Seven Years' Bad Luck in One Day
A/N: This story is done as a request, from a person named Regrem Erutaerc on FFN. He's given me quite a few good ideas for this fic, and has acted as a beta reader as well. This fic borrows an idea/plot element from another fic, titled "A Raven of A Different Color", by the author Happy-Raven. She agreed to let me use the idea in this fic. Please review, tell me what you think. Chapters won't be out daily, sadly, though I would if time permitted. I'm aiming for every 2-3 days. Anyway, hope you enjoy the story, next chapter coming in two days, it's already written. Past that, the story is foggy, and hopefully I'll have time to write it. Hope you enjoy it.
Raven hovered gently above her bed, her mind calm, serene. Her life had been fairly composed recently, everything was proceeding normally, and her meditation was getting easier and easier. She had avoided any emotional outbursts for over a month now, and she was only meditating at the moment to pass the time, there was no true need for it. Combat was of course a constant for the Teen Titans, but she had avoided the sort of interpersonal emotions that often got the better of her control, even suppressing her natural irritation at some of the other Titans' habits.
She deftly reached her legs down, pulling out of the lotus position and stepping softly to the floor. She enjoyed it when everything was at peace like this. It made her life much easier, having no worries about outbursts, power misfires, or anything of the sort. She padded silently across her carpeted floor, to her small vanity. She smirked slightly, not from emotion, but from irony. She had no reason to own a mundane mirror like the one mounted on top of this desk. She never used it to put on makeup, or to play with her hair, as many girls her age did. She looked down to see the only item on the desktop, a small, ornately decorated mirror.
She reached down, and picked the portal up. She ran the fingers of her right hand over the rimmed glass, considering the mirror. She really hadn't needed this mirror for some time either. She only used it when her emotions got out of control, and that hadn't happened since... since Terra had berated her into it, actually. That was months ago now, and no longer on any of the Titans' minds.
Suddenly the alarm in the tower began to blare, causing her to jump slightly. She heard a commanding voice over the tower's intercom system.
"Titans! We've got an escaped criminal on approach to the tower! Get to the roof immediately!" Robin's voice sounded almost... worried.
There was no time to waste. Raven set the mirror she was holding back onto the desktop, then steadied herself as the tower shook from some unseen impact. She opened her door using her telekinetic powers, then flew through the hallways, heading for the roof.
Forgotten, the mirror remained on the edge of the desktop where she had carelessly placed it. The tower shuddered from another impact. Somewhere beyond this earth, a mind noticed this perilous position, and an evil grin crept across red lips.
Raven reached the roof just in time to be blasted back down the staircase by a brightly glowing bolt of electricity. She was unceremoniously caught by a grinning green teenager that was climing the stairs behind her. She stood back up, then ran forward again, only curtly nodding a thanks to the changeling.
The situation on the rooftop of Titans' Tower was chaotic to say the least. The combined golem of Plasmus, Overload, and Cinderblock had scaled the side of the tower, and was now doing it's best to destroy the Titans utterly. Cyborg was grappling with on of the monster's hands, as the other arm clutched an injured-looking Starfire. Robin was nowhere in sight.
Raven threw a quick glance at Beastboy, and he didn't look optimistic. The amorphous beast howled in animalistic anger, pressing with sudden incredible pressure, driving Cyborg through the roof of the tower and down into the top floor rooms. Raven flew backwards, gathering her concentration for a strike, as Beastboy charged valianty forward as a rhinocerous.
The monster pulled it's hand out of the crater in the roof just in time to block the rhino's charge with it's forearm, and then threw the dizzied alien in his hand at the flying empath. Raven used her powers to quickly slow Starfire's trajectory, and then let go as she felt Starfire begin to fly on her own. Raven dodged a tendril of electified toxins from the mutated creature, and focused her energy on one of the large boulders surrounding the tower, slowly lifting the three-ton mass to the roof.
Beastboy changed to a sparrow, dodging the massive foot that was heading towards him. He landed as a human once more, grinning at the golem that was trying to pull it's foot out of the floor. Changing quickly once more, he bent down as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, biting into the massive monster, trying to ignore the electricity running through his mouth. He saw green bolts smashing into the beast's flesh as Starfire flung starbolt after starbolt ineffectually into the creature. It wasn't working! He felt the monster shift it's weight, then throw him off the tower with a spin of it's massive body. He looked up as he changed into an eagle, and saw Starfire get knocked hard by a smashing fist of the monster.
The creature didn't have time to react, however, as the previously inactive telekinetic launched the massive boulder directly at it's twisted head. It caught the full force of the impact, being knocked backwards powerfully, and falling down from the tower, crashing powerfully to the earth below. Continued howling dismissed any thoughts of immediate victory, however, and Raven used her magic to drag the dazed Cyborg out of the tower and down to the ground, following as she readied herself for the remainder of the battle.
The beast howled again, the voices in it's mind shouting and screaming in dissent. Cinderblock wished to simply smash the foundation of the tower. Overload felt only hunger for the electronics inside. Plasmus just wanted to sleep, to be rid of this contant madness. The voices were shouting, fighting for dominance, when a fourth entered. The three fell silent before this new voice, and followed willingly. There was no denying it's command.
A strange feeling passed over Raven as she floated to the ground. It was a familiar feeling, but she couldn't place it. Cyborg charged past her, and she shook the thoughts out of her mind. It wasn't the time for introspection. She watched as the abomination was attacked by the other Titans, reeling from the starbolts and sonic cannon, and then smashing the green bull out of the way as it nearly gored the golem's leg. She reached out with her mind, trying to find out how close Robin was to being ready. A few seconds, nothing more. She lifted another large stone, firing it with her power at the aberration before her.
As the Titans watched, the monster seemed to become less animalistic, and suddenly looked upwards at the tower. With the last of it's strength, it opened it's hideous mouth and fired a stream of toxin, electricity, and stone upwards at the tower, dashing a great crater into the side of the building. Raven felt the feeling again. Something was influencing the monster, but she still couldn't figure out who. Suddenly, she heard the voice of the Titan's leader, from his position on the creature's back.
"I didn't like you before, but this has got to stop. You can thank me later." With a smug grin, the teenaged martial artist and tinker affixed the heavy explosive to the creature, and lept powerfully away, landing on a stone near the water's edge. The blast shook the island, as the incindiary grenade reacted with the natural electrical currents of the monster. The smoke cleared slowly, and the Titans watched as the monster stumbled, then collapsed into an uncounscious pile on the ground.
Robin signalled to Starfire and Raven, who cooperated to pull the beast onto it's back. He stood on the monster's chest, and reached down, taking the small neurological device that bore Slade's insignia off of the beast, and crushed it in his hand. Immediately, the beast seperated in a flash of light and smoke, into the three smaller components, all peacefully unconscious, with Plasmus once again as a human. Robin grinned. Finally.
The Titans stepped out of the prison's front gates, the villains safely in their holding cells again. It had been an ordeal. Overload had reawoken halfway to the prison, but was too low on power to cause much trouble. Raven had been carrying him. He hadn't fought, but had simply muttered over and over a few words. "Terror. Overload saw terror. Tried. Gone. Overload saw him. The terrible."
The prison psychologists had no explanation. They'd had a hard time working with a mind so inhuman as Overload, and assumed he only meant that the combination process had been painful. The Titans walked down the road from the prison, heading towards the T-Car parked at the base of the hill.
"So... uh.. now that we've beaten the bad guy, do you guys feel like pizza?" Beastboy's voice was enthusiastic, always hungry.
"Oh yeah, You know I'm up for that, B. What about y'all?" Cyborg was feeling good, now that the huge monster was split into managable parts again.
"I would be most happy to have a pizza. It has been a few days since we all went to eat together." Starfire was smiling, her constant optimism still infectious.
Robin nodded to the others, and then looked at Raven, and his smile faded. "You OK, Raven? You look like you're sick."
The other Titans all stopped, and turned towards the girl. Raven was a bit pale, and she seemed out of breath. When she noticed everyone looking, she immediately put a deadpan expression on her face, and tried to look impassive. "I'm fine. I think the fight just took a bit more out of me than I thought."
She kept walking towards the car, and everyone else followed after throwing nervous glances around. Raven was NEVER sick. They caught up, quickly. Everyone piled into the car, and they began the drive back to Titan's tower. It wasn't far. Beastboy was once again sitting between the girls in the backseat, and Robin was in the front passenger's seat. Cyborg was driving, since he never let anyone else drive his baby anyway.
Starfire still wore a look of concern. "Friend, are you sure you are not ill? You are quite pale, and your voice was wavering when you spoke."
Raven stared out the window at the passing terrain. Her voice was cold and unfeeling, as usual. "I'm fine, Starfire. You're imagining things."
She wasn't fine. For some reason, she couldn't focus. Her mind felt foggy, as if she was missing something. Her head was beginning to hurt from the constant attempt to concentrate, and it was beginning to irritate her. She wondered what was wrong with her.
Beastboy seemed fine as he leaned back in his seat. "She'll be fine, Star. C'mon, she's RAVEN, she's always fine."
The Titans laughed as the climbed the stairs up to the common room. Raven was in the rear of the group, she was tired, and her head wouldn't stop hurting. She was suddenly shaken out of her thoughts when she heard all the laughing stop as the doors slid open.
"Dude... Cyborg... am I seeing things?"
"Oh man, this is not good. Rae, you better get up here."
Raven furrowed her brows, and pushed past the group of Titans that were blocking the doorway, then froze on the spot, staring at the common room ahead of her.
On the couch, in front of the big screen TV, was a copy of herself, in a pink robe, videogame controller in hand, laughing and grinning as she raced down the track of a futuristic racing game. Sitting beside her was a green-cloaked Raven, grinning and taunting the other as she also travelled down the same track, firing off missles and lasers almost randomly.
Sitting at the dinner table with a stack of books, many of which were not from Raven's room, sat a Yellow-cloaked doppleganger, studiously pouring over an opened book, that was handwritten with a bright pink cover. Raven didn't recognize the book.
Hovering in a corner, looking out the broken window, was another Raven, the long brown cloak hanging nearly to the floor as the double meditated. Sitting on the floor next to this one was another Raven, this one in a grey cloak, holding a broken mirror and staring at the true Raven with fearful and apologetic eyes.
Raven's eyes widened. No.
"Rae... Raven? I did not know that there were so many of you." Starfire's voice was uncertain and meek.
"What's going on here? Raven?" Robin sounded annoyed, as situations where he was confused often made him.
Raven shook her head silently. This couldn't be happening.
The pink-cloaked girl turned her head, the race over. She smiled brightly at the group of stunned teens. "Hi guys! Who wants next game?"
A/N: Well, they're out. Review and tell me what you think of this chapter. I'll post the second chapter (roundabout 5000 words) either Sunday night or Monday morning. Thanks, and see you next update.