Ok so i feel awful about ditching all my stories :( forgive me! I moved. Again. and my computer crashed and I had to get a new one...oh yea and then there was school...i got so busy I forgot my login for my email and my account here! Yes I feel awful....

The good news is that theres only one or two chapters left for this story, so if theres anyone out there whos still reading this story, then you wont have to wait much longer!

Well here goes....

Sundiata

But this victory was short lived. Slade picked himself up from the ground. Cracking his neck he asked, "Is that all you've got Raven? You're going to have to do better than that to beat me."

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Running out of energy, Raven truned and sprinted further into the dense forest. It was so dark from the foliage overhead that Raven found herself tripping more and more the further into the forest she went. She decided to start running toward the east in hopes that the trees would begin to thin out. All the while, Slade was in pursuit, no more than 2 feet behind her. He seemed unaffected by the strenous activity, but then again, he was dead.

Raven finally reached a clearing where, it seemed, all of the trees had been cleared away. The stench of flesh and blood filled the air and the ground was littered with bodies, from both sides. Some of Raven's forces had been ambushed! Seeing the bodies of everyone who had fought to help her restore everything to normal drew a violent cry from the small girl. Her powers were acting of their own will, lifting her into the air and pouring out of her body, determined to hurt Slade for what he had done. Slade noticed this surge of energy coming from Raven, and he manipulated his fire to form a circular cucoon around himself before making both himself and the fire disappear. (A/N like in Avatar when Jiong Jiong escaped the Admiral's forces in Book 1...wow I sound like such a dork lol).

Noticing Slade's escape, Raven's anger quickly dissapated and she fell from the sky from utter exhaustion. Lying amongst the ruins of the previous battle, she was oblivious to the cries of, "Raven!" eminating from the forest. Not too soon, Richard and Roy made their way to Raven, who after looking at them, passed out. It was eight hours later when she woke up in a canvas tent.

Peeking outside, Raven could see that she and the rest of her surviving army had made a small encampment near the clearing. Assured that she was safe, Raven went back into her tent to mull over what had happened with Slade.

If he gets his power from the dead, how can I beat him? If hes already dead, well it's very problematic to kill someone who's dead....

And was that Richard I saw with Roy? Is that even possible? No. No, it's not. I was exhausted and imagining him there...

After a quick meditation session to clear and compose her thoughts, Raven left the tent to find Roy, Garfield, and Victor. She opened the flap to Roy's tent only to find a war meeting with many of their best soldiers strategizing their next move for the next encounter with Slade. Upon hearing the sound of the tent closing, Richard's blue eyes gazed up and met with Raven's ameythst ones. For several seconds, neither could look away. Then, Victor had Raven seated around the circle eager to have her help with the plan. I have to put my people over a stupid crush...wait, i dont like him like that! its just an infatuation...or the shock of seeing him...yea that's it, the shock...

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The war meeting was useless. No one had a solid plan to take down Slade. Not even Richard, who had been around him.

What are we going to do?

Raven was pulled from her thoughts as Richard approached her. Without any thought as to what she was doing, Raven enevloped him in a big hug. When her thoughts caught up with her, she almost pulled away only to find that he was hugging her back. At that moment, no other troubles or battles plauged Raven's mind and she found that the hug had ended all too soon.

"You'll do fine, dont worry about it, ok?"

But even his words couldn't stop Raven from worrying. Slade was unstoppable. Bowing her head in concentration, Raven tried to think of ideas to kill him since her other idea didn't work.

"Hey, cheer up," Richard said as he lifted her face to look at him, "They're throwing a huge feast for you tonight, to wish you luck and all."

"But why?" Raven asked, her face twisted in a look of confusion.

"I guess no one told you, but the reason we were preparing for battle is because we received a note from one of Slade's warriors asking for a one-on-one battle with you tomorrow."

Raven was stunned. Tomorrow? But I'm not ready!

Forgetting to cloak her thoughts, Richard heard her thoughts through their bond.

"You'll figure it out, Rae. We all believe in you, why do you think we're already celebrating?" he asked, amking her smile.

"That's more like it! Now go get ready for the celebration!" He called as he walked off to go prepare himself for the dinner.

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The feast was magnificent. Hundreds of animals were cooked. Buffalo, Duck, and Rabbit filled the plates of many weary soldiers. Each one had a toast to give in Raven's honor, wishing her luck on tomorrow's upcoming battle. The night was perfect.

After the feast, Raven went to her tent to get some musch needed sleep. But her anxiety could not be cured. Raven longed for her mother's presence and her soothing words, which always helped calm Raven down. The thought of her mother made Raven cry.

Richard approached the tent to mkae sure Raven was feeling alright, and upon hearing Raven's muffled sobs, went in and held her as she cried. He told her about his mother, how she was wonderful and how she was killed when he was 8 by robbers. He confessed how he missed them constantly too, and gave her hope that she would be able to deal with this open wound in time, like he had. Eventually, Raven found comfort, and soon enough she was asleep in Richard's arms.

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Raven woke up in her own tent with about an hour to go before her final encounter with Slade. This was a fight to the finish. He already made it clear that he wanted to end her, so she would stop running and face her greatest nightmare.

Raven suited up for battle by picking a few weapons to help her against Slade. She took her mother's sword. It only appeared as a sword handle until the user allowed their inner light to flow out to the blade. Then the blade would be formed and it would be tangible and capable of much damage. Someone like Slade, who had no inner light, would find the sword useless, a plus that Raven liked. She also chose to take her crossbow and arrow from Roy to battle. All she had to do was picture in her mind where she wanted the bow to go and it would go there. (A/N: These weapons were from "The Key" a book by Marianne Curley).

Raven then fixed herself a plate of leftovers from the feast before, but she found that she wasn't hungry.

She was tense, wound up like a guitar string held too tightly. Anything could make her snap. She just deperately wanted the battle to be over with. As soon as the sun was at the top of the sky, Raven made her way to the clearing from before. On her way, many of the soldiers came out of their tents to offer their condolances and wish her luck.

Before Raven went to the clearing, she saw Richard. She went over to him to thank him for all of his support. But upon reaching him, the words would not come out of her mouth so all she could do was stare like an idiot. He saved her from it being a total embarassment by taking upon himself to talk first.

"You'll be great, I know it. You can do it," he told her, but all she could do was nod. Her throat felt dry and she found herself trying to swallow and make it feel normal again. She turned to walk onto the clearing but Richard grabbed her arm.

"Be careful. I don't want to lose you again," Richard stated before letting go. Raven turned to look at him, but found that he was already walking away.

What was that about? Does he like me too?

Raven chanted her mantra to clear her mind for the battle before stepping onto the clearing. About 100 feet away she could see Slade, in his gleaming mask and all. Her worst fear. She was done running, she'd restore the world to normalcy or die trying.

Raven got into her battle stance and Slade did the same. Then, as they lunged for each other, all hell broke loose.

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Hope you guys liked it! Only one more chapter to go! I promise to have that done soon! Thank you to those who stayed with me even though I'm terrible at updating! Please please review so that I know how I'm doing so far... Do you guys think that its still good? that its not as epic-ish?plllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeeeee review!