Chapter 3
The morning came as peaceful as ever to the T-tower. Birds were singing and all that. Robin was the first one up as usual. He woke with a start in the security room of the tower. He had fallen asleep watching the video-screens. He had stayed up to keep an eye on the new arrival. He noticed that there was a glass of mustard right next to his head. 'She thinks it will heal everything.' Robin thought with a sigh.
During the watching of his sleeping form, he had been thinking about him and his goal to be a Titan. He had been handing out those communicators like confetti. He did need to make possible enemies into allies. Or at least that's what Batman had taught him. He had a sneaking suspicion that he was just desperate to make friends. He did fit the qualifications of a Teen Titans: He was a teen for one, and second, he was a force to be reckoned with. He had beaten him with one punch. Almost killed him in fact.
There lied the problem: could he trust someone who could kill you if he happened to be in a bad mood? When he got to this point in his chain of thoughts, he reminded himself of Raven and the prophecy about her. And he reminded himself of Starfire and the situation the titans met her. She had been demolishing the city trying to get her restrains of her… and she had attacked him. Now Starfire was in the team and one of Robins best friends.
He didn't have anything against on recruiting him. He just did not want to do it. He stood up and started walking towards the roof to see the sunrise. He just loved… How did it get so cold in here?
He had just walked into the common room and felt the arctic chill in the room. 'It's him.' "Hey! Wake up!" He shouted to the prone body of the white haired boy. He thought he felt something brush past him, but he was so numb from the cold in the room that he ignored it.
"What is it, Colourful One?" Came the response behind the frozen couch. Robin tried to step closer, but his shoes had frozen themselves to the floor. "Did you do something to the AC, because it's like the Antarctica in here. Trust me. I've been there." Du'grel got up from the couch and rubbed his eyes. He looked around the room and seemed unfazed by the condition of the room. "Wait… I have to concentrate to do this..." Du'grel said while yawning widely. He stretched and streched his hands out. They started glowing in rosy red.
The frost slowly started to fade away him. Robin felt the air suddenly turn warmer and warmer around him. Soon after it was scorching hot. He started sweating and his throat dried up from the dryness of the air. Du'grel clenched his fists and the air was suddenly back to normal room tempeature. "Now, that's better. What was your business with me again?" He stood up and put on his coat. Robin noticed that some kind of runes flashed crimson inside it. 'So that controls his powers' He stretched again with conviction and eyed Robin with his unreadable eyes. Robin hatedthose eyes. He couldn't read them at all. He didn't even know if he was lying about his name.
"I… just came to watch the sunset." His cheeks flushed. 'That sounded so gay…'
"Can I come with? I've haven't seen a sunset on this planet yet. I'm curious about what all the fuzz is about." Robin was shocked. No remarks. No snide comments about his soft side. Even Raven would have said something. "Yeah. Sure."
He smiled "Cool. Race you there!" At that he shimmered away laughing. Robin shrugged and went into the kitchen to the kitchen to grab his coffee. When he got to the roof, sipping on his coffee, Du'grel was levitating in the air cross-legged with his coat whipping on one side. The position reminded him so much of Raven that he stopped at the door. "Oh, you made it. Now, tell me what's so good about a burning sphere too bright to look directly rising over the landscape to invade it with its light every single day? I mean, I just don't get it: You go blind if you look directly at it and if you stay under its rays too long you get burned. It seems to do more harm than good."
Robin was still processing his words when he said "That's an intresting point of view... I think that it's fascination is all in what it prepresents, not in what it is." The boy in black was silent for a while. "And what does it prepresent exactly?" Robin looked at Du'grel a little closer. He had heard something in his voice. He still couldn't read his eyes like a normal persons, but he did notice a flicker in their glow. It had to mean something. "It tells of a new beginning. A new day full of new possibilities. It says that today everything's possible."
Du'grel looked at the sun and the city glistening in its light for a short while. Then he settled down on his feet and turned to Robin. He leaned in and started speaking in a low voice. "I am Du'grel Desham. I have enough power to destroy this planet. That is a power I wish to control. I never asked for it. I never wanted it. I just got it.", His voice was only a mere whisper "I wish I could join the Titans to have help. Friends, a reason to control myself. I drain everything, warmth, emotion… life. Everything around me is reduced to nothing." He went silent and stared intently at Robins eyes. Not his mask, his eyes behind the mask. Somehow Robin knew that he was looking through it. Frost started forming on the ground beneath beneath him. He looked down in shock and jumped away from Robin. Air crystallized around him into a collection of shards that reflected light into prismns. They reflected light in every single colour of the spectrum. The suns first rays were magnified by the collection of prismns 'He's a show-off.' Robin thought. The light gathered around him and started twirling around him like a thick fog. Crystals formed and vaporized again when he moved. Ice formed on his footsteps. He released a feral growl and a tidal wave of white energy shot out of him. Robin felt a brush of energy on his skin. Du'grel sighed deeply and fell to his hands and knees, trembling. "That is why I need your help. I could have done something… final" He stood up shakily and straightened. "See you at breakfast." He shimmered away in his usual way.
Du'grels Point Of View
He shimmered back to existence in the kitchen. He had been very close to destroying this world up in the room. It was all because of the sun. His body reacts to foreign sources of energy by trying to devour it. His powers were trying to reach the sun. The scary thing is; it had happened before, many times before. He was the destroyer of worlds. A devourer.
'Why did they send ME here? I'm the biggest threat to this world. This coat is the only thing keeping my powers at bay.' He stood in the middle of the kitchen for a minute. He was thinking of what to do next. 'I could win Starfires trust and friendship by cooking tamanarian. I think she would be my friend anyways. She's such innocent sweetheart.' He smiled a gentle smile to the thought of Starfires cheery mindset.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out several items needed to make a true tamaranian feast. He didn't want to go and ask Starfire for them. That would spoil the surprise. He was trying to think of a tamaranian food that would not make the rest of the team physically ill. He pulled a blue furry looking vegetable from his coat and placed it on the table. He nodded to himself and started to peal the vegetable.
It tried to run away.
Back To Robin...
Robin walked back into the kitchen to see it in total chaos. He saw something with his eyes that his brain would not register as real. He shut his eyes. He opened his eyes. It was still there. His brain had to accept the sight as real. Du'grel was chasing something blue, small and fast around the room, cursing in some alien language. He was chasing the blue thing with a kitchen knife in one hand and was shooting energy blasts at it from the another.
"Heads up!" Du'grel shouted. Robin caught the blue, furry… something, flying at his head in pure reflex. It tried to squirm free of his grip. "What's going on in here?!" Robin said with the blue thing trying to cut him with whip like roots. "What is this?" Du'grel snatched the blue thing from his hand and calmly stated "Tamarian cooking." He drove the knife through the blue thing. It let out a high pitched voice and went limp. "I am sure that this is a vegetable. I never really had to go and pick them from the field, but this explains why the ones that did go were so exhausted from picking a dozen of these things."
Robins brain finally registered the first thing he had said. "You're cooking for Starfire? You actually want to eat Tamaranian food?" The other thing he had said also registered in his head. "A vegetable?" Du'grel was cutting the supposed vegetable to tiny bits. The knife was only a blur. "Yeah, actually for all of you." He noticed the look of shear terror on Robins face. "Don't worry. This will taste better than anything she had made you. The royalty of her planet have quite eccentric tastes. I learned this recipe from the common folk on her planet."
Robin didn't relax, but his terror filled face was flooded with curiosity. "You've been there? How? When?" Du'grel dropped the chopped up bits of the vegetable in to a stone pot (which he pulled out of his coat) "You know that shimmering thing I do? It actually has no distance limit to speak of. I'll ust have to know where I want to go and..." Du'grel gestured to the T-tower. "I'm there." Robin noticed that he was comfortable with him. To his surprise, so was he. "You like to help out? Starfire would really appreciate it."
Ravens Point Of View
Raven woke up earlier than usual. She was a empath and she was sensible to strong emotions. She woke up because she sensed frustration and defeat from Robins mind and glee from someone else's mind. This combination usually meant a tough battle where Robin was losing and Slade winning.
She shot up at first, but then the events from last night rolled in front of her eyes and she stopped and viewed the emotions a little deeper. robin was not as worked up as he usually was when in battle, and Du'grel was -
I thought I told you to stay out of my mind? Come in the kitchen. I got some herbal tea with your name on it.
She was shaken to the bone. How did he get in to my mind without me knowing it? This guy was full of surprises. He's a telepath, a shape-shifter and god knows what! She grabbed her cloak and spun it on her and teleported into the kitchen.
She saw Robin fighting a pink, spiky looking fruit with a kitchen knife. Du'grel was slowly mixing something green with something blue in a stone bowl and humming a hypnotizing tune in a low voice. Du'grel looked up and saw Raven standing in the middle of the kitchen slack jawed. "Ah, Raven, my dear friend. Would you like to help us cook the breakfast feast or would you like your tea to go?" Her face was a pure facade of shock. "Raven, what's wrong?" Robin asked after stabbing the pink fruit with a knife several times, before throwing it to Du'grel who chopped it up in mid-air and caught the pieces into the same stone bowl. He looked at Raven and saw the expression of slack-jawed awe on her face. "Yeah, Raven. Your face is looking quite strange at the present moment. Are you having problems digesting your meal from yesterday, or are you just wondering why are we stabbing brightly coloured fruits and vegetables?"
Raven felt like laughing, her lips quirked a little. She recovered quickly and simply said "I am wondering why are you stabbing brightly coloured fruits and why are they trying to run away if they are vegetables?" Robin and Du'grel looked at each other and said in unison "They're tamaranian vegetables." Ravens face cleared into its normal expression of utter boredom. Du'grel rushed over to a side-table and picked up the steaming cup of herbal tea. He handed it to Raven. Raven hesitated. He could have poisoned it for all she knew. She looked over to Robin. 'He was here so he could not have slipped something in there without him knowing.'
Raven hesitantly picked up the cup and nodded a small thank you. She was about to leave when a thought hit her. "What does your name mean? I mean translated into english." Du'grel stopped for a minute. Clearly thinking hard "My name means… Translated in to your language… It means nothing." "So its just a random name?" Du'grel sighed. "No. I meant to say it means 'nothing'" He stabbed a purple onion looking vegetable that he pulled out of his coat. "Are we done with the questions, m'lady?" The full force of his eyes slammed into her. She felt surrounded.
"I'm sorry for being in-considerate. I did not have a right to ask…" She averted her eyes from his. She had felt such bitter hate flooding out of him. What has to happen to someone for such hate to grow inside you? She didn't even want to imagine it. "Thank you for the tea." She said and walked through the door.
"I think you scared her..." Robin saidin amazement. Du'grel snapped out of his grim mental state and looked utterly frustrated. "Sorry. I just don't have a very pleasant history." He put the stone bowl on the stove with his back turned to Robin. "Should I apoligize?" Robin was still amazed but he answered "Yes, I think you should."
Du'grel was silent for a minute. He tapped his jaw with his fingers while in thought. Then he reached into his jacket and searched its pockets. "What's her favourite colour?" Robin was surprised as he noticed that he had a small pouch in his hand. "Why do you ask?" He was a bit wary of the mystery pouch. "I need to know to choose the right kind of seed." He dropped the contents of the pouch on the table.
They were seeds and they were the kind of black that seemed to suck all light around it. "Oh, seemingly I don't have to know. I thought I lost these. I presume that you don't know what these are?" Robin shook his head. "Well, they're propably from where I'm from, because they are the only other living being that can stand direct contact with my power… That I know of." He picked up one of the seeds and looked at it mournfully. "Only if I knew more…"
He walked over to the sink and filled a glass with boiling water (He made it boil with a small flash of light). He dropped the seed into the water. The water froze instantly and a sprout grew out of the ice. "Sweet!" Beast Boy was standing in the doorway eyes as big as saucers "You do magic!" Du'grel nodded slowly. "Can you teach me?! Pleaaaseee!"
Robin was about to apoligize about Beast Boy when Du'grel surprised both of them. "Sure, its not that hard really." Robins jaw dropped somewhere around his knees. Beast Boy was jumping out of his skin. His skin was trying to strangle him He was just screaming unintelligible words and running around. Du'grel threw a random object at Beast Boy. It happened to be Silkie.
The worm hit the green skinned boy with a thud. "What the hell is that?!" Du'grel screamed ready to throw a kitchen knife at Silkie. Robin was as shocked as Beast Boy "You're going to teach Beast Boy magic!" Du'grel didn't even listen. He was still worked up about Silkie. "Really, what is that? If it came out of the vegetables I would have noticed!" Robin paid attention to hs words after the Beast Boy dilemna."Oh, that's just Silkie. You really think he can handle macig without breaking it? I mean, he even broke Cyborg once." Beast Boys ears drooped and a little rain cloud formed above his head. Du'grel chuckled. "You have strange pets. I don't think he can break magic… It can break him though." He shimmered around the edges for a split-second and then melted into thin air.
Du'grel was kicking himself mentally. It was a new feeling to him. He never had had something in his life to fail. He had to use his eyes to get people to back off when his past came up. Discussing it further always led to bad things. Death and destruction. He never had to deal with any kind of relationships before. Life was a lot simpler back then. That aproach wouldn't work here. He sighed deeply. But he was honour-bound into doing this. So better get it done with.
He always knew where high-tensidy energy sources were. He had an eight sense for them. He senced her on an edge of the roof in the side that faced the city. He thought that if he let out that much energy, she wanted to be found. He shimmered outside and levitated over to Raven. She had her back turned to him. She hadn't noticed him yet. That was a thing he had noticed about the girl. She couldn't sense him and it was fun scaring her half to death. He levitated upwards, above her. Then he turned himself upside down and slowly levitated his face only inches away from hers.
She was also levitating in mid-air. Legs crossed and a cup of tea in her hands. She was sipping from it every couple of minutes. He waited her to notice him. He was just watching her drink her tea in a peaceful manner. She had her eyes closed. She had a small smile nudging at her lips constantly. She was clearly trying to fight it back.
After she had finished her tea, ten minutes later, he was getting awkward just watching her without her knowing it. He decided to make his presence known to her. "Raven…" Her eyes shot open and he was sent hurling down by a rogue piece of the roof. He flipped and lost control of the energies keeping him in the air. To him levitating was a lot harder than flying at mach 7.
'What did I do now? I scared her, but she didn't have to hit me that hard. Maybe its that I caught her smiling or something…' He was still a little disoriented because of the blow, so he didn't realize that he was about to fall hit solid rock. He passed the window of the ops-room wondering why was he flying downwards. Beast Boy jumped out of his skin again when he saw Du'grel falling past the window. He was running around again screaming unintelligible words. Silkie jumped up and knocked him out. Silkie thought that it was expected to do so.
Du'grel hit the ground with grushing force. 'She really packs a wallop' He groaned when he felt his body shatter from impact. He quickly distanced his soul-self from it to function better. He saw Raven touch down next to his body. She threw the piece of the roof that had knocked him into the sea before it hit his body. He tried to speak with his mouth, but he had to fall on his face, so that was impossible. Raven was reaching her hand to his body, probably to heal it.
No, don't touch it! Raven froze in place and a shiver ran down her spine. Sorry. I know it feels like ice is dripping down your spine, but… just don't touch it. She spun around to face his spirit. It was like a three-dimensional shadow of him. Only thing looking normal were his eyes, which were blazing brighter than ever before. His form was leaner and lizard-like in frame when he was in his spirit form. He really wanted to avoid interacting with people in this form. It always freaked them out.
"What are you? What is your business here, demon!" She stepped protectively in front of his body. He knew that his spirit form was growing into more and more less human with every passing second. He had to think fast. He did not want to be stuck like this. I need Starfire. Your powers are not the right kind. I need energy. He tried to keep the hiss out of his voice, but it was getting very hard
He saw realization spread across her face. She looked at the corpse on the ground. "Are you dead? Did I kill you? How come are you like that?" He groaned mentally. So many questions and he had to answer every one. No, I'm not dead yet and that iz... is only because my spirit iz not tied to my body. Now, go and get Starfire before I turn into a lizard-demon or something.
She already got up in the air and intented on flying to Starfires window and ask her to come down to him, hoping that no-one saw Du'grel fall. She did not get the chance to do this secretly. Beast Boy had seen the happenings and had presumed that the "lizard thingie" was responsible and alerted the others. They ran through the T-shaped door and gathered around Raven. Du'grels spiritual form was deformed into a lizard-like thing that grew in size by every passing second.
His eyes were looking into Ravens, pleading. Could you explain to them that I need Starfire to shoot at my body with all her might. Raven turned to Starfire as the spirit faded out of existence and Du'grels body started twitching and groaning. "Starfire, I need you to shoot Du'grels body with your starbolts." Starfire was shocked and her hands and eyes stopped glowing. "I do not wish to hurt him any further…" Du'grel amazed everyone by speaking in a gurgling voice. "Just do it Star… This is a very uncomfortable position for me"
AN: Starfire might have done it out of pure shock of hearing a body talk, but lets just keep the image of the nice naïve girl in our heads and shun away that thought as swiftly as possible. She did it only because Du'grel asked her nicely to do it, shall we.
Random suspicious voice: But why did she shout: "Die, filthy half-life! Die!" In tamaranian?
AN: ... On with the show!
Starfire fired a furry of starbolts at Du'grels prone body. Dust rose up to engulf the area where his body had been and a faint purplish glow started resonating from the center of the dust cloud. They saw a figure rising inside the cloud. It was somehow wrong looking as its hands were limp on his sides and flailing around as it steadied itself. "More, please…" Came the gurgling voice again.
The dust started to settle and the details of the figure started showing. They had expected something much more gruesome from the disgusting gurgling voice. Sure, his hair were stained red by blood and his overcoats hood was severed off and ripped, but the gruesome wounds that the blood must have spilled from were gone and under the blood was a completely healed skin and bone. "Theres only some brain damage and some ruptured stuff in my throat left…" Starfire launched a single starbolt at Du'grel and saw the effects without the dust covering them. As the energy hit the boy in the chest there was a spreading purple glow playing across his form. It spread across his skin and shone through the overcoat and then disappeared into his eyes. His posture straightened and he dusted himself off and walked over to them, smiling broadly.
"Now then… Raven, I apoligize for being aggressive towards you and hope that you would accept this token of my… regret? Is that right? I don't know what I'm supposed to say… So…" He offered a pitch black sprout of a flower to her. Raven was totally shaken to the core of her being. What was wrong with this guy? He nearly died and his only concern was her forgiving him? "Thank… you?" Raven took the flower from his hand and saw it transform into a dark blue rose. She was about to drop it from surprise, when Du'grel closed his hands on the hand she was holding the rose. "It is my gift to you. It is yours and no one else's. Its only purpose to exist, and its only way to exist, is to please you." He grinned in his usually wide way "The perfect gift isn't it?"
Raven was speechless. It was so beautiful and delicate. In other words it was just as she had imagined a beautiful flower to be in her mind. Had he somehow found a way inside her head again? To be honest, she didn't care if he did. She trusted him. This was unlike her, but he had proven himself to wanting to be a titan. He had everything to be a titan in the first place: He had powers, he protected justice (He just had to know what it was first) He had a good sense of humour… That has nothing to do with being a titan! Stop thinking like that! Who said that?
Honesty: You did. Don't come bitchin' to us every time you get weird wibes.
Raven closed her mouth when she was about to speak to herself out loud and answered in her mind. Du'grel noticed that Raven wasn't paying him any attention and quietly walked to the waters edge. The wawes that crushed in to the rocks near him froze while still in the air.
Du'grel was looking out in the horizon and seemed to be in a completely different place. His features were looking a little disjointed if someone looked close enough. He had a small scowl on his lips. Robin walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "You sure you are okay?" He rearranged his face into a more normal position. Robin heard a series of soft cracks. "No, I wont be okay for a while… but they don't have to know that." His neck creaked when he turned his face to Robin. "Your people almost killed me. So, am I a titan now?" He had an expressionless mask on his features, well maybe not expressionless, but not moving at least. Robin absolutely had no reason not to make him a titan. He sighed deeply and reached into his uniform. He handed the communicator to Du'grel. "You're officially a titan now." Du'grel took the communicator and looked at it a long time. "What's this?"
Robin fell off his feet from shock. There was a comical moment when you could see his feet pointing up to the sky. "You want to be a Titan and you don't even know about communicators!" He was only inches away from Du'grels face. "How should I know about them?! I've been here only for a couple of days and I'm supposed to know every single detail of the titans!" His voice was a roaring hiss and his bared teeth looked like a line of serpents fangs. He looked ready to kill. Robin backed off a couple of paces and Du'grel was clearly fighting the urge to jump and rip his throat out. He closed his eyelids. This did not help anyone but him, as his eyes shone through them just as brightly. All of the Titans saw how his eyes rolled over in his head. He concentrated on calming himself. He concentrated on the rhythm of the sea and his own heartbeat. Anything else was just background noise to him. A flash of lightning erupted from him and it to the skies. Dark clouds formulated above them, spiralling outwards, spreading above the landscape. His eyes still glowed bright, but he got up and looked a lot better. He smiled a kilowatt smile at them and seemed to completely dismiss the fit of rage.
"So… Who's up for some tamaranian cooking?" His teeth were completely normal now. Starfire also dismissed the fit of rage when hearing about tamaranian food. "Do you have in your possession the culinary delight of my home planet?" Du'grel seemed confused by her choice of words, but eventually said "Yes… I do. In the kitchen… Race you there!"
He blasted off to the skies and made an effortless loop in the air. Then he flew low skinning the water and passed Starfire by mere inches. "Come on! A little flying before breakfeast does wonders for your appetite!" Starfire giggled and launched off after Du'grel. She passed Du'grel easily and shouted something in tamaranian. Du'grel grinned and shouted something back and sped off, chasing her.
The other titans thought they heard a set of sonic booms a couple of minutes later.
"I really don't like that guy..." Robin said quietly to himself. The clouds rumbled and rain poured down. Robin scowled and ran into the tower with the other Titans.
Starfire felt happier than ever. She never could fly this freely and fast on this planet. She felt the " barriers of sound" breaking around her. She swirled around and saw Du'grel following her and smiling at her with a distracted looking smile on his face. "What do you say if we'd spin around France and get a couple of croissants? Or would you like to go somewhere else?" Starfire spun around in the air. "Please, tell me, what is this 'France' you speak of?"
He just grinned wider and sped up in front of Starfire "Just follow me." He looked back over his shoulder "If you can keep up?" He enveloped himself in a white aura and sped off into the distance laughing loudly. He became a distant blip in the horizon. A laughing distant blip in the horizon. A distant blip that assaulted her honour. Starfire concentrated on feeling the joy of flight with furious effort. It was not that hard as the joyfulness of Du'grel was contagious in nature.
She sped of after Du'grel and finally caught up with him around the coastline of Europe. "Took you long enough! Its only a couple of minutes to France now." Starfire felt anger rising up in her. "I WAS ONLY LEFT BEHIND BECAUSE YOU DID NOT WAIT FOR ME!" Du'grel was knocked back when she hit him hard on the arm. His body took this as a welcome burst of kinetic energy, but his senses took it in as plain pain. "Auh! Why did you do that for? We're racing! I'm not supposed to wait for you!" Starfire didn't answer, but she did speed off into the distance. Du'grel growled and decided to mess with her, he shimmered ten miles in front of her and immediately started singing a slow, slow tune with an sad tone.
It is a known fact that time passes slower when you're sad or just not enjoying yourself. People dismiss this as a relevancy matter. The truth is that time really does drag on longer when you are doing something unpleasant. If you could just project that feeling outside of your own soul, you might be able to slow down time for everyone else. You might even be able to stop it if you are good enough. Singing is basically freeing your emotions and going with the flow of the sound. You were using magic when you were able to dump your emotion in to the flow and step back.
He kept singing and time suddenly seemed to freeze in its tracks. You could say it came to a screeching halt, but the screeching was only displayed as a flickering darkness. According to Du'grels experience this was the heartbeat of the universe, nothing to be messed with. If it stops, nothing exists. He was always wary of coming here, but sometimes you just couldn't help yourself. You could pull some funny pranks when you could stop time.
He kept singing and levitated over to a slow moving comet, which was a frozen in time Starfire. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a fiery red rose and a brush. He placed the rose carefully in her hair and drew cat whiskers on her cheeks just for the fun of it. He backed away and stashed the brush back into his coat. He levitated ten feet in front of Starfire and made a bag full of fresh French pasteries pop out of thin air.
He stopped singing and held the bag in front of him. Time rushed back to speed and Starfire kept on coming at him at mach 7. He stayed in place and held out the bag of goodies in front of him. Starfire made her "eep!" sound and screeched in the air to stop her self. She did not quite make it and Du'grel had to catch her not to get knocked out. They tumbled in the air and landed in a nearby tree. "AUH! That hurt… Why do girls keep hurting me?" He was lying on a thick branch in a back breaking position. He was like an U turned backwards.
He raised himself in to a sitting position with a loud crack in the base of his spine. "Ooh… That hit the spot." He levitated up in the air and offered a hand to Starfire, who was tangled in a bunch of branches at the base of the tree. "Zorg o'ra knopf gridgen dugrth!" He pulled her out of the tree and smirked. "Now, now. Watch your language. I'm sure you didn't really mean that." Starfire was surprised. "You can understand me? You speak Tamaranian?" He nodded "I did say that I've been there. Let's get back to the tower." At that he grabbed Starfire by the waist and shimmered back to the tower.
Du'grels teleportation was very different from Ravens translocation spells. For one it did not chill you to the bone and send you to a dark place for the split-second that you were between those two places. Du'grells shimmering had no in between in it and that caused a sense of sewere disorientation after you appeared at the desired location. Starfire stumbled a couple of paces and then blinked fiercely. She looked around her and tried to regognize something from her surroundings. "Where are we?"
Du'grel quirked an eyebrow. "We're at the tower. Are you okay?" Du'grel settled her down on a rock before she fell down. Starfires eyes started to regognize things. She regognized the huge T right in front of her as the T-tower and then she saw the field were they participated in the practice of combat. She looked at Du'grel. She only saw concern in his face. "I just got a little disoriented. Your teleportation seemingly does that." Starfire said while getting up.
Du'grel started levitating upwards to the tower and turned around while halfway up. "Come on already, slowpoke!" They entered the kitchen through the hole that Du'grel cut in the window. When they were both inside he put the glass back in place with a snap of his fingers. He stepped in front of the stone bowl and carefully raised the lid. A multi-coloured smoke cloud erupted from it. Everyone expected it to smell horrible or make you grow an extra pair of hands. They were surprised when the multi-coloured smoke smelled like ten different kinds of foods. It smelled fruity, meaty, soothing, sweet, bitter, citrus, spicy, mild, etc.
Du'grel and Robin carried the stone bowl to the table and everyone ate. Raven wiped the cat whiskers off of Starfires face and gave Du'grel a murdering glare that she usually preserved for Beast Boy. She also left the rose in her hair. They all ate with unusual enthusiamn
"So… what now? We all have 'stuffed our faces'. Should we do something now or would a 'nap' be the right thing to do? Beast Boy has already gone to the land of dreams…" Du'grel looked around the kitchen counter and saw a row of half asleep people drooping in their seats. Beast Boy had already fallen off his stool, asleep. He walked over and nudged him with his boot. "Why is he always asleep when I'm around?" He snapped his fingers and Beast Boys body disappeared into a pool of shimmering air. "Figured he should sleep in his bed for once… I gather you lot should be there too."
"But it's only ten thirty in the morning!" Raven shouted while fighting off a yawn.
You're tired, right? Then you should sleep."
Cyborg groaned and gestured vaguely with his arm. He was full for once in his life and he hadn't even eaten a piece of meat, only that mystery soup Du'grel made. The thing that surprised all of them was that Raven also ate the food with similar enthusiasm and even laughed a couple of times. She only laughed at Du'grels stories though. Beast Boy got the same treatment as always: A sarcastic remark. Du'grel chuckled at her remarks and made Raven blush slightly every time. He gave his stories their own twist by telling everything as the characters in them and occasionally, for some reason, Robin. Everyone was close to spitting out their mouthfuls when Raven started laughing as Du'grel was jumping around as Robin, dressed in a pink leotard and singing "It's raining men" with Robins voice. Everyone just played along, because if someone (Beast Boy, knocked out) mentioned it, Raven would shrink back into her old shell.
It was weird because Du'grel seemed to befriend Raven faster anyone one of the others. He knew how to make people laugh and he shared an interest in the arcane arts with Raven, so they hit it off instantly. But now Du'grel was the only one coherent now. The food seemed to have some sedating qualities and everyone of the titans were swaying on they're seats. "Now, now. Someone is so very full… Isn't that right, Raven? I was surprised by your appetite. How can you be so skinny and still stuff you're face like that? Do azarathians have a super metabolism or something. Oh, I know! It's all that meditation! 'Better than any diet or exercise.' I think I heard about something like that when I was on Az-" He clenched his jaw shut. "I use meditation to keep my powers in control, not to lose weight!" Raven shouted in return. "Ha! The weight control is just a pleasant side-effect then?"
"It does not work that way!"
"It doesn't? I thought that meditation was the control of your mind and body? In other words: It keeps the pounds in check."
"Umm…"
"I rest my case! Now, I'm going to go take a nap!" He disappeared with a snap of his fingers. Raven wasn't the arguing type, but now she felt a sudden urge to shout something after him. 'that little…' Tentacles of black energy threw the kitchen counter out the window. Raven snapped out of her tantrum and hoisted the flying kitchen counter back through the window to its original place. "Sorry… I got to go and meditate" She muttered to her half asleep team mates. They were all stumbling away to their rooms to sleep. Raven followed suite and teleported to her room to meditate and then rest. She grabbed the enchanted beauty mirror and floated above her bed in a meditative position. She looked into the mirror…
Inside Ravens mind
"Hi, Raven!" Happy screeched when Raven appeared from the gate. The Raven in pink was jumping from one foot to another from excitement. "It's about time you gave me a chance! I was starting to feel like my good friend Timid over here." She pointed her finger behind her and Raven noticed the grey-cloaked girl covering behind Happy. It always broke Ravens heart to see the girl. "Hello…" Timid said and tried to make herself as small as possible. The real Raven nodded a 'hello' to the frightened girl. Happy wasn't done talking yet. "Yeah, you don't have to worry about that grumpy little bitch, Anger. I kicked her ass just now. She has a mean left hook but I just kicked her in the head a couple of times and boy did that shut her up. Brave even said I have potential to becoming a hero! She was astonished, her own words. She just said 'I'm astonished' and then tied Anger to a floating piece of rock…" She stopped to catch her breath and Raven took the opportunity to get a word in to the conversation. "Wait, you're saying that you beat Anger? Timid, Is she telling the truth?"
Timid made a Starfire like "eep" and hid behind Happy. "Yes, she is telling the truth. She saved my life. I think you should apologize about almost killing Du'grel and calling Cyborg and Beast Boy names and telling Starfire to shut up the other week when she only wanted you to join her in the painting of toe nails and watching of girly movies about teenagers in 'love of the puppies' and you should also -"
"Timid, you're my friend and I love you, but for the love of Azarath shut up already." Happy looked serious when she said this and patted Timid gently on the cheek. To the real Raven this was a new development: her emotions never have been friendly with each other. Quite the opposite in fact, they always had been arguing and having fights inside her head. She had an almost constant headache because of them. "Since when have you been friends? I remember that you were always picking on Timid and scaring her half to death every time I came here."
"That's not true! It's not my fault if Timid has no sense of humor to speak of. And I'm not even starting about yours…" She crossed her arms and made an "Hmph!" sound. Intelligence walked into the scene. She poked her glasses up her nose and cleared her throat. "Sorry to bother you but I think I should explain Happys rantings." A rock hit her square in the face and sent her to the ground. "Timid!" Happy shouted and tackled her when she was picking up another rock to throw at Intelligence. "I told you to drop it! I don't care about what she says about me!" Raven was helping Intelligence up while her pink and gray counterparts were rolling on the ground, fighting. "Intelligence, are you okay? What was that about? What did you say about Happy and why does Timid care?"
"They have been getting closer over the last couple of days, I would reckon it's because of Du'grel somehow… Anyhow, Timid and Happy are very close friends now and Timid is kind of protective of her… I think you should do something about that." She pointed at the still tumbling Happy and Timid. "They will stop eventually, why should I interfere?" Intelligence looked decisively away from the pair tumbling on the ground and her cheeks turned beet red when she said: "I think you didn't look close enough…"
Raven looked at the pair rolling on the ground. They were fighting, what's so embarrassing about that? They didn't seem to hit each other that much though… They were scratching each others sides and backs in slow motions. And was happy trying to bite Timid. No… actually she was -
"Fucking hell! Stop that you two!" Timid and Happy flew apart by an wave of black energy. Happy stopped herself in mid-flight. "Hey! I was just starting to enjoy myself! Timid is a great kisser." She grinned at Timid, who blushed furiously. "How the hell did this happen? How can two sides of me start banging each other? That's just freaking impossible and sick, very sick! How could you?!" Logic walked in to the scene and knocked Intelligence off her feet while passing her. "It's obvious, isn't it? Du'grel is drawing us out and making us more whole and we can make our own decisions now... Even how screwed up they are..." "What do you mean 'drawing us out'?" Raven askaed. Logic sighed and continued, "He drains things around him. He drains every emotion you don't express and forwards it back out of him, at least I think so. He made you laugh, so Happy is out of the closet. He made you ashamed, so Timid is out also. They decided to hook up for some reason. Remember, time moves differently in here; years have passed in these couple of days in here. In the forefronts of your mind."
"They're fuck-buddies now!" Yelled the orange-cloaked Rude behind Logic. She was groping Intelligence to press her point. Or maybe she just wanted to grope Intelligence, who knows anymore…
"Well, isn't this a lovely little gathering." Sarcastic walked in, steering far from Rude and Intelligence. "I could hear the sucking noise from a mile away." She had shadows under her eyes as a sign of exhaustion. She looked ready to fall to the ground from it. "God, what happened to you?" Raven hated being unknowledgeable in her own mind, but now she had no idea what was going on in here. Her emotions seemed all to be horny lesbians. Well, they didn't have very much choice in here, did they? They were all copies of her and there certainly was a shortage of men in here. This didn't actually mean she was a lesbian, did it? She never really thought about her sexuality, since she didn't think that anyone could find her sexy. And she could not get romantically envolved anyway.
"Raven, the real Raven, are you alright? You kinda… faded off." Raven snapped out of her thoughts. "I'm just fine. Please don't tell me you're a dyke too." Sarcastic looked appauled, but still hesitated to answer. "See… the thing is…"
"No!"
"Let me finish!"
"I don't want to hear this!"
"Lust have been pouncing on me from time to time and I don't want her to, but I still like the things she does to me very, very much and I'm very confused and don't know if I should kill her or love her, or do the things she does to me to her or what!" Her face was blue from the tirade of words, she passed out and fell to the ground. Lust immediately appeared from a pool of blackness wearing a red bikini and grabbed Sarcastic and disappeared again with her pressed against her body.
Raven was silent. The emotions gathered around her and asked if she was okay. How could she be okay when she found out that there were a dozen little hers fucking each other inside her head? She didn't bother to answer them and turned back to the portal leading out of her mind. She heard the ones not occupied by molesting one another shout a "goodbye" after her. She stepped through the gate…
And opened her eyes, still in the meditation pose above her bed. "I wished it would have been a dream…" So, she now had to figure out if she liked boys or girls… Later. Now she had to sleep. Her cloak fell to the floor and she snuggled in to the covers enjoying the warmth. Was it colder in her room? Maybe the AC broke or something? Her mind started fading into dreams. She thought she saw a figure guarding over him when she fell asleep. Strange enough (because she wasn't the one to believe in those kind of things) she immediately thought it was her guardian angel. She fell asleep feeling safer than in years.
AN: I still would like you to review about the story and how am I writing it, but I would also like if you would tell me what you think about Du'grel. Is he annoying, mysterious, loveable, weird, geeky, strong minded, etc. I'll be waiting.