Chapter 1: Slade
Beast Boy shook his head to lift the foggy haze that enveloped his mind. Trying to remember where he was he looked down at himself for clues. Everything seemed normal except one striking detail, his hands were covered in blood.
Panicking for a second, Beast Boy checked himself for injuries before staring back at his hands, puzzled when he found nothing.
Slowly, his eyes widened and his expression turned from confusion to horror as he examined his blood-stained hands and realized the blood wasn't his own.
Looking for an explanation, he looked up and noticed a body lying a few feet in front of him. He knew it was dead because he couldn't hear it's heartbeat. He also knew it wasn't any of his friends' as it wore an all black suit and didn't have any of their scents. He struggled to remember what had happened.
Closing his eyes in concentration, flashes of teeth and claws greeted him. Followed by bloodcurdling screams and then darkness. He didn't recognize where the claws were coming from but the scream was definitely from the body in front of him.
His eyes then shot open as it started to come together. The short term memory loss, foreign claws, hazy vision and muddled brain had only happened to him a few times before.
He looked at the body again hoping it wasn't true. When he did, Beast Boy noticed the remnants of Slade's mask in tatters between himself and the body.
Finally realizing The Beast had gotten out and killed Slade, Beast Boy started to feel the panic rise in his chest. His body tightened as he looked around for his team, fearing what The Beast might have done to them.
He noticed them all half a block away staring at him. Cyborg had his plasma cannon aimed Beast Boy, Starfire's eyes had lost their green glow, Robin wore a rare expression of shock and fear and Raven. Raven's face visibly struggled as she tried to contain her emotions. Beast Boy hung his head and stared at his hands once again.
Unsure of what to do, Beast Boy took a step towards his team. As he did, Cyborg raised his canon higher, Robin drew his staff, and Starfire's expression went from sadness to fear. Raven remained rooted in place, as if paralyzed.
Seeing this, Beast Boy finally realized the gravity of what The Beast, an by extension himself, had done. He had broken the Titan's biggest rule and taken a life. The life of a criminal, but a life nonetheless. Slumping to the ground, Beast Boy sat, motionless.
The Titans also stood there, motionless for a long while. Finally, Robin took a step toward Beast Boy. As he did, Beast Boy turned into a hawk and flew away.
He flew for hours. Going nowhere in particular, Beast Boy flew simply because he didn't know what else to do. He couldn't face the team, not like this. He'd just killed someone. He couldn't turn himself in, the government would experiment on him just like when he'd first gotten his powers. Shaking his head to clear it of his past, Beast Boy continued to fly.
Flying around the city had always been calming to him, but he realized he had to get out. If he didn't leave, he'd never be able to address what he'd done. Landing on a building and returning to normal, Beast Boy wore the camouflage ring Cyborg had once given him. His green skin turned white and his features became more human. His uniform had also changed into casual streetwear. The only indication of who he was were his bright green eyes. Buying a pair of sunglasses from a street stall, Beast Boy prepared for his exile from Jump City.
After using the money he had to buy food and clothing, Beast Boy went into an alleyway, turned into a hawk, grabbed his newly bought duffel bag full of supplies, and flew towards the nearest forest. Living in nature was easy for him but he decided killing for food wasn't something he was prepared to do. Struggling to carry his bag in his talons, Beast Boy turned into an eagle and continued on.
Arriving at a clearing in a forest north of Jump City, Beast Boy got to work making a shelter. After a mere twenty minutes he had made a decent structure between two nearby trees and got to work making a fire. Half an hour after arriving, Beast Boy had made himself at home in the forest and sat down to think.
Beast Boy knew he wanted to confront The Beast about what it had done. Doing so, however, would prove to be a challenge. He'd never actively searched for The Beast within himself. He always felt it there, but had no idea how to tap into it.
Resigning to simply sit there until he got hungry, Beast Boy's mind began to drift to the events from earlier in the day. As time had passed, the memories of what had happened got clearer and Beast Boy finally remembered what led to The Beast being unleashed and killing Slade. Mulling over it, Beast Boy replayed the memories in his mind.
The team had gotten an alert early in the morning the Slade was spotted for the first time in a long time. Realizing it was probably something big, the team rushed to the sighting. When they got there they saw Slade had an upgraded army of Sladebots that were considerably bigger, stronger, and faster. They were in the process of robbing a bank, no doubt to get the Titan's attention. Jumping into action, the Titans fought the bots while Slade watched with glee. Hours passed as the team destroyed wave after wave of upgraded Sladebots. Slade, himself, had since left the battlefield and allowed the Titans to tire themselves out trying to defeat his army. By the time Slade ordered his metallic army to retreat, the Titans were thoroughly exhausted. Taking advantage, Slade began to fight the Titans. Slade, able to take on multiple Titans at full strength was easily able to beat the whole team while they were exhausted. Not stopping at that, however, Slade intended to finally kill the Titans. Starting with Raven, Slade used his Sladebots to restrain the other Titans as he prepared to publicly execute Raven in front of her teammates. Too exhausted to summon any of her powers, Raven was helpless as Slade held the knife to her throat and jeered at the Titans. It was at this moment that Beast Boy felt The Beast fighting to come to the surface. Out of options, Beast Boy willingly allowed The Beast to take control. The Beast then shredded through the Sladebots before tackling Slade to the ground and tearing into him. As Beast Boy tried to contain The Beast before he killed Slade, The Beast resisted and pushed Beast Boy further out of control before brutally killing Slade. The Beast, satisfied that the threat was eliminated, then allowed Beast Boy to regain control.
Beast Boy sighed as he finished replaying the day's events. As he did, self loathing gripped his mind. How could he have killed someone? Despite what Slade was going to do, he had resolved to never kill anything, let alone another person. If he hadn't let The Beast take control, he could have found a way to save the team, right? The moment that thought occurred to him he realized it wasn't true. The only reason they survived was because of The Beast. Beast Boy barely had enough strength to lift his arm, let alone shapeshift and fight through Sladebots and Slade himself before he killed Raven. Despite this, he still hated himself and The Beast for what happened afterwards. Why didn't he fight harder to regain control before Slade died? Did he want The Beast to kill Slade? Beast Boy shuddered as the thought occurred to him. Shaking his head, he decided to get some rest and sort everything out in the morning.