"Twinkle twinkle wittle star!" Robin sang.
"How I wander what you arrrrrre!" Cyborg continued.
"Wup above da world so 'igh!" Beast Boy sang quietly.
"Wike a Blugorfph in the galaxy!" Starfire interjected, clearly trying to join in the song but not knowing the rest of the words. Robin shot her a dirty look.
"Dat not the words, Starfire." he scolded her. "You sing wrong words."
Starfire's face crumbled. "I do not understand Earth songs."
"You need to learn dat way you can sing wit us." Cyborg said.
Raven sighed and sunk down in her chair, keeping her eyes on the sky ahead of them. "Guys, please shut up for five minutes. I need to focus on the jet."
There was a chorus of soft sorrys. Their voices quieted down some, although Cyborg and Beast Boy continued to mutter at each other in unintelligible words.
Raven adjusted her grip on the steering wheel. She tried to focus on the dark sky ahead of her, turning on the headlights so that she could see the clouds passing by. She had been driving the stupid jet for three hours to get to New York where the Titans East Tower was, the majority of the trip was about her fumbling the controls and nearly crashing into the fields below. She cursed Cyborg's name for never giving her another chance to drive the T-car.
When she got them back to their normal ages, she was making him teach her how to drive the damn thing.
With a sigh, she reached over to the dashboard, she checked the monitor to see if she had gotten any messages from the Titan East. The screen blinked once, and then went black. No messages, no calls. Nothing.
She gripped the handle tighter. Why weren't they answering? It had been hours since they had taken off, and she had been calling them once every hour since. It had been the same result: the answering machine.
And not once had they called back.
It was worrying her. Usually at least one of the Titan East members would have called when they saw an emergency from other Titans. Bumblebee was the one who checked the phone most often.
Raven clicked the button for autopilot and stared at the GPS, the small blue dot traveling a centimeter each minute. They were almost there, another half an hour and they'd be there. Finally.
Behind her, the kid Titans were singing again, this time an obnoxious tune about puppies or whatever.
"How much iz dat doggie in da window?" Robin sang, clapping his hands to the tune.
Beast Boy turned into a little beagle and howled in tune. "Arf arf!"
"Da one wif the waggley tail?" Cyborg chanted.
"How much is the baby creature in the glass window?" Starfire giggled, floating up in her seat.
"Arf arf!" Beast Boy barked.
"I do hope dat doggies for sale!" Robin sang the last line dramatically, holding out his arms as though he was on the stage. "Raben, sing wif us!"
"I don't sing." Raven said sullenly, staring at the GPS some more.
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" Starfire asked, her voice trailing out in a whiny way. Her voice climbed upwards, and Raven cringed at the high squeal in her voice.
"No." she said sharply. "I don't sing. Not now. Not ever."
The children were quiet for a moment. Then there was a small voice.
"Why you not sing, Raben?" Beast Boy asked quietly. "Is you scared to?"
Raven sucked in a breath and concentrated on keeping her emotions level. She breathed in deeply and fixed her hands on the steering wheel, even though the jet was on autopilot.
"I'm not afraid, Beast Boy. I just really don't like to sing."
"I not afraid of anyding!" Robin proudly announced. He puffed up his chest and beamed.
Cyborg poked him hard in the arm. "Yous a liar, Rwobin! Yous scared of da dark!"
"I yam not!" Robin said fiercely. "Batman no 'faid! I not either!"
"Batman is poopy-head." Cyborg scoffed.
Robin's face turned a shade of white, and then his hands grew into tiny fists. "Yous... yous.. YOUS TAKE DAT BACK!"
"The both of you be quiet!" Raven snapped.
Unfortunately, neither of the boys were listening. They continued to yell at each other, with Starfire rooting for Robin and Beast Boy totally silent. The jet rocked dangerously, and then a red light started to blink on the dashboard.
Uh oh. Raven put her headgear back on and took the jet off autopilot. The red light blinked once more, and then a siren went off. She gulped back a wave of terror as she realized that the jet was malfunctioning. The engine was failing. Everything was happening at the worst time ever. This had to be a streak of unbelievable bad luck.
She quickly called the Titan East Tower one more time, desperately praying that they would pick up. "Please.. please."
"Hey, this is the Titan East. We're not here right now, so leave us a message and we'll get back to you! Titans, out."
"FUCK!" Raven slammed down her fist on the dash. A black stream shot out of her hand and scorched the floor, leaving behind a burn mark. They hadn't answered again. Where the hell were they?
"Raben.. we fall!" she heard Starfire whimper from behind her.
"I know!" Raven pulled on the wheel, trying to pull the jet upwards again. They were falling out of the sky, quite literally, and were descending towards New York City at terrifying speed. She couldn't crash- they would be killed instantly and anyone else in the same vicinity would too.
"Raben!" Beast Boy yelled, his voice incredibly loud. "Fall!"
"Everyone fasten your seat-belts!" Raven yelled, feeling the jet tremble violently underneath them. All the red lights were blinking now, the siren was wailing and all the oxygen masks dropped at the same time. For once, the Titan children weren't screaming, but quietly whimpering in their seats. Raven jerked the wheel to the side and felt the jet swerve sharply to the right, steering them towards the ocean and away from the city.
The jet started to plummet downwards. They would be in the ocean in a matter of seconds.
Raven jumped out of her seat and took off the Titan's seatbelts, speaking frantically. "Guys, listen, stay close, okay?"
"What happen, Raben?" Starfire whimpered, her eyes full with tears.
The jet shook again, and Raven felt her footing waver. She had an idea, but she had to act quickly before they plunged into the ocean.
"Beast Boy, you gotta listen." Raven begged, holding his shoulders. "We're going to jump out of the jet, and when we do, you need to change into fish or whale or something. Can you do that?"
Beast Boy stared at her with huge eyes. "Raben...?"
"I'm counting on you." Raven looked back at the dash, which was blaring with lights and sounds. The altitude was dropping.
Without another word, she blasted the jet door open and grabbed the children together with her powers; wrapping them in a dark arm. The air was howling through the jet, sucking them through the open door within seconds. Raven saw a glimpse of the dark sky above her, the stars shining and the moon looking like cheese in the black sky. She even heard the screams of her friends as they plummeted towards the ocean.
The jet crashed into the water, exploding on contact. Fire spewed up in the sky, and parts of the jet flew in all directions. Raven squeezed her eyes shut as her body slammed into the ocean water, her legs flailing helplessly as she sunk down. She tried to get back up to the surface and open her eyes, but she saw nothing but darkness and heard nothing but the crashing of the waves.
She coughed and tried to breathe, but seawater crashed into her mouth and she spluttered. She was sinking, her limbs like jelly in the vast ocean.
She wondered where her friends were, if they were safe, and if they survived the crash. What if they couldn't swim? She tried to scream for them, but her voice wasn't working anymore.
Something brushed against her leg, and she jerked upwards. The same thing bumped into her back, and this time she let out a blood-curling scream, no longer caring that she couldn't breathe. It pushed her upwards, it digging into the small of her back.
Fresh air suddenly hit her at once, her face freezing cold. Over the crashing of the waves, she could hear her friends. Crying out for her name.
"Raben! Raben!"
"Raben!"
"Raben...!"
"I-" she choked out, seawater spilling from her mouth. "I'm here! Guys!?"
Whatever was touching her pushed her forwards again, leading her through the water. A small hand latched onto her arm, and in the dim moonlight, she saw Starfire looking at her intently, her red-hair soaked down her face.
"Raben! You okay!" she said joyously, digging her head into Raven's shoulder. Then she pulled away and beamed. "Wook, Raben! I got da others!"
Raven blinked and saw Robin and Cyborg clinging onto each other, held on by Starfire's hand. She breathed out a sigh of relief, her hands shaking. "Thank god. Is everyone okay?"
Before anyone could answer, a huge looming thing emerged from the water, spraying sea-water into the air and showering them with salty rain. Raven blinked twice as her eyes adjusted to the whale that was swimming in front of them. It was a small green whale, sitting there patiently. Starfire cheered and latched onto the flipper of it and climbed onto it's back. "Wook! Beast Boy!"
"Go Beast Boy!" Robin cheered, joining Starfire on his back. Cyborg joined them, gently patting his back and telling him how brave he was for using his transformation powers. Beast Boy made a whale noise and splashed his tail in the water.
Raven held onto the flipper herself, breathing heavily. After resting her body for a moment, she spotted the gleaming tower of Titan East sitting on the shore of the beach. The Tower was dark and none of the lights were on, but at least they were here.
"You did really good, Beast Boy." she said, patting his side. "But do you see that big Tower? It looks like ours."
Beast Boy splashed his tail in response.
"Take us there, please." Raven leaned her head against his toughened side. Beast Boy did as instructed, moving slowly through the water to the shore. There was the sound of cheering from the top, where Starfire, Robin and Cyborg sat.
On the shore, Raven slowly pulled herself up onto the sandbank, pulling up Starfire along the way. The little girl wasn't a good swimmer, she found out, and had trouble treading the ocean water. With a grunt, she pushed Starfire out of the water and watched as the alien scrambled onto the sand and sat there, shivering.
She pushed herself one more step and then lay her head on the sand. It was so cold, the water was freezing and the air felt as though it was below zero. She could see her breath coming out in small puffs of white. New York was always cold, she had forgotten. It was nothing like Jump City, where it was always pleasantly warm and sunny. No, the night sky was littered with heavy clouds and the air was chilling.
There was a small grunt next to her. Raven rolled over to see Beast Boy curled up on the sand, breathing heavily and his body racked with shivers. She felt a pang of guilt shoot through her. He looked exhausted.
"It c-cold." she head Robin chatter. "Raben.. we c-cold."
Raven sat up and pulled her wet cape around her, trying to keep in her body heat. "I k-know. We're going to go visit the Titan East, o-okay?"
"H-urry." Starfire pulled on Raven's arm.
Raven got to her feet and picked up Beast Boy, his body stiff and cold. His green skin looked paler than usual. Shit. She wrapped him in her arms and then walking slowly up the slope to the Titan East Tower, her feet dragging in the sand. She climbed up the steps and pushed her elbow to the doorbell, hearing it on the other side. She waited a few moments, feverishly praying that they'd answer.
There wasn't one.
"Come on." she muttered, shifting Beast Boy against her body. It wasn't healthy for him to be this cold, dammit. She pushed the doorbell again and then kicked the door for double measure.
To her surprise, the door just creaked open on it's own.
It wasn't locked.
Raven looked back at her friends, who were standing behind her and shivering in the cold. Starfire sneezed.
She sighed. Without the Titan East or not, her friends were going to get sick if they stayed out any longer. She moved to the side. "Get in you guys. I'll get you some dry clothes and some blankets. Just sit tight and don't go anywhere."
They pattered inside. Raven bit her lip, and with a last gaze to the burning jet still in the ocean, she headed inside and closed the door behind her.
I don't know whether I should continue with the serious aspect of this story or whether you guys just like the kiddy stuff. Tell me in a review. :3