Vulnerable
A/N: alright, I'm starting new and I'm starting with a fresh story. I hope it will be better than my last, and you guys will enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
The Signs
Beast boy awoke with half of his body hanging of the side of the top bunk. He yawned while trying to figure out why he had such a good view of his messy bedroom floor, he couldn't help but think that the world turned upside down due to gravity defying aliens with special plasmic ray guns. Without any warning Beast boy made an amazing face plant right into his bedroom floor.
"Stupid aliens…" Was all he could say with his face lying flat on the floor, amazingly missing the piles of dirty clothing scattered all around his bedroom. He quickly recovered and was soon standing on his feet again. He walked into the bathroom and headed towards the mirror.
His messy green hair shot up every which way and his bangs covered the top of his forehead. As of a couple weeks ago Beast boy had finally hit puberty at age 16 and he couldn't wait for his voice to grow deeper and to grow taller.
He turned on the sink and started to wash his face to wake himself up. Once he was done he looked at himself in the mirror and smirked. His fang was sticking out and it made him look almost lethal. He then raised his arms and started flexing his muscles.
Beast boy had been working out a lot more lately and you could see a slight tone on his arms and chest as well as his abs. "At least it's a start" He grinned at himself and exited the bathroom. He went into his bedroom and grabbed some sweat pants; then he headed towards the common room.
It was still pretty early in the morning and ever since his puberty hit he's been waking up early almost exactly when the sun rises. As the common room doors opened Beast boy let out another yawn that sounded more like a roar and showed off his pearly whites.
"And I thought your mouth couldn't get any bigger."
He looked over to the table to see Raven sipping on a cup of tea with her hood down. Ever since Raven overcame her fathers control she began to show some emotion towards the other titan's, and when I say some I really mean a little. Beast boy smiled and took a seat across from her. "It's nice to see you too Rae." He smirked and then stretched flexing his muscles obviously trying to show off.
she rolled her eyes "Its Raven I'm sure even you can handle that" With that said she finished her tea and brought her cup to the sink, and headed straight towards the door. Beast boy watched her retreating back "You know you want me." He said smugly "Get over yourself" she replied coldly and then she was gone.
After a moment he threw his head onto the table mumbling curses as he did 'Why in the world did I do that, our friendship is strained enough as it is. I'm an idiot.' Ever since his puberty started Beast boy had been starting to act differently and his actions worried him.
'Maybe it's just the side effects of going through puberty so late' He got up and started fixing himself breakfast.
As soon as he was done eating the other titans entered the common room. They all gave their greetings and before Beast boy could say or do something he would regret he left and headed towards his room to get ready for his morning workout. He grabbed a dark green muscle shirt and headed towards the gym.
In the gym was where he spent most of his time. He let out all his anger and frustration when he was there. He did some stretches and jumped on the treadmill to warm up.
As soon as he felt his body build some sweat he headed towards the weights and pull up bars and started working his arms chest and abdominal area's. Soon after he made his way to the punching bag in the middle of the room and let himself go.
The more he hit the bag the more aggressive he got. He didn't realize that he was growling and snarling. He moved fast and quick, hitting the bag wildly at impossible angels. He could feel himself become angry and he didn't understand why and that only made him all the more violent.
While he was pounding away on the bag Robin came in and yelled his name several times. 'Alright that's enough he's going to overwork himself and rip the bag apart if he doesn't calm down' Robin thought before he grabbed Beast boy and pulled him away, but that only made him hostile and without any warning Beast Boy grabbed Robins arms and flipped him over his back. Robin hit the matted floor with a loud smack and the air in his lungs were violently pushed out.
He coughed and yelled "Beast boy calm down it's me Robin!" As soon as he heard him he dropped his stance and looked down at Robin with confusion. "Robin why are you on the floor? Are you okay? You look like you're out of breath." Robin stared at him with bewilderment "Beast boy you flipped me while I was trying to calm you down! You ripped the punching bag apart." Robin stood holding his chest and breathing heavy.
That's when Beast boy noticed the claw marks all over the bag and piles of sand pouring out of it. 'I can't believe I didn't notice the damage I was doing…It was like I was in a trance, I didn't even know that I flipped Robin…something is seriously wrong with me.'
Beast boy looked back to Robin "I didn't mean to, I promise to clean it up and replace the bag, sorry about that, I think there is something wrong with me."
"I was thinking the same thing Beast boy. Ever since you started puberty you've been a lot more aggressive and inconsiderate towards me and the other Titans."
Beast boy bowed his head "Yeah I noticed that to and I don't know why. It's like some one is influencing me to do these things and act like a real jerk, it's hard for me to control myself….." He trailed off deep in thought, concern and worry written on his face.
Robin placed his hand on Beast boy's shoulder in a brotherly fashion. Beast boy looked up to see a small smile on his face "Don't worry Beast boy we'll get to the bottom of this. I'll ask Cyborg to run some tests on you to see what's causing these mood swings." Beast boy gave a weak smile and nodded.
After he was done cleaning up the gym he quickly headed towards his room for a quick shower and ran to meet Cyborg in the medical bay. As he turned the corner he ran into someone causing the two to butt heads and crash on to the floor with Beast boy falling on top of the person. "Ow." They said simultaneously, Beast boy propped himself up on his arms and looked down.
"Raven? I'm sorry I didn't…" He trailed off as his nose caught her scent 'Man she smells good' he leaned and started breathing her in. 'How come I didn't notice how good she smelt, it's so distinct, It smells like lavender and lilacs...and something else that's just Raven.' He then leaned back and stared at her.
Raven reddened lightly as she noticed how close their bodies were and what position they were in, not to mention that just a few moments ago Beast boy was smelling her. 'And now he is just staring at me. What's wrong with him?' Raven cleared her throat hoping that will get Beast boy to realize what he's doing and get off her, but it didn't work. So she did it again this time louder but still to no avail.
"Beast boy are you going to get off me your self? Or do I have to use my power's to assist you?" Her voice seemed to snap him back into reality and that's when he noticed the position they were in. He blushed deeply and jumped back immediately
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to….umm…I mean I couldn't help but…uhh….y-your looking good today Raven." As soon as he said that he blushed even deeper "Uh. I'll see ya around." And with that said he dashed around the corner and was gone.
Raven stood and looked towards the direction he sped off to, a light blush still on her face. 'Did…Did he just compliment me? There is something definitely wrong with him. Something must have been in his eye or maybe he's on drugs...' Raven quickly turned around and headed towards her room 'I have to meditate' she thought.
All the while that small blush was still on her face. Somehow she new, even though she kept telling herself he didn't mean it, she knew that what he said was genuine.
Beast boy came to a walk and looked down the hall to the entrance of the med bay. He thought back to the incident that caused him to run so fast. 'I can't believe I said that out loud, it kind of just slipped out. Man she must think I'm such a dork not to mention what I said to her earlier this morning.' He sighed loudly.
'She looks good though….very beautiful actually. The way that one strand of hair falls into her face when she's reading is so cute, and when she meditates in the common room the sun just seems to make her skin glow and her beautiful face looks so calm and serene that I can't help but stare and ….' Beast boy stopped in mid stride.
'And I can't believe I'm thinking about Raven like this! She could be in my brain right now looking at my thoughts! I can't think about her like this! She's barely even my friend and these thoughts could lead me to feel emotions and these emotions could lead me to do something very stupid!' Beast boy started pacing and throwing his hands in the air.
'She's my teammate, my friend, if that and I can't risk our fragile friendship due to these thoughts. Besides these are just thoughts that could be influenced by my teenage hormones, its nothing.'
Beast boy stopped pacing and made his way back down the hall and into the med bay 'I can worry about my thoughts over Raven later' with that he approached Cyborg and Robin feeling vexed.
"Man what took you so long? We've been waiting for almost half an hour." Cyborg complained and motioned for Beast boy to take a seat on top of the metal bed. "I was a little caught up" Beast boy snapped. As soon as those words left his mouth he covered it with his hands. "I honestly didn't mean to say it like that Cy." He looked at Cyborg sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it BB I know about your mood swings." Cyborg turned from him and towards his equipment. "I've been experiencing them for the last couple of weeks" the last part he said under his breath. "Now all I'm going to do is take some blood samples and run some tests on them and then I'm going to measure your height and weight." Beast boy nodded and the testing began.
Beast boy has grown 2 1/2 inches in the past 4 weeks and he was now 5 feet and 6 inches. He weighed in about 135lbs and most of his weight seems to be coming from his muscle mass.
He was now sitting back on the metal bed waiting for Cyborg to get the results from his blood test. "I tested BB for about every thing I could think of that could cause these mood swings" Cyborg explained then the computer started spitting out the report.
Once it was done Cyborg grabbed it and started scanning the data. Beast boy waited anxiously, he couldn't stop fidgeting. 'I hope it's not because of what I think it is…please don't let it be what I think it is.' Beast boy had this feeling that the reason for his mood swings weren't because of him hitting puberty but of something else.
Cyborg's face turned into confusion as he read the last bit of data, he quickly reread it again just to make sure. He looked back up towards Beast boy " It seems as though your mood swings are natural" Beast boy let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding "But also unnatural" As soon as Cyborg said that he sucked it all back in. "What do you mean?" Robin asked. "I'm not sure… I'm going to run one last test to see if my suspicions are correct." Cyborg turned back to the monster computer and typed urgently.
The computer started scanning then a couple minutes later it started printing another report. Before the computer could finish printing the whole report Cyborg ripped it out and started reading. At first his face was expressionless then his eyes began to widen and is jaw slowly dropped. He looked up towards Beast boy who seemed to be unmoving and clutching the metal bed so tightly that you could see small dents forming.
Beast boy stared right back at him and waited for him to say something, but his patience soon grew thin "Stop staring at me and tell me what's happening!" He roared and pounded his fist into the bed making a permanent dent.
That definitely got the robot's attention and he drew his hands up in a calming matter "Beast boy I need you to calm down, if you get to upset you might trigger your transformation." This caught Beast boy by surprise 'Oh, no….please God no…' Beast boy relaxed but still held his grip onto the bed. "Okay I'm calm, now tell me what's going on." Cyborg stared at him then told Robin to take a seat and he grabbed one of his own
"Alright, well according to this report your mood swings are being caused by you going through puberty, that's the natural part of it, but it's also being caused by something else." Cyborg looked over the reports again and frowned. "Ever since you started growing and developing the Beast within you has also been growing and becoming stronger and it's looking for a way out."
"But didn't you make a serum so that the Beast would remain dormant inside of Beast boy?" Robin asked
He turned to Robin "Yes I did and he's been taking it. It's just that the Beast has somehow overcome the drug and the reports shows that the more upset that Beast boy gets the easier it is for the Beast to take control. Not only did the report show that but it also showed that if I were to make a stronger antidote the Beast would somehow adapt and overcome. It's a real animal" Cyborg ended his explanation and looked back towards Beast boy.
He looked down and stared at his hands feelings of dread and fear slowly engulfed him he clenched his hands into fists and his knuckles turned a lighter shade of green. He knew it, he knew deep down inside that the Beast was awake, he knew but chose to ignore. 'I can't believe it….I knew this would happen didn't I, and by denying it I put my friends in danger.' He closed his eyes tightly and the muscles in his body tensed.
Cyborg and Robin saw this and stood "Don't worry Beast boy we'll find a way to handle this once and for all" Robin reassured.
But he didn't acknowledge his words 'I knew I would have to do this……I knew I would have to face the Beast…..I have to stop running, I have to fight back for my friends.'
Beast boy slowly opened his eyes and unclenched his fists it was clearly written on his face how much fear and uncertainty was going through his mind. He looked up towards Robin and Cyborg "Thanks for being there for me and for all your help, But this is something I'm going to have to handle on my own." A look of determination crossed his eyes. "I'm going to have to tame the Beast and in order for me to do that…." Beast boy trailed off.
Realization hit Robin and Cyborg like a brick wall and they stood stock still. "You would have to leave…wouldn't you?" Cyborg looked at Beast boy and he nodded his head in confirmation. "I'm still going to be a Teen Titan just on temporary absence alright? I'll be back I promise." Beast boy looked towards Robin.
"If you feel like this is the only way then I can't stop you, and by keeping you here you're a danger to all of us, I understand." Robin nodded his head towards Beast boy. "I'm glad I have your approval and I have decided that I will leave as soon as I pack what I need, but I'm going to need you to drop me off Cy." The said robot nodded somberly.
"When are you going to tell the girls?" Cyborg asked. "I'm planning on telling them as soon as we were done here." Beast boy really didn't want to leave but he knew that this was for the best. So he got up and started to head towards the common room while Cyborg and Robin went to go get the girls.
Raven was in deep meditation when she heard the loud knock on her door. She sighed and lowered herself onto the bed 'This better not be another one of Beast boy's stupid pranks" she thought and went to the door. She opened it to see Cyborg "Hey Rae we're needed at the common room." He said.
Raven nodded and followed him. A tight knot formed in the pit of her stomach and a bad feeling settled itself onto her. 'What's wrong with Cyborg. He's giving of strong feelings of grief.' They soon found themselves in the common room where Robin and Starfire were sitting on the couch and Beast boy was pacing in front of them relentlessly.
They made their way to the couch and sat down. Once everyone was situated Beast boy looked over them. 'These are the greatest friends I have ever had' Beast boy thought 'I'm gonna miss them' He sighed.
"Okay, umm, well I have called you guys here because I wanted to announce that, uh, earlier today I went to the med bay with Cyborg and Robin to run some tests on me because of my mood swings, and well, we found out that because I'm growing and developing that the Beast is also becoming stronger and the serum that Cyborg made to help tame the Beast is having little to no effect at all.
And if Cyborg was to make a stronger antidote the Beast would just overcome and adapt. So I'm going to leave the tower until I have control over it" Beast boy paused and scanned the faces that were before him.
He smelt their sorrow and helplessness. He knew that this was breaking their hearts, they are family to each other, and each other is all they have. Before he could break down he continued on. "I will be leaving as soon as I pack what I need, and I don't know how long I will be gone, but I promise I'll be back" He gave a soft smile.
There was a somber silence that followed after Beast boy's speech, but then Starfire stood and approached him "I am sorry friend Beast Boy that this is the only way. I wish there was more we could do." Starfire gave Beast boy a strong hug. "Don't worry Star you guys have done a lot for me already" He replied.
Cyborg approached and gave the green teen a hug. No words were exchanged and they were not needed. They both knew what the other was feeling. 'I'm going to miss this big pile of scrap metal.' Beast boy couldn't help these feelings that were emitting off of him, and it was hard for Raven to block them out.
Robin stood next, he was never really good with goodbyes and he didn't really know how to handle this. So he stuck out his hand and Beast boy shook it they both smiled at each other.
"Don't take to long coming back, we need you Beast boy."
"I'll do my best." The two let go and Raven stood. Beast boy locked eyes with her and she did the same. Robin grabbed Starfire's hand and led her out of the room while Cyborg left to get the T-ship ready.
"Raven, I'm sorry about earlier today, and what I said to you in the kitchen I kn-" He was cut off as Raven covered his mouth with her powers. "Beast boy you don't need to apologize. I understand, and I just want you to know that you've always been a friend to me and you always will be. I know you think I hate you, but the truth is I don't" Beast boy was shocked to say the least but a happy grin crossed his face.
He slowly approached her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug "Thank you Raven and I just want to say that I don't hate you either. I'm going to miss you" he whispered the last part. Raven stood stiffly his emotions were a mess, but what worried her the most was that she couldn't tell which emotions were hers. He let her go and smiled; she couldn't help but give a small smile in return.
'She smiled at me! She really did!' Beast boy felt good despite the reason for all of this. "Just take care of yourself" she then turned from him and walked gracefully back up the steps and out the door. 'She's so incredible, a real enigma, but also invincible.' he thought. Beast boy headed towards his room to pack his clothes and anything else he thought he would need.
He really was going to miss this tower and his room but most of all his friends 'Especially Raven' He thought, not even taking in full account of what that could mean. As soon as he was packed he swung his little bag over his shoulder and went to go meet Cyborg on the roof. "Okay BB where to?" Cyborg asked as he climbed into the captain's cockpit.
"There's a small island near Hawaii that's uninhabited." He replied while getting in as well. "How do you know that?" Cyborg asked.
"When we where passing over Hawaii for our vacation couple years ago I saw the island and I could tell no one lived there, you can call it animal instinct." He smirked.
As the T-ship was getting ready to take off the rest of the team came up to wave them goodbye, he smiled and waved back 'This is all for you guys' The T-ship lifted up and off they went.
They soon arrived onto the island where there was small volcano and a dense forest surrounding it, while it stretched towards the beach. As the T-ship landed Beast boy jumped out "I'll beep you on your communicator when its time. Until then don't try to contact me okay?" He gave Cyborg thumbs up and the robot returned it "Don't die ya hear?" Beast boy nodded and with that said the T-ship lifted off the ground and sped off.
Beast boy turned around and faced the island. 'This is my new home' he thought 'I don't think there's any tofu out here' He smiled at his own joke and walked into the forest leaving his bags under a tree near the beach.
The deeper he went the more primal he began to feel. "I'm not going to live in fear of you any more Beast" Beast boy growled "You will not control me" Beast boy's eyes began to dilate, he brought out the anger and deep unforgiving rage that the Beast caused him to feel. "I am my own master and this is my body, you will not hurt anyone anymore unless I say so!" He roared. The memories of Adonis and the Beast hit him in full force and he could feel himself slowly transform.
"Let me out! You can not tame me! You are too weak! Once I have control over your body I will return to your friends and show them what a beast can really do!!" The Beast snarled inside of his mind. Beast boy threw himself at a tree and cut deep into the bark. He closed his eyes shut and grabbed his head; he placed his forehead onto the dirt and let out a terrible roar.
"I am not going to allow you to harm my friends! I am not a Beast!" He dashed deeper into the forest screaming a cry of determination and desperation. He ran to try to separate himself from the pain, he ran to show that he was not giving up, he ran to tame the part of him that was untamable, He ran to conquer his darkest fears, and he ran so he could live.
