I do NOT own Teen Titans
Not sure what happened with this chapter. It was 'supposed' to be the last one. But somehow the end of the story never seemed to arrive. One more chapter left after this. The story was supposed to be them getting together, with a few action scenes thrown in. Then there was supposed to be one final battle (in this chapter) to mark the end. Guess there will be one more. Still, I'm satisfied with the dynamics of the chapter. The way things get reversed. The steps their relationship take. Hope you like it.
Time: A week later.
Curses,... The Trap,... A Talk,...
She sat beneath a tree, watching her emoticlones. Timid and Rage were playing another game of chess, as were Happy and Knowledge. The other four were doing their own thing. "Again." She spoke, and closed her eyes. Around her, the others stopped what they were doing, and turned towards her. "Aldruon Enlenthranel Vosolen Lirus-nor!" She chanted, focusing all her will into the ancient spell. Despite their aid, she could feel the curse unravel, lacking the power it needed.
"Close." She muttered, sighing. "But not close enough."
"Practicing it will help." Knowledge said. "If we have enough time, we can do it."
She nodded. "But there are signs that Slade is moving about the city. He's planning something big, and both Robin and BB are going crazy."
Though the information was something she already knew, Rage let out a demonic growl. "Then we practice again tonight." She said, in a demonic voice, making it an order.
Raven nodded. "And tomorrow morning. Every chance we get until we can cast it."
A knock came on the door, and Raven walked through it.
"Morning." She said, smiling at him, eyes lit up.
"Morning." He answered nervously, watching the violet-haired girl.
She closed the distance, and dropped down on the bed beside him. Her blue cloak swirled around her, showing off her legs. Seeing his look, she suppressed a grin. Unable to wait any longer, she pulled him close and gave him a slow, lingering, kiss. She felt his lust. A steady, strong, feeling that flowed from him. It matched her own, and she regretted that he couldn't feel it. That the same primal urges that drove him, also drove her. Mixed with it was respect and admiration. He admired her wit, respected her intelligence. Cared for her deeply, with an intensity that was almost frightening. It awoke in her feelings that she couldn't hope to describe. She was accepted, and loved. Her heart was unable to bear it without aching, and her powers should have run wild. Instead they remained under control, only occasionally doing some minor damage.
She pulled back to watch his expression. It was good to know her efforts were appreciated, and she smiled. "How's the attempts at teleporting going?" She asked, resting her head against him.
"Still no success." Beast Boy admitted, not really caring at the moment, his heart beating way too rapidly for coherent thought.
"Try some more?" She said, reluctantly. That meant she would no longer be able to rest against him.
Slowly, he pulled free, and dared to return her kiss, before sitting on the floor.
She smiled a silly grin. He was starting to get used to the idea that she wouldn't zap him for doing things like that. Lying back, she watched.
He transformed into a snake and returned to human form. After a hundred futile attempts, he turned to look at her. In the mornings, like this, her stoic look was gone. A slight smile was always present on her lips. He thought she enjoyed these morning visits as much as he did. "The rest of the team thinks we're dating." He said, watching her reaction closely.
"Mmmm." She replied. "I can see why they would have that impression."
"Are we?" He asked.
She smiled. "Well, we have yet to go on a date." She pointed out.
He gulped. "Would you like too?" He asked.
"About time." She simply replied. "Of course I would." Her smile reached her eyes, and they lit up.
"Tomorrow?"
She nodded. "Where too?"
"Movie?"
"Horror?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"Good." She stretched and rested back on the bed, clearly happy. Inside she knew her emoticlones were freaking out. "How long you going to keep trying to teleport?" She asked.
"Until I can." He returned to the form of a snake, then reverted back being human. "Be useful to get through walls. Out of traps. All sorts of things." He explained.
"I find it useful at times." She admitted. "Maybe we're going about this wrong though. If you could teleport, like you've been trying to, it would have worked by now."
"How so?" He studied her.
"Let me think about it. You don't have enough power to create a portal to draw your body to you. Technically there shouldn't be a way around that, but maybe there is. You're not exactly normal, so there may be a loophole somewhere."
He nodded, and sat down on the bed beside her. "Okay." He said, daring to run his fingers through her hair.
A pencil on his desk became coated in black, and then snapped into a dozen pieces.
"Sorry." He exclaimed, removing his hand.
"Don't be." She smiled up at him. "I just need to learn how to control those tiny bits of energy that get loose at moments like that." Sitting up, she started to meditate. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." She intoned.
He sat beside her and started to hum. After five minutes he opened his eyes. "Does the energy needed to teleport depend on the body size?" He asked.
"Not generally." She replied. "But that may be the loophole. Make a smaller portal, and go through in one of your smaller forms."
A knocked on the door interrupted them. "Hey B, there's a meeting in five minutes." Cyborg's voice came through the door. It didn't open. Raven had taught them walking in on her and BB kissing was a health hazard.
"Okay." Raven called out. She laid back, thinking. "Hey, BB?" She asked.
"What?" He gave her his undivided attention.
"If there was a way to imprison Slade, so he couldn't escape, would you give up on killing him?"
He closed his eyes and thought about it. The beast mocked such a concept. It wanted justice of a more primal kind. "How?" He asked.
"The same way Malchior was imprisoned. His soul and body confined in a spellbook." She waited for his answer, heart pounding.
He listened to the beast within him, and then to the rapidly beating heart of the girl next to him. "Malchior got free, twice. Remember." He replied.
Her heart sank. "I know."
"Can you cast the spell again?"
"Not yet." She admitted, heart sinking even further.
"Okay." He replied. "The answer had never been in doubt."
She blinked, and the figure of an animal turned black, before it deformed into something unrecognizable. "I'm going to have to replace some of those." She said, looking.
"It's okay." He considered what he'd just agreed to. That Slade would live. Part of his soul cried out against it, but ..." He sighed, and looked at the violet-haired girl next to him. He pulled her close and started kissing her. He didn't think he could handle losing her, and if he killed then he would. It was an acceptable trade.
Balance the hate, she'd been told. And so she had. She could still feel it burning in him, but she'd made the cost of letting it free too great. Now if only she could fulfill his need for justice, and create a prison that would hold a monster forever. But for now, she settled with returning his kisses.
"Okay team." Robin said in a determined voice. "Slade, or his robots, have been spotted at more than a hundred locations in Jump City. Anyone have any idea what he's up to?" He looked around the room.
"Looking for something, or planting something." Cyborg answered. "But we've scanned several of the areas, and haven't found anything."
"Distraction." Beast Boy said. "We waste our resources scouting those areas, while he's busy elsewhere?"
"Mind game." Raven stoically added.
Their leader sighed. "All three are good possibilities." He admitted. "How do we narrow it down?"
"Flip a coin?" Beast Boy suggested. A book, coated in dark energy, bonked him on the head.
"Plant a tracking device on one of the robots, or Slade, as the case may be, and track it." Cyborg suggested.
"How? They only show up for a minute at the most. We wouldn't have time to react." Robin replied, sounding frustrated.
"I would." Beast Boy said. "I could fly over an area, and when one of them appears make a dive at it." He shrugged. "But I doubt a tracking device would work. He would be expecting that. Be best if I switched to an amoeba, and let it take me to his base."
"That would be dangerous." Raven stated, a crack appearing in her facade.
"It's either that or wait until he acts." The green-skinned Titan replied, watching her.
"He would be on the alert for tracking devices." Robin decided. "On the other hand an amoeba is just a speck of biological material. It would be nearly impossible to find."
Raven frowned, and a pen on the table exploded, spreading black ink over the place. "Sorry." She said. Robin, she knew, would accept the risk due to his obsession. And BB would too.
"It's decided then." Robin said. "We will be scanning continuously, so just change to your human form for a second, and then back to an amoeba. We will detect your signal and be there as fast as possible.
Beast Boy nodded. "I'll start now. No telling when his next appearance will be." He smiled at Raven. "I'll be careful." He told her. "Very very careful."
She nodded. Being a Titan, they had all put their lives at risk at some point or other. But now it was different.
As a golden eagle, he soared more than a mile above the earth. Sharp eyes, able to see see something the size of a rabbit from two miles, peered down. It was only a matter of time before he spotted one of Slade's robotic minions, and arched downward, changing to a Peregrine Falcon. Soon he hit two hundred miles per hours, slicing through the air towards his target. As he grew closer, he chose smaller and smaller forms to avoid detection. Eventually, he landed on the cybernetic minion in the form of an amoeba.
With nothing to do but wait, he passed the time altering his internal structure, making the walls of the microorganism more sturdy. He hated being so fragile, and planned to be true to his word. He would be very very careful.
More time passed as the robot walked through the city, doing nothing that he could detect. Eventually it entered an underground room, and he became more alert. This must be to villain's latest lair. Pain ripped through him, and he reverted back to his human form.
"Welcome Beast Boy." A voice came from the walls. "How nice of you to fall into my trap."
He stood up, his whole body in agony, carefully looking around.
"Given our last fight, I decided you were too dangerous to be allowed to live." The calm voice said. "Someone with the power to be any animal he wants, combined with the ability to use tools. Deadly." There was a pause. "I'm surprised you survived the ultraviolet light in that room. It would have killed any normal microorganism."
He looked down at his body. It was covered in what looked like a bad sunburn. If I hadn't used the beast's power to make the amoeba more sturdy I would now be dead, he realized. And if I hadn't worked to make my cell walls thicker and more resistant,... He gulped, realizing just how close he'd come to dying.
"You needn't worry about your friends tracking you." The voice continued. "The walls will block any signal. Now, please die." It added, calmly.
The robot moved towards him. Shifting into an elephant, he charged. Even in the small space the cybernetic minion dodged his attack, and landed one of its own. Pain blossomed in his side, as it stuck his already injured skin. Turning, he kicked with his feet, and missed. A return blow struck his skull, making the world go dark for a second.
He changed to a humming bird, and darted away from his enemy. Turning, he shifted into a spitting cobra and spat venom at it. It was no Slade, and the liquid coated its face. The toxin would have no affect on it, but the liquid covered what passed for its eyes. He shifted into a great ape, and tore his blind foe apart.
"Interesting." Slade's voice came from the walls. "I guess I will have to poison you." A hissing sound came from the walls.
He switched to an elephant seal, and took a deep breath. In this form he could hold his breath for over two hours. Maybe four, if he used the meditation techniques Raven had taught him.
"Hrm." Came Slade's voice again. "I guess brute force will have to be applied again." The walls started to hum and glow. "The ultraviolet radiation will burn you to pieces." The psychopath calmly stated.
He shifted into a sea turtle. It would be able to hold its breath even longer than an elephant seal could, but it was less capable of fighting. On the other hand, it did have a nice thick shell to stop the UV rays.
"This is getting tedious." Slade's voice said. There was clicking sound.
Explosives came from holes in the wall and struck him. His shell cracked. Only way out of here is to die, Beast Boy thought to himself. He switched into a small whale and let the explosions start to rip him to pieces. Soon the chamber was coated in blubber and blood. He thrashed in pain, as his body was nearly torn to bits.
"More like it." Slade commented, his voice calm. "I wonder how long before you die?"
Now or never, he thought, trying to remain coherent as his body neared death. He shifted into his human form, and felt the projectiles tear into him. One leg was blown off close to the hip, another was shattered beneath the knee. One explosive found his left side, and wrecked massive damage on it, collapsing a lung. A grazing blow ripped flesh from his skull, but thankfully didn't explode. An arm was shattered. Using all his will power to overcome the pain, he made one last transformation. He became and amoeba again.
He immediately went to work constricting parts of his cell's walls, closing the gaps in them. Luckily he was in a liquid environment; one formed from the blasted remains of when he'd been a whale. The blood and blubber coating the floor made a perfect environment for him. He dove deep within the blood, seeking protection from the UV rays that still filled the room. As the cell walls finally closed, he forced excess salt out through them, and absorbed water.
A normal amoeba would have died with the damage he'd taken. As it was, he barely managed to remain alive. For nourishment he ate his own remains, and set about repairing the cell's walls. He'd constricted parts of them to prevent fluid loss, but the damage was still there. His internal structure was a disaster, but in the simplified form of an amoeba he might manage to stay alive.
Something started to burn him. He's using acid to make sure I'm dead, the shape shifter realized. He immediately set about reinforcing the walls once again. The acid ate through them, and he fortified them once more. The process continued for what seemed to be nearly forever. When he no longer had the resources to maintain them, he knew death was near. Sorry Raven, he thought. I really did try to be careful. He pictured her in his mind, and would have smiled if he could. He'd been lucky. He'd fallen in love twice in his short life.
Then he started to move, and felt organic rich freshwater surround him. Some time later it changed to salt water. Slade, believing he was dead, must have washed him down a drain, and out into the ocean.
He swam for the surface. He would have held his breath, if it had made any sense for an amoeba. Then he focused on two changes. One to his human form, and then back to an amoeba. The agony of being human, with his shattered body, remained in his mind for several minutes.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." The violet-haired girl intoned, her voice calm and emotionless. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." She repeated again and again.
"Raven. Come to the tower's central room." Robin's voice came over her communicator.
She opened her eyes and frowned. A dark bit of energy shattered a wheel on one of her chairs. Rising, she left her room, walking through the door. From their leader's voice she knew something was wrong. She entered the central room and saw the entire team, other than BB, gathered there. They all looked shocked. "What's wrong." She asked. Her dark magic threatened to run wild, and she forced it under control.
"We got a message from Slade." Cyborg said. "All the robots in the city was a trap."
She frowned. "He has BB?" She asked.
She saw Robin gulp. "There was some video with the transmission." He said, looking ill. "I'm afraid Beast Boy is dead."
She blinked, and finally understood what had driven BB's need to kill Slade. "Let me see it." She said, voice without emotion. The video played before her, showing her the way BB had switched shape time and time again to evade the psychopaths attempts to kill him. Finally the image of a whale being ripped to pieces. And then ... She closed her eyes, seeing the final few images repeated over and over in her mind; the slow motion destruction of the one she loved. A leg exploding, ripped away in an explosion of blood. Another shattered, with more blood. An arm disappearing. His head covered in even more blood. His left side collapsing.
Inside, her emoticlones erupted as one. Black energy smashed the screen that had played the cursed video. The chairs exploded. Black energy started to run across the walls. "Did you find Slade?" She asked, her voice demonic, four eyes peering out from her hood. The walls quivered, and started to rip apart. The lights exploded. "Where is Slade?" She asked again, with the fury of a demon demanding an immediate response.
"We're looking for him, Raven." Robin said, wide-eyed. "We will find him. It won't help if you tear the place apart."
"Friend Raven?" Starfire asked, staring.
A sharp alarm rang through the room. Higher pitched than the usual siren that alerted them to a villain, and void of any flashing lights.
"That B's signal." Cyborg exclaimed, rushing to a console. "He's in the ocean." The cybernetic teen stated a second later, sounding hopeful. "Strange. It only lasted for about a tenth of a second ..." He studied the display, thinking. "Either he's still alive, and just switched to being human for a second, or it's a trap."
"Where?" The demonic voice demanded. Black energy coated a table and it just disappeared.
"We're all going." Robin stated. He looked at her. "We're using the T-ship. You follow in the air." He turned, and ran from the room.
She floated on a disc of pure blackness, sending forth her soul, seeking.
Thinking, he shifted into a planarian flatworm. It's ability to regenerate was legendary. He took nourishment from the ocean, and tried to speed the repairs with a healing trance. When he figured enough time had passed for the team to get to the spot, he changed back to a human, and then back into the worm. Each change to his human form risked death, and brought immense pain.
Her communicator showed the new location for the signal, and she sped towards it. Her soul found what it was seeking, and she scooped a small, green, worm out of the water. It swam around in her hands. Then it went still. Healing trance, she noted with relief. She poured her own energy into the badly damaged organism, and its wounds disappeared.
He felt her touch, and the energy she poured into him. He reverted to his human form, drained, but whole. Looking up he saw the four red eyes. "Hello Rage. Close call." He said, reaching out to touch her. "But I'm okay."
The four red eyes disappeared to be replaced with two violet ones. "You sure you're okay?" Raven asked, crying. Dark energy crackled around her, stirring the ocean into a frenzy.
"I am. Mind if we get back to the tower?" He laid down on the disc, one hand reaching out to touch her.
"Sure." She gave a weak smile, and sent the platform they rode back towards Titan's Tower.
"Close." Raven said to the listening emoticlones.
"Too close." Rage growled. "If he hadn't been okay I would have ..." She went quiet.
"But he is okay." Knowledge spoke.
Raven nodded. "He is. This time."
"Tomorrow we fight Slade." Rage said.
"If that's his lair, then we will." Knowledge said.
"And when we do, do we kill him?" Rage asked.
They were all quiet at that. "I don't know." Raven replied. "If we can't master the spell, then what choice is there?" Her expression mirrored that of Rage's.
She stood looking out through the window, wondering if she should spend the night outside. In her state who knew what damage she might do. Shaking her head, she turned and walked through her door. A minute later she entered the room where he was sleeping, and laid down beside him. Here, she knew, she wouldn't lose control.
He awoke as she laid down. "I know what you're thinking." He told her.
"Oh?" She snuggled close to him. Sorry to have woke him up, but glad to hear his voice.
"I want to speak to Rage." He told her.
"She can hear everything you say." The violet-haired girl said, wondering.
"But I want to see her eyes."
"Why?" She was puzzled. Still, she felt something rise inside her, and she let it push her to one side. Once she'd thought she was supposed to suppress and dominate her other selves. That had been wrong. There had to be trust. One couldn't fight one's self forever.
"Hello." He said, looking into four red eyes that glowed. If he hadn't know her, her appearance would have been scary. As it was, he knew she was a part of Raven.
"Hello." Her demonic voice held curiosity.
"Promise me no killing tomorrow." He stared at those four eyes, demanding an answer.
"But ..."
He reach out to put a finger against her lips. "Promise."
Rage gave it careful consideration, staring back into the shape shifter's eyes. She sighed. "It's not a decision I make alone." She replied. "I may be her killer instinct, but the others are just as capable of killing, should they be able to justify it."
He nodded. "Just don't fan that desire." He told her. "I love Raven, and all her aspects. For her to kill would change her irrevocably."
She stared, her four glowing eyes going wide at the words. "I will try." She said.
She took her rightful place in her body again. "Love?" She asked, with wonder in her voice.
He reached out to gently touch her, resting his hand on her cheek. "Can't you sense what I'm feeling/" He asked.
She nodded, smiling with tears in her eyes. "I love you." She answered, and snuggled closer.
Sleep claimed them, and they dreamt of each other.
End of Chapter.
Many thanks to those who read and review.
Aldruon Enlenthranel Vosolen Lirus-nor! : The curse used by Raven to seal Malchior back into the book she released him from.
In the opening when I said, the way things get reversed, I meant the way he changes from wanting to kill to not wanting to kill, while she changes to being willing to kill. At least until he speaks with Rage.
A date (planned at least). A confession of love. The final steps I wanted to show in their relationship.
A planarian flatworm can regenerate almost any amount of damage. In that form he would have slowly healed. Raven just speeded the process.
Next chapter, the final battle.
