"That is a sight I don't want to see again." Wally says from inside Raven as his own limp body is placed by Jason and Zauriel on the lid of the box it had been transported in.
"Hope it was Donna or another woman that dressed me." Diana notes since she had been redressed into her armor.
"I am sure it was done with every ounce of respect they could muster." Raven sends inward as she looks away. So far there are only the five of them needed to cast the spell present here in the night at Stonehenge; herself, Jason, Zauriel, Fate and Zatanna, they had specifically asked to keep the number of witness' low out of fear of something unwanted happening. The secrecy has been enforced by a barrier Zatanna has erected so people driving by on the nearby freeway wouldn't see anything suspicious.
While Fate and Zatanna busy themselves with inscribing the correct symbols in the grass and placing the ingredients where they need to be. Jason and Zauriel have been picking the bodies out of their containers and placing them on the lids inside the innermost circle of stones, while Raven had the task of setting up the artificial lighting they had brought along and generally calm herself, which is she having a miserable time of doing. Fortunately the first arrival makes a point of being heard from a distance.
"So you guys almost set?" Nightwing asks as he pokes his head inside.
"Other than I am about to go into a cardiac arrest? Yes, I think we are peachy." Raven replies and gets a nod from Fate in agreement. "What are you doing here?"
"You didn't think I'd miss this?" Nightwing replies with a smirk.
"Mind you this can still end up on its face." Raven sighs, feeling others draws close and heads out to greet them.
"Her Majesty would be disappointed." Philipus says as she meets her followed by Donna.
"That she would sister, which is why I hope you haven't invited her along as well?" Raven replies
"We haven't, don't worry." Donna adds.
"Hey, did we miss anything?" Kid Flash says as he suddenly appears with a shell-shocked looking Jinx holding onto his back and her legs wrapped around his stomach and her hair standing almost horizontally out behind her head.
"No, you are just in time." Raven replies. "Actually you are ahead of time." She remarks as the ritual hasn't begun yet, which was the time she'd have preferred they'd all arrive.
"Well he is from the 30rd century." Wally adds as Jinx shakes her head, realizing they had stopped.
"I told you not to go so fast!" The pink haired sorceress says before slapping Bart on the back of the head.
"Ow! Well I have to or we would sink into the Atlantic!" He complains as she crawls off to reset her horns.
"So who else is coming that you know of?" Raven asks Nightwing.
"Well I expect Gar and Vic to show up, Star said she would come as well, other than those, I don't know." He shrugs as Fate walks over to them.
"Raven, it's time." He says as he comes within earshot, getting a nod from her.
"Well, let's all hope this all plays out right, wish us luck." She says before heading in between the standing stones after Fate, discarding her cloak on one of them on the way and a moment later the artificial lighting is turned off.
"Hey there party people!" A voice has them all turn around, seeing a man and a woman dressed in seasonal clothes for the area, but the light from the moon makes it hard to tell what exactly, but they can tell he is blond and she is wearing a white mask the covers the left-half of her face. They are carrying an assortment of items in a basket as if they are picnicking. "Oh, you aren't here for the moon?" He asks.
"What are you doing here Sam?" Nightwing asks with an annoyed tone while he hears mumbling from within the stones.
"We are here to enjoy a little moonshine picnic, come my dear." He says before walking around the ancient standing stones to the south side where they disappear from sight, Nightwing sighs.
"Who was that?" Donna asks, looking after the couple.
"Someone I guess we just have to tolerate." Nightwing replies. "Guess now is the time we stay quiet." He says as the sounds of chanting begins, speaking the words in an ancient tongue none of them understands before two other voices begin chanting other lines of different languages and finally a 4th adds itself as well.
"Look they are doing it." Donna whispers spotting the bodies of the Founders begin to twitch and move, as Cyborg, Beastboy and Starfire appear in the darkness, dragging Galfore along,.
"No sister, they are only starting." Philipus whispers as the bodies lurch drunkenly to their feet, heads hanging loosely to their sides.
"Shhh, keep it down." Nightwing whispers quickly, looking at Starfire who was about to greet them in her usual loud manner.
As they watch from where they stand, they can only see parts of the ritual because of the stones blocking the view. But they can see the small flashes that happen once in a while in different colors.
"Dude that is messed up." Beastboy whispers to Cyborg as they see Raven gently grab the sluggish Wally and begin to Waltz with him, or something that looks like a Waltz and a slow one at that.
After several moments with him, she leaves him to dance alone as if she was still there, while she moves to repeat the dance with Diana before moving on, also leaving the Amazon Princess to dance alone. Most of them are certain that it is Batman she is dancing with now as they think they see a glove with a three scallops.
Completing the round with all the Founders, the bodies begin circling the center, still dancing, still accompanied by the chanting and Raven again switching from partner to partner, gliding effortlessly into their steps. Like the Founders she seems completely unaware of her surroundings and her own doings.
"She is in a trance." Philipus whispers.
"Oh uh, trouble?" Cyborg whispers the others turn to look at what he's seeing, seeing many blue ghostly figures make their way up the hill surrounding them, at first It is hard to see what they are, but as they come close they can see it is the ghosts of men from a long lost age, dressed in scraps of leather or animal hides with many other bits of animals or other trinkets hanging off them. "What are they?"
"Druids, I think." Philipus says as she regards them. "They don't seem hostile." She continues as the group spreads out to form a circle around the monument, leaving the group on the inside.
"We have been summoned to facilitate the ritual." A voice says behind them sounding as if coming from the ground beneath them, making them turn around to find the ghost of a familiar figure in an unfamiliar long robe. If the face wasn't familiar, the tattoo on her chest is.
"Argent?" Nightwing whispers, not really believing he was really seeing the ghost of his old friend.
"Argent?" The ghost replies as if the name was unfamiliar to her. "Oh yes, sorry, my mind is not as fast any more. How are you guys doing?" She asks, not once breaking off the vacant stare in her eyes.
"Umm, we are fine." Beastboy says, getting her to turn to him. "But what are you doing here?"
"I once defended this site from a threat, when I was done, the Druids offered me a deal that would happen the day I died. Guess I am dead… at least I don't hurt anymore." The spirit sighs. "Didn't you know?"
"We did." Nightwing says. "Who did it Argent? Who did all that too you?" He asks remembering the details of the autopsy he had read through, Argent looks up at him for several long moments before replying.
"It doesn't matter to me anymore." She says. "We are about to begin, I must go." She says before turning away.
"Argent, please, if not for you, then for us?" Nightwing says after he has moved to get in front of her again, she looks up at him, still vacant in her stare.
"I only remember… he laughed… such a horrid laugh…" She says before walking right through Nightwing who stands mortified in realization.
"No… not him." He whispers under his breath before turning, finding no trace of Argent amongst the ghosts standing in the line there.
As he scans the dead, they begin chanting as well in a new language, like Argents voice, their chanting seems to come from the earth under their feet rather than from the spirits themselves. Nightwing sighs heavily and turns his attention back to the ritual, that now seems to have picked up speed as dancers twirl around and the chanting has picked up pace.
With the addition of the Druids chanting, a new element enters the ritual as a pale blue light washes over the land, giving the ghostly impression of a much larger complex than what Stonehenge appears as today, previously unassuming rock formations a mile away begin to glow, forming mystic symbols, while huge stones appear in the blue light making the entire area look as if it was a city, with Stonehenge at its center. There are five of the symbols and their light lifts off the ground and begins to drift towards Stonehenge, going from pale blue to shining white as they come closer, halting over the ghosts.
"Is that not a thunder cloud?" Donna whispers to Philipus as she spots a single rapidly approaching cloud in the otherwise clear night sky, its rumble provides the answer to her question.
"Am I the only one who don't like that?" Cyborg whispers as the cloud slows down to hover directly above them.
"Nothing we can do about it, possibly a part of the ritual." Nightwing sighs as the cloud rumbles again as thin lightning begins playing over the stones, Cyborg consults his scanners on his arm. "Anything?"
"Plenty, touch those and you'll drop dead." Cyborg shrugs as the dance continues.
Nothing more is added for the next couple of minutes besides the lightning from the cloud becomes thicker and Raven stops appearing periodically as she had previously done, it has Nightwing moves around to see if he can get a better view, finding one he waves the others over, where they can see Raven hang motionlessly in the air in the center of it all, looking at the ground, as several small blue phantoms composed of smoke move from her an to the still dancing founders.
As the phantoms reach their designated bodies, Raven throws her head back to stare directly into the cloud before adding her own voice to the chanting, instead of the quiet way they others are doing it in, she is shouting forcibly and her own energy is washing over her.
"Ezzair! Arazim! Azar! Ezzair! Arazim! Azar! Ezzair! Arazim! AZAR!" At her final shout, the phantom's sink into the bodies as a tremendous blast of lighting turns night into day for a second for the spectators before they are flung away by the sudden pressure.
As they get up, they can see the ritual is over, as everything is quiet again, mostly. There are no chants and no lights, the cloud is gone, as are the ghosts. Bart is the first one up and inside the circle of stones.
"Hurry, they need help!" He shouts as he moves inside, finding the mages lying slumped against the stones, the Founders are also lying against the stones, every one of them emitting a slight whiff of smoke. Richard is at a point of sudden panic when he can see no trace of Raven except a single boot.
"Get them grouped up, and gather any of the materials that might have survived and prepare for transport. I need to find Raven." At Nightwing's mention of the name a laughter rises from the southern part of the hill belonging to a man. Nightwing quickly runs out of the circle to see what the laughing matter is about before planning on planting his foot in the laughing mans mouth.
He finds them half way down the hill, but the dark and his ruined nightsight is making it hard to see anything, so Nightwing pulls out a flashlight and shines it on the scene. Sam is rolling around on his back, having lost himself to his mirth. Mekela on the other hand is wearing a shell-shocked expression on her face that is covered in what looks like thick blood that slowly runs down her masked face. The last person present is Raven who lies unmoving on her back in front of Mekela where she landed with smoke rising off her.
Nightwing quickly moves to her side and checks her pulse, finding she is alive, but unconscious. As he looks up, he notes that it seems not to be blood covering Mekela's face but something else, something that is confirmed when he slips a hand under Raven, bumping into something he guesses was a pie of some sort.
"Oh… Oh that was hilarious…you should have seen it!" Sam howls. "We just like this." He says while making a kissing mouth shortly. "Then she comes flying like that… SPLAT! RIGHT BETWEEN US!" He continues howling with laughter as Nightwing sighs as he lifts up Raven.
"Well I hope it proved amusing." Nightwing says before scaling the hill again, leaving the fallen angle behind with his girlfriend.
Later:
There is a series of flashes for Raven before she suddenly finds herself standing in the infirmary wing of the Watchtower, with her is Jason, Fate, Zatanna and Zauriel, together they are watching orderlies dress the founders occupying the cots in their uniforms. Raven has a monstrous sense of dread that the Founders are dead, and that it is somehow her fault.
"I don't believe it, with all the stuff we had to do… and we lost them." Zatanna sighs, sounding heartbroken.
"Such rituals are always dangerous and prone to failure, no matter the casters and the precautions." Jason adds.
"Indeed, it might have been a minor detail and we overlooked." Fate continues.
"What went wrong?" Raven asks.
"The final part of the ritual was not implemented before the blast." Zauriel replies. "The touch of a soul torn between Heaven and Hell." He says as he puts a hand on her shoulder, the slight tingling sensation as he squeezes has something enter her mind.
"This isn't real." She realizes as she turns to face him. "Only you...why?"
"Very astute." Zauriel notes. "It is because the situation is real, or will be shortly; the complete ritual was never recorded as Shazam believed it to be. He knows of its creation and how it was to be cast, but the Agent of Hell the sorcerer enlisted for the first casting, corrupted the design having demanded to see it before pledging his aid, leaving Shazam to record an incomplete ritual. Lucifer Morningstar also made sure Shazam was never aware of the corruption, out of a concern that Hell would be cheated of its share of souls, should the spell be known to others. What I just mentioned is the missing piece needed to make the full ritual take permanent effect. But now time is up the essence, we have been unconscious for some time and if you do not enact this final piece of the ritual, the Founders and the rest of us will leave this plane for good." The angel explains to her growing confusion. "Now you must awaken, or all your hard work will yield only bitter harvest." He continues before Ravens mind is again bombarded by light.
Raven awakens with a gasp in an empty room, drenched in sweat and with an aching, confused mind. Despite the pain, her mind works quickly to pinpoint her location to be the Watchtower, in the warded room she had spent so much time in now, throwing off her blanket she quickly put on her boots and cloak that she finds slung over a chair next to her bed and heads outside almost colliding with someone in the doorway.
"Whoa Raven! Welcome back, I was just about to check on you." Raven is confused at Mid-Night's words as she is by his expression and the collision.
"How long was I gone?" She asks as the angel's words continue to play over in her head.
"A week, given us a few scares too, are you ok?" He asks carefully noticing the confusion in her eyes.
"I feel fine, why?" She continues.
"Ah, what is the last thing you remember?"
"I was dancing, there wasn't any music but a lot of talking… I think, but I can't make out the words spoken." She admits wondering if the dream was real or not.
"Well, I will have you know that you took a lightning bolt at point blank range that blacked out most of south west England. Are you sure you are ok?" He asks noticing she is looking for something.
"Did it work?" He seems to regard her for several seconds before replying.
"Come see for yourself." He says before leading her into the opposite room, finding the Founder all in separate beds, along with Dr. Fate, Zatanna, Jason and Zauriel. "They are stable but completely out cold for the entire week, nothing seems to be getting through to any of you." He says as Raven studies them. "I can't explain why they aren't coming too, as there is nothing wrong with them, neither can Michael or any of the others we have had up here to look at you guys."
"Where is everyone else?" Raven asks having noticed the absence of people.
"Sleeping, this is the stations skeleton hour. Do you see anything unusual about them?" He asks as he notices Raven is studying them all intently, seemingly having moved past what he thought would quickly result in her passing out again.
"Yes, I think I know what is missing. A wake up call." She replies as the weird conversation she had with Zauriel in her dream replays itself once more, somehow adding a visual thought of what Zauriel meant.
"A what?"
"Just watch." Raven says before sitting down in the center of the room, floating over the floor as the court's move to form a circle around her with the patients' heads pointing towards her. "I have one last thing to do to seal the deal, basically. It should bring the others about as well." She explains.
Her eyes turn black and her soul-self rises over her to fly three times over the beds before settling on her back and spreads its wings, forming visible feathers as it slowly turns around itself, gently dragging the tips of the feathers over the faces of the bedridden, turning a complete circle before sinking back into Raven.
"Huh? What was that?!" Shayera asks suddenly as she bolts upright looking around herself in confusion. The others begin groaning and sits up as well. "It really worked?" She asks in amazement as she studies her own body.
"I haven't felt like this since my one and only night drunk." Superman says as he rubs his head.
"Feels like the last time I was drunk." Diana admits doing the same as Clark.
"Ha ha, funny Diana, since when do you drink? Ow…" Wally sighs before falling back onto his bed after sitting up too fast. "Speedforce make that go away please."
"You'd actually be surprised about that." Raven says in a tired voice behind them, making most of them turn.
"Damn Raven, could have warned us it would be this rough and we might have stayed." John says halfheartedly. None of them have so far noticed Mid-Night quickly withdrawing to make a call.
"What time is it?" J'onn asks as he rubs his eyes in an oddly human fashion, as if someone had awakened him with a flashlight, which is odd since he has often been seen asleep while standing up and with his eyes open.
"Skeleton hour, we have been out a week." Raven replies.
"Remind me to clear the calendar next time we have to do this." Zatanna groans as she rubs her head.
Batman groans slightly as well as he gets off his bed, while his legs shake a little, he forces himself to stand. "Raven?"
"Yes?"
"Damn good job." He says with a slight smile that is returned by Raven as Mid-Night reenters the room, followed by a host of doctors. "And now the fussing begins." The others snicker at this as they are all tended to.
"So, just exhausted on different levels?" Clark asks as the doctors finish their examinations half an hour later and are going over the results.
"Pretty much it, you have been in a freezer for weeks after all and a week here, you should expect some weakness. And knowing you I won't bother ordering a week's rest, but I will advise it." Mid-Night replies as he goes over the results again.
"I think a week, sounds like a good idea. So how many knows we are back?" Wally asks.
"Only the people in this room, I promised I'd call in case of development, why?" Mid-Night replies.
"Oh no...!" Raven says waving her hands in front of her as the scarlet speedster looks at her with an amused smile creeping across his face, knowing exactly what he was thinking.