Man, I'm not getting a lot of comments on this. I guess that's what I get for taking so long to get back to finishing this. Oh well.

GarSakybek, thank you for being the only comment on the last chapter. I hope this was soon enough for you and everyone else.


Chapter Fifty-Nine: You Are My Mate


The Beast's fist collided…

...

...

Against the ground beside her head.

...

...

...

..

Rage's four eyes slowly opened, looking to her side in surprise.

The hairy fist was so close, she could see each individual hair standing on end... but it hadn't hit her. The Beast hadn't killed her.

Her mate's grip on her neck had also loosened, allowing her to breath again...

She finally looked back up at the Beast.

He was staring down at her. An unreadable expression was on his face.

Though it was only the space of a few seconds, it still felt like an eternity. But then, after it was finally over, the large creature shook his head.

"No.

"No hurt mate."

His other clawed hand released her throat. Rage touched her neck as the Beast stood up off her to his full height.

"I won't hurt mate."

...

The Beast offered her his paw as she continued to be silent.

Rage looked at it thoughtfully, then she looked up at him.

The Beast's wolf-like had a smile on it. He looked so adorable as he reached down to her…

She reached a hand up…

Boom!

The Beast was painfully pinned down to the ground by hands of energy that grabbed him from behind. The shockwave from the impact and crater made moved out over the landscape.

"Well, that's too bad then, because I definitely don't mind hurting you." Rage chuckled darkly to the bound Beast as she formed a dark ethereal spear in her hands.

"You should have taken me out while you had the chance."

Her energy kept the bound Beast immobile. He was unable to move, and if he morphed, well, she was ready for that.

...

Strange though. He wasn't resisting at all.

...

Well, it was no matter. It'd just make this easier for her.

"Do you have any last words? I do hope they're more creative than the ones from earlier. Release mate and all that." Rage laughed as she sat on his chest. Pointing her weapon down at his heart.

The Beast looked up at her face. Strangely enough, he was still smiling.

And... there seemed to be a bit of mischievousness in his eyes this time. Before she could overcome her confusion as to why though, the Beast spoke in a slow, halting voice that was entirely sincere.

"I… always did think… mate looked the most beautiful… before mate was about to kill."

...

...

The unexpected words caught Rage completely off guard.

Klarion's mark in the sky shimmered in the sky up above. For just a second, a black space full of stars appeared behind it.

"N-No! You won't throw me off that easily-" Rage's fake personality screamed and tried to prepare the spear in her hands.

The Beast's eyes and smile became even more mischievous. Rage's arm started to tremble at the dual combo. Her heart began to race in her chest, just imagining what her mate wanted to do to her.

Her concentration broke enough that the spear in her hands disappeared, as well as the energy pinning the Beast down.

"Wh-what's happening!? I-I'm supposed to k-kill you! H-He won't let me-"

The Beast got up. Picking her up with her so they could be face-to-face.

"You are my mate… and I am your protector. You'd be silly… to believe a bond like ours… could be weaker than any oath you make to another."

The fake personality tried to say that he was wrong, that there was nothing she could do.

But the words caught in her throat. The mark up above shimmered even more, and the ground around them became ethereal.

"Y-You can't!"

Rage struggled in the Beast's grip. An inner battle was happening within the demoness. But the next words spoken were the real deal and not because of some fake.

"I… I'm hideous. I'm nothing but a monster. A demoness who doesn't even want to be a demon." Rage trembled as tears filled her eyes.

Again, this wasn't Klarion's manipulation or his implanted personality spell. This was Rage's own thoughts.

It was funny how Raven had hated her for so long for their heritage. Yet even she, the embodiment of that heritage, deep down, hated herself the most for who she was.

She did not want to destroy worlds. To bathe in the blood of innocent people. It was the main reason why she was fighting Klarion's influence from her mind.

She wanted to have fun, yes, but not her Father's version of it. And the fact that deep down, she did have these desires and wanted to act on them, made her hate herself more than she ever had in the past.

"You are not hideous. You are you." The Beast said amusedly.

Tears filled all four of the girl's eyes. "You deserve someone so much better than me! How could you stand here and hold me with such love and care! I don't deserve any of the sort! How could I be your mate when we're not even the same species!

"I'm not even a full demon or a full human! I'm not even that! I'm just a part of someone who is a hybrid of the two! I, I...!"

"I don't know what I am!" Rage cried at the end.

...

...

For a singular moment in time, everything stood still at the honest admission. The weight of it seemed to impact the Beast greatly...

...

...

The Beast hugged her to his body. Her arms wrapped around his beefy neck as she cried. The landscape all around them was beginning to crumble and fade as Klarion's spell continued to break under the influence of the Beast's honest, gentle words.

"I know what you are. I've known it all along. And what you are will never change, no matter how many seasons pass by for us." The Beast said.

"What you are… is a dork."

...

Rage's crying stopped at the surprise words. She pulled back to look at his face, which was back to being just as mischievous as it had been earlier.

"And I… am also a dork. Who is merely a part of another dork. And yet, the both of us, are in love with the same dork…"

His mischievous smile became loving and sincere. "Who is incapable of seeing just how great she truly is."

Rage gasped, and as tears filled her eyes, a claw poked out of his paw, and the Beast carved a shallow paw mark into her shoulder's skin with it.

She gasped again at the action, but immediately afterward, the mark on her skin glowed brightly, and the mark in the sky up above let out a sound akin to a loud screech, before it faded away entirely.

The hellish landscape around them faded away alongside Klarion's mark.

The two individuals were left standing on one of the floating islands of Nevermore amidst a sea of stars.

...

...

Rage breathed in sharply as the glow of the mark on her shoulder faded away, and then she relaxed. For what felt like the first time in ages.

She looked up at her mate. Her four eyes softened as she floated back up to his height.

"You made it official."

The Beast smiled at her words. "It has always been that way to me." He'd always called her his mate. Yet, he'd refrained from marking her as so up till now.

That was the meaning behind the marking. He had claimed her as his mate for life.

She continued to look at the Beast. Her mind processing the meaning behind his action.

Then, though tears were still rolling down the sides of her face, she softly smiled at him. Even though she was far from perfect and hadn't liked herself for what she was...

"Thank... thank you for accepting me, my mate." She said sincerely.

The Beast nodded and then hugged her close again.

Rage wrapped her arms around his large neck. Burrowing her face into his surprisingly soft and smooth fur.

This… Rage would never forget the feeling of being held in his arms as herself for the very first time.

Despite everything that'd happened, what'd she done, and what they'd gone through...

She couldn't help but feel... happy, right now.

...

...

After what felt like a lifetime, the two released each other.

Raven stared at Beast Boy, and he stared at her in turn.

During the hug, he'd shrunk back down to his human size. Raven's skin had returned to its pale hue, and her clothes had turned back to white again. The only hint that what'd happened before wasn't a dream was the paw print engraved on her shoulder as well as a few scratches and bruises that'd carried over from the battle.

The pair stared at each other. Words hanging off each other's lips… it was almost as if neither could believe anything that'd just happened over the last several hours.

But then, Raven suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around her boyfriend as she gladly kissed him. And he immediately reciprocated.

An insane measure of relief and happiness filled their souls. Even better, since they were inside Nevermore, they didn't have to fear any accidental explosions or anything. Meaning they could make out with each other as much as they wanted.

Ah, there was nothing better than this.

They could have been stuck at that moment forever without ever wanting to leave…

"Yes!"

"Wahoo!"

"It's about damn time we got back to this!"

"Ugh, get a room you two."

However, this was Raven's mind, meaning her emoticlones showed up to butt in on their reunion.

The two separated from each other as Happy, Brave, Rude, and Sloth led the procession. Happy was positively beaming. Brave was pumping both her fists into the air. Rude was smirking so widely you almost would have thought it was a smile... and Sloth was Sloth, just like usual.

"Seriously? You all have to appear now?" Raven asked blandly.

"Why wouldn't we? It's not often you bring BB in here." Happy hugged Beast Boy, who looked to be on cloud nine with so many Ravens around him.

Raven facepalmed. She didn't force Brave off when she hung off Beast Boy's shoulder to continue cheering. And she didn't shoo any of the other emoticlones away as they gathered around.

Not even Rage, who looked more calm and docile than anyone had ever seen her before.

"I feel… happy." She said, her face twisting as if not used to the word.

"Hehehe! Now you know how I feel Rageypoo!" Happy giggled as she appeared next to the demoness and hugged her side.

Rage didn't even register it. She began to smile dopily like she was on cloud nine.

"I still don't understand though. How did his Beast marking us overrun our demonic oath to that boy?" Wisdom mused to herself.

"You know… I'm not really sure myself." Knowledge admitted. Her mind was coming up blank.

"Eh. It's probably just more BS like how Wonder Woman woke up early." Sloth yawned to herself.

Wait, she shouldn't know about that! Raven wasn't there when Wonder Woman gave her explanation about how she woke up!

"Try to at least make your plot holes less obvious, Al-"

Boom!

Lightning struck the emoticlone, briefly shocking those on the scene.

However, when the smoke cleared, it showed Sloth fast asleep on the ground. And everything went back to normal.

Beast Boy grinned as he suddenly grabbed Raven and kissed her without warning. Her eyes widened in shock but then closed as she accepted it.

All the emoticlones all around melted in bliss. Even Sloth began having very good dreams where she lay sprawled out, still smoking from the lightning strike.

After only a few seconds, Beast Boy cut it off and grinned at his girlfriend. "Ha, I knew every part of you liked it when I did that."

"Wha…" Raven looked around, seeing the reactions from all her emoticlones. She began to blush, seeing all the dopey-eyed grins on their faces. "Is that really why you-" She began to say in annoyance.

Beast Boy shut her up with another deep kiss. Raven rolled her eyes but accepted it nonetheless.

Her boyfriend could be so weird sometimes.

But this, she would have gladly let it continue on forever…

Boom!

Unfortunately, a loud explosion was heard, and the two separated in surprise. Had another one of her emoticlones been struck with lightning or something?!

Yet, all of them seemed just as confused as the two of them.

"Oh, yeah…" Beast Boy grimaced in realization.

"We're still not done yet." Raven sighed reluctantly.

"Yes. I believe that sound came from the real world." Wisdom said after having conferred in silence with Knowledge.

"We should save the, um… celebrations, for later." Knowledge pushed her glasses up her nose. Blushing at the word she'd decided on. "We have to deal with Klarion before he's harnessed enough of his power through the Helmet of Nabu to take control of the universe."

Beast Boy and Raven both nodded. Beast Boy, for his credit, only slightly paled at the incredulously impossible task they now had to overcome.

"Hey Rae, got any directions to the portal out of here?"

"Just a second." Raven focused intently, as did her emoticlones.

Suddenly, their surroundings shifted. Beast Boy turned around in surprise and found that they were now standing in front of a familiar red portal. The sounds of fighting could be heard on the other side.

"Nice. I didn't know you could do that." He grinned widely at her, and she couldn't help the blush that crept into her cheeks.

"It is my mind..." She twirled one of her hairs around her finger nervously. Brave mimicked the action, which seemed even more bizarre than Raven herself doing it.

"When... when we get back there, will you be able to call off the demon hordes?" He then asked seriously. "The others were really struggling against them when I brought you in here."

The pale girl frowned. "No, they also held a part in the oath. I might not be a part of it anymore, but they are still bound.

"Worse than that, Klarion is a Lord of Order and a Lord of Chaos now. Even if they weren't bound, that boy is the most powerful being in the universe. They'd want to follow him to save their own skins... unless I or someone else beats him.

Beast Boy smirked. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to take him down."

"Do you really think it's going to be that simple?" Raven quirked an eyebrow. "You should honestly be thinking more about what we're going to jump into."

"Rae, since when am I ever known to think about anything?" Beast Boy laughed.

"... fair point," Raven smirked.

"HEY! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO AGREE WITH ME!" Beast Boy screamed while emoting angrily with his arms.

...

Raven's smirk only grew, causing Beast Boy to turn away and pout...

Though, he did feel somewhat better when she planted a kiss on his cheek. "Just promise to think enough so you don't die on me, dork."

He turned his head towards her with a grin. "For you, I'd use my entire brain mama."

"Let's hope all those video games left something in that head of yours to use." Raven grinned in return.

Beast Boy's grin only grew bigger, and he planted a peck on her lips.

Ah, that felt much better.

...

However, just before they stepped into the portal, Raven paused and looked down at her shoulder.

The piece of her leotard there was still missing, and the paw mark could be seen.

She finally looked at Rage. The demonic aspect of her mind still looked docile and calm, despite Happy prancing all around her singing a happy song.

"You wanted the Beast to be your mate back when it first appeared, didn't you?"

"Hmmm?" Rage cocked her head curiously.

"You told me you chose him to protect us. But it was more than just that, wasn't it?" Raven asked again.

...

...

Rage smiled knowingly. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."

Raven continued to stare blankly at the red-clad clone of herself. "Just know, in case you're thinking that I manipulated you or anything else to get to where we are now... no matter what I might have chosen for myself, in the end, I still left everything up to you. I didn't interfere with your feelings or anything."

...

"Why?" Raven asked after another moment of thought.

"Hmmm… who knows? Not you, certainly." Rage chuckled while Raven looked annoyed. "Just know that if we live through this mess, I'll be very happy with my lot in life. Never having to ever let go of Love or Lust again." The girl winked at their leader.

"Yes, I can't wait until we finally bed our little Beastie-Poo!" Lust cheered happily from the crowd.

"It will be the best thing ever." Love said with a dreamy look in her eyes.

...

Raven didn't reply. Instead, her blush returned full force, and she grabbed Beast Boy's hand as she dragged them into the portal.

"Wait, what did she mean about bedding meeeeeeeeeeeee-" Beast Boy screamed at the end as they vanished into the fine red mist.

Raven never did give her boyfriend a proper answer to his question.

Then again, it wasn't like there was any time for it with what they were about to dive into.


Author's Notes:

Heh, since it's Christmas, I'll be merciful just this once and leave on a smaller cliffhanger than normal.

See you all again soon!

Till Next Time

Allen