A/N: Finally got chapter 3 of this done. School is officially out for the summer. Yayness! Hopefully I can get this wrapped up pretty quickly. ^_^ Thanks for the reviews and faves. In case you can't tell, this is the extended episode version of when Starfire and Raven get switched, courtesy of the Puppet King. It will have a RobxRae slant and if you've read my extended episode of Nevermore, then you know what's coming up. Also, if you like my style of writing and RobinxRaven, check out my other stories-new ficlets for The Robin and The Raven will be out tomorrow, I think. Now, onto the fic-Enjoy the read!
Disclaimer: It's CHAPTER THREE!
Cyborg: W-what?
Me: I finally got Chapter three done.
Cyborg: What's that got to do with the disclaimer?
Me: Nothing?
Cyborg: Hey!
Me: Fine, fine, I don't own any Teen Titans anything-happy? Hey, wait...are you sleeping?
By the time she had calmed herself enough to think of sleep, more time had passed than the purple-haired empath had expected. With a muffled groan, she shrugged out of her cloak, tugged off her shoes and began the usual set of stretches and poses to relax her body enough for the physical aspect of sleep.
It was easier to sleep when relaxation took over rather than exhaustion, it was more settling anyhow, because exhaustion always carried the faint stigma that something could go wrong—and she'd be unable to pull herself together in time to offer aid. Rolling her neck, then her shoulders and lastly her feet, in the careful practiced rolls of a dancer loosening their muscles after a good workout.
She crossed the room to take a hairbrush from the dresser and standing before the horned vanity mirror in the corner, she methodically pulled the brush through her short hair, counting until she reached twenty-five strokes. The bedtime routine was calming in its own way and Raven soon allowed the first yawn to slip through her lips.
With a weary glance cast back at her bedroom door, she climbed onto the bed and tugged the sheets up to her chin. The uneasy feeling had only stilled, it hadn't gone away at all. The very fact that it remained was enough for her to stay awake, but she couldn't actually do something about it without dragging herself up and out of bed again.
That thought was enough for her to stay in bed and think of sleep again.
But her eyes stubbornly remained open and the empath was forced to seek a different path of distraction. She turned her face into the pillow, seeking the darkness there and reaching out, mentally, for an alternative distraction that she hadn't touched in some time.
Robin was fast asleep.
She could feel his slumber through the thin, invisible threads she'd knit betwixt them. He was sleeping, lightly, but sleeping nonetheless. That was good. Tugging lightly on the corners of the fabric of her mind, she began to sift through the trickles of his consciousness that filtered through.
It was a habit she'd somehow managed to cultivate in the midst of everything they'd been through lately. Now, she could see fragments of the dream he was currently having. It was like an old movie on a slow replay, just enough for her to understand what was happening and just slow enough that she could dissect the nature, the trigger and whether it was a dream or a nightmare.
It was definitely a dream.
The effort was a little more than she'd expected and Raven felt hints of his drowsiness slowly slipping into her. It was a bit of a welcome nudge, because now, knowing that he was sleeping and dreaming—not nightmaring—she could close her eyes with one less headache on her mind.
And so she did.
In the midst of the kitchen table, the crate cracked open. Slashes of light sliced down to reveal the crowned figure emerging from the wooden prison, a single wooden hand, clutching at strands of straw. The precise angle of the light only served to add a predatory gleam to the ominous puppet as it clambered from the crate and fell to the tabletop.
The Puppet King smirked, sliding down the table and starting towards the door.
It would be a matter of minutes before he had those pesky Teen Titans right where he wanted them. A delicious shiver ran through his wooden body and he quickened his skipping step.
This would be a fun night indeed.
Starfire shifted restlessly in her sleep, the tossing and turning doing little to alter her sleeping position, thanks to the fact that her bed was circular and squirming about didn't disorient her at all. Bright pink sheets and blankets tangled adorably with her long arms and legs, her feet on her pillow, her head hanging off the opposite edge of the bed.
On a chair in a corner, her puppet self hung limply.
Her hands clenched, briefly fisting in the coral pink sheets before the troublesome dream seemed to ease into something more pleasant and her body relaxed, her breathing evened by the subconscious decision.
A faint noise hinted to the opening of the bedroom door and a blocky shadow reflected against the bedroom wall. It disappeared, reappearing in another sliver of light in the room as the same, creepy silhouette. It was barely noticeable at all, but it was something.
Starfire jerked upright as the bedroom door slid shut. An undignified squeak crept through her lips and she swallowed hard, moving cautiously to untangle herself from the sheets. "Hello?" Her voice trembled, faintly. "Who is there?"
Sliding out from the bed, she hugged her arms to herself, more for comfort than necessity as she glanced downwards for a pair of bedroom slippers, forgoing them in favor of hovering lightly above the ground. Something was wrong. She'd felt it—for sure.
The feelings of uneasiness burrowed deeper into her mind and the alien princess finally surrendered the inner battle to stick her head outside the bedroom door and into the hallway. It was empty.
Another shiver ran through her.
That wasn't good at all.
Chaos reigned freely in Beast Boy's bedroom, a computer game flashing an end game screen, illuminating the messy quarters. There were several unmade sheets and armfuls of dirty clothes spilling out from the lower half of the bunk bed set against the wall. The floor was appropriately cluttered to match the rest of the room and the odd light from the computer screen painted an eerie glow on the interior.
A sleeping silhouette was visible on the top bunk, a mumbling voice announcing that the figure was indeed none other than Beast Boy himself, as if the junk and random clutter had not given it away entirely. He was talking in his sleep and half-way draped over the edge of the bed.
"Yeah…iz alright…Ladies...please...yeah…that's…good." Cradling a dirty sock closer to his sleeping face, Beast Boy snuggled deeper into the tangled covers. "One at a time. You'll all get to take your picture with me…I promise…" Soft kissy noises filled the room as he cradled the sock closer.
He almost kissed the dirty sock.
Almost.
On the edge of the top bunk headboard, his puppet hung, limply.
The bedroom door had already opened and closed to admit the Puppet King and the wooden figure now climbed up to the bunk, holding out a white, wooden crosspiece, just like those used to manipulate marionettes. The only difference was the lack of strings and a glowing green spot beginning to flare to life on one of the six wooden arms.
For a brief moment, Beast Boy was enveloped in the same green glow.
He twitched, then shuddered in his sleep, his body growing lax as a ghostly image—identical to the titan—slid out from the physical body and entered the puppet.
The soft sound of his breathing filled the room.
Starfire's bedroom door slid open and she stepped out, hesitant, cautious, the earlier surge of courage fading way as she crept out into the hallway, forgetting to float to mask her footsteps. Her gaze swept up and down the hallway, a faint shiver running through her body again.
Something definitely wasn't right.
Robin…I wish you were up…Robin…Beast Boy…Cyborg…even Raven…
Starfire inched further out into the hallway, wearily casting her gaze up and down the hallway's length again. "Hello? Hello, is there to be anyone there? Hello?"
The Puppet King's shadow crossed at the far end of the hallway.
The door to Cyborg's bedroom slid open.
He lay on the large, inclined metal slab at the center of his room, fast asleep. One hand held a control to his chest, the other lay at his side, the rest of him unmoving. The room was neat and sterile, with nothing out of place, save for the organized tangle of cords running about the floor.
The Puppet King's hand reached over the lowest point of the table, holding up the white crosspiece. A faint, cerulean blue glow began to flicker to life on one of the white wooden arms and a glow of the same shade enveloped the big titan.
Cyborg jerked awake with a sharp gasp, his eye flickering open, but the warning seemingly too late as his head lolled to the side while a ghostly imitation of himself retracted from his physical body, diving into the puppet version of himself just within reach.
The little red eye lit up.
"Is there someone there?" Starfire whispered, straightening as she crept out from around the corner, still looking over her shoulder. The sound of feet somewhere jerked her back to the present, but she didn't see anything.
"Hello? This is not funny at all, friends." She said, indignant, the tiny surge of anger giving her some inkling of courage to continue investigating in the shadowy tower. Another wave of unease washed over her. She really didn't like this at all.
The Puppet King hurried up the steps just out of the sight of the nervous, but curious alien princess. He scowled, angling towards the room on the next floor. It took mere seconds before he stood before the titan leader, Robin, in all his wondrous sleeping glory.
A flicker of red energy glowed on the crosspiece before a ghostly representation of the boy wonder lifted from his physical body and shot into the tiny, puppet replica sitting on the bookshelf between a few thick volumes.
The Puppet King smirked. Three down, two to go. This was turning out to be much easier than he'd expected. Perhaps it was good that the redhead was following him, it meant that he wouldn't have to worry about going back through the halls to get ahold of her.
That was good.
A creepy chuckle echoed through the darkness, filling the darkened hallway.
Starfire stopped, going unnaturally still as the sound swirled through her ears and through her senses. She did not like that. Oh, no, she did not like that at all. Her hands clenched into fists and she turned to face the direction the sound was coming from. "If this is a joke, it is not very funny and I do not-"
The sound of a nearby door sliding open made her whirl with alien speed to see who it was.
A scream of sheer terror left her lips as she found herself staring face to face at Raven, who was now standing in her bedroom doorway, her blue-purple hair having swirled up into a strangely bird-like shape while the Empath had copied her expressive scream of surprise—albeit a bit more muted.
Almost at once, an awkward silence settled in as both girls took the instant to catch their breath, mainly for Starfire to breathe normally and Raven to settle her trademark glare into place.
The redhead ducked her head lightly in apology, unable to do much more as her mouth began to move of it's own accord. "Raven! You have also heard the strange noises?"
Raven's glare seemed to darken several degrees more. "The strange noises of you talking outside my door? Hard to miss." She rolled her shoulders forward. "It is nighttime, Starfire. People are supposed to be sleeping. You should be sleeping. I should be sleeping." She stifled a moan, on hand reaching up to rub her forehead, massaging carefully around the gem in the center.
Starfire blushed a dusky pink, her expression contrite. "Oh. I am so very sorry. Forgive me, I thought there was someone who-"
Raven rubbed her forehead, willing the stressful tendrils snaking through her body to calm and return to where they'd come from. She hadn't wanted to leave her restless sleep for something as trivial as Starfire having a bad dream over some strange noise that probably had more to do with a runaway toy from Beast Boy's bedroom or Cyborg forgetting to turn down the volume on something.
The circles she traced on her forehead did little to distract her from the growing unease in her stomach as she realized that the alien princess standing before her was more than startled—in fact, she would almost wager that it bordered on genuine fright, though at the moment, an intense look of guilt seemed to have overtaken the girl's expressive features as she blushed profusely.
The empath swallowed back another retort on the tip of her tongue. She hadn't really been sleeping that much or that well anyway and it wasn't worth it to ream the other girl out when it meant a depressed redhead for the entire day—and accusing looks from the rest of her teammates as to what she'd said to bring the doom and gloom about.
She certainly didn't do it on purpose.
It had been enough of a surprise to find Starfire standing outside of her bedroom that she didn't have the usual comeback ready to burst from her mouth. She'd been expecting something worse—something more sinister, not a half-awake redhead thinking that she was hearing things.
Starfire had probably been sleep walking.
Raven pressed her lips tightly together. She occasionally dabbled in Robin's dreams, once in awhile in Cyborg's and most certainly never in Beast Boy's. Starfire's dreams were a whole different story, Raven chose to avoid them like the plague, the sickening sweetness from within could give her a toothache. Granted, she didn't pry where it wasn't necessary, but it was something she could do for her fellow teammates—something that made her feel useful.
She sighed aloud. Her thoughts were running away with her again. She was far more out of it than she'd thought she was. It was simply too much going on and not enough time to sort it all out. The grumpiness was returning and some corners of logical reasoning in her mind clicked into the appropriate places, allowing her to walk through a mental plan of action.
This would all be best if she could convince the girl to return to her room and attempt to salvage whatever could come from the remaining hours of nightfall. She'd just decided on what she was about to say when a sudden blast of blueness sliced through the air, effectively interrupting Starfire's apology and capturing the attention of both female titans. Cybrog's sonic cannon barely missed the duo as both young women turned towards the source, only to see the three male titans charging down the hallway.
Robin leapt upwards into a spinning drop-kick that Raven knew all-too well. Beast Boy followed suit in the offensive, morphing into a thundering, full-fledge T-Rex, bearing down the hallway with a throaty roar.
Drat. Raven thought, dismally. That can't be good.
Robin's boot nearly clipped Starfire's head as Beast Boy attempted to bite Raven in half. The empath growled, throwing out a handful of black-white energy barriers to slow the young titan down.
There was something off about them. Her mind puzzled, dully. Think, think, think, hurry!
Another growl threatened to leave her throat and Raven gritted her teeth, bolstering the barrier. "Beast Boy, it's me! Don't make me hurt you!"
The green changeling's reply was to shatter the shield and snap rudely at her with his giant, prehistoric predator jaws. His glowing red eyes didn't even blink to register that he'd heard the girl speak in the first place.
Starfire streaked to the air, skimming over Robin's head as he produced three discs, flinging them up into the air behind her. The redhead shot two of them down, unprepared when the third one exploded in full force, flinging her downward with the blast. She fell into Cyborg's waiting arms, both of his eyes sharing the same red glow.
T-Rex Beast Boy sent Raven flying with a swing of his dinosaur tail, a tag-team effort where he knocked her down the hallway and Cyborg caught her with his free arm, tucking her into his side as he'd done with Starfire.
Raven squirmed, trying to ignore the throbbing pain that was now racing through her entire body. Yes, she was definitely off in more ways than one, but this entire episode was just bizarre and she didn't even know where to stare with it.
"Let…me…go!" She thrashed about, struggling against a metal grip that she knew all too well.
Starfire struggled briefly, but confusion has painted her face and she pleaded with the titans instead as Robin and Beast Boy approached, the green boy morphing back into his human form. "Friends! Why do you attack us? I wish to know what is-"
From the corner of the hallway shadow, the Puppet King stepped forward, smirking broadly in the faint light. "Oh. They're not your friends anymore…" He laughed, the eerie sound echoing through the hallway.
Starfire gaped at him, openly.
Raven gave one last twist in Cyborg's arm and then let her body go limp. There was precious little she could do with brute strength, meaning that her next best option was somewhere in the maze of her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, ignoring the little figure beginning to gloat before them. She needed a plan and fast.
~*~*~*~*Thanks for reading!~*~*~*~ Sorry about the "scene jumping" bits, but that was the easiest way to get through this piece and split the POV's between Starfire and Raven.