Casting Shame, Crying Rain

Author: ChristinaRoss

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or any of its characters. Nor do I own the song '30 minutes' by t.A.T.u or their lyrics or them. Wish I owned all of these things though.

Author's Notes: Welcome all to the sequel of 'Broken Lines Of Silver'. If you have not read the previous story, I suggest you do so or things will not make any sense to you. The title for this story is from the song '30 minutes' by t.A.T.u. (they rock!) and a lot of their songs are inspiration for this story. Sorry for the shortness of the chapter and the longness it took me to get it posted. I've been pretty busy. Well, Read, Review, Enjoy!

Chapter 1:

The 'Incident'

Raven sat on the end of her bed with her legs crossed as she meditated. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she murmured, chanting the same three, familiar words continuously to calm her frayed mind and body. She had been meditating frequently since the 'incident', which had occurred over two months ago.

The 'incident' was what the Titans had all agreed to call their mysterious memory lapse. All five of the heroes had found themselves in an old, abandoned, warehouse-like building on the brink of collapsing and no one could remember how or why they were there. Later, they discovered that about three days had been missing from their memories with no explanation for it. They performed numerous tests on each other but everything always came up normal or inconclusive.

This secretly terrified Raven: knowing that a piece of her past disappeared made her often wonder what had really happened during that time. The others probably wondered the same thing at first but then slowly let the 'incident' slip from their minds, just as the memories had. Raven wasn't about to let go that easily, so she buckled down and meditated furiously, searching her mind desperately for answers. She had even ventured into her mind personally a couple of times to take a closer look and ask around but nothing ever turned up. Her emotions knew only as much as she did. Those days seemed hopelessly lost forever.

Damn it. This thing has been raking at my brain for too long now. I can't take it. It's always on the tip of my mind but I can't seem to grasp it. It's so frustrating knowing something was there but not knowing what it is! Ugh, I need some tea. Maybe that'll clear my head for a while.

The dark sorceress lowered the hood of her blue, flowing cloak and left her room, heading towards the kitchen.

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Beast Boy rested atop the kitchen counter, watching as the purple-haired girl made her way to the cabinet and growled as she saw there was nothing in it. She slammed the door angrily and marched out of the room in silence, minus a few light bulbs bursting.

"Dude, what's up with her lately? She's been acting extra creepy and isolated since the 'incident'. Why won't she just except that the days are gone and move on like the rest of us have?" the green changeling asked the alien princess, who was sitting at the table nearby doodling some pictures with crayons.

"Yes, I would be inclined to agree with you, friend. She seems most disturbed and distracted by the 'incident'. She continues to search for answers that do not exist." As Starfire finished speaking, she put down her red crayon and held up her picture she drew to show Beast Boy. The boy grinned encouragingly at the cute innocence of the Tamaranian as he observed that it was a drawing of the team. It had Robin and Starfire standing suspiciously close together, Cyborg and Beast Boy playfully teasing each other and Raven standing at the far side of the page, eerily smiling cheerfully.

"Ah, Star," Beast Boy said nervously, not wanting to hurt the redheaded girl's feelings, "Your picture's not very accurate. Why is Raven smiling? She never smiles."

"I do not know," Starfire answered, staring down at the Raven sketch herself. "Because I wish for her to smile. I want her to be happy."

A sad frown replaced Beast Boy's impish grin and his forehead wrinkled. "I want her to be happy too, Star, but it doesn't seem like anything will help. Trust me, I've tried everything!" He threw up his arms in mock demonstration of how much everything was. "All my best material and she still wouldn't crack a smile! It's hopeless. We should just be sure to stay out of her way and she'll figure it out herself."

"I suppose you are correct," Starfire sighed and gazed longingly at her picture.

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Cyborg glided the folded cloth carefully over the smooth steel material in front of him, as his voice belted out lyrically. He was waxing the hood of his precious T-car while he sang along to his favourite song, which was blaring from the nearby radio in the open garage. As he sang along, the metal man noticed his cloaked and hooded friend making her way across the room to the exit and he stopped singing.

"Hey, Raven. Heading out?" he inquired, his charming voice causing the girl to halt in her path.

Raven turned to face the questioner behind her and she raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Yes," she said coolly, not showing any emotion.

"Where to?" he asked further.

"Just out." I shouldn't be angry with him. He's just wondering. "I have to buy some more tea."

"Oh, okay. Well, have fun." He waved slightly and then returned to polishing up his blue baby until it reflected back his happy face as Raven left the tower. "Have to get you all nice and shiny for our special visit to Titans East soon," he whispered to the vehicle. Oh, I can't wait to head up there for my routine visit to check out their tower. I hope Bumble Bee notices the nice job I do on my car.

Cyborg sighed to himself and poured on another coat of wax over the hood.

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The large, stiff punching bag wobbled as a forceful fist smashed against its side. Robin continued to viciously attack the poor, unsuspecting object as he grunted angrily.

Damn it all. No, damn Slade. He hasn't shown himself in over three months. He must be planning something big this time. I can feel it. I just hate him so much. I want to tear him from limb to limb. I want to smash in that stupid mask of his. I want to stand over his broken body and laugh just as he always does. The masked boy's strikes were becoming stronger and faster with every pleasure bringing thought. I could prove to him I'm just as good a fighter as he is if he just gave me the chance. But he knows that I can beat him and he's just too scared so he's in hiding. Yeah, that's it.

Robin halted his assaults and stepped back from his training partner, sighing. Better hit the showers. He turned and left the room filled with various equipment used for working out, and headed towards his room to take a long, cold shower to cool his body off. I'll get you, Slade. Soon enough, I will get you.

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Raven paced her way down the crowded streets, heading towards the only shop in Jump City that sold her favourite kind of tea. The sidewalks were bursting with people walking briskly or casually strolling along on the sunny Saturday morning. It seemed everyone was out and about. Raven wished that they weren't, so she could weave through them more easily. Every other person she walked past, she ended up bumping into. She was starting to get an enormous headache from all the noise.

Almost there. Just get your tea and get out and try to make it back to the tower in one piece.

She had considered flying there but the only time that the civilians had ever seen her flying was when there was an emergency and she didn't want to falsely alarm them. No one seemed to mind the half-demon meandering along outside as they were used to the local super heroes and tried to treat them with as much respect and normality as possible.

Raven finally reached her desired destination and pushed her way through the glass door into the run-down, small shop. It was one of those New Age, hippy-kind of places where you can by all-natural medicines and their staff consisted of one man who acted unusually mellow all the time.

The smell of scented candles and the dim, soothing lights engulfed Raven's senses as she traveled deeper into the familiar place to the back where she would find her special tea. She grabbed a box; it was a black box with golden Chinese letters on it; and advanced to the counter.

"Good evening, Madame," the longhaired man said from atop his stool behind the counter. "Fine night, isn't it?"

Wow. This guy is really out of it if he thinks it's nighttime. Oh well, whatever gets me my tea and home fast. "Yes," Raven agreed dryly. "My tea." She pushed the box over the flat surface to the man for him to take a look.

The cashier slowly picked up the box and held it unbelievably close to his red eyes, squinting at the letters. "A fine choice indeed," he said smoothly and handed back the small package to the girl. "That will be three fifty, please." He held out his bony hand, waiting patiently for the money to come.

Raven already had the exact amount of coins in her hand, as she doesn't own a purse or an actual wallet, and reached forward to pay the man.

As the metal clinked in the man's hand, he burst out into laughter and exclaimed loudly, "Whoa! Man, you know you have, like, purple hair, right? That's awesome!"

The purple-haired girl nodded and stumbled out the store quickly, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. I do not need all this today. She journeyed back towards the giant 'T'-shaped structure that could be seen in the distance, which was done purposefully to reassure the people of their safety, keeping her eyes on her feet to make sure she didn't stumble on any of the others below.

Suddenly, as the heroine knocked into another pedestrian for the millionth time that day, a jolt flashed through Raven's body and she shook her head to clear it. What was that? She rubbed her arm that had touched the other person as she looked at the person who had gotten in her path. "Sorry," she mumbled, seeing the other person staring down at their own arm and rubbing it as well. What was that feeling that rushed through me when we touched?

The other person raised their head slightly to apologize as well and a young woman's face was revealed who seemed not too much, if at all, older than Raven. Her green eyes beamed from behind her brown curtain of bangs and she smiled weakly. "It's okay. I'm sorry too," she said, her voice cracking nervously.

What is wrong with her? I didn't hurt her that bad, did I? Or did she feel that jolt too? Raven reached out a hand for the girl to shake but the girl just rushed past Raven without another word or a look back.

Raven knew that something was definitely up and she was going to find out, one way or another. All I wanted today was my tea. She let out a sigh and began to hover over the crowds of faces.

TheSacredForgottenRose: Good! I am too! And here it is! Though second chapter will be much, much better! Thank you for always being there and reviewing!

blackrider11: Yeah! Party! Woo! Everyone take off your clothes! … Oops, (laughs) sorry too far. I always act weird, not just when I'm tired. Glad you will wait. Thank you!

AsiaRe: Ooh! I made you cry? That's great! And bad… Sorry I made you sad but I'm glad you liked my story. Thank you so much for reading and waiting and reviewing!

DBZmotoko: I was thrilled that you reviewed my non-chapter thing. Very sweet of you! Sorry for making you sad but now I officially have a job (groan). Thank you so much!

D. Montgomery: Too bad, I'm replying anyways! I'm glad that you can wait because I'm getting slow. Thrilled you loved my story! Thank you for reviewing and reading!

ripper-rabbit: I'm happy that you loved my story and even more happier (if even possible) that it gave you inspiration. You story sounds awesome! I want to read it! Thank you!