, think before you act, and think before you judge, for words cannot be taken back after they have left your mouth no matter how badly you wish to take them back." Mark replied stepping from the darkness that was always lurking around her room.
"So it wasn't a dream then. Those are wise words to live by. Did I say who told them to me?" Raven responded barely above a whisper, for she couldn't speak any louder due to not wishing to disturb the silence.
"No it most definitely was not a dream. As for who told them to you, you wouldn't believe me if I told you any way. Before you start with the whole 'I am your mother' thing, you were the one who told me about the rules with time and inter-dimensional travel. And those are rules that I'm not about to break, cause I like existing and I like the future you and dad have helped build for us." He said with the flat tone she usually used when she was trying to be patient with Garfield explaining why he couldn't do something stupid.
Raven glared at him for using that tone with her. "So what happened earlier? I remember you telling us your name then waking up in my bed. Then you are here in my room hiding in the dark. Care to inform me as to what happened?" she used the same tone right back at him because frankly, she was getting rather irritated with him.
"So you at least remember the important parts, as for the rest, you fainted after hearing my name. Uncle Vic did a scan of you to figure out what was wrong, and figured sleep would be the best treatment. Aunt Star said she was going to get you taken care of and carried you in here and I'm guessing put you in PJ's since you have on a different outfit than you did last night." He said almost without any real emotion, but she could sense that something was off.
"What else happened? Cause that doesn't explain why you are hiding in my room or why you aren't asleep in one of the spare rooms. I know it is way past when I would have told you to go to bed." She said as she gave him her most threatening glare she could muster, which was actually pretty impressive because he actually flinched.
"Well…. Uncle Richard was interrogating me on how I got here, who I was, why I was trying to prank you after everything you had been through, and…. other stuff. So I shifted and left to the one place I have always felt safe. In yours and dads room. I had to hide because they came looking for me. I had to talk to you before I did something stupid, and I have a feeling they are going to be here very soon." He said with a hint of fear in his voice.
"I know somewhere we can go where we will have plenty of time to talk, let me just leave a message for the others so they don't think you did something to me." She took out her communicator and sent a quick text to Robin explaining she was going into Nevermore, and that nobody was to enter her room under penalty of getting airborne.
She gently grabbed his hand, and pulled out her mirror from the locked drawer she kept it in after the disaster that almost got Garfield killed. She laid it on the ground and took up the lotus position tugging Mark down to do the same. She closed her eyes and started her mantra and was pleased to hear Mark join her. Before she could think on it too much though, she felt warmth on her face and opened her eyes to see the black clad emotion gazing down at her. But instead of the standard uniform that all the others wore, she wore a pure black version of the dress she had worn the night before.
She was staring at her with disbelief as she stood up, but love bypassed her and walked straight up to Mark enveloping him in a protective hug. Mark, for his part looked utterly confused as he returned the hug not entirely sure what was going on.
"I understand why you did that, but please don't scare the poor boy. Judging from what I know, he has no idea who you are. So if you would do me a favor and collect everyone while I explain a few things to him, I would appreciate it." She said in a flat tone with a glare.
Love , for that's who she was and Raven could finally admit it to herself, if not anybody else at that moment, gave her showing smile and vanished.
"Um, what? " Mark said with a concerned look on his face.
"Have you noticed that my uniform now doesn't match the one from when you are from? Well it's because in the future I've become one with my emotions some time between now and then, although I'm not to sure how I did it." She said with a sidelong glance at where Love had gone.
Happy was the first to show up, running up to Mark and tackling him to the ground giggling. "I always wanted a younger BB to play with! He hasn't been here for far too long, oh and by the way, you're it!" she hollered that last part while trying to run away.
Before she could get far though, Raven had grabbed the hood of her cloak to get her to stay still. "Happy, we need to have a meeting, something has happened."
"Oh, I know, and its so wonderful, I know everyone will be so excited! I mean look at him, he is the perfect blend of us and BB, even grumpy pants can't ignore that." Happy said while bouncing around on her feet.
Everyone else showed at more or less the same time, but what was surprising was that Rage was the first one out of the rest that had shown up to hug Mark, who for the most part looked terrified.
"She's not as scary as she looks, but don't let her talk you into anything though." She said while glaring at Rage.
"I'm not going to do that to him, cause he is the one who will finally get you to accept how we all feel about our green teammate." Rage said with her hood shadowing her face in darkness.
Raven was about to respond when the rest of her emoticlones showed up, all standing in a perfect circle around Mark. To his credit he didn't show any outward signs of emotions, but Raven could sense his dread at being surrounded.
"Don't worry, they are all me. After a fashion." Raven said with a small glance to her son. Her son. She still didn't want to think too deeply about that, not to mention he said he had a sister.
"For one, how can they be all you? And two, eeewwwww. Please don't think about that around me please? Uncle Richard and Aunt Kori are bad enough with the mushy goo-goo eyes without me having to know what's going on in their minds, I don't need it from you, and especially not from dad." He said with a look of udder embarrassment.
"Aww, he's so adorable when he gets flustered." Piped Happy with a giggle.
"Ok, now that we all know what's on my mind, what did you need to talk to me about?" she turned and faced him directly.
"It's dad. He's going to do something incredibly stupid. I know I wasn't supposed to break the rules, but you sent us back to stop what's going to happen. Ella is distracting him for now, but we don't have much time." Mark had an edge to his voice that Raven knew all to well. The fear of the end of the world, or the end to his world as he knows it.
For the next two hours he explained what he knew only as the day that the universe almost ended, it was in the history books, but nobody knew the details. That is except a certain group of five very close friends. But he had no exact details, only a date, time and location, and that was all the information his parents would give him.
"Ok, lets go." Raven said with a look of determination that resonated through all of the emoticlones, including Timid.
"Uh, Where exactly are we going?"
"To inform the others that I'm about to almost end the universe as we know it, and to find your father."