My Fiction. My Blog. My Life:After braving the vast world of the internet with fanfictions, I've decided to expand my portfolio with short stories, blog posts, and snippets of my novel.
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Chapter 7As the weeks passed Gar and Raven started making an effort to hang out more. Including a few trips to the zoo, which Raven thoroughly enjoyed. At the very least, they made dinner a regular occurrence. If others joined them, as they frequently did, the conversation was light and easy. But if it was just the two of them, Gar would start to ask more personal questions. It was never easy for Raven to talk about her demonic heritage. She had told herself she accepted it, it was just who she was. But when it came down to actually following through with that belief, it was a bit harder. Sometimes she would try to ease into the topic, waiting for a spike in his emotions telling her he actually didn’t care to hear it. Each time though, the only thing she could sense was fascination and curiosity. Slowly, she had to admit she was getting more comfortable with opening up to someone else about her darker side. Explaining how she teleported things was one thing. But getting into the actual details of those nightmares was entirely different. It was a regular Saturday night, and Raven flipped through the book on her lap as Kid Flash sped around the common room. He had shown up with Aqualad to take Gar and Cy out.
“Come on!” Aqualad yelled, kicking his boot lightly on the wall. He always said he was staying beside the door, trying to guilt everyone else into hurrying up. It hardly ever worked. “You could sit down,” Raven teased. “No,” he glanced back at her, taking her seriously, “we’re about to leave.” “Coming!” Cy ran by, ruffling her hair “Don’t miss us too much, Rae.” Raven rolled her eyes and looked back down. Then found herself looking back at the metal man checking himself out in a mirror as he called for Gar. But Gar was a bit reserved as he walked into the room. Rubbing the back of his neck, he approached the group. “I think I’m gonna skip this one.” He said. “What!” The young speedster squeaked. “The Sanderson sisters will be there! Now you know how much they love them some Beast Boy.” He nudged Gar. “Heh, oh I know.” The flash of emotions told Raven he knew very well how much they loved him. She covered her mouth trying to not laugh as he cleared his throat, realizing the present company and growing slightly embarrassed. “I just um, I’ve had a rough week. Being around that many people stresses me out when I’m tired.” “Alright man,” Cy patted his shoulder. “I understand. So let’s go!” He pushed the other men out of the room. And after a very loud half minute, the room fell silent and Raven went back to staring at the book. The couch shifted slightly as Gar leaned on the back behind her. Turning to look up at him, “Do you need...” she waved her hand in a circle, forming a black ball. His fang poked out a bit as he smiled down at her. “No, thank you. Though I would have, had I gone out. Just good ol’ fashion down time.” He bent over, leaning his elbows on the back of the couch. “What do you have going on tonight?” Sighing she looked back at the book on her lap. With a wave of her hand it was gone, teleported back to her room. Part of her had been looking for a reason to stop reading. “I was looking for more protection spells. I’ve been laying them around Azarath a bit…obsessively. Though for about an hour now I don’t think I’ve actually read anything.” “Oh,” His eyes grew wide “Did our Raven actually get tired of reading?” Playfully pushing at his arm, she stood up. “Maybe.” She looked around the quiet room. “I did start a puzzle yesterday; it’ll be pretty calm in here for a while I imagine. It’s an easy enough thing to let your mind rest.” Her eyebrow arched in question. “Yeah,” He pushed himself up from the couch, “I would like that.” With another wave, a puzzle appeared on the coffee table. Coming around the couch, Gar looked down at it. A mix of sorrow and nostalgia tainted his happy demeanor for a second. “I use to do puzzles with my mom. I don’t think I’ve done one since.” Raven’s heart sank. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” He cut her off with a shake of his head. “No, no. I would actually love to.” He gave her a big smile and sat down on the floor. Already starting to scan the pieces. They quietly sat for over an hour, just enjoying each other’s company. Till Raven saw Gar’s mouth stretch into a long yawn. “Heh.” She examined the piece in her hand again. “It’s only 10 on a Saturday night, and you look ready for bed instead of partying till 2. I hope I’m not rubbing off on you.” She kept her eyes on the puzzle, but heard him lightly chuckle. “I wouldn’t mind you rubbing off on me at all.” His hand reached over and plucked up a few pieces. “Mhm” she hummed, brushing it off and trying to figure out where her piece could possibly go. If it didn’t’ go in the place she had stubbornly tried 5 times. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re pretty amazing Rae.” His voice was sincere, but he said it with the casualness of a known fact. “I’m not all that great. There are somethings you shouldn’t give up.” She glanced at him. He was happily searching for something on the table. “I like that you’re so vibrant with your emotions and so open about who you are.” He smiled and looked up at her. “I guess. I’m not sure I would call myself open though. I can be pretty reserved.” “But you were so open with your struggles containing the beast, or all those problems you had as your various animals started kicking in strong.” She had gone back to the puzzle, but saw his hand stop reaching for something and retract. Slowly she raised her eyes to meet his as he stared at her. “What?” He looked confused. After a few seconds his face softened and he shook his head in disbelief. “Rae, you’re the only one that knows about that.” He obviously read the shock on her face and continued. “You didn’t know that?” She shook her head. “Yeah, I mean the others know vague details. Enough to know I was having trouble, and in the end they could trust me in a fight.” He sighed. “I’m sorry Rae I thought you knew. I figured if anyone could help me, it would be you. So I came to you for help.” Touched, she looked away blushing. “Well I certainly understood where you were coming from, I don’t know if I helped much though.” He didn’t meditate every day, like she had suggested, till she practically sucked him in a black hole a few weeks ago. “Of course you did.” His voice had risen with a touch of excitement and she looked back up. He was leaning on the table, casually missing all of the pieces. “Raven, you…” He took a deep breath in, as if he were preparing to announce a personal secret. “I admire and respect the hell out of you. And to have someone like you, understand what I was going through. You took me serious, even when I struggled to take things seriously myself. And you took the time to show me how to cope. And open up about your own struggles… well a bit.” He paused for a deep breath. “It…it meant the world. I probably should have said it years ago. But thank you. Thank you for …for everything really.” His voice became softer. “I mean even now, this, you just make me feel…” he shrugged, “better.” She was in shock. After all the loses she had had. After all the times they had to reconstruct her room from her powers fighting back. After all times she had accidently thrown a friend somewhere. After all the times she had an emotional outburst, caused mini-explosions, or ran away to hide. After she had destroyed the world…temporarily. He looked up to her? She realized the bottom of her vision was starting to blur as tears formed. Coughing, like that would cover it up, she raised her hand to cover her mouth and wipe her eye. He knew of course and smiled, reaching a finger out to point beside her elbow. “Can I have that pink and blue piece?” She laughed light, and handed it to him. He had a wonderful gift of lightening the mood. He kept working on his group and casually spoke. “I assure you, I wouldn’t have let the others know that seeing puzzles upset me a tad.” Clicking two large groups together, he grinned at himself, and continued on with the puzzle. “I feel a little bad, not wanting to bring you down with my negative energy. But,” he paused to reassess the large hunk, “it would be pretty hypocritical of me to have wanted you to express the good and bad. And then I don’t.” Raven couldn’t help but smile at this, and found a bit of confidence. “Speaking of thank yous.” If he could open up about something, so could she. He stopped rotating the piece and looked up, probably hearing the timid sound in her voice. “I do have you to thank for helping me feel more. We spent so much time together as you were practicing your control, that I kind of started to soak up your energy. The good and the bad. And while you did your exercises, I also practiced on one emotion or the other and realized I could feel without losing control. And bit by bit it got easier.” She tried to play it just as casual and shrugged, going back to the puzzle. “I didn’t know that.” He whispered. “When you say that I’m vibrant with my emotions…” She bit her lip, but there was no use lying. “I can generally tell what you are feeling… without trying. I can block the others out pretty easily, and I try to do so, for privacy sake. But I can’t block you out, and I sorta gave up. You’re normally happy, so I like it. It makes me happy.” She was almost mumbling she was talking so low, a little embarrassed at her intrusion. His brilliant smile lit up the room and she felt that wonderful rush of joy, pushing out any bit of shame. Those beautiful green eyes seemed to twinkle as he held her gaze for a few seconds. He didn’t say anything. But as he went back to the puzzle, he continued to overflow with positive emotions. They fell back into an easy silence for a bit longer. Till Gar couldn’t stop yawning and had to call it a night. A few days passed without them seeing much of each other. And Raven realized she was getting use to his attention. She was getting used to having someone to talk to. Their dinners had been taken over my some tamaranian festival, and she hadn’t been able to talk to him about anything personal. She rolled her shoulders back and stretched out her neck. It has been another long day. And although the monks could certainly sympathize with having lost their home. They couldn’t sympathize with her being the daughter of Trigon, and all that it came with. Her thoughts shifted to Gar as she started to transport back to earth. It wasn’t like something in particular had happened, like finding the mass grave. It was just a wearing down of being alone; of people smiling at her, but not really comfortable with approaching her. The room was dark when she stepped into it. Immediately, she picked up on the familiar smell of her room, and smiled. Till she recognized she was alone. Looking at the clock she realized it was much later than she had initially thought. It was far too late to go see Gar. But after she had changed and climbed into bed, she started second guessing her choice. What if he was awake after all? He was awake at midnight some nights. There was no point in both of them having trouble sleeping if they were both awake. What if he found out she was tossing and turning all night and he had been just sitting in his room? It took her about 10 minutes to finally reason with herself to walk down the hall. And once outside his room, it took her another 5 minutes to decide to knock. But she stopped and changed her mind. She couldn’t wake him up if he was asleep. After turning around about 10 times, she stared at the door. A click on the door, caused her to jump back. He had heard her. Of course he had heard her. Tentatively, she reached and opened the door.
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AuthorI am split between a world of fantasies and science. {Blog}
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