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Chapter 1: There are days when...
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"This is..so strange..."
Raven Roth stood high up--high on the roof of Titans Tower. Everything was, indeed, strange about this morning. Everything from the giant sun kissed orange rolling into the sky, to the giant roaring wing the cut through the city like a giant knife held a certain air about it: evil.
There was a sort of tingling up her spine, one that she was certain could not have been apart of her imagination. But what could be the cause? The last time she felt something this strong was when her father...No, she wouldn't--couldn't--believe it.
Though if it wasn't her father...
Even when the sun touched the sky as its afternoon fullest she continued to sit, feet dangling over the side of the giant tower, deep in thought. She didn't even feel the hours slip away from her like water in a cupped hand.
"Raven?"
She jumped and scolded herself inwardly. A purple strand of hair fell into her darkened eyes as she swiveled around, her eyes searching. Robin stood full, his hair sleek and shiny, outfitted in his famous suit: red, green, and yellow.
"Yes," She pulled up her hood, ashamed. Her insides were simmering with venomous emotions that not even she could silence. "What is it?"
"You've been down here for..." He stood deep in thought for a moment. "I think four hours now. Do you have something you want to talk-"
Raven pulled the hood tighter around her face. "No."
"Oh."
Somehow, despite the malicious wind eating at her face and hair, his gel streaked locks remained completely untarnished by the howling wind. As solid as a giant boulder of crystal, his hair remained strong.
Raven shook her head, "I just...need to think about something, that's all."
A lie of sorts, though she doubted it mattered.
"I-"
When he reached to pat her shoulder, she stood abruptly, dancing away. Her premonitions was aroused to such a full that it felt like her whole body was burning, and she didn't want to have one itsy bitsy little thing throw her over the edge. What she needed right now was silence--maybe some tea as well, though she even doubted its power as of now.
"I'm going to my room. With the tail flip of her hood, she stalked inside, her cloak dangling behind her.
The tower was the same as ever: many, many doors that were on the most part motion activated(aside from their rooms, which were kept under the lock and key by the given room owner). The floor were soft, the ceilings high, and the place so full of electronics that it would make a normal technician cry.
Raven sighed, running her fingers through her hair--here it came, another painful tingle. What was going to happen? She knew that she couldn't put off warning the team any longer. If something was going to happen today, they should know.
"Hey, Rae!"
Only one person in the whole tower dared to call her that.
"What Beast Boy?" She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "And don't call me Rae."
Beast Boy had grown up in the past three years in the tower, and he finally reached a height that he found "manly." The what used to be small form changer was now quickly approaching six feet in height, which would explain his large feet as a teenager. Now, along with his deep voice, he seemed to think that he could call her whatever the heck he wanted to.
"Ah Raven, what's the matter!?" Beast Boy leaned over her, and she growled out of the back of her throat. "Seems like you're a little bit more...gloomy then usual."
"And what's that supposed to mean!?"
The cockiness in him annoyed her non-stop, and she had to admit the fact that what he said plucked a nerve. Just because he grew didn't mean that he had mentally matured in the slightest bit. In fact, the spurt seemed to have decreased his mental aptitude in age.
"Nothing, Rae." Beast Boy smirked, leaning against her bedroom door. "What cha doing?"
"Going to my room." She gave him a bitter look. "Now, if you would be so kind as to let me pass..."
"And what if I'm not so kind as to-"
Raven felt her self-control spiral. Of all days for him to act like a complete prick, it had to be today! "Beast Boy, I am giving you one warning! Get off my door right now or else I'm going to send you flying into the ocean--and it won't be through a door or window."
"Really?" His eyebrow rose a few inches. "Cause I don't-"
"Beast Boy, I'm warning you!" She raised her hand. "BACK OFF!"
And that was when her door caved in. Her powers, spiraling out of control by her latest premonition attack, flung out of control and completely collapsed the door. That poor metal thing didn't know what hit it, and, frankly, neither did Beast Boy.
"OUCH!" He lay sprawled on the floor, his eyes in a daze.
Her room was dark, the only light spilling in came from the door. That was enough light to let her get the gist of what was written on her wall:
TOO LATE
She stared at the message that was written in large amounts of florescent greenpaint, and ran flicked her hood back over her eyes. From the amount of training she had from meditating, it was easy to slip off into her own little world--even then, when everything seemed dark.
"Aren't you going to help me up!?" Beast Boy teetered onto his butt. "God, after what you just did to-UM, Rae?"
He slowly tuned around and scanned the room, realizing what was written on the wall. His eyes darted back and forth: Raven, to the wall; Raven, to the wall. His lips tightened over his fang that was still out the side of his mouth.
"We should go get Robin." She said quietly.
"Yeah."
He stood up, shaking himself off. With that, he patted her shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"Umm, comforting you?" Beast Boy said hopefully.
She rolled her eyes, "Just go get Robin, okay? I'll go look around and see if anything was stolen."
"Kay, Rae!"
"I'm not-" But he was already gone, circling the nearest corner with a bounce in step. So much for that!
She looked quietly around the room, looking from one place to another: books were untouched, as were her various magic assortments. Her expensive antiques were tucked away in her dresser drawer. The only thing that had been moved at all was her bed spread, and that was the strangest of all...
This morning, her head hadn't been made when she went to the roof. Now, however, it was neatly tucked in at the corners--so neatly, that she would have thought that it would have been done by her own careful hands.
"Raven?" Starfire burst into the room, her hair a flailing trail of fire. "I have heard that your has become the sabotaged."
"Not sabotaged exactly." Raven peered around the corners of the room, drawing her hood tighter around herself.
Her room, her sanctuary, always seemed so safe to her before. There was nothing there that could ever reach her--not Beast Boy with his comments, nor any harshness of the world. It had been silly to think that these simple walls could ever keep her truly safe.
The walls certainly had not been able to keep her away from the wrath of her father, nor the attack of Malchior. Yet, somehow, the place itself seemed to hold some kind of heavenliness to her...A heavenliness that was now and forever gone.
"Has something been taken?" Starfire flicked her hand over to the light, only to discover that it was not working. With a flick of her hand, the world was illuminated by a glowing green ball of light on her hand. "The light has ceased to function."
"No." Nothing but a feeling of safety.
Robin emerged soon after, trailed by both Cyborg and Beast Boy. "Heard something happened to your-what the?"
The still wet glowing green paint had begun to ooze down the wall, dribbling onto the carpet. It looked and smelled disgusting. Raven wrinkled her nose, her eyes following every single fall of the liquid. So much for her room being private┘.
"Nothing was stolen." Raven murmured. "But my bed was...Well, somebody made it."
Robin raised his eyebrow, "Somebody made your bed?"
"Yes." With that, she began to tug at her bed sheets. They feel quietly to the floor, revealing nothing but the black bed spread underneath. "This morning when I went up to the roof it was undone--completely undone."
"You're sure?"
Raven rolled her eyes. "Positive."
⌠Great.■ Beast Boy raised his arms. "OHH, scary Rae. Attack of the bed maker! OHHHH-OUCH! Cyborg what was that for?"
Cyborg and Starfire were the only Titan's that hadn't grown in these past years. Though Raven grew in height a good three inches and grew slightly more curved, Starfire remained the same as she always was: tall, thin and cheery.
Though Cyborg's mechanical party kept him from growing, he mentally matured enough to make up for it. He would always be the cheery, loving friend that they cared so much about, but now he was more adult then anyone could have imagined--even with BB and his much loved tofu.
Now Robin had grown to the near height of Cyborg. (If the spikes of his hair counted, then he indeed was almost identical in height with his robotic friend) That left Raven, to her dismay, to remain the shortest of the Titans.
"Knock it off, B." Cyborg grumbled out of the corner of his mouth. "Raven, better check the bed, just to make sure."
And so they did. They pulled apart the sheets, checked between the mattress and the frame, and peered beneath the beds depths--nothing. Somebody had just made the bed!
"Great." Raven tightened her hood across her face. "What the heck would a villain want with my bed."
Beast Boy raised his eye brow again. "I can think of a few-OUCH!"
"B! Stop it." Cyborg shook his head.
"I was just joking around!" Beast Boy yelled. "No need to break my ribs were your elbows, man!"
"Both of you be quiet." Robin growled. "Raven, are you okay."
"Fine." She shrugged.
"Friends," Starfire sat at the edge of the bed, her face hidden by the long tendrils of her long, fire-like red hair. "What do you think this means?"
"Truthfully," Robin said sheepishly. "Probably just a very obsessed fan."
"OOOH, Rae..."
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When Raven lay down in bed that night, her purple hair spread out over the pillow, she couldn't seem to lie down in the right position. Everything felt WRONG in here now. Someone had been in here, touching her stuff, and she felt from the way the room made her tingle all over that there hadn't been a humorous intent.
She slammed her hand down on her book. "This was not an obsessed fan, I can feel it!"
First the way she felt this morning and now this...The bad guys had all died down for the past couple of months--seriously. It could have been a good three weeks since they had a call last, and that was only for some small town bank robbery. Nothing to really be remotely frightened about.
There was a soft knock outside her door, and she peered up and over her book. Should she answer it? Definitely she wasn't in the room to talk right now. In fact, she wasn't in the mood to do much of anything.
"Rae?"
Great. Beast Boy, the last person she wanted to see right now.
She sat up quietly, wrapping her cloak around her leotard. It fell gracefully about her frame, the hood hiding her face between her two dark, inquisitive eyes. When she opened the door, two dark green eyes peered at her through the door jam.
She snapped, "What?"
"I was just...you know...checking to make sure that you were okay."
"I'm fine."
When she went to shut the door, Beast Boy's fingers snapped into action, wrapping around the frame. Of course, even his tough fingers could take it when a metal door was slammed onto his finger tips.
With a squeal of "OUCH," he lurched backwards.
For the second time today, she just clobbered him... Raven couldn't believe it!
"Beast Boy." She hadn't meant to hurt him this time--not at all. And when she saw him sprawled on the floor like a giant place may, she gave a mighty sigh, "You okay?"
"How can you ask that?" He held up his hand, revealing swollen, crooked fingers. "I think every bone in my hand is broken."
Indeed, his fingers were pointing every which way--most of which, were directions fingers were never meant to go. The tip of his index finger was laying pathetically on the back of the rest of his fingers--poor guy, that can't have felt pleasant.
"OUCH!"
"Come here, Beast Boy!" She sighed, grabbing his unharmed hand and hauling him to his feet. "In here."
The light, thanks to Cyborg, was now working again. The paint was, luckily, easy to remove. Looks like whoever it was that had decided to pay her a little visit hadn't meant anything all to seriously┘.At least, that was all according to Robin.
"Your not going to throw me out a window," Beast Boy pouted. "Are you?"
"Don't be ridiculous." She rolled her eyes. "Give me your hand Beast Boy."
With a whimper, he held out his damaged paw. Raven slowly touched it, the blue sparks of healing running up her own arm and taking care of the damage. One by one, the energy popped the bones back into the sockets, revealing a undamaged hand. Thank goodness for her powers, or else that would have put Beast Boy out of action for some time.
"Good as new." He shook his hand, just in case. "It even feels better then it did before you healed me! Thanks Rae."
She sighed, deciding not to pick a fight about the name right now. There was too much on her mind--too much to even allow herself to talk to Beast Boy very long. Not that it would last anyway. Conversations that lasted more then five minutes had a tendency to end up in raging fights.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" She crossed her arms, switching positions until she was leaning back.
"I wanted to check on you..." Beast Boy shrugged. "You haven't been out of your room since this morning...We were all kind of worried."
"You shouldn't have been..." Raven was touched--honestly. Sometimes she wondered about whether or not they noticed she was even there. "I'm fine. Probably just some crazed fan that got me confused with Starfire."
"Do you honestly believe that?" Beast Boy gave her a long look.
"No, I don't." Why was she telling him this?
"Knew it." Beast Boy said triumphantly, beating the air as if it was a giant punching bag. "Robin was too obsessed with the latest news from the Titans East to notic..."
And she hadn't been informed about this!? "Titans East?"
"Guess there's a villain running amuck that fits Slade's description." Beast Boy flopped ungracefully onto her bed, and Raven wrinkled her nose. So this was what she got for letting him in! He was going to stay in her room for forever. "Course, that drives Robin absolutely mad."
"Do you think-"
"Nah, can't be him." He sighed. "The crime is just too un-slade like. Sounds like its just a copy cat."
"Wow, Beast Boy." Raven smirked. "I think this is the longest that you've ever talked while remaining serious--for a good while there, I thought you were somebody else."
Beast Boy shrugged, "Hah hah."
She sat at the side of the bed and studied the place where the words had been. It really was weird, that feeling that was crawling up and down her spine. It was like snake slithering down the back of her leotard.
"Beast Boy?"
He sat up, "Hmm?"
"Do you-no, never mind."
Then she was silent for a good thirty minutes, deep in her own thoughts. It wasn't until she heard a deep snore that she realized that Beast Boy had fallen asleep, sprawled across her bed, face smack down in the middle of her pillow. A line of drool had begun to dribble down his cheek as she watched.
"Great..." Raven rolled her eyes.
"Beast Boy, this isn't funny." She poked him and he moaned. "BEAST BOY!"
And a small smile began to form on his face...
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No Flaming Please!