Sorry it took so long to update. The computer was being stupid, then it wouldn't save to the disk, and now the mouse went bad... Well, here it is.
I know I told someone it would be soon. Sorry!
Read and review,
Raven's secret-keeper
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Unforeseen Surprises
Chapter 3: Tides of Realization
Raven shut the door and sat back down next to Dove.
"It's... It's okay, it's just thunder."
"I know," Dove whispered back, "that it's just clouds colliding, but I can't help... being terrified..." She moaned and pressed herself closer to Raven as another but smaller clap was heard.
Raven, remembering that Dove had lost control before, reminded her to calm down.
Dove tearfully replied, "I've been trying since... I don't' know, but I've been trying to calm down."
"You don't have to get defensive. You won't get in trouble if something unexpected happens. Trust me, we're used to it."
Dove looked up at Raven, her violet eyes wide with fear and her face pale. "But it's beyond average fear. Whenever I try to calm down, the fear overwhelms me. And I can't meditate-" Dove stoped herself, suddenly wondering how Raven would react.
"Meditate?" The similarities never ceased. She doubted it, but maybe Dove meant something else.
"Um, yeah..." Dove remembered that Raven was supposed to meditate daily and she realized that she had no reason to fear her. "I have troubles..."
"As in?"
"I have... unpleasant... flashbacks, and I can't keep my emotions under control long enough to be calm to meditate."
"You don't always have to be calm to meditate. You meditate to be calm."
Dove blinked.
"Try to clear your mind. Just try not to think. If a thought enters your mind, try to cut it off."
Dove backed away from Raven and crossed her legs. She closed her eyes tighter, then told Raven, "It's not working!" Another boom echoed across the skies. Dove swallowed nervously.
"What about chanting? A mantra?"
"My mother told me that you used Azarath Metrion Zinthos, and it works for me - that is, when I'm not-" Dove moaned.
"Try it. It might help."
Dove sighed. "Last time I tried meditating during a storm, I failed completely. I just have trouble meditating."
Raven could hear a hint of frustration in Dove's voice. "At least try it for now. I know that the circumstances are less than perfect, but these are the times when you will need to meditate most."
Dove sighed and slowly chanted, "Azarath metrion zinthos." She chanted it twice more before a crack of lightning lit up the room, even through her closed eyelids, and a loud crack of thunder sent a shiver cascading down her spine. She broke out in a cold sweat.
"I can't handle the fear," Dove gasped swiftly.
"Dove-"
Before Raven could finish, Dove put her head in her hands and began sobbing.
"Dove-!" A white bolt of energy left Dove's body and flickered dangerously close to the walls.
"Dove, calm down!"
Dove looked up. "I-I-I'm so sorry, b-but I can't," she whispered softly.
"Dove, your powers - How powerful are your powers?"
"I don't know! I've never used them to the full extent before."
"Dove, the fear - your powers - You might destroy the entire tower!"
"I-"
Raven sent out her own bolt of black energy and it collided with Dove's unharnessed energy before both vanished in a flash of blinding white.
Dove shuddered. "I'm so sorry..."
"You really don't have that much control, do you?"
Dove only sobbed.
Raven, being an empath, could sense Dove's sorrow and sighed. "There's nothing to be sorry for. You can't control your powers. It's not your fault."
Dove swallowed and looked at Raven, who put up a semispherical force field up around Dove and herself. She kept it over them until the storm ended and sunrays filtered through the window. Then she took it down. Dove, tears still flowing but sobs subsided, leaned onto Raven's body and whimpered.
"It's over," Raven told her quietly.
"I know..."
"You doing okay?"
Dove shrugged. "Tired..." She closed her eyes tightly, and more tears fell.
"What is it?"
Dove couldn't answer anything but the truth. "I'm not sure." She sobbed and sat up away from Raven's body, feeling anxiety, confusion, and Raven could sense depression and trauma. Her deep violet eyes gazed into Raven's.
She hung her head. Breaking the gaze, and suddenly said, "I miss Azarath!" She began sobbing.
Raven was more than sympathetic. She remembered when she had first left Azarath. The only place she had ever known. Though she didn't quite agree with some of the philosophies, Azarath would always hold a place in her heart.
"I can't even go back!"
"I know," Raven said, once more remembering the feeling of having the land of her birth destroyed before her eyes by Trigon. She felt a sweeping wave of hatred for him, but she pushed it aside.
"You saw Azarath... being destroyed?"
"Yeah..." Raven avoided the specifics. If Dove asked too many questions...
"What?"
Raven looked at Dove's confused face. "What do you mean?
"I thought you left before Azarath was- Didn't you-?"
"I went back."
"Why?"
"Let's just say I was... struggling to avoid something."
Dove blinked, then nodded.
"I... I'm surprised you aren't asking me more." Few people knew of Raven's "boundaries."
Dove's reply startled her. "I know what it's like to need to keep a secret."
A fresh wave of tears and sobs crashed onto Dove, and Raven asked what it was.
"I-I-I can't help b-b-b-b-but remember when I first left - I m-mean before I left - After the v-v-vision - and my mother..." Dove lost control of her voice at that point.
Raven wondered what Dove was so upset about, but decided she shouldn't invade Dove's life.
After a few minutes, Dove sniffed and let herself fall onto her back. The sobs ceased. Raven still sensed emotional pain. "It's almost dinner time. Do you want anything to eat?"
Dove shook her head. "I'm not hungry." She yawned.
"Maybe you should get some rest."
"Yeah..." Raven got up. Then Dove spoke up. "Wait... Thanks."
"For what?"
"Just... For being there. Not rejecting me, not saying my fears were silly, accepting my lack of control, not pushing me away..." Her voice trailed off.
"You're - welcome."
There was an awkward silence, then Raven said, "You look like you haven't eaten in a while. Are you sure-?"
"Yes. I'm in pain and just not hungry."
"Is it your head?"
"Um, yeah," Dove replied softly, then she shot up and looked anxiously at Raven. "Please... don't..." she pleaded, her voice soft and afraid.
"Do you trust me-?" Too late, Raven realized how unlikely it was.
But Dove startled her with a quiet reply of, "-sigh- Yes... Go on..."
"It'll be easier if you relax."
Dove still tensed as Raven's periwinkle, glittering-auraed hands approached her head. She closed her eyes tightly, but half opened them again. She felt an odd, tingling sensation in every area that was hurting - even where she was sore and aching - then a faint numbness for an instant, and then... nothing. Dove looked up at Raven.
"How - I - Thanks..."
She looked the opposite of Raven's voice and blushed. "Sorry, I... overreacted... I just... a bad experience... heh... sorry..." She apologized, stammering and feeling silly and immature.
"You still don't need to apologize," Raven told her.
Dove lifted her eyes, but didn't look right at Raven.
"Once more, you can't control it. So you had a bad experience. Like your powers, sometimes you just need a little help with it. I'll help you get that control. And if the when you can control your powers never comes, then at least you have a safe warm home."
Dove looked up at Raven and smiled.
"Thank you so much... For everything," Dove said softly as she put her arms around Raven.
Startled, Raven tensed for a moment, then relaxed and returned the action. Sensing Raven's tension and surprise, Dove said, "I didn't mean to scare you."
"Never mind," Raven said. She knew what Dove had meant by it.
Dove rested her head trustingly on Raven's shoulder, and she let her arms fall. She made a small noise of comfort, then fell asleep. Raven gently put her head on the pillow and covered her. With one last glance, she headed to the kitchen.
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-Raven's secret-keeper