Chapter 9: Ladies Dancing
On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Raven sat on the roof, a full sky of stars perched above her. She didn't know why she was here or how she had gotten there. But she did know she was waiting for someone.
A breeze blew by ruffling her clothing. It was only then did she notice it was not her costume. She was dressed in a short dark dress. It ended about her mid-thigh with longer pieces of fabric running to about her knees.
A door clicked open. Raven's eyes shot up. The person she was waiting for had arrived. In the darkness she couldn't see across the roof. It was a muffled shadow, but decidedly male.
He walked closer. Raven squinted to try and see who it was.
He got closer.
Raven leaned forward a little on the ledge. Maybe a little too far.
In a moment she felt herself falling. Falling and falling away from whoever it was.
A muffled crash jolted the girl awake. Her eyes fell open to find herself on her bedroom floor, in a tangle of blankets. Quickly the dream came back to her. She knew it had to be her admirer.
But for the life of her she couldn't remember anything about the guy, not even how tall he was.
Growling to herself she threw off the cumbersome sheets and pulled herself up. Christmas music from downstairs wafted in through her supposed sound-proof door. She looked up at her clock.
Her clock looked back at her. Another day of oversleeping. Frustrated at the way her day was already shaping up she grabbed her cape. A quick clasp and she headed for the door.
Some tea and meditation would set things back on track. Well a girl could dream anyway.
Raven only made it as far as the hall. There in front of her door was a box, attached was a blue, green and red ribbon.
"Dammit," She hissed under her breath looking down at her next gift. At least it wasn't human.
She heard something bust in the distance followed by a shriek from Starfire and the music cut off. She glanced down the hall quickly to make sure there were no witness'.
Satisfied everyone was downstairs she snatched the box and turned back into her room.
She was going to need more tea than previously planned.
Inside Raven immediately latched onto the box and ripped it open. Spotting the paper first she pulled it out and set it beside her on the bed.
Music had restarted downstairs as she pulled out her next gift. Nine ladies dancing...
To Raven's surprise, she pulled out a rectangle velvet box. It was deep violet color and big enough it took both hands to lift it out. Raven had a hunch as to what it was.
Just to be sure she set it on her lap. Her fingers traced over the box's embossed velvety design.
When she got to the middle her fingers stopped on a lock. Pulling at it she found it locked. It was a small black combination lock.
Raven rolled her eyes and something pricked at her leg. She nearly jumped out of her own skin before realizing it was only Ebony.
"Why would he lock it?" She mumbled sarcastically to herself picking up the small bird. She placed Ebony next to her and grabbed the letter instead.
Raven,
Need a clue? I believe Beast Boy might have an answer...
-An Admirer
Raven read it over a few times.
Well this certainly was a strange twist. He could be eliminating Beast Boy, or it could be him trying to throw her off.
Raven pondered this a moment. If it wasn't Beast Boy, then how would he have a clue?
Determined to find out herself (and find a way to open the box) she stood up. Setting the velvet box down carefully she turned to leave. When she was about to open her steel door there was a fury of wings and pressure on her shoulder.
The psye turned her head slightly to see Ebony. She fluttered her wings happily.
It must have been her first time flying. A small smile twisted onto Raven's lips.
"Sorry but I can't take you with me, I have enough questions aimed at me already." She added wryly transferring the bird off her shoulder. Ebony hopped off her hand to the carpet and Raven was off to find her supposed "clue."
"Morning Beast Boy," Raven greeted boredly as she entered the kitchen. She had lucked out and caught him alone on his breakfast duty. The rest of the titans were in the living room busy and thoroughly distracted.
Starfire had taken to cheering on Cyborg and Robin as they versed on the game station.
"Um, hey Raven," Beast Boy gave her a funny look before turning back to check the oven. It was probably because Raven never really paid him this much attention. She cursed how desperate she was getting for clues.
Raven moved over to set herself up a cup of tea, running over in her mind the ways to bring up a strange subject like this. How did you ask someone for a clue to unlock a box that you got for the ninth day of Christmas from an admirer who happens to be one of the guys in the tower?
What if he didn't have a clue? What if-
"Ahh!" Beast Boy yelped away from the stove.
Raven turned to see what was wrong this time. To her horror something was on fire. Whatever he had been cooking on the stove had caught flames, they burned a warm orange.
Without thinking Raven's powers moved a metal lid and dropped it over the food to stifle the flames. "Chill," She added moving across the kitchen carrying her tea.
When she was sure the flames had died she moved the lid off the food.
"What the?" Her eyebrows knitted as she looked at the burnt catastrophe. They were in the shape of stars.
"I was trying to make star pancakes, you know, for the season?" Beast Boy crawled from behind the frig cowering.
"Stars on fire, now I've seen everyth-" Raven paused mid-sentence. Star-fire. Starfire? Was this the clue?
She turned to stare at Beast Boy. Startled he jumped a little and backed up under her gaze. "W-what?" He asked tilting his green head a little.
"Nothing," Raven said quickly and turned to leave. "You might want to add more milk next time," she threw just as she was out of the kitchen.
"Hello friend!" Starfire grinned moving over to make room on the couch for Raven.
She nodded taking the seat next to the girl. Robin and Cyborg sat on the floor in front of them fidgeting and smacking buttons in search of the all time high score.
"Star, can you remember 119,476,093?" Cyborg called hitting some random buttons. "I want to see how bad I beat him."
"Certainly," She smiled turning away from Raven to watch the match.
After a few more minutes Cyborg reveled in his victory.
"Ok Robin got 119,423,304 can you minus the two Starfire?" Cyborg called getting up. Robin followed less happy with his defeat.
Starfire nodded happy to show off her Earthly math skill. Raven did the same just to ensure she got the right answer.
"52,789, is that right?" Starfire answered after a second.
"Yea," Raven added getting the same answer a second later.
"I so beat you!" Cyborg called performing a small victory dance to Robin who shrugged as if he didn't care.
"Glorious! It was a thrilling match!" Starfire added.
Raven sat in silence. For some reason 52,789 stood out to her.
Taking up her instinct she quietly removed herself from the room just as Beast Boy strode in. She had a combination to check...
Raven sat down on her bed and pulled up the velvet box. Carefully she spun 5-2-7-8-9 and pulled.
There was a small click and the lock fell off.
Now she was confused. How in the world had...
Raven didn't want to think about it. There was an impending headache. What was the chances of that...
This guy was good, she mused, that or horribly lucky.
She lifted the lid finally. When it came up a slow classical melody started. When the top was fully extending the box was about a half foot deep. At the bottom nine ballerinas rotated in their stone prisons.
Nine ladies dancing.
Raven put a hand through her hair watching the rotations. After a moment she snapped the thing shut.
Getting up she took the music box over to her book case. Sliding over some books she pushed the foot long box next to her French Hens cookbooks. This was becoming too much of a habit.
He guessed she had put it together as she stormed from the room. He saw her go, probably to her room to cook up another headache.
It had been tough to get the two clues to string together. It took a little luck and some sabotage.
Smiling to himself he sat down on the couch. It was all too fun.
The other two sat down beside him as he grabbed the TV remote. An infectious song made it's way into his head.
Fight it as he may he couldn't stop himself from humming it. Might as well enjoy it, he thought to himself, he was going to an early grave.
One of the boys beside him nudged him.
"What are you humming?"
He smiled at his team mate shaking his head in a dismissive gesture. He turned back to watch the television.
On the ninth day of Christmas...
And your all thinking...WTF...she's nuts. Well you wouldn't be far off.
Hahaha. I am so shocked with all the reviews, this is the most I've ever gotten (and I'm not even done). Everyone who has reviewed: THANKS!
Hah, yes no real plot I suppose, just a bunch of madness. And if you missed it before, there's only ONE ending.
And very sorry for any grammer/spelling errors, this is a very rushed chapter, parent is threatening to take my keyboard -clings-
-Dragonslayer527
p.s. 52789 is my fav number, my b-day. Haha.