The next morning, Raven exited her room with worry poisoning her mind.
'What if I lose control? What if everyone sees it? Will Garfield and the others even believe me? Will they shun me? What if nothing happened to them, and only me?'
"Raven."
"Ah!" Raven squealed as black energy surrounded a nearby lamp and exploded, making small fragments of plastic shower them.
"You scared me, Crow." Raven sighed as a scowl appeared on her face.
Crow studied the lamp on the floor, 'That was my 20 bucks.'
"Be careful. If you get scared like that again, it might be someone's locker you blow up. Here-" Crow handed her a pair of sunglasses. "If that does happen, cover your eyes. You might be the one scaring people, if you don't."
Raven took the glasses and stuck them in her back pocket. "Thanks."
Crow nodded and moved around her before he descended down the stairs.
'Just stay calm.' She told herself.
Walking into the high school, Raven stared down at her feet and tightly hugged her sides.
'Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos.' Though the mantra was a trigger for her powers, they also helped her relax and find her center. Her brother said it would give her a bigger chance of not losing control.
Timidly, Raven looked up to see everyone ignoring her as usual. People passing by her, laughing, joking, talking. She was feeling slightly jealous of these people.
Oh how she wished she could strut the high school halls without a care in the world. Just like she used to.
As her pace slowed down, Raven noticed someone pushing her slightly. Before she knew it, someone's iron grip turned her around.
"Either move faster or step aside, stupid."
"Is she here yet?" Terra asked. Being impatient was a flaw in itself. She couldn't help but tap her foot nervously on the tiled floor.
"Not yet. I didn't see her." Garfield replied as he stared down at his twiddling thumbs.
"Do you not ride with her in the mornings?" Kory wondered.
"I got my own ride today." Garfield mumbled. He didn't feel like telling them he wasn't even going to school today out of fear. Unfortunately his aunt found him and brought him to school.
"Maybe she's not even coming to school today." Victor suggested. The suggestion lingered a while until
Richard couldn't take the silence.
"I'm going to go look for her again." Richard mumbled as he stopped pacing the floor and walked out of the slightly larger janitor's closet.
"E-Excuse me?" Raven replied, with a bit of attitude laced with her words. 'Damn it, why can't my mouth just shut up?'
The taller, beefy football player stepped closer as his eyes narrowed to slits. Intimidating was probably a second name to him.
"I'm sorry I can't translate to stupid. But let me make this easier for you. MOVE." The football player shoved Raven aside.
Dropping her books, Raven stumbled to the floor. Shutting her eyes, Raven felt them flash white for a second.
The football player laughed as a few of his friends and random cheerleaders started to chuckle and giggle. "Now that's more like it." He scoffed, walking away with his posse behind him.
Raven growled to herself at his descending figure. Quickly centering her attention on her books, she looked around to see her books and a few papers tangled on the floor around her feet.
Sighing loudly, Raven collected a few belongings into her lap. 'Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos.' she repeated.
Two strong hands gripped her forearms and pulled upward. A second later, Raven found herself standing on her own two feet.
Turning around, Raven saw Richard looking towards the football and his group. She swore she saw anger surrounding his slightly narrowed eyes. That question was pushed aside as another popped into her mind.
'Did...did he just pick me up?' Raven wondered. She watched as he quickly looked towards her books and dropped to the floor.
Richard couldn't help but feel sorry for Raven as he started to collect her books for her. He saw how she entered the building. She looked scared and cautious. Richard knew something happened to her too.
"What are you-" Raven started.
"No time to talk Raven. Garfield and my group are having a meeting in the janitor's closet. Something happened yesterday. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about." Richard replied.
Standing up, Richard held her books and papers in one hand, and grabbed her arm with the other, leading her to the closet.
Raven stopped immediately as she heard a light bulb in the distance explode. She gasped as she tore out of Richard's grasp and reached into her back pocket.
Richard turned to her as he heard her gasp, facing the broken light bulb in the next hallway. Stepping closer, he whispered gently, "Was that you?"
Raven gave him a timid look and nodded. Richard noted how she was now wearing sunglasses, as if that was to protect outsiders from looking into the windows of her soul.
Taking her hand this time and laced his fingers with hers, he guided her to the closet.
What didn't surprise her was that she let him hold her hand. The fact that she held on to his hand tighter almost made her wonder her sanity.
Kory and the others watched Richard walk in the closet hand in hand with a depressed looking Raven. None of them acted surprised, but on the inside they were gaping.
Garfield stood up at the sight of Raven's expression and walked towards her.
She saw him approaching and let go of Richard's hand almost automatically. Wrapping her arms around Garfield's neck, Raven shut her eyes in relief. Ever since they were little, Garfield always held her close when they were in bad times. And she hugged him back, trying as hard as she could to return the comfort he always gave her. Raven remembered when his parents died; they had fallen asleep in each other's arms in his tree-house. Both of them had tear soaked cheeks, and both were holding each other just as tight as the present.
Garfield wrapped his arms around her tight, pushing her further into comfort that he knew she had. It was times like these that he didn't care who saw him show comfort to his depressed best friend.
Garfield and Raven broke apart at the sound of sobbing from the corner. Looking towards that area, they saw Kory crying into her hand with Richard rubbing her back soothingly.
Raven had just noticed the difference in clothing this group was wearing. Kory was wearing sunglasses. But as she cried, her gloved hands were crammed in the space between her sunglasses and her eyes.
Terra was also wearing glasses. She looked a little shaken up, as if she had caused something horrible. On her hands were mittens probably stolen from her kitchen.
Garfield was covering every ounce of skin on his body neck down. A turtleneck covered his chest, rather large leather gloves were over his hands, long jeans covered his equally long legs, and his father's sneakers covering his feet. In fact, his fingers looked slightly longer than usual.
Victor was sitting down, staring at his fingers. One finger in particular, it had a ring she hadn't seen before. Victor was fingering it cautiously. But other than that, Victor was wearing normal clothing.
Richard had changed physically. He was wearing normal clothing, but being the pedantic person she was, Raven noticed the differences. For example, he now had an obvious 6 pack against his sheer T-shirt as well as muscled biceps protruding from his short sleeves. And was it just her, or was he slightly taller?
Raven took notice to the other classmates to see they had also grown a lot more toned. Victor hadn't changed much, but Garfield had bulges on his arms and small bumps on his stomach. Of course, they weren't as large as Richard's muscles, but they were close. He had always been a lanky guy; of course he wouldn't look like Richard, even with muscles.
Taking another look, Kory, Terra and herself had also grown more toned than before. Raven hadn't noticed this after the incident, but now it was pretty obvious.
After Kory's sobs started to subdue, she spoke. "What has happened to me? I am quite different from before. What is wrong?"
The group was quiet. Raven wondered if any of them had guessed it was from the chemicals.
"Do you guys remember the chemicals we inhaled yesterday?" Richard asked, also answering Raven's question.
A series of nods were visible in the dimly lit closet.
"Well, the chemicals we inhaled entered our bodies, changing the balance."
"They were radioactive." Raven spoke up. Everyone averted their attention from Richard to Raven. "The chemicals were radioactive," Raven repeated, "and because of that, like Richard said, our chemical balances changed our bodies. Making us have…" Raven drifted off. Maybe she was the only one with actual power.
The group was silent for the time being.
His curiosity just had to kick in, "What…what exactly happened to everyone?" Garfield asked.
The group remained quiet for a while, wondering if it were wise to tell.
Speaking up, Kory answered him. "I...well… I was taking a nap when I was awaken by a shaking of the earth."
Terra started to fidget in her seat, but stayed quiet to hear the rest of her friend's story.
"All of a sudden, I felt a small ache in my muscles as if I had been running for a long while. So I fell onto the floor, creating a loud thump. My sister had knocked loudly on the door to yell at me for ruining her concentration. I do not like my sister much, and her yelling had enraged me. All of a sudden, a bright green light shot from my eyes and burnt the door." Kory started to finger her sunglasses, but continued. "Oh yes! And before that, my hands burnt like they were on fire. But when I was angry, they felt just hot, like I had already gotten used to the burning sensation. But anyway, after I had looked at the scorch mark on my door, I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. What I saw horrified me."
Kory had stopped, causing everyone in the room who was hanging on to her every word, question her. They then watched her slip off her sunglasses and set them on the floor, but her eyes were closed.
"My eyes...well… they had always been green. But now…" Kory opened her eyes to see everyone look at her with widened eyes and slightly opened mouths. "The... the white of my eyes had tinted to the same color as the energy from my eyes."
Kory looked around once more to see everyone staring at her like she was a mutated animal. Shutting her eyes in disappointment, Kory reached down to grab her sunglasses. "I'm sorry if I have scared all of you."
An inaudible whisper was heard, and a small shadow shot out and grabbed the sunglasses.
Everyone, even Kory, watched as the sunglasses were being moved off the ground, and into Raven's hand.
Garfield, who was sitting next to Raven, noticed a small white glow from her eyes. But it was hard to see through the tinted sunglasses.
"Don't put them back on when you're around us, Kory. We're your friends, we will never be scared of what you look like." Raven urged.
"Yeah, Kory, we're only scared of your pudding." Garfield chuckled.
Kory giggled and wiped away unshed tears. "Thank you."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I totally agree with what Raven's saying, but that doesn't mean we forgot what you just did, Raven! What was that?" Terra asked.
Looking at her hands, Raven wondered if it would be a good idea to even explain it all. She started to pop her knuckles out of nervousness.
Richard, who was sitting next to her, noticed her knuckle popping, and grabbed her hand. "C'mon Raven, it's not like we'll make fun of you or anything."
Raven looked up to see a goofy smile on his face, making her question his sanity. 'Why is he being so nice to me?'
Raven nodded and took a deep breath as she started to explain everything her brother told her.
Telling her story, Raven noticed everyone giving her more understanding looks, as if they were starting to realize why they had gotten their specific power.
"That's…" Terra started.
"That seems likely." Richard finished for her.
"DUDE! That is so cool." Garfield squealed, breaking the tension.
A sudden bell was heard through out the school, as the resident teenagers filed in to their first period classes. The group in the closet remained quiet. Should they go to their classes? Should they stay, and miss it?
For some people, like Richard, it wouldn't be a problem missing class. But people like Kory would be harder to imagine. But even through that, the teens in the closet stayed put.
After the last bell, Richard started on his story. Throughout the story, he felt everyone listening to him intently. As if his opinion was really that important, or at least just wanted to hear his story. He had never felt that with anyone else. With his other buddies, they'd just walk away, not caring to have a talk. But inside, Richard was different. He had so many things go wrong in his life; he would love to have someone just sit there and listen to him. It felt as if the 5 other people around him were his family. Or at least people who cared. And for their caring companionship, Richard would give them his.
"Let's just say, it hurt like hell. But hey, I think it was worth it." Richard finished, on a lighter note.
Small chuckles were heard through the closet, only to be broken by Terra's weak voice.
"Um…well… I'd have to agree, it did hurt like hell."
"What happened?" Garfield asked tenderly.
Terra glanced at him and gave him a sad smile.
"Do you all remember that small earthquake everyone mentioned so far?" She asked.
Simultaneously, everyone nodded, remembering the small shakes of the earth.
"I…I have a feeling, I created it."
The room went silent in disbelief.
"Are you sure? How do you know? How did you do it?" Garfield wondered.
"Yes, I'm almost positive. How do I know? Because I felt it. No, I don't mean felt it like feel the earth shaking. I felt the rocks rumble from underneath, as my hands were attached to the earth. They felt like magnets, and when I finally got the strength to rip my hands from the surface, an earthquake erupted." Terra explained.
"Amazing." Kory murmured.
"Not really, Kory." Terra sighed, catching everyone's attention once again. "Unlike Raven, I can't control my powers at all."
"I'm sure you have some power over it, or else we'd probably underground right now." Raven stressed.
Shrugging, Terra added, "Sorry in advance. Just in case." Making even Raven show a ghost of a smile.
Next up was Victor, talking for the second time that day. His explanation of how his transformation scared everyone shitless, especially when he said he didn't feel THAT much pain.
"Weren't…weren't you bleeding?" Terra asked hesitantly.
"That's what confuses me. I didn't see any blood. But then again, I wasn't even looking for any. I went to sleep that night, thinking it was a cool dream or something. Now... now I don't even know how my body works anymore." Victor explained.
"Have you tried to transform at night or this morning?" Richard asked.
Victor shook his head vigorously. "Like hell I wanna risk anything again. I thought it was just a dream. Now that I know it's real, I'm… I'm kinda."
"Scared." Raven answered in her usual monotone voice. "I can sense it immensely."
Nodding his head, Victor looked to Garfield waiting for his part.
Garfield looked at him stupidly, "What?"
Looking around, everyone had already given him a narrow-eyed look.
"What happened to you, Garfield?" Kory asked.
"OH!" Garfield smiled sheepishly. "Well, actually, I have no idea what happened. I don't really remember that much."
"What do you remember?" Raven asked.
"I remember getting ready, and I felt my skin burn. I don't remember. Maybe it was my imagination, but I think it was so hot, that it started to bubble."
"Whoa." Richard let out.
"Yeah. I wanted to scream, and when I did, instead of a scream, a loud roaring of a lion came out of my mouth." Garfield started to unfasten the knots on his father's shoes. "When I looked back down at myself, I saw…I saw."
His hesitation made Kory feel sorry for him. "It's okay, Garfield, please tell us what you saw."
Garfield looked at her now all-green eyes, starting to get used to it.
"Claws."
"Claws?" Victor questioned.
"Yeah." Garfield took off his shoes and gloves. "Claws."
Everyone looked at his now clawed hands and feet.
"And teeth." Garfield bared his teeth to reveal lengthened molars. They weren't as big as before, so it was harder to notice them.
"You've probably become one with an animal, Garfield." Richard stressed.
"I'd at least want to know what I can do."
"I agree." Terra spoke up. "I have no idea what I can now do and can't do!"
Raven thought for a second. Crow was willing to help her with her power, and seemed to know a lot about it…maybe he could help her friends.
"5 o' clock today, meet me at my house." Raven said suddenly.
"Why-"
"My brother might be able to help."
After school, Raven willingly did her homework. The distraction of math problems worked well enough to keep her at ease.
Finishing up, Raven looked towards the clock.
'4:55' It read.
'They should be here soon.' She thought. 'I should at least tell Crow he's going to help us.'
Raven exited the living room and heard Crow in the kitchen. Running over to the kitchen, just incase he would be quick to leave, she looked around.
"Falcon?"
Falcon dropped the random food in his arms; surprised he was caught in the act.
Using reverse psychology, Falcon centered it on her.
"Raven! Jeez, don't scare someone like that. If you had at least made a sound coming in, I wouldn't have made a big mess."
Dismissing the mess, Raven stepped forward with her hands crossed over her chest. "What are you doing?"
"And now I'm going to have to clean all this up and ruin my schedule-"
"Falcon. You don't have a schedule. All you have is 2 brain cells. One for breathing, and one for being clumsy." Raven deadpanned. "Now, what were you doing?"
Falcon sighed. "Well…"
Raven suddenly heard Crow jog up the stairs, he must have just got home from wherever he was.
"Never mind, just clean this up." Without listening for a reply, she zoomed out of the kitchen.
"Yes, ma'am!" Falcon saluted, thankful he wouldn't have to admit his new prank to his victim.
"Crow, wait!" Raven yelled as she ran up the stairs.
Seeing as how Crow decided to ignore her, Raven grabbed his shutting door and thrust it open.
Crow turned around with a bored look on his face. "What?"
"Remember my power thing?" Being out of breath made her oblivious to the stupid question.
Narrowing his eyes, Crow scowled. "Obviously."
"Oh, sorry. Well, my friends in school, they also inhaled the toxins, and..."
Crow knew what was coming next, but the question was, did he really want to play babysitter?
The ringing of the bell was heard, as he watched Raven look over to his clock.
"5:01.They're late." She snickered.
"Want them punished?" Crow smirked.
Rolling her eyes, Raven continued, knowing Dove would get the door. "So does that mean you'll help us?"
Crow blew some hair out of his face. "Whatever."
…I am SOO freakin' sorry. My gosh…I…no…no excuses. I'm just really sorry. And for that, I swear this story WILL be finished by the end of this week. (I mean by August 6th.)
I'm not going to do shouts now (i'll just answer questions i think should be answered), because my online time is limited, so I'll just hop online for a second and upload this chapter. But there was one shout I was waiting for someone to say:
Sheastar asked if Crow and Kory might…yeah…'hook up'. I've been waiting for that question to be asked. (Im actually thinking of it as a possibilty, the idea intrigues me...yay SheaStar!)
So it's all up to you readers. Want some side romance? I mean, their both tall (though Crow's a little taller). Only a 3-year difference. And I have some pretty cool ideas for the 'couple'. So? How about it? If no that's perfectly fine as well. But yeah, some romance twists will be fun to write. But if I do write It, DO NOT WORRY, I won't go into full detail about them. Maybe just some hints and blushes. A little protection here and there…yeah. I won't be all like 'And then they made out passionately.' Hehe, we want that saved for Rae and Rob, no? So tell me what you'd like!
Misc. Questions that were asked:
Nightwingluver asked this: "hey, if raven is 17 and crow is 20, and dove is 5,she was born 5 years ago right? so that would make crow 15, thats not old enought to be a leagal gardian. they would have had to go to a foster home..."
Answer: You're abstolutly (SP? I dunno,i dont have my beloved Spellcheck and Beta to read this part, haha) correct. I thought of that while i was typing it, but if i changed the whole story just for that, well...it wouldnt be the story it is today. Sorry, i hope you understand...i love to have my stories actually make since, but theres gonna have to be a few loop holes in this one...sorry again! Between me and you...lets just say they had a super-granny to save the day when legal people came to ask questions. Glad you asked though, thanks!
DraculisDemetris12 asked this: "r u an alchemist?"
Answer: Hm...well i'd have to say no. Becuase i never tried any stuff becuase i lack ingrediants. But i would love to be, i researched it a ton of times...i was just hoping someone around me would know enough to walk me through it...and now that you popped up, mind helping me?m I could use it...I'll see if i can see your email, but if not you can always Email me, its at the bottem of my profile, just take out the spaces. Thanks so much!
WaterGoddess08 asked this: "If they all breath in the same substance why did each have a different power from the other."
Answer: Eep, i probably didnt explian it well enough. In chapter 6, Crow told Raven ""I'm guessing the fumes created some type of radioactive substance, making you receive the power your personality fit." Crow suggested." That will also be more explained in the next chapter, when everyone meets up. Thanks for reading!
Mirumo asked this: "Um...okay,good I guess.But I wonder why Crow knows everything about it?It just like he have one uh like an experience you know? Very ๆ ๆ ๆ strange..."
Answer: That will also be explained in a few chapters. But i'll give everyone who's reading a little heads up...Crow...is bored. I dunno about any of you, but when im totally bored i just research the web randomly. I looked up a lot of stuff about Alchemists...so i used what i knew to fit in to her power...Crow knows becuase it was either him, or a loonnggg ass paragraph of how Raven 'stumbles' into the latin alchemists thing. So yeah, another loop hole..sorry.
Yup! Thats all, thx everyone who asked!
OMG, im looking over my old reviews for chapter 6...you guys are just so wonderful. My gosh...i feel really sad that i made ya'll wait THIS FREAKIN LONG, all the 'Monica is going to answer your review' part is going to be in the next chapter...gah, i feel bad again.. BUT OMG THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH, i feel so loved!
-M
PS: EVERYONE:
BOW DOWN TO THE QUEEN! LADYHOOD IS TOTALLY AWESOME, thank you sooo muuchhh for being there when i needed ya! You even responded back the next day, WOW! EVERYONE BOW DOWN TO HER! Thanks so muuchh! I'm extremely happy your Beta, WOO!
To Lady Hood (Answering your Email): Hey! Yeah i'm doing fine, except for the fact that my grandma is giving me no time to write my story, its either 'Do this! Do that! Bake this! Go there! Paint that! Buy This! Kick that!'. But yeah, im still holding up alright, lol. Barely any mistakes? WOO! Hahaha, your lucky you have all those electronics...wow...lucky you! All i've got is a crummy playstation. Nope, not PS2, a PS. Yeah. I know. Well, thanks again! Talk to ya later! (hopefully your reading this...)
Ok. Im leaving...NOW-
NO WAIT!
Special shouts:
Pretty- in-Scarlet20
Lain the Fluff Master
W00tCakes(you know who you are...haha)
Mercedes (You also know who you are, lol)
CrimsonFire490
kagomeandinuyasha4ever
Linnath
Val-Creative
Cherry Jade
Raven-Angel-Of-Darkness
SexGoddessMisha4Draco
Tecna
DarkRaven
Queen of the Gnomes (Silly me, i meant NumbuZero, haha.)
and Kali Donavan!
NOW I LEAVE
- Monica.