A/N: I do not own any characters used in the story. TT is property of Warner Bros. (I think).
Just a heads up, this is not my new project. I will update this here and there, but I'm doing this to take a little break from Adaptation, which will be updated soon.
Chances are this will be a short story, but may get a few extra chapters if I think I can pull it off.
Full disclosure, this is NOT a BBRAE fanfic. It will seem like it at times, but it's not intended to be a romance story or anything.
Not a lot to say, so let's get this show on the road. By the way, this is a story in the Judas Contract universe, so Dick and Kory are adults while BB, Raven, and Beetle are still younger.
Chapter 1:
For over a year and a half now she had been a Titan. It wasn't the easiest life. Or remotely normal for that part. But it was admittedly a good life. It felt refreshing knowing that she was doing good while the world was still around. And the public seemed to appreciate everything she and her team did. Then there was the aforementioned team. Her family of sorts.
There was almost nothing bad she could say about Starfire, or Kori. She had joined the original Teen Titans soon after her arrival to Earth. She was caring and attentive to everyone around her. In fact, it had been a unanimous decision to make her the new leader when Robin, now Nightwing, left the team to find his own path. As leader, she made it her duty to make sure all three of her new family were doing well.
Speaking of, Nightwing, or Richard, was also a great guy. Despite being raised by the great Batman, he was nothing like his mentor. Whereas Batman was usually emotionally unreadable and stoic, Richard was open and expressive more often than not, especially when it came to Kori. The two had quickly grown on each other, and Dick still visited the tower at least once every week. Even if Kori was his main reason for visiting, he made sure to catch up with the others and treat them like equals unless the situation called for a different attitude.
Then there was Jaime, better known as Blue Beetle. He was somewhat energetic and got on her nerves occasionally, but she could tell it was never intentional. Every now and then he would appear to be talking to himself, but after the first few incidents he explained that he was talking to the alien artifact that gave him his powers. It had taken some getting used to, but his outbursts soon became normal to her. Even with his quirks, he too was a kind person who would do what he could to make things better for those who couldn't do so themselves.
Lastly, there was Beast Boy. Beast Boy was...different. He was a bit loud and almost always happy. It was like he never had a care or worry in the world, and that attitude usually ended up with him accidentally getting on Raven's bad side. Just like with Jaime, nothing that went wrong was actually intended, but she just couldn't get used to his overly optimistic outlook. Or his constant invites to play a game of air hockey, like the one just five minutes ago. Even as she prepared a cup of tea, the quick paced click clack click clack of their fifth game rang in her skull.
"And call me Jefe. You just lost your fifth game in a row." Jaime cockily announced.
"C'mon man! Give me another chance. Hey Raven, can you tell Jaime to give me one more try?" the green teen asked the empath. Once again, he was dragging her into his activities.
"You can settle this yourself. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading back to my room." the pale skinned girl replied in her typical monotone before making a beeline for the door. She had gotten less than halfway there when Kori walked in with a handful of envelopes.
"The mail has arrived everyone." she cheerfully declared before handing the letters to their recipients.
"Here's one for Jaime, two for Raven, one for Beast Boy, one more for both Raven and Jaime, some for me and Dick, and one more for Jaime." Star announced as each letter was handed out. Only she and Beast Boy noticed the strangely official style of the mail addressed to him. Once they were all distributed, Starfire left to place the mail for Dick in her room so as not to lose it.
"Woo hoo, gotta love having fans, am I right hermana?" Jaime asked with a gentle elbow to Raven's arm. While they all got lots of fan mail, Raven had never really cared for the barrage of guys and even some girls giving her their numbers and asking her on dates.
"It's bearable I guess." she replied just before a wall of mixed feelings crashed into her like a tidal wave. One of the perks, and sometimes downsides, to her demonic origin was her ability to feel what others were feeling if their emotions were powerful enough. There was a lot of anxiety and a fair amount of depression. But what caught her attention was the regret. This wasn't new regret; it felt old, like it had been forced down and fermented for years until just now being brought back to the surface. Instinctively she turned to the source, which turned out to be a Beast Boy that had turned himself away from everyone.
"Yo B, you got a fangirl asking you on a date?" Jaime asked the changeling.
Less than moments after his question, Raven could feel the happiness she had come to associate with him fill back up again. The change was so sudden it had to have been practiced, which did little to take her mind off what troubled him in the first place.
"Yeah man, got the ladies just lining up for the Green Wonder." he replied with his usual joy. Had she not felt the previous flux, Raven wouldn't have bothered to question the authenticity of his emotions.
"Let me see dude!" the Mexican teen requested. Instead of showing the letter, Beast Boy quickly stuffed it in his pocket and gave a sly smile.
"I can't. She also slipped something extra special in there." he said with a wink. It was a terrible lie, but no one would keep trying to see after that.
"Lucky guy." was all Jaime could mumble before rereading his own fan mail. Raven opened her last envelope and was just finishing when Starfire returned.
"How was the mail? Did you get anything good?" she interestedly asked the three younger heroes.
"You bet. I got two girls and some guy named Bunker asking me to meet them. B also got something juicy. What about you Rave?".
"Can you please use my full name? And it's just the usual." Raven responded with a quick glance at her green teammate. He didn't feel to distressed right now, but his face wasn't as lively as usual. Especially for someone who had claimed to receive such a lewd piece of fan mail.
"Really? I could have sworn I saw a, I believe the term is 'seal', on the front. It would have to be more important than a piece of fan mail for that." the alien girl questioned.
"Well, she probably...uh...wanted to make sure it actually got here. Just cautious, you know? I'm sure it wasn't real or anything." Beast Boy managed to spit out.
"If you insist, then I will not continue to dig." the orange skinned woman offered. "Shall we proceed with the daily training session?".
"Man, she must've been something else to get you this distracted." Jaime said as he popped Beast Boy's shoulder back into place. During the exercise, the shapeshifter had stopped paying full attention to the practice session and took a nasty hit to the arm, resulting in a dislocated shoulder.
"I know. I'm sorry guys. I guess I was a bit distracted." the changeling admitted.
"I am glad that you are okay, but you cannot afford to lose your focus on the battlefield. Had this not been a simulation, we may not have been able to pull you to safety." Starfire warned. It seemed that her warrior side always came out during these training sessions.
"I know, I know. Again, I'm sorry about this.". Beast Boy rolled his shoulder and stood back up. "Are we going to restart or start a new one?".
"Actually, I believe we are done for today. It is late, and you should all get something to eat before going to bed." Kori answered.
"Sounds bueno. I'll order a pizza." Jaime offered before deploying his blue and black armor and flying off. Raven watched as Starfire started a one-person simulation while Beast Boy stood there before flying off herself.
Even with his back to them, Beast Boy could tell the other two were out of hearing range. He didn't remind them often, but his hearing was off the charts. Now that he could talk in private, there was a matter to be discussed with his leader.
"Hey Star, can I talk to you?" he requested.
"Of course you can. Why wouldn't you?" the leader replied with her usual friendly voice.
"Well, I...you see...I know I don't really deserve it, especially after what happened just now, but I...".
"What is wrong? If you are having troubles with something you do not need to worry about me judging you." Starfire reassured with a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"I need some time off." the green teen stated before he could chicken out. "I'll need about a week. Starting tomorrow morning." he added.
"Why? Does this have to do with the girl from the letter?" Kori questioned.
"No. I don't want to talk about it too much, but that wasn't a piece of fan mail. Can I have the week off? I promise I'll do what I can to make it up once I'm back.".
Even though they were heroes, Kori knew better than anyone that they each still had their own lives to live. And when she looked closely, she could see something in his eyes. Something that wasn't normally there. She couldn't make out exactly what was different, but this was clearly important to him.
"Very well. You may have the week off. But if you are not back within one week you will have to work hard to earn the right to take your next break." the Tamaranean offered with a warning.
"Thanks Star. I'll be back before you know it." Beast Boy said before starting the short journey back upstairs.
Once she had finished her personal workout, Kori too headed up and joined the others for pizza. Dinner went as normal. Small talk took over the four until Beast Boy and Raven were the only two still seated.
"Beast Boy, I need you to be honest with me. Can you do that?" the empath requested after lots of hesitation.
"No promises, but I'll try." the green teen offered once he swallowed his mouthful of pizza.
"Okay then. What was really in the letter?".
"Nothing at all. Just a request for a date from some fangirl." the changeling replied a bit too fast.
"I could feel what you felt when you opened it. You've never reacted like that before, so it had to be something different." the half demon stated. She was backing him into a corner, but everyone knew the saying about backing an animal into a corner.
"It's nothing you need to worry about. Okay?" he aggressively said before backing down. "Sorry. I'm still in a bad mood after that accident.".
"Fine. If you don't want to talk about it, then don't talk about it." Raven responded. She quickly stood and left the room, leaving the green hero alone in the kitchen. For several minutes he sat there in silence as the sun dropped in the sky and the room around him darkened. There was still one slice of pizza left, so he quickly ate it and carried the empty boxes to the trash.
"Bye guys. See you in a few days." he spoke to the still darkening room. With quiet steps he walked up to the roof and took a deep breath of the fresh air. Without another word he morphed into a falcon and flew off into the night, a chilling caw the only sign he left.
A/N: I know this chapter was a bit short, but they'll (hopefully) get longer. Let me know what you think in the reviews