Destiny_Smasher
12-24-2004, 02:54 PM
Well, here's the entry I submitted for the Christmas Contest- you X Factor people wanted to read it, so here it is- I hope you enjoy.
I will warn you that is vaguely spoils things. I guess all it really spoils is that none of the Titans are dead by the story's end...-_-'
Anyway, this story takes place a while after the last Chapter of the X Factor, but before/during the Epilogue.
So read it, enjoy. I only describe characters I feel were important to describe...I guess I could edit it for a 'Director's Cut' deal or something, but I'm lazy.
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The air was freezing, and the bitter wind was biting at Raven’s face with no mercy. The day had been dragging on forever, it seemed. A bank heist, an electrical fire, and a homicidal pyrotechnic to finish things off. At least things hadn’t been TOO bad. But why did it have to be so COLD outside? Raven’s legs felt like icicles, and her arms were becoming quite numb, as well. She would’ve changed into something warmer had there been time to do so, but the evening had been so hectic that time was a valuable commodity.
Their work was finally done, however, and it was time to head back to the Tower and finish preparations for the day to come- Christmas. Raven had never particularly enjoyed the holiday. To her, it had always been a foolish charade of commercialism. She never understood the ritual of Christmas, and for her whole life was never interested in being a part of it. Things had a habit of changing.
“You will join us in the decorating of the coniferous tree, correct?” the cheery voice of a warm-hearted Tamaranian asked from Raven’s side as they both soared over the icy bay of Jump City.
“Why not?” Raven replied rhetorically. “Wouldn’t want the boys to mess it up.” Starfire giggled in response as she twirled through the air with excitement.
“There are three of them and four of us,” Starfire reminded her.
“Yea,” Raven murmured as her mind sailed back to weeks before. “Starfire,” she began quietly, watching moist clouds flow from her lips with every syllable. “Do you think we’ll ever see them again? You know…” She left Starfire to pick up the rest of her sentence.
Starfire paused to reflect as the Tower grew closer by the minute.
“I believe that we shall,” she said solemnly. “Besides, they said that we would meet them again…”
“I guess so…” Raven looked down to the slowly rolling waves below. “But it’s been so long…I hope they’re all right.” She felt her spine tingle wildly, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered. “It’s FREEZING…”
Starfire leaned in the air and flew closer to her friend. She reached her tan arm out to touch Raven’s pale hand.
“Indeed, you are quite chilled,” she concluded with concern. “Come. When we return, I shall prepare the soup of poultry that Earthlings consume when in such a condition.”
Raven smiled at her friend’s radiant, emerald eyes and nodded.
“That sounds good. Thanks, Starfire.”
----------
“That should do it…” Robin muttered as he took a few steps back to admire the glowing star that had been placed atop the pine tree. Robin was the caped crusader who led the Titans. “Good job, Star.” Starfire, who had flown up to stick the glimmering marvel of metal onto the tip of the plant, clapped her hands together in glee. She whirled in circles around the tree to inspect every nook and cranny and make sure that each was filled with a colorful decoration.
“Ai’ght, ya’ll,” Cyborg, a human-robot combination, cried out from a wall in the back of the room. “Time to see this baby in action!” He flicked his index finger downward on the switch attached to the wall, and the light was sucked out of the room. They could all hear Beastboy let out a short-lived shriek, which induced a few chuckles. After a few moments of silent anticipation in the dark, the Titans began to wonder what was wrong.
“Uhh…Cy?” Beastboy squeaked out with a perplexed tone. Beastboy was a thin, green teen who could mutate into different beasts. “Any time now…”
A ‘click’ could be heard as a flashlight attached to the bionic teen’s shoulder was turned on. The Titans stood in the shadow and watched as Cyborg fumbled along the wall with a cord in his hand.
“Do you require any aid?” Starfire wondered.
“Nah, I got it,” Cyborg grunted back as he knelt down and plugged the pronged end into an electrical socket in the wall.
An explosion of light smothered the Titans as colors glowed from the elegantly arranged tree. Their faces were bathed in reds, greens, blues, yellows, and every other color of the rainbow. As Cyborg joined his companions in the ring that had been formed around the symbol of the season, the Titans partook in a few moments of silent awe and amazement.
“It’s beautiful,” a blonde-haired girl wearing a black sweatshirt murmured, breaking the tranquillity. She was a Terra, a girl who could control the earth beneath her feet and will it to do as she pleased.
“Mmmm, MMMMM,” Cyborg hummed with satisfaction, his hands on his hips.
“Ya did a good job, Sparky,” the sly and devious voice of a skinny ‘witch’ complimented as she nudged him in the waist. Her name was Jinx, an ex-student of a school for supervillains. Cyborg shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck modestly.
“Wasn’t nothin’,” he murmured.
“Nothing??” Beastboy fumed. “Dude, it took me FOREVER to get that stupid popcorn on the string…” He fiddled his hands around to express his frustration.
“It’s OK, Beastboy,” Robin told him, suppressing his laughter. “You did a good job…” He gave the green teen a slap on the back. “Good enough, anyway.”
“It is truly glorious,” Starfire whispered, her hands clasped together. Her eyes twinkled like the colored lights themselves. As Starfire admired the way they pulsated and shifted in rhythm, Raven felt as if something was missing. For a moment, she couldn’t quite place it, but it quickly came to her.
Mario would be picking on how his brother Luigi had done a ‘half-ass’ job on the decorations in the hall. He’d do it in such a way that you could somehow tell he was being good-natured about it, and was really complimenting his little brother.
Sonic and Tikal would be standing side by side, holding hands. Amy would be standing behind them with a longing expression on her face as she stared at their interlocked fingers.
Link would be standing beside Terra, with his arms crossed over his chest. He’d be wearing a bright red Santa hat because he had lost a bet in poker with the boys earlier that day. Terra would laugh and shove it over his eyes, and he’d return the favor by pushing her away with a grin.
Tenochtitlan, with her color-changing eyes, would be wearing a pair of yellow retinas at the time, and would be hugging Beastboy with every ounce within her. She’d kiss him on the cheek and play with his ear lovingly, and he would squeeze her hand and blush.
That’s what was missing from this fuzzy scene: her friends. The friends she had made. The friends she had grown close to as Starfire opened her heart to love. Just as Raven began to truly understand and appreciate the love she had for her friends, and the love they had for her, she had lost them in the blink of an eye.
(Are they still ALIVE?) Raven wondered dully.
As minutes flew by, Raven levitated before the Christmas tree in deep thought. Memories swept by her like a flash flood as the glittering lights of the tree relaxed her. She remembered a barbecue, where Beastboy had somehow managed to get his hair lit on fire, and Tenochtitlan had summoned some water magic to extinguish it. She remembered spending an afternoon with Cyborg and the Mario Bros. as they tweaked the T-Car and added a few touches to it. She remembered watching Sonic and Amy shout at each other like children while Tikal tried to tear them apart. She remembered a quiet evening full of tension after thirteen civilians had died because the Titans’ plan had crumbled apart. She remembered how the events that followed that night had pulled the team closer together. She remembered seeing her friend submit to Slade, their heart opening to darkness.
She remembered it all in vivid detail as the photographs swirled through her mind. Why did things have to end the way they had? Couldn’t she see them again?
“I wish the others were here to see this,” she murmured, her violet eyes glued to the awe-commanding sight before her. Raven broke out of her mesmerized state as she came to realize that no one had been there to hear her. The room was empty aside from one Teen Titan and one glowing Christmas tree.
“Where’d everyone go…?” Raven found herself muttering aloud as she scanned the room.
(A little bizarre…) she thought to herself. (I must have really zoned out…)
“It’s sleepy time!!” the cheery voice of a little girl shouted in Raven’s ear.
Raven cried out in shock as she flailed her arms about and crashed into the floor, landing flat on her face. As she groaned and got up to her knees, she could hear giggles coming from behind her. The voice was one she recognized. It belonged to a child named Sideris. Though her age was unclear, Sideris appeared to be somewhere around ten years old. She was a charming kid who wore a white T-shirt with a giant, red paw print covering its front surface. On the backside of the shirt, in jagged block letters, was the phrase, “Same Sky.” She adorned a pair of black, denim shorts that ran down just above her knees. She wore pink chuck sneakers with white socks, as well. On her left arm was a black bracelet of ebony, while the right arm had an identical one made of white ivory. She had a pair of glittering, jade eyes, and her straight, elegant hair was a shade of red slightly darker than that of Starfire. The hair was in a smooth ponytail that barely touched her back, and it curled up slightly at the tip. A set of fluffy bangs accompanied it, and they barely reached down to her lively, green eyes.
Raven turned her head to see the beaming face of the girl, and she beamed back warmly.
“What are you doing here?” she asked with joyful surprise.
“I came to wish you a merry Christmas, silly,” the child explained, rolling her eyes. “But you’re still up!! Naughty!” She scolded Raven by wiggling her finger.
“Shouldn’t YOU be sleeping?” Raven asked her with a grin, acting as if she was an older sister.
“No, I don’t have a bedtime, ‘Sides, me and my friend wanted to give you guys Christmas presents…” She grinned slyly, her fists trembling in excitement before her.
“Your friend…?” Raven mumbled awkwardly.
“Yea!” Sideris squealed as she let out a lisped whistle. “Larry!!”
Raven was amazed to see a small boy with a large head appear before her wearing an outfit identical to Robin’s. It was Larry, or Nosyarg Kcid, a boy who traveled between dimensions and could bend reality with his ‘magic finger.’
“Have no fear, LARRY’S HERE!!” the boy cried out triumphantly.
“Larry, give Raven her present…I hafta get the other ones ready…”
As Sideris scampered out of the room hastily, Larry gave Raven a toothy smile, flashing his buckteeth proudly.
“No problem no problem. So, what do you want?” Larry asked her expectantly.
“Wh-…What?” Raven mumbled, still a bit overcome by the two children and their uncanny ability to induce confusion.
“You KNOW,” Larry groaned, lifting his sparkling index finger into the air. “What do you WANT?”
“…You mean…Like, anything? You’re going to give me a wish, or something…?”
Raven certainly did not doubt Larry’s ability to carry out such a task, as she knew he could be the cause of many a strange circumstance.
“You bet!! Anything you want! So what’ll it be? You want a flashy cloak that can make you invisible, or a pair of shoes that’ll make you as fast as The Flash, or armor as strong as Superman, or-“
“I wish my friends were still here,” Raven spat out, her heart dying to say it.
Larry paused, amused by the response.
“Hm…You mean those OTHER guys…” he reasoned, scratching his head. He pulled out a piece of paper from thin air and showed it to her. It was as if a snapshot had been taken from the time the Titans had bid farewell to their new friends.
“…Yes, them,” Raven mumbled. “I miss them…But-“ she glanced back up at him with skepticism, “-can you really do that?”
“Of COURSE I can!!” Larry assured her, puffing out his chest as he lifted his index finger into the air. A bright light burst from his fingertip like a nuclear explosion, engulfing everything in its wake. Raven was overcome by it as she felt her body being blasted into the air. For a few moments, she felt weightless- something she had grown accustomed to- and she watched the world around her slowly take shape. The skies came first- black and cloudy. Raven ignored the environment rapidly forming around her as she watched her friends get pieced together before her very eyes. Everything was frozen in place, it seemed. No one moved an inch as the world continued to build itself. Raven watched her familiar friends come first- Cyborg, right in front of her, then Starfire. Terra appeared behind them, with Link at her side. The sight of Link, whom Raven had an infatuation with for a period of time in the past, made Raven’s heart jump. She waited in anticipation for the others. Next came Tikal and Amy, who were both in the process of hugging each other. Raven was so amazed at the sights generating before her that she didn’t take the time to see the dire expressions on everyone’s faces.
Mario was last. He stood farther away from the others on a rocky edge of ‘Titan Island.’ Raven’s eyes darted around for the others, but they didn’t come into view.
(They must be off doing something else,) she reasoned.
She suddenly noticed that things were moving. It took a moment for her to realize this, as no one was moving much at all. Raven found herself standing beside Cyborg, who was staring into the bay with glazed eyes.
“Cyborg,” Raven cried out with excitement, “Where are the other guys?”
Cyborg’s eyes widened while his brows furrowed and his mouth curved downward. His head creaked to his left to see Raven’s giddy grin, and he shook his head in disbelief.
“I-don’t-KNOW, Ray,” he said with firm solemnity. “But they sure ain’t here…” He huffed through his nose and turned his gaze back to the shore.
“Wh-…?” Raven was puzzled, and as she glanced around to the others, she noticed that they all shared the same demeanor. They looked as if a great grief had been dumped upon them. She stared at Terra’s wet cheek, half of her face covered in blonde hair as she leaned her head on Link’s shoulder from behind him. Link glared with anger at the waters before him, and his expression sent a tingle down Raven’s spine. Streams of salty water were flooding from Amy’s brilliant, green eyes as she squeezed Tikal in desperation. Although Raven could only see Tikal’s pale, orange hair and not her face, she somehow knew that both girls shared a similar expression. She looked over to Mario’s back as the wind caressed his brown mess of hair . The teenage version of the hero from Stellon grasped his red ‘M’ hat in his left hand tightly while his right hand was balled into a fist at his side.
Raven could feel her stomach lurch and her heart skip a few beats as she gazed around at everyone’s gloomy manners.
“Wh-? What’s going on…?” she whispered.
“Raven, could you just cut out the mood swings?” Terra grumbled. “For one minute?”
“If you’re going to have some breakdown again, go do it somewhere else,” Link bitterly added, his eyes burning with fury.
“I thought you weren’t gonna wear that anymore,” Cyborg grunted, observing her outfit. Raven was wearing what she had been wearing back inside the Tower- a pink, short-sleeved hoody that had a picture of a broken heart with angel wings. This was equipped with a purple hood and was paired with blue shorts. The outfits of everyone around her were irrelevant, as all Raven could really see were faces leaking pain.
“I-…” She gave her outfit a quick glance, then looked back up. “I don’t understand…What’s-…?”
“Just be quiet!!” Amy growled at her hysterically. “If you aren’t going to pay your respects, then leave…” she commanded with cold anger.
Raven’s insides were churning with fear, and it only got worse when she heard the voice of her best friend- the one person she cared for most.
“Please…” Her voice was trembling uncontrollably. “No more yelling…For their sake, please do not yell…”
Everyone hushed at Starfire’s desperate words. Raven took a few steps around Cyborg so she could see Starfire, who was knelt before a carved stone, her index finger held out before it. It was shaped like…a gravestone.
“No…” Raven whispered in horror to herself. (A gravestone??)
She read the carved text on its surface.
“Our Beloved Leader. May he rest in peace.”
“No,” Raven mumbled in denial, shaking her head. The name “Robin” was below the previous text, and Raven watched as Starfire carefully projected starbolt energy from her fingertip to engrave another name: “Dick Grayson.”
“…He’s…gone…?” Raven murmured, her face completely pale.
“What do you THINK??” Terra growled darkly from behind.
“Why don’t you take your messed up mind somewhere ELSE?” Link quipped.
Raven’s hair was encased in black energy as it waved around erratically, and she gave him a perplexed expression, her brow lifted.
“You were just bawling your eyes out five minutes ago…” Tikal whispered, bewildered. “And all of a sudden, you’re smiling…??”
Starfire squinted her eyes shut in aggravation, her fist shaking as her fingernails dug into her palm, a result of her suppressed agony.
“Please be quiet,” she demanded calmly, though with more authority than last time.
Raven began to realize that there were MORE gravestones.
“Jinx.”
“Beastboy.”
“Tenochtitlan.”
“Luigi.”
“Sonic.”
“…I don’t understand…” she whispered, covering her mouth to stop her noise from disturbing the others. She couldn’t bear the sight any longer. The scent of death lingered in the air, and the pain was so thick that it would take an ax to cut through it. Raven took to the air with great speed and flew to the Tower’s roof as quickly as she could. She faced Jump City and felt the confusion and terror of the situation overwhelm her. Smoke billowed from buildings, rubble remained where skyscrapers had stood, and the once-magnificent bridge that had stretched across the bay lay in jagged chunks, spread across the icy waters. Snow wasn’t present, but Raven’s body felt chilled to the bone. Though the temperature was low, it wasn’t the cause.
“How-…? Why is this-…?” Raven was trying to figure out what had happened, but there was little way of her solving such a puzzle by herself.
She heard Larry’s sad voice explain from behind her.
“Your friends were supposed to return home, remember?” he reminded her. “Well…I changed things, so…they didn’t…They couldn’t fight the war that’s going on, so the bad guys came here to get rid of this place because it’s in their way…”
“…The ‘war’…It’s really this important…?” Raven whispered in amazement.
Raven’s friends had left because they had to return to fight in an interplanetary battle. Raven had never quite understood the gravity of the situation.
“…I-I don’t want this,” Raven spat out, shaking her head quickly. “Can I make things the way they were before??” she questioned, her eyes wide with fear.
Larry sighed and shrugged. “I can’t do that,” he muttered. “It’s impossible. You can’t wish for me to have never granted your wish. That wouldn’t make sense.”
Raven felt her heart sink like a rock, and her legs gave out on her, causing her to falter to her knees.
“BUT-“ Larry added, sticking his ‘magic finger’ up high. “I CAN give you another wish before I have to leave.”
Raven didn’t understand what he meant as far as ‘having to leave’ was concerned, but it didn’t matter.
“I wish the Titans were happy!” she spat out. The words practically spilled out. “ALL of them…Including the ones that left us to go home…”
Larry cocked his head to the side.
“Well, I don’t know if I can do that one, the last one tired me out a bit, but…-” He smiled, his buckteeth shining in the dark. “I’ll try.”
Everything turned white as it had before, and the world around Raven was altered yet again. Raven’s consciousness faded as things began to piece themselves together rapidly.
Raven awoke to find herself in her dark bedroom. Light trickled through her window like water in a brook, and she gazed outside to see snowflakes floating down in a ballet of frozen water. Raven’s head felt like a scrambled egg, and she felt dazed as she slumped her legs out from her blanket and onto the cold, wooden floor of her room. As she rubbed her temples and moaned, she remembered what had just happened.
(It was just a strange dream…) she concluded with relief. (Or a nightmare.)
The enormous stress on her heart lifted, Raven levitated herself to her feet and shivered. Her room was freezing, she realized, so she quickly retreated into the hallway to find her friends. A small part of her was still worried about the wish she had made. What had it changed? Her doubts melted away within a couple of minutes as she approached the ‘living room’ of the tower where the tree had been set up. She could hear laughter echoing from the other side of the door, and she smiled. They sounded happy, as she had hoped.
She stretched her arms out and took a deep breath as the metal door slide open, and she exhaled peacefully. A herd of eyes turned to her, and a flurry of grins followed them.
“Oh! Good MORNING, Raven!!” Starfire joyously cried as she squeezed her best friend tightly. Raven returned it as best as she could as a euphoric wave swept over her. “I wish you a merry Christmas, dear friend!”
“Merry Christmas to you, too, Star,” Raven said warmly as she chuckled.
“You must open the gifts that have been bestowed upon you! You MUST!! Come!!” Starfire dragged Raven to the tree through the air and grabbed a very small box of black velvet and shoved it in Raven’s face eagerly.
“Please, open! I do hope that you find it to be satisfactory!”
Raven shook her head slightly as she popped the box open to reveal a silver chain necklace. A sphere of smooth ruby was attached to the chain, and it shimmered in the morning light that poured through the wall of glass before her. She couldn’t hold in her gasp as she whispered in awe, “It’s beautiful…Thank you…”
She clasped the box shut and pressed it to her chest lovingly.
“Now you have to see what I got YOU,” she insisted
“Raven!!” Robin’s voice flew to her ears from the tree, and she was caught by surprise as a rectangular package was tossed into the air in her direction. She focused on it as it fell, and it slowly descended to her hands in black energy.
“It looks like an old friend decided to play Santa,” Robin noted with a smirk as he admired a cape he had received. It was white on one side and black on the other, and a familiar paw print was stitched into either side in red thread.
As Starfire dove to the tree for her next gift, Raven glanced down at the present in her hands. It was wrapped in shiny red foil, and she examined the white card attached to it.
“To ~ Raven,” it read. “From ~” Where a name would have been written there was in its stead that paw that had been cropping up again and again. Raven’s eyed lids closed slightly as she smiled and opened it with care.
What met her eyes on the other end of the wrapping was an old-looking book, about two inches thick. Its hard cover had intricate textures swirling around its border, but as Raven opened it up, she noticed how fresh and new the pages within were. She noticed that someone had scribbled something in black crayon on the inside cover.
“Raven,
I found out you like to read, so I got this book for you. I got help so that all the funny letters aren’t funny and you can read them now. I hope it makes up for your wish that went yucky and you like it. Don’t forget your friends, but don’t be sad. They don’t want you to be sad. I bet you will see them again.
Merry X-mas, Sideris”
Raven wiped a tear from her cheek as she finished, and she shed another when she saw the adorable interpretation of Titan Tower that had been drawn in crayons by the hands of the little girl. Its smudgy image had a rough texture from the crayons, and it wasn’t entirely straight for a tower.
She closed the book as Starfire attacked her with another hug while her fellow Titans were exchanging gifts around her.
“I am quite pleased with the sweater you have bestowed upon me!” Starfire squealed, wearing a wool shirt of purple.
“I’m glad you like it…”
Starfire pranced around a little in boundless joy.
“Glad does not properly express my happiness!” Starfire shouted giddily.
“So, Ray,” Cyborg asked her from behind, pointing a finger to the tree.
“You still got more presents. Did ya get you wanted?” He nodded to the book.
Raven gave it a quick glance, but dropped it to her hip and shook her head.
“No,” she said with a grin as her violet eyes sparkled. “I’ve had it this whole time. I couldn’t wish for more.”
-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-
FIN
Merry Christmas, and all that jazz.
I will warn you that is vaguely spoils things. I guess all it really spoils is that none of the Titans are dead by the story's end...-_-'
Anyway, this story takes place a while after the last Chapter of the X Factor, but before/during the Epilogue.
So read it, enjoy. I only describe characters I feel were important to describe...I guess I could edit it for a 'Director's Cut' deal or something, but I'm lazy.
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The air was freezing, and the bitter wind was biting at Raven’s face with no mercy. The day had been dragging on forever, it seemed. A bank heist, an electrical fire, and a homicidal pyrotechnic to finish things off. At least things hadn’t been TOO bad. But why did it have to be so COLD outside? Raven’s legs felt like icicles, and her arms were becoming quite numb, as well. She would’ve changed into something warmer had there been time to do so, but the evening had been so hectic that time was a valuable commodity.
Their work was finally done, however, and it was time to head back to the Tower and finish preparations for the day to come- Christmas. Raven had never particularly enjoyed the holiday. To her, it had always been a foolish charade of commercialism. She never understood the ritual of Christmas, and for her whole life was never interested in being a part of it. Things had a habit of changing.
“You will join us in the decorating of the coniferous tree, correct?” the cheery voice of a warm-hearted Tamaranian asked from Raven’s side as they both soared over the icy bay of Jump City.
“Why not?” Raven replied rhetorically. “Wouldn’t want the boys to mess it up.” Starfire giggled in response as she twirled through the air with excitement.
“There are three of them and four of us,” Starfire reminded her.
“Yea,” Raven murmured as her mind sailed back to weeks before. “Starfire,” she began quietly, watching moist clouds flow from her lips with every syllable. “Do you think we’ll ever see them again? You know…” She left Starfire to pick up the rest of her sentence.
Starfire paused to reflect as the Tower grew closer by the minute.
“I believe that we shall,” she said solemnly. “Besides, they said that we would meet them again…”
“I guess so…” Raven looked down to the slowly rolling waves below. “But it’s been so long…I hope they’re all right.” She felt her spine tingle wildly, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered. “It’s FREEZING…”
Starfire leaned in the air and flew closer to her friend. She reached her tan arm out to touch Raven’s pale hand.
“Indeed, you are quite chilled,” she concluded with concern. “Come. When we return, I shall prepare the soup of poultry that Earthlings consume when in such a condition.”
Raven smiled at her friend’s radiant, emerald eyes and nodded.
“That sounds good. Thanks, Starfire.”
----------
“That should do it…” Robin muttered as he took a few steps back to admire the glowing star that had been placed atop the pine tree. Robin was the caped crusader who led the Titans. “Good job, Star.” Starfire, who had flown up to stick the glimmering marvel of metal onto the tip of the plant, clapped her hands together in glee. She whirled in circles around the tree to inspect every nook and cranny and make sure that each was filled with a colorful decoration.
“Ai’ght, ya’ll,” Cyborg, a human-robot combination, cried out from a wall in the back of the room. “Time to see this baby in action!” He flicked his index finger downward on the switch attached to the wall, and the light was sucked out of the room. They could all hear Beastboy let out a short-lived shriek, which induced a few chuckles. After a few moments of silent anticipation in the dark, the Titans began to wonder what was wrong.
“Uhh…Cy?” Beastboy squeaked out with a perplexed tone. Beastboy was a thin, green teen who could mutate into different beasts. “Any time now…”
A ‘click’ could be heard as a flashlight attached to the bionic teen’s shoulder was turned on. The Titans stood in the shadow and watched as Cyborg fumbled along the wall with a cord in his hand.
“Do you require any aid?” Starfire wondered.
“Nah, I got it,” Cyborg grunted back as he knelt down and plugged the pronged end into an electrical socket in the wall.
An explosion of light smothered the Titans as colors glowed from the elegantly arranged tree. Their faces were bathed in reds, greens, blues, yellows, and every other color of the rainbow. As Cyborg joined his companions in the ring that had been formed around the symbol of the season, the Titans partook in a few moments of silent awe and amazement.
“It’s beautiful,” a blonde-haired girl wearing a black sweatshirt murmured, breaking the tranquillity. She was a Terra, a girl who could control the earth beneath her feet and will it to do as she pleased.
“Mmmm, MMMMM,” Cyborg hummed with satisfaction, his hands on his hips.
“Ya did a good job, Sparky,” the sly and devious voice of a skinny ‘witch’ complimented as she nudged him in the waist. Her name was Jinx, an ex-student of a school for supervillains. Cyborg shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck modestly.
“Wasn’t nothin’,” he murmured.
“Nothing??” Beastboy fumed. “Dude, it took me FOREVER to get that stupid popcorn on the string…” He fiddled his hands around to express his frustration.
“It’s OK, Beastboy,” Robin told him, suppressing his laughter. “You did a good job…” He gave the green teen a slap on the back. “Good enough, anyway.”
“It is truly glorious,” Starfire whispered, her hands clasped together. Her eyes twinkled like the colored lights themselves. As Starfire admired the way they pulsated and shifted in rhythm, Raven felt as if something was missing. For a moment, she couldn’t quite place it, but it quickly came to her.
Mario would be picking on how his brother Luigi had done a ‘half-ass’ job on the decorations in the hall. He’d do it in such a way that you could somehow tell he was being good-natured about it, and was really complimenting his little brother.
Sonic and Tikal would be standing side by side, holding hands. Amy would be standing behind them with a longing expression on her face as she stared at their interlocked fingers.
Link would be standing beside Terra, with his arms crossed over his chest. He’d be wearing a bright red Santa hat because he had lost a bet in poker with the boys earlier that day. Terra would laugh and shove it over his eyes, and he’d return the favor by pushing her away with a grin.
Tenochtitlan, with her color-changing eyes, would be wearing a pair of yellow retinas at the time, and would be hugging Beastboy with every ounce within her. She’d kiss him on the cheek and play with his ear lovingly, and he would squeeze her hand and blush.
That’s what was missing from this fuzzy scene: her friends. The friends she had made. The friends she had grown close to as Starfire opened her heart to love. Just as Raven began to truly understand and appreciate the love she had for her friends, and the love they had for her, she had lost them in the blink of an eye.
(Are they still ALIVE?) Raven wondered dully.
As minutes flew by, Raven levitated before the Christmas tree in deep thought. Memories swept by her like a flash flood as the glittering lights of the tree relaxed her. She remembered a barbecue, where Beastboy had somehow managed to get his hair lit on fire, and Tenochtitlan had summoned some water magic to extinguish it. She remembered spending an afternoon with Cyborg and the Mario Bros. as they tweaked the T-Car and added a few touches to it. She remembered watching Sonic and Amy shout at each other like children while Tikal tried to tear them apart. She remembered a quiet evening full of tension after thirteen civilians had died because the Titans’ plan had crumbled apart. She remembered how the events that followed that night had pulled the team closer together. She remembered seeing her friend submit to Slade, their heart opening to darkness.
She remembered it all in vivid detail as the photographs swirled through her mind. Why did things have to end the way they had? Couldn’t she see them again?
“I wish the others were here to see this,” she murmured, her violet eyes glued to the awe-commanding sight before her. Raven broke out of her mesmerized state as she came to realize that no one had been there to hear her. The room was empty aside from one Teen Titan and one glowing Christmas tree.
“Where’d everyone go…?” Raven found herself muttering aloud as she scanned the room.
(A little bizarre…) she thought to herself. (I must have really zoned out…)
“It’s sleepy time!!” the cheery voice of a little girl shouted in Raven’s ear.
Raven cried out in shock as she flailed her arms about and crashed into the floor, landing flat on her face. As she groaned and got up to her knees, she could hear giggles coming from behind her. The voice was one she recognized. It belonged to a child named Sideris. Though her age was unclear, Sideris appeared to be somewhere around ten years old. She was a charming kid who wore a white T-shirt with a giant, red paw print covering its front surface. On the backside of the shirt, in jagged block letters, was the phrase, “Same Sky.” She adorned a pair of black, denim shorts that ran down just above her knees. She wore pink chuck sneakers with white socks, as well. On her left arm was a black bracelet of ebony, while the right arm had an identical one made of white ivory. She had a pair of glittering, jade eyes, and her straight, elegant hair was a shade of red slightly darker than that of Starfire. The hair was in a smooth ponytail that barely touched her back, and it curled up slightly at the tip. A set of fluffy bangs accompanied it, and they barely reached down to her lively, green eyes.
Raven turned her head to see the beaming face of the girl, and she beamed back warmly.
“What are you doing here?” she asked with joyful surprise.
“I came to wish you a merry Christmas, silly,” the child explained, rolling her eyes. “But you’re still up!! Naughty!” She scolded Raven by wiggling her finger.
“Shouldn’t YOU be sleeping?” Raven asked her with a grin, acting as if she was an older sister.
“No, I don’t have a bedtime, ‘Sides, me and my friend wanted to give you guys Christmas presents…” She grinned slyly, her fists trembling in excitement before her.
“Your friend…?” Raven mumbled awkwardly.
“Yea!” Sideris squealed as she let out a lisped whistle. “Larry!!”
Raven was amazed to see a small boy with a large head appear before her wearing an outfit identical to Robin’s. It was Larry, or Nosyarg Kcid, a boy who traveled between dimensions and could bend reality with his ‘magic finger.’
“Have no fear, LARRY’S HERE!!” the boy cried out triumphantly.
“Larry, give Raven her present…I hafta get the other ones ready…”
As Sideris scampered out of the room hastily, Larry gave Raven a toothy smile, flashing his buckteeth proudly.
“No problem no problem. So, what do you want?” Larry asked her expectantly.
“Wh-…What?” Raven mumbled, still a bit overcome by the two children and their uncanny ability to induce confusion.
“You KNOW,” Larry groaned, lifting his sparkling index finger into the air. “What do you WANT?”
“…You mean…Like, anything? You’re going to give me a wish, or something…?”
Raven certainly did not doubt Larry’s ability to carry out such a task, as she knew he could be the cause of many a strange circumstance.
“You bet!! Anything you want! So what’ll it be? You want a flashy cloak that can make you invisible, or a pair of shoes that’ll make you as fast as The Flash, or armor as strong as Superman, or-“
“I wish my friends were still here,” Raven spat out, her heart dying to say it.
Larry paused, amused by the response.
“Hm…You mean those OTHER guys…” he reasoned, scratching his head. He pulled out a piece of paper from thin air and showed it to her. It was as if a snapshot had been taken from the time the Titans had bid farewell to their new friends.
“…Yes, them,” Raven mumbled. “I miss them…But-“ she glanced back up at him with skepticism, “-can you really do that?”
“Of COURSE I can!!” Larry assured her, puffing out his chest as he lifted his index finger into the air. A bright light burst from his fingertip like a nuclear explosion, engulfing everything in its wake. Raven was overcome by it as she felt her body being blasted into the air. For a few moments, she felt weightless- something she had grown accustomed to- and she watched the world around her slowly take shape. The skies came first- black and cloudy. Raven ignored the environment rapidly forming around her as she watched her friends get pieced together before her very eyes. Everything was frozen in place, it seemed. No one moved an inch as the world continued to build itself. Raven watched her familiar friends come first- Cyborg, right in front of her, then Starfire. Terra appeared behind them, with Link at her side. The sight of Link, whom Raven had an infatuation with for a period of time in the past, made Raven’s heart jump. She waited in anticipation for the others. Next came Tikal and Amy, who were both in the process of hugging each other. Raven was so amazed at the sights generating before her that she didn’t take the time to see the dire expressions on everyone’s faces.
Mario was last. He stood farther away from the others on a rocky edge of ‘Titan Island.’ Raven’s eyes darted around for the others, but they didn’t come into view.
(They must be off doing something else,) she reasoned.
She suddenly noticed that things were moving. It took a moment for her to realize this, as no one was moving much at all. Raven found herself standing beside Cyborg, who was staring into the bay with glazed eyes.
“Cyborg,” Raven cried out with excitement, “Where are the other guys?”
Cyborg’s eyes widened while his brows furrowed and his mouth curved downward. His head creaked to his left to see Raven’s giddy grin, and he shook his head in disbelief.
“I-don’t-KNOW, Ray,” he said with firm solemnity. “But they sure ain’t here…” He huffed through his nose and turned his gaze back to the shore.
“Wh-…?” Raven was puzzled, and as she glanced around to the others, she noticed that they all shared the same demeanor. They looked as if a great grief had been dumped upon them. She stared at Terra’s wet cheek, half of her face covered in blonde hair as she leaned her head on Link’s shoulder from behind him. Link glared with anger at the waters before him, and his expression sent a tingle down Raven’s spine. Streams of salty water were flooding from Amy’s brilliant, green eyes as she squeezed Tikal in desperation. Although Raven could only see Tikal’s pale, orange hair and not her face, she somehow knew that both girls shared a similar expression. She looked over to Mario’s back as the wind caressed his brown mess of hair . The teenage version of the hero from Stellon grasped his red ‘M’ hat in his left hand tightly while his right hand was balled into a fist at his side.
Raven could feel her stomach lurch and her heart skip a few beats as she gazed around at everyone’s gloomy manners.
“Wh-? What’s going on…?” she whispered.
“Raven, could you just cut out the mood swings?” Terra grumbled. “For one minute?”
“If you’re going to have some breakdown again, go do it somewhere else,” Link bitterly added, his eyes burning with fury.
“I thought you weren’t gonna wear that anymore,” Cyborg grunted, observing her outfit. Raven was wearing what she had been wearing back inside the Tower- a pink, short-sleeved hoody that had a picture of a broken heart with angel wings. This was equipped with a purple hood and was paired with blue shorts. The outfits of everyone around her were irrelevant, as all Raven could really see were faces leaking pain.
“I-…” She gave her outfit a quick glance, then looked back up. “I don’t understand…What’s-…?”
“Just be quiet!!” Amy growled at her hysterically. “If you aren’t going to pay your respects, then leave…” she commanded with cold anger.
Raven’s insides were churning with fear, and it only got worse when she heard the voice of her best friend- the one person she cared for most.
“Please…” Her voice was trembling uncontrollably. “No more yelling…For their sake, please do not yell…”
Everyone hushed at Starfire’s desperate words. Raven took a few steps around Cyborg so she could see Starfire, who was knelt before a carved stone, her index finger held out before it. It was shaped like…a gravestone.
“No…” Raven whispered in horror to herself. (A gravestone??)
She read the carved text on its surface.
“Our Beloved Leader. May he rest in peace.”
“No,” Raven mumbled in denial, shaking her head. The name “Robin” was below the previous text, and Raven watched as Starfire carefully projected starbolt energy from her fingertip to engrave another name: “Dick Grayson.”
“…He’s…gone…?” Raven murmured, her face completely pale.
“What do you THINK??” Terra growled darkly from behind.
“Why don’t you take your messed up mind somewhere ELSE?” Link quipped.
Raven’s hair was encased in black energy as it waved around erratically, and she gave him a perplexed expression, her brow lifted.
“You were just bawling your eyes out five minutes ago…” Tikal whispered, bewildered. “And all of a sudden, you’re smiling…??”
Starfire squinted her eyes shut in aggravation, her fist shaking as her fingernails dug into her palm, a result of her suppressed agony.
“Please be quiet,” she demanded calmly, though with more authority than last time.
Raven began to realize that there were MORE gravestones.
“Jinx.”
“Beastboy.”
“Tenochtitlan.”
“Luigi.”
“Sonic.”
“…I don’t understand…” she whispered, covering her mouth to stop her noise from disturbing the others. She couldn’t bear the sight any longer. The scent of death lingered in the air, and the pain was so thick that it would take an ax to cut through it. Raven took to the air with great speed and flew to the Tower’s roof as quickly as she could. She faced Jump City and felt the confusion and terror of the situation overwhelm her. Smoke billowed from buildings, rubble remained where skyscrapers had stood, and the once-magnificent bridge that had stretched across the bay lay in jagged chunks, spread across the icy waters. Snow wasn’t present, but Raven’s body felt chilled to the bone. Though the temperature was low, it wasn’t the cause.
“How-…? Why is this-…?” Raven was trying to figure out what had happened, but there was little way of her solving such a puzzle by herself.
She heard Larry’s sad voice explain from behind her.
“Your friends were supposed to return home, remember?” he reminded her. “Well…I changed things, so…they didn’t…They couldn’t fight the war that’s going on, so the bad guys came here to get rid of this place because it’s in their way…”
“…The ‘war’…It’s really this important…?” Raven whispered in amazement.
Raven’s friends had left because they had to return to fight in an interplanetary battle. Raven had never quite understood the gravity of the situation.
“…I-I don’t want this,” Raven spat out, shaking her head quickly. “Can I make things the way they were before??” she questioned, her eyes wide with fear.
Larry sighed and shrugged. “I can’t do that,” he muttered. “It’s impossible. You can’t wish for me to have never granted your wish. That wouldn’t make sense.”
Raven felt her heart sink like a rock, and her legs gave out on her, causing her to falter to her knees.
“BUT-“ Larry added, sticking his ‘magic finger’ up high. “I CAN give you another wish before I have to leave.”
Raven didn’t understand what he meant as far as ‘having to leave’ was concerned, but it didn’t matter.
“I wish the Titans were happy!” she spat out. The words practically spilled out. “ALL of them…Including the ones that left us to go home…”
Larry cocked his head to the side.
“Well, I don’t know if I can do that one, the last one tired me out a bit, but…-” He smiled, his buckteeth shining in the dark. “I’ll try.”
Everything turned white as it had before, and the world around Raven was altered yet again. Raven’s consciousness faded as things began to piece themselves together rapidly.
Raven awoke to find herself in her dark bedroom. Light trickled through her window like water in a brook, and she gazed outside to see snowflakes floating down in a ballet of frozen water. Raven’s head felt like a scrambled egg, and she felt dazed as she slumped her legs out from her blanket and onto the cold, wooden floor of her room. As she rubbed her temples and moaned, she remembered what had just happened.
(It was just a strange dream…) she concluded with relief. (Or a nightmare.)
The enormous stress on her heart lifted, Raven levitated herself to her feet and shivered. Her room was freezing, she realized, so she quickly retreated into the hallway to find her friends. A small part of her was still worried about the wish she had made. What had it changed? Her doubts melted away within a couple of minutes as she approached the ‘living room’ of the tower where the tree had been set up. She could hear laughter echoing from the other side of the door, and she smiled. They sounded happy, as she had hoped.
She stretched her arms out and took a deep breath as the metal door slide open, and she exhaled peacefully. A herd of eyes turned to her, and a flurry of grins followed them.
“Oh! Good MORNING, Raven!!” Starfire joyously cried as she squeezed her best friend tightly. Raven returned it as best as she could as a euphoric wave swept over her. “I wish you a merry Christmas, dear friend!”
“Merry Christmas to you, too, Star,” Raven said warmly as she chuckled.
“You must open the gifts that have been bestowed upon you! You MUST!! Come!!” Starfire dragged Raven to the tree through the air and grabbed a very small box of black velvet and shoved it in Raven’s face eagerly.
“Please, open! I do hope that you find it to be satisfactory!”
Raven shook her head slightly as she popped the box open to reveal a silver chain necklace. A sphere of smooth ruby was attached to the chain, and it shimmered in the morning light that poured through the wall of glass before her. She couldn’t hold in her gasp as she whispered in awe, “It’s beautiful…Thank you…”
She clasped the box shut and pressed it to her chest lovingly.
“Now you have to see what I got YOU,” she insisted
“Raven!!” Robin’s voice flew to her ears from the tree, and she was caught by surprise as a rectangular package was tossed into the air in her direction. She focused on it as it fell, and it slowly descended to her hands in black energy.
“It looks like an old friend decided to play Santa,” Robin noted with a smirk as he admired a cape he had received. It was white on one side and black on the other, and a familiar paw print was stitched into either side in red thread.
As Starfire dove to the tree for her next gift, Raven glanced down at the present in her hands. It was wrapped in shiny red foil, and she examined the white card attached to it.
“To ~ Raven,” it read. “From ~” Where a name would have been written there was in its stead that paw that had been cropping up again and again. Raven’s eyed lids closed slightly as she smiled and opened it with care.
What met her eyes on the other end of the wrapping was an old-looking book, about two inches thick. Its hard cover had intricate textures swirling around its border, but as Raven opened it up, she noticed how fresh and new the pages within were. She noticed that someone had scribbled something in black crayon on the inside cover.
“Raven,
I found out you like to read, so I got this book for you. I got help so that all the funny letters aren’t funny and you can read them now. I hope it makes up for your wish that went yucky and you like it. Don’t forget your friends, but don’t be sad. They don’t want you to be sad. I bet you will see them again.
Merry X-mas, Sideris”
Raven wiped a tear from her cheek as she finished, and she shed another when she saw the adorable interpretation of Titan Tower that had been drawn in crayons by the hands of the little girl. Its smudgy image had a rough texture from the crayons, and it wasn’t entirely straight for a tower.
She closed the book as Starfire attacked her with another hug while her fellow Titans were exchanging gifts around her.
“I am quite pleased with the sweater you have bestowed upon me!” Starfire squealed, wearing a wool shirt of purple.
“I’m glad you like it…”
Starfire pranced around a little in boundless joy.
“Glad does not properly express my happiness!” Starfire shouted giddily.
“So, Ray,” Cyborg asked her from behind, pointing a finger to the tree.
“You still got more presents. Did ya get you wanted?” He nodded to the book.
Raven gave it a quick glance, but dropped it to her hip and shook her head.
“No,” she said with a grin as her violet eyes sparkled. “I’ve had it this whole time. I couldn’t wish for more.”
-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-
FIN
Merry Christmas, and all that jazz.