Rave's room

[Undying]

Unbeknownst to Rave, Komui and the rest of the science division worked on his room to reconstruct it while he was away. And all done with one goal in mind: annoy Rave.

Large, rose pink hangings dangle from the walls farthest from the door, adorned with yellow flowers and butterflies. The clashing colors make it a bright hell.

His bed was replaced with a large square shaped object that could only be identified as bed thanks to the massive sign (white with bright red letters) "Rave-chwaaaaaaaaan's beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!"

In an effort to keep his serious image, Rave locked the door and hid the key, but will that keep the science department away?

Interestingly enough, though, Linalee has been sighted near his room once, supposedly carrying flowers.

What is the mystery behind the flowers!?

[Fect]

Rave was deep in thought as Jacques arrived.

"Rave, I got some wine, and I hear you have glasses in your room. Let's drink!"

Rave's jaw dropped.

"Can I come on in?" Jacques requested.

[Undying]

Eek.

"Uh... well... Komui and his scientist friends kinda... ran over it, so... can we use another room?"

Even in his ears it sounded weak.

[Fect]

"But this note here says that you have some in your room."

Rave quickly grabbed the note... and noticed the handwriting.

"KooOOOOMMMMMMUUUUUIIIIIII!"

The halls rang out and Jacques fell over, juggling the wine. He barely caught it and pulled it in.

A little chuckle was heard above, and the door slid open. Komurin IV mini popped out and walked down the hall.

[Undying]

Fire burned in Rave's eyes, and he all but sprouted steam from his ears.

"KOMUI!!"

He's a dead man!

The appearance of Komurin IV surprised Rave, normally Komui wouldn't put his robots in danger.

"Greetings, Rave-sama," said the robot in its mechanical voice. "Would you like me to clean your room for you? Or perhaps to change the pink hangings to an even brighter pink?"

A vein popped in Komui's forehead., and he slammed the Komurin into the nearest wall.

"KOOOOOOOMUUUUUUIIIII!!!!"

He dashed up the stairs, straight to the science dept.'s main lab, but Komui was nowhere to be found. He turned to the side and run to the north wing, hoping to trap the treacherous bastard there.

What he didn't know, of course, was that Komui slipped right beside Jacques, and he had a spare key to Rave's room.

[Fect]

"And how are you Jacques-kun?"

"I'm doing..."

As Jacques tried to finish his sentence, another person added to the fray. Lenalee kicked Komui in the face, and he went spinning away.

Jacques pointer finger was still up, ready to ask a question in his head, but due to the surprise, there was no connection to his vocal cords.

I'm surrounded by crazy people...

"And how are you doing today Jacques-kun?"

"I'm alright."

Komui sat over near the pillar, crying over his now twice smashed robot, after his body flew into it.

"Poor Komurin. He..."

"Nee-chan, you should know better than to drag other people in... but you never learn..."

Jacques walked by Rave's room, glanced in, and walked off...

Well, I'll be happy tonight, at least... He rubbed the wine bottle.

[Undying]

Earlier in the city - restaurant

"So, what would you like to order?" Rave leaned back in his chair, checking his menu. Meat, meat, more meat... He liked meat, but this was an overkill. Pork, beef, chicken, and some kinds he's never heard of. He also used to motion to put Lebalee in his line of sight so he could see her better.

"How about, um... this salad and... beef?" Lenalee glanced nervously at Rave, who nodded.

"It's on me," he said, smiling again. He had no idea why he was so eager to smile, but it seemed like the right thing to do. In any event, Lenalee smiled warmly back and called the waitress to bring the food. As for himself, he ordered a stake. Some good old fashioned meat.

For the first few minutes they ate in silence, each waiting for the other to make the first move. After a few minutes, Lenalee's curiosity got the better of her, so she spoke first.

"Um, Rave... I mean, Raven..." for some reason her voice was slightly unsteady on his real name, she probably feared another explosion, but Rave only continued eating and looked at her, silently telling her to continue. "Um... what happened after... after the Earl gave you that arm?"

"I'm not really sure," he replied slowly, thinking hard about the right words to say it. "He placed an Akuma instead of my arm, a girl named Cassandra, I think. He modified her mind so that she was led by a murderous desire. But I think he made a mistake somewhere. Neither of us was under his control anymore - we were just a murder weapon let loose."

Lenalee moved slightly, as though to get closer, but she didn't continue moving towards him. Rave noticed it, but decided not to move, instead he continued his tale. "I escaped, half mad, and returned to the HQ. That's where..."

He stopped, obviously unable to continue saying that almost the first thing he did when his red-glowing eyes opened was to attack Lenalee ferociously, almost ripping her in two. This time she did move, putting a hand on his arm. "Raven, let's go back to the HQ," she said quietly. Rave raised an eyebrow. Going to the HQ meant facing against all the people he hurt, all the people who most likely feared him as a monster.

And with the arm...

"I... I can't, Lenalee." He retreated, shying away from her warm touch. The feelings it aroused were too much, coupled with his load of guilt. His hand - now wrapped in a glove Lenalee bought earlier - twitched slightly. This was it, the mark of his sins, and those sins he could not let go of, yet.

Lenalee, though, wouldn’t hear no for an answer. She grabbed his arm forcefully and pulled him towards her, staring in his eyes the whole time. “You have to face it, Raven. You have to, or otherwise… otherwise you’ll just do nothing except wallow in your errors. It wasn’t your fault, after all.”

Rave simply rolled his eyes at her, but his grin showed he was joking. “All right, Lenalee. All right. I’ll go.” Standing up he fished out wallet and checked the money. Once again, he was pretty broke, but since he invited Lenalee out…

After paying, he offered his left arm for her to lean on. He suspected that some of Xavier’s mannerisms robbed off on him after the whole incident. Walking with Lenalee at his side, it occurred to him they were just out on a date. Strange to think that after all they’ve been through, they could do regular things like dating.

He felt her warmth even through the clothes and almost sighed. Wonderful. He was tempted again. But she was younger than him, and…

Abandoning that line of thought before he convinced himself to give up – or vice-versa – he set a slow pace to the HQ. There was much talking to do.

And he owed Komui a punch in the face for Komurin X and XIII.


After the post in the Science Dept.

Rave walked slowly to his room, barely paying attention to his surroundings. Komui, while switching between insane brother and insane scientist, clearly appeared to have accepted Rave back unconditionally. The Science Dept. seemed happy that the original Rave was back – rough edged, annoying, always annoyed, but still him.

But Lenalee… she kissed him, right in front of her brother, against any norm allowed in society these days, and after that, the last look she gave him – he couldn’t discern what on earth she was thinking. Something in that look…

He was so lost in thought he failed to notice Lenalee, standing quietly in front of his door, until he almost bumped into her. When he did notice her, he stepped back. Her thoughts of her until a moment ago weren’t exactly what he would like to tell her about.

“Hey,” he said uncertainly, robbed of his usual lack of care attitude.

“Hey Raven,” she said with a bright smile, holding up a long, thin package wrapped in a blue cloth. “Brother Komui forgot to give it to you.”

Rave raised an eyebrow, raising an arm to take it. Lenalee backed away, bumping into his door. Surprised, Rave raised his second eyebrow and stepped forward. Lenalee, as though playing a game, lifted the package as though using it as a shield between him and her. Rave wondered what she was up to, but still stepped forward and took the long thin package in his hand, at which point Lenalee opened the door and pulled back, sending them both stumbling into the room.

Rave stumbled and caught himself without realizing on Lenalee’s shoulder. He looked at her with honest surprise, especially noting how wet her lips looked. She looked very, very seductive with her lips glistening in the dim light of his room. Rave retreated slowly, trying to take in his surroundings and at the same time figure out what was Lenalee thinking.

“Lenalee-“ he began, but she silenced him with a finder on his lips.

“Don’t stop me, Raven,” she said quietly, all the time looking up to him. He noticed she was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling under – he suddenly realized that she was wearing one of his few shirts – the ones he wore on the rare occasions when not wearing the Black Order uniform.

“Lenalee…” he said slowly, trying desperately not to accept the only logical answer to this situation. He couldn’t! Lenalee, besides being younger, was a virgin and a friend. And Allen…

His line of thought stopped dead when Lenalee removed her finger, stood high on her toes and kissed him again, more gently this time. Rave put a hand – on her breast, unfortunately, since he couldn’t reach anywhere else, or didn’t want to, he didn’t know – and pushed her back.

“Raven-“ it was her turn to be stopped in mid-sentence with Rave’s finger on her lips

“Are you absolutely sure about this, Lenalee?” He asked seriously. “You know the implications, and you know it’s not something I like to do without thinking.”

“As opposed to your teacher?” Lenalee’s smile was wide and very inviting, the first time he ever saw her smile like that. He rolled his eyes in response.

“Gee, bring General Cross into it, why don’t you? That old pervert…”

Lenalee giggled and put her hands on his cheeks. “I’m sure about it. I love you, Raven.”

Rave rolled his eyes again, kissed her and gave in to temptation.

A few hours later

Rave ran a finger across Lenalee’s bare white shoulder. Her slender frame, lying in his arms, felt very, very good. He felt like he was now complete, a whole person. She smiled shyly at his touch and blushed.

“So…” Rave said slowly, running his finger on her arm, “does it hurt?”

Lenalee really blushed now, a few different shades of red covering her face. “A… a little,” she answered. Rave smiled.

“Let us… rest.”

When Lenalee finally fell asleep, Rave silently and quickly got out of bed, dressed and grabbed the package – he knew it was a sword, his sword – and left his room. Unfortunately, the first person Rave ran into was… Komui.

((What happened between Rave and Komui? What is Rave up to? Discover more when I am less lazy!))