"I'm leaving Raven in charge while Star and I are gone." Robin said, handing the purple haired empathy a silver. For Starfire's 19th birthday, Robin had booked a trip to Europe, a place Starfire always wanted to go. Raven grasped the key in her hand and looked around. There was a family laughing and smiling with each other, right in front of the gate. That's what Raven desperately wanted. She wanted to be normal. She didn't want to be the gray skinned, purple haired freak whose emotions destroyed anything in her path. She cringed and looked on. Seeing as it was nearing Christmas, the airport was packed. In fact, this would be the very first Christmas that Robin and Starfire weren't spending with Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg.
"Wait, how come Raven gets to be in charge?" Beast Boy said. His dark green eyebrows were arched and he looked robin dead in the eye. He had grown over the course of the 3 years. A lot. He now towered over Raven and matched Robin's height. He had developed bigger muscles, his fangs had grown longer and his hair turned an even darker shade of green.
Making him all the more handsome!
How many times have I told you to stay out of my mind, Affection?
Countless times. But what can I say? I like being front and center!
Raven rolled her eyes at her own emotion and sighed. The last 3 years had been an emotional roller coaster for her; She found that controlling her emotions was becoming more and more of a challenge as she spent more time near Beast Boy. Raven had resorted to isolating herself in her room and meditating for hours, puzzling the rest of the Titans for years. Not to mention her emotions now basically had a life of their own. Affection came out whenever Beast Boy was around and Sadness managed to come out when he wasn't, making Raven an unstable powerhouse. She had already destroyed the windows in her bedroom six times and the appliances in the kitchen once. Cyborg was still mad at her for that one.
"Because Raven doesn't get upset and act like a little baby when she isn't chosen to be in charge." Robin snarled condescendingly. Beast Boy narrowed his eyes and retreated next to Cyborg. Starfire, oblivious to anything negative, smiled widely at the Titans. Her red hair was tied in a loose pony tail and she was wearing a giant floppy hat. Instead of her usual purple outfit, she was wearing a floral skirt and a white blouse with flip flops. She also had a brown suitcase in her hand along with the Hotel's pamphlet.
"Farewell friends!" Starfire said, as the plane they were on was announced. Raven waved goodbye and stared at the happy couple until they were just a speck. She turned back around to the remaining Titans, Cyborg and Beast Boy. Seeing as he was half robot, Cyborg hadn't aged much. He looked exactly the same as three years ago. The three of them were an odd trio, gaining questioning stares as they watched their friends board their plane. Raven sighed and looked at the crowd that was gathering around them.
"Titans…Go." She said in her monotone voice. Beast Boy and Cyborg shrugged as Raven disappeared into a pool of darkness.
(Later at The Tower)
Raven sat on the couch, a large leather bound book in her hands. As usual, Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing video games in front of the huge Television screen. Things had been strangely quiet since Starfire and Robin left and she felt uneasy about it. She was reading a book from her home dimension, Azarath. She figured the best way to deal with her out of control powers was to learn more about them. So far she had learned basically nothing. Nothing that she hadn't already known, at least. The book was about as helpful as one of Beast Boy's jokes.
"Raaaaaven!" Beast Boy whined. Speak of the devil. Raven rolled her eyes and set the book down on the seat next to her. Somehow Cyborg and Beast Boy already shut down the game and were at her feet.
"We're hungry!" Cyborg complained.
"So? Make yourselves something to eat!" Raven said, shaking Beast Boy from her leg.
"There's nothing in the 'fridge!" The green changeling complained. He morphed into a kitten and stared at Raven with huge innocent eyes.
"Fine." The empathy said stiffly. She floated to the refrigerator and levitated two bowls from the cabinet and a box of cereal. She pulled out a long past expired milk jug and set it all on the counter. She poured the stale cereal into the bowls and then the sour milk.
"Enjoy." She said coldly, setting off to her room.
"The…the milk is sour!" Cyborg said in a scared voice.
"ENJOY!" Raven screamed, making the light fixture above the kitchen table shatter into a million pieces. She groaned and disappeared to her room. Cyborg looked unhappily at the mess raven made and scowled, muttering something even Beast Boy couldn't catch underneath his breath. This was the second time this week alone that Raven had shattered the light fixture.
"That girl breaks everything!" Cyborg said angrily, scooping up pieces of broken glass. Beast Boy couldn't help but feel bad for both Raven and Cyborg. Cyborg always had to fix whatever she broke, but it's not like she had any control over that. He was torn between his best friend and the love of his life. Secretly, the love of his life, that is. Beast Boy had loved Raven for years; even when he was dating Terra he loved Raven. He loved everything from her purple hair to her sarcastic remarks.
"Dude, what if something's wrong with her?" Beast Boy said, sweeping up a broken piece of a light bulb. Cyborg threw the cereal in the garbage and sighed.
"Well whatever it is, she better fix it, because this breaking everything is getting out of hand." Cyborg replied. Beast Boy shrugged. He didn't know what was going on with Raven either, but he was about to find out.
(*….*)
Raven sat down on her bed, eyes closed and legs crossed. In front of her was her meditation mirror. She desperately needed to see what kind of chaos was going on in her head. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. In a split second, Raven was sucked into the mirror. She landed on the ground with a loud thud and groaned. She could hear loud voices, each interrupting each other. Raven turned around to see all of her emotions arguing with each other.
"Hey! What's going on!" Raven said, seriousness in her voice. All at once her emotions began to talk. Happy shoved her hand in Courage's face and Knowledge angrily snapped at Lazy.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Raven shouted. They immediately quieted down.
"Knowledge, what the hell is going on here?" Raven said, pushing past Sad, who was crying next to Shy.
"Well, Raven, it seems as if-" Knowledge was interrupted by Beast Boy's voice, sucking Raven back to the real world.
"Uh, Raven, can we talk?" Beast Boy said nervously.
Hooray! Beast Boy wants to talk to us!
Not to us. To me, Happy. To me.
Raven sighed and used her magic to slide her door open.
"What do you want?" she asked, in her usual monotone voice. She sat on her bed, a new book next to her, along with her meditation mirror.
"I, uh, well, we –Cyborg and me- wanted to know if you were okay?" Beast Boy stammered.
Did you hear that? He wants to know if we're okay!
Yes, Affection. Him and Cyborg. Because we shattered the light for the second time this week.
"I'm fine. Now go away." Raven said.
"But-" the door slammed in Beast Boy's face and he frowned. Something was up with her and he wasn't giving up till he found out what it was.