TheUbu (I'd be Ubu but someone took it!)
I'm a crazy Canadian and some of my writing may reflect that. Don't be alarmed and run for the hills, I'm sure it won't hurt too badly.
The first half of this chapter may be a little weird. I just donated blood for the first time and I'm feeling a little funny so it may show in my writing. In Canada, blood donation is exactly that, donating your blood. And why not? There's a growing need for blood (in Canada anyway). Your body replaces the half litre that's taken in about sixty days. I'm not sure how blood collection works where you live but I urge you donate if you are of age. You never know when it might be you who needs it.
Thanks for reading that little rant, I know that many of you may not be permitted to donate due to age restrictions so you can just ignore that.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans; any characters contained within are not mine and belong to their respective owners with whom I have no affiliation.
Chapter Eight
Beast Boy laid face up across the back seat of the T-Car as it made it's way through traffic to the pizza place. He usually sat up front but right now his entire body ached. What had started out as an intense pain in the core of his body had quickly spread all over. The fact that he hit the water with enough force to tear the back of his jumpsuit and cause a great deal of bruising didn't help his situation any either.
'Is this what Raven had to deal with every time she had to heal something big? She never let any pain show when she did…' Beast Boy thought.
His thoughts were cut short as the T-Car came to a sudden stop at a red light. Beast Boy clenched his teeth tighter than he already had them and inhaled a sharp breath.
"You must have hit the water pretty hard." Said Cyborg as he looked over his shoulder at the pale Titan.
"Yea, pretty hard." Beast Boy breathed.
Raven looked over into the back seat. Concern dominated her features as she overlooked Beast Boy. A mix of warm and cool hit Beast Boy. He knew it was just Raven's emotions but it felt kind of good. Not just to know that she was concerned for him, but just the feeling on his skin. It wasn't overpowering but it did displace some of the pain that was prevalent throughout his body.
He looked into her eyes and did his best to rid his face of any pained expression and gave her a weak smile.
The car started to move again and the slight lurch brought another wave of pain.
"If you guys don't mind, I think I'm going to take a little nap back here. I'm not all that hungry right now but I'd appreciate it if you saved me a slice or two." Said Beast Boy through clenched teeth.
It wasn't a total lie. It would have been the truth had he replaced 'take a little nap' with 'pass out from pain'. At least he'd be out of pain if he were unconscious.
"Is it that bad?" Asked Cyborg. "We should probably take you to the medical bay if your back's really bugging you."
"No. It's ok. Using these new powers just really took it out of me. I moved a bunch of cars, threw one at Plasmus, and flew for a while. I don't know how Raven does it." He finished giving her a slight wink before he closed his eyes again.
:-:-:-:-:
Beast Boy grunted slightly as the T-Car began to move again.
Raven could tell he was in a great deal of pain, he had to be. Starfire was beaten very badly so now Beast Boy would feel exactly what she felt and then some because of his upper back injury. Starfire was tough, she was probably the toughest of all the Titans but even Raven was amazed that she'd managed to get out of that beating without broken bones. Had it been Robin in her place, he would most certainly be dead.
On the one hand, she was impressed and happy that he'd been able to use his healing powers, but on the other, she wished that he had something small to start off with.
"If you guys don't mind, I think I'm going to take a little nap back here." Said Beast Boy with clenched teeth and a grimace on his face. "I'm not all that hungry right now but I'd appreciate it if you saved me a slice or two."
'A little nap?' Raven thought. 'He'll sooner pass out than get any sleep.'
"Is it that bad? We should probably take you to the medical bay if your back's really bugging you." Stated Cyborg who was still focused on driving.
"No. It's ok. Using these new powers just really took it out of me. I moved a bunch of cars, threw one at Plasmus, and flew for a while. I don't know how Raven does it."
Beast Boy opened his eyes long enough to give Raven a tiny wink before he shut them again.
Raven almost wanted to laugh at the hidden truth in what Beast Boy said. He was down for the count because of those powers all right, but it wasn't for the reason he was giving Cyborg. He would have been a little worn out if he'd just been throwing some cars around, but it was the healing that did the major number on him.
The T-Car slowed to a stop in front of the pizza place and Cyborg turned around to face Beast Boy.
"Ok man, but you should get some menthol gel for your back. I don't know how hard you hit the water but you're going to be sore for the next week at least." He said, giving him a sympathetic smile. "Looks like Rob and Star are already here. See you when we finish."
With that he got out the driver side door and entered the restaurant.
Raven still sat in the front seat and looked at Beast Boy. This was the first time she'd been left alone with him since he'd healed Starfire and they needed to talk.
"Are you alright Beast Boy?" She asked with concern quite evident in her voice. "Starfire was hurt very badly and you completely healed her."
"Yea, I'm ok. I'm pretty sore but I'll be fine in a bit."
"You don't have to lie, I know what it's like. This was your first time healing anything and it was something way bigger than you should have had to deal with."
"Ok." Said Beast Boy after he let out a heavy sigh. "I'm probably in the most pain I've ever been in for a long time. That plus the shoulders, I'm about ready to pass out."
"You did a very generous thing for Starfire. That and what you did for that little girl…" Said Raven as she leaned over the back seat.
She visibly winced as her side brushed against the seat but she continued to lean over and placed her hand on his forehead.
"What happened Rae?" Asked Beast Boy, having become more alert when Raven winced out of pain.
"It's nothing." She lied.
Beast Boy gave her a skeptical look. "I was honest with you, you at least owe me that."
Raven sighed. "Fair enough. I was injured when Mumbo's hat was destroyed. Remember when our powers came flying back a knocked us across the room? I hit a broken piece of brick and got a large gash up my side. I guess I aggravated the wound when I was moving people."
Beast Boy looked at her side and could see a little gauze from under her cloak. It was completely bloody and more seemed to be seeping through.
"You're bleeding." He said sitting up. "Let me see it."
Raven began to pull her cloak back but abruptly stopped.
'He's not thinking of healing it is he?'
"It's not that bad. I just need to change the bandage." She said.
"Let me see it." He repeated more as an order than a request.
Raven reluctantly pulled her cloak all the way back, exposing the blood soaked gauze. Beast Boy's pale hand reached forward and peeled the corner of the bandage back with the utmost care. He then closed his eyes and placed his hand above the wound. A light blue energy emanated from the palm of his hand and he slowly moved it up and down over the wound from the back seat.
After a brief moment, the only evidence that remained of the injury was the bloody gauze that Raven held. All the pain had left her completely but she knew the cost, it was now Beast Boy's pain to burden.
'How could he even think to do something like this in his condition? He's so kind…'
"Beast Boy…" Raven said quietly. "T-Thank you."
Beast Boy was still sitting up but his eyes were squeezed shut and his head lulled forward. Raven placed her green hand on his cheek and his eyes opened about half way. It looked as though he almost passed out and as if he was still going to. She leaned further forward and brought her lips to his.
The kiss didn't last long but it was more than a little peck. After a few short seconds, she pulled away and Beast Boy's eyes fluttered open. He looked at her with confusion before his eyes fell shut and he dropped to the seat of the car.
:-:-:-:-:
Beast Boy carefully moved his hand up and down over the wound, basking it in a faint blue light. He could see that the injury was beginning to close itself and began to feel the pain grow from within. He closed his eyes because of the growing discomfort but continued to move his hand over Raven's side.
'Ok, just finish healing Raven and then you can pass out. You have to finish healing her first though.' He thought.
"Beast Boy… T-Thank you." Raven quietly said.
Beast Boy barely heard her. He was in a stupendous amount of pain and he could feel the pressing feeling of unconsciousness in the back of his mind. Something warm on his cheek caused him to open his eyes as best he could. Raven was very close and was leaning closer.
'She's going to kiss you dude!' Part of his mind happily exclaimed.
Beast Boy closed his eyes as he felt the warm touch of Raven's lips against his. His senses were flooded with her smell, her taste, and her touch and the pain he felt seemed to take a back seat to what he felt from her. She pulled away a few moments after that and Beast Boy looked at her as if to answer his unasked question.
'Why didn't anything explode? It didn't even shake.' He thought.
Soon after, the pain returned and Beast Boy felt his grip on consciousness slip. His eyes shut and he fell back to the seat.
:-:-:-:-:
"See you guys back at the tower." Said Robin as he put his motorcycle helmet on.
"Right." Replied Cyborg as he opened the driver side door of the T-Car. "Yo BB! Pizza's here!"
Cyborg threw the pizza box toward the sleeping Titan in the back seat but Raven caught it before it landed on him. Getting hit with a box of pizza wouldn't be a nice wake up call.
Beast Boy simply groaned in response to Cyborg's loud voice.
"Dude, you look worse than you did when I left. You should go straight to bed when we get home."
"Just need a nap." Muttered Beast Boy.
"Uh huh." Said the metallic Titan in disbelief. "Why don't you just heal your back?"
"Uh…" Beast Boy tried to come up with an answer.
"Because he can't reach his back properly to heal it." Said Raven.
'Hope he buys that.' She thought.
"Whatever." He replied.
The rest of the drive to the tower was more or less silent, and when they arrived, Beast Boy headed straight for his room.
"I'm going to turn in." He said as he stiffly walked up the stairs from the garage.
"Go to the med bay first. You definitely need some of that menthol gel." Said Cyborg. "I have to do a couple minor repairs to my systems but I'll be there in a bit."
"I'll get it." Said Raven.
Cyborg gave her a funny look but shrugged.
"Just go up to your room, I'll meet you there."
Beast Boy nodded and they parted ways, Beast Boy heading for his room, and Raven heading for the medical bay.
'Ok, menthol gel, menthol gel… Where would that be?' She thought as she rummaged through the cupboards. 'Gauze: no. Antiseptic: no. Bingo! Menthol gel.'
Raven held the container triumphantly and made a quick jog toward Beast Boy's room. It wouldn't do much for the pain he'd relieved from Starfire and herself, but it would be able to alleviate his physical injury.
After her short trek from the medical bay, she arrived in front of his door. The flat metal of the door had bold letters that spelled BEAST BOY engraved across the surface. The door was open a crack and she slid it open just enough to slide through. Beast Boy was laying face down on his bed breathing heavily into his pillow.
"I'm here." She said to alert him of her presence.
"Hey." He greeted through the pillow.
"Take off you shirt."
'That sounded a little bad…'
Beast Boy seemed to hesitate for a moment but he reached behind his head and roughly tore his collar until the tear he created met the hole in the back. He slid his arms out of the sleeves and pulled the upper part of his jumpsuit to his lower back.
Removing the clothing exposed a dark bluish bruise from the tops of his shoulders all the way down to the middle of his back.
"That looks really bad." She said as she gently touched part of the bruise.
Beast Boy flinched. "It feels the same way."
:-:-:-:-:
"Take off you shirt." Said Raven.
'What? She wants me to what?'
'Come on! What are you waiting for? Raven wants you to take your shirt off. Loose it!'
'Shut up. She doesn't mean it that way… No. She's just going to put that stuff on my back.' He thought back to whatever emotion had tried to interpret Raven's request incorrectly.
He reached his arms back and felt how sore his shoulders really were. He did his best to ignore it though and simply ripped his already ruined suit down the back. The cool conditioned air of the tower felt nice on his bruised skin.
"That looks really bad." Said Raven.
She lightly touched his back and he flinched as a slight wave of pain spread over his back.
"It feels the same way."
Raven said nothing but opened the container she held. She began to apply the soothing gel to his back in a delicate circular motion. The heat of the gel seemed to penetrate deep into Beast Boy's muscles and he let out a contented sigh.
"Thanks a lot Rae." He said, turning his head in her direction.
"It's nothing." She mumbled with a slight blush. "It's the least I can do after you healed me. You shouldn't have done that though. After having healed Star, you had enough to deal with for a while."
"Yea…" Said Beast Boy. "You were injured though… I had the ability to take away your pain so I did, I'd do it again too."
Raven blushed even deeper and continued to rub tender circles into his back.
"Can I ask you something Rae?"
"Sure." She replied.
"About what happened on the couch, and then in the back of the T-Car… W-What did that mean?"
'Crap, stay calm. One… Two… Three… Four… Five…'
Raven took a moment to answer but stopped rubbing when she did.
"I-I'm not sure… I'm starting to experience all these new feelings and I don't know how to deal with all of them. When you jumped off the bridge after the little girl, I thought you were dead for sure. It made me realize that I have strong feelings for you but I don't know what they mean…"
'Feelings for me? Does she really have feelings for me? Maybe she's just confused…'
"Rae… I like you, a lot. I have for a while but I didn't know what to say. I know we're friends and all but we don't exactly have the best track record with one another. Most of that was me…" He said.
Again, Raven was quiet for a short time before she responded.
"I'm sorry. I've been cruel to you in the past and you didn't deserve that. I'm going to need a little while to try and sort out these feeling…" She bagan to massage the gel into his back again. "How does that feel?"
Beast Boy closed his eyes again and smiled a little.
"Really good. Thank you." He said. "I guess we should work on how to control animal instincts tomorrow."
"That would be good. I wasn't really able to do much in the way of fighting Plasmus today." She said as she began to rub the base of his neck.
Beast Boy sighed internally as Raven rubbed his back. It felt so soothing and the fact that it was Raven who was doing it made it that much more relaxing. The pain Beast Boy felt seemed to melt away as Raven's hands passed over his skin. He lay there, soaking in the feeling for a little while but spoke again.
"I have something for you Raven." He said as he stretched an arm out. "Azerath Metrion Zinthos."
Ten very large black hardcover books slid out from under the bed. Each was about the size of a very thick phone book. She wiped her hands on her cloak and picked one of the books up. The cover was solid black but along the spine in sliver writing was the title: 'The Encyclopedia of Animals Past and Present: Volume IV'.
"You can keep those if you want, I know each one cover to cover."
"Thank you Beast Boy. That's very kind of you."
"Not a problem. Maybe you'll be able to surprise me tomorrow with a couple of animals out of there." He said sleepily. "Thanks for helping me with my back. I'm pretty beat though, so I'll see you tomorrow."
Raven kneeled down to collect the pile of books and looked at Beast Boy. It almost looked as if he were asleep. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and grabbed the rest of the books.
"I'll try to wake up before noon tomorrow." She said with a slight laugh "Good night Beast Boy."
:-:-:-:-:
"So how was Beast Boy?" Asked Robin as Raven placed the pile of books on the table.
"Sore but otherwise ok." She said as she sat down on the couch.
"Where did you obtain such large books Raven?" Asked Starfire.
Raven opened the one from the top of the pile and began to read. "Beast Boy gave them to me. They're about all of Earth's animals."
"Glorious!" She exclaimed after flying over from the kitchen. "May I partake in the reading of these books with you?"
"Sure." She smiled warmly. "Take whichever you want."
Starfire let out a short squeal of happiness and quickly picked up one of the large books. She nestled herself in between Raven and Robin and got right down to reading.
So far, Raven found the books quite informative. Animals were alphabetically organized and there were several pages of information on each. There were picture of the animals accompanied by statistics such as sizes and weights, diets, average life spans, and other useful facts. For instance Raven learned that the peregrine falcon was the fastest animal in the world with a dive speed of up to three hundred kilometers an hour.
"I had no idea that Earth had such wondrous creatures!" Stated Starfire as she pointed out a picture of an anglerfish to Robin.
Robin smiled at Starfire's enthusiasm. "So you're going to be practicing changing into these things tomorrow?"
"Some of them I guess. I've tried changing once and it didn't turn out so well…"
"You weren't able to change?" He asked.
"No." Raven replied. "I was able to change but wasn't able to stay in control of the animal's instincts. We're going to be working on that first."
Robin nodded. "Until you feel you're at full capacity, you and Beast Boy should continue to train with one another."
"Ok. I think I'm going to head to bed now. Good night." She said as she picked up some of the books from the table.
'No use hauling all of them back to my room right now, I can get the others in the morning.' She thought.
"Good night." Both Robin and Starfire said, moving slightly closer together to read out of the same book.
Ok, I know this chapter was kind of short. Not to mention kind of crappy. I did manage to put Beast Boy through a bit more punishment and get a little bit of fluff in there so it wasn't a total waste (Almost though).
Sorry Raven hasn't had more training but that's going to be big in the next chapter.
I had only a single 2-litre bottle of Coke for this chapter. More than half of that was just re-hydration after the blood donation though. I think that's the reason I don't really like this chapter, I will make sure chapter nine sees the deaths of many a can of Coca-Cola as to not repeat this mistake.
There's something like 197 reviews for this story! That's absolutely amazing! You guys are the most awesomely awesome people ever!
And here are the reviews!
Satu Simpson: Yea, poor Beast Boy. I do love to punish him so, but it's because I know he can take it and it makes him that much more loveable. I'm glad you liked it; I had a great time writing the action. Thanks for reviewing.
craZy18gurl: Thank you very much. I did like the whole idea of Beast Boy throwing himself off of a bridge to save the little girl. Raven did hug Beast Boy after he got back though, or were you referring to the guard captain? Thanks for your review.
dancingirl3: Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked it.
PhoenixClaw: Thank you very much. I thought having some of those guys you always see getting trashed by the villains helping out would be interesting. Thanks for reviewing.
oranfly: Thanks. Beast Boy just seems like a selfless guy to me. Hurra for the BB fans! Thanks for reviewing.
Green Tears: Thank you. I'm happy that people liked it. Thanks for reviewing.
lol61188: Thank you very much.
OveractiveMind: Hurra for the suspense filled action and fluff! Not to worry, Raven will most definitely be working on morphing in chapter nine. There will be some Trigon oriented fun (and when I say fun I really mean chaos) coming up in later chapters. Thanks for reviewing.
SpazztheSlob: Thank you for your kind review.
Tammy Tamborine: Thanks. Yea, Raven's been a little powerless since the switch but chapter nine will remedy that! I too like to see Beast Boy do the hero thing. He just strikes me as the kind of guy who would shout out "Time to be a hero!" before stopping a bank robbery. Thanks for reviewing.
doc-trigger: Not a problem. I'm amazed that this story has received as many reviews as it has. I'm glad you liked chapter seven and I hoped you liked chapter eight just as much. Thanks for reviewing.
HAPPILI INSANE: Thank you very much.
Tattooed Goddess: Thank you very much for you kind review. I'm happy that you're enjoying the story so far. Again, thanks for reviewing.
FantasyObsessed: Huzza!
WickedWitchoftheSE: Thanks. Yep, Beast Boy leapt head first into certain doom with a flawed plan… But that's why we love him right? It looks like you hit the nail on the head, angstyness and kissing! Thanks for reviewing.
Giligan: I'm glad you like it so far. Raven will be getting in touch with her 'animal side' in the following chapter. It seems like a lot of people want to see that so I'm sorry if it took me a little while to get there. Thanks for reviewing.
SxStrngSamurai13: Thank you. I wanted to make the situation a little more serious and realistic so I did have to kill of a few guards. Knocking some of the Titans around helped out with that too. I'm glad you like the transition the characters are going through, Raven's having a little trouble dealing with all the new emotions she's allowed to express and now Beast Boy is trying to deal with the burden that his new powers bring. I'm also trying to show a little mutual respect being gained for one another now that they have to actually experience what each other had to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Thanks for reviewing.
Flamma: Thank you. It has been fairly Beast Boy centric so far but chapter nine will see a bit of a change there. Raven will be using her powers more for there on in. Thanks for reviewing.
Beast Boy 4ever: Thanks for reviewing!
darkdemon3592: Thanks. There was a bit more of the romantic stuff here but we'll see more in future chapters. Thanks for reviewing.
teenyugiohpotterphantom: Thank you. Everyone's gotta love the fluffiness! I'm sure the deceased cans of pop, half bag of chips, and poor speaker are looking down and smiling at the progress of this story. Thanks for reviewing.
Glean-Glean: Thanks. Honestly, I don't know haw many chapters I'm going to write. I hadn't expected this to make it past chapter six but people seem to like it. I find that I enjoy it a great deal myself, so I'm just going to continue to write and see where the story goes. Thanks for reviewing.
acosta pérez josé ramiro: Thank you. The next chapter will see the end of Raven's almost total weakness but she'll still be at a disadvantage. I completely agree with you on your comment about the different types of villains. Slade is a classic villain and a personal favorite but sometimes he's just a little to predictable. The HIVE are good too but the have goals and desires just like Slade, making them predictable. Small timers like Dr. Light have very simple desires like robbing banks or doing something crazy like trying to make so giant light bulb to make eternal daytime (or whatever he was doing in the beginning of The Prophecy). Mumbo just has this chaotic quality to him that is unpredictable and potentially very dangerous. Thank you very much for the idea, I do think I will use it in upcoming chapters. I did think about doing the whole name-changing thing but it feels kind of weird. There should have been some kind of comment made in the previous chapter about that but I figured the mother was a little too emotional about her daughter to really care and the guard was a little busy helping Raven move people to think it important. I'll probably have the story touch on that though. Thanks for reviewing.
starmay: Thank you. Raven will be using her powers very soon!
BrianDarksoul: Thanks. Yep, Beast Boy now has to be the healer at the cost of the pain. He's a good guy though, I think he'd do it. Thanks for reviewing.
Yue-neko: Thank you. I hope you liked this chapter.
AnimationWickedRaven: Thanks for reviewing!
BlackRoses4Raven: Thank you very much!
midorinasu: Thank you very much for your kind review. I'm glad you like the story.
NightScribe: Thank you very much. It's good to see people like the pace of the story. Coke owns Pepsi and day of the week!
Iuz the Old: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it.
.: Thank you very much.
Nero2313: Thank you very much.
warprince2000: Thanks.
Necro: Thanks. Thank you for alerting me to those mistakes. I hope you liked this chapter.
Darth Sonic: Thank you very much. I know it seems a little odd, but if you think about what happened, the appearance of the people who saved you doesn't really matter that much. That's my excuse anyway. I'll be going into that a little more later on. Thanks for reviewing.
Controversy Sistuh: Thank you very much.
iforgetmyname: Thank you. I can only speculate, but I would assume there's lots of plastic and aluminum… I do take their remains to the bottle depot anyway :P Thanks for reviewing.
Ravenwouldplaylax: Thanks. I thought of having Raven do something to save Beast Boy (while he was saving the little girl) but it would have been a little odd to write. It also would have taken away from Beast Boy's whole valiantly leaping into uncertainty thing. Meh, we'll see some Raven oriented action soon. Thanks for reviewing.
N.C. PsyChick: I do think Beast Boy is the brave type. Thanks for reviewing.
Thanks for taking the time to read my story!