Devil Beast - Chapter 9: Post-Traumatic
Reluctant to let go, and reluctant to allow what was about to happen.
Beast Boy had given Raven permission to read his mind, it truly was the only chance they had left.
He could only hope that the painful memories and horrific nightmares within his head would not drive her insane, a burden that he has beared since the death of his parents, he failed to save them, to this day he relived the memory of watching them die before his very eyes, over and over.
It didn't take long for nightmares to appear in his head, they consisted of twisted 'memories' that would taunt him to no end, taunt became abuse, and abuse became torture.
But he kept up a strong image, plastering a smile on his face so that those around him would never share his burden, his curse.
But Raven was willing to endure all this, simply because she didn't care how badly they would affect her, simply because she cared about him.
It shocked him at first, Raven really cared about him?
She wasn't fond of repeating herself, but she did, she told him again, told him that she really did care, that she was just not very good at showing it.
So, here they were, in her room, with her whispering her mantra, allowing her concentration, her hands on each side of his face, both teens had their eyes closed.
She soon went quiet, signaling that she was now in his mind, her body still there but her mind elsewhere.
Garfield noticed her flinch, this must mean she was enduring his memories and nightmares, "If it gets too bad, then you come back out ok?" He heard her reply from inside his mind.
"I won't leave until I succeed in my objective."
Beast Boy sighed, he soon replied, "Be careful."
Raven searched through Beast Boy's mind, she hadn't expected it to be such a dark place, she hadn't expected such painful memories and horrific nightmares in the mind of such an apparently happy person.
But it was now clear to her that the happiness was a coverup of the pain within.
She came across a memory involving a blond kid and a green monkey, her curiosity struck as she watched the memory unfold.
She was soon overcome with shock when the monkey had lunged at the boy and bitten him on the shoulder. A couple ran to him as he screamed, they must have been his parents.
Curiosity was dangerous, but Raven wanted to know who this kid was, and why Beast Boy had memories of this event.
It didn't take long for her to realised that the kid had gotten very sick with some sort of disease, the child's parents working desperately to find a way to cure him.
The father soon came out with a syringe, filled with a green liquid, out of complete desperation to save their only child, the father injected the boy with the syringe.
Raven watched as the boy sudden froze, no longer shaking, and then the boy erupted in screams of agony, then Raven's eyes widened in realisation as she saw it.
The boy started to turn green.
The memory suddenly froze and faded to another, Raven couldn't seem to look away.
The was a boat sailing, the green boy and his parents aboard said boat.
The boat was caught in the rapids of a river and was heading towards a waterfall, the mother came to kneel in front of her son, "Garfield, you need to turn into a bird and fly away…" The boy looked up at his mother, his wide eyes threatening with the spill of tears.
"No, I won't leave you and dad, you're my family…"
The mother forced a weak smile, "We'll be right behind you…" The boy's tears hadn't flattered as he continued to stare.
"Promise?" His mother's weak smile remained, she nodded.
"I promise…" Garfield reluctantly morphed into a bird and flew to a nearby tree branch he looked back at the river just in time to see the boat go over the waterfall - His parents still aboard.
Raven's gaze fell on the green bird in the tree, he was still, his beady bird eyes wide, then he started shaking, landing on the ground morphed back into his humanoid form as the tears flowed, "You promised…"
Like before, this memory froze at that point, Raven tried to approach the green child but the memory faded and another took its place.
She let out a gasp when she saw the green child chained to a wall in a basement, obviously abused by his new 'caregiver'.
She noticed a broken look on the boy's face and she heard footsteps coming from behind and she saw a man stepping down the stairs, with a crowbar in his hands.
The memory froze as Garfield looked up at the man but he managed a barely audible whisper before becoming frozen, "Why uncle?"
Raven was becoming mentally disturbed but the memory thankfully faded and became another.
One she was rather happier about, when Garfield joined the Doom Patrol, when he became Beast Boy. This memory consisted of a very broken green child in a courtroom along with the Doom Patrol, Raven turned and saw that the man from before was there to, Beast Boy's apparent uncle.
The court ruled in favor of the Doom Patrol who had evidence that the man had been torturing Garfield for years, Garfield ran to his new family with happy tears in his eyes.
Raven noticed an unsettling glare coming from Garfield's uncle who was being taken to prison.
The memory froze in that moment, and faded to Jump City, where Raven relived the memory of the Teen Titans forming.
Then the memories ended.
Raven suddenly sensed a presence behind her and turned in a battle stance, freezing up when she saw who it was.
Beast stood there tilting his head to the side, "Are you always looking for fights? Or can you be too busy snooping in someone's memories?" Raven's eyes widened.
"You can talk?" Beast nodded slowly.
"Only here." Raven nodded slowly, and avoided gazing at Beast.
"And I wasn't snooping…" She muttered, out the corner of her eye she was able to catch Beast had raised an eyebrow, she sighed, "Ok, maybe a little. But…" She paused, "I never knew how much pain he was hiding from us…"
Beast's other eyebrow rose to give her a rather concerned look, "He didn't want to burden others with his problems, especially you." Raven finally turned her full gaze to him.
"Doesn't he trust us?" She asked, Beast frowned slightly.
"He trusts you too much as a matter of fact." Raven raised a confused eyebrow.
"He is letting you into his head after all, where all his deepest darkest memories, nightmares, and secrets lie." Raven gazed towards the ground as Beast continued.
"Garfield trusts you a lot, he keep telling him to admit why…" This statement caught the empath's attention she looked up at him.
"Admit what?" Beast avoided the question.
"He'll tell you when he's ready, he realised it not too long ago."
Raven watched as Beast walked away, he paused for a moment looking back at her, "He's glad you care." Beast then continued walking and faded away.
Raven was dumbfounded by the contents of the animorph's mind, from memories to nightmares to a full personification of Beast that happened to possess the ability to talk.
She sighed, "Great, you really do have a brain, and it's full of pain…"
"You take poetry don't you, half-demon?" Raven snapped her attention and saw Devil-Beast himself. She couldn't stop the unintended pun from coming however.
"Speak of the devil."
