Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.
Author's Note: Silliness and seriousness make for longer chapters. Also, I'm seriously not good at depicting highly emotional scenes.
Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive- the risk to be alive and express what we really are.
-Don Miguel Ruiz
Mortification, Jubilation, and Vexation
It took Cyborg a few seconds to calm down and recover from the shock, but once he had, Raven removed the strip from his mouth and allowed him to speak.
"Look, as cute as this is," Cyborg started, somehow managing to pointedly look at the small emotion cuddling Beast Boy and simultaneously raise an eyebrow at Raven, "we've got to get BB out of here. It seems like your healy-mojo pulled him back from the brink, but I'm still not comfortable with his condition. We need to get him back to the Tower ASAP."
Raven nodded, stood up, and walked over to the gleeful girl beside the changeling. Lifting her off the ground and setting her on her feet, Raven turned to Cyborg and pointed off into the distance behind him.
"The Forbidden Door is in that direction- I barely have the energy to move myself over there and activate it, so you'll have to carry Beast Boy yourself. As for me," Raven gestured towards the violet-colored emotion beside her, "I have something that needs attending to."
With a grunt of agreement, Cyborg effortlessly lifted his friend into his arms, cradling his small form as gently as possible so as to avoid exacerbating his injuries any further. Turning in the direction Raven had indicated, the android ran as quickly as he could without jarring his precious cargo.
Raven watched her friend dash off into the distance before turning around to her small companion. Squatting down, the empath looked the emotion square in the eye.
"So… Affection…"
The diminutive doppelganger smiled.
0730
Starfire continued her descent from the cloudy sky, in part because she needed to land, and in part because she knew that her time alone with Robin was nearing a close. Not that she didn't want to see her friends- it was just that they didn't elicit such powerful emotions from her as the Boy Wonder did.
Her descent accelerated as the Tamaranian princess spotted the Tower in the distance, across the bay. Slowing down imperceptibly, she tightened her grip on the already squished Robin. Robin, of course, didn't complain. Not that he was presently capable of drawing the breath necessary to complain, but he wouldn't have done it even if he could.
Tightening his clasp around the Tamaranian's torso, he felt her relax ever so slightly, allowing him to inhale once more.
"Hey, Star?"
She looked down at him, her green eyes boring into the blank white of his mask.
"We need to do this more often."
Flashing him a grin that put the bat-signal to shame, the alien shot back up into the sky. Once more, Robin found himself unable to breathe- but this time it had nothing to do with the extraordinary force being exerted on his ribs.
As he approached the Forbidden Door, Cyborg shifted Beast Boy's weight to one arm and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Half machine or not, he was not built for long-distance running. Gently setting his friend down on the ground, the robotic hero sat down to wait for Raven's arrival.
"I wonder what she's doing with that half pint?" he mused out loud.
"Discussing something that's most likely none of your business, would be my guess," came a voice from behind him.
His eyes wide as dinner plates, Cyborg leapt to his feet and turned around. "Jeez, Raven! You just 'bout gave me…" Cyborg trailed off as he looked at the figure that had spoken. "Alright- you're not Raven, unless she's developed myopia as well as a sudden love for the color yellow. Wait, wait- don't tell me! You're Knowledge, right?"
"My name is Intelligence, to be precise. And the glasses are for show. As for my supposed 'love' for the color yellow… I didn't really have any say in that." Intelligence's gaze shifted to the green changeling beside Cyborg. "I really must confess to a high degree of confusion in regards to Beast Boy's dramatic recovery."
"Huh?" asked a puzzled Cyborg. "What do you mean? He went into cardiac arrest, I zapped him. He's not in any immediate danger, if that's what's bothering you- at least, nothing that I couldn't take care of at the Tower."
Quietly, as though to herself, Intelligence spoke. "He should be, though."
Cyborg's confusion deepened. "Wait, what? You're not happy with the fact that he's not dead?"
"Of course we're happy!" Cyborg almost jumped out of his skin as Happy loudly made her entrance directly behind him. "Hey, you remember me- don't you Cy?"
Twitching slightly, Cyborg nodded his reply. "How could I forget?" he asked rhetorically.
"This still doesn't make any sense, though," repeated Intelligence, now kneeling beside Beast Boy and prodding him in the ribs gently. "He was beyond even Raven's healing powers- a simple defibrillator shouldn't have restored him to such a stable condition."
"Oh come on, smarty-pants! You can poke him better than that!" Cyborg stiffened as a flash of orange appeared directly in front of him, before moving to Beast Boy. "Do it like this!" The orange cloaked woman rudely shoved Intelligence aside, and began to enthusiastically poke and prod all over the unconscious boy's body.
"Rude, I'm quite certain that there's nothing wrong with his posterior!" shouted an indignant Intelligence.
"Damn right, there ain't nothing wrong with it!" quipped Rude, making a point of poking the aforementioned body part again.
"Please don't do that anymore- I don't think he would like it very much," whimpered Timid, as she materialized on Cyborg's left side.
"What he doesn't know, can't hurt him!" cried Bravery, leapfrogging a momentarily paralyzed Cyborg to land next to Beast Boy. Reaching towards the changeling, she muttered out loud, "I wonder if this was injured…"
"Alright Cyborg, I'm done with… what the hell do you think you're doing?" cried Raven, looking directly at Bravery. The green emotion suddenly found herself all alone with Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg- with her hand hovering mere inches above Beast Boy's…
"Nothing!" she cried, and then she too was gone.
Unclenching a fist she didn't remember making, Raven turned to face Cyborg. "You didn't see anything, you didn't hear anything. Got it?"
Cyborg twitched.
"I'll take that as a yes. Pick Beast Boy up, and let's go."
As the trio moved through the Forbidden Door, a woman cloaked in brown appeared out of the shadows. Looking disappointed- as one who has missed a golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity- she turned and faded once more into the mists of Raven's mind.
'Maybe another time,' Wisdom thought, feeling strangely jealous of Rude.
A swirling vortex appeared in the common room, from which the three friends emerged. Raven collapsed on the couch, exhausted after opening and closing the portal into her mind. Cyborg, Beast Boy in hand, walked to the elevator, intent on taking his friend to the medical bay.
"Ugh… did anyone get the number of that truck?" mumbled Beast Boy.
Cyborg froze.
"Truck? What truck?" asked a very confused Raven. Then the fact that it was Beast Boy asking the question struck her, and she suddenly found herself not nearly as tired as she had first thought. Rushing to Cyborg's side, she tried to keep the excitement out of her voice as she stated the obvious.
"You're awake."
"Oh, hey Rae." Beast Boy looked very intently at Raven for a few seconds before patting Cyborg's shoulder. "Hey, tin can- could ya put me down for a second?"
Turning his head, Cyborg grinned. "You obviously must be feeling better, grass stain. You sure you're up for standing, though?" His expression suddenly turned very serious. "You did die, after all."
"Yeah, I know. The afterlife is hella weird, by the way. But I'll tell you about that later- put me down!"
"But-"
Beast boy lightly smacked the back of Cyborg's head. "Down!"
"You-"
Smack. "Down!"
"Let me just-"
"Put me down, or I'll change the preset stations on the T-Car's radio."
Thud.
Beast Boy climbed to his feet, rubbing his behind and muttering under his breath. "Jerk."
"You asked for it," retorted Cyborg.
"Yes, but-" Beast Boy cut himself off as he remembered his reason for wanting to be let down from Cyborg's shoulder. He turned back to Raven, once more looking at her with a serious expression on his face.
Raven felt the blood drain from her face as she looked at the green changeling look at her. She couldn't read his expression at all- and to her, he'd always been an open book. Did he hate her for what she had done to her? For what her emotions had done to him? Affection had refused to give her any answers at all, leaving the empath in the dark as to the actual events that had transpired inside her own head.
Raven was almost so consumed by her worries that she didn't notice Beast Boy step forward and embrace her.
Almost. But not quite.
"I forgive you, Raven," he said quietly- so quietly, in fact, that Raven could barely hear him. "You're my best friend, and I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you. I forgive you for everything you've ever done, I'll forgive you for everything you ever do, and I can only hope that you'll always be able to forgive me for all the crap I pull too."
With silent tears running down her cheeks and the beginnings of a wild grin on her face, Raven enthusiastically returned the embrace. Whispering to herself as much as to her friend, she answered the changeling's request.
"I'll always forgive you, Beast Boy... always."
It was at this precise moment that the door to the common room opened to reveal a very surprised Starfire and Robin. The look on Robin's face, however, quickly changed to a smug grin as he saw his two friends in each others' arms.
"So-" began the Boy Wonder. Unfortunately, whatever he had planned on saying was interrupted by an incoming call, labeled URGENT.
Batman's visage appeared on the main monitor, and immediately his gaze was fixed on Robin. Seconds passed in silence as the pair stared at each other. Finally, the dark knight broke the silence.
"So Robin," he began. Suddenly, an image of him kissing Starfire's cheek filled half the screen. "What's this I'm hearing about 'RobStargate' on the news this morning?"
Cyborg sidled over to Beast Boy and Raven, who were still frozen in their hug, looks of shock etched on their features.
"Perhaps we should leave those three alone… does the medical bay sound like a suitable hideout?"
Not waiting for an answer, the robotic hero snatched up his two friends and led them to the waiting elevator.
"Alright, this is really weird," said Cyborg.
"Dude, you've only said that… one, two, four… a gazillion times in the last ten minutes! You mind explaining just what is so weird, please?" cried Beast Boy.
"It's something that Intelligence brought up, and has been bothering me ever since she mentioned it. You," Cyborg pointed at Raven, "tried to heal BB's injuries before he died from them, correct?" Raven nodded. "You," he continued, pointing now at Beast Boy, "show no sign of any of the injuries that I found you with. Of those injuries, none of them would have even been life-threatening anyways."
"So?" asked Beast Boy, not quite grasping Cyborg's point.
"So? Dude, without any assistance from Raven, you've healed a broken collarbone, some broken ribs, multiple lacerations- without leaving any scars, I might add, and two fractured femurs. And your heart had stopped, for reasons I can't determine. My best guess would be blood loss, except that you show no signs of having lost a drop. You've never healed like this before, and Raven's healing mojo has never had a delayed effect before." Cyborg inhaled, and continued.
"What's weird is that I've found fewer injuries on you than what I find when you go hand-to-hand with Robin in combat practice, yet somehow you were grievously injured enough to die. There's an outside influence, and I want to know what it is."
Beast Boy grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck unconsciously. "Well, it might have something to do with something that happened while I was dead…"
"Yeah, you never did tell us what happened up at the pearly gates."
Beast Boy gave a nervous chuckle. "Heh… well, to be honest- I never saw any 'pearly gates,' so to speak. I did, however, have a short conversation with God's secretary, who I thought was Rachel Ray…" Beast Boy continued his narrative, telling his friends about "the short French dude with a stick up his butt" and the "nice lady worried about her daughter," finally arriving at the events following his leaving the waiting room.
"… she was all like 'You have friends in low places,' and I asked her what the hell she was talking about, and she was all 'Funny you should put it that way.' I just kinda stared at her stupidly for a few seconds, and I think I annoyed her somehow, because she just started screaming at me about how I managed to somehow forget about getting- and I'm quoting here- 'Trigon the fucking Terrible, who never even calls back,' to owe me a favor." Beast Boy paused to breathe, and Cyborg took advantage of the brief lull to interrupt.
"BB, I hate to imply that you were imagining things… but seriously, this is pretty nuts. I mean, the Purgatory Lounge? God's secretary? This sounds like something out of Beetlejuice to me. Not to mention the fact that, from what I've seen, Trigon isn't exactly the kind of guy to be handing out favors to people." At this last point, Cyborg looked over to a very uncomfortable looking Raven, who nodded in agreement before finding a spot on the wall to draw her interest.
"Hey, I know it sounds really weird and all," began Beast Boy, "but it's what I remember. And besides, you have to admit, Angela wasn't exactly the type of person I would invent in my head. The French guy, maybe, but-" Beast Boy was interrupted by a crashing noise behind him. Turning his head to the source of the disturbance, he saw that one of the innumerable instruments Cyborg kept handy had been turned into a useless pile of parts. Snapping his attention to Raven, he was surprised to see her staring at him with a look of shock on her face.
"What… did you say her name was?" she slowly asked the changeling.
A sudden flash of realization hit Beast Boy, and his eyes nearly bugged out of his skull.
"Oh."
Cyborg looked at his two friends with a puzzled expression on his face. "Did… did I miss something really important here?"
Ignoring Cyborg's question, Raven posed one of her own to Beast Boy.
"Could… I mean, would you mind if… I mean, can I… see her?"
Beast Boy nodded.
Raven floated over towards the green superhero and slowly stretched her hand out until it rested on Beast Boy's forehead. Her eyes glowed white, and the last thing she heard before plunging into Beast Boy's memories was Cyborg's plaintive voice.
"Why doesn't anybody ever tell me what the hell is going on?"
Robin buried his face in his hands, embarrassed beyond belief.
"I still do not understand, man of bats. Please, tell me once more about these 'birds' and 'bees,' and why they are of such vital importance to Robin and myself." Starfire somehow managed to procure a pen and pad of paper. "Perhaps I should take notes, this time."