By Raven
Raven could only look down at her hands and wonder, was the power she wielded worth it? She could not believe that her uncle knew what was about to happen. Then again, it may have been his way of warning her.
It began just after Mardi Gras. Once again, she was looking at her husband�s sleeping form. Though now he was just sleeping, she had come so close to losing him and herself. It had come in a way that no one had expected. Her uncle had warned her no mortal could ever hurt him bad enough that he could not heal himself.
Christian had been on a mission to a world when he had first met Karrulta. The Modrelli were in civil war because of technology and religion. The Guild had sent him to stop the war. He succeeded in stopping it. The mistake the Guild had made was in siding with science. On this world, the gods had never left. They were living amongst their people, still guiding and inspiring them.
The war had started when science had no need for the priests and legends. This had slowly started killing the gods. By the end of the war, only one had survived. He had once been the god of justice. Now, though, Karrulta was the god of vengeance for his dead brethren. He had survived by placing the last of his power in one place. He had become, if not mortal, then a shadow of what he had once been, saving his power for one final act. Vengeance for the destruction of his people.
He had waited for his world to advance to star travel, then went from planet to planet. He knew the one that had been responsible. See, he knew that with the death of the one who had betrayed his brethren with the lies of science, that his people would be able to leave that world for a new one and end their death sleep. Christian never remembered the man that called himself Kurt and had no idea what was in store.
The day was beautiful and crisp. It was perfect for painting, and this time not indoors, but in the orchard. There was just the first signs of spring in the air and on the trees. It wasn�t too difficult to envision the blossoming leaves, and shortly after that, the flowers on the apple trees. Raven began with the winter tree, and then painted the starting leaves. She had gotten to the blossoms when she felt it. She was in the house before she could think. It was what she found that she could not accept.
Chris was at the bottom of the stairs. He had clearly fallen, but something was horribly wrong. Salem was next to her in a flash, and he was in human form.
�Raven, do not touch him. He is not healing and his neck is broken.� he reported. She was to the closet and the medical supplies in seconds, and returned just as quickly.
She felt the three of them come at once. Adrian was the first, he was in tears. Amy looked sick to her stomach, and Andrew looked grim. Raven could feel his soul slipping. Part of her was dying as he was. She reacted without thinking.
She looked at Amy. SLEEP she commanded, then for the other two, the power snaked out of her hands, striking both men, throwing them with brutal force into the bookcase. Adrian was out cold and Andrew was stunned.
Jade was there next to her. She placed her hand on her father�s chest. �Mother, I can�t hold him here like this.� She then looked at Aurora, who nodded. Jade closed her eyes, and her body collapsed. From her body came a green oriental dragon made of energy.
�Mother, I will hold him here for as long as I can.� she spieked.
�Carl, notify Stanley! Medical emergency!� she commanded. Raven then sped time up within herself two hundred fold. The world was at a standstill when she took Jade and the other three below.
Jade she placed in the pit. Adrian she hit with the same suggestion as Amy. She left the two of them in one of the crypts. Andrew was a whole other matter. She took the still stunned Death, he was here, not everywhere, as was usual for him. This was to her advantage.
�Forgive me.� was all she said before she bit him. She was not ready for the rush. His blood boiled in her veins. This would hold him only for a short time. She then opened her wrist and poured her blood into his mouth. Once it flowed in him, she then hit him with the same suggestion as the other two. Raven knew this would not be enough, so she bound him with the Lavender. She knew Andrew would never again trust her, and her heart ached. She closed the door to the crypt, in tears.
She literally saw the materialization process as Stanley transported in. He never saw her appear, as she was once again in the normal time continuum. Stanley began working getting Chris stable. It was then that she noticed the blood from the back of his skull. It took her and Stanley forty minutes to get him stable and ready for transport. He was rushed into surgery three minutes after arrival, when it was found that he was no longer a Sagan. He had somehow gone from being a double recessive to a double dominant. There was no trace within him that he had ever been Sagan.
Twenty minutes after he was rushed into surgery, the whole family was in the waiting room with her. When they asked what had happened, she could only say, �I don�t know.�
She had been in the waiting room for three hours when she once again felt the world drop out from under her. She knew Andrew was free and standing there as her husband was coding on the table. She reached within herself, sending strength to both Chris and Jade. Life energy to her husband, and power to her daughter, to fuel the fight she was having with Death itself.
Stanley had been in surgery for just under five hours when he came into the waiting room. �Mother, we have him stable for now. He coded on the table, but we got him back. The next seventy-two hours will be critical, then the next seven days.
�I don�t know yet if there will be brain damage.� he said.
Raven then spieked, �What are you not telling me, Stanley?�
�Mother, there was more trauma then we realized. He may have severe brain damage on top of the neural trauma. Even Dr. Conners is worried. I brought her in the back door, to minimize the amount of stress on you.�
�Thank you, Stanley. We will be here.�
It was twelve hours after surgery before even she was allowed in the room. When she got there, she was in for not only one surprise, but two. Allison was there, along with Amy. The look that Amy gave Raven said all that it could. Raven closed her heart, knowing it was the only thing that she could do.
Allison continued her conversation with Amy. �I don�t know how it was done. There is no sign of long or short term genetic manipulation either way. It is as if heaven itself removed any trace of his ever being Sagan.�
Allison then noticed her mother had entered the room. �Oh, Mom, I�m sorry. Stanley called me shortly after he was brought into recovery, to determine what the hell was going on. He has no genetic trace of the Sagan virus whatsoever.
�Amy, I�m going to take these findings back to the lab. I need to do some thinking.�
Allison left, and Amy just looked at her mother. �He�s stable now.� she said, then she walked out. Raven could feel how hurt she was. That was when the darkness began to fill her heart and mind. She sat in the chair next to him holding his hand. She could still feel Jade still holding him there.
Andrew walked in a few minutes later. He only said one word to her. �WHY?� She could not even bear to look at him. When he got no answer, he left her there.
It was day five when Stanley came to her. �Mother, he has slipped into a coma.� he said.
�I know, Stanley. I felt him go into it.� she replied.
She had not left his side when day eight dawned. It was Jade that had come in with Stanley just after sunrise. �Mom, I want you to go home. Amy had been coming in, off and on. She is a good healer, but even she knows that human neural tissue is not regeneratable.
�Mother, he is just above brain dead on the coma scale. We want you to go home. You need to sleep.� she said quietly. Raven allowed Jade to lead her back to the house. As she was leaving, the twins took her place. All of the children had been doing that. Even Thomas, more out of respect for her then out of feeling, but it galvanized his position in the family.
Once again, the twins began their ritual, picking up the newspapers and reading them to him. Some brought books, others brought other things. It was Marty that had surprised her. He brought music, Gabriel�s music. She didn�t care where he had gotten it. Probably from Steven, but then again, she wasn�t sure. She was numb, and it didn�t matter anymore.
The house was clean. There was no sign of his fall, or even her attack on the others. She sat in the pit, wondering how this could happen. She had a bottle of Ziratty in her hand. There were three empty ones at her feet. She had felt nothing, seen nothing, knew nothing. She was fairly drunk when she reached for her PDA and began to look. She started from the moment she had felt him fall. Rewinding the fall a hundred times before she went farther. Each time she reviewed the scene, the more the darkness in her heart grew, and the more angry she became.
She then began rewinding his life, minute by slow aching minute. Raven got to one moment in time, Chris hiring a new busboy for one of the restaurants. There was something different about him, something that was wrong.
Raven expanded the PDA, setting it to play that one minute over and over again. She then stepped into it. She must have been there for an hour, looking from every angle conceivable, then some that were definitely not normal. It was only when she touched him that she felt it and understood.
This Kurt was not human, he was a god. He had changed his form to pass as human. Raven stepped out of that moment in time. The rage she felt was radiating out from her in waves that were palpable to even the most insensitive.
Salem and Jade entered the pit. �Mother, what�s wrong?� Jade asked.
Raven looked at them. �Don�t try to stop me.� she snarled.
�Annanaya, you must not do this. You are becoming the beast again.�
�Mother, he is right. There is a darkness on your soul. It is rotting away, taking everything you have worked for.� Jade spieked, becoming very worried for her mother.
�I don�t want to hurt you. Leave me.� Raven growled. She could feel Jade coiling the dragon to strike. She lashed out telekinetically, slamming Jade into the wall. She heard the thud- it was wet sounding. The girl was going to have a concussion.
Salem was once again in human form. �Annanaya, you have fractured her skull.� he said.
�Then you stay here and take care of it.� She began using the Lavender to construct a doorway.
She stepped through, onto a plane of what seemed to be Limbo. Raven knew this was a sacred place, the home of the Modrelli. It only took her a moment to find them, there were thirty total. The animal was the only thing that was left, her mind and heart filled with a blackness that was so complete, nothing could penetrate it. She fell upon them as she had preyed upon humans so many millennia ago, with no mercy. The lavender merged with the beast and drained the very essence from them. The more she drained, the stronger she became. It took only a few minutes to kill all but one.
Karrulta stood, looking at her in shock and disbelief. �You had no right!� they both said. They had their hands wrapped around each others throats, each determined to strangle each other.
They were like that when they came. Four stood to witness. Gideon, Ptah, Shivara, and Andrew, in all the glory of what they are. Gideon was the first to try and intervene. He had only a split second to get out of the way of two blasts. Andrew was collecting the souls of the fallen gods. Ptah looked upon creation�s oldest, then each stood behind their respective charges. In identical maneuvers, Shivara grabbed Raven and Ptah grabbed Karrulta. They were still struggling to kill one another when she arrived. This was the first time any of them had seen Creation angry.
ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU STOP!
I will allow this to go no further. Andrew walked over to his mother, handing her the souls of the fallen gods. She walked over to each, touching them, but saying nothing. Raven could see that they once again lived.
Karrulta spoke first. �I demand that this creature be punished! She had no right to come here to our sacred place and attack us!�
Then Raven spoke. �I come here only to seek justice.�
�Justice? You murdered my people!�
�Murder? You are the one who attacked first! My husband did nothing to you!�
SILENCE, BOTH OF YOU!!!
Ptah then walked over to Karrulta. �I warned you that it was time to leave your people. It was time to start a new world. Yet you refused to listen to me. When the waning came, you still refused to leave. It was not abandonment, but time to let the children live there own lives. Christian was doing Mother�s bidding when he went there. Yet you still pursued him, knowing that he had been sent there by her.� he said levelly.
�I wanted Justice for my brethren!� Karrulta bellowed.
�No, Karrulta. You wanted vengeance, knowing that because you had waited too long, only his death would release them, and you did not want to be alone.�
Gideon then began to speak. �Instead of asking what was to be done, sister, you attacked. Once again you reacted, letting only what you feared guide you. You saw what you wanted to see, not what was supposed to happen. Look and see what was to be, had you not lost control.� He gestured, causing an image to appear.
Andrew walked over to the body, gently taking Chris� soul. Then, Amy began to heal the body of the trauma until it was once again whole. All the time Adrian was holding a small box in his hands. When Amy finished, Adrian opened the box, saying �What was taken in vengeance has been returned. Andrew then returned Chris� soul to his body, with only a concussion.
Raven only stood there, her tears burning and her heart filled with sorrow. �Mother, what have I done?� she wept.
Karrulta then spoke again. �She still must be punished.� he demanded.
Ptah looked at him, with a look that made him wither. �She is, with what she feels is enough.� he said coldly.
Mother then walked over to her only daughter. �You have a choice. You can continue the path that was already set, or you can return to a point. Either way, there is a price. You will remember what you have done.� she said sternly.
�I choose the other path, the one that was supposed to happen.�
�Then go.� Raven stepped through a doorway.
She stepped in as she felt them arrive, back board in hand. She quelled the urge to react, knowing only that she remembered what could have happened. She knew that Mother had given her that, so that she might not hurt those she loved.
Just as it was supposed to happen, it did. She made a few changes though. Helping Amy move his body to the bedroom. She had Salem replace the supplies in the closet. She only thanked them politely when the three of them left.
Only she would bear the knowledge of what happened. Only she bore the guilt of knowing what she was capable of. It was then she made a decision. The power that had been so much a part of her was the cause of her problems. She sat watching over her husband�s sleeping form. The first thing she did was to turn off her telekinesis, to wall it away. Then she did something she never thought about till that moment. Once again, she reached within her as she had done so many times. She called up the Lavender, her Mother�s gift to her. �Leave me.� she commanded.
Salem walked into the room. He had felt what she had done. She watched as first her PDA went back to being a normal unit. Then, the Heart of Creation began to beat slower and slower till it finally just stopped. The final thing to go was the tattoo on her shoulder, and with it the connection she felt to her daughters and the universe. She knew she would no longer be able to feel them, Charley, Andrew, even her mother. She was empty now, but at least that emptiness took some of the darkness out of her. She knew that in time, it wouldn�t hurt so much.
She sat there, watching her husband sleep. �No more worries, Christian. No more rescuing me from what I have done. Now, it�s just us. No more Guild, no more running off, no more sorrow.
�Sleep well, beloved, and know it is you that I do this for.� she said quietly, her heart aching.
She did not feel her mother and Gideon standing there. �Mother, is that wise, letting her just walk away like that?�
�I give all my creations free will, little one. I only hope that Chris sees what she has done. She is willing to do anything that he needs to be happy. She even is willing to cut away her soul to keep him. Now we wait and see.�
�Mother, I�m afraid.�
�What frightens you, little one?�
�That if he doesn�t see it soon enough, that both will regret it.�
�I know. That worries me, too.�