Categories > Cartoons > Teen Titans > You Idiot...
Author’s Note: Thought or Emphasis; Flashback; Thought or Emphasis in Flashback.
To keep it looking separate from the present day, the memories are in italics (and separated by line breaks). Specific moments within them (flashbacks) are in bold, like in Part I.
I do not own Teen Titans, but I do wish I owned Robin’s briefcase from the episode “Revved Up.” C’mon, I can’t be the only one who wants to know what’s in there! Read and review.
-------------------------------
Teen Titans: You Idiot…
Part III
Raven walked through the T-themed doors of the Titans’ Tower living room with the need to clear her head. She needed tea. She took an immediate turn to the right. Though the kitchen was messy, the search was short, since her kettle was always in the same place. In a few minutes, the light odor of jasmine wafted through the kitchen.
As she took the first sips, Raven looked past the mild darkness of the living room to the coming dawn. Just beyond the rocky shores of the island, the ocean’s colors brightened and the sky became a palette of reds and yellows.
The tea really did clear up the cobwebs in her mind. The blur of emotion from yesterday calmed down into something more distinct.
The battle.
A flash of light.
A blur.
Talking to Cyborg.
Well, not everything is back. Wait… we were talking about… oh, right. With a sigh, Raven anticipated that this bright morning would be a contrast to the upcoming day.
------------------------------
She was right. The living room was usually bustling with sound by noon. Starfire would be practicing a dish she saw on a cooking channel, often failing horribly. Robin would be struggling to listen to his favorite music over the sounds of a (completely mindless, Raven thought) video game, courtesy of Cyborg and Beast Boy. Cries of “Booyah! This race is mine now!” and “Duuuude, no fair! My controller’s busted!” should have been bouncing through the walls.
Instead, Raven only heard a light shuffling as the others, Robin in the lead, stumbled into the room. If she could see his eyes, she would see them burned out, a result of his worry and scant rest. Starfire’s bloodshot eyes, a strange mixture of her natural luminescent green orbs and a scarlet haze washed over them, were due to crying to sleep. Cyborg’s eyes almost matched each other in redness. Unlike his teammates, however, whose eyes seemed to look into the distance, the machine-man had his fixed on the monitor he recently installed on his wrist. In his color scheme of blue and silver, it displayed the vital signs as well as surveillance of the comatose Titan.
Robin grunted a hello to Raven and moved past her to the refrigerator, snatching up an apple. Starfire and Cyborg each grabbed a dish they prepared the morning of the incident: marlok stew and a ham sandwich, respectively.
Long, quiet minutes passed before Robin stood up and announced, “I’ll be training.” Starfire added, “I will be in my room making something for Beast Boy’s return.” Though her words suggested hope, her voice’s dull tone reduced her message’s impact. A glimmer of hope returned. “If anyone would like to help…?” Her attempt at togetherness dropped as the team’s disposition answered otherwise. “Very well.”
Cyborg ended, “Y’all know where I’ll be.” Each Titan retreated to their areas.
With nothing else to do, Raven retreated to her room as well.
-------------------------------------
After a few hours of reading the Caltharan Scrolls, Raven tucked them away into the dresser. She slipped from the edge of the bed into the center, legs crossing as she went into the lotus position.
Meditation sessions were the only time Raven could attempt to gain peace and quiet.
Azarath Metrion Zinthos…
Azarath Metrion Zinthos…
Quiet, indeed. For one perceived as a Goth by some of her adoring public (yes, the Titans did get fan mail), the atmosphere was actually a bit depressing. This was only a day after… the incident and her teammates were like this? It hasn’t been this quiet since Terra—
Terra. Raven could not help but grip her cloak in mentally uttering that name. As soon as she said it, and before she knew it, the memories poured in.
---------------------------------
She was the gangly, bespectacled girl they found in the cliffs near the outskirts of Jump City. She was the girl who had trouble with her powers over earth. She was the girl who Beast Boy attached to far before she begged him not to tell, the girl who ran when the team found out.
Robin continued with his offer. “I know you have trouble controlling your powers and we can help—”
The blonde hero dropped the yellow communicator in surprise. Her blue eyes widened in anger at Beast Boy. “You told him?”
“I didn’t--”
“You promised! You lied to me! You lied!” She sprinted away from the group.
“Terra, no! Wait!” Beast Boy ran after her, followed by Robin, leaving the others confused. After a long five minutes, the shapeshifter came back with her butterfly hair clip, his ears drooping, his face dropped like a stone, repeating what he said at the island shore.
“She didn’t even say goodbye…”
But Terra returned, and with control over her skills, no less. Yet, contrary to her general acceptance of the earth-mover during their first meeting, Raven did not trust her the second time. Even when Terra helped defeat Slade, something nagged the empath’s mind. Maybe it was a vision that occurred when Raven bumped into her. Maybe Terra just obtained control a bit too quickly. Something was wrong.
Whatever it was, Beast Boy did not care. He and Terra were inseparable from then on. She was the third player in the Titans’ daily video game sessions; the latest partner in ground-to-air battle training; the newest member of Beast Boy’s stankball team (surprising everyone, Robin became a willing member of Cyborg’s team); and of course, Beast Boy’s new guinea pig for jokes. The living room filled with laughter almost every day, often due to the jokes that Raven would normally dismiss. Raven thought that it would have been a little quieter since Beast Boy finally stopped talking to her, but was greatly mistaken.
Raven not only had to endure their noise, but their goofy looks at one another when they thought no one was looking. Cyborg, of course, mocked the emerald changeling about his crush, and he would deny it every time, eyes awkwardly darting about above green and scarlet cheeks. For a reason she could not explain, those moments made Raven sick.
The fun ended to a halt. Terra left again, only to return, with a vengeance. She attacked them all, without remorse and stronger than before. By summoning old enemies, she split them up and took them down one by one. Raven had the pleasure of fighting her first.
“Terra.”
“Raven.”
“Traitor.”
“Witch.”
The ex-Titan had been working for Slade the whole time, learning their secrets and spitting them back in their faces. And what hurt the most, besides Terra’s attacks of mud and stone, was that even with her incomplete trust in Terra, Raven somewhat liked her.
“I trusted you! We trusted you!” Raven’s temper exploded. “We gave you everything but you treated us like dirt!” The darkness reached out further with every object she hurled, but to no avail, as Terra’s augmented power began to grip the half-demoness into the watery prison.
The team fought her one last time. Beast Boy was… aggressive, to say the least. Raven witnessed the look of hurt as he fought, as he watched the blonde struggle to escape her opponents. It was even discernable as he morphed from animal to animal.
He went off alone, and when everyone found him, Terra had him pinned down. In a rare moment (and in recollection, she was now), Raven was impressed at what Beast Boy did next.
Despite his perilous situation, despite what emotions were pouring through him, Beast Boy spoke clearly, and with conviction. Terra did not have to be under Slade’s control, he said. It was her power and her choice. Just as abruptly as it started, the standoff was over. He got through to her. She defeated Slade (at the time, it seemed for good) and sacrificed herself to save the entire city.
The Titans promised to bring her back, somehow.
-----------------------------
Raven still remembered that look on his face at the funeral. It was worse than the first time Terra left. Those eyes… That girl… Just remembering them both lit a spark of anger, and pulled up a question. Why is this all coming back now?
Another question was also unanswered: Why do I even care? His Terra issues have nothing to do with me. For Azar’s sake, I barely even like him.
One name arose in her mind, however, and she had to admit, they did have one thing in common: Raven knew about betrayal, as well. As with Terra’s, that name was one she could never forget: Malchior.
------------------------------
A magician trapped in a book, he apparently ended up there in a battle with the malicious dragon Rorek a millennium ago.
His lustrous, silver eyes and hair could only be complemented by his silver tongue. He told her she was beautiful and misunderstood, not dark or “creepy,” like a certain green teammate once brashly remarked. He offered to her his skills and spells, asked her to help him be free.
Raven changed, bit by bit. A lighter wardrobe, humming, and to everyone’s (especially Beast Boy’s) surprise, smiling. It was, of course, whenever she mentioned Malchior.
The final change, however, surprised her. Malchior’s magic was dark and more difficult to control. She confronted him, but with his silver tongue, he pleaded his case.
“Without these spells, we can never truly be together. Enchanted pages or no, I’m still trapped within this book, and you’re still alone.” He glanced down at his hardback prison on the podium, then back to her. “Is that what you want, Raven?” The paper figure gazed with questioning argent eyes. “To be alone?”
Tearful amethyst eyes answered, “No.”
She was vulnerable, and ate up every word he said, every enchantment he showed her, hoping that she would never be alone again.
Thus, she freed him, and just as easily as she let him in, he cast her aside. Malchior was the dragon, not the wizard, and he was using her. He told her to accept it; she would indeed be alone. And even when she knew he was a liar, even after she used the magic he taught her to seal him away in that same accursed book, she believed him.
Yet, despite the dragon’s taunts in her head, she still heard the boy with ruffled green hair knock on her door, apologize for earlier and remind her.
“You think you’re alone, Raven, but you’re not.”
----------------------------
I can’t believe I actually hugged him then. That stupid, blank face of his. She almost giggled, but reduced it to a smirk. Wait… what?
Grr…Get out of my head! She shook her head and gritted her teeth in the silence. Why does he keep popping up?! To her relief, the second surge of memories ended. She gave an irritated huff. So much for peace and quiet.
He was right, though. She was not alone. All of her adventures, ever since she floated into town during the Gordanian invasion, told her she had friends. Reluctantly, she concluded that he was not, or perhaps should not be, alone either. I should get this over with, she announced. I should be there.
A yawn escaped, and she looked at the clock. The session took longer than she thought. Correction: I should be there—tomorrow.
To keep it looking separate from the present day, the memories are in italics (and separated by line breaks). Specific moments within them (flashbacks) are in bold, like in Part I.
I do not own Teen Titans, but I do wish I owned Robin’s briefcase from the episode “Revved Up.” C’mon, I can’t be the only one who wants to know what’s in there! Read and review.
-------------------------------
Teen Titans: You Idiot…
Part III
Raven walked through the T-themed doors of the Titans’ Tower living room with the need to clear her head. She needed tea. She took an immediate turn to the right. Though the kitchen was messy, the search was short, since her kettle was always in the same place. In a few minutes, the light odor of jasmine wafted through the kitchen.
As she took the first sips, Raven looked past the mild darkness of the living room to the coming dawn. Just beyond the rocky shores of the island, the ocean’s colors brightened and the sky became a palette of reds and yellows.
The tea really did clear up the cobwebs in her mind. The blur of emotion from yesterday calmed down into something more distinct.
The battle.
A flash of light.
A blur.
Talking to Cyborg.
Well, not everything is back. Wait… we were talking about… oh, right. With a sigh, Raven anticipated that this bright morning would be a contrast to the upcoming day.
------------------------------
She was right. The living room was usually bustling with sound by noon. Starfire would be practicing a dish she saw on a cooking channel, often failing horribly. Robin would be struggling to listen to his favorite music over the sounds of a (completely mindless, Raven thought) video game, courtesy of Cyborg and Beast Boy. Cries of “Booyah! This race is mine now!” and “Duuuude, no fair! My controller’s busted!” should have been bouncing through the walls.
Instead, Raven only heard a light shuffling as the others, Robin in the lead, stumbled into the room. If she could see his eyes, she would see them burned out, a result of his worry and scant rest. Starfire’s bloodshot eyes, a strange mixture of her natural luminescent green orbs and a scarlet haze washed over them, were due to crying to sleep. Cyborg’s eyes almost matched each other in redness. Unlike his teammates, however, whose eyes seemed to look into the distance, the machine-man had his fixed on the monitor he recently installed on his wrist. In his color scheme of blue and silver, it displayed the vital signs as well as surveillance of the comatose Titan.
Robin grunted a hello to Raven and moved past her to the refrigerator, snatching up an apple. Starfire and Cyborg each grabbed a dish they prepared the morning of the incident: marlok stew and a ham sandwich, respectively.
Long, quiet minutes passed before Robin stood up and announced, “I’ll be training.” Starfire added, “I will be in my room making something for Beast Boy’s return.” Though her words suggested hope, her voice’s dull tone reduced her message’s impact. A glimmer of hope returned. “If anyone would like to help…?” Her attempt at togetherness dropped as the team’s disposition answered otherwise. “Very well.”
Cyborg ended, “Y’all know where I’ll be.” Each Titan retreated to their areas.
With nothing else to do, Raven retreated to her room as well.
-------------------------------------
After a few hours of reading the Caltharan Scrolls, Raven tucked them away into the dresser. She slipped from the edge of the bed into the center, legs crossing as she went into the lotus position.
Meditation sessions were the only time Raven could attempt to gain peace and quiet.
Azarath Metrion Zinthos…
Azarath Metrion Zinthos…
Quiet, indeed. For one perceived as a Goth by some of her adoring public (yes, the Titans did get fan mail), the atmosphere was actually a bit depressing. This was only a day after… the incident and her teammates were like this? It hasn’t been this quiet since Terra—
Terra. Raven could not help but grip her cloak in mentally uttering that name. As soon as she said it, and before she knew it, the memories poured in.
---------------------------------
She was the gangly, bespectacled girl they found in the cliffs near the outskirts of Jump City. She was the girl who had trouble with her powers over earth. She was the girl who Beast Boy attached to far before she begged him not to tell, the girl who ran when the team found out.
Robin continued with his offer. “I know you have trouble controlling your powers and we can help—”
The blonde hero dropped the yellow communicator in surprise. Her blue eyes widened in anger at Beast Boy. “You told him?”
“I didn’t--”
“You promised! You lied to me! You lied!” She sprinted away from the group.
“Terra, no! Wait!” Beast Boy ran after her, followed by Robin, leaving the others confused. After a long five minutes, the shapeshifter came back with her butterfly hair clip, his ears drooping, his face dropped like a stone, repeating what he said at the island shore.
“She didn’t even say goodbye…”
But Terra returned, and with control over her skills, no less. Yet, contrary to her general acceptance of the earth-mover during their first meeting, Raven did not trust her the second time. Even when Terra helped defeat Slade, something nagged the empath’s mind. Maybe it was a vision that occurred when Raven bumped into her. Maybe Terra just obtained control a bit too quickly. Something was wrong.
Whatever it was, Beast Boy did not care. He and Terra were inseparable from then on. She was the third player in the Titans’ daily video game sessions; the latest partner in ground-to-air battle training; the newest member of Beast Boy’s stankball team (surprising everyone, Robin became a willing member of Cyborg’s team); and of course, Beast Boy’s new guinea pig for jokes. The living room filled with laughter almost every day, often due to the jokes that Raven would normally dismiss. Raven thought that it would have been a little quieter since Beast Boy finally stopped talking to her, but was greatly mistaken.
Raven not only had to endure their noise, but their goofy looks at one another when they thought no one was looking. Cyborg, of course, mocked the emerald changeling about his crush, and he would deny it every time, eyes awkwardly darting about above green and scarlet cheeks. For a reason she could not explain, those moments made Raven sick.
The fun ended to a halt. Terra left again, only to return, with a vengeance. She attacked them all, without remorse and stronger than before. By summoning old enemies, she split them up and took them down one by one. Raven had the pleasure of fighting her first.
“Terra.”
“Raven.”
“Traitor.”
“Witch.”
The ex-Titan had been working for Slade the whole time, learning their secrets and spitting them back in their faces. And what hurt the most, besides Terra’s attacks of mud and stone, was that even with her incomplete trust in Terra, Raven somewhat liked her.
“I trusted you! We trusted you!” Raven’s temper exploded. “We gave you everything but you treated us like dirt!” The darkness reached out further with every object she hurled, but to no avail, as Terra’s augmented power began to grip the half-demoness into the watery prison.
The team fought her one last time. Beast Boy was… aggressive, to say the least. Raven witnessed the look of hurt as he fought, as he watched the blonde struggle to escape her opponents. It was even discernable as he morphed from animal to animal.
He went off alone, and when everyone found him, Terra had him pinned down. In a rare moment (and in recollection, she was now), Raven was impressed at what Beast Boy did next.
Despite his perilous situation, despite what emotions were pouring through him, Beast Boy spoke clearly, and with conviction. Terra did not have to be under Slade’s control, he said. It was her power and her choice. Just as abruptly as it started, the standoff was over. He got through to her. She defeated Slade (at the time, it seemed for good) and sacrificed herself to save the entire city.
The Titans promised to bring her back, somehow.
-----------------------------
Raven still remembered that look on his face at the funeral. It was worse than the first time Terra left. Those eyes… That girl… Just remembering them both lit a spark of anger, and pulled up a question. Why is this all coming back now?
Another question was also unanswered: Why do I even care? His Terra issues have nothing to do with me. For Azar’s sake, I barely even like him.
One name arose in her mind, however, and she had to admit, they did have one thing in common: Raven knew about betrayal, as well. As with Terra’s, that name was one she could never forget: Malchior.
------------------------------
A magician trapped in a book, he apparently ended up there in a battle with the malicious dragon Rorek a millennium ago.
His lustrous, silver eyes and hair could only be complemented by his silver tongue. He told her she was beautiful and misunderstood, not dark or “creepy,” like a certain green teammate once brashly remarked. He offered to her his skills and spells, asked her to help him be free.
Raven changed, bit by bit. A lighter wardrobe, humming, and to everyone’s (especially Beast Boy’s) surprise, smiling. It was, of course, whenever she mentioned Malchior.
The final change, however, surprised her. Malchior’s magic was dark and more difficult to control. She confronted him, but with his silver tongue, he pleaded his case.
“Without these spells, we can never truly be together. Enchanted pages or no, I’m still trapped within this book, and you’re still alone.” He glanced down at his hardback prison on the podium, then back to her. “Is that what you want, Raven?” The paper figure gazed with questioning argent eyes. “To be alone?”
Tearful amethyst eyes answered, “No.”
She was vulnerable, and ate up every word he said, every enchantment he showed her, hoping that she would never be alone again.
Thus, she freed him, and just as easily as she let him in, he cast her aside. Malchior was the dragon, not the wizard, and he was using her. He told her to accept it; she would indeed be alone. And even when she knew he was a liar, even after she used the magic he taught her to seal him away in that same accursed book, she believed him.
Yet, despite the dragon’s taunts in her head, she still heard the boy with ruffled green hair knock on her door, apologize for earlier and remind her.
“You think you’re alone, Raven, but you’re not.”
----------------------------
I can’t believe I actually hugged him then. That stupid, blank face of his. She almost giggled, but reduced it to a smirk. Wait… what?
Grr…Get out of my head! She shook her head and gritted her teeth in the silence. Why does he keep popping up?! To her relief, the second surge of memories ended. She gave an irritated huff. So much for peace and quiet.
He was right, though. She was not alone. All of her adventures, ever since she floated into town during the Gordanian invasion, told her she had friends. Reluctantly, she concluded that he was not, or perhaps should not be, alone either. I should get this over with, she announced. I should be there.
A yawn escaped, and she looked at the clock. The session took longer than she thought. Correction: I should be there—tomorrow.
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