Rebellion
It had been three days since she had last approached Garfield and the council with her emotions had been less than helpful. She knew exactly what she wanted to tell him and even partly how, it was how she would make him listen that currently troubled her. He was stubborn in everything he did; his mission to make her laugh, his videogame contests against Victor and Richard, his beliefs as a vegan (or at least when he defended them against Victor). Yet, somehow when it came to the matter of his own personal pains he was more stubborn than any animal he had ever transformed. 'Damn him! Why did he have to be so annoying, bothersome, mysterious, intriguing, alluring?'
"Affection!" Her yell filled Nevermore, where she was still discussing the Garfield 'problem' as she saw it. "I thought I warned you about affecting my thoughts, especially when they involve Garfield!"
"I didn't do anything, Raven." Affection replied with an air of fake innocence. "You're merely thinking what you want to think about him; I only feel what you feel." The lilac cloaked emotion's expression turned to a rather suggestive smile, which caused her to feel fear greater than she had felt on the eve of her sixteenth, before continuing further. "You should be more careful, Raven, or I could become something much more important than affection when it comes to Garfield." She did not like that threat. She knew Affection would not and could not make that threat without meaning it, not after the previous time she had let the emotion become more important with Malchior.
"She is correct, Raven." Wisdom's voice cut in, causing her to face her burgundy clad perception. "We have been thinking about Garfield a lot recently, all of those thoughts have been about helping him, and one thing can only lead to another. We already see him as family, but you have not given him a mental boundary within that view." Wisdom paused at her confused expression and smiled, as if knowing what caused it, as to be expected of Wisdom really. "Victor is the protective elder brother that can make us feel better because he simply knows what to say, as he is for the others as well. Starfire is our sister, which you definitely need no matter how you persist that her 'talk of the girls' and 'sprees of shopping' annoy you. Richard has become a brother, or even a father figure, we trust and that understands us due to your mental link and is the first one you turn too in times of desperation. Garfield is different, very different. He doesn't understand us naturally, but wants too, and succeeds on various occasions. The night after Malchior," Wisdom paused again, seeing and knowing the pain she still felt at the name, "is direct evidence of that."
"How does that make him different!" She interrupted not seeing the strength in Wisdom's argument, "From what you say Richard is one I should feel the most for!" She knew she didn't feel for Richard that way but her point was valid.
"Richard has never tried knowing, understanding or helping us without an exterior reason." Wisdom replied, she could feel her own eyes widen as the emotion continued. "That reason is often your own request, because you need his help, because he is the leader of the team and he can read our thoughts: The prophecy of our sixteenth being the best example of that. I am not saying he does not care. He does, otherwise he wouldn't try to help even when you ask, but he has never acted of his own accord. Garfield has." That was a truth she could not argue with. "He discovered our birthday sipmly because you stated we wanted to be ready for it. He continues to try and make you smile in anyway he can think of, despite your still constant retaliation. He was there for you after Malchior, because he knew exactly how we felt." She couldn't argue with that either. Even though he hadn't allowed her to sense it, she was sure Garfield had been devastated by Terra's betrayal and that had been only months before Malchior. "Let's not forget his actions as the Beast are rather suggestive as to how he thinks of us."
"What?" She asked with a raised voice, now completely confused. "He protected me from Adonis, how is that suggestive?" The ever all-knowing look on Wisdom's face did not help her keep rational, and she was certain if Rage had attended the council Wisdom would be on the defensive side of a very aggressive fight. Patience was not something she had an abundance of right now and she wanted that answer now! "Wisdom…"
"Raven if I know the answer to that question then so do you. All you need to do is realise it and accept it. Perhaps you should talk to Knowledge." At this she instantly turned to Knowledge who looked completely off guard, well that crushed any hope of getting the answer from the yellow cloaked emotion.
"It doesn't matter anyway; he hates us, that's why he shuts us out. He doesn't trust us, we should just not bother him and maybe he won't hate us." Timid muttered from behind her, voicing some of her fears to the rest of her emotions.
"Stop being stupid!" Bravery shouted in Timid's ear, causing Timid to whimper and sit facing the ground; Happy instantly went to try and help cheer the crying emotion with a barrage of farting noises. "We should just make him tell us what we want to know." Bravery continued, patting Timid on the head. "Even if he hates us afterward we should help him."
"Wisdom," Knowledge finally began while regaining some composure, resulting in her turning back to face her spectacled 'brain', "you know that I can not perceive Raven's memories and knowledge, that's your role as an emotion. All I can do is know the facts and relate them to previous knowledge Raven possesses." This brought a smile to Wisdom's face, the sight of which brought a definite roar from Rage's realm and to be honest she wanted to join in. The smile vanished and Wisdom instantly locked eyes with her, something she shouldn't have allowed since Wisdom's eyes were practically designed to be lost in.
"Calm down, Raven, anger will not help you understand." Again, she couldn't argue with the emotion's words. Rage's influence was never a helpful one in these situations. She needed to be calm, despite Wisdom's mind games. "Knowledge, please tell us, what would you relate Garfield's actions as the Beast too?" Wisdom asked while keeping eyes locked with hers.
"Well, an animal protec-" Knowledge began but was cut off by very loud alarm. Damn it! The distraction had been enough to completely draw her out of meditation, she stood frustrated and imagining the ways she could torture the moronic villain who had chosen to interrupt her. She reached the common room within a minute, finding that she was the penultimate Titan to arrive, Garfield was last as was per usual.
"This had better be worth it, Richard." She stated with a hint of venom added to her monotone. The leader nodded his assurance before explaining the problem; at least she would have an outlet for her current irritation.
"The H.I.V.E. 5 and Adonis have teamed up to break in to the main city bank vault; I've already contacted Flash and Jinx for support. Titans, Go!" She was really getting tired of that little tradition of his, but she followed suit as the rest of team moved out. Richard and Victor taking their respective vehicles, while she, Starfire, and Garfield took to the sky. Garfield, once again, had sealed his emotions from her and this only troubled her further as she flew towards the heist in progress.
Richard had already formulated a plan by the time of their arrival and quickly explained that one of them would have to distract Adonis, who seemed to be the ever important look out, so the other six Titans could approach the vault for a surprise arrival: standard tactics, but often effective. Garfield almost volunteered for the role, more than likely out of a sense of rivalry, but she sensed a hint excitement which lead her to believe he enjoyed fighting the over compensating villain. Despite her concern over this apparent thirst for battle she kept quiet for his privacy's sake, and it never really paid to make a public spectacle over an assumption. Not to mention she rather preferred her persona of not caring overly for her green comrade; it kept assumptions of her feelings to a minimum.
Once inside the vault area they divided up into three pairs; she was reluctantly paired with Jinx. Not that she held any personal grudge against the reformed villainess, perhaps a little one over the fact Jinx had raided her room once. She just didn't enjoy the witch's sense of humour, or the fact they were often compared to each other for appearances; it just bothered her that she could be compared to someone who had a completely different personality to herself. Wait. When did she start caring about how people thought of how she looked compared to others? That was definitely going to be a question for her emotions later.
She teleported herself and Jinx to inside the vault, re-entering the world from just behind a stack of gold a little distance from the entrance. Instantly recognising Kyng Wykkyd and Colnel H.I.V.E. as the two figures currently emptying the vault by teleportation and muscle respectively. They both waited for Richard's signal, which came in the form of another, "Titans, Go!" at which she was certain Jinx had mouthed 'Laaamme', maybe she could appreciate the witch's jokes on occasion.
Jinx started the fray with a charm, which caused several of the higher up stacks of gold to topple from their respective floors; this was sure one big vault. Wykkyd transported himself and his team-mate out of the drop zone but she sent several aura encased gold blocks to meet them as they reappeared just inside of the vault entrance. Wykkyd then shifted to directly behind Jinx and attempted a roundhouse kick but met only air as Jinx dodged using expert gymnastics heading further into the vault. With that match determined she focused on H.I.V.E.; a relatively simple opponent but not one to be underestimated. He charged at with the intent of breaking her nose, she dodged the punch easily as well as the back sweep kick that followed. She retaliated by levitating several of the tiles on the surrounding and throwing them towards the villain. He blocked several by simply destroying them through punching, but one of the concrete blocks crashed into his chest sending him several feet back before hitting the ground. Then, she was cut off from what was happening.
She just wanted to laugh, she really wanted to laugh; she just felt so happy. No, she didn't, it was Garfield. 'What! How can his emotions be this strong! I should have control, his emotions shouldn't control my own!' "Hahaha!" She just couldn't hold it in, and the laughter just made her feel even happier. Then, something changed. What she felt was no longer happiness, it was rage, his rage. 'How can it be this strong!' It was overwhelming; she could feel her Rage become stronger by the second, with each second she could feel herself begin lose her control.
'No!' She refused to lose control, especially to Rage; she needed to keep her control. If she couldn't, then how would she convince Garfield to share his burdens with her? He would never be able trust her to bear that burden which he refused to share, the burden that was root source of his anger and pain. She carefully focussed her will and began to reign in Rage from rebellion.
Then, she felt a serious impact to her skull; H.I.V.E. had decided to attack while she wasn't able to defend herself. This sent her flying out of the vault before she met the floor of the vault entrance area with very loud crack. She felt Rage begin to take over, but refused to simply give in. She wasn't weak and she needed to show this to Garfield; to show him could trust her strength to bear his burdens with him. 'No! Rage… I won't let you have control! I am not weak! I can not and will not give Garfield reason to ignore my concern!'
'YOU SHOULD JUST SUFFER, WEAK LITTLE ONE!' Was the angered reply from Nevermore, her vision began to fade; the battle strewn room being replaced by a sheet of crimson.
'No…'
She lost consciousness as her vision faded to a field of crimson red.
A/N: What do you think? I hope it was half worth the wait, since I got the impression the latest Control chapter wasn't worth nthe delay of this. I hope Wisdom's switching of single and plural pronouns wasn't confusing. The singles are used by Raven always, and by emotions when referring to her mind personally or another emotion. The plurals are meant to refer to Raven as a whole as she is een by the outside world. e.g. BB's opinion of Raven is referred to with plural.