Tales of the Titans: The Truth
A one shot that wouldn't let me alone until I did something with it. Here's the something. I don't know if it fits into the continuity of the rest of my stories. See what you think.
Garfield was walking down the hall at Titans' Tower, like he normally did, on his way to his and Terra's room, the room they shared in common. Later on, he'd never be able to say just what prompted him to stop by Raven's door. Somehow, he just knew something was wrong.
Of course, he'd been wrong before. Several times he'd stopped to ask her if anything was wrong, and she would always say, no, no, nothing's wrong, I don't know why you'd ask that. And, of course, he accepted that. After all, he was only human; it was within the bounds of reason that he could be wrong.
But a couple of those times, he'd caught her with reddened eyes, and drying tears on her face. And sniffling.
He started to ring her doorbell, like always, when he heard something that totally changed his mind about the whole "going to the door and knocking" routine: from within, he heard the faintest hiccup of a sob. Just one.
The hell with her knowing he knew her door's combination. He keyed it in, and rushed into the darkened room.
Raven was sitting on her couch, legs drawn up under her, both hands pressed up against her face. The tears flowed freely down her face, through her fingers, dripping onto her upper thighs. He rushed up and sat beside her, putting his arm around her. He could tell she knew he was there; she was just too miserable to even make a show of hiding her feelings. This has to be bad, he thought. "Raven! What's wrong?"
"B-Beast Boy?"
"Hey, Beast Boy's the guy you work with. I'm off the clock. Call me Gar. Now. What's wrong? I've never seen you cry before, Rae."
She sniffled, blowing her nose on a kleenex. "It-it's n-*"
"Don't say 'nothing.'"
She was silent for a time. Then, "Okay. I s-suppose you do know me better than that." Another pause. "Oh, you're gonna hate me!" She fumbled with her Kleenex.
He was taken aback. Hate her? Whaat? "Rae, I could never hate you. I don't care what. It doesn't matter. I don't care if you, if you, if you tell me you're Trigon himself, I still won't hate you. Uh, you're not about to do that, are you?"
"No." He relaxed somewhat. "It-it's not that simple, I'm afraid." He waited. "Garfield. There's—there's something I have to tell you about, about yourself that, that you just aren't going to want to hear. But, but you have to know, before you, before you get married." His ears pricked up at that. Before he got married?
"Alright, Rae," he said, more cautiously, now. "I'm listening."
She wouldn't meet his gaze, instead focusing on her crumpled Kleenex. "Before I begin….what do you know about your parents?"
He shrugged. "They were biologists in Africa. They're the ones who developed the serum—well, treatment, it was more than just chemicals—that changed me into this," and here he gestured to his green self, "and gave me my ability to shapechange. I mean, those are the basics. But Rae, you've known that. Is there something more?"
She nodded. "Quite a bit more. Gar, how many times have you 'just had a feeling' you needed to check on me, or something?"
Again a shrug. "A few. I really haven't kept count. But what's that got to do with me, or me getting married?"
"And do you remember that time when Jillian dumped you?"
"Yeah." His face clouded over. "That was a kinda low time for me. I'm glad you happened to be-* Wait. You knocked on my door not a minute after I got off the phone with her."
"Yes. I don't even remember walking down the hall to your room. I, I just found myself there, and knew, somehow, that you needed someone." She sniffled, and smiled, sadly. "I don't think I was much help…"
"Rae, just you being there was help, all by itself. But what I'm hearing you say, correct me if I'm wrong, is that all that's not just coincidence, is it?"
"No." She squared her shoulders. Time to face the music. "Gar, when my father tried to take over the Earth….you got a pretty good look at him, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Too good. I mean, the guy was, like, huge, sitting on the Tower like it was a Laz-E-Boy or something…."
"Gar, what was growing out of his head? Did you notice?"
Garfield was puzzled. "Didn't he have, like, some sticks stuck in his hair or something?"
"Not sticks. Think back, Gar. Remember."
Garfield thought hard. Trigon had had something growing out of his head. "I definitely noticed the four eyes. But….." He thought, half-closing his eyes in memory. "….was I crazy, or did he have, like, antlers growing out of his head?"
"Exactly. Not horns. Most people, when they picture demons, they think of horns. But these…."
"….were antlers. Huh. I never really thought about that before."
She studied her Kleenex. "It's not that uncommon, really. Many demons 'borrow' certain traits from the animal kingdom….actually, the jury is still out as to which came first: whether the demons borrow animal characteristics, or some animals have some demonic characteristics, you can argue it either way-but the point is, he had antlers."
He shrugged again. "Okay. So he had antlers. What does that have to do with—*"
"Do you remember, about a year ago, we were chasing those drug smugglers in Arizona? You turned into a pronghorn antelope to chase them."
"Yeah…."
"What happened when you tried to turn back?"
"I…turned back. No, wait…I turned back, but…..wait. I had a hard time with the, with the…." His voice trailed off.
"With the antlers. They stayed on your human head for a full three minutes. I counted."
"Rae. What exactly are you trying to tell me?"
She turned and looked him in the eyes. Hers were red and puffy. "Garfield….this isn't going to be easy for you. It isn't easy for me, either. But….the truth is, your father…..and my father…
"…were the same." This last was finished in a hushed whisper, almost as if she were really wanting to keep him from hearing her.
He stared for a moment. Then, he burst out laughing. "Oh, good one, Rae! I never even saw it coming! You got me good, there!" Then he stopped. She wasn't laughing. "Rae?"
"It's true, Garfield. We're….siblings. Half-siblings, I mean. That explains how you can morph into animals much larger or much smaller than you. Science doesn't work that way.
"But magic does.
"And that's how we each know when the other's hurting. And why, that time when we switched powers…my powers gravitated to you. And…..a lot of other things." Including the feelings I've had for you. Incest is a human taboo; demons play—and reproduce—by a different set of rules entirely.
But he was shaking his head. "No, Rae, you're mistaken. I knew my parents. Not well, it's true, but….I mean, we have a bond, yeah, but that's nothing all that unusual. It—it doesn't mean…."
She sighed. He was forcing her to do this. "Garfield. This is important. Here. Stand up, and come over here with me, okay?"
"Uhm, sure, Rae. What for?" She moved him over towards the center of her room.
"I just want you to know I'm really sorry about this." And while he was trying to puzzle out what she meant…..
….she slapped him. Full in the face.
To say he was stunned was an understatement. Raven had never hit him before. But this was a full-on, open-handed slap, powered by her whole arm. Raven might not be anywhere near Starfire's strength level, but she was in good physical shape, and that slap hurt.
"RaVEN! What're you—*" And she hit him again, Pow!, this time from the other side, again powering through the force of the slap, rocking his head in the other direction. She continued slapping him, hard, forcing him back, ever back towards the bathroom in her room…
"Raven!" Even through the hailstorm of slaps, the thought occurred to him: was this Raven? Maybe something had crept into her body when she wasn't looking…..
She kept slapping him, making his head ring, until finally, he'd had all he could take. He grabbed her wrists roughly, and roared, "That's enough!" Loud enough to rattle the walls.
"Garfield, look at you! Here, turn around, look at yourself in the mirror!" She whirled him around, to where he was facing the mirror in her bathroom, the only mirror she allowed in her room at all, except for her magic mirror…..
…And gasped. There, on his forehead, was another set of eyes, just above his normal pair.
He stared, unbelieving. The eyes were there, red from corner to corner, just like Raven's double set when she got upset. He moved forward into the smallish bathroom, not really wanting to believe what his eyes—both sets—were telling him. He put a hand to his face in shock. He stared for a moment longer, and the extra pair of eyes closed and faded back into his normal—for him—green forehead. He rubbed the area where they'd been. Everything felt normal. It wasn't like he was rubbing eyelids or anything…..
He backed out of the bathroom, all the while keeping one eye on the mirror, as if it were going to suddenly attack him or something. Raven had gone back to sit down on the couch, huddled up, her hood up, her arms wrapped around her as if she were cold. "I had to show you," she said. Her voice sounded drained, like she was exhausted. "You had to know."
He went over and sat down by her, a stunned look on his face. She hunched into herself, as though trying to make herself smaller, somehow. "That's why you had to know now, before you got married. Terra….she'll need to know. I don't know if there'll be any….genetic side effects; maybe not. I mean….I mean, I just don't know." Her voice was the voice of one who'd cried themselves out of tears. She just didn't have any more. But even as she spoke, one single tear dripped down off her nose, and onto her leg. "It's…it's okay if you hate me. I deserve it. But I had to show you, I mean…."
He put his arm around her gently. "Rae. I don't hate you." She looked up, eyes wide in surprise. His eyes—his normal set—were just as full of love as ever. "I could never hate you. Especially now…..sister."
"But…but Terra…..!"
"Terra once told me a secret that she was sure would be the end of us. Now's my turn, I guess. But you know what, Rae? You know what every orphan dreams of? That somewhere, he's got family, family that'll love him and accept him for who he is. And guess what. You've given me that. Tonight." He kissed her on the cheek. "Come what may, I don't think it'll be anything that the two of us—and I hope, the three of us, once Terra finds out—can't handle." He gently removed his arm from around her, leaning forward. "But if Terra can't handle the awful truth….well. I won't lie. It'll hurt, Rae. It'll hurt like hell. But…there's no help for it. I mean, she'd find out, sooner or later. And I love her too much to keep her in the dark about something like this." He stood up. "So. Wanna come with, be my moral support when I tell her?" He offered her his hands.
She took them and stood up, smiling, sniffling, and brushing a strand of hair back into place. It had become tousled in their scuffle. "Alright, I will. But first," and here she led him back into her bathroom, and began fishing out some first-aid supplies she normally kept there, "We gotta get you fixed up." He had a couple of shallow cuts on his face, not to mention a few welts. "Your poor face. I really need to clip my fingernails."