Chapter 1: Emergence
This idea came up and whacked me around the head after watching the Teen Titan episode 'Nevermore' again. Why? Several reasons, really. Firstly, I haven't had access to a computer for a week, so my imagination is overactive. Secondly, Raven rocks. Thirdly, BBxRae rocks. Fourthly, Raven's inner selves rock. And I wanted to see more of them. So there you are, the fic is here. It probably won't be finished...but oh well. I'll put it up for adoption in the case of discontinuity...
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Raven meditated every day to keep her emotions in check. This normally worked, but unfortunately, it sometimes wasn't enough. Occasionally, meaning once every three months, Raven would have to meditate with the help of her Meditation Mirror to cow her other selves into submission. Otherwise, they'd make themselves far more obvious than welcome. Once she hadn't been able to do this crucial form of meditation, due to Dr. Light arriving at a bad time. As a result, Trigon had gotten much too much control over Anger, and Happy had been free to make her collapse in random fits of giggles. Thankfully, Beast Boy and Cyborg had messed up in a useful way and arrived in Nevermore in the nick of time to stop Anger from taking control and decimating everything.
So, it was quite crucial that she did this. She's already renewed her control over Wisdom, Anger (who she tended to assault first), Brave (who took an annoyingly long time to force into submission), Timid (who really didn't need much cowing) and Love. She'd started on Knowledge (Since Happy had ran off and hidden somewhere, and Rude was usually saved for last. As for Sadness, she wasn't going anywhere) when she was broken out of the process by some stupid villain.
Now, the shitbag Cinderblock (excuse the swearing, but Rude hasn't been subdued yet) had decided it was a smart idea to drop from who-knows where on the roof and smash a crouse through to Raven's room. Unfortunately (the lack of fortunate was mutual to both parties) he'd landed on her Meditation Mirror, and broken it. Coincidentally, he'd broken it into nine pieces.
"Oh no. You did not just do that." Raven growled at the block.
"Why?" He grunted dumbly. Well, at least he was smart enough to comprehend basic human speech now...
"HYAAH!" A voice interrupted loudly, and a figure cloaked in green shot out of a glass shard, becoming quickly human-sized, and gave Cinderblock an impressive kick in the jaw. Surprisingly, the idiot's cheek crumbled. He howled.
"That's why." Raven affirmed, glaring at Brave. Well, she'd done a good job at least.
"Haha! Sucker!" Rude sniggered, appearing out of a shard and laughing a snorty laugh at Cinderblock.
"I wish you hadn't come here. You've just caused more trouble. What's gonna happen to us now?" Sadness sighed sadly, staring downcast at the floor.
"I fucking hate you!" Anger roared, coming out of nowhere and beating the shit out of Cinderblock. "Take that, you fucktard! Don't ever show your scaly ass around here again! Fuck off and don't come back!"
"I'll help!" Rude said. She happened to be Anger's best friend, which would explain the foul language Anger was using. Soon, with Rude, Anger, and Brave's combined efforts (plus Knowledge's dainty spellwork and Raven's black blitz) Cinderblock was no longer a block. He was rubble.
"Raven! Are you okay? What happened? We heard a crash." Robin's voice filtered through the door. Raven stiffened, and glared at the nine materialised shapes of her emotions.
"I'm fine!" She called back. "Cinderblock dropped in. You don't have to worry about him now."
"Oh." He said, sounding stunned.
"You beat Cinderblock on your own? Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed incredulously.
"So you opened the can of butt whoop on Cinderblock?" Starfire questioned. "Friends! let us send him to the enforcers of law and celebrate Friend Raven's strength!"
"Actually, you'd better throw him in the trash." Raven corrected.
"Let's just say Cinderblock isn't a block anymore!" Happy giggled. Raven kicked her. "Ow!" Brief silence.
"...Raven? What was that?" Cyborg asked tentatively. Raven sighed and resigned herself to her fate.
"When Cinderblock...dropped in...he kinda dropped on my Meditation Mirror." She replied honestly.
"Wait, you mean that freaky mirror that send you into that place with all the other yous?" Beast Boy interrupted.
"What are you talking about, Beast Boy?" Robin asked. You could practically hear his frown.
"Uh...ages ago, after Raven went scary on Dr. Light, me and Cyborg accidentally went through this mirror thing into Raven's mind. She has all these other Ravens in there...like, her emotions and stuff..." Beast Boy explained.
"Exactly." Raven nodded, emerging from her room and carefully blocking the doorway. Brave tried to barge through, but Raven kicked her too.
"Ow!"
"My emotions are each a part of me." Raven explained, ignoring Brave. "Sometimes, my hold over them slips, and the Meditation Mirror is required so that I can subdue them. I was in the middle of that when Cinderblock dropped in and broke the mirror..."
"And since Raven was connecting to all of us on an equal level, effectively tying us all closer than we tend to be, when the mirror was broken, it caused this. Raven's consciousness was pulled back into the physical world without warning, and with it, us. We now have access to the physical world, and proceeded to turn Cinderblock into a pile of rubble." Another voice told them.
"Who's that?" Robin asked, eyebrow raised.
"That's Knowledge." Raven answered, then she sighed. She poked her head into her room. "Rude, clear up Cinderblock. No farting, please. Anger, you have permission to injure Rude if she does."
"Alright!" Came an evil sounding voice from inside. "Thanks Raven!"
"No farts. Got it."
Raven turned back to her creeped-out teammates. "We'll meet you in the common room and I'll introduce them all. Alright?" She sent a blockade of black energy that pushed them down the hall, then she stepped into the chaos.
"Happy! Don't touch that!"
"Get your bloody head out of them books, Knowledge! Yeesh, isn't your country-long library boring enough?"
"Oi! Stop farting on Timid! Anger, get in there!"
"I'm on it!"
"Hey! At least get Brave away form that glass- oh my shitting god! Hey, Anger! I thought I was your best friend! Why are you attacking me?!"
"Sorry, Rude, but I like violence way too much to care-"
The extremely disturbed Titans made their way to the common room in cowed silence.
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And there is chapter 1.
Chapter 2: Introductions
It was quite a while after arriving in the common room that Raven entered, followed by nine other Ravens. There was a lavender-cloaked one, an orange one, a yellow one, a brown one, a grey one, a pink one, a red one, a green one, and a misty blue one.
"Right, now that the initial chaos has been sorted out, I believe we are ready to be introduced." Knowledge remarked, moving into line with the other Ravens. The normal Raven stood at their head, walking by them and gesturing as she named them.
"Orange is Rude, yellow is Knowledge, brown is Wisdom, grey is Timid, pink is Happy, red is Anger, blue is Sadness...and lavender is Love." She said the last with a grimace.
"Hiya!" Happy greeted cheerfully. Knowledge pushed her glasses up.
"They may be troublesome, because they're their own emotions and not much else. Sometimes they merge, though. Rude goes with Anger, Knowledge with Wisdom, Brave with Happy; and then Love, Sadness, and Timid are all friends. Since Love is quite popular among the emotions, they'll all have a bit of her. Same with Timid...she's quite easy to get along with." Timid smiled uncertainly at Raven's commentary.
"Uh, hi?" Beast Boy greeted, waving. All emotion eyes fixed on him.
"Hiya Beast Boy! I haven't seen you for ages!" Happy exclaimed.
"It's nice to make your acquaintance. I believe there was not time for introductions when we last met." Knowledge nodded.
"Yep." Rude agreed. "Anger had gone psycho and turned into Trigon...don't do that, it's scary." Rude chided Anger. Anger huffed.
"It's not like I can. You killed the bugger."
"Now, you all shut up and listen." Raven interrupted, tuning out all thought of the other Titans. "Anger, I'll let you walk unrestrained as long as the only thing you attack is Rude. And that's only if she farts, vomits, or does something disgusting. No destroying the Tower, or I'll have you in chains when you get back to Nevermore. Rude, I trust the threat of Anger will keep you in good behavior. Hopefully. Happy..." here she glared. "Don't laugh too much. And especially not on camera. I forbid you to play video games, you know how much they rot away at Knowledge and Wisdom. Knowledge, use relatively simple language around the others. You don't want to get frustrated and fuel Anger. Wisdom, do your best to spread yourself. Brave, don't do anything stupid. And no teaming up with Love. I'd hate to see what would happen if you merged with her. Timid, try not to apologise too much... Sadness, don't be emo. Stay away from Starfire's makeup."
"Why would Sadness do the raiding of my makeup?" Starfire asked.
"Because Sadness is always depressed. In the city, such people are known as Emos. and Emos paint their faces..." Raven explained. Sadness seemed disappointed. She sighed depressingly. "Oh, and don't associate with anyone too much. You'll depress them." Raven added as an afterthought. "Most important of all...Love, no flirting."
The Titans face-faulted. Raven...flirting?
"And as for you all...let nothing of that regard slip. Alright?" She glared at them all. Timid and Love blushed, Happy giggled, Brave smirked, and even Knowledge blushed. really, everyone except Happy blushed, since she was too happy.
"Righteo, boss!" Happy mock-saluted. Rude also saluted, but it was a middle-finger salute. Raven scowled.
"I'm going to meditate. If any of you disobeys...I'll have you room with Anger when you're back in Nevermore. And if you disobey..." She indicated Anger. "I'll have you room with Brave. I know how much she annoys you. Behave." Raven then strode off to the roof.
"So...um...can we sit?" Timid asked timidly, glancing at Rude, who had already slouched upon a sofa.
"...sure." Robin agreed, and the various emotions took their seats.
"So what did Raven mean about letting something slip?" Beast Boy asked. Instantaneous blushes occured.
"That's mainly to do with Love here." Brave indicated the emotion next to Wisdom.
"Yes." Knowledge nodded. "Naturally, because of how complicated the human mind is, we aren't the only emotions Raven has. She has thousands, but we are the only ones used enough to be able to take form in her mind. Sadness emerged not too long ago. And before she did, another emotion vanished." She'd obviously hit a sore topic, because hers and several other of the emotion's eyes darkened. Timid's eyes went watery, and Sadness let a few tears loose. "But anyway, Love became one of the main emotions quite a long time ago when Raven got a crush. Since that crush developed to something more, Love has been in active use."
"Wait a second, Raven loves someone? Raven?" Cyborg interrupted. "Who?" He demanded. Several emotions blushed. Anger growled in annoyance.
"Oh fuck this. I hate this stuff. Which of you lilyshits wants to come train with me and Rude?" She asked.
"I'll go." Robin suggested. "I need to train. Besides, it would be useful to know how well you seperate selves can fight."
"I'm in!" Cyborg announced, forgetting about his unanswered question.
"How about we all go and kick their butts?" Brave suggested. "It'll keep us away from this topic." The emotions whole-heartedly agreed, and herded the Titans to the training zone.
Needless to say, they didn't stand a chance against the Black Barrage- Cyborg's name for the sheer terror that was nine Ravens all using their black energy at once.
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"So, you're the brainy part of Raven, right?" Beast Boy asked Knowledge. She nodded.
"That is correct." She affirmed, then raised an eyebrow. Beast Boy was staring at her.
And, unfortunately...she didn't have as good control of her mindreading abilities when Wisdom wasn't around to keep them in check.
Raven looks kinda cute in glasses. Ah, the unfortunate nature of thoughts people tended to think...
Knowledge blushed, and Beast Boy wondered why. Until she spoke. "Thank you, Beast Boy. But please try not to think so loudly...I'm not very good at controlling this mind-reading." Beast Boy reddened.
"Haha!" Rude pointed and laughed, even though she had no idea what she was laughing at.
"So...what's up, Knowledge? What was he thinking?" Happy asked eagerly. Beast Boy slunk away. He was so glad the other Titans weren't there...
Knowledge checked to see that Beast Boy was sufficiently gone. She didn't want to embarass him any more. "I heard him thinking that 'Raven looks kinda cute in glasses', so to quote." Timid blushed, and Love's eyes lit up. Sadness promptly gained a rather severely bleeding wound on her hand, but it seemed to be something quite normal considering the lack of reaction.
"Whoohoo! You go, girl!" Happy cheered. "I've got to go tell Raven! Be right back!" And the pink-clothed doppelganger zoomed off at superspeed, forgetting how she could just phase to Raven's location.
There was a short while of silence, knowing that every emotion would experience whatever reaction Raven would have, and then it arrived.
"Did...did you feel that?" Wisdom whispered, unlike her usual cool self. Every emotion seemed awed by something, even Anger seemed impressed.
"I...I think I did." Brave frowned. "That was... Hope, wasn't it?"
"It...It was." Love affirmed, brightening.
"I...didn't know emotions could be reborn." Timid confessed.
"It's about time." Rude grumbled, crossing her arms. "Things have been shit without her around."
"Yes." Knowledge agreed. "Maybe now...things will be different." There was a moment of revered silence, until Sadness broke it.
"Heey...Hope's hurting me!" She complained.
"She can't be. Hope doesn't have a corporeal self." Knowledge frowned.
"But she is." Sadness insisted depressingly, shoving out an arm and pulling the cloak off it. Bloody gashes were appearing out of nowhere, criss-crossing over her skin.
"Well, what do you know." Brave muttered, astounded.
"Shut up, wimp, or I'll really give you something to whinge about." Anger growled. Without much reason, she pounced on Sadness and proceeded to add some more wounds to her collection.
Seeing everyone stare at her, Anger defended herself. "What? Raven's angry at herself for being sad."
"Oh, right." Rude nodded in acceptance. That made sense.
Happy chose that moment to walk in, and she noticed Sadness's rather bloody state.
"Sadness is finally scarring!" She exclaimed happily. "Hey, Beast Boy! Sadness is injured! Come have a party!" She called down the hall. Beast Boy appeared a moment later, seeming confused.
"What-" He broke off upon seeing Sadness. "Dude! What happened to you?!" He seemed rather horrified. They suddenly remembered how they all looked like Raven.
"Don't worry, it's a good thing." Wisdom hastened to reassure him. "Sadness is a negative emotion. She's not much fun to have around, and she makes life difficult. The fact that she's weakening means that things might be getting better."
"Speak for yourself." Sadness muttered, wrapping part of her cloak around her arm.
"I'm so confused." Beast Boy sighed into his gloved hand. "Explanation, anyone?"
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One of the first signs of the romance. Behold.
Chapter 3: Unsavory Subjects
"Explanation? Knowledge, please give him an explanation. I'm no good at those." Wisdom asked. Knowledge nodded, and pushed up her glasses.
"Sadness is generally not a very nice thing to have, so Sadness is counted among us as a negative emotion. She's a part of who we are, but we'd rather not have her around." One of Sadness' wounds healed slightly. Beast Boy, sensing the upcoming lecture, took a seat. "Sadness arrived when we lost another emotion...a positive one. It was a bad time for us all, even Anger."
"And I was the one that killed the bitch..." Anger muttered.
"It was mostly Sadness that killed her, you know. You just finished her off." Wisdom reminded. Anger scowled.
Before Knowledge could continue, Beast Boy interrupted, looking unsure. "Uh...This might not be the best thing to ask...but which emotion died?" Everything went deathly still. Even Happy was frozen in the grips of chilly remembrance.
It was a while before the silence was broken. Suprisingly, by Timid. "Hope." She said softly. "Hope died a long time ago." Beast Boy's eyes widened.
"Hope? What a thing to loose...She just died? How did that happen?" More of the horrible, scalding memory washed through them all.
"We really shouldn't be telling you this..." Timid pointed out quietly.
"Raven will kill us if she knew we were giving out her secrets...unless...Wisdom, this is your call." Knowledge frowned.
"Deep down, Raven probably wants him to know anyway. But she'd never tell him. We might as well while we have the chance." Wisdom decided. "Besides, Raven doesn't even need to know we're giving out her secrets." Rude and Brave were strangely quiet, and Love's downcast trio huddled in a sad bundle of tainted virtue. Even Anger seemed cooled off by the recent reminiscence.
"Very well." Knowledge sighed. "It was after Malchior betrayed her. Sadness was already partially manifested by then...mainly by her own insecurities."
"Insecurities?" Beast Boy interrupted. Knowledge sent him a a withering look.
"Yes, Beast Boy. She is half-demon after all. Her father was a raving monster that nearly destroyed you all, the only remaining people she cares about. He destroyed Azarath- Raven's home world- shortly before the prophecy was put into motion. It is quite natural that she would blame herself for the fate you nearly suffered. Even among her fans, Raven is seen as the silent and 'creepy' one. The lone wolf. She's come to believe it. But back to the original topic..." She glared at Beast Boy, warning him to not attack again. He was momentarily stunned. Raven certainly hid a lot... "Of course she hides a lot." That mind-reading was scary. Brilliant, but scary. And so violating! "I can't help it, you know." Oh dear, Knowledge is getting irritated. "Anyway, Sadness was already quite significant from Raven's own insecurities... but Raven had Hope then. Hope was the most effective counter against Sadness, because she could chase it away with the hope that things would work out; that this or that could happen. Hope kept us all sane. Then Malchior arrived. He treated Raven like no one had before...maybe he was deluding us, but we didn't know that." Beast Boy absently noticed she was speaking plural now.
"For a while, Happy, Brave, and Hope were stronger than they'd ever been. Sadness was good as dead, and Anger could barely show her corporeal face. We never noticed Wisdom suffering, we never notice that sort of thing. Then he betrayed us. We were angry...so angry. And so sad. We'd learned that this person, the only person who had ever thought of us as 'not-creepy', had been lying all along. Playing us. Hope nearly died then and there from the massive loss she sustained, then Sadness fed off of her and became corporeal. Anger finished Hope off." Knowledge stared at the ground. "We were so lost after that. Hope united us, we couldn't function properly without her. But we learned...we learned to live how we do...such a sad and pathetic life. Happy sustained serious wounds- she still has the scars." Happy pulled up her sleeve in demonstration, revealing horrid patterns of deep scars running across every inch of her flesh. In some places, it seemed more scar than skin.
"Since we're the emotions, we're the ones that sustain the 'mental scars'. Happy got a lot of those...Sadness is like a plague to her, and just as deadly. True, Raven has Love, but Love's been blitzed by Sadness and Timid. Whenever Love comes out, Sadness and Timid go too. Obviously, Timid's presence means she won't be acting upon her feelings, and common sense keeps her from letting us do as we please, after all. Her powers would go manic." Knowledge shook her head sadly. "By the time you got there to comfort her, the wounds had already set in. Now you'll be hard pressed to get her to believe that she's actually worth something. After all, Malchior did, and he was lying. So why should she believe someone else?" Beast Boy stared blankly.
"Dude...Rae's been like this for...how long? The Malchior thing was ages ago."
"Unlike what some nimwads might say, time does not heal all wounds." Anger muttered darkly.
Sadness nodded solemnly. "I'm proof of that." Suddenly she winced. "Cruuuud! Why does Hope have to be so annoying?" The populace of the room brightened.
"That's right! I strayed from the original topic...Sadness was bleeding when you came in. Trust me, that's a good thing. Especially considering who it was that injured her." Knowledge's eyes shined with triumph.
"Hope's back!" Happy cheered. Then she dropped a bit. "She's not very strong yet...not strong at all. But still...she's back!"
"Yeah, Hopey ain't outta the woods yet." Rude frowned. "She's just one of those side-emotions. She don't have a physical form, image, or even a bloody voice. The slightest thingamawhatsy could kill her right now."
Wisdom nodded gravely. "Indeed. And that's why we need a way to figure out how to strengthen Hope before such a thing happens." She stared around. "I suggest utilising Beast Boy to the fullest extent."
"Wait, what?" Beast Boy's eyes boggled.
"Great idea!" Happy cheered. "...As soon as you have a plan, that is."
"It's quite simple. We'll know if Raven's feeling particularly emotional. If the conditions are right, we deploy Beast Boy to talk to her. Ask her how she is, perhaps. If he persists, even Raven won't be able to hold everything back. If she weakens the Negatives, there's less chance of Hope being killed again." Beast Boy would have protested, if it weren't Raven they were talking about.
"Isn't that dangerous? I mean...if Raven looses control of her powers..."
"Not at all." Wisdom assured instantly. "At the moment, Raven doesn't have any chance at losing control. She could have an emotional breakdown and not kill anything, simply because we're real now and can control ourselves. She doesn't know that, though." Beast Boy relaxed.
He also managed to forget about Knowledge's mind-reading tendancies.
Well, that's a relief. At least I can help Rae without a chance of her blowing up the place. He failed to notice Knowledge watching him intently, dissecting his thoughts with remarkable ease. But what the heck. I'd have probably helped even if there was a chance of going boom...Rae is my friend, after all. Maybe a bit lacking in the 'more-than-friends' bit...but...- Beast Boy's thoughts were abruptly broken off.
"WHAT?!" Knowledge exploded, eyes wide with shock and disbelief. The attentions of every emotion immediately switched to her. They knew she'd found something out. Judging by the reaction, something quite big.
Beast Boy stared at her in confusion for a second or too, then he remembered her telepathic abilities, and went equally wide-eyed, but in panic. CrapcrapcrapCRAP she knows... He continued into his 'crap' mantra before Knowledge forced him out of it.
"Did you just think what I thought you did?" She asked, with an unnaturally calm voice. It sounded very fake. Beast Boy quailed, and shrank back into his chair, wishing he could do a Raven and phase away somewhere. He nodded, bracing himself.
Knowledge stared, blinking occasionally, a flurry of thought and emotion twisting around in a chaotic tide in her mind as she desperately tried to interpret what she'd discovered. Beast Boy's thoughts, combined with his reaction, yielded a very welcome conclusion.
"So you, Beast Boy, have distinct more-than-friend affections for Raven, and us, in a whole?" The eyes of all the emotions boggled and widened in disbelief and shock, much like her own had. They gaped, even the emotions that normally seemed more composed.
Beast Boy gave another small nod, eyes darting around desperately for an exit. Even transforming wouldn't get him anywhere with all these Ravens around- they could all morph him. He braced himself to be killed. They still seemed to be struggling with the concept, and then Wisdom; with the same forced calmness that Knowledge had been using, asked him a question.
"How strong would these affections be?" Under her scrutinising look, he was unable to answer except in his mind, which he knew Knowledge would pick up. Pretty damn strong, I'd say.
"'Pretty damn strong, he'd say.'" Knowledge relayed. The collective emotions still seemed to be struggling with something. Wisdom sent a meaningful glance at Love.
"Love..." Her voice held a deceptively mild tone of warning, and was definitely implying something. Love grinned uncertainly.
"I-I'm on it." She agreed, then phased out. For a minute, Beast Boy thought she was going to go tell Raven, but then he noticed how both Knowledge and Wisdom were meditating and how Love had materialised out of the ground in front of him. She was uncomfortably close, and since this was a variation of Raven, he was unable to prevent the first effects that the closeness yielded. Love stared at his eyes for a moment, staring him into staying silent, then turned to Knowledge. "Knowledge?"
She opened her eyes, and they had a sharp look to them. "Heartbeat increased by roughly sixty percent. Mild levels of perspiration have begun. Test confirmed positive. Wisdom?" Wisdom also opened her eyes, only hers were deceptively blank.
"Empath test confirmed. Infatuation detected." She clarified. there was brief silence as Love materialised away, then it all exploded when she re-appeared a second later next to Happy, hugging her.
"WHOOHOO!" Brave cheered.
"HoUsE pArTy!" Rude agreed in an annoying voice that ranged in volume. Soon, everyone except sadness was running around, shaking each-other's hands and giving out sisterly hugs, engaging in brief rounds of 'dancing the basket' before zooming off to celebrate with someone else. Happy suddenly zipped over to a bemused Beast Boy with the hyperactiveness that only she could have. She gave him a quick, certainly not sisterly hug before releasing him and shaking his hand with strange ferocity.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She squealed before zipping off somewhere else (which turned out to be Sadness' location) and attacking a certain negative emotion with unnatural joy. She looked very strange, savaging the misty-cloaked emotion with claws of an unknown source, a big happy grin plastered over her face even as Sadness' blood splattered. Oddly, the blood disappeared upon hitting the floor or other objects, but stayed when it hit Happy. All the other emotions suddenly noticed what Happy was doing, and decided it was a very good idea. They began savaging her with blades of black energy, rapier demonic claws, and well-placed farts. The mess was a thing to behold. Suddenly, Cyborg walked in.
"What are you doing?" He stared. Wisdom paused in her assault to answer.
"We're killing Sadness. Please leave, we're having a mutual happy moment here."
"Oh, okay." Cyborg walked out, dumbstruck. His mind was racing and he was very, very confused.
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Oh dear god, I loved their reactions.
Chapter 4: Divergence
Warning. Angst.
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"Uh..." Beast Boy stared. Why are they celebrating? Shouldn't they be killing me or something? Knowledge had obviously heard the thoughts, since she raised her voice to the violent populace of emotions.
"Attention, Beast Boy doesn't know why we are celebrating." She announced. The emotions stopped their assault, and stepped back, leaving Sadness as a miserable, bloody heap of mutilation on the floor. She'd be badly weakened from the ordeal, but only Raven herself had the power to direct her emotions to finish her off, even unintentionally. Therefore, Sadness wouldn't die yet. Wisdom took a second to wash all blood from the person of the others and onto its helpless owner, Sadness. The collective un-injured emotions settled in the sofa again.
"I'll take this one." Wisdom assured. "Now, Beast Boy. You are aware that Raven is in love with someone. You should also be aware that the Titans are the only friends she has, and raven isn't the type to go for any stranger. You know that. That pretty much narrows the possibilities down to you, Cyborg, or Robin. Now, when Happy relayed your glasses comment to Raven, Hope is miraculously reborn. Upon finding out that you harbour affections for us, we do not react badly, rather we have a celebration. These facts alone should give you the answer." She stared at him expectantly. It took a moment for him to suss it out.
"Wait a minute...Raven likes me?"
"No." Love corrected. "Raven loves you. She likes you too, granted..." Beast Boy stared for a moment in disbelief, then a wide grin stretched slowly over his face. Wisdom blitzed ahead before he could do anything stupid.
"Now, while this romantic interest may be mutual, you have to realise that Raven still doesn't have Hope. Until we have her back, things can't relaly be put into motion. We'll have to stick with the original plan for now, with slight edits." Wisdom advised.
"Edits?"
"If Raven breaks down crying, don't be afraid to hug her or invade her personal bubble. Knowing her, she'll probably fight for a few seconds and then give in." Wisdom verified. "She'll not only need it, but welcome it. Especially if she's having a major sob."
"Raven...crying?" Beast Boy frowned.
"Oh, yes." Brave nodded. "You'd be surprised how often she does. Raven's read most of her books...and even she doesn't meditate that much. What do you think she'd be doing, other than breaking down where no one can see?"
Anger nodded moodily. "Too right." She muttered. Sadness suddenly twitched violently from her bloody corner, along with Love, Timid, and a minor spasm from Anger. Anger growled.
"Speak of the devil." Love murmured.
Anger scowled. "There she goes again...god, am I the only fucking non-pansy around here?" she looked around.
"She's having a breakdown?" Wisdom asked Love, seeming concerned. Love sighed, and Timid nodded timidly. Wisdom's features darkened. "Do you know why, and how severe it is?"
"She seems to be near tears, but she's struggling against them." Love squinted, obviously concentrating.
Knowledge nodded sadly. "She always does." Timid gave a small dip of her head in agreement.
"You know that Hope was revived a bit ago from what Beast Boy thought." Timid spoke up quietly. "From there, her insecurities kicked in and..." She trailed off.
"And she's wallowing in self-hatred and insecurity, cursing herself. Probably for even falling in love." Knowledge finished, casting a withering look to where Love was being attacked by Timid of all people.
Well, Timid was the personification of Raven's insecurities. "I'm sorry!" She wailed as she attacked Love.
"It's okay, I know you can't help it." Love reassured, wincing at her injuries. Beast Boy's eyes darted around in a frenzy.
"Rae's...she's crying?" He questioned tentatively.
"No, but she will be soon. Maybe in five or ten minutes. She's just phased to her room." Love replied. Beast Boy's eyes hardened.
"I'm going to help her." He announced, keeping in mind what the emotions had told him. He turned into a hare and sprinted through the tower. He was followed by many appraising eyes.
"You know," Knowledge said softly. "I think...he might really be able to save us."
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Beast Boy knocked on Raven's door.
"Uh...Rae?" He heard a sudden crash. Raven had probably knocked something over in surprise.
"What?" Her voice was laced with biting irritation, but it sounded choked and forced. False.
"I...just wanted to see if you were okay." he offered.
"Why-" Her voice sounded rough and hoarse, so she started again. "Why wouldn't I be?" She asked in a much clearer voice.
Beast Boy shrugged. "Your emotions got loose, and you had a big deal trying to calm them down...the day's gotta have been stressful...especially after Knowledge read my mind." He added the last part rather unexpectedly, causing a sudden choking noise to flow from inside.
"I'm fine." Raven told him frostily. It still sounded fake and forced, and wavered a bit at the end. Beast Boy frowned. "Go away, I'm meditating." With the evidence the emotions had presented him with, he most certainly wasn't going to believe that. He turned into an ant and scurried under the crack beneath her door, assuming normal human size once through. Raven's gaze broke away from a heavily locked chest to him. "Beast Boy." her voice was still choked, but definitely had an air of danger to it. "Get out of my room."
"I figured you weren't going to let me in." He said matter-of-factly, ignoring the danger being in Raven's room presented. "And you're definitely not meditating. Why did you say you were?"
"Get out." Sharp, commanding...dead. Her expression wasn't controlled, wasn't clear, and she was trying desperately for it to not be seen. her wavering face showed many things.
"Why? I've been in your room before. You're not meditating. You're not reading. I just want to know if you're okay."
"I already told you, I'm fine." Her voice cracked.
"And I don't believe you." He crossed his arms. "Timid starts attacking Love and Happy, Anger attacks Wisdom, Sadness starts healing...something's obviously going on."
"No it's not." She insisted. She really was a terrible liar on the point of breakdown. "Get out!"
"You should keep him in here." A helpful voice pointed out.
"Go away Wisdom!" Raven snarled, whirling around at the emotion. Wisdom was silent, then phased out. "Go...away..." Her voice was soft now, and she sounded defeated. A lone tear slid down her cheek. "Just...leave me alone." Beast boy sat down beside her lightly.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Rae? You're never alone."
She broke. A great sob shook her body, and tears streamed down her face in a torrent of emotion. She collapsed forwards into her hands, sobbing broken and disjointed words. "Just...go...away..." Her voice was small, desperate, and pleading. Beast Boy hated seeing her like it.
Raven should never be unhappy. Never.
With a brief flash of what Wisdom had said came to him, and he mentally told it that advice or not, he'd still do what she'd said to. Wondering at how he'd normally be killed for such a thing, Beast Boy pulled Raven into a gentle but firm hug, leaving her to stiffen with shock and surprise. She weakly tried to push him away, following what Wisdom had said. He waited for her to give up.
With a broken sob of 'let go', she did. She collapsed onto him, crying freely so unlike what she was normally like. After a short while, she even started hugging him back, clinging as if he were her last lifeline. With grimness unlike him, Beast Boy mused that he probably was. He rubbed her back comfortingly.
"You're not alone." He repeated. She just seemed to cry harder. "I've never lied to you, Rae. Maybe said some horrid things that I didn't mean...but I've never lied." A thought struck him: a view of Raven that had become clear to him. "You're not creepy or anything...just different." Little did he know, she'd told herself exactly that before.
"Go away." She sobbed brokenly, suddenly adverse to something.
'Raven is believing you. You're making her feel non-creepy and wanted...which, incidentally, is also what Malchior made her feel. She's afraid of it.' Knowledge told him through telepathy. He blinked as the information made itself clear.
"I'm not Malchior, Rae." He said strongly, earnestly. "He'd lie to you. I wouldn't. Use your empathy if you have to...I know you normally don't like to use it, but..."
"How did you know about my empathy?" she asked queitly, her sobs becoming less violent and softer.
"Uh..." he smiled uncertainly. "After Knowledge found out something quite big from something I accidentally thought...she went into this meditation thingy with Wisdom and they started dissecting my feelings and stuff." Raven blinked, and gave a small hiccough which would have probably been a chuckle had she not been crying.
"I know you wouldn't lie Beast Boy. It's just..." She shook her head. "What was it that Knowledge found out?" She sensed the sudden nervousness from him.
"I...uh...Well, it's big. I'll let the emotions tell you." Seeing that she'd stopped crying, Beast Boy broke the hug. "But they seemed to be happy about it. Everyone except Sadness...she just sat in the corner. The others partied for a bit, then they all attacked Sadness. She was really beat up by the end of it..." He smiled sheepishly. Raven's eyes widened in astonishment.
"They attacked Sadness? On their own whims?" She regarded Beast Boy, wiping the tears from her face. "They must have really liked whatever they found out. The only way for the emotions to attack another like that when I'm not behind it is to feel too much of a particular emotion to not attack the one it would generally destroy. You couldn't just tell me, could you?"
"Probably not..." Beast Boy replied nervously. "Wisdom advised me not to." Something seemed to strike him. "Oh, I just remembered. Did you know that Hope is back?" Raven recoiled in shock.
"Hope?! Hope is back?" her reaction resembled Knowledge's upon finding out Beast Boy's little secret. A.k.a. wide eyed with shock and disbelief, with a hefty dose of surprise.
"Yep. They say she's weak, and very susceptible to death right now, but she's back."
Raven felt a surge of hope. if Hope was back...then maybe things wouldn't be so bleak anymore. Happy suddenly phased in, out of pink energy rather than black.
"Happy? What are you doing here? And why is your energy pink?" Raven demanded.
"I figured out how to make it change colour!" Happy informed happily. "And the emotions want to thank Beast Boy for whatever he just did, because Hope's out of the danger zone."
Raven felt another surge of hope, and Happy stared in amazement. "Wow! Hope's really getting strong!" She exclaimed.
"Apparently Hope is one of the easiest emotions to strengthen, once revived." Raven commented dryly. Brave phased in from green energy.
"Hey guys! Sadness is really taking a beating from Hope! Hope's just torn out her vocal chords."
"Hope is corporeal?" Raven demanded.
"No, there's only nine mirror shards. She can't get out." A yellow, light-bulb shaped mass of energy formed above Brave's head. raven's eyes widened.
"Oh no. Don't you da-" Crack. Brave had stepped on the mirror, breaking it into more pieces. A semi-transparent Raven drifted out of one of the shards, smiling a serene smile. If she'd have been fully solid, the new Raven would have been clothed in a rather blinding shade of white.
"HOOOOPE!" Happy squealed while launching herself at the other emotion, tackling her to the floor in a hug. Hope chuckled slightly, pulling herself and Happy up while dusting off her robe.
"It's nice to see you again, Happy. I haven't seen you for a...long time." She turned her calm, pleasant eyes to Beast Boy. "I would like to thank you. If not for some of your actions, intended or not, I would not be here. Now, if you would excuse me, I would like to consult the others as to the reasons of my ressurrection." She bowed her head slightly, then melted into the ground. Happy blinked, cocked her head, grinned, then followed. Brave eyed Raven triumphantly, then she phased out too. Raven stared after them, which was at the floor.
"Uh...Rae? You okay?" Beast Boy questioned after a few minutes. Raven snapped her gaze away from the floor.
"Yes." She said shortly.
"It's just...you were sorta zoning out for five minutes." Beast Boy pointed out. Raven frowned.
"Oh." She blinked. "I was...thinking."
"Hope?" Beast Boy guessed.
"...Yes." Raven sighed. "She's been gone for so long...to have her nearly completely corporeal again...it's..." She shook her head, breaking off. Beast Boy nodded understandingly.
"I can guess." He looked out of the window for a second. "I'm going to check what the emotions are doing. See ya." Raven didn't say anything until he was closing her door.
"...Beast Boy?"
He turned. "Yeah?"
"...Thanks."
Beast Boy grinned. "No problem." Suddenly, the alarms flashed, sending both titans immediately on alert.
"Slade is in Hop Street. Repeat. Slade is in Hop Street." Robin's voice rang out through the megaphones, and an odd expression came over Raven's face.
"I suppose I'll be taking the emotions too...well, most of them." She actually chuckled for a second. "That'll be interesting." She suddenly phased out, leaving Beast Boy to run like hell to the common room, where Raven was talking to Robin.
"-Just need to lecture my emotions, I'll be there soon." Robin nodded, spotted Beast Boy, and gestured to him.
"Beast Boy! Come on!" He morphed into a falcon and shot down the corridors.
xxxx
This story is a resubmission of Darktayle's story. Any replicas found elsewhere have been stolen. This has been posted with full approval from Darktayle, who wished to clear her profile while still allowing readers access to her previous works. This story will not be updated--again, if it is found elsewhere and has been updated, then it is a stolen idea and a stolen story.
Thank you.