A/N: Hello ya'll. …Yes, I said "ya'll". I'm back from the dead, ready to "entertain" your mushy little brains!

First off, I would just like to say that some of you may know about what I plan to do at the beginning of this year while some of you may not. I'm going to write a multi-chaptered drama fic and a multi-chaptered horror fic. I was going to "publish" both of them at the same time, but then I thought "Screw this," and decided I would publish this fic first, along with a humor fic, and then release the other when I'm done with this one. This was decided due to the fact that I actually have an estimate on how long this fic is going to be; the other one I do not.

Now that's out of the way, I would like to say that this fic is based mainly on my favorite short story, Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death. It's very good. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you get off your ass and head over to the library. Go wild and treat yourself.

And I think that this Author's Note is now long enough… And so begins a new year.

This fic is dedicated to Keara and Terra. You girls rawk. Hard.

The Red Death had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal --the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious.

"I'M BACK!" called out Beast Boy as he entered the familiar tower. Twice his voice bounced off the metallic walls. Its fun, cheery vibe rang throughout the building.

"COME ON UP, BB!" shouted a voice nine stories above. "YOU KNOW WHERE WE ARE!"

Such an idea for the tower's interior was ingenious. The tower, which stood ten stories tall, was obviously very large; not only in height, but in width as well. One would think that due to the fact that the household was so large, a person nine stories above another would not be able to hear each other speak. Such a thing was not the case. Even though there were indeed nine stories that separated the two people, they could actually hear each other quite clearly, almost as clearly as if they were right next to each other.

Such a feat was accomplished by the metallic walls. Since sound quickly travels through metal, a person in the tower could simply speak a bit louder than usual in order to be heard by another. This proved useful if one of the tower's occupants needed someone or something and didn't have the time or was unable to find them. Also, since the tower was so huge, it was always possible that finding somebody would take a long time. Of course, some rooms would need privacy, such as bedrooms. In these instances, thick soundproof pads were aligned along the bottoms of the walls in these rooms. Even though they blocked a great amount of sound, a person could still be heard if he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Beast Boy grinned; he indeed knew where his friends were.

Clutching tightly to the brown bag he was carrying, the young changeling walked briskly towards the elevators. It seemed to be getting heavier and heavier all the time… It was a good thing that the elevators were so close to the main entrance.

Still clinging tightly to the bag, Beast Boy struggled to lift his right leg off the ground. His goal, of course, was to try to touch the "up" button with his foot. He succeeded in pressing a button, but not the one he desired. He instead accidentally pressed the button that would go down into the basement, where he and his friends stored things that wouldn't fit in their rooms or no longer had use for.

"Aw man…" he said to himself, solemnly. He could, of course, try to press the "up" button again, but it was much trickier than the other… Chances are he would hit the wrong button once again. He then considered pressing the right button with one of his elbows, but before he could carry out his plan, the elevator door began to open, revealing a girl wearing a blue cloak with skin so pale you could immediately tell that she hardly went outside.

"Going down?" asked Raven monotonously.

"Up," replied Beast Boy.

Raven stuck her head out of the elevator and looked at the two buttons.

"Evidently you're going down. Either that or you've gone blind." She pulled her head back into the elevator. "You might as well come on in… I'm going up after a trip to the basement. I don't plan to live down there, after all."

Beast Boy quickly did as his friend suggested. The bag was getting too heavy to bear much longer.

After leaning against the back wall, the elevator doors closed.

"You got everything?" asked Raven, eyeing the brown bag as the elevator began to descend.

"Yep!" said Beast Boy, grinning. "Everything we need for a five hour marathon of classic TV!"

"What are we watching again?"

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

"Who's in it?"

"Well… Mary Tyler Moore… and a few other people. Haven't you ever heard of it?"

"Not much of a TV person," muttered the girl. "That includes retro television."

"You're just too out of the norm," said the changeling, grinning.

"I would have to say you are as well."

Before Beast Boy could say anything, the elevator doors opened, revealing the dimly lit basement. Raven immediately left her friend, allowing him to stew in his own muck.

"Wait up!" he finally shouted, following his friend. When he caught up to her, he merely looked around and asked, "So what are you doing down here?"

"Getting something."

"Wha… Oooh…"

Beast Boy had seen what Raven had come down to get. A giant, ebony grandfather clock was leaning against the back wall of the basement.

"What is it?"

"It's an atom bomb," replied Raven, no hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Don't tell anyone, though. I'm hiding it here for the…"

"Shut up," said Beast Boy, eyeing his friend.

"Goodness. Sorry."

Beast Boy looked back at the large clock, taking in every feature. A large pendulum stood behind a glass case. Two very thin hands indicated the hour and minute; they reminded him significantly of Big Ben in England.

"So…" he began, not able to think of anything to discuss. "Where'd you get it?"

"It was a hereditary gift from my grandmother; my mother's mother," replied Raven. "She left it in her will for me. I've had it in here for a while… It was too large for anything and it's very old. See how everything's broken in some way?"

Beast Boy hadn't noticed it before, but she was right. The pendulum was dark with dust and seemed to be disconnected, while the glass case it stood behind was cracked in several places. A gear that held the two hands seemed to be worn, probably from continuous use.

"It's very pretty," said Beast Boy, nodding approvingly.

Raven merely gave a "Mhmm," and stood in silence for a while. Beast Boy did the same, making sure to take in every detail. Raven finally broke the silence.

"Know what it's supposed to be?"

Beast Boy glanced at the girl, feeling the brown bag begin to slip through his fingers. "Is this a trick question?"

"No."

"Then I'd have to say it looks like a clock."

"Well, yeah, but do you know what the clock is modeled after?"

Beast Boy immediately shook his head.

"In a story by Edgar Allen Poe there's a clock. This clock is just a collector's item that's supposed to be a replica. I, myself, wouldn't really care for such a piece, but it's been passed down in my mother's family ever since the story first got its popularity. I'd like to hold onto it because this is the only one left."

"Really?" asked the changeling. "What happened to the others?"

"They were destroyed by accidents that couldn't have been prevented. Floods, quakes, et cetera. There were only five made, counting this one, so don't be thinking that there were floods and disasters everywhere. And these clocks were apparently in places where such things would happen… Los Angeles, in example, so don't be thinking that their destruction is a freak thing."

Beast Boy, who had seemed to be thinking just that, nodded. "I'm guessing that this would be worth a lot of money right now, then," he said, trying to carry on the conversation. He usually wasn't a fan of antiques, but this piece fascinated him a big deal.

"Yes, but I don't want to sell it. I feel it would dishonor my family… Even if I did, I would have to restore it either way. I don't think it would make much money in the state it's in right now."

As she said this, as if on cue, the broken glass case that had covered the pendulum completely fell apart, leaving the pendulum exposed and vulnerable.

"Well…" said Beast Boy, tightening the grip on his sack and heading towards the elevator. "Good luck with it."

"I'll need it," said Raven, who remained in place.

As the elevator door closed, Raven sighed. Might as well get it up there, she thought. She had spent up to two hours rearranging her room so that her wall would have space for this giant ornament… All she had to do was get it up there, which shouldn't be a problem, and then fix it.

After this thought, a black curtain shrouded the clock and herself, causing them to disappear from the basement. Exactly seven floors and a room to the right above, an identical curtain appeared. As soon as it came it left, leaving the empath and the giant clock behind.

Eyeing the clock, Raven began to leave her room; she would work on it later.