A shoulder to cry on
Another sleepless night passed on by as stormy gray clouds continued to fill the once blue heavens up above. Yet, looming beneath the sky—the clouds, and the famous Titan Tower—sat a deeply perturbed green changeling who rested upon his favorite rock just before the murky shore. It had been a week since Beast Boy gave up his pursuit for the once blonde geomancer known as Terra. Or at least, he thought it was his dear Terra. Beast Boy wanted to believe with all of his heart and soul that this identical blonde, blue eyed, small framed, hilarious, kind-hearted, high school student was his once beloved Terra, but it seemed to be all for naught. The young girl could not remember him no matter how much he struggled to get her to recall, and it devastated him. Even to the point where he'd be lucky if he slept a wink without a whimper or a tear to shed.
The Titans, his friends, tried all they could to try and console their green teammate. Beast Boy's best friend Cyborg tried all he could with his many attempts to get him to sit and play gamestation with the cyber teen. Cyborg even went as far to make his little 'green bean' tofu, but even that couldn't shake the shape-shifter from his funk.
Starfire, suggested he partake in the consumption of "the pudding of sadness." However, many others besides Beast Boy, had turned that down many, many times before. The changeling himself was not about to be the one to break that chain now, or ever.
Robin tried talking with the green teen one on one, but all he was able to get out were one worded answers. The majority of which were just grunts and sighs.
Raven was the team's only hope for trying to quell the young boy's misery. Despite what her face always showed, Raven was deeply worried for her friend. Never before in all her years of living with the poor animorph had she ever witnessed the lad to be so despondent, so unhappy, so—unlike Beast Boy.
Watching the grey waters clash, Beast Boy indulged himself in the sorrowful air of the day's somber weather. Looking down by his feet, Beast Boy reached and grabbed a smooth stone and rotated it around in his gloved hand. He recalled the memory of skipping stones with Terra where she first confided in him about not being able to fully control her powers. He began to cock his arm backward, stone in hand, and chucked it out into the bay. He watched as the stone perfectly performed five skips atop the water's stirring surface.
Beast Boy let out a deep sigh. "Terra would have gotten seven skips." He muttered.
"I bet you I could get eight." Said a familiar monotone voice.
The shape-shifter's ears perked up and he turned his head to see his dark friend begin to sit down next to him on his rock.
He turned his gaze back out towards the bay with another sigh. His hands fished down for another stone and then offered it to Raven.
"Betcha can't." Beast Boy said with no interest to be found in his voice.
Raven stared at him with concerned eyes, but then found an opportunity to be had.
"If I do, will you talk to me?" She asked in her even voice.
He groaned again. "…Sure."
With a nod, the stone in Beast Boy's hand began to be covered in her obsidian magic and levitated out of his palm before shooting out like a bullet into the murky bay, scoring a whopping twelve skips. The Changeling huffed and shifted in his spot to hug his legs close to him.
"No fair." He breathed.
"Now, about that talk." Raven smirked.
Beast Boy raised a white flag in surrender and reluctantly turned to face the slight concerned look playing on Raven's features. They sat in silence while the increasing anxiety of being under the dark bird's gaze began to gnaw at his conscience. Anticipating her questions or perhaps even scolding for being pathetically sad over a dead 'traitor.' He began to twiddle his thumbs, the silence becoming too great that it drowned out the sound of the churning waters.
Then after what seemed like a millennium, Raven spoke.
"Are you okay?" She asked plainly.
To say that this baffled Beast Boy would be an understatement.
'That's it?' Beast Boy thought. 'I was about to have a heart-attack over…That?'
"Well, are you?" She asked again, seeing how something wasn't registering in her teammate's mind.
Stuttering to find the right words, he eventually found it best to just say and come out with the obvious truth.
The changeling looked out to the bay and sighed. "...No." He lowered his head and closed his eyes, feeling somewhat guilty to this harsh reality that he found himself in.
All he wanted was to see and have Terra in his life again. He felt selfish that he would go to such lengths to shape a Terra-look-alike into the young woman that he loved. And if it was the real Terra, who was he to try to make her remember all those things that she would honestly be better off forgetting. He was so sick of himself he wanted to cry.
Raven nodded slowly, looking over his slump posture with violet eyes, noticing tears fighting to free themselves through his sealed lids. Beast Boy was in desperate need of a caring friend, and she intended to be just that. No sarcasm, no demeaning comments, and no monotone (if she could help it). She scooted herself towards him on the rock and gently placed her arms around his now tense shoulders.
"Hey…" The empath whispered softly. "It's okay—It's okay to cry." Her slender hand slowly made its way to the back of Beast Boy's head and began to gently stroke his grassy green hair. "You miss her, right?"
No longer could Beast Boy hold back the dam and finally let the flood gates open and began to cry violently into the enchantress' cloaked shoulder.
"Y-yes!" He choked through bitter sobs. "Y-yes I-I d-do! I can't -hic- help myself!"
"Shh…I know, Beast boy. I know…" Raven gently hushed. She pulled him in closer to herself and began to slightly rock their bodies back and forth to the rhythm of the clashing waves.
"I-I…Don't k-know what I'm g-gunna do…" Beast Boy sobbed. His crying started to lessen, feeling comforted by the affection of his friend who he (ironically) thought wasn't capable of much. But he knew, very well, that Raven was capable of being nice when it was necessary.
"But there's nothing you can do, Beast Boy." She said softly. "If she is truly alive and if she can indeed not remember anything of before…" Raven paused. "Don't you think it would be for the better that she didn't..?"
"Yeah, b-but-"
"Beast Boy?"
He huffed. "...I'm sorry…Y-you're right.."
Raven gave him a loving squeeze before slowly pulling apart from the changeling to see his tear stained face. With her pale thumb, she reached and wiped away the last fresh tear just below his left emerald eyes.
"I know you're hurting so much, Beast Boy. I know you are just trying to be with the one you love again and keep her memory alive but… Beast Boy, you have to accept the fact that the Terra you once knew… is gone."
The shape-shifter lowered his head only for Raven to gently raise it back up to look at her.
Raven stared deeply into Beast Boy's somber green eyes and let a small smile play on her lips, "You have such a kind and loving heart. You always want those around you to be happy and you would go to great lengths to help someone in need of a smile, laugh, or a friend." She sighed sadly. "It honestly makes me so upset to see you this way."
"Raven…" Beast Boy breathed.
He never knew that the dark sorceress thought those nice things about him. It made him feel special, like that he actually felt important to someone and that made him happy.
"Do… do you really mean that?" Beast Boy asked in wonder.
Raven smiled sweetly and nodded. "Of course, I do."
For the first time in a week, Beast Boy smiled warmly feeling its familiarity stretch across his cheeks. "Thanks, Rae." He said appreciatively.
"My name is Raven." She said in her signature monotone but then offered him another small smile. "And you're welcome...If you ever need anyone to talk to about anything, please come talk to me?" The empath eyed him for an answer.
Beast Boy let out his small signature chuckle. "Will do, Raven."
Looking up to the parting clouds, the blue sky began to make its presence known again as the grey clouds dispersed from view and the sun poured out its yellow light onto the island.
Raven stared at the young changeling, seeing a new kind of maturity to his face that she hadn't seen before. Beast Boy noticed her gaping and raised a eyebrow in question.
"What?" He laughed.
"Oh, nothing. I was just expecting a fist pump or perhaps a 'I'm Beast Man' pose or something to that effect." She ribbed in her classic tone.
Beast Boy laughed some more. "Nooope! Nothing is going to kill this moment!" He beamed.
Raven's eyes widened with surprise at this comment and then gasped slightly as the animorph put a single arm around her shoulder.
"...You're touching me."
"Hehe, I know."