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Chapter Text

Raven sat in Mr. Kent's apartment and looked up at Miss Diana. Her real name was Diana of Themyscira, but she was dressed in formal wear and not her combat outfit. Raven knew she didn't have a second name like most people she'd seen in Mr. Kent's memories. She only had one name herself.

Combat. She'd known only Azarath was free of violence. Before her mistake. She'd seen plenty of torment in her father's domain. She'd seen Mr. Kent's memories and knew she was in a world where people had to fight in order to protect.

But that didn't make it easy to accept.

Miss Diana sat next to Raven. "So, where are you from?"

If you tell them now, the world will hate you , the voice seeped into her mind from Trigon's gem on her head.

"Mr. Kent didn't tell you?"

Mr. Kent cleared his throat. "What I told her is that there's too much about your past that people could misinterpret, so if anyone wants more than the most basic information, they have to ask you."

"He told me you're named Raven and you're from a hostile realm and escaped. He found you scavenging on the streets, and you have psychic powers."

"They're magic," Raven corrected. "But my magic is empathic."

Miss Diana nodded. "Is Raven your only name?"

"Yes."

Or so you think , echoed across her mind in Trigon's voice.

Mr. Kent walked around the table. "I'm sure I can make it work on the legal forms. Ever since niche cases like Diana and Starfire started being noticed, there's been pressure on the government to make their forms more easily accept people with only one name."

Raven looked up. "I think my mother had a family name. She said she was originally from somewhere named Gotham."

Mr. Kent and Miss Diana looked at each other, then in the direction of that darker city Raven had seen earlier.

"I'll ask Batman to look into that." Mr. Kent turned back to Raven. "What was your mother's name? And do you know when she went to Azarath?"

Raven swallowed, closed her eyes, and thought. "She said I was born in Azarath, but only a few months after Azarath took her in. I heard a few people in Azarath calling her Arella or sometimes Angela."

Make a deal with me, and I can tell you more. Raven pushed aside her father's voice.

Mr. Kent pulled out a rectangular device - right, a phone, that was the word from his mind. Azarath and Hell had not even used the electricity needed to power earthly devices. Magical communication and other magical conveniences, yes. Phones, no. He tapped the device methodically, in a way Raven didn't understand.

Miss Diana nodded. "We'll see what we can do to track down any family you have."

"Thank you."

Mr. Kent looked up from the phone. "Cyborg is going to search city records for Missing Person reports and birth records. If he finds anything, he'll send it to me. For now, we need to decide where you're going. You need to go to school, but it would be awkward for you to join halfway through the year. I'll ask Bruce about private tutors like he had at your age and like he's hired for Damian. They may be able to place you in a grade or help you catch up if your education in Azarath was skewed towards or away from some of our usual studies."

Raven nodded. "Isn't the year almost over? I've been in the city for a couple weeks, so isn't it early December now?"

"Not the school year. That ends in June. Just the calendar year."

"Oh."

Miss Diana put a hand on Mr. Kent's shoulder. "Let her rest. Adjusting to a new society is slow. I'm still figuring things out."

Mr. Kent smiled. "Like not pointing your sword at someone to address them?"

Miss Diana nudged Mr. Kent.

Mr. Kent continued, "All right. But we need to figure out where she's staying."

"I can take her in for a few nights while we decide, and just go on patrol."

"Raven, does that sound good."

Raven nodded again. "Yes."

____________________

Wonder Woman flew Raven to her main residence in Boston. At Raven's flight speed, and stopping for dinner, it took them about four hours.

She still couldn't place Clark, but there was that new addition to the newly-renamed Justice League, called Aquaman. She ran off a quick list of heroes.

Batman the new Hades, Shazam the new Zeus, and Aquaman the new Poseidon. The Flash, Hermes. Green Lantern, Apollo. Cyborg, Hephaestus.

And now there was this new girl, Raven. A magic user. Was she perhaps Hecate in the aspect of the Maiden? She considered the name "Raven" and added Atropos the inevitable of the three Fates to who she could be, as well as Clotho for her youth. All three Fates, maybe?

"What powers do you have other than being an empath?"

"Darkness, healing, force fields, telekinesis, and teleportation."

Darkness and a healer, too? Wonder Woman didn't know what to make of that. But her teleportation and flight screamed of crossroads-adjacent powers. She decided to stick with Raven being a potential new Hecate in the Justice League pantheon.

Wonder Woman thought it over. "When we get to my place, the bed is yours. After your time on the streets, you need it, though I recommend a bath first. I'll quickly get a spare cot for myself until we figure out where you'll stay more permanently."

"Thank you, Miss Diana."

"Please, just Diana. I know you're trying to be polite by the standards around here, but I'm not from around here, either. Clark is from around here, though."

Their flight was otherwise uneventful. Wonder Woman went on a quick patrol, but found no crimes to stop. No one to fight. She almost went home, but remembered that she now had a young guest. She stopped by a clothing store for a bunch of clothes. Some nightwear for herself, and a few outfits (both daywear and nightwear) for Raven. Then she went home.

When she returned, Raven was still in the bath. Wonder Woman quickly switched to her new nightwear and set Raven's new outfits by the bathroom door, knocked, and called in "I have some new clothes for you. They're just outside the door."

"Thanks." Raven's reply was both tired and muffled.

About ten minutes later, they were both seated on a couch. Wonder Woman, now acting as Diana, checked her messages.

"Raven. Cyborg found a few matches. I'm going to show you their pictures and if any of them are your mother, could you tell me."

Raven perked up and looked at Diana. "Yes, please."

Diana pulled up the pictures Cyborg had sent her and showed them to Raven one-by-one. From the names "Angela" and "Arella," there were a dozen matches. Raven stopped her on number seven.

"That's got to be her. She's younger than I remember, though. But that's from before I was born, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Diana switched to the summary. "Angela Roth, nicknamed Arella, ran away around 1998. Went missing in the spring of 2000. Some sort of cult, details unknown."

Raven's expression was pinned between grim and neutral. "That's her, all right. So my family name is Roth, then?"

Diana looked closer at her phone. "Looks like it. I'm sorry, but it appears that you have no remaining family. None known on your mother's side, anyway. Your grandparents died a few years ago. Do you know about your father's side?"

Raven's lips thinned and she shook her head. "Nowhere to go there."

She shouldn't press that topic, then. Diana noticed that Raven had started to look... at her Lasso of Truth.

"Something on your mind?"

"That rope... has power, doesn't it? I can feel... Old Magic."

Diana nodded. "It's the Lasso of Truth. It compels truth and obedience."

"Old Magic works both ways, though."

"How do you know?"

Raven looked down. "I had to learn a few Old Magic powers. They're truly powers like my empathy, not the spells I use to fly or to make force fields or to heal. Old Magic is something almost alive. That's why I realized your Lasso was Old Magic."

"Impressive."

____________________

Clark Kent typed furiously at his computer, and looked over his draft.

Nightmare Visions Explained!

Over the past few weeks, citizens have reported nightmarish visions in New Troy, occurring in a tight area at irregular intervals. The cause of the nightmare visions was a newly-discovered psychic with insufficient control over her powers. As the psychic is a minor, she will be referred to as "Jane Doe" to protect her identity.

He reviewed the draft in full a few extra times to make sure he was properly concealing Raven's name (or Raven Roth as Diana had told the League).

____________________

That night, Raven dreamed. It was not her normal nightmares, of the destruction of Azarath or living in Trigon's domain.

She looked in a mirror. She saw a void reflected behind herself. But her own form was wrong. She saw the mirror with two eyes, but her reflection had the demonic four. Her skin was still ashen, but the reflection was the slightly pale red of her demonic form.

The reflection reached through the mirror and grabbed her. "You are mine ."

Then she awoke.

Dreams faded. She only remembered her nightmares from repetition. This one did not fade, despite her never having dreamed it before.

Chapter Text

It was January when Robin knocked on the last door of the latest known anomalously missing child. A middle-aged woman in a pastel blue blouse and tan pants answered. "Mrs. Sinclair, I hope?"

"Yes. Who are you?"

"Robin. I'm working with Batman. Did you recently file a missing person report on Josh Sinclair?"

"Yes. Did you find him?"

"Not yet. I'm looking for details the report may have missed, similar circumstances as others. May I investigate his room?"

Mrs. Sinclair nodded and showed Robin to a child's bedroom.

After taking dozens of photos to compare with photos from other rooms, Robin returned and asked about the sources of some of Josh's things.

With the answers he figured the computer should look at first, he left.

Except one thing stuck out. He thought he had heard a few answers multiple times across his questioning.

He would look at that soon and see if it was just some memory-based bias.

____________________

Nightwing found Robin typing up a document of similar items from reports and pictures of the rooms of missing children.

"Robin, time for a break. Bruce said I need to officially introduce you to someone. This is for Damian Wayne, not Robin. Change into your civilian suit."

Robin saved his work and glanced over to Nightwing. "If this is about Raven moving back to Metropolis, I already know."

"But Bruce is friends with Clark, and Damian Wayne hasn't met Rachel Raven Roth."

"Rachel? I don't need a middle name. Why did she think she needed one?"

"She decided to add another name for a full set to not stand out. She also remembered it was a name her mother thought of before the monks of Azarath saw her soul."

Robin glowered and got up from the computer.

A couple hours later, foster siblings Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne were in Metropolis via a regular ferry. Clark Kent and Rachel Roth greeted them.

"Dick Grayson," Clark began semi-formally. "And Damian Wayne. Bruce asked me to introduce you both to my new ward, Rachel."

Raven gave a quick wry smile and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Dick and Damian shook her hand in succession.

Damian took a breath and turned to Kent. "So, how'd you decide on this arrangement?"

Raven smiled. "I felt safest with someone else with powers. Between Mr. Kent and Diana, the --"

Kent cut in, "Some of our mutual friends." Keeping their League involvement secret was something Raven didn't seem to be completely aware of.

"Them, yes," Raven continued. "I was raised to be peaceful first, and Diana was raised to not shy away from a fight. Mr. Kent was raised to be peaceful, too, so we figured to pair like with like. I expect I'll still see Diana a lot."

Probably. Wonder Woman and Superman were publicly dating. Or Diana and Kent when they weren't grandstanding before solving problems.

Kent nodded. "We're still working on the paperwork. Bruce is helping there."

"He's still working on mine, too."

"Hah," Grayson snorted. "It took a while for me, too."

Damian thought he saw Raven looking... sad. Pitying. But she was also looking at Grayson and Damian. Damian knew Father had taken in Grayson when he had nowhere to go, but why would Raven pity Damian? He was strong. He was an al Ghul.

They exchanged more pleasantries not because they'd just met, but because they were putting on appearances of having just met. Damian appreciated the attempts at deceiving the general population about their knowledge of each other, even though there were more efficient ways and most people wouldn't notice. The few who would notice wouldn't care and would forget quickly. This wasn't dealing with large organizations where hiding in plain sight wasn't an option. But then, someone might be watching after all.

Raven was still an enigma.

He had to find out more about her. Did Kent know anything Damian could get him to talk about? Or maybe Raven would talk. A conversational tone might loosen her lips. Something not so formal she'd stay alert.

"So, Raven, what brought you to Metropolis in the first place?"

Grayson looked at Damian disapprovingly, and Kent looked at Raven as if to see what she would say.

"Rachel, please." Then she whispered, "We're still in public."

Damian nodded. "I will remember."

"I was lost and picked a direction. It brought me here. I only had a vague idea that I'd find a city here. I think it was from the signs. I'm hoping to forget the details before help found me."

"I see." She hadn't told him anything new, and was being cagey though no one outside their conversation could realize it.

Kent's reaction though, that had told Damian he knew a lot more about Raven than either of them was letting on. but his memory was phenomenal, so there was no reason to expect Kent would have recorded any of it, either as himself or as Superman.

He'd have to try again later. Superman knew enough that finding out more wasn't urgent. Important, but not urgent.

"I heard from Father that you've been examined for what grade you should be in. Would you mind telling me?"

Raven looked down, but also gave a faint smile. "They decided with sufficiently focused tutoring that I could start High School a year early, by Metropolis standards. I'll be in ...the 9th Grade, was it?"

"Yes," Kent confirmed.

"If I weren't being tutored privately, I'd be slated to join 7th or 8th next year. A year or two early."

A thought crossed Damian's mind. Something Father had said a couple months ago. Were his tutors the just trainers, too? That like Father had said, were the only people he'd had?

But Father had also said he'd had other people to help him.

Was keeping him in touch with Grayson and now Raven and Kent his way to do that for Damian? He'd proceed as if that were a likely hypothesis.

Chapter Text

The six greatest of the Sons of Trigon traded looks.

"I have located a suitable host," Lust announced. "From there, I will have access to all the information I need, and will be able to coordinate both us on Greed's behalf and my pawns."

Greed smiled. "I located a pair of hosts, but neither proved suitable. Bruce Wayne, despite his power and wealth, lacks the temperament to dominate his minions. He would be better suited to Wrath. And Lex Luthor... I saw some of his enemies. He is too close to Pride's new people for possession to be discreet. At least on my third try I found someone I can work with."

Envy laughed. "My task begins shortly."

Sloth stepped forward and hesitated. "I found someone usable, but there's a prison or asylum in my way. I'll need a breakout. It's called Arkham."

Greed nodded. "I'll see to that. And I'll break open a few other confinement facilities to hide our purpose from the mortals."

"I still seek," Gluttony admitted.

Wrath shook his head. "Permanent hosts would weaken me. I'll take temporary ones as I find them."

Greed inclined his head. "Then we are almost ready to begin. On my mark, brothers. Remember that Lust is second in command."

Then they quietly departed.

Pride would join them as their dark mistress. Either to free their dark Father... or else to finish usurping him. Even if they had to drag her home, kicking and screaming.