Day 3
The following morning, all the Titans woke up early for their day at the beach. When they were fully packed, they boarded a city bus to the beach, seeing as the T-Mobile was still being repaired. When they stepped out onto the gravel road that led to the beach, the sun was just coming over the horizon. As they approached the beach, the sun's unbearable light blasted into all the Titan's faces. BeastBoy began screaming and running about. "It burns! I've gone blind! I can't see!" he hollered. He was about to continue his riot, but Robin grabbed the back of BeastBoy's shirt collar. "Relax, it's not that bad." BeastBoy stopped freaking out, and returned to the group. To their pleasure, the beach was deserted. Raven set up a chair and umbrella, while all the other Titans changed into their swim suits. Except Cyborg, who was too busy clucking his tongue at Robin to notice everyone else changing. "You think you're something special for coming up with the idea of the beach, don't you? Well, just remember, I know the real reason you wanted to come here." he said, nodding in Starfire's direction. Robin looked her way, and his jaw dropped. Starfire had changed into a beautiful two piece bathing suit colored purple, and to Robin's enjoyment, it revealed much more of her skin than normal. Stop. Staring. Maintain. Control! Robin ordered himself. But he couldn't stop looking at Starfire. When she noticed Robin staring at her, she blushed and looked down at the ground. Cyborg smacked Robin in the back, knocking him out of his trance. "You know, it's considered impolite to stare at someone." he said. "Why don't you shut up." Robin grumbled. When he looked back in Starfire's direction, she was gone. Robin looked around, but did not see her. A hand gently tapped his shoulder. He turned and found Starfire beside him. "ARRGH!" Robin fell backwards into the sand. "Robin! I am sorry! Are you okay?" Starfire asked, surprised at Robin's reaction. Robin groaned and got up. "I'm fine. Let's go have some fun." he said, taking off his shirt.
. . .
Meanwhile, BeastBoy had changed into his swim gear as well. When he saw Raven sitting in her chair, reading a book, he scowled. Can't she ever have fun? he thought to himself. "Come on Raven! Let's go swimming! I'll race ya!" he said, walking over to her. "No thanks." she said, not looking up from her book. BeastBoy was getting impatient. "Oh come on! Leave your stupid book to itself for once and have some fun! I'm not going to be here forever, ya know." he said. Hearing this, Raven shuddered. "Fine." she said.She stood up and set her book on the chair. She unbuttoned the pendant that holds her cloak together and let it fall off of her. What no one knew until now, was that Raven was wearing a black one piece swimsuit. It didn't look much different from her normal black suit, but it was somehow sexier. BeastBoy stood there for a moment, staring at Raven's body. Raven realized she was blushing. Dammit! Stop blushing! Don't show your emotions! She cursed herself. Her thoughts were interrupted by BeastBoy's voice. "Okay. Uh, you wanna go in the water? Or something?" BeastBoy asked. Raven grabbed BeastBoy's arm and pulled him towards the water, not wanting him to see her face. "Hey Raven! I'll race ya to that rock!" BeastBoy said, pointing to a rock about five hundred feet away. Raven almost, almost smiled. "Fine." she sighed. "Ready. Set. Go!" BeastBoy said, morphing into a dolphin, then taking off like a streak toward the rock. "Hey! You didn't say it wasn't going to be a fair race!" Raven shouted. Fine, I'll just fly to the rock. If BeastBoy can shape shift, I should be able to fly. Raven took off out of the water and rushed through the air in pursuit of BeastBoy. She was about to pass him, and win the race, until she was hit in the head with an object. Startled, Raven fell out of the air and landed in the water with a SPLASH! Upon resurfacing, she looked around. A beach ball was floating near her. "My bad Raven!" Cyborg said, guffawing. Raven looked at BeastBoy, who was sitting on the rock, breathing heavily. She quickly swam over to him. "You okay?" she asked. BeastBoy nodded. Raven waded back to shore, while BeastBoy swam over to Robin and Starfire, who were having a contest of who could hold their breath the longest. Cyborg was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, everyone's hunger got the best of them. As Starfire sat down on a picnic table, she asked, "Who had the duty of preserving the fresh food for our day of fun?" Everyone looked around. "Well, that would be Cyborg's job." BeastBoy said, rolling his eyes in thought of Cyborg's non vegan friendly food. "Soooo, where is he?" Raven asked. BeastBoy shrugged. "Beats me. I'll go get the food!" he said, heading off towards the other side of the beach, where he had left the food. Raven looked around. Starfire and Robin were having a somewhat flirtatious conversation, Cyborg was still nowhere to be found, and BeastBoy was off getting the food. I wonder of BeastBoy needs any help with the food basket. Maybe I should help him. Raven thought to herself. Nah, he's probably got it covered. He does have those big, strong – SHUT UP! Raven's body jerked upright as she realized what she was about to think. Starfire and Robin looked at her, and then went back to their conversation. How did I almost think that? I'm not thinking of that. I'm not thinking of that. Raven told herself. As BeastBoy set the food basket on the table, Raven spoke. "I'm, uh, not hungry anymore. I need to go meditate." She left the table and went over to the water. BeastBoy shrugged and began handing out food.
. . .
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." Raven quietly repeated to herself. She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes. The smell of the food had gotten to her. As she joined the rest of the Titans, a particular cheery voice spoke her name. "Friend Raven?" Starfire asked. Raven's eyebrow twitched. "What?" she said. Starfire continued. "I was hoping maybe tomorrow you could accompany me to the mall of shopping?" she finished, hope in her eyes. Why?! Why does she always want me to come?! Can't she ever do anything by herself? Raven thought. "I guess. She sighed. "If...BeastBoy will come too." she added without thinking. BeastBoy's jaw dropped. Robin raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you want me to go anywhere with you?" BeastBoy said. Raven didn't reply, just looked down at her food. "Joy! BeastBoy and friend Raven will accompany me to the mall of shopping tomorrow! What fun!" Starfire said, smiling. Raven wanted to hide her face under her cloak, but she couldn't because she was still in her swimsuit. Robin's eyebrow descending, he spoke. "Well, I guess that will give me time to fix the Titan elevator." Raven snorted. After they finished their breakfast, BeastBoy stood up. "Well, ladies and gents, let's hit the amusement park! Something tells me Raven wants another stuffed chicken!" he said, looking at Raven out of the corner of his eye. Raven had tossed the first chicken BeastBoy had won her in the trash. "Did it ever occur to you that there might be an animal other than a chicken I might even have the slightest interest in?" she asked, thinking of Pretty Pretty Pegasus. Robin snickered loudly.
. . .
After the Titans changed back into their normal clothes, they walked onto the amusement park boardwalk. Starfire and Robin went towards the arcade, while BeastBoy went to win Raven another stuffed animal, leaving Raven by herself. She sighed and sat on the nearest bench. "Hey! I know you! Crow, right?" asked a girl in her late teens. "Raven." said Raven flatly. "Oh, right. You're part of the Titans aren't you? Man, I would give millions to get in with you guys, just to spend a day or two with BeastBoy." said the girl dreamily. Raven's eyebrow began twitching again. "Why? What's so special about him?" she asked. The teenager looked at Raven in surprise. "Everything! He's funny, cute, strong, caring, and he can morph! That's so..." the girl was cut off by Raven standing up very quickly, her face inches from the girls. "He's not here. Now, if you don't mind, I would like some peace and quiet." she said, in an agitated tone of monotone voice. The girl took a few steps backwards and raised her hands in defense. "All right, all right. Sheesh." she said, walking away. Raven slowly sat back down, watching the girl intently until she was out of sight. What just happened? I got angry at a girl for talking about BeastBoy? Why should I care what anyone says about him? Raven thought to herself. But just thinking about how that girl adored BeastBoy so much gave Raven an emotion she wasn't extremely familiar with. Jealousy. She stood up and went to find BeastBoy, whom she found at the ring toss game. She watched him silently as he gently threw a ring forward. It bounced off one glass bottle, and anchored itself around another. "Yes!" BeastBoy said, still unaware of Raven's presence. The man running the game gave BeastBoy a medium sized stuffed spider. "Dude! I can totally win some friend points from Raven when I give her this!" he said. He turned around, and walked right into Raven. She fell backwards, onto the wooden boardwalk. She was about to tell him off, but some feeling made her stop. BeastBoy went pale. "Oh, Raven. How long have you been standing here?" he asked, turning red. "Long enough for you to knock me over like a stack of cards." Raven growled. BeastBoy turned even redder. "Heh heh. Sorry. Maybe I can make it up to you." he said. Suddenly, a thought entered Raven's mind. You could ask him to make it up to you by asking him to give you a – NO! Raven quickly shut out the unwanted thought in her head. Where were these unwanted thoughts coming from? "With this!" BeastBoy finished, holding out the stuffed spider like a trophy. Raven looked at him curiously. "Why are you doing this?" she asked. BeastBoy shrugged. "You're my friend. Friend's give each other things. Come on. Let's go find Robin and Starfire. I think Cyborg may have gone back to the tower for some reason." BeastBoy said. Raven nodded. They walked into the arcade to find a rather large crowd gathered around the Dance A Thon Machine. BeastBoy and Raven pushed their way through the crowd and saw what everyone was looking at. Robin and Starfire were going wild on dual dance pads. They had chosen a two person dance of extreme difficulty. Starfire's hair was a mess, and at one point, Robin's cape flew over his head, causing him to fall off the pad, and end the game. Raven wanted to join BeastBoy in laughter, but didn't allow herself to do so. Robin jumped up, adjusting his cape like nothing went wrong. "Hey guys, when did you get here?" he said, hoping they hadn't seen him fall. "A few minutes ago." Raven said, snickering slightly. An exhausted Starfire joined Robin's side. "The new level of difficulty has exhausted my body. Can we go home now?" she said, tiredly fixing her hair. Robin nodded. As they walked back to the Tower, Starfire had found her energy replenished slightly from the setting sun, and was now yakking at a nonstop rate. "It was a joyous time, friend Raven! We did the competing with many others, who did not have our level of skillfulness." she said. Raven, who was about ready to strangle Starfire, changed the conversation. "Hey, uh, anyone seen Cyborg?" she asked quickly, interrupting Starfire, whose smile had vanished. "No, not since this morning." Robin said. "I told you, he probably went back to the tower early to fix the T-Mobile or something." BeastBoy said.
. . .
After everyone reached the tower, BeastBoy had gone into his room, then abruptly thrown up. He was now hanging his head over the toilet, with Raven, who had volunteered to keep him company. "Raven, you don't need to waste your time with me. I'm sure you have better things to do." BeastBoy groaned. Raven put her hand on BeastBoy's shoulder. "No, I don't. I'm quite happy sitting here." she said. BeastBoy threw up again. Raven was getting concerned about her friend. His cancerous condition had seemed to improve, but now it had returned. After BeastBoy had finished, Raven helped him to his bed, and she tucked him in. BeastBoy looked at her through half closed eyes. "Why are you being so nice to me?" he eventually asked. Raven tried to think of an answer, but couldn't come up with one. "Just because." she said, closing his door. As she walked down the hall, she heard Robin and Starfire talking. She paused to listen. Robin was speaking; "No matter how well BeastBoy seems at any given time, we have to remember he is still sick, and only has a number of days left, unless the doctor can do something." Raven stood still, continuing to listen. "It is true, he seemed very high in spirits earlier today, but now he has returned to the tossing of the cookies." Starfire said. "We need to give him no clues as to his fate, just make his last few days his best. So, hope for no crime alerts." Robin finished. Raven sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. I feel trapped. I don't know why, but ever since BeastBoy's cancer was known, I've felt...different. she thought. Raven remembered what it was like, knowing about an awful fate. Her fate had been that her demonic father, Trigon, would come back on her birthday and end the world. But her friends changed it. Raven's eyes opened slightly as she realized that fate can be changed. She silently walked back to her room, pondering this thought. As she passed BeastBoy's room, she stopped for a moment and stood outside his door. Then she walked to her room and went inside. She locked her door and opened the curtains hiding her window. As she opened the window, the cool, night breeze drifted over her face. Her hair swayed with the breeze. The sun had gone down. She listened to the ocean waves crashing against the stone island. How could a place so peaceful be so awful? Raven looked up at the stars in the sky, and made a wish to herself. I wish...I wish BeastBoy would live. Please. She decided to leave her window open, and walked back to her bed. As she sat on her bed, she took off her boots and tossed them aside. She unzipped her suit and hung it in her closet. As she put on her pajamas, she wondered what it was like to have cancer. Probably painful at times. Part of me is glad that I didn't get the cancer, but part of me wishes it was me instead of BeastBoy. She thought to herself. She shook her head, and got in bed. She blew her candles out with a flick of her powers. She took a deep breath, let it out, and entered the world of dreams, where nothing ever went wrong.
