It started like any other challenge for the Rose.
Once again, she was facing Shawn in a battle supreme.
They had been fighting for nearly an hour when the
blow happened. It came from nowhere and right in
front of Raven at the same time. The next thing she
knew, she was waking up on the floor with him
standing over her. "Grandmother, are you all right?"
Shawn asked.
She could only shake her head "Well, it looks like I
have something to do, kid."
Shawn could only look at her strangely. "What?"
"Clean out your office of all my junk."
He was still standing there in shock. Raven was in
shock too, for that matter. She had never been beaten.
In a way, she never expected it to happen. Now, she
was only 'Mother', or her official title, Velvet One.
They could not take that away from her.
It didn't take her long to clean out her office. She
then set the protocols to no longer take her passwords
in certain sections. That was even harder than cleaning
out the office. She slipped out of headquarters in the
confusion without a word. She wanted no goodbyes.
This was Shawn's domain and his problem now. The
last thing she said as she slipped out was 'Good luck,
kid.'
Raven went home. putting the box in her office.
Chris would know soon enough, along with Brett. She
didn't feel like advertising. She was still in the shower
when Chris arrived home. The first words out of his
mouth were, "Are you all right?"
"Yes, love. I'm just a little sore, and my ears are
still ringing."
"What happened?"
"He took me down. There isn't anything more to it
then that. I can always challenge again, after all, I am
still VS." In her mind though was a single thought, 'No
more excuses.'
Raven threw herself into domestic work and her
painting, doing all she could to keep from getting
bored. She didn't notice any problems. For the first
time in a long time, she was able to relax.
It began rather simply; one day in the garden and a
slight sun burn. She had been home for the last three
weeks. She had gotten back to her old habit of taking a
nap after breakfast. Now that she wasn't always on
duty, why short herself on sleep?
It was strange to have Quinn wake her up. "Hey
Mom. you all right? We got home and you weren't
making lunch." he said worriedly.
Raven only smiled and apologized, fixing the twins
lunch, then going about her work around the house. As
she was working, she began to get yet another headache
and as usual, she put on her sunglasses and it went
away. Again she thought nothing about it.
A week later, she went into town for painting
supplies. By the time she returned, she had a severe sun
burn, and a migraine that would not go away. The
twins were gone that day. They were introducing
Thomas to the fine art of water skiing and surfing. The
twins had picked up that bug from somewhere and
were not letting it go.
Raven went down to the pit and drank a bottle. It
helped. Then, she took one of Allison's version of
aspirin, and laid down to get rid of the headache. She
didn't wake up till sunset. Christian was sitting there
watching over her when she woke up.
"Are you all right, Raven?"
"Of course I am. Just had a bitch of a headache."
"Well, Salem said you seemed stressed, and both he
and I are noticing a pattern that we don't like. I want
either Stanley or Steven to have a look at you." said
Chris, letting his worry show in his voice and words.
Raven, for the first time, did not fight her husband's
wishes.
Stephen took a look at her scans, then, without
asking, lit his pipe. Something was clearly bothering
him. It was highly unusual of Stephen to light his pipe
near Raven without permission. "I want another
opinion before I pronounce a diagnosis." was all he
would say.
Three minutes later, not only was Stanley there, but
Allison as well. Allison scanned her mother, then the
three of them stood for a half an hour in a huddle. It
had gotten to a point when neither Raven or Chris
could deal with the silence before Allison finally spoke.
"Mom, you are going to have to stay indoors during
the day for a while." she said. Raven could only look at
the three of them with confusion on her face. "We will
be back in a few hours. We are going to go talk to one
other person. For the next few days, avoid any solar
exposure."
Chris walked over to them, talked for a few
seconds, then rejoined her. She didn't even ask, only
looked into her husband's mind. His thoughts were full
of worry, not for her, but about her. Somehow, her
body had begun to reject the Sagan virus. Her immune
system was killing the already low viral count. If a way
to stop it wasn't found soon, she would return to being
just a normal vampire. She would once again be unable
to sit in the daylight. Sunshine was once again
becoming deadly and she had no idea why. The
problem was no one had an idea why it was happening.
"I know you did something, and I will find out
what it is." was all that Chris said as he went upstairs
from the Holodeck.
Jade walked up to her mother as she returned to the
pit to have a workout. "I know what you did, Mother. I
know that you gave up your birthright." she said
bluntly.
Raven could only look at her daughter. "Keep this
between us, please. I want your father to be happy, and
the Lavender seems to be what was making him
unhappy."
"Mother, don't you miss it though?"
Raven looked at her daughter, knowing that she
could feel the emptiness that once was filled with the
Lavender. "I don't miss it, but it has left an emptiness. I
know that I can get used to that. It will be like it was
before I had it, in time."
It took Christian two days and a visit from Adrian
before he once again came up to Raven. "I know what
you did. You gave up the magic, didn't you?" he
accused her.
"What if I did, Christian? It was what was getting
in over my head. It was what kept me away from home.
Now, I can be home and safe. You don't need to worry
anymore." she said soothingly.
"You have to take it back, Raven. You're not the
same without it. I know when you did it, too. You did
it just before Shawn beat you for the Rose. He would
have never beaten you if you still had the Lavender.
You need it, Raven, to be the protector." Chris pleaded.
"No, I don't, Christian. I did the job before without
it for a very long time."
"Fine. If I can't convince you to take it back, then I
will find someone who will." he stated. Within minutes,
Chris had disappeared without a trace.
"This is why I am reverting, isn't it?" she asked
herself. She was not expecting an answer, but one was
there. Salem was standing in human form, holding out
his hand. He took her by the hand and led her to the
bedroom.
"Yes, Raven, that is why you are reverting. I knew
it when I saw Allison's scans. The Lavender is the only
thing that has been holding your vampiric immune
system in check. You are the only vampire that is a
Sagan. Your immune system is too much for the virus
otherwise." he said gently.
"So, in other words, I have no choice but to take it
back."
"You still have the choice to not take the Lavender
back, but look at what you must give up.
"There is one other thing to think about, my friend.
Can you truly protect those around you without it?
Brett would not have his ability to "See" if you didn't
have it. You never would have got the information
from the Erglash without it. You would have no way to
contact Shandall without it." he argued gently.
"I know I need it, Salem, but I love him enough to
give it up, to make him happy.
"Karrulta taught me one thing. It is Christian that
keeps me from embracing the beast. You taught me to
be more than an animal, but he is the one that I focus
on to keep control. Without him, the Lavender appeals
to my beast side too much."
The man smiled, and once again a cat was sitting
next to her. "He has gone to my mother to talk to her."
she blurted, instinct providing a possible answer.
"Your instincts serve you well, young Skywalker."
Salem deadpanned.
Raven could only sit there and laugh. "Salem,
sometime you need to be stuffed for making comments
like that."
"Salmon almondine?" was his only reply.
Christian did not return for four days, and that had
everyone worried. In that time, though, Raven's
condition went completely downhill. She was forced
into a completely nocturnal existence. She would
involuntarily lose consciouness when the sun was up.
Harry had come down to try and help Robin find
their father, and his visit was difficult. Though Raven
did not burn from his contact, she did have to fight
actual loss of consciousness if he was too close to her.
When Harry couldn't find him, he returned to Skyview
Station. Raven never felt so bad in her life.
It was ten o'clock at night when she once again felt
Chris' presence. "I went to talk to the one person you
can't say no to." he reported. "I had Adrian take me to
your mother's home. She and I talked about all of this.
"I came to a realization. If I'm not worrying about
you, then I'm incomplete. I never realized how much I
need to take care of you. With you home and quiet, I
thought I was going to go out of my mind from
boredom.
"I also found out something that worried me.
Because of all that you have done, you have made a
few enemies. Enemies with power. Without the
Lavender, they could just waltz in here and do
whatever they please."
Raven looked at her husband. "Then you can deal
with me going off half caulked? When I get the urge to
go, I just have to, love. There are some places I can't
take you." she said, disbelief and concern tinging her
voice.
Christian only looked at her and said, "I know, and
I can live with it. Raven, I realized that the Lavender is
what makes you who you are. You go and I plan. I am
the one that balances you. Mother said you could have
it back, whenever you choose to take it." he said
wearily.
Raven tucked Chris into bed. He was so tired, and
had been nearly falling asleep on his feet. She took one
look around the house, then walked downstairs to the
pit. She walked to the center, and surrendered herself to
the will of her mother once again.
Her mother wrapped her arms around Raven. "You
needed to learn this on your own, little one." she said
with love.
"I know, Mother, but I needed him to understand as
well. I love him so much. I just wanted him to be
happy." Raven said, nearly in tears.
"Well he understands now, little one.
"You know, I just about didn't give it back."
Mother said.
Raven only looked at her mother. Then, another
voice came from somewhere.
"Well, Mother, you can't give something back if
you never completely took it." Gideon stepped from the
shadows then.
Raven looked at her 'brother'. "What do you
mean?" she asked.
"Well, I realized she never took it away, when I
touched Salem when he was in human form. I just
knew that it was in him." Gideon said.
Mother then said, "True, you have made many
enemies in my service, and more than one wants
revenge. Giving it to Salem, to hold in case of an
emergency, seemed a good idea until you came back to
your senses."
"You gave us free will, so we could choose our
own paths, Mother. So we might learn from our own
mistakes. I am just glad I did before an innocent was
hurt." said Raven.
Gideon looked at his mother and sister. "You
know, you two are devious sometimes."
Creation and her daughter looked at one another.
Simultaneously, they said "We know. Deviousness is
hereditary, you get it from your kids".
Raven then looked at her mother. "You know, that
gives me an idea." She hugged her mother and Gideon.
"What's all that about?" he asked as they prepared
to leave. She left the pit, only to hear Gideon say, "Oh,
yeah, she's back!"
Jade met her on the landing. "Grandma was here,
wasn't she?" she asked.
"Yes, dear. Go back to bed." Raven then walked
over to Charley, and kissed the doll-sized Chaos.
"Just had to be sure." he said as he winked out.
As she walked up the stairs to the bedroom, she
thought she saw Andrew in the shadows, smiling.
Everything was back to normal, whatever normal is.