Note: I am underage. I am not a drinker. Thus, I am not an underage drinker. I do not endorse underage drinking. However, I understand that many people my age do indeed drink, and as such I feel I am justified at my young age to do the clichéd drunk scene. Finally, I don't believe that young people should be this…involved with one another, especially as heroes. Stupid shenanigans.
The clock hand struck 1:00 as confetti poured down from the roof, the combination of hazy smoke and lasers giving the common room a techno feel only emphasized by the heavy bass beat of the speakers.
The Teen Titans roared their approval.
Drink hard, party hard.
For a hero, it's the chance to live.
The Titans, garbed casually, mingled and grinned, sliding next to each other with wicked grins and empty beer bottles clasped in their hands.
There was dancing and grinding and rocking of heads as they felt their minds travel to distant lands.
One time not to care, they thought unanimously, tipping their heads back for that one last drop.
Raven reposed by the punch table, sipping conservatively at her own as she glared at the drunken heroes, at how Speedy had pulled off his shirt, teeth flashing as he swung it in midair.
Even Robin, the only Titan as paranoid as her, was dancing, seducing really, Starfire, centered in the middle of the room in full view.
She scoffed and turned away, sober enough to file away her colleagues' antics into the "blackmail" part of her brain.
Suddenly, the crowd gasped and parted in silence, leaving only the bump of the beat and the singer's voice ringing faintly in their ears.
Raven looked back with interest.
"Oh God…" she mumbled hazily.
Aqualad was staggering, twisting jerkily in time to music all his own. He walked messily up to the punch table, grinned crookedly, and fell forward, splashing liquid across the table and over the goth girl before tumbling across.
He looked up from where he was slumping to see an aghast Raven and smiled cheekily from the wreckage.
Silence.
"Ahh…." The crowd murmured.
They trembled.
"Ah…ha! Ha!"
Drunkenly, they began to laugh, jeeringly.
Even intoxicated, mocking is on the forefront of the brain.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Raven froze, the juice still dripping on the dress Starfire had convinced her to wear.
She flushed dark red, pulling the unstable Atlantean towards her before engulfing them in all the energy she could muster.
They reappeared in the med bay, and Raven immediately began to work, shaking her head as if to clear the humiliation of what had just transpired.
She dragged Aqualad onto a nearby bed, rinsing off his face and dressing him as quickly as she could into a clean set of clothing, kept there in case of emergency.
He lay comatose, black eyes transfixed on the ceiling with an intensity and awareness that contradicted the face of a drunken man.
Raven splashed water on her face, running her fingers through her hair as she attempted to compose her emotions.
What next?
The boy lying prone on the cot seemed fairly stable, and she needed to make sure that her mind was clear.
Sighing, she levitated, and began to prepare for meditation.
"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos"
Somewhere below, the music resumed, and a teasing squeal sounded.
"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos"
The heavy clomp of Robin's boots and Starfire's giggle drifted through the door.
"Come, Robbie!"
"Wait…wait"
A gasp.
"Robin- your mask!"
"It's Richard."
A dull moan.
THUD.
The couple slipping into Robin's room.
"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos"
It was hard to block out the strong supernova of emotion she felt emanating from the floors around her.
"Azarath…Metri- UGH!"
A sudden, strong front hit her, sending her sliding across the floor and into the cabinets.
She staggered to her feet.
"What was-AUGH!"
Raven could feel it now, a blossoming discomfort in the pit of her stomach, an ache searing deep into her heart.
Across the room, Aqualad shivered and moaned.
"GAH!"
It hit her again, filling her with bitterness, with anger.
The ache grew larger and larger.
"Uhh…"
Now she was weeping, salty tears dripping inconsolably down her cheeks.
"Aqualad…" she moaned.
She felt lonelier, more isolated and chained up and caged than she had since she left Azarath.
Flashes passed through her eyes.
A man, yelling.
"I don't want that bastard son-of-mine! He'll kill us!"
"Thar-don't, please!"
"Berra, just give him to me. It'll be over quickly."
"No-"
Blood dripped across her vision, and she shut her eyes, sobbing.
Black energy seeped through the floor, gaping cracks appearing in the walls.
Still, the visions came.
"Look, Garth…a school of fish."
Fear invaded Raven's mind and body, the tears fell thicker and harder.
A roof tile hit the floor with a clatter.
"Get…get them away…Get them away!"
"They're just fish, see…Call them over."
"N-no. Please, sir, don't-don't do this, I c-can't-"
Raven curled up against the floor, oblivious to the chunks of cement, the medical tools quivering in their places.
"Garth…you remember Mera."
"What about her, Aquaman?"
"We're…getting married."
"What?"
"We've fallen in love."
"Oh…congratulation."
"I'm afraid this means you have to move out…"
Raven opened her eyes, peering painfully out of slitted lids.
Somewhere, Intelligence was frantically putting the pieces together.
Aqualad was a telepath…Aquaman was his mentor...
Dully, she thought through the fierce ache, the longing and the choking sensation she felt as she sobbed.
Aqualad was projecting his emotions!
Must make it to Aqualad…
She pressed forward, crawling forward as best she could, the single minded goal forcing her to continue.
"Please…I've saved you so many times…just for tonight…I just need to stay for tonight."
Halfway there. A shard of glass had cut her cheek, and she felt the pain halfway through her inebriated mind.
"I raised you! I taught you! I gave you life, and you betray me!"
"No, Aquaman…you betrayed me."
The bed.
Just raise yourself up, just, just-
Raven slid her hands across his violent form, the pads of her fingers coming to rest on his temples, on his brain.
Concentrate, she thought.
Slowly, the pain, the memories faded, melting away like snow on the first of spring.
Aqualad's breathing returned to normal, and he leaned against Raven, nuzzling deep into the palm of her hand.
The earth stopped shaking.
She leaned forward, against him, too exhausted to get up.
As her powers seeped back into herself, as she regained control of her body, she felt Robin, worried, coming to the door.
By the time he reached it, her cheek was healed, the room was back in order, and she was sitting demurely in a chair reading.
"I heard noises. Are you okay?"
Raven looked up.
"Everything is fine," she lied.
YES, I screwed around with Garth's past, and YES I have read the comics so NO I did not look his life up on Wikipedia or whatever you use. It's just my take on it.
The reason I said it is neither romance nor friendship is because it's not. Think about it like they're classmates. They know each other, they work together, but they're not strictly friends. Furthermore, Raven is doing this for both of them. She cares about his welfare (that's human nature), but she's also in tremendous pain, is basically invading his mind, and avoiding the conflict could end up with both of them dead. Finally, I actually meant this to be a little humiliating, taking Garth to a very, very human level, where he gets embarrassed and struggles through life. Where he's actually real, something that isn't developed much in the cartoon.
Just to clarify, the flashback things go like this-
-His father, murdered (In the original, Garth was not actually born)
-His fear of fish
-Aquaman abandoning him (can't remember what happened in the original...)
-Garth rejected by those he saved
-confronting Aquaman
(I didn't add in Tula, because that would really mess up the time line more than I already did)