Paths of Desire

Chapter 02: Love Comes in Peach

A Raven/BB fanfiction by Sara "Secondary Gemini" Hambrook

Notes: Wow, chapter two! That's a lot farther than I usually get with my stories ; personal thanks go out to the wonderful band Jack off Jill, as the song "Strawberry Gashes" has relit the fire of creativity in my soul. Thank God for depressing music!

Below I have placed a basic outline to Raven's emotion; some are as to how they are portrayed on the series, and some are my own personal opinions.

Pink: Known as Happy; representation of joy, carefree, childishness, whimsical.

Grey: Known as Timid: representation of despair, pessimism, insecurity, fear, the need for physical comfort, depression (the direct counterpart to Brave)

Green: Known as Brave; representation of fearless, brash, optimistic, confident (the direct counterpart to Timid)

Orange: Known as Gross; representation of crude, sloppy, dirty, rude, selfish, lazy, inconsiderate.

Purple: Known as Hope; representation of hopefulness, a dreamer, non-sexual desires, longing, faith.

Yellow: Known as Curiosity; representation of intelligence, intellect, knowledge (almost akin to a mother figure when it comes to the other emotions – like a leader, but on a higher emotional level).

Brown: Known as Pain; representation of physical and emotion pain. (Might possibly include a sort of masochistic /sadistic side.)

Red: Known as Father; representation of hatred, anger, rage, fury, violence.

Peach: (my own character): Known as Love; representation of love, passion, sexual desire, sexual attraction.

This chapter took me so long to get out because it's been rewritten so many times ; It was harder than I thought to get her emotions to interact. I hope that no one is disappointed as to how it came out.

The first emotion Raven encountered along her journey was Timid, who as usual was shuffling along quickly with her head bent and tears streaming down her cheeks. Raven had to resist the urge to sigh as the grey-cloaked version of herself spotted her and hurried over, her eyes directed to the ground.

"H-hello, Raven..." she whispered, her faint voice shaking softly. Raven reached out and placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder, praying that Timid's clingy side wouldn't kick in, as it had a tendency to do. Luck was not on her side, however, as a moment later she found her arms full of a sobbing mass of Despair.

"Timid... what's wrong?" She asked, giving in this once and stroking her hands up and down the shaking girl's back; she herself was quite confused as to the appearance of this new emotion, (Raven was sure this was the cause of Timid's tears), and she couldn't fault one of her emotions their own reaction to the situation. No matter how much Raven tried to convince herself that she disliked Timid, she simply couldn't allow herself to live with that lie; after all, this sniveling, sobbing entity was still a part of her.

"W-w-well..." she whimpered, clinging to Raven tightly, "there's a... a n-new emotion... she just showed up today... and... and everyone's going to like her better than me and then you'll like her better and you'll stop needing me around and then I'll disappear!" This latest string of fears sent her into another fit of choking sobs and she bawled hysterically into Raven's shoulder, gripping at her cloak so tightly Raven feared Timid was going to choke her. Somehow she managed to take the girl's shoulders and push her back to look at her, gently tipping her head up so they were eye-to-eye. She brushed a tear from the emotion's cheek and smiled softly. For some reason, the act of comforting herself (especially when that part of her was in a physical form) was much easier for her than attempting to comfort friends.

"Timid, listen... you're a part of me, just as the other emotions are, and I promise that I won't let you disappear... alright? No one's going to go anywhere... and you should know by now that I don't play favorites anyway," Raven told Timid, forcing her voice to portray a calm, almost affectionate tone. She couldn't count the times Timid and herself had had this very same discussion over this very same issue (to this day she was still surprised that Timid hadn't ended up giving them BOTH ulcers over all the worrying and crying she had done when Hope arrived), but her words never failed to calm the emotion down. Needless to say it did and the grey-cloaked Raven nodded, wiping at her eyes in shame.

"Y-yes Raven... I'm sorry..." she whispered, rubbing at her tear-streaked face. Raven nodded and patted her head, then stepped around her and placed a hand on her back.

"You go along now, alright? I'm going to go meet this... new emotion. Where are the others at?"

"They're all at the house, with her... with the new emotion..." Timid replied, looking as though she were going to dissolve into tears again at any moment. Raven nodded and patted Timid's back softly, and then motioned with her hand for the girl to walk with her. She nodded softly in reply, and together the two headed down the path towards the location of the emotions' 'home'.

It was still beyond Raven as to why her emotions chose to actually establish a place of residence within her mind, but she figured that if it helped them find peace and balance, then let them have their house. Usually when she arrived she would find the others lounging around the house, doing their own thing according to whatever feeling they represented. She would enter the house and find the living room, where Gross would be crashed out on the couch amongst a bed of potato chip crumbs and random stains from other items of food, snoring loudly as the TV still played before her. If Raven flipped through the channels, she would have several options; she could view her own life as it was occurring right now, through her eyes, or she could run through any past experience she chose to, reliving that memory once again through her own eyes on this television. Timid could often be found curled up on the floor, watching some past experience and crying over it (that was provided that Gross was asleep, which happened nine times out of ten). Of all the emotions, Timid was the one that wanted so desperately to live in the real world, wanted to know and see everything Raven did as Raven and not as this separate person within. Brave would be in her designated room, beating the snot out of some inanimate object (usually a punching bag). When she wasn't there, she was picking fun at Timid, seeing how long it would take her to make the emotion cry. The longest Timid had lasted was a whopping three minutes and forty-two seconds (usually all it would take was a random comment from her counterpart to send her into a fit of sobs). Happy would be walking around aimlessly, humming some song that Raven had heard on Cyborg's car radio or in the pizza parlor while eating her dinner. Hope was almost impossible to locate, so Raven honestly had no clue as to what the girl was doing. One could only assume she was off in the house somewhere, day dreaming. Curiosity would be in the library, looking through the books that comprised Raven's knowledge and past experiences. Whenever Brave made Timid cry she could be found with Curiosity, sitting on the floor next to her with her head rested on her hip. Curiosity was really the only emotion that would put up with this fragile side of Raven, which was mainly where her motherly side kicked in. Pain was always out and Raven had only ever seen her once or twice that she could remember; she was a recluse and often stayed away from the others at all cost, slinking off into the shadows somewhere in Raven's mind to think masochistic thoughts. Finally, her Father was sealed off in a secret corner of her mind, locked away tightly so that only the barest threads of Hatred could reach Raven at one time. With the other emotions, too large of a disturbance could indeed so awaken that part of her; but at least she could afford to feel little bits and pieces of emotion without releasing her Father. Anger was the emotion she had to really watch out for, had to keep in check – showing even just a small amount could have devastating results.

Today, however, every emotion (save for her father's emotion, Anger) was gathered outside the house, each taking turns talking to this new emotion that had appeared. Raven sent Timid over to Curiosity, and the girl obeyed and hovered by the motherly figure, watching the others in silence. Happy was in the middle of asking the peach-clad addition to the family what her purpose was when Raven stepped up. Immediately every other emotion fell silent and stepped away, giving their hostess a chance to speak to Peach one on one. They all watched eagerly, wanting to see how this new entity would be handled. Raven looked her up and down slowly, assessing the situation and taking in her appearance. She was lying on her side on the porch to the house, propped up on her hip with her back curved suggestively so that her curvy rear end stuck out behind her and her breasts were pressed forward (was that MAKEUP she was wearing?). She was lying on her cape rather than wearing it, and Raven could see the shape of her own body before her, something she had never bothered to take notice of before. Did she really look that... attractive?

"So which emotion do you portray?" Raven asked her, blunt and to the point. This girl (woman?) before her laughed softly, a smooth and sultry noise that made Raven blush softly for reasons she was unsure of.

"Why Raven, I'm shocked you have to ask... especially with your little display with Beast Boy up on the roof this morning..." The blush increased and Raven narrowed her eyes.

"That doesn't answer my question," she replied sharply. Peach rolled her eyes softly and sat up, brushing a strand of her hair from her face. She sat cross-legged before the others, a mischievous smile turning up the corners of her lips.

"I am Love," she replied simply, laughing as Raven's eyes widened and her jaw dropped, "oh come now Raven, don't look so surprised... you knew I'd come along eventually. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't come along sooner... and you can deny it all you'd like, but you know how you feel for Garfield, deep down inside... I wouldn't be here if you weren't feeling SOMETHING for him. Of course, I've been here since the moment you first joined the team, since the moment you laid eyes on him. I simply lied dormant until the time was right for you to fess up to me. So here I am!" As Love had spoke Raven's blush had taken over her entire face and neck and she now stood at a loss for words, something completely new for her. After a moment she coughed a bit and regained her thoughts.

"Ok... so putting my... my feelings... for Beast Boy aside for the moment... how will your appearance affect Father? Even if you're here, you must know by now that I'll have to repress you... I can't afford to show you, no matter how much I want to..." Love gave another smile and slid off the porch, moving over to Raven until they were face to face.

"I am the final core emotion, Raven... and now that you have obtained all of us, your father will start to stir... his power grows stronger with every emotion you gain, I'm sure you've noticed that by now. Soon will come a time when he will awaken and you will be unable to seal him away again." Raven's eyes widened in horror at Love's words and around her the other emotions started to talk amongst themselves softly. Timid starting crying, Brave snapped at her to shut her mouth, Curiosity scolded Brave, Gross grunted something under her breath that no one caught, and the others all muttered softly to each other.

"But... if Father awakens, the world will be destroyed! I've worked so hard to keep him in check, are you telling me it was all for nothing?!" she screamed. All talking stopped immediately as seven pairs of shocked eyes turned to look at their hostess. Raven rarely showed anything other than apathy, so for her to have an outburst like that was extremely rare and almost always meant that something was very, very wrong. Love simply smiled softly and reached out to place a hand on Raven's shoulder.

"I wasn't finished..." she whispered softly, "when he awakens, you will have to fight him. If you are victorious in bringing him down, your Anger side will be separated from the essence of your Father. He will be banished from you and your emotions will combine... making you a full person. You will be able to feel everything without suffering the consequences of your Father's awakening; granted that some things will still blow up if you show too much feeling, but that is a cause of the different spiritual boundaries of this world in comparison to Azerath."

By the time she was done speaking, every emotion in her body was talking loudly and rapidly. Combination?! That would mean they would see the world! They would be Raven, and Raven would be them... it would be what every emotion had secretly hoped for, but only Timid had expressed. Raven gulped, feeling a strange mix of excitement and fear welling up in her chest. To be whole, to FEEL things, like a normal person... to finally be free of her father and the constant barriers she had to put up. It was... the most wonderful thought in the world. Hope lifted her head and smiled softly, and Happy did a dance of glee. Timid, who would usually be automatically looking at the pessimistic side of this equation, didn't have much to say about it at this moment.

"But... he was so hard to beat... how can I defeat him again? Last time I had Beast Boy and Cyborg to help me out..." she replied softly. Love smiled.

"Garfield will be here... and you have me now as well. Some say that Hope and Love are the two strongest emotions... and with both of us here, combined with all the other emotion and Garfield to support you, I have no doubts that we can overcome this. After all, Father is just a part of you; a part of you that we will defeat." Raven nodded and opened her mouth to ask one more question, but was interrupted by the feeling of the ground beneath her shaking. She gasped and struggled to keep her footing, looking up at Love.

"It has started..." the peach-clad girl whispered, removing her hand from Raven's shoulder. "He will come soon... now is the time, more than ever, that you will need to keep your anger in check; keep all of us in check, for that matter. When the time is right, Father will awaken, but you have to make sure you don't do anything to speed up that process. Until he arrives, as much as I hate to say it, you can't feel ANYTHING... absolutely NOTHING."

"So... it's going to get worse before it gets better?" Raven asked, sighing softly. Love nodded.

"Unfortunately, yes... ironic how before you can feel everything, you must feel nothing..." Raven nodded, then turned to the others.

"I'm going to have to stop coming to see you all... just for a little while, just until Father awakens... I suggest everyone prepare for the battle ahead of us until then..." The others nodded softly and Raven sighed. A moment later she heard the Teen Titans alarm go off through her mind, and the clasp on her cloak started to blink. She looked at the others, who stared back at her solemnly.

"... see you on the battlefield..." she whispered, giving them a soft smile before she turned, and exited her mind through the forbidden door. A moment later she appeared in her bedroom. She tucked the mirror away in her dresser, spared it one soft smile, and then rushed downstairs to join the others.

TBC