I can't believe how many views and reads this has gotten, thank you so much you guys! I know that Tumblr is having a lot of issues right now and that people are on edge, but I'll still most likely be posting this to my Tumblr page, which is Starvedofsong . tumblr . com
You can also find other written works there and a lot of photos of coffee ^_^
Please review and comment and let me know what you like or don't like about the story, and feel free to make guesses!
Also, thanks to Sanzojoe who reviewed! - I'm not sure what kind of upgrades Cyborg would have, honestly. I didn't want to assume anything. But there is also a good reason why his tech would be disrupted ;) more to come!
-Song
Raven hovered an inch or so above the evergreen ferns on the forest floor. Her eyes watched the horizon line between thick trees for any sign of trouble. Behind her, the soft and careful footfalls of Beast Boy trailed along. Unlike her, he seemed almost cheerful. As if it were a leisurely stroll they were taking through a happy grove, rather than hiding from invisible foes in a dark forest.
At the moment he was staring up into space, probably looking for birds or other animals. Raven half smiled to herself before saying, "You've been quiet."
Beast Boy's pointed ears twitched around to hear her small voice echoing back at him.
"Oh yeah, sorry. I'm kind of in my element, you know?'
Raven turned from him and she smiled a little wider. "Mhm."
They kept going, gliding and stepping quickly through the mossy woods. The Pacific Northwest was damp and warm this time of year. The sun only half-streamed through the trees as the day grew into dusk. Raven tried to channel the air around her, but the only person she sensed was Beast Boy. No Robin, no Cyborg. Not even Starfire's bubbly warmth to run through her like a hot bath.
"I can't smell anyone," he called, now lagging behind her. She finally turned because his voice sounded so far away. He was looking behind them now at the sight of a bird flying away.
"Can we focus please?"
When Beast Boy turned back around his face was shining with embarrassment. "Hey, come on…"
Raven gave him a disappointed look and then hovered forward again. He shifted into a white-tailed buck and trotted along with her. They kept pace like that for a while, moving in tandem - the picture of camaraderie in a darkening forest. Then, in a burst of mischief, Raven picked up speed. So did he. The buck moved quickly over ferns and between massive tree trunks. Suddenly he was ahead of her and they were racing. Raven soared over the animal's perfect antlers and tugged playfully on one. He snorted and pawed and sprinted beneath her. They were several hundred feet further than when they'd started when Raven remembered why they were there and she slowed, nearly to a stop. The buck skidded, leaving long trails of hoof marks along the dirt path, and turned its antlered head to watch Raven lower her altitude and rest soundlessly upon the forest floor.
Beast Boy morphed instantly back to his human form. "What?"
Raven looked sheepish, but firm. "We should we working to find the others… not messing around. We could be followed right now by whatever had just tried to kill us. Starfire could be hurt."
A heavy, awkward silence fell between them. Beast Boy broke it the only way he knew how.
"I'm usually within ten feet of you, so whatever happens to you happens to me, too," he smiled. Raven didn't want to approve of his attempt at humor, but she couldn't help it. Between the mysterious threat, the potentially alien life and her missing friends, she had to let herself cross her arms and pretend to look serious.
"Hm," she joked back. "What are you trying to say?"
"That I've got your back, girl." Beast Boy kept walking, a catwalk spring in his step, and Raven was forced to follow. This time on foot.
"Look, I get that you're trying to make me feel better, spare my feelings - whatever, but..."
Beast Boy stopped again and let her catch up. Then he turned to her and placed his hands on each of her shoulders.
"I know, I'm worried, too," he began. "But having a little fun isn't the worst thing in the world sometimes. You should never be afraid to take a breath and relax."
"This isn't the time."
"No," he smiled and gently flicked her on the forehead. She looked aghast and he laughed. "No, but there's never really a good time."
He walked off and they kept going, Raven still a few feet behind him.
Raven thought about what he said as they walked. Slightly offended that he still only thought of her as a stick in the mud, she considered how her outward expressions or words may mislead her friends about how she was feeling. She'd been shutting off herself fo so long that it was hard to change the way that she did things. Raven definitely had done her best, but now it seemed, that Beast Boy still didn't see her any differently.
Something about that made her heart hurt a little in her chest.
"Look," she began, trying to keep her voice light and gentle.
Beast Boy, did not turn, but held up a hand to shush her.
The forest was even darker here, buried under the boughs of tall pines and oaks. The last remaining bits of sunlight could not even hope to penetrate the thick canopy of the forest. The moon was rising somewhere behind the black trees that obscured their view. Still, Raven could only just see the muscles in Beast Boy's neck and back tighten. His shoulders were so broad now; he was much taller than her. Maybe he did have her back, after all.
Raven closed her eyes and attempted to sense any human emotions or creatures that could potentially be surrounding them. There was nothing, then very quickly, something.
Beast Boy's growl came low in his throat. It gently vibrated the energies around them and Raven felt the hairs on the back of her neck tickle. She pulled her hood up over her head and brushed the hairs down.
Beast Boy breathed only, "Raven, I think we-" before they struck.
They were goblin-like and warped, short and shiny-looking. Their skin was either a sickly green or purple, antenna oozing something foul-smelling. They were sharp, too. Their teeth glinted in the growing moonlight, claws extended from small, grubby fingers. Talons reached out to strike and rip at their clothing, their skin. Raven wrapped her hands in black energy shields, knocking them back and protecting herself. She sidestepped a few while others climbed the trees behind her to get above her. Meanwhile, Beast Boy's ankylosaurus form was impenetrable, and it knocked down a few smaller trees in his transformation. The noise of huge footsteps and ripping earth were deafening to Raven. A pack of goblin-things threw themselves from the trees instead onto Beast Boy's back, clawing and screaming and trying to harm him. Raven blasted them off with magic. Beast Boy turned, there was a misstep and the massive dinosaur's tail came careening toward Raven's face. In the nick of time he shifted back, but not before Raven ducked in reflex.
"Raven!" Beast Boy cried. She turned just in time to see a small, frothing creature flying at her face. She was too slow.
"Ah!" she cried and put a hand to her face. The creature latched itself onto her hood and howled like a little banshee.
Beast Boy grabbed it by the scruff, ripped it from her and hurled it at a tree. It's body made contact with the bark with a sickening crack. "Go!" he roared at the hoard. "Get AWAY!"
Beast Boy's tiger form was so fast and ferocious that it killed three of them before the massive hoard backed off and disappeared into the already darkening forest, seemingly to regroup, but possibly to head back where they came from.
Beast Boy turned on his heel and ran back to Raven. Her face was scratched. It left a long, angry looking wound that Beast Boy could tell was putting her in a lot of pain. Raven, trying desperately to heal the wound with her magic, trembled from either agony or shock, Beast Boy did not know.
"I know this is a stupid question," he reached for her arm. "But are you okay?"
She pulled her arm out of his reach, stepping back. Raven sighed and lowered her hand, her magic dimming. She gave him an unidentifiable look and pulled her hood up to cover the wound.
"Yes, I'm fine."
Beast Boy only nodded his head gently, assuming that she was still in pain but going to be fine.
"I'm sorry," he told her. She frowned.
"Why?'
"We're stuck in these woods because of me," he replied.
She didn't understand. "No, we're not stuck in these woods, we're searching these woods for the others."
"Who we haven't found yet."
"Well," she smiled a little at him. "It's a big forest."
They looked around at the carnage of the trees and the dead goblin-like aliens.
"I guess," he shrugged. "Sorry you're stuck with me?"
Raven raised an eyebrow at him from under the hood. He could only slightly make out the gesture but it made him smile. Even though it was a childish question, he liked to hear her answers.
"I don't mind," she finally replied. "You are my friend. I'm here. I will go with you."
"We'll go together."
"Yes, we will, but let's keep going and maybe take scans of these things for Starfire and the boys to look at later."
She knelt down and transmitted a full scan of the dead aliens through the Titans' communicator. She hoped that Cyborg, wherever he was, was picking up on the signal.
They headed off in the same direction as before, not knowing they were still getting further and further away from their friends who were now heading north, not west.
Starfire, it seemed, was not moving anywhere at all...
