Fan Fiction ❯ Power of Denial ❯ A New Target ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan-fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian (GO CANADA) into this fan-fiction. This fic spawned from a post I made on a RaeBB message board I occasionally frequent. I want to start a fourth fic so badly now that I have this great idea, but I just wouldn't have the time. Now that I'm back from college orientation, I'll make time. I hope.

 

Please Read and review. Constructive criticism wanted.

 

Chapter 5: A New Target

 

As soon as Raven was free of the net that held her so closely to Beast Boy, she was gone with only the echoes of the word meditation trailing in her wake. Beast Boy watched helplessly as her cloaked figure disappeared behind the closing doors of the common room, and the fact that she ran so quickly cut the changeling deeper than anything before. He had wanted to apologize for what had happened, even though it was entirely out of his control.

 

The emerald changeling could easily tell how freaked out Raven had been because of their situation, and his first instinct was to do anything he could to make it better. Yet, at the moment, all he could do was stand there stuck to the wall confused. He was confused by why all this had to happen to him. He was confused by everything that had happened in the last few hours. But, most of all, he was confused because right before Raven pulled away after the net had been released, he could have sworn that he felt Raven ever so slightly move past the point here their lips were forced together and actually kiss him. However, as soon as he thought he felt something, it was gone, leaving Beast Boy second guessing every one of his senses.

 

`There's no way that just happened,' Beast Boy thought to himself disappointed. Though he wanted nothing more than to accept that what he wanted most had just occurred, even he had enough sense to know when something this perfect was too good to be true. `I'm just imagining things,' the changeling mentally sighed. `I know she doesn't like me. It's just an impossible dream. There's no use in even trying.' Beast Boy did his best to fight back a tear from escaping the confines of his eye, but out of nowhere a familiar warm feeling spread throughout his body. `But then again,' the green Titan chuckled mentally, `when has that ever stopped me before. After all, nothing is impossible, right? I'll just do what I always do and just keep try-'

 

“You ready for this, BB?” Cyborg's voice broke his green friend from his thoughts and back into reality. “This might hurt a little bit, dawg, but I think your sleeves should take most of the force.”

 

Beast Boy briefly looked at his metallic best friend in confusion before following Cyborg's eyes towards his trapped left arm. Mere inches above it, Cyborg had gripped a lose corner of the duct tape and clenched it tightly. It did not take long for Beast Boy's mind to register what he had planned to do. Unfortunately, even though he knew what was coming, there was no time to prepare for the worst. In one fell motion, the cybernetic Titan thrust his hand downward, bringing the duct tape with him soon after.

 

“AHHH!!!” Beast Boy cried out in panic as he instinctively brought his arm to his stomach protectively. The lower half of his sleeves had been ripped off along with the duct tape. Though his body hid the most of it, a large, rectangular red mark on the changeling's green body was clearly visible out from the sides of his arms. “One question, Cyborg: WHY?!?” Beast Boy yelled before going wide eyed as he glanced over at Starfire, who was one step away from mimicking the actions of their metallic friend. “Starfire, wait!” He cried desperately, but it was mere moments too late. The young, alien princess ripped the duct tape off both the wall and her green friend with force that far surpassed Cyborg attempt, ripping the entire sleeve off of that half.

 

“Why me?” Beast Boy sighed silently as he hunched over slightly in defeat. The day had gone from miserable to unbearable. “This was my favorite uniform, guys. Besides, I only have eleven of these. It's not like I can transform with just anything on.”

 

“Really?” Cyborg asked in disbelief. “I always thought you just liked the jumpsuit look, albeit a purple look…”

 

“I don't really mind the purple,” Beast Boy explained, “but you think I like going out in public in a skin tight jumpsuit all the time. My powers won't allo-” The sound of more fabric ripping interrupted Beast Boy's sentence. He had expected the duct tape on the leg portion of his jump suit to be the next thing ripped off, and he had figured that the same thing would happen that had occurred with his sleeves. Yet, from the moment he heard the ripping sound, he knew something was wrong. “Uh… Cyborg, please tell me there's a window open somewhere.”

 

“Sorry, BB,” Cyborg sighed. “Starfire might have gone a bit overboard with pulling the duct tape off…”

 

“Do I even want to look?” Beast Boy asked sadly.

 

“Not really,” Cyborg admitted, “but at least she did both legs at once.”

 

“I do not understand,” Starfire said softly, afraid that she had done something horrible. “I was asked to help remove the tape of ducks. Did I do it incorrectly?”

 

“I think you might have pulled it off just a little too hard, Star,” Cyborg tried to sound like it wasn't a big deal. “I don't think Beast Boy likes to wear shorts that are… that short, though.”

 

“I'm going to go change,” Beast Boy said depressed as he brushed passed his two friends. “This day just keeps getting worse and worse. I just want it to end.”

 

“Come on,” Cyborg chuckled as he ran around the couch to catch up to beast Boy who was headed for the door leading to the hallway, “it hasn't been that be. You even lived your dream, though not entirely how I assume you envisioned i-”

 

Beast Boy swiftly spun around and clamped his hands down on top of Cyborg's mouth. “Don't say another word, Cyborg. I told you how I felt about her in good faith. Don't you dare make a joke about it now. I'm not in the mood to kid around after everything that has happened today, so just drop it please. Besides, I can tell she doesn't like me, so my impossible dream goes on.”

 

The doors to the common room slid open to reveal Robin with a concerned look on his face. That is, he had a concerned look on his face until he spotted Beast Boy and his extremely short jumpsuit. The leader of the Titans could not help but erupt in laughter that he did everything in his power to keep silent. “Nice uniform, Beast Boy,” Robin finally spoke up, revealing his presence to the two conversing friends. “That look is definitely… new.”

 

Beast Boy's eye twitched as he turned around to face his masked friend. With a glare and a scowl, the changeling stomped angrily past Robin. “Shut up,” were the only words that echoed through the common room just before the doors automatically slid shut. Beast Boy continued grumbling to himself all the way to his room. He never asked to be loved by anyone this badly… except for Raven of course. The only thing he wanted from whoever it was doing all this was for them to leave him and his life alone.

 

`What were they thinking dragging Raven into this like that,' Beast Boy thought to himself as he entered in the combination to his sliding door, which slid safely open a few seconds latter. Still fuming, the changeling stepped into his messy room, bravely venturing over the piles of dirty clothes and old food. `How would that make me like them? That just made Raven… I don't know what exactly it made her, but I know she wasn't happy. She totally freaked out an ran as soon as she could. If I ever meet the person doing this, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind for trying to ruin the one friendship that matters to me the most.' Sighing one final time, Beast Boy slid his closet door open and reached in for a new uniform, but froze at what he saw.

 

llllllllllllllllllll

 

As Robin watched Beast Boy's figure disappear behind the sliding common room doors, he could not help but notice the irony happening around all of them. He was convinced that Raven was in love with Beast Boy, and he new that Beast Boy loved Raven but each had probably convinced themselves that the other could not love him which probably led to Raven's denial. If they only knew, their world would be perfect, either that or Raven would refuse to believe the truth and fall even further into denial than she was now. And that is where his problem lied. The uncertainty of the outcome would cause him to second guess any decision he made about their situation. For once, he had no idea what to do.

 

“I think we should lay off the insults for now,” Cyborg's voice brought Robin back to reality. “I mean, BB has had a pretty rough day, dawg. And now that I think about it, we've been making it worse any chance we could get. We shouldn't do that to him. We shouldn't make things worse anymore.”

 

Robin slowly spun around to face his teammate. “But, what can we do to make things better is the question, Cyborg.” Cyborg gave his leader a confused expression before Robin sighed and attempted to reveal his theory to his friend. “You know how we think whoever is doing this has powers and has a crush on Beast Boy? Well, I think it might be R-”

 

Without warning, chibi cupid Speedy dropped and hovered in between the two Titans with a mischievous smile. Before either o the two could even raise an eye brow, the angelic pint sized East Titan grabbed a hold of Robin's cape and began pulling the masked Titan with unimaginable strength towards an unknown destination. Out of instinct, Cyborg clasped one of his metallic hands around the foot of his leader in an attempt to keep him from being flown away. However, all he managed to do was cause himself to be drug along the ground behind them yelling in panic.

 

After a short venture across the common room to the kitchen area where a certain alien princess stood trying her latest dish of unidentifiable… food, the chibi cupid Speedy deposited the two trailing Titans on the ground at Starfire's feet. Confused and dazed, Robin was the first of the two to make it to his feet. Unfortunately, that was exactly what the cupid version of Speedy wanted. No trace of his former consciousness remained in Speedy after Denial had transformed him into his chibi self. He now lived to fulfill the role of Cupid as well as the orders of Denial, and right now she needed to stop Robin from saying what she thought he was going to say.

 

Without wasting any time, chibi speedy pulled Starfire away from the stove and gently shoved her into a confused Robin. Startled, both Robin and Starfire involuntarily wrapped their arms around the other, giving Speedy the opportunity he had been waiting for. Quickly, the winged East Titan pulled out a rope from behind his back and quickly went to work. In a literal flash and a small puff of smoke the hands of the two close Titans were bound together around their partner in away where their arms crossed where it would be impossible to free themselves even if they escaped their forced hug. However, knowing Robin's cunning nature, Denial had Speedy tie Robin's legs to Starfire's for added measure.

 

Denial smiled to herself as she looked on the real world from her dark corner of Raven's mind. It did not take long for her to finish getting her point across with Love and she thought she could continue her plans to throw Raven further into her power, but she made a mistake by allowing Robin to even think while around Raven and now she was forced to waste her valuable time trying to fix that mistake by distracting him. And what better was to distract someone then with their… “secret” crush.

 

Both Robin and Starfire were wide eyed in shock at the position the two teens had found themselves in when mere moments before they were nowhere near the other. Through their shock, each of the two bound Titans found it agonizingly impossible not to notice how close they were to the one they not so secretly loved and both were unable to fight back the deep crimson appearing across their cheeks. Yet, even though a major part of Robin was enjoying this and his previous train of thought had completely shot out of his mind, he still could not help but feel the need to get free.

 

“Uh… Cyborg,” Robin stated nervously, mentally thanking God that he brushed his teeth that morning since his face was mere inches away from Starfire's. “Do you think you could maybe untie us? I-I'm sure that Starfire wins to get back to… whatever it is in that pot behind us.”

 

Cyborg slowly stood to his feet and smirked at the position his two friends were in. He was about to say something, but Starfire cut him off.

 

“Robin,” Starfire began softly, “I am afraid that the pudding needs nothing of me until it is ready to be stirred. So, the only reason to be freed is if you only wanted to… get away from me…” Starfire's voice sounded dejected as it trailed off into nothingness. Obviously, she wanted nothing more than to stay in the position she was in with Robin, but she was no where near as secretive as she was.

 

“Of course he wouldn't mind staying like that for a bit, Starfire,” Cyborg laughed slightly, causing Robin to glare menacingly at him. Yet, Cyborg fearlessly continued. “I think he might even enjoy some quality time with you, especially when you two are so close.”

 

Chibi Speedy smiled at Cyborg for going along with his actions, and flew over to his new friend before plopping down on his metallic shoulder grinning at the two bonded Titans. Though Cyborg did not like the idea of a diaper touching his person, he shrugged it off and gave the cupid version of the archer a thumbs up before continuing on.

 

“Why don't you two stay right there and have a little chat while I go check up on beast Boy,” Cyborg laughed evilly as he slowly made his way to the door. “He seems like he needs some cheering up, and I'm sure he'll love the fact that something happened that did not affect him in any way. You two play nice now. I'll be back soon enough, so try and keep your hands to yourself while I'm gone.” With that, Cyborg disappeared behind the closing sliding doors of the common room, leaving a blushing Starfire and a furious Robin.

 

llllllllllllllllllll

 

Slowly, the battered and bruised purple version of Raven opened her eyes to the blurry world around her. It took a few moments for her to make any sense of anything around her, but soon enough, the memories of her encounter with Denial came flooding back to her. She remembered the conviction in her voice as she told her that all she wanted was to survive and that she would do anything to do so. What Denial wanted was the exact opposite of what love wanted, but only one had dire consequences.

 

If Love was victorious in Raven's life, then Denial would cease to exist. However, if Denial rose to complete power, Love would remain because you cannot deny something unless it is there to begin with. If Love continued her quest make Raven realize her true love then she would be murdering Denial in the process. Either way, it seemed like she was in the wrong. She just wished that things had not come out this badly. Yet, no matter how confused she seemed, in her heart, she knew the truth. Denial had proven herself to be an evil emotion, and Love could not sit idly by while she ruined Raven's life. She had to do something and quickly.

 

As the blur in her vision slowly disappeared, Love began to look around the place where she woke up. It was definitely not the rocky pathway where she remembered passing out on, but something about it seemed familiar and she knew that she had been here before but she was still too confused from the punishment she had endured to think completely straight. She was lying comfortably on a slight incline of a grassy hillside. Her cloak lie next to her, neatly folded and repaired. As she reached out to retrieve her possession, she noticed several bandages on her arms and her entire body for that matter. Groggily, she reminded herself to thank whoever it was that brought her here and for fixing what Denial had done to her cloak. Carefully standing to her feet, Love threw her purple cloak around her shoulders and fastened it loosely around her neck.

 

“You should not be up so soon,” a familiar voice spoke softly from behind Love causing her to spin around startled. A peaceful brown cloaked version of herself stood to greet her. Her face was nearly emotionless, but she gave off a strong aura of tranquility and peacefulness. “You have been though much, and you need your rest.”

 

“Wisdom,” Love said relieved that the first person she saw was not Denial. She did not want a second encounter so soon. “Did you bring me here?”

 

“No,” she simply stated before raising a hand towards the grassy hill they stood upon. “Timid carried you here by herself after Denial left you along the stone pathway once she got tired of fighting an unconscious opponent. She is on the opposite side of the mountain because she believed that you might have been mad at her once you found out that she had to take off your cloak so I could bandage you. I knew otherwise and I tried to get her to understand, but she is an emotion who rarely strafes from what her name implies.”

 

“So you know what Denial did to me,” even speaking about it made the slight pain in her abdomen return to a throbbing one. “Do you also know why?”

 

Wisdom sighed before walking past Love in the direction Timid was in. “Yes.”

 

“Then why did you not do something!” Love screamed, but instantly regretted it as the pain in her chest rose to near intolerable levels. After calming herself, Love continued. “For Raven's sake if not for mine.”

 

“Because by the time her presence was brought to my attention,” Wisdom explained, “her powers had already grown exponentially. I alone had no chance of stopping her. None of the emotions have a chance. One Raven herself can conquer Denial by accepting the truth. However, right opportunity arrives when Raven begins to slightly contemplate the possibility of her true feelings, we could distract Denial long enough for Raven to accept it. Acceptance is Denial's only weakness.”

 

“I know,” Love spoke, “but she has our powers. We don't stand a chance if it is just you me and Timid, and right now I'm not in the best condition to fight right now. We wouldn't be able to distract her for long if it is just us. And it's not like we can get the others to help. Denial has them eating out of the palm of her hand. We're alone in this.”

 

“No,” Wisdom stated as she tilted her head towards a darkened corner of Raven's mind. “There is another.”