Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. More gender-bent shenanigans you ask? Yes please! (Okay, so maybe you didn't really ask for anything, but I felt like doing a gender-bender, so deal with it!) And since I'm such a massive fan of the emoticlones it only seems fitting that I should do this universe's version of the Nevermore episode. Enjoy!
One more pun about light and screw handing him to the police, Crow was going to hand him over to a mortician! Or would it be a grave-digger?
Regardless, Dr. Light was really getting on his nerves. Forget his hellspawn of a mother, this lady was infuriating!
"What's the matter?" Dr. Light laughs as she grins down on the five heroes. The street around them lies in ruins, smoke rises from every visible vehicle "Can't face the light?"
"Nope." Changeling says, turning away. "To damn ugly for me." A grin spreads across the green girl's face as she hears the doctor sputter in indignation.
A vein pulses in the egotistical lady's head as she aims an arm blaster at the offender. The shapeshifter snickers and avoids the shot with a simple sidestep.
"Titans GO!" Robyn cries, intending to take full advantage of Light's momentary distraction. The Titans lunge forward, all trying to strike the doctor at the same time.
Dr. Light shrieks and hops backward off her perch on a pile of cars. She backpeddles rapidly and throws a few small marbles at the pursuing teens.
Robyn and Crow manage to get their cape and cloak up in time to block the flash, Cyborg just closes her human eye and ignores it, and Changeling just manages to run past the marbles before they detonate.
Starfire, sadly, doesn't manage to block the flash. He cries out and raises his hands up to his eyes as he falls from the air. Robyn immediately skids to a halt and leaps backwards to catch her teammate. The two crash to the hard asphalt in a heap.
"Thank you..." Starfire groans as he rubs his eyes. He blinks rapidly in an attempt to clear his vision when he hears Robyn yelling at him.
"Get off! We need to go after Light!" Robyn hollers, trying in vain to shove the alien boy off her stomach. The prince of Tamaran pushes himself off the ground with a grunt, followed quickly by the martial artist.
Further up the street the three other Titans are having trouble dealing with Dr. Light. Cyborg tries, and fails, to blast the villainess with her sonic cannon. Light retaliates with a strange red blob of energy that ends up blasting the metallic girl into a car and melting it around her. It quickly solidifies, leaving Cyborg trapped.
Changeling is next up to bat. She shifts into a rhino and rushes Dr. Light. Much to her surprise, Light manages to jump up and onto her back before leaping off and unleashing a hail of shots from her arm blaster. The green girl goes down, unable to stay conscious due to pain.
Sensing that Robyn and Starfire are sneaking up on her, Light whips back her arm, which is trailing red energy. The two stealthy Titans suddenly find themselves flying backwards and into a wall. Once again, Starfire lands on Robyn. Despite the situation, Cyborg can't help but think that under different circumstances the position they landed in would have... Certain implications.
Robyn wasn't going to be happy about that.
Crow, on the other hand, is more concerned with fighting the villainess than studying how to mock his friends later. He allows a hiss to escape through clenched teeth as he gets smashed by an energy-infused punch. He too is sent flying down the street, but he doesn't hit anything on the way.
"Is the little vampire afraid of some light?" Dr. Light chuckles as Crow groans and clutches his head. "Don't worry little one. The doctor is here to help."
"I'm no vampire." The cloaked boy growls, his voice is noticeably distorted. "I'm a demon!"
The villainess' face grows pale as Crow's form starts to grow. It stops at about twice his original height, or about half a meter taller than Dr. Light. Crow's four, new, red eyes lock onto the cowering doctor.
"Crap." Is the only word Light manages to squeak out before a tendrils of black energy rushes out of Crow's enlarged cloak to wrap around the doctor's leg. She immediately starts shouting "I surrender!" as the enraged half-demon draws her closer and closer.
Changeling, having woken up due to her moderate regeneration powers, immediately starts crawling towards her wrathful teammate. However, she isn't fast enough to reach him before Dr. Light is dragged under his cloak.
"Crow!" She manages to cough. "Stop! She surrendered! Crow!"
Crow immediately stiffens upon hearing the green girl's voice. His eyes flicker for a moment before returning to their normal violet hue. He shrinks down in size and Changeling can see emerge from his cloak; shivering and mumbling to herself.
"Crow... What did you do?" Cyborg asks in a clearly horrified tone. "You broke her didn't you?!" Changeling shoots her a glare upon hearing this.
Crow hunches his shoulders and covers his face with his cloak. His voice comes out sounding broken and distressed. "N-Need to be al-alone." He tries to walk off, but Changeling manages to snag his cloak.
"Crow." She says hoarsely, managing to stagger to her feet despite the splitting headache. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Crow fidgets for a moment. His eyes, barely visible under the hood, dart from Cyborg to Robyn and back to the shapeshifter in front of him. "N-No." He manages after a moment. "Just l-leave me be." His form then melts into the ground, leaving Changeling extremely worried.
"Man..." Cyborg says. "That guy has seriously lost it, and I thought that-"
"I don't think you WERE thinking!" The green girl hisses, interrupting her teammate. "He just had some sort of freak out and all you do is blaming him?"
"He traumatized someone!"
"I know!" Changeling roars, causing Cyborg to back off. "But he is still our friend! We should be trying to figure out what's wrong before even CONSIDERING putting any blame on him!"
The metallic teen winces. She knows her green friend is overreacting because of her affection for Crow, but that doesn't stop her points from ringing true. A large amount of guilt seeps into her mind and her shoulders sag.
"Look Change, I'm sorry, k? I didn't mean to jump to conclusions, I was just kinda... Terrified."
Changeling sighs and slumps down to the floor. "Me to." She admits. "And I've seen Crow REALLY mad before, but I always knew that there was no actual risk of him hurting one of us, but if that look had been directed at you, or me... I'm not so sure if what I "know" would be right anymore."
"Owe ye a little faith." Robyn grunts. The two teens turn to see their leader being carried by their remaining male teammate. "If there was one thing I learned from the beast incident, it was to not be so quick to doubt a friend. Plus, it isn't like we haven't seen Crow's demon form before."
"This is all quite interesting." Starfire says, butting into the conversation. "But perhaps we could be doing the going to home now so that we may attend to your injuries?"
The three other Titans nod their agreement, having almost forgotten their injuries en lieu of Crow's freak out, and they all start flying home.
###
"Shut up! Shut up!" Crow hisses. He puts his hands on his ears in an attempt to block out the egging of his possessed red emoticlone.
"Come on." Rage whispers. "It felt good to be that strong, to be powerful, to CONTROL."
"No. It. Didn't." The empath growls in response.
"Oh, come on." Rage chuckles. "It was fun. You saw the looks on your friends' faces, they knew how much better you were than them. They looked up to your strength, they FEARED you!"
"And how is that supposed to be a good thing?!" Crow moans.
###
The four other Titans arrive back at home, battered and bruised, but none of them want to risk disturbing Crow to make use of his healing abilities.
Well, no one except Changeling of course; because, while worried about Crow's reaction, she figures that this is the very least she can do considering the trust he has shown in her before. (Guardian Beast is what I'm referring to here.)
So, despite her her misgivings and the warnings of her other teammates, Changeling makes her way to Crow's room. She is immediately alerted of a problem when she can hear her friend yelling at someone. Against her better judgment, she puts an ear to the door and listens in.
"No! I refuse to be a pawn in her game!"
Silence...
"You can't make me! I won't!"
Silence...
"I am no portal! I am a person!"
More silence... Then...
"I-I know I'd be useless without the gift of her powers, but I'll make better use of them than she ever would! Because I at least have a shred of decency! No matter how small it may be!"
That is a bit more than Changeling wants to hear. She came here thinking that Crow was perhaps just extremely angry today, but this exchange with... No one. Seems to indicate her teammate has more issues than he is willing to let on.
The shapeshifter's ears perk up upon hearing Crow speak again. This time he mutters something about tea and makes towards his door. Changeling quickly morphs herself into a fly and hovers above the doorframe. As much as she wants to talk to Crow, she would hate to admit that she was eavesdropping while he is obviously in distress.
But she still wants to comfort him... "Damnit, why couldn't I just have walked in and not eavesdropped?" Changeling whines mentally to herself. "Now I either reveal myself and the fact that I listened in, or I don't and just leave Crow to his misery."
Crow walks out the door and right by her. Changeling curses that, at the moment she needs it most, her normal confidence eludes her.
"I can seduce him all day long but I can't just admit that I listened in when he needs comfort? What sort of friend am I...?" If a fly could look regretful, Changeling certainly managed it. Despite this, she still wishes to know exactly who, or what, Crow was talking to and enters his room before the door closes.
To be blunt, it looks like a bomb went off. Most of Crow's belongings are scattered around the room. Yes normal darkness is dispelled by the light coming from the window, probably because the blinds have been ripped off. There is an almost perfect circle of nothing in the middle of the room. In the center of the circle, however, is a strange, ornate hand mirror.
The mirror is obviously valuable. It seems to be made from some sort of special rock, and it has gems embedded in it.
"Is this what Crow was talking to?" Changeling whispers, approaching the object cautiously. "It certainly looks sinister..." Upon having made her way to the room's center, the green girl leans down and picks up the mirror, being sure to hold it as far away from herself as possible. She takes a small glance into the object, and is supposed to see not her reflection, but four red eyes staring back at her.
Changeling drops the mirror with a small shriek and backs up. A large black claw reaches out, grabs her leg, and starts dragging her towards the reflective surface. The green girl struggles, but is helpless to resist being dragged into the mirror.
###
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." Crow mutters as he hovers on the roof. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..."
"Crow?"
The half-demon opens an eye and glances over his shoulder at his metallic teammate. "What?"
"Look, I just came to say that I feel bad about overreacting earl-"
"Don't be." Crow interrupts. "I did possibly traumatize someone. You have every right to react like you did."
"Yeah. Well Changeling will have a fit if she finds out that I made ya feel like crap and didn't apologize for it."
Crow isn't sure weather to be grateful for his green friend's consideration, or insulted that she thinks him so fragile as to fall apart over a single accusation.
"Who am I kidding?" He thinks to himself with a sigh. "I can barely keep my emotions in check. If I Rage hadn't been influencing me I might have fallen apart after all. Though without Rage the situation would never have happened."
Cyborg has been talking the entire time and Crow hasn't really been paying any attention. "-And then Change said something about going to see if you were alright so I-"
That grabs his attention. "Wait? What?" He asks, interrupting the metallic girl. "I haven't seen her since I came back, are you sure she was trying to to find me?"
"Yeah. I'm sure." Cyborg replies, similarly confused. "She went straight for your room."
"Well she didn't knock and I didn't see her." Crow huffs. "Maybe she finally decided to give me a damn break."
The half-robot snorts and walks away. Just as she opens the door to enter the tower once more, she says "I highly doubt that. You know Changeling wouldn't let anything stop her from pestering you if she though you needed cheering up." With that said, Cyborg slips back into the tower.
###
"WAAAAUGH!"
Changeling drops out of the portal and lands butt-first on a giant floating rock. Not the most comfortable landing.
"Geeze. Couldn't they afford a throw-pillow?" She whines, rubbing her behind. She stands up and glances around at her new surroundings. "Where the hell am I?"
This place is like none she's ever seen: vast, empty, and dark. There seems to be absolutely no one around. Actually, Changeling can't see anything for miles except her slab of rock.
And a giant towering demoness. There was that too.
Luckily the giant, red freak-of-nature isn't looking her way, so Changeling shifts into a bug until she can think of what to do. Her answer comes quicker than expected.
Let the awesome guy in green kick the demoness' butt.
The pale boy in the green cloak comes flying out of nowhere, charging towards his massive foe at full speed. He smashes his shoulder right into the red monster's head and sends her stumbling backwards.
Now that she thinks of it, Changeling can't actually see what the demoness is standing on, her legs just seem to disappear at some point. Deciding to lend a hand to the random green guy, she shifts into a large pteranodon (Yes, that is how it's spelled. I looked it up) and takes off towards the raging red monster.
"YOU WILL NOT STOP ME!" The demoness roars. "RAGE SHALL CONUME YOU ALL! NO CLONE WILL STOP ME. MY SON SHALL BE MY SERVANT!"
"That doesn't sound good." Changeling thinks, preparing to strike her unsuspecting enemy. "She has to be talking about Crow. Considering that mirror belongs to him and it leads here..."
The pteranodon shakes its head clear of distracting thoughts before swooping down into a steep dive aimed at the demoness' head. She morphs into a blue whale at the last moment and sends the monster crashing down to the... Void? Floor? Whatever. The point is that the ugly freak goes down and disappears.
As if by magic, multiple rock platforms rise up from the abyss to form a rocky path starting from Changeling's original entry point. The whale turns briefly into a crow before landing on the path and returning to human form.
The green-cloaked boy hesitates a moment before hovering down to meet her.
Changeling does a double-take upon seeing him up close. "Crow?!" She asks, shocked. "Since when do you wear green?!"
"He doesn't." The pale boy responds. "Though I admit, it would be nice if he wore something other dark blue."
"Hold up, so you're NOT Crow?"
"Kinda."
"Kinda?"
"Kinda."
"Explain."
"No."
"Why not?"
"You don't need to know. I'm getting you out of here."
Changeling narrows her eyes and grins. The pale boy watches her warily.
"You think I can't get you to tell me?" She asks, her voice starting to become a bit more teasing.
The half-demon swallows slightly. "Right. There is absolutely no way I'm going to tell you anything. I won't be intimida-"
In a split second Changeling manages to slide right up next to the nervous boy and wrap an arm around his shoulder. She leans close to his ear, allowing her lips to tickle the lobe.
"Who said anything about intimidation?"
"Aww, crap." The green-cloaked boy squeaks. He struggles to get away, but his tremendous strength seems to have failed him.
"So, who exactly are you?" Changeling whispers, not moving her mouth any further away.
"N-Not telling!"
"C'mon..." The shapeshifter purrs, using her unoccupied arm to grab his nearest wrist. "You can trust me."
The boy gulps, but doesn't speak.
Changeling smirks, and presses her chest against his arm, causing him to blush madly. "Just a name. Nothing more." She offers. She digs her nose into the bottom of his jaw and tries not to laugh when she hears his sharp intake of breath and sees the sweat trickling down his face.
"N-No. I shouldn't." He says weakly. "But... No."
"But what?" The green girl presses. "What is it?"
"I shouldn't talk to anyone who isn't a clone..."
"A clone?" Changeling is somewhat confused, but she doesn't let the boy go. "What are you talking about?"
The cloaked boy glances around nervously. "Don't take advantage of this alright?" He whispers, finally giving in. "I'm all that's stopping him from breaking down as is."
Changeling nods and releases her pre- Uhhh, the boy.
He couches once, straightens his cloak, and introduces himself. "I go by the name Brave, th-"
"Brave?!" Changeling laughs, interrupting already. "You were terrified of me!"
"You're the exception I guess." He mutters, looking at her sheepishly. "I wasn't afraid of the giant demon was I? Now can I continue?"
"Yeah, yeah. Go on, BRAVE."
"Like I said, I go by Brave, though I'm actually just a part of Crow."
"A PART of Crow?" Changeling growls, immediately suspicious. "What happened to him? What did you do?"
Brave raises his hands. "I didn't do anything! I've always been here, and always will."
"Where is here?"
"Crow's mind."
...
"You're kidding." Changeling finally says, glancing around. "This is one of those hidden camera shows, right?"
"Nope."
"Man, poor Crow." The shapeshifter sighs, sitting down on the path. "Stuck with someone as cowardly as you for his bravery."
"Hey!" Brave huffs. "I'm the bravest there is!"
Changeling raises an eyebrow and gives a small grin.
"Just... Maybe not around you."
"Hmm..." The green girl hums, staring up at Brave. "Is it because I'm just so sexy you get distracted?"
"Ehh... No?"
Changeling glares at him. "So you don't think I'm good looking?"
"No!"
"So I'm distracting you."
"This is one of those "No good answer" questions isn't it?" Brave thinks as he flounders for an answer. "Aha!" "Why don't you ask Crow once you get out of here? I'm just a part of him, so he'll be able to answer better than me."
Changeling raises an eyebrow. "I was asking why if I was distracting YOU."
Brave gulps.
The shapeshifter decides she's toyed with him enough and stands up. The cloaked boy backs up a few steps, fearing some form of punishment for not answering correctly. Changeling just shoots a smirk his way. "Not even brave enough to accept punishment for being rude. Poor Crow."
Brave fidgets.
The shapeshifter's face softens and she takes a step towards the nervous emoticlone. "Calm down Brave, like I've said before: I won't ever actually hurt Crow, and since you ARE Crow, that extends to you."
The green-cloaked boy lets out a sigh of relief. "We better get going." He says almost immediately. "You should leave before someone even less brave then me sees you."
This confuses Changeling to no end. "Why?"
"You think I was nervous? What do you figure would happen if we ran into Timid?" Brave chuckles, and starts walking down the path."
The shapeshifter grins and follows behind him. "I think I'd give him a... Confidence boost."
"You mean traumatize him."
"Same thing."
"Well if you try to give him a confidence boost the same way you normally try to "pursuade" Crow to do anything, then I seriously fear for his sanity."
"And that's a bad thing?" Changeling whispers seductively, sliding up beside the pale boy once more. "Acting like this would be a problem?"
Brave shifts nervously, but otherwise doesn't react too much. "Yes. Because Timid is the most unstable of all of us. You'll give him a damn heart attack."
The shapeshifter huffs and distances herself from Brave. "Fine. If we come across Timid I'll try to restrain myself."
"If we come across ANYONE else you need to restrain yourself, even Knowledge."
"You're trying to tell me not to act like myself around my friends?"
"Well... Yeah. These are kinda extreme circumstances though."
Changeling mutters under her breath for a moment, but eventually sighs and agrees. "But now, how am I supposed to talk to anyone else we come across? They're all Crow, and it feels weird to try and be casual with him, I could barely get him to talk to me by being casual. That's ONE of the original reasons I started being seductive towards him."
She looks over at Brave who meets her gaze for a second before averting his eyes.
"The other just being because I happen to like him. How he hasn't figured that out is beyond me."
###
Crow was meditating one the roof, chanting his mantra over and over. Cyborg had come up to talk to him a moment ago, apologizing for her earlier reaction. She had also asked if he had seen Changeling, which he hadn't. His green teammate had apparently gone to talk to him, though she hasn't been seen since.
The half-demon continues his meditation, finding a measure of calm through this ritual. Of course, since the universe never gives him a break, this doesn't last.
A sudden flash of rage consumes the boy, causing him to grit his teeth and try to ignore the ranting of his possessed emoticlone. Moments later, much to his surprise, Rage stops ranting and a sense of nervousness, combined with an out-of-place feeling of safety overtakes Crow.
Strange, considering the sorcerer was fairly sure Brave had been the one to silence Rage for the moment, and Brave is never nervous. Well, almost never, but Changeling isn't around so there is no reason for him to be acting like this. Nonetheless, Crow will take being constantly nervous over murderously angry any day. Mostly because there are less chances of things randomly blowing up.
###
"Just stay quiet and we'll get through there without alerting HIM." Brave whispers quietly, pointing at a strange stone arch.
"Who's HIM?" Changeling asks. "What's so bad about him?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Brave motions her to follow him through the arch. The shapeshifter is surprised to see him disappear upon entering. She takes a deep breath, and follows.
Whatever she was expecting, it sure as hell wasn't this. A land full of glowing, floating waffles and tree trunks with massive strawberries on them. A bright pink sun has appeared in the now lime-colored sky.
"Welcome to Happyland." Brave says grimly. "Where imagination reigns supreme."
"Terrifying." Changeling snorts. "I bet whoever lives here is completely awful, this place is just way to cheery for Crow." The sarcasm is dripping from her voice.
"Shh!" Brave hisses, putting a finger to his lips. "We don't want to let Happy know we're here!"
"Why not?" A cheery voice asks, popping out from behind one of the strawberry trees. The pink-cloaked boy's eyes widen upon seeing Changeling, and a massive grin splits his face. "Change!" He cries, dashing towards the green girl. "Itssogoodtoseeyouhowdidyougethereandwhatsgoingondoyouwanttoplaytag?!" He says, sucking in a deep breath breath to regain lost air.
"English please." Brave sighs.
"Itssogoodtoseeyouhowdi-"
"He means slower." Changeling laughs, returning his grin.
Happy takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down before speaking again. "It's so good to see you! How did you get here and what's going on? Do you want to play tag?"
"Uhh; thanks, not sure, we're trying to get me out of here, and sure."
"No!" Brave says, butting in. "No! No tag! We don't have time for that!"
"Awww..." Happy pouts, giving Brave puppy dog eyes. "Pleaaaase?"
"No! We need to get her out before Rage recovers."
"No fair!" The pink boy complains. "I bet you got to play with her and you just don't want me to!"
"What?!" Brave huffs. "Of course not! I don't play."
"Yes you do!"
"What would I possibly play with Changeling?" The green-cloaked boy sighs.
"Wrestling."
Brave chokes and Changeling holds back a laugh.
"I bet you lost didn't you?" Happy teases. "You probably got distracted, and I don't mean by a squirrel."
Brave's face is positively flaming. "Shut up! We didn't do anything of the sort! And there is no way I would have lost!"
"Uh huh."
"What? Like you could do any better?"
"I'm willing to try." Happy jokes, shooting a wink at the green girl watching this with great amusement. The shapeshifter is laughing at Brave's embarrassment. It would seem she doesn't even need to do anything for others to make assumptions.
"Heh, maybe we should be calling him Brave." Changeling jokes to the fuming green-cloaked boy. "He's a lot more outspoken then you."
Brave shoots the shapeshifter a glare, while still trying to fight his blush. "Just because I don't run my mouth off every chance I get doesn't make me a coward." He grumbles.
"Brave is a coward! Brave is a coward!" Happy sings, dancing around. "Coward, coward, coward, coward, cowaaaaard!"
You can practically see the steam rising from Brave's head. Poor guy.
"Come on..." He growls. "We need to get moving."
"I wanna come!" Happy chirps.
"I doubt I could stop you if I tried. So I won't." Brave groans. "Let's move."
###
So... EMBARRASSED. Crow doesn't even know why, all he knows is that he doesn't want anyone around at the moment. He rushes down the stairs, passes a surprised Starfire, and dashes to his room, slamming the door (can you slam an automatic door?). He sits down and takes a deep breath, trying to calm down.
"Crow?" Starfire calls, knocking at the door. "Are you okay?"
"Fine!" He replies as casually as possible. "J-Just fine!"
"Are you plus?"
"Plus?"
"Is that not how to ask if one is sure of something?"
"The term is "positive" Star."
"I thought positive was the thing Cyborg says you are not. Was she mistaken?"
A vein pulses on Crow's head. He storms over to the door and throws it open. "When did she say that?!" The half-demon hisses.
"Yesterday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, twice on Sunday, Satur-"
"I get it!" The sorcerer interrupts. "No need to list ever single occasion."
Starfire nods, hesitates, then asks "Crow... Why is your face all red? Did you burn yourself?"
"No."
"Are you mad?"
"Slightly."
"Did Changeling do the attacking again?"
"Wha-? NO!"
The alien prince squints at his friend in open suspicion. "You are sweating friend Crow. You did the lying."
"No, I didn't."
"What did she do?"
"Nothing!"
"So you did something to her?"
"HELL NO."
"Aha!" Starfire drops a fist into and open palm. "You made the shower mistake as well!"
"I SAID NO!"
###
The three Titans walk along the rock path. They had left Happy's domain long ago, but nothing else has appeared yet.
"I'm so boooored." Changeling complains.
"Work on your jokes." Brave suggests sarcastically. "Maybe you'll finally make a good one."
The shapeshifter considers this, and grins. "Or I could work on improving my... Other talents." She coos. A single step in his direction is all it takes to make Brave leap away. "And you said that I would need restrain myself around others. I think you're the only one who is actually intimidated here."
"Cooooooward!" Happy chimes in, still grinning like mad.
"I hate you both." Brave grumbles.
As if waiting for his complaint, massive stone walls erupt from the ground, surrounding the three teens. The walls are a dull grey and completely featureless, giving the place a very depressing aura.
Changeling turns into a crow, thinking she can just fly over the maze. Brave quickly reaches out and grabs her leg as she takes off. The shapeshifter looks down at the emoticlone under her in curiosity.
"Don't!" He shouts hurriedly. "There's an electric area-denial spell above us. You'll get zapped if you try to fly too high."
The green bird caws in irritation before returning to human form, and because she was situated directly above Brave she returns to human form sitting on his head.
"Nice hat!" Happy snorts, watching as Changeling proceeds to tease Brave as he tries to lift her off his head. "Can I have one to?"
Brave growls in annoyance as the green girl deftly deflects his hands when he tries to grab her. Deciding he's had enough, he simply tilts his head forward, expecting her to slide right off. Sadly, Changeling foresaw this and shimmies backwards. Now the poor green emoticlone has the shapeshifter's legs wrapped around his neck as she circles her arms around during his forehead to regain her balance.
"Just. Get. Off!" He yells, trying again to pull her off.
"Most guys would kill to have girl like me flirting with them like this, but noo..." Changeling mutters as she stoutly refuses to be dislodged.
"You are more than welcome to go bother Crow instead." Brave hisses. "But we need to keep moving if you want to do that."
The green girl huffs out her irritation as she slides off Brave's back. "I guess he really is just a PART of Crow. He doesn't get nearly as flustered all the time." She clears her throat before asking "So where are we now?"
"This is Timid's place!" Happy informs her cheerily. "It's totally gloomy and needs more waffles!"
"And what's Timid like?"
"The poor guy is scared of his own shadow." Brave sighs, motioning them to follow. "Worst part is, we need his help to get out of here. Only he and Crow actually know the way through."
The three of them start trudging around the maze, looking for Timid. They take turn after turn, but don't find anything. It's only after a few more minutes of aimless wandering that Changeling notices something amiss. Light footsteps, following them.
The moment the group of three turns the next bend, Changeling signals for the others to go on ahead for a moment, and waits around the corner. When a shadow passes close by, Changeling leaps out as a lioness and tackles the figure casting it.
Brave and Happy are alerted that something has happened by a loud scream of fear. They rush back to find Timid trembling on he floor with Changeling sheepishly leaning over him on all fours.
"I thought I told you to restrain yourself!" Brave scolds.
"Yeah! You've just met him! How could you take such a large step already?" Happy asks, giggling.
Brave turns to stare at the pink-cloaked boy. "Sometimes I swear you're worse than Affection."
"What?" He asks innocently. "They're both lying on the floor in a position that would imply-"
"Happy!"
"But I'm just saying that it looks like they-"
"Happy, this story is rated T, and I plan on keeping it that way. So shut up!" Brave hisses.
Changeling is largely ignoring the two bickering emoticlones and attempting to calm down the grey one lying under her.
"Just calm down." She coos. "It's just me, Changeling. Your friend?"
Timid's eyes grow to the size of dinner plates and he starts struggling frantically to free his arms that the green girl has pinned to the ground.
"Hey! That's mean!" Changeling pouts, looking the terrified boy in the eyes. "I am NOT that scary!"
Timid cringes slightly, he didn't mean to offend her. Crow has just never known how to act around the shapeshifter, so as his fearful side he is extremely worried about accidentally doing something wrong and causing her to hate them.
"I'm sorry." The boy whimpers, looking away. "I-I didn't me-mean to o-offend you." He squeezes his eyes shut, as if expecting to be hit.
Changeling, who is more concerned then offended at this point, decides to ignore Brave's advice in favor of reassuring the terrified emoticlone. She licks her lips and allows a sly grin to cross her face.
Timid still has his eyes shut, waiting in terror for some sort of punishment because he was rude to his friend. His surprise could not be greater when, instead of pain, he feels himself tugged upwards into an embrace.
"It's fine, just calm down." She coos, intentionally pressing her upper body against his. Timid's face heats up, and his terror starts turning into embarrassment, just as the shapeshifter had planned. Taking it one step further, Changeling pulls them up into a sitting position before trapping him mouth in hers.
From the sidelines Brave is muttering something about a heart-attack while Happy is complaining that he doesn't get to "play" with Changeling.
"Are you certain that you're Happy and not Affection?" Brave asks his pink counterpart, eyeing him with open suspicion. "I can hardly tell the difference."
"You don't hear me gushing ALL the time, do you?" Happy giggles.
"Fair enough." Brave groans, rubbing his head. "Affection wouldn't have shut his mouth if he saw Changeling."
"Flattered to know I'm so well-liked!" The shapeshifter says in a singing voice, having finally released Timid. The grey-cloaked boy is sitting on the floor with a lava-red face, and very dazed expression. His eyes are crossed and he doesn't even seem to see Brave when the green-cloaked boy walks over.
"Timid." Brave says softly. "Timid, Timid?" A vein pulses in his head at the lack of response and he raises his voice. "Timid!"
The pale boy jerks back to reality, his eyes focus on the green-cloaked boy standing in front of him. His face is still burning red as he fidgets under Brave's gaze.
"S-Sorry." He stammers."I-I didn't m-mean to w-waste y-your time. I-It's just that she- she-" He flushes again, making Brave honestly worried that blood is going to start pouring out his nose and ears any second now.
Brave sighs and holds up a hand to stop Timid's stream of apologies. "Whatever, I don't really care. Can you just please lead us out of here?"
Timid nods furiously and hops to his feet. He glances around to make sure everyone is ready before scurrying off down one of the many identical, featureless stone pathways. Happy follows, still pouting, while Changeling stays close behind Timid, making small talk and stopping him from doubting his own decisions. Brave sticks at the back, wondering about how Crow must be handling this.
###
"WHAT. THE. HELL." Crow moans. His embarrassment had been gone for a while, but then it came back full force, just when he finally thought he had convinced Starfire to leave.
"Friend Crow...?" The alien prince asks weakly. "Are you okay? You have gone red again. Did I say something wrong?"
"No..." Crow growls, gritting his teeth. "Azar help me. I must be ill."
"Ill?" Starfire asks, curious. "Perhaps you have caught the insect that Robyn has."
"It's "bug" Star." The half-demon says. "And what are you talking about? Robyn didn't look sick to me."
"Cyborg said it was the "bug of love". Perhaps its symptoms are not visible?"
"I'm fairly sure Cy is talking about something else..."
"It is not the "bug of love"? It is some other illness?!"
"Well-"
"Is it deadly?"
"Star-"
"I must go see if friend Robyn is okay!" The orange alien rockets out of the room, leaving Crow standing there, unsure weather to be amused or worried. This is normally the time when Robyn takes her shower after training after all.
"Hopefully Starfire leaned from last time..." Crow thinks, before returning to his own problem. How exactly does one force himself to stop blushing?
###
"H-Here's the exit." Timid whispers, tapping a seemingly normal stone wall. It splits down the centre to reveal a long, winding path to a strange cave. Changeling can't help but notice the strange looking statues situated halfway down the path.
"Great! Thanks Timid!" Happy says cheerily. "Titans GOOOOO!" And with that, the pink-cloaked emoticlone goes skipping down the path. Brave follows, shaking his head.
Changeling takes a few steps out of the maze, but stops when she doesn't hear Timid follow. "Aren't you coming?" The shapeshifter asks, turning around to look at the shy boy.
"No point." He whispers. "I'll just end up coming back here in a few minutes anyway."
The green girl nods, unable to argue with his logic. On a whim, she takes a few steps towards him and gives him another deep kiss before turning around and following Brave and Happy, leaving the poor boy hopelessly flustered. "I should try that on the actual Crow sometime." Changeling thinks, grinning. "Thought teasing him is plenty fun too."
The three remaining teens make their way towards the exit, but at about the halfway point Brave stops them.
"We might need to be a bit cautious." He warns, pointing at the two statues. "They react to intruders, and since Changeling wasn't invited they might attack her."
"So we get to blow them up?" Happy giggles.
"No need." Brave sighs. "They aren't that hard to beat... If you're an emoticlone that is. We just need to make sure it doesn't get a shot at Changeling."
It only takes a few more steps forward from Changeling to activate the statues. Their eyes glow red as they glide to the center of the path and combine into a single four-armed entity. Two steel longsword appear in its hands and it immediately lunges at the shapeshifter.
Brave just sighs, not really concerned. He takes a few steps forward to stand in front of his shapeshifting friend, and slices the statue in two with an energy-infused hand-chop as it tries to rush past him.
"See?" He says in a bored voice. "Not hard at all."
Suddenly, the ground starts rumbling and the giant red demoness rises up from the abyss. Mist swirls around it and the temperature around her rises dramatically, causing the three teens to start sweating profusely.
"You just had to say something." Happy mutters, eyeing the monster with disgust. The pink emoticlone shivers when the demoness turns to look at them.
"I SHALL NOT BE STOPPED BY A HANDFUL OF CLONES AND A WORTHLESS ELF." She hisses, staring at them with eyes filled full of hate.
"Came back for round two?" Brave taunts, cracking his knuckles. "We'll beat you just as quickly as last time!"
The demoness roars and shoots out a gout of flame from her mouth. Brave and Happy raise shields to protect the group from the attack. The stream of fire parts upon hitting the shield, but the heat is intense.
Brave and Happy focus their energy and manage to start forcing the fire backwards by slowly extending their shield. Changeling crouchs behind them, uncertain how to help without being burned.
In an instant, the demon stops its fiery onslaught in favor of a swift punch. It smashes through the shield, knocking both Brave and Happy off the pathway. Changeling manages to dive out of the way just in time, and the arm shoots past her.
"Brave! Happy!" The green girl cries out, looking over the edge of the path for her friends. The two emoticlones are nowhere to be seen.
"THAT IS TWO GONE, ONLY FIVE MORE TO GO." The demoness laughs. IT'S A SHAME I DIDN'T GET TO EAT THEM, IF MEMORY SERVES CROW WAS VERY TASTY."
Changeling blinks. "What? What do you mean "tasty"? Crow is still alive, you clearly didn't eat him."
"HE HAS DISOBEYED ME MANY TIMES. IT WAS AFTER MY LAST PUNISHMENT THAT HE FLED TO EARTH."
"What exactly did you do?"
"I ALMOST BIT HIM IN HALF."
"You call that punishment?! Who do you think you are?!"
"I'M HIS MOTHER."
...
"Wow. If you were my mom I would NOT have been sad to see you go over the waterfall." Changeling mutters. She crouchs low on the ground and prepares to fight. She knows that she probably can't win, but she'll be dammed if she doesn't try.
Suddenly, the demoness jolts forward after something hits her in the back of the head.
"Duh, duh duh DUH!" Happy shouts comedically, appearing from behind the red monster and posing. "The cavalry has arrived! Thanks for the distraction Change!"
"We would only count as cavalry if we had some sort of mount." A yellow-cloaked emoticlone with glasses points out.
"Can it four-eyes." Huffs an orange one.
"Can we get this over with?" Moans a brown clone. "I'm tired."
"You're always tired." Brave points out.
"So am I." Yawns a purple-cloaked boy, who wears a sly look on his face. "I believe I shall retire after this. Perhaps you would care to join me?" This last part is directed at Changeling, who raises an eyebrow and grins.
"Tempting." She says honestly. "But I'll wait until I can "traumatize" the real Crow rather than just a part of him."
The purple boy barks a laugh and nods.
"IF YOU ARE ALL QUITE FINISHED." The demoness hisses. "I'LL BE ENDING YOUR LIVES NOW, THAN YOU VERY MUCH."
"Sorry, kinda busy right now." Happy chirps. "Care to schedule another appointment?"
The red monster growls and breathes a cone of flame the group of emoticlones. This turns out to be a terrible idea, as the combined might of the seven clones proves to be far superior. They simply push back the flame with a giant stream of black energy until the demoness is overwhelmed.
The red monster lets out a horrible scream and simply disappears, leaving an unconscious red emoticlone in its place. The other clones quickly fly towards and catch the red-cloaked boy before floating lightly down to the path.
Changeling rushes to meet them, somewhat annoyed that she didn't get to attack. She joins the group just in time to see the red emoticlone wake up.
"Augh..." He growls, rubbing his head. "She's a jackass. I absolutely HATE mind control."
"Changeling." Brave says. "This is Rage. He is the most vulnerable out of all of us to out mother's influence. Hence him turning into a giant demon."
"Shut up!" Rage hisses. "It wasn't my fault!"
"I never said it was." The green-cloaked boy says. "Is there something you're not telling us?"
"No." The red boy huffs. "I just don't take kindly to being called weak."
"I never-"
"Yeah, yeah." Rage mutters, pushing himself off the floor. "I know you think I'm pathetic. Just leave me be." He shoves his way through the small crowd and storms off towards the maze. Timid, who had joined the others in the fight, rushes off to comfort the angry boy.
Changeling watches Rage storm away, somewhat concerned. Happy skips over to her and giggles. "Don't worry." He says. "Timid will calm him down. They're best buddies!"
The shapeshifter nods, and turned to face the rest of the emoticlones.
"So." Brave says, shifting from foot to foot. "You still have to leave."
"I was hoping you had forgotten." Changeling sighs. "I like it here. I actually know what Crow is thinking through talking to you guys."
"Yeah, but you'll never get to talk to Crow or anyone else if you stay here!" Happy points out, skipping around the group.
Changeling's shoulders slump. She nods her understanding and motions for Brave to lead the way. The other clones fly off, leaving just the green duo on the path. They manage to reach what Brave calls "the forbidden door" without incident. All it takes is a snap of Brave's fingers to activate it, causing a portal to appear.
Just as Changeling is about to step into the vortex, she turns to face Brave. "One last question." She says. "And you don't really need to answer, it would just be nice to know."
"Fine." Brave sighs. "Shoot."
"Why is it that I terrify Crow so much?"
"Well..." The green-cloaked boy looks uncomfortable. "Part of it is your aggressiveness..."
"But?"
"Remember how the giant demon mentioned that she had bitten Crow as punishment?"
"Yeah."
Brave just raises a hand and taps one of his canines. He then looks pointedly at her fang.
"Oh." Changeling says, wincing slightly as she fingers the over-sized tooth. "I guess I would have a fear of being bitten too if that happened to me."
The green boy sighs. "Crow doesn't mean to react so negatively, he just... Panics. Though, again, this is partially because of how... Extreme, you are."
At this, the shapeshifter laughs. "Well, I'm not changing anytime soon. So he'll just have to learn to live with it! Both my fang and my affection."
"Wait. You like Crow?" Brave looks positively dumbfounded.
A vein pulses in Changeling's temple. "Yes! How is this not obvious? I LITERALLY throw myself at him every goddamn day!"
"I guess he just isn't good with discerning motivations without using his telepathy." Brave says, still processing this startling and not at all obvious information. However, after a second or two he says quietly. "You should be going. I wish you the best of luck in getting through to Crow."
"Thank, I guess." Changeling mutters, rolling her eyes. She steps through the dark vortex, and out of nevermore.
###
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." Crow chants, hovering above his bed. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zintho-"
Changeling pops out of the hand-mirr-
Okay, "pops" is probably the wrong term. More like shoots, or rockets. Why you ask? Because she isn't used to portals, duh.
That, and the laws of fanfiction state that all characters must be put in embarrassing positions as frequently as possibly. So shut up, no one asked you.
Anyways, Changeling comes rocketing out of the hand-mirror, and (due to aforementioned rule) smashes directly into Crow.
The two Titans fall into a jumbled heap on Crow's bed. Crow lying below, arms splayed out, and Changeling on top, just now sitting up and straddling his waist.
This, of course, is the exact moment Cyborg chooses to barge in.
"Hey Crow! Have you see-" She stops short, looking at the scene in front of her. "Uh, my bad. Ill just be going now."
"Cyborg!" Crow cries out. "It's not what you think!"
The metallic girl just holds her hands up in front of her and starts backing out of the room. "Hey, don't mind me." She says.
"Cyborg!" Crow groans.
Cyborg backs out of the door, which closes behind her, but Crow can still hear her mutter "Robyn will want to hear about this!"
"Cyborg!" Crow cries desperately. "It's not-! Cyborg?! CYBORG!"
Changeling, who was watching this with great amusement. Just laughs as the half-demon desperately tosses her aside and barrels down the hallway, trying to clear up the misunderstanding before Robyn is informed. Because whatever Robyn hears about, Starfire can find out about, and the last thing the sorcerer wants is a hyperactive alien prince asking about his bedroom affairs.
###
"What have I told you about going into my room?!" Crow hisses.
Several hours have passed since the "bedroom incident" as Cyborg calls it. Both Crow and Changeling are now sitting in the main room, recuperating after several hours of pestering and teasing.
"You had a rage fit and then disappeared, almost in tears. What sort of friend would I be if I didn't check on you?"
"One that doesn't take head trips."
"Well, okay. I suppose I should have revealed myself instead of eavesdropping, but if I did that I would never have figured out who you were talking to!"
"You didn't NEED to figure out who I was talking to!"
"Not the point, and next time there's a problem, you can tell me. I care about you Crow, we all do."
"But-"
"Don't give me that "It's too dangerous" or "I can handle it myself" crap. I'm going to help you weather you like it or not. So make it easier on both of us and just tell me next time."
"That's not what I was going to say." Crow says, scratches his head, and looks away. "It's just... You went into my MIND. You learned things I would rather have kept hidden, and I'm not just talking about my demon of a mother."
"Ah." Changeling looks sheepish. "I didn't mean to pry. I just know so little about how you think so I wanted to learn more. The only reaction I ever seem to get out of you normally is panic or embarrassment, and while your emoticlones act the mostly the same, they were more open to explaining WHY."
The sorcerer sighs. As annoyed as he is, he does not truly feel angry. He knows his friend acted out of concern, and just got carried away. "Next time, just leave as fast as possible."
"There's going to be a next time!?" Changeling asks, grinning ear to ear.
"That's not what I-"
"It'll be so much fun! I can visit the other clones I didn't get to see before!"
"No, you wo-"
"Maybe I can "cheer up" Timid again." The shapeshifter purrs this, looking at Crow slyly.
"NO."
"Jealous?"
"NO.
"You Suuure?"
"NO- I mean yes!"
"I heard "no"!" Changeling says in a singing voice.
"I said yes."
"Denial!"
"I am not in denial!"
The green girl just grins and drops down to all fours on top of the couch where they are seated. "You sure?" She asks, crawling towards him.
"Positive." He replies, steadily edging away.
"Timid enjoyed it, I'm sure you would too.~3"
Crow is sweating bullets at this point. "I-I'll pass."
"Too bad, not your choice." Changeling giggles. She settles on her haunchs for a moment and prepares to pounce.
The half-demon's eyes widen and he backs up the the very edge of the couch.
"Ch-Change? Stay away! No! Don't! Change? CHA-AUUUGH!"
A solid thump can be heard from the main room as the green girl nails her target. Starfire, on the other side of the door, rushes off to inform Robyn that there is some sort of monster in the tower, leaving Crow at the temporary mercy of an enthusiastic shapeshifter.
One-shot complete. I like this story. Poor writing aside, gender benders are extremely fun to read, and a boat load of fun to write. There are so many things you can do with gender bent characters that you can't with the originals.