Part 25
There was something I had always done wrong when choosing an apprentice.
I made the critical error of trying to mold them after myself.
When in fact they should be a totally new creation.
A new being that their old powers could never allow them to be.
And yet – they should need me, or else they would be destroyed.
And not by me but by my enemies – the horrible team I wish to get rid of.
I figured all this out…
When I was in purgatory.
When I gained my life back – due to my incredible intelligence -I knew….
I knew I needed someone to do my dirty work; there was no reason to risk my life twice.
My apprentice will know no mercy.
They will only know of destruction.
They will only know pain.
Yet – They must be powerful!
They must be easy to mold.
Easy to manipulate, and they need to be eager for my leadership.
They must need me, or I must trick them into thinking they need me.
There will be no distrust.
There will be no corruption.
Just destruction.
He will be just another weapon
In my arsenal.
--
"Don't say that," She pleaded. "I'm sorry, I just I just got scared, can't you understand that?" Raven almost knelt looking up at Beast Boy's eyes her body nearly toppling over herself.
He took a long paused and looked up in the air, then he turned back to face her, "You remember the Wizard of Oz?"
She looked dumbfounded at him for a few moments, "Y… ye…yes," She stuttered. Of course he's referencing a movie, that's all he does is watch TV; she thought to herself, she wondered why she was suddenly angry.
"Remember what the Wizard said to the Tin Man?" He asked her.
She shook her head.
He sighed, "That having a heart is not practical," He frowned at her, "Do you know why?"
She began getting annoyed, "Why?" She uttered.
"Because it can break."
What he said nearly stopped her breathing. She looked at him, eyes wide. This was coming from a guy who knew a thing or two about heartbreak. Yet, she knew that pain as well. "Listen I know I should not have done what I did, but I apologize! I'm really sorry Garfield; I didn't mean to hurt you. Can't you please forgive me?"
He took a deep breath and a long paused, and then leaned over and gently kissed her on the cheek, "Only if you'll try my tofu eggs," He grinned.
She feigned fear, "Do I have to?"
He bobbed his head up and down several times, excitingly.
--
Beast Boy looked through the refrigerator, "Where are my tofu eggs?"
Cyborg and Jinx lifted their heads up and looked over at Beast Boy and Raven in the kitchen. They were playing video games, "You mean the red and blue carton that was sitting at the bottom of the refrigerator?" Jinx asked.
"Yeah!" Beast Boy shouted.
"Nope haven't seen them," Jinx giggled turning her head to Jinx and then watched him try to suppress his laugh.
"Oh good," Raven beamed for maybe the first time in her life.
"Oh this is so not cool, you were supposed to eat my tofu eggs!" He ran over and plunged into a chair in front of the TV, "Where are my eggs?" He asked looking over at Cyborg and Jinx, they both shrugged at him. "Oh come on Raven has to eat them!" He exclaimed.
Jinx and Cyborg looked over at Raven, "Why would you want to do that?"
"I don't," She rubbed her temples and sighed.
"You don't!" Beast Boy seemed deflated, "Come on Ravie you said you would!"
Jinx looked up at Raven, "Ravie?"
Cyborg burst out laughing. Raven kept rubbing her head, and Beast Boy asked them to stop laughing – with no success.
CT Scan
Raven stopped and looked around, her face becoming paler – if that was possible.
We want that fever to go down
She kept looking around, pivoting back and forth around the room. "Raven?" Beast Boy cocked his head and stared at her.
"She looks as though she ate the eggs," Jinx laughed. Cyborg dropped his controller and held his stomach laughing. "Stop I'm gonna burst!" He yelled.
Beast Boy got up and made his way over to Raven and held her, "Ravie what's wrong?"
She pressed against him and he felt his neck get wet, she was crying. "What's wrong?" He brushed his hand through her hair.
She didn't want him to worry; she didn't want to say that she was having thoughts of him dying, voices ringing through her head. "Nothing is wrong. I just –"
"Raven what's wrong?" Cyborg turned around and placed his controller on the floor.
"I'm just, I'm just dealing with a lot of emotions." She sighed, "I just need some rest and meditation." She made her way down the hallway but Beast Boy stopped her halfway.
"I thought when we were together our emotions stayed in check? I thought that's one of the reasons why you know, we're together and all, because when we're with each other we have better control over how we feel."
"I do but there are also new emotions that I need to get used to and I'm just not at the moment. I wish that when we're together that everything was okay, but that's not the case. I'm not trying to hurt you, it's just that there are some things I need to ponder not about us but just ponder myself." She kissed his cheek gingerly, "I like us, we work well together, somehow, but I just need a little bit of time to come to an understanding of things that are running through my mind, that's all." She laid her hand upon his cheek, "Okay?"
He took her hand, "You still need to eat the eggs."
She gagged, "Don't remind me," And she made her way into her room.
--
"So yes that is how monarchy began," She was sharing information about her home planet with Robin. They were taking a walk – a long walk, back home.
Robin let out a yawn and stopped walking and began to stretch. "There's no place you can't go while walking."
"What about water?" She asked.
Robin pointed to his head, "Then imagine walking over it," He jumped up and continued walking.
"Imagine."
They both turned around to see Speedy standing behind them.
"Speedy," Robin smiled and held out his hand, "It's good to see you."
Speedy took his hand, "Good to see you as well."
"What's this?" Speedy had dropped something into Robin's hand, he opened his fist to see a small round object he then heard a tick, his eyes grew wide and he looked up to Speedy only to see him back flipping away. He turned to see Starfire standing behind him. He dropped the object and pushed her away.
BOOM!
--
Raven rolled her head and calmed her mind. There had to be a reason why she was having these visions. There wasn't any imminent danger. They had fought the HIVE and Brother Blood and they had Jinx – which she wasn't too happy about but she knew Cyborg felt better with her around, so she didn't say anything against Jinx. Maybe that was the reason? Maybe Jinx was the danger, but she hasn't seemed as though she wants to do any harm. It wouldn't make any sense for her to do so.
The second thing was to realize she couldn't trivialize the relationship her and Beast Boy had. It was now something immense something she couldn't kid around about. Something she couldn't lose. They needed each other; somehow in someway they needed each other. At least they did, before these visions.
Was she a threat now being around Beast Boy? No, she'd been wrong about her future once. Visions of her and her friends defeated her father filled her mind. Maybe this was just a manifestation of fear that she had deep inside. She was scared that maybe she'd get hurt again. Maybe she was simply scared of hurting Beast Boy.
She had to take the chance though, she couldn't just be afraid of commitment all her life. What made her so sure that Beast Boy was the one for her? Don't be foolish, she remembered the pain she felt thinking that he was gone, imagining him being the horrible beast, he needed her. She needed to be there for him so that he could be his jovial self. She smiled slightly – eggs, she thought and laughed a little.
--
Beast Boy picked up a controller, "Alright change the options to three players," he sat back into the chair.
Cyborg pressed pause and began changing the options, "So are you and Raven official?"
Beast Boy took a moment, "Yep, I guess we are."
Jinx shook her head, "I never thought this team could be so mushy."
"Hey!" Beast Boy interjected, "We're not that mushy."
Cyborg held his head in his hand, "You and Raven, I would've never thought."
Jinx grinned, "I just cut both of you down!"
Cyborg lifted his head back to the screen, Beast Boy stopped from yelling and looked at the screen too. They had both lost from their lack of attention.
"Two out of three," Cyborg pressed a button to restart the fight.
--
Starfire coughed as she lifted herself out of the rubble that was around her. She shook her head getting the debris out of her hair as she leaned on all fours. She coughed and wiped her mouth with her arm. She tasted blood and looked at her arm to see her bicep lacerated. Once she got her bearings she squinted through the dust, "Robin!" She called out. "Robin!" She looked around, him and Speedy were gone, "ROBIN!" She began to cry as she stumbled onto her feet. She coughed again and inhaled more dust and began coughing, her head began getting light, she reached for her communicator and flipped it open, "Help!" She said in a wispy voice and fell to her knees – coughing.
--
Their communicators all went off at the same time. They opened their communicators up to see a frazzled Starfire asking for help. They all made their way to the computer - Raven running from her room, and they all looked over Cyborg's shoulder as he picked up her signal. Raven, and Beast Boy tried to communicate to Starfire but she didn't answer. Cyborg locked onto the signal, "She's by the pier!"
They were all ready to go when there was a hiccup from the other side of the room: Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy turned towards Jinx who was sitting there.
"Titans go!" Cyborg called. Jinx stood up and stood still for several seconds unsure of what to do, she ended up following them to the T- Car.
--
Robin opened his eyes to see and looked at the cement floor. He lifted himself up to see him in a dark room; he took a few steps and ran into several metal bars. After a minute of investigating he noticed that there was a cement wall behind him and he was surrounded by metal bars on all other sides, easy enough he thought to himself, reaching down to his utility belt to grab an exploding disc. Except his belt wasn't there. He was still in uniform, but his belt was gone, he reached around his arms and noticed that his suit was shredded and he could feel the burn marks on his chest. Thankfully his suit offered himself some defense from immense heat and had some other small armor like features that protected his body – to a degree. He felt around his face and noticed that his mask was gone. He reached behind him – no cape. He sighed and felt drowsy. He leaned down gingerly to the floor and placed his hands down on the cement, he proceeded to lie against it, all he needed was his belt and or his communicator unfortunately neither he had. Why did Speedy give him a bomb? Where was he?
- end of part 25