Their eyes slowly adjust to the light, finding themselves back on New Genesis, sitting on the ground and all of them looking very surprised and some a little frightened, Raven however stands immobile as they left her.
"What did you do?!" Orion demands as they can see the scientists arguing between themselves.
"We… We saw what she remembered." Antiope replies as she rubs her eyes.
"We saw her memories of Apokolips." J'onn adds as he sends his mind back into Raven but finds the door shut and Raven doesn't respond to him. "Has Darkseid been seen since the explosion?" He asks.
Orion remains quiet for a moment before replying, either trying to guess why he was asked this or trying to work himself into a mood by not being the one who was asking questions. "He hasn't been seen, but the war hasn't picked up."
"Means, whatever it was Luthor did in Metropolis wasn't a weapon." Bruce says to himself as he gets up to take a look at Raven. "J'onn, a word in private." He says to the Martian before he walks out of the room, leaving the Titans with the Amazons and Orion.
"You think he's upset?" Cyborg mutters to Nightwing.
"Yeah." Nightwing replies as he gets up with the others.
"Over what?" Orion asks and it dawns on them that he was actually interested in this matter.
"It appears my champion has committed murder." Hipployta replies as she looks at Raven. "However, fitting the victim, the League will not condone it."
"They should." Penelope shrugs.
"Who?" Orion asks.
"Granny Goodness." Beastboy says after a look at Nightwing, who is looking at Raven again, Orion just smiles a little.
"Then today is a good day." Orion says with satisfaction. "But be warned, Darkseid will not have let something like that pass."
"I don't think he is going to be doing anything." Io says getting a questioning from Orion. "He was right in the middle of that explosion you showed the green guy." She says and nods at the hallway J'onn and Batman had walked down.
"We will have to look into that." Orion says before he nods and walks away.
"What's his stake in all of this?" Antiope asks after he is gone, having noticed how pleased Orion seemed.
"He is the Darkseid's son." Starfire sighs, failing to notice she had slipped back into her old way of speaking.
"Don't think she is hearing us right now." Cyborg notes at Nightwing as they look at Raven. "That bond of yours?"
"She isn't reacting." Nightwing replies, feeling frustrated and slightly hurt, he knows Raven is tearing herself apart on the inside and he wants to be there for her, to comfort her, to say that things wouldn't change as much as she will be thinking. But here he is, standing in front of her, and she neither sees or hears him. He looks down. "It's difficult trying to help people when they don't want to be helped." He thinks before hoping she'd open back up when she's had her private time.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Artemis asks Hippolyta.
"We set a watch, if this Darkseid, or his memory, sends assassins, they will find us waiting." Hippolyta replies swiftly.
"I will take the first watch." Nightwing says before Hippolyta can start issuing orders. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to be alone with her."
"Will give us the time to find what we need to find." Cyborg notes and Hippolya nods in agreement and leads the Amazons away with the Titans, Starfire turns in the doorway leading out and sees Nightwing sitting down on the ground in front of Raven before she walks away, she knows he as about to try and comfort her in hopes she'd open up to them again.
Nightwing has two hours alone with her, though she doesn't respond to him, he is certain she has heard what he had said to her. He had time to speak to the scientists as well, learning that they hadn't actually begun the extraction process, having spent the time calibrating their machine so they would only remove the Omega Force and nothing else. He also learned they were moving forwards carefully as they were unfamiliar with the readings they were getting off Raven, which they had upset with their rip through her memories. Nightwing let on that if they needed something to measure their progress by then, they might be able to use the Amazons. He realizes that his shift is coming to an end when Hippolyta appears alone in the doorway, they exchange a few words before Nightwing leaves with an instruction to where the others were, guessing Hippolyta also had some things to say to Raven in private.
Hippolyta waits till Nightwing is out of earshot before she reaches up and touches the extended hand. "I know you can hear us." Hippolyta says as she looks Raven in the eyes, seeing the tiny shift in them was enough. "You were lost Champion, you fought for your freedom and your honor, there is no shame in what you did."
"I killed someone in anger… I killed someone who was no threat to me any longer, it wasn't necessary… I chose to end her… I've become the thing they always warned me against." Raven sends to her, Hippolyta has the image of Raven in her head, curled up in a corner.
"What did Azarath warn you against?" Hippolyta asks calmly.
"Against embracing my father's side of me…" Raven sighs. "They said I would be lost and damned if I did."
"You have embraced it a few times before, what made this different?" Hippolyta asks.
"I didn't just let that side of me out, Hippolyta, I became it. I reached out and embraced everything my father wanted me to be. I survived… but now I am damned. To fight evil, I became evil incarnate."
"Yet you have not changed, though it was months ago." Hippolyta notes. "I attribute that to your spirit."
"You've barely gotten me back… there is no telling what I am going to become now." Raven replies.
"You will remain yourself." Hippolyta replies calmly. "The Unmaker is dead, his influence over you died with him, the only way you can fall now is if you truly turn to darkness on your own accord. Have you turned your back on the light?" She asks.
"I matched the evil of Darkseid, I matched his power with my own… I nearly tore a planet apart in my fury with no care for the millions that would die along with it… What does that make me?" Raven asks with a voice that's breaking.
"You fear you crossed the threshold between mortality and divinity?" Hippolyta asks. "Heed me Raven. Being a god has nothing to do with the vastness of one's powers, what matters is one's attitude to the power one has to it and one's view of those around oneself, especially of those less powerful than yourself." She continues before Raven can reply.
"How would you know what kind of a burden it is?" Raven whispers.
"I do not." Hipployta replies calmly. "But I have walked with the gods for many years, I have seen them be callous, I've seen them kind, I've seen their rage and I have seen their grief. And I wield power like theirs over our sisters, through my office; my wish is our sisters command, I choose whenever to punish disobedience or show mercy when I am called to do so. I serve as the driving will and living mind of Themyscira. Does that not make me akin to a god amongst our sisters?" She asks as Raven imagines Hippolyta growing larger while she speaks and she knows Hippolyta is right, she did have the power over life and death on Themyscira, a power often said to be the only power that mattered.
"You have rules, laws, the Ephors and our sisters to reign you in." Raven notes, while reminding herself that Hippolyta herself had actually made those rules.
"Rules and laws I made myself, so the power of the throne could not corrupt the occupant." Hippolyta replies with a small smirk, as if knowing what Raven was thinking. "And like me, you have rules and laws for yourself. If you feel too tempted by your own power, remember these rules and why you made them."
"And… What punishment befits the crimes that I have committed just to survive?" Raven asks.
"Only you can know that Raven. If you believe you have fallen, think about redemption, about what you need to do to make up for your mistake." Hippolyta replies. "But know this, regardless if you believe you have failed, if others believe you committed a foul deed, you still have your place with your sisters and at my side. Now rest and heal, Champion of Themyscira, you may need your strength before we can go home." Hippolyta thinks before leaving Raven to think.
"You brood in my usual spot." Batman looks to his side to see Orion standing behind him without his helmet and a glass of something I his hand. Bruce knows he's was running a risk of standing here for too long, it would raise questions, but the flat garden that opens up to the view of the forest below the floating city was something that appealed to him in some way.
"I have things on my mind." Bruce replies as he turns his attention back to the view.
"There must be. The others are all taking in turns to speak to her, yet you remain here, even though I remember seeing her around you more than any other on the Watchtower." Orion notes and takes a swing of his drink, reminding Batman that Orion was not just some angry brute. "It bothers you that Granny died at her hands." He notes. "Don't be, Darkseid values her skills, if not in the flesh, he may still find a way to bring her back if it suits his mood."
"Granny is irrelevant. What isn't is that she took a life." Batman replies.
"Ah, the League's morals." Orion replies and takes another swing.
"No. The League is one thing, her heritage is another, we have no idea what it will do to her in the long run if this was a trigger of some kind or not."
"If it was, it would have been evident by now." Orion replies getting a look from Batman as he realizes Orion knew something he didn't. "We see her for what she is, for what she could one day become and from where she came. Trust me when I say that Ravens fall would have been revealed by now. Darkseid didn't just target her because of her power, but because of how she reminds him of something."
Batman looks at the New God for a moment before replying, wondering if it was something he needed to say. "He see's you in her, the prophecy Lightray once mentioned; the old hands being replaced by the young?"
"Indeed. And he needed to bend her to his will to assure himself that his own destiny could be altered. That Darkseid would always be." Orion replies before finishing his drink.
"Why?" Batman asks.
"Because we also know of Trigon. But only from the survivors of exploration fleets that Apokolips sent into his realms. When my father rose to power on Apokolips he sent his strongest into the realms of Trigon to disprove what his father before him had learned."
"A single champion?" Batman asks with interest, he didn't know the New Gods had ever made contact with Trigon before recently, but he had suspected that the name of Trigon was one that could be found anywhere if one looked hard enough.
"And a company of Yuka's finest. What returned was a single ship, badly damaged, the only one left had been stripped of his skin and died shortly after managing to report their failure. According to the rumors, they never met Trigon in person, but were intercepted by a representative of some kind."
"I take it that this is known only to a few on Apokolips?" Batman asks.
"Only a rumor, at best. Failures are quickly forgotten. I have it on good authority however that it happened." Orion shrugs. "Tell me, how likely is it she could be persuaded to join this war on the side of New Genesis?" Batman looks at him for a moment guessing the New God, famed for his battle lust, was seeing some kind of opportunity that could be exploited.
"She fights for the defense of others, engaging in war is not her style. You've already asked Highfather about this?" Batman counters, knowing that despite how strong willed Orion is, he very often acted on what Highfather told him.
"He does not agree it would be wise to involve her." Orion shrugs. "He claims there are risks within her that he would rather not run."
"She came within a hair's breath of becoming something as bad as Trigon while fighting your father, she nearly destroyed Apokolips. What I saw her do up there makes me fear for her future, how much of it will she have with Darkseid as an enemy?"
"She escaped him, 3 months ago, she is off to a good start." Orion smirks before he pats Batman on the shoulder. "Be vigilant Batman, that is all you can be when dealing with Darkseid, believe us on that." He says before he leaves Batman alone.
Later that evening.
Nightwing is digesting their meal, which he has a hard time of describing, since it looked and tasted like nothing he had ever seen or tasted before. Starfire had forgotten her adopted table manners and gone 'Tamaranian' as Garfield called it when she leapt at the table they had brought into the chamber Raven was standing in, that Star stopped rather suddenly is something he thinks was because of J'onn. Most of them however had to sample each and every dish in order to figure out which was to their liking, though Garfield had an easy time of this when one of their hosts let on that meat wasn't served here, which seemed to irritate Artemis and Cyborg more than any. But then again, Nightwing was pretty sure both would be right at home in a medieval tavern with a tankard full of ale and a huge plate of beef in front of them.
But as the others were setting up their borrowed beds for the night, he needed a walk and despite the situation, he wanted to see a little more of New Genesis. As a kid in the circus he had read comics about futuristic cities in outer space and New Genesis was practically one of these places come to life. Everything was a mix of technology, nature and art and it was a sight to behold.
The people don't appear that much different than other people he has seen, aside from their clothing. But he has the distinct impression that they see him, a human being, much the same way Tolkiens elves saw dwarves and humans. A wart in their perfect world, and that it was ok to tease him, since they appeared to share laughs between them when he walked past. But he has the feeling there is something more at work here, that there was something going on beyond what he could see and that it was directed at him.
"Nightwing." Someone whispers, bringing him out of his thoughts, finding that he had wandered into a darker part of the city and is now standing in a corridor between two parks. "Come."
"Who are you?" Nightwing asks before tapping his mask to cycle through the various filters in hopes one of them could detect the speaker.
"Come, you must see." The voice whispers back.
"I am not going anywhere unless you show yourself." Nightwing replies wondering if Apokolips had this sort of cloaking technology, he wasn't picking anything up. "J'onn, I am being contacted."
"He cannot hear you." The whisper replies. "You alone must know."
"Give me a name." Nightwing replies, he wasn't about to trust anything around here that might be something that was born on Apokolips.
"There is none to give." The voice replies. "Seek us out." It says before the feeling disappears, but leaves an image in Nightwing's head, one of a tower that contains a large slab of stone. Nightwing looks back to the way he came then the other way, because he knew where that stone was, and because he was wondering if he should tell the others and if the risk was worth it.
"The extraction process has begun and the visitors are making camp inside." Concealed by the pipes running along the ceiling Nightwing remains quiet and observant as one of the scientists working on treating Raven is kneeling before Highfather, who is standing before the stone.
"And how is the subject taking it?" Highfather asks.
"She remains stable." The scientist replies. "If she will remain that way is difficult to predict. Highfather, do we need to entertain the visitors in this place?" Nightwing's eyes narrow a bit at this, it could prove to be dangerous for the rest of them.
"Their fears are not unfounded." Highfather replies calmly. "And they may possess abilities that prove crucial for what may come. Do they distract you?"
"I… I feel distracted Highfather." The man admits getting a smile out of Highfather as if he was amused.
"It is no shame, but your focus must be on your work. What distracts you?"
"It's the questions, especially from two of them, they want to know how everything works." The man replies in a tone that amuses Nightwing because he got them impression the scientist didn't know half of the stuff that Cyborg and Io would be asking about.
"Ah. Lend them a Motherbox, that should entertain their curiosity for a while." Highfather shrugs. "Will there be anything more?" He asks.
"No, Highfather." The man replies before Highfather caresses the back of the mans lowered head with his free hand which Nightwing reads as a permission to leave, now Nightwing just has to wait for Highfather to leave as well after he's seen the man out.
"You can come out Nightwing, the Source foretold you would come here." Highfather says after closing the door and looks to the ceiling, where his eyes meet those of Nightwing.
"Then perhaps you know why I am here?" Nightwing replies after dropping down to the ground.
"Impressive, nonetheless, there are very few who could have made it here undetected." Highfather mutters to himself as Nightwing walks over to him. "You have been summoned, the Source would wish to impart some of it's knowledge to you."
Nightwing looks a bit worried at this, he has seen how Raven took to being singled out by greater beings and he wasn't sure that he could manage it as well as she. "Should I be worried?"
"Only if you fear what it might tell you." Highfather smiles a little. "I will leave you to it." He says before he leaves by another door than the one the scientist left by, leaving Nightwing to approach the smooth gray slab of stone that stands at the bottom of the room.
"Right. So how does this work?" He mutters to himself as he let his fingers slide over the surface, thinking this was more of the New Gods technology and that it wasn't rock at all.
Then a spark forms next to him and he takes his hands off the surface as the spark moves to the middle of the surface. As Nightwing looks at it, it pulses slightly before everything goes white.
The first thing he sees in front of him in a completely white world is the word 'Welcome' written in golden letters in front of him by the tip of the index finger of a glowing hand.
"Ah, hello?" Nightwing replies while feeling like he couldn't move any part of his body, not even his eyes. As he watches, the light of the hand grows up an arm and then spills out onto a body till a glowing featureless humanoid takes shape in front of him. "You are the Source?"
"They call me as such, in this place." The figure replies as Nightwing feels he regains control of his body.
"Why am I here?" He asks.
"You are here because you are needed." The Source replies. "What I am about to show you are things that may come to pass or they may not, depending on how you choose."
"Between?" Nightwing asks.
"Many things, during the course of your lives. The choices you all make that influence her." It replies.
"Raven." Nightwing notes.
"Her state is still so fragile, so malleable, that a wrong turn could prove disastrous for all, years down the line."
"She is stronger than that." Nightwing notes flatly guessing he was facing down one of the beings that believed Raven was always hanging onto her humanity by her fingernails.
"Now, perhaps, or perhaps she isn't, only time will tell." The Source says before it lights up and the world disappears to be replaced by something else.
He smells sulfur, smoke and the stink of sulfur before he regains his sights, finding himself looking up at a terrifying mountain of a stronghold under a dark sky. He knows where he is, and he walks up the path to the fortress. The place seems empty as he walks through the courtyard beyond the open gates and all he can hear is the wind passing through the empty windows and the ancient fluttering banners on the walla. The main gate to the keep is slightly ajar and he has to squeeze between them to get inside.
The place is utterly quiet as he moves through the torch-lit grand hall that he entered into, the hall alone is big enough to fit the most of a cathedral inside, he can barely make out the roof, and a floor paved with worn red and black stones like a chessboard. At the far end, over an open door hangs a huge black banner that bears no marks, but is still unmistakable to Nightwing, as it's shape is that of Raven's soul-self, suspended beneath a bar by tiny strings. As he approaches the door, he jumps back when a moan emerges from above him and some pale twisted ghoul leans out of the banner to grab him. It's pulled back into the banner that begins to run like oil and hundreds of ghouls start bobbing in and out of the surface. The sight has Nightwing storm under it and through the door that slams shut after him, realizing that the banner was actually the Soul-Self and not a copy.
The new room he is in, is much smaller than the hall, but it is not empty. Raven sits immobile on a throne of iron in her demonic guise, silent and with her eyes burning, evidently not seeing Nightwing at all. Behind her, mounted on the throne is a pair of wings that glow slightly, making Nightwing briefly wonder if they had been attached to something else once. "Raven?" He asks as he approaches.
"Who dares enter my presence?!" An angry rumbling voice Nightwing recognizes as Raven's as he stops a few feet from her, knowing this was very bad.
"It's me; Nightwing. Do you remember me?" Nightwing asks, not knowing how far gone Raven was.
"HA! Still dragging up old memories. How amusing. Who sent you this time?" Raven replies, her voice remains hard but she sounds amused.
"No one sent me. What are you doing?" Nightwing asks.
"Ah, a distraction." Raven replies before falling silent for a moment, her form then starts to glow slightly before it draws breath and she rises, growing larger as she does. Nightwing swallows as he looks up at her, three times his height, massive wings on her back and horns thicker than his chest that rise from her head. "Here, little distraction." Raven says as she makes a grasping motion at him and he floats into the air to hang in front of her. From the look she is giving him, he knows he wouldn't have enjoyed what she was doing to him now, had this been real. "A cunning forgery, I am slightly amused. Have your masters learnt nothing? This form you wear means nothing to me now."
"It's me Rae, Night-GAK!" He feels an immediate stab at his throat.
"No you are not, he died years ago and I saw that with my own eyes." She replies as the pressure continues, making his head spin.
"I… came… back!" Nightwing stammers hoping it would make her ease off.
"Hmm, that desperate eh?" Raven asks herself before she smiles. "Then perhaps you should learn what I have wrought upon the world that took you from me and damned me to the pits!" She says before they are teleported away, to reappear high in the polluted skies of Hell. At her command the clouds rise higher to reveal what was beneath them.
"No… It… It can't be." Richard stammers in disbelief at the sight, thousands of miles beneath them lies the broken ruins of planet Earth. Parts of the crust remains intact, making it possible for him to see parts of Europe, Asia and the Americas.
"My master stroke." Raven rumbles in satisfaction. "Years of planning paying off, all of my enemies on the mortal and this hellish plane; all exterminated in one swoop. I can only imagine Nerons surprise when Earth landed on his palace of Pandemonium. It was only too easy to wipe out the remains."
"Wha… What happened?" Richard asks in horror at the sight.
"Don't you remember?" Raven asks as she turns him around to face her again. "As I have no true hold on your soul. Tell Asmodel and that cur of a gatekeeper, that for your murder and my banishment to this hellhole with no one to love me, I will take up my seat in the Primum Mobile after I have burnt the Silver City to the ground. So swears Raven, Domina of all Hells!" She roars as he feels his bones breaking in the crushing grip of her mind before he passes out and is taken elsewhere.
"No…!" He snaps his eyes open with a gasp and drenched in sweat before seeing that he wasn't in Hell any more. "Just a vision Richard… just a vision." He sighs in relief, he really hated when visions like this were so real he couldn't tell what they weren't. He sits curled up in a moment with his head buried in his arms to get his mind straight before looking up, finding himself in a quiet world shrouded in a light mist. There is an overhead light, but he can't see what it is or where it is for the mist that surrounds him, there's grass under his feet, a gravel road by his left side and a tree to his right. "Wonder where I am now?" He asks himself as he gets up, as the road leads into the mist, he just starts walking and hopes the vision won't be as bad as the last, when he meets it.
It takes a while before he notices it due to the hill, but the road is raised above the rest of the terrain, but the mist makes it difficult to see the ground. After some more time, the silence and monotony of the landscape begins to get to him and he starts to whistle tunelessly. He keeps it up for a moment or so before he hears the first noise of something else in this place, someone else whistling and it is coming from up ahead.
"Hello? Anyone there?" Richard asks, but the whistling only continues before a shape starts to emerge from the mists, growing larger as it comes towards him.
"Ah, good day to you Nightwing, on this… misty afternoon." Richard isn't sure if he is supposed to run or return the greeting as a smiling Hades emerges out of the mists, dressed in a polished silver armor that makes him look like a shining knight. Nightwing isn't fooled and quickly pulls out his Eskrima sticks, but Hades only raises his hand. "Peace, this is not a place for combat." But Richard keeps his Eskrima sticks ready, even if he knew he probably wasn't going to last very long against this opponent. "Ah, you are surprised to see me here." Hades smiles.
"I'm surprised to see you at all. What are you doing here?" Nightwing asks, assuming Hades had escaped his prison.
"Hm. See little mortal, I was on my way to ask you that very question. Here to try and pry her away from my domains as others have? It is too late, you should have known that, she has lain down and joined the quiet and the invisible as her reward entitles her to." Hades replies calmly.
"Where are we?" Nightwing asks. "What have you done?" Hades actually looks offended by the look he gives Nightwing.
"I suppose you have forgotten, or just bought into the lies other mortals made to sell their faith. Come." He says before he turns and walks away, leaving Nightwing to look after him for a moment. "Well? You don't have the means to find her anyway without me." Hades says from within the fog.
"What do you mean?" Nightwing asks as he catches up.
"I am a pure-blood god of Olympus, a son of Chronos and Rea, not some devil born in darkness." Hades replies, walking in his own pace, which means Nightwing has to skip a bit to keep up. "My fall changed none of that, and neither did my title or responsibilities. You mortals forget easily, but I am not only the master of Tartarus where the guilty suffer for their sins, I am the Lord of the Dead, the good as well as the wicked."
"I knew that." Nightwing grunts. "So what is this?" He asks and motions as their surroundings.
"My oasis." Hades smirks to himself. "These, Nightwing, are the Elysian Fields, where you go if you earn them and pay for the journey." Nightwing blinks at the mention, he had of course heard of the Fields, but to his eyes, they didn't look particularly desirable or populated.
"This is Olympus' idea of Paradise?" Nightwing asks in disbelief, making Hades stop to look at him.
"You do not live under the auspices of Gods, mortal, you consider yourself free from our laws. This is the reward for those who do, a place where peace is theirs for eternity, where no God or mortal may intrude on their rest and where I must stand guard and defend them till the end of my days." He says and waves his hand at the surroundings before continuing onwards.
"So… if this is the place for those who's earned it, why aren't there anyone here?" Nightwing continues.
"If you took time to look closer, you should see them." Hades shrugs and gestures to the side of the road. Nigtwing stares into the mist as they walk, trying to spot the dead before he looks down to the deeper mist at the ground. "And here we are." Hades says and turns to watch as Nightwing looks at him for a moment before turning to the mist and the place Hades' eyes fall to.
He's almost scared to do what he had to do, but he kneels down at the edge of the road and waves his hand at the mist and uncovers what lies beneath. "Raven?" Nightwing gasps at the woman lying on the ground with the others. She's slightly transparent, dressed in her white cloak and hood and lies on her stomach with her eyes closed as if only asleep. Richard reaches out to touch her shoulder, but his hand passes through her as if she wasn't here. "No…" He gasps as the grim realization that Hades was in fact being truthful, she is dead and currently beyond his reach.
"If it comforts you, that she is here, means she paid Charon's fare and her life was well spent bringing my niece glory." Hades says and Nightwing looks at him with angry eyes, feeling as if the god was mocking him, but the expression Hades wears tells him that he was actually honest.
"Why do you care?" He asks.
"Why do you ask? I care, because I must, in this place. I care because I know this place contains a blessing I am unlikely to receive myself when the time comes. I care because seeing you here, again, reminds me of myself, willing to do everything for love." Hades replies with a sigh. "You are not from here, I know, so I will tell you; take comfort in knowing that she reached the rest she deserved because she was cared for after her passing." Nightwing looks at the God of the Dead, reminded that Hades' story was a tragedy in itself, devoured by Chronos as a baby, cheated by Zeus and damned for his actions seeking vengeance.
"How did she die?" Nightwing asks.
"I know not, nor do I care. Old, young, in peace or under pain, I care not how they die, only that they reach my shores." Hades replies.
"Right." Nightwing sighs as he settles to look at Raven before realizing what this was, this was what she dreamt of once, that when all was said and done, then she would get to rest in peace, knowing her life has been spent well and that she had been forgiven being the first born of Trigon. And in a way, it comforted him to know that. As he looks at her face, he sees a small spark form on her forehead and it quickly grows to blind him, taking him somewhere else.
The next vision is very brief, and Nightwing didn't need for it to be any longer than it was before he's back in the darkness. It was the opposite of what he had just seen, this time Raven was tormented horribly by the Damned for her actions in life that had obviously turned for the worse at some point. But Richard tries to get the vision to leave his mind, but the sight of her bound to an iron wheel suspended over a fire while small demos poked her naked flesh with glowing iron spikes, stays with him till he opens his eyes once more, hoping that it would be the last of the visions.
But when he opens his eyes, he finds that he is falling through the clouds. He panics for a second before remembering it wasn't real and he tries to force himself to slow down, managing to turn the fall into a glide before he leaves the clouds.
Beneath him is a vast green jungle that surrounds a vast city of stone. Interestingly, from this height, Nightwing notices how the city's outline looks like Raven in her demon shape. Between the bones of her wings there are great fields of crop and grazing beasts, her major joints appear to serve as borders between city sectors, while her outline forms an imposing city wall. Finally, her head appears to form a massive complex of some sort, with a small building even carrying a ruby roof that looks like the gem on Raven's forehead.
Richard, when he was Robin, had actually spent some time wondering if the gemstone was only a decoration or if it served some deeper purpose, like aiding Raven focus, because none of the Titans had seen her without it. Actually, after the first incident with Dr. Light, Richard had a nightmare where the gem had been a part of Raven's skull and would turn into a third eye if she really lost it, he had woken up when it blinked in the dream. He had learned since that the chakra stone was only a symbol that marked Raven as a follower of Azar, who all wore a similar stone, and that she kept it on with the help of super glue. She still wears it now, but only as a memento to her upbringing and out of habit, plus she knew the many years of use had left a mark.
As he reaches the altitude of the tallest building in the city, a tower near Raven's head, Nightwing starts to glide above the city, looking down on it as an unseen spirit. His keen mind quickly recognizes the city for what it is; a city of Amazons. Below him, he sees only women, dressed in chitons, old-fashioned suits of leather and metal armor or long dresses. Some stand guard with spears and shields, some march in step with their units, others pulling carts by hand, others spending time with friends and otherwise going about their day.
Then two specs with wings rise into the sky ahead of him and he wonders if he's been spotted, but then he hears a familiar voice.
"Come back here Io!" Shayera shouts with an angry tone in her voice as Nightwing identifies the lead figure to be Io, with a set of mechanical wings strapped to her back, and Hawkgirl, irate, apparently drunk and in pursuit. "You're not getting away this time!" She shouts as Io just laughs as the two pass him, giving Nightwing a short glimpse of Io holding something that looked like coal and Shayera wearing several black markings on her face that made her look like a cat.
"Well, that was unexpected." Nightwing mutters to himself as he continues onwards while looking after the pair, he can imagine Io having snuck up on a sleeping Shayera to conduct her mischief before having to make a quick getaway when the victim woke up prematurely.
He then turns back to where he is heading, but slows down when he passes over a closed forum that is open to the skies. Within it, he can see four Amazons hovering above the ground, sitting cross-legged and bent over as golden energy encases their fists. In the center floats Dr. Fate, a female one, in the same position, but with a straight back and a portal into space floating above her. The other four then look up and thrust their hands towards the portal, blasting electric energy into it, where it disappears. They keep pouring energy into it till they sink to the ground, signifying that they were either spent or that their focus was gone. The portal is closed as the last of the four sink to the ground, joining the others in exhaustion.
"Well done sisters, you continue to improve." Dr. Fate says as she unfolds her legs and stands up and Richard understands that it had been an exercise and he moves on, not sure if Fate could notice him or not.
He then sets his sights on the palace, wondering if Raven would still be by Hippolyta's side in this New Themyscira. But as he flies on, he notices something on the rooftops to his right, a band of ten, black clad, figures moving swiftly from rooftop to rooftop in a manner that seems familiar. But the sight of it, here, is odd to him and he decides to follow the group, as it passes unseen above the city and towards the palace. He sees the group make timed leaps across the streets when no one is looking, he sees them scale sheer walls using rope, each other and their own impressive strength that lets them reach the roof of what Richard believes is the throne room and he begins to wonder if he could do anything, because the group appears up to no good under the noon sun. The group continues onwards to an opening in the roof, where one looks down before she moves on, where the group splits up, clearly searching for something, or someone. One of them makes a rolling clucking noise like a dove and points before the group start moving towards her. He's slightly impressed when he notes that there were other doves on the roof, these people were good, whoever they were looking for would have to posses keen hearing to know the difference.
Richard hovers behind them to see who the group was looking for, seeing Artemis sit in meditation inside a small garden with her back to them and a sturdy wood rod lying in her lap. Nightwing realizes this is just another exercise as the black clad assailants leap from the roof, the sole shadow one of them casts that falls near Artemis is enough for the warrior to bolt upright and ready to defend herself from her own students. Nightwing is again reminded of how both he, Tim, Bruce and Raven all did this from time to time at home, trying to hone their own skills by trying to sneak up each other. It was a good game, because it was a lesson in planning and executing of that plan to the ambushing party, while the ambushed was reminded to stay sharp. That said, the game at the Manor usually didn't involve real knives or turned quite as brutal as this was proving, though she aims to hurt with her weapon, Richard can still see Artemis wasn't trying to kill any of her attackers.
"Halt!" The command from an unseen speaker makes everyone stop in their tracks, some in mid movement, before they all ease off and lowers their heads as a shadow can be seen under the roof Richard hangs over. "Artemis, a word." The speaker commands. Artemis passes her rod to one of her attackers, after a quick nod before she follows the speaker. Richard sees one of the attackers give the others a thumbs up as he flies down to get ground under his feet before following the two into the palace, only to see Artemis disappear around a corner.
"What troubles you Ma'am?" Artemis asks.
"I am afraid I need to ask you to act as a diplomat. A Khund dignitary will be arriving shortly and I'd rather not deal with him again." The other one replies as Richard turns the corner as well, seeing the two walk into the shadows after passing through an open corridor that is open to the gardens on each side. A single Amazon in a red dress bows to the two as they pass her.
"Well, you know that's the only diplomacy I am any good at." Artemis replies as a pair of guards open the doors for them, leading them into the throne room.
"While I would prefer he can walk out of here, make it clear to him that we don't bow to any of their demands, regardless of what threats they come with." Richard squeezes through the door before it's closed, which he had to do when he saw the other woman has purple hair.
"Will do Ma'am." Artemis replies before she bows and heads towards the door at the far end of the huge hall that is the throne room. But Richard only has eyes for her, standing there in a long white dress that leaves her arms bare, carrying a staff in one hand that is topped by golden owl.
"Bloody Khund." Raven sighs in irritation before she looks up at the massive statues of the Five Goddesses that sit next to her. "My apologies Goddess', but you've seen how the Khund are." She says to the statues, the turn gives Richard the first look at her face in this vision and he is almost frightened, she looks so unlike how he was used to. It wasn't that she was physically different, save perhaps a little bulkier, it was all in the details. She looks calm and at peace, she stands tall, in fact Richard would say she looks regal. And then she turns her eyes towards him, looking slightly confused for a moment, making a pale shadow fly across the floor behind her before calming herself. "Richard?" She asks as her eyes narrow. "Is that you?"
Fearing that she wouldn't believe it in this place, Richard is left to stammer; "Not exactly." Oddly enough the reply just makes her smile a little.
"Don't worry, I know you're dead." Raven replies as she moves over to him, confirming Richards observation, she indeed looked regal and her eyes radiate a calm he hadn't seen before. "It's long ago now, to me."
"Is it?" Richard asks.
"Only a little over a thousand years." Raven smiles at him. "You feel surprised?" She asks keying him in that she couldn't actually see him, but obviously she could feel him. "Is it the dress?"
"Ah, no… well that too… but a millennium?" He asks as his mind tries to stand in her shoes and imagine remembering something that old. I would be like him, remembering an old friend, one he hadn't seen since the end of the Viking Age.
"Well, I consider it my work clothes nowadays." Raven smiles again, Richard could see she was amused by his confusion. "Being Queen of the Amazons means I have to look the part." And this makes Richards record skip
"You… ah… say that again?" Richard asks before remembering that a thousand years meant a lot of things could have happened, then remembers who he saw here. "But… um, Hippolyta? Diana? Dr. Fate and Shayera?"
Raven just smiles even more before huffing in amusement. "Hippolyta is alive and well, so are Diana, Donna and Cassandra. Sadly, I can feel you don't have much time, but Hippolyta abdicated and I was eventually chosen to replace her, as Diana was… unable to. As for Fate, the Helmet just came to her one day and shes carried it ever since. Shayera is a bit hard to explain given the time." Richard has to agree, he can feel something pulling at him, it's almost time.
"Then just tell me this… are you happy?" Richard asks, out of all the questions he'd want to ask Raven about the things to come, the things she's done, if it all came down to it, he only really wanted to know that she was all right.
"I am as happy as I can be Richard. You are still in my heart and in my memory, but my friends are here amongst my sisters, as is the one I love above those. I have no wants beyond that." Raven replies before she reaches out to him, and he puts his hand in hers before they pull each other into a mutual embrace. "Go to your rest Richard, be at peace, don't worry about me, I'll be fine." She whispers to him before he feels himself being taken away as he looks into the sunlight over Raven's shoulder.
Authors Notes: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten this and neither has the Tyrant of Apokolips. :)