Chapter Six: Nicholas Galtry

When the X-Men returned with Nicholas Galtry, they locked him in a room and woke up Nightcrawler to keep an eye on him while they went to sleep. It wasn't until 10 in the morning when the adult X-Men woke up. The students were puzzled, usually they were up already, but they asked no questions and went about their daily business as they always did.

Scott and Logan dragged Galtry into Professor Xavier's office. He was sitting quietly, not saying a word. Xavier looked at Logan, "Go get Beast Boy and bring the rest of the Titans," he said, and Logan left, leaving Xavier along with Nicholas Galtry. "What is your connection with Garfield Logan?" he asked, although he knew from his research what the answer was.

"That's none of your business, Xavier," snapped Nicholas angrily, "I'm not going to let you into my mind to find out either!"

"I wouldn't try to probe your mind," Xavier said, "I don't see the need to."

"Why?" he demanded, "What aces do you have up your sleeve?" Nicholas said in a mocking tone, "You have no proof that I even want this, Garfield Logan person dead. You don't even know if that was me on that screen."

"Oh, I know it was you," Xavier said calmly, "I recorded the conversation."

Nicholas Galtry turned pale, "Still," he sneered, "That isn't enough to get me convicted in a court of law!"

"That is where you are mistaken," Xavier stared hard at him, "I have a witness against you." Nicholas Galtry turned very pale,

"What?" he looked around the room, panicking, "who?"

"Someone you know very well, he will be here soon." Nicholas Galtry shifted nervously in his seat. He kept looking at the door like a trapped animal, wondering who would walk in. Xavier continued staring at him in complete silence.

Beast Boy, much to his own surprise, woke up at around 9:30 in the morning, showering and dressing, he went into the cafeteria where he spotted Raven eating by herself. He quietly sat by himself. He couldn't bring himself to say anything to her. Memories of the previous evening still ran circles in his mind. He just continued staring at her, thinking.

He had just finished his second helping of tofu eggs and tofu flavoredbeacon when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Looking up, he saw the man, Wolverine, or Logan to the adults, staring down at him, "Hey kid, the Professor needs all you Teen Titans in his office," he added in a stern voice, "Immediately. He says it's important.

" Raven looked at him, "Right now?" she asked.

"Right now."

Robin, Cyborg and Starfire met Raven in the hall, "Where's Beast Boy?" Robin asked.

"He's coming," Raven replied, "he'll be here in a few minutes."

"I think that we better go in now," Starfire said, "He's expecting us."

"Okay," Cyborg said, "let's go." They made their way into Xavier's office. The man in a seat across from Xavier jumped when they entered and wildly scanned their faces. Raven noticed a sense of relief cross the man's face when he didn't recognize any of them.

The first thing Robin wondered about was why the man was so fidgety, Starfire noticed the man was acting kind of guilty, like he had done something wrong, Cyborg was wondering who this wimpy excuse for a man was and why he was here in the first place, and Raven wondered why they all had been called here to see this nervous, pitiful wreck of a man anyway.

"L-listen, Xavier, I'm sure we can make a deal here. I'll tell you what the Brotherhood is up to, and you won't turn me over to the cops, right?" Xavier said nothing, the man broke out into a sweat and all the Titans in the room raised an eyebrow at each other, what was this guy's problem anyway?

They heard the door shut as Beast Boy silently entered the room. The man was shaking, like he was having a small seizure, and sweating profusely. "I can tell you what you want to know, I-I'll pay you good money, Xavier, just, please don't turn me over to the cops!"

"Why don't you just get down on your knees and beg me for your pathetic, miserable, little life Nicholas Galtry," they all turned around and stared. It was Beast Boy, and Robin saw a look that he had never seen on his friends face before, hatred: a very deep hatred. Apparently, Beast Boy had met this man before, and there was something between them that he didn't know about.

If the man had been frightened before he saw Beast Boy, he was absolutely terrified now. He stood to his feet and began backing away from Beast Boy, "Who are you?" he asked, petrified. "Don't you remember me, I'm Garfield Logan," Beast Boy said, he shook so violently that Robin and Cyborg thought he would go into convulsions within minutes.

"Obviously, you have forgotten something about me," Beast Boy said as he began to pace across the room, "I don't make deals with people like you."

"People like me?" the man asked, "Gar, please listen to me. I rescued you. I took care of you. I looked out for you. I'm your legal guardian—"

"—Were. Oh, you looked out for me did you? You're a master thief alright. A great con artist, you are, you swindled me!" Beast Boy roared out.

"Now I didn't—"

"Shut up and listen to me!" Beast Boy snarled. " I know what you tried to do Galtry. You were an Attorney for my father, Mark Logan's estate. You secured the services of various villains in attempts to kill me. You embezzled funds from my inheritance! The things that were mine in the first place, you took from me. And when I was found, you plotted to kill me and have all the wealth for yourself! After all these years, do you not think that I want retribution?"

He turned to Xavier, "May I have permission to strangle him?" He asked, fuming. "Grr," Beast Boy growled, "You should consider yourself fortunate that I didn't find you somewhere else," he said in a low tone as he sat down, muttering and mumbling under his breath.

Logan walked in and said, "Hey Professor, we found this in his car. I think you might want to see this."

He handed him a large leather suitcase. Xavier opened it and quietly looked through some of the case's contents. "It's all his legal papers," he said, "Take him to the police, Logan,"

"Alright, bozo, let's get movin'!" He pulled a still shaking Nicholas Galtry to his feet and he and Scott took him out of the room. The man gave Beast Boy a hate filled look and said, "I'll be back for you Gar, count on it."

"Fine," Beast Boy said, "I look forward to it."

"I found this among the papers, I know this is something very special to you," Xavier handed Beast Boy a small framed picture. None of the Titans dared move because they didn't want to upset him. They could see he was on edge as it was. They saw him stare at the picture, and though they didn't see it, tears slid down his face, "It's my parents," he said, his voice about to break, "they took this picture with me the day before the accident. I thought I lost it."

"Obviously you didn't," Xavier said quietly, "you better go, and today has been very hard on you." Beast Boy left the room as his friends stared at him in shocked silence with Xavier staring off into space.

"I am sorry for him," Starfire said at last, "I did not know his life had been so hard." "

Yeah, me too," Cyborg agreed, "I wish he would have told us some of this stuff, you know, so we could help him."

"There's an old saying that time heals old wounds but I don't think time's healed these," Robin said sadly, "I still don't understand why he didn't say anything."

"Maybe it's because it's too much for him," Raven said quietly. "We'd better go," Robin rose, along with the rest of the Titans. Thanking Xavier, they left the room.

Beast Boy sat in his room, alone. He quietly remembered his parents. It had been so long since he'd thought about them, he realized. He missed them now more than ever. He continued staring at the picture, remembering the accident. He could still see in his mind's eye what had happened.

Something had gone wrong with the engine. They'd told him to jump off and he did. He'd swam as fast as he could toward shore and when he'd got there he'd turned back to look for them, but when he arrived at the spot he couldn't find them. They died, and he'd lived. Life wasn't fair, he felt like he wanted to die. They should be here, he reasoned with himself. They would have been so proud of him, now there were no parents to tell him they loved him. Yes, there were his adopted parents, Steve and Rita Dayton (adoptive mother and father, but his mom was deceased, and his father had cut off contact with him. Beast Boy sighed, he felt so lonely.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Beast Boy jumped, he hadn't seen Raven come into his room. She sat quietly beside him, staring at the picture. "They must have been wonderful parents," she said quietly.

"They were," he replied, "My Father, Mark Logan, saved my life when I came down with a rare tropical disease that people believed only animals could survive. He treated me with an untested machine that he originally developed to isolate the common genetic bond shared between humans and animals. It was a part of his research." He gave her a smile, "That's why my skin's green."

"What happened to them?" Raven asked, barely able to form the question.

"Well, we'd gone out on a boat trip. Everything was fine and then they told me that something had gone wrong with the engine. They ordered me to jump off and I did as I was told. I swam as fast as he could toward shore and when I got there I went back to look for them, but when he arrived I couldn't find them. I dived underwater and looked for them, turning myself into an octopus," He sighed heavily, "And then I spotted them sinking into the ocean. I reached out and grabbed my mom, but to my horror, she was already dead. There was nothing I could do. I took their bodies and buried them on that beach. Their graves are still there to this day and I haven't ever gone back."

"Do you see now, Raven, why I always try to make people laugh?" He turned to her, "so I can ease my own pain and sorrow, if only just for a little while, then I don't have to think about it."

"I didn't know about your family," Raven said quietly, "I'm sorry, I wish I knew how to help you. I know you miss them."

"Terribly, but you've helped me already," he looked at her with a smile. "I just need to be alone for awhile," he said and Raven understood. She left him alone and shut the door behind her, walking away down the hall.

Beast Boy got up and wandered down the through the halls until he came to the library. He began looking through the shelves until he came to the poetry section. That was odd, he'd never like poetry. He always thought it was sappy. Then he spotted The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe, and decided for no apparent reason to read it. Checking it out, he walked outside into the nice, warm sunshine and began flipping through the pages; he stopped at one poem inparticular and began to read:

Robin quietly made his way outside. Confused and dazed, he didn't know what to say. Poor Beast Boy, he thought, what a tragic life the boy had. Why hadn't he told him? They could help him, he knew if he would just open up to them. He was drawn out of his thoughts by a voice reading a book. To his shock, the voice belonged to Beast Boy! He was actually reading, Robin thought Beast Boy hated reading. What shocked him even more was that it was a book of poetry. Beast Boy hated poetry like he hated reading. He stopped, and listened as his friend read in a beautiful, almost hypnotic voice.

"He saw Cyborg join him, "Is that Beast Boy reading poetry!" He asked, amazed that he would even go anywhere near a book, let alone read one. "He has an incredible reading voice," Cyborg observed, "Too bad he never uses it."

"Yeah," Robin agreed, "listen." They watched their friend from afarfor a long time.

Soon, Starfire came over and whispered, "What is going on?" "Shh," Robin said, "We're listening to Beast Boy."

"Okay, I shall shut my mouth, immediately," she said and was silent. Starfire felt entranced. The words and the way he read them had a profound effect on her. She began to wish, for some bizarre reason that Beast Boy would read more.

At last, Raven joined them. "What's he doing here?" she asked.

"Quiet!" Starfire, Robin and Cyborg said, "We're listening to him!" She settled down and began to attentively listen as Beast Boy continued, completely unaware that he had a captivated audience.

The Titans sat in shocked awe; they'd never heard anything so beautiful, yet so tragic come from him. Robin turned to Cyborg, "Did he write that?"

"No," he replied, "It's a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. English class."

"Where'd he find the book, then?"

"He probably found it in the school library," Cyborg commented. "Come on, I think we need to leave him alone." Robin gestured for them all to leave.

So the Titans went about their daily business, trying to avoid saying anything to Beast Boy. Except for Raven, she stayed there watching him read some more while the others walked away. Beast Boy seemed absorbed in what he read. He was flipping through some paged when he came across a poem entitled "The Raven. He began to read aloud:

Raven silently made her way towards him; she sat down beside him, listening intently. Beast Boy was so engrossed in what he read he didn't even see her there. This poem held an odd fascination, almost like a strange sense of horror came over him, still he wouldn't stop reading; he couldn't bring himself to.

She'd read this poem, long ago, it seemed an age since she'd heard it. But still it had inspired her, in her own dark, subtle way. She was the raven, it seemed that haunted that chamber door, and all that she once was she would never be again. She let him continue reading, she listened in silence, she had to admit, he had her attention.

"Beast Boy," she said, "I thought you hated reading."

"Raven, I—I—uh—I--" he managed to stammer out.

"Why are you reading this?" She gestured to the book, "I thought you hated poetry.

"I do," he replied, "but this stuff makes me feel better somehow. I can't quite explain it."

Raven sighed, "I guess I'll leave you alone, then, since that's what you want," she said as she rose to her feet. "Tell the others I'm going for a quick walk around the block if they need me for anything."

"Okay," Beast Boy said smiling.

"I'll let them know." She turned to leave.

"And Raven," she turned back to him,

"What, Beast Boy?" she asked.

"Thank you."

"For what?" "For listening to me back there in my room. I really needed someone to talk to."

"Your welcome," she replied, "I'll always be here for you," Raven said, her voice quiet.

"I know," he replied. Then she left him as he settled back onto the bench and continued reading another poem.