Summary: Something went wrong, but no one knows what. Something that turned Beast Boy and Raven into true humans, taking away their powers and abilities. But not only that, it took away their years, and their memories. Now, with Rae and BB as human toddlers, the remaining Titans need to find out what on earth is going on, and set their friends right.
Author's Note: Well, I'm pretty sure I answered all the reviews I got alerts for, and some that I didn't. Stupid FF and its stuff ups -lesigh- Anyway, I finish work on Friday, having quit. So will have a little more time on my hands to write, but come the end of May - the 29th - I will be busy reading the 3rd Max Ride book, followed by Pokemon Diamond which will require full time playing at the end of June, and then Harry Potter book and Movie in July... Writing will occur when I do not have my nose buried in other people's work -laughs-
Anyway, this chapter is... odd. Slade is weird. I had fun writing him, and thus am worried about his IC-ness -laughs- I'm not sure what to make of this chapter; Do I love it, or detest it? Not sure. I hope you enjoy, and reviews are appreciated, but as always, not demanded.
Chapter Six
"Shit." Slade swore, quite loudly, quite obviously and quite unexpectedly.
Before him, stood two of the Titans, Bumble Bee and Jinx; it was not, however, the two women that caused him to swear. It was the children sitting on their hips. Where Bumble Bee stood slightly to the left, she held a young boy, dressed neatly in elastic-waist jeans, little Velcro-tied running shoes coloured black and blue. And a deep emerald green Beast Boy shirt. His hair was a soft bleached blonde, while his eyes were a startling and intense blue. Baby Beast Boy's face was serious and his gaze steady as he looked back at Slade.
To the right, Jinx stood proudly, the tiny girl on her hip quite obviously Raven, though her hair was black and pulled up into a neat ponytail at the top of her head and tied with a purple ribbon. Her eyes were also a deep and startling blue, staring at him seriously. Her features were somewhat pouty at the moment, but Slade got the startling impression that she laughed a lot as a child. His eyes narrowed. The girl was dressed neatly like Beast Boy was, but slightly differently. Her feet were clad in white Velcro-tabbed shoes, and she wore a pair of denim, elastic waist shorts. Her shirt was a pretty purple shade with "Daddy's Princess" scrawled across it in curvy pink writing. Undoubtedly a bad joke on Jinx's part.
The Titans watched Slade as he studied the two children, and were not prepared for when he suddenly stepped forwards and swept Ravanna out of Jinx's arms, startling her into tripping backwards slightly, only just managing to save herself from landing on the ground. Several weapons found their way to hands – or hands turned into weapons – but it quickly became apparent that Slade did not intend to hurt the child, and confusion and puzzlement took over.
"Raven," Slade breathed, holding the little girl up before him, gazing directly into her young eyes. He did not seem overly shocked… more worried.
"Slade," she coldly returned, causing gasps from the Titans. The voice that answered Slade was not that of Ravanna, but the dead mono-tone of Raven, cold and uncaring. The little girl tilted her head slightly, chin up, and glared at the man. Everything in the whole motion screamed Raven.
"Ahh, little Demon, what have you done?" Slade questioned, adjusting his hold and causing Raven to squeak and clutch at his wrists with tiny hands.
"Fool! Don't you dare drop me!" Her voice was high pitched, more that of the child the Titan's had grown used to in the past weeks, and slightly hysterical, indicating that the appearance of Raven was only temporary.
"I will not drop you, child." Slade said placidly, and settled the girl on his hip, looking down at her, ignoring the others. "And so it has begun."
"It would seem so." Raven murmured dryly, irritated by Slade's unusual attitude.
"I see. Why the Changeling?" it wasn't a complete question, and Raven blinked thick lashes over her eyes and frowned at Slade in blue eyed confusion, before following his gaze to where Garfield sat on Bumble Bee's hip, where he gave the pair a sarcastic wave. Struck speechless, emotions battled across the girl child's face.
"An accident?" question or taunt, none listening were sure, but Raven nodded all the same, shocked to her core. Beastboy should not have been affected.
"So this is why you continue to lock me out of your room?" Beastboy asked, his voice laced with amusement and surprise as he looked around himself with huge blue eyes, glancing up at Bumble Bee who looked shocked and suddenly uncomfortable at the idea of holding Beastboy on her hip… Not comforting. Her face reddened and Beastboy snorted.
"One of them." Raven grumbled, not impressed. "You should not have been affected, either way, Beastboy." Her gaze turned to look up at Slade, blue eyes narrowing. "Do you know why he was?" She demanded.
Slade shrugged his shoulders, looking amused. "Who knows why the Prophecy does as it does, child."
"Raven has become child Ravanna because of a Prophecy?" Starfire asked quietly, but was startled when both Slade and Raven rounded on her, demanding as one.
"What did you call her/me?" Not even noticing they'd spoken as one.
"Ravanna… Why? You were very demanding that that was your name, Friend Raven." Starfire blinked.
Slade glanced down at the little girl, feeling her shaking in his grasp, and handed her back to Jinx, who was still looking dumbstruck that he's stolen the girl from her. Feeling Raven shake in her arms, however, Jinx hugged her close, worried… Of course, being held by Slade might do that to one, but still…
"Raven?" she questioned softly, bouncing the girl softly once, and getting blue eyes to look up at her. "What's the matter?"
"There were two prophecies," she whispered, her face ashen. "One upon which I would demand to be called Ravanna… This one… The other I would go by Rachael…" She shuddered.
"Rachael would have been better. Much better." Slade said bluntly, frowning behind his half-mask.
"What is the difference?" Beastboy asked, puzzled, from Bumble Bee's hip.
"You, for one," Raven answered. "You should not have changed!"
"Why did you?" Cyborg asked, finally bringing up the question that had been bugging him – and the team – for over four months.
Raven shrugged. "It was required." It was an ambiguous answer, perhaps, but it was one nonetheless. She suddenly squirmed where she was hugged to Jinx, forcing the young woman to put her down, where she clung to the other's legs for a moment, gaining her balance, and frowned at her outfit. "Delightful."
"Hey, you should've seen what Star dressed you in." Raven blanched, and shook her head, not wanting to know. "How long will you be … You… for?"
"Not sure." She replied, peering around Jinx's legs at the people staring through the school gates. "A lot of people." The childish action and remark caused a few exchanged looks and an amused sound from Slade.
"Yes, Slade's been demanding you and BB appear here for the last, oh, day-ish."
Utterly shocked blue eyes looked at him from both Raven and Beastboy. "How long have we been this way?" a pause, "and how old are we?" Raven asked softly, frowning.
"Four and a half months," Cyborg replied, frowning slightly. "And you are both about four years old."
Raven groaned, Beastboy looked shocked, and Slade snorted. "Too powerful, Raven."
"Indeed." She replied absently, before looking up at the Titans intently. "Listen to me," she hissed, tottering over to Slade, of all people, and scowling up at him furiously until he picked her up and held her back to his chest, with her sitting on his arms so that she faced her friends. "Gar and I," she reverted back to their human names, obviously running out of time as Raven. "You have to raise us! Shush!" She demanded as several mouths opened to protest. "Shush. Slade will help," Robin spluttered, and Slade smirked. "Yes, Robin. He will. You will need him. I will and, apparently, Gar will. Hush. We will begin to remember in a minimum of seven years, though likely more. Raise us, teach us." Finishing, the girl licked her lips and nodded firmly, blinking once, and yawned. In Bumble Bee's arms, Beastboy also nodded firmly and yawned, both falling asleep in a matter of moments. Ravanna was handed delicately back to Jinx, causing her to study Slade with mild interest. He handled children well, for a psychopathic maniac.
T – T – T
The drive back to the Titan's Tower had been a silent trip. They had had to skirt paparazzi quite a bit just to get to the car, and then not run any of the fools over as they left – and the car had been under the police tape! It was all over the radio when Cyborg turned it on, though they had no idea about anything except the fact that Raven and Beastboy were young children, and that Slade and his robots had abandoned the school and all those people within unharmed. No one knew where he'd gone or what had been discussed between him and the Titans. "Thank goodness," Cyborg had muttered as he pulled into the garage. The others had agreed and while the males met up with the rest of Titan's East in the main room, the three girls side-tripping to take the sleeping children to their beds.
"What did he want?" Aqualad asked, seating himself on the half-circle couch as the others slouched in. The twins dashed between them and the kitchen, bringing out warm mugs of hot chocolate and coffee. They didn't spill a drop.
"Ugh!" Cyborg groaned, and flopped down without grace on the far end of the couch, banging his feet on the bottom shelf-thing of the coffee table. The drinks spilt, now, splashing hot liquid onto the abused wood.
"Cyborg!" the speeding twins both yelped, grumbling under their breaths as they cleaned up the mess and glared at him.
"Sorry, boys." Cyborg grinned, not really sorry, before sobering up and groaning. "That was so confusing!"
"It was?" Speedy questioned, frowning slightly, and taking a mug of hot chocolate. "How so?"
"Well, for one, Raven and Beastboy, uh," Cyborg turned to look at Robin, who considered for a moment, and then took over.
"Raven and Beast Boy … appeared? … within their bodies, I guess." He sounded slightly confused himself. "And spoke to us. To Slade. Apparently there is another Prophecy in the winds that revolves around Raven."
"Again," Cyborg murmured, and shook his head. "How many are there centered around Raven?" His voice was dry, as if not sure whether to laugh or grumble.
"But," Speedy frowned as the three girls walked back in, "Why did Slade want to see them if he didn't know they were little tykes?"
"I think he may have had some idea, actually." Jinx collapsed on the couch also, accepting a mug of steaming coffee with a slight nod of thanks to Mas. She took a sip before looking up to find the others watching her in a puzzled manner. "What?"
"What makes you think that?" Aqualad asked lowly, frowning, and waved his left hand absently to indicate her last comment.
Jinx shrugged, but it was Starfire who answered. "He was not surprised." She began simply with her own shrug. Robin protested before she could continue.
"Slade very, very rarely shows what he is feeling, Star. He's probably as good as Raven."
The alien princess continued as if he'd never interrupted. This caused Jinx and Bumble Bee some amusement. Robin frowned slightly. Apparently, playing mother does odd things to women. "He commented on it "beginning" to which Raven agreed. He said that the calling "Rachael" would have been better. He knows of this Prophecy, whatever it is… Slade just knows far too much and reacted too well for him to have not known, or have some idea." Starfire tilted her head and looked at Jinx. "Do you agree, Friend Jinx?"
"Yes," Jinx whispered, her eyes slightly out of focus. Starfire poked her in the shoulder, causing her to gasp in pain and rub the offended spot, scowling at the alien. "What?"
"You were far away, Friend Jinx."
"I was just wondering – how is it that Slade handled Ravanna so well? He was so sure of himself and how to handle a little kid. Didn't you notice?" She frowned, her eyes looking focus again and waved her hands. "Look. See the compassion – however small – as he handed the sleeping Ravanna to me once more?"
Before the group, just above the coffee table, appeared an image of Slade, his expression not sour or threatening – though hardly warm and welcoming – handing the little girl back to Jinx.
"Interesting," Robin shrugged, confused and not wanting to dwell upon that slightly scary incident. "Jinx, Starfire. Is there any way you could dig up information on this Prophecy Slade spoke of?"
"Sure," Jinx replied, tilting her head, pink hair bobbing in their pigtails. "But what about Bee?" She jerked her thumb towards the dark woman who was frowning irritably at Robin, believing herself forgotten.
"I chose you two because you have powers more or less akin to Raven's, thus would know more places to look. Starfire comes from another planet, and I figured they might have something hidden away somewhere. Bumble Bee, you can help them, if you want, but I'd ask something else of you first."
"Oh?"
"The world will know about Ravanna and Garfield by now. I want you to find a preschool for them." Blank looks were his answer to those words. "Raven said, before she … left … that we were to 'Raise us, teach us.' What exactly we're meant to teach them." Robin shrugged. "But I figured if we covered all the basics – school them, combat training… Anything else important to a child's education…"
"What about villains? They will know, too." Speedy put in, frowning slightly and draining the last of his drink.
"True. That's what we're going to be doing. We'll all be teaching them combat and all will be helping with schooling, though I'd prefer to send them to an actual school… We're all going be on double time to watch out for idiots that will try something for some reason. Slade will be watched thrice more, simply because he is Slade, and also involved, for whatever reason. I don't trust him."
"Well, duh, who didn't know that?!" Jinx put in smartly, and then stood up. "Well, this has been lovely, and early as it is, I'm pooped. Seeyaz in the morning." Grinning as she left the room, Jinx wandered up to her room, and was asleep before she'd lain herself down properly. Damned stress.
The rest of the Titan's split shortly after that, also bone tired from the stress of the day niggling at them. Collapsing in their beds, they slept well; only to be awoken by the un-thoughtful brats named Garfield and Ravanna at six thirty in the morning. Jinx was the one that ended up getting them breakfast, while the others closed their eyes for another two hours.
Footnote: OMG! There are 17 of you that have this story on alert! I feel so loved. I'm glad that you enjoy reading it so much! I love writing it. Mind, Chapter Seven is being a pig -pokes it- haha. I will warn you Right Now that Ravanna and Garfield will not grow up to become Raven and Beast Boy as you would expect them to...
Chapter Seven soon... er or later XD
