Chapter 8

Beast Boy's whole body just shut down, every one of his circuits viciously torn out — he had just lost another love of his life.

"R—Raven…?" He whimpered as he weakly extended a hand towards her head. "W—What did you do…?"

"You shouldn't be worrying about what I did, but rather what I'm about to make you do." Slade paused in his skulk, his shadow casting over the broken Titan. "Your last battle with that berserker truly staggered me, so I became interested in finding our more about you."

"So it was you?" Beast Boy didn't bother to look up at his foe; all strength had left his body, including his neck. "You were behind the attack in Africa?"

"You don't sound so surprised." The masked assassin brought his swords up, ready to strike the changeling who didn't seem to want to move. "Then again, maybe you're too paralyzed with grief at the sudden death of yet another girlfriend."

"Why?"

This response surprised the man a little and allowed his curiosity to stall him. "Why, do you ask?"

"Yes, Slade." Beast Boy nodded and finally looked up to their longtime nemesis, his eyes narrowed, but rather in pain than rage. "No has seen or heard from you for years. You could have started over."

"Excuse me?"

"I thought that maybe gave up on being a supervillain after that whole Trigon bullshit." As if being pulled up by strings, Beast Boy was back on his own two feet, his dry calmness projecting an unfamiliar wave. "You could have left to start a new life… so why come back?"

Slade gave no response as he swung his swords down, the blades missing their mark as Beast Boy dove out of harm's way on pure instinct — still, he didn't try to retaliate as he just stood there in his next position, eyes blank as a page.

"At least try to make this interesting for me!" The villain lunged for yet another attack, and again, they were avoided with a mixture of animalistic reflexes agility. "I wanted to come over and witness your beastly ferocity myself! You're disappointing me so far."

Although Beast Boy wanted to do just as he had described, he was too emotionally drained to care about anything anymore; here, he was just going through the motions while his mind had retreated elsewhere, probably to wail alone.

Something else was bothering him too, however; he had just seen Raven butchered, and yet, it just wasn't right for some reason. Was he perhaps clinging to false hope… or were his instincts actually trying to tell him something else although? It was highly unlikely, but he wanted to hope for a little more rather than wallow in despair.

"You're awfully quiet." Slade mocked, noting his wistful expression. "Shouldn't you be screaming bloody murder at me by now?"

"Something…" Beast Boy muttered without complete thought.

For a moment, he forced yet another glance at Raven's discarded head and saw no visible difference, except for her eyes that were now closed to look like she was in a peaceful slumber — dead bodies can't close their eyes on their own, can they?

Robin had taught him once to always listen to that feeling in his gut, and it was whirring like a turbo engine right now.

With this in mind, Beast Boy's green eyes were set flame once more, reignited with purpose.

"That's it!" Gushed Slade. "That's the look I've been waiting to see!" He charged at his young opponent with a flurry of more swipes. "Give in to it! Let it take ahold of you once more!"

This time, Beast Boy transformed into a series of small critters and animals just to bounce between different sizes to make himself harder to hit; this included a lizard, a mouse, a snake, a sparrow, a frog, and finally, a spider monkey. In that latter form, he pounced onto Slade's mask as soon as he got his opening and scratched his one eye.

With this masked intruder disoriented, the Titan shrunk his mass into that of a dragonfly so he could zip out of the main room into the hallway.

"Little shit!" Slade grunted painfully as he profusely tried to rub the pain off, and then darted his eyes around the big interior to find his opponent gone. "Hiding isn't going to do anything, you know?" He taunted cooly, "Nothing you can do will save her!"

(SCENE BREAK)

Having hidden himself well away from the presumed killer, Beast Boy reverted back into his human self. Leaning his whole weight against a wall, he did his best to muffle his strained breaths while his brand new watch beeped profusely; it was because of his already taxed heart that he was forced to fall back so he could recuperate.

"Five minutes…?" He hissed. "Can't even last… five minutes?"

Giving in to the heaviness, he slumped to the floor and hid his face in his knees. There was no chance that any of his other friends were alive either, for if they were, they'd be rushing back to save his life by now. Any sliver of hope he had during that little exchange back there melted away with his tears. There was nothing to fight for anymore… no more friends… no more family… and no more love.

"I'm sorry, Raven." He choked out. "This is all my f—fault."

Beast Boy felt himself being labelled as the most pathetic hero in the world — no — the universe. He couldn't comprehend why he even bothered to defend himself against his assailant. Why didn't he just allow Slade to kill him as well? Sure, it would mean leaving their city to be tainted by the villain, but it would at least end his pain.

All he wanted now was to change into that beast again… to shred the world that so wronged him apart… until his heart would finally give way… so why wasn't that happening?

"Garfield…"

Beast Boy shot up, whip-panning left and right for the source of a womanly voice that uttered his birth name; he knew who it belonged to, but it couldn't be.

"M—Mom…?"

"GARFIELD!" The voice shrieked, it resonance indicating it's origin from an different environment altogether.

Suddenly, there was dead thick silence muffling the air. There, he found himself sitting in a river, directly underneath a pounding waterfall. All around him, where were chunks of debris that look like they belonged to… a boat — this was a fresh wreckage… and not just any wreckage either.

"No…!" He cried, his voice mute to even his own ears. "Not here! Please… not here!"

Among the waste, he caught sight of two things he prayed not to see; there were these bodies drifting motionlessly within a red mist, their limbs, necks and spines bent in all the wrong angles where the blood was gushing out — these were his parents.

"WHY COULDN'T YOU SAVE US!?" Screamed the corpses all of a sudden; their lifeless expressions didn't change, yet their mouths animated.

"M—Mom…? Dad…?" He cowered under their glare. "Y—You told me to… you wanted me to save myself."

"EVERYONE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!"

"No!" There was no way to muffle his ears or argue; his mind was doing all the talking. "That's not true!"

"YOU'RE WORTHLESS!!"

"NO, I AM NOT!!" Beast Boy's voice returned with fury, and now he had his body back, his feet planted firmly into the dirt. As soon as he realized this, he truly began to wake up to what was going on.

"TELL US, THEN!!" Now their heads turned directly to him. "Tell us why you deserve better?" Their voices were strangely calmer now.

"Because everyone matters." He answered softly. "Everyone has a reason to be here. I have a reason to be here!"

After a pregnant pause from his parents, their bodies began to twist themselves, rearranging all their mangled parts so that they were back in their rightful place; it was a bizarre yet fascinating display for the green Titan. When that was done, they stood closely together on the bed, unaffected by the river's current, as their bright colours returned, the ones he always remembered them radiating.

"Without all this… I wouldn't be the person I am today." Beast Boy continued, his audience encouraging him with a nod to go on. "Whether Raven is dead or not, I won't give up… because you gave your lives for me. I'll fight until my very last beat."

"We love you so much, Garfield Mark Logan." His mother cooed. "We have no regrets."

Just as Beast Boy extended a hand to reach for her, both of them faded from this silent world, along with the wreckage.

"No!" Beast Boy cried again. "Don't leave!"

It was too late. In a blink, he was back in the hall where he hid himself. Patting himself to make sure he wasn't still dreaming, he got off the floor in a hurry, recapped everything that transpired and took off back in the direction of the common room where he left Slade hanging; he wasn't going to cower in a corner anymore.

(SCENE BREAK)

Returning to the common room, his opponent was no longer in the room — he could still be searching for him back in the hall, or worse, he might have escaped.

Either way, he kept his guard up as he meandered to the very spot where Slade mailed him Raven's supposed head. No longer could he smell her fresh blood, nor her deathly odour that should have been steaming with it.

Instead, there laid a big round watermelon, the same one he found in the fridge, by his feet, still uncut yet strewn like garbage.

"Dude!" He cheered, momentarily forgetting where he was. "We were gonna eat that!"

His heart was putting itself back together, his body being cleansed with relief. His instincts were correct; it wasn't Raven's head that he saw, but rather some kind of twisted illusion caused by that apparent mosquito bite earlier.

Raven had to be alive.

"Disappointing." The changeling spun into his combat stance once more as he faced Slade coming out of the doorway, his arms folded in contempt. "Never trust a former patient."

"What did you do to me?" He demanded with a renewed fighting spirit.

Slade took out what appeared to be a poison dart and spiked it onto the floor between them, its needle end piercing the carpet.

"That mosquito bite was actually a dab of fear toxin I borrowed from an old doctor back in Gotham."

"You drugged me?"

"It was supposed to drive you mad with your worst fears." The masked man unsheathed his swords yet again. "Clearly, I underestimated your conviction."

"What were you planning anyway?" Right then, it dawned on him. "You wanted me to draw out the beast, didn't you?"

"Aren't you the cunning detective?"

"Why?"

"Why?" Slade scoffed. "Do you really think I'll just lay down my whole plan in front of you?"

"I guess not."

Ultimately, Beast Boy held his ground as Slade charged in for another attack, this time with unbridled aggression. The changeling dodged each one of his lethal swipes, smirking at that fact that he foiled the villain's plan once more.

"Is your eye still sore?" The young man taunted.

"Don't get cocky, brat!"

Capitalising on the hero's overconfidence, Slade spotted his exposed chest and nailed that area with a quick knee, followed by a roundhouse that flung the green shapeshifter over the lounge and onto their round coffee table.

Splayed on his back, Beast Boy took a second two to recover from the ringing headache. By then, Slade was standing above him, ready to deliver the killing stroke.

First, he thrust one of his swords through the Titan's shoulder, nailing him to the table. Beast Boy bit back his agony as he glared up at his enemy, ready to take his next blow. To mock his inconvenience, the villain stalled yet again to share some more words.

"I was wondering, by the way, whether you and Raven were becoming an item. You two looked very close." He raised the hilt of his sword up, his blade arrowed over Beast Boy's chest. "I guess it's always the opposites who attract."

"Of all the last words you could say to me… that's what you pick?" Beast Boy's sense of humour found its way back to him, despite this dire predicament.

"Oh, don't worry… once I kill you, I'll make sure she finds her way to you in the afterlife."

Beast Boy's grin turned into a snarl; if there was one thing he could no longer tolerate, it was anyone threatening Raven.

"Okay, Slade… you want the beast so badly?"

Slade thrust his blade down onto the youngest member of the Team he so despised, but instead of its tip piercing through his heart like it was supposed to, it was caught in a death-hold by the changeling's other remaining hand — this caused the assassin to widen his eye into a disc almost. Below him, he saw a face he could no longer recognize from all his previous battled beforehand — all there was left of the supposedly innocent jokester was carnivorous bloodlust.

"YOU GOT IT!"

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Author's Note: Many of you probably saw this coming already. I feel bad for leaving you all with a brutal cliffhanger last time. We're not yet out of the woods, though. If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter, however long that will take.

Adrinsane: Glad you caught on!