PAST BROKEN MIRRORS

Mirror 5: Broken piece of the past (1)

In a hidden corner

There's a broken piece

Lying undisturbed

Waiting to be found

Broken piece

Broken piece of the past

Broken piece of my heart

---

An unfamiliar fragrance lingered in the air.

A sweet fragrance…

Raven awoke to that particular fragrance and that of the freshness of a new day, the early rays of morning peeping through the curtains of her room.

Usually she would have already been into her meditation routine, but today she sensed something different.

She walked right to her door and opened it, as if half expecting someone or something to jump out at her. But she found neither.

Instead, a nicely arranged bouquet of beautiful flowers greeted her by her feet. That explained the light sweetness drifting in the air. Surprised and touched, an affectionate smile formed on Raven's gentle features as she carried the bouquet into her room. Savoring its dewy fragrance she wondered who the mysterious sender was.

---

"You should really consider a career in cooking."

Cyborg was saying to Simon as Simon, a young gentle lad who was always earnest, laughed shyly, habitually adjusting his glasses as he did. He looked like an ordinary simple guy – both in character and appearance but Simon was the solid supporter of his team; literally, having the ability to turn into solid material.

During his stay here, Simon was in awe of Cyborg whom he found common ground on various interests. The big guy was more than happy to share his unlimited source of knowledge with him.

"Yes. Your cooking of breakfast is most excellent," Starfire agreed with much enthusiasm over her meal. They were all in the dining area being the early birds of the day while most were still in bed or someplace else, as Simon had volunteered to prepare today's breakfast.

"Raven! You have got to try this!" Cyborg called out, holding a big bowl of delicious looking stuff to Raven just as she stepped in.

"Sure," she replied. Then in the corner of her eye she spotted a familiar green. She turned to catch sight of Beast Boy who was about to turn a corner.

"Be right back," she told them as she went after him.

"Beast Boy!"

He stopped and looked back to find Raven hovering slightly above the ground as she proceeded towards him. She seemed a bit breathless.

"Hey." He smiled to her.

"Hey." She smiled back as she landed right next to him, realizing again just how tall he'd gotten. "We're just about to have breakfast. Care to join?"

"I think I'll pass. My stomach doesn't seem to be agreeing with me this morning," he told her with a grin.

"Oh, okay." Seriously, he really didn't look too well. Concerned, she asked,

"Do you need me to get you anything or something?"

"Mm, no it's okay. I'll be fine." He waved the matter, looking somewhat distracted.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded slowly. "Yup. Don't worry."

Feeling flushed, she looked away, saying, "I'm not worried. Just, you know…"

Chuckling, he assured her, "Really. I'm okay." Then carefully, he asked,

"So…how do you like the flowers?"

Startled, Raven looked up into his eyes to see if he was joking. But he only looked back at her with that smiling expression.

"You sent them? But why?" she blurted out.

"To make up for yesterday."

"You didn't have to, you know…"

"But I wanted to."

It was funny to see him firm on the matter. She remembered them being stubborn with each other in the past, but this seemed unlike those times altogether.

"Well, it was nice of you…" she admitted, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she kept her eyes to the ground, strangely wanting to avoid any eye contact with him since she felt her face could not get redder than they already were.

"…and the flowers are lovely. Thank you…"

"I'm glad to hear that."

Then, with his back resting against the wall, he seemed to be deliberating before he spoke up again,

"Rae…I need to tell you…"

Just then both their communicators beeped.

"It's an emergency distress call."

"This early in the day," Beast Boy shook his head.

"Well, they say evil never rests," Raven quoted.

"And neither do we," grinned Beast Boy as he took Raven's hand.

"Let's go!"

---

Whoever this new foe was, she must not have done her homework properly if she had intended to take them down on her own.

Face hidden by a white mask, the form of an evident young girl in black cloak that was strangely similar to Raven's sat frozen on the ground as her loss in this round was apparent.

Simultaneous distress calls had broken out all over different areas of the city and each available member had been split into groups to deal with the situation.

Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, Aliya and Energizer had gone to this particular area only to find this one girl and her minions of shadow beings. There had been sudden earthquakes just like the ones that had been currently happening and this one led to their current opponent who seemed bent on terrorizing this part of the city. Though she and her shadows put up an exceptional fight in the beginning, the odds were certainly against her when the rest of the shadow beings were put out.

"We're taking you in," Beast Boy told her as he moved in to approach her.

But as he did, she held up her gaze, a gaze that went right through him and landed sharply on Raven.

Raven felt the telekinetic link that was sent out from the girl and her senses started to give out warning. Instinctively, Raven's hand closed over her heart as she felt something slowly but surely pulling at her, draining her…

"Raven?" called Starfire who noticed her friend's sudden difficulty.

Catching her breath, Raven stared straight on towards the girl,

"Who are you?"

Instead of answering her, the girl spoke into the air, her voice void and emotionless,

"Surveillance mission complete."

With that, a teleportation field suddenly beamed over her and she was gone.

-----

The weather was bad. How could it have gotten from a wonderful sunny morning yesterday to an all out storm special come this morning?

Raven stared outside of the huge glass windows, watching the merciless rain fall hard to the ground, the menacing dark sky hovering over the city as threatening winds blew across the sea causing great waves to crash across the shores.

She hugged herself, wrapping her hood closer to her body as the air around her grew chilly. She hoped that the weather was enough to drown out the spirits of any villains who had scheduled any crime activity for today, though she allowed doubts on that.

After yesterday's battle, having noticed that something strange had occurred between the mysterious foe and Raven; Beast Boy and Starfire advised her to rest. She hadn't revealed exactly what it was that she had experience but didn't want to add to their concern.

Still, the atmosphere at present allowed rest for most of the titans as there was less noise around the tower that particular moment. She wondered where everyone else could be right now. She couldn't help but feel concerned about that one person as well. After the evening when she had retired to her room for the rest of the day, and afterwards till this very morning, she had not seen Beast Boy at all.

---

This weather was bad. But probably not as bad as how he was feeling right now. Beast Boy sat staring outside the window of one of the rooms just below the roof of the Titan Tower.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner…"

Robin was saying as he sat opposite Beast Boy.

"No, it's okay. I understand why you didn't…" Beast Boy assured him.

"I understand why she didn't want you to…"

He had come to discuss this particular matter with Robin. Though he had earlier thought of talking this over with Raven, he decided not to for the moment. Especially after what seemingly happened yesterday – he didn't need to have her mixed up with his present concerns. He knew her well enough to be aware that she had most likely kept something about the incident to herself to not cause them any worry. She needed rest, not unnecessary worry he decided.

---

"And with Bobby's help, the day was once again, saved."

"That's nice." Raven smiled into her communicator at one of her former young charges: Melvin. Every now and then, they'd beep each other to check on things. But Raven knew she didn't have to worry about them as much since they had proved to be quite capable of taking better care of themselves over time.

"Well, say hi to Teether and Timmy for me." She paused. "And Bobby," she added as their conversation came to an end.

"Take care."

They'd grown so big by now, she laughed as she remembered the fateful day she had had to baby-sit. But her kids were certainly getting by quite well. She shook her head, this feeling made her feel as though she was getting older, older than her present age would allow it though others had often commented on her acting that way anyway, but she found this was a different meaning altogether: It simply meant you were getting to know yourself better each and every day.

Just then, a brilliant flash of lightning, followed by the loud rumble of thunder caused her to become more than aware of her surroundings.

In that second, a feeling struck through her.

It was a very sudden feeling that alarmed her, but was unlike the one she had during the battle. It was a prediction - a premonition of a forthcoming.

She had stopped; rooted to the spot, right at a corner of the corridor the same moment a presence appeared from that exact corner.

The shock was quite sudden as the two came face to face.

"Raven?"

---

"She did return then…"

Robin nodded as he began to reveal to Beast Boy what he had kept from the others.

"Yes, the year after you left, she came back."

---

Even though her appearance had changed, Raven could still tell who it was behind those inquisitive solid blue eyes. The name escaped her lips,

"Terra?"

-----

Dreamchild's Side Notes:

It was raining – heavily, when I was in the middle of writing this which was why I put in the rain scene…

I must say I've had a tougher time with this chappy as I kept going through my plot ideas – not quite making up my mind (I pulled it here, I pulled it there etc.). LoL. But I hope it turned out okay!

Hehe, in reference to RaleighIncognito (who's read this ficcy from the very start – thankkies):

Yup, I brought Terra into the fic – she was part of the flow of the idea I originally had when I began this fic. I'm aware that there are similar fics in line with this scene, but I do hope it didn't turn out exactly alike! But if does sound too déjà vu – I apologise!

TxT

But really, I do hope it turned out okay. Oops, I'm starting to sound déjà vu myself :p

Thanks again for the reviews! Appreciate it :) Gotta get to work on the next chappy. Ja'