Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans I just take them and put them in odd positions, I also like to think I messed with Jinx's character a little bit and I took bits and pieces from other FanFics I've read and I wonder, can someone write a fanfic on another fanfic?
This might not seem like a lot, and I know everyone (including myself) likes long chapters, but I never realized just how long, long chapters are really.
I've been toying with this idea for a while so tell me what you think if you like, or don't, I don't really think it would stop me from writing. I write because I like to, and because summer vacation is very long and I've begun to hate watching t.v.
So read…if anyone wants to beta give me the heads up, but hopefully I've managed to catch the errors in this.
Don't Know Why
The Teen Titan Tower was fairly quiet, it was a Wednesday afternoon and it seemed even the criminals were taking the day off. Robin was entertaining himself with teaching Starfire how to use a stereo system, and Starfire was busy trying to trick Robin into putting a romantic cd in. BeastBoy was occupying his time with fixing his mop-ped which lay dismembered due to some accident or another. Cyborg was watching t.v. in the livingroom smiling every time his favorite character would appear on the screen. This left Raven without much to do and Raven knew she had to go out to pick something up anyway, so she quickly compiled a plan to escape her boredom.
"I'm out of tea, again?" Raven complained to no one in particular and than threw the box in the trash. "I swear, she must be cutting holes in the boxes or something. Stupid shop—"
"Rae, who you talkin' to?" Cyborg asked, looking over his shoulder to the empathy in the kitchen.
"No one," Raven sighed, "can I borrow your car for a quick trip in town?"
Cy looked out the windows of the tower and watched the rain splatter mercilessly on the glass, "Yeah, I guess so." He dug around the couch and managed to locate his keys, "Here, and be careful with my baby."
Raven shook her head and caught the keys thrown at her, "Thanks Cy, I promise I'll be nice to her, do you want me to tell her anything for you?"
Cy glared and when the darker teen walked out from the kitchen threatened, "You should be nice to me, I'm trusting you with my—are you wearing normal clothes?"
Raven nodded and looked down at her jeans, T-shirt, and hoodie combo. "Yes, unless you haven't notice lately people recognize the costume, it's just easier to be inconspicuous."
"Wait, if you already had normal clothes on then—"
"Thanks for the car, Cy." Raven said as she suddenly fazed through the floor of the Titan's livingroom and into the garage. "Ah, freedom." Raven muttered as she clicked on the engine with the keys. "I wonder just how fast she can go?"
"Hey Rae, you got the keys to Cy's car? Sweet, joyride!" BeastBoy practically yelled from the dismembered mo-ped he was attempting to repair. His face was coated with a layer of grease and Raven mentally cringed at what Cyborg would've done if she had let him into the car.
"Not for you," the empathy countered in monotone as she opened the driver's side door and hopped in. The garage door suddenly opened after being incased in blackness and Raven gunned it just as Cybog ran out.
"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING MY BABY?" He cried to the empath who was already hovering over water.
"You said I could take it," Raven replied somehow managing to project her voice around thirty yards and gaining without yelling. The car speeded over the water, kicking up waves in its wake and Raven turned on the radio, absently flipping the station with her powers until she came upon Nora Jones.
Out across the endless sea
I would die in ecstasy
But I'll be a bag of bones
Driving down the road along
The screen on the car suddenly flipped on to reveal the angered half-robot's face, "Where are you really taking my baby?" He asked.
Raven sighed, "I really liked that song, Cy, why do you keep interrupting my attempt to get tranquility?" She absently looked down from the road to see his frustrated face, "Look, I'm really going to a tea shop, it's called 'Bad to the Bone' on 8th and Ocean, you can check on the GPS if you want."
Cy glared but Raven was too busy driving to notice, "Do you mind?" She asked in monotone, "I'm kind of driving…"
"You better not take her anywhere else," Cyborg warned still glaring and then the screen went black allowing the radio station to turned back on.
Raven disinterestedly navigated the streets and pulled into a parking space in front of the afore mentioned store. She opened the door and slid out of the seat in one swift movement. As she entered the store the bell rang and. "Welcome back," greeted a voice from the back of the store.
Raven ignored it and headed to the other side, pulling out plastic bottles from a stack and filling them up with variously colored liquids. Then she snatched a tiny Ziploc bag and proceeded to fill it with brown powder. Finally she walked through a few aisles searching for something obviously no longer there, and turned to the check-out counter in frustration.
"Looking for this?" The pink-headed cashier asked absently, her finger stuck in the circle punched out to hang the box and spinning the box. Raven glared and the cashier chuckled, "So you don't want it?" The girl shrugged, "I understand, it is a rare form of tea only grown in a specific region in Malaysia" she glanced at the box, "at least that's what the box says anyway." She leaned back against the chair and began to throw the box into the air and catch it, baiting the other girl, "This is our last one after all. And the next shipment doesn't come in for a couple weeks, but I understand, you have gone without it for the last month and I mean," she shrugged again, "a couple more weeks shouldn't mean much to you, huh?"
"How did you know I haven't had any for a month?" Raven asked, still glaring at the girl whose face had turned into a victorious smile.
The girl was now spinning the box with one hand and looking everywhere but at the empath, "Well, I have no idea how your entire stock of tea suddenly disappeared twenty-six days ago, you must've just woken up in the middle of the night and poured all of it into a big pot of water."
The cashier was afraid the other girl was about to pounce, "I knew it was you!" She snarled.
The pink-haired teen raised her hands, "I was busy sleeping during the incident, unfortunately there was no one else in my apartment so my alibi probably wouldn't stand up so well, but all you have is circumstantial evidence." She looked over at the other merchandise Raven was carrying, "I knew you were making that!"
As soon as the words left her lips the girl felt herself being picked up by the blackness that encased itself around her torso. "I don't think this s really that heroic; preying on innocent little cashiers, really Raven—"
The magic faded and the girl kicked the wall to propel herself to the counter. "Can I just have some tea?" The empath asked, regaining her calm demeanor.
"Sure," the girl said and put the box on the counter next to the rest of Raven's purchases. She added up the other girl's total, "and that comes to forty-two, sixty-three."
Raven reached into her back pocket and pulled out her wallet, thumbing through the bills. As she handed the cash over the other teen handed her the receipt and a card. "What's this?" Raven asked as she turned the business card over.
"You're gana need some help with that spell," the girl explained.
"Jinx, I hardly—"
"Ha, score two for me, first you actually say something, now you're saying my name."
"Why are you so childish?"
Jinx tilted her head as if deep in thought, "Why are you so adult-ish?"
Raven sighed in aggravation and turned to leave only to feel a hand on her wrist, "What?" She asked turning to the pink-haired teen.
"You really are going to need help with, locking up your powers it's not something that anyone can do on their own, it's too dangerous, especially for someone like you."
"Like me?"
"Someone whose power derives from their emotions, blocking powers can kill someone like you." Jinx said locking eyes with the empath, her entire personality had turned serious. "You'll need someone with powers equal to you—"
"You think you're powers are as good as mine?"
"Now who's being childish?" The sorceress said dead serious.
"What do you want?" Raven asked as she jerked her arm back.
"It's my job to do this sort of thing, look at the card." Raven didn't make a move and Jinx smirked, "You know it's my job to keep people from killing themselves, like it's your job to keep people from summoning something they can't control and it's Selinda's to—"
"I know what we're supposed to do," Raven cut in.
Jinx sighed, "Then you know I have to help you, I've done this spell countless times, it can go south faster than a heist near the tower."
Raven arched her eyebrow at the reference, "I'll think about it," she said as she turned to leave.
"Don't do something stupid, Raven." Jinx shouted to her back as she left. Then door closed with a jingle and the sorceress listened to the car drive away before looking over her shoulder and shouting, "Bobby!"
"Yeah, Boss?" A kid around sixteen asked as he faded through the wall behind Jinx.
"Mind the register, and don't call me boss, I'm done here." She said not the least unnerved from the kid's sudden appearance.
"Got it, Boss." He answered and sat in the stool in front of the register, turning his attention to the few customers milling about the shop.
Jin roller her eyes while retrieved her leather jacket from the back of the shop. "I'll be back next week, Bobby," she called to him as she turned to leave.
He saluted from the stool, "Catch yah then, boss."
Jinx shook her head and then stepped out into the November cold. Sometimes she wished Jump was closer to L.A. and not so freaking north. "Stupid weather," she muttered as she hailed a taxi and caught a ride to her apartment.
Two days had passed and Raven was absently flicking the card Jinx ad given her, Raven knew she was right, which pissed her off even more and was currently causing the object in her room to rearrange themselves. I thought when Trigon left I'd bee free of this, she thought to herself and glanced to the diagram she was levitating above.
It was made out of sand, but the sand glowed red and was obviously not from the beach surrounding the tower. The sand itself, though, was arranged in a pattern of interconnected ovals and triangles, it had taken nearly three hours to carefully place and Raven had to fix the locking mechanism on her door to make sure no one would walk in and carelessly mess up the entire thing.
She studied the design and considered checking it again when suddenly the alarms went off in the tower and Robin's voice rang out, "It's Control Freak!"
She sighed and fazed through the walls of the tower until she came to the living room. Then other titans were rushing to the area and Beast Boy came out struggling to put on his shirt. "Aww, no bunny pajamas this time?" Cyborg teased and BB looked like Christmas with the color of red his face turned.
"He's at the Game Super Store, Titans go!" Shouted their fearless leader and Starfire grabbed Robin while Cyborg jumped on top of Beast Boy's pterodactyl form, leaving Raven to simply fly out with the rest of them.
The city's heroes arrived on the scene in just enough time to catch the chubby villain before he escaped with enough videogames to fuel his unhealthy habit of sitting in the dark, alone with a controller for the next year. Beast Boy and Cyborg were quite happy with the catch as the store owner awarded the titans with free video games—provided they return the games when they were due—for the next year.
"Booyah!" Cyborg yelled and high-fived Beast Boy
"Man, this is sweet!"
Raven rolled her eyes at the two and watched quietly from her hood as the police shoved Control Freak into a patrol car. She shook her head knowing he would just escape jail anyway; it wasn't like he hadn't managed to do it before. She looked over at Robin who was busy trying to ward the press off from the crime scene.
Deciding that she was probably free all night she floated over t the Boy Wonder. Causing one of the rookie reporters yelled out, "It's Raven!"
"No pictures," Raven replied coldly and the reporters all pointed their cameras down, most of them remembering what had happened last time they had tried to take a picture of the gloomy titan. The empath turned to Robin and talked quietly, "I'm gana head back to the tower to change and then, I think, I'm gana go out."
Robin nodded, "I think we're done here," he said dismissing the titan, and then turning to the press one again, "All of you, go home! Story's over, find something else to cover, we're out of here!" He yelled to the mass.
The reporters began to object and he shrugged and turned back to Raven, only to find her gone.
Raven walked into the café and looked around in search of friends,. It was a quiet little shop on the far side of the business district and with dim lights and a full menu it gave the air of a poetry club gone restaurant which had the empath a little confused as to why its name was Café Coffee. If actually labeling the shop was hard enough picking out the different characters seated was nearly impossible, there were normal people, emos, goths, scene kids, preps, game junkies, real junkies, basically every stereotype one could find in the lower end of Jump City.
The variety didn't really hinder Raven's ability to locate her friends and her eyes fell on a man sitting comfortably in a booth, she smirked and walked over, "Hey Rick." He looked up from where he had been zoning out, "Hey Rache, nice to see you again. Me and Abby were getting worried that you wouldn't show."
She looked over at the classical clock hanging on the wall, "I said I'd be here by ten, and it's ten now, so…"
He shrugged, "Yeah, but you're always like a half-hour early."
In turn Raven shrugged, "Yeah, but I had to get back to go home 'n change. Sometimes I think my job's a royal pain, you know?"
He nodded and looked towards the door, "Abby should be hear any time now, she uhh, met up with a friend and they were talking while I got the 'sit and wait for Rachel' job."
"Oh, I'm sure you're beside yourself to do that," Raven observed dryly.
"Hey, don't get me wrong, I haven't seen you in forever, but she's pretty cool."
"So I'm getting out ranked by this mysterious 'friend' of yours."
"Yeah, pretty much," Rick said blandly and then his expression brightened, "Hey beautiful." He said looking at Abby and kissing her on the cheek.
Abby smiled at her boyfriend then look over at Raven, "Hey Rache, I'd like you to meet Jen."
Raven's eyes grew a little bit as she looked over to the pink-haired teen, "We've met already," Jinx said a bit startled at seeing Raven again. "You mind scooting in?" She asked. The empath shrugged and scooted over, still slightly in shock about seeing Jinx.
"Really?" Abby said, her face bright and cheering which contrasted quite well with the two now very uncomfortable girls sitting across from her, "Where do you know each other from?"
"The Circle," Raven answered before Jinx could get a word. The two locked eyes for a moment and Jinx nodded, it was partially true.
"I didn't know you were in the Circle, Jen." Rick said smirking.
"Yeah, well I guess it just never really came up." Jinx said shrugging and glaring at Raven. The Circle was a group of three people with magical abilities in charge of others with said abilities in an area. In this case, a city to be exact. The Circle in Jump was Raven, Jinx, and Selinda, although Jinx rarely kept up with the three's usual engagement of meeting every month to discuss possible threats towards the society the Nine had set up.
"But I've never seen you at the Rites," Rick said questioning Raven's explanation.
"You don't see Rachel there either," Jinx countered.
"Yeah, but that's because Rache's with the Nine," Abby said, adding to the conversation. Jinx nodded and the two looking very surprised, "Oh, I didn't realize you were that good at magic."
This was an even taller, if true, claim; the Nine were the original creators of the society of magic users or their successors. Jinx was fairly new to the group after succeeding her mother only four years ago. Every year the group got together for the Rites which was a specific ceremony that all in the semi-secret society observed. Only this celebration was a private manner and the group did get carried away.
"Thank you, for underestimating me, Abby. It's such a confidence booster." Jinx said dryly and turned to the waiter.
The teenager before them grinned, "Hey boss, what'cha doin' here? It's not Thusday, is it?"
"I swear to the goddess, Jimmy." Jinx began to mutter, but Raven spoke over her.
"'Boss'?"
"Yeah, Jen owns this place," Jimmy explained frowning at Jinx, "Figured you would've told your friends—"
"Jimmy, please, shut up." Jinx said glaring at Raven who was trying to hold back a smile.
"Sorry, Jen. Uh, can I take your order?" He asked looking away from the angered teen.
"Coffee and a slice of chocolate cake," Abby said arching an eyebrow at Jinx.
"Chamomile with a raisin muffin," Raven ordered calmly.
"Irish coffee with thing of nachos," Rick said and Abby stared at him.
"How can you eat that, it's ten o'clock!"
"Yeah, and I'm hungry." Rick said shaking his head at his girlfriend, "You're not gana complain to Jen about her eating habits.
"Yeah, but I'm not going out with Jen," Abby countered.
"That you know of anyway," Jinx said grinning and Rick glared. "Usual," Jinx said to Jimmy and he nodded and practically ran off in fear of Jinx's glare.
"Well now I know how you can afford to pick up the bill so much," Abby said looking back at Jinx while Raven tried unsuccessfully to hold back a snicker.
Jinx scanned the café for any flying objects and frowned when she saw none, "Shut-up." She told the teen next to her.
"Must be nice, having a restaurant, being in the Nine…the party's must be nice." Rick said grinning evilly.
Jinx shrugged indifferently, "They're okay, I guess. I think Rachel always has a better time than me though." She sighed to accent to her words.
Raven gave her a glare, but it faltered as she remembered the last Rite the Nine had met at and she moved farther away from Jinx, blushing slightly. Jinx's cat eyes watched her carefully as she too thought about the last Rite, as Raven moved away she frowned and tuned her attention back to the couple in front of her.
Abby was looking at Jinx and raising an eyebrow at the girl, but Jinx shook her head. Raven wasn't someone Jinx was interested in; in Jinx's profession it was dangerous to befriend someone like Raven. No, Jinx thought we're just acquaintances pretending we don't know we're on opposite sides. When it comes down to it I'll be getting my ass kicked by her, Jinx shook her head at how little she thought of herself.
Jimmy came back with drinks and the four chatted about random events in Jump City, it became increasingly apparently to the two how little each had told the couple about themselves and they both treaded lightly on the conversation in order to keep their own secrets.
When the food came Raven glanced at the platter in front of Jinx, "Hungry much?"
Jinx nodded, "I'm starved, I haven't had anything to eat since two," she explained and picked up he burger soaked in barbeque sauce and began eating. Jinx ate at normal human rate, but it just astonished Raven how much food the skinny teen could eat, it reminded her of Terra for a moment and then she let that depressing thought go as she bit into the muffin absently.
Eventually Abby and Rick decided to call it a night and the two left leaving the two girls to find their way home.
"Well, that was very interesting," Raven said looking at Jinx as she stood up from the booth.
"Yeah," Jinx said nodded following Raven.
The empath halted and looked over at Jinx, "You know, he never brought us the check."
"I know, I got it covered," Jinx said and glanced at Raven, "Walk you to the shore."
"What are you, my date?" The other girl countered and Jinx shrugged.
"So this is the thanks I get for buying you dinner and offering you good conversation for the walk to your door." Jinx opened the door like in mock chivalry, waving her hand for Raven to go through.
"I don't live in the sea," Raven said as she walked out the door of the café.
"Yes, but I don't think you want the titans seeing you strolling around with someone like me."
"Someone like you?" Raven asked as the two began to walk to the coast anyway, making the argument rather pointless.
"Yeah," Jinx said dryly looking everywhere but at Raven. The two fell into silence and Jinx tried to decide how she was going to bring the subject up, eventually she just gave in for the less subtle approach. "You're gana need help with that spell, no one, not even you, can do that enchantment alone."
"I know, Jen." Raven said and glanced out into the ocean that had appeared before them.
"You have your life, and I have mine," Jinx said shrugging.
"You seem to keep worming your way into mine." Raven observed, the two had stopped walking and Raven was looking at the tower while Jinx was cautiously watching Raven.
Jinx sighed, "Abby's an old friend, and she wanted me to hang out with Rick because she said the two of us got along so well," the teen grinned, "personally, I think he's a jerk."
"I like Rick."
Jinx shook her head, "You would."
It was quiet for a moment as the two listened to the waves lap against the coast, Jinx looked at the dark ten and wondered why Raven hadn't called the titans on her yet. "I missed talking to you."
"We didn't talk much before." Raven said coldly.
The sorceress nodded, "I always saw you at the Circle…we talked then." Raven look over at the girl, to Raven, Jinx seemed suddenly very vulnerable, "I missed not seeing you this year."
"You saw me anyway," Raven said, but her words were softer, lacking the sting they usually held.
"Didn't get to talk much, you were busy," fighting Trigon, Jinx didn't finish her sentence, not wanting to bring up the battle.
"I was very busy," Raven's words carried an air of sorrow that Jinx was quick to pick up on.
"Are you going to let me help you?"
Raven nodded and then torn her gaze from the taller girl, "I guess I don't have much of a choice."
Jinx sighed, grateful that Raven had given in, "Pick me up when you get the final few things, I'll be at the shop."
"You know we're going to the tower, right?"
The sorceress nodded, "I figured so…"
Raven looked up and Jinx followed her gaze, "Beautiful night."
"Yeah, you can see Oran perfectly," Jinx said smiling up at the constellation, when she looked back down she saw a dark shadow gliding over the water and no sign of Raven. Nodding to herself, she turned and walked back to the road. A cab pulled up a few moments later and Jinx climbed in and went home still wondering about Raven.
Author's Side-note
So that was it, there' s definitely going to be more chapters, I've already written the second one, but I'm probably gana wait a few days before updating so I can finish the third.
I'd also like to ask why it's such a pain in the ass to update around here, the stupid network is just being a royal pain. I'll figure it out as soon as I figure it out I guess.
Oh, and the song was by Nora Jones, titled "Come Away With Me" I think it's pretty good actually, and I had to bust into the sappy girly cds my step-mother keeps.
Well that was it for now, so hopefully you'll read more…