"If you're Happy and you know it, clap your hands!"
Rude rolled her eyes as Beast Boy and Happy broke out on another off key round of the children's song. They had tried to get Rude to join in by singing 'If you're Rude and you know it,' but she hadn't taken the bait.
"In case you're too happy to know it, we've reached the next door," Rude informed them, gesturing to the large stone portal.
Beast Boy laughed and looked at Rude.
"Yeah, we noticed," he assured her, turning to face the arch. Taking a deep breath, he walked through the rock gateway, Happy and Rude not far behind him.
On the other side, Beast Boy found himself standing in the middle of a wide area of flat rock. The sky above him was the same infinite expanse of darkness as when he had first arrived in Raven's head. Happy walked through next, followed by Rude, who looked around and groaned.
"Brace yourselves," she said, placing one hand on the gateway behind her. Before Beast Boy could ask her what she meant, the ground underneath began to shake. Beast Boy yelped and threw himself to the ground, covering his head with his arms.
When the trembling had ceased, the changeling stood up and took in his new surroundings. Around them, thick, cement walls had risen from the ground. He recognised it as Timid's maze.
"I guess we should try to find the 'fraidy cat'. She's the only one who can find her way around here, other than Raven," Rude commented.
"H-hi. I'm over here," a timid voice called out. They turned around to find a small grey form huddled in a corner of the maze. No one had seen her at first, as she was half-hidden in shadows, and the grey outfit she wore blended into the cement walls.
Beast Boy took a step closer, and took in her new outfit. Worn grey-wash jeans and a large grey hoodie had replaced her usual leotard and cloak. The hood was up, covering her face in shadows, and a light grey sweater peeked out from underneath it.
"Figures her outfit would still cover her up," Rude remarked.
Timid sniffed. Beast Boy watched as she glanced uneasily at her new clothes, and in a brief moment of enlightenment and empathy, Beast Boy realised that she was probably afraid they didn't like her change of clothing.
"Don't take what she says too seriously, Timid," Beast Boy said, inching towards her. He kneeled down and rested a comforting hand on her arm. "I like your outfit. It suits you."
"R-really?" Timid asked, wiping her eyes.
"Really," Beast Boy assured her. The shy emotion smiled a bit, glad for the cover of her hood. Beast Boy smiled, but a small movement caught his eye. Looking down at her outfit, Beast Boy's face scrunched in confusion.
"Um… Timid, is it just me, or did your clothes just shrink?"
"What?" asked Timid, looking down at her attire. Her eyes widened as she saw the small but noticeable change in her outfit. The pants were a bit tighter, stretching across her legs closer than they had before. Underneath her hoodie, Timid could feel that the sweater was beginning to grow a bit tight around her arms, although there were still a few good inches between her skin and the material.
A shout of laughter turned their attention over to Happy. The pink emotion was inspecting her skirt, which was at least half an inch shorter, judging by the distance between the hemline and her knee socks. Her blouse was more form fitting as well.
A quick glance at Rude showed that her outfit had changed as well. Her jeans had become tighter, hugging her hips and thighs a bit more. Her shirt looked like it had gone through the wrong washing cycle and shrunk, but not dramatically so (Although, Rude's clothing couldn't be expected to go anywhere near a washing machine).
"I guess it's another one of those changes," Beast Boy mused, standing up, and offering a hand to Timid. She looked at his hand hesitantly before accepting it and standing up as well.
"Are you looking for Knowledge and Wisdom?" Timid asked softly, looking at each of them from under her hood.
"We sure are!" Happy chirped.
Timid nodded and silently walked past them.
"Follow me."
-
Beast Boy watched with little interest as Timid led them through her maze. At first he had paid close attention to each turn they made, wondering in amazement how Timid remembered her way around this place, when there was nothing to indicate where they were going or where they had been. Now, he was pretty sure she was just guessing.
"So…" Beast Boy began, wanting to break the silence. "Wanna hear a joke?"
"Not really," replied Rude.
"Yeah!" Happy exclaimed enthusiastically, "Tell us a joke, BB."
"Okay. What happens when a paranoid man has low self-esteem?" he paused while Happy pretended to look thoughtful, "He thinks that nobody important is out to get him!"
The joke sent Happy into thrilled bouts of laughter. Beast Boy smiled and looked over at Rude to gauge her reaction. She rolled her eyes.
"You can do a lot better than that," Rude informed him. When he shrugged and looked away though, she allowed herself a small smile.
Beast Boy looked over at Timid. Her shoulders seemed to have tensed a bit, and Beast Boy wondered if that had been the best joke to tell around someone so… timid and low on self-esteem.
"Oops," Beast Boy muttered. He ran ahead and caught up to Timid. She kept her eyes on her feet while she walked. "Sorry."
"F-for what?" Timid asked, looking at him from the corner of her eye.
"I didn't mean anything by the joke," he told her, watching her face carefully, "You're great, really."
A light blush spread across Timid's features, unnoticed because of the hood hiding her face.
"I'm not…" she replied quietly, taking a quick glance back at Happy and Rude. They seemed to be listening to the exchange.
"You are," Beast Boy insisted, "You care about others' feelings. You think before you speak- which is something I've never really got the hang of- and you're just a great person… uh, emotion."
"Aww, it's so nice of you to try to cheer up Timid like that," Happy cooed. Rude nodded, rolling her eyes and smiling lightly, and Timid blushed.
As she blushed though, she felt her clothing shift. Looking down, she saw that her pants looked more like women's jeans; tightening a bit around the knees, while a bit wider near the bottom. Her sweater underneath the hoodie felt closer to her waist, and the hoodie was starting to dip- almost unnoticeably- around the sides of her waist, making it look like she had some semblance of an hourglass figure underneath.
Peeking behind her, Timid examined Happy and Rude's clothing.
Happy's skirt had become another half-inch shorter. Her shirt was no longer long enough to tuck into her skirt, but it still wasn't short enough to see her midriff, and it seemed a bit tighter.
Rude's T-shirt was smaller, and her jeans were tighter around her hips and thighs, although she still had a bit of loose material.
To her right, Beast Boy had noticed the changes as well.
"We're getting off track," Beast Boy said, suddenly nervous when he realised they had slowed down a bit, "We have to find Knowledge and Wisdom quickly!"
With that, Beast Boy ran forward and around a corner, images of emotions with slowly receding clothing, and Raven wanting to kill him for entering her mind in the first place speeding him up.
The three emotions stopped briefly as they watched the green boy disappear from their sight.
Roughly ten seconds later, he came back around the corner and walked back to them.
"I thought you went to look for Knowledge and Wisdom?" Happy asked, amused at his display.
"Hehe… yeah, about that," Beast Boy laughed nervously, "I forgot one thing."
"And that is?" Rude asked, smirking.
"I don't know my way out of here to start lookin'."
Happy giggled, and Beast Boy humbly asked Timid to finish leading the way.
-
As Raven walked down the hallway, towards the main room, she felt a small bit of uncertainty. What if no one wanted to be around her? What if they didn't like her clothing?
'What the hell?' Raven thought, 'Where did that come from?'
Shaking her head, she continued her trek slowly, although that smidgen of doubt and timidity didn't seem to want to leave.
Suddenly, she stopped.
'What was that?' she thought. She felt like a hand was resting on her shoulder. Looking over, she didn't see anything. Well, that was sufficiently creepy.
"Some people see things, some people hear things… and now, I'm feeling things," Raven muttered, taking a step forward.
Raven continued to walk through the halls, vaguely wondering how there could be so many corners in a 'T' shaped building, when she paused, feeling the small bit of timidity rising again. Why did she suddenly feel as though someone was making fun of her?
"What's with me today? This is getting ridiculous. You'd think my emotions were going haywire," the empath muttered, growing slightly frustrated with her jumping emotions.
"I may as well have schizophrenia already; why not add paranoia to the list?" Raven muttered, as she finished her abnormally long trip to the main room and stopped in front of the sliding doors. Taking a breath to compose herself, she opened the door and walked into the common room.
-
Timid stopped. She stood in front of a plain stone wall, exactly like all the others. Slowly, she turned around.
"We're almost at the portal," she told them quietly.
"Great! Open 'er up, and let's go!" exclaimed Beast Boy, taking a step forward. He failed to notice Timid's hesitant expression.
"What's wrong with you?" Rude asked, drawing his attention to Timid's expression.
"Well, it's just… the guardian statue has reformed itself," she informed them, looking down at her feet.
"That creepy statue thing that tried to kill me and Cyborg is back!"
Timid gave Beast Boy a small nod of confirmation, still staring intently at the ground.
"How are we supposed to get passed that meanie?" asked Happy, grin never leaving her face.
"We can get passed it if we're very quiet," Timid replied, her voice lowering even as she spoke.
"You've got to be kidding me. You mean, all someone has to do is tip-toe passed it?" asked Rude, disbelief dripping in her words.
"Dude, we can totally handle that. Right, Happy?" Beast Boy grinned, lightly nudging Happy in the side with his elbow.
"Yeah! This is going to be fun!" the pink emotion agreed, clapping her hands.
"At least it'll get her to shut-up for five minutes," Rude murmured to Timid, nodding her head in Happy's direction. Timid didn't reply.
Weakly, she lifted a finger to her lips for silence and gently touched the wall in front of her.
The stone wall shifted until there was a clear space that lead to the next portal. Between them and the arch stood two tall statues, facing each other with their heads turned toward the group. The statues simultaneously grinned and frowned at them as they stood there, fists clenched menacingly.
"You're sure it won't attack?" Beast Boy whispered into Timid's ear.
Hesitantly, she nodded, "It's sleeping."
Quietly, they inched forward. The statues remained motionless. They each took a small step out of the maze, each watching the stone faces for any sign of movement.
Beast Boy walked over to them first.
Unconsciously, his feet stopped, and he stood in front of the guardian. The statues loomed over him, casting a shadow across Beast Boy ominously. Hardly daring to breathe, Beast Boy slowly edged between the statues. There was a horrible moment when Beast Boy felt as though one of the statue's stone fists would come crashing down on him, but nothing happened. Never turning his back on more than one of the statues, Beast Boy slowly made his way between the guardian. Its eyes glowered at him, but it hadn't moved.
Letting go of his breath in silent relief, Beast Boy waved for the emotions to join him. Rude slouched past them quickly, hardly sparing a glance at the statues. True, bravery wasn't her trait, but she had seen Beast Boy go around with no problem and knew that nothing would happen to her either as long as she stayed quiet.
Happy came next, tip-toeing passed the statue, and smothering giggles in her hand. When she walked around it, she couldn't resist sticking her tongue out at the slumbering guard. Her own actions caused a small giggle to escape her lips. Frantically, she covered her mouth with her hand. Everyone watched the statue intently, but it didn't wake.
Eyes twinkling with laughter, she finished her trip over, and they all turned to wait for Timid.
The grey emotion hesitated before slowly creeping forward. After a couple minutes of her reluctant pace, she reached the statues. She stopped in front of the staring statues, and the guardians stared back it her, frightening her with its stony intensity. Her eyes travelled from its face, to its open palms- if it woke up, all it had to do was use its crimson magic to make a granite sword appear in its hand. As she looked at its threatening hands, her breath hitched as one stone finger began to twitch lightly.
The group on the other side watched intently, noticing the small movement as well. Even Happy was sobered as they concentrated on the timid emotion standing paralysed with fear.
The statue's finger slowly lowered. Its fingers curled into a fist, before they loosened and a low rumbling sound emitted from the statues. It was snoring!
The tension in the air fell, and Rude, Beast Boy, and Happy all smiled in silent celebration. A quick glance at Beast Boy's encouraging face helped Timid move between the statues and back away from them, trembling all the while.
When she reached them, huddled in her hoodie, Happy and Beast Boy pulled her and Rude into a group hug. Patting each other's backs, and whispering small praise to Timid -who still looked quite shaken up- as they walked through the next portal.
"Where are we now?" asked Beast Boy when he arrived on the other side. Tall trees surrounded them on all sides, blocking out much of the sunlight. Shadows made everything seem forbidding. Sounds of large animals and unknown creatures reached their ears. A quick glance at Timid showed that the emotion was strongly resisting the urge to curl up in the fetal position.
"B-b-b-" Timid tried to reply, but every sound and movement made her jump.
"Brave," Rude answered for her, "She thinks it's adventurous. I think she just likes to flaunt her bravery by fighting all the mind creatures in here."
"Hey, I'm brave, not conceited," replied the emotion in question, stepping out of the foliage. She walked over confidently, wearing her new outfit like a medal.
Like the others, her cloak had disappeared. Her usual leotard had been exchanged for a forest green karate outfit. The pants, however, came down to a little above her ankles, making it look like she had had a sudden growth spurt. The button-less green shirt was held together by a matching belt, and a slightly green-tinged T-shirt peeked out through the gap by her collar.
"Come on, we should get out of here before Timid wets herself," Rude muttered, jerking a thumb in Timid's direction.
"She can barely stand it out here; you think she can handle going further in?" asked Brave, puffing her chest out, "Not everyone's that brave. Why do you need to go through here anyway?"
"We're trying to find Knowledge and Wisdom," Beast Boy answered, "We want to find out why the outfits keep changing."
"Well, then I guess you really are out of luck. The next portal is in the middle of the forest," Brave replied, "To get there you'd have to pass giant spiders, tigers, quicksand, and tons of other things of that nature. Do you think you can handle it?"
A whimper from Timid proved that they probably couldn't.
"Don't worry, Timid," Beast Boy cooed, placing a hand on Timid's shoulder, "Nothing's going to hurt you. I'll make sure of it."
The trembling emotion looked into Beast Boy's sincere eyes and nodded lightly, although she was still a bit reluctant to feel safe anywhere in this nightmarish jungle.
"Oh crap," Rude's voice echoed around the small clearing. Her blunt words expressed everyone's thoughts as the emotions looked down to see that their outfits had changed once again.
Beast Boy quickly examined everyone's outfits. Happy's blouse was beginning to fit a bit more snug around her chest and waist, although it wasn't tight quite yet. Her skirt had grown another inch shorter, and Beast Boy had to force himself not to stare at her legs peeking out between the skirt and knee socks.
'Get a grip, Beast Boy. You see Raven's legs all the time,' he thought to himself, 'Although, she never wears knee socks…'
Shaking his head free from that weird thought, he looked over at Rude.
Her pants had grown tighter as well, and the rips seemed to be getting bigger, showing more patches of skin. Her T-shirt was a bit tighter too, Beast Boy noted in what he hoped wasn't a 'pervert-staring-at-girls'-clothing' way.
Timid's jeans had grown even tighter around her hips and thighs. The bottom of her hoodie now only reached the middle of her hips, and the grey material didn't seem as thick, hinting that the sweater underneath had grown a bit tighter also. Taking a quick look at her face, Beast Boy noticed Timid's eyes widen as she frantically glanced around the inside of her hood. Looking closer, Beast Boy could see that her hood had shrunk a bit with the hoodie, hiding less of her face, and barely staying on her head.
Squeezing Timid's shoulder lightly to calm her down, Beast Boy looked over at Brave. Her karate outfit wasn't as loose as it had been, and her pants now looked more like Capri pants. The V-shaped neckline seemed to be growing deeper, and would have showed a bit more of the area under her neck if it weren't for the tight T-shirt underneath.
"Now, we really have to find them," Beast Boy said, referring to Knowledge and Wisdom, "Are you sure there isn't a safe way out of here?"
Brave thought for a moment, a look of doubt crossing her features.
"Come on, Bravey, baby. There's gotta be a nicer way out of this forest and into the next portal," Happy reasoned, giggling at her own nickname for the green emotion. Brave frowned a bit.
"Yeah, I suppose. There is one path that only has a few death traps and monsters, but that one isn't nearly as much fun as the others," Brave replied, "And I still don't think you could handle it alone."
"Well, than you should come with us," Beast Boy jumped in, grinning, "You can help us get past everything, and then, you can come with us to find Knowledge and Wisdom."
"Sounds good," she replied, "Now, come on. The path is right over here."
Pushing away a large bush, the green clad emotion revealed a hidden pathway that seemed almost completely unused. After a small shove from Rude, Timid stood up and peeked into the new path. Deciding it was slightly less intimidating than the rest of Brave's realm, Timid nodded, and they began walking down the path.
As they were walking, loud roars echoed through the jungle, causing Timid to jump.
"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my," Rude joked, looking speculatively at an old tree, covered in knots that twisted into a demented glare. Timid pulled a face and looked over at Brave, wondering if there was some truth in Rude's sarcasm.
"There aren't any bears," Brave replied. Timid sighed in relief. "There are a few man-eating chimeras, though."
Timid's face paled, and Beast Boy laughed lightly before taking a step closer to her. "She was joking. Besides, we can handle a few man-eating chimeras," Beast Boy assured Timid, "I won't let them near you."
Brave rolled her eyes. She decided that it probably wouldn't do much good to inform Timid that, in fact, she had been serious. Still, it was nice of Beast Boy to help Timid out. Looking down, Brave frowned as she noticed her pants and shirt tightening, almost unnoticeably. Looking around, no one else seemed to have noticed, so she kept her mouth clamped. Maybe they really should find Knowledge and Wisdom quickly.
-
Raven looked around the common room. It was empty, except for Silkie, who was chewing on something in the corner of the room. Sitting down on the couch, Raven opened up a book and began to read.
She was just getting into it when she snapped the book shut. Was it just her, or was it suddenly getting very scary? Loosening her grip, Raven dropped the book on the coffee table and groaned.
What was wrong with her today? She had been reading a description of the forest the main characters in her book had to travel through, and suddenly, she had been near hyperventilating! After a while, another invisible hand pressed down on her shoulder, and Raven felt her heart beat slow down.
Leaning over to pick up her book, Raven began to feel panic bubbling in her again. She pulled her hand away from the book. After another quick squeeze from the invisible warmth, Raven felt completely calm again.
Rolling her eyes, Raven snatched up her book again. Angrily burying her face into the pages, she continued to read.
Here it is! The third chapter is complete. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, you all rock. I hope you liked this chapter. It's longer than I thought it would be, but with a lot of help from Regrem Erutaerc, I think it turned out pretty well. Of course, I'd love to hear what you all think.;)
Tammy Tamborine