Wow this story wound up being a bit longer than I thought it would. Oh well! And this isn't the last chapter. The next one will be the last and it'll just be a fluffy epilogue to wrap the story up. CUZ I KNOW YOU LUV FLUFF!
The temple was a lot bigger than Beast Boy had imagined, and he imagined it to be pretty big to begin with. The aging temple looked crumbled, with large pieces of marble scattering the courtyard. The steps, which were once carved out of the purest white marble, were now faded, cracked in various places, with vines and weeds overgrowing them.
In the center of the courtyard was what once stood a huge fountain, but had been dry for many years. Beast Boy secretly hoped the brown looking stains he saw on the marble were dirt and not ancient blood. Still in his horse form, he lowered herself down to the ground allowing Raven to climb off.
The empath gazed at the ruins and closed her eyes softly. She could almost hear the innocent giggles of her fellow students, laughing and playing in the courtyard and if she focused just hard enough, she could still hear the echoes of her 5 year old self. It was a simpler, happier time in her life.
But when she opened her eyes and saw the ruins of Azarath, the grim reality of the situation smacked her like an out of control cement truck. For a brief second, she felt discouraged about her life in general. Even if she did find the Grail, was it worth it in the end? Would it even work? Her answer came in the form of two wiry arms that wrapped themselves around her waist, a gentle kiss placed on her neck. And suddenly, she knew what she had to live for again.
"Come Gar..." she said softly, the changeling already having morphed back into his human form. Beast Boy reluctantly let go of her waist and followed her up the high rising flight of stairs, careful not to slip on the slick moss.
"Hey Rae!" he shouted when he reached the top. "Watch this!" and then proceeded to throw some phantom punches in the air, like a prized boxer. After a couple of hooks and jabs, the jade skinned prankster extended his arms in the air promptly, as he jumped up and down shouting "YO ADRIENNE! I DID IT!"
Raven, not amused, merely rolled her eyes. "When you are done acting like an idiot, I could use your assistance in the main room." Beast Boy stopped jumping in his post-knockout Rocky celebration and slowly lowered his arms down to his sides, blushing slightly. "Sorry..." he said quietly. The empath's gaze and attitude softened a bit seeing him blush like this as she found it impossible to stay irritated at him for too long.
Beast Boy could sense his girlfriend's attitude change and grinned broadly. "C'mon show-off." she said with a smirk, as her eager green beau following in her foot steps.
The inside of the temple gave that impression that at one point it was a vastly big structure. The roof had collapsed in certain parts and gray light peaked through in strong, bright, beams, which confused Beast Boy at why this light didn't seem to hurt him or Raven.
Past the rubble of huge chunks of scorched marble was a statue covered in vines. It appeared to be made in the image of a beautiful woman, with large, majestic wings behind her and in her right hand she seemed to be clutching a sword high in the air. "Who's this?" he asked.
Raven tore some of the vines away from the statue causing the gray light to reflect off it, almost blinding the green changeling. "This...is Azar." Raven said almost awestruck. "She was the high priestess of Azarath and the one who taught me to control my powers and emotions. Without her...I'd be nothing."
"Uhh...thanks for helping my girlfriend..." Beast Boy said to the statue, which almost seemed to smile back in response. "So where is this secret passage thingie?"
Raven admired the statue of Azar for a bit, before pointing to the base of the sculpture. "Right underneath the base. We need to move it. I could use my powers, but in this state it would drain me too quickly. So it's up to you."
"Not a problem!" the jade skinned prankster said with full confidence. "Beast Boy's Guranteed Smash While-U-Wait service is officially open!" and morphed into a T-Rex, reading to smash the statue with his tail. "GAR WAIT!" Raven pleaded, as Beast Boy stopped himself in mid swing, morphing to a fly to stop the momentum of the tail. Raven breathed a sigh of relief before continuing on. "This place, Azarath...it's my childhood and yet it's smashed, gone, burnt by Trigon. And now this statue of Azar is all that's left. Please just push it out of the way...for me?"
The tone of her voice when she "for me?" was unlike anything Garfield Logan had ever heard from her. It was pleading in nature, the tone soft with worriment. It then dawned on him that Raven never had the chance to have much of a childhood growing up, as Azar WAS her childhood and here he was going to just smash it into dust.
Beast Boy gave solemn nod and morphed back into his familiar gorilla form. He cracked his large hairy knuckles and pressing his back against the statue, used his muscular primate legs to push the ridiculously heavy statue out of the way. Slowly but surely, a descending staircase made itself known, leading downwards into a very dark and quiet sub-basement.
"Phew! There's my workout for the week..." the changeling wheezed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Raven frowned slightly at the dark staircase, having no clue where it led or how safe it would be to venture down.
"Wait I so have an idea!" Beast Boy proudly proclaimed and quickly morphed into a bat, flying down into the inky blackness as he bounced his sonic waves off the area, getting a good idea of what was ahead of them. A few tense minutes passed by before he zoomed back up the staircase, switching back to his normal form. "Rae, I got everything we need! Just follow me!" and extended his hand to guide her.
"Famous last words." she dead panned, as Beast Boy took her hand into his. "So how far down is the Grail?" she asked, making her way down the stairs. Beast Boy just shrugged. "Dunno. My sound waves got to the end and there's like a huge door there."
As the two Titans made their way further and further down the staircase, the light faded from twilight to pitch black. Raven could literally not see her hand in front of her face, as it was so dark, but she trusted his judgment, though Common Sense was screaming inside of her not to.
"It's cold down here..." she said shivering. "Almost there..." Beast Boy replied "Ah! Here we are!"
To Raven, they had been going in the same spot forever now, as she hadn't seen anything upon entering, instead merely following Beast Boy. But now he claimed they were at the base of the stairs, apparently facing the large door he had mentioned earlier. "Gar, I can't see anything..." she complained "..how am I supposed to find this door?" and blindly felt her way along a smooth wall, until her outstretched palm sunk into some sort of switch.
Instantly torches scattered around the room lit up, spilling light on the two confused lovers. "Uhh...good job, Rae..." Beast Boy said, confused at what had just transpired. Raven was just as stunned as he is, her violet eyes adjusting to the bright light from the torches.
A huge stone slab slowly slid away from the walls, revealing a well-lit chamber with many torches and a staircase that led to a small pedestal. Beast Boy slowly walked into the room, the changeling completely flabbergasted at just how vast and open it actually was.
"I bet you could fit like, three Titans Towers in here..." he said breathlessly. On each side of the marble staircase were two huge statues, both of them much larger versions of the Azar statue he had seen earlier. His eyes traced up the steps, which at the peak of the pedestal sat a plain looking golden chalice. The Holy Grail.
"The Grail..." Raven said breathlessly. "It's here..."
"Indeed. Quite the sight, is it not?" suddenly came a voice, the sound of which sent Beast Boy's heart sinking in his chest.
It was Dominic.
Stepping out of the shadows near the base of the stairs came the smirking vampire, having changed his suit from before as it lacked the massive blood stain due to his fight with Beast Boy.
"What do you want?" Beast Boy demanded, his fists clenched. Dominic just chuckled to himself as approached the two Titans, the same lecherous smirk square on his face. "The same thing you do...the Grail."
"Because you think you can gain the powers of God by drinking it?" the Azarathian spit through clenched teeth. "You are a fool."
Dominic laughed to himself and stared at Raven, the empath finding herself paralyzed again with whatever underworldy powers he had at his disposal.
Beast Boy shouted with rage as he morphed into a bull, charging at the vampire with two needle sharp horns. Dominic, his glance never leaving Raven, easily dodged the attack this time with his blinding speed.
Beast Boy turned around having missed the vampire, now having the form of a grizzly bear, swinging his large paws in a flurry at Dominic, who again eagerly side stepped each attack.
"I don't get it..." Beast Boy thought to himself "I totally owned this guy last time..."
Dominic blocked one paw with his empty hand and with that delivered a stinging punch that sent the green bear crashing into a nearby statue, taking him out of the action as he became buried underneath the rubble and knocked unconscious.
That just left Dominic and Raven.
"So where did we leave off last time?" he cooed, stroking the side of her face with his hand. "Oh that's right..." and with a gleam in his eyes, unbuttoned her cloak, letting it fall to the floor.
"How did you beat Gar?" the empath demanded. Dominic grinned, showcasing his fangs. "He caught me off guard last time, as I was off balance from then on in our altercation. Unprepared. But now that I know what to expect...well, your beau won't be getting up anytime soon."
Dominic leaned forward and gently bit Raven's left ear lobe, seductively nibbling on it, before dragging his tongue down her neck.
"You taste sinfully delicious." he oozed. "And now the question that has been on my mind for some time now...just how does your delightful outfit come off?"
Raven didn't respond. Just closed her eyes and hoped that was all a bad dream that she would be waking up from soon. Dominic stroked his hands over Raven's waist, caressing it softly, gingerly, till his hand came down slightly behind her left hip bone. There he found the clasp where the leotard buttoned itself shut. "Ah yes, the key to the treasure chest."
He unsnapped the leotard and lightly touched her bare upper thigh, breathing hard into her ear. Raven, for her part, kept as calm as she could in this situation, but felt panic tugging at her soul. "Think Raven!" her mind screamed. "Think of something...anything..." and then suddenly she had it.
"You...win." she said her voice lonely with defeat, hoping Dominic would buy her performance. The perverted vampire stopped his groping, his face slightly stunned, but still very satisfied. "I knew you would come around, my sweet Raven! It delights me to my very soul to see you embracing your dark blood. If you wish, we could find more...romantic quarters." he said, stroking her chin.
Raven forced a smile on her face, as she continued her Oscar-worthy act. "I like that idea, my love...but..." she whispered, her voice trailing off. "But what?" Dominic worried.
"Well, my love, it's just that...there would be nothing special about our rendezvous. Why make love to a vampire, when I could make love to a god?" she cooed, but despite her seductive appearance, inside she felt like she was going to throw up. "I hope he buys this..." she mentally repeated to herself.
Dominic smiled big, liking the pale beauty's idea. "Of course, my dear. Only the highest of pleasures for you." and let go of his psychic paralysis on her. Raven breathed a sigh of relief and with Dominic's back turned, snapped her leotard closed, before picking up her cloak and putting it back on. She watched as Dominic made his way up the stairs, holding the Holy Grail over his head upon taking it into his hands
"And now, I ascend!" he bellowed and lowered the chalice to his lips, sipping the red wine within.
Nothing happened right away.
But then suddenly, Dominic began to laugh uncontrollably, his guffaws becoming louder and harder, roaring with mad delight.
"YESS! YESS! I CAN FEEL IT! THE POWER IS MINE! I AM ONE WITH GOD!"
Then almost as fast as the grin appeared, it quickly faded from his face. What was once insane glee now became fear and paranoia. "No...no...this can't be happening..." he panicked.
"Noo...Noooooooooooo..." were the last things to escape from his lips as he suddenly burst into flames, the smell of burning flesh filling the cavernous room.
Dominic fell to his knees in agony as the holy fire burnt through his clothes and singed his flesh, hunks of molten skin fell in bubbling globules off his bones, his agonizing screams of torment echoing without pity off the remaining statute of Azar. Dominic opened his mouth to scream one last time, but all the came out was a blood curdling gurgle, as what was left of his skeleton violently tumbled down the stair case landing at the feet of Raven.
Stepping over the smoldering carcass, Raven made her way up the steps and picked up the chalice from the floor, surprised it was still full of wine, as if somehow it could never be emptied out. Raven paused as she held it in her hands...she had been through so much, could this really be the end? The cure? The way out?
She took a deep breath and lifted the chalice to her lips, sipping the wine...
Beast Boy woke up in a daze, unsure of where he was . Sitting up and casting the sheets off him, he glanced around, and as his brains became unscrambled, he suddenly realized where he was.
"Dude! We're in our bedroom!" he shouted loudly. Sitting in a chair from across the bed was Raven, reading one of her dusty archaic spell books. "Good morning, Gar." she said with a smile. "Sleep well?"
"Rae...you're never going to believe this, but I had this whacked out dream. There was this dude, right? His name was Domino or something and he was a vampire! And he, like bit you and made you a vampire and then he kept on trying to do it with you and then we went to Azarath and then.." He was interrupted by a sudden kiss from Raven who had crawled on the bed with him, her mouth open slightly, as their tongues intertwined in a fiery display of affection. When she pulled away, she ran her hands through his olive hair.
"It wasn't a dream, Gar..." she said softly.
"It isn't! But Dominic...and...the Grail?"
"Shhh...it's ok, Gar. We found the Grail and you and I drank from it. We're back to our old selves and we're no longer vampires. We're free."
"But what about Dominic?" the changeling asked, worried for her safety.
"Remember how I told you that I told him to go to hell?"
"Yeah?"
"He heeded my advice." she said, a slight smirk on the corner of his mouth. Beast Boy was ecstatic.
"HA! Take that you creepy blood sucker!" he shouted at the ground, sticking his tongue out at the carpet. "I'm just glad I had that pure heart thingie you talked about..."
Raven cocked a curious eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you have a pure heart?"
Beast Boy blushed and scratched the back of his neck "Well...let's just say I had kind of an interesting dream about you couple of weeks ago...and was worried about that whole "Lust being a sin" thing..."
Raven merely rolled her eyes in jest. "Sadly the Grail didn't seem to fix your hormones." she teased. Beast Boy smirked before kissing her again, pulling her closer to him as he laid back on the bed. A few minutes of passionate embracing passed by, before Raven gently pushed herself back.
"Easy there, killer. Let's not get too carried away."
"Right..." Beast Boy nodded. "I'm tired. Care to take a nap?"
"I thought you'd never ask..." she said, resting her head on under his arm as the two lovers drifted off to sleep, safe and secure in their own bed.