AN: More BBRae— a whole chapter of it, cause it won't stop writing itself. While the other individual scenes were short enough to be tacked onto the end of the fight scene, I had to deliberately chop this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. Don't sue.

CHAPTER 4

The purple metro sign overhead bore the inscription Sant Antoni. As she and Beast Boy wandered down the platform towards the escalator, Raven found herself wondering whether the Saint Anthony to whom the metro was dedicated was the patron saint of finding lost things, or the one responsible for the moniker "Saint Anthony's Fire," nowadays referred to as shingles. The idle curiosity was dispelled, however, when yet another person jostled her in passing.

The throng of people pressed about her, and she was once again grateful that her empathic shields muted the world around her, the cacophony of emotion reduced to a tolerable buzz.

When she remembered just whose idea it had been to take the metro in the first place, she gritted her teeth and promised to reward herself with some form of agonizing torture for Beast Boy.

The changeling in question was just ahead of her, turning his head every few seconds to be sure he hadn't left her behind. He was practically skipping with excitement.

A group of tall men passed between her and Beast Boy, effectively cutting off her line of sight. With a soft curse in ancient Greek, she tried to push forward, to no avail.

Just as she feared she would lose her teammate in the throng, a gloved hand shot through the mass of people and latched onto hers. When that strong grip pulled her through the wall of bodies, she found herself face-to-face with the shapeshifter, who was giving her one of those trademark grins of his.

The lights in the station flickered ever so slightly.

"Stay with me, Rae," he said, tugging her up the stairs with him.

"Raven. And I swear by Trigon's pointy toenails, Beast Boy, if you ever try to make me take the metro again—"

A finger to her lips stopped her short. "Shh. Don't worry; it's gonna be totally worth it. Just trust me for a couple more minutes."

Raven's cheeks began tingling with an unwelcome warmth, and a nearby trash can began spewing a fountain of refuse. With a deep breath, the empath regained her self-control and grabbed Beast Boy's finger. One smooth motion brought his hand into a supremely uncomfortable position as her soul-self pulled her hood up.

Swinging the green boy around to face her, she growled, "No one. Touches. My face."

There was a lull in the bustle of the metro, and a grumbling could be heard from the shapeshifter. "Not for lack of—" Suddenly, he stopped, realizing his words had been audible.

"What?" Raven said, arching an eyebrow as she released his finger.

Beast Boy turned a fascinating shade of forest green. "Uh, nothing."

For a moment, Raven toyed with the idea of digging a bit deeper into the matter with her empathy, but to do so would mean dropping her shields in the middle of the crowded subway. However strong her distaste for this station might have been, she didn't think that merited its destruction.

With a nod of her head, Raven gestured for her teammate to take charge and lead her to... wherever it was that he was taking them.

There were few things Trigon's daughter hated more than uncertainty. In nearly eighteen years of living, she recalled very few surprises that she could call pleasant.

Still, that green boy prancing ahead of her had been behind several of them, which was perhaps the only reason she pressed on through the bustle of bodies around them on the staircase, daring for once to trust her friend's judgment.

As he led her around a corner and onto another street with an unfamiliar name, that hope flickered. Just as she was about to open her mouth, though, Beast Boy stopped short and smiled at her.

"We're here," he said.

Raven saw little to distinguish this particular place from any other corner in Barcelona; there was a building with interesting architecture that she might place in the late 19th century, but there was no way that Beast Boy had brought her all this way for that...

A moment later, she noticed the vendors outside the building.

Nearly every stall was filled with books. From bestsellers in Spanish, Catalan and English to yellowed, cracking tomes in Latin, every conceivable type of book was on offer here.

"Remember that phone call I made before we took off?" Beast Boy asked, snapping her from her reverie. "I called the front desk to be sure we would make it in time. The book market's only on Sundays, and only till about 3. Apparently, the place you'll be most interested in is down this way."

So profound was Raven's shock that she offered no resistance when he took her hand once more and led her down the rows to the tiniest booth she had seen yet. Her hand dropped from his grasp as she scanned the covers and noted a number of titles from her own bookshelf in the Tower, many of them infamously difficult to find.

The wizened woman sitting on a three-legged stool under the awning let out a squawk as soon as her eyes fell upon Raven, and she leapt up and began babbling in Catalan, crossing herself vehemently.

The empath tried to hide her pain beneath indifference, but she suspected she wasn't doing a very good job. "Looks like she's caught on to the family resemblance," she murmured, hands coming up to ensure that her hood was still in place. The last thing she needed was Beast Boy harassing an octogenarian over the tears welling up in Raven's eyes. "Let's... let's just go."

"Hold on, Raven," Beast Boy said, a hand on her shoulder. "This is pretty similar to French. I think she's actually saying she's... happy?"

The empath raised an eyebrow. "You speak French?"

"I grew up in Africa," he said with a shrug.

"He is right," a voice said from behind them. As they turned, a girl about their own age held out her hands in a placating gesture. "Do not go, please! My grandmother is thanking the Holy Mother that you have come."

Raven's grip slackened, and her hood fell backwards. "...Thanking?"

The girl nodded. "She has the Second Sight. Her spirit was there to see your struggle against your father on the day the Prophecy came true."

Beast Boy cocked his head. "Wait a sec, everyone in the world was—"

"Turned to stone, yes. Including her. But that permitted her soul to wander and witness the battle. You will find that there are some in this world who are aware of what took place that day... and my grandmother is one of them." A smile settled onto her face. "She foresaw that you would come here, but could not say if she would be alive to see that day. Because of this, she passed the story to me, making me swear that if she died before you came to visit this place, I would tell you of our gratitude, and ask that you take any book you wish as a gift from our family."

The sorceress risked a glance at the old woman in question, who was now alternately clutching her hands to her heart and gesturing towards the stacks of books with a nod.

As Raven looked around, she shook her head. "Some of these books are beyond priceless. I didn't think a copy of History of the Homo Magi even existed outside of Vandal Savage's personal library." She turned to the shopkeeper's granddaughter. "There's no way I can accept a gift like this."

"Please, it is the least we can offer you. After all," the girl said with a smile, "What use are books if the world has come to an end?"

Raven frowned. "It was my fault that the world ended."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Beast Boy turn with a book in hand and open his mouth to deny her claim, but he was beaten to it by the girl in front of them. "That was fate. You had no choice in that matter. But after you fulfilled your destiny, you chose to fight back, and you saved us all. It is for that reason that my grandmother and I remember you in our prayers each day."

An odd pang hit the purple-haired sorceress in the chest. "You... pray for me?"

"Yes. Every day."

Moisture returned to Raven's eyes unbidden. The irreplaceable tomes around her began fluttering, and she gasped out, "I... I have to go. I'm sorry. My powers... emotions... thank you. Please tell her."

In a flash, the sorceress summoned her soul-self and prepared to teleport back to the hotel. She was completely unprepared for the body that crashed into her and was sucked along for the ride.

After they materialized inside the bedroom assigned to Raven, Beast Boy's arms shook as they slowly disentangled themselves from her waist. His eyes were wide, and his teeth chattered. "Th-th-that's a n-new one, R-R-Rae," he managed after a moment.

Pillows and blankets flew in the air as Raven pummeled her teammate's chest with both fists. "Beast Boy, you idiot! I don't have shield myself from the interdimensional void as much as full humans do. If I had been traveling a longer distance, you could have suffered permanent damage!"

"I'll m-make a note of it," he said, finally managing to blink.

"What on earth possessed you to do something that stupid?"

The green boy shrugged, making a visible effort to quell the shaking of his limbs. "You were hurting. Wasn't gonna let you run off alone."

"I'm fine, Beast—"

"No, you're not." Green eyes flashed. "You came back here so you could meditate, go back into hiding in that cozy little bubble where you let yourself believe you're not a hero and no one really cares about you. Not this time, Raven." With that, he seized her in a fierce hug.

The abruptness of the gesture overbalanced her, and both of them went toppling onto her bed, caught in the eye of a tornado made up of pillows and loose articles from around the room.

"You're a hero, just as much or more so than the rest of us," his scratchy voice echoed in her ear, invading her world. "You save hundreds of lives every day, billions sometimes, and even if not many people are there to see it when you do, some of us know. And it rips me up inside when I see that little flicker in your eyes as you deny it. You are a hero, Raven. You're so incredibly wonderful and important, and I'm not letting you go until you admit it to yourself."

As Beast Boy's voice droned on, the words became obscured by a roaring sound, like being sucked under whitewater rapids. Everything was building up to... something... and it terrified her. The empath scrambled for her center, only to find it completely out of reach.

She was helpless against whatever was coming.

When the dam broke, it brought far more than the silent tears she had occasionally shed in private. Ugly, undignified sobs ripped their way out of her throat, leaving burning trails on their way up from her chest. Holding them back only caused her more pain, and was ultimately futile. Random memories and feelings flashed through her mind; some made perfect sense in this situation, while others had no logical connection. And through it all, a gentle hand stroked her back, strong arms held her face to a chest that smelled faintly of sweat and something else not unpleasant, and that gravelly voice crooned wordless comfort to her as she wept.

Raven had no idea how long they stayed in that position; she returned to herself after what could have been minutes or hours, feeling blessedly empty and light. She hadn't realized she had been carrying around such a weight until it had been lifted.

As she drew a deep, cleansing breath, that voice whispered in her ear once more. "Better?" His hands slowly left their position on her back, giving one last lingering brush before falling away and letting her pull back to see his face.

Lying there on her side facing him, there were a million things racing through her head, few of which made any real sense, so she simply nodded.

Out came that dazzling smile once again, and he rose from the bed. "Good. Sometimes you just need to let it all out."

Raven lay there, still a bit dazed. Out of reflex, she rebuilt her empathic shielding to ward off any unwelcome flare-ups. "I... I don't even know why I was crying, really. Some of it was logical, but there were so many unrelated thoughts and feelings surfacing. Most of them weren't even sad."

The changeling shrugged. "Yeah, that's how it happens when you bottle everything up. The littlest thing can set you off, and then you just... get rid of all of it at once."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Speaking from experience?"

Beast Boy gave her a wry grin. "Eeeyup. The Doom Patrol isn't exactly a touchy-feely outfit. I went about three years without crying while I was with them, then the week after we got the Tower built, Robin set off the waterworks with just a couple words. They weren't even mean ones."

Raven contemplated prying a bit, but decided to leave the matter alone. "I see... thank you, Garfield."

The boy's eyes widened. "That's the first time you've called me by my real name since the week you guys first heard it."

The empath felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. For once, she didn't fight it. "What can I say? As much as I said I'd get a lot of mileage from it, it just... fits you. It'd be strange on anyone else, but for you, it works."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Why don't you use it more, then?"

Raven shrugged, a gesture she'd picked up largely from him. "Force of habit. I don't have a civilian name, really, so it's not all that natural for me to call you by yours."

Garfield nodded, accepting the answer. As he was about to speak, though, Raven was overcome with an inexplicable need to convey her gratitude to him. In a flash, she was on her feet and hugging him.

She felt his spike of shock, then warm contentment. His arms wrapped around her once more, and it felt... good.

A wild urge struck her, and before she could reconsider, she had already brushed her lips against a green cheek.

His gasp was audible, and if Raven's shield had been a bit weaker, something expensive would likely have exploded. Everything hung in a moment of suspended animation, then confusion rushed in to fill the vacuum, accompanied by a mix of emotions, honey-sweet and ringed with sharp glass.

"Rae, what...?"

"I..." The sorceress fumbled for words. "I wanted to thank you. I... we... you keep helping me accept myself, even when I don't want to, and... no one has ever done that for me. So I wanted to do something I'd never done, to show just how much it means to me." She stared at the ground, blushing, fighting the voice in her head that was screaming to pull her hood up and run away. "I'm sorry if I... if it... sorry."

A gloved hand tilted her chin up, and he stared at her, the apprehension in his gaze echoed a thousandfold in his emotional state. "Raven... I'm scared to ask this, but now I kind of have to. How..." He swallowed hard. "How do you feel about me?"

Raven stared at him wide-eyed and unblinking, certain she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I don't know," she mumbled after several small eternities. "That's the simple answer, I suppose. As much as I may tease or belittle you, I know there's far more to you than people see on the surface. I like that, in a way; it means I'm lucky. I get to... see something special. And you are." She turned her face away, unable to hold his gaze, and his hand fell to his side. "There's no one else in this whole world who drives me as absolutely crazy as you do, and deep down, I wouldn't have it any other way. You're also one of a very few reasons I stayed on Earth after we defeated my father... and you're my best friend, Garfield."

Silence hung between them, heady with the expectation of something just a bit more. Raven reached for it, but no words would come. She had no clue what they would even be if she could find them.

A deep sigh rushed through the young man before her, and a dull, twisting ache in his soul was covered over with consolation as quickly as it appeared. He took her in his arms once more, one hand behind her head to press it into his chest.

His heart beat so strongly, pounding at his ribcage with every pulse as though trying to escape. It seemed fitting somehow, for a personality such as his.

"I'll always be your friend, Raven." Even with her ear smashed against his torso, Raven could hear the distress he was doing a horrible job of hiding.

Part of her wanted to add to her previous statements, to do anything it took to alleviate that pain in Garfield's heart, but she couldn't bring herself to speak.

He was always better to her than she was to him; it was how they functioned. A poor excuse, certainly, but saying too little was far better than giving him what might turn out to be false hope.

When he pulled away, she felt... bereft. Still, she said nothing.

Beast Boy stood there, raw, exposed, a throbbing mass of hurt, until he looked down and shook his head once. As if by magic, the painful emotions were gone, and in their place was a mask of cheeriness with a touch of cheek. And when he looked up, that smile she had once thought genuine was painted back on his face.

"Well, Rae," he said, "I've got a surprise for you, but first you have to close your eyes."

Despite the guilt chewing at her stomach, Raven complied. A few moments passed in silence, and just as Raven was about to crack an eyelid, a hand pulled gently on one of hers, and a weight pressed into her palm.

"All right. Open 'em."

She was holding a book, leather-bound, black with gold leaf. Raven recognized it as the tome Beast Boy had been holding in the market. As she scanned the title, her breath caught in her throat.

"Ars Magica," she whispered. "Garfield, this is the third volume of the collected works of Jason Blood and Etrigan. People have been trying for centuries to destroy every copy of this book in existence."

"Well," he said, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish look, "I didn't know all that. I just remember seeing One, Two, and Four on your shelf that time I was digging through for something to read."

Raven chewed her lower lip. "Gar... you're too good to me."

"You deserve it, Rae."

In spite of herself, she raised an eyebrow. "You know it's only because we're having an extended 'moment' that I'm letting that name slide, right?"

His fang gleamed, highlighted in a lopsided smirk. "Kinda figured. Better get some miles out of it while I can, huh?"

Seizing him in another hug, Raven whispered in his ear, "Thank you, Gar. Thank you so much... for everything."

When she released him, she placed the book on her bed, then turned to him.

"Ready to head back to the market, Rae?"

She almost smiled, but managed to suppress the urge. Only the barest ripple in her lips betrayed her. "Moment's over. Call me Raven." With that, she enveloped them both in her dark energy and carried them back to Sant Antoni.

AN: The damage from the void when Raven teleports is inspired by Silently Watches' work, though I've made it much less brutal here. Also, as you can see, the character interactions here aren't all that balanced. Robin and Starfire are an ordeal at best for me to write, whereas Beast Boy and Raven can talk for hours in my head faster than I can record what they're saying. I'll try to balance things out a bit, but this story is definitely centered around my two favorites.

I wonder... where did Beast Boy put that book? He didn't have it in his hands when he was hanging off of Raven going Mach Five through spacetime...

That book market in Barcelona does exist, though I doubt there's an old crone hawking ancient magical texts anywhere in the market.

Next chapter, we'll be getting a little more fluff, then back to the action!