So I know I'm working on Glass right now but there was this idea and alena-chan gave me the thumbs up. Thank you alena, dear.
Anyways I'll take this down though if you all think I'd be better off just focusing on 'Glass' since I'm kind of shaky on this one as it is.
Let me know what you think.
If I owned Teen Titans, I'd hand writing rights to the likes of: The Writer you Fools, castle in the air, Cherry Jade, and alena-chan
That said, I don't own it...them...and so on. So without further ado, here's:
Hush
Chapter One
It was a simple curse, a hex even, and she supposed she should have seen it coming.
Should have, her mind spat in irritation and something exploded in the background. This was abruptly followed by a shared wail from a bionic man and a green changeling, each holding two halves of controllers in their hands, but she didn't care at the present. Oh no. She had bigger problems.
"Dude, she totally fried the—"
"—game station!"
"And the—"
"—controllers!"
"Friend Raven is, how you would say, low in the landfill?"
"Down in the dumps, Star."
"Oh, yes."
Raven was vaguely aware of the chatter but did not deign to take part in it, for whatever amount it concerned her...not that she had a choice.
Choice?
Ha.
Her eyes narrowed. Another explosion and two more conjoined wails.
That made it the game station, the controllers, and the television.
Next, the toaster...did they have a toaster? Well, if they did, it was definitely next...or maybe the whole tower.
She was in a rather foul mood; anything was possible.
"Rae, calm down," Cyborg begged. He was unplugging the toaster.
"Um, yes, we can...partake in the act of uncomfortable silence if that will be of help?" Starfire suggested and Raven sighed, deflating somewhat at the Tameranian's genuine—if misunderstanding—attempt to soothe her. It wasn't her fault after all; it wasn't any of their faults actually. She shook her head at the Tameranian and made a waving gesture before exiting the common room with an ominous sweep of her cloak as the doors closed behind her.
"...geez," Beast Boy said and kicked at the floor.
"It must be hard for her," the leader of their group finally spoke as he entered the room. "She can't talk to any of us after all; I'm not even able to communicate with her through our bond...which is weird," he added with a perplexed frown of someone unused to being mystified. Starfire winced slightly at the mention of the bond but none noticed. It was just as well. She'd always been a tad jealous of that 'thing' between the two resident birds and she did not like to think that she was glad that friend Robin could not talk secretly, internally, to friend Raven; but she was. Upset with herself, she did not notice the way Robin turned to her now, curious. "Star?"
"...oh, what?" She glanced up, caught unawares.
"You alright?" Star forced a weak smile; it wasn't her leader's fault that his supportive grin could charm the birds—one particular bird, her mind poked at her but she ignored it.
"Yes friend Robin," she nodded. "I was merely misplaced in my thinking," she explained simply and he gave her a terribly chaste kiss before going exactly where Star knew he would go: out of the common room and in the general direction of Raven's room, the other resident bird.
She sighed but did not follow.
Some things even she knew were not for messing with. And besides, Robin was her boyfriend so she had little to worry about, right? So maybe Raven was Robin's best friend, maybe they had some deeper history, but this in light of her own relationship with the leader of the titans was not so bad for the Tameranian.
For surely Robin loved her, Starfire told herself with a nod, but she wrung her hands as one might do when worried about something they could no more understand than avoid.
-------------------------------------------------------------
The boy wonder paused outside the empath's door.
Here there were choices. He could knock, probably rendering no answer, but it was the most polite way to go about it. He could unlock the door with the code and just let himself in, probably gaining him a dislodged shoulder when she would send him reeling back against the wall, but it was a sure-fire way to get in. And then of course he could call out to her, probably also rendering no answers—for several reasons now—but it was probably the best way to do it.
"Raven? Raven, I know you're in there," he said.
On the other side of the door said Raven rolled her eyes as if to say: like anyone else is ever in here, boy blunder. But she didn't say it of course.
She couldn't.
Damn it! She seethed.
Robin jumped as he heard what must have been a minor explosion. Recovering quickly, he forewent courtesy and punched in the code, entering the room hurriedly. What he saw wasn't entirely unexpected but somehow he couldn't get used to the image of a perturbed sorceress standing next to a large charred space against one of her walls.
"You can sleep on the couch for now," Robin offered. She glared. He, being wiser than some gave him credit for, took a subtle and strategical step backward. Just one, but one was enough. Raven noticed and arched a brow as if to say: scared, oh great leader? It was well that he could read her expression when she chose to have one because at the moment they couldn't communicate through their minds. He shook his head. "Raven, come on, we're going to find out how to reverse this or fix it, whatever," he gestured with his hand and when she tilted her head to one side in exasperation, he moved much closer to her. Her lips were set in a firm line that Robin correctly guessed she would normally be doing to keep from irritably shouting at him. "Calm down, Rae; the tower's probably going to be next and then we'll all be sleeping on couches...in five different places," he said wryly. She rolled her eyes again and they glowed as she levitated a piece of chalk and wrote on the floor:
But Robin, how? We don't even have the book anymore; it was incinerated with that godforsaken curse it...cursed ME—here she took the time to circle the 'ME' with several angry loops before continuing on—with and we don't even know where it came from! And no one can understand me and I sure as Hell won't be running around here with a piece of chalk behind my ear to be able to tell Beast Boy and Cyborg to SHUT UP when I could just shut them up by dropping furniture on them but that aside, Robin, how can I communicate with you when we go on missions or—.
The chalk snapped as Robin snatched it off the floor and broke it between his index finger and his thumb, a mixture of sympathy and amusement on his face. Raven scowled; why had he interrupted her rant? She had a right. And it wasn't like he actually had to listen to her anyway.
"We'll find a way, alright?" he asked, turning her to face him, hand against her cheek and Raven was too steamed and too exasperated to note the gentleness with which he did so. She was entirely focused on her unpleasant predicament and at his attempt to reassure her she felt more skepticism than hope but yielded. The boy blunder's relentless optimism had saved them all more than once; if he said they would, probably, they would.
Still...
You better, her eyes challenged him with a slight degree of amusement and he laughed, absently running his fingers in a quick but gentle caress against her face before exiting her room with an almost conspiratorial wink. Oddly enough, he did not mean to flirt with the resident magic-user. Odder still, she didn't seem to notice that he did anyway.
That was not to last, of course, but at the moment Robin himself was blissfully unaware of his unconscious actions and Raven was equally--if less blissfully--unaware as well.
Especially at the present. At the present her foremost thought was of...well, two things: 1) calling up the spirit of whatever debased creature had left that curse just laying in that old book, ready to jump out at the first person who opened it--Raven in this case--and do said spirit some severe damage in whatever way she possibly could; and 2) figuring out exactly how to say things she needed to say until she was cured.
Raven drummed her fingers on the wall absently. This could get to be problematic, she mused. She certainly wasn't, as noted before, going to write all her opinions down; she didn't have the patience. But who could understand her? Sure Robin had a bit of a knack for reading her but even he had his blind spots. At this thought she laughed but it died quickly as she realized she felt the bubbling feeling of laughter but could not hear it. Again she frowned.
And what was that? Smoke? Then she remembered and turned around.
She eyed the place where her bed—now a pile of ash and soot—once was and exhaled roughly. The couch was not comfortable at all if she remembered correctly. On top of that, who knew how long it would take to get another bed?
I need some air, she decided.
She thought about the roof but she usually went there and often someone—a certain boy wonder to be exact—would join her and she wasn't in the mood for anymore one-sided or interpretive conversations. So thinking, she rubbed her temples none too lightly and fazed through the floor and the rest of the tower to reappear out on the shore. Just as she appeared though so did another form, but this one came out of the water and at first, Raven fell back into a defensive posture. She could not see who it was; the sun backlit the character into a shadowed silhouette.
"Raven," the figure greeted and she relaxed as she recognized the voice. She waved at the Atlantian who arched a brow in question; waving wasn't the kind of thing the sarcastic empath was known for; it was a little too friendly--even with the contradictory look of pure misery on her pretty features. When she didn't say anything, he moved a little closer to continue the conversation—or attempted one anyway. "How's life with the Titans?" he asked.
No answer.
He crossed his arms; was she in that bad of a mood already? It was hardly noon.
"Are you," he paused, uncertain but unable to think of another reason, "angry with me?" Here she finally gave a reaction: a roll of her eyes as she thought: no, idiot, of course not. To Raven's surprise he then said, "Glad to know you think I'm an idiot and how could I have known you weren't angry with me? You weren't speaking" Aside from being mortified by his telepathy, Raven felt decently chastened as well. Of course he couldn't have known.
Sorry Aqualad, it's some kind of ancient curse or hex; whatever it is, I can't speak, she explained dully.
"I can't imagine Beast Boy's too upset about that," the Atlantian grinned and Raven scowled but there was a smile in her eyes, for this was true. She at least could not directly injure anyone at the moment with her usual verbal barbs. Shrugging, she sighed but it was only the motion of mouth opening slightly and closing, for there was of course no sound.
It's nice you stopped by. It's terrible not being able to say anything, she admitted and Aqualad tilted his head to one side thoughtfully.
"I came to just say hello, but I could stay a while if it would be helpful," he offered at last and it was Raven's turn to look perplexed.
You don't have to do that, she answered and the handsome black-haired youth gave a short laugh.
"I've nothing pressing that needs to be done and..." he trailed off as though unsure of his next words, weighting the pros and cons before he finished, "...and also I would like to." It was vague and skirting his real reason which was closer to the tune of 'I would like to because it's you' but it seemed to do the job as Raven nodded in response.
Well, thank you, she said—or rather, thought—and there they stood, gazing levelly at each other for a while before she asked: want to come in? He nodded and began to follow her but stopped before the entrance and Raven turned with a quizzical expression.
"I am not intruding?" he inquired suddenly and Raven considered it as only Raven might: with pure logic.
I do not think they will mind; Robin thinks well of you since the incidents with Trident and so on, she replied as she grabbed his hand—to Aqualad's secret pleasure and out of her own combination of gratitude and impatience—and together they entered the tower.
The amethyst-eyed sorceress didn't know how wrong she really was.
Shorter than usual chapters but like I said, not even sure how I feel about continuing this one. I'm asking for honest opinions here; if it's something to scrap I won't be offended if you tell me so since I myself teeter between thinking it is and isn't. The only thing you have to include though if you think I should take it down is why.
Of course, if you like it, let me know that too haha. I'm not ASKING for reasons to take it down, I just want to know what people really think. That's all I'm encouraging here.
Yay or nay?
-Rei
Ouch that all rhymes. I should get a legal name change.