Beast Boy's Past and Future
Chapter One
"I win again, BB!" shouted Cyborg. "Booyah-ha!"
"No way! You had to have done something to the controllers!" Beast Boy argued. He fumed on the couch while Cyborg victory-danced around him.
"Raven!" Beast Boy called. "Tell Cyborg that I deserved to win!"
Raven was sitting on the other end of the couch with an ancient book. She lowered it so that Beast Boy could see her eyes, glaring at him. "I want no part in this. If you have a complaint, you should tell Robin." She raised the book back up and continued reading.
Suddenly, the alarm blared, the red lights flashing. "Titans, go!" Robin commanded. The Teen Titans jumped up.
Beast Boy morphed into a green pterodactyl, and Starfire and Raven flew. Robin rode on his motorcycle, and Cyborg took the T-Mobile. They all raced across the city towards the trouble.
"Stop right there," Robin said to the figure collecting money from the broken ATM machine. The figure chuckled deeply.
"Well, well, well," he said, turning to look at the Teen Titans. "Huh. Long time no see, Garfield." Beast Boy gasped as the man pulled off his mask so he could see who his was. His hair was graying and his face had many wrinkles, but his dark, cold eyes were unmistakable.
"N-- Nicholas..." Beast Boy whispered.
"I would love to stay an' chat, Garfield," said Nicholas, "but you see, I am in quite a hurry." He turned and ran.
"Titans, after him!" Robin said. The team began to chase Nicholas-- all, except Beast Boy.
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Beast Boy stared up at the ceiling, lying on his back on the filthy floor of his room. Starfire tapped on his window with a finger, suspended in air with a concerned look on her face.
"Please, friend," she said. "Come down and speak with us." Beast Boy ignored her. After a few minutes of trying to get his attention, Starfire gave up and went back to tell Robin, Raven, and Cyborg of his condition. When she was gone, Beast Boy got up and went to the top bunk of his bed and reached under his pillow. He pulled out a photograph.
His mother and father stood side by side, Beast Boy being held by his mother, and Nicholas stood behind them, taller than all of them. Beast Boy was six in the picture.
Beast Boy sat and stared at the picture, not seeing himself or his uncle, but his parents. He missed them very much. He closed his eyes and saw the pieces of the boat scattered everywhere; in the water and on the bank.
"Beast Boy!" Raven interrupted his flashback.
"What?" he asked. Raven was quiet for a moment.
"Are you okay?"
Beast Boy scoffed and shut his eyes again. Raven left without another word. "There's nothing more I can do," said the doctor.
His mother cried out softly and buried her face into her husband's shoulder. Garfield lay on the bed, breathing laborously and slowly. "Please, Doctor," insisted his father. "There has to be something." The doctor sighed.
"Well... There is one thing," he whispered.
"Mommy..." Garfield whimpered quietly in his sleep. He took a struggling breath and shook his head feverishly. His mother went to him to comfort him.
"But it's much too dangerous," the doctor continued, looking around nervously. "It's still untested."
"That's a risk we're willing to take," his father countered. "He's our only son, and we will protect him at all costs."
Tears slipped down his cheeks at the vague memory of it. There was another knock on his door. "All right, man," Cyborg said. "I know you don't wanna talk, and you don't have to. But just come out of your room, and nobody gets hurt." Beast Boy didn't reply. He wiped the tears off of his face with the back of his hand.
"Come on, man. Don't make me break the door down." Beast Boy stayed silent and put the photo back under his pillow. Cyborg sighed on the other side of the door.
"All right, man, I didn't wanna have to do this, but here goes," he said. Beast Boy opened the door and walked down the hallway towards the kitchen, leaving Cyborg in the ramming position.
"I'm ready to talk," he said seriously.