"So, let me get this straight. Right after we got back, Beast Boy went to go apologize to me over that small little argument we had earlier?" Raven asked, confirming what the alien had told her.
"Yes," Starfire nodded, slightly confused at Raven's odd reaction. The empath was mostly unreadable on most days, but right now, Starfire didn't have even the slightest clue as to what Raven was feeling.
Even as she let the words sink in, Raven couldn't believe it. Beast Boy had gone to apologize to her right after they got back, but he hadn't been seen since then? Where could he be?
Curiosity, and maybe even a bit of worry, filled Raven as she mulled over her thoughts.
"You… have not seen him?" Starfire asked, guessing at Raven's blank face.
"No," Raven answered simply.
"Perhaps we should go look for him?" Starfire suggested. Raven shook her head.
"No, you should stay here and finish making Silkie's… food," Raven replied, taking a quick glance at the bubbling substance in the oven. "I can do it myself."
"You are sure?" Starfire asked hesitantly. "What if there is trouble? You might need assistance."
"I'll be fine," Raven assured the alien. "And if there's any trouble, I'll have my communicator with me."
"All right," Starfire relented, sensing that Raven wasn't going to change her mind and accept her offer for help.
As the Tameranian uncertainly turned back to her magazine, Raven left the room to search the tower for Beast Boy.
-
Beast Boy looked around the new realm. They seemed to be at the bottom of a tall, round hill. A sense of tranquillity filled him as he looked around the base of the hill. A few insects floated around lazily, and Beast Boy thought he might have seen a small rabbit out of the corner of his eye. All in all, it seemed like nothing could break the calmness of this realm.
As the other emotions looked around, they all let out sighs of relief.
"We're in Wisdom's realm," Brave informed Beast Boy. "No doubt she'll be at the top of the meditation hill."
"You mean we have to climb all that way?" Beast Boy asked, looking up at the large hill.
"Yup," Rude confirmed, before adding sarcastically, "This ought to be fun."
"Aw, come on! Be happy!" Happy told them, a slight lilt in her tone suggesting that she was about to break out in song again.
"Well, I suppose it won't be all bad," Rude mumbled. "At least she'll be too tired to sing."
"Okay, let's get climbing," Brave spoke up, beginning her steady ascent. Happy skipped forward, following Brave up the hill. Timid went next, silently climbing, watching her footing carefully so she wouldn't slip.
"Well, no point dawdling around down here. Let's go," Beast Boy said, motioning for Rude to follow him up. Groaning, Rude reluctantly followed.
They were more than halfway up the hill when Timid stopped and sat down, panting. Calling up to Brave, Rude stopped as well.
"Hold up speedy," she yelled at Brave. "We need a break."
Turning around, Brave looked at her companions. A thin layer of sweat covered Happy's brow, but other than that, she seemed fine. Timid and Rude, however, were both panting heavily, and Beast Boy had taken the opportunity to sit down as well.
"Why? Happy's fine," Brave pointed out impatiently. "And Beast Boy can still go further."
"So? Timid's wearing sweaters, and I'm just lazy, in case you hadn't noticed," Rude replied.
Sighing, Brave relented. "Fine, five minute break. No more than that."
Smiling, Beast Boy leaned back on the rocky hill and watched the realm's wispy clouds float peacefully through the sky. The calm sound of insects made his ears buzz. There was another sound, though, that Beast Boy couldn't quite identify. Closing his eyes, he focused on discerning the sound.
It sounded like… voices?
Opening his eyes, Beast Boy looked at the other emotions. None of them seemed to notice the voices, but that made sense. His hearing was better than their's was, and even he could barely make it out.
Looking up, he still couldn't see the top of the hill. He knew one of the voices had to be Wisdom, but who was the other?
-
Wisdom sat meditating- a common occurrence when she was on her meditation hill- when she was very rudely interrupted by an angry shout from someone behind her.
"Wisdom, get off your ass! I have questions, and I want answers!"
"Hello, Anger," Wisdom greeted calmly, standing up from her meditative position. "You seek answers?"
"No duh," Anger hissed, stomping over to the wise emotion. "First, I want to know why our clothing keeps changing."
"The answer lies in all of us," Wisdom replied, turning around to face the angry emotion. "It is because of all of us, and none of us all at once."
"Quit with the fortune cookie mumbo jumbo," Angry growled, shoving her face closer to Wisdom's. "Answer my question in plain English."
"Calm down, Anger. Everything shall be answered eventually," Wisdom replied evenly, not even batting an eyelash at Anger's intimidating gestures.
"Calm down? You expect me to calm down when my clothes are getting skimpier with every passing second! I mean, the biker girl outfit was actually kind of cool, but this is just getting ridiculous!" Anger roared, motioning at her own clothing.
She wore tight leather pants that were a shade of red so dark that they almost looked black. She wore a matching leather jacket, which no longer rested around her hips, like most biker jackets, but higher up on her waist, and now had quarter length sleeves. Under her jacket was a bright red muscle shirt.
Finishing her quick inspection of Anger's outfit, Wisdom looked down at her own. It had changed since she last looked, but she wasn't surprised as she had felt every change, even during her meditation.
Her loose brown tunic-like shirt had grown tighter since it first appeared. She had started out wearing a long brown skirt, but it was now a semi-short brown skirt, resting in the middle of her knees. The sleeves of the long robes she wore on top were noticeably shorter, not even long enough to cover her wrists if she pulled hard enough to stretch the thick fabric (which was slightly less thick than it had been, now that she thought about it). The sleeves of her tunic shirt underneath her robe were now just barely covering her elbows, and it seemed as if the brown shirt had tightened a bit as well.
"Anger, you must control your temper. No matter what explanations I give you, the situation is not going to change," Wisdom reasoned calmly.
"Don't tell me to control my temper! I can use my temper as much as I like," the red emotion snapped angrily.
"I never said you couldn't," Wisdom replied. "I was merely pointing out-"
"Geez," Anger continued to rant. "It's like ever since Trigon's influence over me was lifted, everyone thinks they can walk all over-"
"Dude! The red guy can't influence you anymore!" an excited voice turned their attention to the other side of the hill, where four emotions and a green boy were climbing up. "Awesome!"
"What's he doing here?" Anger asked, pointing at Beast Boy accusingly.
"I was going to ask Wisdom why everyone's outfits are changing," Beast Boy replied cheekily.
"You know what I meant," Anger snarled. "What are you doing in Raven's head?"
"I came to apologize," Beast Boy replied. "You of all people, er… emotions, should know that Raven was mad at me."
Not sure what to say, Anger folded her arms angrily and turned to Wisdom.
"Well, you heard him. He wants to know why our clothes are changing, too. Now, tell us what's going on," she demanded.
Wisdom sighed. "Even I am not positive of what is going on, although I do have an idea. Perhaps we should go to Knowledge's realm to get this straightened out. Surely she'll have come up with her own ideas for these occurrences by now."
"Fine. Let's get moving." Anger agreed gruffly.
Wisdom nodded and turned, gesturing for everyone to follow her. "Come, the portal is this way."
They slowly began making their way down the hill, walking sideways in a zigzagging pattern so as not to slip. Beast Boy quickly caught up to Wisdom, and they lead the pack of emotions down the hill together.
No one spoke during the descent, which quickly began to take its toll on the talkative Beast Boy.
"So, Wisdom… can you, like, tell the future and stuff?" Beast Boy asked, looking over at the brown clad emotion at his right.
"I sometimes have premonitions," she replied. "But it has to be really important, and usually, something causes them to occur. You didn't know that?"
"Well, sort of, but not really." he replied, shrugging. "Me and Raven don't really talk that often."
Wisdom shot him a disbelieving look, before replying, "You talk to her almost every day."
"Well, yeah," Beast Boy replied, trying to figure out what he was trying to say with his fumbling tongue. "But we never really talk talk, you know? Just, talk without any real subject. And when we do talk, it usually turns into a fight. Like it did today."
"You did spill tea on her book," Wisdom pointed out calmly.
"Well, yeah, but it was just an accident! I was trying to be nice, and she just exploded at me!" Beast Boy argued, a slightly angry tone working its way into his voice. "Most of the time, I'm not even trying to annoy Raven. She just gets mad at me when I'm doing my best to make her happy! You'd think I was following her around and taping 'kick me' signs to her back. And don't give me that look; I only did it once!"
"Beast Boy," Wisdom sighed, "you have to believe me; Raven doesn't enjoy arguing any more than you do. She has a short temper sometimes, everyone has character faults, but it's not like she doesn't try to control herself. She did restrain herself enough to stop your argument before it grew to an even worse degree."
"I- guess you're right," Beast Boy admitted reluctantly, before smiling gratefully. "Thanks. I think I'll try to remember that next time I annoy her."
"Good," Wisdom nodded. "Now, I was wondering if you could answer a question of my own."
"Sure," Beast Boy replied. "Shoot."
"I've been wondering for a while now: Why did you start becoming so persistent about getting Raven to open up? No matter how badly Raven has treated you in the past, you continued trying to spend time with her. What drove you to do this? Why did you start in the first place?" Wisdom asked.
Beast Boy stared at her for a moment, thinking over his answer, before answering her question.
"Lots of reasons, I guess. For one thing, I hate how she has to suppress her emotions all the time. She acts like she doesn't care about anything, or anyone, but I know that deep down, she really is a nice person and her heart's nothin' but good," he said sincerely. His face darkened, and he added somberly, "Besides, no one should have to go through the things she's had to deal with all her life. I know what it's like to be all alone, without friends and family, like she was. I just don't think that a person as good and selfless as Raven should have to suffer stuff like that at any point, you know?"
Wisdom smiled, and found she was speechless for once in her life.
"Do you really mean all that?" she asked. She was tempted to ask what he had meant about being alone, but she knew that it was something that was best left untouched until he was ready to share.
"Yeah," he replied, smiling. "I meant every word of it."
"You're right," Wisdom said after a minute of silence, while they struggled down a particularly rocky part of the hill. "Raven has gone through a lot of strife, but you needn't worry. Now, she has you and the rest of the Titans, and she's never been happier."
Beast Boy looked at her incredulously. "You can't be serious. Maybe around the others, she's happier than ever, but not around me… She only seems to hate me, most of the time," he mumbled the last part, but Wisdom's keen ears heard what he said. He perked up suddenly, and added, "Still, if my suffering makes her happy, I don't mind. She deserves all the happiness she can get."
"Beast Boy, you shouldn't think that," Wisdom told him in a calm, yet slightly upset voice. "Raven does not- and never will- hate you! Relationships vary between different people. Just because she fights with you more than the other Titans doesn't mean she likes you any less."
"How do you figure that?" Beast Boy asked. "I don't see how she can like me and still get so angry."
Wisdom thought carefully over her words before explaining. "You are one of the very few people that has helped bring down the emotional wall she built so many years ago, while still keeping control of her powers. As grateful for that as she is, it makes you a bigger target for her anger, as well as her other emotions. Do you understand?"
"I…. think so… Thanks," Beast Boy grinned at Wisdom, who smiled lightly in response.
"I am delighted I could be of assistance," she replied. Her smile disappeared suddenly, however, as the now familiar feeling of shifting clothing returned.
"Our outfits changed again, in case you were too busy flirting to notice." Anger broke in, glaring daggers at Beast Boy and Wisdom. Wisdom cocked her eyebrow as she heard what sounded like jealousy in Anger's edgy voice. No one else seemed to have noticed, however, so she pushed that small piece of information to the back of her mind for later.
Anger's red muscle shirt had lost more length in the last change, and now sat just under where Wisdom knew her bellybutton was. The leather jacket she wore on top was shorter in the arms, and the bottom hem only rested about a centimeter below the shirt. Her leather pants probably couldn't get any tighter than they were already, but the legs had been growing shorter with every change, and now showed off a couple inches of her ankles.
Wisdom looked down at her own outfit next. As she had suspected, her skirt was now up to the bottom of her knees. The sleeves of her robe were now in between her wrists and elbows. The sleeves of her tunic shirt were above her elbows- this fact was hidden by the robe-, and was slightly tighter. She could feel the neckline of her plain brown shirt beginning to plunge slightly, but her robe hid it as well.
Once she had finished examining her own and Anger's outfits, she looked up the hill at the other trailing emotions.
Rude's pants hadn't grown much tighter, but the rips in it were steadily growing, and now showed large patches of her thighs and calves. Her T-shirt-turned-muscle shirt now showed as much of her midriff as Anger's. The material of her shirt also seemed a bit thinner, although not drastically so.
Happy's pink plaid skirt had been growing shorter with every change, and this time was no different; it now rested at least two and a half inches above her knees. Her usual pink boots had shrunk, just a bit, reaching a spot just above her ankles. Her shirt was now fairly tight, and it wouldn't be long before the buttons began to feel some strain. Her sleeves, which had started near her elbows when she had first gotten her new outfit, were now short enough to be very small T-shirt sleeves. The pink necktie at her collar was another inch shorter, and remained as loose on her neck as before.
Timid's sweater had been shrinking steadily since the first change, and was now tight enough to be a well fitting sweater. The sweater underneath the hood-less hoodie was, presumably, tighter as well. The sleeves of her shirt no longer reached her wrists, and instead stopped a couple inches away from them. Her pants had grown fairly tight, and were beginning to look less like denim and more like some unidentifiable, stretchy fabric.
The pale green T-shirt under Brave's gi seemed thinner, and even a bit tighter. The dark green shirt above it only reached her elbows, and the neckline dipped down to the middle of her chest (luckily she had the T-shirt underneath it). Her pants had raised again, and only went down to the top of her knees now.
"I guess we should get going before Anger gets a leather wedgie," Rude said, jerking a thumb at Anger, who was furiously pulling at her tight pants. She looked up at Rude and gestured at her in a not-so-polite way.
"Come on," Beast Boy laughed. "We're almost at the bottom."
They continued their slow trek down the hill. Anger trailed at the back, muttering darkly. Noticing that Anger seemed irritated, Beast Boy slowed his pace until he was standing next to her at the back of the group.
"Are you okay?" Beast Boy asked. "You seem a bit angry."
The leather clad emotion glared at him, and he realized what he had just said.
"Oh," he laughed nervously. "I guess that's kind of obvious. But seriously, why are you angry?"
"Lots of reasons," Anger growled, looking away.
"Like?" Beast Boy prodded.
"Like this stupid outfit," she replied, glaring at the clothing in question.
"Why?" Beast Boy asked. "I think the biker chick look suits you."
"I still hate it," she replied angrily.
"Well, if everything goes well, you won't have to wear it for too much longer," Beast Boy pointed out optimistically.
"And if everything goes wrong?" she asked cynically.
"Then… at least you look good in it," Beast Boy replied.
"…Shut up." Anger snapped after a second, turning her head away. She could feel that her face had turned a bit red, and it wasn't because of her trademark emotion.
"But it's true," Beast Boy said. "You even look kinda… pretty."
"Pretty?" Anger repeated edgily, convinced he was lying with that last word. "I don't look pretty."
"Sure you do," Beast Boy insisted, before mumbling, "You always do."
Anger ignored his last comment and continued to walk in a moody silence. Beast Boy, however, continued to talk.
"I heard that red is really in this season," he told her. "I'm not totally sure about that though. I don't pay much attention to fashion-y type things. Do you? Probably not, eh? I guess we're kind of lucky that way. Super heroes, I mean. We get to wear our uniforms all the time, so normal clothes aren't really a big deal. Not that they're a small deal, they just aren't as important as other things, like saving the world."
"Do you ever shut up?" Anger spun around to face him, cutting off his chain of consistent babbling. They were almost nose-to-nose, but Anger was too frustrated to really care. Beast Boy smirked.
"I knew I could get you to talk to me again," he told her.
"And why would you care if I talked to you or not?" Anger asked him, sneering.
"Because I like you," he told her truthfully.
"No, you don't," she replied with angry conviction. Before he could say anything else, she turned around and continued to walk down the hill a bit ahead of Beast Boy.
"I do," Beast Boy replied casually. "And you like me."
He had gone too far! She stopped and began to turn around to face him, but in her frustration, she didn't notice the rock resting by her foot.
With a small yelp, Anger felt herself falling forward as she tripped over the inconveniently placed rock. She closed her eyes and braced herself for a rocky landing. Without warning, a soft… something stopped her descent, and she had a sneaking suspicion she knew what, or who, that something was.
Cautiously, she looked up at the person who had caught her. Despite her correct guess, she was still surprised for a second when she saw a green face looking down at her. Their eyes locked.
'He's holding me,' Anger thought, gazing into his eyes. 'I should get mad at him; I should hate this. So, why does it feel so… good? And his eyes,' she noted, 'are like portals into his soul. Oh, dear Azar! Did I really just think that!
'I have got to push him away before my mind turns to pathetic jelly. I will push him away... in just a second…. Or five…. This is stupid. These feelings, whatever they may be, are a sign of weakness. I'm not weak; therefore, I should push him away. But... it couldn't hurt to stay like this for just a little longer... No! I am Anger. I am above these pathetic feelings. I am... not angry. No, I can't not be angry. It goes against my nature. And yet... I'm not.
'Still, it really doesn't feel so bad, letting him hold onto me. I'm still Anger, and I am not weak, like the rest of Raven. Staying like this for a while won't change that….'
Beast Boy stared back at Anger, similar thoughts running through his head. He wondered why she hadn't pushed him away yet, or yelled at him for holding onto her, but at the same time, he didn't want to question it. He really didn't mind holding onto her, whether she needed help standing or not.
"Who knew that Anger could be so light on her feet?" a mocking voice spoke up from behind them. "So light that lover boy over here had to catch her!"
Beast Boy turned his head around to see the other emotions looking at them. Rude had a small smirk on her face, pinpointing her as the person who had spoken.
"Gonna hold onto each other for long? Or are we going to have to walk around you to get to Knowledge's realm?"
"You two look so cute!" Happy added, clapping her hands excitedly, to Anger's growing embarrassment.
"We do not look cute!" she spat. "And this was just a clumsy mistake. It means nothing!"
"Are you sure about that?" Wisdom asked, chuckling. "That seems to be the first time you've ever smiled at someone, and for helping you out at that!"
"Yeah, and I can't tell which is redder: your outfit or your face!" Rude said, before breaking down into a fit of laughter with Brave.
"She got you there, Red," Brave said in between laughs. "Or should I say, Red Face?"
Rude, Happy, and Brave laughed harder, and Wisdom hid her chuckles behind her hand.
By now, there may as well have been steam pouring out of Anger's ears, and she almost snapped at Beast Boy when he carefully interrupted her angry thoughts with, "Umm… Anger?"
"What is it, BB?" she growled, snapping her head towards him.
"Er… look down," Beast Boy mumbled, pointing at her. She looked down, and an angry growl escaped her lips.
Her anger and the other emotions' amusement had prevented them from noticing that their clothing had changed once again.
Anger's shirt was low enough to see just a hint of cleavage, and her stomach still showed from under the bottom hem. She could feel that the arms of her muscle shirt were now much thinner as well. Her dark red leather jacket didn't help hide much, and the sleeves had grown shorter as well, reaching just below her elbows. Her matching leather pants stopped around mid-calf, turning them into matching leather pedal pushers.
Looking up, she angrily examined the other emotions.
Her eyes widened slightly as she took in Rude, or more specifically, Rude's pants. Her already hole filled jeans had ripped into denim shorts. Small shreds from the remainders of her pant legs trailed down to her ankles, although Rude didn't seem to care enough to rip them off, completely transforming them into shorts.
The material of Rude's T-shirt had become a bit thinner, and to the trained eye, it could be seen that Rude probably wasn't wearing a bra.
Anger scowled at Rude's new outfit, and turned to look at Brave, who had a disgusted look on her face as she looked at her own outfit.
"What is this?" Brave asked, motioning at her clothing. "These are hardly fighting clothes!"
Her pants had grown tighter once again, and rested an inch above her knees. Her T-shirt thinner as well, and while the neckline of her gi still stayed open until mid-chest, it was definitely tighter as well. The sleeves of the gi over her T-shirt had shrunk again and landed in between her shoulders and elbows. The dark green shirt had become much tighter around her waist and arms, and the neckline had started to dip down slightly as well.
Next to Brave, Happy was observing her outfit. Her pink skirt was almost at mid-thigh, Anger noted with distaste. It was getting much too short, in her opinion. Happy's blouse was visibly tighter, and her stomach now peeked out of the bottom as much as Rude's and Anger's had before this change. The sleeves were now almost non-existent. The boots she had been wearing in the beginning only raised up a bit past her ankles.
"Does my butt look big in this?" she asked in a mock serious tone, before laughing.
Timid looked over nervously at Happy's joke, but quickly turned her attention back to her own clothing. Her hoodie was much tighter than it had been before, and the sleeves were just below her elbows. Her pants, which had started out as denim, were now unmistakably made of stretchy material, like a spandex-cotton blend. The change in fabric was strange, to say the least.
Finally, Anger looked over at Wisdom. Despite the newest changes, Wisdom remained infuriatingly calm.
Wisdom's brown robe was shorter at the bottom, reaching above her ankles, and the material was thinner as well. The sleeves of her robe were now at her elbows. Her shirt, although hidden by her robe, had gotten lower at the neckline, and the sleeves reached part way between her elbows and shoulders. Also hidden by her robe, was her skirt, which reached the tops of her knees.
"If this happens one more time, I'm going to-"
"Calm down, Anger," Wisdom said soothingly. "We're almost at the portal. Once we're there, we'll find Knowledge and get some solid answers."
"You're sure she can tell us what's going on?" Rude asked. "Personally, I'm getting kind of tired with this wild goose chase."
"She is Knowledge. She will know, or at least have a good idea, of what's going on."
"Fine, let's go. The sooner we get to Knowledge's realm, the sooner we get rid of these damned clothes." Anger hissed through her teeth, stomping forward. "MOVE IT!"
With a small jump (and a rather big jump on Timid's part), the other emotions and Beast Boy followed her down the hill.
-
"If I were a short, green boy, where would I be?" Raven asked herself, walking down the halls of the tower. She had already looked in his bedroom and checked with Robin and Cyborg to see if they had seen Beast Boy, but so far, no luck.
"This is pointless," Raven groaned, leaning against a wall. "For all I know, he's wasting all his money at an arcade while I tear up the tower searching for him."
Sighing, Raven began to walk again, rethinking her last words. He may be a flake at times, but the last time he had been seen, he had been heading into the tower, so he had to be somewhere in here. And he had to be up to something if he hadn't been seen for this long.
She searched for a couple more minutes- she even stopped in the training room, although she knew Beast Boy would never train for fun. As she walked though, she began to get a funny feeling, and she knew she was going to have another wave of emotions soon. She stopped, and sure enough, a second later, it came full force.
A medley of emotions closed in on her, and she took a moment to examine them as best as she could. She felt… flattered. To the point of speechlessness even. The feeling of flattery lasted for a few minutes before changing into another feeling, although not disappearing completely. She felt mild curiosity at something, although she wasn't sure at what, as well as conviction a minute or two later. Most of all she felt a strange emotion that she couldn't completely identify through the whole surge of emotions. It was some form of… affection?
It took a while for the feelings to disappear completely, but once they had, Raven couldn't stop the groan of frustration that came out of her mouth. This was just not her day! First, she had fought with Beast Boy. Now, she had to look for him, and she kept getting these weird rushes of feelings, like her emotions were going crazy over something.
Suddenly, it was like a light bulb had gone off in her head and connections began to form. Beast Boy had gone missing, and he hadn't been seen for a couple hours. Meanwhile, she had been getting strange, unexplainable feelings.
"No way. After what happened the first time, he would know how dangerous it is," Raven tried to convince herself. "He just wouldn't do that. He wouldn't…"
Suddenly, she was surprised by another rush of emotions. She felt herself slip into a strangely wonderful daze, which took her over completely for a few minutes. The invisible arms had returned as well, wrapping themselves around her body like a blanket. She allowed herself to bask in the feeling, until suddenly, it was gone and replaced by an overpowering combination of anger, frustration, and embarrassment. She groaned.
"He would."
Her fists balled up in frustration, and she turned on her heels, running through the halls to her bedroom.
"That little-! I can't believe he would do something like this!" Raven vented as she ran. "Who knows what could happen to him in there? He could be hurt, or lost! Besides that, what the hell has he been doing in there for this long that's been causing these emotional outbursts? When I get to him, I'm going to- Argh!"
The rest of the trip to her room was spent muttering threats under her breath.
I don't really have anything to say for this chapter, except that I hope you liked it. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, you all rock!
Tammy Tamborine