Chapter 2
"I mean it should have been obvious."
"Suicide was against his faith, and the laws set forth by the council."
"Exactly, it's amazing that nobody manages to catch on with all those hints they drop."
"That's foreshadowing Beast Boy."
"It is?"
Raven scoffed, and shook her head. "Don't try to be funny."
He stepped in front of her, and made a gun shape with his hands. "Who's trying? I am funny!"
Raven stopped in her tracks, and cocked her head in a cynical tilt. "Right. You're so hilarious."
Using his thumbs, Beast Boy pretended to shoot his gun hands; all the while making an annoying clicking sound with his mouth. "You know it!"
She made a sigh of distress, and opened her door. Just before she had fully gone inside, she paused, then turned around to face Beast Boy.
"I'm glad that you enjoyed the book." She was ready to shut the door when Beast Boy held it open.
"Wait a minute." He reached behind him, and held out her book. "Thanks for letting me borrow it. I really liked it."
Raven looked at Beast Boy for a moment, then to the book, and did the process again. She finally took it from him, and nodded. "You're welcome."
And she shut the door.
(Later.)
"Hm-h-h-hmmm-mm-hm-hmm-hmm…hmmm…hmm…hm…huh?"
The confused Tameranean stopped floating about the tower, something catching her eye.
That 'something' being a strange glass contraption on Beast Boys head. "Beast Boy?" He turned to her, the curve of the glass enlarging his eyes to frightening size, causing her to yelp. "EEP! Uh…Beast Boy?"
"Yeah?" His voice was louder and deeper due to the large glass contraption.
"Please, what is this…object you are wearing," Starfire questioned, walking up to him and knocking on the glass.
Beast Boy crossed his arms in a disgruntled manner. "I didn't mean to put it on! I was in my room, and I changed into a fish and I jumped into my fish bowl. Suddenly, I hear this weird noise in Ravens room, so I freaked out and changed back on accident. And…" Beast Boy began yanking on the bowl. "Now…" He pulled harder. "I…can't…" His face started to turn red from the lack of oxygen, even though he continued to try to talk. "GET IT OFF!" He turned blue, and fell back, his tongue sticking out of his mouth, and his eyes in the shape of X's.
Utilizing her super strength, but only a little bit, Starfire bent down, and knocked on the glass again, breaking it instantly, and she delicately removed all the large glass shards off his face. "Why did you change to a fish Beast Boy? And what was the noise you heard that panicked you so?"
He gasped, and sat up instantly. "I just changed to a fish because I felt like it…I don't know what that noise was though. I was actually going to go to Ravens room to ask."
Starfire held out her hand, and pulled Beast Boy up, all the while glancing at Ravens door. "Well then, shall we enter Ravens room to discover what has caused the noise?"
Beast boy inquisitively looked towards Ravens door. "Let's."
(In Ravens Room.)
Raven had her eyes closed too tight, her clothes were too tight today, she felt heavier, and she was irritated beyond belief. So then why was she trying so hard to meditate? Sighing, she dropped from her levitated state, but didn't move other than grabbing her ankles. If there was one thing that she could hate about herself, it was the thing all females went through: her friend. She grumbled at the idea. Raven knew that everyone hated it, but she had it worse than anyone.
During her cycle, she was particularly vulnerable to emotion, as was everyone else. But not everybody else had dangerous powers that could destroy anything and everything like she did. She'd already knocked one of her favorite wooden raven dolls to the floor. And on top of that, the normal symptoms that came with it weren't exactly enjoyable either. Taking a deep breath, Raven tried reason. "Just remember, it'll all be over in the next few days. Just…relax…focus…"
She tried to calm down to the point where she could meditate. Just as she opened her mouth to start chanting, there was a pounding on her door. "RAVEN! RAVEN OPEN UP!"
Struck off-balance by the loud noise, she fell back, her head on the floor while her back rested against the air with her legs swung in the air. She growled out her anger, flipped around, and sped towards her door, and despite her anger, she only opened it a crack. "What!?"
At her angered tone, Starfire and Beast Boy jumped a little, but Beast Boy scratched the back of his head, his nervousness apparent. "Um…we were just wondering what the noise was all about."
Raven looked back into her room, finding nothing that could make noise…until she noticed the doll on the floor. "Something just fell off the shelf. No big deal." And with that, she attempted to shut her door until Starfire stopped her.
"But…Raven, it was unusually loud, and you have a carpet floor, yes?"
"Yes."
Beast Boy looked confused, an eyebrow raised, the orbs underneath wide and wondering. "So…how come it was so loud?"
Raven eyed Beast Boy. His face was adorable when he got confused…WHERE DID THAT COME FROM!?
A flush came over her cheeks, and she used her one free hand to cover her face by closing both sides of her hood together. "It was wood and it's not hallowed. That's it." And she slammed the door in their faces.
As soon as her door lock clicked, Raven flipped around, her back to the door, and she cupped her cheeks. She hadn't felt those feelings about her friends…in fact, there was only one person who really managed to stir her romantic interests…and he turned out to be evil.
She knew her friends better than that…they would never betray her should she try…WAIT A MINUTE! She wasn't thinking of ANYONE romantically. It was just that for a moment she found Beast Boy attractive. It was probably nothing more than her raging hormones. Taking a deep breath again, Raven stalked over to her bed, and sat cross-legged, attempting to meditate again.
But this time, it wasn't her friend that was stopping her…
(Living Room.)
Beast Boy smiled as he chatted with Starfire. She was so naïve, yet so wise in some ways, it was really refreshing to talk with her. He was about to respond her to question of what a 'magic marker' was, when the alert went off on his belt, and her wrists. They looked up to see the monitor flashing a red signal near the park of the Jump City map.
Rushing forward, they eyed Robin, typing commands into the keyboard. "I'm going to try to find a more narrowed down location."
Pressing the enter key twice, the map zoomed into the red dot on the map, until it showed the exact latitude, longitude, temperature, and wind-speed of the criminals location. Also listed, the crime they committed. "Whoa! Dude, since when can this thing do that?"
Cyborg's eyes didn't leave the screen as he talked to Beast Boy. "I created a software update for the Teen Titan's main-frame. Working like a charm wouldn't you say?" His voice reeked with pride as he finally turned to Beast Boy.
Still watching the computer display, Beast Boy replied, dumbfounded. "Uh…yeah."
"What's going on?"
They turned to face Raven as she finally entered the room.
"A thief in the park. Stolen is…" Robin typed in some more commands, and continued. "A pearl necklace, a diamond watch, a pair of solid gold earrings, a chrome jeweled broach, and an onyx bracelet. The report says everything's been stolen from the Jewelry store on 55th."
Starfire gasped, and pointed angrily at the screen. "This villain must be stopped! Julia's Jewelry is the finest jewelry store in this city!" As Starfire spoke of the store, she pictured herself, decked out in large pearls, a beautiful dress, with lovely hair, and---
"And you know this becaaause?" Raven questioned, much in the same way she questioned Soto's dog as to why he would not speak to them when they first encountered each other.
Starfire blushed, and embarrassingly rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, I had sometimes observed the 'Home Shopping Network,' and I noticed these tiny words at the bottom. They said 'Available by your local jewelers,' so I---"
"We'll discuss that later. Titans, MOVE OUT!" The leader commanded, and just like that, everyone had exited. Cyborg to the T-car; Raven, Beast Boy, (now a hawk,) and Starfire to the flight exit on the roof; and Robin to the R-cycle.
Once they all rendezvoused at the park, they split up in search of the thief. They caught occasional glimpses of a gaudy pink and orange, and they each tried to track it down. Beast Boy and Cyborg tried to follow it to a tree, not noticing each other until they bumped into each other on the other side.
"Ow! What the heck is your head made of BB?" Cyborg said, painfully rubbing his head.
Beast Boy wrinkled his nose at Cyborg, and got up, changing into a wolf. Sniffing the air, Beast Boy tracked the ground, and catching onto a scent, he howled loudly, then ran in the direction that his nose led.
Ten minutes later, everyone heard another howl, this time signaling that Beast Boy had found the culprit. They hurried in the direction of the howling, leading everyone to a fence that someone in a pink dress was trying to climb over. Each effort unsuccessful due to the fact that Beast Boy was yanking on the hem of her dress, trying to pull her back down; growling viciously with each yank.
"Good work Beast Boy!" Robin said, and used his Birdarang. It wrapped around the pink dress, causing it to fall to the grass.
Cautiously, everyone surrounded the dress, and looked down to see a lovely young woman with a short-skirted long-sleeved pink dress and bright orange hair. She was a little paler than Robin, about as tall as Cyborg, with Raven's haircut, Starfire's facial structure, and as her eyes snapped open, they discovered she had Beast Boy's eyes. (A/N: Healthy mix don't you think? :D) She groaned a little, then raised herself to her elbows, and rubbed her head. "Oh man! I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry. I've never robbed before. Here," she held out her hand, all of the stolen items resting on her palm, or dangling on her fingers. "These are the things I stole. I'm very sorry."
Quite recklessly, Raven bent down to retrieve the jewels, and paused when the thief closed her hand around the items. "Psyche!"
Suddenly, a raging fist of fire hurtled at Raven's face, and her head falling out of the way in the nick of time. The figure kicked Robin in the chin, and back-flipped to a stand. Her hands at her hips, she put the jewels in a pouch tied to her hip. "So, the Teen Titan's actually think they can beat the Demon Diva?"
"Certainly at names," Raven responded, her hands glowing in black aura.
Robin already had three Freeze Disc's clutched between his fingers, so he tossed them towards the self-titled 'Demon Diva.' Unfortunately, her hand struck out and burned them in mid-air, the ashes sprinkling the grass like confetti.
Cyborg shot his sonic cannon, hitting the Demon Diva right on the side. She screamed and fell, but quickly jumped up before Starfire's hurling star-bolts could attack.
Starfire grunted, and did a nose-dive towards the Demon Diva, who was busy trying to fight off a pesky cat that was circling her too rapidly for her to catch.
Demon Diva was suddenly eating dirt, her face deep in the earth. She spit it out, and tried to stand, but Starfire's boot was on her back. "Please, I do not wish to hurt you more. Surrender now!"
Snickering, the villain beneath her put her hand behind her back, and her hand suddenly shot fire at Starfire, shooting her into the air. Taking advantage, Demon Diva stood, and smirked. "You think you can beat the power of fire?" Spreading her hands up in the air, she began to form a flame force-field.
Thinking quickly, Raven looked around for a fire hydrant. Upon seeing one, she turned to get someone to help her. Cyborg and Robin were on their way to help raise Starfire.
Beast Boy thankfully didn't appear occupied. "Beast Boy! Come here, I've got an idea." The changeling ran over while Raven chanted. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
Becoming one with the hydrant, Raven broke the top, and watched as the water spurted high into the air, celebrating the release of pressure. She turned to tell Beast Boy what her idea was, but, always the quick thinker, Beast Boy had already shifted into an elephant, and was using his trunk to suck up water from the side of the spouting hydrant.
Raven turned to the Demon Diva, noticing that the force field she was building was almost complete. Gasping, Raven shot out her hands, and the black aura surrounding them shot to the field that Demon Diva was trying to build. She tried to use her powers to pull down the field, while the Diva was attempting to raise it, her eyes glowing bright yellow.
For someone who had terrible problems coming up with names, Demon Diva was actually quite powerful with her control of the fire. "Anytime today Beast Boy!"
Charging forward, the elephant Beast Boy had morphed into was shooting a massive amount of water from his trunk, aiming it directly at Demon Diva.
"Ahhhhh-a!" She was suddenly jerked out of her own force-field, the tremendous force of the water knocking her to the ground...and her force field in Raven's direction.
Much as in a game of tug-of-war, whenever two telekinetically gifted forms tried to pull something to themselves, force was applied to the 'something' in question. Whenever one of the forms suddenly let go, the one who hadn't let go would fall back, weak from the use of excessive force. And the 'something' would follow in the same direction.
Raven's eyes widened from her spot on the ground as the field of her energy and Demon Diva's mercilessly rolled to her. Whatever got in its way, it plowed through. Trembling in fear, she braced for impact, closing her eyes and trying to shield herself with her cape.
Two muscular, and large hands picked her up, and Raven felt herself rolling away from the path of the energy ball, causing her hood to fall back. She cringed as she rolled over some pebbles and twigs, one of them catching on her leotard and ripping it until it pierced the skin. She groaned a little bit, so the figure covered her in its arms, defending her against some of the sticks and pebbles.
But she still clutched the protective figure, which suddenly felt a lot smaller than the originally large hands had implicated it to be. Once the path they were rolling in was obstructed by a large stone, the figure sat up.
Raven opened her eyes, and looked up, the sun glaring directly in her face. She squinted, and shielded her eyes by putting her hand to her brow.
She gasped at what she saw.
Beast Boy was breathing deeply, his face coated in sweat, making a thin sheen across his face. From this new perspective, she noticed his chest and shoulders expanded to handsome lengths, his deep breathing causing a sexy rise-and fall of his muscles. He was facing away from her, giving her a delicious view of his well-formed face. His hair blew off his face in the wind, and he squinted a second to wipe the sweat from his brow. Once his eyes were fully-opened again, Raven took her time to admire the brave determination in them. He had that look quite often in battle, but never before had it seemed so appealing. All of that combined with his figure being surround by the sun light, made him look so…breathtaking…
Raven continued to eye him, an unfamiliar blush rising to her cheeks. Tilting her head, her eyes filled with the even more foreign glaze of admiration, her mouth agape.
Suddenly, he looked down, and she snapped back into reality, and the unusual position they were laying in. He was sitting on his feet and knees, and his knees were slightly pushing on her waist. One of her hands was still grasping his shirt while her other hand rested on her upper thigh, for Beast Boy already had one of his hands on her lower thigh. His other arm was wrapped around her shoulders.
Taking deep breaths, Raven tried to organize her jumbled thoughts. Once it occurred to her what she had just called her friend, mortification overwhelmed her, along with a bright shade of red that spread everywhere on her face, including her ears and neck.
"Raven? What's wrong? We just kicked Demon what's-her-name's butt!"
His cheerful smile, full of white teeth, lit the breathtaking face.
There it was again!
"Rave? Why are you blushing?"
The fact that he'd noticed, only encouraged the blush to spread to her chest and arms. Raven quickly let go of his shirt, and leapt up, covering her face with her cape again, her eyes peeking over her arm. "Good! You guys can put her in jail; I'm going back to the tower."
His confused face blinked up at her from his place at the grass. 'He's so adorable like that!'
AGAIN!!!
Infuriated, and feeling the blush spread to her stomach and hands, Raven twirled away, and was about to fly off, when the stone tripped her, making her fall flat on her face.
"Whoa! Raven, are you okay?"
"Mmm foyine." Raven muttered, her face mashed to the rocks. After she rose, and dusted herself off, Raven began her flight back to the tower.
Once she made it, she hung her filthy cape on a rack inside her room, selected a book from her shelf, picked out a random page, and plopped down on her bed to read it. At the second sentence, Raven finally acknowledged that the blush was still there, and was now reddening every bit of her body.