AN: I do not own Teen Titans

Chapter 2

Once Beast Boy had entered her room he was flooded with memories. He had only been in her room a few times in all the years they had been Titans. And each time had been under… interesting circumstances. Whether it was being sucked into a mirror or watching a dragon explode through the roof, one could never predict what would happen upon entering Ravens room.

"I see you haven't done any redecorating," he said nervously. He saw one of her statues and went over to touch it. A hand quickly slapped it and he pulled away.

"Please don't touch anything," said Raven in a tired voice. How many times did she have to tell him her belongings weren't toys?

"Sorry," he said, putting his hands behind his back before his curiosity could get the better of him again.

Raven walked over to her bed and sat down. "Please, sit," she said, indicating to her bed.

Beast Boy slowly and cautiously walked over to her bed, still suspecting that this was all some prank, and then sat down. He swung around so he could face her, the two sitting opposite each other.

Raven couldn't believe she was about to do this. She was about to open up. She had only done this with one other person, Starfire, and even then she had only told her the basics of her life. She hadn't even told her about her father. When it all came out later, Starfire had asked Raven why she hadn't told her. All Raven could say was that she had hoped that the prophecy would never come true and she wouldn't have to.

"So… what is it you wanna tell me?" asked Beast Boy, feeling uncomfortable in the silence.

Raven sighed and began. "You know how my voice is low and gravely and basically unpleasant?" she said. Beast Boy gave her an uneasy look. "It's alright, I'm not going to get upset."

"Are you sure?" he asked, nervously. Raven nodded. "Okay, yeah, your voice is kinda like that."

"Well… what if I told you that it wasn't always like this?" she said. "What if I told you it used to be really… nice?"

"It was?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "In fact," she said, giving a soft, sad laugh, "Azar, the woman who took care of me, said I had one of the loveliest voices ever."

"Wow," said Beast Boy, upon hearing this. "I mean, uh…"

"It's okay," said Raven. "I know, it seems impossible, right? I mean, you would never have guessed that I used to be able to… sing."

This certainly caught Beast Boy's attention. "Really?" he asked.

Raven let herself smile softly and she nodded. "I would join the monks of Azarath when they would sing," she said. "I really liked it and everyone seemed to enjoy hearing me."

"Wow, I wish I could've heard you," said Beast Boy. "So, uh, what happened?" he asked this cautiously, hoping not to hurt her feelings again.

Raven sighed and knew that once she began there would be no turning back. "Well, word got out about… my voice," she said. "And many people came to hear me. Some even claimed it had a sort of healing, unnatural quality. Once it was even referred to as… angelic. So, naturally, I gained a sort of popularity. The people, they called me The Angel of Azarath. And, for the first time in my life, people forgot that I was the offspring of Trigon the Terrible."

"Whoa, now I really wish I could've heard you," said Beast Boy with a smile.

Raven smiled softly, but it quickly dissolved into another look of sadness. "But it also attracted others who were jealous. Including a girl by the name of Adrienne. Before… it happened, I had never heard of her. I later found out that she's a drifter, a gypsy girl. She travels between various dimensions, taking what she wants and destroying things she can't have so that no one else can have it as well. And the moment she heard my voice, she knew she was going to take if from me, one way or another."

"So, she like, stole your voice?" asked Beast Boy.

"Well, yes and no," said Raven. "She came and attempted to steal it from me, but not even her most powerful spells could take my voice and replace her own, nor could she create a voice that would be identical to mine. To this day, I don't know why. Any voice can be stolen or copied with the right spell. But, for some reason, my voice was immune. Not even Azar could tell me why this was. And when Adrienne realized she couldn't have my voice that meant that I couldn't have it either.

"I can still remember the day she cornered me and began to rant and rave. Adrienne was, and most likely still is, a dark soul. And, being as such, she can sense others. She saw that half of my soul is dark, and that was all she needed. She confronted me when I was alone, away from Azar my protector. She told me that such a beautiful voice did not belong to someone who was the daughter of evil. And, since only half of my soul was pure, then I only deserved half of my voice."

Beast Boy listened intently as Raven spoke and he saw how hard it was for her to recall such memories. And by this point, he saw the beginnings of tears forming in the corners of her eyes. He didn't like to see anyone upset, especially not one of his friends. So he instinctively placed his hand on hers.

"Raven, you don't have to go on if you don't want to," he said in a comforting voice.

"That's okay," said Raven. "I want to go on."

"Okay," he said, gently taking his hand back.

"Well, what Adrienne did, was she took the better half of my voice," said Raven. The she seemed to drift off as the memory came back to her. "I can still hear her voice in my head, reciting words I had never heard before as she conjured up the spell. I was so confused, so frightened. I tried to get out of there, to get help, but I couldn't control my emotions long enough to summon my powers correctly. I did nothing and I let her do what she wanted with me.

"It felt like a cold hand had wrapped around my throat, trying to choke me. I remember struggling to breathe and falling to my knees, crying. And then the magic ripped away, taking half of my voice with it. It was such an excruciating pain I can barely begin to describe it. Just imagine your throat being torn out and being replaced with a ball of fire."

As she described the scene her hand went to her throat and she rubbed it as the memory flooded through her mind. She had never experienced pain like that before or ever again. She had even passed out soon after.

"I saw her place my voice within a small blue orb no larger than the size of a marble that hung on a silver chain," said Raven. "She placed it around her neck, with dozens of other necklaces that already hung on her, and disappeared, taking the better half of my voice with her," said Raven. "Leaving me sounding like… this."

"I don't get it, what do you mean by the better half of your voice?" asked Beast Boy.

"No one's voice is perfect," said Raven. "Sometimes they can be breathy or scratchy or gravely or too high or too low. So, what I was left with was the low, gravely part of my voice. She also took my voice's personality, leaving me monotone. That's why I sound the way I sound."

"So, what happened to Adrienne?" asked Beast Boy.

"I don't know," said Raven, shrugging sadly. "Once she had my voice she left our dimension and has yet to be tracked down."

"But, if we found her, we could get the other half of your voice back, right?" he asked.

"I suppose," said Raven. "Unless she traded it to someone for something she wanted. Either way, I doubt I'll ever get my true voice back."

"Why would she trade it if she wanted it so badly?" he asked.

"She only got half of my voice, and unless she gets my whole voice, she can't replace her own. It's all or nothing."

"Mind if I ask something?" he asked, sheepishly.

"No," said Raven.

"Well, how old were you when this happened?" he asked.

"It was right before I came to Earth," said Raven. "A mere few months before we met."

"Shoot, then I just missed it," he said with a small smile and snapped his fingers dramatically. He couldn't help but try to lighten the mood. Raven gave him a ghost of a smile, but looked down sadly.

"So… now you know why I got so upset when you said that I… couldn't sing," she said.

"Jeez, Raven, I'm so sorry," he said, really feeling bad about it all. "No wonder you were crying."

"I wasn't crying," she said, standing by her lie.

"Well, anyway, thanks for sharing this with me," he said genuinely.

"Thank you for listening," said Raven. "For once in your life."

He gave her a smile, happy to hear her making fun of him again. Then, his brow furrowed as he thought. "So, uh, why don't you want the others to know?" he asked. "I mean, it's not really embarrassing or anything."

"I don't want people to feel sorry for me," said Raven plainly. "I know I've been through horrible things in my life, but that doesn't mean I want people's pitty."

"Yeah, I feel the same way sometimes," said Beast Boy, nodding. "But, I'm sure if you told everyone and then said for us not to feel bad for you, we wouldn't."

"You can say that you wouldn't, but none of you would look at me the same way again," said Raven. "I know that you won't look at me the same way again."

Beast Boy opened his voice to object, but the truth was… he wasn't going to look at her the same way again. He would always wonder what she really sounded like. What would she sound like if she yelled at him in her real voice? What did Raven sound like singing? Boy, he really wanted to hear that.

"Well, again, thank you for telling me all of this," said Beast Boy. "And… thank you for trusting me. I mean, I thought you really hated me, what with how much you've been yelling and hitting me lately."

"Yeah… sorry about that," said Raven, hugging her knees. After revealing all of this information about herself she felt quite vulnerable and out of her comfort zone.

"Why have you been beating me up lately?" he asked.

"I… I don't know," said Raven, though she knew this to be a lie.

"I mean, you really let me have it when we were in Tokyo," he continued. "It was like every time I opened my mouth you would slap me. Not to mention all of the times you yelled at me for like no reason. I think I've still got bruises, actually."

Raven wanted him to leave now. She wasn't about to get into why she had been so short tempered with him on their vacation. "Yes, well, look, I'd like to get some meditation in before I go to bed," she said.

"Oh, uh, I'll leave you, then," he said, getting off of her bed. "And, don't worry, your secret's safe with me. I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you," she said and lifted into the air, getting ready to meditate.

Beast Boy took one last look at her and quickly headed out of her room. As he closed her door and walked back to the common room, he felt slightly smug for some reason. Raven had trusted him with information, with a secret of her past. No one else would ever know the knowledge she had shared with him. And that made him feel… special.

"Hey, where the heck did you go?" asked Cyborg.

"Yes, the show of slides is finished," said Starfire.

"Oh, I was just, you know, apologizing," said Beast Boy.

"It never takes you that long to apologize," said Robin.

"Yeah, well, she was really upset by what I said," said Beast Boy. "But, we're cool now."

"Well that's good," said Cyborg. "Want me to put the slideshow back on?"

"Sure," said Beast Boy, sitting back down on the couch. After all that Raven had told him, he was ready to have his spirits lightened again.

If you'd like to see an illustration I've done of Raven and Adrienne on Azarath, go to my profile and you can find the link from there.