Beast Boy took advantage of Rage's distraction and got a lungful of oxygen, the air seeming to drag across his throat. With difficulty he could see Timid, shaking all over, hefting Brave's sword.
Rage stared at her in disbelieving contempt. "Insect. Go away, insect."
Timid screwed her eyes shut and took a wild swing, hitting Rage on the hip with the flat of the blade. Flames jumped around them as Rage swore, more startled than hurt, and definitely as distracted as Beast Boy wanted her to be.
Now or never, he thought, and taking another breath, he changed into a kangaroo, kicking himself away from Rage and somersaulting backwards. Shifting in midair to an ape, he landed, lifted Timid, and started running, roaring over his shoulder and hoping that Cyborg would get the idea.
He did. "Come ON!" Cyborg, Rude, Raven, and Brave took off after Beast Boy, confusing Rage enough that they had a good head start before she started blasting at them with green-tinged flame.
"Where are we going?" Cyborg yelled at Raven.
"I don't know the way out," she called back, her voice scratchier than ever from the smoke and the dry, hot air. "We'll make our own way." Still running, she held her hands out in front of her and gasped, "Azarath - Metreon - Zinthos -"
A billowing portal of energy opened right in front of Beast Boy and he never hesitated, plunging right into it. The others followed him.
Cyborg wasn't surprised to see them back on the grounds of the cathedral. As soon as they emerged from the portal he slowed down, taking deep breaths. Raven ran right past him and towards Wisdom, calling, "Close it up! Close it up!"
Wisdom stood up from her bench and made a complicated gesture in the air toward the portal just as it took on a reddish cast. Rage's hood appeared. Screaming with frustration, Rage fought Wisdom to keep the gate open. Brave and Raven stood beside Wisdom to help her, and the three of them together managed to finally force the energy gate shut.
Cyborg was still bent over, hands on his knees, getting his breath back. "Oh man. Is she gone? I mean really gone?"
Raven sank down on the bench beside Wisdom and slowly pulled back her hood, while Brave leaned against one of the statues and Rude unapologetically flopped on the ground. She was even paler than usual, her face smudged with dirt and soot. "We've locked her in her realm, at least for now. We just have to hope we haven't locked up any chance of finding what's missing. She's going to try to break out. One more problem." She glanced over at Beast Boy, who was still in his ape form. And still had Timid in his arms. "You can put her down now."
Embarrassed, Beast Boy carefully set Timid on her feet and shifted back to himself. "My bad," he said. Recovering his composure, he grinned at Timid. "Good job, dude. You got the sword back and you probably saved me from being wiped out by Old Four Eyes. Lucky you have some Brave in you, huh?"
"Not me," Brave piped up, taking her sword from Timid and giving her a congratulatory punch on the arm. "Not me. All her." She slid her eyes sideways at Beast Boy and one corner of her mouth tilted up. "Maybe she just needed a good cause."
Timid blushed furiously and vanished.
Raven sighed. "Did you have to do that? It was hard enough getting her to help us in the first place."
Brave just laughed. "We're all honest here. You told us to be. I'm not sorry."
Beast Boy was almost as red as Timid. Desperate to change the subject, he piped up, "Not that it wasn't fun almost getting killed and everything, but did that help? Did we find anything out?"
"Who knows," Raven said wearily.
"I do," said Wisdom. "I may not be as wise as a I was, but I know we have found things. Both the fire and the sword have been recovered. Things have just been .. moved. Perhaps the next place to look is Brave's realm."
Brave brightened. "Yeah! My place." She flipped her sword through her hands and tossed it in the air, where it vanished. "No traps, no fires, and no Rage."
"And no Rude," Rude groaned from where she was still laying on the ground. "I'm not going anywhere."
"We'll find Timid," Wisdom said, "And send her to you. Be careful in Brave's realm."
Brave raised her hands and pressed her palms against the air. A huge green doorway appeared. "Come on."
***
***
Beast Boy didn't know how tense he had been until they arrived at Brave's realm and weren't attacked. Everything seemed normal, at least to his eyes. They were standing on the flagstone floors of what looked like some kind of huge cross between a dojo and an armory. Suits of armor lined the walls, and racks of weapons were scattered here and there. Mats covered the floor. A soft, indirect light came from far overhead, but from where Beast Boy couldn't tell - he couldn't even see the ceiling. "Awesome. Nothing on fire, no traps, and no Rage."
But Brave was frowning. "Couple of my guys missing." She pointed to a gap in the suits of armor at the far wall. "They're for training. Wouldn't hurt anybody. Who would -"
A faint clanking noise interrupted her. Without saying anything else, Brave took off down the length of the room and turned off through an archway, her green cloak billowing out for a moment then disappearing. Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy followed.
They found her by the swearing. Kneeling in a niche in the stone hallway, Brave was staring at a suit of armor that had been clumsily torn apart. The arms, legs, and torso were laying to one side, one of the legs still rocking gently and scraping against the stone. The gloves and helmet were piled up in a corner.
Beast Boy moved closer. No, not piled up in a corner. Instead they appeared to have been put on something...
... canted to one side, way too large, and propped up on the armor's gauntlets, the helmet was protecting a small, worn-out teddy bear.
Brave stood up. "Not mine." Taking a deep breath, she yelled, "TIMID! I found your bear."
A moment later both Timid and Wisdom appeared. Timid darted forward, fell to her knees, and grabbed her bear, letting the helmet and the gloves crash to the floor. "M-m-my bear -" She wrapped her arms around it and shut her eyes tight, rocking a little.
Raven turned to Wisdom. "Brave didn't do this."
"Of course not." Wisdom gazed at Timid and the bear, not really seeing them. "It doesn't make sense..." Suddenly her eyes lit up and she laughed. (Raven winced, but Beast Boy felt a tingle down his spine.) "I may be wrong - I am not as wise as I was. But I do not think so. Saeculum."
Beast Boy glanced at Raven and saw that she was as confused as he was. "Say what?"
"Patience was right. Everything has been restored. We need to -" but her next words were cut off. Wisdom raised a hand to her neck, her face suffusing with red underneath her pale skin. And appearing behind her, spinning into existence out of thin air, stood Rage, holding her by the throat.
Brave roared and leaped forward, but Rage lifted Wisdom and shook her. Brave stopped. I am stronger than you and now I am more. Rage's four red eyes gleamed and she grinned at them. Wisdom has not been wise. She lost some of her wisdom - but who received it?
Air hissed between Raven's teeth. Rage laughed. Just so. She and I both know who took the sword and the flame and the bear. She would protect them - but I will not. And once they are destroyed, this realm is mine. It's only a matter of time. And I have been waiting for ten thousand years.
Holding Wisdom effortlessly, she turned her so they were face to face and said grimly, You and I have business before you die.
In a flash of scarlet light the two of them disappeared.
The hall was absolutely silent except for faint, terrified sobs from Timid.
"Shit," breathed Brave.
Beast Boy looked at Raven again. She pulled her hood down and was staring off into space, her eyes huge. "Raven, what did she mean - sayculum?"
Her eyes met his, and she said helplessly, "I don't know."