To Claim and Possess
Chapter Thirteen
)O(
A long pause stretched between them as Beast Boy stared at her, mouth slightly agape. Raven could feel his surge of emotions push against her powers, but none of them made any sense to her. He was initially shocked that he heard those words come from her, but his surprise was immediately followed by suspicion and anger at the thought that she was considering that particular outcome their only option. He wanted to mate with her because she loved him, because there was a connection of trust and understanding, not because she felt that the only way to rid themselves of Adonis was to have sex.
And yet still, underneath all of that, there was just a little bit of excitement and hope, that maybe - just maybe - they were both finally ready to admit that this was a real relationship. That outside of their dreams - where they went on dates and held hands and made out - they were a real couple, with real emotions, in a real world.
Raven allowed herself the small, girlish pleasure of entertaining this fantasy for a moment, before she felt a surprising push of pragmatism spilled from Beast Boy. His lips pressed into a thin line and he stared at her, eyes unreadable in the faint light disappearing over the horizon. "Is that the only reason? To just stop him from tormenting us? You don't want to..." he trailed off, blushing as he was somehow unable to say the words 'have sex'.
"Because I love you?" Raven finished for him, pulling her knees tightly against her chest, as she looked at his blushing face. The words seemed easier to say now, more comfortable, like learning the name of someone who was bound to be your best friend. She offered him a slow, understanding smile and nodded. "I want to be with you because I love you, because what we have between us is important to me…" Her eyes flicked back to the sunset and she felt her own face become warm from embarrassment. "Because I secretly find you incredibly attractive."
Beast Boy made a noise of shock, unable to actually form words under the weight of her admission.
Raven's blush darkened and she looked away again, resting her chin on her knees. "It's the truth… in case you thought I was lying." She could feel his shock turn into a sort of bright bubble of self-pride, and she somehow managed to avoid the urge to pop it. He should be allowed at least a little bit of pride at knowing she found him, well… sexy.
"Raven…" His voice had turned dark, practically begging for him to look at her.
She couldn't, not yet.
"Raven," he repeated, his voice even lower. "You… you understand that once I let this happen, that once we take this step, there is no going back? There is no changing your mind, there is no deciding years down the line that you don't love me anymore, or that you might want to be with someone else. This is permanent. It's not like in our dreams where we can stop when we need to, and let go of the relationship. Here, in the real world, this the last moment either of us get to stop or let go. When we are together, we with each other forever."
She took a slow, shaky breath. "I know."
"And you still…"
Raven's lips tugged into a frown. "It almost sounds like you're having second thoughts."
He blushed again and looked away. "No, Raven. Not about this… at least. Maybe about six hundred other things between us, but this… I would never have second thoughts. You're important to me, and I love you, and I want this to not fail between us." He paused, trying to catch his breath before continuing. "But if you have any doubt that you might not love me thirty years down the line, you need to tell me now. You need to tell me so I can learn to let you go."
"Do you want me to say no?"
"No." He shook his head and looked away, trying to hold onto whatever he could in the moment between them. "I don't want to even think about you maybe not loving me. Not now that we've finally come to love each other… I just don't want you to doubt your decision in me."
"Never." And that was the honest truth. Raven would never, in all their years together, ever fall out of love with him. She had the feeling that even in a hundred reincarnations, their souls would always find each other. They might be a little battered and a little broken, but they would always be with each other.
"Are you sure, Raven?"
Raven sighed and rolled her eyes, letting her forehead fall to her knees. "Garfield Logan, for the love of our relationship, please just shut up."
He snapped his mouth shut and looked over at her. "Raven, I-"
"Let's make one thing perfectly clear-" She lifted her head and looked over at him, eyes dark as they clashed with this green ones. "-I love you. You, Gar. No one else, nothing else. I love you. Even though you can be silly, and frustrating, and annoying, and sometimes persistent enough to make me want to punch you in the face, the fact of the matter is that I love you. Every time you try to cheer me up, every time you reach out to me - even though I might not want it, every time that you keep me going; your stupid jokes, your silly ideas about our relationship and our love… I love it all. Every ounce of you, no matter how annoying you may be sometimes, I love you."
She moved closer to him, the chill breeze of the sea wrapping around them like cold silk. His eyes locked with her own, and Raven felt the Beast push against him, trying to reach out for her through their conversation. He was accepting her, taking her as she was, and he wanted nothing more than to join both her and Beast Boy together. This was the end of their fight, and he was ready to concede to her without argument. They had both accepted their fates, and there was something beautiful in that.
Raven gave him a true, honest smile and cupped his face between her hands, pulling his eyes closer to her own. "I love you, Garfield Logan. I always will. Please, don't ever question that."
"I won't. I promise." With that, he leaned forward and sealed their lips together, drinking in the taste of her until Raven felt as though she was going to cave under the emotions. It was heavy and thick, but it was undeniably theirs. No one could take this away from them, and Raven had never experienced a love like this before, and she doubted she ever would again in any other lifetime or universe.
Beast Boy pulled back and looked down into her eyes, his worry and fear transforming into the most excited grin and happy little gasps of pleasure. "I love you, Raven."
She took his hand and moved it up the hem of her skirt, past her thighs and up her hips, so he could feel the heat radiating from his brand. The Beast inside him pushed again, practically screaming for them to avoid these silly games of love and attraction, and get down to mating already, but Beast Boy resisted the urge to take her without romance, and Raven was eternally grateful for that.
He traced the outline of her brand with tender touches, his fingers carefully grazing over the twisted, gnarled scar as if it was something to be revered. He leaned over her body, stretching her out on the dirt as he blanketed her form, and kissed her lower lip gingerly. He was desperately trying contain his emotions under the pressure of what was about to happen, and trying to keep himself from losing control and taking her.
"And the Beast? He'll always be a part of me." His hand rested over her heart, as if trying to feel it beating against her ribs. "And if he's a part of me, he will always be a part of us."
"I know, Gar. I understand that." Raven remembered the way the Beast had kissed her in his dream those few days ago, the heat and animalistic force underneath his lips pressing like barbs against her powers. It was different and strange, but that did not mean that it was not Beast Boy. It did not mean that they were not separate creatures and beings, but it did not mean that they were not one either.
"I accept all of you." She leaned up and kissed him, her lips lingering over his own as she took in the wild scent of pine and warm earth. "As you are." Kiss. "Unadulterated."
He laughed and held her close, his warmth seeping into her as he tucked her head under his chin. "Stop using big words on me, Raven. You're going to make me feel stupid."
She felt a smile tug at the corners of her lips and her eyes swept up to meet his own. There was heat in her eyes, heat in his own, and a fire burning between them as they both accepted their fate without even questioning what they were getting into. It was their life together, their choice for themselves,and even though it could be brutal and strange, it was theirs.
Raven reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, chewing on her lower lip in nervousness. A blush darkened her cheeks and she nodded as his eyes locked with her own. "Now."
He fidgeted for a moment. "Um… here?"
Raven bit her lip to keep from laughing shamelessly at his nervous expression. "I can't think of a better view." Her hands reached out and tightened in the lapels of his jacket, pulling him closer to her as the sun finally sunk below the horizon, drowning them in the blackness of the night and the light from the stars. It was their own personal wilderness, made for them and them alone. "Can you?"
"Think of a better place?" His hands had slid from the scar on her hip, and were now tugging teasingly at the elastic on her underwear. "Well… no. But I can certainly think of a few softer places at least."
Raven rolled her eyes. "Just shut up and kiss me."
Who was he to deny her that request?
That night, when they finally returned to the tower, both thoroughly satiated and exhausted, Raven allowed herself the luxury of sleeping in his bed. And there, in the comfort of his arms, she experienced her first dreamless sleep in a long, long while.
)O(
Next to Raven, Beast Boy fidgeted for a moment, looking over at her as she signed both of their names into the register at the front desk. The guard behind the cage chatted with her for a moment, and she responded kindly, trying not to focus too much on what she was about to do. She was surprisingly calm about this trip to see Adonis, but Beast Boy obviously was not. Not that she blamed him, really. After what had happened the last time they had seen each other, it was only expected that he would abhor the thought of seeing him again.
"I don't understand what made you want to do this, Raven," he muttered as they walked down the hallway, escorted by another security officer. A few hush whispers echoed around them, mumbling out slurs and curses against the Titans. It only seemed to make Beast Boy even more nervous. "The last thing anyone here wants to see is a Titan. And besides, we're done with him, his brand is gone, he doesn't have control over you and your powers anymore. I don't see why we have to go and put ourselves in danger."
"To prove a point." Raven nodded as the guard opened a door to a separate hallway and let them inside. "To prove that what he did was fruitless and nonsensical."
"You can't be serious." Beast Boy stopped in the middle of the hallway, eyes wide as he stared at her. His mouth fell open and he continued to glare at her. "You're going to gloat? I… I can't believe you, Raven! You drug me all the way out here so you could just gloat to him about how he lost you?"
"Absolutely not." Raven crossed her arms and stared at him, lips pressed into a thin line. He was certainly testing her patience today, it was a good thing she loved him or he might be dead by now. "I came here because I needed to be certain that this… stupidity was over. I needed to make sure that neither of us would have to be subjected to torture he caused ever again." Pause. "And for the record, Garfield, I didn't 'drag you out here', you invited yourself after you learned where I was going. Do not try to blame me because you thought I couldn't handle myself."
He sighed and let his head fall back against his shoulders, grumbling under his breath. "Raven…"
"Don't Raven me, Beast Boy. I know exactly how you think." She turned on her heel and started down the hallway, feeling Beast Boy scurry after her. "You thought I couldn't handle this on my own."
"No, Raven… I didn't want you to handle this on your own. That's different." He sighed and matched his pace with hers, hand brushing against her own as he tried to offer her some kind of support in the middle of this chaos. "You want to see him, and that's fine. I understand that you need closure after everything you went through. I respect that. But please… please, don't put yourself into unnecessary danger because you think it will help you feel better. You're smarter than that."
"I want this to be over, Gar…" Her hand reached up to her shoulder, and she stroked the flawless skin where Adonis's brand had once marred her body. Her eyes darkened for a moment as her mind seemed to wander away from their conversation, indulging in memories that should have been left alone. She didn't want to see the sights that she did, or feel the emotions that he had fed her, but she wanted it to be over. It was the end of this chapter in her life, and she wanted to be absolutely certain that it was closed.
"Okay, Raven… okay." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, conceding to her logic. "If this is what you need, then I promise to support you no matter what."
"Thank you."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it."
Raven just rolled her eyes.
The guard in front of them stopped and opened the interview room, ushering both of them inside. "Do not touch the prisoner or present him with anything. I will be outside this room at all times, in the event you need something. You have exactly five minutes to talk to him, after that, he has to return to solitary confinement. Understood?"
Raven nodded in agreement. "Understood."
With those words, she stepped inside the small, cinderblock room and sat across the table from the lanky boy in handcuffs. Here, in the stark white lights of the interview room, he looked almost pitying. He was no longer the man who held everything in the palm of his hand, who controlled her subconscious with just a few pushes of his emotions. Here, handcuffed to the table, he was just a boy who had made some pretty awful decisions.
"You're here?" His eyes flicked to where Beast Boy stood and he scoffed. "I don't remember asking for you to be here."
"You didn't explicitly say he couldn't. He came along to support me."
"Yeah, well-"
"Enough," she cut him off and folded her hands in front of herself, pursing her lips. "I am not here to honestly discuss anything with you, Adonis. Nor am I here to gloat, or make assumptions about what happens now, I am only here to tell you that we are done. My decision has been made, my choice was of my own volition, not because you forced me into it. You are a bully, disgusting and obsessive, and certainly not worth my time, let alone my attention and affection. I chose a man I loved, a man who loved me, and a man far more powerful than you."
His lips twitched and he continued to glare at her, saying nothing.
"You are not an alpha male, Adonis. You are a child who threw a temper tantrum when you could not get what you wanted."
He rolled his eyes. "What was that about not goating?"
"It's gloating, idiot," Beast Boy mumbled from the corner.
Raven continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "We're through now. You will not bother me again and you will not ever come near me, my mate, or my friends ever again… are we clear?"
He snorted and continued to glare at her. "And who is going to stop me?"
Raven just smiled slowly, her eyes darkening under the unspoken threat. Her black magic snapped and popped at her fingertips. "You have to ask? The alpha male and his mate."
Adonis swallowed and he pulled back from here, giving a slow, affirmative nod in response. The fear inside him was a sobering reminder of what they were both capable of, and he could do nothing to defend himself against them. "Oh… um… okay."
"Good." Raven stood up and dusted her hands off more for the symbolic gesture than anything else. "Since we are in agreement, I will rid myself of you." With that, she reach out and took Beast Boy's hand and left Adonis in the dust, closing the door on him in their last interaction together. Adonis continued to mumble out a few curses and broken promises, but there was nothing he could do - Raven had made her decision.
Beast Boy sighed as they followed the guard back out of the penitentiary, surprisingly quiet and pensive. Raven glanced over at him and squeezed his hand with a small, supportive smile weaving across her lips.
"It's over, you know."
"I know."
"Then what are you worried about?"
"Nothing…" He looked over at her, a look of confusion on his face. "I think that's the problem, I've been fighting fears and worries and doubts for so long that I don't think I know how to feel content any more."
Raven chuckled and shook her head. "No, you don't." Pausing in the middle of the hallway, she leaned on her tip-toes and looked up into his eyes, lips hovering inches from his own. "But why don't you let me help you?"
Without a single protest about where they were or what was going on in their lives, Beast Boy leaned down and captured her lips with his own. There might be another threat to them soon, Adonis might decide to exact revenge tomorrow, and in two days the world might actually end and they would be left with nothing.
But right here, in this moment, they found each other.
And that was all that mattered.
)O(
Thank you guys SO MUCH for putting up with me for so long. It's done. Take a breath, take a break, enjoy a moment. Happy? Good.
I hope this doesn't suck, and thank you for being awesome, friends. You all deserve a medal for waiting for me.