Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans, but I do own Scorpio. So ha.

Chapter 12: Conference

The weather outside was cold and crisp, but the sun was warming what the air could not. Raven and Scorpio were trying to meditate on the roof, not that either was meditating. All of the Titans had been jumpy since hearing about the curse, the first real anything that Scorpio had told them, and since Slade had attacked the city twice since yesterday. All of the Titans except Scorpio, whom Robin had told to stay at the Tower, had seen the way his 2 new apprentices fought. They wouldn't be easy to beat.

The problem was still trying to figure out their identity, which would be harder than beating them. They wore the same uniform that Robin wore when he was an apprentice, but they also wore masks like their Master, which made it harder. "And," Robin had told them, "if it wasn't for fire of the taller one, I bet we would have destroyed them by now."

"I don't know what to do," Scorpio said finally, staring out over the water. "I feel that everything that's happening is my fault."

Raven cringed at her last statement, remembering how horrible it felt to see her destiny with Slade behind her. "It's not," she answered. "Slade is a madman, and he's always showing up without warning. It's no ones fault he's here." Raven's eyes were open and she was staring out into the water as well. Remembering...

"It's my fault Beast Boy's under my curse," Scorpio said quietly. "And it's my fault that there are no other cures. Other cures were Saphirian herbs and plants..."

Raven was silent. "He's a vegan. He's not going to drink any blood, especially not yours." She couldn't really imagine Beast Boy even harming Scorpio in any way possible, not her or any one of his friends.

"I'm just glad he wasn't of Saphiria...the affects would've been much worse," Scorpio sighed. "At least I have that to be thankful for."

"How so? Isn't it the same for everybody?" Raven glanced over at Scorpio, who was picking at the ground, sitting cross legged like Raven was. Her black hair was blowing in the wind, imitating the motion of the sea below them. Scorpio let out a small grunt. "1008 years is a long time, Raven," Scorpio explained. "I may not have been alive then, but I can tell you this: thanks to this curse, Saphiria had the largest population at the time."

"Oh..."
"...So I am thankful, but I still have to save him. It isn't fair to leave him like that."

Personally Raven thought that Beast Boy hadn't changed much at all. His mind was still an open picture book, and he was still as open and as friendly as ever, but she knew about curses. She knew that he wouldn't be able to think right or talk right until this curse was off of him. "Just don't try to cross Saphirian borders," Raven explained.

Scorpio shuddered at her words. "Nothing is worth crossing their borders." But she wondered right now if that was true.

------xXx------

Beast Boy had read the book cover to cover, realizing only that there were 2 main cures that could be carried out from Earth. The third cure he could not find, and he had read the book over at least 4 times trying to find it. He didn't, but he learned a lot about Saphiria.

Occasionally, he would forget about the curse, but his dreams never would. They were as unusual as Saphiria itself, ranging from Scorpio to him, to people he did not recognize. The people he did not know always came at the end and scolded him, telling him that he was a shameless boy and hurting him with every breath he took. There seemed to be 3 main people that always came. A tall, dark haired boy, a young girl that looked a bit like Scorpio, and a brown gypsy. The gypsy was the scariest of all, and she always recited the curse infront of him, smiling like the devil.

Though the gypsy was frightning, the boy and the young girl would have their ways too. The boy in particular, who would always smile at Scorpio in the most uncomfortable way imaginable. The girl was always crying and hiding behind Scorpio, and the gypsy was always smiling in that devilish way of hers.

The hardest part of his curse was not the dreams, but the fact that he was always thinking about the mark, even if it was for a little bit. His urges to see it were getting greater and greater each day, and he destested his "ideas" of how to see it again. They weren't in anyones favor, especially not Scorpio's.

He was now on his way to her room, sweating the whole way there. What am I supposed to say to her? He thought. There probably isn't an easy way...

He was at her door, and he pulled his sweaty glove to knock on it. The knock echoed through out the hallway as Beast Boy knocked a little louder each time. Still nothing.

"Scorpio?" He asked quietly. "Scorpio? Scorpio!"

The door hissed open and Scorpio was infront of him, red, soaking wet, and out of breath in her white bath robe. She furrowed her eye brows when she saw him. "You know," she said shyly, "when I don't answer that usually means I'm doing something." But she knew just as well as he did that this couldn't wait. She sighed and moved to the left of the doorway. "Come in."

Her room was dark, but homely, not like Raven's room. The curtains had been drawn to the center of the window to let a faint, purple light take the place of the noon day sun. "Can you hold on a sec?" She asked him.

He nodded, unable to find words.

She ran into her private bathroom and pulled on a pair of navy blue pajama pants and a white tank top, tying up her slightly wet hair. She came out and motioned Beast Boy to sit down on the black couch as she sat down on the coffee table, still red faced.

Silence.

She knew she would have to start, he was staring at her blindly. She felt uncomfortable, the same way she had felt when ever Jet was near. "I know...about...you know...the curse..." She stammered.

Beast Boy nodded. "So...what should we do?" He had never really given it much thought, but he wouldn't drink her blood. How could he? It was inhumane and out of character. He was a vegan, after all.

Scorpio shrugged, still red, and swallowed. "It's up to you, Beast Boy...I put the curse on you...you should at least decide how we're going to take it off."

"But we can't do it either way!" He exclaimed suddenly, forgetting that she was just as sensitive about this as he was. "I can't drink blood, and you can't let me...we can't...do that...other one..." He blushed madly and felt another drop of sweat trickle down his neck.

"I'm sorry," she said, holding back tears. She wasn't used to letting out what she felt, especially to Beast Boy. He did deserve it, he had been watching her. But she remembered Jet's mark glowing, remembering how drawing the glow could be. She closed her eyes tight and a tear squeezed out, falling on the white carpet. "It's...this...everything is...it's my fault..." Her tears were falling freely but she wasn't sobbing, thankfully to Beast Boy, who had the sudden urge to take her in his arms and comfort her, but he knew he couldn't.

Instead, he stood there, watching her tears fall on the white carpet again and again. He still wanted to see the mark again, but moreso he wanted to let her know everything was OK, that he didn't mind being naturally drawn to her, even if it was only 1 part of her body...but then again...he did. He felt trapped and he wanted to be free. "It's not..." he began. "It's not your fault...it's mine. But we can't cry about it...we have to find a cure and follow through with it. And then everything will be normal again."

"Beast Boy..." She said between tears. "Cures from Saphiria aren't easy to get...Raven risked her life to get my journal, and they're...looking for me and for her. I can feel it. They're here. And when Slade attacked the city yesterday, that feeling...it just...swept over me. I've felt it before, Beast Boy...I know what it is..."

Beast Boy was shocked and confused, but he had felt it too. The characters from his dreams...he felt them near when Slade had come the other day. He still didn't know what to say.

"And I know about your dreams," she said suddenly. "And who is in them...and...I want to help you...to lift the curse and save you...from my past..."

"Can you tell me who they are then?" He asked her, interested. "I really want to know...at least so I can face them."

"The guy is Jet...my...er...friend... and the girl is Nem...my sister. The brown gypsy...I don't know...but she's been in my dreams too lately." Beast Boy didn't think Jet was her friend, not by the way he looked at her in his dreams. His eyes were hungry, and once he saw him lunge at Scorpio and bite her neck, the blood oozing down her delicate shoulders until she uttered the words "Why, Jet?". He squinted at the thought.

There was another silence in the room. "Raven said there was a third way," Beast Boy told her now, looking at the ground. "Do you know what it is?"

Scorpio swallowed and he saw her cheeks flare up in red again. "Yeah...but...it's pretty much the same as the lathering method...worse, even..." She smiled faintly at him, realizing how hard it must be for him to be in the room of his "blind" love. To stay and sit there quietly, going against the curse at its worse. He swallowed and got up.

"Well...that's pretty much it then, I guess..."

She furrowed her eye brows. "I'm going to lift this curse from you, Beast Boy," she said coldly. "No matter what it takes. I'm not going to let you go on like this. I know it's hard for you..." Her voice was stern and trusting, and Beast Boy couldn't help but smile.

"I know you will," he told her. "I just hope it's soon." He left then, taking her word for his savior. I can trust her... He thought, but she could barely trust herself.