Raven: Well whaddya know? I was actually part of last chapter. A small one, but a part nonetheless.
Me: Mhm. This is a BB and yourself focused story, after all. Couldn't leave you out for too long. Besides, who else is gonna kick ass on Trigon :O Anyway, onward!
Everyone: Theme song fun!
When there's trouble you know who to call. Teen Titans!
From their tower, they can see it all. Teen Titans!
When there's evil on the attack
You can rest knowing they got your back
'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol, Teen Titans GO!
With their superpowers they unite. Teen Titans!
Never met a villain that they liked. Teen Titans!
They've got the bad guys on the run
They never stop 'till the job gets done
'Cuz when the world is losin' all control
Teen Titans GO! Teen Titans GO!
If your heart is black you better watch out
You cannot escape the team
When they catch you there won't be any doubt
You've been beaten by the teens
Beaten by the teens
1,2,3,4 GO!
Previously, on Fused...
Robin saw their chance. "Titans, GO!" He charged the body and gave it a drop-kick, send it flying upward. Starfire intercepted it with a full-force Tamaranian strength haymaker, sending it flying at startling velocities back to the ground. Cyborg ran in, stood it up, and sucker punched it right in the gut. The body was now flat on its back, not moving,
Both sides were in pain, but Beast Boy's drive was overpowering both the pain and Irrelevant. "This is for Raven!" He yelled as he pushed his way against Irrelevant, who was attempting to struggle against his advances but failing, too busy favoring her wounds to fully focus. Beast Boy had realized that Irrelevant didn't know how to keep thoughts to herself. So everytime she went to make a move, Beast Boy knew about it and made the opposite move. And now he was pushing his way back into full control. Finally, he completely overpowered her.
The instant he was back, he cast her out;. "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" He cried, sending her flying out of the body and into her own form once more. Then he collapsed, partially from the effort taken to cast the spell and partially from the pain. His teammates rushed forward. "Friend Beast Boy! You have returned?" Starfire asked anxiously. Beast Boy took a moment to regain the ability to think clearly and breathe, and said "Yeah, I'm back. We gotta keep moving. C'mon."
Raven clutched her head. She heard Knowledge's message, then shortly afterwards felt tremendous pain. It was as if someone had beaten the living shit out of her, except all the pain came in via her Azarathian telepathic powers. Suddenly, her vision flashed green. An image of the Fusion body appeared to her. "Beast Boy!" She cried. She located him via her telepathy and bolted for it. Her teleportation wouldn't work here, but she knew her own mind well enough to get anywhere in very short order. "Hold on, Garfield. Hold on."
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Slade was now taking personal interest in the hunt for the emotions. He needed them all in addition to Raven herself for his plans. After Raven's escape from one of his soldiers, he realized that putting them on the run may not be the best way to go about getting what he wanted. "That fool Trigon thinks I actually want to free him. As if I would free an inter-dimensional demon that I've shared double crossings with," He thought to himself amusedly. No, quite on the contrary. He knew it would be a favor to the Titans, particularly Raven, but his goal was to completely eliminate Trigon with the energy produced from his eventual prizes.
Now he was making his way swiftly towards Raven. "Perhaps I shall try the.. diplomatic approach," He thought. Catching sight of her, he leapt out from a tree and landed directly in Raven's path.
"You!" Raven instantly got into a tense fighting stance, her hands glowing black. "Relax, dear child. I come bringing a slight apology and an offer," The masked villain said, raising his hands to signify his lack of violent tendencies. Raven looked at him guardedly, eyes narrowed and hands still glowing.
"Alright, fine. Talk," She said, regarding him with cool suspicion. " Very well. As Beast Boy already knows, I have subdued and captured several of your emotions by force," He put a hand up as she opened her mouth. "Please, allow me to finish before interjecting." She closed her mouth and nodded for him to continue.
"I currently hold captive the ones you call Happy, Brave, Rage, Rude, and Knowledge. I have stricken a 'deal' with Trigon, being that if I bring him back to power that he will give this world to me as my own in his universe," He laughed derisively. "But I have learned a thing or two from our last, ah, transaction. I'm not about to let an inter-dimensional demon who's graces I am not exactly surrounded in free to do as he pleases. I plan to destroy him with the power I can gather from you and your different sides," He finished, crossing his arms.
Raven looked at him dubiously. If he truly could obliterate Trigon, her powers would no longer have to be controlled. Slade would be doing herself and the team a favor of unmentionable magnitudes. "What motivation does he have to lie, though? He probably has alterior motives, but it makes sense from his angle to destroy Trigon while he has the chance..." "You said you had an apology and a deal. Let's hear them, starting with the former," She said, crossing her arms in a similar fashion.
Slade regarded her coolly. "The apology is that I should have known better than to take your emotions by force when this entire ordeal benefits them anyway. I'm not saying that it wasn't satisfying to watch, but..." Raven growled. "And the deal?" She probed. "The deal is this. Find your friends and call a meeting with your emotions. I will free the remaining emotions, making it look like your summon was more powerful than their bonds. We will discuss further then. Agreed?" He stuck out his hand.
Raven warily eyed him, finally taking the villain's cold, steel-covered hand and giving it a firm shake. "Good. Now, run along and find the other Tit-" He was interrupted by an abrupt assault from a hellfire soldier. The pair looked around to see themselves surrounded by a small army of the vile creatures. "Go! Find your friends! I will work my way across to the area Trigon is being held in and await your signal," Slade instructed before launching himself at one of the flaming warriors.
"Oh, no. Those soldiers... he's slowly regaining power on his own. By the time Slade puts his plan into action, it may be too late..." Raven thought as she followed the empathic signals coming from her friends. She abruptly halted. They were going to need all the firepower they could get for this battle, especially if Trigon were to rise at some form of power. He wouldn't come to full power anytime soon, but he might gain power enough to escape out into the physical. Given, it would drain much power out of him, but if he had enough stored he could escape with enough energy to put up one hell of a fight.
Raven turned back the way she came. Coming to a door,. she stopped and battled with herself mentally. This was a door that she wanted to keep locked for good. She had never even acknowledged it before, hoping to simply throw away the key and never come back. "Desperate times..." she argued with herself. Finally, she opened the door.
Walking down a long hallway, she noted pictures on the wall. The first few were of the Titans in general, some in action and others just having a good time. Going further down the hall, she noticed that the pictures were now mostly of Beast Boy, laughing, fooling around, and just generally being his usual self. In exactly two pictures, Raven saw herself, barely visible in the frame, both times read the Book of Azar. "Damn, this is a long hallway," Raven thought.
Further still, the pictures of Beast Boy were being replaced by pictures of Slade. No particular theme, just various pictures of Slade in action, battling the Titans, cutting the horns off of Trigon, plotting in his lair. Finally reaching the next door, she noticed one single picture on it. It depicted the Titans gathered around an object out of the frame. All of them had downtrodden expressions Beast Boy had a bouquet of flowers in his hand. Staring hard at the picture for what seemed like an eternity, she opened the door to reveal her "auxiliary firepower."
"Well, it's about time you came and got me. So, what's the sitch?" an all-too familiar voice came from the darkness of the room. "Hello to you too, Terra," Raven said darkly.
The other Titans were now trudging back through Rude's ill-kept realm. "So this is what you see in the girl," Cyborg teased, trying to lighten the tense mood. Sure, they had just kicked butt on one of Slade's "emotions," but the war obviously wasn't over and they had come no closer to finding Raven. The remark created a small smile that played on Beast Boy's Fusion lips momentarily. "Yeah, and I bet you'd love to have a trip like this into Jinx's head and see what makes her tick too, huh?" He shot back. Just because he was the leader didn't mean he couldn't keep his sense of humor.
Cyborg had no response, seeing as nothing he could say would better his cause. "That's what I thought. Right then. That's the way out of Rude's realm. Coming out of here, we should come to a hall connecting Rude and Happy's respective realms. Remember, watch out for any of the emotions. They could be another Irrelevant," he warned. Exiting into the hallway, Beast Boy led his team through, watching for spontaneous holes in the ground. "Hey, is that door supposed to be open?" Robin pointed towards an open door on their left.
"Er...no idea," the changeling hesitated. Should they investigate, or could it possibly be a trap? "If it is a trap, could we get out of it? If so, we might encounter Slade himself... on the other hand, if we get caught and lose the battle, game over with no extra lives," Beast Boy thought to himself. "Leader, shall we enter and satisfy our curiosity or bypass it continue?" Starfire asked anxiously. She was of the opinion that this door could possibly lead to Raven, be her in good or bad condition. Beast Boy was silent for a moment, then made his decision.
"Let's go," He said. The elfin changeling entered the doorway, and the rest of the Titans followed suite. As Beast Boy came through, he was presented by a long hallway lined with pictures. "Or would it be a corridor? What's the difference, anyway? Hm. Corridor sounds more dramatic." He laughed quietly to himself and proceeded forward.
Everyone took note of the pictures as they made their way down. "These look almost like a timeline," Robin said aloud. "I was thinking the same thing. But what of?" Cyborg said, confused. "It would seem to be a tale of some sort. We appear to be happy, acting and working the way we always have since forming our team. Now, Beast Boy seems to be particularly happy and playful," Starfire attempted a logical explanation. After a while, they reached pictures of Slade. "Now it appears Slade has something to do with the story. So the Titans are perfectly normal until something occurs to make Beast Boy extremely happy, then Slade appears and..." Starfire gasped, realizing what she was describing.
"It's... it's the story and history of Terra," Beast Boy choked out. "Why the hell is anything related to Terra residing in Raven's mind?. Are these memories?" Beast Boy was confused. He could hear vague voices in his head, as if the walls were echoing the tale.
"Hi. I'm Robin. We're the-" "Teen Titans!" Terra exclaimed. "Rock on! My name's Terra. And you're Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and-" "Boy Beast! I mean, Bast Boo!" Beast Boy yelled nervously. Terra giggled. "Beast Boy?"
Beast Boy closed his eyes, remembering that moment. That was the first time he had had met what would ultimately be the girl who, if even only slightly, would traumatize him for life due to her two-facedness. Shaking it off, they continued on. With the door on the other end in sight, they began to run for it, eager to see what was behind it. Suddenly...WHAM!
"Owww!" Raven cried as she was knocked on her ass by an unexpected force. She fell right into Terra, who fell as well. "What the...? Beast Boy!" Raven cried, recognizing the Fusion body. Terra slunk back into the shadows. She didn't want to be seen until the time was right.
"Raven? Is it really you?" Beast Boy asked cautiously. "Yes, BB. It's me. Here, I'll prove it," She said. She threw her cloak off to reveal her solid, jet-black leotard as opposed to the black and orange the Irrelevants wore. "RAVEN!" Beast Boy shouted joyfully, grabbing Raven in a tight bear hug. Raven gasped for air.
"Beast...Boy...you can let go now. And don't do that again, it's Starfire's job to hug the shit out of people," Raven said with a small laugh. "It's good to have you back, Raven," Robin said with a smile. From the darkness they heard a small "ahem."
"What was that?" Beast Boy asked, ready for a fight. Raven looked down at the ground. "Well...Remember when Terra destroyed Slade and turned to stone? I...she didn't get trapped in it. I took her in and locked her away so I could live with myself and not have to deal with her anymore at the same time. And now...let's just say our current situation requires every bit of help we can get in here. So...well..." She gestured at the shadows.
"Hey guys. Been a while," Terra said, stepping into view.