My spin on another common plot. This one being the "Beast Boy and Raven Reluctantly Attend a Dance Together." There has to be an original idea somewhere in this head.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy "Bitter Ballet" or "Does This Count As An OC Story?"
Beast Boy walked two drinks back to the dimly lit table in the corner of the gym.
"See anything yet?" He asked as he took his seat.
"No." Raven responded, barely acknowledging Beast Boy's presence.
Of all the places to be assigned to stake out for a possible super powered individual, it just had to be a high school dance. The team had received a tip that said the person would reveal themselves that night. Unfortunately, the tip only said "during a dance at the high school" and there were three different dances at three different schools that weekend. The Titans needed to split up so, naturally, Raven was assigned to Beast Boy. After a bit of protesting (from both parties), She reluctantly agreed. The two sat in relative silence for a moment. Raven dared a sip of punch. It wasn't very good, but it would suffice. She noticed the other cup on the table was already nothing but ice cubes.
"You know, we might have better luck in searching if we mixed with the crowd." Beast Boy said through the ambient noise of teens and whatever pop song. Raven gestured with her hand to say "Go ahead." Beast Boy started to rise from his seat but then sat back down. He wanted to go dance but he didn't want to just abandon Raven. This was one of his few chances he had to really spend time with her. He wasn't just going to throw it away. Raven's next look questioned him. Excuses ran through his head.
"Well, I just... I'd rather spend time with you." He decided to be honest. Part of Raven was disappointed she couldn't get rid of him. Another part was touched that Beast Boy wanted to stay with her. "Besides, High schoolers are weirdos anyway." He said this but it was clear in the way he stared that he desperately wanted to get on the floor.
"Beast Boy, do you want to dance?" Raven barely had a chance to get the words out, let alone regret them, before Beast Boy had grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the dance floor. The moment they found a good spot in the gym, the fast party song turned into a slow love song. Couples dancing around them seemed to appear out of thin air. Raven figured they would head back to their table, but Beast Boy held his hand out to her. He was trying so hard to spend time with Raven. The least she could do is give him this. She slid her hand into his.
"I've never really danced before."
"It's ok Raven, just move with the music." He put his other hand around her waist. They were silent for just long enough for it to begin to be awkward and for Beast Boy to consider what was happening. He was at a dance, with Raven as his "date", and she had accepted to dance with him. He decided to see how far his bravery could take him.
"You look beautiful tonight Rae." She looked up at him and a look of anxiety suddenly appeared on his face, "I mean, you always look beautiful. It's just tonight you..." He fumbled. So much for bravery. However, the complement in Beast Boy's statement well made up for it's awkwardness in Raven's mind. He thought she was beautiful. Not just tonight, but all the time? She responded the only way she could,
"Thank you." At this point, Raven decided to take Beast Boy's advice and try to lose herself in the music. The pair swayed back and forth to the rhythm. The two grew closer together. Another silence came, but this one was warm, comfortable. They slowly grew closer and closer until it got to the point where any self-respecting chaperone would have pried them apart. Raven broke just far enough to look into Beast Boy's eyes. For a crazed moment, she thought he may try to kiss her, or she would kiss him. All these feelings abruptly stopped when Raven felt an unfamiliar, cold, and dangerous presence. She broke away from Beast Boy, ready to apologize when she noticed his expression. Whatever it was, he had felt it too. The dance was over.
Beast Boy wasted no time in running to the DJ booth and shutting off the music. Raven switched on the lights. This awarded some groans from the crowd. Beast Boy spoke into the mic.
"Listen, you all need to get out of here, it's dangerous." A few students half-heartedly began toward the doors. "I'm serious. Something really bad is about to happen." A few more ran to the doors, some walked, but most remained standing in the center of the gym.
"Get off the mic!"
"Turn the music back on!"
"Wait, Beast Boy was here?"
This was not working. Raven flew to the front of the gym. She grew several feet and her eyes turned a dark red.
"Get out!"
That did the trick. After that, the crowd dispersed, running to any and every exit. Raven and Beast Boy stood in the middle of the gym, ready to fight. Whatever was out there was still coming this way. Raven reached out with her empathy, She had to hold on to Beast Boy's shoulder because of the intensity of the emotions. Pain, Rage, Bitterness, all quickly approaching. Beast Boy opened his communicator and called the other titans.
"Guys, it's our school, and I don't think our super powered friend is friendly."
"Are you sure it's that school?" Robin's voice rang back sounding irritated."Star, Look out!"
Beast Boy heard the sound of flames and then a deafening explosion.
"Robin? Robin?" He called. There was no response. Worry consumed him. "Cy, are you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here." His voice sounded like he was in the middle of lifting weights. There were various crashings and rumblings in the background. "Looks like we all found what we were looking for. Sorry, it looks like you and Rae are on your own. Good Luck."
"Cy, wait!"
"Sorry B. I gotta go." The last thing Beast Boy heard was Cyborg grunting and another loud crash. Beast Boy looked towards Raven and then the last few students bunched up at the Gym's back exit and those who still refused to leave. They really were on their own. Raven's face was expressionless. If she was worried, he couldn't tell. She just stayed facing the door to the hallway where she felt the unknown person was approaching. A shiver went down Beast Boy's spine. He could smell the person right out the door. The room felt like it had dropped to below freezing. Ice quickly shot from underneath the door and began covering the floor. Beast Boy's instincts were screaming "Danger. Get off the ground." Before his human brain had the chance to catch up, he had already turned into a pterodactyl and lifted Raven high off the floor. In this instance, the floor had transformed into ice. The remaining teens at the back door were all now frozen solid. All except one. The ice held around his large feet and kept him in place, but otherwise he was untouched. Raven flew out of the pterodactyl's grasp and quietly muttered a "Thanks." The boy bound at his ankles screamed for help. The two heroes remained high above. Not moving yet, hoping they still had the element of surprise. A small figure entered from the hallway, wearing dark blue jeans and a light blue hoodie pulled so tightly you almost couldn't see his face. He walked slowly toward the boy squirming on the other side of the gym. He stopped in front of the basketball hoop. A basket ball shaped ice chunk appeared in his hand. The ball was effortlessly sent through the air. A perfect swish. The sound of the ice ball shattering against the floor rang throughout the gym as he continued his leisurely stroll toward his victim. He stopped a couple feet in front of him.
"Hello Derrick." The cold, bitterly cruel voice said.
"Collins? Is that you? I thought you moved after what happened to Lilly."
"You mean what you did to her." Anger seeping through his voice.
"How was I supposed to know how she would react?"
"You ruined her life! She told you to stop. You wouldn't stop." His forearms began to be covered by ice. Razor sharp icicles extended out over his hands. "So now, I won't stop either." He lunged at Derrick. The Titans had seen enough. Beast Boy plummeted to the ground as a Gorilla and countered the ice blade, causing Collins to slide a few feet back across the floor. Raven freed Derrick from his icy prison. Collins stood still for a second. Beast Boy saw fear cross his face and was that a tinge of regret? It quickly turned to rage and he charged back at Beast Boy who stood in between him and Derrick. Beast Boy quickly said to Raven,
"Get him out of here. I'll handle ice guy here." Raven wasted no time in grabbing Derrick and phasing through the floor.
"No!" Collins shouted, "Where did you take him!" Beast Boy jumped out of the way of his attack.
"Some place you can't get to him."
"Tell me where he is!" A large ice ball flew straight at Beast Boy. Knocking him down sending him sliding across the floor. Several more ice balls were flung at him, all hitting their target. Collins ran towards Beast Boy and leapt to strike. A black wall of magic ramped him mid-jump.
"Get away from him." Raven's magic was answered with a wall of snow. Raven sliced both of her arms straight downward, sending the powder flying to either side. Beast Boy was just rising to his feet. He planned to capitalize on Collins being distracted. Beast Boy dove at the ground, morphing into a penguin. He slid across the ice at a near impossible speed. The green blur knocking Collins off his feet. He slammed into the frozen ground. In another instance, he was held to the ground by dark magic. Collins didn't struggle to get out. He laid completely still.
"Let me go. I don't want to fight you."
"You expect us to believe you?" Beast Boy dared a few steps closer.
"I just want Derrick. You think he deserves protection. He doesn't. If you knew what he did, you would let me do what I'm going to do."
"I seriously doubt that." Raven chimed in. A set of gym door suddenly began to shake, and sure enough Derrick burst through.
"What? Didn't you take him out of here?" Beast Boy shouted to Raven.
"Apparently, not far enough." She responded.
"Hey, you guys got him." Derrick started, "Let me finish the job." He suddenly revealed a small black handgun and pointed it at Collins.
"Woah, Raven!" Beast Boy got out in time for her to stop the gun from firing. Unfortunately, this left her distracted enough for Collins to break out of the magic holding him to the floor. He rose quickly and looked dead at Derrick.
"You're not getting out of here alive!" A roaring wind shook the entire gym. White powder flew in every direction. Beast Boy could barely see his hand in front of his face. A large crash from behind flung him forward. He turned to see what it was. Large sheets of ice were falling from the ceiling. He needed to move. He morphed into polar bear and ran towards Collins and Derrick. At least, where he thought they were. In another second, he saw three figures. Two on the ground and one floating above. A gunshot sounded and one of the grounded figures ran through the open door to the hallway. In the same instance one of the falling ice chunks fell directly on the floating figure, taking it straight to the ground.
Collins held his shoulder where a bullet hit, ready to pursue his target. He noticed a green gorilla run to the ice block that had just fallen. The gorilla was trying desperately to move the block through every matter of lifting and shoving, to no avail. It's cries getting more and more devastating with each attempt. It stopped for a moment to catch it's breath. Collins lifted the ice off the ground to reveal the battered girl in the torn dress and hood. Beast Boy ran to her in his human form. Collins stayed long enough for Beast Boy to send him a look of confusion, then disappeared into the halls. Beast Boy carried Raven into the hallway and gently set her down, not sure what to do after that. He sat in absolute panic until Raven began to float, signifying that she had begun to heal herself. Beast Boy took a sigh of relief. He stared at Raven until the sound of more gun shots snapped him back to reality. He got up and sped towards the sound. He hoped he wasn't too late. But why had Collins saved Raven? If he was a typical super villain, he would have no problem leaving Raven to die. But he didn't. If he showed Raven compassion, maybe that meant he really wasn't a killer. Beast Boy arrived at the source of the gun shots. The Locker room. He creaked open the door. It was relatively quiet but he could hear the sound of speaking and running water. There were a few bullet holes in the walls and several locker doors were broken off with icicles creeping down the sides. Beast Boy followed the trail of flickering lights, closer to the sound of the voice. As he turned the corner to the showers, he could hear Collin's voice over the sound of crashing water. Collins stood, hood down, above Derrick who was held to the ground by ice on his wrists and ankles. Collins was hunched slightly, still holding the bullet wound on his left shoulder. In his other hand, an icicle hanging over Derrick's chest.
"Collins, stop." Beast Boy took a step forward.
"Don't call me that. That's what he calls me."
"OK, what do I call you?"
"My name is Lance." His grip on his icicle loosened some.
"Hey Lance, I'm Garfield." Beast Boy was an arms length away from Lance now. "Why are you doing this?"
"You wouldn't understand."
"I think I could. If someone seriously hurt one of my friends, I might be exactly where you are."
"So, you know why I have to do this?"
"You don't have to do anything. I know you aren't heartless, otherwise you would have left my friend under the ice."
"How is she?"
"She's hurt, but she'll be fine."
"You're giving me a chance, even though I was the one who crushed her?"
"You were the one who saved her too."
Lance took one last look at Derrick, then the ice vanished from his hand. Lance turned around and took several steps back. Derricks restraints melted away. He stood up and glanced at his gun several feet away.
"If you don't have enough guts to finish this, I will." Derrick said. Beast Boy hoped he would have had enough sense to stay quiet and walk away. Derrick dashed for the gun and so did Beast Boy. Derrick arrived first and aimed the gun at Collins. Beast Boy knocked at Derrick's arms so the bullet flew upward. He then disarmed him and shoved him away. Beast Boy made sure to take the ammo out of the gun. He turned to see the boy in the blue hoodie now turned towards them. Death had returned to his eyes. He rose his arm and an array of pointed ice shards flew at Derrick. Beast Boy dove and transformed into a turtle, hoping the shell would be enough to block the ice. It worked for the most part, however a couple of shards punctured his shell. He was back in his human form before he landed on the ground. He grabbed one of the ice shards and threw it at Collins wound. Collins yelled out in pain. Beast Boy dashed at him and threw two powerful punches. Collins fell to the ground, knocked out. The ice all around the school began to vanish. Ice walls preventing entry to the school fell. Beast Boy heard Derrick's voice from behind him.
"Yeah Collins, out cold in two punches. I always knew you were a..."
Beast Boy flipped around and punched Derrick in the face, sending him to the wet shower floor. After all, he brought a gun to a school event, so he was a criminal. Right? In another second, cops filled the Locker room. Beast Boy would have loved to not turn Lance over to the police. At this point, there was nothing he could really do short of completely fabricating a story, which he didn't have the skills to effectively create. He told them exactly what happened, then limped out of the Locker room. He returned to where he left Raven. She was awake now. Seated, leaning against the wall. Beast Boy leaned down to help her up. She put an arm around Beast Boy shoulders and they slowly rose. The pair walked to the nearest exit through the gym, passing through police questioning kids that had been frozen. They saw the moon shining on the tower in the distance. They were both too tired to fly. It was going to be a long trip home.
1 taxi, 2 buses, and a boat ride later, Beast Boy ploped on the Tower's couch. It was then when Raven noticed the wounds on his back. She sat next to him and raised her glowing hands over his back, illuminating the room. He let out a grateful sigh.
"Did you seen any of the others?" He asked.
"No, but we are still in no condition to go looking for them."
"If they aren't back in a few hours, I say we go."
Luckily for the two, the others arrived home shortly after. First, Robin and Starfire. Both had singed clothes and hair. Cyborg arrived a few minutes later. He looked like he had been in a dust tornado. The team went straight to bed, agreeing to share the details of their missions in the morning. However one member of the team couldn't sleep. Beast Boy was pacing the rocks on the coast of the island. Eventually, he took a seat and began skipping stones. For a few minutes, he sat alone. Soon, Raven silently floated down and sat next to him. She levitated a stone and skipped it several more times than Beast Boy's last throw. Beast Boy shot her a jokingly irritated look. Raven gave a small smirk. Her face quickly changed to a serious, somewhat concerned, face.
"What happened?" She asked. Beast Boy then explained the events after she had been knocked out of the sky.
"And I feel like I could have really helped him, you know? Like, what if I was just involved in the creation of another super villain?"
"Beast Boy, Tonight was a success. You stopped him from taking someone's life. We've seen others come around so you shouldn't give up hope." Raven scoot a bit closer and looked into his eyes. Sadness still filled them. She stood up.
"Leaving already?" He asked turning to her.
"No, I just remembered," She held down a hand, "We never got to finish our dance."
And that's it. As always, please let me know what you thought or if you think I should give up writing forever. Currently, I'm working on a few other projects. So hopefully I can get something out again before too long.
But no promises.