disclaimer: I really don't own Teen Titans. Hard to believe, but true. Ok... so it's not all that hard to believe, but whatever! lol.
TDG3RD: thanks a lot! you were my first reviewer!
BlackRoses4Raven: lol, yes i am writing more, that was just the prologue.
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thank you to everyone who reviewed. i love you all!
Dripping fangs. Razor sharp claws, surrounded by black energy. Four red eyes, glaring into the night. Maniacal laugher rang through the empty warehouse. A flash of lightning-
Raven woke with a jolt. Sweat dripped down her forehead and her breathing was short and shallow. Pulling her sheets up to her chin, Raven sat up in her bed. The dream had returned. Raven searched her memory, trying to remember the dream. She couldn't. All she remembered was how real the dream seemed. Almost like a vision. It couldn't be a vision though. Raven had had visions before, and every time she had been able to remember them. 'Besides,' she comforted herself 'I need to be meditating or awake to receive a vision.'
Still, the dream had spooked her, so she climbed out of bed, picked up her empty teacup and walked into the kitchen. She quietly filled her kettle with water and set it on the stove to heat up. As she waited, her thoughts came back to the dream. That was the second time that night. She was starting to lose control over her emotions again. All her emotions had reacted to the dream in different ways. Timid was scared and on the brink of tears, Curiosity wanted to know why she was getting the dream and Bravery wanted to confront her fears and get rid of the dream completely. All the rest of her emotions were flat out panicking. Luckily her powers had been getting stronger and stronger since her father had been defeated, and she was able to deal with her emotions more easily. She was also able to show more of her emotions, but she preferred not to, as she had grown used to keeping her emotions under lock and key. Still, she'd need to do some heavy-duty meditating. The kettle started whistling and Raven carefully lifted it off the stove and poured the hot water into her cup. She placed the empty kettle back on the stove and pulled a tea bag out from the cabinet. She put the tea bag in the water and let the flavor seep out of the bag. Slowly she started walking to the door, before she noticed something… or rather, someone. Beast Boy sat at the table, his head resting on his arms. Raven felt strangely compelled to walk over and wake him up to- to what? To talk? Raven shook her head clear of any thoughts and turned to walk back to her room.
"So, now do you want to talk about it?" came Beast Boy's voice. Raven turned, she had been surprised that he was awake, but her face was as emotionless as always. She was about to say no when something stopped her. Without saying anything she walked over to the table and sat down across from Beast Boy. Beast Boy smiled widely at her, but she didn't notice since she was staring intently at her tea. They sat in silence for a while, Raven drinking her tea, and Beast Boy watching Raven. Eventually, Raven broke the silence.
"I don't know if I should tell you or not."
Beast Boy looked a little hurt at her choice of words, so she quickly continued
"I don't know if I even understand it." Beast Boy's face lifted a bit, but he remained silent. The empath continued, "I've been getting… dreams…"
"Dreams?" Beast Boy repeated.
"Yes, dreams. Now are you going to let me talk?" snapped Raven. Beast Boy frantically nodded his head and closed his mouth with an imaginary zipper. He smiled apologetically and she continued.
"These dreams… are frightfully vivid. Every detail is clear in my dream, but then when I wake up, I can only remember glimpses of my dream." She looked up from her teacup to see Beast Boy with a genuine look of concern on his face.
"How long have you been getting these dreams?" he dared to ask.
"Three days now." She answered.
"Well, what do you remember?" asked Beast Boy cautiously, afraid she might think he was being too nosy.
"All I can remember seeing… are parts of some strange… monster." Raven's voice wavered at this. It wasn't very noticeable, but Beast Boy caught it and placed a hand across the table to rest on Raven's. Raven was shocked by this act of concern, but didn't move her hand. It was actually kind of comforting. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Raven stood up. Slipping out her hand from under Beast Boy's, she walked around the table and stood in front of him. He stood up and smiled at her. Carefully, he pulled her into a hug. After a moment's hesitation on Raven's part, she returned the embrace. Reluctantly, he let go of her.
"You feeling better?" he asked, smiling. Raven nodded, smiling lightly.
"Yes, but I think I'm just going to sit out here and meditate for a while." She replied, walking to the empty floor in front of the window. Beast Boy looked at the clock on the microwave (he was never really good at reading the time on clocks that weren't digital) and laughed.
"Yeah, I guess there really isn't much point in going back to bed anyway, it's almost 7." Raven didn't reply; she was already focused on her meditation. Beast Boy smiled at Raven and walked to the fridge. Pulling out some soy milk, he went to the cupboard and grabbed a box of cereal and a bowl. Once his cereal was prepared, he walked to the couch and watched his Saturday morning cartoons. Soon, Cyborg walked in and started frying some bacon and eggs for everyone else. Starfire and Robin followed closely after. As Cyborg cooked and Robin sat at the table, yawning and telling Cyborg about the day's training schedule, Starfire floated over to the couch to talk to Beast Boy.
"Friend, why do your eyes appear to be half closed?" questioned the alien
Beast Boy looked over at her and smiled reassuringly. "I just didn't get much sleep last night."
"Oh." She sighed, obviously relieved. "I feared you had eaten the pudding of boredom I made last night, without properly garnishing it with zorka berries!"
"Uh… no." he replied, confused.
Meanwhile, Raven had finally decided to stop meditating. She looked around the room. Starfire was currently explaining what was in Boredom Pudding, and why zorka berries must be added so as not to get sick. Beast Boy had a grossed out look on his face and looked a bit greener than usual, so Raven decided it was probably safest to go and join Robin and Cyborg in the kitchen.
"Hey Raven. Done meditating already?" greeted Robin as she walked up and took her usual seat at the table. She nodded.
"Good, 'cause breakfast is almost ready!" said Cyborg, piling the eggs and bacon onto plates. "Hey BB, you want some?"
"Haha… very funny Cy." Beast Boy yelled back. "There is no way you could ever convince me to eat meat!"
"Well, you don't know what you're missing!" Cyborg placed the plates in front of the other Titans, including Star, who had come to the table at the mention of food.
"Yeah, well neither do you! Tofu is way better than dead animal!" and so began Beast Boy and Cyborg's daily debate on meat vs. tofu. Robin and Starfire watched their argument. They preferred not to get involved in the fight since it wasn't big and they had the same one every morning, and as soon as the food was put away, the two would always forget about the argument and play video games.
Raven ate her breakfast in silence and left the kitchen unnoticed. She walked to her room and was immediately reached for her favorite black book. Before she could pick it up, however, her eyes fell upon another book on the shelf. She picked that one up. It was about visions and premonitions. The book caught her interest and she sat down on her bed to read it. She read it half way through and was about to put it away (having found nothing interesting or new) when a small paragraph caught her eye.
Dream visions are a very rare occurrence. As you know, most visions are received during meditation or when a conscious empath has a vision so strong that images accompany it. To receive a vision, the empath must have strong, controlled powers, and be a key part in the vision. They work much like a premonition, so the majority of the dream is forgotten, leaving only bits and pieces for the seer to remember. Sadly, the dreamer must get used to these dreams. They will return around fourteen times a week depending on how often the seer sleeps. The dream will keep returning until the vision has occurred in reality.
Raven shivered. Her dreams couldn't be visions, could they? Raven knew very well that they could, but for now she would just have to hope that she had just been having nightmares, not vision. She quickly shoved the book to the back of her shelf and mind when someone knocked on the door. She walked over to her door and opened it just enough so she could see who was there. It was Beast Boy.
"Yes." She said.
"Hey Raven." the changeling greeted. "I was just wondering if you wanted to… uh, talk… about… umm-"
"Spit it out!" she snapped.
"About this morning. If you wanted to talk about your dream or something." He blushed under her stare.
"We already talked." She replied.
"I know," Beast Boy said, "but this morning during breakfast you seemed kind of quiet, and you left pretty quickly." He looked at her carefully before adding, "And you seem a bit paler than usual."
Raven quickly pulled up her hood. "Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean upset, and I left quickly because I wanted to read."
Beast Boy stared at her, trying to determine if she was lying or not. He couldn't tell. "What about your paleness?"
"It's nothing." She replied quickly. She could tell he didn't believe her. "I'm fine."
"OK," He said hesitantly "But I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. Wherever, whenever."
Raven was touched by his words, but kept her expression unreadable. She nodded. He saw this and was about to leave, when he remembered something.
"Raven, what's a premonition?" he asked. Raven immediately thought of the book, but pushed the coincidence to the back of her mind.
"A premonition is a feeling of evil to come. A forewarning." She answered him. "I would have thought even you'd know what a premonition is."
"I did!" He exclaimed indignantly. "I was just checking to see if what I thought a premonition was, is what a premonition is."
Raven sweat dropped. "Right." He turned to leave and she was about to close her door when her curiosity got the better of her.
"Why did you ask?" she questioned him. He turned around and stared at her blankly. She sighed, it was like talking to a monkey. "Why did you want to know what a premonition is?"
"Oh, that. This morning, when I fell asleep in the kitchen, I woke up because of a weird feeling I got. I don't know how to describe it, but the first word that came to mind was 'premonition'. I just wanted to make sure it was the right word." Beast Boy explained.
"And was it?" Raven asked quietly.
Beast Boy looked down at his shoes before replying, "Yes, it was the right word."
Raven didn't say anymore so he turned and walked away. Closing her door, Raven thought about everything that had happened already that day and it was still only 10:00 in the morning.