Raven's door was already opened as she stormed into her room. She immediately noticed her ornate meditation mirror sitting on the floor and walked over to it.
"I can't believe I forgot to close my door," Raven grumbled, striding across her room and closing her door behind her. "I'm never going to forget to close the door again."
Walking over to her mirror, she picked it up and looked into its dark surface. Beast Boy was somewhere in her mind, again.
"I sincerely hope there's no permanent damage after this," she said, lifting up her mirror to eye level. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
With a small flash, Raven was pulled into her mind.
-
Affection walked through the dark jungle of trees and bushes of Brave's realm. While ordinarily the sounds of the wild animals and other unknown things that roamed Brave's realm would have made her hesitant, and a bit afraid, there were too many things on her mind for her to care much at the moment.
So, she plowed on through the foliage, unheeding of the intimidating noises. Suddenly however, she stopped. A low whining reached her ears. It was faint, but easily noticeable by how out of place it seemed in Brave's forest.
Looking around, Affection saw a small rustling in the bushes to her left. She knew that one should always be cautious in Raven's mind, and even more so in Brave's territory, but she quietly crept over to the bushes anyway.
Pulling back a few branches, Affection's eyes widened. A chimera sat in the bushes, licking its wounds morosely. The expression on its strange face almost reminded Affection of a pouting child. It looked up at her; prepared to defend itself as best it could with its awkwardly twisted limbs, but quickly changed its mind when it saw her familiar face.
With a yelp, the monster stood up and scrambled away from the curious girl. Whimpering, the injured Ape Scorpian limped away as fast it could, leaving Affection to just stare after it and wonder what had happened to it.
Walking back over to the path, Affection continued her trek through Brave's realm, hoping to find Beast Boy and the other emotions.
"That chimera must have been Brave's handiwork," Affection said aloud as she walked. "Although I don't think I remember her ever being quite that mad."
Fighting back her curiosity, Affection continued on quicker. She should try to find them before they could mentally scar any more innocent monsters.
-
"We're off to see the Knowledge! The wonderful Knowledge of Rae!"
Anger groaned and glared at Happy's back as the pink emotion sang, happily oblivious of the others' annoyance.
"Please don't tell me she's been singing this the entire time…" Anger asked Beast Boy.
"Nope," the changeling grinned. "She was singing about Wisdom earlier."
Anger groaned and slapped her head, while Wisdom noticeably grimaced.
"Just wait until we actually reach Knowledge's realm," Rude commented. "She just had yellow tiles put down on the floors."
"We've reached the arch," Brave announced, turning their attention to the stone portal in front of them.
"About time," Rude grumbled. "Took long enough."
"Well, it wouldn't have taken as long if we didn't have to zigzag down the hill to stop from tripping," Brave pointed out. "Or would you rather have ran straight down and met us at the bottom with a face full of gravel?"
"Bite me," Rude snapped, unable to think of a better retort, and walked through the portal. Rolling her eyes, Brave followed her.
Happy skipped in after them, still humming under her breath. Timid followed her hesitantly, looking back briefly before stepping through the stone arch. As Timid disappeared from view, Wisdom stepped forward and went through, leaving Beast Boy and Anger.
"Ladies first," Beast Boy offered, smiling and stepping to the side. Scowling, Anger silently brushed past him. Beast Boy walked in after her.
On the other side, Beast Boy's eyes widened. He had never seen so many books in his entire life!
They seemed to be standing in a giant library. Giant bookshelves were lined up in rows on all sides, towering high enough that tall ladders were needed to grab books on the higher shelves, and they seemed to disappear into shadows as they reached high into the rafters of the unseen ceiling.
The air smelled like old books and dust, although it was easily one of the cleanest places Beast Boy had ever been in. The giant library was dimly lit; enough to read by, although he couldn't see any lights nearby.
Quietly, they walked down the rows of shelves. Their feet made small scuffling noises in the silent library as they walked, and Beast Boy became strangely worried that an old librarian would jump out and yell at them for being too loud. They didn't see anyone, however, as they walked passed the many bookcases.
Suddenly, the sound of someone slamming a book closed reached their ears, breaking the stillness of the realm. The slam was followed by the sound of paper being flipped frantically and a low murmuring.
As they reached the end of the bookshelves they were currently walking between, a small table came into view between the shelves. The wooden table was covered in various tomes and scrolls. A lamp sat on the desk, barely visible through the quickly stacking books.
There was the sound of another closing book and more muttering, and a book wielding hand appeared over the stacks of the books, setting one book down on a pile, and picking up another. Knowledge.
Silently, Beast Boy walked around the table and the wall of books so he was standing right behind her. Her eyes remained on her book, running across the pages rapidly as she took in the information.
"What are you reading?" Beast Boy asked, looking over her shoulder. Suddenly noticing that she wasn't alone anymore, Knowledge jumped and spun around in her seat to come face to face with an innocently smiling Beast Boy.
Gasping, she pulled away and looked around at the other emotions and Beast Boy. Rude and Brave were grinning mischievously, ready to unleash a barrage of jokes, and Happy was already giggling. Wisdom and Timid watched on placidly, as well as Anger, although her usual scowl remained firmly on her face.
Standing up, Knowledge straightened her glasses and looked around, quickly recovering from her shock. Everyone looked at her, or more specifically, her new outfit.
She wore a smooth yellow businesswoman skirt, which now reached about mid-thigh. Her pale yellow button up shirt was beginning to stretch enough that small flashes of a yellow bra could be seen underneath. A short sleeved jacket, the same shade of yellow as the skirt, was worn on top of the blouse, but could no longer cover up her almost-ready-to-burst blouse.
Her usually thick, plain glasses had changed into cuter, thinner spectacles, which better complimented the shape of her face. Her hairstyle had also changed, being swept up into a professional looking bun. Finally, the last step in her new appearance, were the authoritative yellow pumps she wore on her feet.
Rude smirked as she looked at Knowledge's outfit. "And why weren't you at the staff meeting Ms. Knowledge?" she asked in a mock accusing tone, pointing at Knowledge's straining buttons.
"Librarians gone wild!" Brave added in, snickering. High-fiving, Rude and Brave laughed, ignoring Knowledge when she primly scowled at them and turned her attention onto the others.
Knowledge's eyes lingered on Beast Boy for a moment, as if really noticing him for the first time. Surprise flashed in her eyes, but she did her best to remain composed and not show any outward reaction to his presence.
"How long have you been here?" she asked, doing everything in her power to keep her voice a perfect, unreadable monotone.
"I dunno," Beast Boy admitted. "A couple hours? A few minutes? Don't look at me, I don't have a watch."
Happy shrugged, before cheerfully adding in, "Me and BB have been through my realm, and Timid, Rude, Brave, and Wisdom's realms since the second change."
"Beast Boy and I," Knowledge corrected.
"No, me and Beast Boy," Happy insisted. "You've been here the whole time."
Knowledge resisted the temptation to slap her own forehead, and turned to Beast Boy.
"Were you here for the first change as well?"
"Yeah," Beast Boy replied. "I was with Violet."
"Violet? Who's that?" Happy asked. "I thought you were with Aff-"
Knowledge quickly covered Happy's mouth, cutting off her words. "Happy, think hard. Who do you think 'Violet' is?"
The sounds of the gears in Happy's head turning could almost be heard, as she thought hard. Slowly, she made the connection. "Oh," she said at last.
Rolling her eyes, Knowledge sat back down on the wooden chair next to her library desk. She flipped open a book, pieces of her puzzle beginning to fall into place.
"I take it you're here to discover the cause for the changing of our attire?" Knowledge asked, looking up from her books.
"Huh?" Beast Boy articulated.
"You all came to ask me why the clothing has changed?" Knowledge rephrased.
"Oh, yeah," Beast Boy smiled, rubbing his neck. "I knew that."
Knowledge turned to Wisdom next. "May I speak to you in private?"
Wisdom nodded, and followed the yellow clad emotion around a bookshelf. There was a flash of dark energy as Knowledge put a shield around herself and Wisdom, to prevent eavesdroppers.
"Beast Boy has a right to know," Wisdom pointed out, guessing the subject of their private talk. "He came all this way, and it does effect him as well."
"I know," Knowledge agreed. "I'm not sure that we should tell him which specific emotion is causing all this, though."
"You know which emotion it is then." It was a statement, not a question. They both knew, or had a fairly good idea. Knowledge nodded. "Then, you also know it effects him even more."
"Yes, but I still think that we should keep her identity confidential," Knowledge insisted. "For the time being at least. He may be able to figure it out eventually anyway."
"All right," Wisdom relented.
Letting the barrier around them fall, Knowledge and Wisdom stepped around the bookshelf. The others hadn't seemed to notice them yet. Happy was passing the time by telling jokes to Timid and Brave, and laughing loudly at each one. Anger simply leaned against a bookshelf, an annoyed look on her face. Beast Boy and Rude sat together in one corner, flipping idly through a book.
"I hope you aren't getting the pages grubby," Knowledge said, walking over to Rude and Beast Boy.
Beast Boy, who had been holding the book, jumped and dropped the book in surprise. The thick book fell, landing on Rude's foot with a painful thud. The emotion yelped, and Beast Boy quickly scrambled to pick up the book.
"I'm so sorry!" he apologized, pulling the heavy book off Rude's foot.
"It's okay," Rude grumbled, bending over to rub her foot, just as Beast Boy was standing up. They grunted as their heads collided, and both straightened up, rubbing the sore spots on their heads.
"I'm really sorry," Beast Boy apologized again, wincing at the bright red spot forming on Rude's forehead from their collision. "Want me to kiss it better?" he joked weakly.
A small blush crossed Rude's cheeks, but she smirked confidently.
"Sure, why not?" she shrugged. She pointed at the red spot. "Go on, right there."
Beast Boy's eyes widened. "I-I… but… are you…" He blushed, unsure of what to say and do. He blushed and stuttered for another few minutes, before noticing the mischievous grin on Rude's face. He smirked, realizing she was daring him. She didn't really think he would do it.
Taking a step forward he placed a small kiss on her forehead. Knowledge groaned as not a second later, their clothing changed.
The strips of denim material left over from Rude's pants were now much thinner, close to being nothing more than string, but not quite. Her T-shirt exposed much of her midriff, almost reaching her belly button. The sleeves were more like thick straps between her shoulders and neck. While dark orange stains still covered her increasingly small shirt, they didn't hide the fact that the material was getting thinner, and she was quite obviously going bra-less.
Knowledge's blouse became tighter, causing more strain on the buttons and more of her bra to show. Her dark yellow jacket over her blouse was now made of an especially thin material, and the sleeves only reached the bottom of her shoulders. Her skirt raised an extra inch up her leg.
The neckline of Anger's red muscle shirt had dipped lower, showing a bit more cleavage than it had before, although not too much. Like Rude's, Anger's shirt ended just below her belly button, leaving a couple inches between her shirt and her increasingly tight leather pants. Her pants, if they could still be called that, reached the bottoms of her kneecaps.
Happy's blouse was noticeably tighter, and the buttons were now straining as much as they had been for Knowledge, giving everyone a small glimpse of her bright pink bra. The sleeves of her blouse ended at her shoulders. Her pink plaid skirt now reached just a bit higher than mid-thigh.
Brave sat next to Happy, examining her own clothing. Her green pants were now long shorts, as the legs reached at least four full inches above her knees. Her light green T-shirt was getting thinner. The sleeves of the dark green gi above it only reached the bottoms of her shoulders, and the neckline was still in a slow descent down her chest.
Wisdom's brown robe had risen up to the middle of her calves, and her sleeves no longer reached her elbows. The material of her plain robe seemed to be getting thinner, and a slight sheen could be seen in certain folds as they hit the light of the table lamp. Underneath her robe, her plain skirt sat a couple inches above her knees. Her brown shirt was also showing the slightest hint of cleavage, although the robe on top hid that fact.
Timid's head snapped back and forth between the other emotions. She dreaded looking down to see what had happened to her own outfit. Unfortunately, she had no choice. Taking a deep breath, she looked down.
Her sweater was now quite tight, and the sleeves didn't even reach her elbows. The neckline was just below her collarbone, and the shirt she wore underneath was peeking out, looking suspiciously like gray lace. Her pants were now, without a doubt, made of skintight spandex.
"THAT'S IT!" Anger suddenly roared, making everyone jump and turn their attention on her. "We've been waiting long enough! I want to know why this is happening!"
Knowledge sighed. "I will explain, but before I do, I must confirm something." she promised, before turning to Beast Boy. "Beast Boy, you have met our purple cloaked companion, but only know her as 'Violet', correct?"
"Uh… yeah," Beast Boy replied after translating her words in his mind. "I met the purple emotion and asked her who she was, and she just told me to call her Violet."
"I see," Knowledge nodded. "Then, I shall explain recent occurrences now, if there are no objections."
There were no protests, so she continued.
"I'm sure you all remember the time Raven watched Wicked Scary?"
"Are you kidding? How could we forget that?" Rude scoffed. "Timid's powers went so crazy that even Brave and Anger were scared."
"What! I wasn't scared!" Brave denied indignantly. Anger simply 'hmphed' and folded her arms, knowing it was pointless to deny the fact.
"You were so," Rude insisted. "It was like a hundred times worse in Nevermore than it was in the tower," Rude explained to Beast Boy. "And she was just as scared as the rest of us."
"I wasn't afraid," Brave repeated, although she visibly shivered as she remembered the events that had passed that night. Beast Boy shivered as well, while the emotions looked at him questioningly.
"I would hate to see what scares Brave," Beast Boy explained at their questioning looks. He pointed at Brave and added offhandedly, "Raven's the bravest person I know, and she's all of her bravery. I'd hate to see what scares her of all people."
A faint blush crossed Brave's cheeks, and she smiled confidently. Rude, Happy, Knowledge, and Wisdom all smiled bashfully as well, identical blushes on their faces. One corner of Anger's mouth twitched up in what could be considered a smile, although she would never admit to being flattered or embarrassed by anything Beast Boy said. Timid looked down at her feet and shuffled nervously.
"It's really nice of you to say tha-" Brave began to say, before a groan from Anger cut her off. They looked at her and she growled, "Not again."
Anger was looking at her outfit, which had once again changed.
Her leather pants- or rather, shorts, reached an inch above her kneecaps. Her red shirt had raised enough to see her belly button, and the neckline had dipped a bit lower. Her red leather jacket had shrunk as well, barely reaching a centimeter below her crimson muscle shirt.
Looking up from her outfit, Anger inspected the others.
Happy's skirt was now quite high, barely covering a quarter of her thigh. There was a large gap in the front of her shirt, where her buttons were barely staying intact enough to stay closed, and her bright pink bra was even more noticeable than before. Her necktie no longer wrapped around her collar. It had slid off and was now more like a short, thin scarf around her neck. Her boots had shrunk as well, and now looked more like Raven's own boots, although they were still a shade of pale- almost white- pink.
Anger looked at Knowledge next. The yellow clad emotion's skirt was almost as short as Happy's, although she had an extra inch of material. Her shirt, however, was straining even more than Happy's, and with the quiet snapping sound of thread, her top button snapped off, hitting Wisdom in the forehead.
As she lightly rubbed her forehead, the others looked over Wisdom's outfit. The bottom of her robes only reached the bottom of her knee, and the skirt underneath was a good couple inches above the tops of her knees. Her brown shirt was beginning to show a bit of her midriff, but only Wisdom knew that, as her robes covered her stomach. The material of her brown robes was definitely changing into something smoother and thinner than the coarse wool it had started out as.
Next, everyone looked at Brave and Rude, who were both trying not to laugh at Wisdom as she pulled her hand away to reveal a temporary bright red spot.
Brave's dark green shorts stopped mid-thigh, and were even tighter than they had been before. The sleeves of her gi only went to the tops of her shoulders, and despite the rope keeping it closed, the dark green shirt continued to show more of her T-shirt covered chest. The light green shirt was now thin and tight enough to see that, like Rude, she was not wearing a bra. The neckline of the T-shirt had started inching its way down, and was now an inch below her collar bone.
The thin strips of material hanging from Rude's shorts were now nothing but thin white strings, with a slightly orange-ish tone. Her muscle shirt had risen up just past her belly button, and the sleeves were only about three inches wide.
Finally, everyone looked at Timid. The material of her sweater had turned into a cotton-spandex blend, much like her pants have before they had completely turned into spandex. The sleeves reached halfway between her elbows and her shoulders. The shirt underneath her sweater was undoubtedly dark gray lace, and reached up to her collarbone, while the neck of the sweater rested about an inch and a half below it.
After a slight pause, Knowledge cleared her throat. "As I was saying, you all remember the time Raven watched Wicked Scary. I'm sure you also remember that Timid's powers went haywire because-"
"Oh! I know! I know!" Happy squealed, waving her hand in the air.
"Yes, Happy?" Knowledge sighed, rubbing her temples.
"Her powers went all crazy because Raven kept refusing to admit she was afraid," Happy said, smiling brightly.
"Correct," Knowledge replied. "Now, Wisdom and I have reason to believe that it's happening again, except-"
"What? No way," Rude protested. "The last time there were creepy things popping out of every corner. Apart from the chimera, there hasn't been anything really scary."
"I'm aware of that. I was about to say-"
"Damn it, Rude! Quit interrupting her, and maybe she could finish," Anger snarled, right as Knowledge spoke.
"Maybe you should take your own advice!" Rude snapped back.
"Shut up!" Anger yelled, fists balling.
"Make me!" Rude retorted. She immediately regretted her words as Anger lunged toward her, screeching angrily.
Anger knocked her to the ground, clawing madly at Rude's clothes and face. Hissing in pain, Rude slapped at Anger's hands and head. One of her flailing hands caught Anger across the face, causing the red emotion to howl and grab at Rude's hair. Yelping, Rude followed Anger's lead and wrapping her own fingers around a clump of her adversary's hair.
Several exclamations rose from the others as they watched the two emotions claw at each other on the floor. Beast Boy watched them both nervously, frantically asking them to stop, although neither seemed to register anyone else but the girl they were fighting.
"Please, you two! Stop fighting!" Beast Boy pleaded.
"C'mon Rude! Go for her left! The left!" Brave cheered, mimicking a punching motion with her arm.
"That's not helping, Brave," Knowledge scolded. "Anger! Rude! Stop this instant!"
"This is so bad!" Happy giggled nervously. "Quit it you two! Seriously!"
Timid cowered behind Knowledge, watching the fight with wide eyes.
"Come on, Beast Boy," Wisdom sighed. "I believe this calls for an intervention."
Beast Boy immediately nodded in agreement, and they quickly walked over to the brawling emotions. Beast Boy reached them first and worked on prying Anger off of Rude, who was pinned underneath and still had a handful of Anger's hair. Wisdom grasped Rude's arms, and Knowledge quickly came over and worked on making the two girls release their firm grips on each other's hair.
Finally, they were able to pull the girls apart, Beast Boy holding a struggling Anger around the waist, and Wisdom holding back Rude. Knowledge had to step back quickly to avoid their arms and legs, which were flying in every direction as they tried to break free and return to their fight.
Rude's struggling soon abated, allowing Wisdom to let go without fear. Anger however, only struggled harder when she saw that her target had been released. Beast Boy's grip around her waist tightened, and he was forced to wrap an arm from her left side to her right shoulder to prevent her from breaking free.
"Shh," Beast Boy cooed in her ear. "Calm down. It's all right…"
Slowly, her squirming began to die down, and she was left standing with Beast Boy's arms wrapped around her from the back. She flushed lightly at how tightly he was holding her, but luckily, her face was still slightly red from fighting.
Anger clenched her teeth, trying to force down her blush.
"You can let go of me now," Anger hissed, forcing her voice to sound angry.
"Oh, right!" Beast Boy exclaimed, blushing a vibrant shade of red against his green skin.
Just then, the familiar sensation of clothing shifting and shrinking washed over each of the emotions, causing a loud groan to resound through the library.
Anger looked down just in time to see her clothing change. Her leather shorts reached just below mid-thigh. Her red shirt raised another inch above her belly button, and she could feel that the straps across her shoulders were barely a centimeter wide. The red jacket on top rested just above the bottom of her shirt and couldn't even reach far enough around her to zip up. The sleeves for her jacket fell just short of her elbows.
Across from Anger, Rude looked over her own clothes. The strings had fallen off, leaving her with stained denim shorts that reached halfway up her thighs. The straps on her shirt were now about an inch wide, and the neckline was steadily dropping.
Wisdom stood next to Rude, inspecting her own clothing. The plain brown skirt she wore under her robe had raised an extra two inches up her leg, and her shirt exposed all of her stomach from her belly button down. Luckily, she had her brown robe to cover her increasingly scanty clothing. Her robe now reached about a centimeter above her knee, and the material had finished its transformation from wool to what could now be labeled satin.
Knowledge didn't feel the need to examine anyone else's clothing, as she was completely transfixed in her own garments. The yellow short sleeved jacket that she had been wearing over her constantly struggling blouse had changed. While the sleeves were still around the same length, the material had been turning thinner, and was now quite sheer. Her matching yellow skirt barely reached low enough to cover her posterior (although if she moved she was sure everyone would get a small flash of her panties), and she still had about an inch more fabric than Happy, which meant…
"Woo! Check out Happy's gluteus minimus," Rude smirked, whistling.
Laughing, and only blushing a little, Happy craned her head over her shoulder. Sure enough, a small flash of lacy pink underwear could be seen under her skirt, even while she stood still. Her blouse was missing its top button, causing the neckline to become lower, while the remaining buttons still did their best to remain attached despite the strain.
Timid took one look at the bright pink panties and turned almost the same color. Turning away from the sight, she looked over her own outfit. It was a spandex and lace nightmare- at least in Timid's opinion. While she had been slightly self-conscious in their old black leotard, it had never been this tight! The neckline of the spandex shirt on top had plunged significantly, and was already almost as low as Happy's revealing shirt. Luckily, she still had the dark lace camisole underneath, which reached up to about an inch and a half below her collarbone. Her pants had become even more skintight, and probably couldn't get much tighter without drastically constricting her movement and cutting off the circulation in the lower half of her body.
And finally, there was Brave. Her dark green gi was now sleeveless, making it a vest on top of the lighter green shirt underneath. The shirt underneath, which had previously been a short sleeved T-shirt, had lost its sleeves and now only had two thick straps holding the shirt up. The neckline had dropped, and it wouldn't be long before it showed a bit of cleavage. Her shirt continued to grow thinner and thinner. Her shorts had become even higher than before, and Brave surmised that it wouldn't be long before the others would be able to see the bottom of her own derriere.
Everyone was silent for moment, inspecting each other's outfits. Knowledge was the first one to break the silence.
"If there are no other interruptions, I would like to continue giving my explanation," she said, looking at the group sternly. Needless to say, no one objected.
"Very good," Knowledge smiled faintly. "Now, I believe that Raven has been denying another emotion again, except this time, it is not Timid."
"Who is it then?" Happy asked, whispering as she remembered Knowledge's request for no interruptions.
"I have reason to believe that the emotion being denied is…"
-
Affection leaned down on her knees, trying to regain her breath. She had gone down most of Wisdom's hill and was nearing the next portal. Hopefully, the next would lead to Knowledge's realm. With any luck, Beast Boy and Raven's other emotions were already there as well.
Taking one final gulp of air, Affection straightened. She could see the portal at the bottom. Taking a step forward, she carefully continued her trek. She winced slightly as rocks dug into her feet. Her regular boots had turned into elegant heels many changes ago, and she had taken them off to climb the hill. Better to step on a couple rocks than to break an ankle while she was alone.
Truthfully, her entire outfit was wrong for hiking. The hem of her formerly long purple dress had risen enough that it covered less than a quarter of her thighs. The top of the dress had turned into a halter top, exposing her shoulder blades in the back. The dress's shiny material had dulled slightly from all the dirt she had acquired from climbing the hill in Wisdom's realm, traveling through the forest in Brave's, and simply walking through Rude's.
Despite her unsuited attire, Affection was making good time, and when she looked up again, she had traveled at least half the distance between the portal and the last place she had stopped.
Smiling, she descended the last of the hill and stepped through the portal.
Stepping into the next realm, her smile grew as she looked around to see Knowledge's library. After placing her shoes back on her feet, she began to walk forward. As she listened to her heels click against the tiled floors, another sound reached her ears. Stopping, she smiled as she recognized the sound as people talking.
'I have a strong suspicion that the others are already here,' she thought. 'Now, just to find which of these bookshelf rows leads to them…'
-
'I need to put up directions of some sort in Timid's maze. It's too damn confusing,' Raven thought to herself as she ran through Brave's forest.
Her chest and legs were burning from running so fast for so long, and it would have been much easier to fly, but the spells on Timid's maze, and the closely grown trees in Brave's jungle of a forest made it impossible.
So, since flying was not an option, Raven continued to run, stopping only briefly when a strange monster came running out of the underbrush, quickly running away as soon as it saw her face. It had a strange limp, she noted, before returning to a fast run.
She was quickly nearing the next portal. As she closed the distance between herself and the stone passageway, the only thing that crossed her mind was, 'That boy is in so much trouble when I find him.'
-
"…Violet."
Knowledge's statement was followed by a stunned silence.
"Violet?" Brave repeated incredulously.
"I suppose it makes sense," Happy said slowly, slightly more placid than usual as she thought it over.
"Like hell it does," Anger snapped. "Why would she be denied? Raven never uses her!"
"Well, that would be the point, Einstein," Rude replied, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, do you two need to be separated?" Beast Boy asked warningly. Happy giggled, while the two emotions in question simply rolled their eyes and fell into silence.
"The fact that she's even here proves that Raven feels her," Happy pointed out. "But Raven has yet to acknowledge her presence, let alone that she's even having those feelings that Violet causes."
Silence fell over the group once again as everyone stared at Happy like she had grown an extra head.
"What?"
After an awkward pause, Knowledge nodded.
"Yes, that's exactly right," Knowledge confirmed, giving Happy one final odd look before returning to the matter at hand. "Raven has been denying Violet for a while now, and she's finally lost control over her powers. Most likely because of an outside factor."
Knowledge looked pointedly at Beast Boy, who looked over his shoulder to see if she might be talking about someone else. He had no such luck, unfortunately.
"In all honesty," Knowledge continued. "Raven's been feeling her ever since the team was first formed, but at the time, the feeling she was giving Raven was so small that Violet's powers were practically non-existent."
"Over time, the feeling has grown." Wisdom added. "And judging by the rate that our clothing is concerned, it won't be long until her powers have grown strong enough to force Raven to start accepting it."
"No way!" Beast Boy protested. "I talked to her for a while before this whole thing started, and she didn't seem to have single mean streak in her."
"Well, that's very nice of you to say, Beast Boy," Knowledge replied. "But-"
"I just don't believe that someone as nice as Violet would do something so mean to Raven." Beast Boy insisted. "She seemed like such a good person that there's no way she possibly would of hurt someone as good hearted as Raven. No way."
A light blush crossed each emotion's features as they let his words sink in.
"No way would someone as kind as her would do something like that to someone with such a good heart. It's just not happenin'." Beast Boy continued to rant, oblivious to the way everyone had grown silent and was listening to each word he said.
In the shadows of the bookshelf behind Beast Boy, Affection stood, unnoticed and listening to everything. She smiled, and felt a dark blush forming on her face.
As they stood there in the awkward silence that followed (Beast Boy having shut up as he realized what he had said without thinking), there was another change.
For once, Anger didn't yell, or growl, or do anything else that might make anyone nearby fear for his or her life. Instead, she just looked down and watched with a clenched jaw as her clothing shifted.
Her leather shorts were just that: shorts. Very short leather shorts that hugged her curves and had barely two inches between the bottoms of the shorts and the bottom of her… well, you get the point.The straps of the crimson shirt under her leather jacket were barely the width of her thumb. The bottom of her red shirt had raised another inch up her stomach, while the neckline had lowered once more showing off a decent (or rather, indecent) amount of her cleavage. By now her jacket was barely an inch below her breasts, and the sleeves rested about two inches above her elbows.
Brave glared down at her outfit as her shorts tightened and became short enough that dark green underwear could be seen along the edges of the shorts' legs. The straps on her light green shirt were now barely an inch wide, and the neckline was beginning to show a hint of cleavage. The darker green gi on top had shrunk, and if it weren't for the belt tied tightly around her waist, it wouldn't have stayed closed.
"I look ridiculous," she groaned, looking at her outfit.
"I know what you mean," Rude replied. Brave looked over and smirked.
One of the straps on her tank top had slipped down her shoulder, and she didn't seem inclined to fix it, even though it caused the neckline to fall down even more without the support from the strap. The bottom of her shirt had raised past her bellybutton, reaching just a few inches under her breasts. Her frayed shorts barely cover a quarter of her thighs, and, despite how tight they were, they had slid down a bit, revealing the dark orange elastic band of her underwear.
"Aw, don't be so grumpy," Happy chided playfully. Rude scowled at the cheerful girl.
Her pink skirt was now showing off the entire bottom half of her derriere, giving everyone an even better view of her lacy pink underwear. Her knee socks, which were still quite high, had changed from cotton to white fishnet socks. Two more of the buttons on her shirt had snapped off, causing the shirt to stay open until the middle of her chest.
"You know, it's not polite to stare," Knowledge said, nudging Beast Boy with her elbow. Beast Boy blushed and laughed nervously when he realized he had indeed been staring. Turning, he looked at the other emotions.
Knowledge's skirt was as short as Happy's, and her shirt was as revealing as- if not more than- Happy's. The yellow jacket she wore over her blouse was now undeniably see-through.
Timid stood next to her, trying to blend into the wall. A bit of cleavage could be seen through the lace; not quite as much as most of the other's, but enough for Timid to feel slightly uncomfortable. Awkwardly, she folded her arms over the top of her chest to hide it. Her pants and the spandex remains of her hoodie had melded together, completely turning her outfit into a tight leotard.
"I'm almost tempted to make some sarcastic remark right now, but that's just too easy," Rude snickered, looking over at Timid's skintight outfit. Blushing, Timid looked away.
The bottom of Wisdom's now satin silk robe- which was even thinner than before- reached around mid thigh, about five inches longer than the brown skirt underneath. The v-shaped neckline of her shirt reached almost as low as mid chest, but luckily, the robe stayed closed up to her collarbone. The sleeves of her robe reached her elbows, though barely.
Still hiding behind her bookshelf, Affection looked over her own outfit. The hemline of her dress was high enough that if she moved her panties would be seen in the back, and the back of her halter style dress had lowered a little, which exposed the back of her purple strapless bra. The v-line neck of her dress stopped about mid chest, but was tight enough that only a small amount of the top edges of her bra could be seen.
Looking up from her outfit, Affection peered between the books on the shelf as Knowledge cleared her throat. Everyone else looked at the yellow clad emotion as well.
"As I was about to say, you're right, Beast Boy," she said, looking over at the green boy. "Violet would never do something like this, not on purpose at least. However, Raven has been denying her, and now, Violet's powers are out of control. She still might not even know what she's doing."
"She's right," Affection said suddenly, stepping out from behind her bookshelf. Everyone looked over at her in surprise as they noticed her for the first time since she had gotten there. "I didn't know what I was doing until it was too late. I just… can't stop it anymore. That's why I left when we got to Happy's realm. I realized that it might be my fault, so I went back to my realm to test out my powers and see if they were still in my control. They weren't. I'm sorry… I really didn't mean to do this."
"Uh… so, what do we do now?" Beast Boy asked. "How do we fix this?"
Knowledge carefully thought over her words before answering. "Unfortunately, this isn't going to be easy. If we had realized what was going on right away, or even before this all started, it would have been as simple as convincing Raven to accept what she is feeling. Since it has been so long since Violet lost her powers though, not only will Raven have to admit it to herself that she feels that emotion, that feeling must also be reciprocated."
Several gasps could be heard around the room. Timid stared at Knowledge with wide eyes, shaking, while Wisdom rubbed her back comfortingly. Happy's ever-present smile had disappeared, and her face was white. Rude stood frozen to the spot, gaping as she replayed what Knowledge had said in her head. Anger glared at the ground, her jaw clenched, and even Brave was looking a bit pale.
"No way," Rude said, an edge of panic in her voice. "We'll all be naked by the time that happens!"
Timid gasped again. Affection walked over and squeezed her hand reassuringly, and almost apologetically. After that, a tense silence fell over the room.
Beast Boy looked around, before hesitantly asking, "Uh… what's reciprocate?"
His seemingly joking question broke the tension. A few emotions lost their footing from it, while others, namely Happy, just giggled. Rude rolled her eyes, thinking, 'If this were one of those Japanese cartoons, I'd hate to think of how much we'd hurt from the face-fault that would have caused.'
"Thank you, Beast Boy," Wisdom said. "That really helped to lighten the mood."
"… No, seriously, what's reciprocate?"
Anger groaned. "And this is the one who-"
Suddenly, everyone stopped. The echoing of stomping footsteps rung through Knowledge's library like a beating war drum, causing everyone to bunch up and look at the many bookshelf lined paths.
"Someone's in here," Happy whispered.
"What was your first clue?" Rude hissed back, growing quiet as the footsteps grew louder. A dark figure was quickly making its way towards them. Stepping out of the shadows, everyone recognized the figure.
Raven.
Growling, Anger stated what was on everyone's mind under her breath. "Shit."
Raven's eyes fell on Beast Boy first, but quickly began to scan the emotions. Her face grew blank as she looked at all her scantily dressed emotions, grouped tightly around the green boy. She stared for about five minutes before she finally snapped out of her trance-like state with a glare.
"What the hell is going on here!"
Sorry about the long wait for this chapter. Life got busy. On the bright side, I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter yet! Maybe not, but I'm pretty sure it is.
Anyway... I don't think I have anything else to say, so... feel free to review. We'll try to get the next chapter up quicker than this one.
Tammy Tamborine