Hello all, this is Va'ael. I am posting the first chapter of my new story dealing with our favorite band of superheroes. I would love any and all reviews, but please, no flames; only constructive criticism is allowed. Thank you.

Disclaimer: No I do not own Teen Titans, if I did, the world would end. 'Nuff said. Love's Poison

Chapter 1: Festival of Lights

The moon shone over Jump City, a healthy pale light, in tandem to a chorus of stars that sparkled and gleamed in the night sky. However, those dwelling in the city could not see them as a massive festival was in progress in the large city. A company who traveled the U.S.A had decided to make the final spot for their tour in the famous city of the Teen Titans. They specialized in light shows, doing amazing tricks with light and they had many games for little kids to enjoy. Most of it's allure was just the vast amounts of lights the festival sported. The way the glow resonated all around the festival-goers made them feel almost as if they were in heaven, and provided for a relaxed atmosphere. They were happy and content, with the world at peace after the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil by the Teen Titans. All in all, a quiet night to relax.

Especially for five superhero teens who were taking the night off to come enjoy this wonderful festival. "Dude, look at all of the lights! It's just like my video games!" Beastboy gazed out at the festival around him, his eyes bright with awe and excitement. Raven shook her head at him, a light sigh escaping her lips, her violet hair swishing as she shook her head.

"Beastboy, I think you and Cyborg are the only ones who can watch that screen without going into an epileptic seizure." The changeling pouted and pointed a finger at her.

"Rae, you've watched me play the Gamestation many times and you were fine!"

Rolling her eyes, the dark girl replied wryly. "I've had practice. And how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me, Rae?!" Beastboy giggled and then danced away from Raven, who looked about ready to use him as a pinata. A deep chuckle came from behind the two.

"The time Beastboy stops calling you Rae is the time when the need for healthy foods is gone. And we all sit down every night to enjoy a good steak." Cyborg grinned mischievously as the green Titan whirled around, a tic mark on his forehead.

"Cy, that's not even funny!" The mechanical teenager chuckled.

"Yes it is, 'cause you know it's true."

"The day tofu gets banned is the day hell freezes over."

"Then I guess I better get my ski's ready, because it's a happy winter wonderland in hell right now."

"...Not cool, dude." Chuckling, Robin watched the ongoing argument between Cyborg and Beastboy, with Starfire linking an arm with his, her head on his shoulder. Humming contentedly, Starfire rubbed her hand along Robin's arm. The leader of the Teen Titans looked down softly at his girlfriend and he reached over with his free arm and moved a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Having fun, Star?" The Tamaranean princess smiled and looked up at Robin. "Yes, Robin, I am. The lights remind me of the nights when I stayed up and looked out at the stars above Tamaran. On certain nights, the skies are completely clear and the stars...they are so beautiful! They helped me to sleep at night." Robin laughed lightly. Raven looked over at the couple, her eyes seeming to echo a sort of sadness, a kind of jealousy, but it was only there for a moment before it was whisked away, to be replaced by her normal neutral look. Only to get dazzled by a large platypus beak right in her face. A second later, Beastboy's faced appeared next to it, his permanent grin stretching from ear to ear.

"Heya, Rae! I won this for you over there!" He waved at a game that involved blowing up balloons with water guns. Raven sighed and accepted the stuffed prize.

"Oh lucky me, another beaked animal." The changeling's smile grew bigger.

"Hey, didn't you say that you threw away the chicken?" Raven looked away, desperately trying to hide her blush. How did he remember that?! Fortunately for her, Cyborg came to the rescue.

"Y'all aren't going to believe this, the company is going to end today's festival with a massive fireworks display, in honor of us and what we have done! Ain't this awesome?!" Beastboy lit up just like a Christmas Tree.

"Seriously?! DUDE, this is awesome!"

"That's what I said, grass stain." Raven coughed and stopped the imminent argument.

"And where is this display going to take place?" Robin walked up with Starfire, who was holding a giant blue teddy-bear.

"Down by the wharves, and we are the guests of honor. It's about to start, so we'd better hurry." Nodding, they quickly ran out of the games sections and headed towards the docks. They saw a massive line of people waiting to get into the event. They were directed to a side entrance by a guide who had been waiting for them and led to a special box set close to a stage and the heart of the show. They were amazed to see the large grounds by the ocean, that was chartered that night for the festival, was packed full of people, to the very brim. And even more were coming in. Beastboy voiced what they all were thinking when he said, "Whoa, is all this for us?" Even Robin was stunned. After a few moments, the crowd quieted down and a band of people walked onto stage. The leader was a young woman in her early twenties with long brown hair. Taking a microphone handed to her by one of her colleagues, she tapped it once or twice to make sure it worked and then began to speak.

"Hello, citizens of Jump City!" A roar went over the crowd and the woman waited for it to die down. "On behalf of the Westman Company, it is my honor to have visited your city these past few weeks and for this final week, we hope to finish up our tour in this great city. Before we leave, however, we wanted to do a little tribute to the five heroes who have kept this wonderful city, with it's kind and lovely people, safe. The Teen Titans!" She waved a hand and a light clicked on the box seats, stunning the Titans. The crowd roared again as the Titans squinted at the light.

"Did they have to point it directly at us?" Raven grumbled. She glanced over at Beastboy and was surprised to see tears in his eyes. She thought he was tearing up due to the light being shown into his eyes but then realized they were tears of happiness. The dark teenager remembered when the changeling had told her of how he just wanted to get her to open up, to be more relaxed around them. And how he felt sometimes that she didn't appreciate him and only thought him a nuisance. From that talk, she realized that Beastboy sometimes just wanted to make sure someone knew that he was actually there. And this festival, with the hundreds of cheering citizens, Beastboy definitely felt noticed. Raven put a hand on his shoulder and the changeling looked at her, seeing a small smile on her face. "Did you get some dust in your eyes?" Realizing what was wrong, he rubbed vigorously at his eyes and sniffled a bit. "Yeah, of course, a man doesn't cry." Shaking her head and hiding her smile, Raven looked back out over the throng, with the others. They all looked at the lady on the stage as she began talking again.

"Tonight we honor these paragons of justice by giving you our greatest light show yet!" The crowd roared even louder. A chant began to gather in the crowd, and it gained strength. Eventually it blasted so even the Titans could hear it.

"TEEN TITANS! TEEN TITANS! TEEN TITANS!" The lady let it go on for a few moments before dropping her arm and then a barrage of fireworks were launched into air and exploded with loud thumps and cracks. Starfire cooed in delight at the lights, and Robin wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Cyborg let out a huge "BOO-YAH" which could be barely heard, and Beastboy reached over to touch Raven's hand. Surprised, she looked over at the changeling to see him with soft eyes surprisingly. She was about say something when Beastboy covered his lips with one finger and then pointed over to a section of the sky. Raven glanced up and gasped, followed by the other Titans.

It was them, the Teen Titans. The company had made rockets to explode and show the figures of the Titans. Raven glanced over at Beastboy and nodded. "Thank you." Beastboy smiled his signature toothy grin.

"Anytime, Rae, anytime." Sitting back, they enjoyed the show.

Later that night...

After the show, the Titans had received a personal congratulations at the show by the company and then had returned home. Tired after a long day, they each went to their bedrooms and fell asleep. Except for one Gothic-like girl. Raven gazed at her herself in her mirror, lost in thought. Robin and Starfire had kissed one last time before they went to bed. Ever since they had gone on that trip to Tokyo about two months ago, and they had their first kiss, things had advanced rather rapidly. After a few weeks of awkward moments, and endless teasing by Cyborg and Beastboy, they had hooked up together and had been dating ever since. The changes after this event shocked the other three Titans. Robin was a little more outgoing now, a little more relaxed and allowing of vacations and breaks, hence the reason they were here. Starfire was, as well, learning a lot about Earth's culture and could speak English rather well, though she made slip ups here and there, and she still loved mustard on all her foods.

The way they treated one another had stirred something within Raven, something dark. The goth loved her friends dearly, especially after all they had been through with that dark day when Trigon had taken over the Earth. However, she couldn't help but feel jealous of them. After all she had done, after all the hard work, after all the sacrifice she had put on the line, didn't she deserve someone who loved her for what she was, for being Raven? But, even with the defeat of her father, his influence had diminished little. And so, she was forced to remain in her maddening routine of meditation and emotional oblivion. She clenched her hands as she struggled to keep in her rage at her situation, the haunting laughter of her dark side in her ears.

"Why can't I just simply be able to FEEL?! To able to hug a friend without breaking the windows, or laugh without the fear of causing a hurricane?! To able to have my first kiss..." Raven sighed and gazed into the now chokingly dark night.

"Well...I suppose I better get to bed. Beastboy would never let me rest if he is the one to wake up before me." Smiling softly to herself, she changed into a set of violet pajamas and slid into bed. She snuggled deep under the covers and into her pillow, but she did not fall into slumber until much later in the night, her fears and doubts haunting her still...

On the outskirts of Jump City...

A security guard at one of the toll booths into Jump City was snoring heavily, his head on a pile of papers that were part of his daily life on the job, a boring one to boot and without much reward . Hearing the sound of a car, the man snuffled and shot up, blinking his bleary eyes, cursing under his breath. "Dammit, who could it be at this time of night..." A vanilla-colored Cadillac drove up to the gate and stopped at the window in line with the security guard. The window rolled down to reveal a man with black shades and a blue hat and wearing a tan coat with a high collar, hiding his face. The security guard huffed.

"Okay, sir, I am going to need your license and a dollar and twenty-five cents to pass. Unless you have a prepaid pa-" The man froze mid-sentence, surprised to see the driver holding out the exact amount of change and a drivers license. The guard was baffled, how did he do that without him seeing? He could have sworn the man hadn't even moved...Shaking it off to being half asleep, the guard deposited the money and ran the license through the computer. With a muted beep, it coughed up a name and passed the filters the government had on criminals and the like.

Walking back out to the car, he handed back the license and nodded at him wearily. "Alright, you can pass." Stepping back into the office, he pressed a button, and a loud buzzing noise tore through the quiet night and the gate lifted. The car drove through without incident and headed down the highway into the heart of Jump City. The man reached over and pulled a manila folder to himself and opened it with one arm. A few papers of information, were inside but a picture fell out. Dropping the folder, he picked up the picture and held it up. As the passing lights washed through the car, they flashed over the picture, showing him the person that it held.

It was Raven. The man sighed. "So...Raven...this is where you live..."

So, what do you think? Please, click on my friend, the purple review button. He is very lonely...