Hey everyone, This is the second of three stories i have planned and the second that i am putting up, like the first, nothing but a beast?, i will try to update this on a regular basis, at least once a week, reviews and alers are appreciated, will also inspire me to update more frequently, enjoy.
Raven sighed quietly to herself, many thoughts passing through her mind as she stood by one of her large bookshelves, until a few hours ago, large black fabric had been covering the shelf to hide its content in the darkness of the room.
She did not think that she would be looking at these books again so soon, the ones that Malchior had given her to learn the many spells from, the familiar ache in her chest returning but as any other emotion, she pushed them aside with a calming breath.
Her left hand reached out, brushing the spines of the various books, reading the titles of each of them, whispering them with every breath until her hand settled on one thick book in particular. She had read it before but only remembered two, maybe three spells from it and for what she was asked to do and oddly enough agreed too, she needed it.
The book slid from among the others and raven hovered to her bed, sitting down, opening the book at the bookmark still sticking from its pages, it was a book for transmutation of objects and people, the spell the page was on was the one she used when she had morphed Beastboy into a rat after he admitted to be spying on her and malchior.
Her hands slowly turned each of the pages, skimming through to find what she needed and of course, what she was after was close to the back of the book.
The fifth to last page was an index of sorts, showing the names and spells without much description that had not been covered fully in this volume, her fingers stroked down the lines to the spell she was, her fingers stopped, above the tips of her nails was the spell, how to turn into a...
"...Why am i doing this again?" She said to an empty room, sighing with annoyance.
Two days ago...
Raven was sat before the window of the common room, her eyes closed and form floating above the floor. She was meditating, legs crossed into the lotus position and her hands resting gently on her knees, chanting softly beneath every breath to focus her mind and calm her emotions. It was strange, the room was quiet, for the better part at least. Robin and Starfire were sat at the Kitchen table, earlier that day Starfire had lashed out, nearly hospitalising several men after one of them had smacked her bottom while at the mall.
Although her actions were justified, she believed they were challenging her to a duel to the death and therefore Robin now had to explain to her some of the more, unusual, earth customs.
Cyborg was too busy to notice anything around him, rather obsessed about the T-car, recently having been destroyed for the third time by Plasmus. As for beastboy...where was he?
Raven knew Robin and Starfire weren't loud...ish, Cyborg was only when Beastboy was around or when watching TV, or bragging about his mechanical genius that is the T-car. The room was too quiet to her liking which, why was she complaining? Came to mind as Ravens eyes slowly looked around the room, TV switched off, game console tucked away, no comic books or plates of left over Tofu laying around. She ignored the golden silence and returned to her meditation, attempting to anyway.
"...Four pm...and he is not watching...whatever its called." She mumbled slightly and unfolded her legs, letting her feet hover above the floor momentarily before setting down. One of the vilest sounds she had ever heard suddenly filled the room.
Robin and Starfires heads shot up with disbelief as they stared at Raven, who had her back was still turned to them. Her form trembling, trying to contain the anger boiling inside her, temples throbbing and teeth audibly gritting. She knew what it must have been, slowly lifting her right foot to see a whoopee cushion where her foot had been moments ago.
"That's one way to Relax i guess." Robin couldn't help say with a chuckle in his voice, before Starfire could reply with a giggle both fell silent, feeling rather small as Raven glared back at them with anger and clenched teeth.
"Where is he? Beastboy!" Raven yelled loudly and stormed out of the room, leaving Robin and Starfire just a tad more frightened than they already had been.
Once having left the room, a sudden green figure appeared out of seemingly nowhere, having hidden himself as a fly, rolling around on his back now, holding his stomach, laughing loudly at the reaction he had gotten from Raven. "Dude! That was totally the best one yet!" Beastboy said laughing to himself.
The laughter did not last long.
Darkness suddenly appeared beneath him, crackling with energy and before his form could change, screaming in terror, he fell through. A loud splash heard outside, but no, raven was not done with him yet. Above the first portal, another opened, Beastboy screaming as he fell through the second, utterly drenched in water and fell straight back into the first.
Raven stood there, a slight smirk on her lips as she watched Beastboy repeatedly fall through the two portals and at the sound of him hitting the water outside.
After what seemed to have been two dozen round trips, the portals finally closed with beastboy laying on the ground, eyes rolling in his head, water spurting from his mouth, drenched from head to toe. Not saying a word, Raven hovered out of the room and back to her own.
"Nice try Beastboy, but i think Ravens' beaten you this time." Robin said with another slight chuckle in his voice, now staring down at the drenched changeling, not quite his usual green self, a little more red,.not from embarrassment, but from the amounts of times his body collided with the water surface.
Hours passed without further incident, Beastboy had been staying away from Raven, Robin was still in the common room, reading a newspaper as Starfire was cooking...something. Cyborg had heard what beastboy did and had quickly rushed to the computer to watch the events on the security camera. Just as beastboy had done, Cyborg couldn't help but laugh, it was not until the scene of Ravens portals sending beastboy repeatedly into the ocean, that even Cyborg fell of the chair from laughter.
Having finally gathered the courage to apologize, Beastboy had made his way to Ravens room, staring at the door, gulping, his trembling hand reached to the door and gave three gentle knocks. A familiar crackling filled his ears, screaming but this time changing quickly into a humming bird, beneath him another portal had opened.
The door cracked open, exposing half of ravens face, staring at the rather annoyed looking humming bird flapping in front of her door. By possible lack of maintenance, though unlikely, one panel from the ceiling flew down and swatted the humming bird into the portal.
Robin raised his head from the newspaper at the sudden splashing sound outside, "Eh." He said shrugging and returning to the article he was reading.
The rest of the day seemed to pass without a hitch, beastboy stayed away from raven and raven remained in her room but for the occasional trip to the common room for some herbal tea. Robin for his earlier remarks, just in case, had stayed silent as well when he saw Raven though giving her a slight friendly smile to reassure that he was not ignoring her.
As night came and drew its cover of darkness over the horizon and across the city, the Titans had mostly returned to their rooms for an early night, considering how quiet the day had been, except for a few events, it was likely that someone would try something in the city overnight. Beastboy once again had gathered the courage to approach ravens room, his senses sharp, making sure no other portals suddenly appeared out of nowhere and after gently knocking on the door, he quickly changed into a hummingbird, just in case.
Raven slowly slid the door open again, staring at the hummingbird in front of her with the same emotionless expression as before. "Yes?" She said though annoyance clear in her voice.
Beastboys form changed to its human shape and stood there, smiling a little, scratching the back of his neck. "Just wanted to say sorry for before." He said though confidence lacking in his voice.
"As annoying and aggravating as that was...i think i made my point." She said, her expression never changing even as Beastboy quickly nodded in agreement.
"Still, sorry again Raven." Beastboy said with a more affectionate smile and turned to leave.
Raven watched as the Green changeling walked down the hall and turned the corner, her door quickly sliding shut as he looked back towards her room, smiling a little more now.
The next day was the same as always, Cyborg was cooking his famous meat-tastic breakfast ending with him and Beastboy arguing about his vegetarian needs and tofu preference. Though no one could see, Raven had bought earplugs the last time she had gone to the mall and finally decided to use them. Robin just sat there, sighing while reading his newspaper, Starfire happily sipping on her mustard and commenting about the gloriousness of another happy morning.
Raven already having grabbed her tea and toast, sat down on the couch, plate at her side, sipping on the herbal tea. Holding one of her many books, letting her eyes slowly trail down the lines as she read. Her concentration wavered slightly feeling the shifting of the couch and in the corner of her eye could see beastboy having plopped down with a glass of soya milk. The strange thing was, even as he grabbed the game station controller and pressed the power button, he had also grabbed the remote, visibly turning down the volume.
She shrugged it off and returned to her book, although he was still quite the immature green skinned Titan, he seemed to have been slightly more considerate, even his arguing with cyborg did not last half as long as it usually had. Her hands slipped from her book, letting it rest on her lap, reaching under her hood gently to slide the earplugs out and hid them in the palm of her hands.
"Are you all right?" Raven suddenly said before she could stop herself. Beastboy turning to her, quickly looking at himself as though something was out of place before looking back at Raven. "Yes, why?" He said, with confusion.
"You just seemed, different." She said and turned her head to return to reading her book when she heard him reply.
"Well we haven't had to fight anyone in a while, so i haven't had a reason to change forms making it easier to control myself." Beastboy said, making her turn her head look back to him with confusion for once, though her face was still its usual stagnant self.
"You control yourself?" She said sarcastically.
"Yes, is that so hard to believe." Beastboy replied with annoyance.
"Yes." She said quite bluntly without moments pause.
Beastboy glared at her with annoyance but all he got in return was the same emotionless expression, though not announced, he was seeing who would blink first but sadly it was him and sighed.
"I'll have you know that i have to control myself far more than you know." He said with a hint of pride in his voice.
"Oh yes, the whoopee cushion yesterday was a clear sign of that restraint." Raven said sarcastically, again causing beastboy to glare at her again.
"You meditate, i pull pranks, everyone has their own way of handling things." He said as though he had an insight into everything.
"Uh-huh." Was all that Raven said and returned to her book, not slipping the ear plugs back in, ignoring beastboys look.
Beastboy tried to ignore the grey skinned girls last remark but was finding it difficult and after what to him seemed an eternity, thirty seconds according to Raven timing it in her head, he burst out.
"You think it is easy for me to control myself with all these animal instincts running around in my head?" He said with a raised voice causing the other Titans to turn their head, expecting to hear another splash of water from outside.
"It does seem so." She commented, not lifting her eyes from her book which only infuriated Beastboy further.
"Come on! You're the empathic one here, you never once felt the anger or rage inside me whenever i turned back from, lets say, a T-rex?" He continued.
"No." Raven said as emotionless as ever.
Beastboy groaned with frustration, tugging on his own hair before simply sighing in defeat and left the common room.
"What was that all about?" Cyborg asked giving the others a puzzled look when his nose picked up the smell of burning meat. "Ah! My breakfast!" He panicked as the bacon had caught fire.
Beastboy was sat on the roof of the Titans tower, feet hanging over the edge, hands resting by his sides, looking up at the sky. The sun was almost set, just barely visible over the horizon, filling the once blue sky with beautiful shades of red and orange, stars already showing through the dimming light in the sky as darkness would soon shroud the city once again. He knew, expected, the answers he had from the grey skinned sorceress, that did not help the aching in his chest however and even though they say time healed all wounds, the feeling was only worsening.
Raven sighed to herself, she was having problems meditating in her room, even attempting to do so by the window to help ease her mind but with no luck. Leaving her room, the half demon made her way to the roof, levitating, stopping at the top of the stairs as she saw the green skinned Titan sitting at the edge. Raven turned to leave before beastboy noticed her but a breeze brushed passed her and audible sniffing could be heard.
"Raven?" Beastboy asked, turning his head and saw the cloak of the sorceress and Raven turned to face the changeling. "Sorry I'll be out of your way." Beastboy said, lifting himself
"Stay." Raven suddenly said as he passed her, he froze, like a dog having been given an order. "...Please." She finished and hovered to the centre of the roof, letting herself down, folding her legs into the lotus position.
Beastboy was hesitant, as the minutes seemed to pass he finally moved to sit down besides her, legs folding just as hers. He kept quiet, not wanting to bother her more so than he already had done.
"So you really have to control yourself?" Raven asked, breaking the awkward silence between the two.
"Everyday, more so in certain ways depending on what form i take. That is why i tend to change into things that only are violent when necessary, like a gorilla or triceratops, instead of animals naturally violent and vicious like a king cobra." He said hoping that the vague explanation would do the trick.
"You know, you should try it yourself some time." He suddenly suggested.
"I don't have your powers." She said in a tone as though he was an idiot.
"I know, but you morphed me into a rat before remember? You can change yourself then, right?" He replied, a little hope and curiosity in his voice.
"I guess, but i don't see the point." Raven turned to look at the changeling.
"Maybe it will help you understand me better, like i have learned to understand you better, when me and Cy accidentally went into your mind." He smiled, looking into her deep violet eyes.
"Not like it helped you respect my privacy or personal bounds." She retorted.
"But still, come on Rae."
"Don't call me that." She snapped slightly at the changeling.
"Sorry, Raven, but you never wondered what it would be like? What about a wolf? You would be even more beautiful...with the shiny coat and such i mean." He grinned sheepishly.
"...Fine." She said, trying to hide a slight blush on her cheeks. "But for one hour, no more." She said threateningly.
Well, what did you think? Let me know.
I do apologize however for the layout of it, i don't know why, if its my browser or connection but for some reason it won't let me edit and space it properly.
Hope you enjoyed anyway.