Chapter 1

The last 3 months had been a blur. He was a hero, a Titan, someone who should be looked at with awe and give a sense of safety and happiness. But yet, he felt like he was an outcast. He had finally reached his breaking point after a fight with the Hive.

3 months ago

The fight was going like it always would. They would break offand fight against who they knew would be the easiest to defeat with their powers. Cyborg was with Gizmo, Robin with Private Hive, Star with Mammoth, Raven against Kyd Wykkyd, and finally Beast Boy with See-More. Robin was easily handling Private Hive and when he saw an opening, knocked him out with his bow staff. Beast Boy had defeated See-More by choking him out by becoming an anaconda. So it left 3 against 5. Robin went to help Cyborg and Beast Boy went to help Star. Everythingseemed to be wrapped up until Mammoth launched Beast Boy right into the middle of a Sonic Boom from Robin and Cyborg. He was sent flying into a building, instantly dislocating a hipand busting his forehead open. This distracted everyone long enough for Kyd Wykkyd to teleport the Hive out of the area.

He was dazed and confused for a moment until he tried to lift his leg up and felt immediate pain run through his hip down to his feet. He knew what it was so he tried to roll over, popping it back in place. He picked his hand up to wipe what he thought was sweat out of his face. When he pulled his hand away, it was coveredin blood. He looked at the window he was next to and saw the right side of his face a crimson red stain, contrasting mightily against his green skin. He lowered his head and the blood just poured onto the sidewalk.

"Beast Boy can you pay attention and get out of the way for once!We had them and you had to screw something up as per usual!"

His eyes hardened and his nostrils flared. He didn't intentionally throw himself into the middle of a bomb. It wasn't his fault that he just happened to cross paths with Cyborg and Robin's aim.

"Come on man! If you stopped playing games and actually trained, you'd be able to keep up and stop getting stuck with the weak link of the group!"

He clenched his fist and swallowed back the growl that was oh so close to escaping his throat. Another insult being thrown his way had become the habit recently for the team to use against him when he wasn't doing what they thought he should.

"His brain can only handle so much. He barely can read the report we have to fill out after these things."

The blood was now pooling on the sidewalk. But he couldn't care less. His anger was reaching a peak where he knew if one more thing was said, he might not be able to hold back. If only she knew English wasn't actually his first language. Or his second, or third. Little did she know he was probably the smartest one on the team. But he always kept that to himself.

He tried to calm down and take a deep breath. His hip was killing him even after being put back in place and his head was throbbing. He could feel the blood dripping down his face. He didn't know how big the cut was, but judging by the amount pouring out, he knew it had to be a decent sized cut.

"BEAST BOY!"

That finally snapped him out of it. He stood up and turned to look at the team without any sort of emotion on his face. No anger from their words, no pain from the impact of the brick wall to his body. His eyes were just cold and steely.

Their admonishing looks instantly turned into looks of shock and horror. Robin didn't know what to do or say. Cyborg just looked at him as if his brain was hanging out the side of his head. Raven actually showed some emotion and had a face full of concern. Starfire was the first to speak.

"Oh friend are you okay?"

He almost had the heart to laugh at her comment. Almost.

"Sorry, won't happen againRobin."

He went about wiping the blood off his face as best he could, considering it wouldn't stop bleeding.

"Hey B, are you good man? What happened?"

He just kept walking past them, gloved hand pressed against the gash to keep the blood out of his face.

"I'm fine Cy, I'll take care of it when I get back to the tower."

Raven immediately walked up to him with her hand glowing with her healing energy.

"That's a serious gash Beast Boy, let me take care of it and at least stop the bleeding."

She reached her hand out to fix his cut when his hand that wasn't wiping away blood shot out and grabbed her wrist stopping her in her tracks.

"It's fine. As I said I'll take care of it."

He released his hold, practically throwing her arm away from him almost as if he disgusted her. He turned to Robin, eyes still cold and emotionless. "You should go give the report. I'll be back at the tower."

Before anyone could say anything else, he morphed and launched into the sky, flying towards the giant T-shaped tower. When he reached his destination, he morphed back and went down into the med bay. He stitched up the wound after cleaning it and finally getting the bleeding to stop. Taking a calming breath, he marched to his room and locked the door. He had enough. For the last 6 months, he had been taking the verbal abuse. Wasn't good enough in training. Wasn't good enough in the field. Always being the butt of the jokes and insults. He was the youngest and his body was still growing.

Because of his DNA, he learned his body would still be developing for quite a while. He had already reached the height of 5'10, making him the third tallest of the group, barely passing Starfire. He was an inch shorter than Robin and about 6 or 7 shorter than Cyborg. But he learned he was still growing and still developing the necessary hormones to break down food and turn it into muscle.

"I'm done with this team. Since all I get is the short end of the stick, I'll move on to somewhere I'll be appreciated. I'm sick of the team throwing me to the side.If they want me to be different I'll give them what they want."

That night he completely changed his diet. No longer was it tofu and non-dairy. He started eating meat, drinking milk, cooking eggs. He would constantly be in the gym working out, or on the training ground training. He no longer joked around or involved himself with video games. During movie night instead of being with the team, he would be swimming laps in the pool or on a jog around the city. His training results had become proof that he was far more capable of what he had been showing. He had become a major key in fighting crime.

The team at first had been impressed. Although a little worried about the diet, thinking the Beast was back until he had told them he was fine, just making a necessary change. They thought it was good he was changing and taking things more serious. It definitely helped that taking down criminals had become easier. For two weeks they were as happy as could be.

Then he started to separate himself from them. No longer playing games with Cyborg, or watching the TV with Starfire. No more banter at breakfast over meat or tofu. Most of the time when they were all up ready to make breakfast, he had already showered, eaten and had been in the gym lifting weights or training. No more joking around with Raven. No more football or volleyball with Robin. The only time he wasn't in the gym was when he decided to go to the tattoo parlor in the city and ink himself up.

His right arm now consisting of his favorite animal along with his parents', leading down to a dove holding a rose in its claws that stretched onto his hand. His left arm had been for his mother's Greek heritage, consisting of many mythological scenes and important people. His left leg was also a tribute to his favorite time period, the Egyptian empire with a pharaoh and the pyramids on the front and a very detailed Anubis on the back. His right leg was a tribute to his dad's catholic upbringing with Mary holding baby Jesus and his dad's favorite Bible verse. His back had the scene of Jesus on the cross along with a small view of the three that sat on the hill below him. The only empty space was on the front of his torso and his neck.

The team was a little concerned but he just told them it had been something he had wanted to do for a while. He'd catch them staring at his arms when he'd join them for lunch and dinner when he had taken a break from working out. They all thought it was good work but couldn't understand how he could sit in a chair all day and have one or two or even three different people working on his body all day. When asked he just shrugged and said "you get used to it".

They all had noticed this change in him and were worried. They'd try to get him to join them in something. Even Raven had asked if he wanted to go with her to grab groceries. He declined in a polite but emotionless tone, continuing his laps around the pool barely paying her attention.

He even started to wear jewelry on nights out when they would be told to dress casually for an event put on by the mayor. A couple of gold chain necklaces and even diamond studded earrings had adorned his look. Three months ago, he would've laughed at the idea of him wearing such a thing, but he had changed.

There had started to be rumors that he was leaving the team, which only he knew that those rumors were true. One night he was on the roof looking at the stars and happened to catch movement out of the corner of his eye. He didn't freak out or get defensive. He just acted calm and collected like it was just another normal occurrence.

He could smell her, could hear her. Her scent of vanilla and lavender wafted through his nostrils. She seemed harmless for now, if need be, he'd contact the team.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

She walked out of the shadows and up to him. She caught sight of his shirtless frame wearing only his sweatpants that had been rolled up to catch more of the breeze in the night sky. To say she was enamored would be quite an understatement. She was allured and very intrigued at the young man in front of her.

"You seem to be lonely. Wanna talk?"

He shook his head.

"Don't do much of that anymore."

She got closer until they were shoulder to shoulder. Staring at his now chiseled and tattoo covered frame, she let her eyes wander over him for a moment before speaking.

"Seems like you've changed quite a bit."

He snorted at her comment.

"That's funny, I don't remember meeting you before."

He turned to look at her and he had to catch himself from staring to long. Her tanned skin and brown eyes along with her snow white hair immediately caught his eye. She was beautiful and he had a feeling that she was here for more than a reason to just talk.

She smirked at him and took another long look at his body. "We haven't met, but I've been watching you, along with my father. You aren't the same boy you were when your team would be fighting against him."

This had caught his attention quickly.

"And who might your father be?" he asked now completely caught up in the conversation.

"You know of him. In fact you could say he was your team's biggest threat."

A look of understanding dawned his face and he was floored.

"Slade?"

She nodded her head.

"Your dad is Slade? And you two have been watching me?"

Another nod from her was all that accompanied that revelation.

"For what reason?"

It was her turn to talk now.

"We were asked by the UAE and Saudi government to start a team tasked with eliminating any terrorism groups and villains in the area. After my dad helped Robin and your team defeat Trigon, he changed his role. He decided he'd start over in the Middle East. I joined him. At first I was skeptical but he seemed to be genuine about helping them. We were then asked to put together a list of targets for a potential team and you happened to be on the list."

He let the words sink in, thinking over everything before he spoke. After registering everything, he only had one question.

"Why me?"

She leaned closer to him, to quiet the conversation in case prying ears were nearby or to just be closer to his body he had no idea.

"He sees a lot of potential in you and wants to help. He also had a feeling that you were being wasted by being on this team and not having your powers reach their full potential. He know you play the role of the joker because that's what you're good at. Adapting to the situation at hand and filling whatever role you need to that'll make things work."

He rand a hand over his face and looked out at the sea. He was in disbelief over what he was hearing. Slade a good guy, Slade wanting HIM to join his team, Slade sending his gorgeous daughter to talk to him to try and convince him. This was a lot to take in.

"I also think it'd be a good idea to have you with us. You're smarter than what you let on and you can be serious when need be. You're strong, caring and will put the team first before anything. That shows a potential leader and good character."

He looked at her and was in disbelief all over again. He had never met her but she knew all these things about him like they had been close before.

"And... it helps you're insanely irresistible to look at."

He laughed at that, for the first time in almost two months he laughed. It was genuine and had felt good, especially that he didn't have to take it either.

"Thanks, you're pretty good looking yourself."

She smiled at him and leaned in.

"Think it over. There's a lot of potential for you where we'd be at. And I'd like to see you join us and the team we're putting together."

She slipped a card into his hand. He took a look at it and it had a number on it. He was guessing it was hers. He put the card in his pocket for later and looked back to her.

"I never caught your name."

She stuck her hand out for a proper greeting.

"Rose Wilson."

He reached his hand out and shook her hand.

"Gar Logan."

He let go and they just stared at each other. For a while, they just looked at each other before she finally remembered that she had to get going.

"I'll leave you to it. When you make a decision, let me know."

"Will do."

She nodded and before he even knew what was happening, she leaned up to give him a quick kiss. She winked at him and smiled, while rubbing a hand over his chest.

"I'll be expecting a call."

She left him in a state of shock, leaping off the building and off to wherever she came from.

It took three days for him to reach a decision, ultimately telling her that he'd join. She told him when he was ready to leave to let her know and she'd come by to help grab his stuff and go.

He had also asked if she had actually wanted to continue to talk and get to know each other more. She agreed instantly and they would talk while the other Titans were in bed. When a month had passed, he had asked when their first date would be. She responded by saying when he got around to asking her she'd be ready. He had to point out that it'd have to be on hold for now, since his team was watching him very closely. Plus, if they found out who she was and who her father was, it could be a disaster that he wasn't ready to face yet. She had agreed to it but assured him that she was expecting a date once he left the Titans.

That had all happened in three months. Deciding to leave the team, meeting Rose and agreeing to join her dad, and potentially have a girlfriend all lined up for him. Crazy how things change.

He stared at the mirror once more. He ran a hand through his neatly trimmed and spiked hair. Looking over the tattoos that adorned his body now. He really didn't want to go to this press conference that Robin had agreed for the team to do. He was pretty sure none of them would. But for him he didn't want questions to be asked about his future because he knew the team would also be questioning it themselves. A knocked on the door took him out of his thoughts.

"Beast Boy, we're about ready to leave."

He turned towards the door to answer the voice of Robin.

"I'm coming."

He threw on a black long sleeve shirt, pulling up the sleeves a little to show off the tattoos, along with black jeans and white shoes. He put on his jewelry and with one last lookin the mirror, he went out the door to meet with the team.

They were all casually dressed, minus Cyborg who didn't really need the clothes. Raven had been the first to look his way followed by Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin.

"Ready."

He walked past them to the garage and they followed him, sharing looks with each other. They all knew he didn't want to go but he didn't bother arguing. They just hoped to have some sort of their friend back to his old self soon.

"Hey B, you wanna ride shotgun? I'll let you pick the music."

He just shook his head and got in the T-Car. They all shared a quick look before quickly getting in and heading off, all with the same thought in their head, only one having a different reason than the rest.

This was going to be a long night.