Chapter 3- Feathers and Forgiveness Pudding (yum.)
I don't own Teen Titans, but I only own my fictional character named Alexandra for Raven's friend. Okay? Cool!
First order of Business: I was reviewed by SuNsHiNe10!!! Thank you very much! You made my day!!!
To the few people who reviewed: Thank you, thank you. I was expecting more in the beginning, but that's okay. I write to my reviewers. Thank you!!!
I'm sorry about the chapter mess-up. I'm still trying to understand the works.
From now on, I will update No Chance usually Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, depending on my workload, so that's when you should be looking for updates. If I'm really busy it'll take me two weeks, but I doubt that will happen. J
Lastly, as I promised, this chapter is essential to Raven and Beast Boy's relationship! It's a little moody, but it's important.
And we begin.
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Feathers and Forgiveness Pudding
The sun had completed its everlasting journey across the crisp sky, and was beginning to fade away behind the hills and valleys. Birds sang out their last songs cheerfully, starting to soar away to their nests to sleep the night away. Meanwhile, the city's bustling streets slowly calmed to a nice and easy pace, as men and women alike headed home after a long and tiring day's work. However, across the cities, valleys, and oceans sat the Titans Tower, leaning at a slight angle, reflecting the last swan's song of the rays of sunlight. The population began to drift to sleep, and the sun descended from its perch in the heavens to yield to the moon, and find some respite from its travels. But in a certain tower, all was far from rest, as emotions filled the air with confusion and grief alike.
Around the backside of the grand Titan's Tower was a side that hardly anyone ever saw in plain view. Because of the angle at which the Tower faced the inland, only fishermen on the sea and other passing boats could plainly view it. Any passerby who happened to be rowing by the backside of the Tower at this particular moment would have seen the shadowy silhouette of a small girl sitting on her bed, and a huge figure lifting weights, for on the backside of the headquarters were the most secretive of rooms: The Raven's nest, and the Training Room…
The Training Room was basically the workout room and gym for the Teens. Sometimes the Titans subconsciously made their way to the room to wash and work away their troubles, sweating their problems out while getting in shape. Which was, exactly had happened to a certain Titan.
The fifth and final member of the team was Cyborg, the half computer, and half human hybrid. He was, without a single doubt, the strongest member of the Titans. He stood proudly in the Training Room, and flexed his superhuman muscles. They bulged and increased a fold to Cyborg's satisfaction. He held up his right arm, and which automatically rearranged its parts to become a cannon-like barrel, and then carefully aimed it at a couple of targets in the back of the room. In the darkness of the Training Room, the sonic cannon lit up with a smooth, blue color that blasted out of the cannon and incinerated the targets one by one.
"Booyah!" exclaimed the man with a cocky grin.
The arm reformed back into a hand and arm, and he began a series of stretches, from head to toe, working his aching muscles to the breaking point. He was very sleepy, but he could not sleep with the day's happenings.
"Ahh…" sighed the metal giant as he finalized his last stretch. "That sure woke me up!"
Cyborg had been the only member of the Teen Titans not to get involved with the "emotion affairs" deal. Even as he preferred not to mess with others' lives, he couldn't help but wonder if something was up between Raven and Beast Boy. He laid down on his training platform and began to bench-press his gigantic weights.
There goes the first one, thought Cyborg. He sweated furiously as he lifted the weight high. "AAHHH!" he groaned. He set the weight down slowly, and sat up.
"Something's not right today," said the metal man out loud. "Something's obviously bothering me."
He took a seat on a nearby bench, and began to think as the wiped the sweat off of his face. After fifteen minutes of silence, he still couldn't figure out his dilemma. "Let's run a quick scan," he said. "Maybe a bolt's loose!" A touch of a small green button ran a thermal scan through the machine man, but showed no results. He frowned, and sat his chin in the palm of his hand.
"Might as well start my voice recording journal for today," said Cyborg wearily. He pressed a small red button on his shoulder, and a small screen popped up. The screen showed a small journal-like book that opened. The page was dated and timed accordingly. A small computer in the corner of the journal appeared. (Just like that annoying Microsoft Word helper!)
"Ready for recording," said the computer monotonously.
Cyborg relaxed and laid back on a platform. "So yesterday," began Cyborg, his feet lazily propped up on a chair. "Robin and I took Starfire out shoppin'. Should have really been no big deal, but when we got back, Beast Boy and Ms. Goth were reading together!" His recording journal beeped in mock response. "By the way, FYI Starfire really likes those mustard containers for some reason. Anyway, I must admit that I was really surprised to see that Beast Boy could read, but bird-brain made a huge deal about it. And Star didn't help either! By the end of the whole thing, Rave looked like she might explode."
Cyborg thought for a minute before continuing. "Nah, that's just normal. Heh, but the green scrawny dude wasn't doing much for, or to help himself."
The hulking giant paused for a second. "But it looked as if something else was really bothering the old sourpuss… I mean, usually Robin's bad timing is not enough to piss her off. And Beast Boy here was blushing his face out! Could it be that-?"
Just as he was about to continue, another small button flashed on his other shoulder. That's my physical loss warning! he thought. I'd better start exercising! In reply to his canny warning, Cyborg jumped to his feet and began jumping jacks furiously. "One! Five! Ten! Fifteen…" he yelled out. Not daring to think about anything else, the metal man kept right on jumping. Whether it was because of his physical weight loss or something else Cyborg jumped faster and faster in silence, not even bothering to count anymore. The silence in the air calmed him.
"Ready for recording, sir!" said a voice.
That threw the metal man off. He stumbled, and a stray cord caught onto one of his gigantic feet. With a mighty yell, Cyborg tripped and slammed into the floor. Groaning softly, he leaped back up to his feet, and quickly brushed off the dust on his metal figure.
"You stupid journal!"
He switched the journal off with an annoyed grunt, and continued to jump jumping jacks, stopping occasionally to do a couple hundred push-ups. Within 5 minutes, the metal man was sweating and breathing hard.
Well, whatever they decide to do is their choice. I think they've really got a chance if they work at it, he thought contently. Heck, they always say that opposites attract, so they must have a chance!
The man of metal kept working out into the night, not stopping for anything, now content with his feelings. "Do what you have to do Beast Boy, old pal," he said to the breeze. "Do what you have to do."
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The moon ruled the night sky. It was king of the dark, and it's shimmering rays lit up buildings with a type of beauty that man has never known. As the radiant moon surveyed its city, it seemed to weep, sending small droplets of rain down to the city below. Silver mist swept across the damp midnight air, conducting sadness to the cities and streets. As it moved elegantly, floating above the heavens, the moon seemed to stop over the Titan's Tower. It shone a mourning ray of sadness through an open window in the Tower, remaining there for most of the night. The moonlight gently swept onto a small girl dressed in a dark cloak, and it hovered contently on that seat in the sky, as if awaiting something.
A distraught Raven sat on her bed quietly sobbing after the day's direction. It wasn't normally like her at all to cry over everyday events, but this, this was a personal blow to her heart. Her hood was down, and her violet-blue hair reflected the whitish moonlight. A breeze from the open window blew softly through her violet hair, sending a slight chill down the girl's back. Her best friend from Azarath was now in a horrible condition. Countless of confusing thoughts swirled around Raven's deep mind, a whirling tornado of emotions; the only things that Raven could not handle.
"Oh, my dear friend, Alexandra," cried the psychic softly. "What's happened to you?"
Ominous thoughts filled Raven's mind of the worst possible situations. "No!" said Raven, crying out to nobody in particular. Small objects around the psychic's room slowly grew black, then white. Not noticing the reaction that her powers were emitting, Raven kept crying. The glowing objects exploded with small 'cracks!'
Raven looked up for a minute, but then went back to grieving. A wolf howled in the background of the scene, hollering out its cry, trying to comfort poor Raven.
At the far side of Raven's broken door stood a speechless Beast Boy. The little green boy was leaning against Raven's broken door, sad thoughts also clouding his mind, conflicting memories and emotions colliding. His eyes filled with tiny tears as he saw Raven in pain. Suddenly, the already-broken door that he was leaning on glowed black, then white. Giving a yelp of surprise, the shape-shifter leaped away from the door just in time, before it blew into many pieces. Beast Boy ducked his head to avoid the shards of wood. A large piece of wood was flung at a surprisingly high speed at the boy's head. He ducked just in time.
That was really close! he thought, breathing a sigh of relief. As he recovered, he realized that Raven was still crying. Daring to be caught, he peered back inside Raven's room again. Apparently Raven had not heard any of the explosions that were going on, because she had taken no notice of the door. Ropes of golden light from the hallway now shone into Raven's dark room. The light emitted shone on Raven at a perfect angle, like she was meant to be the star of a magnificent light show. She was kneeling at the foot of her bed, her head rested on the mattress, weeping. The sight brought sadness to Beast Boy's heart. You'd think that Raven was tougher than this, thought Beast Boy.
Well, we mustn't forget that Raven has feelings too, just like the rest of us.
Mustering up all the courage that he possessed, Beast Boy decided to go comfort her. His little heart could not bear the sight that he was seeing. He stepped into Raven's room, each step hesitant. When he finally reached Raven, he crouched down and rested on the balls of his feet, and slowly rested his arm across Raven's back, trying to give her comfort. Raven jerked suddenly, in surprise. Her power's reflexes caused her to fling the small boy back against the wall.
"YAHHHHCK!" screamed Beast Boy as he hurtled through the air. His body hit the wall with a thud, and he slid to the floor, fazed, but okay. He let out a small cough, reflexively, and blinked his eyes.
"Wha?"
Raven heard the thud against the wall, and she turned around to see Beast Boy sprawled out on all fours on the floor. Forgetting her current troubles immediately, she stepped over to Beast Boy and offered a pale hand. "Are you okay Beast Boy?" she asked tenderly, brushing away her tears. "Sorry about that, I couldn't help it." Beast Boy took it gratefully, and the telekinetic helped him up. Hey, her hand is really soft! exclaimed the dizzy Beast Boy in his mind. Without words they made their way to the foot of the bed, and sat down. Raven had just begun to remember her sorrow, and was beginning to get misty-eyed yet again. Beast Boy took notice, and quickly mumbled some reassuring words. His arm slid across her back again.
"It's alright Raven. I'm sure your friend is alright," offered Beast Boy tenderly. He glanced at her, and gave her a teeny tiny smile.
Raven looked back up at him, and said, "What if she's critically hurt?"
"Nah, it can't happen!" replied Beast Boy with a convincing grin. "Besides, with your mental help, I'm sure she'll be fine. If she was friends with you, she has to be tough!"
"You're right aren't you, Beast Boy," she said with a weird tone.
"Of course I am. I'm never wrong!" replied Beast Boy, in a feeble attempt at a joke.
"It's been so long since I've last seen her," explained Raven, still a little misty. "When we last saw each other we were fighting. I told her off, and said that I never wanted to see her again as long as I lived. I said that she was a planetary idiot who had fish guts for a brain."
Harsh! thought Beast Boy. Are you sure you want to get involved with this girl? asked his conscience. No doubts, replied Beast Boy. No doubts.
"I never had intentionally meant too, of course," sniffed Raven. "But we were fighting and we almost came to blows before I returned home. Later that same year I came to Earth."
Raven had forgotten all about being nonchalant and quiet. She normally was quite the gothic girl, the lady who never gave emotions to anyone. Now, at a point in her life, she was having a nervous breakdown. (A/N: I know it's very unlike Raven to be so emotional, but she has to have SOME feelings, correct? Gracias.)
Beast Boy was listening intently to Raven's story. I never knew she had such an emotional background, thought Beast Boy.
"I'm sorry for all of this Beast Boy," apologized Raven.
"It's alright," replied Beast Boy. "Really."
Raven gave Beast Boy one last smile before she wiped the last teardrop from her eyes. She blinked, and then closed her eyes. Beast Boy waited patiently. After a few moments of silence, Raven opened her eyes, once more stoic and cold. "Thank you Beast Boy."
Beast Boy grinned from ear to ear.
He makes me feel right at home, thought Raven.
She always makes me smile, thought Beast Boy.
Although they didn't know it then, they both smiled inwardly and felt very content at their thoughts.
Raven knew that her friend might not be okay. Even though deep down, she knew that lying to herself wouldn't work, but it felt good to be reassured by a friend. Every day she was beginning to think that Beast Boy and herself could maybe, just maybe, have a chance at a working relationship.
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Meanwhile, leaving Beast Boy and Raven to sort things out, we join Starfire and Robin in the kitchen. (As you recall Starfire had set off to make "Forgiveness Pudding")
Starfire was humming a Tamaran Tune while making her Forgiveness Pudding. Humming cheerfully, she added a little pepper to her creation. The pepper reacted with the substance in her bowl, and the perky alien sniffed the odor being emitted from it. "Perfect!" she exclaimed. Robin stepped in the kitchen, and tossed the bowl into the sink. "Hey Star," he greeted her.
"Why hello, my dear friend Robin. I see that you have ingested my pudding of happiness!" said Starfire with a big, toothy grin. She broke eye contact with her best pal to snatch another ingredient for her pudding.
"Yeah, it was okay, actually," said Robin, rubbing his chin. He helped himself to an orange juice to wash down the rest. "Better than the Sadness Pudding!" Actually, it was 50 fold better than the Sadness pudding! he added in his mind.
"It's supposed to be for happy occasions. That is why it tastes good!" replied Starfire knowingly. "Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be a happy occasion. Poor Raven. I am sorry if I insulted them. And poor Beast Boy too," added Starfire, her mood deepening.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Starfire. They just were probably having a bad day," shrugged Robin, trying to help make Starfire feel better.
"Yes, but Raven was acting very peculiar today," said Starfire thoughtfully. "And when I think about the event, I think that our friend Beast Boy may be acting peculiar too!" She stared at the ceiling in careful consideration at this idea.
"Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about, Star," said Robin, setting his glass of juice down on the table. "Starfire, has Beast Boy and Raven been acting kind of, strange, around the tower to you? Not just to us, but mainly to each other?" he asked. While he was talking, Starfire motioned to the ketchup, and Robin tossed it to her. She caught it, and then began to ponder about Robin's suggestion.
"Hmmmm….."
"It just seems as though, they, well, they like each other. I knew for a certain fact that Beast Boy liked Raven, but I had no clue whatsoever that Raven like Beast Boy back," stated Robin. "Our green friend has always liked Raven. He practically yells it when he tries to flirt with her!" The alien girl giggled at this.
"I'm sure it is possible," suggested Starfire, adding in some salt to her pudding. "But I have not noticed it until you talked about it one hours ago, Robin."
Robin smiled. "It's one hour, not hours, Star. But it just seems a little weird."
Starfire dumped half the contents of the ketchup into her pudding. The red liquid mixed with the previous mush to form a new color: brown. "Uh, Star?" asked Robin.
"Yes, Robin?"
"How are you putting ketchup in when you had no ketchup on your home planet?" he asked, a little grossed out at the contents of the bowl.
"Oh! Well, I put in all the main ingredients, but I wanted to add some new ingredients to it, just to, how do you say it? 'Spice things up'?" replied Starfire with another powerful grin.
"Okay… just don't overdo it Star," warned Robin cautiously. "We don't need any "accidents"."
Returning back to the previous topic, Starfire and Robin began to discuss Raven and Beast Boy's relationship.
"If they are getting together, it will be wonderful news for all!" proclaimed Starfire happily. "But I cannot help my brain from thinking that they have no chance at all. No chance for a relationship," sighed Starfire, her demeanor changing.
"Why do you say that Star?" asked Robin curiously.
"They are so very, how do you say it, different in many ways. Beast Boy is such a child, and Raven is so, so, so…" she trailed off, and instead of answering, she added some ginger to the pudding, watching the tiny spice tumble its way into her pudding.
Wow…thought the teen. This food is interesting. Fully aware of it, the alien dumped the rest of the ginger into the contents of the bowl, focusing on only the process of which the spice fell into the bowl. Robin had not seen the devilish deed.
"So what, Star? Oh, I see what you mean." Robin tried to explain it. "Raven is not always so serious and mean, Starfire. She's just kind of, too serious about her spells and fighting. So when new emotions are introduced to her, she reacts to them in a weird, or in an extra strange way," explained Robin.
"That makes little of sense to me, Robin, my friend," said Starfire glumly.
"It's perfectly alright Star." The Boy Wonder draped his arm around Starfire's back, and whispered in her ear, "They're both crazy!" Starfire giggled, and then asked, "Could you pass me the mustard Robin?"
Robin looked slightly disgusted at the thought of mustard going into the pudding, but he handed it to her anyway. "Don't put too much into it Starfire!" he yelled.
"I am not going to put it into the pudding," said Starfire gleefully. Robin gave her a questioning glance. The alien opened the can, and then took a big gulp of the contents. "Yum, mustard!" she exclaimed.
Robin's eyes widened, and he snatched the mustard out of her hands. "Not for drinking Star. You know that."
The alien sighed audibly, but then dumped some of it into her Forgiveness Pudding absentmindedly. Wisps of black smoke drifted faintly out of the Forgiveness Pudding, but Starfire took no notice of it. Robin, however, made a face and felt his stomach lurch at the thought of eating it.
"There!" exclaimed Starfire happily. "The Forgiveness Pudding is complete. We shall go present our gift of forgiveness to Beast Boy and Raven!"
"Right behind you Star."
Starfire lifted the pudding and floated out of the kitchen, on the way to Raven's room, with Robin trailing behind her.
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Trailing back to Raven's Nest with Beast Boy, Raven had begun to really recover from her emotional breakdown. Beast Boy has gleeful inside, knowing that he had helped his "friend" out. Both Titans were still sitting on Raven's bed in silence, thinking. Neither wanted to break the ice; no words had been really necessary.
Suddenly, Raven spoke up. "Beast Boy, that's twice now that you've come into my room without my permission. I'm going to have to punish you now." Beast Boy stared at the psychic with confused eyes.
Raven's eyes grew white, and Beast Boy's eyes grew wide. Thinking something was going to happen to him, he prepared himself to be chucked out the door. But Raven's powers lifted another object in the room. Beast Boy stopped bracing himself, when he saw a pillow softly grow black, then outlined in white. Narrowing his eyes for one minute, Beast Boy was still oblivious to Raven's plan. As it slowly dawned on the shape-shifter, he widened his eyes, as if to say, you wouldn't dare!
Raven stared back with a stone face, giving him the reply, watch me! Her eyes closed for a second, then opened again.
The pillow flew into Beast Boy's face, exploding into hundreds of tiny feathers. Giving a mighty war cry, Beast Boy grabbed a pillow of his own, and hurtled himself off the bed, bringing down the pillow on to Raven's shoulder, laughing all the while. Raven shook her head, and then levitated two more pillows to smash into Beast Boy's head. Feathers of all sizes filled the air, as the two friends tossed pillows at each other.
I'm going to regret this later, thought Raven, still no visible expression on her face. She chucked another pillow at the green boy. It imploded this time, sending feathers everywhere. Then again, I may not! she thought. In reaction to her emotions, a couple more pillows, this time by accident, exploded, making Raven's dark room into a room full of winter. And for once, Raven smiled. It was a smile like no other. It seemed to light up the feathered room even more, even though it was a shy smile. Beast Boy stared open-mouthed at Raven, and the fight was temporarily forgotten. Then, recovering his mind, he smiled back, and their eyes locked in a solid embrace.
At that exact moment, Starfire came barreling in the doorway. "Wow!" she said, her eyes widening. "What has happened in this room?" she asked? Robin followed her into the room, and said the same thing. A feather floated lightly down from the ceiling, gently dangling in the air, making a squishy landing in Starfire's Forgiveness Pudding.
"N-n-nothing…" stammered Beast Boy. Raven's smile disappeared once more, leaving Raven as stoic as she was before.
"A few of my pillows exploded," she said nonchalantly. "No big deal." Using her telekinetic powers, most of the feathers in the room outlined in black and white, then levitated themselves to the garbage.
"A few pillows exploded?" asked Robin curiously, surveying the room. "It looks like winter's come early!"
"Just shut up about it," said Beast Boy.
"Okay, okay!" said Robin, backing off. "We only came to bring you pudding."
Starfire handed the bowl of Forgiveness Pudding to Beast Boy, then shyly left the room, saying, "Please accept this as a token of our apologies. We wish our sincerest apologies!" Robin left the room too, after giving one more suspicious look at the two of them. Beast Boy began to work on the Forgiveness Pudding. Eww! he thought as he tasted the substance that was supposedly "Forgiveness Pudding." This pudding is DEFINITELY not the way to get people to FORGIVE you!
Both Raven and Beast Boy sighed after the entrance, but they cleaned up the mess. Once more, they sat on the bed next to each other and gave each other a caring look, and both understood. No more words were needed to express their feelings. And one more time, Raven smiled.
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The moonlight outside the window was beginning to recede, the moon now happy and content. It seemed to be smiling as it moved on from Raven's window, and the light rain stopped. Both friends peered out the window at the sudden stop of rainfall. Two pairs of eyes watched intently as the rain gradually let up, then stopped altogether. Both pairs of eyes couldn't interpret it right then, but that the rain had meant something then, right there at that moment. But it wasn't a moment either of the Titans would forget for a long, long time.
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Smiles*
Well, I really hoped you like it. I will definitely try to make each chapter longer and longer, since so many of you requested it. It was my general plan anyway. Thank you so much!!!!! Thanks!!!!
The next couple of chapters will get much sweeter.
ReViEw!