Authors notes: I think I have a better story for this arc now. I figured the problem I originally had with it was trying to make it a simple slice of life, akin to Big Finishes, Doctor Who: Circular Time, Summer. It was also supposed to be a palate cleanser after the Land of Fiction arc. Unfortunately, I agree that the story itself was uninspiring and lacked in the good Doctor Who side of this Doctor Who crossover.
Fortunately, I think I've now come up with a story that serves the Doctor Who side of things a lot better and is a type of adventure that would suit Raven's taste for the macabre.
Hope you enjoy it.
Book 9
The Witches of Devils End.
Raven is struggling to keep her power suppressed and be normal. But being normal is very difficult when you're used to being odd. As she finds out when the TARDIS crash lands near the sleepy English of Devils End. Stranded in the village Raven intends to keep herself locked away from everyone so her power won't hurt anyone. But she meets Tobias Hopkins, a boy who Raven becomes smitten with.
Things become more complicated the dead witches of Devils End rise from their graves. Its a race against time to return the spirits to their rest before they move to take revenge on the descendants of the town who burnt them at the stake.
Chapter 62
The Problem of Self Control.
Raven nearly tripped up again as her feet landed on the hem of this stupid skirt! How could she let the Doctor talk her into wearing this impractical dress?
Sure, it was of the period they were in. But the skirt was as long as the one from her Azarathian robes, which she also hated. But, apparently, bare legs or any kind of visible leg-like appendages on a woman was not seen as 'proper' in polite English society in the early 20th century.
Raven could've cast a perception spell on herself, but she wasn't supposed to be using her evil magical powers any more. So with few options, she had to actually change her attire.
'I should've told the Doctor to go screw himself when he suggested 'this' dress to me.' She thought in annoyance.
The goth girl risked a glance back. The Doctor was just behind her, ushering her on. Behind him was what they were running from. It wasn't another monster or creature. It was nature. A wall of water was crashing down the corridor towards them as they climbed the corridor. 'Climbed the corridor' being the correct phrase, because the entire corridor was angled downwards into the water.
The Doctor had wanted to take Raven to a ship called the Mauritania in 1910 for a 'nice, relaxing cruise'.
"Doctor, I feel totally relaxed right now." Raven bit at him.
"It's the wrong ship, that's all." They rounded a corner and found some steep, narrow stairs and they began climbing them. "Just don't tell the Time Lords. I assured them I had nothing to do with this."
Now heading upwards they could outrun the torrent of water, that was still creeping up after them. The winding stairs felt weird, only because everything felt like it was tilted down sharply one way. The Doctor lead the charge upwards and Raven was falling behind because of her stupid dress. But as long as the Doctor kept going up then she could follow.
"I say, is someone out there?!" Came a cry off the stairwell, and Raven hesitated before taking another step. "I require some assistance." The voice sounded calm, in the way early 1900's society would called 'British,' but with a hint of urgency about it.
"Doctor!" Raven cried up at the Time Lord, but he was long gone. Raven shouldn't. The Doctor wanted to preserve his precious Web of Time, and Raven agreed that they should not alter history.
"I say, I'm rather stuck and could do with some assistance. Please!" He was stuck? Ravens tongue rolled around her mouth. ' I should leave, right now!' But the image of being trapped under the rising water, of drowning sent a chill down her spine. So what if she rescued him? He'd only die anyway. Still Raven was rooted to the spot as the roar of water slowly crept up the stairs after her.
'For God sake!' So what if she helped? It's not like it'd cause any major impacts to the Web of Time. So he'd die from the cold on the deck, instead of in there. No major difference except avoiding a more stressful way to die.
Having ducked off the main stairway Raven emerged into another long, white hallway with doors running down either side as far as they eye could see. There was a balding, moustached man in a dark suit. He kind of looked like a villain from one of the movie reels of the era, but as if to contrast his eyes were soft, calm and gentle. There was also a collapsed pipe laying across him, pinning him down. His calm demeanour was explained by his odour, he stank of whisky.
"Ah, so kind of you to come." The man said slurring his words a little. "I apologise for not being in the best position to received visitors." Instantly, Raven grabbed onto the pipe and tried to lift. But if the man couldn't lift it then her small stature and weak muscles wouldn't be able to budge it either. If she used her powers then...
No, she was not supposed to be using her powers, she'd sworn off them for good. But perhaps she could apply some physics to this situation rather than magic.
There was a red cabinet attached to the wall next to a rolled up fire-hose, within the cabinet was a fire axe. She didn't intend to try to cut through the pipe with the blade, that would be lunacy. Instead, she jammed it under the pipe and putting her full weight onto the axe the heavy pipe began to lift off the man. He drunkenly climbed out from under it.
"Much obliged." The man said, dusting himself down.
The ships hull creaked and groaned as the angle of the floor began to get subtly steeper by the second.
"Get to the surface." Raven instructed, going so far as to grab the man's arm and pull him a long a little to get his wobbly legs moving. The two raced up the stairs. Raven came to a crashing halt, the man running into the back of her as she met the Doctor coming back down the stairs.
"Where'd you disappear off to?" He asked.
"Doing a good deed." Was all Raven said and she physically forced the Time Lord to turn around and head back up the stairway.
They emerged onto the deck of the ship, and there was just utter panic. All around it was pitched dark, the only lights being those from the ship, and the stars and the Milky-way that was clearly visible in the dark sky. The darkness around the ship just merged with the horizon and the inky black ocean making the ship look like it was sitting in total darkness.
The man Raven had saved carried a folded deckchair past her and tossed it into the sea. Walking unsteadily he went back for another and hurled that into the sea too, for all the good they would do.
Raven heard the ships hull groan in agony, it was like the sound of a dying beast crying out for help.
The screeches and screams from the passengers on deck didn't help Ravens mood, nor her headache. She tried to remain calm but the mounting feeling of dread everyone had was having an impact on her. She could feel it. The dread itself was like a torrent of water threatening to sweep her up.
Focus! Focus! She had to focus!
They had to reach the TARDIS and escape. But the TARDIS was parked somewhere in the forward section of the ship, and Raven had a sinking feeling their Time Ship was already underwater. But the Doctor was convinced they still had time to reach it.
Raven wasn't so sure. Looking down the length of the ship she could tell the prow of the ocean liner had already gone under, and through her feet she could feel the deck getting subtly steeper, and steeper.
The ship was fast going down now and...
CRUNCH!"
Raven stopped speaking and stared at Beast Boy, who had just shovelled a hand full of potato chips into his mouth and crunched down noisily. Even Star Fire was looking at him.
"Hehe..." he laughed sheepishly, crumbs falling from his mouth and onto the floor. Onto Raven's floor!
"Sorry." He swallowed. He didn't pick up the crumbs that had fallen out of his mouth, in fact, he'd accidentally stood on them, pressing them into her carpet. He was unaware he was doing it and when he settled he looked casual again.
Raven watched him like he was a disgusting insect as he picked out a single chip to eat and he gave her a look which said 'What? What's wrong?' She just groaned.
Raven had barely opened her mouth to continue the tale, when he crunched down. It was too distracting.
Forcibly, Raven used her powers and pulled the bag from his grasp.
"You can have these back when I'm done." Raven held up her hand, "No 'buts!'"
Beast Boy crossed his arms sulkily, his long ears drooped and he had a look of someone with a dark cloud over his head.
'I should kick him out.' Raven thought. ' It'd be easier.' But over the past few days Raven found that she enjoyed his look of suspense and eagerness for her to continue. Raven usually hated being the centre of attention. But there was something about this she enjoyed. She wondered if this was how a TV would feel while everyone was watching it. But unlike TV, Raven wouldn't rot his brain.
She just wished he'd sit still.
Both Star Fire and Beast Boy eagerly waited her to continue.
Despite all this chaos and panic around her there was still a string band on the deck which kept playing. Latching onto this whimsical music Raven was able to use it like a life preserver and stay afloat in this sea of raw panic.
People were starting to mass at the forward portion of the ship near the bridge. The crew were busy trying to push some flimsy looking boats off the roof of the bridge. Some ores had been placed down at an angle to the deck in order to catch them as they fell.
The crowd gathering was so thick Raven and the Doctor had to force their way through to get to where they'd parked the TARDIS. It was at the bottom of some large, wooden, grand staircase. Looking to the sky at one of the ships mighty funnels, the second one back from the bow, Raven realised they were so close. The staircase in question was between the second and first funnels. If they could just get through this crowd of people and into the staircase there might still be time to head down and reach the TARDIS before everything flooded.
Raven held the Doctors hand as he pushed through the crowd. The demon girl just continued to focus on the music from the string band. It had become rather slow and sombre, it sounded like it might be music to a religious hymn. They passed a man who stood, rather reserved, with his hat placed over his chest like he was ready to die. As the string band played on the man began to sing the words, as he did so, others, who'd realised the danger they were in, began to sing too.
"Nearer my God to Thee,
"Nearer to thee,
"E'en though it be cross,
"That raiseth me.
"Still all my song shall be,
"Nearer my God to Thee,
"Nearer to thee."
A shudder that went through the deck. Raven got a sinking feeling, literally. The whole ship had started moving forwards and down... into the water!
The screams became louder, people scrambled aft as the chilling realisation dawned. The ship was going down, right now, whether they were ready for it or not! Most of them were going to die.
"ABANDON SHIP!" Someone cried, "EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!" Raven and the Doctor had to fight the rushing sea of people as they retreated from the advancing water. The Doctor gripped tightly to Raven's hand but the crowd was dragging them back aft. Which was the wrong way!
The string band and their singers still stood. The panic around them would not silence their prayer to whatever God might save them.
"There let the way appear,
"Steps unto heaven,
"All that thou sendest me,
"In mercy given,
"Angels beckon to me,
"Nearer my God to thee,
"Nearer to me."
The music from the band slowly came to an end and all that was left were the screams of desperate scrabbling like rats.
Raven tried to focus her mind on finding a way to the TARDIS while at the same time stopping her powers from manifesting in any dangerous way. Someone jolted her and she lost her grip on the Doctors hand. She was helplessly carried away with the people. Someone took her by the arm and began dragging her back, a man, who probably thought he was being helpful and heroic by leading her away from the water. Raven had to forcibly twist her arm and pull sharply so he let go. The man then ran on, probably convinced he'd done his bit to 'help her along' the idiot!
As Raven turned back she heard what sounded like cracks of thunder that echoed in the night. But it was a clear night. She saw a plume of water splash out somewhere near the flooding forward section, followed by another. Cables were breaking free and snapping down into the water like whips. Was it her imagination, or was the forward funnel swaying? No, it wasn't swaying, it was falling over!
Only the base of the funnel could be seen in this poor light. But its silhouette against the stars painted a terrifying picture as the four storey cylinder of steel toppled over like giant falling domino. There were people in the water just below it, they spotted it far too late and...
Raven could've helped them. She could've saved them!
Several lives winked out of existence.
Raven climbed onto a piece of machinery to get away from the crowd and look for the Doctor. But she couldn't shake what she was feeling. Below her, trapped below decks, Raven could feel lives winking out all over the ship as the water cornered them, and they had nowhere else to run to.
Everyone was screaming, like the world was coming to an end. In a way, it probably was to them. This ship was their world in the middle of this ocean and the ship was dying, and taking everyone still stuck on board with it.
Looking out to sea Raven could see small specks of white which were the few lifeboats which had been launched from the ship. She could feel the utter horror from them, some were probably watching their loved ones die, and they couldn't do anything to stop it.
There was a loud bang, and Raven felt flames lick close by her as the second funnel, -which she was standing near,- erupted with sparks. The base warped, and it too began to topple over towards her!
Raven didn't want to use her powers, she didn't want to risk letting the darkness loose while she was in such turmoil. It was like her brain had crashed, and she could only watch the massive hulk loomed towards her. A massive hulk which momentarily turned into a one-hundred foot tall, four eyed demon.
The demon girl didn't know what happened, but something rammed into her and forced her from her feet. She was shocked back to life when she felt the freezing water of the North Atlantic around her. She was in the water, and she couldn't swim!
She fought and struggled, but her waterlogged clothes were weighing her down. She was sinking! The water was about to close over her face! She was going to drown!
She broke the surface and was hauled upwards. She grabbed onto the back of the Doctors neck. Now her brain realised what had happened. He'd ran into her and pushed them both overboard and into the water mere moments before that funnel crushed her.
'Oh god, I'm never going to live this down!' Raven decided.
The people... the screaming!... and she was freezing... Raven was going to die here, on this ship in the middle of the North Atlantic, in 1912! NO!
She could feel her powers mounting behind her frustration. Keep them under control, keep them under control. Control, control, control!
"Raven!" The Doctor cried, he didn't sound cold at all! "I can see the TARDIS!"
Raven opened her eyes, and her heart filled with hope. Indeed, there was the TARDIS bobbing in the water on its side with both doors above the water. The falling stack had broken the skylight over that luxurious staircase they had parked the TARDIS in. The dome and skylight had been smashed, and erupting from it were bits of that wooden staircase which wanted to float as the ship sank down. So the staircase was gutting itself out, and it dragged the TARDIS with it!
Her breath was robbed from her by the biting cold water, and each attempt to breathe was a labour in itself. But the Doctor seemed to be fine. He quickly swam for his bobbing ship as quickly as he could before Raven's appendages turned blue and fell off. As they swam away from the ship Raven for some reason suddenly became aware that the Doctor was the only thing keeping her afloat. If... if somehow the Doctor were to vanish, or if he sank she'd be stuck in the middle of the ocean, hundreds of miles from land and right beneath her was nothing but two miles of cold, dark water.
Two miles of cold, dark water!
'I don't like the water! I don't like the water! I don't like the water! I don't like the water!' Raven's mind kept saying as her thalassophobia kicked in.
Raven could've used her powers again. But she didn't want to risk doing something evil with them as she'd done before. But looking back at the dying ship, and at the people who were going to die with it...
Her mind suddenly flashed to the very moment she'd cause the end of everything. Would the planet scream just like this ship was screaming?!
No! Keep her powers down. Keep the power down!
'Azarath, Metri...' SCREAMS, JUST SCREAMS! OH GOD, THE SCREAMING!
People were falling over and sliding down the steep deck and into the advancing waters of death! Some were pulled into the ships structure through windows, vents and the smoke stack holes. The stern was rising high up in the water, you could actually see the ships three bronze propellers.
The flooding was slowing down, prolonging everyone's torment. It was so cruel!
Why wouldn't the world just stop? Why wouldn't the world just shut up?!
She couldn't help it. She felt her powers lash out.
The lights on the ship had winked out. Wait, had they winked out? Or was the ship shrouded in darkness? Raven felt herself go colder than the water around her. Was it her imagination, or was the ship twisting... and bending?
Oh no! She'd done it again!
She could tell from the silhouette against the stars. The ship had crack open like an egg. The stern fell backwards, having torn away from the rest of the ship.
She'd really done it now, Raven had altered history! The book 'A Night to Remember' By Walter Lord, a book about this historical event had never mentioned this happening to the ship.
The stern impacted the water and Raven felt dozens of life signs in the water under the keel wink out of existence. Yet more lives vanished when the ship lurched forwards and people were dragged into the exposed, mangled bowels of the ship. All of those deaths were now on Raven's conscience.
Raven was too shaken to notice the Doctor had fumbled the TARDIS key into the lock and pushed the doors open. Raven suddenly felt herself being hauled into the upturned Police Box doors. She gripped onto the edge of the box now transfixed.
Perhaps the stern would float. Perhaps she'd saved lives, if the stern had broken away and it was still water tight then maybe the rest of the ship would float as the forward section broke off and sank. But that hope died. It looked like history would not be altered so easily. The ships stern listed over to its port side and began flooding. The stern quickly rose back up and bobbed at an awkward angle until it was almost perpendicular to the sea.
It stood there frozen for a few seconds. The silhouette was getting shorter and shorter until it melted in with the horizon and vanished without a sound, without even a ripple. That was what was spooky to Raven. That whole world had died, not with a bang but with a whimper.
The screaming continued. She couldn't help them. She can't save any of them! She had to leave them, but she refused to move! She probably did the worst thing she could, she waited and listened waiting for the screams to die down. Soon Raven, the demon daughter of Trigon, the great destroyer, was surrounded by death and cold.
Something bobbed into view. A frozen corpse in a life jacket, holding a still baby. Raven reached out, but there were no life-signs in either of them.
"I'm sorry." She told them.
Raven felt the Doctor tug her down into the TARDIS interior. The doors swung shut and the wheezing groaning started up. The Police Box vanished. Leaving a deafening silence.
In the TARDIS Raven leant up against one of the consoles girders and tried to go through the calming techniques she'd learnt on Azarath, and even a few she'd learnt from the Doctor.
None were working.
It didn't help she was soaking wet, utterly freezing and shivering from all kinds of chills she had running up her spine. The thermal blanket the Doctor had draped over her shoulders wasn't making her feel any warmer.
She'd been given a taste of what it would feel like if the world ended around her.
"It wasn't your fault." The Doctor said. "It's part of history. She was always meant to break up."
Raven didn't understand. She'd read the book 'A Night to Remember' about the sinking. But it never mentioned the ship broke in two.
"Trust me, it was supposed to." The Doctor said to reassure her. "People viewed it, but the event was covered up in the inquiry afterwards to save the White Star Lines reputation. The book you read was published in 1955 and was based off of that inquiry." The Doctor said, correctly guessing why she assumed she'd altered history. He had an irritating habit of doing that. Correctly guessing. "It wasn't until Robert Ballard discovered the wreck on September 1st, 1985 that the truth was realised. He shocked the world with the discovery."
"But I interfered!" Raven said back.
"It was dark, and the lights failed. Regardless, whether you did it or not all that happened was you just became a part of history. That's all." The Doctor again tried to reassure her. "Your outburst at Tunguska, the tear at Tsetserleg. All parts of history, I assure you."
Raven turned and walked away out of the TARDIS control room. How could she make him understand that it was just a matter of time until her stupid powers did something that wasn't a part of established history? Maybe the same thing at Tunguska would happen in a populated city, killing millions. Or maybe the Tsetserleg thing could happen again, re-arranging the landscape, again killing millions in the process. Now, the sinking of the... of the...
Raven had to accept she was never going to be normal, she was never going to be rid of these powers. It's like the more she tried to suppress them, the more they demanded to be released, and Raven had no choice but to do so.
She just wanted to...
SLURP!
Raven's dark eyes refocused on Beast Boy again as he took a slurp from a slushy cup and straw he'd reached the end of, and he was drawing up the dregs.
There was no point in continuing the tale, it was over, and because of Beast Boys interruption Raven had stalled in the storytelling process. So she ended the tale there.
"Dude, seriously?!" Beast Boy said astonish0ed. "You sank the Titanic!"
"No! It was already sinking." Raven sharply dismissed, then said sheepishly, "I just kinda... broke it... a little."
"A little?! No way am I going to look at the movie the same way again." Beast Boy said.
"How wonderful for you." Raven bit.
"I thought they were all interesting tales." Star Fire added sweetly, "I confess, I know not of these Tunguska, nor Tsetserleg places, nor of the vessel Unsinkable Titanic."
"Yeah, I was just leaving my mark on history." Raven said half with sarcasm and half with sadness. There were other things she'd caused in her attempt to keep her powers suppressed, but those three were the big ones that got written into the history books.
She folded up the small, paper add for Vinolia Otto Toilet Soap which featured the Titanic as part of the advertisement and put it back in the trunk. That's when she saw something in the trunk, and the memory it brought back made her freeze.
Sharply Raven closed the box and stood up and casually stretched to hide her sudden discomfort.
"That's it?" Beast Boy asked indignantly.
"You've had three tales out of me." Raven bit at him. "What? Do you want me, to read the three bears too?"
"Hey!" Beast Boy flared up, "don't take it out on me, just because you busted up the Titanic!"
Okay, maybe Raven had over-reacted a little. But she wasn't going to let this imp make her back down.
"Is this the part where I'm supposed to feel shame?" She asked, her eyes burrowing into his.
"Friends, friends!" Star Fire said, physically coming between them and pushing them away from each other. "It is late, there is always another night for more stories."
Raven turned away from the pair of them. Beast Boy wanted to fume more but Star Fire knew the subtle signs that Raven wanted to be left alone and ushered him out of her room.
When the door was closed Raven returned to her trunk and opened it up again. She reached in and removed the item that had stirred up her emotions so much. A book, a book with a strange scent of pencil to it. It had the carving of a wolf on its cover.
Opening the book revealed drawings, dozens of drawings. One loose, slightly burnt page showed a sleepy old, little English village park. Raven recognised the girl sitting on the bench reading her book. The other was a drawing of Raven herself. It was a portrait but was also half interpretative as well. A third was a preliminary sketch. It showed a shadowy girl generating a shield which kept everyone around her away from her. The fourth showed...
Each drawing had an initial and a date it was made. The initials were T.H.
Raven swallowed.
This venture was not one she was going to tell Beast Boy about. He'd only laugh and make fun of her. Raven laid on her bed and examined the drawings as her mind was transported back to her little trip to the English countryside.
To a village called Devil's End.
To Be Continued...
Authors notes: Minimal differences to this chapter from the original. Just tided up the language a little and more spelling errors.
Updates might be sporadic. Though I have an idea I haven't written the whole thing out yet, and some things might be subject to change.
I'll leave the old chapters up for now, maybe as an example of a first draft. Or I might end up removing it entirely. *Shrug*
Originally, there was going to be an adventure which showed Raven trying to adjust to life without her powers. But I felt it was just so long, drawn-out, and nothing really that interesting was going to happen. So I scrapped the stories and instead jumped ahead to this one.
I did start writing a story with them on the Titanic. But I deemed it not interesting enough and scrapped the whole idea except for the intended ending, which is now the official start of this one.
The book 'A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord really doesn't mention Titanic breaking into two sections. In fact, before the wreck was found the 'official' story was that Titanic sank whole. Hence, why Titanic splitting is surprising to Raven, she only knows of the ship from books and it doesn't mention such a distinctive event.
Tunguska was a region in Russia where a massive blast flattened the surrounding landscape. The actual cause has been suggested as a meteorite burning up in the high atmosphere and exploding. But now, we all know who caused it. ;)
The tear at Tsetserleg, was a region in Mongolia where a massive Earthquake turned up the land, defacing the landscape, lakes vanished and a massive crack in the Earth formed and is still there to this day. Again, we now know the root cause of this was actually a powerful, teenage girl with anxiety issues. ;)
Cheers, and enjoy the new version of this story.
-TimeLordParadox