A/N: I was so disappointed when they canceled Young Justice. They were about to introduce Cyborg and Starfire! But, in all honesty, Raven is my favorite by far. There was even some concept art done by Ki Hyun Ryu
Anyway, here's something for the gloomy girl we didn't get to see.
Meeting the Princess of Dark and Gloom wasn't something Garfield had been planning when he entered the main room of the cave.
What he had planned on doing was grabbing something to eat, most likely from M'gann, and then play some video games with Bart. Maybe even go play fetch with Sphere and Conner or beg Robin to teach him some epic karate moves, and have Wonder Girl smooth things over if he said no.
He had run through the entrance as a dog, all barks and wagging tail, intent on having a day filled with fun. Tongue lolling out of his mouth, he could just taste the day that awaited him. That is, until he ran head first into someone's shin. He bounced back on his butt, paws flailing a bit before settling between his legs. His green head shook itself, trying to clear the black spots in his sight, morphing back to normal in the process.
"Hey, don't you people know that this is a no-parking zone? It's right in the middle of the road!" The words come out of his mouth almost immediately, directed at whoever he'd run into. He had intended to lecture whoever about the importance of animal safety and their own ignorance, but the words died at the back of his throat as he glanced up.
And he stared into a face completely unknown to him.
The green boy blinked, his mind blank for a moment, head tilting to the side in confusion as he looked up at the stranger. It was a girl. Around his age, he supposed, but then again, he wasn't good at that kind of thing. The first thing he noticed about her was the red jewel settled right in the middle of her forehead, contrasting with her pale skin. The next was the blank stare she was giving him, her big, unnaturally red eyes looking bored under the shadows of her hood. He took in the other things as well- dark hair, a worn sweatshirt, and an overall strange feeling and smell coming off her in waves- and created his first impression.
She was definitely a weird and gloomy person.
Again, he spoke without thinking, "Uh, who are you and what are you doing here?" Blunt and to the point, but that was how he rolled?
Just as expected, a mellow voice accompanied the collected face, "I was told to come here. I will be needed in the future."
Garfield blinked again, not really understanding. "Alright..." He scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to do. Looking around he saw that Nightwing, Black Canary, Batman, and Red Tornado were in a small, collected group a little way off, near the holographic computer; they were talking in hushed voice, giving off the vibe that something important was being discussed. Even with his heightened hearing, the shifter couldn't hear what they were saying, getting only a few mumbled words. "What are they talking about?"
"About whether or not I'm a danger and if I should be allowed to stay here." the girl responded duly, momentarily glancing in the adults' direction before returning her gaze to her shoes, finding the red lining suddenly very interesting.
"Okay…" Not wanting to ask why she would be a danger to the Team and not wanting to explore her depressing aura any longer, Garfield nimbly got to his feet, intent on getting back to what he planned, an easy day. But, before he could even take a step back, Nightwing took that moment to turn around. A motioning gesture was made (to him, clearly).
He gave a small sigh, somehow knowing that his perfect day wasn't going to happen.
"Beast Boy, I have a job for you." An imaginary bell went off in the shifter's head and he gave himself a point for guessing the right answer. Of course, he was going to get a job, from Nightwing, whom he couldn't refuse. His eyes darted to the silent girl next to him, having some hint of the request.
"This is Raven."
He gave himself another imaginary point. Garfield glanced at the girl again. "Yeah, we just met..."
"Raven is a possible member for the Team." At his leader's next few words he hunched his shoulders ever so slightly, muscles clenching in unwillingness. "Why don't you show her around, give her a tour around the cave?"
It wasn't really a question, but an unspoken command. Keep an eye on her and don't let her out of your sight. Obviously, Nightwing believed she wasn't that big of a threat, but didn't trust her nonetheless. She needed to be handled while they discussed in private and ran an extensive background check. And, of course, Garfield was expendable enough to be the one to be given this boring assignment.
"Fine," he muttered, lips forming something close to a pout. He motioned at the girl to follow him, both his hand and tail pointing toward the direction they were going. "C'mon, follow me." He didn't bother to acknowledge the heroes any further, mood turning sullen.
No one missed Raven's expression, or lack of, as she mutely followed the green boy down the south hallway. She didn't offer an apologies, as Garfield thought she should for ruining his plans, nor did she attempt to start any kind of conversation.
They left the Mission room without the gloomy girl saying a word, and entered the lower level of the Cave. Garfield slouched forward the more they walked, unhappy at the awkward and boring silence, not caring that Raven was behind him and could clearly see that he was unhappy.
The Lounge was empty when they reached it, much to Garfield's dismay. He frowned when he saw the games stacked neatly by the TV, begging him to ditch the girl and be play with it. He looked at Raven, who showed no particular interest in anything and held back a sigh of resignation.
He might as well do what Nightwing said.
"So..." Garfield started, deciding he had to be the one to initiate communication, "this is the Lounge. You know, where everyone hangs out when they're not on missions or stakeouts. It's got everything. We've got the latest tech, so whatever you want, we probably have it."
"I do not find video games entertaining," Raven stated rather abruptly, looking at the gaming area with disinterest; she didn't look like she wanted to investigate anything, her hands snugly in her sweatshirt pockets. Garfield started, not expecting her to talk, but then realized what she had said.
His mouth replied automatically, "That's probably because you've been living in a real Dungeons and Dragons."
Raven looked at him blankly, making him shift uncomfortably from one foot to another.
He tried to brush off the awkwardness. "Our kitchen and Lounge are more or less the same room, and the workout room, lockers, and showers are just down the hall on the left, while the medical bay is on the other side." Raven barely made a nodding motion, keeping her blank expression as she followed to where he pointed. "Living quarters are straight ahead- everyone has their own room, and you can do whatever you want to it. For example, you could, let's say, I don't know, turn it into Dracula's cave..."
Silence.
Garfield dearly wished that he had someone else with him, or better, that someone else was doing this tour. If Wonder Girl were there, it definitely would be going better, her being a girl and bursting with energy. Despite his jokester status, he wasn't cut out to socialize with new and different people, whether they were heroes or not.
He trotted down to where the workout room was, hoping that someone was going through a practice trial so that he wouldn't be alone with the dark-haired girl anymore. The doors automatically slid apart with a swooooosh when he came close enough, revealing...
… an empty room.
Garfield frowned, wondering where everyone had disappeared too, as he was sure that Conner or Robin would be toiling it out. He even thought he smelled something familiar, maybe Beetle or Bart.
Struggling to find something to say (and maybe explain why he was stupidly standing in the doorway), Garfield turned and suddenly noticed that Raven hadn't followed him.
How long had she been gone?
"Uh oh…" He looked around, panic edging its way in, seeing not a speck of her cheerless form. He sniffed, using his trusty nose.
The odd scent was in the air, one that reminded him of Zatara, only colder, with a hint of the smell of old, crispy paper and feathers. Whenever he came across this odd smell, he could only describe it as magic to others- ignoring the snorts of laughter he received whenever he said so. He took in the scent that was similar-yet-completely-different from his magician friend and traced it other side of the Lounge, in the living quarters.
"I didn't mean that you could decorate a room now," Garfield muttered, transforming into a hawk and quickly flying to where he knew the abnormal girl would be. He didn't want Nightwing to find out that he'd lost her. His head would surely be on a platter if anyone found out.
The Souvenir Room was, like all the others he'd been in, empty. Empty accept for the neatly shelved items and the floating girl surveying them. Garfield tried not to be surprised at her apparent defiance of gravity, M'gann doing as much every day. Instead, he focused on the fact that she was holding one of the souvenirs- more importantly, one of Wally's souvenirs.
"Hey, don't break anything! This stuff is priceless!" Garfield exclaimed, aiming to grab at whatever she had in her hand. Only, the pale girl carelessly floated out of his reach, effectively evading him. He almost grabbed her t-shirt, but his hand was shoved away.
"It's only a ripped piece of cloth," Raven stated, carefully inspecting the fabric, ignoring his attempts at getting a hand on the thing. "but the impressions left behind from it's owner is still strong."
"That doesn't mean it's not still valuable!" The animal boy tried to stress his words, only to have the usual blank face directed at him, though this time around a thin eyebrow was raised. He sighed in a dramatic manor, "Haven't you ever heard of sentimental value?"
"Being sentimental often leads to sorrow and so, as I do not particularly enjoy the unwanted emotion nor its effects, I don't dwell toward that kind of feeling."
Garfield let out a sigh at her weird words, "Noted." He forced himself to patiently wait as she examined the souvenir before carefully putting it back to its designated area. The teenage girl slowly drifted to the ground, examining the rest of the items on the shelves.
"You're really dark and gloomy- and just plain weird." He hadn't realized he had spoken the thought aloud until he felt her presence next to him, but there was no stopping it now. She stood at his shoulder, eyeing him with murky eyes, expectant. "All in all, the strangest girl I've ever met. And that's saying something coming from me."
She looked at him straight in the eye and said, "And you're the oddest boy I've ever met."
He almost turned full monkey from his surprise. "How am I weird?"
Raven was quiet for a moment before answering, "You talk too much and make too many jokes that aren't funny, b-."
"What? I'm totally funny!" The green boy defended himself, crossing his arms pretentiously, "You're the one who doesn't know comedy gold when you hear it."
"I don't think so." She started walking toward the door to exit, seemingly done with her inspection of the room, "And I'm not gloomy. I'm mature." She stood outside the room, waiting for him.
He couldn't help but snort at the comment, following her, hearing the usual swish of the doors behind him. "Right… mature. Noted, but not believed."
"And you're also half monkey, which is odd."
"You can't say that!" He frowned, wanting to turn into a bird and peck at her. "That's the least weirdest thing here! I mean, we have a Superman clone, an Atlantean, and martians! Aliens! You can't be weirder than aliens! We're superheroes for crying out loud!"
"That doesn't stop you from being odd." was her unemotional reply, walking by his side at their current leisurely pace, " Seeing as we are 'superheroes,' as you say, and are surrounded by many more, then that makes it a norm for us. Forego, you can be the odd one."
Garfield couldn't help himself from snorting like a bull, this time straight at her face. "Fine. But if we're going by your standards, if I'm odd then you're definitely weird. Like, weirder than weird." He knew he was pouting, and he knew crossing his arms like a little kid wasn't helping, but he couldn't help it. "Your spirit-magic-person-thing is weird, so you're weird and nothing you do is going to change that."
For a moment, he thought he saw something flit across her face, an actual expression of some sort. "You know about my astral-self?" It was probably just his imagination.
"Your astra-whatcha-call it?"
"My power."
"Oh, that. 'Course I do. I can smell it from a mile away. Weird, gloomy, black- smells like a bird. Nothing can escape this nose, not even magic." He fondly and proudly tapped his nose, making it a labrador's for exaggeration. "Noticed it the moment I ran into you."
Again he thought he was imagining the odd expression that came into and out of existence, but all he could catch was a raised eyebrow.
"Not even the fact that the rest of your 'superheroes' are purposely avoiding us so that they don't have to bother with being stuck as a tour guide. Or does your nose just ignore the people as they clear out the area and wait until we pass by."
He was lost for a second or two before her statement sunk in, endibg up sputtering, "They're not- my nose doesn't- I'm not… ugh!"
A frown formed on his lips, his dog nose gone, another pout taking hold of his face almost immediately. He had known that something was off, as the Cave was never this empty on any normal day. He doubted that M'gann or any of the girls were purposely avoiding him, but the guys... it was expected. Of course, they knew of Raven's arrival before he did and knew that he'd be sucked right into the job of keeping an eye on her, while all they had to do what lay low.
It was low, even for them.
"But I doubt that they'd be more interesting- even if you're not funny and as blunt as can be" His eyes perked back up and he stared at the girl next to him with confusion, not fully believing what he'd just heard. Raven ignored his stare, instead floating ahead of him to the couch in the Lounge; she settled on it and with a wave of her hands, some of the cases near the TV floated to her.
The black that appeared must have been what he had been smelling. Taking a big sniff, he nodded to himself. It was definitely what he was smelling.
Just as he was about to comment more on that, Raven offhandedly waved in the direction of the Souvenir Room; turning, he barely saw the hint of red turn the corner, the barely audible sound of fabric reaching his ears.
Garfield quickly hopped to the couch, feeling suddenly vindictive and a prank already forming in his head, the key element in the shape of the girl before him. So she was strange and had as much emotion as a rag doll (or maybe she didn't), maybe he could get used to her. And if he was stuck with her, he might as well use it to his advantage.
He grinned at the girl next to him, who only eyed him with the default blank face that he was coming to memorize, thinking that she might not be all that bad. Getting as close to her as he dared, he dropped his voice, "So… a weird girl like you wouldn't happen to be above aiding and assisting in a healthy game of revenge?"
When she didn't answer, he was beginning to think that whatever opening she had to having a personality was closed and sealed off. But then, she brought down her hood, her short hair framing her face and hiding her strange gem (it was cute, in her own strange way); turning to examine his video games in her lap, she blatantly replied, "Stop calling me weird and there might be a slight chance."
"I'm sure we can strike a deal here." He offered her his hand, giving her a toothy grin for the first time.
Raven eyed him carefully, a small, almost unnoticeable smile playing the corner of her lips. "We'll see."