Holy camolies, that took a while:D. Sorry, I've been tres busy with school the past few weeks, start of a new semester and all. But the main thing is that I did get chapter eight finished...eventually:D.
Again, big thanks to readers and reviewers, you are all very much appreciated!
Yeah, still don't own Teen Titans...oh, and I don't own ER either.
Enjoy!
-Liss
Chapter Eight. Until Now.
"Get her out of the way," Register snapped at Starfire as he set up the defibrillator. The young alien, barely able to see through her tears, gently lifted Raven from under Beast Boy and set her on the other bed.
"Please, what is happening to Beast Boy?" Starfire expected no answer from the doctor, and so wasn't surprised when she received none. It terrified her, seeing her friend like this, hooked up to countless wailing machines, the color slowly seeping out of his face. She didn't know what was going on exactly, only that there was the possibility that they would lose the small green Titan, that he wouldn't wake up. There was a low buzz in her ears, she felt like she was going to be sick, her throat was closing off. Through hazy eyes, she saw Robin and Cyborg enter the room, both out of breath from running.
Cyborg watched the scene unfolding before him numbly, not believing what he was seeing. That wasn't Beast Boy in the bed, it couldn't be. Beast Boy was laughter and pranks and tofu and video games and more alive than anybody he'd ever met. They'd fought together countless times, and won against every opponent. This couldn't beat him, this disease. Beast Boy was his best friend. He couldn't lose this battle.
Register placed the paddles of the difibrillator on Beast Boy's chest, fully charged. Cyborg was surprised; it was nothing like in the movies. There was no "clear", no violent convulsion. The only thing to indicate that a huge charge had just passed through Beast Boy's body was a slight tensing of his muscles. Nothing on the moniters registered the shock. It hadn't worked. Register turned and began regharging the defibrillator.
Please work three Titans prayed wordlessly as they watched the doctor try and bring their friend back from the one place they couldn't follow.
"I think I'm...I think I might be dying." Raven didn't move. Didn't breath. She couldn't. If she did, she'd lose it, she'd explode with emotion, right here in Beast Boy's mind. How could he be so calm? How could he say it like that, as if it didn't bother him. He was disappearing, being drawn away from her by some force more powerful than any other existing. She shook her head sharply and took a deep, shuddering breath as she tried to regain some form of control.
"How can I stop it?" she asked, more to herself than to him. Her mind raced with hundreds of spells, spells she'd learned on Azarath, spells she'd learned from Arella, even spells that Malchior had taught her, anything to stop it, to save him.
"I don't think you can Rae," he shrugged. His voice sounded far away, as though he were speaking through a wall of fog.
"I have to," she choked, her voice cracking, "I won't let you-"
"I don't think it's up to you," Beast Boy said gently, "I don't think it's up to anybody anymore."
"How can you be so willing to die?" she whispered angrily, turning her face away from him, "How can you give up so easily?" She felt his hand on hers, his touch barely more than a memory of what it should have been.
"I'm just trying to-" he paused, swallowing hard, "-to make this easier for everybody. I don't want to die Raven." She looked into his fading eyes and saw that they were watering. He was fading, but there was still that fire in him, in his eyes, all around her. She knew he didn't want to die, but she had never expected him to be so ready for it. He wasn't acting like his normal self, laughing and joking and trying to lighten the situation. He had...grown up over the years, more than anybody had noticed. He was trying to die with some dignity, and she was just making it harder for him.
Oh well, she thought, he'll get over it. Trigon damn me, but there's no way in hell that I'm going to make it easy for him. I won't let him go without a fight.
"I'm sorry Garfield Logan," she said with renewed determination, "But I'm not going to sit here and let you die." Beast Boy smiled at her and squeezed her hand. She barely felt it.
"I know Rae," he whispered, drawing her close to him and wrapping his arms around her, "I didn't think you would." When had he grown up so much? How had they not noticed it all this time?
"I don't know what we'd do without you," Raven buried her face in his neck and closed her eyes tightly. She didn't want to see what was happening to him.
"You'll be fine," he pulled back from her. She opened her eyes to see that he was almost completely gone.
"Gar-"
"Tell the others-," he took a deep breath and smiled again, a single tear falling down his cheek, "Tell them that I-"
"No," Raven shook her head, "I'm not telling them anything."
"Raven, I need you to listen to me, before it's too late" Beast Boy said adamantly, "I need you to say goodbye to them for me. Tell them that I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys about this before. I didn't want you to think I couldn't fight. Tell them that being a Titan was the best thing that ever happened to me. Tell them-" He suddenly broke off and looked down at himself in surprise. His legs and lower torso had completly disappeared, and the rest of him was swiftly following.
"Goodbye Raven," he said, his voice echoing as though it had to travel a great distance to reach her, and then he was gone.
Well this is...odd, Beast Boy gazed at his surroundings. He could still see...well, maybe that wasn't the right word for it...he was still aware of Raven's soul self within his mind, trying desperately to bring him back to her. What he could see was...well, very odd. He was in the medical bay, in the actual tower. Cyborg was there, and Robin. Star was there too. She was crying, leaning against the bed that Raven's unconcious form occupied. There was another man there too, an older man, bent over the other bed.
Beast Boy saw himself, lying there, the stranger shocking his body with those paddle things that he'd seen on ER so many times. Heard the machines around the room beeping, all heralding the failure of his body. He could feel something pulling at him, dragging him away from it all. It was strong, stronger than his own will, stronger than his friends' grief, stronger even than Raven's furious struggle to save him. Fighting the force that was taking him away from all he knew and loved, Beast Boy saw the man deftly pull out a vial of silver fluid from his back pocket and inject it into his veins. Suddenly the pull stopped, and he was jerked back into his body. Opening his eyes, he looked around the medical bay and saw something that made his heart skip a beat. The man standing over him, the stranger, the ghostly voice he'd heard on the wind at Table Mountain, the man in the shadows who had ordered the murder of his parents.
It was Register. Samuel Register. Beast Boy tried to cry out, tried to tell his friends what was going on, warn them not to trust Register, but the tube in his throat made it impossible for him to speak. He couldn't tell if Star, Robin, and Cyborg even knew he was awake. They all had their heads lowered, looking away from him. Did they think he'd died?
"Remember me?" Register whispered viciously, too quiet for anybody but him to hear. With those words, the doctor injected him with a second serum, and Beast Boy slipped back into unconciousness, unable to do anything to stop it.
"Well, he's stable," Register muttered as he recorded information into the computer he had set up in the ops center, "For now. I need to take him to my facility for further treatment."
"We already went over this," Robin snapped, still reeling from the near loss of his friend, "He stays here." Cyborg and Starfire nodded in support.
"He'll die here," Register yelled, "You saw that. You saw how close he just came to dying. I'm telling you boy, he will die unless I can treat him properly. And I can't do that here." Starfire and Cyborg came to stand on either side of Robin.
"That's bullshit," Cyborg growled, "We have the most advanced medical technology available here. You can't tell me that you can't find what you need."
"I can, and I am," Register snapped, "You're being idiots. You want your friend to die? Fine. I'm leaving." Slamming the door furiously behind him, he stormed out of the room.
"Wait! You can't go, we're not finished," Robin shouted after him, then turned to Cyborg and Starfire, "What do we do?" The two of them looked at him and said nothing, unused to him asking them for instructions.
"I don't know man," Cyborg finally said, "I just-I don't trust that guy."
"I do not believe him to be worthy of the trusting either," Starfire spoke softly, "But perhaps we must if we are to see Beast Boy well once more."
"No," Robin said abruptly and began to pace, "Cyborg's right, there's something weird about this guy. I don't think we can trust him."
"Why the change of mind?" Cyborg asked him curiously. Robin was the one who had hired the psycho after all.
"I never trusted him," Robin reminded his teammate, "He was necessary to help Beast Boy. But I'm starting to think-" he broke off and sat in front of one of the ops center's giant computer screens.
"What are you looking for?" Cyborg stood behind him.
"I'm just..." Robin squinted up at the screen, "There was just something that didn't feel right about what just happened."
"You mean besides the fact that B almost died?"
"Yeah," the masked Titan replied, "I mean, did you see that vial of stuff that he injected into Beast Boy? He must have known that it would work from the beginning. So why did he even bother to use the defibrillater?"
"What are you saying Robin?" Starfire floated up to the screen, "That this doctor is trying to bring harm to Beast Boy?"
"I'm not sure Star, but last night he was in the medical bay, doing something...I don't know what, but he said it was bloodwork," Robin continued to type rapidly, "But I don't believe that for a second, because he did the bloodwork when he first came here, so why would he need to-" Robin stopped abruptly, staring up at the screen, a horrified expression spreading across his face.
"What?" Cyborg gazed up at the screen, reading the article that Robin had called up.
"Oh god," Robin whispered, "I knew it. I knew that something wasn't right. Look, read here." Starfire and Cyborg looked to where Robin had pointed. After a moment, they both inhaled sharply as they read the article.
"Robin..." Starfire began as she sank to the ground, unable to maintain her flight after reading the information. How could she feel the joy of flight when something this horrible had been done to her friend?
"Heart failure isn't a symptom of Sakutia," Cyborg muttered after reading the list of symptoms of the disease, "So how did..."
"Register," Robin answered for him, "He injected Beast Boy with something, knowing what it would do. And he had another injection ready to start his heart again."
"Why would anybody do such a terrible thing?" Starfire murmered.
"So that we would agree to let him take Beast Boy to his facility," Robin slammed his fist into the desk, "He's wanted to take him all along. How could I have been so stupid? This is all my fault."
"No it's not Rob-" Cyborg was interuppted by Starfire.
"Where did the Doctor Register go?" she looked around, trying to recall which door he'd left the room through.
"He left," Robin indicated the exit, "I saw his car leaving the garage on one of the security cameras." At that moment, the ops center was filled with the shrill ring and flashing red lights of the alarm.
"Not now," Cyborg groaned, "Where is it?"
"Inside the tower. Somebody's here," Robin stood up and began running towards the problem, "In the medical bay."
"Beast Boy," Starfire and Cyborg breathed in unison, and followed Robin towards the medical bay.
Disappearing Act.
Is this real? Raven gazed at the tower around her. If Beast Boy had died, it shouldn't have been there. She shouldn't have been there. Her soul self should have been sent back to her body the moment he disappeared. If he was dead, she shouldn't be able to still feel his fire, searing through her, warming her gently. She'd tried, she'd tried so hard to bring him back to her. She'd tried every spell she could think of, for what seemed like hours, but it had been useless. Next to the power that had taken him from her, she was meaningless, insignificant.
"Beast Boy?" she whispered into the empty room, "Gar?" The only answer she received was silence. He wasn't there. He was gone. And she hadn't said goodbye to him, had been too stubborn to. Now it was too late. Too late to say goodbye, too late to tell him how much he meant to her. She could feel her throat closing off, her eyes stinging, tears welling in them. Trying to keep them from spilling over, she leaned her head back as far as she could, closed her eyes, and began chanting inwardly.
Azarath metrion zinthos, azarath metrion...he's gone...azarath metrion zinthos, azar-you'll never see him again...azarath metrion zinthos...gone. Raven squeezed her eyes tighter, trying to block out the flood of emotions that threatened to engulf her. She couldn't cry, she couldn't shed a single tear for him. If she let one fall, she wouldn't be able to stop it. Azarath metrion zinthos. Azar-az...azarath... and suddenly it was too much for her, too much to hold back. It would be wrong, not to cry for him. She sat there, tears streaming silently down her face, grieving for who he was, who he'd become during his time with the Titans, and what he could have been. What she could have been, what he could have done for her. What he'd tried to do so many times over the years.
"Raven?" Raven stood and whipped around to face Beast Boy's voice, moving faster than she ever had before, "God, I'm so glad you're still here, I-" he stopped as Raven let out a strangled cry and leapt over the couch to throw her arms around him. She could feel herself trembling, every part of her body buzzing with relief as she held him in a vice-like grip.
"I thought you were dead," she whispered into his hair, "I thought I'd never see you again." He was so solid, so real underneath her hands. She breathed in his scent deeply, etched his image in her mind, not wanting to forget it, not wanting to lose this moment. If she lived a beyond all the ages of all the worlds, if she lived to see the end of all things, she would always remember him like this, right here, right now.
"Raven, you've got to go," Beast Boy said urgently.
"But I-"
"No, you have to listen to me, before something happens," Raven stepped back from him, alarmed by the panic in his voice, "That guy, the guy back at the clearing...the one who killed my parents...Samuel Register..."
"What about him?" she asked, confused.
"He's here," Beast Boy sat on the back of the couch and crossed his arms, "I don't know how he found me, but he's in the tower. Raven, you have to go back and tell the others that they can't trust him. I don't know what he wants, but he's insane. He might hurt somebody. Probably me." Normally, Raven would have taken that last statement as an attempt at humor from Beast Boy, but the terror in his voice told her otherwise.
"How do you know?" she asked him calmly, trying to mask the fury that was boiling up inside her. If that...Register guy hurt any of the Titans, he would have to answer to her personally.
"I saw him in the medical bay," he told her, rubbing his eyes, "When I...er, died for a bit there, I was like...floating above my body or something. And then he injected me with something and I was back in my body, awake, and I saw his face. But I think he gave me a sedative or something, because I passed out again right after."
"It's ok," Raven crossed her legs and levitated in front of him, "I'll go and tell them." She closed her eyes and prepared to return to her body.
"Raven," Beast Boy grabbed her wrist, "Wait a sec." Opening one eye, she saw that his face was inches away from hers, and couldn't help it when the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.
"What?"
"Thanks," he murmered, "Thanks for coming in here. For coming after me."
"You're welcome," she replied, closing her eyes again.
"Raven?" Her eyes flew open to stare directly into his.
"Yeah?"
"I...um, I've been wanting to tell you..." he trailed off, blushing furiously.
"I know," she said, abandoning all pretenses of her usual detachment from emotion, "Me too." Leaning forward, she let her lips brush softly against the skin of his cheek. She could feel his eyelashes against her nose, fluttering rapidly. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to her. It was barely even a kiss, but with it she displayed more affection than she ever had towards anyone in her life. She broke away as quickly as she'd come to him, leaving Beast Boy staring at her, speechless.
"See you in a bit," she smiled at the stunned youth and closed her eyes once more.
"Yeah...see you," Beast Boy grinned stupidly, but she had already gone.
"Raven!" Raven was greeted by Starfire's relieved cry as she woke, "Raven, I am very pleased to see you awake."Something wasn't right. The room was cold, freezing. Starfire...there was something different about her voice, something in the way it wavered.
"What's wrong?" she was sitting up within seconds, the blood rushing to her head. Starfire's hair billowed in the wind. Where was the wind coming from? Raven saw the cause quickly. The huge window that covered the entire western wall of the medical bay was shattered, glass strewn haphazardly on the linoleum floor. "Where's Beast Boy?" Starfire hesitated for a moment, then started talking faster than Raven could keep up with.
"You were gone and Robin found a doctor for the Sakutia and the doctor injected Beast Boy with a serum of terrible consequence and his heart ceased to beat and then the Doctor Register gave him a second serum and then he wanted to take Beast Boy from our home but we would not allow such a thing and then the Register left the tower and now Beast Boy is gone," Starfire wailed in one breath.
"What?" Raven shouted, panic rising in her chest, "But that's impossible, I was just with him." Seeing her cloak folded neatly on the bedside table, she grabbed it and fastened the clasp around her neck.
"Perhaps the time was behaving strangely as it does when we do the meditation," Star said meekly.
"Shit," Raven cursed, throwing off the bedsheets, "Shit. Was it Register?"
"We have determined that it could have been no other," Starfire nodded, "Robin and Cyborg are searching the city for him." Raven jumped off the bed and levitated over the shards of glass towards the door, followed closely by Starfire.
"Register won't be in the city," she growled, blasting the door off its hinges with a stream of dark energy.
"Fear not friend," Starfire moved beside her, "We will find him, I am sure of it." Raven shook her head angrily.
"No, you don't understand Star," she turned on the optimistic Tamaranian, tendrils of dark energy creeping from underneath her cloak, "This guy, this doctor...he knows Beast Boy. He's taken him before, experimented on him. He did terrible things to him. We can't let that happen again."
"Ex...experiments?" Starfire shuddered, vague memories of seemingly endless torment flashing through her mind.
"Cyborg," the two of them had reached the ops center, and Raven was now standing in front of the massive communications screen, "Cyborg, you there?"
"Raven?" Cyborg's face splashed onto the screen, "You're awake?"
"No," she replied, voice dripping with sarcasm, "Just get back to the tower, you're wasting your time."
"But we're looking for-"
"You won't find him. We need to regroup and start over. Get back here," she barked, then added for good measure, "Now." Cyborg nodded and switched off his communicator.
"Where is he Raven?" Starfire asked, her green eyes glowing fiercely at the thought of Beast Boy being experimented upon.
"I wish I knew."
"Good afternoon Mr. Logan." Beast Boy groaned and opened his eyes to see Register looming over him. He was strapped tightly to a cold metal table, his arms and legs stretched out. His first urge was to scream, to try and run, to cry and beg for mercy, but he wasn't going to give the bastard the satisfaction of knowing that he was terrified of him. Not after he'd just seen his mother standing up to Register til the moment of her death.
"Afternoon Sam," he said lightly, concentrating on keeping his voice steady. He looked around the dank room, "I see you're as successful as ever."
"Doctor Register," the older man growled.
"Nah, you'll always be Sammy boy to me," Beast Boy grinned up at him, taking pleasure in the anger that was beginning to distort his features, "So how did I get so lucky as to be here? Don't tell me that nobody was voluteering for such a glamorous job, because I don't believe that for a second."
"Keep it up Beast Boy," Register spat, "You won't be so cocky when the procedures start." Beast Boy yawned theatrically, trying to keep the terror from showing on his face.
"So...," he began nonchalantly, "I assume since I'm not dead that you fixed me?"
"I was able to isolate the parts of the virus that caused the fatal symptoms and eliminate them."
"You found the cure then. Congratulations dude, you managed to discover in twelve years what my parents did in a week. Awesome," Beast Boy piped, "I guess you don't need me anymore then, seems like you've got a pretty good understanding of Sakutia. I'll just be going then, if you'd unstrap me, that'd be great, thanks." Despite his fear, Beast Boy had to hold back laughter at the look on the doctor's face.
"You are the link between animal and man," Register seethed, "There is so much more to be understood about you." Ah well, it was worth a shot.
"So...do I still have my powers?" Beast Boy strained to see the color of his skin, which wasn't difficult as his arms were completely exposed above the medical gown he was wearing. Yep, still green.
"Yes. But don't even think about shifting," Register grinned maliciously and pointed to a thick black band around Beast Boy's left wrist, "A handy little device I...received from S.T.A.R. Labs." Received, Beast Boy thought cynically, Yeah, just like you 'received' me from Titans Tower. Dick.
"What does it do?"
"I imagine you'll find out soon enough."
Yeah, another chapter:D. Did you think I was done?? You guys never believe me, I told you I wouldn't kill off Beast Boy! (But I'm sure he appreciates all of the reviews begging me to keep him alive...'twas most kind:D)
-Liss