Rise of the Beast

A Teen Titans Fanfic by Quill N. Inque

I do not own Teen Titans.

Chapter 14: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Beast Boy would be lying if he said he didn't look forward to his meditation lessons with Raven.

The hero relished the opportunity to spend time alone with his new girlfriend. Raven had kept so much from everyone for so long, and Beast Boy took every opportunity to get to know her better. Just being with her had an enormous calming effect, and the temporary relief from his inner turmoil was more than welcome.

Beast Boy also found out that Raven was a surprisingly good kisser.

And it was for all these reasons that the invisible weight on Beast Boy's shoulders seemed to vanish as he and Raven stepped once more into the Gothic-style décor of her room. Scented candles made the air heavy and thick, and Beast Boy felt his senses swim as the strong aromas wafted around him. Raven took a seat, motioning for him to join her with a smile on her face.

Beast Boy felt his heart leap at the sight as he squatted down on the carpet. Raven has such a pretty smile. She should do that more often.

"Well, to quote the old cliché, I have good news and bad news," Raven deadpanned.

"Okay…" Beast Boy felt apprehension rise in his stomach.

"The bad news is that the Beast inside you is far more powerful than I originally thought. Based on what I've seen, I doubt you can defeat it with meditation alone. The trances will weaken it, true, but only temporarily."

"What's the good news?"

"The good news is that I have an alternate, but more drastic, solution, Beast Boy. Your psyche is now strong enough to allow me to go inside your mind and weaken the Beast to the point where you can finish it off. It won't be fun, and it'll hurt, but chances are it will cut the Beast down to size. As I've said, the meditation you've been doing has weakened it. I think I can beat it now."

Beast Boy turned an unnatural state of green. "You want to go…inside my head?"

"Yes."

The changeling shook his head. "No. As much as it would help, there are some things in my noggin that I don't want anyone to see." Not to mention that the Beast will eat you alive after it tells you about all the skeletons in my closet, he silently added.

Raven's voice was gentle. "Beast Boy, whatever's inside that mind of yours couldn't be any worse than what you saw in MY head the day you picked up that mirror."

Beast Boy shuddered at the memory. He had learned quite a bit about Raven that day. Raven continued as she held his hand tenderly. "You know I won't judge you. I just want to help. It kills me to see you like this, Beast Boy."

Her boyfriend took a deep, shuddering breath. "I can't. If I let you do that, if you see what I really am on the inside… I'm a monster, Rae. There's no other way to put it. I don't want you to see the kinds of thoughts I've been having lately." Beast Boy blushed slightly at the memory of a few "thoughts" he'd had about Raven.

"You know me well enough to know that I won't judge you," Raven replied quietly. "And having me in your brain is better than the alternative."

For a moment, Beast Boy wrestled with himself. Door number one: Sharing his mind with Raven would relieve some of his burden and bring them even closer together, and it would make huge progress toward defeating the Beast, as well. Door number two: Raven would be horrified at what she found and drop him like a hot potato, convinced that he was some kind of animal.

Despite his fears, he thought that the last possibility was unlikely. If anyone could relate to having an epic inner conflict inside his or her mind, it was Raven. She had, after all, put up with Trigon in her head for most of her life. She understood better than anyone what he was going through. And, to be frank, Raven was right; severe embarrassment was preferable to having the Beast take him over.

After a moment of intense consideration, Beast Boy's green eyes met Raven's violet ones. "Okay," he said, his voice shaking with apprehension. "Go ahead."

Raven squeezed his hand gently. "It's going to be all right, Beast Boy," she assured him as she folded her legs into the lotus position. "Now clear out the cobwebs. The clearer your mind is, the easier it will be for me to enter it."

Beast Boy copied her, closing his eyes and breathing deeply as he did so. His senses began to dull as the calmness of the meditative state overtook him…

Raven found herself standing in the midst of a vast jungle, an untamed tropical wilderness worthy of BBC or Animal Planet. It was almost unbearably humid; wisps of steam mingled with droplets of moisture that clung to every leaf and branch. Brightly colored flowers of every shade peeked out from beneath the brush. Monkeys screeched, birds chirped, and snakes hissed in an almost deafening, cacophonous symphony of nature. The wet soil made a squelching sound underneath her shoes as Raven cast out a psychic probe for the Beast. A creature like that, after all, shouldn't be hard to find for an empath.

Such precautions were not needed, however, and Raven only just kept herself from gasping as she came face-to-face with a pair of glowing red eyes, which burned like the sky at sunset after a heavy rain. An audible snarl filled the air, and flocks of birds fled the trees en masse at the sound of it. Raven gulped nervously, and tried to put on a brave face.

"You cannot fool me, Raven," it growled. "I can smell your fear, and it smells good."

"Your time is done," Raven replied quietly. "You will torment my friend no longer, Beast."

There was a moment of silence, and then the Beast itself lumbered from its hiding place, towering over her as Goliath had once loomed over David. There was no mistaking the humor in its voice. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, dearest Raven, but the fact that I am here is not of MY doing."

"What are you talking about?" Raven demanded. "Beast Boy wants you gone."

"Foolish girl. You have not yet realized that the only reason I have continued to haunt your boyfriend's mind is because, deep down, he WANTS me here. He desires the speed and power I give him, he longs to throw away his pitiful human inhibitions. No matter how much he denies it, Beast Boy does not desire to be human anymore. I exist only because he allows me to, Raven, though whether you choose to accept this truth is up to you."

"You're just trying to push my buttons again," Raven replied in an emotionless monotone. "It won't work this time."

"It already has," the Beast rumbled. "I can already feel the whirlwind of emotions my words have stirred up inside you, girl. You are not fooling anyone but yourself."

"Enough," Raven snarled, her hands crackling with black energy. She fired a mighty blast at the Beast, and instantly all was obscured by the resultant smoke and flame. Raven's heart leapt in her chest-

But her exhilaration turned to disbelief as the Beast emerged, untouched, from the cloudy haze. For all the power Raven had thrown at the creature, its fur wasn't even singed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Beast threw back its head and roared with merriment, its eyes glistening with dark emotions. "You cannot harm me in here, Raven. This is MY domain! Here, I am untouchable, but you, on the other hand…" Its sentence trailed off as it backhanded Raven in the face, sending her crashing into a tree that felt very, very solid. The Beast thrust its mouth close to her ear.

"Fly back to Beast Boy, little bird," it hissed. "And tell him that the hour of my glorious ascension draws ever closer."

Raven's eyes snapped open, and for a moment her heart beat with a frenzy borne of fear. Her body was coated in a nervous sweat, and only when Beast Boy seized her hand did her terror begin to subside.

"Rae?" he asked quietly. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she replied numbly. "I'll be okay, Beast Boy."

But in reality, Raven's mind was still reeling from her encounter with the Beast. Contrary to her professional opinion, the meditative trances had only had a minimal impact. The creature was growing stronger, and it carried a cloak of psychic power about it that sent chills down Raven's spine.

Good Lord, Raven couldn't REMEMBER the last time she'd encountered an entity with that much raw psychic energy. She had emerged with her sanity intact purely on the Beast's tender whims. It could have easily killed her.

Or worse, Raven reflected with a shudder.

There was absolutely no question that, despite their efforts, Beast Boy's primal side was growing stronger every day.

And, now that she had witnessed it firsthand, she feared for his life.

And everyone else's, too.

A/N: I bet Raven didn't see THAT coming! But what will happen in the next chapter, when the Beast finally launches its assault on the night of Halloween? Will our young protagonist ever be the same? Will the creature FINALLY have its day? And will our young protagonist emerge from his ordeal with his mind intact? Find out in coming chapters!

Your humble servant,

-Quill N. Inque