Dove may seem a little bit "stupid" in this chapter, but that's because it deals with her Azarathean side and her pacifism, so please don't scoff her for ignorance or anything. And you have to remember that she's never talked to Raven about being a Teen Titan or a hero, so she doesn't really know how harsh it is, especially to her standards.

Read and review,

Raven's secret-keeper

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Unforeseen Surprises

Chapter 9: Pacifist Nightmares

Dove had been with the team for more a month, five weeks and a day to be exact.

She was meditating next to Raven at the windowsill. She had gotten the hang of it, and it came easier to her than it did in the beginning. Robin was in his room, Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing video games behind the two half-sisters, and Starfire was feeding Silky.

Suddenly the entire room began flashing red. Dove yelped and jumped up. She still wasn't used to the Titan alarm and the Titans' duties, since it had only happened three times since she arrived.

Raven ran to the computer and began hitting the keys. The others joined Raven, and Dove followed.

"Sector five. Titans, GO!" Robin gave the shout and the team ran past Dove.

Raven looked back and looked at her. Dove suddenly realized Raven wanted to see how she did under the pressure of reality, and with wide and joyful eyes, followed Raven out the door.

Dove watched wistfully as Raven headed out over the river, then sighed and chanted, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She shot off the ground.

She barely managed to gain control just before colliding with Raven and swerved right before forcing herself to a midair stop.

"Dove, focus!" Raven called, and she stopped and looked back at Dove. "You need to stay in control. Don't let anything affect you."

Dove nodded.

"Come on."

Dove soared to Raven's side, and they shot off after the team together.

Dove occasionally shook or slowed down, and Raven said then, "Focus your energy as well as your mind," without looking back.

Dove would then do so to the best of her abilities, and always managed to just keep up.

As they landed, Raven said, "That was better than the first time."

Dove replied, "I was almost completely inexperienced with levitation. And-" She yelped.

A strange-sounding roar was heard from inside the electronics store they stood in front of.

"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled. The team rushed in and Dove watched cluelessly. She gasped as she saw a strange creature that, except for a small red and black rectangle in what would be the chest, seemed to be made entirely of white, crackling, glowing electricity.

A puzzled expression showed on her face as an electric cord wrapped itself around Starfire's legs as she attempted to zoom away. She shrieked as her hair stood on end, and the cord glowed black before it snapped in half and fell from Starfire's body. As soon as it hit the floor, Starfire shot a barrage of balls of energy towards the creature. It roared, seemingly unaffected. Dove put her head in for a closer look as Raven recited Azarath Metrion Zinthos. A few boxes surrounded by a black aurora flew past Dove's head to the creature.

Dove gasped sharply in realization. The team was fighting this thing!

Cyborg fired his cannon at it as the thing seeped into one electrical socket and formed out another. Suddenly red, twirling objects- birdarangs- glinted in Dove's view and spun to the ceiling. CLICKS and CHINGS met her ears, and water began to fall from the ceiling. The creature screamed, and it slowly shrunk into the rectangle.

Dove's mouth was now hanging open. She expelled a breath softly and a bolt of energy crackled around her shaking body.

Raven, sensing Dove's trauma, turned her way just as Dove turned and ran off.

"Dove!" She took to the air and levitated the way she had seen Dove run.

"What's wrong with Raven?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm not sure, " Robin replied as he picked up the disc. All of the remaining Titans looked at where Dove had been standing a moment ago.

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Raven flew into the sky above the buildings, and saw the doors of the tower close, then she shot off. The water was settling, and Raven guessed that Dove either flew to the island too close to the water's surface and disturbed it or her powers were the cause.

Raven went into the tower and followed her senses to Dove's room. She let the door open and walked in.

Dove was on the bed shivering, her body crackling with a few bolts of energy. Dove was kneeling on the bed, her head in her hands.

As the door clicked shut, Dove looked up. Tears streaked her white face. She closed her violet eyes and hung her head with a shudder.

Raven walked over and sat down next to her, her feet hanging over the edge of the mattress. Any closer and she would have been touching Dove, who seemed to be in a sensitive state right now.

"Dove, what's wrong?"

Dove expelled a breath that sounded like a sob, and shook her head. After a few moments, she looked up at Raven.

"Why?" was all she whispered tightly.

Raven studied Dove in quizzicality.

"Never- all my life-" Dove's head dropped and she sobbed lightly.

"Dove, what's going on?"

Dove fell to her back and sobbed a few times. "The-the-the- Raven, why did you-? I-It doesn't seem right-! Why were you fighting?" She sobbed heavily, and Raven suddenly understood.

"Dove, Earth isn't at all like Azarath, especially this part of it. You'll only find that type of pacifism in Azarath."

Dove didn't seem any better. "Raven, it just- It-it-it really scared me!" Dove's sobs continued relentlessly.

"Dove- " Raven sighed. She began to feel sympathy. "Dove… I… We weren't… We're heroes, Dove. It's what we do."

"Why so violently?" Dove opened her eyes to look at Raven. "Why?" Her voice was incredibly soft.

"That's how it has to be. If we didn't fight the villains, resist the evil… Then they'd succeed."

"In what? Why cause destruction? And the battle… It destroyed the things and the store." Dove sat up as she spoke and looked at Raven deeply.

Raven could sense frustration. Almost inaudibly, Dove whispered, "Ohhh! Why didn't I just stay in Azarath?!"

Raven was startled. "Don't you care about life- in itself?"

Dove shrugged. "It's so hard!" She was suddenly half yelling. "All this frustration, and all this violence! Raven, I think I just hate it here!"

"Dove, your emotions-!" White bolts of energy were now flickering dangerously close to the walls.

"I just can't help it!" As she spoke, her voice quieted and tightened. "I do care about life, Raven, and I really want to still be alive, but… Being raised by a full-blood Azarathian mother and not a trainer… -sigh- I was exposed to affection, and it kindled the already flaring fire of pacifism and compassion, going hand-in-hand…I just don't fear death and I'm not sure what to think of it. Raven… The violent ways of this world scare me so much. I can't stand it." Dove bowed her head away from Raven. The energy bolts began to stabilize to just around her body, and Dove whimpered. "I just wish everything was different…"

Raven looked at Dove in a way with feelings she hardly understood. Somehow, she felt a bit bonded to Dove. Dove sensed Raven's gaze and looked up reluctantly.

"So you never had anyone teach you even a bit about your emotions?" Raven asked gently. Dove shook her head. "No wonder you're so inexperienced…"

Dove blinked.

"Dove, it's not your fault you were never…" Dove's eyes filled with tears.

"Dove, what…?"

"I feel so vulnerable! Now you know my secrets, and I'm not used to it! It's just hard to trust even you."

"It's okay, Dove. I know what you mean…"

"I mean, how you found out about my- our- father…!"

"I know… I was pretty startled."

"I still wonder how I survived without blowing the house to bits."

"Dove, at least you know what to do in a bad situation. Sometimes that's all you need."

"And others, Srentha helped me out. He… kind of… guided me as far as focusing your mind goes. He needed to do that with certain spells. And it was always good to know I had someone to trust when I felt uneasy…"

"Trust is a valuable thing."

"Yeah… But you found out about me because you… well, found out. I didn't tell you because I trusted you."

"That's how the team found out about me. I pretty much waited until it was needed, though… Some secrets have to stay inside someone…"

Dove looked up, half startled and the rest worried. "What about with someone you really trust?"

"Sometimes you can't talk to someone if they won't understand."

"That's probably why it's so easy to talk to you more than any of the others… You know what it's like. Visions, no emotions allowed, mental battles where sometimes you even fight yourself for control." Dove swallowed.

Raven nodded solemnly. "And empathy, secrets, and no one who completely understands-" Raven stopped abruptly.

Raven and Dove looked at each other, both girls wondering the same thing. And time would soon answer their question.

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-Raven's secret-keeper

I'm getting ready to wrap this story up, so tell me what you think. The next story will definitely follow the Raven and Dove plot, I assure you. It may even pass as a sequel. It actually follows a storyline that starts in the epilogue. (What do you think? Should it be its own story line, or a sequel? Review to answer me this, if anything.)