Chapter Two
The exterior showed a serene girl floating above her bed. Although, the interior was basically the opposite. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." The real world slowly faded as she centered herself to reach the dark abyss she called her mind. Creepy. That's what she remembered Cyborg and Beast Boy calling it when they had wandered into her mind the last time. Although, it was only that one time and that's the way she'd prefer to keep it.
When she had opened her eyes she had landed on the dark stone rocks. Looking around at the never-ending darkness she felt a sense of comfort. Although it was her own mind, it was -at times- eerie to withstand. She was in her mind and eager to search out for one emoticlone in specific. That emoticlone, she had a bad feeling, was not going to be anywhere out in the open.
Walking through the first arc of her mind the darkness warped into a bright and colorful scenery. "Three, Two, One, …..Where is…." The pink cloaked figure stood before Raven. A sickly sweet smile plastered on her face. Happy's hair freely framed her face and she seemed to have a natural kind of glow from head to toe. Unlike Raven herself.
"What ya up to Rae Rae. Wanna play tag. Just an itty bitty game." Raven did not answer Happy, but she did give her a look that seemed to frustrate her. "Ugh… I forgot Mrs. Stoic Mcbordumpants is in the house… you're probably too concerned about some life or death situation. Probably requires you to be in a frantic search for one of us." Happy teased raven by explaining her accusation with a silly expression. "I guess that means you wanna braid each other's hair instead." Happy was sarcastic on purpose but remained in her usual light-hearted nature.
"Actually… no, the world wouldn't end if I were to play a game of tag but I just choose not to play. We have this conversation at least once a week. We both know I don't play childish games. You're still persistent as ever though." Happy giggled and continue the conversation that Raven was eager to end.
"So I know you can sometimes be annoyed by me, but what are ya really here for. Just wondering. Been kinda bored. Rude blew me off earlier. We were supposed to play go fish. I guess I should be more expecting every time she says she'll play she never ends up playing, but then you showed up and now we're here." Raven rolled her eyes at Happy's obliviousness.
"Well if you must know.. I'm looking for knowledge." Happy shook her head. To Happy, this shouldn't have been a surprise. Whenever Raven comes to nevermore she is most often seeking Knowledge, Wisdom, Bravery, or occasionally ready to brawl with Rage to prove her point or assess her dominance.
Happy shrugged her shoulders. "That might be a bit of a problem. Ya seem, Knowledge kinda left to go somewhere this morning and none of us have seen her since. So… Umm… Yah." Happy looked down at the ground worried about Raven's reaction to the new bit of information. That, unfortunately, would interrupt her plans in Nevermore.
"Well, that's just great." She crossed her arms and sternly looked over to Happy. Her intent wasn't to ridicule her. Although, it's not as if she hadn't done it before. At the moment, she was more concerned with finding Knowledge. "Do you happen to know where she went. Or at least the last time you or any of the others have seen her." The look on Happy's face didn't assure Raven that the answer she was going to get was good.
"Last time I saw her she was headed to.. ummm…. that place you kinda don't like to go." Happy looked down at her fingers she was twiddling. "The dark corner turn you tell us to not go to. But Knowledge said she really had to go. She said Rage went down there first because they got into a fight with each other and so both of them haven't been seen for a while and I wasn't supposed to tell you because I was the only one that knew about and Knowledge told me not to tell you but please don't tell her I told you!" Happy huffed air in after releasing all her pent up information to Raven. She felt guilty for betraying Knowledge but the pressure she was under that raven exerted made anxiety she is not used to feeling build up inside of her. The only reasonable way she felt to release the stress was to just tell Raven.
Raven's eyes grew wide and she felt her face grow hot. She had deeply wished she was dreaming or Happy was joking. "You're absolutely positively certain that's where Knowledge and Rage are?" Happy nodded in response to raven's panicking expression. Happy nodded with a forced smile. "Yup, but nobody knows why they went down there. And I personally don't wish to know myself because I don't think its for any good particular reason."
Raven held her hand to her temple debating on what to do. All this new information had her swirling in confusion and anxiety. So, she amped towards the logical attempt rather than the impulsive one. Although, in the back of Raven's thoughts she deeply wished everything could be fixed if she opted for her impulsive reaction to the situation because leaving nevermore and crying for hours on her bed seemed like a sort of comforting option. Even though the comforting option sounded easier Raven figured taking the easy option, in this case, wouldn't solve anything. Or at least the way she wanted to.
"Get everyone together and meet in knowledge's domain. It's time to talk about this." Raven used her magic to teleport to knowledge's domain. Leaving Happy behind to wine and huff about loving family meetings. When Raven got to the domain most everything looked untouched. She was in a large library. This was, were all Raven memories and thoughts were kept. She knew exactly where to go to find what she had suspected was missing.
In the section labeled "Titans" she went straight to the row of shelves labeled "Beast Boy". What she found was about normal until she reached the end of the row and found a book face down on the floor. The book looked fairly new and was for some reason pink. Most of Raven' books were darker or natural colors, but this one was pink. She ignored the book at first searching for the idem she thought to be missing. But in fact, it was not.
She pulled a black book off the shelf. The word "Friendship" was engraved on the front with a green paw print on the back. Turning the book over and flipping through the pages she realized there wasn't any damage done to the book. This made her suspicious. Putting the book back on the shelf she went back to staring at the pink one that laid on the ground before her. Walking over she saw that there was not yet a name for the book. Which wasn't uncommon if it was a new addition. Most of Raven's memories had to have a variety of selections to insert into the book before the book earned a title.
Nervous was the feeling she felt. It was strange not to even have an idea of what could possibly be in the contents of this new book. Picking it up, something fell onto the floor. It was a necklace. More specifically the necklace she had made with a simple piece of string and the penny Beast Boy had given her the day the world ended. She had never shown anybody this necklace, but she never had the heart to think of the penny as just a penny. It was sentimental. That was because beast Boy had given it to her and told her it was for luck. Well, it definitely was, because that fateful day the world did not end forever. She had kept the necklace to use a bookmark in the book of Azar in her room. The book of Azar was the most important and respected of all the books she owned. And she had initially felt that the penny deserved a special place. As well as, a well-hidden place.
In the book was only a few pages. Flipping through them she started from the beginning. It read, "Hey. Raven, please don't be afraid of yourself because of me. I am new to you but you've just given me all I ever wanted. That is, just a taste of freedom. I know it won't last for long, but please don't forget me. You know how he makes you feel and here's the proof." Her eyes continued to skim the words for the second time. Wanting to make sure she was reading them correctly. The words were handwritten and not printed. This was extremely unusual because the only books with handwriting in them is when she had written notes within her own memories. She'd never see this book before so how could she have written anything in it.
Flipping the page again she continued to read only the handwritten words. Too concerned to want to investigate the contents of the printed texted in the centers of the pages. "They'll find me soon and I don't have long. I know for certain. You overpower with so much logic that you put me back in my prison of darkness. I even know exactly which two will hunt me down. I can't exactly tell you either. They can fight over me and what to do with me too. I don't care Because once they turn the corner into my realm only you have the power to lead them to the exit. But don't wait too long or else the balance will be thrown out of control and his beast will know. He'll come searching for you thinking his mate is in trouble. And you know all too well when you enter the darkness of your mind you have no control over your body. That's when whatever emoticlone is strong enough will have the opportunity to overpower you and take your physical form. Who knows what consequences you'll suffer if the wrong one of us gets lose and your beast is nearby."
The book flew out of Raven's hands and she began to scream. Turning around she saw the rest of her emoticlones staring at her. "Stay here or else." Her eyes split into four and glowed red. Quickly she teleported out of Knowledge's library. In a thousand years, she couldn't imagine herself going int her own darkness by her own free will. But apparently, times had changed. There she was. Face to face with a dark glossy film that was the corner of her mind. It was forbidden and ominous. There were so many reasons for her telling her emoticlones to never go into this place. But she never disclosed to them why.
Reaching out she touched the glossy film. It was cold and unwelcoming. Then, she stuck her hand in the film-like substance barrier. The barrier made ripples around her wrist. It felt like a slight tugging sensation on her arm. It was completely unsatisfying and numbing to her body. In an instant a force pulled her in and she was gone.