Hello, my lovelies! How have you all been? I'm so sorry that I've taken this long to update, with a measly few words as well. I've been going through a lot in my personal life lately, and have rarely even had time to sleep, let alone sit down and start writing. I've been told (scolded) that running on twelve hours a week is frowned upon, as well as eating a slice of bread for every meal. I'll work on that, but it's rather hard to try and fix everything at once, especially seeing as some things don't want to be fixed at all. Regardless, I managed to crank this out on some half-lucid weekend afternoon about a month ago, slowly editing it bit by bit as I got the time. On a separate note, if you guys are leaving reviews and have accounts, please sign in first! There's lots of times where I'd love to respond to you, but can't because there's just a guest comment. I love talking to you guys, and hearing what you think. It makes my day awesome. But just this once; Georgio, thank you! But yes, actually, that was the exact point. No joke.
Anyway, I hope you guys have been well. Oh... wait... It's been over a year? I'm so sorry! That's my longest time between chapters so far! I'm so sorry! I really don't have any excuses. I am working on the next chapter, but Raven's lines are being rather difficult. Some of you know that I also write stories for other shows, mostly anime. Well, I couldn't resist, so those of you who get it, I'm glad. This entire chapter was so I could make that reference. No, I'm not ashamed.
Special thanks to moonlight46 for being all-around awesome, reading my stories, exchanging brain-storming messages with me, and beta-ing this chapter so I can skip an extra week of staring at it for any flaws and just freaking post already. I would also like to thank some other friends of mine who helped me out, although I'm pretty sure they wouldn't like me to give out their real names. You guys know who you are, and you're awesome for taking my random questions like 'What flavor lollipop would you be?' and "What would you do after stealing someone's pants?" in stride, as well as a range of other ones that start out "Okay, so you're high as sh*t, right?", even when I interrupt you in the middle of a completely unrelated conversation. You guys are awesome. I'm pretty sure I'd set a much larger quantity of things on fire without you guys. But if you guys were wondering, yes the burn mark did go away. I'm just waiting on the other one to finish fading, since it's now only a slight discoloration. Which is weird, because the other one was much hotter and more painful. Warning, guys; Bunsen Burners are no joke, always follow ALL the safety measures, and make sure you have a clear/lucid/competent mind that is not inhibited by sleepiness, or anything else. Just saying. Those things can get over 1000°C, which is around 1832°F. (I don't think anyone uses Kelvin other than in lab experiments, but it's 1273K, just so you know. Do any parts of the world use Kelvin as their standard unit of measurement? If so, let me know.)
Once again, I'm so sorry about the long wait. No, I can't promise a certain time frame for the next chapter, since I feel lying would be wrong, but I shall try to work on it. Thank you guys so much for sticking with me so long, even if you've probably wanted to deck me for these long hiatuses. As always, in a vain attempt of normalcy, please read and review, but most importantly, enjoy!
The basement was not fun. Some people turned their basements into cool man-caves, party rooms, or dens. But no, they had to make the creepiest freaking storage unit in all of Jump City. No wonder Robin had gone crazy down here. This place was gonna give Beast Boy the heeby-jeebies for weeks. The dim horror-movie lights were bad enough, but the echoing emptiness just screamed 'crazy-psycho-killer-hiding-in-the-shadows'. Yet, ever oblivious, Raven was running around with that child-like determination in her eyes, searching high and low for the beach supplies that Beast Boy was pretty sure they owned but wasn't entirely sure where it was. Using the time given to him by Raven's distraction, Beast Boy pulled out his T-communicator to call the rest of the team to brainstorm.
"This is getting really exhausting, guys. We need to find out what's going on and get Rae back to normal!" Beast Boy lamented.
Cyborg raised an eyebrow - at least, Beast boy thought he did - on the tiny screen. "It's not exactly that easy, B. I still have no idea what that stuff was, let alone what exactly it did to her. All we know is that now she's acting wonky."
Starfire popped up on screen from behind Cyborg. "Friend Raven seems to be acting rather child-like! Perhaps she was magically turned into a child?"
"But if it was magic, wouldn't her body change into a kid too?" Beast Boy asked.
Starfire wilted momentarily. "Oh."
Robin joined in from Starfire's right. (Her left? Beast Boy always got confused about that. He was to Starfire's left, but to Beast Boy he looked on the right. What were you supposed to call that? He never knew, and always ended up rambling to himself about it. Like this.) "Do you think this is one of her emotions again? The drug didn't necessarily have to cause it, but maybe it just triggered something? We really don't know the different effects that things have on demon physiology until we encounter them."
The other three sat there in silence, contemplating the Boy Wonder's statement. "I mean, your guess is as good as any," Cyborg said, "But you're right about the part where we don't know what's going on. We've only got two pieces, and this is a jumbo-sized puzzle."
Beast Boy sighed as he heard his name being called faintly from somewhere in the basement. "I've got to go. I'll see if I can get anything out of Raven."
At the chorus of farewells, BB closed his T-communicator and headed towards the direction of Raven's shout. Well, shouts, because it seemed she had decided to call his name over and over again to gain his attention, seeing as he was taking too long in her mind.
"Beeee Beeeee! Beast Boy! Come on, hurry up! Come look at this! Beaaaasssssssttttiiiieeee Boooooo!"
Really, the basement's carbon dioxide levels were going to get dangerously high pretty soon with all of Raven's yelling and Beast Boy's sighing.
Finally having maneuvered his way through all the boxes and -what in the world was that thing?- Beast Boy decided that she had gone much too far for the short amount of time he had been talking to their teammates. "I'm right here, Rae. You can stop screaming. What's going on?"
Raven turned around, smiling widely as she ran up, grabbing his wrist once more, and led him back to an open Christmas tree box. "Look what I found!" she shouted as she leaned over to pull something out with slight difficulty.
At first Beast Boy was confused, but decided to let it go when considering what little had made sense in the last two days, only to once again gain understanding when Raven pulled out a large beach umbrella, since few boxes had the appropriate dimensions for something that tall and slender. He smiled. "Great job, Rae. Find anything else?"
Her smile dimmed, bringing back a slight pout and that strange determination from earlier. "No."
"That's okay," he said, "We'll keep looking. There's bound to be something else around here, right? I'll help."
Raven's enthusiasm returned, and she began to search through other nearby boxes. Beast Boy did so as well, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.
"So, Rae," he began casually -or at least he hoped, "Do you remember that time where you were sorta possessed by Rage?"
Raven stopped rifling through her box momentarily, her face scrunching up as she stuck out her tongue before returning to her task. He took that as a yes.
"Do you think that... you know, maybe... it's happening again with Happy?" He hedged, making an effort to look like he was fully focused on his box, keeping his eyes forward while straining to see a reaction in his peripherals.
"Of course not." Raven scoffed. Beast Boy let out a sigh. Man he really needed to stop doing that. Moving on to another box, Raven continued. "How could I be possessed by a flying cat? That's ridiculous, Beast Boy."
Beast Boy sighed and hit his head on a box. What was wrong with his life? Farther away, a small shout rang out. "Aha!"