How have you been?
The world was quiet now, the silence heavy and raw.
Raven slowly stood up, her body aching but her mind even heavier. She wondered if this was it—if she would be exiled, or worse. She turned to look at Diana and Starfire. Star was still crying into Diana's arms, but she looked up, eyes red, searching for some final reassurance.
Raven gave a sad, weak smile and conjured a throne for herself, settling down quietly. She took a deep breath and spoke, voice trembling but clear.
"I am Raven," she said, though it felt like a confession more than a claim.
"Why is she still saying that?!" Starfire shouted, her eyes blazing with frustrated tears. With a burst of anger, she sent a beam of light straight at Raven's face, but the energy only glanced off, leaving Raven unharmed and expressionless.
"Be still, Starfire You are not the only one who bears anger in their heart." Diana's voice was cold but steady, her hand resting on Starfire's shoulder. "I know she… or whatever is in front of us isn't Raven. But allow me to speak." Diana hovered closer to Raven, her silver sword glinting menacingly in the starlight.
Raven did not move. She sat there, almost regal, yet there was a heaviness in her posture. The truth would come out, of course, but this wasn't how she envisioned things going. She sighed deeply and let her body fall back, but instead of collapsing to the floor, a throne of stone rose up to meet her—a makeshift seat pulled up from the dust beneath her feet.
Diana's tone was raw, her patience threadbare. "Who the fuck are you, really?" She didn't care for flowery words or titles, not now. She wanted the truth, however ugly it might be.
Raven looked down, her lips pressing together in a thin line. "I am who I am," she said quietly. "I'm not from here, as you already know."
With a wave of her hand, the air shimmered, and suddenly an image appeared before them—like a living slideshow. It was a world that looked so much like Earth but just a little off, as if through a glass darkly. The colors were muted, the skies dull. In that projection, a plain-looking college girl with tired eyes shuffled through her day. She looked like she belonged in the background of someone else's story.
The dullness and near stillness of the world was how her she saw the world around her in her previous life. Almost everything was bleak, save for the brief interactions she had with roommates or family she loved.
"I was nothing but a faceless human… or at least that was what I thought of myself." Raven's voice continued, echoing softly as her former self was shown studying, sitting alone at lunch, lost in books and daydreams. "Nothing special. My grades were good, and I had a solid future ahead in physics. But there was nothing remarkable about me. Sometimes, I wondered if my love for erotic media was the only thing that kept me going. My roommates… they were like living movies to me, always telling me their stories. I'd listen and picture everything in my mind, but I was never truly a part of their world but always looked forward to their stories anyway."
Diana's expression did not soften. Her sword only stayed levelled at Raven. "If you're fishing for affection or pity, you're going to have to do harder than that. You are not the only one that has felt oout of place in the world!"
The words stung, but Raven nodded. 'You wouldn't be the first to tell me that either.' Raven thought.
A tremble crept into her voice. "It's not about pity. It's about telling the truth. I don't know how it happened, but one night—while pleasuring myself—I died. Just like that. No big tragedy, no grand meaning. Just gone."
Diana actually chuckled at that, a short, sharp sound. "Really? That's your big sad story?"
Raven shrugged. "And then I woke up here, in another body, with someone else's memories tangled with mine. I didn't steal anyone's soul. I just… ended up here."
"Lies!" Diana's patience broke. She pressed the edge of her sword to Raven's throat. "You expect me to believe you just… happened to hijack Raven's soul out of everyone in the multiverse? Given how powerful Trigon is, and all that? He just stood by and let that happen, even though he was sealed? You want us to think this was just some cosmic accident? THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS!!!"
Raven didn't flinch. "You're all gods now. And very powerful ones at that. You know when someone is lying to you. You can feel it."
Starfire, her tears flowing unchecked, finally found her voice. "She's right, Diana. I… I can't feel any lies coming from her. Not now."
Diana's face contorted with frustration. She lowered her weapon, but kept it drawn. "So you're telling us you're just… a random girl, dropped into Raven's body by fate?"
Raven nodded. "That's the truth."
Diana's composure slipped. Her breath came ragged, her hands shaking. "So what happened to the real Raven, then? Where is she? What did you do to her? TELL ME!!!"
It was clear now that Diana had let her emotions lead now a common trait she had seen in movies and cartoons when it came to heavy decisions that carried the plot. A heavy silence fell. Raven looked away, her eyes wet but refusing to cry. "I don't know. I wish I did."
In a sudden surge of emotion, Diana stabbed her sword into Raven's chest. Starfire gasped, hands flying to her mouth. The world seemed to darken, as if the sun itself mourned. Raven's head dropped forward, her body slumping in the stone throne. Even before this happened, Raven could already tell what Diana was going to do. This all-knowing ability was very limited with Raven, it just activates on its own sometimes ever since she ascended into godhood, but it was never a consistent passive ability.
Even then, she didn't have the heart to guard herself. if Metron had planned to take down the new upstart known as Raven, then this plan of his was stellar!
At that moment, Kyla-el reappeared, dragging Metron's broken form through the air. She dropped him like a sack of trash, blood splattered across her uniform upon seeing Diana's sword in Raven's chest.
Kyla-el glared at Diana. "As expected of you fucking Amazons… action before thought. I left you alone, suspecting you'd do this, but I hoped the future would change. Even if she isn't Raven, just how ungrateful can you be?"
"But she--"
"You would never have reached this level of power by yourself, nor experienced the universe as you experience it now. I take the good with the bad. I am not defending this person, but I at least recognise that she hasn't made our lives any worse because things could get worse."
Diana fell to her knees, her sword clattering to the floor. "Mother warned me… about my rash nature… that I act before I think…" Tears streamed down her face. She reached out, but it was too late.
Light exploded from Raven's chest, throwing Metron's body across the field, while Kyla-el quickly raised a barrier around herself, Diana, and Starfire. The rest of the area was washed in blinding white.
Out of Raven's body poured several ethereal forms, each shaped like Raven herself but tinged with a different aura—red, orange, yellow, green, purple, grey, white, and pink. They floated above, their voices merging into a haunting, harmonious chorus.
The ethereal Ravens hovered, their eyes shining with unspoken power and sorrow. Each one seemed to represent a part of Raven's soul—a fragment, a memory, a personality split apart and made flesh.
Diana stared, numb and hollow, as the fragments circled overhead. She had sought the truth, demanded it at the point of a sword—and now the truth was scattering before her like shards of glass.
Kyla-el finally spoke, voice soft but heavy with authority. "The soul doesn't simply disappear. It changes. It breaks. It reforms. Sometimes, it returns stronger. Sometimes… not at all. She was an empath after all. I think what we see before us as versions of her emotions."
Starfire stepped forward, her voice trembling. "Raven… can you hear me? Are you still in there?"
Starfire's hands shook as she turned to Diana. "What… what have you done?" she whispered, tears running freely.
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