Chapter Four

Beast Boy and the Raging Hormone

It was a very dejected and sorry looking group of superheroes that arrived back at the tower thirty minutes later. Starfire was still unconscious, Robin looked angry (mostly at himself) and Beast Boy simply refused to look at anyone at all. Cyborg was also mad (not to mention the fact that he had a huge hole in his chest), but his wrath was all aimed a certain black robed wearing freak that had run off with one of his best friend, his…sister. And his car was wreaked too, that was making him mad as well. He would have to spend a lot of time repairing it. Who knew how long he would have to spend pounding out that huge dent on the hood-

Cyborg mentally smacked himself. What was he doing! Raven was captured by some manic (who knew what the sick old man was doing to her) and here he was thinking about some stupid car!

The living room seemed…wrong without Raven there. It wasn't that it was quieter or anything like that, Raven never made much noise, even when she was doing that odd floating mediation thing. It was just…wrong. It was missing something, and Cyborg suddenly realized what that was. It was a cranky looking empath who spent so much of her time by herself. Who would have known that someone so silent would have left such a void when missing?

Cyborg plopped down on the coach and sighed deeply. Darn, she had only been gone an hour or so and already he was missing her!

Just wait tell I get my hands on that freak he thought I'll show him a thing or two!

"So what do we do now?" Cyborg asked Robin.

"First we have to get Star to the med bay, then-"

"Dude! Haven't you wasted enough time messing with her! She's fine; Cyborg scanned her and said so! What about Raven?" Beast Boy started yelling at Robin with a furious look on his face. Cyborg was stunned. The last time Beast Boy had yelled at their leader had been that incident with Adonis and the lab chemicals.

"We need to recover from that battle, Beast Boy!" Robin yelled back "Star is knocked out and Cyborg is damaged! Even if we knew where he took Raven, and we don't, we are in no condition to fight him. We need-"

"To find her! Who knows what he's doing to her!"

"How do we find her!? They vanished into thin air! What is your problem Beast Boy?"

"WHAT IS MY PROBLEM! What do you think! You abandoned her!"

"What!?" Robin said, more surprised at this statement than angry.

"Where were you when I was pulling on that wizard!? Nowhere! I needed you to help me! Raven needed you and where were you! Fussing over your girlfriend who didn't even need your help!"

Robin opened his mouth as if to answer, but Beast Boy didn't give him a chance.

"Stay here if you want, but I'm going to look for Raven." With that the green shape shifter stomped out the door. A few minutes later Cyborg and Robin saw a green eagle soaring in the direction of the city, looking for their missing friend.

A long silence descended upon the remaining conscious occupants of the tower. Cyborg couldn't help but be stunned by Beast Boy's behavior. Cyborg knew that Beast Boy and Raven had somehow managed to become good friends, despite the vast differences between the two. Had it somehow progressed into something more? And if it did, when did it happen?

Finally Robin broke the awkward silence "I'm taking Star to the med lab, unless you want to scream at me to, Cyborg."

Robin picked up Starfire and started to leave, but was stopped when Cyborg started speaking.

"If you want I can call the honorary Titans and the Titans East." He said. "Maybe they can help look for her."

Robin nodded "Good idea." He said.

"Robin."

"What?"

"It wasn't your fault man. You didn't abandon her."

"No," Robin said with a dejected look "Beast Boy was right. I did abandon her."

"Wait!" Cyborg said, trying to think of something that would help, but Robin had already left.

Cyborg muttered several interesting profanities that his mother would have been embarrassed to here him utter and started calling people.

He started with the Titans East. He was greeted by the familiar face of Bumblebee.

"Hey! What's up? How did the party go?" she said without preamble.

Cyborg smiled in spite of his foul mood "The party was a hit, but we got a problem."

"What?"

Cyborg outlined for Bumblebee the morning's events, starting at the time the alarm rung and ending with them arriving back at the tower. He said nothing about the fight between Beast Boy and Robin. That was private stuff.

"Are you sure it was a wizard?" she asked, looking thoughtful.

"Pretty sure."

"Have you talked to Jinx?"

"What?" Cyborg gave her a startled look "Why would Jinx know anything about this?"

"Well, she is a sorceress, isn't she?" Bumblebee replied "She might know who this guy is. You know how these magic users keep in touch."

"Ummmm, nooooooo." Cyborg said mystified. "I didn't know that magic users keep in touch. And why would you know this?"

"Jinx told me about that place that wizards meet with each other. From what she said it's kind of like a magic user club or something like that. As for how I know, well we were both in the Hive together. She told me a bit about it once. Raven never mentioned it?" Bumblebee gave Cyborg a puzzled look.

"No" Cyborg said, suddenly frustrated with Raven and her blasted secrecy "She's never said a word."

"Well, contact Jinx and Kid Flash. Jinx might know something useful. In the meantime I'll get my team to look for Raven too. See ya Sparky!"

"See ya, Bee, and don't call me Sparky." Cyborg said. He folded his arms angrily, thinking hard.

"Darn it Raven," he said to himself "Why are you so secretive? Why do you still not trust us?!"

He called up Jinx's and Kid Flashes communicator. The two of them had started a kind of wandering hero partnership ever since the battle with the Brotherhood of Evil. Cyborg had to admit they worked well together, even though he still felt a small stab of jealousy whenever he saw the two of them side by side. He still kind of liked Jinx, even though she had made it perfectly clear that she felt nothing for him.

Kid Flash's cocky, laid-back face appeared on the viewscreen with a playful smirk "Hello, you have reached the wonderfully handsome and terribly dashing Kid Flash and his gorgeous partner in crime: Jinx. Please press one if you are being attacked by evil mind sucking aliens-"

Tired after fighting a magical lunatic, listening to his team insult each other, and learning that Raven was keeping yet more secrets from her friends, Cyborg was in no mood to listen to garbage.

"Don't start this today K.F. I need to talk to Jinx. Now." Cyborg said with a growl.

"Okay, okay. Good grief." Kid Flash muttered.

After a few mutters, which Cyborg could not make out, Jinx's face appeared on the screen.

"What do you want?" she said grumpily.

Cyborg suppressed a small sigh. Even though it had been months since the whole spying and betrayal incident at H.I.V.E Academy it seemed like Jinx was still inclined to be nasty to him.

Cyborg launched into the same story he told Bumblebee. As he talked Jinx's expression changed from mild annoyance to…fear? Yes, fear! What was up with that?

"This wizard, did he have a familiar?" She asked when he started describing the wizard.

"Err, a familiar what?"

Jinx rolled her pink feline eyes "A familiar, you dolt. An animal or magical creature that seemed to obey his every order?"

"Err, would a big spider count?"

"Yep, what color?"

"What kind of a question-" Cyborg started.

"I know several mages with spider familiars; I need to know the color!" Jinx bellowed.

"Blackish brown, it looked kind of like a tarantula."

"What powers did he have?"

"I only saw two. He grabbed Beast Boy and kind of made him faint or something. And he used this weird toy gun thing on me. It shot grey light and pushed me about the length of a football field."

Jinx looked away for a moment and cursed.

"Jinx, do you know this guy?" Cyborg demanded.

"Personally, no, but I think I have heard of the guy before. You mind if Kid Flash and I drop by? I'm going to have to talk to everyone who fought him. It'll help me tell for sure if what I suspect is true."

Cyborg didn't see how this would hurt, as long as Beast Boy didn't get all weird again. But they really had no choice. If Jinx had any information that could help Cyborg was more than willing to listen to her.

"Yeah, come on over. Just make sure you make it here fast."

"I travel around with the original speed demon! I can barely go slowly!" Jinx said and cut off communication with not another word.

Jinx was muttering rude words as she shut off the communicator and turned to her "partner". By now Kid Flash had almost completely convinced her to join the whole "good guy" scene, but she still had a mean streak. She really did not like the Titans that much, it was hard to let go of about a year of animosity, but she had to admit she did feel a certain…kinship with Raven. Part of it was the fact that they were both magic users, another part was that they shared similar Goth-like tastes. Jinx was pretty sure that Raven didn't completely trust her, but that was alright. Frankly, Jinx neither needed nor wanted Raven's trust; she had Kid Flash for that. But somehow Raven and Jinx had managed to acquire a certain respect for each other, if only because of the whole magic user thing. Most magic users considered themselves a breed apart from "common mortals" and while Raven was the least haughty of this particular breed Jinx knew there was still a bit of that "we are better than the rest of these idiots" feeling between the two of them. But then that might also stem from the fact that most of the time the rest of Raven's team did indeed act like idiots, particularly Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"So, we headed to Jump City?" Kid Flash asked with a rare expression of concern on his face. He could tell from Jinx's body language that she was worried, and he didn't like that at all. Jinx barely knew the meaning of the word fear. If she was scared then it must be something really bad.

"Yeah." Jinx said, climbing onto the bike that Kid Flash had bought for her. The thing was really the only way she had of keeping up with her friend. And it was her style too. It was a curious mix of black with pink strips. Between the handlebars was a steel curved horn, like a unicorn horn. It was light and it was fast, and to tell the truth Jinx really loved it.

"Is it really bad? What happened?" Kid Flash asked, not liking the too-serious look in Jinx's eyes.

"Ravens been captured. And I'm afraid it might have been the magic world's version of the boogeyman."

It was a somber pair that speeded toward Jump City.

After about an hour of fruitless searching, Beast Boy had to finally admit the several truths:

He had no clue where Raven could be.

This pointless flying around was…well pointless

He had no leads

He had really been a jerk to Robin

And he should probably go back and apologize.

Beast Boy gave an eagle sigh, which was not that different from a human one. He couldn't help but wonder why in the world he suddenly felt so…protective of Raven lately. It didn't make any sense. Beast Boy knew darn good and well that Raven could take care of herself (he had the bruises to prove it). Lately for some reason every time she looked like she was in the least bit of danger he would suddenly feel very very angry. When had it started? Beast Boy didn't know. He was pretty sure it hadn't happened instantly, that was for sure! It felt like a more gradual, slow thing to him.

Mentally he went over his relationship with Raven, from start to finish. Let's see…his first impression of her, was…well…something along the lines of

"Boy she is creepy!"

It was as mean thing to think, he knew, but it was true. Raven was very creepy, and made no attempt to hide the fact. At first Beast Boy had not been certain that he could trust her. He had tried to make her laugh in the hopes that it could help break that ice shield she seemed to have around her. It never worked.

Then came the incident with her mirror. After seeing all those other sides of Raven's personality Beast Boy knew that Raven was actually a very complicated and interesting person. He tried talking to her more in order to get her to trust him, but it still did not seem to work. She still seemed to see him as just some annoying jerk and that irritated him. He was only trying to be nice but she kept pushing him away. At one point he had snapped and asked her why she insisted on being so creepy. Beast Boy realized now that little comment had, in part, lead to the situation with Malchior. He supposed that he was partly to blame for the fact that Raven felt that she was all alone, even though Beast Boy had been going for the exact opposite reaction. It was the night after Malchior was resealed in the book that Beast Boy finally connected with Raven. That hug she gave him proved it. He still got the feeling that she thought that he was an idiot, but there was a bit more affection and a bit less irritation. Not much but a little.

After that it finally became better. Their relationship changed into a sort of brother/sister thing. Although she still did not laugh, or even grin, at his jokes Raven seemed a bit less frigid. A bit less icy. A bit less cold. And Beast Boy was finally realizing that Raven was very wise. He no longer mistrusted her, in fact aside from Cyborg (his best friend) Raven was the Titan he trusted the most. She was the one you went to if you needed a clever solution to any problem. After all, wasn't she the one who suggested he get a job in order to obtain a moped? And it worked too! Even though the job he gotten involved evil aliens, and the moped had broken down in battle Raven's advice had still been useful.

After the prophecy of Raven's birth had been fulfilled, and it looked as if she had been killed Beast Boy realized how much she had meant to him. He really cared about her, and he did not want her to leave. Even through the battle and the fear and the chaos he could still feel a hole in his heart where he knew Raven should be. When she came back to them he was overjoyed.

Maybe it was because the team had almost lost her, but it was around that time when Beast Boy started to notice something: despite Raven's spooky tastes and mean attitude and abrasive nature she was really…pretty. No, not pretty. The word he was looking for was beautiful. Part of it was her eyes, and her hair (although she did not seem to fuss with it that much it was still pretty). How often did you great hair and eyes that particular shade of purple? Not often. And Beast Boy could tell that both were natural. He had never once smelled any type of dye in Raven's hair (being part animal he would have noticed that). Now if only he could get her to smile more often! He had managed to see her smile…twice was it? Maybe three times? It was not often, but those times that she did Beast Boy could not help but notice that she was even more pretty when those rare smiles occurred. It was like her entire face would light up and-

Mentally he shook himself. What was he thinking? It almost sounded like he…liked her! Well, he did like her, but as a friend, not as anything more than that.

Right?

Right.

It was no more than simple friendship, nothing more.

Then why is it every time you smell her scent you get goosebumps? A little voice inside whispered.

That's nothing!

Some animals choose potential mates by smell, you of all people should know that.

Okay, so maybe I'm becoming a victim of male hormones. So what? That doesn't mean I like Raven!

Doesn't it? You don't feel that way around Starfire.

She's Robin's girl!

That wouldn't matter to a hormone.

Beast Boy had nothing to say to himself on that one.

Face it. You like her. As in "the" like. The big like. The one where you can't stop dreaming about her at night-

STOP! What about Terra? What about Malchior?

What about them? Terra never really wanted you, and Malchior was just using Raven. They have nothing to do with this. Stop lying to yourself! You. Like. Raven. End of discussion.

No, that's not the end. Maybe I do like her, but she does not like me. Not like that.

How can you be sure of that? You know she needs to keep her emotions locked up in case her powers go wacky. How can you be sure that she doesn't secretly like you?

Let me think. How about all those times she's called me an idiot? A pinhead? A moron? She thinks of me as an annoying brother at best and nothing else. Defiantly not that way.

Still, you love her.

NO!

STOP DENYING IT!

I'LL NEVER ADMIT IT! I DON'T WANT MY HEART BROKEN AGAIN. I DON'T WANT HER HEART BROKEN AGAIN. LEAVE ME ALONE!!!

The voice abruptly left, leaving Beast Boy blissfully alone.

Cranky, and by now getting hungry, Beast Boy finally had to admit defeat, at least for today. He WOULD find Raven, but he needed to get back to the tower, eat something, and try to think things through.

And apologize to Robin.

He back at the tower in a matter of minutes. Using the roof as a landing pad he shifted back into human form. For a while he stared a bit at a particular spot on the roof. It was Raven's meditation area. She should be there right now, sitting cross-legged and floating, chanting that weird little chant of hers. But she was not there. Instead there was a vast emptiness where she should be.

Or maybe that emptiness was a little closer to Beast Boy than he liked to think. Like somewhere near the chest area maybe?

After yet another deep sigh, Beast Boy entered his home and headed toward the living room in the hopes that Robin would be there so he could apologize.

He was there, alright, but so where Kid Flash and Jinx. They both had some of that leftover birthday cake and pizza and were munching. Well, Kid Flash was munching, Jinx was nibbling mainly because she seemed to be carrying on a serious conversation with Robin and Cyborg. Jinx looked like she was nervous about something and even her laid back partner was looking down. Beast Boy started to find the two of them here. He still was suspicious of Jinx, but he angrily pushed the emotion away. He had already had one argument today; he didn't feel like another one. No one had seen Beast Boy yet, this was obvious because Robin was saying:

"Have to ask Beast Boy about that when he gets back."

"I am back." Beast Boy said, neatly startling the entire group, even Jinx. It was not like her to be this jumpy, and Beast Boy was instantly on alert.

"Did you find anything?" Robin asked, as if he had ordered Beast Boy to look in the first place. This attitude angered Beast Boy for some reason, but he did not know why.

Maybe it is more input from my friend Mr. Raging Hormone. He thought to himself (himself did not seem to want to comment anymore, though)

"Good thing you are back, I need to talk to you." Jinx said.

"About what?"

"Your encounter with this wizard, and I need to know everything. Even if it seems insignificant."

Beast Boy told her about what he had felt when the wizard had touched him, and about the little glass monocle thing. After listening carefully, Jinx looked even more scared.

"Okay," Beast Boy said "Something is wrong here, I can tell. Jinx do you know this guy?"

"Only rumors and tales, but if even half of them are true…" Jinx trailed off.

"Come one! Tell us!" Beast Boy shouted. He realized everyone was giving him a nervous look. In a small, almost self conscious voice he added "Please."

Jinx leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, then she started talking.

"His name is Sumal Kijak , and he steals magic."

"You mean like books and things?" Cyborg asked.

"No, I mean soul magic." Jinx looked around and was greeted by blank looks. "Guess you guys don't know much about magic, huh. There are a bunch of different types. Alchemy is when you mix up a bunch of things to get something else, sort of like chemistry only with magic words. And eye of newt. There are "straight" spells that you get from books that just about anyone can do. There are too many for me to explain all of them right now, but the kind that Raven and I use most often is called soul magic. It's magic that is linked directly to our souls. It is easier and quicker to use than straight spells or alchemy, and the results are instantaneous. Well, you've seen both of us at work; you know what it looks like. The thing is people like Raven and I are really rare, even in the magic world. Sumal Kijak is a guy who finds people like us and steals their soul magic."

"How is that possible?" Beast Boy asked, completely taken aback.

"Not sure. I've never met the guy and I hope I never do. He's kind of like the wizard version of a serial killer."

Robin had a thoughtful look on his face. Beast Boy had seen it many times before. It was the face he took one when putting two clues together.

"Jinx," Robin said "If this soul magic is linked to Raven's soul, and this guy steals it..." Robin's eyes grew wide and scared "Jinx, will it kill her?!"

At those words Beast Boy's heart froze. Raven dead? This time for real? It was not possible!

Was it?

"Not her body, no." Jinx said "But to have your soul magic taken like that…I've seen some of his former victims, Robin. They're like those people you see in the intensive psych ward, they just kind of wander around like they're lost or something. They look like they have nothing left to live for. Just try to imagine walking around with half of your soul gone! It's bad, Robin. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

"How do we find this guy?" Beast Boy asked, a scary light in his eyes.

"No one knows where he hides out, I don't think it can be found-"

"NO!" Beast Boy bellowed "I don't believe you! We can find him! We have to find him! I'm not going to let him do that to Raven!"

"Now wait a minute-"

Beast Boy didn't even try to argue anymore. He shifted to wolf form and with a pained howl speed out the door, leaving a very shocked group behind him.

"What is wrong with him?" Jinx asked, "Too much sugar?"

"He's been taking this very hard." Robin said. Too hard he added mentally, but he did not say this aloud.

Robin turned to Jinx and questioned her some more about Sumal Kijak. Robin didn't know that much about magic, so he was confident a way would be found, and even though Jinx did not seem to agree, she was still cooperative.

Soft padded paws approached Raven's vacant room. Even though he had been told over and over not to enter on pain of near death Beast Boy could not help himself. He slipped under the door in fly form and then shifted back to wolf.

Wolves had some of the best noses in the animal kingdom, and he wanted a good nose. He wanted to breathe in her scent.

Although he knew she would kill him if she came back and saw green wolf hair on her sheets, Beast Boy jumped up onto Raven's bed and curled up as a wolf. His human half thought this was a bit silly, but his animal half said that this was right. This was important. It had something to do with scent, and remembering. He had done the same thing with Terra when she had left. But this was different, he knew that. Just how different he did not know, but still very different.

He lay there for a long time, breathing in Raven's scent.

Just as he had done for Terra.