Sidra, Glacia, Kaeleer, THE FUTURE & One Universe Over, Sunday Morning Fandom Time

[trigons_child]

Raven teleported them back to Glacia, not the Keep -- she didn't relish another run-in with Jaenelle. The skies of the netherverse were tossed with storms, and once they appeared in Karla's room, the ragged shreds of Raven's soul rushed back into her body, and she dropped to her knees, spent.

Dinah	Dinah hit the floor with her on entry, then rolled to her feet, looking around and counting heads. Two Karlas, one Warren, a Rookie, and a Raven; just their adversary missing. "We need a doctor-- I mean, we need a Healer in here!" she called out, hoping someone noticed the big commotion already. "And don't hurt the Raven that's here! She's... not the one you're used to."
Raven	Raven shrank back into a corner, huddled beneath her cloak. She didn't want anyone else near her now, so she hoped if anyone did come in, they wouldn't notice her and would leave her alone.
Older Karla	"I'm the Healer!" Karla snapped--at the same time her younger counterpart retorted, "Uh, Dinah? Right here!" They paused and exchanged a glare, before Karla retorted coldly, "You don't give orders here, Dinah. And much of the Court is disbanded right now, anyway. Cease your shouting."
Karla	"Chill out," Karla said, struggling not to snap back. "You want to be pissy at someone, be pissy at me. But don't you yell at Dinah when she's just trying to help!"
Dinah	"Dude, when have I ever given orders?" Dinah asked, non-plussed, and then added, "And you're toast. I'm sorry, Karla. Older Karla. I can't stop you from being stupid and trying, but-- I'm going with the Karla we brought." Absently she wondered if older her was more tactful? Naaah.
Warren	"You are, are you?" Warren's brow furrowed as he finally, finally loosened his grip on his Karla and Rook, moving away slightly to level the three younger ladies with a look. This was not a look you'd expect to see on, say, his own younger counterpart. He was banking on that, a little. "To Heal who, exactly? The three of you go right ahead and lick your own wounds. We have ourselves handled, here." And then he turned right back to Karla and Rook, that hard expression of his softening as he checked their daughter over for injuries.
Raven	"Stop it, please!" Raven whimpered, clutching her hands to her head. The anger and hate and even the pride, which normally made her feel good, were cutting into her like knives. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to leave this place before Karla and Warren decided to kill her to spare their younger counterparts this future.
Rook	"Please," Rook agreed, her own expression clouded and uncomfortable. "Why do we have to keep fighting? Maman and Stepfather are here, Mother is gone, and everything is well again. Can we not just be happy now?" She looked around the room, catching everyone's eye. "It hurts my head when we are all spiky and sad and angry."
Karla	"It's not that easy, munchkin," Karla said, crossing the room to wrap a protective arm around Raven. If her bitchy counterpart wanted to start something, she'd have to go through Karla first, so there. "Things are still...complicated."
Older Karla	"For one thing, we have no idea where the supposedly-cured Raven took herself off to," Karla added coldly, pinning Raven with a stare. If the girl knew, she'd better start spitting answers out immediately. "For all we know--for all any of us know--this could just be an elaborately staged trick in order to make us relax our guard." Paranoid? Maybe. But then, one didn't have to look much further than the stumps of Warren's wings and the withered remains of her own legs to realize that maybe Karla had damn good reason to be so paranoid.
Dinah	"Riiiiight," Dinah said in disbelief. She had the feeling she was missing something here, a couple pages behind the action of why Warren was pissed at them and older Karla was being vicious when all the threats were gone, but then she softened, remembering what Jaenelle had told her. Morton dead. Lucivar and Saetan prisoner. And what was coming up. Would Karla and Rookie need to be ready for that? More quietly, she said, "Uh, no." She cut her eyes to Rookie, and shook her head. "Look. Can we do a truce, please, just for the next hour? 'Til Raven's had a chance to rest, and you guys get cleaned up, however it happens? You can cross-examine us to your heart's content then." And she wouldn't have to reveal things to the wrong people in front of the other wrong people.
Warren	"I think I can handle a truce," Warren allowed, most of the fight leaving him at Rook's protests. "But don't think that means that any of you are off the hook for using a nine-year-old little girl as bait for the daughter of Trigon." Yeah. Warren was just a little peeved. That said, he was nudging Rook to her feet, and collecting his wife in his arms. His legs still wanted to buckle underneath him, but he needed to... to clean up, or... something. And it kept him from directing withering stares to the three girls who didn't seem to think that there was anything the matter with pitting a child against a completely unhindered demoness.
Raven	"She is gone, and you will not see her again," Raven said in answer to the older Karla's question. "And that is all you need to know. That is all you care to know. And Rook was not bait. She -- because of who she is and was -- was necessary to destroy the evil that corrupted Raven's flesh." She lifted her face from her hands. "I would not have allowed harm to come to Rook, though I do not expect you to believe that."
Julian	Before Warren could take more than a step or two towards the door, it burst open, Julian coming in once again with this blade drawn. "I heard shouting--" he said and stopped. "Hell's fire," he breathed, just looking at his Queen--his real Queen--and her Consort. "Karla," he said. "Warren. Thank the Darkness, you're both here. I--" Dammit. He was a Warlord Prince who wore the Sapphire. He was not about to go get all sniffly over this.
Warren	Warren cast a sidelong look at Raven, furrowed his brow a little more, and then looked up at Julian, some vague shadow of a smirk toying at the corners of his mouth. He wasn't in the mood to argue with children. "Come now, Julian. Don't start blubbering right here in front of the ladies. I don't have a handkerchief on me at the moment." Or much else, really.
Julian	"Blubbering?" Julian scoffed at the very idea, even as he crossed the room to clasp arms with Warren and give him the most genuine smile that any of the girls from Fandom had ever seen. "I'm just looking at that hairstyle you're sporting. It's enough to bring tears to anyone." Missed Warren? Pssht! No way! "You look awful," he said frankly.
Older Karla	"Always so effusive with your compliments," Karla said dryly. "Jackass."
Julian	Letting go of Warren's shoulder, Julian turned to Karla and made a bow, one far deeper than required than by simple Protocol. "Lady," he said, voice thick. "It's good to see you home. And it is yours. No one involved in the conspiracy still lives." Julian had been very, very thorough at rooting it out. And unforgiving. "I believe these are yours," he added, holding up the Ebon-gray necklace and ring that the younger Karla had brought back from the Keep and given to him for safe keeping. "Please try to keep a better hold on them." That was Protocol for If you ever do something this stupid again, I will kick your ass sideways. And then tell Lucivar. Straightening, he caught sight of Karla's legs sticking out from under the tatters of her skirts. "Darkness have mercy," he said. "The poison? Or...?" He darted a glance at the girls--Raven in particular.
Older Karla	Karla reached for her Jewels with an audible sigh of relief. Being Craftless had made her feel powerless in more ways than simply the obvious. "The poison," she said, before Julian could do more than look at the girls. "Witchblood. Jaenelle couldn't Heal it, so she drew it into my legs to keep it from killing me." Her words were calm, even dispassionate, but her eyes were haunted. The Healing had been a brutal thing. Morghanne's towels had been soaked with her blood before they'd been finished.
Karla	Karla gasped, the noise loud and sharp in the room. "Witchblood?" she croaked. "How...?"
Older Karla	"It doesn't matter," Karla said sharply. "This isn't your future, remember?" The words hung in the air for a moment and then, feeling slighly ashamed, she added, "I am sorry, Karla." It was the first time she'd used the girl's name. "That was unkind. I am exhausted. We all are. And Warren and I need to get Rook ready for bed before we can find our own."
Dinah	"Okay," Dinah said, shaken and nodding. She looked over at Karla, and dropped her voice very low. "Fifty-fifty, remember?" This might happen. It might not. But now at least they knew one way it could. "We should... clean up." She tightened her arm around Raven. "C'mon, guys."
Julian	Julian looked troubled, watching Warren carry Karla off towards their suites, Rook trailing after them. She, too, kept glancing backwards, as if there was more she wished to say, but realizing it was best if she stayed quiet for now. "Well, it appears your trip to the Keep was productive," he said a touch awkwardly. "For that, you have Glacia's thanks."
Karla	"Yeah," Karla said quietly. She jerked away from Dinah, cupping her elbows in her hands. "I can tell. It's been nothing but warm fuzzies all around." Witchblood.
Julian	Julian looked like he was about to speak and simply bowed again. "Of course, Lady," he said, gently. "If you ladies would follow me? There's a suite in the guest wing that you can stay in." He escorted them down the halls to their rooms, ignoring the surprised expressions that flitted across the faces of servants they passed and bowed them once again into their rooms. "Thank you," he said to them again. To all of them. "For bringing them home."

Dinah	Now that someone had actually pointed out one of the major flaws in their plan from the angle of a parent, Dinah wanted to bang her head on a wall. Stupid, stupid, stupid.... Burying that for the moment, she went to help Karla with Raven. "C'mon. Cleaning up sounds awesome, yeah?" And maybe having people take care of her would help Raven recover.
Karla	Karla flashed Dinah a grateful smile. "I think it does," she said. "Hot baths for all of us? I know I want to scrub every last inch of that place off me." On the (petty) plus side? The clothing they had ruined? Not theirs! Ha! "I'm pretty sure they'll let us have dinner in our rooms, too. I've had about all I can take of their particular company, thanks."
Raven	"I cannot stay here," Raven said, still tense and agitated. Some rational little part of her knew this future wasn't necessarily hers, and there were better ones she'd glimpsed, but seeing it all play out before her was almost unbearable. She'd already tried to teleport home, but whatever had brought them to this world was preventing her escape. But she could leave the estate, at least, though at the same time she was loathe to leave Karla and Dinah unprotected.
Dinah	"If it's a Fandom thing, it'll only be for another day, max," Dinah said, keeping her voice down. "And where else can you go in Kaeleer that they're not going to try to kill you on sight?" Said with pain, not with any snap to it. It so wasn't fair to Raven. Remembering what Jaenelle had told her, Dinah said quietly, "Except for the Keep, this place just isn't safe for you." Or any of them. But telling them the details of that was going to wait until after they were home, damnit. Sometime later. When she knew it was a good idea.
Raven	"I can return to Azarath," Raven said. The walls of this this place felt like they were pressing in on her, and any moment she expected Karla and Warren or someone sent by them to burst in to kill her. Perhaps in Azarath she could find her older self and speak to her. But even if not, she'd feel safer in the ruins of her former home.
Karla	"No one here is going to touch you," Karla said, reaching out with tendrils of calm and protection. "I've already shielded the Hell out of our rooms, too. No one's coming in without our permission. And anyone who does is going to have to go through me, first. It's a promise."
Rook	Which is, of course, when Karla was proven wrong about just who could come and go through their room as they pleased. Rook, freshly scrubbed and in a long cotton nightgown, appeared in their suite right in front of the fireplace. She looked pleased and proud and a little defiant, the expression of a little girl who had successfully done something she'd been told not to. "Maman and Stepfather said that I still should not use my powers, that they do not yet believe it is safe," she reported. "Even though I told them that Mother has gone far away." Sadly, the word of a nine year old didn't carry much weight with two traumatized parents. "But I am supposed to be getting ready for bed now, and I would have been sent back to my room had someone seen me, so I had to teleport in here." You see? It wasn't her fault she was disobeying! It was the circumstances!
Dinah	Dinah was facepalming. "Oh my God, we've been terrible role models." She might have been smiling, though. She couldn't help it. Rookie looked so proud of herself. She walked over to give Rookie a hug. "They're just exhausted, Rookie. You're gonna have to go back before they miss you, or there's gonna be another fight."
Raven	"Is is safe to use your powers," Raven murmured. "Your mother loves you, I felt it. She is very proud of you. And she is sad she will never see you." She'd felt all that, and all the guilt and sorrow, and the echoes of it still resonated inside her.
Rook	Rook hesitated a bit at that. "Maybe she will, one day?" she offered. "I do not think I would like to see her for a very long time. She hurt Maman and Stepfather very badly. But she was evil then, so I can understand." But understanding and forgiveness were not the same thing, even when you were nine. Not when it came to the bogieman under the bed, anyway. "But I will not always be so little. So maybe then, when I am more grown up."
Karla	Karla stepped forward and hugged Rook, too. "You get your that part of your personality from your mother," she whispered. "That willingness to learn, forgive, and work past it? That was always her nature, not mine." Still wasn't, if what she'd seen of Rook's Maman was any indication.
Raven	Raven didn't want to get her hopes up. "She is going far away," she said. "And she will never return to this world or her own. Perhaps when you are older you may search for her, but I do not think your Maman and Stepfather will want you to do so, and you should obey their wishes."
Dinah	But if you do, Dinah sent through her fingers on Rook's hand, private to the little girl, Take back-up. Someone else with lots of power, sweetie. When you're very, very much older. Your mom's not a safe person. Even when she's good, trouble finds her. Aloud she said, "But even though it was naughty, we're glad you're here, so we can tell you good-bye."
Rook	Rook's expression changed to one that was rather familiar to anyone who'd ever seen Karla make up her mind and stick to it: a kind of mulish stubbornness that would listen to neither rhyme nor reason. "I will listen to Maman and Stepfather, because I am young and they wish to keep me safe," she temporized. "But they are not always right and when I am older, I will need to make up my own mind."
Karla	That earned Rook another hug. "Damn right," Karla said. "We all think ourselves into boxes. Your parents might have done that with you mother, but you don't have to accept that. When you're much, much older," she added hastily. "We're talking at least a decade or so here." What a great role model.
Rook	Rook held up her cupped hands. In them, the Ramat stone glowed with a soft, red light. "Here, Teeny-Maman," she offered quietly. "Thank you for letting me borrow it. But it belongs to you."
Karla	Karla plucked the Stone from Rook's hands, shielding it from Raven's sight. She'd gone through the trouble of forgetting it existed, Karla saw no reason to remind her. "Thank you, Rook," she said quietly. "I'm sure you took good care of it." She went to vanish it and then paused, looking at Rook with speculation. Then looked at Dinah and Raven, and switched to a psychic thread. If they were going to do this, she wasn't going to involve her friends. *Do you want to talk to your Mother? Or at least try to? Just this once,* she cautioned. *And only because I will be with you.*
Rook	Rook looked dubious--it was obvious that whatever else she'd inherited from Raven, most of her expressions were passed down from her Maman. *I...* She shot a look towards the door. *Maman and Stepfather...* And the she glanced back at Raven and her expression softened. *I...I think I would. If you can let me.*
Karla	*You sure?* Karla pressed. If Rook was even the least bit uncertain--
Rook	*I am sure,* Rook sent, her chin jutting ever-so-slightly up. *This is my real Mother. I would like to speak to her just once. Until I am grown up, I mean.*
Karla	Karla watched Rook closely for another moment then nodded. She took the little girl's hand and sent her mind out towards the Ramat stone, the tiny of rock that housed part of Raven's very soul. At first, it kept directing them to the Raven in the room, but there was another consciousness out beyond her and Karla followed that trail. *Raven,* she called with her mind. *Raven, please answer me.*
Older Raven	Raven was wandering the ruins of Azarath, numb with despair and guilt, when she felt Karla's touch on her mind. For a moment hope surged in her heart that it was her Karla trying to reach out to her, but that hope swiftly died when she realized it was her younger counterpart. Leave me alone, please, she sent back, drawing her cloak tighter around herself. She really needed to find something else to wear somehow.
Karla	Karla gave an unladylike snort, one she made sure to have echo down the link. *Yeah. Because that ever worked,* she sent. *Besides I have your--I have Rook here and she'd like to talk to you. I think she's owed that much.*
Raven	Rook. Raven felt a sharp pang in her heart at the girl's name. When she'd put her soul into Karla, she didn't know it would create a child within her, but she loved her all the same. She is better off without me, she thought back. I have caused her nothing but pain and misery.
Karla	*Some of that may be true,* Karla pushed on doggedly. *But she wants to talk to you. She deserves to know that there is more to you than just the pain and the fear that she's known. If she's willing to make the effort, don't you owe it to her to meet her in it?*
Raven	She wanted so much to hold Rook and tell her she loved her, but the fear and guilt gnawed at her. I do, she finally conceded. I will speak to her.
Karla	*Thank you,* Karla sent. *I know it means a lot to her.* On a psychic thread to Rook alone she sent, *I've found your mother and she's willing to talk to you. You still up for this?*
Rook	Rook squeezed Teeny-Maman's hand and nodded, swallowing hard. *As long as you promise to stay with me,* she sent, her mental voice tiny and timid. Comfort and assurance swept over her, a promise more binding than words. *Excuse me?* she sent. *M--Mother? Are you still there?* There was a slight echo from using Teeny-Maman as a relay point, but easily ignorable. *Hello? This is Rook.*
Raven	Hello, Rook, Raven sent, the catch that would be in her voice evident even in the thoughts. I am very proud of you, do you know that?
Rook	*I...I did not,* Rook sent, a little shy. *I know that Maman and Stepfather are upset because I was in danger. But I do not know how you feel. About anything, really. Everything I thought I knew is wrong now.*
Raven	She didn't want to tell Rook how she felt now, the crushing despair and the guilt. I am glad I am myself once more, she sent instead. And that you and your parents are safe. They love you very much...and so do I.
Rook	*Will I ever see you again?* Rook asked, unsure of how to respond to that. Or even how she felt. Being grown up was very confusing, she was coming to realize.
Raven	Raven hesitated. She wanted to see her very much, but.... It is probably best if you do not, she sent. It would upset your Maman and Stepfather.
Rook	*Teeny-Maman says that is a choice I must make for myself,* Rook confided. *When I am older. I must wait at least ten more years--* which was pretty much foreeever *--but then the decision is mine. Will you wait for me to grow up and decide?*
Raven	That tiny bit of hope she'd felt when she'd first felt Karla's touch on her mind came back. If her daughter didn't hate her now, maybe there was some hope. I will wait, she promised. In Azarath.
Rook	*But--but--it is all dead there,* Rook protested. *Tiny-Aunt Dinah told me stories about how it used to be, but now it is all dead and dust and bones. Surely you do not wish to stay there!*
Raven	There is nowhere else for me to go now, dear one, Raven sent. Please do not worry. I will be all right.
Rook	*But what about the male that was looking for you?* Rook asked, confused. *The one who wrote Maman a letter?* Maman had spent the next few days after that alternating between raging and crying while Rook had hid behind Stepfather's leg.
Raven	Looking for me? Raven said, unsure what to make of that. She didn't dare give voice to any hope. Who wrote your Maman a letter? What was his name?
Rook	*Well, Maman called him lots of names, but Stepfather called him Jono,* Rook said after a moment's thought. *I guess he went far, far away and only just got back. And he thought Maman would know how he could find you.* ...Rook wasn't going to tell Mother the ideas Maman had offered for when Jono found her. Sometimes she wondered how Maman could act surprised when Rook let a naughty word slip out.
Raven	Jono. She'd taunted her younger self about killing him, but that had been a lie to try to provoke her rage. He'd vanished not long before her death on Glacia, and the demon that had come back had never bothered to search him out. But would he want to see her now if he knew what she'd done? Jono was someone I loved very very much, she explained to Rook. Did the letter say where he was?
Rook	*I dunno,* Rook said, the psychic thread twanging with apology. *I did not read it. I just remember it because Maman was so upset.*
Karla	*Does it really matter?* Karla asked. *You know his world, don't you? You can find him.* It wasn't like she lacked the time, though Karla didn't say that aloud.
Raven	Perhaps, Raven sent. It did give her something else to hope for. She still needed time to recenter herself and deal with her sorrows, but it would help not to be alone. Why do you care now, Karla? The question was hesitant but curious as well. You have seen what I have done. And your older self will surely be enraged if she knows you have helped Rook contact me.
Karla	*Yeah, well, Older-Me's already pissy at you, me, and the rest of the world,* Karla said with a casualness so complete it could only be feigned. *I thought Rook deserved a chance to get to talk to her real Mother at least once.* As for Raven's first question, that was harder to answer. *I never didn't care,* she send slowly. *Though I'll admit it's easier now that I'm not looking at your handiwork and you're not asking one of my best friends to go so against her moral code it almost wraps around. But...for all the horrible things you've done...when I think of Raven, I think of my friend. And, for her, I'm willing to give you a second chance.*
Raven	Thank you, Raven sent. Karla's words allowed her to have a tiny bit of hope one day her Karla would forgive her, but then again, this Karla hadn't gone through ten years of hell because of her. I did not intend for any of this to happen. I do not understand how my demon side resurrected after I died, but my soul was too fragile to to stop her. The only thing I was able to do was to trick her into putting my soul into you...into my Karla...instead of one of Trigon's seeds. She'd spared her that, at least, or Karla would be twisted and demonic now. And somehow that created Rook, and that I cannot regret, and I hope she does not, either.
Karla	*For what it's worth, I don't think she does,* Karla sent, brushing a stray curl behind Rook's ear. *She loves this little girl with a fierceness that I don't know if I can ever match. No matter what else she regrets, Rook's existence isn't one of them. That much, I can say with utmost certainty.
Rook	*Stepfather, too,* Rook sent, a shy smile on her face. *I know he still missed Kayla and Nommy--Maman does, too--but sometimes I hear them talking after I am sent to bed and he says that I am just as much his as I am hers. And so there.*
Raven	Good, Raven said. She'd already felt that, but it helped to hear it as well. You deserve that love, dear one. You deserve to be loved and cherished and protected. In all the ways she couldn't do herself now. She paused a moment, then sent, You have the power to heal your maman's legs, but it will hurt you to do so. I do not think she will ever allow you to do that for her for that reason. But should you wish to try against her wishes -- because if Rook was anything like her mother, she'd surely be tempted -- contact me first. If you link your gifts to mine, it will be easier for you. And she'd make sure Rook felt no pain.
Karla	Karla wasn't so sure about the sudden turn the conversation had taken. *Whoa, whoa, let's take a second here. I don't know if that's something--*
Rook	Rook had absorbed that information with a solemnity far beyond her years and interrupted Karla's protest without a qualm. *Will I be able to contact you without Teeny-Maman's stone?* she asked.
Raven	You are my daughter, and you carried my soul within you for years, Raven sent. If you call, I will always hear you, I promise. But you must wait until you are stronger. She tried to send a private thread of thought to Karla. You know she will try to heal her maman regardless of the cost if she is anything like me. Better I am there to take the brunt of the pain from her.
Karla	*Shouldn't she like...practice or something first?* Karla protested on the private thread. *She's been forbidden to use any of the powers that might have drawn you closer to her for her entire life. There's got to be something between 'never Healed anything before' and 'repairing flesh damaged by witchblood'?!* There had to be a rule about that. And if there weren't, Karla was gonna make one up, dammit.
Raven	That is why I wish her to link her gifts to mine, Raven sent back. I do not wish her to harm herself, but we both know she will try. She would have long ago if she'd been herself and not the demon. Openly so Rook would hear, she sent, You must practice first, dear one. Healing is difficult, but with my gifts and your maman's, I know you will learn to be very good at it in time. But promise me you will not try to heal your maman's legs without me helping you.
Rook	*But if I am not supposed to contact you until I am much older, then Maman will have to wait for years and years to be Healed!* Rook argued.
Karla	*Then your Maman will just have to wait,* Karla retorted. Between the two prohibitions, she was betting that Rook would call upon her Mother long before the ten years were up, but it couldn't hurt anything to take the hard line now. *You must practice a lot first and grow and become a good enough Healer for this to be even possible. Until then, your Auntie J and Warren will be helping her, too. This isn't something you have to do all by yourself, Rook. Impatience has no place in the sickroom, you know that.*
Raven	It is not something you can do immediately, Raven agreed. Even with my help, you must practice first, and when you are ready, we will heal your maman. I promise you, dear one, we will make her well again. It was the least she could do.
Karla	*This isn't something that you will be able to accomplish quickly,* Karla sent, kneeling down and looking Rook in the eyes. *It will take a lot of training. A lot of practice. A lot of thought. Your Maman might refuse, because she's afraid for you. You'll have to decide whether to tell her that your Mother is helping you. If you choose not to do that, you may need to lie to her instead. This isn't a game, Rookie. This will take years.*
Rook	*I understand,* Rook said, her expression troubled. *But I will do whatever it takes to heal my Maman.*
Karla	Karla sighed. There was really nothing more she could say to that, was there? The daughter of two Healers, turning down a patient? Not bloody likely. *Then prepare for a lot of work and a lot of learning,* she said. *And hope you have more patience than your mothers combined.* Hopefully by the time Rook was ready to try, Karla and Warren's antipathy for Raven would have lessened and she'd be able to solicit her Mother's help openly. *I think it's time to say goodbye, Rook. It's getting late and your parents will soon miss you.*
Rook	*Yes, Teeny-Maman,* Rook said obediently. *Goodbye, Mother. I am glad I got to speak to you, before you went away. And ten years won't be very long, will it?*
Raven	She is my daughter, Karla, and she loves her maman as much as I do, Raven said. She will try, but I will make certain Rook does not feel the pain. There were tears streaming down her face as she switched to more open thoughts. Goodbye, Rook, she sent. Never forget how much I love you, and how very proud I am of you. I will be here whenever you need me. She hoped it wouldn't be ten years, but she'd wait. Just before the link broke, she sent a final plea to Karla. Your Raven will always struggle with her heritage. Please, do not let this be her fate as well. And then she was gone.

[NFI, NFB, OOC is always love. Preplayed with glacial_witch, blondecanary, and not_a_parakeet, and coded using whateverknight's spiffy coder. Follows this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and *pants* this. AUs is srs bzns. This is what happens when you let Nu play with your canon.]