Unlucky Charms
Chapter 1
This was the fun part. The girl approached the downward moving escalator. She did not approach it by normal means, but was instead hovering two feet above the ground. As she hovered down the moving staircase she let gravity propel her movement. It was kind of like going downhill on a toboggan. Whatever force held her above the ground kept this from being a true fall.
With inertia from the drop she skated across several stores peaking at the window displays as she moved.
It was Sunday. On Sundays this particular mall opened itself to flea markets. Traveling vendors and local artisans littered the area between the larger stores with stands and kiosks. Almost anyone could participate as long as they reserved space in advance.
Many of the vendors jumped for cover as Starfire skated around their wares oblivious to the peoples fear that she might crash into them.
She did two spirals around a stall for organic honey. On her planet almost all sweet candies where made from insect extracts.
A clothing stall also caught her eye, but there was nothing in purple spandex.
Then there was one stall that surprised her so much that she almost didn't brake in time to avoid crashing into it.
It wasn't the shoddily made jewelry that surprised her but the seller. The seller was none other than Jinx, a long time enemy of the titans.
"Jinx," she exclaimed, "what actions of deviousness are you..."
"Wow, hold on," Jinx waved her arms in the air, signaling Starfire to stop. "I'm a good girl now. Remember, I'm dating Kid Flash."
Starfire held a finger to her lip and furrowed her brow for a moment. "Oh yes I forgot." She regarded her stall. "So you make pretty ornaments now."
Jinx took a bragging stance. "These aren't just any ornaments. You see I have infused my power directly into these ornaments. They're magic."
"Oh you have infused you bad luck powers into these ornaments."
Upon hearing 'bad luck' everyone looked at Jinx's kiosk.
"Hold on!" Jinx declared," waving her arms again. "bad luck's just what I use in fights cause it's quick and easy. With a little time I can make other charms."
"I see. Then why do you not give yourself so much of the good luck that you can be successful on chance alone."
"Uh...it's complicated."
"Very well. What sort of magical wares do you carry."
"Well," Jinx proudly declared, "I have mystical items that direct the subtleties of probability in all sorts of magnificent ways. There are: pendants that increase the chance of romantic encounters, rings that lead to wealth, Earrings which help you pass multiple choice tests, coupling bracelets,...
"What was the last one?" Starfire was not familiar with the term coupling.
"Oh this is one of my favorites." She took out two green plastic bracelets."
"You wear one, and put the other on someone special, and the laws of chance will bend to bring the two of you closer together if you know what I mean." Jinx winked twice.
Immediately Starfire was reminded of her friend Raven. She asked Raven to join her in the mall of shopping that morning but the girl was upset to have her meditations interrupted.
"I'll take them." Starfire shouted a bit to enthusiastically.
Later that day Starfire met Raven in the hallway of Titans Tower.
"Friend Raven, please close your eyes and hold out your hand."
"No,"
"Please."
"Is this a surprise? I hate surprises. Last time someone surprised me I made a mailbox explode."
"Oh,"
Starfire showed her the bracelets and told Raven "They are charms of friendship. I was told that if we both wear one our friendship will deepen." Starfire then proceeded to make what she would call the eyes of the puppy dog.
Raven put on her bracelet. She was sure it couldn't really be magic. After all it was plastic. Most magicians would have more class then to make charmed items out of plastic, even super-villains.
"Gee, I can already feel that friendship deepening." Raven sarcastically exclaimed.
"Wonderful," Starfire chirped, doing a somersault in mid air.
Raven walked off, rolling her eyes once Starfire wasn't looking. Ravens bracelet made a crackling noise and a spark of purple electricity made its way into a nearby receptacle. All the power in the building went out. Starfire used a star bolt as a flashlight and Raven flew towards a telephone. The bracelet crackled and the phone went dead. They looked out the window. It had been raining lightly. The bracelet crackled. Suddenly the mild drizzle became torrents of gale force. It wasn't safe to go out.
Raven gathered some candles from her room and the two of them sat around the recreational room together.
Chapter 2
For the next few days Starfire saw very little of the other titans. Robin was off helping Batman handle a sudden crime spree in Gotham. Cyborg was around but constantly busy repairing one unexpected mechanical failure after another in the tower. Beast boy probably chased a car and got lost according to Raven.
With nothing better to do Starfire actively worked at spending time with Raven. The bracelets must have recognized this because they did very little to influence her.
Raven was a different story.
On the second day since receiving the bracelet she went to her private zen garden to meditate. She sat upon a large toadstool in the lotus position. After two minutes of chanting Azarath Metrion Zynthos her foot fell asleep. This was odd. She had been meditating since a very young age and was too well conditioned to have these circulation problems. Raven changed the position of her leg and let it tingle for a few seconds. When it seemed ready she put her weight on it and tried walking around. When it seemed better she tried a few kicks to be sure. Then acting on impulse, which she rarely did, Raven kicked a stone. The stone bounced off a log and hit a wasps nest.
Angry wasps sprung forth from their ruined home searching for their attacker. Raven tried to run but found that her leg was suddenly numb again.
When she awoke Starfire was pulling out stingers with a pair of tweezers and rubbing salve over each wound.
Starfire leaned in close and touched there foreheads together to check her temperature. Raven felt Starfires breath upon her face. She was surprised at how nice it felt.
Incidentally the salve Starfire used was a home remedy made from the sweat glands of a Blarg. She healed quickly but it smelled so awful that nobody except Starfire would go near her for days.
The next day Raven still needed to take it easy because of all her wasp stings. She and Star watched TV together in the rec. room. The rain had messed up their satellite. Oddly though two channels did work. They could choose between romantic comedies and adult movies. Raven was forced to stomach something with Hugh Grant.
Starfire rather enjoyed the movie. Afterwards Starfire offered to make Raven a batch of Blarg soup. Raven immediately suggested that they play video games instead.
That night, feeling a little better Raven tried to go for a stroll by herself.
She took one step outside then heard a growling noise. Deciding to ignore it she closed the door behind her and began to move away from the tower. A large doberman leaped out from behind a tree and barked furiously at her she immediately ran back into the tower.
The next day Raven received a rare book, from Amazon, that she had been waiting for. She still wasn't entirely recovered from her injuries but told Starfire not to dote over her, she would just stay in and read. Reluctantly Starfire agreed but decided to stay in the tower just incase.
Three pages in her vision began to blur. by page five she realized she was incapable of reading any more. Raven was panicked and had to chant Ararath Metrion Zynthos until she could collect herself.
After getting Cyborg to do a quick checkup Raven was told that she was overexerting herself too soon after the wasp stings. Cyborg called Starfire to care for Raven, then went back to work repairing the towers electrical systems.
"I can't believe it. Now I'm blind."
Starfire took Ravens hand and lead her to her room. Once there she tucked her friend into bed and read to her until Raven fell asleep.
When next Raven awoke Star was herself napping by Ravens bedside. The Tamarranian girl made a light purring noise.
Up to this point Raven had been taking the bracelet on and off as she pleased but it occurred to her that for every recent incident she had been wearing the tacky ornament; so she tried to take it off. Perhaps because she intended never to wear the bracelet again the ornament resisted. Raven was shocked with purple energy. She tried a few more times at first because she wanted to forcibly remove the bracelet and later because she felt that the purple arc flash seemed familiar. Exhausted she uttered one word before falling asleep: "Jinx."
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Chapter 3
Raven told Starfire she wanted to make a call.
Star scrolled through the many names in her Titans communicator. She new Jinx was not in it, but she did find Kid Flash. She pressed a green button with a picture of a telephone beside it. Then she handed the device back to Raven. The communicator only rang once before Kid Flash answered. Raven still felt that it took too long.
"Hey Raven what's up."
"Jinx."
"Yeah what about her." Kid Flash was put off by her tone. He believed that Jinx was completely rehabilitated and wouldn't allow her to be implicated or insulted.
"Do you know of this." Raven held out her arm to show her bracelet over the communicators web cam.
"Huh, it looks like one of hers."
"You know that she's sending cursed objects to her old enemies."
"What wait, cursed no! Their charmed not cursed. She started making charms and selling them. She travels to flea markets all over. She's really enjoying it and I think this is gonna work much better than that job she had at McDonalds."
Raven briefly remembered fighting a giant man eating hamburger last month. Robin never did figure out where it came from.
"So her trinkets are charmed."
"Yup, hey look at this." Kid Flash showed Raven the eagle wing earpieces on the side of his head. "Jinx put a luck charm on them for me, and they work. Lately crime fighting has been a breeze. My enemies, they trip over their own feet, or their weapons explode, or their getaway cars won't start."
Raven thought about this. "So it's not so much that you have good luck, but your enemies have bad luck."
"Uh...yeah, I suppose that's how it works. So what do your bracelets do?"
"Where can I find Jinx?" Raven asked, ignoring Kid Flash's question.
"Hey I'm not telling until you say exactly what your issue is with her."
Raven hung up on him.
"Starfire, trace the signal from Kid Flashes communicator then take me where-ever he goes."
Starfire didn't hesitate to do as she requested. Once Raven suggested that the bracelets were affecting them she discovered that she could no longer remove hers either. The Tamarranian girl shuddered to think that she may have inadvertently caused Ravens recent misfortunes.
The signal disappeared from Kid Flashes communicator. He was moving to fast for it to be traced. Soon it reappeared. Starfire grabbed Raven and flew her there at a speed that rivaled the Flashes.
Perhaps it was good that Raven was still blind. Her powers are driven by emotion and what Starfire found surely would have shocked the azarathean into a complete loss of control. Jinx no longer operated from a moving stand in a malls flea market. She now had a massive temple that resembled the love child of a shinto shrine and a wallmart. Young people lined up for miles searching for mystical charms that held real power. It was a tornado of shoppers, and at the eye of the storm decked out from head to toe in her own tacky bling was Jinx greeting everyone and telling them what items were on sale.
Starfire directed Raven towards Jinx.
"Oh hey Star and Rae-Rae, good to see ya. What can I do ya for?"
Kid Flash was there as well.
Raven pointed an accusing finger slightly west of where Jinx actually stood and said "We have a bone to pick with you about the friendship bracelets you sold to Starfire."
"Friendship? I sold her coupling bracelets. Wait a minute." A wry grin appeared on The purple haired girls face. "You two are a couple."
Raven flashed an angry look at Kid Flash. She meant to aim it at Starfire.
"I thought for sure you'd give it to Robin; him or that green thing."
Starfire blushed. "Your ornaments, though they helped us spend more time together, have blinded Raven," Starfire explained. "Perhaps we could have a refund and in so doing you can take back the bracelets which are currently stuck on our wrists."
"No refunds."
"Jinx," Kid Flash scolded.
"Come on! Your claims are totally bogus. The curse...ah um charm on those bracelets doesn't have nearly enough power to blind someone."
"I'm afraid you are mistaken. In the past week Raven has been stranded by a storm, stung by wasps, chased by a large canine animal, blinded, and the other Titans have been driven away on business. It may have even caused a crime wave in Gotham city."
Jinx tapped her foot and scratched her chin. "Hey Rae-Rae you're magic right."
"If you mean are my powers magic then the answer is yes."
"Ah hah, you must be subconsciously amplifying my curse...ah um charm."
"Perhaps you can better explain miss Jinx."
"Well, the bracelets work in a very simple way; both are bad luck, but they cancel each other out. Basically, if both bracelets are together everything is fine but if they are separated small bad things happen to whoever wears them."
"That's it," Raven admonished, "that doesn't explain the other Titans leaving so we can be alone together, or the fact that they won't come off."
"Of course not. That's because you're doing all that stuff through the bracelets."
"I am not," Raven screamed. A display exploded behind her as though trying to emphasize her point.
"Okay, my mistake." Jinx cowered backwards.
Suddenly Ravens vision cleared. She looked around. Many faces stared at her startled by her recent tantrum. Jinx hid behind Kid Flash. Starfire held out her hands in a non-threatening gesture and approached her friend.
Her chest felt tight and her throat was dry. Ravens heart beat wildly. She was drenched in a cold sweat. Raven barely understood what had just happened. All she new was that she had lost control. She couldn't be around people, so Raven flew away.
As she moved farther and farther from Starfire the clear sky darkened. Lightning crackled. Starfire immediately realized that the bracelets were still in effect. The farther Raven went the worse the storm would become.
Starfire stepped outside. In moments she was drenched with rain. She stared at the clouds with determination, lifted one hand into the air then launched herself at top flying speed. Starfire rushed towards the retreating Raven.
Chapter 4
Starfire charged through hail and winds of up to 40 km/h. Her course was straight, except she zigzagged to avoid three lightning bolts.
As she got closer to Raven the storm eased off, but then Raven turned and accelerated,
Star was not actually afraid for herself. After all, the storm was really targeting Raven, trying to force her back. She worried that Raven was a much slower flyer and lacked Starfires near invulnerability. A bolt of lightning might actually hurt Raven.
Inevitably she caught up. That was good because Raven was safe from her misfortune.
Raven was silent and continued trying to move away. Her eyes were blank, she didn't seem to notice Starfire. Star worried that she might be flying blind.
"Friend Raven please stop," Starfire begged.
"Get away from me. I don't want to hurt you."
"So far you have only hurt yourself."
That last comment wounded her pride, but Raven said nothing. She drew on the tiny bit of anger she felt and used it to increase her speed.
It was no use, Starfire could still move faster. However, Star suddenly had to push Raven aside so she would not crash into a skyscraper. This confirmed it. Raven was blind.
"Raven, I wish to perform a pressing of the lips."
"What?" Raven was so shocked that she sped up more."
"Friend Raven as you are aware a Tamarranian can assimilate languages through a pressing of the lips. If I were to stretch this psychic link beyond its usual capabilities we may be able to each feel what emotions are evoked in one another by the act of pressing of the lips."
"You want to know what I'm feeling. I'll tell you I'm pissed." To accentuate her point Raven sped forward once more, actually managing to leave Starfire behind."
Though it surprised Star that Raven was able to move faster than her top speed this was nothing more than a sprint. Ravens speed dropped quite a bit. She was exhausting herself and Starfire managed to catch up.
"Raven, I am not asking to read your emotions. I am hoping that I can make my emotions clear to you."
Again Raven was surprised, but this time the shock caused her to slow down. She couldn't have been moving faster than 100 km/h.
Starfire took this as a confirmation. She wrapped her hands around the small of Ravens back, held her tightly and pressed the lips.
Raven expected, if this emotional link really worked, to feel Starfires pity. She did not want to be pitted. Instead she was bombarded with a million feelings at once. However Starfires dominant emotion shocked her the most. It wasn't friendship or love, though those emotions were there. It was something she never would have expected from the ever so innocent Tamarranian. Something she must have been hiding all along. It was lust.
Bathed in each others feeling neither of them really focussed on flying. They fell to earth like a meteor. The two girls crashed through a barns roof somewhere in Kansas and landed in a stack of hay.
Starfire awoke first and took hold of her throbbing head. "Where am I?" she asked. She did not realize it, but was speaking in an obscure Romanian dialect.
She looked at her wrist. All that was left of the bracelet were a few smoldering globs of melted plastic that she was able to scrape off with her fingernails.
Soon some elderly farmers and their son Clark came to check on their barn. Starfire apologized, but begged them to let Raven sleep a little longer. Next she repeated herself in english. Her and Clark fixed the barn. Raven was placed in a comfy bed. When she awoke it was a day later, and they all had breakfast together.
Raven tried to thank the farmers for their kindness, but found that she was speaking in Tamarran.
When they returned to Titans Tower all was as they had left it. In other words no one was around.
Raven twiddled her fingers and blushed as though she wanted to ask something. The smoldering ruins of a bracelet were still upon her wrist. She began to stutter something in Tamarran. Starfire paid little attention. She just took Raven by the wrist, flew her up to her bedroom, and locked the door behind them.
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Epilogue
Kid Flash quickly cleaned the ruins of the display Raven had destroyed.
The incident had scared away a few customers, but curiosity and word of mouth only drew in more in the long run.
Beast boy walked by with a stupid grin on his face and Terra hanging off his shoulder. He wanted to check out the new store. A week ago he bought some earrings from Jinx's stand at the flea market. He was told these earrings could reignite long lost passion.
Beast boy had sent the earrings anonymously to Terra.
Terra wore them the next day and went for a walk. She passed by an apartment complex just as some lady was arranging flowers on the tenth floor. A pot fell and landed on Terras head.
Gawkers and genuinely concerned citizens alike gathered around the unconscious girl. When she awoke an earthquake stirred around her and destroyed a city block.
Apparently both her memories and her dormant powers had reawakened.
She called Beast boy and they decided to run off together until the heat from the earthquake died down.
Authors notes:
I haven't written in awhile, so I though I'd do fun little oneshot before getting back to a very different story that I left hanging. This is my first time writing about the teen titans. I hope you enjoyed it. Please Review.