Gamerr4 in. And, it's time for me to begin a new fanfiction. I'm taking a slight break from my main series, Mario Mario, to come and work on: my first Teen Titans fanfiction! (Cue the painfully fake applause, please!) Thank you, thank you! Anyways, lately, I've been reading a certain book. This book is entitled, House of Leaves, and it is by Mark Z. Danielewski (I really hope I spelled that right.) It is a truly wonderful book, and one that I have chosen as the model for my newest story. This is due to the fact that, like most stories I choose as models, it is criminally underrated/underknown. I could give you a full review, but I don't have the time, and a great deal of this story will be mirroring it anyways. For now, let's just say that there's no way I can do this book justice in a form like this. Heck, I'll only be able to include half the story! (For those that have read the book, I'll be focusing on The Navidson Record. Johnny Truant, Zampano, etc. won't be appearing.) Now, more than ever, I say, if you like this story, go and pick up a copy of the source material, and commence reading. You won't be sorry. Now that I'm done fanboying, let's begin!

Disclaimer: I own neither Teen Titans or House of Leaves.

Tower of Leaves

Chapter I

The Tower

Debate still rages about the Tower that stands over Jump City. More specifically, it stands on an island off the city's coast, taller than any of the buildings in the city proper, and shaped like a gigantic T. It was only a couple years ago that this tower was barred off from the general public, and left abandoned on its little island, all its previous inhabitants perfectly happy to let it be. Every now and again, people will still go to look at it, to break in on a dare, or even to try and set the building ablaze. However, it still remains, despite all attempts to remove it or renovate it. One of the previous residents, a young woman with grey skin and purple hair, has since commented on the tower as such "There's a reason we left that place. It's not for you. If you ever see it out of the corner of your eye, just move along. There's nothing there, not anymore."

The debate has been mainly in regards to a film put together by the former residents to explain their interest in never returning. The film primarily consists of several tapes put together to form what seems to be one long narrative. Several people have declared it an entertaining enough film, and would be happy to leave it at that, if it weren't for the residents' insistence that it all actually happened.

The former residents of that tower are a group of super heroes that call themselves the Teen Titans. There is Robin, the leader, dressed in vibrant red and yellow, and a martial artist to the core. There is Cyborg, a- well, a cyborg. Half of his body is metal, the other half a young African-American man. There is Starfire, an orange woman with long, dark red hair, who hails from the distant planet of Tamaran. There is Beastboy, a young man with green skin and greener hair, with the ability to change into animals, and, finally, the young woman with grey skin and purple hair previously alluded to, a young half-demon named Raven.

For the most part, they have taken the skepticism their film was met with in stride. "It doesn't really matter whether you believe it or not," Raven said, alongside her earlier quote. "All that matters is that you take its warning."

And what a warning it is.

XXXX

To explain the film, we'll have to step back in time a little, to a brightly lit day, back when the Titans still lived in that tower overlooking the city.

It seemed normal enough, at the time. Two years ago, the Titans had returned from a great battle against a group of villains calling themselves the Brotherhood of Evil. It had been a long battle, but they'd finally returned home triumphant. For a while, the city they protected had seemed small compared to the grand scale they'd seen in that conflict, but lately, things had returned pretty much to normal. As evidenced by that morning. It was the typical Titan routine. Beastboy, a vegan, was having an argument with Cyborg, most definitely not a vegan, over who would cook breakfast. Raven, who generally stuck to a cup of herbal tea and the occasional apple for her breakfast, was leaning back with a book, attempting to ignore the war going on next to her. Robin, the team leader, was flicking through the channels on the t.v. while Starfire desperately tried to act as a peacemaker in the eternal meat-vegetarian conflict.

Robin sighed as he flicked through the channels, finding nothing to capture his interest. Same old, same old. He was glad things were peaceful, mind you, but there was simply nothing happening anymore. Recently, Beastboy had been complaining about it as well, wondering when they would be going on a vacation. While Robin had shot this question down repeatedly, stating that superheroes didn't get vacation time, and while he'd never admit it, he'd been thinking more and more about a vacation as well. The criminals they'd been seeing lately were increasingly petty, nothing that the police force couldn't handle well enough on their own, and it was roughly a year since the incident that basically assured that their greatest nemesis, Slade, would never be a problem again... though, strange as it may sound, Robin preferred not to think about that.

He sighed. So much had changed in so little time. Slade was gone, and not coming back, most of the villains they'd fought before had been captured during the conflict with the Brotherhood, and the villains that remained were pathetic enough for him to... dare he think it- almost want a better villain to arise, if only to have something to do, some sort of goal...

"Are you troubled, friend Robin?" came a sudden voice from behind him. He did a double take and found Starfire floating behind him, a warm smile on her face.

"Hey, Star," he said. "No, of course not. Things have just been... a little dull, lately..."

"You are bored?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"I guess you could say that..."

"Would you like to venture with me to the mall of shopping?" Starfire asked eagerly. Secretly, she'd been looking for an excuse to get close to Robin- there was a question she needed to ask him.

Robin, however, paled. "Um, no, Star, that's fine!" he said quickly. Whenever he and Starfire went to the mall together, it depleted their funds very quickly. He was very bad about being able to say no to the alien girl.

Starfire looked uncertain for a moment, then she said, "Robin, there is something I must inquire of you."

"Of course, anything!" Robin agreed, eager to get off the subject of the mall.

"Robin, I was wondering-"

"Hey, Robin, I need to talk real quick," came a sudden interrupting voice. They both spun to see Cyborg standing there.

"Yeah, sure, what is it?" Robin asked, a slight grumble in his voice. He didn't appreciate the interruption.

"Bumblebee just called- you know, from the Titans East. She's got some sort of problem going on over there, she needs some help. I might be staying a while."

"And what if you're needed over here?"

"For what? What sort of trouble are you expecting? Dr. Light? At the worst? Let's face it, all the big villains are out of commission for a while, we really don't need to worry."

Robin sighed. Having been thinking this himself, he couldn't find it in him to argue. "Alright," he muttered. "Head on over."

"Thanks," Cyborg nodded, turning and finishing off his breakfast in a few short bites. Without further adieu, he headed out the door.

"Now, what were you saying, Star?" Robin asked, turning back to Starfire.

"Oh, yes, I was wondering-" Starfire began again, but she was cut off once more- this time by Beastboy.

"Dude!" he objected. "That's no fair! How come Cyborg gets to go on a vacation, and we don't?!"

"Hardly a vacation," Raven pointed out, not even looking up from her book. "He's just going to help out the Titans East."

"He'll still be somewhere else, though," Beastboy grumbled. "There's nothing happening here!"

Robin sighed again. There it was once more: everyone seemed to be so tired of simply sitting there, doing nothing.

"Things have been very quiet lately," Starfire mused, looking up with a hand to her chin. "Perhaps we could leave the tower for a brief amount of time?"

Beastboy looked eagerly from Robin to Starfire. He knew that, with Starfire on his side, the battle was as good as won. Robin could never say no to Starfire. And right he was.

Robin tried to summon a protest, but found himself deflating. "Alright," he finally said. "We can get out of here for a little bit. Raven? Are you in?"

"Pass," Raven said, turning a page.

"Oh, come on, Rae!" Beastboy objected once more, turning to her. "Even you must need a breather every now and then!"

"I don't," Raven said quietly.

Not interested in hearing their debate with each other, Robin got up and started heading through the halls, Starfire following behind. "Friend Robin," she said, "this is not the way to your room. What are you doing?"

"Checking the security cameras," he explained, examining one nearby closely. "If we're going to be out of the tower for a while, I want to make sure that any intruders get caught right away."

"How do these cameras work?" Starfire asked, looking at one eagerly.

"You see, it has a motion detector it connects to," Robin said, waving his hand in front of said device. "If someone walks into a room with one of these in it, it turns on automatically, and starts recording. When they leave, the camera turns itself off again. You save a lot of time that way."

Robin didn't consider it that interesting, but Starfire, as she was wont to be, was enamored with the earth technology, and followed him around on his full examination.

Finally, they returned to the living room, just in time to hear the final words of Beastboy and Raven's debate. "Look," Raven was saying, agitation clear in her voice, "I'll make you a deal: I'll go if you agree to leave me alone when we get back!"

"Deal!" Beastboy said eagerly.

"So everyone's in?" Robin asked. "Great. I just finished calibrating the security cameras, so we should be good to go as soon as we pack."

XXXX

A few hours later, the whole group had piled into one of the cars in their garage, and they were off on their first vacation in a very long time. Not one of them realized that the tower, once they returned, would never be the same place again.

XXXX

Yeah, italicized Xs mark the end of a chapter. Sorry this one was short, and there wasn't really much happening. I was just trying to set up the characters and setting. Things will actually start picking up in the next chapter, when they get back from their vacation. (The vacation itself is actually kind of irrelevant to the plot.) Hopefully, things will get better then. Until next time, please R&R, any questions or constructive criticism is welcome, flames are also welcome, though not as much, not as much welcome, Gamer4 out.