Okay, here's my first author's note YAY! They won't happen very often but I felt a need to thank all of my reviewers :D Your input is sooo appreciated, I couldn't do it without you…well I wouldn't be posting without you. You're all freakin' awesome and I usually take the time to go take a lookski at your stories which are awesome as well. So, I won't keep you any longer; thanks and enjoy the story.
-Kina Gray (Kinabee as grandpa used to say )
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Chapter 4: Unkind
"Beast Boy, there is something wrong? You are hurt?" Starfire asked, hands clasped in front of her.
Beast Boy sighed, "No Star, nothing's wrong; just another bad hit is all."
Mod let a grin crawl across his face. Robin swiftly gave him a plunk on the head and he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Man, I barely grabbed you and you're on the ground." Cyborg said critically, "That's not 'just another bad hit'".
Beast Boy let his hand slide off his shoulder and he got to his feet, straightening his back.
"What's going in Beast Boy? Tell us the truth." Robin commanded
"And I'll know if you're lying" Raven added with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Guys, seriously, it's not a problem. I can handle it myself." The changling tried.
Couldn't they just lay off?! Why did they need to know? It wasn't as if their lives depended on it. Did the concept of privacy ever enter their brains?!
Robin's face turned stern, "Beast Boy, you obviously can't handle it."
"Look, I just have a few things to figure out. Give me some time." Beast Boy said, getting a little annoyed. Of course, he knew Robin was only concerned but trying to force the truth out was overstepping his boundaries.
"We can help you" Robin said
"Oh yes! Five craniums are larger than one!" Starfire reassured.
"No!" Beast Boy said forcefully.
The titans' eyes widened in shock; it was a rare occasion that Beast Boy ever yelled. In fact, they had only ever heard him yell during the Adonis incident and the fiasco with Terra.
"Why can't you just give me some space?! I know we're a team but that doesn't mean we have to know every single constituent thing about each other! – Yes Cy, I know big words-. This is my business and my business only."
"Wrong!" Robin yelled back. "Whatever's happening to you affects the entire team, and that includes your attitude! We only want to help!"
"I don't need help nor do I want it; if I did, I would ask!"
"Beast Boy, I think you need help" Starfire squeaked nervously.
Beast Boy snapped his eye's onto her face angrily.
"The way you are looking at me, it is unkind; not the way you normally see me. And you would never speak in this manner. I don't like to see you this way Beast Boy. Why are you so angry?" she finished, floating a couple feet closer.
Beast Boy's featured softened, his ears lowering. He had never intended on getting so worked up and when he stepped back and looked at himself, he saw something in himself that he hadn't seen in almost 3 years.
"I'm stressed, Starfire, not angry." He said, looking at the ground.
"Why?" asked Raven, monotonously
Beast Boy struggled with himself, trying to find the words that would shock them the least. Of course, absolutely nothing was coming to mind.
"I'm in a bit of trouble…" he rolled his sleeve up to his elbow, exposing a purpley-black forearm.
Cyborg and Robin raised their eye-brows and Starfire made a small gasping noise. Raven remained emotionless, stepping forward with a white glow radiating off her hand. She lifted it toward Beast Boy's arm and he hastily backed away.
"You can't!" he said, all of a sudden alarmed. "I mean, it's not that kind of bruise."
"When did that happen?" Cyborg asked
"When Mad Mod threw his cane a minute ago" Beast Boy replied hesitantly.
Cyborg's brow furrowed "But that didn't even hit you. How…how?"
"I don't really-"
"Beast Boy." Raven interrupted, reminding him she was there and could tell when he was lying.
"Okay! I just lost focus."
"Focus on what? You only need to think of the animal you want to change into." Raven said.
Beast Boy took a deep breath, "It's a lot more complicated than that." He said tiredly, "I need to focus on everything at once. Every joint, every muscle, every stretch, bend and transformation has to happen simultaneously. I know this and I've practiced enough to know how to do it so it isn't usually a problem but…"
"What?" Starfire asked.
The expression weighing on Beast Boy's face made him look older and more tired than they had ever seen him but he still managed to lift his head and open his mouth.
"It's getting worse. The pain is getting worse and it's distracting me more while I'm morphing. A month ago, if Mod had thrown his cane at me, I wouldn't have had a problem but something's off. I don't know what's causing it. All I know is that it hurts more each time I morph. Happy?"
Robin had an angry glare on his face, "Beast Boy we'll do whatever we can to help you but when you say the pain is getting worse, I can only take that to mean that it's always been there. That isn't something you let be overlooked by your team-"
'My God, Robin's really sticking his nose where it doesn't belong today' Beast Boy thought.
"What would it have done?!" he interrupted, "There isn't a solution! It's always going to be this way. Hell, you would have done the exact same thing Robin; you can't deny that!"
Robin fell silent. The argument was over in that split second; he knew the changling was right. Beast Boy rolled down his sleeve, hiding his arm again, and turned his back t the team,
"Lets just get Mod back to prison and go back to the tower."
The team quietly followed his lead.
Elsewhere:
A chair swivels from side to side, silhouetted in a red glow. A large screen plays and rewinds multiple videos of a green boy. The man in the chair releases a small chuckle,
"This could be a wonderful new development. It seems the shape shifter has qualities I never knew about. It's about time I had some fun."
The chair turns around and he stands up. An orange and black mask is penetrated by a single eye, contradicting itself with both mirth and malice.