I own a Raven mug, does that count?
Chapter Four
The sky was stuck in an ever-present sunset, the oranges, pinks and purples splashed across a backdrop of periwinkle blue. Lazy clouds drifted along, in no hurry to be anywhere but where they were. The low sun behind them bathed them in a soft gold light, with candyfloss pink colouring their edges. The ground below was a carpet of lush greenery, a meadow of green grass, dotted with flowers as far as the eye could see. A single tree stood on top of a hill, its branches reaching so high clouds often caught on its top-most twigs. Other branches swung low to the ground, bowing to the earth it was rooted in. A black, swirling portal opened at the base of the tree, depositing a petite woman before closing once more. Raven looked around her in mild interest, blinking rapidly to clear the dizziness.
The swooping sensation faded, leaving Raven floating in her lotus position. With a sigh of relief, Raven unfolded her legs and stretched, her mouth curving upward in a small smile at the lack of pain in her side. Her soul was but an echo of her physical body, and as such it did not feel physical pain. Emotional pain was a different story. Looking around her at the familiar landscape, Raven remembered the many hours she had spent here, finally feeling after 16 years of bottling up her emotions. As if on cue, a small cloud floated down from the sky, and began to play a memory.
"Now friend Raven, shall we begin?"
The present Raven watched with a sense of nostalgia as the past her stuttered and stammered her way through the story of how she was taught not to feel, not sparing her alien friend the gory details. The conclusion they came to was not the one Raven had wanted to hear.
"I believe for you to feel the good emotions, such as love and affection, in a safe manner, then first we must deal with your negative emotions and the trauma you have experienced."
Raven wrinkled her nose, not understanding. "Trauma? What are you talking about?"
Starfire stared at Raven in disbelief. "Friend Raven, you were born in a land that was not your own. You were raised from birth by monks, who taught you to repress your emotions. These monks, and occasionally your distant mother, were the only people you had contact with until the age of fifteen, when they were all lost. Then, you came to this planet after losing the only family and home you ever had, and you were feared and misunderstood by many." Raven opened her mouth to interrupt, but was halted by Starfire's raised hand.
"After no more than a year on this planet, your interdimensional demon father tried to use you as a portal to earth, and you had been told for so long it was inevitable, that you simply gave up and let him. But we prevailed, and the piece of him that resided in your soul was banished. After that, you were finally free to feel, but you never allowed yourself, continuing to repress your emotions, because it was the only way you knew. And throughout this all, you have never once stopped to feel sorry for yourself, not even to mourn for your mother. You put the needs of the city before your own, saving countless people, many of whom feared you and called you a monster."
Raven sat speechless, staring in shock at the alien before her.
"Friend Raven, you need to have the good long cry."
The present Raven waved her hand, dispersing the memory, and revealed a small girl, clad in pink, her hands clasped behind her back. The girl stared determinedly at her feet.
"Yeah," Happiness said softly, "The next few weeks kinda blew. I had no idea one person could cry that much."
Feeling sorry for the normally peppy emoticlone, Raven tried to cheer her up.
"Yes, they did. But after that, things got a lot better."
At that, Happiness visibly perked up. Her head lifted, and her hood fell to reveal wide eyes and a huge grin. "Oh yeah, going over all those cute memories of us and Beast B- er, sorry, Changeling now. I'm gonna have to get used to that!" Raven chuckled at her clone as she skipped off, floating longer than gravity normally allowed between each skip.
"Speaking of Changeling," Happiness stopped mid-skip, pirouetting in the air to face Raven again. Raven had a split second to clamp her hands over her ears before Happiness outright screeched, clasping her hands together and bouncing violently.
"HE'S BACK HE'S BACK HE'S BACK HE'S BACK HE'S BAAAAACK! And he's hot! Like where the heck was he hiding that body all these years?! Oh my gosh, you saw his fang right? Don't lie to me, I know you dig it! Oh sweet Azar, his arms, Rae Rae!"
Happiness twirled in the air as she babbled, holding her heart and swooning dramatically. Raven coughed slightly, and Happiness halted, turning to face her double once more.
"Er, sorry," Happiness laughed nervously, "I'm just glad to have him back." Raven shook her head, and turned to walk away.
"I'm going to speak to Knowledge, would you like to come?" Raven knew how the pink emoticlone loved being social, but Happiness shook her head.
"Actually Rae, Knowledge already called a meeting. She sent me to get you. Guess I got kinda distracted!" Happiness flew over to Raven, grabbing her by the hand. "Come on, everybody's waiting!"
Instantly, the landscape changed. Rolling hills and sunset skies gave way to polished wooden floors and high, arching ceilings. Books covered every surface – stacked on tables, filling unending shelves, piled on the floor and scattered over comfortable over-stuffed armchairs gathered around a roaring fire. At present, they stood empty before the marble fireplace, but Raven knew she would usually find her yellow-cloaked emotion curled with a large, leather-bound volume, filling it with knowledge and information she had gathered.
"Ah, Raven. Glad you could join us."
Raven turned to the middle of the room, to find a huge wooden table, and all of her emoticlones, spare Happiness, seated around it. Each wore a different coloured cloak, representing a different facet of Raven's emotions. A chair stood empty at the head of the table, between yellow – Knowledge, and purple – Passion. Happiness dropped Raven's hand, and flew to a chair at the middle of the table, flashing a reassuring smile to Timidity opposite her. Timidity did not return the smile, and sank lower into her seat, pulling her grey cloak tighter around her.
Knowledge stood, clearing her throat to gain the attention of the table. It wasn't necessary. Every eye at the table was directed at Raven from the moment she appeared in the room. Even Timidity, who normally found eye contact to be completely terrifying, had been watching from the shadow of her hood, careful not to stare too long.
"We are here," Knowledge spoke clearly, "to address some very serious concerns. Today is our eighteenth birthday,"
"Happy birthday to us!" Happiness interrupted chirpily, before she was silenced by a brief glare from most at the table.
"And as we all know," Knowledge continued, unfazed, "due to our heritage, this has some rather complicated and… delicate connotations."
"You mean we're gonna get horny as fuck." Rude interrupted around a mouthful of chips, belching loudly before kicking up her feet on the table. Passion giggled, and raised her glass of red wine in agreement.
"Not very eloquently put, my dear, but yes, true. We've become sexually mature, and it seems someone has shown up just in time for the party."
Happiness giggled, bouncing in her chair. "You mean BB? Or Changeling, whatever. Doesn't he look great?" She sighed dreamily, slouching back in her chair. There were various murmurs of agreement around the table, and Passion purred contentedly.
"B-but we don't even know if he likes us…" A small voice spoke from the shadow of her cloak, and the table turned to look at Timidity in shock. The grey emoticlone squeaked and sunk back into her chair, hiding behind her hands.
"She has a point. We have no idea if Changeling would be willing to… fornicate with us." Rude snorted at Raven's choice of words, and the empath shot her a glare. "And anyway, who the hell said we'd be fornicating with anyone for that matter?" Passion pouted, Rude groaned loudly, and Brave slammed her sword on the table in frustration.
"Not this again Rae. We learned our lesson about repressing emotions. Or have you forgotten the weeks we spent in the containment chamber screaming, crying, destroying anything we could get our hands on?" Brave stood up, slammed her hands on the table and leaned forward, addressing the table at large. "I will not be supressed again, do you hear me?"
And just like that, pandemonium erupted. Emotions were up from their seats in an instant, all yelling and screaming at each other, trying to gain dominance. Timidity started hyperventilating, Happiness trying to comfort her. Brave was currently throttling Rude, and Passion was engaged in a full out brawl with Knowledge. Raven sank into her seat, massaging her temples. This was going to be a long meeting.
Nightwing stalked into his office, arms crossed across his chest. Changeling followed at a slower pace, his thoughts still on the empath he had left in the medical wing. His hands curled into fists as he thought back to how tired and pained she'd looked. He'd often thought of his return while he'd been away, going through hundreds of different scenarios for how he'd greet each Titan. None of them had involved saving a seriously injured Raven from a rabid Angel, or losing control and attacking said villain. The Hive Five had got away, but not without a few wounds of their own.
"Garfield." Nightwing finally spoke after their silent walk to his office.
"Richard." Changeling replied shortly, mimicking the masked leader's stance.
The two stood, silently weighing each other up. Changeling could feel the tension growing in the air, and he knew exactly what it was about. There could not be two alpha males in a pack, and what Changeling had demonstrated back in the medical wing was a clear challenge, one that Nightwing had clearly not taken kindly to. In the wild, this would be settled in a duel between the two competitors, often to the death. Winner take all.
It was Nightwing who broke the stalemate, thrusting his open hand forward.
Changeling shook the hand he offered with a grin. "It's good to have you back buddy." Nightwing finally cracked a smile, and relief flooded through Changeling.
"It's good to be back, Dick." Changeling shook his head softly, almost disbelievingly. How could he have thought Nightwing would want to fight him?
Perhaps he'd spent a little too long in the wild. Adjusting to normal life would be more difficult than Changeling had expected.
I really should be studying… ah well. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Remember to leave a wee review to let me know what you think so far!
Love,
Pixie xo