A/N: Hello Everyone! Sorry it took me a little while to update.
Raven wiped sweat off her forehead, as she walked, or stumbled, alongside Beast Boy.
The once passive gray, cloudy sky, had cleared to a bright blue, and the sun was shining down relentlessly on them, causing them both to sweat profusely.
Raven glared up at the sun, as she walked beside Beast Boy.
After a while, she couldn't take the heat any longer, so she sat down on the nearest fallen tree trunk, holding up her hand for Beast Boy to stop.
Relieved to find an excuse to stop for a brief break, he joined her, sitting down next to her on the trunk, leaning up against the tree behind them.
Raven, though grateful for a chance to catch her breath, was starting to feel sticky and uncomfortable. Earlier it had been cold and wet, now it was hot and dry, the sudden change in weather had only increased her discomfort. Grimacing in disgust, she peeled off her sweaty and soiled cape, and laid it down on the trunk, then she rolled up the sleeves of her leotard, and slipped off her boots, leaning back against the tree as well.
Beast Boy, who had been wearing a long sleeved shirt, and black pants, pulled off the shirt, leaving him with a tee on. He rolled up his pants, and they both closed their eyes, feeling much better, and not so near to heat stroke.
A light breeze swept through the tree's, and Raven closed her eyes, relieved for the coolness.
After a little while, she swallowed hard, and opened her eyes, realizing just how parched her throat was.
Turning to Beast Boy, she managed to croak out a few words.
"Got any water?"
Beast Boy opened an eye, and nodded, reaching for his pack, and pulling out a canteen.
He tossed it through the air towards her, it was incased in black energy, and brought to her mouth.
She drank for a full sixty seconds, and then stopped, with a small grunt of satisfaction.
Wiping the back of her hand over her mouth, she handed it back to him. He gave her a crooked smile, and holding the canteen a few inches above his own mouth, poured the water in.
She watched him drink, and then looked back towards the sky.
After awhile, she spoke.
"So.. Is there anything I should be worried about, now that we are almost there? I mean besides the elements." She finished lamely, bracing herself for how he might react.
She saw the look on his face, and before he could say anything, she hurriedly continued.
"Beast Boy, I have already made up my mind to go with you. Listen, I know I will be in danger, and I am not saying I can defeat the Veihn, but you can't do this alone. I am going with you. I am going to help you, together you have a better chance. I am not a little girl. I can take care of myself."
Neither of them spoke now. Just silence. Beast Boy back leaned against the tree, and studied Raven.
When he finally spoke, he spoke slowly, carefully choosing his words.
"I don't know why your doing this Raven. So I am going to ask you. Why?"
Raven turned her head away from him, and when she looked up, there was a broken smile on her face.
"I am doing this for the Beast Boy who used to bug the shit out of me."
Beast Boy looked slightly taken aback, but she continued.
"I am doing this for the Beast Boy who always tried to understand me, when the others just labeled me as impossible to understand." She shrugged and looked down.
Beast Boy started fiddling with his pack, not really knowing what to say.
"I am doing this for the real you. I never thought I would say this, ever, but, I want that you back Beast Boy. I never thought the day would come, but I really do."
Beast Boy laughed. "I never thought that the day would come either."
Than his face turned serious. "People grow up. Things happen."
Raven shook her head. "It's not about growing up, you know that just as well as I do. I grew up, and I am still the same person. But what happened to you, sure as hell didn't happen to me."
She saw him look down in remorse and shame, and her heart felt a pang of sadness.
Then she spoke quietly. "I am glad it didn't, because I wouldn't have been able to have taken it like you are."
Beast Boy didn't know what to say. Raven had never been this.. open, or honest with him before, excluding the time when he had comforted her about Malchior, and she had burst out of the room, and hugged him. He hadn't known what to do then, or the time when she had been there for him when he had turned into a real Beast. He hadn't known what to say to her then and he didn't know what to say to her now, either.
They had been the most opposite of opposites. Her, mellow and reserved, him, outgoing and loud.
Now those days at the tower, when he was constantly around her, getting on her nerves, saving her in tough situations, seemed like a distant past. But he would never forget it, or regret it.
(A/N: Holy Hell I rhymed without trying! I am a poet who didn't know it. (Sorry bout that, had to do it.))
Finally he spoke. "Listen Raven, you already know that I don't want you coming with me."
She looked about ready to argue, but he continued.
"But, you made your point, and there is nothing I can do to change your mind. It's your life." He shrugged, and stood up, cuffing his pack over his shoulder, tossing the canteen to Raven, and pulling on his shirt. Though he was trying to act like her coming didn't matter to him, he was terrified for her, if something was to happen, he would never forgive himself, and was right then questioning his desicion to say what he just said.
She hopped on one foot, pulling on her boot, and fastened her cape back over her shoulders, giving him a small smile, only this time, it didn't quite reach her eyes. It couldn't. She knew what lay ahead as well as he did. Danger.
It was no use pretending everything was going to be fine. No use at all.
"What the hell?" Robin climbed off the front of the R Cycle.
Starfire climbed of behind him.
Robin sighed, and grabbed the built in commincator on the cycle, that connected with the one in the T Car.
"Robin to Cyborg.. You there?"
There was crackling, and then Cyborg's voice came through.
"Yeah Robin. I am a couple hundred feet away. What's happenning up there?"
Robin sighed again, then pushed in the side of the comminicator.
"Trafic jam. I am sure it has something to do with yesterday's storm. The roads are a mess."
On the other side of the line, Cyborg swore softly, and Bumblebee swatted his arm.
Grabbing the comminicator from Cyborg, she spoke.
"Robin, it's Bee, listen, if we ever are gonna find them, we need to continue."
Speedy nodded, and leaned over the seat, speaking into the communicator.
"Yeah, we don't even know if they are still on the road."
Across the line Robin turned to Starfire.
"I don't know what to do Star. Any suggestions?"
Starfire bit her lip. "I can only think of one. Carrying on on foot is our only other option, besides waiting for the damage to be fixed. I do not think that it would be pleasant walking, with the mud and the hot sun, though."
Robin shrugged. "This whole situtation is anything but pleasant."
"That is true."
Suddenly a police officer walking by stopped to talk to them.
"Mighty bad accedent up there. Semi involved. Nobody's very seriosly injured, but we should be here for quite some time. Spread the word." And then he continued to the next car.
Robin and Starfire stood looking at eachother for a long moment, then Starfire spoke;
"Alert the others." She said in a tired voice. "It looks like we shall be walking from here."
A/N: Or flying, for her and Bee, of course. :)
"Desert the T Car? Yeah right! I can't just leave her here!"
"No, Cyborg," Robin said, in annoyed voice, "we can park the T Car and the R Cycle off on the side of the road."
"Fine. But I still don't like the idea of it. I am turning the security alarms on."
"Whatever." Said Robin. Then he and Starfire turned to go back to the R Cycle, to try drive it off to the side of the road, without causing anymore accedents.
As they walked over, horns were beeping all over, and angry drivers shouted at each other, as babys screamed and children whined. Robin, who was becoming quite annoyed, forgot to watch where he was going, and stepped into a peculiarly deep puddle of mud, tripped, and fell, face first into it.
Starfire bent down to help him up, and when he was standing, he looked like he was about to burst.
Starfire blew hair out of her face, and sighed.
"Correct me if I am wrong, but I have the feeling it is going to be one of those 'long days.'
R&R