Title: Tattered Angel
Pairings: Raven/Maxx/Beast Boy
Rating: Probably going to end up rated R…or NC17.
Warning: Angst. A/U. Fluff. Possible yaoi, lemon, violence, and a whole shitload of other fun things!
Author's Notes: Boredom, idea for a new character brought up by a friend, and…goodness only knows what else. A request by Jack for both Amber and myself… yawns
Disclaimer: None of us own Teen Titans in any possible way whatsoever. However, both Jack and myself share ownership of Maxx, and several of the unfamiliar villains that will appear within this fanfic.
Warning 2.0: Okay, before I am bombarded with flames: there is an original character in this fic, and there will be original pairings. This is a fanfiction REQUEST, it reflects the thoughts of the person who requested it, not my own. I just helped to design the character, and am writing the fic. Okay? you got that? Thanks.
Maxx: A lupine morph; he can shift between human and wolf forms. Prefers wolf.
Wolf Appearance: Solid black with pure white ears. laughs Had to make him unusual somehow. Now all I need to do is find soemone to draw him. .
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Prologue: Bad Moon Rising
Running, running. Through the woods. It was dark. He hears the footsteps not too far behind him. The branches brush against his fur as he rushes through the woods. He comes upon a river running through the woods. It is wide, so he does not know how he is going to cross it. His white ears perk up to try and hear the footsteps, but he hears nothing. Nothing but the night air rustling through the tree tops.
But his senses tell him that he is not alone. He is at a loss as to which direction to run in. By this time, he thought, they could be anywhere.
But a crackle of broken branches to the side heralded what he dreaded the most. Whirling, he faced what could not be faced, a guttural snarl deep within the back of his throat as he stared down the barrel of a hunting rifle.
There was an explosion of sound, and nothing more…
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The images came in a jumble, a chaotic mix of darkness and light. One ripped from the other as if they were being reflected on the blade of an overworked scythe. He was in the wilderness, with the pack. They were on the hunt, playing, making love, singing and dancing in the moonlight.
A chainsaw cut to the next scene.
The sun baked him and explosion came from above. One by one the wolves fell. Strange thoughts started to wake in his animal skull. Horrid, unwanted thoughts.
Human thoughts.
A painful tearing and suddenly it was just a little later. He was running beside one that might have been his brother. A final crack of thunder came from above. A torrent of blood, brains, and fangs spilled upwards.
Assault rifles, helicopters, two-leggers, laughter, speech-all the myriad shades of damnation. He didn't want to change again and become a man. More than anything, he wanted to stay in the wild, needed to stop the process dead in its tracks, stay pure, regain what had been lost, but it was too late, his human brain was waking after its long slumber, and it was turning his heavenly dream of peace into a nightmare!
Torture! Intolerable!
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Maxx vaulted awake, thankful that the nightmare was at an end. He raised his trembling, human hand before him, and saw that he was wrong. The nightmare of human existence was his again, and this time seemed neverending. The motel room he had rented for the night was hardly furnished, but that was just suited for him. The wild clung to him still; and barely furnished was more then enough for one who had spent six years living in the vast artic wilderness trying to forget…
Shaking his head, the young man pulled on a pair of torn and worn blue jeans over his boxers, a black half-shirt, black leather jacket, and combat boots completed the ensemble. His hand went to his neck, where he rubbed the silvery hued metal band that was encircled around it. The band had no clasps, no means of opening it; as if it had been placed there to never be removed. And that was precisely its purpose. It was a slave collar; the world of darkness the lupine had been born into, but refused to serve.
He slowly padded out the room; having no personal belongings except for the clothes he was wearing, and down the hall. Not a single soul was at the front desk, but he merely dropped the key to his room there and vanished soundlessly out the front door; disappearing as suddenly just as he had appeared at the motel the night before.
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"Waaahhhoooo! Dude, pizza night!"
Beast Boy yelled cheerfully as he nearly dived into the pizza set before him and his four other friends. The dark-haired teen beside him snagged the pizza and pulled it out of the way…just in time too!
"Robin!"
"Don't be greedy, this is for all of us. You'll get your share."
Robin perked on brow slightly on his masked face, as Beast Boy plopped down unhappily back into his chair and grumbled unsettlingly. The violet-eyed, stoic fem a little off from everyone else sighed out loud, her own gaze away from the bustle and cheerful clatter of her friends and team mates. Something unnerved her; nightmares she had been having for the past few nights refused to leave her thoughts. They lingered…even now here in the waking world, and she just couldn't stop herself from dwelling on them.
It was Raven's nature to be brooding, after all.
"HEY! THAT DOG STOLE MY PIZZA!"
A scream at the other side of the pizzeria caused the Titans to freeze, especially when a huge black canine with white ears raced by carrying someone's box of pizza in his jaws. BB chuckled out loud at the sight.
"…O…kay…"
"What? The pooch was probably hungry."
"Is it custom on your world for doggies to steal pizza?"
"No Starfire, sometimes stray animals become so hungry that they steal food. Trash, people food…hell, even pizza too, I guess. Although I doubt even a starving animal would eat any of BB's tofu."
"What's wrong with tofu!"
"Nothing; 'cept it ain't food."
"WHAT?"
Cyborg tried to explain as he bit into a slice of pizza and purposely ignored Beast Boy, which ticked the smaller green lad off even more, and Starfire processed the information while poking her index fingers together slowly.
"What's…'stray' mean?"
"It's when an animal has no home Star…"
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-One hour later-
A moist tongue licked his lips, eager to get the last fleck and bits of pizza off of them. It had been his first time in six years since he had that type of food, and he was pleased in the fact that pizza hadn't changed any from what he remembered.
It was still delicious!
However, footsteps brought the lupine out of his pizza euphoria, and those strange solid white ears snapped forward as he peered to see who was coming.
Raven had left the other Titans, wanting to have some time to herself to clear her mind and think clearly. Something she certainly never got at back at the T-Tower. The park was a good bet; it was starting to get late, and there wasn't really anyone about. She sat down on a wooden bench, the paint chipped and peeling from age and disrepair, and placed her chin in her hand, her mind shifting easily from one thing to the other, from her nightmares to her friends…and then back to the nightmares. What could they mean? Raven never dreamt lightly, and these dreams were clearer and more vibrant then any dream she had ever had before. Almost…as if she was seeing something that had happened or was happening and was a part of it.
There was a lot of pain…and suffering. Grief, hatred, and…and an anger that burned so passionately that she never knew just a single emotion alone could be so powerful.
The soft sound of something…something large…approaching snapped Raven from her revelry and she leaped to her feet.
"Who's there?"
There was no answer, but the resonance of movement ceased completely. Raven narrowed her eyes, the feeling of being watched tingling down her spine eerily.
"Show yourself!"
That statement, however, was answered. A low, soft whine whimpered from her left, and she glanced down to see…the same white-eared black dog that she and the Titans had seen earlier.
"…"
The tip of the canine's tail wagged slightly, a friendly gesture, and that feather soft whimper cried again. He was thin, as for as Raven could tell, and seemed nice enough…
"You must be hungry."
Raven sighed, was she getting soft? Well, the look on the canine's face was enough for her to crack a very slight smile; those unusual ears flicked forward and his tail started wagging faster. He was hungry, obviously.
"Fine, dog, I'm sure there's something for you to eat at the Tower. You can eat the tofu."
Starting to walk back home, Raven was aware of the canine padding lightly to the right and a little behind her. She knew for a fact that none of the others would probably mind; and in the morning they could take the dog to a shelter where a good home could be found for him. Starfire would be incredibly happy at least; she loved animals.
"You're not sleeping on the couch though."
Once, the canine stopped and looked back over his shoulder. Not at what they were leaving, but at the full harvest moon in the sky above them.
'Even I can sense this…there's a bad moon rising…'