When we last saw our friends, they were waiting in angst for Galfor's army to arrive.

Twenty One: Waiting for Doom

For the next week, Komand'r had been training Koriand'r on a daily basis (surveyed closely by Robin) so that she would be able to master her knew power and not be killed by it. In the meantime, Bee had been putting together a band of Remainders who were not badly injured, in hopes to stand a chance against the Gordanians.

One night, about five or six days after the capture of Komand'r, Beastboy had been seen wandering the halls. He had nowhere to go and nothing to do, he just paced down the carpets, kicking up the hem of his blue, Azarathian cloak.

He followed his feet into one of the rooms. He looked up and saw Raven reading one of her Ancient Scrolls.

"Oh," he said, embarrassed, "sorry." He turned to leave.

"It's alright," she said quickly, "I don't mind if you're here. I was getting bored with this, anyway." She set it down. Beastboy looked at her.

In the time he had known her, she never just "got bored" with an Ancient Scroll. And she usually liked being alone, so she rarely invited anyone to stay with her. He sat next to her on the dark, round bed she was given to sleep.

"I actually needed to talk to someone," she said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I'm just – really worried about my mother and people."

He put on a sympathetic smile.

"Don't worry," he said "I'm sure they're all right."

She looked away doubtfully.

"No, really!" he said. "They've probably just been kidnapped. Then, when this whole thing is over, you'll see them again."

"But how could they just move an entire race of people like that?" she said, looking up at him.

"I don't know," he said, "but with everything I've seen, there's nothing that could surprise me now."

She looked at her shoes and he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. As she sat there, she thought. Raven had never really realized that Beastboy had a life before meeting her. Oh, she knew he had to have had a different life on Earth, but she had never really given it a second thought.

Was there anyone he had left behind? If so, who? Family? Friends? Love? Actually, now that she thought about it, Beastboy was almost a complete stranger to her. She didn't even know his real name. Yet here he was, comforting her as if he had known her for ages.

"What's you're name?" she asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I don't know you're name. Your real name."

He blushed a bit.

"You're going to laugh," he said.

"No I won't," she promised.

He sighed. "Garfield."

Raven kept her promise, though it was hard.

"Garfield," she repeated, letting the sound roll off of her tongue. "I actually kind of like it."

"You're just saying that."

"No, I really like it."

He raised an eyebrow. "You've gotta be from another planet."

She smiled.

"So, what were you like?" she continued. "Before the attack, I mean."

He thought. "Pretty much the same." He said. "Everyone called me annoying. Oh! And nobody laughed at my jokes! I don't know why…"

"Do you have any family?"

"Not really. I was adopted, but my step-father died from the explosion."

"I'm sorry." She really was.

"It's ok," he said. "We didn't really 'get along' that well."

"Any friends?"

His ears drooped a little bit. "One," he said. "She was my girlfriend, actually."

"Oh," she said, wishing she hadn't pressed the matter.

"It's ok," he said. "Before she died, she got into some pretty bad stuff. See, we were both in the foster system, so we knew each other for ages. But then one day, she left. She got mixed in with some bad crowds and bad situations. You know: gangs, drugs, alcohol, that kind of stuff. I tried to help her any way I could, tried to offer her a home, but she refused. She said – she said that that life… that life gave her more then I could ever offer. She died before the attack ever happened."

Raven felt her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. After all that… how could he stand to smile? How could he even think about being happy?

"What was her name?" she asked.

"Her name?" he responded. "Her name was Terra."

Raven hung her head. "That must have been quite the ordeal to go through."

"Yeah," Garfield said, "it was. But, I'm here now, right? I mean, I'm healthy, strong, not quite normal, but – Raven? Are you ok?"

During his speech, Raven's eyes began to water. How could he be so hopeful? Was he some kind of moron? How could he be so optimistic?

She closed her eyes tight but tears still made their way out. She put a hand to her head and made a small sob. Garfield wrapped his arms around her and she cried into his shoulder.

"You idiot…"

He smiled. "Yeah, I know."

Will Garfield's optimism be enough to steady Raven's focus? Are the Azarathians truly unharmed? And when, oh when, will we learn about the gunther knife? Tune in next chappie to find out!

T.