Gone Native: Home Sweet Home (ch. 36) (Patreon)

Thoughts of her home were always kept in a deep dark corner in her mind, forced back into the far recesses of her mind with all the other things that she wasn't ready to face. Raven had put them there herself. It wasn't that she forgot what had happened, but she put a great many hoops that she had to jump through to actually think about it. The memories were too painful and too heavy with emotion. Even pondering the fate of Azarath and her role in its destruction was enough to completely destabilize her emotional balance to the point it would take weeks to recenter herself.

"I never thought…" Raven began, standing alone in her room as she paused her task of gathering the materials needed to make the trip to Azarath. Her room had started out as a spartan and utilitarian place devoid of any personality, and stayed that way for more than a few years. It wasn't until much later that Raven started to settle in at the Titans Tower. Her bed was neatly made, and her walls were covered with bookshelves overflowing with books -- some ancient tombs, others were novels that had caught her interest.

Most, however, were gag magic books. Or instruction manuals written by scam artists and charlatans throughout the ages. They were the greatest learning tool for a being such as her, someone so intensely magical that it was overwhelming. Charlatans and scam artists wrote about subjects that they knew nothing about, but because of it, they could provide unexpected solutions that traditional ways of magic would fail to consider. They looked at magic with an ignorance of the impossibility and simply wrote what they thought made sense. More than once, such books had gotten her and the Titans out of a pinch.

Raven trailed off, her hand ghosting over a hand mirror resting on her vanity. Her room was constantly bathed in an intense magical aura, but most of what she left out were simple baubles that she had collected. The truly dangerous artifacts were kept sealed away. The one exception was the mirror -- an artifact that was attuned to her, letting her visit her own mindscape to directly interact with the many aspects of herself. Such as laziness, avarice, joy, bravery… love and rage. She only did so when one aspect of herself was dangerously close to dominating the others.

"I never thought I would go back," Raven admitted, her heart feeling like a stone in her chest that pulled her down. Her  legs didn't feel like they had the strength to hold that weight and it took everything that she had to not collapse to the floor. She never thought she would have to go back to the place that she had been raised. Where she had learned. A place that, as bad as things had been, had been the hiding place of the happiest memories she’d ever had for the longest time.

However, at the same time, that wasn't true. If it was, then she wouldn't have the means to go to Azarath. She wouldn't have kept such a keen eye on the mirror that linked directly to the normally carefully hidden dimension -- a mirror that her mother had used to flee Earth after… after she had suffered at the hands of her father.

The shadows in her room began to writhe, shifting and changing in response to her mood. It was an unconscious thing, but when she noticed it, Raven let out a sharp breath. She grabbed hold of her emotions and forced them into alignment , much like Dick Grayson would when he lost his balance while walking on a tightrope -- a quick jerk to re-establish his footing.

It was enough to snap her out of her paralyzed inaction. Time was of the essence, even if they didn't know who or why, someone was trying to reach Azarath. Raven strode forward, reaching into the mirror of her vanity that rippled like water before taking out an enchanted box from within. It felt like she was carrying the weight of the world in her hands, but she carried it all the same as she sunk into the floor through her shadow to reappear in the living room.

Elery and her 'rival' Olaive were the two most excited to go. Kakarot was using this as a distraction from his anxiety and unease. Broly, on the other hand, gave her a worried look and seemed uncertain on what to say. His concern for her was clear . The reason Tarble was so protective of him became more and more obvious the longer she knew Broly -- he was a genuinely kindhearted person.

"Raven, do… Tarble will help if we ask him to," Broly offered as Raven set the enchanted box on the ground. The offer was tempting. If only because Tarble was powerful and she didn't know what she was walking into. However, Raven shook her head.

"No, he doesn't need to concern himself with this," Raven decided. Ideally, she wouldn't be bringing anyone at all. Her gaze drifted to her team, who were all gathered to go with her. Her friends were people she knew she could rely on, and she would need to rely on them. Raven spent most of her time in her own head and she was intimately aware of herself -- her strengths, desires, and weaknesses.

She was preparing herself, but she knew that going back to Azarath would take a heavy toll on her. A painful toll. One that she wasn't ready for. Going alone would end in disaster.

"We're ready, Raven," Robin spoke, earning nods from her team. Raven looked down at the enchanted lockbox, its dark wood engraved with runes. The box’s defenses were highlighted with cold iron and there was a small lock sealing it. Undoing the lock, Raven flipped it open to reveal a single flower bud that was frozen in time.

The magic that radiated from it was a subtle thing. One might even overlook it. However, when Raven gently picked it up, the flower unfurled, revealing violet petals. Resting it in the palm of her hand, Raven stood up, her eyes glowing with intense magical energy, "Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos!" She spoke the mantra that she was taught to channel her power, and it surged into the flower.

Its petals wilted under the onslaught of energy, but the flower did as it was bid. Under their feet, the magic sigil that was embedded in the flower took shape, the finely crafted lines and magic markings gleamed brightly for a moment. Raven clenched her eyes shut for an instant before she felt a pull on her astral self.

When she opened them, she knew what she would see. Raven heard Kori gasp as shock flooded her friends. Confusion pulsed from the Saiyans that were with her.

Raven could still feel the presence of her father in the air, like a scent that refused to fade. Guilt pooled in her stomach as she breathed in deeply, smelling dust and stagnation. Azarath used to smell of old books and incense. There was a point in time that she hated the smell now it had become something of a comfort.

Opening her eyes, Raven saw the desolation of Azarath for the first time. They stood at the heart of the old temple, where she had learned to channel her magic. The wide open room was devastated -- scotch marks covered the floor and walls, the stone cracking where it didn't melt from the heat. The ceiling was gone entirely, revealing the once peaceful sky had been replaced with clouds that churned endlessly.

"Raven…" Robin trailed off when Raven's gaze landed on a statue. Art was never welcome in Azarath. Self expression was considered a danger. Not that it could have ever been mistaken for a thing of art. The statue was of an Azarathiean monk pressed up against a wall, her hands outstretched to ward off her demise while her expression was one of naked fear.

"Raven!" Kori shouted, and it was only then that Raven realized how much her control had skipped. The shadows had grown long and deep, flickering like flames in the wind that threatened to swallow up what was left of the dimension. Kori reached out, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and Raven tried to find comfort in it.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the Saiyans were the most unaffected by the wanton destruction. Elery planted her hands on her hips as she strode up to what had been the front door, pushing it open a little more to reveal more Azarathiean monks that were left frozen in the moment they had died. The moment that her father arrived… the moment that she had let him in all because she had been a foolish little girl that didn't understand how dangerous she really was.

"Ehh, I've seen worse," Elery decided, poking a monk with distress that Raven could feel. She bristled, even as Raven tried to stop herself. Rage had always been her most difficult emotion to handle, a curse given to her by her father. "What happened here?"

"I did," Raven answered, her head low as she stepped away from Kori, whose concern only swelled. "My father… he came to this dimension and laid waste to it because I was here." Raven spoke, her tone solemn as she went to leave the main temple. There she saw that the destruction extended far beyond just the temple. Off in the distance, at the edges of the dimension, were spieling cyclones of fire that chunks of scorched Azarath spun around endlessly. The main courtyard was broken up into free floating chunks, entire buildings left floating at odd angles.

There were so many dead monks. Raven had been too overwhelmed when she had left Azarath, nor had she seen the scope of its destruction. The aftermath of it confirmed her greatest fears and ice cold grief gripped her heart and was slowly strangling it.

"Oh, cool," Olaive remarked, making Raven still. "He destroyed an entire dimension? I mean, even King Tarble's only destroyed a planet!"

"Olaive!" Broly snapped when Raven went very still the moment she heard the words. The complete devastation of her home was cool? It was an impressive feat? No thought to those that were dead, their last moment in horrible agony with their last terrified expressions engraved on their faces forever more? That's all she had to say? "Don't. It's not the time."

Olaive felt annoyed and even Elery did. She felt the same, a flash of agreement then annoyance that she was being told what to think.

"I see why Tarble keeps you on a short leash," Raven spoke, the words spilling from her lips as the shadows darkened. The sky above began to twist in a guided action rather than churning endlessly. Her grip on her emotions and power was slipping. She could feel it leaking between her fingers like grains of sand. "You really do only  care for death and destruction, don't you?"

Elery bristled at that, narrowing her eyes at Raven but her anger was accompanied by a growing sense of unease. "We're just saying that your dad must be strong," she wasn't backpedaling, but she was being cautious. Raven had noted Elery's unease around herself for sometime, and Raven had dismissed it. Most people were uneasy around her. "It's a compliment." Based on how Olaive was feeling, she was thinking everything but compliments.

"Then keep them to yourselves," Raven spoke, her tone as cold as winter itself. Her friends watched the confrontation with uncertainty, seeing a side of her that they didn't often see. And when they did, it had always been a prelude to disaster.

"Earthlings really have no stomach," Olaive remarked under her breath. In response, Broly reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a sharp squeeze. Saiyans respected strength and using that strength to strong arm others into doing what they want. What Broly did was a stark reminder that he was by far the most powerful Saiyan and he used that to shut her up before Raven sent her flying out of the dimension into the ether.

Raven felt a rush of gratitude, her carefully balanced emotions starting to slip so the gratitude hit her harder than it normally would. Just as the anger was that much stronger when Olaive tsked. Raven chose to distract herself from her growing anger, knowing that the more attention she gave it, the more it would swell like a festering wound until she did something she would later regret.

"Stay close to me," Raven ordered the other, her writhing shadow expanding on the blackened stone. "Don't leave my shadow. Azarath was a very old and very well protected place. I don't know if the wards that were set up are still active or not."

"Not that well protected," Elery pointed out, crossing her arms.

Raven grit her teeth as she just barely suppressed an impulse to send Elery into the void with Olaive for good measure. She just might have on accident if Robin hadn't spoken up, "Raven, are you detecting anything? Any clue on whose here?" He questioned, striding forward and standing next to her.

It took her a moment to grab hold of her anger and bring it back into balance. Once she did so, Raven opened her eyes. The careful balance she maintained was dangerously unstable, meaning more of her power responded to her call. A crack had formed in the dam that she maintained to control the waters flow, and now it was as if all of her magic was determined to be used all at once.

Her eyes glowed with ethereal light and she saw. Everything. Her brain felt like it was getting stabbed with an icepick through her eyes, but she kept looking from every shadow and dark corner. Her range in being able to detect emotion skyrocketed and, more, she could feel Robin's emotions brushing against her skin. The concern, the frustration, the focus that he felt – it had never been clearer to her.

It was terrifying. Deeply and utterly terrifying. The depth of her power always seemed to be a bottomless void, and she knew that right now, she was a supreme danger to her friends. If she poked at his emotions, trying to dig a little deeper, then she could hurt them. In ways that couldn't be undone.

Yet, that didn't happen as she found the one who had intruded upon this sacred place. Raven eyes narrowed into slits as he'd rage swelled, a second pair of eyes forming under her hood as her true nature began to slip out.

"Felix. Faust," Raven uttered the name like a death sentence. She felt his yearning, his anticipation and excitement… then his spike of alarm when he realized that he was not alone… then his fear when he realized exactly who was here with him.

Descending into her shadow, Raven reemerged in the ruins of what had once been the great library. The shelvings housed the burnt husks of ancient tombs and scrolls that had been collected for thousands upon thousands of years. There were statues of monks cowering behind braver ones that attempted to ward off the influence of her father to no avail. However, it was there that she found Felix Faust.

He was a handsome man. Lightly tanned skin, high cheekbones, a neatly trimmed goatee and short black hair that was gelled back. He wore a dark blue and white robe that was adorned with artifacts and jewels that would enhance his magic.

"You have no place here, Faust," Raven snarled, and she could hear her father's influence in her voice. It was deeper, darker… demonic. Felix drew back, an expression of surprise upon his face, but his eyes quickly narrowed in response.

"On the contrary, I have every right to be here. It is you that has no right," Felix responded, a magic sigil appearing before his hands. Raven stilled at his words, knowing deep down that he was right but to have that fact thrown in her face was too much.

Felix Faust was an accomplished sorcerer thousands of years ago. More than once, Raven had battled against him when they were at odds over a dangerous magical artifact. But magic had changed on Earth. It wasn't as powerful as it had once been. Because of it, Felix was nowhere near as powerful as he had once been before snatching the body of one of his descendants. He spent his time searching for ways to reclaim his lost power as far as Raven knew.

And that search for power brought him to Azarath. To plunder its ruins for secrets for his own gain.

"I once contributed to this great library," Felix continued, his tone confident as he held up the remains of a burnt scroll. "I had walked amongst these halls and discussed the intricacies of magic with the brightest minds that Azarath had to offer. It is you that brought destruction to this place." The accusation rang true.

"That gives you the right to disturb the dead?" Raven questioned as she strode forward, her cloak fluttering behind her as if kept aloft by an unseen breeze. The shadows became alive as they snaked forward, encroaching upon Felix as he stood still. Her shadows brushed against his ward, finding it strong. He had learned his lessons from the last time they had battled. "For what? Power?"

His mistake was assuming that she was as strong as she had been last time. His wards were powerful. They were. It just didn't matter. Raven wanted them to break, and so they broke. First, they cracked, making Felix feel a flash of alarm, then her magic surged forward and simply shattered his well crafted wards as if they had been made by a novice. There was no elegance in the action. Just pure raw magical might that Felix couldn't hope to counter as he was engulfed in shadows that stopped at his neck.

His face was pale, "W-wait!" He started to plead, "What I'm looking for will be of interest to you as well! It could bring back Azarath!" He shouted as the shadows began to encroach to the edges of his lips that squirmed like worms. He was begging. She could feel his desperation. Still, it was enough to make her pause.

"Bring back Azarath?" Raven questioned, shaking her head. "That's impossible." She has looked into it herself. Bringing the dead back to life was possible if you knew how. Reverting the destruction dealt to this plane of existence could also be undone. However, it had been Trigon, destroyer of worlds, who had laid waste to entire universes that had destroyed Azarath. What he had done couldn't be undone. Her father took measures to ensure that. Anything he destroyed, anyone he killed… they were gone forever.

"Not with this artifact! I swear to you," Felix continued, sensing that he had her attention.

Raven frowned. Azarath housed all kinds of artifacts to her knowledge. She hadn't ever learned what or where because she had been a child during her stay, but Azarathiean monks had been known to act as jailors for powerful objects and entities. "What is this artifact?" Raven questioned, not daring to let hope blossom in her chest.

There was a spike of panic. "I… don't know what it is exactly," Felix admitted to her. "I found out about it during my stay here thousands of years ago. To my knowledge, Azarath itself was created for the sole purpose of protecting it! But, when I started digging to discover what it was, I was caught and expelled from the dimension." That sounded unlike anything Raven had ever heard before. "It could still be here. We think it's what's acting as an anchor for the dimension itself!"

Raven's eyes narrowed at that. Something standing out about what he said. "We?" She questioned, and as if on cue, the other intruder revealed themselves. A surge of magical energy slammed into Raven, her magic shielding her. Her astral projection took shape, curling its wings around her protectively – a nevermore. A manifestation of her sense of self.

Black magic washed over the wings of the nevermore for a long few seconds before Raven could zero in on the source of the magic. Whoever they were, they either didn't have emotions or they were very skilled at hiding them. In response to the onslaught, Raven lashed out with tremendous force, her magic surging out in all directions, shattering the remains of the bookcases and the walls of the library.

"To think that people called you docile for being Trigon's only daughter," Raven heard, the voice sounding unfamiliar. "You are far stronger than your brothers," the voice continued as Raven turned her attention up. Above the crumbling ceiling was a little girl – blonde hair pushed back with a black headband, a school uniform on, and a face that seemed around thirteen at the oldest. However, even  the barest of glances would reveal that the little girl was anything but.

The girl let out a giggle, "I always enjoy playing with your brothers!" And that told Raven everything that she needed to know. Her half siblings were evil monstrosities whose appetite for the suffering of others could only be matched by their father.

"What are you?" Raven questioned,noting that her blind attack had been endured with little difficulty.

"I don't have a name, but the last time I was on Earth, I was known as Child," Child answered, giving a small curtsy as she stood upon the hand of what had to be her familiar – a crystalline figure that glowed ominously with magic. Both hovered in the air with little difficulty. Unsurprising because Raven understood what she was looking at.

A Lord of Chaos. One of the most primordial forces in the universe.

"Leave this place and never return," Raven demanded, undeterred. The anger was clouding her judgment. She could feel the rage tainted thoughts infecting her decision making. Even as she felt her anger's growing influence, she couldn't stop it. This place carried too many memories for her to let it be plundered by forces of chaos or greedy wizards.

Child smiled lightly, "No. I don't think I will," she responded, letting out a childish giggle.

"I wasn't asking," Raven snapped, clenching her hands shut into fists while her nevermore threw its wings out and screeched fiercely. The library began to shake itself apart, the ancient bricks crumbling while the ground began to heave as it snapped under the pressure of her raw magic that churned violently. Parts of the library sink into the void that was her shadow, other parts were lifted up as she began to rise to meet Child. Child smiled brightly at the challenge, but her gaze drifted over.

Broly and Kori were trying to push through the volatile current of her magic, paving a way for the others to aid her in this battle. If Raven had any idea what she would have found here, then needing them or not, she never would have allowed her friends here.

"Friends are a funny thing," Child remarked, a cold and cruel edge in her young tone. "Switch around a few letters and replace some others, and you have what they really are – convenient hostages." She said, snapping her fingers as her own magic began to manifest. Raven instantly responded, sending her nevermore to protect her friends, even if it left her vulnerable to the crystal familiar that shot down at her.

Raven vanished into her shadow and chose to materialize behind Child, the Lord of Chaos turning to face her as Raven reached out, grabbing her by the throat. The girl didn't seem to mind at all, giving her a pleased smile while Raven squeezed down. Her face was twisted into a snarl, her lips pulled back and…

Her skin shifted from its usual pale gray hue to a much angrier red.

Exactly like her father's.

It was a slap in the face. It felt like someone had dumped cold water on her and filled her veins with ice. What welled in her chest was something so beyond horror that there wasn't a word that could properly describe what she felt in that moment – her father's influence dominating her in a place that he had destroyed and killed everyone she had known and loved.

"Oh," Child remarked, sounding disappointed. "And you were doing so well."

That was her only warning before Raven felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Her gaze drifted down to the spike of Chaos magic that skewered her in the stomach,  burning away her blood before it even had a chance to spill.

Raven's grip slackened… and then she began to fall.