Welcome one welcome all to the rewrite of the first story in the Titan Knight Series, "Feelings", formally "What are you Feeling?"
A huge thank you to all that reviewed the first draft and gave excellent criticism and suggestions.
Adrisanne, A-LionGleek, Foamsatmouth, ZadArchie, QueenXCaramel to just name a few, and if I forget you I apologise greatly and didn't do so on purpose.
I hope you enjoy this rewrite and stay tuned for more with my newest Fic "The Dark Deal"
On with the show.
Book 1: Demon
Chapter 1: Fish out of water.
She never in a million years ever thought she would love a city so much, other then her homeworld of course, and yet here she was gazing over the city Skyline that she had called home for the last three years of her life. And this really was home for her. It was hard to believe that not a few hours ago the sky was blood red, the oceans were replaced with molten lava and rock, the air was sulfuric and difficult to breathe, and the inhabitants of this planet...god she didn't want to think about it.
How did this happen? How did she come out on the other end alive? How did she stop and banish her father? How did her and her frie...family win? One thing was for sure, it wasn't anything she was expecting, and deffinately not her father, but against all odds, were all hope was gone, somehow they rose against it and defeated her father. Trigon the terrible.
She still couldn't believe it. She had died, became a portal, let her father in to this world, then with her four best friends she beat him back. It seemed so unreal, and yet here she was looking over the newly reformed city with new violet eyes, filled with emotion and gratitude.
In the reflection of the glass, out of the corner of her eye she saw her team leader and rescuer join her at the window.
"Slade got away?" the young girl asked in a gravelly monotone.
Her team leader gazed over the city deep in thought. "If he ever shows his face again, we'll be ready."
They stood their enjoying the comfortable silence the two teens were well known for, but the sounds of their friends in the kitchen still rang through their ears.
"How do you do it?" she asked not turning to face him.
He looked over to her, a puzzled look on his furrowed brow. "Do what?"
She faced him. "Keep hoping. After everything I did, how did you still manage to hope it could all work out?"
Her team leader chuckled as if the answer was obvious. "Becuase of you." It was her turn to looked slightly confused. "You don't realize it, but your actually the most hopeful person I've ever met. From the day you were born, they said you were evil, that you were created to do unspeakable things, but you wished for more. You dared to hope you could be a hero."
She couldn't help but smile as his words sank into her heart. She turned back to gaze over the city. "I thought it was all over, and now suddenly..."
"You have your whole life ahead of you." he finished her thought. "You can decide your own destiny."
Once again she smiled. "I guess in the end...there really is no end. Just new beginnings." A loud clatter from the kitchen drew their attention. She gazed over her friends and teammates. "So what's the deal?" she shouted excitedly to them. "Are we having a party or not?" She floated over to her friends, her team leader right behind her. Joining them in the kitchen she bumped into her green friend who playfully bumped her back with his shoulder and continued with his own tofu gunk.
Yup. New beginnings indeed.
4 hours later. Road outside Jump City,
"I'm telling you, it was alien abduction." Thomas Allen said to his wife Molly.
"Tom we weren't abducted." she said with a roll of her eyes leaning against the passenger side window.
"But the evidence is all there. Time loss. We don't know where we were and yet here we are still on this stretch of road." Night had fallen over the backroads of Jump City and Thomas and Molly were late for an evening engagement. It was the oddest thing. Early that morning they had prepared to head out for the evening that would take all day, then all of the sudden they both seemed to black out only to awaken almost ten hours later. Her husband swore it was alien abduction which only caused her to roll her eyes each time.
"Just don't tell the comittee you think we were abducted by aliens." she pleaded keeping her eyes out the passenger window as her husband drove. As he spoke her eyes caught the sight of someone walking along the side of the road. She didn't pay it any mind since this was a busy road and if that person needed help someone would stop eventually, although she felt differently when she saw him collapse onto the ground. She frantically tapped her husbands shoulder. "Tom stop!"
Not paying the least amount of attention he panicked while slamming on his breaks. "What!? What!?" he looked around the front of the car. "Is it a deer?"
Molly pointed to the figure that collapsed who was still a few feet ahead of them. "That guy just fell over. I think he might be hurt."
Her husband squinted through the darkness looking at the fallen figure. "Oh no. No way this is how horror movies start."
She rolled her eyes again. "We don't have to get out and help him. We just call the police and wait for them to show up and we'll get outta here."
Thomas let out a sigh of exasperation as he grabbed his phone. "Fine. First an Alien abduction and now this." He muttered under his breath. Molly snorted a laugh then looked away from her husband.
"9-1-1 What is your emergency?" the operator over the phone asked.
"Yes Hi, I'm on mile marker-"
Crash!
Molly let out an earpiercing scream as the window on the drivers side was shattered, showering glass into the car and into her husbands face. He screamed, dropping his phone on the floor and attempted to get the glass out of his eyes. With all the comotion Molly was still able to see a hand reach inside and grab a large piece of glass and begin plunging it into her husband's chest, neck and abdomen over and over again. Her screams could be heard all the way back into the city, blood spattering in all different directions, including covering his wifes blonde hair and face. He grunted with each stab, each grunt getting quieter and quieter as life began to fade from his eyes. Shock still surging through her and survival instincts kicking in, she pushed her car door opened and leapt form the vehicle. After doing a roll and getting back to her feet she began sprinting as fast as she could away from the blood bath taking place behind her.
Manic sobs and tears began flowing down her face as she ran. The taste of blood on her tounge and stinging her eyes. She didn't stop, just ran not bothering to look back, but it wouldn't matter.
Black smoke appeared in front of her and took the form of the same man that had just murdered her husband without an ounce of remorse. She stumbled to the pavement in terror as the psychopath loomed over her, the bloody shard of glass still in his hand dripping with her husbands blood. She couldn't find the words to speak, the only thing coming out of her open mouth was sobs and cries. He approached slowly, darkness shrouding his features, at least until his eyes lit up a bright pale white.
Tom was right. This is how a horror movie starts.
2 Years later.
"BOO-YAH!"
The familiar battle cry of the Teen Titan Cyborg filled the air surrounding the small island of the Titans Tower. Victor Stone, or Cyborg as he came to be known by his teammates, had just completed the Titans obstacle course at the base of the tower looking away from the City thet protected. The Afrian-American Male watched with bated breath as the digital clock showed his time. He let out another loud "BOO-YAH" seeing as he beat his high score from the previous week.
"Oh yeah whose bad?!" he shouted flexing his mechanical muscles that covered more then half of his human body. He would be lying if he said he still wasn't self-conscious about his appearence of being half robot, but it had it's perks. Like being stronger, faster, smarter and all around awesome.
His question may have been rhetorical, but he could always count on at least one of his teammates to answer such a question.
"But Friend Cybrog. You are not bad. In fact you are very good at the dogding of obstacles." The sweet innocent voice of the resident alien of the team stopped Cyborg's victory dance, and pulled his gaze to the floating tanned skinned, firey red head. Koriand'r, or Starfire, was from a different planet altogether and was still getting used to the sayings that Earth people had even though she had been on earth for at least six years. Her green eyes glistened with confusion thinking that maybe Cyborg was putting himself down somehow, but he made sure to clerify.
"It's just a figure of speech Star." Cyborg explained. Normally the Teen Titans would have spent a considerable amount of time trying to explain the saying to the alien princess (that's right. A princess slumming it with Earthlings. And she wouldn't have it any other way), however the team leader tugged on her arm to let her know that they needed to move on and he would explain it later.
Not a lot of people were familiar with most of the Teen Titans, but you would have to travel pretty far to not know anything about the Titan leader. Robin, the Boy Wonder, and the previous sidekick to the Dark Knight of Gotham, had led the team of teenagers ever since day one. He was a fantastic leader, if not obsessive on occasion, but to his credit he had toned down since the time with the Brotherhood a year ago. True some of the villains that were put on ice had been released due to legal issues, but the big baddies were still locked away, much to his delight.
However he had other matters on his mind, which unfortunately he had to keep form his team for now.
Robin sat down at the control panel for the course. He moved a few papers around and came to a page full of notes for the courses next runner.
"Beast Boy, your up."
Everyone has a jokester in their group of friends, and Garfield "Beast Boy" Mark Logan took that title proudly.
"Alright lets do this?!" He jumped from his spot behind the control panel and gave his body a good stretch, a toothy smile flasing on his green boyish face. Robin furrowed his brow at the shape shifter in confusion. He never got excited for training. Ever. Yet here he was as if he just got a new video game that he was anxious to play and beat, even if that rarely if ever happened. Before Robin could utter a word Beast Boy took off for the starting line.
He slid to the starting position continuing to stretch his body and glancing at his teammates who were watching, well most of them were watching. Beast Boy couldn't help but notice the quiet member of the Titans had her nose, once again, in a book. Beast Boy snorted in frustration.
Who do I have to kill to get her to notice me?! he growled. Over the past year since the Brotherhood he had made more of an effort to get the attention of the true powerhouse of the Teen Titans, the Half-demon Raven of Azarath. His usual way of trying to get her attention was usually annoying the junk out of her, not on purpose mind you that's just how it would end up, but lately he had tried a more mature approach. Smart conversations, making tea for her, and so on. He had actually made some pretty good headway, but there was still a ways to go. Ever since their first meeting they had a love hate relationship, and that's a generous way of looking at it, but ever since she defeated her father she began to show a little bit more emotion then before. But she was still Raven. Introverted, anti-social, sarcastic, and moody friend to the Titans. Beast Boy just wanted to see who was behind the dark blue cloak, get to know her in a more, for lack of a better word, intimate way. Did he have romantic feelings for her? Maybe, maybe not, but he'd never know if she never looked in his direction twice.
"Go BB!" he heard his best friend Cyborg shout happily. Looking at the control panel he saw his friends seated and cheering him on.
"Yes friend Beast Boy! Go be 'the bad'!" Starfire bounced.
Raven never looked up from her book as she gave her version of a cheer by twirling her finger in the air and in her monotone voice gave a, "Wooooooo."
Beast Boy knit his brows together in thought. How am I going to get her to notice me? He thought for a second then like a lightning bolt he got an idea. A michevious smirk lifting from the corner of his mouth.
Operation "get Raven to notice me" is a go!
"Ready Beast Boy?!" Beast Boy nodded to his team leader who started the timer and the course sprang to life.
Beast Boy sprinted down the course, but had no intention of using his unique animal shape changing abilities. Instead he reached into the files of his memory, siffting through the different animals that could help him over this course. He decided on the skin of a CatFish so he could easily feel the vibrations from the ground and air, and his descision paid off handsomely. Instantly he felt gears and metal shifting beneath him letting him know exactly what was coming. He picked up the pace and stood over the area of earth were the first obstacle was about to appear. A giant metal fist exploded from the ground, with the shape shifter still on top of the metal construct. He was launched into the air and with the reflexes of an ordinary tabby cat he leapt from one fist to the other making it over this section of the course with ease.
His teammates stared in disbelief.
"Whats the grass stain doing?" Cyborg shouted.
"Do you believe he can not shift?" Starfire asked worridly.
"This course isn't designed for his human form. I'm stopping it." Cyborg was about to push the emergency shut off when Robin grabbed his wrist gently pushing it away.
"Actually lets see how this plays out. He seems to be doing fine so far." Robin didn't seem to concerened, but he kept his fingers close to the shut off switch just in case. Whatever was going through the changelings head, it seemed to pay off. With all the chatting and concern for their friend, Raven couldn't help but wrench her nose from her book and watch the spectical unfold.
As the course progressed, his teammates found that they were worried for nothing as Beast Boy completed the course with relative ease. Sure he was behind in his previous times but that was to be expected since he hadn't transformed at all. Other then a few burns, scraps, and other minor injuries the changeling handled the course quite well. He gave a shaky bow as his teammates approached him.
"Dude what was that about?" Cyborg asked shocked appraisal.
Beast Boy grinned. "Hey just wanted to try something different is all."
"How are you feeling?" Robin asked. He couldn't help but notice that Beast Boy was standing on a very wobbly pair of legs.
"Heh well my body isn't really conditioned to handle the kind of strain my animal forms can." He wobbled a bit, but put his arm over Starfire's shoulder keeping him upright.
"Well I say we make this your new training regimine from now on." Robin said proudly. "With enough practice we can get you fighting ready in no time." Beast Boy beamed, it wasn't often that Robin complimented him on anything so he basked in the new feelings of admiration from the teen he looked up to most. Of course he also noticed that they were one short. Looking around his friends towards the control panel he saw that the demoness was gone. His ears dropping a little in mild sadness.
Raven was the last one in the kitchen just as the others were finishing up their lunches. She began to make herself a sandwich with some fruit then glanced around at her friends who were busy doing their own things. Starfire was cuddling with her pet mutant larva, Silky, while Cyborg played one player on the gamestation. Robin was nowhere to be seen and the final member was at the table poking at a block of tofu. Raven often wondered if being a vegetarian also meant he had to eat disgusting food. With her empathic power she could feel an aura of frustration, irritation, and slight sadness coming off the changeling, which was to be expected since she didn't swoon over him after he completed his course in his human form.
Don't worry she was rather impressed with his performance, but knowing him, any praise would have given him a big head, especially praise from her. She had to remind herself that he wasn't the most confident person on the planet, so he enjoyed the compliments when they came. Although she still kicked herself for saying he was "kind of funny", and her "Happy" emoticlone didn't help. Watching him fiddle with his food she wondered what was on his mind and way he was so down. Maybe a "good job" wouldn't hurt, after all she was free to feel a little more so where was the harm?
Beast Boy poked at his food, frustration flaring in his chest. He was sure Raven could feel what he was feeling at the moment, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Really what did he have to do for her to notice him? The soft clink of a plate caused him to look up and to his surprise Raven took a seat in front of him.
"I uh..." come on Raven you can do this, it's just Beast Boy for crying out loud. "You did a good job on the course today."
Immediately his emotional feedback spun to the other side of the dial so fast it made her head spin, however he kept it cool. She found it amusing that he tried to play it off as nothing even though his emotions betrayed him.
"Thanks Rae. Just trying something knew." Once again he tried to play it cool, but Raven could practically hear him doing a victory dance in his mind, causing her to shake her head with a small eye roll. Why did he put so much stock in her opinion? In her observations of other teens, it seemed they would want to impress someone only if they...
Her plate shattered impaling her sandwhich with pieces of glass, the horrifying thought now at the forefront of her mind.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to look in the direction of the demoness who wore a look of embarressment for letting the control of her powers slip.
"Rae are you-"
"My name is Raven, and I'm fine." She didn't mean to sound so snappy with him, but she was flustered and wanted to get away from him. She stood up, carefully gathering the pieces of the broken plate and deposited them in the trash. Beast Boy watched her go from cool and calm to freaking out and snapping at him in less then half a second. He sighed as she left the common room, a new sandwhich in her hands.
One step forward, ten steps back. He slumped again poking at his food mindlessly.
He heard the swishing of the doors again, but didn't bother looking to see who it was. Not like he needed to, since he heard the steel toed boots along with the fluttering of a cape, and smelt cheap hair gel, so it wasn't a mystery who had just walked in. What was a mystery was why the team leader approached him.
"Hey Beast Boy can I get your help with something?" All eyes turned to Robin now, silence ringing through the common room.
Beast Boy looked up at his team leader, waiting for the punchline. When none came, "Robin it's me Beast Boy."
Robin expected this to happen. It wasn't every day he or anyone asked for his help. "I'm being serious Beast Boy, I need you for something. Can you come with me to my office?" Beast Boy was quiet for a bit longer, still waiting for the hidden camera guy to pop out telling him it was a joke. Still when nothing happened he hesitantly stood up and followed the Boy Wonder to his office. Cyborg and Starfire began a prayer vigil for their friend, knowing that if Robin wanted to see him, it wasn't going to be pretty.
Beast Boys heart was beating in his ears now, and only got faster when Robin shut the door to his office locking it, leaving the two teen heroes alone.
"Ok Rob whatever I did, I didn't do I swear." Beast Boy said as he sweated perfusely.
"Beast Boy your not in-"
"Okay it was me that unscrewed the top off the salt, but it Cyborg was the one that put foor dye in your hair!"
Robin glared, "That was Cyborg?" Robin shook his head clearing his thoughts. "I'll deal with that later. Your not in trouble Beast Boy I honestly do need your help."
Beast Boy examined his leaders face. He was completely serious with a hint of concern in his tone of his vocie. Beast Boy was now puzzled but got into his own serious mode.
"Oh...uh...what do you need?" Robin walked past him and approached the large screen computer at the front of his office. He typed a few codes and took a seat then motioned to another chair for Beast Boy to sit down. The screen lit up showing the three faces of the other Teen Titan leaders from around the country. Bumble Bee, the strong willed insectile teen women of the Titans East, Red Star, the former Russian soldier of the Titans North, and Bushido, the samurai warrior of the Titans South.
"Are we live?" Bumble Bee asked.
"We are and this is a clear channel. No one, not even Cyborg, can see or hear what we're saying."
Beast Boy was now more confused. "Robin what's going on?"
Robin got a little more serious, if that is even possible, and turned to Beast Boy. "Beast Boy what we're going to talk about can NOT leave this room. Do you understand?" Beast Boy nodded, his mouth slightly open in shock and confusion. Robin cleared his throat. "Beast Boy, over the last month and a half several Honorary Titans have gone missing." The changeling's eyes widened, his jaw continuing to drop.
"And we're here trying to compare notes." said Bushido.
"Well," Beast Boy cleared his throat nervously, "whose gone missing?"
"So far. Jericho, Herald, Hotspot, and Argent." Red Star answered.
Robin typed a few commands on the keyboard and a map of the country appeared, red dots indicating where the Titan Towers were. "From what we've found out the first to go missing were Argent and Hotspot after their engagement party at the beginning of September. Which was here." The dot where the Titans South Tower was located lit up.
"Then The Herald in Steele City." Bushido mentioned, the dot for the Titans East lighting up.
"And finally our comrade Jericho here." Red Star connected the three dots at the Titans North Tower.
"If the pattern continues then we're next." Beast Boy commented.
"Well Beast Boy that's the thing," Bumble Bee got their attention, "Aqualad has been missing for the past five days, and he was last spotted just off the coast of Southern California not far from you guys. He and Kid Flash dealt with an oil rig explosion almost a week ago."
"I remember that. We were excited we didn't have to go out there." Beast Boy was still trying to piece together what they had been telling him. "Why aren't we telling anyone else?"
Bushido answered. "We don't want any of our teammates to worry, especially since we don't know they are 'missing' or they could just away on other business. It's not uncommon for Hotspot and Argent to run off on occasion to meet up with a friend of theres named Cody. Now that they're newly engaged we can probably see more of that."
"Kole mentioned Jericho would often hike up the mountains alone and would be gone for extended periods of time, and The Herald was always dimention hopping so it's not an impossible notion that they could just be away." Red Star had a point, but he seemed like he was trying to convince himself more then anyone else.
"Well what do you guys need me for?" Beast Boy asked.
"We're reaching out to all of our sister organizations for help, we want you to visit your old team, the Doom Patrol and see if maybe the Brotherhood of Evil might be involved. We did just take them down a year ago after all, and this was there M.O. then too. I've been in contact with the Justice League and so far have come up with nothing." Beast Boy nodded, letting the information sink in. "Are you ok?" Robin put his hand on his friends shoulder noticing his ears drooping slightly.
"I will do what I can, Rob. I wont let you or our friends down." Beast Boy, the positive jokester of the group, had to be the light that his friends needed, that was his job and he felt he did it well. Now his teammates needed that now more then ever.
5 Days ago.
Aqualad had been awake for the last twenty minutes and so far he wasn't able to make heads of tails about where he was, or who captured him, or anything. The first thing he noticed upon waking was that he was lying on a metal table that was positioned at a 45 degree angle, unlike other captures however he wasn't restrained in a usual manner, or usual for a superhero. Normally he would expect to be strapped down by metal restraints, or leather straps, but this time he was being held down with lots and lots of plastic wrap. He was strapped down in a spread eagle fashion, his uniform removed, and his forehead wrapped tightly making it to where only his eyes could move.
The other oddity about this capture what that there was no power canceling collar. Villains these days had become so predictable that heroes could expect a collar or some other power canceling device of some nature. However he could feel his power sugring through him and if there was any water around he probably could have used them, but he felt none. What kind of kidnapping is this?
Looking around one more time he saw he was in an empty room with a lone light fixture hanging overhead. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a metal tray with a sheet covering something, he wasn't sure what but he was putting some of the pieces together.
Torture huh? Well this should be interesting.
As he tested his bonds again he suddenly felt very sick to his stomach, a heavy feeling beginning to settle over his stomach, chest and shoulders. He felt as if the room was getting smaller and could swear he could see a darkness creeping along the walls and floor. A shiver ran down his spine causing goosebumps to appear on his flesh as the heaviness got worse and worse. Then finally, footsteps.
Aqualad heard someone fiddling with the latches to the door, then someone sliding the heavy metal door open, this was occompanied by the sound of something being placed on the floor, then a button being pressed. Suddenly the small dark room was filled with the sounds of music, more specifically, Redbone's Come and Get Your Love.
Finally a voice.
"Over the years your species has created many fascinating things, but I have to say music has been my personal favorite. Even before bombs and guns believe it or not."
The voice was clearly male, and it was ice cold causing another shiver to run down the Atlantean's spine. He sensed no emotion coming from the man now in the room with him. The music playing was quiet, enough to where Aqualad could hear footsteps approaching him. Finally he was face to face with his captor, another shiver running down his spine.
He had never seen him before, and he would have remembered him if he had. He seemed to be an older man with a receading hairline, long sideburns with hair that covered what seemed to be slightly pointed ears. His small lifeless eyes looked over Aqualad with a sense of hunger and excitement, his lips curled into an evil sneer that seemed to amplify the evil twinkle in his eye.
Aqualad struggled against the plastic wrapping. "Who are you?" was all he could think to say at the moment.
The evil twinkle flickered excitedly. "Names Carnus. Carnus Valogneus, and I already know who you are. Garth." Aqualad furrowed his brow. No one knew his real name minus a few of the Titans and some Atlanteans which he seriously doubted this guy was either. Noticing his confusiong Carnus clarified. "I can see inside your mind my friend, which is different from a mind reader. Instead of seeing thoughts, I actually see the whole thing like having a front row seat at a movie theatre, including someone named Tula calling you by your first name."
Aqualad clenched his fists in anger. How dare he say the name of his first love and childhood friend.
Once again the twinkle flashed. "Oh sorry did I say something wrong? And here I thought you were over her. Guess not huh?"
"What do you want? Where am I?" Carnus chuckled at the questions, leaving his line of sight and going over to the metal tray. Out of the corner of his eye Aqualad saw him fiddling with the sheet.
Carnus ripped the cover off of the metal tray to reveal a rolled up leather bag being held together by some buckles. After undoing the buckles and unrolling the bag, it housed about eight razor sharp knives of varying sizes, shapes, and texture. The gleam of the light reflecting off of the metal surface shined in his eyes, his grin growing even wider. He ran his finger of the smooth metal of the blade savoring it's touch, the cool feel sending a shiver down his spine in anticipation. Over the last two years he performed this ritual, and each time it grew even more intoxicating. Beging a creature from Hell, he had no feelings, emotions, or the like, but being here, knives sharpened and cleaned, victim on his table ready to be carved into like a thanksgiving turkey, he felt...alive.
Of course it would be better once he got started, then the screams of agony would fill the small room enveloping his senses like a warm hug. Although the one that was mute was slightly dissapointing so he had to settle for watching the fear in his eyes. Excitingly different? Sure, but he loved to hear his victims. So far the most entertaining was the young newly engaged couple, now if only they were more like them, but the pleading for one another did get old after a while.
He withdrew one of the smaller knives, looked it over then approached the trapped Atlantean. Aqualad flinched slightly at the shimmer of the knife, but kept his bravado. "If you think'll I'll talk after seeing that little knife, your going to be dissappointed." Aqualad thought hard who this guy could be working for. The BrotherHood? Brother Blood? It didn't matter, his teammates would find him, he knew it.
Carnus started at his reflection in the knife. "Thats good Garth, I dont expect you to talk." Carnus walked to his side out of Aqualads sight. "Because im not asking any questions." A feeling of euphoria washed over him as he heard the Atlantean screaming as he dug the knife into his bare flesh.
God how he loved the sound.
Somewhere in Southern California, a half demon sorceress curled tighter into a ball as she slept. A familiar pain stabbing her in the heart.
Well that was intense. Was it better then the last time? For those the read both? Is it good this time? Let me know.
Next time we'll meet two more OC's that are vital to this storyline, then the Titans will continue the search for their friend. Will they find them in time? What has become of the others. I guess we'll find out next time.
