Chapter Six

There's something wrong with Gabriel. Beast Boy turned over in bed and pulled the blanket up a little higher. There's something wrong with Gabriel. That thought refused to leave his mind. But it was true. Beast Boy knew it, robin knew it, the whole city could've probably known it, even if Starfire and little Gabe himself did not. There's something wrong with Gabriel. But he couldn't help but think that his weak little heart and bones weren't the only things wrong with the little bug-eyed, big-eared pest. Perhaps there was. But what? Beast Boy could hear the baby's loud, high-pitched cry rising from down the hall. It was like a sort of screech that echoed and didn't stop, even when Gabe had.

"Shut up Cricket..." Beast Boy muttered, turning himself over again.

Cricket. That was his own nickname for Gabriel. Only, of course, when Robin and Starfire weren't around. He couldn't even imagine Robin's reaction if Beast Boy were to criticize his son. And he wasn't planning on seeing it. So, Cricket was for Beast Boy and Gabriel's ears only. But the name did fit him quite well. Who needs Gabriel when you've got Cricket...Okay, so the kid was kind of cute, Beast Boy wasn't kidding anyone. He found the little guy adorable, everyone did. But still, it was a kind of twisted hate that angered him, and it came from nowhere and tried to take over him and there was really no use trying to fight it, because one day, it would come. It would emerge so greedily from inside and take a firm hold on him and there would be no escaping. Because it would be there. That kind of pure evil that lurks and waits and hides beneath the skin of an innocent victim, awaiting that one chance, the time of ambush, that one chance to crush the good, the spirit, the thing that gives one a sense of good and bad, right from wrong. Yes, one day, it would come, would it not? One day...

The baby quieted. Starfire's worried voice, calling desperately for Robin, replaced his cries. There were footsteps. Beast Boy listened. There were nervous murmurs, hurrying shuffles, the snap of the crib's wall as it disconnected and fell out of place. Gabe began to cry again. Beast Boy slammed a pillow over his head and tucked under the blanket. He heard an alarm clock smash to the floor and begin to sound off. The baby continued to scream.

She was beautiful. Beast Boy held his daughter up high in the air, enjoying her delightful screams of joy. Her blonde hair blew into her face and she giggled, trying helplessly to keep it behind her ears, but failing miserably. She looked into Beast Boy's face with her large, cheerful eyes, which smiled at him with blue-green color. She laughed and tried to push her father away as he hugged her tightly. He set her down.

"Daddy," she said, suddenly becoming serious. "Mommy is waiting."

"Waiting...yes, mommy is waiting...Waiting..."

"Mommy has been waiting."

Beast Boy nodded.

"Waiting long..."

Again, he nodded.

"But not forever?"

"I will join her."

She hugged him. "Shortly." She said. And she wept.

Beast Boy woke, beads of sweat lining his forehead. A strange dream it was. It had no point as far as he could tell, unless of course, it had been left unfinished. But he could still find no meaning, as in the daughter looked like Terra. He tried to go back to sleep despite the sharp pain in his hand and the coolness of his blood as it smeared onto his face.

"Waiting..."Said the daughter.

"Waiting."He replied.

"Gabriel..."

"Gabriel."

"He shall return father...In time..."

"In time."

"In time." Again, she wept. "Mother." She whispered.

"Terra." Beast Boy said to nothing.

And together: "Gabriel..."

Beast Boy woke again. Blood ran down his face. He drifted back into sleep.

Two graves and a weeping girl.

He woke again for the last time that night. He removed his bloody hand from near his face and, once again, fell asleep. There were no stranger dreams to come. And for that, he was beyond glad.

That morning, Beast Boy found Starfire on the sofa, a bottle of baby formula in one hand, little Cricket lying peacefully on the other arm, reaching playfully for the bottle. And Beast Boy was quite happy to note that he wasn't screaming his head off for a change.

"Morning Star."

"Beast Boy, you're up." Robin's voice called form the kitchen. "Toast or waffles?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Beast Boy replied, already assuming he was probably unheard.

Beast Boy sat down beside Starfire. She looked up at him and smiled weakly. She was obviously tired. The baby also looked at Beast Boy, darting those adorably huge eyes between him and Starfire. And he then began to cry. Beast Boy sighed. He heard a large crash and guessed the baby had startled Robin and Robin cursed lightly under his breath. After a few moments of whispering quick, non understandable words, perhaps words of comfort in her Tameranian language, Starfire was finally able to calm Gabriel down. Starfire, to Beast boy's fascination, made a wonderful mother, even to a child as highly annoying and loud as her own son. The little boy wriggled a little in her arms before settling down completely and closing his eyes. And that was when Beast Boy noticed the three long scratches that extended from his forehead, straight across his eyelids, to his cheek.

"Hello buddy," Robin pat Gabriel lightly on the top of his head. "Ready?"

No, Robin, he's not ready... that's why he screams and cries at the top of his lungs every damn second!!!!

Beast Boy kept his thoughts in his head and watched as Robin poured a few drops of bottled liquid into Gabe's formula. It was Gabriel's medicine. At that moment, it seemed the medicine was the only thing keeping him alive. Even the doctor had announced that Gabriel Patrick would be dead within a few days, but fortunately for him, the doctor was wrong. Beast Boy often wondered exactly what it was that kept Gabriel from passing on during those dreadful nights of waiting at the hospital, and he thought perhaps those thoughts also ran through Robin's mind every once in a while. But of course, being the positive person she was, Starfire never gave up hope that her son would come home alive and grow to be a normal, healthy young man. Normal...not so much. But healthy...he was getting there. And because he did live, Robin was extra...well...over-protective of his...little pal.

"Um...dude..." Beast Boy pointed a thumb at Gabe's scratches, thinking immediately he would regret bringing it up.

But Robin only bottled up the medicine container with shaky hands and whispered "I know..."

"What happened?" Beast Boy asked quietly once he'd followed Robin into the kitchen.

"I don't know...they just...appeared." Robin spoke a little louder, now that Starfire was no longer in the room.

And that was the only answer he would get. Beast Boy gave up easily. He walked back into the living room and found that Gabriel was now giggling and Starfire was already taking in every happy moment of the boy's childhood. And everything seemed so well to her, no thoughts ever came to her mind that his childhood would be short. Short and different from the other children by a long shot.

Beast Boy started toward his room but found himself walking up several flights of stairs past it. Once he'd reached one of the higher floors, he stared out a window. The glass was dirty and covered with dark specks of dust and so he opened it, taking several tries to pull it upward before realizing it was one which you push out. Once he had opened it, the pane cracked off slightly and hung from a few pieces of freshly cracked glass. Sunlight flooded in, forcing him to shield his eyes and beyond the backyard he could see the sun's reflection giving the waters a sort of golden sparkle through the ripples. He breathed in the clear crispness of the air, letting it circulate through his lungs and give him a sense of new freshness. And someone flew over the waters suddenly, further up into the sky than Beast Boy could force his eyes to see, and she went quick and wary, but was close enough for Beast Boy to recognize her as Blackfire. And it wasn't the fact that she was there on earth or that she could possibly pose a great threat to the people or city, it was that the night of the sunset suddenly repeated over and over in his head like a videotape in a malfunctioning VCR. That night, also the night Beast Boy let Raven slip away in his arms, Starfire had cried. And she'd cried because her sister was dead. Blackfire was dead.

Beast Boy hurried down to the living quarters again. He would've blurted it out right then and there to Starfire if it wasn't for the fact Beast Boy had a soft side and an evil side that both collided at that moment. Starfire and Robin sat together, Robin staring at Starfire in a be-mine sort of way, and Gabriel looking into the eyes of his mother with such delight it would be almost impossible to see the kid's other side. Starfire looked back at the boy, probably thinking Robin was looking at him too, and not realizing he was actually gazing at her beautiful face and longing to hold her in his arms at that time. Beast Boy said nothing, as they didn't even notice him enter the room anyway. He started down the hall toward his room again. He thought he heard a sound from Terra's room. But he knew he didn't. He stopped at her door and leaned against it, realizing it was getting to him. The fact that Starfire and Robin were downstairs, sitting happily with each other and their son, while he stood alone, imagining pointless things. It was getting to him, wasn't it? He opened the doors anyway. They slid open with the need of a little effort but were loose again once opened. Beast Boy just stared into the room. He missed Terra. He wanted her back. He wanted her. He didn't think he could live with the truth. He hadn't believed it. For weeks after it happened, he could not believe she was dead, he would not. He prayed every night, hoping, thinking, believing that she would return to him. But his prayers were left unanswered. And Raven helped him through those times, but they began to drift apart again as Beast Boy 'got over it.' But he never did. He never did, and he never could. He wanted Terra now. He needed her! And he let his tears flow freely. He didn't mind.

The next morning, more scratches and a few bruises were discovered on Gabe's face. The day after, more. And this continued. Day and day again...