Chapter 4

Facing this odd yet familiar woman floating just above the reddening water, her presence somehow had an effect on the beast; a semblance of cautious comfort overcame him while he kept his guard up.

"Beast Boy? It's me... Raven, your friend." Remaining cautious herself, Raven tried reaching out to him. "I'm not going to hurt you." She could sense that part that was still her trusted friend, and she needed to draw him out.

Whatever she was doing, it seemed to work. He lowered his bloody claws, he loosened his stance, his teeth withdrew behind his lips and his scowl faded away. With his ears hanging, he went from a feral stray to a sad puppy within moments — she even heard a pained whimper.

The empath softened her voice as best as she could. "Please, I just want to help you."

When she made it within meters, the beast turned his side to her, hiding his face yet giving her another frontal view of his arm.

Wincing at the sight of his torn flesh gaped open enough to show the bone, Raven swallowed and reached her hands out to summon her healing powers.

"Let me get that for you." She whispered, inching her fingers closer to his fur. "I can't stand to look at it any longer."

The beast tensed up as he eyed her for just a few seconds, only to close them as he settled down again. Sighing in relief, Raven hovered her hands over the gash and focused intently. Her spell wrapped itself around his arm and pulsed for what took a minute until the wound closed up finally.

When she removed her hands, her 'handywork' left a patch of exposed flesh displaying the tears that were now awkwardly welded shut together.

"That will have to do for now, I suppose." With that part over, she now had to get him under control so they could return to their friends. "Looks like our mission's... complete?"

Just as Raven fumbled under her cape for her communicator to let Robin and the others know where they were, the beast took off on all fours without warning.

"What the—?" Raven whipped around to see him already disappearing through the trees and chased after him. "Beast Boy! What's gotten into you??" Her calls were ignored, much to her annoyance.

To keep up with this wild creature, she used her shadow powers to have her body pass through the jungle obstacles to save the trouble of meandering around them.

From the way he paced, it didn't look like he was running away from her, but rather, he had picked up something and was hurrying there with purpose.

"Where are you going?"

Seeing the rest of his scars on his back that she forgot to heal as well, she mentally kicked herself — if Beast Boy kept going the way he is, he could wind up ripping the rest of himself open.

Soon, however, the beast led her to a clearing where he suddenly stopped in front of what appeared to be an abandoned research camp with a cabin in its center.

Raven followed him into the site on foot, tailing far enough behind that it wouldn't stir him up in any way. Looking around too, she found doors and windows that looked like they were left open for decades, some of them leaving evidence of forced entry while moss had long rooted into their interiors. Flasks were also strewn throughout the path they walked, some of them whole, but most of them in pieces around stains of whatever chemicals they contained.

The beast stopped once more, this time in front of the cabin's front porch, and pushed himself up on his hind legs. Raven flinched, expecting him to let out a skyward cry, only to instead observe him as he just stood like that, upright, like he was surveying the place intensely.

Ultimately, Raven had to ask the obvious. "What is this place? Why did you bring us here?"

Of course, she wouldn't get an answer. Instead, another tremble of thunder, though understated this time, brought her to face the sky where she found the dark clouds parting; at long last, the rain was slowing to a stop.

It was right at this moment that her peripheral caught the animal's height sinking, and she turned her attention back to see the beast shrinking down in size, his fur and claws sheathing back into his skin.

There stood in its place was the familiar human form of her teammate, the scars all over his bare skin still apparent.

"B—Beast Boy... is that you?"

He turned to her, eyes half-lidded like he was still waking up after an all-nighter. Raven tightened her concentration as to avoid looking anywhere lower than his face — he was facing her, fully naked.

"R—Raven?" He murmured.

She was at a loss for words; while she was relieved to have her friend back, her mind scrambled to find an excuse to dissolve this awkward situation, and then she remembered his injuries.

"I—I need to heal your injuries!" Shrugging it off, she got her cool back as she sat him down on the steps and got to work. Her powers this time enveloped him all over like a bodysuit, and surely after another minute, those wounds closed up as well.

"It's feels like... being in a nice bubbly jacuzzi." Beast Boy said, smiling lightly as he enjoyed this warm sensation.

Raven couldn't help but smile as she finished up and then unclipped her cape to put around him, mainly just to cover him until they could find some proper clothes later.

They sat together like this for a while, watching the storm as it waned until its last raindrop made its fall.

"What happened?" asked Beast Boy once his breathing levelled. "Why am I covered in blood? And why does my heart f—feel like it's gonna...?" Another harsh soreness sprouted in his chest, and he thumped his hand there, as if that would help at all.

The girl's worry spiked again, and she held him as he hunched over like he was going to hurl. "What's wrong??"

She already knew what the problem was, so she tried reaching for the source of his pain to see if her abilities could help in any way.

"It hurts!" The changeling cried, now breathing shallowly.

"I need you to calm down and let me help you!"

"I... d—don't think you can." He garbled his words "N—Not with... t—this!"

Raven narrowed her eyes. "Watch me!"

Laying him back, she floated her hands over his chest and started uttering her mantra, boring deep into herself to bring out her best effort; she knew she couldn't really help this case, but she would at least try to bandage the problem until she could get him the proper help he needed.

"Stay with me." She commanded in a stern yet caring tone.

Beast Boy did his best to obey her and dug deep for any memories he could cherish to provide him momentary relief from the burn.

"That's it." She encouraged. "You'll be okay, I promise."

In truth, Beast Boy couldn't find any memories that were fond enough to compare to what was happening right now, besides that one time she unexpectedly hugged him after that Malchior incident; just being out here alone with Raven was enough to soothe him through.

Being his close to the angelic half-demon, he took this advantage to admire her beauty yet again and melted under his graceful image. Everyone usually looked to Starfire as divine beauty, but to the shapeshifter, Raven's modesty outshone her.

After what felt like an hour that passed, the strain in his cardiac muscles drifted away like sand blown by the gentle wind.

Coming back to, he saw Raven, still leaning over him, venting in exhaustion — against all odds, she managed to save him, and he didn't know how but didn't care.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, baring his toothy grin.

"Am I okay??"

No, she wasn't; he had terrified her for five long minutes, not that she would admit it.

(SCENE BREAK)

"Have you found them, Star?"

"No, Robin." Hanging her head, Statfire flew back down to him and Cyborg after sweeping the far reaches of the jungle. "The jungles of Africa are truly an abstruse habitat to traverse."

"Don't worry, we'll find them."

"I worry for both of them, especially Beast Boy." Ever the one to wear her emotions on her sleeves, the tamaranian threw herself onto her leader's shoulder.

"I'm still not having any luck picking up their signal." Cyborg stated, clearly irritated as he tried computing the map display on his arm over and over again.

Suddenly, Robin's communicator buzzed, and none of them wasted a second to gather up as he took it out and flipped it open to see Raven's face on the small screen.

"Raven!" He exclaimed, relief washing over the three Titans. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, you're the second person to ask me that." She replied in her classic monotone. "I'm at this abandoned research camp that used to belong to Beast Boy's family."

"W—What?"

Starfire pushed in, more than eager to pour out her heart. "Oh, we are most joyous to see that you didn't end up as fresh meat in the jungle!"

"Thanks, Starfire... I'm sending you our coordinates now."

Once Raven's blinker popped up on Cyborg's navigator, they rushed off to find those two in the T-Plane.

(SCENE BREAK)

After a good long shower in his old bathroom to get all the blood off, Beast Boy carried himself to the master bedroom and was glad to find that his parent's wardrobe still contained some of his father's clothes, so he picked a plain t-shirt and a pair of shorts that fitted him loosely as he put them on.

Sitting on the bed, he absorbed its softness, returning to when he used to share it with his mom and dad as a little boy during the spooky nights.

Looking to the bedside table, he picked up a fractured frame that was sitting there and brought it on his lap to gaze at the photo inside; it was that of a pair of scientists, a couple, smiling at the camera while holding him as a baby between them; they looked happy as ever.

Raven herself decided to explore his old home as well. With each room she passed, a story revealed itself behind every corner; there were books, maps, diagrams of chemical formulas and even fossils of various critters shown to her.

Just how much about himself did he keep from everyone?

When she found what was obviously his bedroom, she saw it flooded with wallpapers, drawings and toys of many different animals. To further her surprise, there were even hard-covered encyclopedias strewn all over the floor.

She never knew he actually read all this; back home, it was usually comics or magazines. It impressed her, actually... quite alot.

Eventually, she joined her friend in the room he was in where she caught him sobbing uncontrollably, his tears felting the picture he was holding. It struck her, for while she had seen him vulnerable before, never had she seen him actually cry — she couldn't bear this sight.

When she came over and saw the picture for herself, she understood. Without saying anything more, the empath sat next to her green friend and pulled his head onto her shoulder where he could continue releasing his grief, something that she often never had the privilege of, while they both heard the whirr of the T-Plane approaching their location.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Author's Note: Thanks for reading this chapter! Nothing more to say.

NeverlandHeart: I had no idea that your story existed until someone in the review section pointed me to yours. Nonetheless, I'm glad to have you following my story. You got nothing to apologize for ;)

Please leave a review or question and I will respond to them in the next chapter! Ciao!