Two things. One, this has fluxuating shipping. Mainly Rob/Star, but that's kinda obvious at this point. Like I said, just cuz Raven and Robin are the main characters doesn't mean I have to ship 'em. Two, I can ship whomever I want. Gimme a break.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story.
Chapter 17
"LOVE?"
The light-pink-clad emotion nodded silently. "Hey there," she said quietly.
Raven's temper flared a bit, and Confusion was forgotten for a moment. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"Trying to help," she muttered.
"Yes, you have certainly done a wonderful job of it so far. How do you plan to rectify something that you instigated?" Intelligence scoffed.
"Yeah, you're the one that started this whole mess!" Bravery shouted, as if she could be intimidating at two feet tall.
"I've half a mind to incinerate her on the spot, were it not for the problem that is posed by my size," Intelligence muttered in her ear.
"I realize that this whole thing is my fault, and now I want to help. In case any of you haven't noticed, we put Robin in serious danger!" Love said.
"Not to mention, we kind of tore Beast Boy's heart apart," said a voice behind Love.
"Who's that?" Happiness asked.
A tiny head poked out from beneath Love's cloak and grinned. "I'm Love!"
"HUH?" all other Ravens present exclaimed simultaneously.
"I believe I understand what is going on here," Intelligence said matter-of-factly.
"Lucky for you. I'm still stuck on the fact that there's a head in Love's cloak," Confusion said.
"It's got a body attached to it, nimrod," Bravery pointed out.
"Please, everyone, let me introduce you to my counterpart, Love," Love said.
"Now I'm really confused, and not just the way I am normally," Confusion said.
"What's going on?" Raven demanded.
Love backed away for a moment, then recovered herself and replied, "You're feelings were divided, and when you felt more towards Robin but still had feelings for Beast Boy, I was divided between the two of them...literally."
Little Love piped up. "I'm the Beast Boy side!"
Raven scowled at this newfound emotion. "Pipe down, Shorty."
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with being...vertically chalenged!" Intelligence whispered tersely in her ear.
Love smiled and gently ruffled her counterpart's hair. "This little Love has kind of grown on me, if you don't mind my saying so, though whenever it comes down to who to like, we're divided. But I wouldn't trade her for the world. It's like having a little sister!" she gushed fondly.
"Okay, the two Loves has been explained, but why did you even bother to show up here?" Raven huffed angrily.
"I wanted to help. Besides, right now I'm probably the strongest emotion here," Love said quietly.
"I will not disagree with that. Despite Happiness' size, she has little influence. Confusion takes too long to decide what to do in a battle, and the rest of us are a bit challenged in the division of size," Intelligence whispered.
"Alright, I'll bite. How do you plan to help?" Raven asked.
"Well, it's going to take a while on your part, and some sacrifice," Love began.
"What are you talking about?" Raven snapped.
"Raven, we have been discussing this for some time. See, in order for you to gain full powers in here, you must go under, fully," Timid spoke up.
"But that's dangerous. If I were to lose in here, I'd be-"
"We know, and that's why we haven't asked you to help yet, but things have gotten worse around here. Haven't you wondered where some of the other emotions have gone?" Bravery said.
"They're captured by Anger! But we don't want to think about that. Not now. I know! Let's play something!" Happiness gushed.
Raven rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips and stopping Happiness by grabbing the back of her cloak and jerking her back. "This is serious. Listen."
"Why do people have to be party poopers?" Happiness pouted.
"I'm not! Why am I trying to tell you? Anyway, Loves, here's the thing. The three of us have enough power to do something, but not win. We need to recruit more emotions. Do you think you guys could handle that while I'm away?" she said quickly.
"I think so," Timid said.
Happiness nodded animatedly. "Of course we can!"
Raven smiled. "Good. I'll be back soon. I just have to go tell the other's what's going on."
When she opened her eyes, she glanced around in dismay at the mess she had created. "No time to clean it up now," she muttered as she rushed out of the room and into the hallway. She was so rushed that she accidentally ran right into Red X!
"What's your hurry?" he asked laughingly as she picked herself gingerly back up.
"I need to call the others to meet together. Tell them to meet in the hospital room so Robin can hear too," she replied, feeling a twinge of sorrow when she spoke the Boy Wonder's name.
"Didn't you two just have a spat?" he asked, a bit confused.
She nodded slightly. "Yes, but this is bigger than that. I need the others to hear what I have to say."
He raised an eyebrow. "That important?" he asked.
She huffed in exasperation. "You're just like him, you know, stubborn...and unmoving...and cocky..." she trailed off, not wanting to think about Robin right now.
"Alright, calm down already! I'll go get Metal Man and the green kid and see what I can do. You go get the alien chick, okay?" Red X said, raising his hands in defense.
"Good," she muttered at his receding figure. She phased through the walls; it was so much more simple that way. She found herself in Starfire's room, but the Tamaranean princess wasn't there. She glanced at the clock. Only three thirty. She should be in bed. Unless she was in the kitchen baking some sort of "get well" treat for Robin. She grinned. Perhaps her revenge could be exacted indirectly just by watching him taste a Tamaranean delicacy... No such luck. The girl was not in the kitchen.
A shadow crossed her eyes as it dawned on her where the alien princess might be. She had to fight down the monster once more as she rushed down the hallways to stop right in front of the hospital door. Sure enough, the door was unlocked, and she thought she heard faint snores...from two people.
She peeked inside. There was her Prince - , no, there was Robin, sleeping peacefully in his bed underneath the white covers. Beside him was the Tamaranean beauty, sleeping with her head extremely close to Robin's and her legs almost dangling off the side. She had apparently fallen asleep while talking to him. Raven noticed with dismay that the Boy Wonder's arm was around Starfire - and both were smiling as they slept.
She couldn't be expected to contain her emotions. Something exploded. Something very close to those two sleeping people. And it fell over right next to their bed, waking the two immediately. Both jerked awake and looked around wildly for whatever had caused the noise. Raven stepped inside, wearing an angry expression.
"Oh, hello Raven," Starfire said, smiling as best she could. "You were the cause of the explosion?"
"Yeah, sorry about that, Star," Raven said through gritted teeth, this time trying extremely hard not to rip the Tamaranean's head off.
"Raven-" Robin began, but was immediately quieted by the look she gave him.
Red X ducked his head inside. "I found the two deep sleepers. Next time, you wake up the-beast-who-snores. It's extremely hard to wake him up. And he talks about the strangest things in his dreams... What's going on here?" he asked when he realized that everyone was giving him a hard glare.
"Nothing," Raven said quickly before either of the other two could speak up.
"Look, Raven, I know you're upset-" Robin started.
"UPSET? You of all people know I'm upset, but I'm trying to control it so I don't blast somebody off the roof again! That's why I'm trying to get everyone together to meet!" she shouted. Another computer shattered, to Cyborg's dismay.
"Raven..." Starfire began soothingly, but she pulled away, pulling her hood up.
"Look, I need to talk to you guys about something," she said finally.
Beast Boy nodded. "We're all ears," he said, grinning. She tried hard not to get mad at him, as he was only trying to be nice.
She blew out her breath. "I don't know where to start. Well, for one thing, in case you guys haven't noticed, my emotions have been on the brink lately-"
"We noticed," Red X said, no doubt grinning broadly behind his mask.
She fixed him with a hard glare. "Anyway, I know what I need to do to fix it, but it will require some sacrifice on my part," she continued.
"Sacrifice? What are you talking about, Raven?" Beast Boy asked, concern in his voice.
She sighed. "Can you let me finish?" she asked, trying to keep the anger out of her voice, but not doing a very good job.
"Sorry," the changeling muttered, backing away.
Sighing, she continued. "Here's what's going on. When I tried to get Doctor Light with my powers, part of my soul was effected by the xinothium."
A collective gasp could be heard from all present. "No way," Cyborg muttered softly.
Raven smiled wryly. "Exactly. It enlarged some of my emotions and shrank others. Love, Anger, Happiness, those were all enlarged. Bravery, Intelligence, they were shrunk. I need to restore balance, but it requires me to go fully into my mind, meaning that if I lose, I don't come out. Ever." She let the statement sink in.
"We're coming with you," Robin demanded.
She shook her head. "You can't. Especially not you; there's no telling how my emotions would react to any of you being present. I need to do this alone to keep from endangering myself further."
Robin consented, though he managed to huff, "I still don't like it."
"That's why I devised a way for you to know whether or not to come after me. Cyborg and I have been working with mechanics for some time, and I had a little help from Intelligence back before she was shrunk in doing this."
Cyborg nodded. "I think I know what you're talking about."
She returned his smile. "Exactly. I devised a scanner that will tell you if my mind's frequencies are being disrupted. In other words," she added before Beast Boy could ask, "it tells you guys whether or not I'm stuck there. If the line goes flat, I'm stuck and, as a last resort, I give you my permission to come help. Beast Boy and Cyborg know the way in. Ask one of them."
When all eyes turned to them, both boys grinned uneasily. "Long story," Cyborg muttered finally.
Raven rolled her eyes, returning to her narrative of the story. "Anyway, I'll be gone for some time. Don't try to wake me. Good luck on your own," she said shortly, turning to leave.
Beast Boy grabbed her arm. "Wait!" he cried.
She turned to him. "What?" she asked.
Green is a weird color when mixed with pink, as she found out when the changeling blushed. "Aren't you going to give us any parting words? In case you never come out?"
She shook her head. "They wouldn't be very nice at this point. Right now I'm pretty much mad at the world."
Beast Boy backed up a bit. "Okay, but can I talk to you then?"
She sighed. "Sure. Whatever."
He pulled her out into the hallway eagerly, closing the door to the hospital room behind him. "Raven, can I talk to you?"
"You already asked me that. That's why I'm standing here," she pointed out.
"Right," he blushed, scratching the back of his head. "I kinda noticed, well, I kinda eavesdropped, and I kinda heard you talking to Robin..."
Her eyes flashed. "What all did you hear?" she snapped.
He backed away futher. "Not much, just enough to figure out that you couldn't decide between me and him, and, well, I was just wondering if you were still having that problem."
She held her anger in as best she could. "Not really. I had decided on Robin, but I guess I was too late to tell him. He had already completely fallen for Starfire," she practically spat the Tamaranean's name.
"So, you don't have any more feelings for me?" he asked, suddenly very sad.
She felt a twinge of sorrow and pity. Darn Little Love was playing with her again. "That's not what I said, Beast Boy-"
"It's what you meant."
There was an akward silence between the two of them as they sat there, both detemined to stare at the floor. Finally, Raven spoke up again, "Look, Beast Boy-"
"It's okay. You don't have to tell me. I just hoped-"
She put a finger to his lips. She couldn't believe she was doing this, but she was. "Shh. Look, just in case you're right and I don't come back out, I want to tell you that there is still room in my heart even after this latest heartache." Before he could say anything more, though, she turned and walked down the hall, leaving a dumbfounded Beast Boy standing with his mouth open.
Then, it occured to him. She could hear his happy cries fading down the hallway as she walked. She grinned. At least somebody was happy.
"There you are. We were starting to wonder where you went!" laughed a voice as soon as she entered Nevermore.
"Hush, Bravery. I'm not fully in yet," she replied through gritted teeth. She could still feel the cold metal on her arms and legs that meant the sensors were ready, and she didn't want to take any chances until she was fully under.
"Okay. Let me go tell the others not to bother you." Actually, the opposite occurred. Upon finding that Raven was on her way under, the other emotions came rushing over to talk.
"Concentrate. Don't let these fools break your concentration," Intelligence warned as she flew up next to Raven's ear.
"Cool it, Smarty. We can talk if we want to," Rude replied.
"Hush! I told you guys she was here so you WOULDN'T bother her," Bravery said, annoyed.
"Maybe if you'd all leave me alone, I could actually get through," Raven said sarcastically.
"Sorry," all the emotions muttered simultaneously.
After several long minutes of silence, Raven's eyes finally opened. Taking a deep breath, she said, "It's done."
The other emotions breathed sighs of both relief and admiration. "We're proud of you," Love said, putting a hand on her should.
She brushed it off. "Yeah, yeah, let's just get everyone back to their normal size before I lose my mind."
"You may not be quite aware how very close you are to doing just that. Anger has been creating chaos in here since you left. But I did notice Little Love grew a bit while you were gone. Perhaps you would like to elaborate?" Intelligence asked slyly.
"Stay out of it," Raven replied darkly.
"We're you're emotions. We can't stay out of it," Rude pointed out.
"Thanks. That cheered me up."
"Let's just get started, alright?" Confusion broke in.
"Bravery, Intelligence? Game plan?" Little Love said, surprising everyone with her sudden change in demeanor.
Not only was he surprised by his talk with Raven, he was amazed that she had believed him. He hadn't really eavesdropped. It had been a shot in the dark, and he had been right. She did have feelings for him!
He was so elated that he hardly noticed where he was going before he bumped into Starfire, who was headed to the hospital. He glanced at the clock. Five o'clock. He'd been jumping around for an hour and a half. What was she doing out this early anyway?
"My apologies, friend Beast Boy. I did not see you," she gushed, extremely happy about something.
"Hey Starfire. Where are you headed?" he asked amiably.
"I am going to the kitchen to bake a cake!" she said happily.
"The kitchen's that way," he pointed out.
She faltered in her smile. "Well, I wanted to stop by and say hello to Robin..." she began.
He held his hands up. "It's okay, Star. I'm in a good mood right now, so you and Robin can sneak out and go cook if you want to, I won't tell anyone."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Raven has done the talking to you?"
He nodded. "We talked enough to tell that she may feel something for me!"
She grinned, giving him a bear hug. "That is wonderful news, Beast Boy!"
"Yeah. Now you go ahead. I promise I won't tell," he said. "Hurry up before I change my mind and come to my senses before Cyborg pounds me."
Starfire hugged him once more. "You are a true friend, Beast Boy!" she gushed before rushing off.
He shook his head. She and Robin were the perfect couple, now that they were finally together. He was happy for them, and excited to have a chance with Raven. He just hoped everything would work out for him as well...