Bonjour, mon aims! (New Year's Resolution: learn French!) Here is another chapter for you!
Now, I have to give you guys a little heads up here: I have a lot on my plate, at the moment. I need to finish this story, keep updating 'The Renegade', get my fluff ability back so I can give a decent 'I Smile Because You Love Me' update, write my alternate endings to 'Requiem' AND, in the midst of all this, I've decided to start writing X-Men fics.
Needless to say I am not an organized person :3
So if you guys could stay patient with me like you have so far (I'm very grateful!) I promise to start clearing up my agenda and keep those updates rolling!
So here you go! Love you guys!
"Dude, I am confused beyond belief!" Beast Boy groaned, earning a very annoyed glare from Raven.
"We all are," she said. "Join the club."
"Well, my son should be with Dianne," the older Starfire said. "We have time to explain what you wish to know, I hope."
"I want to know what happened," Robin said instantly. "How could the future be this…"
"Horrible?" Gar offered.
"Destroyed?" the older Cyborg added.
"Completely ruined?" the older Starfire said.
"Um, all of the above," Beast Boy said.
The older Raven crossed her arms, eyes filled with anger. "Slade."
"Dude!" Beast Boy gaped. "He's really that crazy?! He destroyed the entire future!""He's a madman," Nightwing agreed. "His greed and ruthlessness turned to malice, and over time he began to form an army. During this time, we thought we had been blessed with peace. There were no villains around, just a few thieves. We were able to live in comfort and enjoy our families."
"We should have known better," Gar said bitterly. "All the time, Slade had been building up all of the enemies. Making them stronger, faster, almost unbeatable."
"We were helpless to win when they attacked," the older Starfire said, lowering her head. Nightwing put his arm around her shoulders. "Even with the strength of our children, they overwhelmed us. He took over the city and began to stretch out his reign. Hero's from all over tried to stop him but were unable. Even now this dark empire grows. We…we are not strong enough to stop him."
"You can see the ending result," the older Raven said, referring to the destroyed Tower and city.
"Steel City, too?" Beast Boy asked. Gar nodded sorrowfully.
"But where's Bumblebee?" Cyborg asked. "I mean…Storm said she was here…and me and her uh…"
"She went back to Steel City to try and protect it," the older him answered, looking very sad. "Titans East still exists, though they are as bad off as us, and she wouldn't leave her team."
"I have a question," Beast Boy said, raising his hand. "Um…I'm still confused about Storm. Her powers are…weird. Like, they're like ours but they aren't, ya know?"
"I can't believe I'm saying this but Beast Boy's right," Raven said. "They work in a way that is almost like our own, but they aren't our powers."
"That," Gar said. "Is actually correct."
"What do you mean?" Raven asked. The younger Titans were all curious about this, and listened closely.
"We mean that her powers are a mutation of our own," the older Raven said. "It's a bit of a long story, but we'd be able to explain if you'd care to listen.
"Course," Beast Boy said. "Not like we can do anything until Storm…well…ya know, calms down."
Gar nodded, then sighed and rubbed the back of his head. Beast Boy noted this, guessing that he would never grow out of that habit.
"Well," Gar began. "Raven and I were always sorta…worried about having kids. Neither of us are really human, so to have kids well, we didn't know how that would work out for them."
"But when we had Gale," the older Raven stepped in. "And his powers came in, they were just what we had prayed for. He got an even balanced of both our powers, so neither would overtake him. He learned control easy enough and we had little problems with helping him deal with them."
Gar and the older Raven seemed to be getting upset over speaking of their son, seeing as he was just taken from them, so Gar hurried to move on.
"Then six years later, we had Dianne," he said. "At first, we thought she might not even have any powers. She showed no signs of them until she was five."
"Imagine how surprised I was," the older Raven said lightly. "The first time I saw Ghost, I was worried I had twins and didn't know about it!"
Gar smiled at her comment before continuing. "After that, we did some tests to find out why there were two of her. That had me so confused! Imagine walking in on your daughter and seeing two of her! I thought I finally lost my mind!"
"I think you still have," the older Raven teased, then went on before he could retort. "Like we said, her powers are a mutation of our own. From my powers, she got my ability to separate myself from my 'soul self', but hers took on a much more personified form. Ghost is all of her inner emotions and reasoning. Just like my emotions, only mine are all separate and stay in my head, thank Azar…"
"What about the whole storm thing?" Beast Boy asked.
"Another mutation of mine," the older Raven said. "My powers are based on emotions, and when my emotions get to strong, they effect the things around me. When Dianne gets upset, she has the power of my control over things, only hers took on weather, not physical objects. And the white energy she shoots off sometimes is just like my black energy, but she has no control over it, or the weather manipulation."
"And before?" Raven asked. "When she turned into a wolf?"
That made all the older Titans look up, and Raven shuffled slightly under all their gazes.
"Damn it," the older her said, putting her hand on her head. "We really messed up…I can't believe we let Deathclaw get to her…and she lost control again…"
Gar comfortingly took her hand. Raven found it strange to be watching the older version of herself and Beast Boy treating each other so lovingly. She looked down. It still didn't seem possible. Beast Boy was so annoying…
"But why is that such a big deal?" Robin said, oblivious to her discomfort, and yet Raven was glad he started the talking again. "I mean, the wolf form is one of her powers, right?"
"Yeah, from my own," Gar said. "She got my heightened senses, pointed teeth and nails, but we usually tell her to keep the claws trimmed." he laughed slightly. "They always grow back pointed, though. Anyway, she doesn't have the power to change into animals, just a wolf. And she can only do that when she's under a lot of stress or anger." He rubbed his head. "The first time she lost it…there was a kid making fun of her. But what really set her off was when he started to make fun of her brother and Nightfire and the other Titans. Dianne can't stand it when people mess with the ones she loves. She snapped. It was the first time we realized she could turn into an animal. She was only 7."
"Kid had to go to the hospital," the older Cyborg said, the smirked harshly. "Served him right. Even to this day the kid still tries to taunt her. Only thing that stopped him was this war acting up."
"So, it is bad that she turns into a wolf because it means she is under a lot of stress?" Starfire asked. The older Raven shook her head.
"It's bad because she looses control," she said. "Even though Dianne is managing to get control of her mutated powers, there are a few…other things that she unfortunately inherited."
"Like?" Beast Boy asked, not knowing the answer but already feeling dread for his future daughter.
"Our dark sides," Gar said. "Dianne inherited my already mutated DNA that held the effects of the Beast. That is why she can only change into that shadow wolf form when she gets upset. It's…it does the same to her as the Beast does to me when I let it take control. Fills her with anger and hatred, wanted to tear apart anything that crosses her path."
Beast Boy gaped, feeling steady horror fill him. He knew how awful it was to have the Beast within him. But…he had given that horror to his child? He felt guilty, even though it was not his fault.
"And me?" Raven asked quietly, fearing the answer. She knew her dark side. Her demon. Storm couldn't have…
"Yes," her older self answered gravely, as though knowing what Raven was thinking. "The dark half of us that succumbs to Trigon's rage. The bloodthirsty demon who thrives in darkness and hate. Dianne…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
"How can you be sure?" Raven asked, keeping her eyes on the ground. "How can you tell that Storm…that those monsters are really inside her?"
"Signs," Gar answered. "Even little things. The abrupt way she changes her tone without any reason."
"The way the air around her changes from that of an innocent child to one of dark malice," the older Raven added.
"But mostly her eyes," Gar said. "The look that she gets in her eyes is by far proof enough. I…can't even explain it."
"That explains why she sorta lost it when you told her about her brother…" Beast Boy said, looking out the window to still see a violent storm going on.
"Yes," the older Raven said, getting up. "I'm worried about her. She has no idea how to control her emotions yet. I…I don't think she truly understand the evil inside her, and how dangerous it can make her. If there are no more questions, I think he should try and help Nightfire calm her."
Raven almost spoke up, but held her tongue. Her older self was right. Making sure Storm was ok was the highest priority. There would be more time for questions later.
"Storm!" Nightfire called. He was on the roof. The strong winds blew his hair around into a spiky black and red mess. "Storm!"
He felt guilty beyond all belief. He knew how badly Storm was hurting right now, and how much he had been counted on to try and calm her. What did he do instead? He cowered in fear. Nightfire clenched his fists and grit his teeth. He was just so angry at himself! His best friend needed him and he had been too scared to help he.
"DIANNE!" he yelled. No answer met him except for another roll of thunder. He sighed. He knew Storm didn't know what she was doing. He understood more then her how dangerous she could get. Storm wasn't stupid. She knew how bad it was for her to let herself get upset. The problem was, when she was this distressed, there was no way to get through to her. She couldn't understand reason.
"I have to find her," Nightfire said, shivering as the cold rain beat down on him. He wasn't saying that in fear of getting in trouble for loosing her. He wanted to find her. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her because of him.
He needed to find his friend.
Nightfire slowly drifted into the air, almost being tossed back down by the wind. The roar of the fierce storm howled in his ears, making him wince. He had never seen her loose control this bad.
It was nearly pitch black. Nightfire felt dread tug at his heart. All the villains must know she was back now. No storm could be this bad naturally, especially not when it was clear just an hour ago.
"Nightfire!"
He turned quickly, shock causing him to fall from the air and land flat on his back. He looked up, red starbolts charging, only to see his sister.
"Brightstar?" he asked, getting up and rubbing his head. She looked distraught.
"We could not find you or Storm, so I came to find you," she explained, then looked around at the terrible storm. "Where is she?"
"I…" Nightfire almost didn't answer. But, this was his sister. And she, and all the others, would figure it out soon. Besides, he trusted his sister completely. He thought about how Storm had lost Gale, and tried to imagine what it would be like if he lost his sister. His heart began to break, so he threw the feeling off.
Storm must be in hell right now.
"I don't know," Nightfire admitted, having to talk loudly over the roar of wind. "I tried to snap her out of it, but she's way too upset. I'm not sure where she went."
"Brother!" Brightstar gaped. Nightfire felt shame seer his heart. "She is not thinking straight! We cannot let he be out on her own! She could hurt herself!"
"Or someone else," Nightfire murmured, but he doubted his sister could hear him. He rose his voice. "Where are the others?"
"Just inside," Brightstar replied. Nightfire looked off into the sky for a moment, then turned back.
"I'm going to go find her," he said. Before Brightstar could argue, he added, "Tell our parents and Victor to help me look, too. I just need to fly ahead. This is my fault…"
"Nightfire-" his sister began to say, but he cut her off.
"Just go!" he said, eyes bright even in the dark. "Every second we waste arguing is time we could be using to find her!"
Brightstar couldn't deny that. Warning him to be careful, she turned and flew back into the tower. Nightfire kicked off the roof and took off.
Storm is quite the handful when she's upset, no? Lol don't worry guys, this story isn't just going to be her being all angry and stuff. But don't be annoyed with the fact that she is, please! All that's happening is important to the story!
So I hoped you enjoyed and please review!