Reunions: Chapter 10- In A Very Scary Place

"Where exactly are we?" I questioned. I was still on the back of the speeding moped. Looking at our surroundings, I was able to catch a glimpse of what might be a movie theater. Its large marquee advertised its latest feature presentation: Wicked Scary Five. I groaned. BB would have loved it here. I didn't have time to dwell on it as we raced by and the theater became a blur of lights once again.

"Don't talk to me while I'm driving!" Mr. Moped, the name I had given him, shouted to me over his shoulder. Now that I had time to look at him, I noticed that he was wearing a black leather jacket, a pair of faded jeans, and a brown short sleeved shirt. For some strange reason, I also noticed that he was somewhat attractive. Boy, this place must have messed with my brain.

"Okay, sorry." I looked away, feeling somewhat, ashamed? Embarrassed? I was unsure. Perhaps a strange mixture of both

"It's cool. I'm sorta paranoid," he explained, then, lowering his voice, said, "especially with those shadows running around."

"Yeah, I saw them back there." I shivered. "What are they?" He skillfully maneuvered the moped around some overturned trash cans; complete with rolled up comic books spilling out into the street from them.

"They're darkness," he murmured, "depressing thoughts. Whenever the man's beating up on himself, a bunch of 'em show up and toss us around. There have been a lot of 'em since the man took that hit to the head. Whenever he's feeling low, we're the ones feeling the pain."

"And, who exactly is this man?" I've faced flame-throwing, mask-wearing villains; evil, sly dragons; and a werebeast. But to be honest, these shadows scared the heck out of me!

"Well," his voice trailed off. I played with a strand of my hair and waited for his reply. How I did this while on the back of a speeding moped, I don't know. Why I was acting so strange, I wasn't sure. I felt rather idiotic. Well, they say ignorance is bliss. He finally continued, "The man's the one running the show. We're just the little people. You know the little voices in your head. Your feelings."

"Oh. So in this case, BB's the man?"

"You got it, babe." Babe? BABE? Did he know whom he was talking to?

"Hey, I'm not some stupid pig who herds a bunch of sheep." Mr. Moped looked away from me. Actually, I had never seen his face.

"Sorry, dude, I mean…. Uh…what's your name?"

"Raven," I replied. At the sound of my name, he skidded to a halt. "Why have we stopped?"

"First of all, we're at headquarters. And second of all, you're Raven?" I nodded. "I can't believe it! The man's been thinking 'bout you." He has?

"Good things, I hope." I waited in awkward silence.

"Mostly good. A little bad," he went on, "a little depressing. He thinks you don't like him. He also feels like all of his attempts to impress you backfired. But otherwise, good. A little too good, if you get my meaning." He cocked his eyebrows and elbowed me in the side.

"No, I don't get your meaning," I stated, backing away from him.

"I think the man's got a little crush on ya, if ya know what I mean." I went red in the face. I'm not sure why. Normally, I would have said how gross that was. But I wasn't thoroughly disgusted. A part of me even enjoyed it.

"So, the man's out of it?"

"Bingo."

"By the way," I mentioned, "you never told me your name." I touched his shoulder, giving him a playful nudge.

"I'm GL," he said while removing his helmet, "but you can call me Mr. Cool. No, too formal. How about just Cool?" Oh. My. This was awkward.

Standing there was GL, Mr. Moped, or Cool. His hair was slicked back with gel, and then restyled. He was still wearing the same outfit as before. He really didn't look that much different than BB. But he was, dare I say it, handsome. Okay, I said it. I scanned his face for any trace of emotion. He had the ears, the green skin, and BB's cute smile. What? He has a cute smile. His emerald green eyes were partially hidden by a pair of black shades. I then looked again at his ears. In a dorky elf way, they were almost…here it comes again…cute. Glancing at his face again, I saw that he was no longer smiling, and seemed rather embarrassed.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, with genuine concern. Ooh, new emotion. I'll add it to the list.

"My ears," he said sheepishly. "They're…well…"

"Cute?" I offered. Instead of cheering him up, this comment only made him turn a deeper shade of crimson.

"Thanks." He blushed again. "You're cute too, you know."

"Thanks," I muttered. Boy, this was turning out to be a nice little blushfest.

"So," he changed the subject, "wanna go get pizza? You know, just to talk about where you come from and stuff."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" He turned red again. With his red face and green skin and pointy ears, I felt like I was holding a conversation with one of Santa's elves. I'll add that to the "What to do when bored" list.

"Well, not really." I was crestfallen. No, I didn't drop a tube of toothpaste, dummy. It means I was disappointed. "I'm asking you out on the man's behalf."

"On the man's behalf?"

"Yeah," he smiled. "Whenever a guy finds a girl he really, really likes, he gets the cool side to do the talking. So, that's what's going on here."

"What the heck," I grinned. After all, he seemed nice. Hey, I did it for the man.

"Wait a minute," I started, but he had already started driving. A girl he really, really likes? As in me? I felt like I had missed something. Most of what he had said to me had gone right over my head.

"Here we are," he said, motioning toward the pizza parlor. I gasped. It was an exact replica of the pizza shop back home. Everything from the exterior lighting to the kitchen utensils was precisely identical. I strode over to our favorite table, the one with a squeaky umbrella that always tilted to block the sun. Giving it a few twists, I was delighted to hear the familiar squeaky sound.

"Come on," I urged, grabbing him by the shirt collar and dragging him into a seat.

"You're forceful," he noted. I made a face. "No," he replied, making wild gestures with his arms, "you've got it all wrong. I think it's attractive."

"Pretty soon you won't be able to think at all when I extract the remainder of your brain cells from your head!" I made a menacing fist. Cool just laughed and pushed it away.

"So," he changed the subject, "what do you want?" He offered me a menu. I read it, then smiled. It looks like one detail isn't perfect. The menu was much different:

Tofu Cheese Pizza

Veggie Lovers

Salad

Meatless Spaghetti

I groaned. Typical Beast Boy.

"How about we just get smoothies?" he offered, noticing the frown on my face.

"That sounds good. I'll take a strawberry." GL went to get us the smoothies. While he was gone, I stared out at the lake. The sun was setting in this alternate dimension. Back at home, Star was probably getting ready for bed. She would change into her pajamas, then walk back into the kitchen, bumping into a sleepy-eyed Terra on the way. Cyborg would be raiding the fridge for a midnight snack. A motherly Starfire would have grudgingly sent Robin, who would've fallen asleep at the table, to bed. It wouldn't be until he was already asleep before he would realize how much he enjoyed her attention.

But there would be something missing. A little comic relief. A little joy in this cruel world. Someone whose philosophy, if he had one, would be, "When life gives you lemons, laugh." BB would remain unconscious. He would not join the others at breakfast. I was brought back to reality by a cold tear running down my cheek.

"You okay?" He was back, and with the smoothies. I unwrapped the straw and put it into the lid. Bringing the straw to my mouth, I took a sip of the smoothie, which was delectable.

"Fine," I responded. But I was suddenly reminded of my purpose, the reason for my journey. "Except there's one thing."

"Shoot."

"In my world, the man's unconscious. A car hit him when he saved my life. I was sent here, well, I came here to get him to snap out of it."

"Well," he pondered it for a moment. "I can take you to the center of the city and of the man. But we gotta watch out. There are shadows everywhere." I nodded.

"Okay. Just let me finish my smoothie."

We drove on for a while, the scenery blurring past as we zoomed toward the heart of town. I noticed that it was getting very late. Last night had been rough. I remained awake for most of the night; first worrying, then meditating to calm myself down, then finally collapsing into my bed. My eyelids drooped, and I rested my head against the back of his leather jacket.

"Here we are," he skidded to a halt, again. How did he get his license? "Control central. Exits are to the left. Thank you for traveling with Speeding Moped Airlines." I chuckled. Yes, really. Leave me alone!

The control center was a long green building with a gray shingled roof. We entered through a pair of sliding glass doors. The entry hall was a long corridor lined with wooden doors. Each had a name engraved into its brass room number sign. As I walked by, I managed to read a few of the names: Department of Hormones, Comedic Committee, and Nervous System Society.

"Here we are." We had reached a door, identical to all of the others. The names on the door read Cool, Love, Brave, and Smart. I had a feeling that I was about to meet some of Cool's roommates. Cool grasped the doorknob, turned it, and went inside. I followed obediently.

"Greetings, acquaintances!" The side of BB who I was talking to was obviously Smart. He was wearing a white polo shirt, a tie, and a pair of khakis. Once again, cute in a dorky way. I have to quit saying that word.

"Hey there! Wanna go skydiving?" Brave was wearing a crash helmet and a leather jacket with a yellow tee shirt bearing the word "extreme" in bold blue letters. He had a few scratches on his cheek, no doubt from his last daring feat. I had met two of them, but where was the other?

"Hey," said a voice from out of the shadows. Out came a third emotion. He was carrying a red rose, but otherwise looked no different from Beast Boy. "This is for you," he said, holding out the rose.

"T-thanks," I stammered. He smiled. In one swift motion, he spun me around, pulled me towards him, and then kissed me. I was hit by a wave of emotions. First surprise and shock. A total and complete stranger was kissing me. Then, confusion. How come Cool, Brave, and Smart were so identifiable, and one of the most powerful emotions looked no different than BB? Finally, realization, and perhaps even love. Maybe Love was really the most honest emotion. Maybe this romantic side was lying under the surface, too shy to show his true feelings.

Suddenly, I remembered that he was still kissing me. Forgetting that Cool and the others were still standing there, dumbstruck, I kissed him back a tiny bit. Okay, more than just a tiny bit. All right, I kissed him! I said it. So there!

"Ahem." Cool cleared his throat and we broke away, blushing. "Sorry," he managed. "Love can be a bit rash."

" I noticed," I managed. Love hung his head. Poor little guy. I hoped that I hadn't hurt his feelings.

"Hey," Smart interjected, "you didn't come here to flirt with emotions. You came here to get the man to snap out of it."

"Yeah," I replied, "and just how do you expect us to do that?"

"Well," he continued, "the main source of the shadows is Depression. Depression thinks that no one likes him. So, we have to convince him otherwise."

"How?" I interrogated. Love was still staring at me as if I was a queen.

"We need to get there, battle the shadows, then remind him of his friends and what he's missing. Are you in?" Cool gave him the thumbs up. Smart nodded eagerly. Brave crossed his arms and nodded. We all turned to look at Love.

"I'm in if she's in," he said, pointing his thumb at me.

"Looks like we're all in," I replied.

A/N: Wow, my longest chapter ever with the most fluff. Hope you liked it. I enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, the rights to Babe, or the North Pole.