The Sixth Titan

The Sixth Titan
"You Guys! I have a VERY important announcement to make!" Beastboy said suddenly as he walked into the common room, Raven looked up from her cup of hot tea and raised an eyebrow at him, "Where have you been? You've been gone all morning," she stated, "Well, I was out getting this new video game... at first," Robin, who had been scrolling through newspapper articales at the kitchen table, looked up, "What do you mean 'at first'?" "Well," Beastboy began, "I was on my way to the gaming store and on my way there I found this ADORABLE little puppy just sitting on the side of the road! I mean she was so .. so helpless... she was hungry and cold and dirty, so I went and gave her a bath in the river and then picked up some tofu burgers and shared one with her, and as I was taking care of her thinking about maybe dropping by one of the other towers to see if anyone wanted to take her in before I just took her to a shelter or something...." Cyborg felt everything go cold at the glint in Beastboy's eyes and abruptly stopped playing his video game, "Oh BB NO... PLEASE tell me you didn't..." "Say HELLO to the newest Titan!" he said happily as he presented a small, blond puppy from his back, she was adorable, everyone had to admit that, and if wat Beastboy had been saying about her condition was true than he did a better job at taking care of her than he described, she was happy and clean and even had two pink bows in her hair! "Oh my gorknarv!!! She is ADORABLE!!!" Starfire screamed as she flew over to the puppy and started speaking what could only  be assumed to be Tamaranian baby talk to the puppy, "She IS pretty cute," Robin said, scratching her behind her ear and cooing softly- and who would have thought Robin was capable of cooing?- Cyborg was keeping his distance after the last dog Beastboy brought home used him as a fire hydrant but even he admitted that she was cute, Raven cautiously peered over Robin's shoulder and when the dog's eyes landed on her the little puppy fought to get away from Beastboy and bounded straight for the empath, gasping in shock, Raven tensed her body preparing for impact as the little pup stood on her hind legs and begged for Raven's attention, "Oh Raven look how much she loves you!! She already thinks you're her mommy!" Raven twitched, the last time Beastboy brought something home and proclaimed to it that she was it's mommy she had the responsability of flushing it the next morning when it went belly up... that was the LAST time she let him bring home a goldfish from the carnival by Azar she swore it! "Um... nice doggy...." she tried in her usual monotone, unphased by this, Beastboy walked up, picked up the dog, and positioned Raven's arms around her, much to the puppy's delight who licked Raven's face endlessly, "We MUST keep her!" Starifre screamed, "Carefull Star... doesn't everybody remember what's happened every OTHER time we've let a stray in this tower?" there was dead silence, it was true, they DID have a pretty messy track record with strays... there was that cat Starfire brought home a few months ago that ended up giving birth in her closet the next day only for some guy to come by and take the cat AND the kittens home... then there was the dog Beastboy brought home who had marked everything in the tower AND eaten all the food- (when he destroyed Robin's best cape that had been the last straw) there was what APPEARED to have been- at the time- a baby monkey that Beastboy found (and he had refused to wonder why it was wandering Jump City of all places) only for it to shapeshift into a bad guy, there was the fish from a few weeks ago... and the green alien dog- who hadn't even gone in the tower but had caused more greif than he was worth- Silkie who was full of trouble despite the fact that they kept him... and ofcourse who could forget Terra?  "Oh come on guys! We can't turn a blind eye here! Besides I have a feeling she's sort of attatched to Raven," he said, Raven frowned, she didn't like getting attatched to things or things getting attatched to her- people being included in "things"- and this was sort of... well... ok... VERY foreign to her.... she felt like an imbecile standing there letting the dog lick her face until she ran out of spit- wich apparently wasn't going to be any time soon- but what choice did Raven have? Even she had a soft spot for puppies, she wasn't heartless for crying out loud! "Alright, well, we'll atleast agree to test it out right Team?" Robin offered, everyone nodded in agreement and Beastboy cleared his throat, "So... what're we gonna name her?" he asked, "Porfnarp! It is a Tamaranian name meaning 'she who will grow up to wax the gorbflip'!!" Starfire announced, Beastboy wrinkled his nose, "Uh... I don't know Star... the name has to be something we all agree on..." he said, "How about Cy Jr.?" Cyborg asked with a grin, "No way..." Beastboy replied, "Well how about 'Fleur'? It's French and means 'Flower' or 'Florence', that's Latin, it means 'Blooming'," "What's with the plants?" Cyborg wispered to Starfire, "Those are kind of pretty Rob.. how'd you think of 'em?" he asked, Robin replied by pointing to the floor where a Florence And The Machine CD sat next to a Harry Potter book, "Oh..." Beastboy muttered, "I think the name should really mean something," Raven said quietly, Beastboy looked up, "Hey Guys? Since the puppy loves Raven so much... maybe Raven should get to name her? I mean we'd still have to agree on it but..." "O-Oh I don't think so," Raven replied, she was completely and utterly against naming ANYTHING, she knew that once you name something that something becomes part of you, and it wasn't something she wanted to do, she had enough problums having a few humans freinds- who she didn't even name!- that she loved, she was worried that she would loose control with how free she had been getting lately but... then again... everything seemed alright for now... the problum was that puppies don't live as long as people, she didn't want a few years to go by- wich would be even faster for a half-demon- and then suddenly her "child" here be gone... "Please Raven? I'd love to hear your opinion!" Beastboy pleaded, everyone looked at her expectingingly and she felt like she was backed into a corner, sighing in defeat, she looked down at the little dog and she looked right back at Raven, for such a sweet, loving little creature it was sick to think that only hours ago she had a terrible life on the streets... if Beastboy hadn't given her a second chance.... 'Second chance...' she thought, "How about... 'Renee' wich means 'Rebirth' ... or 'Anastasia' wich means 'resurrection'...? I mean... we're kind of giving this dog a second life....." she mused, everyone was dead silent and she sighed, "Alright, point taken... it was a stupid ide-" "I love the name 'Anastasia'," Beastboy said suddenly, "Me too, it's really.... suiting," Robin agreed, "I think there was a Russian princess with that name," Cyborg commented, "I believe the name sounds close to a Tamaranian name wich means 'the beautifull child'," Starfire piped up, Raven smiled softly, glad her idea was reciprocated well, Beastboy stepped up and scratched the new addittion behind her ears, "Welcome to the family... Anastasia,"

~+~

Raven felt a vein throbbing in her head as she walked down the hall and into the main room where Beastboy and Anastasia were playing together, Beastboy, for the benifit of his kainine companion, had turned into a dog himself, "Alright, wich one of you left the 'present' in the hall?" Raven asked in agittation, Beastboy instantly morphed back into human form and pointed to the puppy, "Stacy did it," he said, Raven sighed, "And who's turn was it to take her to her pappers?" Beastboy backed up a bit and looked down, "Um... mine...." "Right.... YOU'RE the one cleaning it up and rubbing her nose in it then," Raven replied strictly, "Hey it wasn't her fault, she's only like... I dunno... four or five months old, she doesn't know any better," Beastboy said, "I know that, that's why it's our job to TEACH her better," Beastboy nodded solemnly and reported to the hall, Anastasia watching him for a moment before deciding to see if Raven would give her any attention and walking over to the empath, she put her front paws on Raven's bare leg and started to wimper and cry, "Not now, I have things to do," she said, moving over an inch as she made her tea, Anastasia, ofcourse, didn't understand this and simply tried again, the more Raven ignored her the louder she got and within a few moments Raven couldn't take it anymore, that terrible, heart-wrenching noise was fraying her already raw nerves, "What do you want?" she snapped as she looked down at the innocent puppy, with a sigh, she leaned down and picked up the blond pooch, juggling her in one arm wile she used her free hand to make her tea, instantly, the crying had stopped, "It's like having an infant here..." she grumbled

~+~

Raven closed her eyes breifly, she REALLY knew she should get up and go to her room to sleep but she was just so tired... she couldn't help it... she was listening to some calming New Age music wile trying to get Anastasia accustomed to her bed in the main room (since no one was willing to let her sleep in their room for multiple reasons such as, in Beastboy's case, the fear that she'd crawl in a pile of clothes and never emerge or in Starfire's case that she and Silkie wouldn't get along) but all that ended up doing was tiring out the empath since the puppy seemed to have a BOUNDLESS amount of energy and force them both to sleep on the couch, Raven was just drifting off into sleep when a very loud, "ANASTASIA!!!!" echoed through the tower, Raven cracked open one eye and looked down at her puppy companion, who seemed to already know that meant trouble as her ears were flat against her skull and she was snaking underneath the blanket covering herself and Raven further, "Oh no, if you did something to Robin you're going to come out here and face the music," Raven said with a groan as she sat up and began the task of dragging the newest Titan from under the blanket, the door slid open and a very angry looking Robin stood there, "What?" Raven asked with a sigh, "That... that... that MUTT over there WRECKED my room! She completely shredded one of my masks, clawed my desk, and peed on one of my most important newspapper articales! And she nocked over my hair gel too! Thank goodness it was closed..." he said with seething anger, "Well atleast she's learning to pee on pappers," Raven said as she successfully lifted the puppy up, Robin seemed to glare at her and his nose wrinkled, "You...." he growled, "Anastasia, go apologize now," Raven demanded, as if the dog actually understood her and had the capabilities of doing so, rolling her eyes, Raven sat on the floor behind the puppy and shoved her forward, waving her hand towards Robin, and the dog seemed to understand and, with her tail tucked between her legs, wimpered as she marched up to the Boy Wonder, who's heart was melting just looking at her, he cleared his throat and bent down, "Um... you know what? You need sleep Raven, Stacy can sleep in my room tonight, you go back to your room and she'll learn to sleep in her own bed tommorrow night," he offered as he picked her up and trotted out of the main room, Raven sighed and leaned back on the floor, looking through the window behind her at the moon and closing her eyes breifly, "I've gotten soft...." she said with a shake of her head, these people... these Titans... they had absolutely ruined her... the vast majority of the things the monks taught her had completely gone down the drain in the three years that she had been here and she had those four people to thank for it, puffing her cheeks out with air she sat up again and then stood, on her way to her room and wondering why it was that her powers seemed as under control as ever- if not more so recently, when she was breaking the rules the monks taught her, she felt things, she felt things very strongly.... and yet... nothing bad was happening... she didn't understand....

~+~

Raven rubbed her eyes tiredly and looked over at the little blond menace that had been keeping her up all night, that dog howled and cried and screamed at the moon until Raven stormed into the main room and finally let the infant of a creature sleep in her room, that had shut up the dog quite nicely and considering that everytime they tried to make the dog sleep out here there was a disturbance the Titans were now trying to figure out who Anastasia would sleep with, although the odds were leaning on Raven due to obvious reasons, Beastboy hummed a nice tune as he leaned down and put Anastasia's food bowl on the floor, he seemed to be the only one who hadn't had atleast some sort of issue with the puppy yet and that made Raven just a little bit jealous, she wasn't sure why, maybe because Anastasia sensed and smelled the other animals in him and didn't want to upset him? Or maybe because he was just BETTER at this than she was, wich she could understand completely, but she was still a little jealous, she closed her eyes and laid back on the couch, her eyes were stinging, she couldn't concentrate on meditating outside of her room and she couldn't stay locked in her room without the dog for too long before the little creature started wandering around the tower making a terrible racket howling for Raven- apparently Beastboy had it pegged when he had said that she veiwed Raven as "Mommy" the first time they met, and by the way she acted, she seemed to take to Beastboy second best, everyone else came third, Beastboy she understood, ANY animal would take to him well and most children would too.... but why her? Why did animals and children just LOVE her? They SHOULD all be flocking to Starfire yet whenever it came down to it animals and small children were always around her... even fans of the other Titans seemed to be enjoying her company when she really didn't ever DO anything... "It's probbably your scent... and your energy," Beastboy said suddenly, Raven's heart skipped a beat and she looked over at him as he hung over the side of the couch looking at her, "You were wondering why animals and children like you so much?" she just gave a slight nod, wondering how he knew, "Your scent is really.... sweet... Raven, why do you think I spent so much time with you when we first met? 'Cousre... I started actually liking you right after but..." "What do you mean?" she asked suddenly, "Your scent it... it's.... pure I guess, I know that's a weird way to describe it but... you know when you smell fresh fruit? It smells so natural and sweet and ... untouched, that's how your scent is, it's hard to explain, but it.. it's attractive, it's very calming, so your scent is a calming one and... I'm not an empath or anything but... you've got really good energy too, I can tell since whenever I'm in the form of a prey animal, I seem drawn to you the most, you're protective and strong and also very kind and your energy projects that, it makes every weaker creature want to be near you... like how those fish follow sharks? You know?" she sighed, "No, I don't, my energy is dark and powerfull and dangerous- you're describing something like Starfire," "I know it would seem that way but I'm really not," he said with a small smile, "I just thought I'd tell you, you seem kind of weirded out by it lately so...." she sighed and looked up at him, "Well... thanks for telling me," she said quietly, he nodded, "No problum," he replied, she sat up and stared for a moment, hesitating only a moment before kissing him lightly on the lips, despite having been a couple for roughly a month now, Raven was almost never the initiator in affection, it was usually Beastboy, so it was a surprise to him when she was the one to kiss him for once, "GAHHHH!!!! THAT LITTLE BEAST WRECKED MY MACHINE!!!" Cyborg hollered from his room, Anastasia, tail between her legs, ran towards Raven and Beastboy and begged for protection, Raven sighed and picked her up, "Uh-oh Stacey... what'd you do?" Beastboy asked with a grin, Raven closed her eyes, living with this new member of the family... it would take some getting used to.... ALOT of getting used to, for everyone, "Eh, she kind of hates everybody. It'll be fine. Raven needs time to get used to you. I think she's still getting used to me." Raven shook her head, unsure of why she was remembering such a painfull memory right now, that had been so long ago... Beastboy had thought that she couldn't hear him when he told Terra that but.. she had... she looked down at Anastasia for a moment as the puppy leaned up and looked at her, licking her cheek, hm... blond... just like Terra... 'Why am I remembering this now....?' she wondered, Cyborg came barging into the room and he and Beastboy started arguing about how it wasn't Anastasia's fault that she chewed through one of the computer wires but Raven wasn't listening, she was just sitting there staring endlessly at the little puppy, in some way the dog almost reminded her of Terra- almost, blond and cute and loud and underneath it all a little menace.... who didn't REALLY mean to ever hurt anyone.... Raven sighed and again wondered what had possessed her to start thinking about that again.... she shook her head and looked down at the pup again, hugging her close to her chest, a mili-second later the boys stopped arguing and looked at eachother, "Um... what's with her?" Cybrog wispered, Beastboy shrugged, "She's having a tender moment, I think it's the lack of sleep," he replied, there was quiet for another moment before a nock sounded at the door and Robin hollered that he would get it

"Carefull Beastboy, if you break something I'm NOT letting you blame it on this sweet little dog," Raven said with a grin as Beastboy threw the rubber ball at the window again and Anastasia happily fetched it, "Aw don't be like that Rae," he said as he poked her leg, she smiled softly and watched them occassionally wile starting her book, she just shook her head slightly and went back to her reading as Beastboy encouraged Anastasia to bring the ball back, "Hey Beastboy, do.." she paused, she wasn't sure if she should ask this question, it was such a touchy subject but it had been on her mind for twenty minutes.... "What is it Raven?" he asked, she opened her mouth to speak but before she could the door to the main room opened and Robin appeared, "Um, you guys are going to want to see this," he said quietly, they both looked over the couch and there, approaching quietly from behind Robin- was Terra, or atleast, she looked like Terra.... there was silence and she smiled sheepishly, "Hi.... I um, I heard from someone that you had found a puppy?" she said, as if on cue, Anastasia popped around the corner with the ball and the girl who looked like Terra smiled gleefully, "Oh Millie you're here!" she cried happily, running forward and grabbing up the little puppy, both Beastboy and Raven felt their hearts stop, "You... Anastasia is your dog?" he wispered, the girl nodded happily, "My dog Missy had puppies a few months ago and one of them went missing two weeks ago, I just heard about where she was today," Beastboy frowned, "I found her on the street dirty and hungry," he said, she nodded, "Yeah, like I said, she was gone for two weeks, you've had her here what? A few days?" there was quiet, "Um, thanks for taking care of her up until now," she said, turning to leave, "Wait a minute," Beastboy said suddenly, "Anastasia is our... I mean... you can't just take her like this," he said, heart-broken, the girl stared at him for a moment and Raven got up, looking at the girl and the dog, so apparently her thoughts earlier weren't coincidence... they were more like a premonition.... "Look, I'm sorry but... I mean, we weren't going to keep all the puppies but..." suddenly the puppy started fighting to get away and in surprise the girl let her bound onto the floor, allowing her the oppertunity to race up to Raven, who instantly picked her up, the three all stared at eachother for a long moment and the girl sighed, "Well... I guess she's made our decision for us," she said with a slight bitterness to her voice, "Sorry but... she's happy here, and we all love her and you said you weren't going to keep all the puppies," Beastboy reasoned, the girl shook her head, "No it's... I get it, she likes you guys better I guess," she said with a sigh, there was another pause, "I guess I should go," she said as she walked out of the room, Robin following to lead her out of the tower, Raven and Beastboy were left alone, "Weird huh?" Beastboy said quietly, "Yeah..." she said quietly, Beastboy looked up at her for a moment and noticed Raven's uncertain and down-troden expression before kissing her lips lightly and scruffing up Anastasia's fur, oh yes, it would be an adventure... but superheros are all about adventure...