Chapter 8-Broken Promise

He shed his tears silently as he paced his room, lost in the depths of his thoughts. Through the nothingness of his room, a sharp knock shattered the silence.

"Who is it?" Beast Boy said, trying to smother the sound of his voice that revealed his tears.

"It's me," Cyborg said quietly, "Can I come in?"

"No," Beast Boy snapped quickly in response, "you can't."

"BB, I just wanna-"

"I don't care what you want to do. There's nothing you can do. Nothing…unless you can go back in time—change the past, stop me—bring her back, you can't help."

"I may not be able to help, but I can try," Cyborg retorted stubbornly. With this, he forced the door open, and walked over to where Beast Boy had sat on the edge of his bed, his face damp and tear-flushed. He sat down beside him, putting his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and turning him so that he could face him.

"BB…what's happening to you? You leave, and come four months later we've just about given up on you—sinking as low as searching out Slade to find answers…and he tells us he knows where you are—that you were with him. I couldn't believe him—that's not the BB I know. An alarm sounds…and then there you are. That night you come back…you haven't been the same since then. What's happening to you, BB?"

Beast Boy looked away angrily as he lied, "Nothing's happening to me!" He stood and walked toward the door. His pace slowed, until he finally stopped, tears once more coming to his eyes. With a sigh, he slowly began to breathe the story that had haunted his mind untold for four months.

"You can't tell anyone this, alright?" he asked defeatedly.

"I won't."

"Alright," he sighed; "September eleventh—the day I ran away…I was watching TV. At about nine o'clock they announced the—the terrorist attacks…and, my parents—they worked at the Twin Towers…" his voice became choked and raspy as he paused in one final vain attempt to hold back his tears.

"Beast Boy, I—I'm sorry—I didn't know…but—why did you run away?"

Beast Boy thought hard as he battled tears of frustration. "I—I don't know, I guess I just—just wasn't thinking straight. I guess I couldn't take the pain. You guys—you wanted to help, and you tried to help, but it only made me feel worse. And so I ran. It was the only thing I could do. It was the only thing that could satisfy the insatiable emptiness inside me. For hours, it seemed, I ran—I only stopped because I couldn't run anymore."

"Then what?" Cyborg said as he leaned forward in suspense.

"I remember…something hitting me on the head, then waking up. I didn't know where I was. Slade was there—he was the only one there (I remember the empty, violent feeling there—one that Slade and only Slade could emit). He told me to work for him. I told him no, but he kept insisting. He finally asked me what it would take to convince me to stay with him. I told him that unless he could bring my parents back, nothing. He told me he'd bring them back—he promised. And I agreed. I guess the pain drove me into temporary insanity, and his promise just…seemed like my last hope.

"After I came back to my senses, I told him I was going home. He told me I couldn't—reminded me of our deal—his promise to bring them back. I said that I knew it was a lie, that he couldn't bring them back to life, and that I wasn't staying there anymore. He said I didn't have a choice…he said he'd hurt you if I didn't serve him. So I did. And I did everything he told me to, no matter how much I hated it. I waited for you guys to come—I knew you were coming. But you never did, and my hope slowly faded into nothing. I gave up."

"We were looking for you, BB, I promise we were," Cyborg gave a futile attempt to help Beast Boy feel a bit better. It didn't work.

Beast Boy glared at Cyborg over his shoulder. "I've learned not to believe promises."

"Well…I'm your friend, BB—you know I wouldn't lie to you. We looked for four months…we tried to find a locator signal; we tried paging you. Nothing worked." A long silence filled the room.

After a few moments, Beast Boy began to weep as he spoke: "Why did Raven have to come after me? If she had just left it alone…she'd still be here. If she had just forgotten about me—never wondering about me ever again…she'd still be alive. Please—just go. I don't want to talk about it anymore." And with this, Cyborg left.

Author's Note: I know, this chapter is a bit shorter than many of the others, but the next part doesn't really fit, because a lot of time is passing. So this explains (briefly) what happened with Beast Boy and Slade. If this isn't enough info, let me know and I'll continue Chapter ½. LPL Tina. Oh, and my sister was trying to help me come up with a better title, and suggested "SSDD". Those of you who have seen the movie "Dreamcatcher" (Stephen King), you know SSDD means "Same Shit Different Day"…kinda fits though, doesn't it? ;)