Changeling of Zero
Welcome to the second 'Changeling' story, which is also the second Familiar of Zero and Teen Titans crossover. BB's a bit bitter about his treatment in my canon (I.e. treated like a freak or dog, that second one sound familiar? Gah, unintentional pun!) this time around, so he may act a bit different than the Changeling and Vampire BB would in certain situations. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: It Isn't Easy Being Green (or Shove Off! The Reluctant Familiar!)
The most interesting part of being himself, Garfield Mark Logan mused as he walked through Jump City, was how people acted towards him. He fought against sentient piles of rock, evil giants made of toxic waste, and a computer chip gone wrong as well as a weirdo who used light rays as lasers, a blue man who used slight-of-hand and other tricks as if they were magic (much to the chagrin of the empath he fought alongside, who used actual magic), a group of super powered teenagers much like their own, and a masked man who always seemed to elude them.
His thanks for protecting Jump City as one of the Teen Titans? Distrust, fear, and resentment. Everyone was fine with Cyborg, the metallic Titan who was half-robot, half-human, and full jokester. Everyone loved the bronze-skinned alien Starfire, whose bad grammar endeared her to almost every person she met. People were cautious of the introverted half-demon known as Raven, but they enjoyed her polite and quiet personality as opposed to the noise caused by the others. Robin was well-respected and even worshipped by some, having trained under the notorious Batman before coming to Jump City. But Garfield? He was ostracized. Despised. Resented. Why you may ask? Because he's green.
The Titan despised the color so much! While being green wasn't that odd compared to the hunk of steel that was Cyborg, the ashen gray skin that Raven was afflicted with due to her heritage, or the copper color that showed who Starfire was, he was somehow the freak. His powers didn't help either. While many may have wished to have the power to become animals, he was treated as the pet of the Titans while people gasped at Raven's magic, Starfire's strength and speed (As well as her starbolts, but that's a given), Cyborg's technical expertise and fancy gadgets, and Robin's acrobatics and ability to hold his own against super powered opponents despite not having any special abilities himself.
But Beast Boy (His alias, he didn't think anyone should know Garfield Logan was still alive) suffered from the anger and hatred of the citizens. He was told 'no pets allowed!' before being kicked out of stores, and he had almost been 'arrested' by Animal Control for not wearing a collar.
As if this wasn't bad enough, he was the Titan's main scapegoat when something went wrong. Opponent slip away from the team? Beast Boy's fault. Robin ran out of birdarangs in the midst of the fight? Must be the changeling's fault. Out of meat? They blamed that on him and he was a vegetarian for crying out loud!
It drove him mad, and only worsened when Adonis, a D-list villain, was fought. Despite handling the opponent mostly by himself and getting covered in a suspicious chemical, he was scolded about taking risks. This compound actually increased the output of his instincts, actually making them manifest in a Beast, an animal that seemed mammalian but was in reality a combination of several creatures that 'terrorized' the Titans. In reality Adonis, due to the combination of Beast Boy's DNA and the same chemical, became a Beast as well and kidnapped Raven, and the changeling took off in pursuit, the others coming soon after.
When Robin Starfire and Cyborg arrived, they saw Raven in the Green Beast (Beast Boy)'s teeth. He set the empath down gently before defending himself from the Titans, who managed to knock it out, turning Beast Boy back.
The changeling woke up tied to a chair, where he was interrogated by Robin as a comatose Raven hovered nearby. This led to him being threatened with jail, even though Robin had committed worse crimes either disguised as Red X or working as Slade's apprentice. When the stress of the questioning combined with the worry for Raven became too much, he shifted back into the Beast, catching Adonis' scent from Raven before bursting through the window and hunting his enemy.
The conscious Titans, bar Starfire who stayed with Raven in the medbay, caught up only to see a clash of titanic proportions (pun not intended, the Beasts were nearly ten feet tall). The green one soon prevailed and roared in victory before changing back into the elfin form that Beast Boy had become. A cure was administered to lower the instincts, which made him regain control of himself.
And after this Robin had lost all trust in the changeling, and he knew that the Boy Wonder was designing weapons in case the Beast gained control again. The terrible part was that Cyborg, the man Beast Boy considered his best friend was helping to create the aforementioned weapons.
While he brooded, the changeling's instincts were screaming at him to look up and focus. Knowing his instincts wouldn't lead him wrong, he gasped at what was going on.
For one thing, the entire city seemed to have become muted; no one was talking and everyone seemed to move around him. As if this phenomenon wasn't peculiar enough, there was a white rift in the space in front of him. It looked reminiscent of the portals Raven would sometimes open, though those were usually black and didn't give this odd sensation.
Moving closer, the shapeshifter's curiosity took hold and he opened his communicator. This phenomenon was something Raven may know about, even though all his instincts were telling him this was something new and possibly dangerous.
"Beast Boy to Raven, come in Raven." The communicator seemed to work still, despite the oddities occurring nearer the rift.
"What do you want?" Was the response, cool and monotonic as expected. The half-demon needed rein on her emotions in order to use her powers correctly, something he learned when her reluctance to admit fear caused a horror movie creature to come into existence.
"I'm walking around downtown, and this weird portal thing is just in the middle of the sidewalk. No one seems to notice oddly enough. Have any clue what's going on?" Thankfully for him, Raven may dislike him, but she was fully aware that he had rescued her from Adonis. That meant that she, albeit begrudgingly, trusted him to some point.
"…I'll be there in a moment." The communicator shut off and a black portal in stark comparison to the white rift appeared, and his blue-cloaked teammate hovered through it. "That's strange, I've never heard of something like this…" As she approached the phenomenon Beast Boy's instincts screamed at him to… do something.
What exactly he was supposed to do was answered when Raven seemed gripped by a singularity, and it began tugging her towards it. Reacting instantly, Beast Boy leaped to Raven's side, where he immediately felt the gravity pulling him as well. Focusing his strength, the changeling wrapped his arms around the empath and flung her backwards, away from the suction of the strange rift.
As he got closer to the tear, he heard voices speaking in a strange language. Before he could think much on this, he was pulled towards it, his vision whiting out as he felt himself hurtling somewhere at high speeds…
Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, otherwise known as Louise the Zero to her less than kind classmates, was regretting her decision from when Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst, one of her main antagonists, confronted her after an explosion caused by attempted transmutation caused the classroom to have a hole blown in it.
She had challenged the foreign girl when it came to Familiar Day, the day when second years such as both herself and Kirche gain a familiar, a creature that would be with them forevermore. Like many of the other familiars, Kirche's fire-spewing salamander was indeed impressive, so Louise the Zero, intent on not losing to her 'rival', focused every bit of magic she could into this spell, actually using an incantation that not even Colbert-sensei, the teacher in charge of this lesson, could comprehend.
A rift of white had opened in the air, and it remained for several long moments before a low whistling was heard, although it was gaining speed, meaning something was moving in their direction, and fast too. The familiar's tensed, making everyone else nervous. If it intimidated such powerful creatures, what good would they be?
Out of the rift flew a strange shape of purple and green in a blur, which was launched nearly across the courtyard before crashing into the ground. When the smoke cleared, everyone was surprised by what they saw.
The object turned out to be a person with green skin and hair, pointed ears, a fang, and was wearing what looked like a purple and black jumpsuit. When he, at least it looked like a he, opened his eyes, everyone noticed they were green as well, he seemed surprised, looking around curiously before muttering in a strange language they couldn't understand.
"Look at that, Louise the Zero's familiar isn't even a normal peasant!" One student laughed, pointing out the peculiar color of the elf-like human who had been tossed through the portal.
"Colbert-sensei, there must be some mistake. There's no way that peasant is my familiar." With the way peasant was spat out, even the green human could tell he was being insulted despite the lack of ability to understand. He sent her a dirty look with his emerald eyes hardened before she upturned her nose and turned to the bald teacher.
"Sorry Ms. Valliere, but that just wouldn't do. That would be sacrilegious to the ritual. Now please, finish the bonding" Louise sighed before walking closer to the elf, who was still taking in the view of the magical institute, which made the pinkette scoff. The school wasn't even all that impressive compared to some of the other castles scattered around the country. She kneeled next to him and groaned.
"You should be honored peasant. I would never do this if I had the choice." He sent another dirty look her way, obviously able to tell when he was being insulted.
"My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere. Pentagon that governs the Five powers, bless this individual and make them my familiar spirit." With the incantation spoken, Louise leaned in and kissed the green teen, much to his chagrin and he had a shocked look on his face.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. But as soon as everyone thought that Louise had screwed up a spell yet again, steam began emanating from the green stranger. He screamed in pain as runes engraved themselves on his hands, glowing through his silver gloves, one obviously the markings for 'Beast', but the other was unknown to all but Colbert-sensei, who gasped in recognition. Once the runes seemed to solidify he passed out, still in a load of pain.
When Beast Boy woke up, he smelt a barn nearby and could feel needles poking into his back. Recalling his peculiar encounter with a portal and a pinkette who for the life of him he couldn't understand (Despite his ability to fluently speak English, French, Spanish, and Swahili), the Titan gripped his head.
"That's one strange dream…" The changeling murmured out loud before looking around. He was in a very fancy bedroom, with a candle set on a bedside table oddly enough. "Alright, what gives? Cy, did you get Rae to mess with my dreams again?" He asked, recalling the last time his dreams had been manipulated by the empath with a shudder. That had not been fun.
He sat up, only to find he had been lying on hay. At least that explained why he smelt a barn, but the question now was why when there was a bed literally right next to the pile of hay.
"This is either an extremely elaborate prank, I'm on one of those crazy television shows, or I'm royally screwed." He wondered aloud before deciding on the last option when the girl who had cast some sort of spell on him (and kissed him, but that went without saying) walked into the room. She looked at him for a moment before moving towards the wardrobe.
"What? Have nothing to say for yourself?" He asked, hoping to get a reaction. Instead, all he got was a sigh before he realized they couldn't understand each other. "How could I forget that detail? No wonder Rae calls me an idiot…" He trailed off when he realized that the pink haired/eyed girl had thrown her clothes at him, having changed into a nightgown while he was thinking. "What am I supposed to do with these?" He asked, making the girl sigh and hold up what looked like a wand. She incanted in the language he couldn't identify before pointing the wand at him. Before he could react, an explosion of smoke filled the room.
"Damn, I can't even do a simple Silencing Spell without an explosion. I can only hope it worked." A female voice cursed as the smokescreen cleared, and Beast Boy realized it was the girl.
"I'm gonna guess your little spell worked differently then what you expected?" He asked cheekily, making her jump in surprise.
"I guess this works better; especially since you can now understand my orders. To repeat what I said before, make sure to wash my clothes." Where a mischievous light had once been in the changeling's eyes, it was replaced with a harsh glare.
"Well, excuuuuuse me princess, but I'm not a servant." He still managed a quip despite the bubbling rage he was feeling. This reminded him way too much about the Soto incident.
Soto had been a giant grey alien that had went looking for his green and talking dog, the very same day that Beast Boy had spent much of as a dog that looked excruciatingly similar. Unfortunately, the changeling was the one captured by the alien, and he was forced into a collar and to change his shape to entertain his captor. The actual dog on the other hand ran rampant, tackling Raven and making everyone think that Beast Boy had totally lost it. The problem was sorted out soon enough, but since then the changeling had despised his treatment from the citizens even more.
"Of course you are. And I'm not a princess, just a noble. But it's not like I expect your peasant mind to comprehend that. Now, laundry." She demanded, ignoring the growling and grinding sounds coming from the green Titan.
"Hell no." He stated eloquently before chucking the clothes back at her and leaping out the window. He landed safely by rolling before he began to sprint, putting an exceptional distance between himself and the pinkette that had attempted to force him into servitude.
He continued at this breakneck pace for a long while before he ended up crashing into someone. Looking up he saw a basket of clothes falling. Acting instinctively (He freaking loved those things sometimes) he leaped up and caught the basket, readjusting himself underneath each article of clothing before it could hit the ground. Looking back to where he crashed, the Titan saw a maid standing back up.
"So, you're the one I knocked over. Sorry about that miss." He apologized, his rage having calmed soon after he escaped from the mage.
"It's alright, that happens…!" The maid made a squeaking noise in her throat when she looked up and realized that he was green.
"Yes, I'm green. No, I won't eat you." He sighed, preparing for her to scream or otherwise do something that would show she thought he was a freak. Instead, she bowed to him in apology.
"I'm sorry; I just wasn't expecting to see an Elf, a green one, no less." She seemed to think of him as a regular person, something he was immensely thankful for.
"Uh, no problem. I'm not an elf though." She pointed to his tapered ears, which made him chuckle.
"Yeah, I know. It's a long story and I don't want to bore you with the details." He noticed how her eyes gained a distinct sparkle when he mentioned 'story' and he knew he would be forced to explain now.
"I love stories!" Somehow this maid reminded him of Happy the Emoticlone from Raven's head, combined with Starfire.
"I guess I could tell you while I help with this laundry, I did crash into you after all. The name's Garfield, but everyone calls me Beast Boy." She tilted her head sideways, and the changeling thanked whatever spirits existed that the tubby orange cat that shared his name was unheard of here.
"I'm Siesta, and I'd be glad to have the help." She grinned and Beast Boy decided that maybe this place wouldn't be so bad.
"Get back here!" A familiar voice made the Titan realize that he may have spoken too soon. "You are my familiar, and I demand you obey me!" She shouted, making Siesta leap almost a foot in the air.
"Oh, Louise-sama!" The maid curtsied as a showing of respect towards the pinkette, but the only part of this the changeling cared about was that he finally knew the girl's name.
"You should address me as Valliere, peasant." This made Beast Boy clench his clawed hand, and this only worsened when Louise continued. "Now leave us, I have things to discuss with my familiar.
"Excuse me, Louise was it? I don't take orders from you. I'm not even from here, but I do know you should be nicer to Siesta here." This caused a grin to form on the maid and a glare to emanate from the mage.
"You have to listen to me, I summoned you after all." This statement caused Beast Boy to gnash his teeth together in rage before he calmed enough to speak.
"You may have summoned me, but that doesn't mean you have the right to order me around! Plus, I may not look it, but I am human." He stressed before Siesta cleared her throat.
"Well, I need to wash these. I guess you'll have to tell me that story some other time Garfield, see you!" She took the basket of laundry from the changeling and wandered off, whistling an odd tune under her breathe that Beast Boy could just barely detect even with his enhanced hearing.
"So, what do these runes you carved onto my skin mean anyway?" He asked, removing his gloves. Much to his surprise, the only one that remained was the one on his right hand.
"That one means Beast, and I don't know what happened to the other one." Louise seemed at least partially civil now, which made the changeling relieved since he wasn't really planning on proving the irony of the marking on his hand.
"That's pleasant. Now, where is this place anyway?" He asked, making a tic mark appear on the pinkette's forehead for seemingly no reason.
"Don't talk to me in such a familiar way!" She shouted before smacking him over the head, reminding him of the time when the Titans had visited Tokyo. This was pretty much exactly the same way Raven had treated him during that entire mission, even though he hadn't even acted that stupid all things considered.
Of course, later on he was thrown out a window when he teased the empath about being jealous when he was tackled by a veritable army of fangirls, so he pretty much gave up on understanding his mysterious teammate.
"Alright, fine. I guess I'm stuck here since you're the one who summoned me and you can't seem to cast many spells." This made a second tic mark appear as Louise huffed.
"I am the third daughter of the Valliere, an esteemed family of nobles that will not be mocked by a simple peasant, especially a green one." The snobbish tone combined with the mention of green caused a tic mark to appear on the changeling's head.
"Oh, so you have to mention the green. Why is that? You have pink hair and eyes, why can't I have green skin, hair, and eyes?" Unable to come up with an argument, the pinkette wrapped something around his neck. "That had better not be a collar." He deadpanned in a nearly pitch perfect imitation of his empathetic teammate.
"It is. You need to learn to obey." She began trying to drag him; she had actually put a leash on him as well. "Come on, don't you even feel the compulsion to obey?" Admittedly that was there slightly, but it was easily pushed down since he had spent nearly ten years withholding far stronger instincts.
"I would, but… no." This made Louise growl and seem to gain enough strength to move him. He entertained the notion of shifting into an elephant and possibly scaring the crap out of his 'master' (Just thinking the word made him sick), but decided against it, feeling that she already treated him like an animal, and she probably would feel more need to if he proved he was at least part animal. Hell, she'd probably treat him like this even if he had normal skin color and black hair and eyes.
She sighed before dragging him back into the castle, through the halls, and back up the tower where her room was. They passed several students from the summoning looking at them strangely all the way there.
"Training starts after my lessons tomorrow. Until then, sleep." She tied him to her bed post and gestured to the haystack before getting in the bed, obviously through trying to order him around for one night.
The changeling leaned back and tried to get comfortable on the pile of pointed grasses and grimaced.
"Now I know why animals look so angry when they sleep on this crap." He quipped before turning himself into a possum and forcing himself into a comatose state, which caused him to revert back to an elfin form.
Titan's Tower:
"So you're one-hundred percent certain you didn't throw BB into another dimension?" Cyborg asked for what must've been the thousandth time since Raven had returned with the news.
It's not like it was an unfounded idea, especially since the dimension-hopping half-demon had threatened to do that very thing to the changeling countless times in the past.
"Positive. This portal wasn't made by my magic, or anyone I'm aware of for that matter. It must've been opened from the other end." Now Cyborg sighed at the empath's deadpan.
"Alright, so creating the portal is out. But you still may have thrown him through it." Raven's eyes flashed red for a moment before returning to their original purple.
"Beast Boy saved me from being pulled through. Will you stop with this interrogation so that I can try to find him?" She asked, a growl obvious in the undertones of her voice.
"Calm down Raven. Rob wanted me to do an investigation regarding the string bean's disappearance, you know how he is. I should be able to let you do your thing now, so go ahead." The mechanical Titan allowed the empath to pass before sighing.
Beast Boy had vanished without a trace, and the only thing they knew was that it was magic that Raven wasn't familiar with. And with the half-demon being the resident expert on all things arcane, this didn't bode well for any of the Titans.
"Well? Did you find anything Cyborg?" The Boy Wonder asked, raising his mask in an expression of questioning.
"Raven says it wasn't her, and I believe it. I wish I knew what was going on, but I'm better with science then I am with magic." He responded, obviously irritated at his uselessness in this event.
"This is just great! We're a team member down and any day now something's gonna go wrong, be it the return of the Brotherhood of Evil or Slade reappearing." This made the cybernetic Titan sweatdrop.
Robin didn't seem to care that Beast Boy was missing; just that they were down a teammate, meaning enemies would try to take advantage of that.
"I should probably ask around and see if any of the Honorary Titans would want to help us out until we figure things out." Robin muttered out loud, pulling up a file full of the Honorary Titans that they had met before.
This irritated Cyborg, since his best friend was missing and the only one attempting to do anything was Raven, and she despised the changeling! He shook his head and decided to finish those prototypes Robin asked for, knowing he wouldn't be much use to Raven other than being a distraction.
Tristein Academy:
Beast Boy sighed and cracked his back, still sore from sleeping on a pile of hay all night. He had been ordered awake by Louise, who dragged him out of the room and down to the mess hall, where they were now. He went to sit down, only to be smacked on the arm.
"What is it, do you expect me to eat on the…" He trailed off when he realized the pinkette was pointing towards the floor, where there were plates for the familiars. "You've gotta be kidding…" He groaned before hunkering down and chewing on the stale piece of bread he was given. While thankfully this was vegan-friendly, the changeling realized he may have to eat meat sometime in the near future if he wanted to survive, which made him shudder.
"You must learn to behave. Your first lesson will be after mine." She explained in a tone that would warrant bowing and scraping, if you weren't Beast Boy of course.
"Do I at least get some way to entertain myself?" He asked, knowing she wouldn't bring him into the classroom if her life depended on it. Instead of responding, she gestured to a courtyard that was nearby.
"The other familiar's will await their masters there. Naturally, you will join them, although I am certain they will have conversations far too sophisticated for you to match." Laughs were heard all over the mess hall as Louise insulted her familiar.
"Very funny, but you seem to forget that a familiar is a reflection of their summoner." If the pinkette had gained laughter, then Beast Boy earned an uproar of hysteria.
"How did you know that? I never told you!" Louise sputtered, embarrassed at being one-upped by someone she considered a servant.
"Did you think that the idea of familiars was singularly in your universe?" He asked, making the pinkette recall that her familiar had appeared through a rift, unlike the other familiars that had been summoned through a haze of smoke.
She was speechless and marched away in a huff, enraged at having lost a battle of wits with the elfin teen.
"Well, that was amusing, although I think I may have gone a bit overboard insulting myself to counter her." He groaned before he turned around because of a cleared throat, revealing a blonde haired man who seemed to take a bit too much pride in his appearance.
"Is it really that hard to listen to Louise? Certainly there are better masters out there, but many peasants would be honored to be a familiar." He said in a snobbish tone that made Beast Boy subconsciously clench his fists.
"Sorry Goldilocks, but I'm not too fond of taking orders." He quipped, earning a glare from said blonde and chuckles from everyone else in the room.
"You peasant! I am Guiche de Gramont!" He shouted, making him raise a forest-colored eyebrow.
"And I'm supposed to care?" Now dramatic gasps, as well as some sighs were heard as Guiche made an odd pose.
"I am the heartthrob of second year! I am Guiche the Bronze, and you will respect me." The blonde came closer, and the changeling caught a few lingering scents, which made him smirk.
"From the lingering scents on you, I'd say you shouldn't be respected at all. Let's see, all of them seem female…" This caused Guiche to sweatdrop and all the remaining females to glare at him evilly.
"I have no idea what the peasant's talking about. You'd take his word over mine?" After the terrified question a unanimous answer caused the blonde to flee in fear.
"Yes." As the females gave chase after the blonde, Beast Boy grinned. This soon became full blown laughter as he thought maybe, just maybe, this place wouldn't be so bad.
Well, here's the first chapter of Changeling of Zero, I hope you enjoyed!