Chapter 10: Things Change

"Mmm-mmm!" Cyborg moaned, chewing happily on a baby back rib. "Man, I love picnic food."

It was the middle of summer. With the sun shining brightly in the sky, the gang had decided that it would have been a shame to stay home all day. Instead of sticking to Robin's usually strict training schedule, we convinced him to let us take the day off and we headed to the park.

I was sitting under the shade of tree a few feet away from the picnic table, trying to get in a few minutes of meditation, but I was still able to catch every word of their conversation.

"Agreed," Starfire said, acknowledging Cyborg's statement before adding, "and this tangy yellow beverage is truly delightful."

Tangy beverage . . . ?

I opened one eye to glance in her direction, and saw her holding up a yellow condiment bottle. My friends were all sending her weird looks as well.

"Uh, Starfire . . . that's mustard," Robin explained slowly.

"Is there more?" she asked, clearly not seeing anything wrong with this image.

A couple of leaves fell around me and I looked up to see Beast Boy hanging upside down from a branch holding something in his hands.

"Sweet! My tofu dogs are cooked to perfection," he noted to himself before turning to me. "Yo, Raven, try one. They're loaded with soy beanie goodness," he said, reaching one out towards me.

I frowned at the offering. "I respect that you don't eat meat. Please respect that I don't eat fake meat."

A frown flashed across his face, but the smile quickly reappeared.

"Who wants to play some football?" I heard Cyborg call from the table.

Robin and Starfire happily agreed.

"Be right there Cy," Beast Boy called, before jumping out of the tree to land on his feet next to me and moved to sit down. "You have any plans tonight?" he whispered, bumping his elbow against my arm.

I shook my head, a small smile playing on my lips. "No, why?"

"Really, Rae? You didn't think I would forget, did you?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

Today was our first month anniversary. As the day had grown closer, Beast Boy hadn't said a word about it. I really had started to think that he had forgotten.

"You have something planned for tonight then?" I asked, starting to get my hopes up.

He sent me a smirk. "Just be ready to go by seven tonight," he said before standing up and heading over to join the rest of our friends in their game.

Setting my hairbrush aside, I stared at my reflection in the mirror and a small smile crept onto my face. I was still dressed in my usual long-sleeved leotard, with my indigo colored ruffled boots on my feet.

This past month had been one of the happiest of my life. Beast Boy was so different than me in many ways. While I was calm, quiet, and reserved, Beast Boy was hyper, energetic, and constantly making jokes. He had this way of making me relax. With him, I tended to let my guard down slightly and would allow myself to have more fun than I usually would. Just thinking about him brought a smile to my face.

Glancing at the clock, I watched as the numbers changed to 7:00 pm.

Letting my eyes drift towards my window, I noticed that it was already starting to get dark outside and a shiver ran up my spine in anticipation. Wanting to keep our destination a surprise, Beast Boy had refused to tell me where he was going to be taking me tonight.

Reaching for the dark blue cloak that I had thrown across my bed, I clipped it into place around my shoulders. With one last look in my full-length mirror, I turned and headed out into the hallway to meet up with my boyfriend.

The Carnival!

I couldn't help the excitement that ran through my body. This was great!

Usually I would have found the bright flashing lights, and groups of screaming children obnoxious and irritating, but that was before Beast Boy. Right now, all my attention was focused on being with him and having fun.

As he ran off in the direction of one of the rides, I quickly took off after him.

Beast Boy and I were currently stopped at the top of the Ferris wheel. It had been an amazing night.

Our first stop had been at the Bumper Cars. Closing my eyes, I relived the moment of Beast Boy and I zipping past each other in the cars. Spinning my car around, I watched as the shape-shifter paused his vehicle in the middle of the arena. Using the moment to my advantage, I sped up and rammed into him from behind causing his body to jerk forward from the impact. Quickly turning around in his seat, he looked back to find me laughing at him.

After the ride, Beast Boy had pulled me into one of the photo booths that were located around the Amusement Park where we proceed to make funny faces at the camera. At one point, Beast Boy had morphed into a green puppy to pose for a picture in my arms.

But my favorite thing in the park was probably the Chamber of Horrors. There was a graveyard scenario set up as part of the ride, with red eyes flashing in the darkness. I was quite at ease through the whole thing, studying the spooky decorations and laughing as things jumped out at us. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was much less so. As groups of ghosts, a few spiders, and even a skull popped out at us, Beast Boy would jump in fright in his seat. I chuckled softly at the memory.

My eyes suddenly snapped open and I gripped onto the bar that was in front of me in fright as the car started to shake back and forth under me.

"Beast Boy!" I shouted in alarm. "Stop it!"

I heard him laugh joyfully next to me. When our car was still again, Beast Boy turned to look at me. His usual happy grin was on his face and a sparkle was in his eyes.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said blushing slightly, and I relaxed my death grip on the bar.

He tilted his head to one side, studying me. "Yes, you were. You were laughing about something."

I shrugged and glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. "Just having a good time tonight."

He reached for one of my hands that were now resting in my lap. "Me too," he said before leaning in to leave a quick kiss on my cheek.

I sent him a small smile, my skin tingling from where his lips had touched my skin. I stared back at his pointy ears and green skin.

"How did you get your powers?" I asked, the words coming out of my mouth before I could register what I was saying.

Surprise flashed across his face, which quickly turned to sadness as he turned away from me. I instantly felt like I had hit a nerve.

"You don't have to – "

Beast Boy shook his head, interrupting me. "My parents were geneticists," he began. "They would travel through jungles all over the world to study the wildlife. They took me with them on most of their trips."

"You've traveled a lot?"

He nodded. "Brazil, Africa, India . . . I've been to a lot of places." He paused before continuing. "There was one animal that my parents became particularly interested in: a rare species of green monkeys."

I turned away from him, part of me not wanting to hear what happened next.

"I was bitten by one of the monkeys and got sick. To save me, my parents attempted to cure me with a new serum that hadn't been properly tested yet." I felt Beast Boy shrug his shoulders, and I looked up at him. "It worked. I got better, but . . ." He brought his hand up towards his face, studying the green surface. "There were a couple . . . side effects."

"After my parents passed away, I had trouble trusting people. I ended up discovering the Doom Patrol and joined up them for awhile," Beast Boy continued, "but you know how Mento is."

I nodded my head in understanding. We had met the members of the Doom Patrol a couple months ago when they had sent out a call for help. Their leader had displayed a less-than-encouraging attitude towards our team.

"What about you?"

I felt my heart jump in my chest. "Huh?"

"You don't talk much about your past either," Beast Boy said, the smile returning to his face. "What's your story?"

My story?

An image of my father flashed behind my eyelids. Turning away from Beast Boy, I watched as the tiny people below us walked around enjoying the theme park.

He would learn about it soon. My past . . . My destiny . . . The day was coming up fast.

Maybe it would be a good idea to warn him.

Taking a deep breath, I let the air out slowly. "Beast Boy . . . There is something I – "

"Terra . . ."

The name was spoken so softly I almost missed it.

"What?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him, but he wasn't looking at me.

With one hand clutching the gray bar in front of us and the other gripping the side of our car, Beast Boy stood up as best he could in the confined space and was stretching his neck out. Even though he was facing away from me, I knew his eyes were scanning the ground for said girl.

The car suddenly rocked under us as the ride started up again, and I reached out to grab Beast Boy.

"Sit down!" I cried in alarm, my heart pounding in my chest. "What do you think you're doing?"

Beast Boy plopped back down on the seat. "Nothing, I . . . I thought I saw someone."

The disappointment on his face floored me.

Did Beast Boy really miss Terra that much? Did he still have feelings for her?

As the pounding of my heart slowed down, a dull ache took its place.

What about me?