Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ Chapter Seven ( Chapter 7 )

Priestess: Another new character, but again not a Mary Sue. I just wanted Raven to have at least one friend without the Titans. She's also the relative of a character I didn't make up, but you don't find out yet.

***

Raven (no more of those stupid italics and bolds when I'm writing names! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelu-shutting up now) blinked and surveyed her surroundings. She was in the apartment in Chicago.

Was all that just a bad dream? She wondered, brushing her hair out of her eyes. Her hand stung and she looked down. It didn't have a drop of blood on it-but every line (you know, heart line and head line and life line and whatever else they may be) was a bright red scar.

No, it wasn't a dream.

Standing up, she stretched out with her senses and frowned. All the time she had spent in the past had passed in this time as well. Flicking a hand, she caught the small book which flew towards her. Flipping through it, her eyes widened and a smile curved her lips.

She had a hair appointment in twenty minutes (she wanted it completely black to look more natural) and then…and then…

And then she was going to Jump City!

***

To say he was bewildered would be a hideous understatement. Same with stunned, disbelieving, and a little in pain emotion-wise.

First finding out that Raven was a singer, then that he would actually be going to one of her concerts, then this whole deal with the shattered mirror and Raven's blood…

It was becoming too much.

Cyborg strummed at his guitar, sitting on the couch and picturing both the grim ethereal girl he had fallen in love with and the beautiful woman he had been seeing everywhere recently-posters, billboards, CD covers, videos, the newspaper…

Everything.

I miss you so much, Raven, he thought sadly. Do you miss me? Do you even remember me? You certainly did pretty well without us…I didn't even know you knew how to sing.

"I still remember your face
Warm as the flames in the fireplace
While I frowned you would laugh and smile
Inside I was smiling all the while"

He blinked at the sound of the melodic, ethereal voice that he had become so accustomed to in the last several hours. Standing up, he walked upstairs to find Larissa listening to one of her CDs.

The vivid green tissue of her skirt floated around her as she danced with inhuman grace and skill, singing softly. Though he was ashamed to admit it, Cyborg was glad it was soft because-though she did have a lovely voice-she could never measure up-not to Raven.

No one could.

"I know I never showed it
I told you to stay out of my hair
And now I regret that I never
Let you know how much I really did care"

Larissa stopped dancing and looked at the door. "Hi, Cyborg," she said with a smile, shutting off the music. Cyborg resisted the urge to groan.

"Why were you listening to that?"

"Because Raven is the best singer in the world! And she's coming to Jump City! We're actually going to her concert! But don't get me started, I could go on for hours."

"No, that's all right, really," he replied. "If I'm going to listen to her singing, I need to know more about her, right?"

"Well, not that much is known about her past. She's an orphan, and she used to be a super-heroine. I thought that wasn't real, but you know how I can see for miles? I saw her use her powers on a member of the press spreading rumors about her. She is so cool!"

Her eyes seemed to glow. "She writes stories and poems and the movie she stars in, and some of her songs-but not all of them. She has her own line of clothing and like three houses-not including her summer home in Europe. Europe! Can you imagine?"

Actually, he could. Cyborg listened eagerly, sucking up every bit of information she could give, but there was one bit of information he dreaded:

Has she had any boyfriends?

***

Home, sweet home, Raven thought as she stepped off the plane. In spite of herself, the thought filled her with deep sorrow. It had been her home for so long, but it didn't feel like home anymore.

"I am so happy we're in Jump City. My sister Karen said she would be visiting. I can't wait to show her that she isn't the best anymore!"

Raven turned to see Diana Beecher, her dancer and fashion designer. She was one of Raven's few friends and one of the few people not unnerved by her powers-according to her, her sister Karen was a heroine as well, and she herself could fly and she had some minor fire powers (she never got warm or cold, she could never get burned, etc.)

Like all her dancers, Diana had long black hair and was very beautiful. Though her denim jacket hid skin that her flame-red top would otherwise leave bare, her denim miniskirt exposed most of her flawless legs.

Her abundance of dark hair was pinned up with shimmering rubies set in lacy gold, accented by matching earrings and bracelets. On Raven, who preferred silver to gold and hated red for…psychological reasons (the gem had turned blazing white once Trigon was defeated) the outfit would have felt wrong.

On Diana it was stunning. She was like sunlight, the complete opposite of Raven. Raven was dressed in a black off-the-shoulder-top, diamond earrings, and a silver necklace set with diamonds. Her beauty was quieter, more moonlight than sunlight. The same difference was evident in her personalities.

Diana wasn't cheerful all the time, and she was nothing at all like Starfire, but her full red lips smiled easily and her almond-shaped eyes always seemed to be full of laughter.

Out of everybody Raven had met in the last year or so, Diana was probably her favorite.

"Some of Karen's friends live there, so she said that she would visit too. I think she just wants to see me make a fool of myself." She grinned. "Won't she be surprised-she's not the best sister anymore!"

Raven smiled in spite of herself-Diana's cheer was infectious, no matter how miserable she was-and wondered if 'Karen' was a member of the branch of Teen Titans called Titans East or whatever it was. Diana did highly resemble one of their members…

"When are the limos going to arrive?"

"I don't know. These things are soo annoying-but then again I guess we would probably get swarmed with fans without them. They've really been packing on the publicity, since you refused for any pictures of you to be shown in Jump City or Manhattan for a year."

She said this archly, eyebrows raised, and Raven suppressed a groan.

Diana had wanted to do a concert there the moment she joined (she was the designer before she became a singer-it was thanks to her that Raven had her own line of shoes, her own line of shirts, and her own line of dresses. She also had her own line of hair products, but that had nothing to do with Diana) and was very curious as to why Raven didn't want to be seen in Jump City.

Looking into large hazel eyes set in a strong-boned face the color of brown honey, Raven thought about what a good friend she was-the only friend she had in the world, now that she was no longer a Titan.

"Well, I could teleport us," she suggested mildly. "That is, if you don't mind sharing an apartment with me. They're always at least the size of a small mansion, so I'm sure you can fit in it."

Diana stared at her, seeming stunned. Then she grinned, as Raven knew she would. "Sure!"

***

One of the first things Raven had learned when coming to Earth was that no one noticed ugly people. Well, Raven was anything but ugly, but she could fake it.

Over her black off-the-shoulder, silver jewelry, and sexy jeans; she put on sweats which hid her figure and lustrous hair (it had a hood). She used make-up to give herself gray skin and shadows under her eyes, and magic to make her features less pretty and the stone look like a scar.

But less pretty was still pretty, and she couldn't change her eyes without making them more prominent instead of less. So she kept her head bowed and made eye contact with no one as she walked down the street.

In her hands she held a movie script she had written on the plane, based on a book she had published a few months ago.

It was about an unpopular outcast who had no friends and tried to kill herself, ending up in a coma in which she dreamed she was living in a wonderful fantasy world in which she was a world-famous singer.

In the original version she woke up and fell into a deep depression, only to realize she had to start living in reality. She made friends with another outcast (based very slightly on Diana, but a different personality and appearance) and eventually got over it.

But Raven had changed it (which was good, since it was a huge book.) In the movie version, the outcast (Jessica) had two friends named Sam and Vanessa (a black brother and sister, based on Cyborg and Diana) and when she went into the coma she became a world-famous singer (it would be an excuse for a lot of songs)

At first she loved it, but eventually she realized that she was in love with Sam. With it came the realization that the fantasy, no matter how perfect, lacked one thing-real friends who liked her for who she was.

She went into a depression, but couldn't kill herself because she was already in a coma. Her sorrow turned into self-hatred, and Raven planned to use her magic to create a filming of the mirror-smashing thing and edit it so her hair was completely black.

Meanwhile, Sam and Vanessa (the two friends) were trying to find a remedy for the pills Jessica had purposely overdosed on. Sam realized he was in love with her and, kneeling by her body, sang a song that, in the fantasy world, she was singing as well.

Then she woke up, and all three of them sang a song together.

In case you were wondering, it was based on her life. Except in the movie, it was a nightmare disguised as a fantasy. Her life was also a nightmare disguised as a fantasy, but it was real-a lie, but still real. And in the movie, there was a happy ending.

Raven sighed and glanced around, not letting her eyes linger and not looking up-she knew she would see a picture of herself, and that was the last thing she wanted to see.

Everywhere there were happy, laughing people. No one noticed her, of course, though if she stared at anyone for too long they might have.

She noticed couples everywhere. A graceful girl with long flaxen hair held out a cake to a handsome man with red hair and eyes as blue as Cyborg's.

He ate it from her hand, their eyes never leaving one another. The sight made her heart ache with longing.

She shook her head and started walking faster. She was going to show a new movie idea to New York's biggest producer-she knew he would use it, since anything she did would be an immediate hit by now.

Entering the building, she noticed a picture of her. It was for one of her older movies, a horror based on one of the earliest storied she had ever written-back when she was still a Titan.

Blinking back tears, she shed her disguise and ran very quickly to the producer's office.

***

"It's perfect," New York's best movie producer announced after reading the movie Raven had finished writing on the plane. "They weren't kidding about you."

"I was thinking I could do it in Jump City, since it's the only place in the galaxy that hasn't heard of me this past year," Raven said, running slender fingers through her beautiful new hair. That was the best part-it would give her an excuse to stay for a long time. "We could take a few pictures of it now, and put it up all around New York."

"You're just as brilliant as I heard," the man replied approvingly. "I thought they were exaggerating about your talents, but thank god I prepared anyway, just in case."

Looking at the script again, he asked, "It has to be a black man?"

Raven nodded. "If you've heard that much about me, you must know that all my boyfriends in every movie or show I've done have been black."

Most people thought it was a strike against black oppression or something like that-actually, it was because she wouldn't be able to kiss a white man and pretend it was Cyborg. It was hard enough pretending that a black man was him.

"The dressing room is right there," he pointed. "I'll have some men get a couch from the storage room, and for pills…are my headache pills all right?"

"If you don't mind them scattered on the floor."

"For you? Not at all."

Raven was quick-one of the many advantages of magic powers. She put on her earlier outfit, splashing a few droplets of water on the sweater so it seemed as if she had cried on it.

Pushing back her hood, she used a touch of waterproof make-up to make herself pale as death and looking as if she had been weeping for hours. With her magic, she put her hair in eighty braids, soaked them, unbraided them, and dried them.

There! Now all she needed was to cry.

She could use an illusion, or water, or make-up to make her eyes sting, but instead she simply pictured the words the Titans had said to her that made her quit-it worked every time.

Tears poured from her eyes immediately, and she stumbled towards the door. It was impossible to see clearly, but she had powers so it didn't matter.

She was handed a bottle and unscrewed the lid. She lay on the couch, eyes shut, tears streaming down her cheeks, letting pills pour from the bottle. Snap! Snap! Snap! went the cameras.

She stretched and curled up, rolled over again and again, crossed and uncrossed her legs. The camera men lapped it up hungrily, and she hoped she would be able to see when this was over.

"Perfect!" announced the producer after a few minutes. Raven sat up, rubbing her streaming eyes. Between the light spots and tears, she was half-blind and would have been whole-blind if it weren't for her magic. "We can take the other pictures tomorrow, all right?"

He waited anxiously, obviously having heard that Raven was not one who could be controlled by producers and agents. But Raven nodded, hiding a smile.

Phase One and Two of her plan was complete-now she would have months in Jump City to complete the next few phases.