THANK YOU for all your reviews! I've spent a really long time (at least a few months) on this story and working on the plot, so your feedback really means a lot to me! Anyway, based on the previous chapters feedback, I've made this chapter shorter.
I never thought I'd have to do this… she thought, as she carried out the procedures similar to that when she went back to Azarath to contact her mother. The team wants him to be back to normal? Fine! She sat in her usual lotus position and repeated her usual mantra.
In a flash, she felt herself being sucked into a dark underground tomb. A musty smell greeted her while flame-lit torches burned on the walls as she walked through, while strange plants of sorts grew all around.
Strange, she thought. Plants are only able to grow in the presence of light.
Then again, in the spirit realm, anything was possible.
"What brings you here, demon-spawn?"
"Tiara," Raven greeted, as she turned around.
Tiara was clad in a long, loose gold dress with sleeves that swept the ground. Her tan skin seemed to glow in the dark. On her long dark brown hair was a crown of leaves. She didn't have feet which touched the ground, for Tiara was a spirit – a blind spirit, which explained her white eyes. Underground, sight was not a necessity for the Earth Goddess.
Raven restrained herself from blowing up the Earth Goddess, "I know that I'm not welcome here, but this important matter does not concern me. It concerns a well-being of a friend, a friend from the world of the living. I would appreciate it if you put aside my status as a demon-child and hear me out," she pleaded.
Tiara hesitated for a moment, "Very well, continue your story, I haven't got all day. Tokyo is due for an Earthquake soon," Tiara said. Her voice echoed through the tunnel.
"My friend lost someone he loved very much, and I wish to help him,"
"By bringing back the dead? The Spirit Guard should be the one you seek."
"Yes, but this is different. The victim has been trapped in stone."
The Earth Goddess tapped her chin and spent a few moments thinking.
"You speak of the girl Terra?"
"Yes,"
"Ah, so the rumors are true, she has been stoned," the Earth Goddess frowned, "no wonder it's been pretty peaceful around here."
"Is there a way to bring her back?" Raven asked.
"There is, but it is a neither easy nor pleasant procedure."
"Please, your highness, I'd like to know how,"
"Why?"
"It is for the sake of my... team" Raven hesitated on the last word.
Tiara smiled to herself for a short while. Still, her heart didn't soften. She wasn't Goddess of Mercy and she had to get to Tokyo in 20 minutes to ensure a smooth going of a rough earthquake of magnitude 8.5. Mercy was definitely irrelevant.
"Very well, but I have warned you," Tiara said as a tattered scroll magically appeared in her hand. She handed it to Raven, "Just a little reminder. This task has to be done with your own bare hands." Raven braced herself. The return journey back to the normal world was never pleasant. Tiara's wooden Earth staff appeared in her hand. She flew towards Raven at top speed and using her staff, gave Raven's head a hard whack. Raven winced in pain and blacked out.
--
Meanwhile, Beastboy had finished tidying up the kitchen and had returned to his room. He bent down and took out a small box from under his bed for the hundredth time. He smoothed out a few creases here and there before holding it out in front of himself, grinning a small smile of satisfaction.
"Okay Beastboy," he took a deep breath, "you can do this."
He stood up and marched out the door.
--
Raven opened her eyes.
She was back in the room and had the scroll in her hand. She stood up and wobbled to her bed. She was still suffering the after effects of the hard whack. There must be an easier way to come back from a spirit's realm, she thought painfully. The reason why the process of getting back to the mortal realm was so painful was to deter any mortal beings from trying to get into the spirit realm. Unrolling the scroll, she read through the procedure.
"A splash of boiling water
A splash of molten lava
A splash of pure acid
A splash of snake venom
A tear of sorrow
3 mouthfuls of blood
All from one."
Where the heck am I going to get these materials without raising suspicion? Raven cringed. This indeed wasn't an easy task. Spells given by Gods or Goddesses were always taken literally.
"This task has to be done with your own bare hands..."
The statement was indeed exactly what she had to do. On the scroll were pictures which she had to follow. She had to use her bare hands to splash all the materials onto the statue - a painful and dangerous process. A tear of sorrow was going to be hard for Raven due to her need to control emotions. 3 mouthfuls of blood meant she was going to have to somehow cough it up.
There was more.
"'From pain and sorrow
A life will arise
From happiness and joy,
Another may demise'
Read by the one."
Hmm... may demise, She sighed and weighed her options. Bring Terra back and risk dying, or don't bring Terra back and just sit around and do nothingDid she really need to bother thinking?
Looks like I'm going to die, again. Raven thought sarcastically casually, as she remembered the time when her father tried to take over the world. My powers are going out of control anyway, and I'm pretty sure I know why.. I might as well just die so no one else will get hurt.
Raven was drowning her mind with reasons why running away was the best choice so she didn't have the chance to consider the doubts as she packed her bag.
Beastboy will be so much happier and so will the other Titans. They'd be overjoyed to see her. It's for their sake, their sake. Think utilitarianism Raven, for the benefit of the majority.
She recalled the time when both Terra and her had the fight after she defeated overload. Terra's words had pierced painfully through her, but Raven knew what Terra said was true to a certain extent.
Along with a few sets of her clothes she took 6 containers for the 6 materials she was going to need. Using her powers, it didn't take her long to finish packing.
Just then there was a knock on the door.
"Uh, coming," she said as she stuffed her bag under her bed and answered the door. It was Beastboy. She frowned, "What?"
"Um… I just wanted to thank you for all you've done…" Beastboy said. His green face was turning red. He wasn't sure whether to feel angry or guilty. Angry, because he had plucked up so much courage just to say those words to her, yet all she did was snap at him. Guilty, because he had probably disturbed her.
Her expression softened ever so slightly, "Oh. Well…"
"I wanted to give you this," he said as he handed her a little present wrapped in dark blue shiny wrapping paper and a light blue ribbon.
As soon as she took the present he made a hasty exit, only to be stopped by Raven, "Beastboy,"
"Uh, yeah?" he turned around.
"Thanks," she smiled slightly. But the smile disappeared as soon as she heard the light bulb above her head crack. She retreated back into her room.
She smiled! Beastboy thought to himself as he punched the air in satisfaction. She smiled!
--
Back in her room, Raven sat down cross-legged and looked at the present in her hand. Beastboy had certainly put a lot of effort into wrapping it, for she could see quite a few creased areas where the paper had been folded before. Beastboy had obviously tried to smooth them out. Carefully, she unwrapped the present.
Inside was a box, and she carefully opened it up. It was a shimmering diamond elvish pendant that had caught her eye at the mall the other day. As she gingerly held it up by the glittering chain, Raven sighed in relief as no reaction took place between her skin and the chain. Beastboy had remembered that her skin was allergic to pure materials such as silver and gold due to her demonic blood.
Beastboy... Raven thought as she sighed and shook her head. You're making this so much more difficult than it needs to be...
She picked up a dark purple pen and a piece of scented, light lavender paper and started writing.
--
Preview to next chapter:
Beastboy sighed and lay back on his bed as he clutched rather crumpled note to his chest. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he opened them, he looked towards the calendar on his desk...
-
The last thing Terra remembered was preventing the underground volcano from destroying Jump City. Suddenly, she found herself struggling to free herself from some kind of covering. At first, she couldn't breathe. At the last moment when she was about to suffocate, she had managed to break free from whatever covered her. Slumped on the ground in front of her was a lifeless body of…
--
Terra comes back, but what will happen to Raven?