There I lay, back on the Titans' couch, curled up in my wolf form. As I slept I once again replayed events of the passing day. I thought about how I finally felt noticed by the others and got the chance to prove myself in our mission earlier that day. I thought about the combat training session we had when we returned to the tower.
Robin and Cyborg acted as my sparring partners. For a couple of humans, they were both tough customers. Cyborg definitely surprised me when he nearly over-powered me in a hand-locked pushing match. As we had pushed into each other trying to knock the other back, I nearly had to Change into my beast form to out-muscle him, giving Gizamon quite the workout. That's what I get for assuming that his strength was limited due to his mechanical state.
Some time after the training session, we all gathered in the living room for movie night. Cyborg and Beast Boy were in charge of cooking the burgers. It didn't take long for another argument to ensue about beef patties vs tofu patties. I looked back over at the couch to see Starfire and Robin whispering to one another. At first I thought they were doing their usual flirting, but then I overheard them mentioning me.
"Star, what's up between you two?"
"I do not wish to talk about it. Besides, I cannot promise to trust him right away when he does not clearly trust us. Why else would he not care to return to his true form", asked Starfire in reference to the fact that I once again was spending the evening with them in my wolf form.
You're only half right, Princess, I thought to myself upon hearing her make that comment. When it came to the Titans, I was comfortable around the guys completely. Beast Boy's little brother vibe was beginning to grow on me. It was really hard to keep a straight face with him around.
Robin proved to be the serious but team-oriented leader that every good team needed. It didn't take me long to realize that when it came to missions, battle, and other business, he was the serious leader he needed to be. But off the battlefield, he could be just as goofy as the other guys. There was also the assumed soft side to him as well, seeing as how he and Starfire were clearly an item.
And then there was Cyborg, the Titan that recruited me. I remember feeling a touch of guilt for assuming what I did about his limits, especially considering that I identified with him quite a bit. The only other Titan I related to more was Raven. Cyborg, as his name suggested, was half machine, and I could only imagine what must've happened to him in his previous life. And I couldn't imagine the things he must've gone through and probably still go through. Cyborg's very being implied hardship and strife, but looking at him as he argued with Beast Boy, I saw two brothers. I saw two best friends that'd been together for so long that even as they got on each other's nerves, there wasn't anything one wouldn't do for the other. Outside of the tower, many people in the world saw them as freaks or abominations. But here, they celebrated their differences. The boy wonder, the cyborg, the mutant, the alien, and then…well, Raven.
Upon reminding myself about Raven, I look over to see her over in the corner continuing to knit, though still not having any idea of what she was making other than the fact that it was dark blue, much like her cloak.
What are you, I thought to myself as I was reminded that I still didn't know if Raven was merely a mutant or something more. I shake my head upon hearing how blunt my thought was. Note to self, never ever ask that question out loud. My ears twitch as I hear Robin and Starfire continuing to whisper. As I said, Starfire, you're only half right. It's not the Titans I don't trust, it's you specifically.
I wasn't just making a witty remark, I truly didn't trust Starfire too much. Her friends saw her as the hyperactive alien that was equally as friendly to most others. However, when it came to me, she couldn't stand the sight of me. Every time I was near her I was secretly anticipating another star bolt. Between that and the fact that Raven made me more nervous than Billy was when I Changed into Mambamon, it was no wonder why I was more comfortable in my wolf form.
"Hey, Wolfman", shouted Beast Boy, calling to me from the kitchen and snapping me out of my inner thoughts. "You can cook, right?"
"Uh, kinda", I respond bashfully as my cooking skills were very much basic and not too extraordinary.
"Eh, good enough. Think you can speed up the burgers with some wolf voltage?"
"I can try." I honestly wasn't sure if I could or not. I used to use my powers to grill and cook all the time before coming to Jump City. However, back then I could manipulate the element of fire to help with my cooking skills. This time the closest thing I currently had to fire was electricity. "But I can't make any promises. I've never cooked using electricity only."
"No problem", added Cyborg. "I can monitor the cooking while you zap 'em", he said as two metal rods shot out of his index fingers. "All you've got to do is turn off the juice when I give the word."
With Cyborg's help, Beast Boy's idea turned out to be a success. The burgers turned out great. I remembered the warm feeling I got in my stomach after finally eating my fill during a meal since arriving to Jump City.
Suddenly that old pizza crust seems extremely insignificant, I thought to myself as I remembered that it was only one day prior that I was digging through the garbage and chasing alley dogs.
After we all had finished eating, it was time for the movie. As we all met on the couch, Cyborg, proving to have an appetite bigger than mine, grabs a seat with a large bucket of popcorn from the kitchen in his arms as Starfire announced the choices for movie night. Apparently, the Titans went in cycles to choose what the theme was, and then the other Titans then got to vote on the movie based on the theme. With that said, it surprised me when Starfire, the Tamaranian princess from another planet, announced that the theme would be Disney movies, or rather Disney Princess movies.
Cyborg and Beast Boy groaned at the idea of watching a princess movie, while Robin and Raven had little to no input on the idea. I read BB and Cy's minds briefly and learned that they were hoping for something animal related or sci-fi respectively. Unfortunately I couldn't do much for Cyborg, but there was one movie that I was sure would cover Beast Boy's animal requirement.
"How about "Beauty and the Beast"", I suggested since nobody else was saying anything. They all turn to look at me upon hearing my suggestion. Or not, I thought to myself as I lowered my ears bashfully. This time, Raven came to my rescue.
"Well it is one of the better Princess movies", she said as she returned to her knitting.
"Eh, fair enough", said Cyborg, still not impressed at the theme.
"Plus it's got….", started Beast Boy as he morphs into a bear and growls as if mimicking the Beast from the movie.
"I think we've come to an agreement", said Robin as he pats the couch with his left hand as if to offer Starfire a seat next to him.
"Then the monster love story it is", she says as she turns on the movie and quickly flies back to the couch to join Robin.
I remembered how nostalgic I felt upon watching one of my favorite movies with my new friends. I remembered how Robin and Star were lost in their own world together as Belle began to get to know the Beast. I remembered how a low growl rumbled in my chest every time I saw that douche, Gaston appear on screen, which made Raven chuckle a little bit, though it was quiet to a point where only I could hear her. I remembered how she and I awkwardly made eye contact and broke away during the ballroom scene. And I remembered Beast Boy, like he does, making yet another comedic gesture as he booed at the screen when the Beast returned to his human form after breaking the spell. Despite all the craziness that had been going on as of late, despite all of the fighting and struggling to survive, that moment made me, for a short while, forget it all. It had been so long since I had sat down to watch and enjoy a movie like the way we were doing, and having the Titans there really made it special. Once the movie had ended, Cyborg immediately broke the silence.
"Welp, that happened. Time for bed", he said with a yawn as he stretched his arms. I remembered how as the others were leaving the room to go to their own rooms, I tried opening my mouth to speak with Raven, but nothing came out. I then began to dream about what I would've said, or rather what I wanted to say, when I suddenly noticed a white light filling the room.
Not again, I thought to myself as my dream was being interrupted, causing me to black out for the umpteenth time. When I came to, I was in an environment that was…. odd, to say the least. If I had to describe it, it was kinda like outer space, except that the dark void that made up space had hints of both black and red in it. I was back in my human form standing on a floating rock, which I dubbed as an asteroid given the space-like environment I was in. Despite it looking like outer space, I knew it couldn't be because I wasn't cloaking myself in aura in order to survive its harsh conditions. It was either that or I was still dreaming.
"O-kay, I'm lost", I said as I look over to see more asteroids forming a stone bridge as if on cue. The bridge connected the rock I was standing on to a land strip, also just floating in space. "Because sure, why not", I say sarcastically as I cautiously walk across the bridge. Once I was across I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I heard a tiny voice.
"Turn back", it said. I dart my head back, forth, left, and right trying to find out who was saying that. "Turn back", it said again. I eventually look behind me to see a tree with a bird in it, which was weird because I didn't notice there was a tree there until just that moment. "Turn back", the bird said again. This bizarre, little bird had feathers as black as a raven, a body like a sparrow, and a comically large head that almost made it look like a deformed duck. It blinked its red eyes as it said once more, "turn back". Before I could respond, two more birds appeared out of nowhere. "Turn back", they all said as three more birds appeared as well. Now there were six. Then six became ten, then ten became twenty, and then fifty. After that I didn't care to stay to count them anymore. I Changed into Lobomon and bolted.
The flock of birds shrieked as they flew after me. With nowhere to run except along the land strip, the only thing I could do was hope to outrun them. That proved to be an impossible task as the birds were slowly starting to catch up to me. One by one the birds swooped down and bit the sides of my torso. I roar in pain and shock as I wondered to myself why I felt little teeth being sunk into my flesh. I brushed against another tree in an attempt to knock them off of me. I roar again as their teeth scrape against my skin as they're pried off. I look back to catch a glimpse of the birds. I noticed that they did now indeed have fangs growing out of their beaks, and each now had four red eyes instead of two, and their irises and pupils were gone.
As the birds began to close in on me again, I decided to stand my ground and fight. I come to a halt as I rise to my hind paws and turn to face my opponents. I then lift my right paw as sparks of purple electricity surged from my claws. I then use the voltage to form a crude spear as if I were Zeus.
"Lightning Strike", I shout as I hurl the spear at the flock. The spear explodes as a cloud of smoke engulfs the great many birds, now all shrieking in pain. Electricity sparks over the cloud as the shrieking from the birds ceases and the world I was in goes quiet.
Thinking that the worst was over, I turn to walk away, when one of the birds shoots out to attack me yet again. Before I could spin back around, a white dove flies in out of nowhere and intercepts the winged attacker. With one flap of her wings, the dove summons another white light, which obliterates the dark shadow bird. It shrieks in pain as it evaporates into thin air. The dove then flies from behind me and makes her perch on a nearby tree to my left.
"Uh, thanks." The dove then cooes in response. Even though animals communicate in their own language, sometimes a howl was just as howl, and a coo was just a coo. I brush off the dove's lack of a response and continue. "Can you tell me where I am?" The dove simply cooes again. "Do you even understand what I am saying?" The dove cooes once more and flies down the land strip. "Hey, wait", I snarl as I take off after her. The chase goes on for about two or three minutes before I yell at her again. "I'm in no mood for a marathon, you bird brain!" As if on cue, she then leads me to an area that looked crossed between a courtyard and a graveyard. It was full of demonic and rather disturbing-looking statues. "I would say I'm going to have nightmares tonight, if it weren't for the fact that I still can't tell if I'm asleep or not", I say as I look around in a slight sense of panic as I feared that I might have been led into a trap.
"Fear not, my prince", said a woman in a white hooded cloak as she emerged from behind one of the statues. Her face was completely concealed.
"Who are you", I asked as my wolf tail began to rattle as if I were in snake form.
"Who I am is of no importance."
"Well then forgive me if I beg to differ."
"Is that any way to address she who saved you?"
"If you're referring to your little feathered friend here, she didn't really do much", I said as I motioned my head at the dove who had found a perch on a tombstone. "She destroyed one bird, whereas I destroyed the rest of the flock prior to that. Even if that one bird had completed its attack on me, I could've easily destroyed it myself afterwards."
"You're quite confident with yourself, aren't you, Fernando?"
"How do you know my name?"
"I've always known your name. I've been watching you for quite some time."
"How much time are we talking here?"
"Does that truly matter?"
"Well considering the last person who was apparently watching me managed to cripple my powers, throw me into the ocean to nearly drown, and managed to kidnap three of my friends, then yes, I say it does matter."
"Perhaps you are right. However this is where I must leave you for now", she said as she began to drift backwards into the white mist that appeared quite literally out of nowhere.
"Hold on a second", I snapped. "What kind of greeting is that? Some cryptic and stalkerish statements and then you just leave? Who are you? And why am I here? Where even is here?"
"In due time, my prince. In due time. Remember my voice, for we shall meet again."
"Oh, no you don't", I roared as I lunged at the mist. The mist disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, taking the stranger with it. With my target gone I crash into the ground. I'm beginning to see a pattern here, I think to myself as I rise back to my paws and shake myself off. I look around to confront the dove again. Not only was she no longer there, but the weird-looking outer space was gone as well.
In its place was just a black emptiness. It wasn't like my portals I made where the dimension was filled with darkness and shadows, this place was just black, as if somehow somebody made this place dark but without actual darkness. I could sense no shadows, no supernatural presences, nothing. It was kinda like I existed on a computer's desktop screen or a Microsoft Word document and somebody painted the background pitch-black. I look back down at my paws to see that I was standing on what looked like a giant stained glass window. Since I couldn't tell what the design was on the glass, seeing as how I was so small in comparison, I began exploring it.
The window consisted of mostly yellows, with a fair amount of orange and brown. As my paws crossed the border between yellow glass and brown glass, I noticed something that made this scenario seem familiar. Further ahead, I saw a touch of black that was shaped like a crude letter "S". Right below it, which from my angle was to my left, I saw an eye, which led me to believe that the "S" shape was a horn . Next to the eye, closer to the horn, I saw a pointed ear, and further down, a snout, and then some fangs. It was the face of some kind of animal, though I couldn't really tell from my angle.
I turn around behind me back towards the previous yellow glass. To my right, the glass continued to be yellow all the way to the end of the window, which based on the brownish border was a circular window. To my left, the yellow glass continued for a bit, and then the glass turned to a color that resembled a white person's skin. Further up I noticed a color that looked half-light brown and half-red. I walk over towards this new-colored glass and discover that it looked like hair, a woman's hair based on the length. I look back at where the skin-colored glass met the yellow glass and concluded that the image they were creating was that of a woman in a yellow dress. That's when it hit me.
Wait a moment. A woman in a yellow dress? A brown animal with horns and fangs? I think I know where I've seen this before! Upon thinking that I turn to trot up the window towards where I assumed the "top" would be. I passed by the woman's hair, and right towards the top of the window was an image I could easily identify, even at the angle I was in. This image was much smaller than that of the animal and the woman, so I was able to see it fully as if I was standing in a classroom and someone had drawn the image on the floor. The image was of a single red rose in a glass covering.
I knew it, I thought to myself as I realized I was standing on a stained glass window of the Disney film I had just finished watching hours ago. It was at that moment that the rose turned white and began to glow brighter and brighter. I know where this is going, I think to myself as I Change into Gizamon and ascend into the air as quickly as I could. I flapped my wings hard and fast, but I didn't feel like I was getting very far. I looked back for a moment to see my progress in distance. I was only just far enough to see the full window.
In the circular window stood Belle, her arms at her sides and her eyes closed. To her right, my left, stood the Beast. His head was facing my left, so only the left half of his face was visible. I look in awe at the stained glass as I realize that it wasn't merely a movie reference, but it was also a video game reference. As the white light, now too bright and large to escape, begins expanding and engulfing everything in its path, I think to myself, okay, fine! Take me somewhere else if you want! But if I wake up with a Keyblade or a Heartless shows up, I'm calling bullshit! I black out once again.
When I came to I was standing on two legs again. At first I assumed I was back in my human form, but then I noticed my feet, which were still paws. I wiggled my toes as I observed my brown fur instead of the usual black fur. I move my front paws to the top of my head as I feel my two horns placed there. I look back up and scan the room I had been transported to. I was standing in yet another video game reference.
It was the main hallway of the Beast's Castle from the "Kingdom Hearts" video game series. I knew it was the video game's version and not the film directly because the room wasn't filled with much. Even in the film, before the spell was broken, the castle was at least filled with statues, relics, old-timey architecture and furniture, and of course you couldn't take two steps into any room without running into a talking and/or moving inanimate object. This castle's hallway just had gray walls with little to no effort on the architecture, as if it was built to code and nothing else. However, I was still a bit in awe of seeing this environment this up close and personal. It was one thing to see it in a video game or an animated movie, it was a completely different thing to see it in real life, well kind of.
The support beams in the hall each had a statue of a knight in armor next to it facing towards the center. In the center was a grand staircase that led to a large pair of doors at the top. There were then two more large staircases that turned to the left and right of the doors, which based off of my knowledge of the video game, led to the West and East wings respectively. Along the center staircase, stretching from the large pair of doors at the top, all the way down to the large pair of doors that stood behind me, was a long reddish carpet with a pinkish-colored border.
With no real options other than to entertain this hallucination, I walk along the carpet towards the staircase. I stop at one of the statues of armor and look towards it. At first I was confused as to why they were statues of armor and not of gargoyles like from the video game, but then I noticed a glimpse of my reflection in the armor. I walk over to it and gaze at my awkward reflection as the armor reflected the image of myself as if I were looking in a funhouse mirror. Despite this however, I knew right away what I was looking at. Staring back at me was the Beast from the movie this environment was based on. And as if that wasn't enough copyright infringement, I was also wearing the Beast's blue ballroom outfit from the movie as well. This might freak out or startle other people if they were in this situation, but as for me, the only thing I was thinking was, so am I the Beast, or did I simply just Change without my knowledge? This was a legitimate question. A previous encounter I once had when I was younger deemed that question legitimate.
Before I could think too far into it, I suddenly heard music. I couldn't recognize the melody or the song, though I wasn't sure what to expect considering where I was, but I could hear that it was muffled. It was coming from behind the doors at the end of the carpet. Eager to get the fantasy over with, I drop down to all fours and run towards the doors at the top of the stairs. Once there, I rise back to my hind legs and push open the doors.
I adjust my eyes to the bright lights coming from inside to find that I opened the doors to the Beast's ballroom. Inside on the dance floor were a great many people dancing in pairs. They all danced in unison as the men guided their partners around the dance floor. As I watched the dancers, I immediately picked up on the fact that out of all of the people in the room, I only recognized four, all of which were Titans.
Robin, dressed in a tuxedo, danced with Starfire, dressed in a sparkling pink dress, while Beast Boy, also dressed in a tux, danced with a girl of his own. She was extremely skinny, especially when compared to the already very slim Beast Boy, and had long, blonde hair. She had a pair of large, blue eyes, and she wore a little, black dress, the kind that women seem to strive to fit into whenever weight loss comes to mind. The fourth Titan was Cyborg. He was also dressed in a tux, but was off to the right of the dancefloor conducting the orchestra.
Since when was Cyborg a conductor, I asked myself as I was baffled by the strange sight of Cyborg impulsively moving his arms as he directed the musicians to his command. I look back to the dancefloor at the dancing Titans. As expected, Robin and Starfire danced together with smiles on their faces. Though I'd only known them for a short time, and I knew nothing about how they met or how they became an item, I could tell, at least in that bizarre dream world, that they were truly in love. I looked at Starfire, and how her face just lit up as she danced in Robin's arms, and I grew envious of her. I looked over at Beast Boy to see a similiar smile on his face. I became baffled by both that smile and who he was smiling at, because as far as I could tell, I was still dreaming everything I was seeing.
With that being said, whenever I dreamt, I had trouble "creating" people from scratch. People I've met or have at least actually seen prior to my dream were always dreamt in detail while everyone else looked cartoony by comparison, and that was being applied in that dream world as well. The four Titans and the blue-eyed blonde all looked like actual and detailed real people, while the other dancers and musicians all kinda looked like cartoony extras you'd see in movies, as in the had no purpose being there other than to show that the room was crowded, so it boggled my mind to see Beast Boy dancing with a girl he was seemingly in love with, but was as real as he was. I had never met her before, nor did I even know if she existed or not, but Beast Boy was still in love with her, and she loved him back.
Did I create a girl for him? Wait, no. If I did, then why did I leave Cyborg out, I ask myself as I look back over at Cyborg, single and still conducting the musicians. You know a better question would probably be, why do I only count four Titans, I ask myself as I wondered where Raven was. I couldn't see her anywhere in the ballroom, and I couldn't sense her darkness either. I look around the room searching for a wall to lean against or a chair to sit in. I see no chairs, and the room was too crowded for me to lean against a wall without drawing attention to myself or getting in somebody's way. Not to mention that given my current form, it was difficult to simply blend in anyway. I lower my ears in shame as I dared not walk out to the dance floor given that A) I was terrified of dancing, and B) even if I wasn't, dancing out there without someone to dance with was even more terrifying, even if it was just a weird and bizarre dream.
It was then that, as if on cue, the doors behind me open once again. I turn to see Raven as she walks into the room with her arms down in front of her. She was wearing Belle's yellow ballroom dress with the matching yellow gloves that stretched to her elbows. Her monotoned face begins to blush as she makes eye contact with me. I then try to Change back into my human form, but to no avail. For some reason, despite still having my extra powers, well most of them (Doctor Light's limit on my powers were somehow still in effect in this dream), I was trapped in my current beast form.
As Raven's violet eyes look up into my blue eyes, she sarcastically asks, "so is this the part where you almost die and we all live happily ever after?" I chuckle upon hearing her question. Though she was being aggressively sarcastic, I still found her funny.
"Wanting to get rid of me already? And after having just joined the team and everything….." A look of confusion passed over Raven's face upon hearing my voice, though altered due to my non-human form, instead of Robby Benson's.
"Fernando? Is that you in there?"
"The one and only", I respond with a bow. "And might I say that you're looking lovely this fine evening", I added while a cheeky grin stretched across my face.
"I look ridiculous", she protested.
"And what makes you say that", I ask her now sounding a bit more seriously.
"If I wouldn't be caught dead with yellow wallpaper, what makes you think I'd go to a party, which has people I might add, wearing a yellow dress?"
"Hmmm. Though you bring up a good point about the people", I began as I circled her while looking her up and down, "yellow is nothing but a color. It neither takes away from the fact that it's a lovely dress, or that you're a lovely lady."
"Lovely", she asks me bashfully. Though I wasn't sure if she could see it through my fur, I was blushing up a storm upon realizing what I had just said, as well as starting to panic upon not knowing what to say next.
Holy shit! Did I just say that? Did I actually just say that? Think of something! Think of something! When I couldn't think of what to say next, I decided to just move on. I extend my right arm and push my right paw towards Raven's dress. I then use my aura to Change the color of her dress and her matching gloves. Since my aura was purple, I could only Change the color to purple, however I figured Raven would appreciate a purple dress over a yellow one. I then Change the color of my attire to match hers. Raven's look of surprise and shock got even bigger as she gasped in awe at my little magic trick. Keep it going! Keep it going, I think to myself as I anxiously plot to myself on how to keep the energy going. I then immediately turn to face the dance floor and offer her my right arm.
"You really don't want to dance with me."
Yes, I really do, I think to myself as I motion my head towards my right arm. Raven then hesitantly takes my arm as I lead her out to the dance floor. As I lead her out, people would stop and stare at us as we passed, mostly at me. I look down at my right to see Raven, now looking a bit uncomfortable. At first I was worried if I was coming off as too strong, but then I noticed her looking towards the floor. Her monotoned face once again gave off vibes of sorrow and discomfort. I look up at the other people in the room. Though some people ignored us continued to dance, most everyone else stopped and stared at us. Even though it was all a dream, it made me angry just the same. I wasn't sure which was more of a determining factor, the fact that I was angry at the judgemental looks we were getting from everyone, or the fact that Raven was now getting uncomfortable because of the attention I was drawing towards us. Either way, I couldn't bear to see her that way, so it was then I decided to make the first move.
Without even thinking, and with a growl rumbling in my chest for anyone close enough to us to hear, I swing myself around to face Raven. I then take her right hand in my left paw and place my right paw on Raven's lower back and pull her towards me. To make matters worse, I wasn't even looking at her when I did so. I was glaring at the other dancers and making them back off in fear and astonishment as I growled and flashed my fangs at them. It wasn't until I looked back down into Raven's eyes that I realized what I'd done. I basically man-handled her, and now she was looking at me surprised and shocked at my grabbing her.
All my anger leaves my face as my jaw drops unable to think of something to say. I release Raven and back off from her a bit hoping that she wouldn't veto my invitation to dance. It was then that Raven took everyone by surprise, myself included. She not only accepted my invitation, but she mirrored how I had previously grabbed her. She tightens her grip on my left paw, positions my right paw back on her lower back, and then pulls herself into me just as she was before. She then rests her left arm on my right arm as she looks up into my eyes and smiles, causing me to smile back. With my confidence now back, I thought things couldn't get any better, but then the music played. My ears twitch as a song I finally recognize begins to fill the room. The orchestra was playing "Once Upon a Dream".
"Wrong movie, but I'm gonna go with it", I said as I took the lead in our dance. We twirled around on the dancefloor for what felt like hours. Once again I could hear Raven's heartbeat staggering my own. I stared deeply into her violet eyes until I had completely forgotten that there were other people in the room. I randomly look up and notice that everyone else had either left the dancefloor or continued dancing, ignoring us. I look back at Raven and begin to blush once more. Raven, as if she was in sync with me, begins blushing as well as she then rests her head on my chest. Dude, this is crazy. There's no way. I look back up and scan the room as I see Beast Boy and Robin. Beast Boy had his hands clasped together and was shaking them in a congratulatory manner, while to his right, Robin was nodding his head and giving me a thumbs up. Holy shit! We so totally are! If this weren't a dream, I would think Disney was gonna sue somebody.
I look back down at Raven, her head still rested on my chest. As she laid there covering my heart while I desperately struggled restraining myself from stroking her back with my fingers, I started to react once again.
God dammit! Not now, I thought to myself as that was the worse possible time and place to get a boner. Not only was Raven in the room, but there was an entire ballroom full of people. I quickly scan the room trying desperately to find something to cool myself off. I smile awkwardly as Raven looks back up at me. Despite the awesome dream, I was now beginning to panic a little. I was dancing with Raven. Not only that, I was touching her, enough to where my dream felt real. Not only that, I got her to legitimately smile, which says something because from what I'd gathered, she was the type of person that rarely smiled. Not only that, that dream was taking place in a universe based off of one of America's most beloved romantic movies (kind of). Ho-ly shit! I pray nobody looks down. Dead kittens, dead kittens, dead kittens!
It was at that moment, I look up and noticed some people that did manage to cool me off, so much so that I just stopped dancing in my tracks. Raven follows my stare and looks towards the eight people I was watching. I knew then that it was all a dream, and that everything that had happened up until that point was way too good to be true. My ears lowered in sorrow as Raven begins to question me.
"What is it?" I motion my head over to the four pairs of young people dancing in brightly-colored clothing. The four men danced with their women each wearing a custom-colored tuxedo (orange, green, blue, and red), while the women danced in dresses that looked like hybrids of Raven and Starfire's dresses.
Dressed in the orange tuxedo was a skinny, yet built Japanese-American young man with short, brown hair. He danced with a lovely cherry blossom of a Chinese woman who wore a golden dress. Dressed in the green tuxedo was a young African-American male with a shaved head and glasses. He danced with a cute Indian woman in a bright, yellow dress. The man in the blue tux was also an African-American male with a shaved head, though his head was larger in comparison and had a sort of walnut shape to it. The woman he danced with was a thin Latina in a sparkling silver dress, which seemed to be a counterpart to the Chinese woman's dress. And finally, the man in red was a Caucasian male light brown hair that kinda looked like it had tiny hints of red in it. His dance partner was also Latina, though she had more curves to her figure, complete with "hips". She was rocking a pink dress that almost looked like an exact replica of Starfire's dress.
"Are those—", began Raven.
"Yes. Those are the other Elementals. My friends." Upon saying that, my eyes began to fill with tears. I'd doomed three of my friends, and ruined three families worth of lives. Upon thinking about my missing friends, I began thinking about how I was going to go about finding them. I also thought about how difficult it'd be now that my mother had abandoned me, and how I would get in contact with her without endangering the remaining Elementals. What next? I don't know what to do. Before Raven could question me again, quite literally out of nowhere, a giant mutated moth with blue eyes crashes into the ballroom. Because why the fuck not, I asked in frustrated sarcasm as if I were the Nostalgia Critic reviewing a random deus ex machina from a movie from ten years ago. The creature shrieked as it began attacking everyone in the ballroom. The dancers all flee in a panic as they desperately tried to escape the creature. In the chaos I get separated from Raven. It was at that moment that I also noticed that I could no longer see the Titans or the other Elementals. I was all alone.
With a roar, I challenge the moth and charge at it. As I leapt into the air and lunged at it, I shouted, "BeastLobomon digivolve to….", but nothing happened. The moth simply opened its mouth wide and then immediately, once I was about to be tossed into his mouth, bit its teeth down as it tried to chew me up. At the last minute I manage to catch its teeth with all four paws as I used every once of my strength to keep my arms and legs extended to prevent the giant flying insect from slamming its teeth shut. As I struggled, I look behind me into the creature's throat to see that it was preparing to lash its tongue at me. In an attempt to dodge I dig deep and lift up as hard and fast as I could as I attempted to leap out of the moth's mouth. Unfortunately I didn't leap out far enough, because the moth's jaws slammed right on my tail. I close my eyes tightly as I throw my head back and howl in pain.