Edits: 26/March/2023: Re worded some of the chapter as it's been pointed out to me in these earlier chapters that I do an awful lot of telling and not nearly enough showing. I'll be fixing similar problems I've found with the following chapters, so bare with me.

Doctor Who/Teen Titans

The Lost Child of Azarath

by TimeLordParadox

(A.K.A. Ross Pickering)

BOOK 1

The Dimensions of Space and Time

Chapter 1

Nevermore

Calmness, stillness, peace. That's what she needed so badly. Peace from the turbulence in her mind. It was driving her mad. She couldn't concentrate, she couldn't meditate with the flashes of what she had seen. Her eyes snapped open, sweat rolling down her face. She didn't want to look at the faces of the dead anymore. The rotting faces, the destruction.

Tears were welling up in her eyes but she fought them back. She would not crack, she would not feel. What was wrong with her? She was a Monk of Azarath, she should be able to control herself. But what she had seen, it was too horrifying, even for her.

Raven got up. Went to her sink and hastily filled it with water. When the sink was full she dunked her head into the water. The cold water forced her to focus. She slowly extracted her head, her dark, purple hair plastered to her face. She stared at her reflection. She was a young girl in her mid-late teens. Her petite, and slim form was wrapped under her Azarathian robes and a long, dark blue cloak.

In the middle of her forehead was a jewel, a symbol of her power, and her curse. She flipped her hood up so the top part of her head vanished into the shadow of her cowl. The hood had a lip on the end which cast a beak-like shadow across her face.

She had failed Azar. Or she was going to fail Azar. The elderly woman had been so patient with the young teen and now Raven had seen the consequence of failure. It was like finding out the world would end if you couldn't pass a very tricky exam. This all hit Raven doubly hard because she was still reeling from the elderly woman's' death. Azar had died in mysterious circumstances, and Raven wasn't allowed to attend the funeral because, 'her presence would upset people.'

But she was my tutor. She thought. I... I wanted to say Goodbye.

No. Death was death. Azar was gone, and nothing Raven could do would change that, no matter how powerful she was. Saying goodbye to a corpse would be pointless. Despite repeating that thought again and again in her head she still felt miserable.

A creaking caught her attention and she saw a wall mounted candelabra start to bend backwards. It was shrouded in darkness as her powers crushed it like a stress ball. Around her objects were floating in the field of darkness, buoyant in the sea of her emotional turmoil.

Raven held her breath and commanded it all to stop. The objects crashed to the floor and the candelabra was left bent back at a funny angle. Raven focused, darkness shrouded it again and she consciously bent it back. It looked weird but at least it was straight now.

She stomped around the place trying to clear her head. But the echo of the horror was too much. Raven usually liked horror and scary macabre stuff. She drank that stuff for breakfast. But Raven didn't like death. She hated it. And she'd seen an awful lot of that just a moment ago.

Who could she speak to about it? Nobody, that's who. All the Monks had to worry about was whether their robes were clean as could be. If they found out what was destined to happen, and that she would play a big part in it what would they do to her? Something dire, something unfair, something that wouldn't take into account the human side of Raven at all.

She had to get out of her room, she felt trapped by its four walls.

Raven opened the door to her quarters. Some of the other children of Azarath were playing with a ball near her dorm. Raven hated children, children were the worst of any of them because they didn't hide their prejudices as adults did. They expressed them and they could be harsh. The children stopped and stared at her as she left her quarters, the door snapping shut behind her. She turned to walk away before the children would scream and cry.

One of the braver boys decided to throw their toy ball directly at her, deliberately, really hard and really fast. Raven did precisely what she wasn't supposed to. The ball stopped in mid-air shrouded in black energy. Raven fired it right back at the boy with enough telekinetic force that it hit the boy hard enough to rip him off his feet. He landed in the short grass with a loud thump.

Irritated with herself for reacting that way she walked on trying to avoid contact with as many people as possible. She didn't like talking, what was there to talk about? Azarath was an isolated hunk of rock between dimensions, nothing ever happened that was worth talking about except for the occasional visitor.

As Raven walked she continued to worry. She didn't notice that random objects were being affected by her power. Some were melting, some were bending.

She walked past a dorm and a woman grabbed her son of about eight and pulled him close to her to protect him from Raven, protect him from 'the monster'. Raven imagined she was like Azarath's bogeyman, a flesh and blood icon to threaten their kids with into being good. The mother stared at her as if steak knives were about to pop out and attack the young teen. Even after Raven passed the woman forced her son into the house. Raven could sense the fear was still there even after she had gone.

Raven silently shook her head at them. Shook her head at the fear. Though if Raven was in their shoes she might shun herself too and think she was dangerous.

She hurried, more eyes were on her. People gossiped and talked about her whenever she entered a room making the place instantly uncomfortable for her. They talked in hushed voices but she wasn't stupid, using her powers she could hear everything they said. The people in the temple didn't much like her either and she didn't like them. She didn't blame them for not liking her. Her father was a demon. Not just a bad person but a literal, evil demon; and they hated demons.

Raven shook her head again. Sadly, that was Azarath for you. Peaceful passivists, sure, but they were also careful and judgemental.

Rounding a corner Raven saw something which got under her skin. A younger, boy monk was being teased by some other monks. They had a hold of one of his toys and they were using their own powers to float it just out of his reach. The younger monk, with weaker powers, jumped up and down trying to grab it. He was clearly upset at his treatment. Part of Raven thought to just leave this alone, sometimes you had to learn the world wasn't fair, and that there are bigger and more powerful creatures who will gladly step on you for their own amusement. The boy will have to learn to just let it go.

But for once, Raven was gripped by a desire to do something nice.

The pale girl walked up to the gang of monks and said very firmly in a cool, raspy tone.

"Give that back to him." The older monks were spooked when they spun around and saw her with her creepy, staring eyes. They instantly ran away and dropped the toy, it nearly crashed to the floor. But Raven called it to her hand with her mind. Kneeling down she held out the toy to the child, she hoped her expression was one which showed she was being kind.

Raven's frown went a little further down as the child looked at her in horror, then at the toy in her hand as if it was now tainted. He spun around and ran away, crying his eyes out. He ran up to a woman who was approaching. She knelt down and picked up the child. The woman then spotted Raven still holding out the toy for the child to take, now Raven gestured for the woman to take it from her. The woman gave Raven a cold look and carried her son away from the pale girl.

Of course. She was the monster. No amount of good deeds were going to persuade the people here she was anything else.

Raven got up and dropped the toy onto the floor. She took a step forward and deliberately crushed the toy under her foot.

She really. really hated kids.

In her rush, Raven stepped on the hem of her skirt and nearly tripped up. She hated this skirt, she hated her robes, they felt so constricting and unnecessary. Why couldn't she wear something comfortable and simpler? These things were a pain to put on and were cumbersome wherever she walked. Some of the Monks of around her age laughed at her for nearly tripping. It must be funny for the monster to clumsily lose her composure.

Raven's eyes glowed bright white and her powers activated. She could think of a million and one things she could do. Stop their hearts, tie a knot in their stomachs, fill their lungs with fluid, turn their skin inside out, swelling their tongues up so they turned blue and fell out, maybe teleport them to a dimension that is just hell.

Her mouth sneered as she held back the flood that wanted to explode from within her. Raven knew if she reacted, if she lashed out then she'll only end up looking like the Bad Guy. A lot of Monks at the temple wanted their biases of her confirmed and lashing out would do that. But her dark mood overshadowed her mind, so frankly, fuck it...

The Monks saw her looking at them and they began to cower away in fear. She reached out with two clawed hands. Raven took control of their bodies and forced them to their knees. The Monks resisted, but they were no match for her own powers. In terms of raw psychic power, the small girl was a giant among them, and she could easily play with them like they were her own toys.

She tasted their fear. It was delicious. She intended to force them to the floor and lay there while she walked on top of them.

Azar would not approve! Said her mind. The glow from her eyes vanished and it was like a haze in her brain had suddenly cleared. She'd lost control again.

Raven released them and she watched them scurry away. Yeah, run, here comes the big, bad monster. I'll swallow your soul. She forced herself to walk away. The kids didn't follow to continue tormenting her. If they had she was certain she'd rip their tonsils out. Maybe she should've just stayed in her room.

The pale girl rounded a corner and came to the main hall, its massive ceiling reached out at least three stories making the place look like a grand cathedral. But something stood out in this area, an object alien to this place, something she'd never seen before, nor sensed had arrived.

It was a tall, blue box. It had a panelled design with two windows on the top of each face. On top was a platform which held a little electric lamp. On one side there appeared to be two doors. Around each side was the sign which read, 'Police Public Call Box'.

Police? Law enforces from Earth? She thought. What were they doing here? How could they even get here?

She saw another sign, a dark one on the door to her left which read.

Police Telephone

Free for Use of Public

Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately

Officers and cars respond to all calls

Pull to Open.

Something was weird about the box. She reached out to feel the object in the ether. But it was like her senses impacted against a brick wall. That had never happened before. She poked and probed it with her powers. Within that box was a black void where the universe just... stopped. The box now stood tall and imposing as Raven observed it like a cat would an object alien to its territory.

Out of curiosity she approached, grasped the handle on the sign and pulled. The panel popped open revealing... a phone. A black telephone. This thing was just a telephone booth. She lifted the receiver and put it up to her ear. The phone didn't work.

"Child!" said a monk, plucking the phone from her fingers and replacing it before closing the panel. "Do not disturb our Time Lord visitors travel machine!"

"Travel Machine? Time Lord?" Raven asked in a cool, raspy tone.

"Yes, child, a visitor to the monastery," the monk said, "Please leave his craft alone, you should know better."

Craft?! Her mind questioned.

"Sorry" Raven said as she turned around and walked away, but she waited until the bothersome monk had moved on. Then she approached the box again. She wondered what mysteries this box contained.

"Time Lord," she thought to herself rolling the word in her mind. She'd heard that name before. She probed her memory until something came floating to the top.

The Time Lords of Gallifrey. She didn't think they were real, they sounded more like myth. They were an order like the Monks of Azarath, only their dealings were one of a scientific nature. They had perfected science to such a high degree it was practically an art form to them. They called themselves Time Lords because they had also perfected the technology of Time and Space travel. They were the first species in the multiverse of dimensions to break this barrier and connect all Space and Time, and different dimensions. But by opening this bottle and letting the genie out they had discovered how fragile Time truly was, and so set themselves up as the moral guardians of Time setting it right where foolish time travellers distorted history. Though that was only what was in the books she'd read on the subject. She had a feeling they only told a one-sided, self glorified propaganda story.

Raven wondered what the Time Lords made of her own destiny. If they could see all of Time and Space, did they see her at the end of it all? Would they have seen the same visions she had? Would they come for her too?

The blue box must be one of the Time Lords space-time machines. Why it looked like a phone box she didn't care. But maybe she could use it to get off of this rock and away from this place. There was nothing left for her here. She wanted out, right now!

When no one was looking she approached the mysterious blue box and spotted the lock which clearly needed a Yale key to open. Raven focused her powers on the lock in the hopes of forcing it or breaking it. The lock was stubborn, she could hear the mechanism rattle but it absolutely refused to turn. There was something more to the mechanism than she could sense.

Raven suddenly had her attention drawn away from the lock and to the roof of the machine. It felt as if something had grabbed her mind and her attention, and dragged it up there.

Using her powers she levitated up off the ground, just a few feet so she could see over the roof of this box. There was something above the P on the Police Box sign. It was a small latch. She pushed it back and underneath there was a strange-looking object, it looked like a spade the size of her thumb on a chain. She picked it up and she dropped back down before anyone saw her. She looked at the lock, then at the thing in her hands, it clearly wasn't a key. Or was it? She reached up to the lock and... the front of the lock slid to the side? The Yale lock was just a cover for what was underneath. She pushed it aside and there was a slit the spade-like key could fit into.

Cautiously Raven looked left and right before gently sliding the key into the lock. She heard it click and when she turned it strange mechanical noises came from inside the box, and the narrow door to her right suddenly popped open a fraction. Before anyone could see her she stepped through the door... and into a black void? No wait, the void opened up and...

This was impossible! She looked around at her surroundings. She was only in a box about the size of a phone booth but... this was just impossible!

In shock, she stood back over the threshold of the machine and nearly tripped over. She braced herself by gripping onto the left-hand door.

Raven looked around to make sure no one was watching her. She looked over the side of the box and gingerly, as if she should feel something, waved her hand up and down its side. She pressed her palm against the side of the box and felt a faint vibration. She slowly stepped around the whole box before levitating up and waved her arm over the lamp. There was nothing there, but she behaved like there should be.

She lowered herself and stood in front of this Police Box thing. She had the creepy feeling 'it' was watching her too. Raven took the plunge and she stepped back inside the small box, and took five large steps forward into the void contained within a box less than a few feet wide.

She was now standing in a place larger than the boxes interior dimensions should allow. This place was larger than a house, larger than the main hall outside! And it was all contained within a box no bigger than a phone booth!

The teen walked past the big, heavy main interior doors which silently swung closed behind her, letting out a clang as they met. The place was silent except for a very faint hum and small clicks of machines.

She walked down some steps coming down from the entrance and walked over a rug on a polished, dark wooden floor as she drank in where she was.

The place had a Gothic, Victorian decoration about it with the wood oak panelling and the metal girders holding up the...

There wasn't even a ceiling! If there was one it disappeared off into a distant night sky, and in the sky were a smattering of stars! Stars? In here?!

It was all dominated by a six-sided, wood oak-panelled console which sat on a very Victorian Gothic looking stand of cast iron. A glass tube with crystals inside it rose up into a large, iron chamber held up by six large, metal girders which spread out like spiders legs around the edges of the plinth the console sat on.

This couldn't be inside this box. Could it?

The place appeared to be lit by a number of lit candles sitting in candelabra's all over the place and old Victorian gas lights attached to the walls.

On the far wall there were books, just shelves and shelves of books, an entire library of books! Raven did like books, she preferred books to people, they couldn't judge you and she could escape into whatever fantasy appealed to her.

There was a load of ticking noises coming from a corner where she saw a collection of clocks all ticking away, all set at precisely the same time.

Looking around the place, its décor, it's atmosphere she decided she liked it. It wasn't her style of Gothic, her tastes were a tad darker but this place had a sense of style she appreciated. It was like a Jules Verne style of steampunk.

The demon girl reached out with her mind. She hit the same walls as she had felt from the outside the machine. There was literally nothing beyond these walls. No space, no time, literally nothing. As if this room sat in a void of its own. The machine almost felt like a coffin.

Raven took a deep breath and tried to remain calm.

Turning her attention to the console she looked at the banks of controls. The whole thing was covered in flashing lights like a carnival ride. One panel had dials which read. Destination: Azarath, Humanian Era, July 19th, 2003, which was to days date.

Raven wondered which of these controls would force the machine to take off.

Experimentally Raven touched a harmless looking control, but the machine made a loud noise which spooked her and she very quickly flipped it back. Raven didn't want to risk hitting a switch that did something dangerous. She decided to quickly flip a switch and flip it back just to see if it did something. Picking one she did just that. Something happened, a TV set hanging from the ceiling on an extendable stand came to life, but died as soon as she flipped the switch back again. Understanding what that switch did Raven flipped it back again and the TV came to life. It was a really old TV. Raven raised an eyebrow over how this thing could be such an advanced machine yet its made out of old parts.

The screen showed the space directly outside the box. Two people were approaching the machine. One was a monk of Azarath, she knew him, she didn't like him and she never cared to learn his name. The other was a shorter man with long wavy hair, a tweed jacket with a red waistcoat. He was wearing a white hat and carried an umbrella with a curved handle that he used as a walking stick.

"I can only offer you my condolences, Doctor." Said the Monk. "I am assured Azar died painlessly."

"Yes, I feared as much" the Doctor guy looked deep in thought. "I felt her go. The TARDIS telepathic circuits you see, picked it up." He sighed deeply. "Everything has its time."

"Though next time maybe send a telepathic message ahead informing us of your new..." the Monk looked the man up and down "attire."

The man laughed, or tried to over his sombre mood "I do apologise for the panic my arrival caused. I had meant to drop in, pay my respects and pop back out again with no fuss" the Doctor said, Raven noticed he had a Scottish twang to his voice. "I hadn't seen Azar since, oh... two regeneration's back." He also rolled his 'R's.

"You are most welcome to stay longer." the Monk said "There is no reason to rush off is there? You are in emotional turmoil I can tell, some meditation will help with that."

"Thank you, but no thank you. I've had over 900 years of practice with my 'negative emotions'. a strong cup of tea and a good book will set me right." the Doctor said. "Besides, I outstayed my welcome the first time I was here. When I still had white hair and Susan travelled with me." The Doctor said. "I learnt much from my stay here, but..." he paused "that was such a long time ago, to me at least. But still, this remains one of the perfect places in this wide multiverse to recharge my batteries."

"I had assumed you thought this place boring." the Monk said "At least the last face I saw you with did."

"Oh yes, old teeth and curls." The Doctor laughed, then silently mused. "The mind changes with the body though." The Doctor said with weight to those words. "But there are few places in the world a traveller can truly rest and contemplate the deeper meanings of life. The Eye of Orion, the Lake District, the Temple of Azarath just to name a few. I would truly love to stay, but I'm afraid I have prior appointments elsewhere that I must make."

"Very well. Goodbye, Doctor."

"Goodbye, Torru." The Doctor raised his hat to the Monk in farewell and made his way towards the Police Box. He turned back and said into the air "Goodbye, Azar. You can trust me." and the Doctor strolled towards the Police Box. "Strange, I was sure I didn't leave the door open."

Raven quickly switched the TV off and she bounded for a door at the back of the room. It opened out into more Gothic architecture, a long corridor lit by torches, actual flaming torches, like in a castle. She didn't bother to question what they were doing in an advanced space-time ship. She stopped and peered through the door as the small man entered the control room. He stopped, standing in front of the console in silence, mourning his loss. Did this man actually know Azar? Raven could swear she'd never seen this man before in her life. He might be an old friend, maybe older than she has existed.

Raven didn't interfere as the Doctors hands flew over the console. There was a thud that echoed throughout the machine as its engines roared to life. They made a really loud pulsating racket as she felt the machine disconnect from the real world and entered another realm. She could feel it, and she reached out to it with her mind. It was... beautiful. It was Time. It ran backwards and forwards, sideways, if flowed like a river, spinning, eddying. She'd never felt something so fantastic, it was ethereal and yet tangible.

The demon girl looked deep into the corridors and reached out with her senses. This place just went on forever, and ever. It twisted and turned like it was a mass of spaghetti. As far as she could tell the Doctor person was the only crew member onboard. She didn't need to know how to fly the machine, all she had to do was get lost within its cold interior. Nobody will ever be able to find her, surely, and she could finally find peace and solitude.

From her hiding place she saw the Doctor man sit down in an armchair and pulled up a book. He took a sip from a cup of tea that should be cold but was clearly steaming hot. The book he was reading was titled "Great Expectations. By Charles Dickens."

Raven turned her back and began her journey into the bowels of this machine.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: Turns out the 8th Doctor was a good pick by my old girlfriend. Eight is a Doctor I think Raven will really connect with. The 8th Doctors child-like and innocent nature I feel would balance out Ravens much more harsh and darker persona. Also, in the books and Big Finish audios 8 could have a very explosive dark side to him, similar to how Raven has her own explosive dark side. This should prove for some interesting interactions. Twelve might have worked, but I get the vibe the dynamic would've been a lot, lot different and probably counterproductive to Ravens development. Plus, I just thought Raven would love the Victorian Gothic style TARDIS to get lost in. I mean, come on, who wouldn't? It is a gorgeous console room.

One of my rules with writing these kinds of crossover fanfictions is that the crossing character should never become companions of the Doctor. Unfortunately, for this one I seem to have completely ignored that rule because I find Raven working too well as a companion, and she's a rather unconventional one and fun in her own way.

Its also been a while since I've properly seen the show so it is possible some details might not fit, but as far as I remember there was no episode detail how Raven escaped Azarath and made it to Earth, if there was I apologise and hope any die-hard fans will just appreciate this as a fiction outside of normal continuity.

With Raven's attitude in the show (which I watched clips of to remind me how she came across.) It made sense that though the Azarathians were peaceful and pacifists they were probably judgemental on some level and scared of Raven and her power. I took inspiration from a recent Star Wars comic I read where it showed Anakin's childhood at the temple was a stressful and unhappy one, and I thought Raven probably went through similar treatment.

[Edit 08/Nov/21] I admit, I did make a blunder when it came to who Azar was when I first started writing this story. I'd assumed Azar was a male, Albus Dumbledore sort of character. Turns out Azar was an old woman and had a bit more of a crusty personality. I am currently re-writing some scenes to fix this mix up so please bare with me. Especially if you can read faster than I can edit. lol. The fixes won't cause any continuity errors. For the most part it'll just be changing her/him to she/her.

Edited 26 March 2023: Tidied up some of the wording and tried to show more than I tell. lol

Cheers

-TimeLordParadox