Ok, just so you all know, the story in her later on is completely made up, but it uses Celtic ideas. Witches, changelings, their stories were chalked full of those concepts, although they did tend to favor Giants. Anyways, don't go looking for it. But please, do look at the old Celtic stories. They're pretty exciting. Anyways, enough history lesson, on with our story!
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"Raven?" Beast Boy knocked on Ravens door. Here went nothing. "Raven, its Beast Boy." The door opened.
"I don't want to talk Beast Boy." The door almost closed again but Beast Boy stuck his hand inside and stopped it just in time.
"Actually, I wanted to apologize…" The door opened all the way once more. "Come again?"
"I… um, a… heh… a…" Mentally Beast Boy slapped himself. A moment ago he had been perfectly fine, and now he was freezing. Raven gave him a raised eyebrow. He took a breath and continued shakily on.
"I wa- wanted to apologize, f-for being such a pest lately. You know, for bugging you and stuff." He looked down. Would she take it?
"Apology accepted." Raven was taken aback. Beast Boy was apologizing? She wanted to ask if perhaps Cyborg had told him too, but she didn't. She actually almost smiled. Almost. Then she went to close the door. "Later Beast Boy." The door was almost shut when Beast Boy stuck his hand in again.
"Actually I was hoping to make it up… to … you." The door swooshed open once more.
"I'm listening." Raven stood in the doorway, arms crossed.
"Well, we never hang out, cept when we're kicking butt, or I'm getting on your nerves, so I was thinking we should do something, the two of us." He looked expectant. For some reason Raven didn't want to say no, but she didn't want to say yes either.
"Where and when did you want to do this 'hanging out'?" Raven accented with her fingers to get across that she felt this was very dumb. Not that she did, but we couldn't let Beast Boy know that, could we?
Beast Boy's hopes sank a little. What if she said no? What if it all came to nothing? Cyborg said to be nice, but what if she didn't do 'nice'? He ploughed ahead anyways. You never knew till you tried.
"I was thinking," he continued, "since you don't do video games, and I'm not sure I'd like meditating all that much, that we could go to the mall."
"The mall?" Raven raised an eyebrow. Ok, this was getting weird. Way weird.
"Sure! I mean, there's shopping, if you like that sort of thing, but it's got all kind of things! There's and arcade… which …. you don't like, but there's the movies and a food court, and I haven't checked but I'm pretty sure there's a book store and…"
"If I go, will you stop talking?" Beast Boy looked pained for a split second before his smile came back. Raven cursed herself. Why did she have to do that?
"Look Raven, I'm serious. My treat. Come on, it'll be fun!" Raven contemplated. What else did she really have to do? He looked so excited. She really wasn't able to concentrate on meditation or books anyways, not since… suddenly she was suspicious.
"Wait, this isn't a way to make me talk or something is it? Cause if it is you can just kill that plan right-
"No sharing unless you want to. Just some fun." Beast Boy held out his hand. Would she take it?
She didn't, but she did the next best thing.
"Fine, wait one minute, got to grab my bag." She turned around and the door closed.
"YES!" Beast Boy leaped in the air. She'd accepted it, they were going to do something without him pleading, they were going to spend the day having fun with out Raven yelling at him (hopefully) and everything was great…
The door opened and Raven was standing there with a book bag strap over one shoulder, giving him a raised eyebrow. He stopped and blushed. He cleared his throat. "Well, (squeak) lets go. Times a wasting." He hurried down the hall as Raven followed.
At the mall, Beast Boy was beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea. He'd tried the arcade, which had quickly been shut down. He'd tried the movies, but Raven said they rotted your brain. Besides, they couldn't agree on what to watch. They'd wandered around for awhile after that and Raven had gotten… moody. The only good thing that had happened so far was when he had convinced her to ride the Carousel. She denied that she had liked it, but he knew she had. He had only one more trick up his sleeve, one he was loathe to take out; THE BOOK STORE.
"So, what do you think?" Beast Boy ushered Raven in. Would she like it, maybe? PLEASE????
"It's not the best I've seen, but they seem to have a good selection. Let's look in the classics." YES! Beast Boy shouted in his head. SCORE! Now he just had to keep it that way. He really wanted Raven to have a good day today. His goal: to see, the rare, the beautiful, hint of a hint of a hint of a smile. So far she had yet to actually yell, and things might be looking up.
"So, what are we looking for?" he asked as he pulled a book off the shelf.
"I don't know, could be anything, I'll know when I find it," Raven looked over at the Book Beast Boy was holding. "I doubt you'd like that one Beast Boy. It's Romeo and Juliet." She had to smile inside; only Beast Boy.
"Isn't that the one where they die at the end? Like he takes poison because he thinks she's dead and then she's not so because he's dead she stabs herself? Or something?"
"That's only the end of the story. There's how they meet and how they fall in love, and how they have to be married in secret," Raven saw Beast Boy looking at her in great interest. "It was all rather stupid anyway."
"It doesn't sound stupid. A bit mushy maybe, but I bet there's fight scenes!"
"A few."
"Maybe I'll read it sometime," Beast Boy said as he put it back on the self, "So, you found anything?"
"Not yet. Most of these I have, or have read a thousand times, but I guess that's why they're classics." Raven continued to browse. "Now here's one I haven't seen in a while," she murmured. Beast Boy bent over upside down as Raven stooped at the bottom shelf.
"What? What did you find?"
"It's an old Celtic Tale. I don't usually find English translations, but people today are beginning to like the old stories again I guess." Raven looked it over as she stood up. It was definitely a new copy, but it was the same story, and it had original pictures. This was a find.
"What's it about?" Beast Boy interrupted her musings.
"It's about this wise woman, who was, well, she was a witch, and she was supposed to rid her village of this changeling-
"Changeling?" Beast Boy looked at her confusedly.
"That's what they used to call werewolves, or anything that could turn into a dangerous beast."
"Oh. Would I be a changeling?"
"Yes, and they'd probably burn you."
"Ok, not so nice!"
"Can I continue?"
"Sorry."
"As I said, she was supposed to get rid of the changeling attacking their village, but when she captured the beast, she fell in love with the man, so she let him go free."
"Why did she have to go after him anyways? Was he that bad?" Beast Boy was confused, and far down, a little hurt. If the books Raven read and admired said people who change into beasts are all horrible destructive creatures, what must she think of him?
"It's just a story Beast Boy. There was probably nothing like you back then, and even if there was, people fear what they don't understand," Raven told him. Somehow she was concerned about telling him this story. It almost struck too close. "Let's go."
"Come on; how did it end?" he pleaded. Raven kept walking down the aisle.
"They died."
"What?"
"The villagers found out and burned them at the stake. The end."
"Well that's depressing. Do all romance books end like that?"
"A lot of the good ones do. Life doesn't always give you a happy ending," she told him.
"Well, it doesn't always give you a dead depressing one either. Come on," Beast Boy grabbed her wrist and pulled her to another section of the book store.
"Where, may I ask, are we going?"
"We have forever till we have to go back to the tower, so before we check out, we are going to scour this place for a book you like with a happy ending, and we're going to buy it."
"And if we don't find one?"
"We'll just have to look till we do. If we can't find one here I'm sure there's other books stores somewhere in this mall," he said grinning at her.
"If we must. Stop touching my arm." Beast Boy quickly released her.
"So, where do you suggest we look for your 'happy ending'?" Raven asked him.
"Not sure…" Beast Boy scanned the labels popping over the tops of the bookcases, "I don't think we want children's, and I don't think you'd like comics… wait, they have comics here?"
"Most bookstores do Beast Boy."
"I didn't know that. Maybe I ought to check here more often…" he mused. He looked at Raven. "But that is not our mission. Our mission is to find you a happy ending! On to the fiction!" He marched onward, Raven shaking her head and following.
Awhile later they were still looking. Raven was browsing when she heard a whooshing sound. "Look what I found!" Beast Boy had discovered how the ladders moved.
"I thought we were looking for a book."
"Ah, but this will aid us in our quest!" Raven rolled her eyes and continued looking.
"Wooooooossssshhhhh!" Beast Boy went flying away from her.
"You would think someone who can fly would get tiered of whooshing," Raven muttered.
"But that's all the fun!" Beast Boy called. He ducked down to look at a series. "Hey, this looks good," he said, pulling out the book to inspect it closer.
"If you like it, I doubt it is."
"Ah, come on. Just look at the inside cover," he pleaded. Raven pulled it to her with her powers and flipped open the book to read the dust jacket.
"King Arthur tales, from the perspective of a squire; could be intriguing."
"So I found something good?" Raven gave him a look. Beast Boy's heart soared. He had found something.
"I said it could be intriguing. That doesn't mean I'll like it. Besides, the King Arthur tales didn't all have happy endings either." She was not going to let him win this one. He'd never let it go.
"Well, let's see." He whooshed over and plucked the book from her hands. She scrambled after it.
"Ah, ah, ah. I need to see if it passes inspection," he told her holding up a finger. He flipped to the back page. "Ok, historical notes, references… AH! The end of the story." He read. He turned a page back, He read. He turned a page back. "Mmmhmmm, mmmmhmmm,"
"Well, does it pass your judgment or not?" Beast Boy held up a finger for silence.
"Aha!" he exclaimed, "A happy ending! Ok, we're buying it. And if you actually like it, it's part of a series!"
"Doubtful, but I'll give it a try."
"Good enough for me. Let's go!" Beast Boy smiled broadly and pulled her by the wrist again as they headed towards the cashier. She didn't tell him to let go this time. She was too busy trying not to smile. Dam.
Later they sat eating in the food court. There had been some hassle at the cashiers when Raven realized she didn't have money for two books, but then Beast Boy had graciously bought her the King Arthur stories, since he made her find them anyways. He was eating a veggie burger while she had some tea and a scone.
"There's one thing I don't understand."
"Beast Boy, there's a lot you don't understand."
"No, about the story. If they didn't like Changelings, why did they like witches?"
"Witches used to be considered people's connection to the other world as they called it.'
"So because all the old 'bad guys' used magic, the witches were the 'good guys' who fought them, right?"
"They're just stories Beast Boy." Raven exasperated. She was hoping he would drop this.
"Well you don't know that," he said shaking a fry at her, "I mean, you're kind of a witch-
"I. am. not." She glared at him. "A witch is a regular human who has learned a few herbs and a few spells, usually curses. I on the other hand, have powers of my own. I don't have to ask any goddess or Demon for them, they're just there. And they don't go away when I don't feel like performing for someone."
'Great,' thought Beast Boy, 'now you got her mad.' "I'm sorry; I didn't know there was that big of a difference."
"Well there is."
The two sat in silence for a couple minutes. "So," asked Beast Boy, "Why do you eat so little?"
After that they began talking again. Beast Boy congratulated himself on changing the topic. Raven actually wasn't so bad, if you weren't talking about something touchy. He hadn't known that before, not really. She didn't talk to him much unless it was about Titan business. This was fun. Raven and fun; who knew those two words could go together?
Raven was having fun too. Despite Beast Boys irritating manner, she had yet to feel the need to yell at him today. He still wasn't funny, but he was… amusing. He was trying so hard; and this was better then arguing all the time. And his smile, she used to find it childish, but now it looked…
Beast Boy's belt and Raven's cape pendant began to blink. "Trouble," Raven stated. Beast Boy nodded and shifted into a bird as he followed Raven out of the mall doors and into the sky.
Why did this have to happen today? Beast Boy was cursing himself. He should've known this would happen. Fortunately, when whatever this was over, he had a back up plan. He just hoped it worked.
He looked over at Raven as they flew. With his eagle eyes, he could see Raven a lot more clearly then usual. He could see the sadness just beginning to creep into her features. It was a good thing he was doing this. Who wanted to see Raven with sad lines? She really didn't look that bad, actually. With the wind rushing through her hair, she looked, nice. Raven caught him glancing at her and he looked away. If he had been human form, there would have been a blush.
When they walked into the main room of the tower, something waited they did not expect. "Elasti-girl!"
"Hello Beast Boy." On the Teen Titan's main screen was Elasti-girl, sole female of the Doom Patrol.
"What's up? Anything wrong?" Beast Boy looked concerned. Last time the Doom Patrol had contacted him, the whole team had been down and captured.
"The world's not in any mortal peril, but I would like to talk to you."
"There you are," Robin said as he came into the room. "Sorry about the alert, but your communicator was in your room."
"Oops," said Beast Boy smiling and shrugging his shoulders.
"Raven," Robin said noticing she was in the room, "Haven't seen you today. Where you been?"
"Out."
"Ok. You should both of you remember to check in if you're going to-
"I'm sorry to intrude, but is there a way for me to talk with Beast Boy alone? We have much to talk about," Elasti-girl broke in.
"Of course, I'll put you through to his communicator," Robin told her as he punched keys on the computer.
"And I'll go pick it up," Beast Boy called over his shoulder as he headed to his room. Elasti-girl was calling, so something big must be going down in the team. Maybe, she and Mento were finally tying the knot? Naaaaaaaa. They definitely had a thing, but Mento was way to stiff to ever do anything about it. Beast Boy wondered what else would be so important that they'd call him. Well, he'd soon find out.
"Ok, I'm here," he said as he opened his communicator.
"It's good to see you Garfield." She had used Garfield. This was huge.
"It's good to see you too. So Rita," he said as he sat down on his bed, "What's up?"
"Are you sitting down?"
"Uh, yes?" What was going on?
"Garfield, we found your parents."
