A/N: Chapter 1 of a 2 shot. This is a slight FF7 crossover since Beast Boy talks to Cloud, and there's mention of Tifa and Aerith. You don't need to know anything about FF7 to read this. This is NOT a songfic however the radio plays a song and some of the lyrics from "The story" by Cranius play. It just fit, don't ask. I don't own the song, FF7 or Teen titans. Pairing is BBxTerra. Chapter 2 should be up pretty fast.

A Stranger's Advice

Tifa never liked Tuesdays working at her bar. For whatever reason very few customers came in on Tuesdays. She was no fan of being busy but it beat being bored. At least then she had someone to talk to. As such she was spending Tuesday afternoon staring at the counter cleaning an already clean mug.

The small bell above the door rung and Tifa looked up hoping an old friend might have stopped by. But as the boy walked in she realized it was none of the sort, just another weirdo that came in now and again.

Physically he was one of the stranger; he had green skin and a purple skin-tight outfit. He always looked sad when he came in; though he was a teenager so maybe that was to be expected.

"Hello sir," She greeted him. Her voice contained little of its usual enthusiasm but the green boy didn't seem to notice. He merely grunted in response and took a seat in front of her. One arm held his sagging face while the other drummed its fingers on her countertop.

"What can I get for you?"

"Slice of apple pie."

That was the other thing about this customer; he always ordered the same thing. What was particularly frustrating was that sometimes he would wouldn't even eat the pie, just stare at it deeply even leaving. Financially it didn't matter, but it still bothered Tifa.

She was about to make do with the teen's order when the door opened again. Her hopes weren't as high this time as she glanced at the door but was glad when she saw it was Cloud. He didn't even look up as he wandered in and sat a seat away from the green boy.

"Hi Tifa," He greeted her. It sounded forced to her ears.

"Welcome back Cloud." She said, acknowledging he must be back from making his deliveries.

"How was your day?" She asked him politely as she filled up a clean glass with his usual.

He sighed. Then, as if remembering that he was expected to give a response told her it was "Okay". She rolled her eyes but then remembered she still hadn't brought the green boy his pie. Opening the see-through container she cut a slice off the Apple pie and put it on a plate in front of the teenager.

Realizing conversation probably wasn't going to happen she turned on the radio, tuning the dial back and forth before leaving it on a random station. A few moments passed as the sound of the radio filled the bar with a pleasant tune; however in the somber feeling of the room the music seemed inappropriate.

Beast Boy was not having a good day. He had spent most of it following "Terra" or whoever she was. Then he was called back to fight the monster with the rest of the Titans and though they defeated it he felt no victory. In fact Robin even told him off a bit for not helping the team for so long.

And now here he was back to one of his old haunts staring at a piece of pie. He knew he wasn't going to eat it, heck the waitress knew that. Not sure why he ordered it he felt even worse now that he had it.

He was stuck. Utterly confused in how he should proceed. Beast Boy had waited so long for Terra to come back; he had never given up hope. But now that it looked like she might be back he was faced with her denying who she was. This was, in Beast Boy's opinion, worse than before.

The boy just couldn't decide whether it was her, or not. If it was then why? Was this all some big lie or was there something else to this story that he just wasn't getting?

All of these lines across my face, came the voice of the singer on the radio. Tell you the story of who I am.

"Are you going to eat that?"

"Huh?" Beast Boy turned to his left to see the blonde man sitting across from him. He was looking at BB and made a glance over at the pie. He couldn't have been much older than the green teen himself. "Oh, the pie? Probably not. You want it?"

The blonde shook his head. "What's the matter?"

Beast boy sighed, "It's a long story. You wouldn't want to hear it."

Grabbing his drink the stranger moved over to the seat beside BB. Pulling out his gloved hand he held it out, "Name's Cloud. You?"

Beast Boy hesitantly reached out his own hand and shook the stranger's hand. "Beast Boy; most people just call me BB."

Cloud nodded. "Is it a girl?"

"Wha?"

"Whatever's bugging you I mean. I know the look on your face; how could I not? I see it on my own face every day."

Beast boy wasn't sure if he was up for talking with a complete stranger over his problems. But would the other Titans really be any better? He knew he needed to say something to somebody or he'd explode. And this guy does seem nice…

"Yeah," He answered slowly. "It's about a girl."

"Did she…leave you?" He asked.

"It's more complicated than that."

…But these stories don't mean anything, if you've got no one to tell them to its true. And I was made for you.

Cloud nodded, "I know the feeling." He rummaged through a pocket and pulled out a small locket. Opening it he showed the picture inside to Beast Boy. A glance showed BB a beautiful woman with pretty eyes and brown hair pulled back.

"Who is she?"

"Her name was Aerith."

"Was?" Beast Boy asked.

"If you want to hear my story, tell me yours first."

BB sighed. "Okay I'll tell you. What seemed like a lifetime ago I met a girl named Terra. We hit it off but because of a misunderstanding she ran off. I was sad but I didn't have to wait long before she showed up again."

"This time everything seemed to be going fine. We had fun and I felt like I finally had someone who understood me. She even seemed to like me back then. Until she…" Beast Boy paused for a minute and took a deep breath. Tifa hadn't come back and the song was still playing.

I crossed all the lines, and I broke all the rules. But baby, I broke them all for you.

Beast Boy looked down at the uneaten pie. He would force himself to tell his story to Cloud but he couldn't say this part to his face. It was too painful. "She betrayed us. It turned out the whole thing was a sham."

"But I think after being with us so long she realized she hadn't wanted to betray anyone. She asked for my forgiveness but I…" He paused for a moment to rub something out of his eyes. "I didn't forgive her. I told her she didn't have any friends. It's partially my fault this whole thing happened!" He yelled as he slammed his hands down on the counter.

"Calm down," Cloud asked him. "It's okay; I know it's not easy. Just take a breath."

You see the smile that's on my mouth. It's hiding the words that don't come out. All of my friends who think that I'm blessed; they don't know my head is a mess.

"Anyway the whole time she was being controlled by an evil bastard named Slade—"

"…Sephiroth…"

"Did you say something?"

Cloud shook his head, "No, nothing. Continue."

"She tried to kill us but I never gave up hope. Finally after multiple attempts we were forced to attack seriously. Then we learned that Terra was just Slade's puppet and she couldn't even control her own body."

"I managed to convince her and she was able to use her powers again. She used them against Slade and killed him. However she had to sacrifice herself to save the rest of us, and the whole town. She was a hero."

"So she died then?"

See that it's true, that I was made for you. The song finished up.

But to Cloud's surprise Beast Boy shook his head. "No, she was more like…in a coma. Something like that. We searched for a cure but nothing came up."

"That takes us to yesterday. Me and my friends got back from a trip and were returning home when I saw her. She was across the street but when I looked back she was gone. I went back to where she would be to find her body was gone so I thought she might actually be free."

"I went to the nearby high school and saw her just walking by with some friends. I started to talk to her but…" Beast Boy gulped.

"…She didn't remember you?"

He nodded. "I kept at it trying to get her to remember or prove that I knew her but nothing worked. Now I don't know what I should do."

Cloud waited a moment for the teen's story to pass before saying anything. Beast Boy wasn't looking at him or anything; just staring blankly at the ceiling.

"The picture I showed you of that girl, Aerith. When I traveled the world on an adventure with my companions I fell in love with her. Unfortunately she was killed and I was too late to save her."

"I would've done anything to bring her back, but there was nothing I could do. I even talked to her after she died and she told me that I should move on."

"Is that what you think I should do?" Beast boy interjected. "Are you telling me to move on?"

But Cloud shook his head. "That's not the moral of this story. The point was I would've done anything I could to save her, anything to bring her back. That I would've given up anything just for the girl I loved."

"Do anything for her…" Beast Boy repeated the words slowly. "I think I understand, Cloud."

"I'm not telling you to do anything crazy," Cloud told him. "But whoever said "If you love something, let it go" was wrong. If your love is anything like mine then it's not something you can let slip away."

Beast Boy smiled, "Your one smart dude, Cloud."

Cloud shrugged, "Nah. I'm just a delivery boy."

The green changeling stood up. "Will I ever see you again?"

He shook his head. "No, my jobs done. I've completed the delivery."

Beast boy nodded, not fully understanding but at the same time it felt right. He walked out the door and didn't look back. Cloud stood up and looked up. Not at the ceiling, but what was above it.

"Do you think it'll work?" Said a voice from nowhere. It was feminine and very soothing to Cloud's ears.

He smiled. "Absolutely. Failure at this point is only possibly through quitting, and BB has too much heart for that to happen."

"I'm glad," The voice responded. "It's not often a stranger puts a smile on your face." Cloud chuckled but didn't say anything. What he saw was hope, and that was enough for him.