When something terrible happens to Raven, it stresses the rest of the team to their very limits. Will it end their friendship? Or will it make them stronger? PG just to be safe.
I do have my favorite TT pairing, and that is Robin and Starfire. But on this rare occasion I have gotten an idea that does not involve either one as a MAIN character. Funny how that works… anyways, this fic features mainly Raven and Beast Boy. But don't worry, the other Titans make special appearances.
This is my first Teen Titans fic, so please be brutally honest with me on whether to continue or not! I first became entranced with this seemingly-anime show when I was randomly watching Kids WB a few months ago and they had a little preview of it. The idea of it just was so interesting to behold for me. The fact that they just go out into public wearing their costumes and they really have no "secret identities" is very refreshing. They make a show of making this program so unbelievably unreal that you feel attached. Am I right?
Anywho, I have dragged this on far too long, so read and hopefully, enjoy!
~*~KG~*~
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It was a blustery September day where our tale began. The usually blue-green waters of the bay were oddly gray and lifeless. The trees leaves hung dully by their stems, and the streets were silent and deserted. For good reason, too. It was currently seven thirty in the morning, the business goers were just waking up to find that the sun would not show its face on this day.
It was relatively the same in Titan Tower. The five adolescents had just crawled out of their respective beds to greet the ever dreary dawn. It was at this time that a cheery voice rang through the otherwise silent tower.
"Friends, let us engage in the breaking of the fast that you are so fond of!" Starfire's bubbly voice was high and perky, as always. Already in costume, the five titans were spread in various places around the living room. Cyborg was sitting on the large, U shaped, couch, doing a crossword puzzle. Beast Boy was sprawled on another sofa, halfway across the room, eyes closed, obviously asleep. Raven was sitting cross-legged in a chair, her elbows propped on her knees, nose deep in a book entitled "A Step-By-Step Instructional Guide On The Technique of Meditation: What To Do, and What Not To Do", her cape, which was not around her shoulders at the moment, was draped across her lap. Robin was standing in front of the large, full length windows, staring out at the ocean as the gray waves lapped against the rocks at the base of the tower. Starfire, however, was standing in the kitchen, apron around her waist, whisk in hand. She had a hopeful gleam in her eyes as she waited for their responses.
"Uh…how about we all fend for ourselves?" Cyborg said, eyeing the rest of the group, and the red headed Tamaranian girl. "Oh, by the way, does anyone know a six letter word for 'random'?"
"Chance, Cy? I agree, we should all just get what we want for ourselves." Robin stated, nonchalantly, his eyes never leaving the murky waters.
"I see…" Starfire turned and went to the refrigerator, looking for something to 'break the fast'. Several minutes passed without incident, until the quiet of the room was shattered by a loud, choking noise from the couch. After a few moments it occurred again, and again after that. It continued for several minutes before an aggravated female voice spoke.
"Will someone please shut him up?" Raven inquired, not needing to gesture to the snoring Beast Boy.
"Why don't you do it? You're closer." Cyborg stated back, yawning. Raven sighed, her shoulders sagging. She let go of her book with one hand and Beast Boy's body was incased in a black energy aura. He was picked up, moved several feet to the right, and dumped into an unceremonious heap on the carpeted floor. He groaned as sleep left him and reality set in.
"Owww…" He noticed Raven's hand still outstretched towards him, though her eyes remained on the page. "What was that for?", he whined.
"That hideous racket you were making was dis-" She was cut off.
"Don't give me that 'your snoring was disrupting my dark, foreboding, brooding, creepy, silence' junk, because I don't want to hear it." He snapped, his innocent facade of humor dropped and only anger showed through to the surface. He did a quite accurate impression of her voice and angrily got to his feet, rubbing his rear.
"Oh, grow up." Her monotone voice rang out clear in the quiet tower. She slammed her book closed and stood up. With her cloak folded on her right arm and her book in her left, she crossly marched to the door.
"But, friend Raven, do you not wish to consume-" Starfire's voice was clipped short.
"I'll eat later." Raven snapped at the other girl, turning her head for the briefest second back to the room, but just as quickly whipping back. The door opened to accommodate her body and she stepped through it on her way to her room, undoubtedly.
No sooner had the door swished shut when Beast Boy threw himself onto the couch near Cyborg and ran a frustrated hand through his dark hair.
"Rrrgh…" He gave an aggravated growl from the back of his throat and buried his head in a cushion. "I don't understand her! Why must she insist on making a fool out of me at every possible opportunity?" He asked, his voice slightly muffled by the layers of cotton and cloth.
"Has the thought ever crossed your mind that maybe it is because you deserve it?" Cyborg suggested, biting down on his pen, his attention still locked on his book of crosswords.
"I what?" Beast Boy leaned up from his reclined position and stared, wide eyed, at the robotic teen seated next to him.
"Well, think about it, dude. You do snore… and you don't exactly have perfect manners, and you aren't very nice to her. Plus, there's the fact that you eat tofu, which is totally unnatural. 'Field sport', ends with and 'e', eight letters?"
"Number one, no, I do not snore. Number two, what's wrong with my manners? Number three, I am nice to her, more so than she deserves, acting like that. Number four, what does the fact that I eat tofu, a perfectly good substitute to packing bits of animal flesh into my stomach, have to do with Raven? Number five, lacrosse?" Beast Boy took this chance to sit up and lean against the armrest of the sofa. Cyborg sighed, scribbled in his book, and then turned back to his green companion.
"Yes, you do. Loud too. As for your manners, they are nonexistent. Maybe she acts the way she does because you insist on bothering her when she is meditating. Dude, I keep tellin' ya to just leave the girl alone. Or, heck, maybe she feels neglected, you do flirt with every living female that walks and talks, or in some cases, walks, slithers, climbs, crawls, or uses any other type of general movement… and… make… animal noises…" Cyborg said lamely. "And, dude. Tofu is just nasty. It doesn't even taste like anything. Oh and thanks." He continued and turned back to his book.
For the first time in a long while, Beast Boy was at a loss for words. He gaped at the insight of his robotic friend.
'When did he get so wise?' He asked himself.
During the time that this conversation had occurred, Robin had migrated from the window to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl, milk, and some cereal and was now nonchalantly eating his breakfast. When he was done he left the kitchen, brushed past Starfire, and entered into the living room again, before going to the door that Raven had used to exit only minutes before.
"I'll be in the training room if anyone needs me." He called back to the remaining Titans. Cyborg grunted and held up his robotic arm, obviously using minimal effort to tell Robin to wait. He tucked his pen into the book and stood up, setting it on the coffee table as he went.
"I think I'll join ya, Robin." He easily leapt over the back of the couch and met Robin at the door. The two exited together, already deep in a conversation about a new video game.
"I'm telling ya, you beat level six by going through the air duct to the right!"
"No, I'm telling YOU that to beat the level you have to go left and face the sand demon…"
Beast Boy still sat on the couch, deep in his thoughts. Starfire floated up to him and sat down, cross legged, on the coffee table across from him. She peered at him with her inhumanly green eyes, waiting expectantly for him to look up. He did so a few moments later, with a questioning look etched on his face.
"Uhh.. hey Star…did you need something?"
"Yes. I wish to have a discussion with you. Concerning Raven and yourself." She leaned down towards him, rocking back and forth slightly, her hands clasping her knees.
"A-alright. I guess so… what do you want to talk about? You know, specifically?" He nervously shifted his position.
"You do not… understand… Raven, do you?" Starfire asked, a little hesitantly, searching for the right word. Beast Boy shook his head slightly.
"Raven is… a very complicated being. When we switched bodies… she and I had to learn much about each other and I think some of this information might help you. So you do not… anger her as frequently." She looked to the green boy.
"I think that could do me some good." He laughed in spite of himself and nodded his head. For nearly a quarter of an hour the red headed Tamaranian girl and the shape-shifting boy spoke about Raven. Her past, present, and ultimately, her future. She even told Beast Boy in detail about what she had seen when she went to the future, how Raven acted and behaved. Starfire concluded the conversation with a large hint for the boy on the couch.
"Raven is a… unique person. She does enjoy her alone time, but I think, right now, she might enjoy speaking to others." She stared straight into his eyes, green to green, waiting for him to make some sort of move, any kind.
"S-she would? Anyone in particular?" Starfire continued to watch him, eyes still locked. "Oh… you must mean me…should I apologize to her?" He caught on.
"I believe she would appreciate that very much." Starfire grinned ear to ear and stood up, walking briskly to the other side of the room. "I think I shall go to locate our two other male friends." She pushed the button to open the door.
"Hey, Star?" Beast Boy turned from his place on the couch and questioned the female.
"Yes?" She whipped back to him, her red hair swishing.
"Thanks…" Starfire shined him a smile and exited through the already open portal.
Beast Boy thought for a moment before making up his mind. He stood, walked to the door, and made his way to the stairs.
'How hard can it be, anyway?' He asked himself as he climbed. 'I just go up to her door and knock. Then say that I'm sorry for insulting her… and then run away as fast as I can. That way, if she decides to go supernova on me, I'll be well out of harms way…for the time being.'
The more he thought about it, the worse he felt about it. After all, he hadn't had much luck with Raven's room in the past, or Raven herself for that matter. But while these thoughts were flooding through his head, his feet kept moving, and before he knew it, there he was, in Raven's hall… her door stood before him, ominous somehow. He took a step away.
'Agh, its just a stupid door!' He thought angrily as he extended a hand towards it. To his slight shock, his entire arm shook violently. He put his knuckles to the frame and, in rapid succession, rapped them against it several times. He waited, shuffling his feet, eyes to the floor.
After a few moments the door slid open to reveal an un-hooded Raven. When she saw him, she heaved a sigh.
"What is it that you want now?" She asked, a bit of sharpness in her stoic voice.
"I.. I…uhhhh…" No matter how much he wanted to say it, he couldn't force the words out. So he said the first thing that popped into his mind. "How's it goin'?" One of her delicate eyebrows raised.
"Fine…" She answered, arms crossed over her abdomen. Why did it have to be so hard. He had talked to tons of girls before, heck, Starfire was a girl and he never had trouble talking to her…
"I…uhhh… about earlier…" He was beginning to stammer and she was growing weary of his incoherent babbling. He was loosing her attention.
"Listen, Beast Boy, it's n-" But she was cut off. This time by a high pitched whistling sound, similar to a siren. The alarm that warned the Titans of any trouble in Jump City.
"Could this wait for later?" She hurriedly asked him. When he nodded mutely she turned and walked back into her room, snatching her cape off of her bed and throwing it over her shoulders. She clasped the brooch and pulled the hood over her head, concealing her facial features completely. She stepped out and closed the door. She then briskly walked down the hall to the stair well and leapt over the edge, levitating down to the ground floor where the command center and alarm system was located. Beast Boy followed her, but instead of hovering, he simply transferred his physical form into that of a swallow, flying to the same location.
When the two of them reached the station the rest of the team was already assembled. Robin had obviously said his pre-fight pep talk, judging by the way that his eyes were set, and his posture almost regal, definitely one of high power. He said his famous last words.
"Titans, go."
And so they did.
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Well… theres the first chapter. Just laying down some general character… stuff…
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything remotely related to Teen Titans or DC comics, Kids WB, or Cartoon Network. Please do not sue. Really, I don't have anything to take. As of now, I have 26 dollars to my name. Whoope.