Beast Boy followed the group as they made their way across the courtyard to the cathedral proper. Cyborg and Raven were talking – well, Cyborg was asking questions and Raven was explaining. Rage was keeping herself apart, while Timid tried to stay near Raven without getting too near Cyborg.
Who's Patience? Beast Boy asked himself again. What's a nave? How did Raven manage to make a church so creepy?
A friendly hand slapped his shoulder, and Brave grinned at him. "Are we having fun yet?"
"Brave, who's Patience?"
"Oh, her." Brave gestured vaguely toward the cathedral as they approached it. "She's a – Rude calls them sub-sides, I think that's mean. I'd call her a facet. An important part of us, but not enough energy to make her, you know, run around. Hang out. She stays in there all the time and just waits."
"Huh." Beast Boy frowned. "But... what is she waiting for?"
Brave shrugged. "Beats me. Not my job."
"Dude, that sounds really... boring."
"I know," Brave said. "Glad I'm not her." They reached the doors just as Raven waved her hand and pushed them open with a wave of black energy.
The little group stood in the aisle of the nave, the roof of the cathedral extending high above them into the gloom. Beast Boy's ears twitched; he thought he heard bats. The floor underneath their feet was made of flagstones and set up a strange, unsteady echoing of their footsteps as they walked down the the rows of pews, looking for Patience.
They found her near the front, settled in a pew so ancient the dark brown wood was seamed and chipped like rock. Beast Boy wasn't sure what he was expecting – another Raven clone? A different color cloak? – but this wasn't it.
Patience was opaque, almost ghostly. With her hood down, Beast Boy could see her hair was longer than Raven's and her eyes were bluer and looked almost Asian. Those eyes were expressionless as she turned in the pew and watched them approach.
Beast Boy leaned over to Brave. "That doesn't look like Raven."
"Arella," Brave murmured. "Our mother."
Raven approached the pew and stood there, she and Patience looking at each other. Then Raven took a deep breath and said something in a language Beast Boy didn't know. Patience replied in the same language. Then they both fell silent.
"She always does this," Brave whispered to Beast Boy; she sounded more somber than usual. "She asked if her mother had returned. Patience said no, and that she's not waiting for her."
It was so quiet Beast Boy could hear the brush of Rage's cloak against the pews, and the scrape of Cyborg's foot on the floor as he fidgeted. Finally Raven took another deep breath and said in English, "Things are missing."
"I know," Patience said. Her voice was not as insubstantial as her appearance. It was low and unyielding, thrumming against the stone surrounding them. "Please sit."
By unspoken agreement nobody sat in Patience's pew. Raven and Rage sat in front of her and turned around. Cyborg, Brave, and Beast Boy sat behind her. Timid slunk into a pew across the aisle. Patience half-turned so she could see all of them. "We were all witness to the end of the world. We all know the prophecy was fulfilled."
Brave and Cyborg nodded. Rage hissed. Raven looked down at her hands.
Patience smiled at Raven. "We were all witness to the conclusion. We all know what Raven restored."
Raven kept looking at her hands. The sense of shame around her was almost tangible; Beast Boy curled his hands into fists, shaking his head. Brave patted him on the shoulder again.
Wisdom continued, "I was here waiting, through the destruction, through the change, and through the restoration. And I can tell you this: things are missing because everything was restored."
Confused, Raven looked up at her. "That doesn't make sense."
"Everything was restored," Patience repeated, "and that is why things are missing."
"You are worthless as usual," Rage snarled. Patience said nothing.
"Does that mean.. does that.. are we all going to vanish?" Timid sounded like it was costing her everything she had to get the question out, and her voice was faint as she asked, "Everything was restored so we're going to disappear?"
"No," Patience said, her voice gentler. "No. I can feel what has happened but I cannot tell you the form or the shape of it. I can tell you that all things have been returned, so things are missing."
She looked at Raven. "Find what was restored and you will find what was has gone."
Rage swore and the pews seemed to shake. "My fire is gone and you give us riddles. You are pointless and this place is pointless. Were it my realm there would not be this kind of -"
Brave stood up and Beast Boy noted with alarm that her eyes were blazing green. "I speak for Wisdom when I say it is enough. Enough."
So that's why she's here, Beast Boy thought as Rage stopped, glaring at Brave but not saying anything more. To keep Rage in line. I hope she can do it or we're in trouble.
Cyborg cleared his throat. "Yeah. So it sounds like we need to start looking for something."
"Let's list what is missing and we'll know where to start," Raven said. "Brave, you first."
"My sword," Brave began. "I had it -"
As they went over the missing items, Beast Boy noticed out of the corner of his eye that Timid was curled up in her pew, shaking. He crossed the aisle and was going to sit next to her but, seeing how she flinched, sat in the pew in front of her instead. "Hi."
"Hi," she said faintly.
"Are you missing anything?"
Timid trembled even harder. "I had... had a bear. It made me feel better."
"Yeah?" Beast Boy kept his voice quiet and soft. She was like a little kid. "What kind of a bear?"
"Dunno. Just.. just a bear."
"Was it this kind?" Beast Boy turned into a koala and wiggled his ears. Timid stared at him. He changed back. "No, huh? How about this?" He changed into a panda and waved a paw at her. She half-smiled and, as he kept clowning, reached out and tentatively patted his head.
"TIMID!"
Timid jumped a foot and her shaking got worse. Beast Boy changed back and turned to Rage, who was smiling nastily. Before he could stop himself he blurted out, "Dude, what kind of jerk are you?"
The smile was wiped off Rage's face and she stood, growing taller and taller as she came toward him. "What did you say -"
Brave grabbed her arm. "We don't have time for this. Raven, we need to go."
"We'll meet in the courtyard," Raven said, looking at Beast Boy oddly. She said something to Patience in that strange language again, and vanished, as did Rage and Brave. Cyborg hauled himself out of his pew and started back up the aisle, saying to Beast Boy as he passed, "You sure do pick the right people to piss off, don't you?"
Soon it was just Patience, Timid, and Beast Boy.
Beast Boy stood up and held out his hand to Timid. "Are you okay?"
"She's scary... Timid grabbed the pew in front of her to stop shaking and squeezed her eyes shut. "Too scary..." abruptly she vanished.
"I think with you here there will be more things restored," said Patience behind him. When he turned to ask her what she meant, she had also disappeared.
"Dude," Beast Boy groused to the cathedral in general, "Doesn't anybody around here use their feet?" Annoyed, he turned into a hummingbird and flew toward the doors.