This is my longest chapter in this story. Hope you all like it. I worked really hard on it. Please don't forget to review! And thanks for the reviews so far.
A Buried Childhood
Chapter five: A Mind of Its Own
The sun crept over the tree tops as another day started at Titans Tower. Robin was up first and started eating his cereal. Starfire came second and began cooking her own kind of breakfast as she cheerfully chatted to Robin who simply nodded as if truly listening. Cyborg was next and sat down waiting for Starfire to finish so he could yet again make pancakes.
Beast Boy off course did not show since he was sleeping in after all the trouble from yesterday. Raven didn't show either and they thought she was tired from the little adventure and nightmare she had.
Little did they know Raven was not waking up soon because her body had changed once more. The change was intense every time and caused her to sleep longer as if her body needed time to adjust.
A few hours later Beast Boy woke up and slowly started his day by getting dressed. Robin was now checking his weapons as usual and Starfire was helping Cyborg baking chocolate cookies. Cyborg was in a sweet mood and after the pancakes wanted cookies. Starfire was not doing a very great job and things were turning badly in the kitchen. Cyborg however dealt with it and laughed as Starfire dropped a whole sack of flour in the dough.
#
Raven was awake over an hour already. She had been meditating for three quarters and then got dressed. She was skipping around her room redecorating it here and there. She ripped some parts of the curtains so it looked like a ripple like curtain. She found it cooler looking. She wrinkled her sheets and hung some posters on her walls from certain bands which she had hidden in a trunk. Mostly Linkin park, but also a few others.
She changed her own outfit as well a bit. She still wore her leotard, but ripped the middle part out so her stomach was visible. She also ripped away the middle of her arm parts. It looked like she wore wrist bands and the rest of her arm was visible only a small part of her shoulder was covered like a T-shirt. She wrinkled her cloak and made small cuts at the ends and sides of her cloak.
Last was her hair. She decided to keep the normal shoulder length as always, but made her locks pointy. She now had her hair hanging down in pointy locks. Raven smiled pleased at herself in the mirror and skidded to the door.
#
Beast Boy yawned as he walked through the hallway in the direction of the common room. He was still a bit tired, but he couldn't sleep any longer. He turned the corner of the hall and was now passing Raven's door when suddenly the door flew open and Raven skidded outside nearly knocking Beast Boy over. Raven acted as if she never noticed him and continued down the hall.
'Hey watch it!' BB yelled annoyed. The last thing he saw before Raven turned around the corner was her turning her head and sticking her tongue out at him. Beast Boy looked confused and annoyed by her behaviour. 'She's acting as a child!' BB thought as he angrily ran after her not realising Raven was indeed a child at the moment.
#
Robin was done checking his weapons and looked up at the mess in the kitchen. His mood sank a bit at the thought of cleaning it. His thoughts were interrupted as were Cyborg and Starfire's baking when Raven came skidding into the common room. She jumped on a kitchen stool and grabbed a bowl, cereal and milk.
Seconds later Beast Boy ran inside looking a bit angry and annoyed. 'Hey what's with you?!' Beast Boy asked annoyed as he looked at Raven who was eagerly eating the cereal.
The others looked at the scene in front of them. Raven looked up at BB and stuck her tongue out at him and then grinned as she continued eating. BB's head became red from anger and annoyance. Cyborg quickly grabbed BB by the shoulders and pushed him a bit away from Raven.
'She's got some serious mood swings' BB growled as the other titans joined their conversation leaving Raven in the kitchen.
'Well she is going through a lot right now' Cyborg said. BB sank down on the couch clearly not buying it.
Robin was not really paying attention to them now as he was watching Raven as if he was studying her. Cyborg noticed and looked at Raven as well.
'Is she…?' Cyborg began but never finished as Robin already responded.
'Yes, I think she changed again' Robin said. BB and Starfire swiftly turned and noticed as well that Raven was bigger and obvious older than five now. Robin now noticed the new style she wore. 'That's not all that's changed' Robin said.
Cyborg and the others looked closely at Raven and noticed the cuts on her cloak and the missing pieces from her leotard and the new hair look.
'Dude she's completely different. Is this Raven?' Beast Boy asked a bit loud. Luckily Raven did not hear him or rather didn't bother to show she heard him.
'Cyborg can you check how old she is now?' Robin asked. Starfire was still watching Raven's new look.
'The style is unknown to me. But I do believe it goes well with her' Starfire said as if that was the bigger picture right now.
BB sighed as he raised from the couch. Cyborg was slowly walking towards Raven to scan her. He stopped next to the kitchen counter and activated the scan. A blue light shone at Raven as information appeared on the small screen.
'Hey! What the HELL are you DOING!?' Raven yelled as she blew the bowl of cereal across the kitchen in her fit of anger with her power. All the titans were so startled they jumped back a few meters.
Raven was standing across Cyborg looking rather angry which even gave Cyborg the chills. 'I was just checking your age' Cyborg carefully said.
'Checking my age?' Raven said questionable and still annoyed and angry. 'Why not just ask me?' She said clearly getting somewhere.
'Right, we could have done that, we just….' Cyborg began but Raven didn't let him finish.
'Spare me the bullshit!' Raven said angrily. The titan's eyes widened at her choice of words. 'I don't like to be part of some experiment and certainly did not agree to be scanned or anything. LEAVE ME ALONE!' Raven yelled as she stormed out of the common room leaving for her own room.
As Raven left the others were frozen on the spot letting everything sink in. 'Dudes what the hell!' Beast Boy shouted in frustration. The others couldn't quit say it any better.
'Cyborg did you get a reading on her age by any chance?' Robin asked as he slowly recovered from the shock. Cyborg checked his scan.
'Yeah, it seems she's seven years old now' Cyborg said. Robin looked in thought as he heard the new age. 'What? Do you know something?' Cyborg asked seeing Robin thinking. Starfire and BB got closer wanting to hear it all.
'I was just thinking. She began as a toddler of two, then she became a five year old and now she is seven' Robin said. Cyborg's eyes opened wider as he saw what Robin was getting at.
'I see, there's a pattern!' Cyborg said excitedly. 'She started at two years then skipped three years ahead and then two years again' Cyborg explained seeing as BB and Starfire didn't get it.
'We know how much she probably will progress, but we still don't know much about any of this. We need answers' Robin said. The all agreed and they all knew who had the answers. 'We need to find Nendai' Robin finished.
#
Seven year old Raven burst into her room destroying a few objects in her room with her energy from the anger she felt. She didn't wait for them to follow and check on her. Raven put some important things in a bag like some extra clothes and some books etc. She felt the frustration rise and the anger of them invading on her that way. Her energy flared out and crushed the window. Raven glanced at it.
'Guess I'll leave through there then' Raven said as she grabbed her bag and flew out the window.
#
The titans knew what to do, but knew they would never find Nendai so easily. They decided to first check on Raven. Beast Boy immediately said he wasn't going to talk to her since her obvious dislike of him.
'I'll go, I scanned her' Cyborg said. Robin shook his head.
'No I asked you to scan her. I'll go talk to her' Robin said as he left the common room to check on Raven.
'Good luck' Beast Boy said before Robin was gone. Robin didn't react to it.
#
Robin stood in front of Raven's door and knocked on her door. Nothing happened and he tried again. Again nothing.
'Raven? Please say something. I'm sorry, we all are. We just want to know if you're alright' Robin said to a closed door feeling a bit dull.
There was no answer from behind the room and Robin was about to open the door, but didn't. It would probably make her even angrier. He was just about to leave when he felt a slight breeze from beneath the door. He looked confused for a moment and decided to check it out. He opened the door and noticed some broken objects on the floor. Then a strong breeze flew around him and Robin noticed the broken window.
'Shit!' Robin said loudly as he ran back to the common room to get the other titans.
#
Raven flew around the city glad to be out of the tower. She heard some noises and went straight for it. She saw a gang of about nine people on the street below destroying buildings and stuff on the street. Raven smiled as she thought about fighting them. She hang her bag on a lantern and landed on the street.
A member of the gang stepped forward. His clothing was ripped in several ways and he wore ripped jeans and a black jacket. Most of them wore the same. What got to the eye were the black markings on their faces. It seemed like two black lightning's with a red cross between them.
'What do we have hear?' The man said threateningly. Raven dared the guy and looked him straight in the eyes never flinching. 'Wo, wo, wo. We have a daring one. Some gut you got little one' The man said a bit mockingly. The other gang members got closer and surrounded Raven.
'So a seven year old girl dares to look us in the eyes?' The leader said as he walked forward. Raven glared at him causing the man to laugh a bit. 'Well she sure has some guts. What do you say guys? Take her down!' the leader said as he stepped back letting his men take care of it.
They all closed in on Raven who never flinched. Raven looked as if she was enjoying this. She moved her hands out to the side black energy engulfing her hands.
#
Robin and Cyborg were racing through the streets of the city searching for any sign of Raven. Starfire and Beast Boy searched from the skies.
After a quarter of searching Beast Boy yelled in the communicator. 'Hey dudes! I found her bag. It's on a lantern in the pizza street!' Beast Boy yelled. He used the name pizza street because he didn't know the name of the street and only remembered there was a pizzeria in that street.
The others knew what he meant and went there. They arrived seeing BB holding the bag, but no Raven close by.
'Where could she be?' Cyborg asked. As if on cue they heard a scream that sounded like a guy somewhere in the next street.
All four titans rushed over there and abruptly stopped in their tracks at the sight in front of them.
Raven was surrounded by nine man belonging to the Cross-Lightning gang. Those guys were pretty nasty. Raven however was doing very well. One by one they closed the distance between them and Raven and she just threw them through the air with her energy. One of them came from behind with a knife, but before the titans could react Raven jumped in the air and turned in mid-air and slammed her foot in his stomach with black energy engulfing her foot. The man was flying at amazing speed backwards and slammed into a parked care instantly unconscious.
The titan's jaws dropped as they watched Raven fighting amazingly knocking them down one by one. They couldn't help but noticed her smile as she turned their way a moment.
'Dude! She's even better than you!' Beast Boy said looking with one eye at Robin while the other eye was watching Raven.
'And she's clearly enjoying it' Cyborg continued. Robin was still looking astounded at the sight as where the others.
A few minutes later all nine guys were knocked out and only number ten was left, the leader. He looked more threatening than his followers, but Raven stood strong ready to kick his butt.
'You have some skill little one. How old are you really?' the leader asked. Raven grinned at him.
'You wouldn't believe me anyway' Raven replied. The leader looked angry at her cocky tone of voice.
'I'm going to make you pay, no matter how old you are. I'll show you, cutie' the leader said. Suddenly Raven's expression became darker than before as if she was outraged. The titans felt something bad would happen.
Raven balled her fists as she spoke with venom in her voice. 'Don't call me that! You know nothing of me. I'll show you how "CUTE" I am!' Raven yelled as she jolted her head upwards and screamed to the sky.
The black energy that engulfed her hands moved up her arms and soon engulfed her chest and continued over her legs and then her head. She was covered in dark energy and red sparks crackled around her.
The leader looked scared now not knowing what she could do, especially when angered. The titans looked in horror as the red sparks focused on the gang leader and shot right at him. The leader screamed in pain as the red sparks electrocuted him. Raven moved her head down and looked him straight in the eyes. The leader felt like his soul was being sucked out and screamed ear shattering agony. He passed out seconds later, but Raven pushed some black energy in his mind and pulled him back into consciousness.
'Raven STOP!' Robin yelled as he ran to her. Raven looked to her right and saw them all four coming to her. Raven didn't listen and created a black energy wave knocking the titans back.
'Shit! We need to distract her NOW!' Robin yelled at the others.
Cyborg immediately got the point and charged his sonic cannon and fired it as Raven. Beast and Starfire in the mean time flew straight for her attacking with everything they had, but a bit less so not to hurt her.
Raven saw all three attacks and easily blocked them and still pained the gang leader who wasn't even allowed to fall unconscious. When Raven knocked back Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire she realised Robin was missing. She just turned around to see a freeze disc coming for her. She stopped it inches away from her, but did not expect Robin to appear below it knocking her out with his pole.
The black energy released the gang leader and the sparks vanished. The leader collapsed on the ground and wouldn't wake up for a while.
Robin carefully lifted Raven up. 'How can a seven year old be like that? What happened to her?' Robin thought.
#
The titans were back in the tower waiting for Raven to wake up. Starfire and Beast Boy had brought the gang to prison and then came there as well.
'How is she?' Beast Boy asked as he and Starfire entered. Cyborg didn't even look up as he answered.
'Still unconscious' He replied flatly without adding anything. Beast Boy sighed as he sat down on a chair. Starfire was silent and sat down next to Raven. Robin however was still pacing the room.
'Can you please stop that!' Cyborg shouted not too loud as he was getting annoyed. Robin was startled and realised he had been pacing around the room.
'Sorry didn't realise it' Robin replied. Cyborg noticed he was wondering about something.
'Something on your mind?' He asked him. Robin looked at Raven intensely.
'I was just thinking how a seven year old could be so…….' Robin said but did not finish.
'……brutal?' Cyborg finished for him. Robin nodded. 'I don't know man. Maybe it's got something to do with Trigon, but I doubt that since he is no longer bothering her now' Cyborg said.
Before they could continue the conversation Raven groaned and moved slightly. She carefully opened her eyes and saw the titans standing around her. She sat up and was immediately pulled into a hug by Starfire.
'I am glad to see you are awake my friend. I feared for your health' Starfire said cheery. Raven felt her anger rising and roughly pushed her away knocking her off her seat and onto the ground.
'DON'T TOUCH ME!' Raven screamed. Starfire looked hurt not understanding what was going on.
'But you said you did not mind me hugging you when you were five' Starfire said trying to sound cheery. Raven jumped off the bed, but her way to the door was blocked by Robin so she walked to the back of the room looking at the wall.
'Don't even try to go through that wall. You got some painkillers and stuff and if you try you can get stuck in there' Cyborg said knowing what she was thinking of doing. Raven glared back at him and then at Starfire who looked hurt at her.
'I don't like it when people touch me. I just told you I didn't mind so you wouldn't feel hurt. To bad I no longer care if anyone gets hurt' Raven said rather harsh.
Robin realised the seven year old Raven was more a rebel and pushed everyone away, while her two younger versions tried to get close to them.
'Why do you not care for other people?' Starfire asked and Raven clearly showed her anger at thinking about it.
'I have my reasons!' Raven shouted angrily. 'WHY SHOULD I CARE FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T CARE FOR ME!' Raven yelled at the top of her lungs. The other titans couldn't get a word in as Raven continued her shouting. 'NO ONE CARED FOR ME, NO ONE BOTHERED TO HELP ME WHEN I NEEDED IT, ALL BECAUSE I LOST CONTROL ONCE! EVERYTIME I GOT CLOSE TO SOMEONE MY POWER FLARED OUT AND I HURT THEM! I COULDN'T EVEN HUG MY OWN MOTHER IN FEAR OF HURTING HER!' Raven screamed letting her feelings go.
The entire tower blacked out as all the electricity left it. All the windows in the Tower broke. Cyborg turned his arm light on and checked the others. Starfire had clasped herself onto Beast Boy's arm from shock since he was closest. Robin just stood where he stood the entire time looking shocked, but more from Raven's confession than from the power loss. Cyborg moved the light to where Raven should be, but she wasn't there. He looked down a bit and saw her laying on the ground taller than before.
'Guys…' He said as he moved closer to her. They all looked at her and noticed as well she changed again. Cyborg scanned her again. 'She's turned into a ten year old. Seems the pattern is right, she skipped three years ahead again' Cyborg spoke.
Robin lifted her back on the bed. 'We need to now more about this' Robin said firmly.
Raven was in a deep unconscious sleep from her change. Part of her past was revealed today and the titans wondered what else her past hold.
Well that was chapter five. Pretty intense, he? Please let me know what you thought about it In a REVIEW. Really I'll start begging if I don't get any.
BTW also check my profile. I have a new poll and need more voters, please.
'Till Next chapter!