Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance
Pairing: Primarily Raven/Beast Boy
Summary: Beast Boy and Raven have never gotten along, but when Beast Boy accidentally finds himself able to travel through parallel dimensions, he learns what life would be like if Raven meant something to him. Raven/Beast Boy.
Disclaimer: Teen Titans is not owned by me…just the worlds are. Oh, and any new costumes Raven manages to get. "A Whole New World" is shamelessly taken from Disney's Aladdin. It seemed fitting.
Author's Notes: I hate putting stories out that aren't "perfect" or stories that aren't "good enough". As a result of this complex, I have never finished a story. And, given that one, I've been writing for at least fifteen years of my life and two, I eventually want to publish something, I feel it's a bad thing I've never completed anything. So, I resolve to finish this story. Good grammar, continuity, and perfect character development, be damned. On with the show.
As always, REVIEWS and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM welcome.
A World Without You
Chapter Four: A Whole New World
Location: Alternate Universe #1
"And," Robin paused for effect, "…inter-dimensional space travel."
Beast Boy looked confused, and even loyal Starfire looked a bit skeptical.
"Dramatic much?" Beast Boy asked, after a distinctly uncomfortable pause. "Space travel? You've got to be kidding me."
"It's not that unusual." Robin was defensive. "It's not like our reality hasn't been distorted before. What about Mad Mod? Or, Larry?"
"Robin, I'll agree we've been in a lot of weird situations in our day, but this one just might be a little over the top." Beast Boy said. He waved a hand around the room. "Don't you think I would have noticed if something was different, like, say, if the very fabric of my universe had just changed before my very eyes?"
"Well," Cyborg broke in, "Did you?"
"No!" Beast Boy protested.
"Okay, wait, let's just back up a few paces here." Raven interrupted. "Robin, why are we even considering this?"
"It's just a theory." Robin conceded. "From what we know right now."
"Which is?" Beast Boy asked.
"What we've observed." Cyborg answered. "Your recount of today, for example. You said yourself we went picnicking this morning, but that's not true because we went yesterday. And, all day today, you've been with me."
Beast Boy opened his mouth to retort, but Raven beat him to it.
"You think Beast Boy jumped dimensions because he's mixed up days?" Raven asked, incredulous. Starfire saw Raven clench and unclench her hands with anxiety before she asked, "What if it's just disorientation and memory loss from the battle?"
"It could be. But the reason we're even discussing dimensions in the first place is because of Vortex and the battle. The one he"—and he jerked at a hand at Beast Boy—"forgot all about." Robin said, in defense. "You were off the scene before Cyborg and I got a chance to verify."
"Verify what?"
"A switch." Cyborg said. "Earlier, when Vortex's…well, vortex appeared in the park and started destroying everything, we split up. You and Starfire had to take care of some really unlucky pedestrians, so Robin, BB, and I went after Vortex."
"Right."
"Vortex was trying to escape from the start." Cyborg explained. "He fell out of his gate, at a dead run. Beast Boy saw him first, tackled him. And, Vortex kicked Beast Boy's green little butt straight into the gate behind him. I saw Beast Boy disappear into the gate, didn't see him come back out."
"I also saw Beast Boy pass through." Robin continued. "That's why we were so surprised you show up on the scene, Raven, with a Beast Boy we were sure had gone through that portal."
"When I got there, I just found him, unconscious on the ground. Near the trees in the park." Raven said.
"Near the park where the gate was, more importantly."
Starfire looked thoughtful. "I am afraid I cannot say their theory is entirely unfounded."
Raven's eyebrows knitted together, as she processed her own version of the events. "If you and Cyborg are correct, then Beast Boy would not only have gone through the portal, he would also have to have been spit back out. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found him."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"But that doesn't mean he is a different Beast Boy. We don't know anything about portals; he could just be suffering trauma." Raven protested. "Beast Boy recognizes all of us and this world. If it were another one of him, wouldn't there be some differences in our world that he would've picked up on?"
"What if this world is nearly identical to his own?" Robin asked.
"Raven, the idea that Beast Boy traveled dimensions is a little far-fetched to me, but it's possible. Stranger things have happened to us before."
Cyborg said. "Robin and I just had the idea, and we wanted to test it out. We might be wrong."
"But, we might be right." Robin added, earning him a frown from Cyborg.
"I believe it would be helpful if we asked Beast Boy what he thinks of the situation? He would know best." Starfire suggested, sensing the tension between wound-up Raven and defensive Robin mount. "Is Robin correct?"
The whole group turned to Beast Boy, who had started to cradle his head in his hands. He felt sick.
Starfire put a hand on his shoulder. "It would be good to verify this now, while Vortex is still…available."
"This world seems normal." Beast Boy shrugged, focusing intently on a speck of dirt on the floor as he remembered Raven's behavior earlier. "But, I don't know. There are things…that don't add up."
"Like what?" Cy asked.
"For starters, Raven's never been this nice to me." Beast Boy tried hard to ignore the intense frown Raven was giving him.
("Clearly, he's had a concussion." Raven muttered, though no one was listening.)
"Second, I know I was in Raven's room today and that she was throwing stuff because I have a bruise to prove it. And, finally…" Beast Boy could see the lights start to spin. "Finally…"
Starfire and Raven cleared away from him while Cyborg's hand steadied him on the table. "And, finally…?"
"You shouldn't make him answer. He looks awful." Came a voice from the door.
Whatever his third piece of evidence was, it had lost to this.
Beast Boy knew as soon as he heard the voice. For one solid instant, the blurriness of the room and his dizziness focused, brightened because…there, there in the doorway stood Beast Boy's solid proof that he was definitely not in Kansas anymore.
Terra. All five feet, seven inches. Blonde, blue-eyed Terra.
"…Her." Beast Boy said. "She's dead."
Beast Boy woke first, but only because the remote control currently sticking out of the couch was poking into his lower back. Groaning, he tried to shift, discovering a weight keeping his body in place. A charming bundle of blue cloak was curled in place on his chest and legs, a head poking out and using his bony shoulder as an impromptu pillow.
"Rae?" Beast Boy craned his neck to see her face and ascertained she was asleep. "Rae? Wake up."
Years' worth of experience with the Titans caused Raven to react instantly, and she nearly jumped out of his arms until she realized it wasn't an emergency. She gave him the barest of snarls (Raven never liked waking up from a nap) and yawned.
"I should be snarling. You fell asleep on me." Beast Boy grumbled, as she resettled against his body, back pressed to his chest. His arms came around her, hands sitting firmly on her shoulders than sliding down to her waist. "I'm going to have a crick in my back for the rest of the day."
"Sorry." Raven said, in a voice that wasn't in the least bit. "I must've been more tired than I thought."
"Or that book was more boring than you thought." Beast Boy smirked, nodding at her forgotten book on the floor while one restless hand twirled a stray hair that had come undone from her long, purple braid. "How can you read books without pictures or anything?"
"Because I have an intelligence quotient larger than that of a four-year-old." Raven snapped, head jerking free of his hands. She allowed a few more moments of warm indulgence before swinging herself away from him and the dratted body heat that had made her curl against him during her nap.
She didn't know why she was so embarrassed over enjoying his physical company. It's not like Beast Boy felt anything when she ended up taking naps with him on occasion, and since their friendship had always been somewhat intimate, she shouldn't care about what it felt like to her either.
Because it didn't mean anything.
She stood up. "I should go. I have to work."
Beast Boy grabbed at her arm. "Have you been sleeping well?"
"Of course. Don't I look fine?"
"Well, you look like you always do. But you seem to be tired." Beast Boy said. "And, I think I know why."
Beast Boy felt Raven tense in his grip.
"I see."
"No, you don't. I know it's about Terra and where I'm going with her and something like that."
"You and Terra can go wherever you want." Raven said, truthfully.
"I mean, where we're going in our relationship."
"I know."
"Oh."
"Where you and Terra are…that's not my business." She stated, and he dropped her arm.
"Rae…" He said with a half-sigh.
"Beast Boy…" She said in the same tone. "I understand a lot more than you think. It's fine that you and Terra—"
"Rae, I love you."
Raven gave him the slight smile that made his nerves creep because it meant that whatever was coming next wasn't good, but she only replied with a simple, "You shouldn't say things like that when you have Terra now."
Beast Boy sighed. "Rae, despite Terra, I wouldn't give anything for our friendship." Beast Boy said. He stood up, somewhat surprised by the strength of his emotion. "Anything at all. So please, don't be worried that because I have Terra, I'll ignore you because I do love you, but in a very different way."
Raven wasn't sure if she liked those words, but as he hugged her, she couldn't do much else but accept it.
"I won't be worried." Raven said. "But, do one thing for me."
"Anything."
"Really?"
"Uhm…so long as it doesn't involve the phrase 'waxing' and 'Beast Boy's bikini line' then I should be fine."
"No." Raven said. "Just…just go out some time with me?"
"Like out of the Tower?"
Raven gave him a dead-pan look. "What did you think I meant, Beast Boy?""
"Well, you hate leaving the Tower, and…" Beast Boy trailed off, fearful of her wrath. "…sure."
"Terra won't mind?"
"She'll get it." Beast Boy said. "She understands me."
Raven nodded, her jumbled insides coming to the conclusion that, Terra or not, Beast Boy needed to know the truth.
"I hope he's dreaming of something nice because I swear, when I'm through with him…" The voice faded. "Since when have I not been nice to him?"
"Oh, I don't know. The five years before you two started dating possibly?"
"Shut up, Cyborg."
There was a pause before the same voice said, "Is it normal for him to black out so much? This is the third time tonight."
"Presumably motion sickness, possibly concussion, possibly fatigue?"
"You can get motion sickness from that kind of travel?"
"Let's just say I'm not ruling it out."
"Interesting. I wonder if…oh, he's coming to. Are you okay?"
Beast Boy woke in the medical lab, aware of incredibly bright lights and voices that were much too loud. He opened one eye, opened the other, made out the shadows of two figures. Experimentally, he flexed his hand.
"I…I think…" His voice was hoarse and from somewhere, he was given water. "How long have I been out?"
"An hour or so. You okay, or are you gonna faint on us again?"
That was Cyborg.
Beast Boy focused intensely on the bright blue units in his friend's suit. When he could see clearly the screws holding Cy's shoulder together, he looked at the other third of the conversation. Raven was holding a water bottle, hand on her hip.
"I…don't know. I don't think so." Beast Boy tilted his head, stretched his arms, and groaned. "I had the strangest dream."
"If it involved you jumping dimensions and meeting an alternate set of Teen Titans, you weren't dreaming." Raven said with a droll look.
"It didn't, but…that doesn't sound like a good situation either." Beast Boy said. He blinked a few more times. "Wait, I did jump dimensions?"
"We're fairly sure now." Raven said, answering his earlier question. "Terra's alive. I'm nice. Ring any bells?"
Beast Boy sat up. Images from earlier in the evening flooded his memory. "Oh, right."
"Indeed." Raven said, crisply, and awkward silence bloomed between them.
Beast Boy wasn't an empath, but he didn't need to be one to know Raven was becoming increasingly agitated. Thankfully, Cyborg broke the silence.
"Now that we've established that..." Cyborg mused. "The real question is: what do we do now?"