47. Scattered Raven part 2
"Rise and shiiiiiiiine!!" Cyborg cheered as he sauntered into the Main Room. "Ahhh…it's a beautiful day, isn't it? Boo-ya!!"
He looked to his side and stopped at the sight of Beast Boy leaning over atop a sofa, his nose in a book. "Why, hello there, little man. What're you doing up so early?"
"I was undergoing insomnia," Beast Boy said without looking. His little green finger traced the words of his book as he read and spoke at the same time. "I figured that there was no point in slumbering, so I ascended the elevator to find something of recreation here."
Cyborg leaned over with a smile and squinted his human eye. "Hey….is that the Dictionary you're reading?!"
"If that is what the title on the front cover claims, then that is an affirmative," Beast Boy replied with hummingbird speed to his lips.
"But why the Dictionary, silly guy?!" Cyborg chuckled.
"I have never taken the opportunity to read it before," Beast Boy uttered, flipping a page. "There is no time like the present to learn, I always say."
"Um……actually, you 'never say'," the android corrected with a wink. "Whoah…you're almost halfway through that sucker!"
"Page four hundred and seventy two and three quarters to be exact," Beast Boy said. He flipped another page. "Make that four hundred and seventy three and one third."
"Hehehehe…Boo-Ya! Now that's the spirit!" Cyborg snapped a finger at him and walked down the rest of the length of the Main Room, whistling a happy tune. He waved, "Rae! Rob! S'up?!"
"Um…t-talk to you in a m-minute," Robin stuttered with a raised finger and turned to Raven. "H-How're you doing?"
"Shhhh!" Raven hissed. She stuck a spoon into her sundae, lifted a generous amount of sweetness to her lips, and swallowed. A pause. She let out a huge sigh through her nostrils and closed her eyes. "This is………amazing……"
Robin smiled bashfully. "You've eaten ice cream before. Is it so different now?"
"It. Is. Very. Different. Now." Raven smiled gently. She sighed and swiveled about in a stool at the bar counter. A drunken look was on her face, like that of an infant or a minnow. "I can't explain it Robin. Everything is so….real, today."
"You sure you're……um…..," Robin fumbled for the words. He scratched his head. His usually spikey hair was drooping. His cape was wrinkled. He looked out of it. Finally he found what he wanted to say: "….y-you sure you're safe?"
Raven smiled at him. She spun around, jumped to her feet, and walked slowly towards a tall window where the sun shone in and warmed her limbs. She stretched her arms out, tilted her head back, and inhaled the rays of light.
"R-Raven?" Robin blinked from under his eyemask.
"Egads!!" she giggled. "It's hot!! The sun's so hot!!" She shivered and tossed off her robe, standing only in her jumpsuit and tights that were usually hidden underneath. She leaned forward and practically hugged the glass of the window. "So hot…and yet….so cold." Her fingers trailed the glass. She brushed her cheek against it, giggled, then turned around with her back against the window. She stared up at the heavens through the ceiling and hugged herself. "I…..I-I had no idea that happiness was so………..happy."
"I….I-I guess," Robin scratched his neck.
"Or sadness…..so…..cleansing," Raven mumbled, tracing a lone finger around her eye and feeling the faint residue of moisture. "So very….relieving." She looked up at Robin with a quivering lip.
He watched her, in awe.
Raven smiled. She jumped up on the stool, then up on the kitchen counter. She reached her hands to the ceiling and cawed: "OR ACCOMPLISHMENT SO REWARDING!! YEAH!!! HA HA HA HA HA!!"
Robin shivered. "Um…y-you're starting to scare me, Raven…."
Raven's laughter turned into a shivering chuckle. Her voice trailed off, and she looked past Robin. "Fear…..fear is what…makes us feel reality."
"Um….what's the occasion??" Cyborg remarked while pouring his milk. He looked up at Raven with a cockeyed glance and smirked. "Are you Raven's good twin or something?"
Raven glared at her. She then brightened. "Or…..!"
She jumped down besides Robin, picked up her ice cream sundae, and tossed it square in Cyborg's face with a grunt.
SPLORT!!!
"Hey!!!" Cyborg exclaimed, wiping his face off.
Raven leaned over the counter with a bounce and a scowl. "THAT'S FOR CALLING ME AN 'ICE PRINCESS' TWELVE TIMES IN THE LAST MONTH!!!!"
Echoes.
Robin cringed.
At the end of her shout, Raven leaned back…blinked….and giggled uncontrollably. "I'm gonna really dig anger too!!"
"Hehehe!! I'll make a note of that!" Cyborg smiled wide and chuckled.
"Hehehehehehe!!!"
"HA! HA! HA!"
"HEY!!!" Beast Boy snapped from his dictionary. "Will you ignoramuses silence your infernal utterances of jocularity?! I am trying to access the infinite banks of knowledge in this god forsaken world and I cannot focus on such a diligent task with your monotonous attempts to fluster my progression!"
"S-Sorry, Beast Boy!" Robin insisted. "We're sorry! We'll quiet d-down!"
"No we won't!" Cyborg beamed and literally dunked a pitcher of water over his head to douse off the ice cream. "Life is short! We should embrace it with open arms and smile at the absurdity of everything! And how else will we celebrate than by being absurd ourselves?!"
Raven chuckled. "You know what, Cyborg? This morning I'm really liking your attitude!"
"I'm really liking my attitude too! Heheheheheh!!"
"Hehehehehehe!!" Raven smiled. She blinked. She looked at Robin, "Say…weren't we expecting company?"
The elevator doors opened and in walked Sandy.
"Oh yeah…I-I set the Tower's Security to recognize her and let h-her in automatically," Robin trembled. "S-Sorry I didn't tell anyone last night…."
"Robin….it's okay…really," Raven insisted with a wave of hands. "Nobody's going to be mad at you! Sheesh!"
Robin stared. "Y-You sure?"
Raven shrugged it off and walked towards Sandy.
"Hehehehe!! Got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, Robin?" Cyborg chuckled.
Robin's lips quivered. "D-Do you think I did?"
"Ughhh….the incessant sounds of a brainwashed populace, buckling under the weight of inevitable discord…," Beast Boy mumbled annoyingly into the pages of his dictionary.
This—along with everything else—Sandy was observing. Heavily….observing. She nearly jumped when Raven—of all people—walked directly up to her and shook her hand.
"Sandy! It is so nice to see you again," Raven smiled and patted the volunteer's shoulder. "I must apologize for my attitude yesterday. I guarantee you, I'm a different person today. Hehehe!"
"…….," Sandy stared. Her spectacled eyes glanced over Beast Boy in his Dictionary, Robin hugging himself on the stool, and Cyborg playing with some animal crackers behind the counter. Her eyes rested once again upon a robeless Raven and the dark girl's warm, blue eyes. "…………..I think I'm in the wrong Tower."
Raven giggled. "Why, whatever do you mean? A person can change, can't she?"
"Yeah but…..," Sandy looked around again and scratched her head. "I'm confused."
"Why be confused?!" Cyborg said from the distance. "You were so happy last night!! Did the same thing happen to you as happened to Robin here?!"
The Boy Wonder shrugged and shook his hands defensively in Sandy's direction. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Honest!!"
Sandy blinked. "Okaaaaaay." A beat. "Well, um, I-I just came by to tell you all how well the carnival went last night and—"
"The carnival….," Raven's voice and eyes trailed. She took a deep breath of joy and cupped her hands together. "So many flashing lights. Couples walking hand in hand. Magic in the air." She fluttered her eyes and looked at Sandy directly. "I wish I was there again."
Sandy bit her lip.
Raven blinked. "What?"
"Listen….o-over here….," Sandy dragged Raven over to the far side of the room.
"Ow…ow…ow….ow…ow!" Raven struggled and yanked her wrist from Sandy's grasp at the last second. "Goodness, girl! What's wrong with you?!" she frowned.
"Seriously….what's going on here?" Sandy whispered. "Is this some sort of joke or something?! It's like you're all drunk and stuff!"
"How dare you insinuate that!!" Raven snapped. "We're Titans. Heroes, for goodness' sake!"
"And look at you!!" Sandy gestured. "You're the nationally renown stoic of Justice! And here you are changing emotion on a dime!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Raven glared. "I was having a nice day until you—"
"A horse walked into a bar," Sandy folded her arms. "He said 'ow!'"
Raven's eyes bulged. She laughed uncontrollably. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Ohhhhh my….I-I never heard that one before!!"
Sandy stared. "You'd have to live under a rock not too. And as solitary as 'Raven' is, I doubt she'd live a life without hearing that lame joke at least once. I think there's a difference now, though, for some reason. Though you're hearing the same joke….for some reason….it's funny to you now. Am I on the right track? Please tell me that I am!"
"Pffft," Raven waved. "Listen to yourself! You're just about as analytical a nut as Beast Boy is over there!" Raven gestured.
"Do not assume that a mere distance of ten and a half meters prevents me from receiving the sounds of your hushed conversation!"
"Um….isn't that the same green elf who was stuffing cotton candy in his ears and dancing around last night?" Sandy sweatdropped. "And why's Cyborg so ecstatic and Robin so…so…."
The two looked over.
The Boy Wonder hugged himself in the stool. He shivered and a tear rolled down.
"What in the--," Raven stumbled towards him, suddenly concerned. "Something's wrong, I better go talk to—"
Sandy held her by the shoulder. "And then there's Starfire."
Raven glanced at her. Glanced at the ceiling. Toyed the inside of her mouth with her tongue. Then blinked. "I haven't seen Starfire all morning." A beat. "What about her?"
Sandy gulped. "Well, on the way up here, I kinda sorta got lost. I saw her doing stuff in the gym and…."
"And????" Raven glared.
SMASH!!!!!!!
The elevator doors were forced open as a punching bag and a broken chain soared in and rolled to a stop on the carpet.
Robin shrieked, jumped over the counter, and hid behind a curiously amused Cyborg.
"RRRRAUGH!!!" Starfire flew in and kicked the punching bag with her Tamaranian foot, forcing it to sail through a potted plant and shatter its foundation to pieces. "Insolent scrap of leather and padding!!!" the alien girl shook and fumed as she stomped across the room and shouted at the punching bag. "You are most ill-mannered in your constant desire to swing back at me in response to the impounding of my fist!!!"
Sandy mumbled into Raven's ear. "She was…..training out…."
Raven nodded mutely. Watching wide-eyed.
"I will show you who is the one in possession of the title of leadership, you piece of ambiguous bovine excrement!!!" Starfire lifted the punching bag by the broken chain and proceeded to swing it around and smash it into the ground—shaking the entire room. "RAAAAUGH!!!" SLAM!! "RAAAAAUGH!!! SLAM!!! "RRRRRRRRRAAAAAUGHHH!!!" SLAM!!!
A crater formed in the carpet. The punching bag burst and sand poured everywhere.
Starfire panted, sweat rolling down her amber brow and her red hair tossed and tangled roughly around her neck. She took a deep breath, wiped a forearm against her skull, and grinned mischievously. "Oooh to the Ra!!" she cheered with a jerking hand. "Wondrous tearing of the proverbial donkey! HA! And such has left my stomach most famished!! I am so beat, I can eat an entire equine!!" She smiled and was about to walk towards the kitchen unit when she froze in mid-step. "Oop! Hey, everyone! Watch me accomplish this!!"
"I am preoccupied…," Beast Boy mumbled.
Robin shivered.
Starfire unleashed a burst of Tamaranian flight, soared up in the air, flipped, grabbed a ceiling fan, spun round once, lifted off, sailed down, and somersaulted into a perfect landing between Cyborg and the refrigerator.
"Hey!!!" Cyborg did a double-take. "Wondrous landing, but give the judges a chance to tally the scores of their stomach first, dearie! He he he he!!"
Starfire spun around and shoved him to the ground.
WHAM!!
"Ooof!!" Cyborg's eyes spun. "Nice toss. Hehehe!!"
"Do not label me as 'DEARIE'!!" Starifre shrieked, hands on her hips. "For that, I shall now acquire your milk from you!!"
"Awww….I was drinking that!!"
"You are the one who snoozes, you are the one who loses!!" Starfire jabbed a hand straight into the fridge, yanked out the milk, and drank straight from the carton. After guzzling a good half gallon down, she exhaled, wiped her lip, crumpled the carton in one hand, and tossed it behind her. "I must hurry on with my breakfast! I have a mile to jog!!"
"Wh-Why jog when you can fly?" Robin meekly suggested.
"DID I ASK YOU, SCRAWNY ONE?!"
Robin shrunk into a nearby corner, eyes brimming with tears.
"……………..," Raven stared.
"……………..," Sandy stared. She glanced at the dark girl. "Satisfied?"
"Ehh, they're just mood swings." Raven waved.
Sandy pulled at her brown hair. "Mood swings?!?! Miss Raven, I am sorry to be so frank, but your friends are making Charles Manson and his crew look like picnickers!"
"Pfft, now that's a hyperbole!" Beast Boy said from the distance.
"Hyerbole!!" Cyborg giggled on the floor. "Such a funny word! Hehehehehehe!!"
"I think you should be a good guest and stick your nose OUTSIDE of our business!" Raven frowned, arms folded.
"Listen to me!" Sandy gestured emphatically. "I. Am. Worried. Here! Doesn't this seem out of place?! Doesn't this seem abnormal?!"
"Abnormal?!?!" Raven nearly shrieked. She took a step forward and frowned in Sandy's face. "I'll have you know, girl, that I do not know what 'abnormal' is anymore. Do you know what happened this morning?"
Sandy—mouth agape—shook her head.
"I woke up….in the middle of the night….and I could feel," Raven said. She lifted a pale hand and stared at it up close. "Emotions that were once forbidden to me…are now mine at the flick of a wrist. There is no more consequence for my indulging in a happy thought. There is no more pain from raising my fist at someone. I can even shed tears and not cause the entire building to fall apart!! All my life, I sought perfect tranquility. Perfect calm. Escape from self, and thus an escape from the Inevitable." She took a deep breath and looked almost wounded as she added with a quivering voice: "For one day. One single day…I-I can now realize that everything I worked for was mine to have not from repression, but from acceptance." She swallowed and turned around, holding her arms. "I…I-I can't describe it. I can fear things….but I have nothing to fear. Nothing whatsoever to fear. There is no greater feeling…now that I know what 'feeling' is." A beat. She spun around and shouted angrily in Sandy's face: "WHY MUST YOU FILL MY FIRST TRULY LIVING DAY WITH WORRY?!?!"
The whole room shuddered to a stop.
Sandy winced, backing up from Raven with gritted teeth of uncertainty. She snaked a finger around and pointed at the other Titans. "Even if it was the first time you would feel, Miss Raven, would you not feel concern for your friends?"
Raven blinked.
"Something is wrong with them, Miss Raven," Sandy stammered. "You may be fine like wine….but look at them. Look at them and ask yourself how you 'feel'."
"…..," Raven was silent. She turned around. She watched Beast Boy straining his eyes to speed through a torturously long dictionary. She saw Robin cowering in the corner, his eyemask bulging as he trembled and spotted hidden demons. Cyborg had a full set of animal crackers and was playing dolls with them. And Starfire was taking her frustration out on a soup can that wouldn't work by picking up a fire extinguisher and madly hammering the package loudly over and over again.
"Raven???" Sandy whispered.
"Eh, they've always been crazy," the girl mumbled. A beat. She looked up. "Where is Noir?"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Okay………
Let's try it again……
I took a deep breath.
I gripped Myrkblade. I bent my limbs slowly. Smoothly in the wind. In the field of grass outside the Tower.
I tried for the fifth and last time to perform a pose. One of my usual….painful poses. I meditated and focused every fiber of my being into holding that one, awkward position……………and succeeded for only about three seconds.
WHUMP!!!
I fell on the ground.
I grit my teeth.
I wanted to growl.
I pounded my fist into the earth.
Dirt flew.
Grass warbled.
I jumped up.
My knuckles were white as I gripped Myrkblade.
I kept gritting my teeth and clenching my eyes shut. It felt like my head was going to explode. I felt the pulse rushing through my arteries. Red. Fervent. Hot. Hot.
Hot………
Two hours…and not a single satisfying step in meditation.
I trembled. I shook.
I opened my frowning, black eyes from under the shades.
I gasped.
For half a second, four red specks reflected off the undersides of the lens and laughed at me.
"Heh heh heh heh……"
I let out a mental scream, charged up Myrkblade, and slashed blindly in front of me.
FWOOOOMP!!!
Grass shot up from the ground in a stream and the shallow waters of the Bay parted so much, I could see the ocean floor for a split second.
I gasped….sweating.
I hadn't even swung that hard……
"N-Noir?"
My body tensed.
I spun around with Myrkblade raised, glaring.
Raven cowered, her hands held up in defense.
My eyes rounded. I panted.
"Noir??" Raven swallowed. "It's me. Are you okay?!"
The pulse…the sweating….my head….
I gulped. I took a deep breath. I realized I was still holding my weapon up, so I reluctantly lowered it and sheathed it away.
"Whew….y-you had me worried for a second there," Raven smiled.
I nodded---I did a double take. I glanced at her, my eyebrow raised.
"So….," Raven pointed at her smiling lips. "How do you like it?"
My jaw dropped ever so slightly. I cocked my head to the side and gestured complete confusion.
"It's….hard to explain," Raven said. She walked down a dune of sand and up towards the softly crashing waves in the Sun. "Nothing feels wrong anymore. Nothing feels urgent anymore. Everything is lightweight and easy. And….I don't have to worry about Him at all."
I took a deep breath. My right hand trembled as I watched Raven's fair head of blue hair from behind. My black eyes squinted and I had a sudden, mysterious urge to slash open her skull and suck her brains out like a watermelon. My heart jumped. I realized I was touching the hilt of my sword already. I gasped and brought my wrist to my chest, panting.
Raven turned and glanced at me from over her shoulder. "You okay, Noir?"
I sweated…but managed a nod 'yes'.
"Just checking," Raven said, her eyes lowered. "I was….happy. I was happy this morning, I was. But after Sandy came…she started to get me worrying," Raven hugged herself and kicked at the sand and surf lethargically. "I hate her for doing it, but she's right in what she says. Everything is too wyrd. I-I'm happy…and yet….I shouldn't be. It sounds terrible, I know. But….something is very screwy around here. Very screwy indeed."
I relaxed my hand and stood up straight, managing to look at her peacefully.
"I…..I-I haven't even….tried meditating….," her voice faded.
I blinked.
Suddenly, our communicators vibrated.
Raven jumped. She whipped out her communicator with a Star Trek sound and spoken into it. "This is Raven. What's going on??"
"I think y-you too better come up here," Robin's voice muttered.
I leaned my ear. The Boy Wonder sounded……paranoid.
"What is it?"
"F-Find out for yourself. I'm sorry I can't tell you any further. I'm so sorry…"
Blip!
The hell is going on here?!
I took a deep breath and rubbed the goosebumps on my shoulders.
Somebody tell me!!
"We'd better go," Raven said.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The T.V. screen flashed on.
A recorded message was interrupting the standard broadcast.
An cartoonish, middle-aged man in a magician's outfit stood tall and lanky as he spun a wand with a grin and tilted his hat.
"Ladies and gentleman!! I, the amazing MUMBO JUMBO, have some exciting—stupendous—gargantuan news for you!!! The Teen Titans are indisposed, and the City is mine to plunder!! What magic has conjured this hand of fate, you ask?! Why, the most fanciful deck of cards there could ever be!!"
The comical figure flipped a full deck of poker cards into his hat, tapped it with his wand, and shouted: "PRESTO!!"
He pulled out from the hat a bomb which exploded into a flurry of confetti in his grasp.
"WHOOPS!! How'd that happen?!" he tossed the hat up and fitted it over his head. "All part of the show, folks! Yes, I assure you that I do have bombs! And those bombs are set to blow in the First National Bank of the City, where I intend on making an appearance! I do apologize, I cannot be signing any autographs! Reason being, the only paper I'll have will be greenbacks, and any such mark of a signature or whatnot I let be inscribed on it could be interpreted as tainted money!! And you all know how much the amazing Mumbo Jumbo hates being short-changed, right?! HA!!"
He tapped his own head with the wand and teleported into smoke.
Seconds later, a wall panel in the background of the camera shot swiveled around and there stood Mumbo Jumbo in his polka-dotted skibbies.
"Wuh oh!!" he blushed.
Laughtrack.
"Guess I used the wrong wand!" He winked, spun in a circle, and was suddenly wearing clothes again. "But seriously, folks! I shall proceed to bomb my way into the safe deposits of every bank in the city until the officials award me with a preliminary sum of money. How big a sum, you ask? I'll fax you the estimate. ALL NINE DIGITS OF IT!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Alla Kazaam!!"
He flung the wand.
All of his body disappeared, save for his hat that floated in mid-air. His head popped out, upside down.
"Oh, and when I say your Titans are indisposed…I do mean indisposed!"
YOINK!
He disappeared.
The hat fell.
Snow.
And……the T.V. was turned off.
"The absolute nerve of that villain!!" Starfire growled, palming her fist. "What makes him think that the Titans are indisposed?!"
"Beats me," Cyborg shrugged. He smiled at a lion animal cracker. "What do you think, Leo?!"
"As King, I command you to send me down your esophagus!" 'Leo' roared in Cyborg's muffled voice.
"Well, alright!" Cyborg snapped a finger and pointed at the cookie. "But be sure to bring your mosquito net!" He tossed the cookie down his throat, swallowed, and giggled. "Get it?! King Leo!! HA HA HA!!"
"Mumbo Jumbo scares me….," Robin murmured, hugging his shivering arms. "W-We'd might as well be indisposed."
"Wimp!!!" Starfire growled.
"He is hardly an intelligent man worth pursuing," Beast Boy mumbled. He suddenly had a pair of glasses fixed over his nose as he delved deep into a work by Tolstoy. "There are far too many jesters and such haunting the urban sprawls of criminal psychosis."
"Um….," Raven glanced at me, then looked at the others. "D-Don't you think we should try and stop Mumbo?! He isn't really that hard of a villain, ya know. And before we know it, he might hold true to his promise by—"
There was a rumbling sound.
We all looked out and saw a column of black smoke rising from the Downtown of the City.
"Th-The First National Bank….," Robin swallowed.
"Rrrrrgh….I knew it!!" Starfire floated up and shook her fists. "That is it!! We are going out there to wash his chronometers!! Are we not, Robin?!"
"……..," Robin trembled, eyemask glued to the site.
"ROBIN?!?!"
"D-Do we have to?" he meekly whimpered.
"YES!! TEEN TITANS!! DO THE GO!!" Starfire flew…..through the wall.
SMASH!!!!
And the Tamaranian trailed a purple streak towards the center of the City.
"Well I'm game!!" Cyborg jumped up, chuckled, and dashed towards the exit. "Always willing for a party! COME LEO!!"
Beast Boy sat with his book. Shakespeare this time. "This where I am complexed, is Ophelia truly a misogynist's stereotypical portrayal of a self-defeating feminine stereotype, or merely an objectifying tool towards outlining the incessant, moral irresponsibility of prince Hamlet and his constant inaction regarding his stepfather's infedility and—?"
"I said COME LEO!!!"
Cyborg grabbed Beast Boy from the scruff of his shirt and yanked him away.
"YAAAH!!"
I ran a hand over my face. Fuming.
Such morons……such stupid…stupid morons……
Sandy sweatdropped. She stared at Raven and I. "Sh-Shouldn't you guys get going too?!"
"I suppose," Raven sighed. She grabbed her robe and slipped it back on. Fastening it on her sleeves. "You're right, Sandy. Maybe I have reason to worry."
"Think about that later."
Raven nodded. "Stay here. We'll be back." She jumped into the air……and fell down on her butt. "OOOF!!"
I glared.
Stupid……
Sandy knelt down. "Um….Raven. Did you do that on purpose??"
"I….I…..I…..," Raven stuttered, her blue eyes wide.
Shut up…for god's sake…just shut up…
I clutched my heads.
Morons……idtots……all of you…
Sandy helped the dark girl up.
Raven was trembling. She stared at her hands and torso in disbelief. "I….I-I can't use my powers!!"
Sandy gasped.
Raven looked around, panicked, and rested her eyes on me. "Noir…what's happening to me?!?!"
I clutched my head, teeth gritting. Black eyes bulging.
For the last tme…WILL. YOU. JUST. SHUT. UP?!?!?!
I whipped out Myrkblade.
CHIIING!!!
Sandy shrieked.
I snarled breathily and blurred forward, teleported out the window, and went speeding demonically towards the scene of the crime.
Raven panted, scared. "I'm…g-gonna need a ride…"