Hope

A/N: Chapter three is here. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Please, keep it up!

Hope

Chapter 3

An interesting thing to consider is that people often do not miss something until they do not have it anymore. You take water for granted until your well runs dry. You take your health for granted until you catch a cold. You take life for granted until someone close to you loses their own.


As Raven was unceremoniously dropped from the swirling black vortex onto the cold hard ground face first, she became acutely aware of exactly how much she missed having her soft bed underneath her.


Raven scowled and slowly got to her feet, rubbing her head. She really hated that part.


Looking up, Raven noticed a yellow cloaked reflection of her levitating above her, looking at her blankly.


"What do you want, Knowledge?" Raven asked curtly, as the yellow Raven descended, landing on the ground.


"I knew you were coming," Knowledge said simply. "I came to greet you."


"Of course you did," Raven muttered under her breath. Raising her voice, Raven asked, "Do you know where the others are?"


"Of course," Knowledge said indignantly. "Rage and Sarcasm are picking on Timid, Bravery and Rudeness are climbing a tree, Lust and Confusion are wandering around somewhere, and Happiness, Friendliness, and Love are off gossiping. Hope seems to have disappeared, and the new one's hiding in a cave."


"The new one?" Raven asked in disbelief. "I have a new emotion?" Getting new emotions was a rare occurrence for Raven.


"She's been here for a while," Knowledge informed her. "You just haven't been around lately."


"Who is she?" Raven asked.


"I'm not sure," Knowledge scowled, resenting the fact that there was something she didn't know. "All she does is hide in her bloody cave being listless and mopey and miserable."


"I think it's time to find out who this newcomer is then," Raven said. She turned to Knowledge. "Call a council."


Knowledge nodded. Walking over to the nearest dismal dying tree, she plucked a black apple off of it. Tossing it carelessly into the air high above her, she blasted it to smithereens with a bolt of dark energy. As it was destroyed, the apple screamed loudly, it's anguished screams echoing in every area.


Raven winced. God, I hate that, she thought, cringing from the noise. It is effective, though.


Sure enough, other colorfully cloaked Ravens began to appear, some teleporting, others morphing through the ground, some walking.


"Is someone calling a council?" Happiness asked enthusiastically, fiddling with her pink cloak as she sat down.


"No, I just like torturing the Screaming Apples," Sarcasm said sarcastically. "Of course there's a council, you idiot."


The emotions settled themselves down in a circle, leaving Knowledge and Raven's respective places open. They talked animatedly while waiting for Raven to start.


"There was this one time when I was fighting a dangerous wraith," Bravery said, telling a story. "It took forever for me to beat it. It was so hard, but I conquered it in the end with my skill. I doubt anyone else could beat a wraith like the one I beat." Bravery's chest puffed out from underneath her dark green cloak with pride.


"Cool," Rudeness yawned, before moving her orange cloak out of the way to scratch her armpit.


"A wraith's an insubstantial spirit, you dingbat," Rage informed Bravery, glaring at the exaggerator venomously with her for red eyes from underneath her crimson cloak. "You can't fight it. It's not possible."


Across from them, a few other emotions were arguing over the most attractive girl.


"Hilary Duff totally gets my vote," Friendliness said, wearing a pale powder blue cloak. "She's just so nice and self-confident."


"Emma Watson is way better!" Love argued passionately, gesticulating wildly from under her pale purple cloak. "She's smart and kind and beautiful and just a better girl!"


"Yeah, but something about Lindsay Lohan just oozes sex appeal," Lust said saucily, her eyes dark from under her scarlet cloak. "Her bottom looks like it was just made for biting."


Next to them, Timid was still feeling a bit weepy from Rage and Sarcasm's taunting. She was crying gently, further soaking her gray cloak, as Happiness held her and stroked her head.


Sarcasm, scowling from her black cloak, was glaring at the unknown emotion, who was kind of off to the side, sitting alone in her sad blue cloak.


Raven sighed at their mindless chatter, and looked over at Knowledge, who shrugged. Raven rolled her eyes as the two sat down in their respective places.


Realizing that Raven had finally arrived and was ready to begin, they all quieted down, focussing their attention onto Raven, their leader.


"As you all know, some strange things have been going on lately that need to be dealt with," Raven began. "But first, I think an introduction is in order." She looked at the sad blue cloaked emotion.


"Tell me how you feel," Raven asked gently. Before an emotion could be given a name, all the feelings they contained had to be distinguished so as to name it properly.


"I feel listless," the sad girl said quietly. "I feel like there's no hope left, that I've been abandoned, and there's no one to help me through the world. I feel pointless and insignificant in the great scheme of things. I feel lonely, like no one understands everything I'm going through, and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm so frustrated, but I can't do anything about it. It's out of my control."


No wonder she appeared, Raven thought. She sounds exactly how I feel right now.


Raven cleared her throat. "Very well," she said. "Does anyone have any suggestions for a title?"


"How about 'Depression'?" Rage said cruelly. "Oh, no, I have it: 'Suicidal'."


"Oh, zip it. No one takes your suggestions seriously anymore, " Sarcasm snapped. "You wanted to call me 'Cynical' and 'Smart-Ass', and Lust 'Horny little Slut'. Just do us all a favor and shut up."


"How about 'Sadness'?" Bravery suggested. "She seems pretty sad to me."


"I think her angst goes deeper than just being sad," Raven said. "Any others?"


"How about 'Loneliness'?" Happiness asked. "It seems like the thing she needs most is a friend."


Raven nodded slowly.


"That seems like it suits you perfectly," Raven said to the new emotion. "Do you feel that title fits you?"


The blue-cloaked emotion nodded slowly.


"Then it is done. You are Loneliness."


Again, the blue-cloaked emotion, newly dubbed Loneliness, nodded.


"Now, on to other business," Raven said. "I want to figure out exactly how I feel on a certain topic. I want each of your opinions. One at a time, please."


Raven turned to Love, who was sitting on her left.


"So, Love, tell me," Raven remarked. "What do you think of Terra?"


Love warmed to the subject immediately.


"Terra was so nice. I could just talk to her for hours about anything," she recalled dreamily. "She was so great. We were so alike. We could just give each other this look and know exactly what the other was thinking. It was like our minds had touched. I love her."


Raven nodded towards Friendliness, indicating it was her turn.


"Terra was my best friend," Friendliness said. "We went out to see vampire films together, gossiped about Starfire and Robin, and debated whether the death penalty should be legal of not. We did stuff like that all the time. She was the best friend I've ever had."


"Terra was a sexy beast," Lust purred lasciviously. "She could melt me with one look. She was so hot when she was casually knocking out criminals with huge boulders. I'd have loved to touch her and taste her until she screamed my name."


"Terra was a great fighter," Bravery added. "She could find the weakness in her opponents and BAM! Totally wipe them out!"


"She could just bum around the house and not do anything and be fine with it," Rudeness said. "We could just hang around, being lazy and messy for a day, and we'd both enjoy it."


Rage scowled. "Terra couldn't control her powers fully, even when she came back," she snarled. "Plus, she seemed to have a sort of 'thing' going on with Beast Boy. Anyone who's attracted to that brainless oaf has got to be nuts. But I'll admit, her faults don't seem that bad compared to other people's."


"Terra made me happy," Happiness said cheerily. "Just being around her would put me in a great mood."


"I liked Terra," Timid said quietly. "She was nice to me."


"Terra came up with some really good barbs," Sarcasm admitted. "If she sharpened and dried her wit, her tongue would be a deadly weapon."


"Terra was great to talk to," Knowledge said. "She knew so much about the earth, life, morality, and everything. I loved having in-depth philosophical discussions with her."


Raven turned to her last and newest emotion, Loneliness.


"And you?" she asked.


"Terra comforted me," Loneliness said quietly. "She understood me, and gave me something to live for. She was my hope in a well of despair. She was my guide when I was lost. Now that she's gone, I don't know what I'll do."


There was a brief silence after this statement. Then, all the emotions began nodding, echoing her sentiments, feeling the same.


"I miss her," Happiness whispered.


"I still can't believe she's gone," Sarcasm muttered.


"I've never felt so miserable in my entire life," Friendliness said sadly.


"She broke my heart," Love said quietly. "I loved her. I still do. I don't think I'll ever stop loving her."


This admission was followed by shock from everyone else, though they weren't as surprised as they'd thought they'd be. Perhaps, they all knew that Raven was in love with Terra, but firmly pushed it out of mind, preferring living in denial as opposed to admitting such new and frightening emotions.


"I think it's agreed then," Raven said quietly. "I love Terra?"


She looked around the circle, and saw that every single one of her emotions, including Rage, were nodding.


Raven sighed, and slowly got to her feet. "Thanks for helping me come to terms with this," she said. "I'm going to go back and meditate on this for a while."


The emotions softly chorused their good-byes, no one really feeling like doing much of anything. Raven waved good-bye, and with a well directed thought upwards, a giant black hand reached down from the sky and picked her up, sending her along the red and black portal towards her home.

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Please, let me know what you think of this: review! And if the angst bothers you, it's going to get worse before it gets better, but when it does get better, it will be good, I promise. I said it was going to be an angsty story from the beginning, though. Since when is a really good love story not contain emotional turmoil?

Again, please review!