Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. I will own a character that will be seen in the upcoming chapters.
IceAngel - This is going to be an epic Teen Titans story. I hope you enjoy...
Chapter One: The Mist
The Titans Tower was dark. Rain poured in streams down the glass window overlooking the city, its citizens asleep on this cold forgotten October night. Lightening flashed, basking the rooms with bright yellow light only to have it chased away again. Outside, natures forces were screaming, thundering to be heard, beating itself upon the windows and roofs of the homes. Yet inside the Tower the sound was muted, quiet almost, only the steady rhythm of the rain could be heard this night.
Most of the Titan team were snoring in their respective rooms. Beastboy laying on his back, arms spread wide on his bed with drool slowly seeping from the corner of his mouth. Robin on his stomach, hand grasping his pillow and head thrashing about, gripped in a nightmare. Cyborg on his side, silent as ever and motionless as a rock. Raven, tucked neatly in a black blanket, a slight smile on her peaceful face, even in her sleep relishing the eerie night.
There was one Titan that was not resting though, Starfire sat on the black couch in the main control room. The room was cold but Starfire sufficed by wrapping herself in Raven's dark blue blanket that she had left there from the night before. Even though it was nearly two o'clock in the morning Starfire was not tired. Her green eyes were wide and sparkling as she watched the rain create abstract pictures on the windows. Her thoughts, like most times she had to herself, were of her home. It was hard for the other Titans to imagine what it was like being so far from her planet, how lonely it truly was. Of course, the Titans had become her family and she was really never alone. Starfire was blessed to call Earth her second home, she loved her friends and was happy to have new adventures. But there were times where something happened and she would remember home in the most vivid of fashions, her heart would ache and sadness would overcome her other emotions. This was one of those times.
The rain had sparked a memory of her youth back on Tamaran. She had been reading a history book, studying for the upcoming oral tests that her father had periodically put her and her sister through. Blackfire had joined her. They started to quiz each other, each trying to get more right than the other. They had stopped after a while and Blackfire had made them spiced sugar tea, a treat in her world. She was kinder then, Blackfire, still an older sister of course, but in a less brutal, dominating, over-aggressive manner. They had joked while sipping tea, chatting about the upcoming dances they would go to and the long-winded speeches their father would make.
It was a happy memory, Starfire smiled. She was pulled back to the present by a chill passing over her, causing the hairs on her arms to stand up in protest. Shaking her head and pulling Raven's blanket closer, she looked around, trying to see what had caused the change in temperature. There was nothing in the room, only darkness and furniture, computers and red apples laying on the table nearby. Perhaps it was, what the Earth-goers called, snowing? She narrowed her eyes towards the window. Would the change in precipitation outside cause the chill that had passed over her, even while she was inside the Tower? It was a question she could not answer. Her knowledge of Earth still had areas where she was unfamiliar with, precipitation was one of those voids.
Starfire could not see anything outside other than the rain and fog, but she had a feeling that she could not shake - something was different with the window. She got up and walked towards the panes of glass, the blanket still wrapped around her ends trailing on the floor. Nearer to the window the voice of the rain grew louder, pounding harder and harder against the glass. Starfire stared. Fog. That was the change.
She placed a hand on the glass. Immediately a chill seeped through the window and traveled into her palm and fingers, she felt the vibrations of the rain. The window was colder than it should have been. Pulling her hand across the window left a dark streak clearer than the rest and surrounded by the white substance. Definitely colder. Perhaps it was going to snow, thought Starfire. She was torn between telling the other Titans about this odd experience and feeling absolutely silly that she wanted to tell the other Titans about this experience. It was just a little fog. And the chill in the air could just be the amount of rain saturating the Tower itself.
Starfire shook her head and rolled her eyes, deciding that it was nothing to worry about. But if anything seemed off tomorrow she would certainly inform the others. She turned away from the window and walked back towards the warm couch, dragging the blanket behind her. Jumping onto the couch she snuggled deeper into the soft cushions, feeling her yellow cotton pajamas smoothly glide against her skin. Her mind drifted to thoughts of Blackfire making spice sugar tea, her eyelids closing all on their own. Soon she was asleep.
The air became colder in the room but Starfire did not wake. The lightning flashed again and a hand was silhouetted on the window pane, tracing the mark left by Starfire on the opposite side of the glass. Another flash and this time the entire winged figure was silhouetted by it. The figure was gone in the darkness a second later and in the next flash, nothing was there.
When the next morning awoke the rain was still running in streams down the window panes. Beastboy jumped onto the couch next to Starfire, waking her up with a start. She pulled Raven's blanket towards her chin, feeling immodest even though her usual outfit showed much more than her pjs.
"Morning, Star!" Beastboy almost shouted, "Why'd ya sleep out here?"
"I fell asleep, your Earth couches are quite comfortable." She glanced towards the window, her mark had disappeared but she had not forgotten how wary she had felt when she made it.
"Well, time to get up and make breakfast!" Beastboy punched Starfire's shoulder, "I'm making tofu eggs and fake-bacon!" Starfire smiled brightly and that single smile made Beastboy feel like he was the center of her universe. He returned her gesture with a grin of his own and jumped off the couch again, pulling the string on his blue pj bottoms tighter onto his waist. A few of his buttons were undone but he hardly cared - he had to keep up his messy-but-too-cool-to-care attitude, even on a Saturday morning.
He walked over to the kitchen area and, banging pots and pans together, started to fix breakfast. A few minutes later, steam was billowing from the teapot, oil sizzling in the pans, and the scent of bacon filled the air. Beastboy was in his element, dancing around the kitchen and humming a tune softly to himself. He smiled as the tofu eggs cooked nicely and the fake-bacon (which was really just more tofu, colored a dark brown) jumped and quivered in the oil.
Cyborg, gray pj bottoms his only clothing, dragged himself into the room, up this early only because he heard the sizzle of food hitting the pan. Robin walked in right behind him, fully dressed.
"Aw, man, Beastboy!" Cyborg muttered once he saw what his friend was cooking, "I thought you were making us breakfast!"
Beastboy shoved a plate into Cyborg's hand grabbed a fork from the drawer next to him and grabbed a mouthful of tofu eggs. He smiled, "I am!"
"No you're not." Cyborg whined, looking with eyes full of disgust at the plate Beastboy had handed him. In spite of his better judgement, Cyborg took a bite, turning pale the moment the food hit his tongue. He yelled around his food - "This is that tofu crap!"
The boys kept on arguing but Robin kept on walking, not paying attention to the pair of them and took the two plates and two forks. He sat down next to Starfire, giving her the second plate and utensil with a smile. He uttered a soft 'morning' then started on his own. She smiled back, eating Beastboy's tofu eggs with much more enjoyment than the two others since she had no frame of reference to measure these eggs up to. She had yet to try real eggs.
Robin finished his breakfast faster than the quarreling love birds by the kitchen and even faster than Starfire, who he thought seemed a little distracted, so he was the first to notice that there was still one one Titan not up just yet.
"Hey," he said, putting his plate onto the table next to the couch, "where's Raven?"
As if in answer to his question, Raven drifted into the room. A robe was draped over her shoulders, dark violet in color, covering her white cotton pjs. She silently went into the kitchen area, ignored the bickering friends, and poured herself a cup of raspberry white tea. She savored the smooth taste and warmth. Dropping herself onto the couch, she picked up her book laying on the table and began reading.
After a time, she glanced at Starfire, still snuggled safely in Raven's blanket. Raven raised her eyebrow in a silent question of why Star even had her stuff but Starfire's bright returning smile could only make Raven smile herself. Raven could sense that something was troubling Starfire, she slowly inclined her head upward to ask if she wanted to talk. Star clutched the blanket tighter around her shoulders, nodding her head in the process - yes. As if choreographed both girls got up and slowly, silently, walked upstairs. Their conversation was so discreet that even Robin hadn't noticed.
The rain continued to beat on the window panes, a steady rhythm on this Saturday morning. Cold air drifted through the glass and settled in the living room. Robin was too busy eating his breakfast to pay attention to the chill at first. It was only when frost crystals had started forming on the edges of his plate that Robin noticed something was wrong.
"Uh, guys?" The air was getting colder, denser. Beastboy and Cyborg finally stopped their argument long enough to look up. Their mouths dropped open as they watched the air turn into fog and, almost alien-like, drift further into the room. Robin vaulted over the back of the couch and rushed over to his two friends, mentally cursing himself for not finishing getting dressed this morning as was planned. He looked the part of Robin perfectly fine but he had left his utility belt back in the room - it was Saturday, a day off, what could happen?
"What the heck is that?" Cyborg asked, backing up a little further and pulling the other two back a bit further.
"Dude, is fog supposed to even do that?" Beastboy asked. The drifts of fog slowly turned into a wall - shielding the glass windows from view and casting a blue haze shimmering across the room.
A voice filtered down from the upstairs, Raven's voice:
"No," footsteps were heard, Raven flew into the room followed closely by Starfire, "no, fog isn't supposed to do that." Both girls stopped once they were beside the others.
Wisps of the smoky vapor drifted much to close for Raven's liking. Her eyes glowed black and using her powers she slapped it away - black merging with the blue-tinged haze only for a second before dispensing into clear air.
"At least we know it can be dealt with..." Robin muttered as he backed up even further. The wall drifted closer, more wisps - five then ten! - reached forward. The Titans readied themselves - Cyborg started charging his sonic arm, Starfire's eyes glowed,and Raven's face was set in grim determination ready to throw their weight around - but Robin threw up his hand.
"Wait!" He said, "Before we go ripping up our home over some creepy fog, Beastboy see if you can blow it away."
Beastboy nodded his head, a green-skinned pterodactyl grew in his place and started flapping widely. Winds kicked up, papers flew everywhere, Raven's blanket rolled like a dark shadow across the floor and into the icy wall. In theory, it should have worked, normal fog would have been blown away, back to where-ever it had come from.
Yet the fog didn't move.
If anything the fog drifted more closely together. The wisps drew back into itself, the air grew colder. Ice crystals made the air shimmer closer and closer to the team. Their breath mingled above them like a single wandering cloud. Beastboy turned back into himself and shrugged.
"Time to pull out the big guns?" Cyborg asked others.
Robin didn't even have time to reply before the mist attacked...
IceAngel - I hope you liked the first chapter of my story, please don't forget to review!