Disclaimer: I own nothing! Nothing I tell you!
Yay! Chapter two! Finally! Sorry it took so long. Hope you like it!
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"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath-"
"Hey, Raven!" came a sudden, loud voice. Raven opened her eyes, still seething.
"Go…away," she said loudly, making sure to emphasize every syllable.
"Come on, I just want to talk to you!" Beast Boy argued from the other side of the door.
"I said go away!" Raven roared. She would have thought that hearing her so angry would deflect him, but he seemed to be standing his ground.
"Raven, come on, we-"
"NO!" Raven said. "I don't want to talk to you right now!" silence followed this, and she was relieved, until something seemed to grow up out of the floor. It was Beast Boy. Raven nearly had a heart attack at his abrupt appearance. "How did you get in here?" she demanded, standing up.
"I morphed into a fly and crawled under the door. Now, can you just tell me why you're wigging out?" He asked.
"No. It does NOT concern you. Get out of my room," Raven said, trying to remain calm.
"No. Not until you tell me what's going on!" Beast Boy said. Raven was infuriated even further.
"I said no," she snapped. "And I also said get out of my room. So do it. Now."
Beast Boy looked frustrated. "Come on Raven, I just wanna know what's the matter! What's wrong with you? Why do you have to be so weird all the time? You really creep me out sometimes."
Her eyes glowed ruby.
"Get out of my room!" she roared, whirling around to face him. Beast Boy flew backward and slammed into the door with a loud thud and a crack. Raven's eyes widened, fading back to their normal color as Beast Boy slid limply to the floor. Raven gasped slightly. "Beast Boy?" she asked.
Beast Boy rolled over on the carpet and moaned. "Dude, that is definitely classified as overreacting," he said, rubbing his spine gingerly.
"I warned you," Raven said, resisting the thought of an apology. It was his own fault. He had chosen to keep prying. But she felt a surge of pity as she watched him struggle to his feet. She opened her mouth to apologize, but she was too late to speak.
"Are you crazy or something?" Beast Boy asked, his face slightly pained. Raven was hurt and could feel her temper flaring up again. "You do this all the time. Whenever anyone tries to get close to you, you flip out and blow something up. What's your deal?"
"Don't even pretend you know why I get angry, Beast Boy! You have no idea. It isn't when people try to get close. It's when people like you decide to come around when I'm already angry and hurt me even more!" Raven said, lowering her head so he wouldn't see how close to tears she was. "You like to think you know me, don't you? Well, you don't. I don't need your concern, I don't need your pity, and I don't need you. I just want you all to leave me alone. So please, just go."
Beast Boy was unsettled by this. "Raven…" he said, touching her arm. She jerked herself away from him.
"Please leave me alone," she muttered, walking several steps and turning her back on him.
"Raven, I didn't mean to-"
"Get away from me!" she said loudly. Beast Boy moved over to the door, and it opened.
"But I-"
"Get out!" Raven snapped at him. Beast Boy gulped and slid quickly out of the room.
"If you want to talk about this-" he began.
"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Raven said coldly without turning as the door slid shut.
As soon as Raven was alone, she crumbled. Moving quickly over to her bed, she sank onto the sheets and sat there fighting back a strong urge to cry tears of frustration.
"Snap out of it, Raven. Crying won't solve anything. No one ever got anywhere by stewing in their misery," she told herself sharply. She fought off the temptation to indulge in self-pity and sat up, determined to meditate once more.
XXX
"Beast Boy, what was that?" Robin asked sharply as Beast Boy turned around outside of Raven's room.
Beast Boy squealed in surprised at someone being there, and then calmed down. "What was what?"
"That little incident just a second ago," Robin demanded fiercely.
"Yes. You were dreadfully rude to Raven, Beast Boy," Starfire pointed out.
"Exactly," Cyborg said. "That was horrible."
"Yes, it was. You will apologize, Beast Boy. Not now, but after she cools down," Robin said.
"Says who?" Beast Boy asked.
"Says us. Unless you want us to make your life a meat-filled hell for a very long time," Cyborg said.
"No! Not the meat!" Beast Boy said, covering his head with his hands. "I was going to apologize anyway."
"That's what I thought," Robin said with a tone of authority.
"Now, let's go see what's on TV," Cyborg said, changing the subject and heading for the living room. The other three followed him.
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Beast Boy gulped. He knew that he was risking his physical being by attempting to talk to her again. It had been several hours, but he had no idea of how long she might stay angry, so he didn't know how safe this was. It might help if he didn't barge in this time. He slowly put out one hand and knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again.
"Raven?" he called softly. There was no answer for a moment.
"Please go away," she said finally. There was no tone of anger in her voice. It sounded only hollow, empty.
"Raven, I'm not going to yell at you again, I promise. I just want to apologize," Beast Boy said as gently as he could. He was aware of an irritated sigh from inside the room and the door slid open. Raven's deep violet eyes bored into him like needles and he cringed slightly but stood his ground.
"Well?" she asked impatiently. It was painfully evident that she wanted nothing more than to slam the door in his face. Too bad she couldn't slam a sliding door.
"Well…I was really a jerk, wasn't I?" he said.
"That would be an understatement," Raven said, her gaze hardening even more. She stared at him from under the hood of her cloak, her face half-concealed beneath her mask of shadows.
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, Raven. I shouldn't have said any of that stuff. I didn't really mean any of it," Beast Boy said.
"Oh really now," Raven said.
"Yeah, really. I didn't mean to call you weird, and I didn't mean to yell at you. I guess you can be gloomy if you want to," Beast Boy said.
"You seriously think I want to be like this?" Raven asked, her eyes quivering slightly.
"No…no I just-"
"I don't choose to be this way," Raven said.
"Oh," Beast Boy said, feeling stupid. He wasn't sure what to say to this. "Um…I'm really sorry. I guess some people just don't like Valentine's Day. It wasn't really any of my business, you know? I should have shut up. You don't have to celebrate if you don't want to. You're still my friend."
Raven pushed her hood down, her gaze softening slightly. "Thank you," she said softly. There was something in her voice that seemed to be yearning, pleading. But for what, Beast Boy did not know.
"Um…yeah," he said. "Raven?"
"What?"
"Why don't you like Valentine's Day?" he asked. "Is it because of all the pink or something?"
"In a way, yes. But it goes deeper than that," Raven said.
"Like how? Why do you really not like it?" Beast Boy asked, knowing that it was unwise to push it.
"I can't tell you that."
"Why not?"
"Because the reason I despise Valentine's Day is petty and self-centered," Raven explained.
"That's OK, you can tell me," Beast Boy assured her.
"No, I can't, because you would yell at me for being stupid, too," Raven said.
"I wouldn't think you were stupid," Beast Boy promised.
Raven sighed loudly. "I'll tell you if you promise not to ask any more questions involving me and Valentine's Day," she said through clenched teeth.
"Deal," Beast Boy said, holding out his hand to shake on it. Raven raised an eyebrow at him, and his hand flew quickly to the back of his head.
"The reason is simple. It hate it because of what I am," she said.
"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked.
"I'm a demon, Beast Boy." she sighed. "It's a very obvious reason. No one will ever want to 'be my Valentine'," she informed him. "And all that sentimental garbage is something I will never experience."
"Oh come on, I'm sure there's someone-"
"There is no one," Raven insisted.
"Dude, don't be ridiculous. Someday you'll find someone who really likes you and-"
"No I won't," Raven said, putting emphasis on every word. "Look at me!"
Beast Boy shrugged. "What's wrong with you?"
"Everything," Raven said. "I've come to terms with the inevitable. I will always be alone."
"You're never alone, Raven. You've got us!"
"That doesn't matter. You don't understand," Raven said.
"I would if you'd let me," Beast Boy said, slightly frustrated.
"Letting you in would be pointless. Letting anyone in would be pointless. I'm not going to waste my time," Raven told him. "You could never understand."
"Raven-"
"Thank you for apologizing, Beast Boy," Raven said in a rather detached way as the door slid shut, separating him from her world of darkness.
Beast Boy was very confused as he walked away from her door. Something had to be done. She couldn't go on believing that she was alone. Beast Boy had to do something about this. He wasn't sure, but he had thought that as the door was closing, he had seen tears in her eyes.
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I'll get the next chapter up sooner.
