Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.
Awaken the Chimera Within
In the Beginning
"What do you want?" Raven, of the Teen Titans, was the neighborhood gothic stereotype teenager. But while she seems indifferent and couldn't care less, Raven still has a temper. Especially when the whole world won't give her a good five minutes to relax. "If this isn't good, you can just spend a week outside the tower!"
"Just one of your books." Raven wanted to rant more but she heard a voice that she knew, with a tone that she didn't match together. She turned to see Garfield Logan, the Beast Boy of the Titans. And instead of the typical activeness and annoying smile, Beast Boy had the face of a kicked puppy. "I mean if it is too much then I will go and order you some pizza for your dinner."
Raven turned to her bedside clock and saw that time had evaded her. "Fine. Just one of the books and I better see it back in my room in the morning!" Raven told Beast Boy and practically shoved him aside. "And if I find out you have been in my secret collection then it's the treetops to sleep for a month!"
Beast Boy just looked where Raven hovered over for dinner, not even feeling hungry. In fact, he hasn't since the Beast Incident. When one of their own, Terra, who covered the earth like a sorceress, turned out to be a spy for the super assassin Deathstroke. And Beast Boy was the unfortunate soul to fall for Terra, making it easy for her to use him like a pawn.
It made Beast Boy cry a little that when he learned the truth, he felt rage like never before. When he came too, Deathstroke had escaped but not unharmed; which could be said for the rest of the Titans, and double for Terra. All that Beast Boy was told that Terra tried to kill him, only to be crushed instead.
In the end, the young hero reminded himself to be considered lucky to still be allowed in the Titans Tower, home to the team. And while he had a roof over his head, Beast Boy was a stranger in that building he once called home. No one greeted him with as much as a 'hello', they all ate their meals away from him and didn't want to play with Beast Boy. Raven was practically the only one that still talked to Beast Boy, like just now.
'I am sorry Raven.' Beast Boy couldn't even bring himself to say those words, because there was no one to hear them but himself. 'I really am. That is why I am going to do this. Because I am going to make up for all of the mess I made.' With that thought in mind, Beast Boy turned towards Raven's room and transformed into something.
This creature was the size of a fly but had legs of a spider, fur of a rodent and nose of a canine. It went past all the clatter in the room, following a very faint draft to a small opening, squeezing inside. After several moments, there was a mystical glow leaking out through the crack until it shortly died down, unseen.
XXXXX
Later, after dinner time,
"While I admit that the pizza was 'delectable' and filling, the food was cold." Raven mumbled right back to her room. Because she lost track of time, Raven made the rest of the Titans wait on her; the order cooled down significantly and was less fresh. "I wish that annoying 'Changeling' will mind his own business. And you better not be in there, Beast Brat!" Raven raised her voice and opened up the door to her private book collection.
She saw that it was relatively the same and undisturbed, with the exception of one of the books laying on the floor and left open. "Beast Boy! When I find you, I will wear that skin of yours with my sheets tonight!" With no answer, Raven looked around and found no trace of Beast Boy.
"If you think you can hide from me after invading my privacy, you are dead wrong." Raven calmed down slightly and activated her magical abilities. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The dark energy spread throughout the tower, looking for where Beast Boy could be. And if he tries to hide as one of his countless forms, the magic will still find him. Only that the spell didn't.
Raven found herself getting a little worried. She tried searching further with her spell, spreading it to the island where the Tower was located; Beast Boy was still not to be found. "Okay Beast Boy, the joke is no longer funny. Come out." Raven left her private library and started to drift around the tower, hoping that her spell was just malfunctioning. And still no trace of the missing Titan.
This was really getting to Raven, it started to show on her face. "Alright, alright. I am sorry for yelling at you." No answer. "I will look past you invading my privacy, just this once." Still no answer. "How about I take you out for your favorite place to eat, the…" Raven stopped, she couldn't remember what Beast Boy's favorite restaurant was; almost like she never knew. "Never mind that, please come out. Beast Boy, I am sorry."
"Good Evening, Friend Raven. Usually you are still in your room, chanting." That was not the answer Raven had expected. She turned to see the only other female member of the Titans, Starfire. She was also bright with energy and tried to rub some of it on Raven, with mixed results. "And why are you looking for the Beast?"
"You mean Beast Boy." Raven corrected Starfire, a little confused about the negative nickname. "I want to apologize to him for snapping at him. He did tell me that it was dinner time and offered to order me something. But I just told him off." Raven looked up to Starfire, "Did he eat dinner with you guys? I hadn't seen him since."
"I certainty hadn't seen him all day. Friend Robin and Friend Cyborg both said that the Beast should be given time to cool down. But it has been a week since Friend Terra tried to kill us…" Starfire was the oddball of the group and usually treat matters in ways that made her stick out. "I don't even see him playing outside in the garden. That is rather scary."
"It is scaring me too." Raven spoke under his breath, still hoping Starfire didn't hear it. "He probably thinks I am going to kill him. I found a book in my private collection off its selves when I told him to not go in."
"Books fall off selves during earthquakes, Friend Raven. I know that and the earth did 'quake' a week ago." Starfire suggested but Raven shook her head,
"No, I checked my private collection and the earthquake didn't cause any of them to budge. Someone somehow got in and only touched that one book." Starfire was definitely puzzled.
"Did you check this book that you speak of?" Raven thought for a moment and shook her to say 'no'. And without saying a word, she silently signaled for it to come to her hand. Raven didn't care that one of her private books was out in the open, only to read that page she found it to be open to.
To Starfire's eyes, it was gibberish, and that was saying a lot about her own written language. Her species may learn an entire language upon 'lip-lock' but that was just it. But Raven looked horrified. "This is a teleportation spell, one that just about anyone could use! That was why I locked it away! It allowed the spell caster to be sent to a place in mind, no matter where its!"
Starfire was surprised, she thought that only a few people could use magic including Raven. "Right, if robbers and other criminals get this spell then they can go anywhere in Jump City and do their crimes." Jump City was located near the Tower, and where the Titans usually go to for fun and/or errands.
"Forget that Starfire, this spell can even send some to other dimensions!" Raven responded and Starfire looked a little shocked. "I think that Beast Boy used this to leave us and make sure we can't find him!" This finally got Starfire to react, and with a rather loud scream.
"What with all the yelling girls?"
"I was in the middle of recharging."
Both girls turned to see a pair of sleepy men, one still in his pajamas while the other was an exception for being a cyborg. Speaking of which, that was his hero name; half man and half machine after an incident had changed his view on life but hasn't damaged his technical wizardry or his sense of humor. The other was the self-proclaimed leader of the Titans, Robin the Boy Wonder; he joined the Titans after a little disagreement with his mentor who suggested that he could use company around his age group and see the trials of being a leader himself.
"Friend Robin, Friend Cyborg! Friend Beast Boy has sent him away to faraway lands via a strange spell from a strange book of Friend Ravens!" Starfire started to shout off since she was still in shock. And both boys found it hard to make her out soon,
"Slow down Starfire, what happened with the little green imp?" Robin mumbled rather clearly. "Has he caused you trouble again? I swear that he is too much of a little kid even when we are not on duty."
"Come on Robin, even you have to admit that he knows how to lighten up our work." Cyborg was technically the eldest member of the Titans and tries to be a peacemaker or a big brother to the team. "I know that he can be annoying but he is still one of us. You won't even let me play games with him."
"I know Cyborg." Robin let out a sigh. "This is a big issue regarding the entire team. I even had to go through the trouble of connecting to the Justice League and the Teen Titans East. All they had to say was the same, and he wasn't getting any better since…" Robin was interrupted when Raven suddenly grabbed his pajama collar, with her bare hands instead of her magic.
"Because you were the one to tell us to not trust Beast Boy after Terra!" Raven shouted. "Maybe that is why Beast Boy wanted to escape our world! Because you couldn't be anything better than Batman!" Robin actually kept quiet about it and roughly released Raven's grip off of him.
"I know that it has been a week and I actually did talk to him a couple of days after the incident." Robin responded and judging from the surprised faces, this was the first time they heard of this. "I really did want to make up for being unfair to him. But he already had other plans, and asked me to send something to the Justice League."
"What? Send what?!" Raven asked, calmly down a little. Robin just shrugged, which didn't make her mood any better but,
"I really have no idea. He gave me an envelope with the address to the Hall of Justice." Robin answered. "And I did ask what was it for but he practically pushed me out of his room. He said that he was doing this for both himself and the team."
Then Robin took another envelope from his pocket. This one apparently came from the League as it is on the return address. "This one came today and rather later, around the time you came stomping something bad about Beast Boy. I thought that I will show it to him in the morning."
"WHY!?" Raven shouted off and Raven just stared at her, along with Cyborg and Starfire. The gothic teen then put it together and realized that she must have hurt Beast Boy all over again since she snapped at him.
That was when the Tower's lights suddenly started to blink on and off, like in a ghost move. This got everyone on edge, in a stance ready to face whoever is inside their home. When a strong draft started to rattle the entre room, it also tugged at the heroes towards a certain direction.
"Hello Titans, I am back home." The figure said in a deep, masculine tone but it was relatively familiar to the teenagers. He then approached robin and gently took the letter out the latter's hands. Then, to the surprise of the Titans, the figure's right index finger morphed into a long and sharp nail; which he used to open the envelope. Taking out the letter, the figure looked over it for only a little moment before smiling. "Excellent, and according to plan."
Before any of the Titans could utter a sound, the figure faced them again and took off his hood. And the Teen Titans were truly shocked when they saw the familiar green tone of the figure's head, the pointy 'elf ears' and the small fangs poking behind his lips. "Any questions?"
End of Chapter 1.
*Hello everyone. I dug up the idea from another prototype that I discarded long ago. I am having Beast Boy become a more mature, adult hero kind of character. And I am too soft to bash any of the Teen Titans. I am simply having them taking the changes in their own way. Let me know what you think!*
