Here we are again, my duckies! Have you lot been scared yer? What? No? Well hold on to your knickers my little sot! Because this part's gonna blow your gaskets! Oy! I don't own Teen Titans. Because if I did, Beast Boy and Raven would've made out by now! Fo' sure!

Beast Boy's Game

Part 4: 1912

Raven lay, trembling in the corner. Blood ran from her many wounds, her clothes in tatters. Stay back, she pleaded silently. The icy chill of the shadow's presence froze the very air around it. It's red, glowing eyes narrowed as it sensed victory. The girl had no more fight in her. Her soul was ripe for the picking. A giant, shadowy claw reached for Raven, and she trembled as it wrapped its icy fingers around her neck –!

Raven sat up in a cold sweat. Struggling with her powers, she held her temples with both hands. She'd fallen asleep, sitting next to the disk on the roof. How long had she been out…? The sun was still up in the partly cloudy sky, so she estimated only about three hours. Swallowing to wet her constricted throat, she held her head. Her chakra gem glittered weakly, a sign of instability in her powers. "Friend Raven?" a voice floated over her head. Raven jumped, but turned slowly anyway. "I have brought you a can of the soda, so that you may feel refreshed." Starfire had emerged onto the roof, holding out a soda for her. Raven took it, the cold metal feeling alien in her hands. Not like Beast Boy's soft, warm touch. Flushing embarassedly, she squashed that line of thought and offered a tiny smile.

"Thanks." Raven croaked in a voice that signaled she'd been crying.

"Raven, surely you could find something to do better than merely sit here?" Starfire asked. "Is there nothing we can do to aid friend Beast Boy?" Raven was silent to her question, so she kept talking. "Cyborg and Robin are scanning the seal we constructed for disturbances at the moment… and I was hoping you could walk away from the disk for a while and–"

"Starfire?"

"Yes?"

"You love Robin, right?"

"Y… yes, I do." The redhead answered faster than Raven thought she would.

"And if Robin had been sucked into Dark Fall, and you had no idea how to help… what would you be doing?" Raven asked softly, not meeting her eyes.

There was a long silence, and Starfire's eyebrows bunched together with shame. She shouldn't have tried to pull her away… "Watching the disk for his return." Starfire said quietly, backing away. "I will leave you to your guardianship." She left Raven alone, looking a little upset.

The dark girl sat Indian-style, popping the soda open and taking a deep drink. The fizz stung her throat, but it was better than nothing. She heaved a sigh. "I don't know what to do… Beast Boy…" she whispered, her chin touching her chest. "I'll wait for you… just hurry…"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was dark. Night-time even. The moon was full and the only light to see by.

Beast Boy sat up with a moan, holding his head. He found his other hand clutching the pocket-watch and… it was smouldering! Letting go with a yelp, he saw a water source nearby and staggered over to it. Thrusting his burned hand into the water he listened to it hiss. The skin curled and peeled, and the pocket watch seethed as though angry. Moaning at the pain-curing bliss of cold water he sat there, doubled-over, for a long time. His eyes closed, he listened to his own breathing for awhile, scenting Raven in the cloak he still wore. Pulling his trembling hand out of the water at last, he surveyed it.

An outline of the raven design was burned through his glove and into his hand.

Beast Boy winced. He looked like he'd been branded! Sighing and hoping it wasn't permanent, he surveyed his surroundings. "I'm still on Titan's island… but…" he looked around in confusion. The tower was gone. "What the…?" Beast Boy stood, turning and staring at the new structure that lay before him. "Dude, when did this get here?" It was tall and skinny, rising maybe two hundred feet into the air. Unlit windows went up one side, and a shed lay nearby on the other. The green teen stood erect, tilting his head back to see the whole thing.

It was an old lighthouse.

A black silhouette against a murky sky, it made the hairs on the back of Beast Boy's neck prickle. A hazy, dark mist surrounded the entire island and blocked Jump City from view. (Somehow, he doubted Jump City was even there.) This lighthouse looked pretty old. It wasn't even lit… what if a ship came by and crashed into something? Weren't lighthouses especially supposed to be on during times of bad weather?

Well… there was no other choice but to go in. Beast Boy started forward, but then remembered something. The pocket watch. It lay, still steaming hot, on the ground where he'd dropped it. Taking the chain instead of the clock itself, he went to the water and briefly dunked it. Hisssss! Pause. Hisssss! Pause. Hissss… it was cooling down. He only kept it submerged for two seconds or so each time. He didn't want to get water inside and ruin it. Hissss… He held it up for inspection, and it rotated lazily on the chain. It looked okay now, dripping just a little bit. He cautiously tapped it with one finger, and found it sufficiently cooled. "Well, this glove is ruined…" He elected to take it off. The palm of the glove was completely burned away, so there wasn't much point in wearing it. Peeling it carefully off and wincing as it took some skin with it, he dropped the glove distastefully to the ground. Beast Boy looked at the outline of the raven (a decoration on the watch) burned into his skin. "I've heard some girls leave their mark on you, but this is nuts…" he made a stab at a joke, but there was no one around to hear it. No Raven around to call it a dumb joke… frowning, he let his hand fall and clicked the pocket watch open with the other. The single hand pointed to 1912, right where the six on a regular clock would be. "Eh…?" He thought long and hard, and it very suddenly dawned on him. "No. Way." He looked up at the forbidding lighthouse, then back at the odd watch he was holding. "This is Titan's island… in 1912!" he gaped around, as though he were on an alien world.

Starfire's garden wasn't there. The obstacle course hadn't been built. Mud and rock had replaced all the grass he himself had planted. Raven's waterfall, one of her favorite meditation spots, hadn't been formed yet. It was… dead. Save the lighthouse and a tiny, forsaken dock nearby, the island was a lump of dirt on the sea.

"Weird-ness…" Beast Boy mumbled, approaching the lighthouse as he shoved the pocket-watch back in his pocket. The dark, swirling mists that surrounded it were no comfort at all. And, the silvery halo that the moon cast upon the scene didn't help things either. He reached the entrance, and was immiediatly confronted with something.

------- All roads lead to MALAKI -------

It was scratched into the entrance of the lighthouse as though a giant had clawed it there. Beast Boy noticed a blunted whittling knife lying on the ground, and picked it up. Looking closely, he found wood residue on it. Someone had carved it there. But who? And why? And what was this Malaki? Was that the name of the shadow that had pulled him into the game. Swallowing, Beast Boy tried the door to the side building. Locked, of course. He rolled his eyes. Jamming the whittling knife into the 1912-style lock, he struck the butt of it with his gloved hand. The tumblers in the lock broke, and the door swung open.

Darkness greeted Beast Boy, and he didn't dare go in."Darkness there and nothing more..." he mumbled, still not getting a laugh out of himself.Looking around as though something would jump at him, he circled around the side building. There were two small windows, only one door and several signs of age on the building itself. The lighthouse looked weather-beaten, and – what was that? A black cord exited one of the side-building's windows, ran down the wall (held with metal staples) and over to a spinning weathervane. It was one of those things with four cups on it that spun in the wind. "Alternate power emergency switch?" Beast Boy read it aloud, spotting a rusty pull-down switch. "I didn't know they had electricity back then… back now… back… uhm…" he trailed away, reaching for it. Gripping the switch's handle, he posed and turned around. "Let there be light." He said with a grin. Beast Boy pulled the switch down with a dramatic thrust.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven sat in meditation, floating on the astral plain. "Azarath Metrion Zynthos…" she chanted softly, her cape fluttering gently to defy gravity. Stars and planets glittered around her. Peace… quiet… serenity………

C'mon Raven, you know I'm hilarious.

The memory of Beast Boy's voice interrupted her. She stopped her chanting, looking out across the astral plain. Usually nothing bothered her there, but this was different. Was he haunting her? Making her think of him so she could figure out a way to get into the game and save him?

I'm not giving up until I make you laugh.

She winced at that, knowing it to be perfectly true. And, to date, he was still trying. Of course, Raven's secret was that she was ticklish. Making deadly sure that fact never reached her friends, she was safe from Beast Boy accomplishing his goal. What a dumb thing to think about, Raven thought, he's in there fighting the darkness and I'm out here… She frowned guiltily. The shadow had tried for her, but he'd shoved her out of the way. He'd fallen into the vortex, not her. What the hell was he thinking! Tears touched the corners of Raven's eyes, and she mumbled nonsense words to herself.

I love you, Raven.

"He's never said that." Raven snapped back to reality, out of the astral plain. She scolded herself for imagining such a thing. She was back on the roof, not floating amongst stars and planets. "I…… I never let him say it." She realized very suddenly. Every time Beast Boy had tried to say he loved her, she would always find a way to keep him from saying it. She… she kept putting him out, even though they were a couple… "We'll need to talk when you get back, BB." She whispered his nickname. "A nice, long talk." She looked around, as though someone might be watching. "And maybe some tofu." She added as an after-thought.

Well, nothing much happened this chapter, but you've got some new info to add to the mystery! The pocket watch is acting as a time machine of sorts, and its dropped Beast Boy in 1912! What sort of things will he discover there?What does Beast Boy have to do to "win the game?" What the heck is "MALAKI?" ((Rememer that word, readers. It's important...)) All that and more next time on Beast Boy's Game, it's "Missing Crew!" See ya there!