Chapter Five: Eyes are the Window to the Soul
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans and I never will. (sob) :'(
Raven floated down the hall towards her metal friend's room thinking over the picture she had seen. She shook her head then knocked on Cyborg's door. The mechanical teen opened it and smiled
"Hey Raven. What can I do for ya?"
"This is rather important Cyborg. I need to look at the security tapes from the last few weeks."
"Can I ask why?" Raven decided to answer with her own question
"Can you keep a promise?" Cyborg looked down at the smaller Titan. Raven was like his little sister and he enjoyed talking with her (most of the time)
"Come on Rae, you know me. If it's really important no one could pry a secret from me. Not even Robin."
"I know but this is very serious Cyborg. If Robin did find out…" her voice trailed off and Cyborg stepped side to let her inside
"Let's talk in here." Raven walked in and sat down in a chair with her right leg jutting out awkwardly
"So what's up?"
"Beast Boy and I were talking the other night and he told me…" she took a deep breath and tried to calm down "He told me that he had turned into the Beast again. Twice on the outskirts of the city and once in the Tower."
"And you want to look at the tapes from then?"
"Yes." Cyborg walked over to his large computer and quickly brought up a large list of tapes. All were titled 'Beast Boy's room' followed by a date
"Any idea when it happened?" Raven closed her eyes for a moment then they opened
"Last month. The tenth or eleventh I think." Cyborg clicked on the two tapes then leaned against the wall while Raven came closer. Beast Boy's voice could be heard muttering something in his sleep. Then there was growling and he rolled off the top bunk hitting the floor with a resounding thud
"Stop. I don't want to change." he whimpered clutching his head. Slowly his teeth lengthened and his appearance changed. Soon the Beast was rolling on the floor growling and snarling but it was still rather small. Raven watched the tape carefully trying to make any words out. Suddenly the same voice that she had heard from the Beast today rang through her ears
"I must protect Raven. You are too weak. She is not safe."
"I am not weak." Beast Boy's voice snapped. Raven looked over at Cyborg who was just watching calmly. Well as calmly as he could considering he was watching his best friend turn into a monster
"Pause it." he obeyed and looked down at her
"What?"
"You can't hear them?" she asked. Cyborg looked at the screen then down at Raven
"All I hear is a bunch of growling." Raven stared at the screen. Cyborg knelt down beside her "Rae. Look at me." the empath obeyed. Cyborg's one human eye was filled with seriousness
"What can you hear?"
"They're arguing." she replied trying not to reveal anything else. Cyborg frowned at her
"Tell me what they're saying. Nothing goes outside of this room." Raven sighed and looked at the screen once more
"The Beast is talking about needing to protect me. I heard him talking earlier today too. He asked me if I was okay but he called himself Beast Boy." she growled in frustration and rubbed her head
"None of this makes sense!"
"I know just chill. Maybe BB can help us. He has to remember some of this and if he doesn't could you-."
"I might be able to enter his mind but if he can't remember anything there's no point. I'd have to enter the Beast's mind and I doubt Beast Boy wants to turn into him anytime soon." Cyborg rested one heavy metal hand on her shoulder
"Let's go talk to BB."
Beast Boy sat on his top bunk reading a book and half listening to the music playing out of his headphones. The book was a collection of poetry that Raven had gotten him for a birthday. He had forgotten about it until today when she had been cleaning and placed it on the desk. Some of it was actually pretty good
"Yo BB, can we talk?" Cyborg's voice yelled. Beast Boy lifted one earphone making sure he had heard correctly. His hearing told him another person was with Cyborg. Probably Star or Robin
"Ya sure come on in. Just bring your gas masks with you." he called returning to the book. Cyborg walked in followed by a floating Raven. Beast Boy sat up slightly
"Hey guys what's up?" he asked putting a leather bookmark on the page he was at then looking at his two friends. Raven gestured at the book and it flew towards her. She smirked slightly, but it was a playful smirk
"I thought you said you'd ever touch this and it was a waste of money." Beast Boy shrugged then swung his legs over the side of the bed
"So what can I do for you guys?" he asked cheerfully. A little too cheerfully in Cyborg's opinion. He could tell the changeling was trying to hide the fact that he was depressed and angry with himself
"Dude cut the act. You're scaring me." Cyborg said. The changeling smile faded and he looked down at his folded hands. Raven sighed and looked at him. Unfortunately Beast Boy noticed
"What Raven?" she flushed slightly and turned to stare out a window
"I told him about you changing." Beast Boy started to yell but a black mist covered his mouth
"And the only reason I did is because I want to help you. You asked me to remember?" the mist disappeared and the boy sighed in defeat
"Ya I guess I did." he looked over at Cyborg trying to figure out what the metal teen was thinking
"Hey I'm gonna go work on the T-car. Call me if you need anything." he said leaving the room slowly.
As soon as he was gone Beast Boy jumped down from his bunk and approached Raven silently. He grabbed her shoulder roughly and turned her around. At first she was frightened but she met his eyes and could see the fear in them
"Why me Rae? I didn't ask for this. Any of it. Every time I get frustrated that feeling comes back. I don't want to hurt you or anyone else." his voice was pleading and desperate. Raven sighed and shook her head
"You think I asked to bring about the end of the world? We can't change what happened but we can do something about it." she glanced at her friend's hands which were still gripping her shoulders tightly
"Can you let go of me please?" he released her slowly as if he was in a trance
"Sorry." he mumbled. A loud clap of thunder sounded from outside but neither of them noticed
"So what do we do now?"
"I need to ask you something first then we could just talk." Raven said awkwardly. Beast Boy nodded then sat down on a chair and Raven sat down in the air in her meditation position
"Do you remember anything from the time when you changed here?" she asked softly
"A little. But just flashes. I remember falling out of bed and hitting my head. Then someone was talking about needing to protect you and calling me weak. I said something back then I woke up." Raven nodded then readied herself
"Beast Boy, I can hear you when you're in the Beast form. Like I'm reading your thoughts but I'm not. Even on those tapes I could hear you. Cyborg couldn't though." Beast Boy growled and shook his head
"This is so confusing!"
"Calm down. We'll figure something out alright? You said when you get angry you feel like you're going to change?"
"Ya, it's really scary though. I can't stop it no matter what I try."
"You only think that. I've come so close to letting my demon side escape many times. The trick is to have the will power to shove it back down."
"What do you mean?" Raven shook her head then closed her eyes for a moment. Her thoughts no longer made sense. A faint jolt of pain hit her leg and she sighed
"I think I need some rest. When I wake up we'll talk some more." she said floating out of the room. Beast Boy watched her go then fell onto his bed tiredly.
Raven awoke to some sort of loud snuffling outside her door. She glanced at the clock and groaned. It was a little past on in the morning. She put her cloak on and stormed to the door intending to give whatever was outside a piece of her mind…