Priestess Aishisu: Well, I received just five reviews, which by my standards really (really) reek, but then I guess I did just update a few days ago.
Raven A. Star: Amazing! Raven became a singer/actress/poet/writer right after she left the Titans! Amazing!
I can't wait to see what happens next! That cliffy at the end with the girl using magic on her really got me wanting more!
How come you always update whenever an episode of TT just finished airing!? Everytime TT finishes airing here, I go onto my computer and get an alert from you! XD Just is so cool! Makes my nights even better. Keep on going!
Priestess Aishisu: Well, it wasn't right after, since the first chapter was set over a year after she quit the Titans, but I guess it is pretty close.
And that is the purpose of a cliffy—to leave you hungry for an update.
And I wouldn't say I update whenever an episode of Teen Titans just finished, but a new episode that's really good does tend to inspire me. (Especially if it's a Raven episode)
Samieko: Whoa. Very soon. Yayness! You know, I don't even like the Cy/Rae fics, but this one is just so good! Update!!
-Samieko
Priestess Aishisu: When Priestess/Priestess Aishisu/Adularia says she's soon, she means soon! A shame that you don't like Cyborg/Raven, but to each his own. This update probably wont be as soon—I am cursed by the evil enemy of all fanfiction writing—the thing known as 'school.'
KageOni1: Sounds like the new titan is more than she seems to be...anyway, great descriptions, and I'm waiting for the next chapter.
Priestess Aishisu: ::Blinks:: She does? Umm…Whatever you say then, I guess…Because there really isn't…Anyway, thanks. And this just so happens to be the next chapter you mentioned.
BlackSheild: Yeah, I know. Just, whenever I write a review to you, my fingers skip the "Aishisu" out of habit, and I always forget to go back and add it... Besides, though you may no longer be bitter (thankfully), your old account should never have been shut down. You're always Priestess to me, pal. Lmao.
Oh, right. The story. Well... to be brief, this kind of thing is the reason why you're on my favorites list(s). To take longer, though...
Though self-insertion generally irritates me, the promise that it won't last long is enough to make me not care. No offense to you or anything, just... I mostly prefer to keep us authors and the Titans in separate dimensions. Heh. Larissa, I like, and it's an interesting idea that a fan should be the one to snap her out of her "funk" (God I hate that word...). The idea that Raven is famous in itself is original (as all your ideas are), and you pull it off almost surprisingly well - though, knowing you, I'm not all that surprised. Your stuff is always top-notch anyway.
Though the length, I could complain about...
Update soon, please.
-BlackShield-
Priestess Aishisu: ::Blinks at impressive size of the review:: Whoa. Go BlackShield! Yeah, I don't like self-insertion either (if I do insert myself, it's usually because I need a character to kill off) but I was just there for that previous chapter.
There will be mentions of me later on, but they don't even know my name so you can just pretend it was a random supernaturally-powered fan and not the author. I mean, if you get sent back in time, wouldn't you wonder how it happened?
I guess it is pretty original, but I don't like thinking that Raven will go plum-crazy without friends (though, as you will see, she isn't particularly ecstatic about being alone. Just out of curiosity—by 'the length, I could complain about' do you mean it was too short or too long? Also, what does 'Lmao' mean?
Rose: CONGRATS!! YOU HAVE MADE MY TOP TEN FAVORITE RAVEN-CENTERED STORIES!! UPDATE!! I DESPISE CLIFFIES! WHO THE HE11 IS LARISSA? i love how you described her!! she sounds so pretty! apple-red colored eyelashes! sigh why exactly did raven leave? you're gonna hate me for this but i can't picture cyborg pulling out a guitar and singing a lovesong...omg! i can!! weird image...update!
Priestess Aishisu: Larissa is the new Titan (it's been over a year, they were bound to get a new one eventually. I'm surprised they waited seven months) She has powers with nature (plants and stuff) and due to that she's an environmentalist. She also happens to be the girl Beast Boy/Changeling is paired with, because everybody else has someone.
::Giggles:: Yeah, it is a weird image, isn't it? Keep in mind that he isn't quite as…strange-looking when he's human…
And about Raven leaving, you'll find out sooner than I planned…not this chapter, but the next or maybe the one after that.
Priestess Aishisu: If you didn't notice from the summary, Raven was just sent backwards in time. From now on, the names Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire will all be in either italics or bold The future selves are in bold, the past selves in italic.
There are exceptions. If they are being thought or spoken, or if both are being referred to ('Cyborg is an orphan'), or if it's a flashback, then there isn't italic or bold (well, flashbacks and thoughts are always in italic, but you get what I mean)
Raven stumbled, falling backwards and barely managing to catching herself in time to keep from hurting herself—not that it would have actually been able to hurt her, but still. She looked at the couch she had grabbed onto and her eyes widened.
Glancing around, she realized with disbelief that she was in Titans Tower.
But not the Titans Tower she had left a year ago, a singed wreck damaged to the point of devastation by a fight that had occurred mere hours before. It was the Titans Tower of over three years back, almost two years before everything had changed…
She took a step, tentative, wondering if she was dreaming. As she passed by things, she ran her fingers over them to see if they felt real—they did.
I can't be here, Raven thought with a rising sense of horror and panic. I–I quit the Titans…and most of this stuff doesn't exist anymore! It was all demolished…
It didn't look particularly demolished to her.
Raven touched the chair she used to sit on and read, trying to ignore Beast Boy and Cyborg making fools of themselves. She had seen it burn, she knew she had.
Before she could think this over, an unexpected noise made her jump and whirl around. She could hear voices that, after all these years, were still painful enough to make her want to cry, and footsteps that were coming closer and closer.
Nightwing punched the punching bag again. Kick, pivot, punch, dodge, punch, thrust, dodge, kick. When he first learned the routine, it had seemed simple enough, but it did make for rigorous training and it ate up plenty of time.
Which wasn't necessarily bad. It just wasn't necessarily good either.
"Nightwing?"
Nightwing jumped and just barely dodged the swinging punching bag in time. Trying to compose himself, he smiled at the red-haired figure in the door. "Um…hi Starfire. What are you doing here?"
Starfire, too, had developed over the past few years. Her outfit was a bit different, her hair was thicker, her pale skin was tanned, her figure had…filled out, so to speak, and her eyes were now always glowing eye-shaped emerald lights instead of green bug-eyes.
She was also less innocent and more fluent than the Starfire we know from the cartoons, though I suppose she's still a bit more innocent than she ought to beif she drinks mustard.
"Well, Cyborg is singing, and Larissa and Changeling are talking about a concert of Larissa's favorite singer, so I thought I might train with you."
Nightwing blushed, but tried to hide it. "Um, sure Starfire. I would love to—" he never finished.
Because before he managed to, the punching bag swung around again. And this time, he didn't remember to dodge.
"That was so much fun," remarked Cyborg as they ('they' consisting of him, Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire) entered Titans Tower. He shook his head. "I can't believe Raven missed it."
"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed. "I swear, she spends so much time in that creepy room reading that she may as well move to a library—though I suppose it would have to be a haunted library to be creepy enough for her."
They both chuckled, and under the couch Raven felt her heart clench. So they taunted her when she wasn't around, did they? But they spoke as if she was still a team member…
"I heard that," said a voice even more familiar than Cyborg and Beast Boy put together, a soft voice that made said heart stop beating altogether.
Raven's birdlike cape swished quietly as she landed, hands on her hips. Her head was tilted to the side, pale face wearing a predictably unreadable expression. "What took you so long?"
Cyborg opened his mouth to reply, but he stopped when he noticed her dark eyebrows knit. "Is something wrong, Reye?"
Raven's heart ached again. Reye…Cyborg's pet name for her. How long had it been since she had heard it? Over a year at the very least.
But she it wasn't as if Raven had that much time to feel heartbroken—or at the very least heartsick—because of what Raven said next.
"There's someone hiding under the couch."
Cyborg picked up the guitar and stood up, finished for the day. He gazed down at his reflection and sighed.
It wasn't that he wasn't happy to be human again, especially since he could be human and not lose his powers. It wasn't that at all.
It was just that he kept wondering what she would think if she saw him. It wasn't that she wouldn't recognize him or anything like that—she had seen him in his human form before.
But, if she were to see him walking down the street or something, what would she think? Would she be happy for him? Would she even care?
Quit kidding yourself, man, a painfully honest part of his voice told him. You're never going to see her again, anyway.
Raven held her breath and desperately tried to still the rapid pounding of her heart. Forget, she willed them, trying to summon her powers. Forget you sensed anything…Immediately she sensed a block and cursed herself mentally. Of course Raven would be able to block her own energy—and she would recognize it, too.
"All right!" shouted Cyborg, and she heard him come closer and sensed him powering up. "Come out with your hands up!"
Raven's strikingly eyes narrowed angrily and, in a rash decision, she kicked the couch away with literally inhuman strength. Raven stopped the couch from flying at them as her future self stood up with her hands braced on her hips, glaring at them.
Even if her hair, face, and figure had undergone changes both massive and imperceptible, those sad fierce eyes would never change.
Cyborg gaped at her, glancing from Raven to Raven and back again. After about three minutes of this, he cried, "Raven?!"
"Aw, you remembered me," Raven spat, speaking more harshly than she had intended. "I'm touched." She hadn't meant to sound that mean, but it was bad enough having to hear them—especially having to hear them insult her—but actually being forced to see them?
How much was one person supposed to bear?
Raven's eyes, from under the hood of her cloak, were wide. They were the same eyes—haunted and piercing, a startling but at the same time beautiful shade. "H–How…? Did you…? What…?" She trailed off, swaying slightly. If Raven hadn't known herself better, she would have thought Raven might faint.
"Time-travel?" Robin suggested, looking at Raven for a confirmation.
"Duh," Raven replied, still irritable. Inside, her mind was reeling, searching desperately for some explanation. She felt ill.
"Why are you the only one here?" asked Beast Boy. He was as stupid as always, but I suppose that isn't fair—anybody could have asked that question. They didn't know…couldn't know…
"Because it just so happens that I was the only one there," she retorted, absentmindedly fingering the silver necklace she always wore. She was not telling them the truth. There was no way.
"Out of sheer curiosity, how far in the future are you from?" asked Robin, tilting his head. Same eyes…similar features…the rest was different. Even her eyebrows were different, the dark dramatic ones replaced by thin neatly plucked ones. Her very fingernails were different, long and shiny with a fresh manicure.
"What's the date?" Raven asked.
"October 14, 2004," he replied automatically.
"Two years, eleven months, and eighteen days, then," Raven replied, her heart pounding. The very words made her feel ill as the significance of the situation struck her.
I'm stuck almost three years in the past, no way to get home, surrounded by ex-friends who aren't even aware that I'm not one of them anymore.
What am I going to do?