Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Priestess: We have two new characters. I know they're beautiful and described in detail, but no Mary Sues! The self-insertion is only around for this chapter, and Larissa is there for plot (and so Changeling/Beast Boy isn't left alone why everybody else is in love.)

***

"Larissa, what are you so happy about?" Changeling, once-known-as-Beast-Boy, asked, and their newest Titan (though he wasn't that knew, having joined about six months ago) smiled at him.

She had been smiling all day.

She was a tall, willowy girl with twining brown hair that reached her waist and a green dress made of countless layers of translucent, draping green tissue. Her eyes were the same leaf-green hue, her lips and eyelashes naturally apple-red and her skin the color of apple-blossoms. She was an environmentalist with magic centered around nature and a stubbornness that made her perfect for the team.

Lifting a graceful hand, she showed him three tickets. "This is for a concert that's coming up soon," she explained, still beaming in a way that always made Changeling's heart flutter.

"My favorite singer Raven is singing live, and I managed to get three tickets-Starfire and Nightwing are probably going to be on a date, they won't mind. They're almost impossible to get, but the manager had an allergy that I managed to permanently cure with an enchanted sprig of peppermint."

Changeling nodded knowingly. He knew of the astounding things she could do with plants-charms, potions, paints, dyes, etc. etc. etc. The fact that they would grow out of her scalp whenever she wished helped.

"Is that the girl on Disney Channel?" asked Changeling-he didn't care much, since their tastes weren't the same: she liked Evanescence and she liked Linkin Park, etc. etc, but he was highly attracted to her (duh) and since they were obviously going anyway: he couldn't say no, and Cyborg (though why he was still called that was beyond him, as due to an ingenious cloning device he was human again-but with all the powers of his robot from) would love to see any singer named Raven.

Of course Larissa didn't know that, since they decided not to tell her about Raven-she knew about Terra, and she knew that the founder of the team had been a psychic girl who quit, but they didn't know anything else and there was a lot of 'else' to know.

The last thing she needed to know was that after over a year, Cyborg was still trying to find the girl who Larissa was essentially the replacement for.

"No, she's a fairly new singer-except that's been a hit for almost a year. I don't know much about her past, but she used to be a heroine and she's amazingly beautiful-not to mention she writes poetry that makes you cry for hours and the horror movies she acts in give you nightmares for years."

Used to be a heroine…Changeling brushed the thought away-it was too ridiculous to even consider. "So she's good?"

Larissa nodded enthusiastically. "She's amazing. She was in this one horror movie with great songs. It was about five people-three guys and two girls-being haunted by a demon that lived inside her. One by one, they all disappeared until she was the only one left. She goes into the forest searching for them, but then by this river the demon appears and there are a hundred of them. And they surround her, and she screams-"

Changeling leaned in closer with every word she spoke. He loved the way she told stories, and even with a very loose summary he could picture every word she said.

"And then, in the morning, her friends are searching for her. But all they find is a baby that looks like a cross between her and one of the guys-the one she was in love with, and a scrap of fabric from her shirt lying in the river."

Changeling shuddered in terrified pleasure. That flutelike voice could make any story come to life. "Is there a sequel or something?"

"Yes. I haven't seen it, but I've heard about it. Apparently the baby grows up with the guy Raven-well, her name is Angela in the movie-liked. His name is Sam, by the way. The river where Angela disappeared is supposedly haunted by a tragic spirit who sings every night for her child. One day the girl Victoria goes to the river and meets Angela's spirit-though of course she doesn't know it's Angela. I hear it's really good, and the scene where Sam and the ghost of Angela talk is so tear-jerking they claim it must have been real."

"Woah," Changeling remarked, sincerely impressed. "Sounds really cool. We should see it."

Larissa grinned again, once more causing his heart to flutter. "I was hoping you would say that. Supposedly Raven wrote it herself."

Changeling smiled slightly, picturing Cyborg's reaction if he were to find out that somebody named `Raven' (especially a poetry-writing ex-heroine) in a romance with another guy.

He himself had been in love (though it was more of a lasting infatuation) with Raven-for about three out of the six years they were a team, in fact-but Cyborg had been in love with her for almost all of them (almost seven years if you count the year they hadn't been a team) and anyway Raven had rejected him.

Besides, he liked Larissa now, and no one would attempt to break his skull open for that.

***

Day. Such a bothersome time.

There had always been numerous times when she desperately wished day would never come, back since before she could remember. No one bothered her when she was asleep.

She liked her life now-she had done so many things with it, and thanks to her powers and stubbornness no one could control her.

Not even Trigon.

She liked who she was, maybe for the first time in her life. Everything would be so perfect, so utterly blissful, if only…

If only she had friends to share it with.

Sighing, Raven stretched her supple body and got out of bed. Walking into the bathroom, she gazed at her lovely reflection with that figure most girls would kill for and that astoundingly pale complexion that was as soft as lily petals.

In the last three years (I forgot to mention, the first chapter was set two years after the most previous Teen Titans episode-whatever that may be on whatever date you are reading this) Raven's appearance had developed considerably, but the most in that year.

Few people would call her 'creepy' now.

She smirked at that thought, picking up a silver-backed brush and beginning to brush out her hair, which could either be considered black with millions of purple highlights or purple with hundreds of black streaks. Anybody could tell it wasn't her natural color, but which of the two colors (black or purple) were natural?

That few people would be able to guess.

They probably won't even recognize me, Raven mused as she filled the hotel's giant tub with water, and sighed at the thought. She pulled off her pearl-gray nightdress and immersed herself in the water.

When she became a singer/actress (though she was a writer/poet first) Raven had demanded that not a single picture of her ever show up in Jump City, her previous home (Larissa knows about her because she was originally from Washington) for at least a year.

The deadline was approaching swiftly, and she had to do a concert in Jump City-one which would definitely be televised, since she had become very famous and her record company had made CDs without her picture and sold it in Jump City.

Just like everywhere else in the world.

It isn't as if they would come anyway, Raven thought as she lathered her hair with Herbal Essences, trying to reassure herself-though she didn't do the most spectacular job at it. It isn't as if I sing all that rock junk they like-I can go to Jump City, do the concert, and leave without any of them seeing me…

…Right?

***

Cyborg strummed at his guitar at the edge of the pool, singing softly to himself. "You're gone away…you don't feel me here anymore…"

He sighed and put down the guitar, stretching. His dark muscles rippled and he smiled slightly in spite of the fact that singing always reminded him of her.

Eleven months ago-more than a month after she quit the team-he had tried to take his own life, but using a brilliant new invention his friends cloned him a new body exactly identical to his old one.

It was, essentially, the best of both worlds-a truly biological body, and all the strength and powers of his previous half-cybernetic body.

Unfortunately, a biological heart happens to be capable of just as much pain as a cybernetic one is, and the pain didn't leave. So he got into guitar-playing and singing-he was surprisingly good at it, though he sucked at singing hard rock-and now no longer wanted to die etc.

But that didn't mean he would ever stop missing her, stop thinking about her. And after over a year, he was still searching.

***

"Because I'm broken
When I'm open
And I don't feel like
I am strong enough,

Because I'm broken
When I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right
When you're gone away."

Raven smiled, spinning in a circle with grace that made it hard to believe she was wearing high heels. The light silk skirt of her dress swirled around, as did her hair.

More proof that I love my career…I just finished a concert and I'm singing.

Then her smile vanished, because this particular concert-which had, by the way, taken place in Chicago-had been her last one before the already sold-out concert in Jump City.

This is what I get for being famous all around the damn galaxy! she mused, her happy mood a thing of the past. People on Starfire's planet might listen to my music!

With a wry smile, she recalled Starfire's 'singing.' Holy Azar, I hope not.

"Excuse me, are you Raven?"

Raven turned, semi-wary, and her eyes were greeted with the sight of an unnaturally tall exotic-looking tan girl with the grace of a ballerina.

Her eyelashes were too perfect to be real and at the same time too beautiful to be fake, her dark silky hair thick very long. She was dressed in a white tank top and fitted jeans, with simple silver-and diamonds jewelry, and her hand was in a cast.

Raven noticed the pen and piece of paper in her hands and straitened. "All right, do you want an autograph or is this a business offer. You barely look sixteen, you couldn't have legally made a contract."

"No, I'm not even fifteen, but I'm a big fan of yours," she replied. Her accent was a strange mixture of British and Indian. "Can you please sign this?" She handed Raven the pen and paper, and Raven looked at the picture. Her heart ached suddenly-it was a picture of her back when she was a Titan.

Back before…

"I hear your next concert is in Jump City," the girl said as Raven wrote her name with a delicate flourish, apparently trying to make conversation. "That's where the Teen Titans live, isn't it?"

Raven nodded, blinking back unexpected tears as she handed back the now-signed picture. "Not that it matters. It isn't as if I'm one of them anymore or anything ridiculous like that."

"You should be," the girl replied softly, causing Raven's head to snap up.

"Excuse me?"

The girl raised her good hand. "You should be a Titan. You should never have left, though I suppose it's any fanfiction author's dream. I need to put you in perspective, and I think I know exactly how."

"What are you talking abou-" Raven began, but the girl's cool dry fingertips made contact with her forehead. Magic shimmered around her, and she let out a gasp of pain before everything disappeared.