I do NOT own Teen Titans
Remember, there is the darkness Raven senses in Beast Boy. What is it, and how to deal with it?
Time: A few days later.
The Dream,... Chess,... Slade,... A Late Night Talk,...
Lying back on the bed, he stared at the ceiling, thinking about the dream he'd just had. It awoke in him a sense of sadness that tore at his heart. Terra hadn't been in it. Slowly, over time, she was fading from his thoughts. When he looked at the window now, he only saw her image some of the time. In crowds, he no longer imagined he heard her voice, or saw her hair. At least not as often. Love, he knew, needed to be cherished and nurtured. If it wasn't, then it could fade. She had, for whatever reason, went her own way. He had often tried to figure out why she'd forgotten him, to determine what had went wrong. It was all irrelevant. No matter how much he thought about it, she was still gone.
She hadn't been in the dream. Instead, for some reason, Raven had been. It was easy to understand why he'd dreamed about the violet-haired girl. With the outfit she wore what guy wouldn't? Those legs... But, still, it hadn't been Terra. The smile faded as he focused on the anger, and the all consuming hate.
He recalled the day when Terra had run from them, and into the embrace of Slade. If only he'd run after her, had explained that he hadn't given away her secret. That he hadn't told the others about her lack of control over her powers. If he'd done that, then things might have been different. So he hated himself.
Then there was Robin. He'd figured out right away that he'd uncovered a secret. He could have told that to Terra. Could have shouted it after her. It would have been more believable than if the one she'd believed had deceived her had ran after her. If only he'd done that. So he hated Robin.
And then there was Slade. The one who had corrupted her, and deceived her with his lies. Had turned her against them. He hated Slade too.
With a sigh he continued to stare at the ceiling. So much hate. He could hate himself. That was okay. But Robin was a good person. Someone who always did what was right regardless of the cost. There was no way he could hate him. At least he tried not to. And then there was Slade. He would kill him. Human justice was lacking, and the beast within him had decreed that only the law of the jungle would suffice. That Slade should die. And so it would be.
Sitting at his desk, he pulled out the laptop and ran the Slade simulation. For an hour he tried his shapes in combos, sending them against the hated demon. If Raven had been there she would have seen the darkness in him peak to a frightening level.
Putting away the laptop, he did his morning exercises, and then meditated, confining the power of the beast.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." The violet-haired girl intoned several times. One eye opened, peering at the time. He would soon be here. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." She recited again, content to wait. She had thought a lot about the conversation she'd had with her emoticlones. There was one point they had that she couldn't refute. She was more comfortable around BB than anyone else. He'd proven he could stare into her soul, and not flinch. And even before that, she'd enjoyed the time they spent together.
A knocked came at the door, and she reached out with her magic to open it.
"Morning." Beast Boy said, entering. He placed a tray on her desk.
She immediately reached for the bacon. "Morning." She replied, savoring the taste, nose twitching at the smell. She could have swore the strips of fatty meat tasted better when the anti-meat shape shifter cooked them.
He sat down beside her, legs crossed, and started to hum. "So who's winning the chess games lately?" He asked, a second later.
"Timid and Rage always end with a draw. Knowledge wipes the floor with whoever she plays with." Raven answered, chewing. "I gave them a real chess game to play with, but they still use the ground."
"Convenient." Beast Boy replied. "Can play anywhere, at any time. And no need to carry the set around."
"I suppose." She replied, closing her eyes as she chewed.
"When I used to play, that's what we did."
Her eyes popped open. "You used to play chess?"
"When I was small, with my parents." He replied. "On the expeditions there wasn't much room to carry luxuries, so we used the ground to draw the board." He shrugged. "I haven't played since I was around nine or so. It was fun."
"Oh." She chewed, thinking. It was rare for the shape shifter to mention his past. She wondered what he meant by expeditions. "I learned from the priests of Azarath." She said. "They thought learning to focus on the game would help me deal with my emotions."
"Really?" He sounded amused.
"What?" She demanded.
"A game where you hunt down and kill enemy pieces, and then capture their king." He shrugged. "Just strikes me as funny is all. It's not a peaceful game."
"Hrm." She'd never thought of it like that. "Want to play?" She asked.
"Nay. I haven't played since I was nine, so doubt I could remember much." He lied.
"Oh." She replied, wondering why she felt so disappointed. Maybe because chess is my favorite game, she decided. And if I got him hooked on it, it would have meant more time together. But that means I want more time together. Which means maybe the emoticlones are right...
"Mind if we try teleportation again?" He asked, interrupting her.
The violet-haired girl looked at him. He'd sounded so serious when he'd asked that. "Sure." She replied, glad for something that would keep him visiting each morning. Picking up a fork she started on the waffles.
"Guess I will try being a snake again, and transforming at the tail instead of the head." The shape shifter said, sounding eager to begin.
"Hmm. Yeah." She answered, mouth full. "What did you do with the waffles?" She asked, licking her lips, drooling.
"Bacon bits, ground up, and sprinkled on them." He replied. "I thought you might find it interesting." He grinned at her.
"Hmm. Delicious." She muttered, digging into another bacon flavored waffle.
"Don't you get tired of the taste of bacon?" He wondered, watching.
"No." She replied, trying to slow down and make the delicious treat last.
He grinned at her expression. It definitely wasn't her usual stoical look. For some reason that pleased him. Transforming into a snake, he tried to reform as a human at the tail. He failed. Repeating the process again and again, he tried different types of snake just to break the tediousness of the task.
She watched the process, fascinated. "How many types of snakes can you turn into?" She asked, feeling a little creeped out.
"There are close to three thousand different species." He replied. "I guess I can change into all of them." He glanced at her, and then looked away. "Scares me sometimes." He admitted, voice sounding serious. "Some snakes are so venomous they can kill with a single bite. Often a hundred percent fatal. If I lose my temper, I could kill a person with ease."
"Not too different from me." She commented, quietly, surprised.
He shrugged. "I guess it's like that for all of us. Robin can kill with a single strike of his hand, should he choose too. Starfire can blast a whole building apart if she decided too. Cyborg can lifted a ton. A single hit from him would kill almost anyone."
"Never thought of that." She said.
He stretched out on the floor, eyes closed in thought. "Still, it's different for them, I think." He said.
"How so?" She sat down beside him, curious, wondering what thoughts ran through his head when he was so serious. It was a rare state for him.
"Cyborg is human, even if parts are replaced with machines. The same with Robin. And Starfire has her own people. They know what they are. I don't. What if something in my genes goes wrong? I could become a monster."
She was quiet. That was her own fear. That she would become a monster.
He suddenly sat up. "You know, maybe a game of chess would be fun." His voice sounding normal and carefree again. There was hint of mischievousness in it.
An hour later, in the central room of the tower, she watched as her king was forced into checkmate. She gulped. The boy who claimed he hadn't played since he was nine, had blunted every one of her attempts to attack, had ruthlessly tore apart every defense she'd tried to devise. It had been a slaughter. "Since nine?" She asked.
He shrugged. "Yeah."
She stared at the board.
He grinned at her expression. "I'm not that smart." He explained. "But the pieces to me are just animals, each with their own way of moving. How to attack and defend is built into my DNA."
"Oh." She said, still staring. She reset the pieces, not wanting anyone to see her brutal defeat. If Robin or Cyborg saw this she would never live it down.
Alarms shrieking, light flashing, brought the rest of the team running to the room.
Beast Boy sat back, and watched the violet-haired girl's face as Robin and Cyborg ran in. A second before it had showed emotion. It had been slight, but definitely there. And her tone had been more expressive. Now her face was stoic again, and he expected her voice would be hard to read. Turning, he watched as their leader studied the console.
"Why is it the villains always hit two places at once?" The masked boy asked with a sigh.
"Two jewelry stores." Cyborg said, staring at the display.
"Raven, take someone and check the store on Main Street." Their leader ordered, already running for his motorcycle.
"BB." She simply said, turning to rush to the exit.
He sat on the disc with her, staring at the store. "Trap." He said.
"Yeah. Something is off." She replied, with a slight frown.
He changed into an eagle and studied the store just twenty feet below. Panic flowed through him. "Slade." He exclaimed, in human form again.
She raised a barrier, not knowing how to react.
"The same game as before." A voice called from below. "Run, and they will kill everyone they see." A hundred robots moved from hiding places. "Any that remain after you're dead will rampage throughout the city."
"Fifty was bad enough." She commented stoically, recalling their last fight with the robotic minions.
"Worse this time." Beast Boy said. "Seems Slade has joined the fight." His tone was strange.
She looked at him, worried. The expression on his face, like his tone, was strange. There wasn't any fear in it at all, just pure hate. Within him there blazed pure darkness. She gulped.
"Handle the robots." He said, slipping off the disc. He disappeared from sight a second later.
"Great." She muttered to herself, swallowing. She focused more energy into her barrier as a barrage of grenades came at her. Hope he's out of range of those explosions, she thought, worried. She felt her emoticlones aiding her, reinforcing the shield, and to her amazement it held. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She intoned. Thought she wasn't able to change into White Raven, she felt all her different selves start to act in harmony, with a single purpose. Destroy the robots, ensure their friend's safety. Reaching down as one, they infused their soul with two of the minions, and savagely crushed them. Then they reinforced the barrier for the next fusillade of grenades. Cracks appeared in the shield, but again it remained in one piece.
Reaching down they crushed two more. Their power ran wild and encased another, causing it to explode. That, she decided, was a pretty good way for their dark magic to act. Then they were forced to raise another barrier, as once again a barrage of grenades came at them.
He headed for the one figure he knew to be Slade. The infrared it emitted was different from the others. It showed a living form beneath the armor. The villain raised a weapon, and he knew the robots were only part of the trap. Something to keep them busy. He hovered several feet from the being he had sworn to kill, and shifted into a spitting cobra. He spat venom at his foe's eyes, and shifted into the form of a giant ape before he could fall to the ground.
The venom hit the arm the psychotic killer raised, doing no harm. But it did cause him to lower his weapon. "So. It's the broken-hearted little boy." The demon taunted. "Come to cry?"
"I'm a beast. Not a boy." The shape shifter replied, switching to human form. "When there's something to be killed, we don't cry." He grinned. "We just rip it to pieces."
"Big words." The psychopath sounded amused.
"Words are meaningless." He admitted, and charged, holding two small discs in his hands. He vanished into the form of an amoeba before getting into fighting range. As his hated foe closed the distance it brought him within his reach. He reverted to his human form, his hands reached out, touching the demon. Immediately, he switched back to an amoeba, letting himself fall to the ground. Above him two explosions marked the two spots where he'd touched Slade.
He switched into a gnat, and flew some distance from his enemy. Changing back into human form, he took two more of Robin's explosive discs into his hands. None of his animal forms could touch the demon, but what did an animal care about the way it fought? As an amoeba he could get within striking range. With the discs he had a weapon that could hurt. That was all that mattered. He charged his foe again, waiting for the last second before he changed to his amoeba form. Once again they touched, and once more he changed to being human just long enough to leave the two discs behind. Two more explosions rocked the villain.
Shifting back to human form, he looked to see what damage he'd done. It was depressingly little. Still, the armor of the villain was bent in places, and obviously some of the electronic devices the mad man used were no longer working. There were exposed wires in places.
"What sort of animal uses weapons?" The psychopath asked, sounding calm.
"A smart one." He replied, voice overflowing with hate, charging again.
He struck again and again, attacking in a way that his foe couldn't counter. Each time two explosions marked the two spots he'd struck at. He had only to switch shape twice, and his transformations were instantaneous, done at the speed of thought. When his foe stopped meeting his charges, he used the wind to carry him into striking range. Still the demon didn't die, nor did he flee. And soon he had only two discs left.
"You're out of toys." The psychotic monster taunted. His armor was wrecked in places, but it still covered him. Exposed wiring showed in dozens of spots, but obviously some of it still worked. It spoke again. "When you've used the last of your toys, I will kill her." He pointed at Raven, who was still sitting on her black disc, fighting some distance away.
Beast Boy frowned, thinking, concern for his friend momentarily subduing the hate. There was only one weapon the villain had that could touch the violet-haired girl while she was in the air. He changed into a cheetah, and raced for the weapon the psychotic monster had dropped. Grabbing it in his teeth, he turned, and switched to human form, pointing it at Slade. The demon dodged as the beam cut through the air, striking a bus behind him. The vehicle exploded, a fireball rising twenty or more meters into the sky.
Shooting at a distance was useless. But he didn't have too. He charged his hated foe once more. The discs might not have done much, but this would. Slade turned and ran, vanishing before his eyes. Stopping, he let out a scream of pure rage, as his prey escaped.
Explosions, not from the grenades, came from the distance, and she worried. The idiot, she thought, trying to fight Slade alone. Still the explosions didn't cease, so he must still be alive. She, and her other selves, repeatedly formed a barrier as the robotic minions flung grenades, and then ripped two of them to pieces as they reached for more. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She intoned, fighting to keep control of her dark magic. Outside of being White Raven, more power flowed through them than they had ever felt before. They sent it downward, and two more of their cybernetic foes were crushed. The dark energy got free for a second, and shattered the head of a third.
From the distance there came an explosion that lit up the night. She heard a scream of pure fury that chilled her, and for a second she thought he'd died. But it had come after the explosion. Her heart pounding, she concentrated, trying to remain in control of the dark magic they were using. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She intoned, as they raised a barrier. Grenades came flying at it.
He looked at the weapon, frowning. Then he threw it as far as he could. Before it hit the ground it exploded. Slade and his games, he thought, as he turned and raced for Raven.
She sighed in relief as a green Peregrine Falcon swooped down and landed beside her. Reaching down they ripped two more of the robots below to pieces, then they raised the barrier again. "Nice to see you back." She said, sarcastically.
He shrugged. "The robots were just a decoy. Slade was going to shoot us from a distance."
"Oh." She said, focusing her dark magic along with her other selves. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She intoned, fighting to control it. Reaching down they crushed two more.
"Crush the ones in the center." He said. "I will handle the ones on the outside." He slipped from the disc, and disappeared again.
He used the same trick as he'd used during Slade's last attack. Landing on them as a gnat, then turning to an elephant to crush them. Between the two of them the last of the cybernetic army vanished. Turning, he returned to her disc.
"Wonder how the others are doing?" He said, a worried expression on his face.
She had been worried about that too. The disc obeyed her commands, and hurled for the distance jewelry store where the rest of the team had headed.
They met the trio heading in their direction. With Starfire's starbolts and Cyborg's sonic cannon, along with Robin's explosive discs, they had quickly destroyed the fifty robots Slade had used to keep them busy. Then they had, in turn, rushed to help Raven and Beast Boy.
She collapsed on her bed, exhausted. The fight had drained her, and then there had been the healing. Minor wounds, but the grenades had inflicted a number of cuts on Cyborg and Robin. Starfire had remained above the explosions. Then there had been the cleanup, but she'd been excused from that, and allowed to rest. Still, she was beyond tired.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." She recited a few times, still stretched out on her bed, trying to gather herself. To keep her emotions in check. Then, with immense effort, she rose to her feet, and dragged herself to BB's room. I've got to stop calling him that, she thought wearily to herself.
A knock came on his door, and Raven entered. He looked at her, surprised she was still awake. Sleep was all he wanted, but the memory of the fight with Slade kept running through his head. He had failed to kill him. And the psychotic villain wouldn't fall victim to the same trick next time.
"Not asleep?" He wearily muttered, trying keep his eyes open.
She shook her head, and stumbled to a chair. "No." She replied.
"You need it." He looked at her with concern. "You had that massive fight, and then you had healing to do. Why aren't you asleep?"
"You plan on killing Slade? Don't you?" She simply asked, too tired to be less than blunt.
"What else can I do? If prison can't hold someone like Doctor Light, do you expect it to hold Slade?" He gave a direct answer. "The minute he's put inside, he'll be out again."
She rose from her chair, and staggered to the bed where he was lying. He cringed from her, knowing she didn't like to be touched. That she was empathic, and could sense emotions. Reaching out, she touched his arm. Thoughts and feelings not her own flooded her. She gritted her teeth and sought the source of the darkness she saw within him, knowing what she was doing was wrong. Very wrong. Invading another's mind like this. Still, she had too. After a minute she let go.
"Oh." She simply said, sitting beside him.
He looked where she'd touched him. "What did you do?" He asked.
The violet-haired girl looked down at him. Despite my invasion of his mind, he's still not running from me, he still trusts me. The thought nearly made her cry. "I looked into your mind." She explained. "I've sensed darkness in you for a long time now. I looked and traced it." She tried to shrug, but it required too much effort. "I'm sorry." She added.
"It's okay, Raven." He gave her a smile. "I've seen the inside of your mind. It's a beautiful place. I trust you."
Her heart broke, and became aligned with her emoticlones. She wanted him to be hers. But he was set on a course that would destroy him. "You would give anything to kill him." She simply stated.
"No." He denied, shaking his head. "Not anything. Not you, or any of the others. This is between me and him."
That was a relief, she decided. The hatred hadn't consumed him yet.
"What would you give to rid the universe of your father, once and for all?" He asked.
"Nearly anything." She replied, seeing his point. If her life would suffice to protect even her friends, she would give it. But the hate she'd felt... She hated her father, but not like that. "Killing him won't return her to you." She said, eyes half closed, nearly asleep.
"I know." He said. "I'm getting over her. I don't dream about her as much, and I don't see her everywhere I go." He tried to shrug. "But that doesn't mean he should go free. That there shouldn't be justice."
"And yet you still hate yourself, and Robin?" She asked.
"I've tried not to hate him." There was no use denying what he felt to someone who could look into his mind.
"You will lose everything if you continue like this." She said, too tired to move.
"I know." Came the simple answer. "I will kill, and lose my humanity, and Robin will become my enemy."
"I don't want to lose you." She honestly stated. Unable to stay awake any longer, she slumped down in the bed, fast asleep.
He blinked, looking at her, wondering what to do. He dared to reach out and shake her a little, trying to wake her. She remained asleep. He watched her for a while, meaning to slip away and find somewhere else to spend the night. He fell asleep beside her, as his weary eyes closed and the fatigue claimed him.
End of Chapter.
Thanks to those who read and review.