So, this is a revised (read: compressed and slightly edited) version of my story, Henry's Story. For those who don't know, I had left it un-updated since the end of January 2015. This is unacceptable. What I'm doing now is taking everything in HS and putting it into bigger chapters, and also making a few changes to any mistakes I find. I'm also changing chapter 13 on, but keeping the overall feel of those chapters. There will be obvious parallels, but I'm copying myself, so it's okay. However, I WILL be writing brand-new chapters once I figure out what to keep and what to weed out. This will be a tedious process, so, just bear with me for the next week or two.
That said, thank you for coming back to, or if you've never read my work before, welcome to Henry's Story!
This is the story of a boy named Henry, who was just a normal kid: a sophomore in high school, a few close friends, and a loving (yet sometimes dysfunctional) family. And, of course, a supporter of a sixth season of the old Teen Titans show. Everything in Henry's life changed forever one day, when his sister ran after a ball…
Ellie's laughter was the only thing Henry could hear. The little girl had found a new fun thing to do: bounce a ball off of Henry's forehead. Henry, being the nice big brother that he was, let his five-year-old sister do it. It was a warm, sunny June day, and for little Ellie, things couldn't get any better. Bouncing a ball of your big brother's head is actually quite entertaining, and it isn't often for a person Ellie's age to continue something for as long as she had been doing it. Of course, after a while, she grew bored. Henry saw this, and figured he say an idea that had crossed his mind.
"Hey, Ellie! I have an idea for you," Henry called to his sister. "Why don't you make the ball bounce on the ground, and I'll do this," he asked, miming hitting the ball with his forehead.
"O-kay!" replied the little girl. She bounced the green ball down as hard as she could, and Henry head-butted it. The ball went flying, away from their house and out towards the street. Ellie ran after it, laughing. Now, there's one thing that is vital to what happens, and that is that Henry and Ellie live in a house on the corner of a block. On the corner, there are bushes and tall grass, and so it's hard to see what's coming around—or if anything is coming around the corner. Unfortunately for Ellie, this was one of those times. However, Henry had the fortune to be looking in the right direction at the right time. The wind was blowing, and through the gap in the plants Henry saw something that made him start running: the flash of light off of a car bumper. Meanwhile, the ball had come too close to the road for Henry's liking, and Ellie was right behind it. Time slowed as Henry ran. The closer and closer he got to Ellie, the closer she got to the road. A million thoughts raced through his head—would he reach Ellie in time? What happen to him? How would his parent's react? But one thing kept him focused: Ellie. He had to reach her. His legs moved harder and faster than he had ever moved them before. As he reached his sister, he saw the car: black and sleek. The squeal of breaks could be heard. Henry jumped out into the road, pushing Ellie out of harm's way, and braced for impact. Suddenly, all was black.
…..and then all was white, and then, something amazing happened: Henry opened his eyes. Looking around, Henry soon became disoriented. He was standing, but there was nothing around him that he could see—there was only a blackness, with white dots. It was almost as if he were in—
"Space," came a voice from behind him. Henry turned around, but saw no one.
"Who's there?" he asked. "Where am I? Why aren't I dead?" The voice spoke again, deep and full.
"You ask many questions, Henry. I am… the Ellimist. You are nowhere. You are not dead. You didn't die—but your body is crippled. However, I have brought your… soul, yes, that's a good term for you, here. You are needed elsewhere." Henry stood silently, taking in all that he had heard.
"Are… are you God? Or a god?" asked Henry. The voice chuckled.
"No, child, although I see why you would ask. I am merely… gifted. Now, we mustn't dawdle. You have things to do, and people to see. You have a busy schedule, Henry!" the Ellimist laughed.
"What do I have to do?" Henry asked. He was still confused—Ellimist? Not dead?
"Ah, yes… let me see…" said the voice, dragging out the last word. After a moment, the Ellimist spoke. "Yes. You will be sent to a place you've longed to go. You have important things to do. Before you go, let me explain: You live on Earth, in your universe. But there are others—parallel words in parallel universes. Ideas and concepts, people and things, they sometimes cross parallels. Not physically, not usually, but sometimes a reality in one universe will appear as fiction in another. The universes differ in varying degrees—sometimes a minor change, like what you ate for breakfast. Sometimes, very different things happen. In your history, Rome beat Carthage. In one universe. Carthage won. And in another, aliens settled Earth before mankind discovered fire."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Patience. You are going to a world where your heroes exist. You will receive great powers. You alone will learn how to use them. Goodbye, Henry. Have fun!" called out the voice, and suddenly, Henry saw Earth. It was beautiful, the big blue marble. But it stared growing closer. And closer. Henry realized that he was falling. He saw North America. The Earth's dark side was covering the eastern coast, showing the electric grid. It looked… different, especially around New York. No matter about New York, though—he was falling towards San Francisco. He got closer and closer, and saw the streak of flames that were around him. He didn't hurt, although he started noticing that he was getting tired. Very…. Tired…. Once again, in too short of a time period, Henry blacked out.
Cyborg pulled up an image on the large screen in the Ops room. The other Titans were gathered around, watching the streak burn in the sky.
"What is it, Cyborg?" asked Robin. The leader of the Titans stood nearby, looking over Cyborg's shoulder.
"I don't know, Robin. It's way too small to be an asteroid or meteor. Waaay too small to be a comet," replied Cyborg. The video footage onscreen showedsomething streaking through the atmosphere.
"Friends, perhaps I have an idea?" Starfire spoke up. "If you remember, I fell to the surface in a fiery streak." The other Titans looked at her.
"Starfire has a point," Raven said, "but we still need to make sure everyone in the city is safe." Robin nodded.
"Right. Raven, you go talk to the police chief and mayor. Everyone needs to stay inside. Starfire, I need you to fly up to the object. Cyborg, stay here and continue monitoring the object. Beast Boy and I will travel to the estimated point of impact. Titans, go!" instructed Robin. Raven disappeared into a dark portal as Starfire flew out the window in a flash. Robin and Beast Boy jumped out the whole in the window left by Starfire. The changeling transformed into a pteranodon and grabbed Robin by the sholders.
Minutes later, Robin and Beast Boy landed on the coast, just outside of Jump's city limits. It was the late afternoon, far different from when Starfire had crashed to Earth. As Robin and Beast Boy waited for the thingto crash to Earth, Robin reflected on that night. The night when the Teen Titans first came together. The night when she ki—
"Robin, dude, you need to hear this," Cyborg's voice came in from Robin's T-Communicator. "Star, tell him."
"Friend Robin, it appears to be a person," Starfire said. Beast Boy sat up.
"Another person falling from space?" asked the green teen. "Man, Jump is just a magnet for dudes falling from the sky!"
"Ok, Starfire, stop following in and come to my position," Robin instructed over the T-Communicators. "Cyborg, Raven, you too." The latter two confirmed. Moments later, Raven and Cyborg came out of one of Raven's dark portals. Cyborg fell out, mumbling something about 'never wanting to do that again' and rubbing his joints. The Titans looked up towards the sky, watching a the burning streak grew brighter and larger. Suddenly, Starfire's voice came on the T-Comm again.
"Friends, please, find somewhere safe to go. It is going to crash soon!" The Titans started to run. A loud sound started to fill the air.
"It's going to hit soon! Get close to me!" called out Raven. She held up her hands, and created a black dome of energy around them. Just in time, too, as just a second later, the object crashed down into the beach. Raven's dome of energy protected the team of teens from the shock wave and debris scattered by the impact. Good for Jump City, however, was the fact that the object was so small that the crater did not affect the city, save for causing disturbance and fear amongst the citiens, still sage in their houses.
When the dust settled, Raven disbanded the energy. Twenty feet away, laying in the newly-formed crater, was a boy. Dark-haired, the boy lay face-down, limiting the ability to determine any other facial features. The Titans walked and flew over to the boy, careful not to trip in the crater. When Robin reached the boy, he turned him over and check his pulse.
"He's still alive," commented Robin. The boy started moving. "Easy there, kid. Relax, I've got you." The other Titans simply watched as the boy who had fallen from the sky began to stir. After a minute, his eyes opened, and he sat upright.
"Where… Where am I?" asked the boy. "Who are you?"
"My name is Robin, and you're in Jump City. You've just crashed into the ground. You fell from space. Mind telling me who you are?" questioned the Boy Wonder. The boy's eyes widened, as if he had realized something unpleasant.
"Robin? Jump City? I…" he started, but then collapsed back down. Robin quickly grabbed his head.
"We need to examine him. He's coming to the tower with us. Starfire, go tell the mayor it's safe again, and that we've taken care of the crash."
The boy awoke again in a hospital-looking room, attached to various tubes and devices. He saw someone standing near him, chanting something unintelligible. They wore a dark blue robe, and he couldn't see their face.
"Where am I? Who are you?" he asked again. The figure stopped speaking and looked at him.
"You are in our sick bay. My name is Raven," the figure replied. She, as the boy realized that it was a she who was talking to him, removed her hood. The boy was in shock; she looked quite… interesting. Her skin was pale, and her hair was a shade of purple he hadn't seen before. Had he? But most interesting about the girl—Raven, she had said—was that she had a small red stone on her forehead. Not that it was weird. The boy had a strange feeling of déjà vu. But there was no way she could look familiar. He had never seen her before. Suddenly, the boy remembered. His name was Henry. He had saved his sister from being hit by a car, only to be hit by the car himself. He had a strange encounter with "the Ellimist," and had fallen to Earth. And he knew that Raven was not real. Wait. What had the Ellimist said? Sometimes a reality in one universe will appear as fiction in another, Henry remembered. This wasn't real. This couldn't be happening. He was NOT talking to Raven from the Teen Titans.
"Well?" Raven spoke, interrupting Henry's thoughts.
"Oh, sorry. My name's Henry."
"Henry, huh?" commented Cyborg. Henry had since left the medical bay, seeing as though nothing was wrong with him. Currently, he was sitting on the couch in the main room in the Tower, surrounded by Titans either sitting or standing near him. "Got a last name?"
"Stevenson," replied Henry. This was nuts. He must be dreaming. There was simply no way he was sitting on the Titans' couch, talking to the Teen Titans. Yet in front of him, clear as day, were Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy. Henry pinched himself again, and once again he felt pain. Either this was actually happening, or he was in a vivid dream. Perhaps this was a dream he was experiencing in a coma. He had been hit by a car, after all. Dream or not, however, Henry was sitting in Titans Tower, and he was not going to screw it up.
"So, Henry," Robin began, "do you know how you ended up here?"
"Well, I remember… falling. A long fall, and then suddenly, I saw you. You told me I was in Jump City. Then I fainted, I think. It's what Raven told me." Henry rubbed his head, to add emphasis to the fact that he was all sorts of confused. "I woke up again, and Raven unhooked me from the machines, and then here I am."
"Interesting…" muttered Robin, scribbling something into a notebook. "Now, tell me Henry: do you have any sort of powers?" Henry looked at Robin, confused.
"Powers? Like, flying and super strength?" asked the confused boy.
"Yes. Beast Boy can turn into any animal, Starfire can shoot energy out of her fists, Cyborg can—" started Robin, before being interrupted by Henry.
"He can shoot things out of his arm because he's a cyborg, Raven can do all sorts of magic-y things, and you are just really good at martial arts," finished. This earned a strange look from all the Titans, especially Raven. 'Magic-y things?' That's how he described her powers? She would forgive him for now, seeing as that he had just smashed into the ground from space.
"How did you know our powers?" asked Robin. He looked at Henry with suspicion. Luckily for Henry, Starfire spoke up.
"Robin, do the people of Jump City not know our powers? We have protected them for a while." Henry looked at Starfire, silently thanking her.
"Starfire's right," Raven said. "It's unrealistic to think that somebody wouldn't know what we can do."
"Uh, dudes? He came from space. I don't think he's from Jump," Beast Boy said, breaking his unusual silence.
"Point taken, Beast Boy, but that still doesn't answer the question. How do you know our powers?" Robin asked again, a little more forcefully this time.
"I… don't know. I just… knew, Boy Wonder," replied Henry. He realized what he had just said, and was about to say something that would probably gotten him into a deeper hole when red lights began to flash, and alarm began to sound. Immediately, a map of Jump City appeared on screen, with an icon flashing on the screen.
"The Bank of Pérez. Again," said Cyborg, almost as if he expected it. "Why do they always get robbed? It's always that particular bank…" he muttered as he waited for Robin's intructions.
"Titan's you know the drill," said Robin, pressing a button on the wall. A section of the window opened up, letting in a breeze. "Titans, go!" yelled Robin, giving the well-known command.
"What about me?" Henry asked quickly, not wanting to be left behind. Robin stopped, kicking himself mentally for forgetting about Henry.
"We can't leave him, and we can't take him either," Cyborg said.
"I know," Robin said quickly. "Raven, take him along with us. Henry, you will stay out of our way. We don't need any civilians getting hurt. Now, Titans, go!" Starfire grabbed Robin by the shoulders and flew out the window. They were shortly followed by the duo of Cyborg and Beast Boy, with the cybernetic teen being carried by the large green pteranodon that was Beast Boy. Finally, Raven and Henry walked up to the window. Raven summoned her usual disk of energy, but this time made it larger, and added small pole to the part behind her. The pole had handles for Henry to grab onto.
"Try to not fall off," Raven said as Henry grabbed the handles. As soon as he took hold, they flew into the air. Wind rushed past Henry's face. He held on for dear life as he watched the ground beneath him fly past. It was actually quite interesting, as he had never even flown on a plane before. Of course, in a plane, you didn't hang on for dear life as some person from a cartoon piloted a disc of black energy, did you? Henry watched as Starfire held Robin and Beast Boy carried Cyborg through the air. At least he had something beneath him.
"So, Raven," Henry started. "Who do you think it is, robbing the bank this time?"
"Don't talk to me. I need to focus. If I don't, we'll both fall. Well, you'll fall. I could fly," Raven said, looking back to Henry. Then she looked back towards the front, avoiding a large building she almost hit. A minute later, Henry, Raven, and the other Titans landed near a small building. It had a large hole in the wall, and on the inside, one could see a tall, blue person wearing a magician's outfit. Bags of money sat about as the tall person moved about inside.
"Mumbo Jumbo," muttered Cyborg. Robin walked over to Henry.
"Get to safe place. We'll find you when we're done here," the brightly-colored teen leader said. Henry nodded, and jogged a short ways away and sat on a bench, watching the scene unfold. The Titans approached the villain, and what ensued could only be described as a complete butt-whooping. That is to say, within minutes, the Titans had been turned into animals (or, in Beast Boy's case, a lamp) and placed into separate cages. The last time this had happened, they were in Mumbo's hat. Somehow, Mumbo Jumbo had been able to take that power and use it in the real world. Henry looked at the Titanimals—the term Mumbo had used—and sighed. Then he became worried. Now what am I supposed to do? He wondered. Suddenly, the voice of the Ellimist filled his mind. USE YOUR POWERS.
"I don't have any," Henry argued aloud. Luckily for the boy, no one was around to hear him. To his surprise, Henry's head filled with images. Images of him doing crazy things appeared to him. Shouting, with shock waves coming out of his mouth. Electricity flying out of his fingertips. Many other things appeared in Henry's mind, and he was amazed by it. The Ellimist's voice spoke again. YOU CAN MANIPUALTE ENERGY, HENRY. WILL ENERGY TO FLOW AND TRANSFORM, AND IT WILL OBEY. HOWEVER, YOU WILL TIRE MORE QUICKLY THAN THE OTHERS. NOW GO! Henry ran towards the bank. Mumbo was waving his wand around, messing with the Titans in their cages.
"And now, for my next trick, I will need a volunteer!" laughed the magician. "How about you, Robin?" Mumbo opened Robin's cage and placed handcuffs around Robin's monkey wrists. The traffic light-colored monkey protested in hoots and hollers. Evidently, the Titan's couldn't speak outside of Mumbo's hat if they were animals. The cat that was Starfire, bear that was Cyborg, and rabbit that was Raven all made noises. The lamp that was Beast Boy flickered on and off.
"Stop right there, Mumbo!" Henry called out. Mumbo stopped what he was doing and looked at Henry.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" the large-nosed supervillain asked. "A friend of yours, Titans? Or maybe just a dumb bystander. Silly boy, you should know better than to mess with Mumbo the Magnificent!" With a flick of his wrist, Mumbo shot a blue bolt of energy towards Henry. Alright, Henry, you can do this,thought the boy. He pictured the bolt of energy flying towards him, missing him and curving back towards Mumbo. To his amazement, the blue streak curved around Henry and flew back towards Mumbo's hand, knocking the wand right out of it. Meanwhile, Robin began to slowly walk away from Mumbo, and started to get behind him.
"Ooh, well done, boy! That was a marvelous performance. But now, it's my turn to shine!" called the magician, and out of his sleeves appeared a deck of cards. Mumbo began throwing them at Henry. The boy jumped out of the path of the cards, and tried to think of something else. Of course, he couldn't stay still for too long, as more cards began to follow him. He ran behind the cages that held Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy. The cards flew over the cages and down towards him, not doing what he expected them to do. Mumbo laughed as Henry started running again. Think, Henry, think! He thought. Then he saw Robin, sneaking up on the magician. Despite the odd sight of a masked, costumed monkey sneaking up on a magician, Henry knew what Robin was doing. He needed to buy the leader of the Titans more time.
"Hey, Mumbo!" Henry called out. "Is that the only thing you can do, or are you out of ideas?" The taunt worked. Mumbo stopped throwing cards.
"Nope! I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve!" yelled the blue magician, as more cards began to fly out his armholes. They flew towards Henry, and then stopped as Mumbo cried out. Robin had jumped on Mumbo, and put the handcuffs around the supervillain's neck. He pulled back, forcing Mumbo to focus on getting Robin off of him. Henry took this opportunity to grab the wand that Mumbo had dropped. He held it in his hand, and pointed it at the Titans still in cages. Four blue bolts of energy similar to the one Mumbo had shot at Henry came out and struck the Titans, turning them back into their normal forms. It wasn't long until Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had busted out of their cages.
"Thanks, dude!" Beast Boy said. "Man, I hate being a lamp."
"Why?" Cyborg asked. "It's not light you get any brighter." Henry chuckled at that, but then turned the wand on Robin, who was still struggling with Mumbo. Fortunately, the bolt hit Robin, and he turned back into his normal self. Henry and the other Titans surrounded the magician, whom robin had managed to pin on his stomach while handcuffed.
"Don't worry Mumbo," Robin taunted. "Your performance isn't over. You have an encore—in jail."
"But that's not fair!" complained the beaten Mumbo. Minutes later, a police vehicle showed up to bring Mumbo Jumbo to jail. Robin was un-handcuffed, and the first thing he did was shake Henry's hand.
"Thanks for helping out back there," Robin said. "You really saved our butts back there."
"No problem, Robin. Glad to have been there," replied Henry. Inside, he was freaking out. He had powers. He had fought Mumbo Jumbo. He had saved the Teen Titans! Henry was fangirling so hard it was a surprise that he wasn't shaking.
"So… now what?" asked Henry.
"Well, we have two options," started Raven, not liking where it was going to end. "Option one: we go back to the tower. Option two..." Raven offered, allowing herself to be interrupted. She knew what was next.
"We go for pizza!" Cyborg and Beast Boy exclaimed simultaneously.
"Yes! I can get the mustard!" Starfire said just as excitedly. "Oh, Robin, may we please go to the pizza place?" she asked, her eyes growing large and lower lip quivering. Robin took one look at Starfire, and his will dissolved.
"Fine. Let's go get some pizza…" Robin said, defeated. He hung his head as the three Titans cheered.
"Thank you, Robin!" cried Starfire as she crushed Robin suffocated. As the Titans left for the food, Henry helped Robin up.
"She has you wrapped around her finger," Henry said, laughing softly.
"No she doesn—yeah, she does. Come on, join us. It's our way of saying thank-you," Robin replied, still a little red in the face. "You've earned it." As the two walked behind the other four Titans, Robin withheld his thoughts. He still wasn't too sure of Henry. He figured that Cyborg's test would yield results by the time they returned to the Tower. Who are you really, Henry Stevenson, wondered Robin. And why are you here?
So, that's the revised Chapter One, formerly chapters 1 & 2. Hopefully, it's still good. I'm open to suggestions on anything, but a large bulk of what is going to be published has already been written. Eventually, I'll be able to incorporate viewer suggestions, and look forward to that point! I expect that will be around chapters 6 or 7, depending on how I divvy up existing work and how I add new material. Thanks for your support, and please note that if you have questions, comments, concerns, or anything to say to me at all, please review or PM me directly. Constructive criticism is always helpful and appreciated. Thank you for your time, and, as I always put at the end, have a fan-freaking-tastic day!
—Cortexin
EDIT 1 Added lines breaks (because I'm an idiot and forgot) and fixed a few spelling errors that I happened to see.