Kishi: This is a request from the grand St. Leo Kiser. And, while I do intend to be as true to the subject matter as I can, I make no guarantees in regards to the accuracy of those events described. With that said….
***
Afraid of the Dark?
An A/U one-shot based on the Teen Titans Episode "Nevermore"
***
It was ironic that this latest villain they chased was a man with an affinity for light subject matter. It seemed that even now, cornered as he was, he continually looked on the bright side.
Dr. Light seemed completely unable to bend to the inevitable. Beast Boy and Cyborg scowled at him, whilst she-who-is-caught-up-in-the-inevitable stared at him darkly.
At least, that was how it appeared to the careless pedestrian who had been chosen by the higher powers to bear testament that night. While he cursed his luck that it would be tonight, of all nights, to return an overdue tape, he hid himself behind a pair of trashcans and watched. Apparently, some dialogue was exchanged between the teens and the good doctor.
The civilian hid behind the cans as explosions rocked the area. Then erupted a scream of fear unlike anything he'd ever heard before. And then a voice, a terrible awful voice that at once seemed to whisper and roar, "What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?" At that moment, he was.
There were shouts, then silence. The civilian dared to peek over the top of the trashcans to see Raven put a hand to her head, a lost look on her face. The good doctor, on the other hand, didn't look as though he'd be in a fit state to be doctoring any time soon.
As the Titans called in for some assistance, the civilian quietly stood up and crept away. No need to get caught by her, he thought.
***
As soon as they had arrived at the Tower, Raven had vanished back to her room for meditation. Naturally, she had warned that the room was off-limits.
The television, for all its charms, however, was unable to deter their minds.
"Man," wondered Beast Boy aloud, "what was her deal?"
"I know, right? It's like she wasn't even the same person," said Cyborg.
"Perhaps we should ask her what is wrong?" asked Starfire. A concerned look creased her features.
Robin, however, shook his head. "It's not our business."
"Not our--!" spluttered Beast Boy. "Dude, she coulda really hurt someone out there!"
"Whatever is happening," replied Robin, "is something that is very personal for her. She would have figured to ask us if it were logical to her to do so. She doesn't want our help, though, so we shouldn't."
"But she's still got her own thoughts and feelings!" argued Beast Boy. "Couldn't she have just decided on her own that she doesn't want us involved?"
"Gotta admit, man," said Cyborg, "I think he's got a point there. Maybe we should check up on her."
"Look," said Robin, "everybody has things they gotta hide sometimes. I can talk from experience on this. Even I had my secrets to keep from Batman, and if he'd found out, I'd have distanced myself from him. Don't you think she'd do the same thing?"
"Hmmm," said Starfire. "Well, Robin has a point. For the sake of our friendship, we must stay away."
***
For the sake of our friendship we must stay away? Beast Boy shook his head. Friends were there for each other, through thick and thin. Why didn't they get it?
He walked nonchalantly down the hallway towards her room. Best not to look suspicious. He was just going up to her room to check on her, since she just happened to be on his way to… wherever. He'd figure that out when he got there.
He turned a corner to find Cyborg standing there. "Ack! What're you doing here?"
"I was just passing by when I heard some sort of shouting coming from here," said Cyborg. "I figured I should stop and investigate."
"Wow," said Beast Boy. "Gotta hand it to you, that's the best excuse I've heard. I had no idea what I was gonna—"
"I'm being serious," said Cyborg, his tone slightly exasperated. "Something's really wrong here. I know Robin's leader 'n all, but we gotta check this out."
"All right. Let's do this." They burst into the room, Cyborg's sonic cannon armed and ready while Beast Boy had taken the form of a rhino. Nobody was present aside from them.
Raven's room was suspiciously neat, everything in its proper place. That's what made finding the mirror so easy. It lay on the floor, facing up. Beast Boy, having reverted to humanoid form, walked over and picked up the mirror. He gazed in to it, and suddenly beheld two pairs of red eyes glaring at him.
"Cy," he said, his voice sounding odd, "the mirror is looking at me."
"Maybe you should be putting it down," said Cyborg.
"Yeah, good ide—" Having lowered the mirror just slightly, he never had the opportunity to finish. A blast of energy erupted from the mirror, expanding outwards and hitting, amongst other things, Cyborg and the walls. Beast Boy, meanwhile, suddenly disappeared. With no more support, the mirror fell to the floor again, joining its unconscious occupant.
***
When Beast Boy came to, he saw a realm of darkness. He sat up, looking at crimson ground. It appeared that he was on a floating island, and the skies surrounding him were riddled with them. Around him had landed a flock of what appeared to be ravens. Their eyes glowed red, and they were all staring at him.
"Ugh… where am I?"
"Turn back."
"What?" Beast Boy looked around, but finding no source of the voice, his eyes drifted back to the ravens.
"Turn back." That's when it hit him that the ravens were chanting the word in unison.
"Turn back? Why?" The ravens spread their wings and fluttered away in response.
"O-Kay." Shaking his head at the sheer weirdness of it, he began to walk down the path when a group of floating beasts appeared. They appeared to be like giant floating, biting heads, floating by the grace of wraith-like bodies. Blood red eyes glared at him.
"Augh! Not cool!" He quickly transformed into an elephant and tore through the mass of bodies. He could feel their horrid breath at his flanks, their teeth grazing his flesh. Angrily, he stomped on one, smacking another into the nether with his trunk. Many were impaled on his tusks as he charged through, but they changed to vapor as soon as death claimed them. Very soon, they were all gone, and he was safely alone again.
As he resumed his walk, his mind couldn't help wandering to the person he was attempting to help, the one person of all the Titans who he just couldn't figure. He had Robin's number, and knew how to get a rise out of both Star and Cy. But Raven always managed to evade every effort to bait her to reaction. It was like she had no sense of humor.
Beast Boy shook his head. No matter how hard he tried, he was never able to figure out the reasoning. Life was too short to be one big tragedy. Without humor, her life must have been a living Hell.
Then, the instant his foot fell, the landscape swirled and changed into some sort of parody of the Elysian Fields. The sky shone with golden sunlight, highlighting hills in the distance. Trees that, were it not for their pink leaves and wavy shape, could very well have been mistaken for cypress pines stretched up into the sky.
"Great. Now what?"
"Beast Boy! Hello!" Beast Boy turned to the source of the voice to find a familiar figure reclining in mid-air. Only, rather than her classic blue, she was wearing a pink robe. And was he hallucinating or was she smiling?
"Who are you?"
"Silly," she said, grinning wider, "I am Raven."
"What? You, Raven?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, okay, uh, could you help me try and get out of here?" he asked.
"Sure," she said, hopping down and walking off.
Jogging over to catch up, he couldn't help but crack, "So, when'd you decide to bleach your robe? And who designed this landscape, anyway? Disney or Hallmark?"
To his complete and utterly stupefying shock, Raven started laughing. "Good one!" she said, pointing her fingers in an 'it's all good' sort of way.
"What the--? Raven, you never laugh at my jokes."
"What do you mean?" she asked, smiling at him. "I always thought you were funny."
"What?" Suddenly, a step later, she wasn't there anymore. None of it was. He was right back in the nether-realm where he'd started.
As he continued his steady trek towards the mountain, he thought back on Raven again. Without anyone else, he was useless. He knew it. Somehow, he was just never able to, in battle, do exactly what he meant to. But she always does exactly what she thinks she will. He winced at the witticism he had unintentionally made.
The simple truth was that she was so confident, so competent, so able in everything she did that she had every right to simply replace him. Sometimes, he'd wonder to himself why he ever bothered, but surely she never did, did she?
Then two more steps saw the sprouting of a maze. Gray slabs emerged from the ground in front of him and around him. "Great. Just great," he growled to himself. He took one step back, then another. As he turned around, two huge statues that he hadn't noticed before were staring at him. Both looked like wizards with hard, super-angular features, their faces hidden in shadow. Somehow, though, Beast Boy had the distinct impression that leaving that way would be a superbly bad idea.
"Okay. It's okay. I can handle this," he muttered. Shifting to hawk's form, he flapped off of the ground, up into the void. A sense of triumph welled up within him as he approached the top of the maze walls. Knew I could--, the thought was interrupted as the walls shot up at an incredible pace. Ack! No fair! He strained his wings to the utmost flapping for height, but to no avail. Finally, he had no choice but to glide back down.
Shifting back to human form, he noticed another girl. This one had her drab brown-gray hood off, staring at the ground with a sadly distant expression. As he regained his humanoid form, she looked at him. However, rather than getting the cool calculating glance he was used to, Beast Boy was startled to see an embarrassed, almost frightened look pass over her features.
"Huh? Oh, s-sorry," she stammered. "You can't get out, can you?"
"Yeah," said Beast Boy, kicking at the ground exasperatedly.
She flinched at the gesture, then said, "If you want, I could lead you through. But I don't know why you'd want to go with me."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because you don't like me at all," she said sadly as she started down the path.
"What? How can you say that?" asked Beast Boy, jogging up next to her. "I don't even know who you are."
"Yes you do," she sniffled. "I'm Raven."
Stunned in to silence, it was all Beast Boy could do to keep walking. As he was led through the maze, his thoughts became a whirlpool of confusion. What's the deal? he thought to himself. First Raven's this happy-go-lucky Disney girl, and next she's a timid reticent? What, is she manic-depressive or something and forgot her pills?
Eventually, they did reach the end of the maze. Beast Boy stretched as they approached the exit. "Finally," he said. "Thanks for your help."
"You don't want to thank me," she said.
"Why not?" he asked, stepping ahead of her. She pointed and he turned, staring as many, many more of the wraith-like things appeared.
"Darn it," he said. "But don't worry. Between the two of us, we can take—" he turned around to see that she had vanished.
"… Oh why? Why me?" he asked as the wraiths charged.
***
"Azerath… metrion… synthos…" Raven sat a few feet off the ground, chanting mantras to force her to a state of calm. A sky littered with clouds looked down on the little slice of existence she had kept for herself.
"Azerath… metrion… synth—" Suddenly, the sky above shattered into a million pieces and fell around her. As she looked around, her mind sensed a great disturbance. Suddenly, her pulse stopped for just an instant. He was waking up again. Aligning herself with the disturbance, she leapt from the cliff and flew into the eternal night.
***
He had been backed into the proverbial corner. As Beast Boy felt the stone of the mountain stopping his head with a resounding crack, he could feel his grip slipping. The urge to succumb was growing stronger and stronger in his mind. Darkness clouded his vision as he fell to hands and knees.
Suddenly, sounds came from around him that suggested a major thrashing in the making. He looked up from the ground to see a figure in a dark green hood moving through the enemy mass with a grace and skill not matched by most warriors of the present day. In very short order, there was nothing left to thrash.
"Oh yeah!" shouted the figure in a familiar voice, pumping her fist in the air. Turning to Beast Boy, who was recovering his senses fairly quickly, she said, "Here, gimme five, man!"
He obliged, then asked, "Uh, who are you?"
"Duh," said the girl. "I'm Raven."
"What?" he asked incredulously. "Now wait just a minute—"
Suddenly, the two other Ravens appeared, along with a third bearing an altogether too familiar glare and blue robe.
While the other three were silent, the Raven in blue stalked forward and stared Beast Boy in the eye. "You," she hissed angrily, "have broken my privacy!"
"I was just trying to help!" said Beast Boy, holding his hands in front as if to ward her off.
"Help?" she asked. "You broke in to my room, fooled around with my mirror and found the deep dark places of my soul without asking and you wanted to help?"
"Yeah!" he said, becoming indignant himself. "You've been worrying me a lot. You nearly killed that Dr. Light guy, you aren't acting like yourself, and all we get to do is just sit back and watch?"
"Why?" she asked. "My problems are none of your business."
"You're wrong," he said, recovering a measure of calm. "You're my friend. Your problems are mine too."
Raven fell silent at that, considering his words. The contemplation didn't last, however, as the ground began to shake. A new shape arose out of the abyss, a red giant with four glowing eyes, a mane of white hair and a loincloth.
Beast Boy's shoulders slumped dejectedly. "What… what is that?" he asked, his voice carrying the hint of an exasperated sob.
Raven stood stock-still, her fist clenched as she answered coolly, "Let's just say that I'm really angry with my father."
"What?" asked Beast Boy, just before the giant roared and blasted the ground with energy from his eyes.
Beast Boy knew immediately that he would be quite useless in this fight. As Raven set up a shield, Beast Boy shifted into the form of a pterodactyl and took off from the ground. As the eye beams continued to blast at Raven's shield he swooped up and around, trying to build up momentum. At last reaching suitable height he plunged, diving straight for the giant's upper-right eye.
Sadly, the giant noticed him before hand and turned the beams on him. He swooped out of the way, losing much of his speed in the process. Then the hand caught him and he flew down, smacking into the ground and bouncing to a halt, reverting to humanoid form.
As he hit the ground half-dazed, he thought he heard some sort of commotion nearby. Looking up, he saw Raven surrounded by a swirling pattern of multiple colors. Suddenly they all converged on her and a white light erupted. He was momentarily blinded, but when his sight returned, a figure in a white cloak with glowing white eyes was floating in mid air.
"Raven in white?" he whispered. "First giants, then angels. What exactly is she?"
He watched as the giant blasted at Raven with the eyebeams again. Raven fired back with beams of telekinetic fury, meeting the giant's in the space in-between. A fierce wind burst from the point of contact, kicking up dust and debris. Beast Boy crouched down behind a particularly heavy rock to wait out the storm. The ground shook as the giant roared, but Raven was always silent. Or, at least, she made no noise that he could hear.
Finally, an eerie silence fell. Cautiously, he peeked out from behind the rock to find Raven staring back at another version of herself, dressed in a red robe. He could see four glowing eyes glaring out of the red robe before she disappeared into the white Robin, restoring the white robe to blue.
Raven sighed, then looked over at Beast Boy. She offered out her hand to him and said, "Let's get out of here."
***
When they stepped out of the mirror, Cyborg did a double take. Raven glared at him, but it didn't last very long. "I guess you were going to try and help too?"
"Heh heh heh…" chuckled Cyborg sheepishly.
"Yeah, Cy, where were you?" asked Beast Boy.
"Man, I'm sorry," said Cyborg. "I wanted to help but my systems all shorted out. Probably had somethin' to do with the dimensional energy ionizing my circuits or something."
"Yeah, yeah, excuses," grumbled Beast Boy.
"I'm really sorry," said Cyborg, looking at Raven. "You ok?"
"I'm fine," she said, no anger in her voice.
He sighed. "Glad to hear it." Then he turned to Beast boy. "Tell ya what," said Cyborg. "I'll just go down and load up the old racing game. Hell, I'll even let you win a couple of times. Consider it my way of apologizing."
"Let me win!" exclaimed Beast Boy. "Forget about it! I don't need any charity to beat you!"
"We'll see about that," laughed Cyborg as he jogged out of the room.
Beast Boy was about to run after him, reaching the door just as he remembered. He stopped, turned to Raven and asked, "Seriously… are you ok?"
"Yeah," she said, "I'm fine. Seriously."
"Good… I really am sorry, you know," he said, looking crestfallen.
He was about to continue on his way when he heard, "Beast Boy." He turned to see Raven looking at him with her trademark glare. As he watched, it softened just slightly and she said, "Don't worry about it."
Beast Boy grinned and was soon gone.
***
Kishi: And that is that. As I stated above, this was a request-fic. What does that mean?
::peers upward::
Kishi: I guess that means I do request-fics. However, I reserve the right to choose them at my own discretion. Nothing personal, but nothing short of God speaking to me in His audible voice could convince me to do a Sesame Street/Barbie universe/He-Man crossover fic. It's just not happening. Otherwise, feel free!
Teen Titans is copyrighted to DC Comics and all related authorities. The TV series is copyrighted to, I believe, Glen Murakami, but I don't know for sure yet.
The only things that
are mine are those things that I perceive as original, and thusly are mine. If
you recognize an idea that you came up with first, all credit goes to you.
If you wish, you may contact me at a new address: raziel3712@yahoo.com