Author's Note: Okay, I have to go soon so I don't have much time. Sorry this took so long, but a scene took longer than I thought. Anyway, here's the story.
Disclaimer I don't own Teen Titans.
Chapter 4
Starfire quickly grabbed Cyborg under the arms and dashed into the air. Dodging Cinderblock's flying fists, she eventually made it over the top of the villain. As quickly as she had arrived, she dropped Cyborg onto Cinderblock's back and left to assist Robin. On her way down, the giant criminal had nearly struck her with his giant fist, but Starfire, in a great display of her extra-human strength, had actually caught the fist with her bare hands and flung it back at him.
Cyborg was pounding on Cinderblock like there was no tomorrow. The villain was trying to swat Cyborg off; however, he was unable to, due to the fact that he couldn't see his backside. So Cyborg continued to concussively pound on his head and back while he flailed around in a vain attempt to defend himself.
Things got even worse for Cinderblock when Starfire arrived back on the ground. She and Robin teamed up and began relentlessly attacking the criminal's lower half, distracting his attention from Cyborg. Robin pulled out his bo staff and began pounding on Cinderblock's left leg, while Starfire readied her starbolts and pelted them at his right. This of course irritated him greatly. He lifted his right leg off the ground and thrust it angrily at Starfire.
"Eeep!" Starfire squealed as she moved out of way. Her surprise quickly turned to fury as she regained her composure and thrust a large bolt of energy at Cinderblock's foot. The giant baddie lifted his wounded foot and began to assuage the injury. Once the pain subsided, he turned his attention to Robin who, unlike Starfire, couldn't bolt into the air and quickly dash away from any attack. Cinderblock raised his foot even higher and prepared to bring it down on Robin. Just in the nick of time, Starfire darted next to Robin and held Cinderblock's foot above them.
She struggled for a moment against the pressure, then with her second display of strength for the day, shoved Cinderblock down the road. He staggered back quite a few steps, but luckily for Cyborg, he didn't actually fall over.
"Whew, that was a close one. Good work Starfire." Robin stated, slightly awed. The entire team knew about Starfire's enormous strength, but it was always quite a sight to Robin when he actually saw Starfire lift something over ten times her size.
"You are most welcome Robin!" she responded elatedly, giving him a punch on the shoulder. A roar from Cinderblock though, brought them out of their conversation and back to the battle before them.
"Come on, we gotta help Cyborg!" Robin yelled as he immediately ran back to the fight. Starfire followed suit, levitating into the air with her eyes and hands glowing green.
Cyborg, like Robin and Starfire, had been making very little progress. To quicken the pace, he decided to up his attack a bit. He transformed his hand into his sonic cannon. Raising his hand above him a bit, Cyborg charged the sonic blast to a setting that would hopefully cause some significant damaged. In a brilliant display of light, he sent the treacherous beam down upon Cinderblock. The villain roared in pain and turned around to thrash whatever enemy had caused it. However, when he turned around, Cyborg was still latched onto his back, so nobody was there.
Starfire took this moment to attack. She sent blazing lasers out of her eyes (missing Cyborg of course). Cinderblock turned to face her again, only to be pummeled all over by large, scorching starbolts. He staggered backwards, bellowing in pain. Cyborg, who had now climbed off Cinderblock's back and was standing on solid ground, fired another blast from his sonic canon. This blow had finally done too much. Cinderblock fell over face-first, shaking the ground on impact.
After a moment, Cinderblock regained his thoughts. Slowly, he craned his neck and lifted his head. For a minute, he surveyed the surrounding scene. It seemed as if there was no one there and his enemies had left. Figuring his opponents were gone, Cinderblock moved as if to get up. All of a sudden, Robin returned from hiding, his bo staff in hand. In one swift movement, he delivered a forceful blow straight to Cinderblocks face. Upon impact, a loud 'pop' sounded throughout the immediate vicinity. Cinderblock was again laying face down, but was now unconscious.
"Are we victorious?" Starfire asked anxiously.
"I…think so. He isn't moving." Robin responded.
"All my scanners are sayin' he's out cold." Cyborg said. Robin exhaled.
"Good. Then let the authorities take it from here. I'm beat. Let's find Beast Boy and Raven and go home." Robin said tiredly.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Cyborg added as they walked off.
After defeating Jinx, Raven had come up with the same plan as Robin: find the others and go home. However, no one else was around. It seemed as if Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire's fight with Cinderblock had drifted down a few blocks. And Azar only knew where Beast Boy was, not that Raven really felt like confronting him at the moment anyway.
All of a sudden, a loud booming sound resounded throughout the area. Immediately, Raven knew there was danger. She quickly ran in the direction it seemed the sound had come from. She turned the corner and her face cringed in horror. There was Beast Boy, standing helplessly on the sidewalk. Above him, stones and debris from the adjacent building were quickly pummeling toward his small body. By now, the rubble was over half the way to him and it was too late; there was nothing Raven could do but watch the last millisecond of Beast Boy's life play out before her shocked, terror-stricken eyes.
Then, as if from nowhere, a giant bubble of black energy appeared over Beast Boy. Some of the wreckage rebounded off the dark force field like bouncy balls, while the rest of it shattered upon impact.
Once the downpour of stones ended, the energy dissipated, leaving just a very flustered Beast Boy standing in the middle of the road. He had been utterly oblivious to the entire situation until now, and simply stood there shocked, looking like…well like he had narrowly missed being hit by a ton of bricks.
Raven was also extremely shocked, possibly more so than Beast Boy (which was saying something). What had just happened? One second, Beast Boy was about to be pummeled to death by thirty times his body weight in concrete, then the next, he was standing safely under a force field of Raven's powers. But she hadn't done it, not consciously anyway; she hadn't had time. Raven would have had to shout her mantra in order to conjure her powers. By the time she could have even said "Azarath—" though, Beast Boy would have been crushed. Something had happened. Her powers had used themselves. The only question was how it had happened.
"Raven?"
What could have caused it to happen? Nothing like this had ever occurred before.
"Raven?"
Theoretically, anything could be the cause. Raven admitted her powers were very complicated. Any number of things could be the root of the problem—
"RAVEN!"
"WHAT!" she finally shouted, exiting her thoughts. She looked up from the ground to see Beast Boy standing directly in front of her. She merely stared at him as he looked at her. At the moment, she really didn't want to interact with him given the whole 'kiss' incident. Plus, she had no time for idle conversations; she needed to go home to get to the bottom of what had just happened.
"Uhh…Thanks. I guess I sort of…wasn't paying attention." He said blushingly. Raven's normal, unemotional, and slightly annoyed countenance returned.
"Whatever." she responded, irritated. "Let's just find the others and go."
"Uh, yeah." Beast Boy agreed. The two walked off in search of the rest of the team. They didn't have to look long though, as Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg came into view after rushing around a nearby street corner. The group quickly ran up to Beast Boy and Raven with worried looks on their faces.
"Hey y'all, is everything okay?" Cyborg asked, slightly out of breath.
"Yes, we heard a blast and came searching." Starfire added.
"Uh, yeah. We're okay. Just one of Gizmo's rocket, blasto thingies." Beast Boy explained, adding corresponding hand motions.
"Good to hear." Robin began. "Are Gizmo and Jinx taken care of? We already got Mammoth and Cinderblock into custody."
"Yeah, I got Gizmo." Beast Boy answered.
"Jinx is unconscious down the street, now can we go?" Raven questioned hurriedly. All in twenty-four hours she had practically made out with Beast Boy and unconsciously used her powers to save his life. She desperately needed to get home to sort out all of these events and she was beginning to lose patience.
"Well yeah, I guess so. Let's go." Cyborg said before the group began the trip home.
The five teens entered the commons area through the door leading to the elevator. They all walked off in their own directions to tend to their own agendas. Beast Boy turned to go to the couch. Robin started toward the evidence room to make a routine inspection. Starfire, of course, followed Robin. Cyborg went to the kitchen. Raven immediately headed to the hallway connected to her bedroom. She was almost out of the room when…
"Hey!" Shouted Cyborg. "I say we all cook up some hot dogs to celebrate the victory! Whose in?"
"Sounds great Cy!" Robin said, changing his direction and moving to the kitchen.
"That would be marvelous!" Starfire chimed as she followed.
"Only if mine's tofu." Beast Boy said.
"Yea, yea. Don't get your underwear in a bunch veggie-boy." Cyborg responded with an 'oh-here-we-go-again' look on his face. "What about you Raven? You know you want some?"
Raven stopped in her tracks, only inches away from the door. She had been so close…
"I want to be alone." She responded coldly. "I'll be in my room."
With that, she walked out of the room, leaving her friends to ponder her behavior.
"She must be in one of her moods." Cyborg stated as he prepared the food and utensils.
"Yeah…uh," Beast Boy stammered, secretly knowing that it might have had more to do with him. "That must be it."
Raven entered her room and shut the door behind her. Her pupils dilated as the sudden familiar darkness washed over her and blanketed her body. Before reaching for her mirror, she sat down on the bed to rest and think for a moment. She was still completely bewildered as to how her powers had managed to trigger themselves without her conscious consent. She reenacted the scene in her head, constantly searching for any clue or sign leading to a possible cause. Drawing up a blank, she got up and walked over to her magic mirror. As she peered into it, a portal opened. She stepped in and once again, found herself in the recognizably eerie land that was her mind.
Raven knew exactly which one of her personalities she wanted to consult: Knowledge. The only problem was finding her. Currently, none of her emotions were nearby.
"Great." Raven sighed. "I'm going to have to look for her."
Her search actually didn't take as long as she thought. After just a minute or so of walking, Raven found Timid hiding behind a small boulder. She approached the small, turtle-like emotion cautiously, knowing well she could easily frighten her away.
"Hey, have you seen Knowledge anywhere? It's imperative that I talk to her." Raven asked Timid, trying to sound as gentle as she could. Timid didn't look up, but merely lifted her hand and pointed to a far off location.
"They're over there. All of them. Even Rage. I stayed out here so she wouldn't hurt me." Timid replied pathetically.
"Thanks." Raven replied as she began walking in the direction Timid had pointed.
Raven eventually found herself in a clearing. There were a few rocks and pits here and there, but all in all, it wasn't the rough terrain that was present in most of the areas of her mind.
She spotted many her emotions scattered throughout the clearing. Happy and Brave were sitting down a few feet away, apparently discussing something that was quite humorous. Next to them was Crass, asleep as usual. Rage, as Timid had said, was present. She was off to the side alone, probably scowling at the overbearing joy of Happy and Brave. In the center of it all was Wisdom who was hovering just above the ground chanting Raven's mantra over and over again. Raven also noted that there was an extremely large pile, nearly a wall, of books off in the distance, but for what purpose they were there, she didn't know.
Raven counted all of the emotions could see, also accounting for her meeting with Timid before arriving at her current location. They were all there, save Knowledge, the one she actually wanted to see. She reluctantly decided to ask Wisdom where Knowledge had gone off to. She didn't really want to talk to Wisdom, since the emotion always spoke ambiguously in questions or riddles; however, she was also the only one present that was remotely level-headed, making her the only real option.
With that, Raven began to walk over to where Wisdom was meditating. All she had to do was get by Happy without her noticing…
"Hey look, it's Raven!" an ecstatic voice shouted.
Raven groaned as the rapturous emotion sprung of the ground and bounced her way over to her. It looked like she would have to talk to her.
"What's up Rave? Long time no see huh?" Happy asked with impossible enthusiasm.
"Nothing," Raven replied coldly. She just wanted to find Knowledge and fix whatever had caused the earlier incident with her powers. She had no interest in chit-chatting with Happy.
"Aww come on! What do ya mean 'nothing'? Lots o' stuff's been happening." Happy said. Then, a devious smirk played across her usually pure smile. "Especially with Beast B—"
"Don't finish that sentence." Raven cut her off tersely. "Just tell me if you've seen Knowledge anywhere."
"Ol' four-eyes? Nope, sorry. Ask Wisdom. She might know."
"Great." Raven muttered as she began to walk away.
"See ya later alligator!" Happy called out to her, waving.
"Whatever." Raven said, not even turning to face the blissful emotion.
Before she knew it, Raven found herself standing behind her brown-cloaked self, Wisdom. She had her back to Raven, and was still meditating.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" she spoke.
"I need to talk to you." Raven said, getting strait to the point.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Wisdom repeated. Raven sighed. This could take a while.
"I just need to ask you something." Raven spoke again.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"
Raven patience was wearing thin.
"I just need to know where Knowledge is! Can you at least spare me that!" she shouted. At this, Wisdom stopped repeating her mantra, but remained in her meditative position, her back from Raven.
"Your search is pointless." She suddenly spoke. "What you seek, you already possess. That is my only advice. Take it for what you will." Raven sighed and shook her head.
"You're just never going to give me a reasonable answer are you?" she asked.
"Perhaps when you start asking reasonable questions." Wisdom retorted. She finally turned her head around to face Raven. As it turned out, she actually had a sly smile on her face. Raven however, was not amused.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, both puzzled and irritated…mostly irritated. Wisdom paused.
"You don't need to look for Knowledge. After all, she is just another part of you. She can tell you nothing you yourself don't already know. She knows everything you know; no more, no less." Wisdom told her.
"Yes, but she can tell me the meaning of the things I…we know. That's what I need. I already know what is happening. I just need to know what it means and why." Raven replied. Wisdom's smile quickly turned to a frown.
"You already know what the situation means. You just need to come out of denial and accept it." Wisdom said, pronouncing the word "it" as though she were using it to refer to something other than what the two were talking about. When she said this, Raven again became puzzled.
"Accept what?" she asked Wisdom.
At this, the brown-cloaked emotion turned her face away from Raven again and fell silent.
"She's behind the large pile of books, reorganizing." She said all of a sudden.
"What?" Raven questioned.
"Knowledge. You wanted to speak with her correct? I said she's behind that large pile of books over there."
"Oh…right." Raven said.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," was Wisdom's only reply.
Seeing that she obviously would get nothing more from Wisdom, Raven headed toward the large mound of books. Upon looking behind them, she found Knowledge surrounded by more, smaller piles of books, just like Wisdom had told her. Knowledge was taking books from random places around her and frantically placing them in different piles.
"What are you doing?" Raven asked her.
"Reorganizing." Knowledge said closing a book and placing it in the pile in front of her. "I have to. Your thoughts and feelings have been greatly piling up as of late. I had to come up with a new organizational system if an efficient order is to be maintained."
"Oh," Raven replied, wondering how her "thoughts and feelings" could become so overwhelmingly abundant. "Well, listen. I need to talk to you about something. It might be serious." Knowledge remained silent, reading over something in a book she was holding. It almost seemed as if she hadn't heard Raven.
"I understand." She said at last. "My current task is almost complete. Just wait a few more moments while I finish. In the meantime, you can wait wherever you wish."
"Thank you." Raven said, pleased that she might finally be close to getting somewhere.
Raven walked around the vicinity a bit, marveling at the large amount of books Knowledge had brought with her. It looked as though she might even have more books than Raven kept in her room!
As she was observing the different texts, Raven came across a particularly large stack in which the top book was labeled "CURRENT AQUAINTENCES". Looking down the stack, she noticed that it was divided into four sections. At the top of each section was a book titled after one of the Titan's names. Underneath each of these books were many smaller books with qualities and experiences Raven had shared with her friends. On the top was "ROBIN" with such things as "BATTLE TACTICS" and "HELP WITH TRIGON" under it. Next was "STARFIRE" with "SEMI-USEFUL GIRL TALK". The book labeled "CYBORG" was on top of titles like "CAR-FIXING" and "COMPUTER USAGE". The last section was heavily, almost oppressively buried underneath all the other sections. It was labeled "BEAST BOY". Beneath the top book, there were texts called "ANNOYANCES", "GRIEVANCES", and "SENSELESS BANTER". Beneath those however, were titles such as "GOOD QUALITIES", "SENSE OF CARING", and "COMFORTING".
Raven also noticed one last book in Beast Boy's section. It was at the very bottom, detained underneath every other book in the entire stack. It was turned the opposite direction, with the spine and title facing away from her. For this reason, she couldn't tell what it was called. She couldn't move it, for the weight of the books on top of it, and she couldn't go to the other side of the stack because of the surrounding piles.
While pondering what the book might be about, she heard a very faint sigh escape from someone nearby. It sounded extraordinarily calm, as if its source was innocuous, but it also had a longing, almost desperate quality to it.
Raven walked in the source of the sound. She turned the corner around a stack of books and saw a small figure sitting on the ground, propped up against another pile. Upon taking in the girl's appearance, Raven's eyes widened in shock. She had a fit figure, pale skin, and dark hair. She looked exactly like Raven, save for the fact that she was wearing a purple cloak instead of a dark blue one. Could she be another emotion? No! That couldn't be. Raven had already accounted for all of her emotions. There were no more.
"Who are you?" Raven asked confusedly.
The girl, who had been dreamily staring at absolutely nothing, turned her head to face Raven. However, all she did was smile shyly and turn away to continue staring into space.
Raven was not pleased and became irate at this. She was sick and tired of being ignored inside her own mind. Angrily, she grabbed the girl's hand and yanked her off the ground. She hastily hauled her back to where Knowledge was sorting through her books and tossed the mysterious girl at the emotion's feet.
"Who is she?" Raven asked bluntly.
"Her?" Knowledge questioned calmly, acknowledging the purple cloaked girl.
"Yes her! Who is she!" Raven again asked, growing impatient. The purple-cloaked girl righted herself and resumed her sitting position as she continued to stare longingly into the distance.
"You do not know? She is merely another one of your emotions. That seems a very significant thing to be unaware of." Knowledge answered. Raven was dumbfounded.
"What do you mean? I can't gain any new emotions. It's impossible!" Raven stated.
"I am aware of this. But you have not gained any new emotions. You have always possessed the capacity to experience this feeling. She has always been her."
"Then why have I never seen her before?" Raven asked, confused again.
"Because you do not feel her very often. She was prominent throughout your mind… once. At the time however, you were too busy to come here. Therefore, you never saw her."
"Okay fine. Then what is she?" Raven asked.
"I just told you. She is an emotion." Knowledge stated matter-of-factly. Raven groaned.
"I meant which emotion?" Raven spoke with irritation. Knowledge thought for a moment.
"For once, I think I'm going to let you figure it out. You are growing up, and it's about time you started learning how to sort out your problems on your own." She said. "And don't bother asking her what she is either."
"Fine." Raven grumbled, admitting defeat. She was simply too tired to argue. She had just wanted to come here to solve the problem with her powers. Now it had practically turned into an adventure all its own.
"Good then." Knowledge said. "Now, just give me a few more minutes and I'll be done."
"Fine." Raven sighed.
While Raven stood there waiting, she felt someone's eyes on her. She turned to look at the unidentified emotion. The girl had ceased gazing out into space and was now staring intently at Raven.
"What is it?" Raven asked irritably. The emotion smiled.
"Nothing." She said calmly. However, she didn't turn around. Out of the corner of her eye, Raven could see that the emotion was still staring at her. Raven again turned her head and met her unfaltering gaze.
"What do you want!" Raven shouted. At this, the girl frowned.
"What I want…" she spoke sadly, looking down. "I want…" she looked up again, still frowning. "I am you, obviously. I only seek the same things you search for. That would be someone. Not just anyone. Someone special. I want someone to care. Someone who makes me…us feel wanted…desired. I want someone who makes us feel the way he did, before he…revealed himself. That's what I…we want."
"I know what you mean…" Raven responded, knowing that the girl was referring to the way she had felt when Malchior had been around. Did that mean that the girl represented the emotion—
'No, that couldn't be it' Raven said to herself. 'But what could she be?'
"I am finished." Knowledge stated as she rose from the ground. Raven instantly forgot about the possibilities of another emotion and focused on her current problem.
"Would you mind if we walked while we discuss the problem? I have been sitting for quite a while now and need to recover proper circulation." Knowledge asked before Raven had the chance to speak.
"That's fine." Raven replied.
"Good." Knowledge spoke as she began walking. "So, tell me what ails you."
"You know what's wrong." Raven told her. "After the battle earlier, my powers used themselves. I saw Beast Boy just milliseconds before he was going to be crushed. There wasn't any time for me to help; he would have been dead before I even began to use my powers. Then all of a sudden, they just…happened. I didn't do, say, or think anything; they just appeared out of nowhere."
As they continued walking, Knowledge said nothing in reply.
"I mean, I'm glad that he is okay…mostly…" Raven continued. Granted, if Beast Boy wasn't around, a few other complications in her life might not be occurring right now. However, she did not come here to worry about her situation with him. She returned to the subject. "Things like this cannot happen. If my powers start leaking out without my consent, then who knows what kind of problems could occur. Things might get destroyed…I could even hurt people."
At this last statement, Raven's voice had a tint of worry in it. Knowledge remained composed though.
"You do not know what the problem is?" she asked calmly, as if the answer was as plain as day.
"No I don't know what the problem is!" Raven snapped. "It's not like this has ever happened before!"
Again, Knowledge remained unfazed by Raven's attitude.
"Of course it has." She said. Raven stared at her.
"What do you mean?" she asked. "When?"
"You do not remember? I suppose I should work faster reorganizing your memories…" Knowledge replied. "Anyway, yes, this happened before about a year ago, or so. The rest of the Titans convinced you to watch that scary movie. And face it, afterwards, you were scared."
"Fine," Raven conceded grumpily as she recalled the event.
"So, you hastily suppressed the emotion, not wanting to admit to any form of weakness. Your emotions are what drive your powers, so when you suppressed that emotion, fear, the power from it slowly began to build up. At first it was only a small amount, and could be easily contained. However, as you continued to suppress it, the power built up more and more and more until…"
"Don't remind me." Raven said.
"So, I think you are smart enough to figure out what this means. I am, after all."
As she took time to think, Raven looked around and noted that as they walked, she and Knowledge were approaching the forbidden door, the way out of her mind and back to the sensible world of reality.
"It means that I'm suppressing another emotion?" Raven asked, reentering the conversation.
"Precisely." Knowledge said, smiling. After a moment, Raven spoke again.
"So, which emotion am I suppressing?" she asked.
"Well…" Knowledge began. The two were now standing right next to the forbidden door. "It seems our time is up."
"No." Raven said forcefully. "Tell me which emotion—"
Just then a knocking sound followed by a somewhat familiar voice faintly sounded from the portal next to the two girls.
"Ah, see, you must go. Someone has come for you." Knowledge stated. With that, she put her hand on Raven's shoulders and shoved her into the swirling, red portal.
"But I—" Raven tried to say. She never finished as she fell into the forbidden door. That familiar yet strange sensation, not unlike continuously falling, enveloped her entire body. Then, as quickly as it had come, the feeling disappeared and Raven found herself standing in her room next to her dresser.
'Damn her!' Raven thought, cursing her intellectual side.
A sudden knock from the door brought her out of her thoughts. She walked angrily over to the door and thrust it open.
"What?" she asked impatiently.
Beast Boy was standing outside the door. He had his usual toothy grin on, his fangs coming out just a bit. Raven noticed that the smile looked to be a bit forced.
"Hey Raven." He said.
Author's Note: Okay, again, I have to go soon. Hope this makes up for the wait. It's the longest chapter yet.
Til' next time. GoldenBlade416
