A/N: You all know I dont own Teen Titans. If I did, I'd hire a number of you to write episodes for me. Anywho, Many millions of thankses to my reviewers, Wolfenstein, Taken to Loneiness, and Arroiuqlu Schiffer. You guys all inspired me to update much faster than I normally would. Also, despite not being among my reviewers, I give much thanks to Chico's Chica Magnifica, who helped kick my arse back in gear, and to Mangopoptarts for the same reason... and also for giving me a fun name to yell at my cat when she misbehaved. I believe the whole thing went, "Curse you Kitty! (yes, my cat's name is Kitty) Stop acting as innocent and delicious sounding as a mango pop tart! you know I dont like dead mice on the clean floor! those go in the present box!" Anywho, ON TO THE NEW CHAPTER!
Once again, I thank my aforementioned reviewers. You all make life worth living... or at least make this story worth posting lol.
The next few weeks passed without much incident. Other than the occasional villain, the Titans were having an easy time of things. Cyborg was working for S.T.A.R Labs part-time, using his tech skill learned from his father to develop new security systems. Nightwing was back in college, learning more about business to be prepared to take over Wayne Industries. Starfire was working as a model after being discovered by a photographer one day at the "mall of shopping." Even Gar was doing something. In this case, he was taking a few college classes, at the insistence of his adoptive father, Steve Dayton. After accidentally walking into a philosophy class, Gar decided he enjoyed the subject, and consequently declared a philosophy major. This surprised Raven greatly, but she agreed to lend Gar several of her own books on the subject, including "Sophie's World", "Nausea", and "The Dialogues of Plato." Never before had she seen Beastboy immerse himself in a novel so completely. He reminded her of… herself.
Raven, on the other hand, was getting more and more stressed. She found no information on this "Awakening" anywhere, and this worried her. As her birthday approached, she became more reclusive and moody, often snapping at her other teammates, and locking herself away for hours at a time, often going full days without food. Finally, there was only one day left before her twenty first birthday, and Gar had been paying attention to her eating habits, or lack of them.
Having just lost a race against Cyborg (some things never change), Gar said to his team, "Hey, has anyone seen Raven today?" The others thought a moment, and Nightwing said, "Nope." Cyborg also said no, and Starfire said, "I haven't seen much of Raven for at least a week, now that I think about it. Friend Beastboy, do you know anything of her reclusive behavior?" Gar shook his head no, and then said, "I'm gonna try and bring her some food, I'm pretty sure she hasn't been eating." Cyborg huffed and said, "Ya know man, I think this is just an excuse to not lose another game. First it's, 'I'm gonna bring Rae some food', and then it's, 'Hey Cy, I can't play, my bones are all broken from buggin' Raven." Gar smirked at his friend and said, "Not to worry Cy, I'm a lot faster than before. I think I can dodge anything she has to throw at me." With that Gar stood up, and prepared a cup of herbal tea and some miso soup with tofu cubes. He put the food on a serving tray and went up to Raven's room.
On his way, he noticed it was already 5:30 p.m. He should have brought her food sooner. Mentally slapping himself for procrastinating with games, Gar sped up, and found himself in front of Raven's room. Balancing the tray on one hand, he very gently knocked on her door, trying to lessen the annoyance of the knock as much as possible. Raven answered instantly with a harsh, "WHAT?" Gar flinched back a moment and then said, "Hey Rae, I brought you some soup and herbal tea… I noticed you haven't been eating." The door opened slightly, showing one amethyst eye gleaming in the semi-darkness. She glanced at the soup and then opened all the way, saying, "Come in Beastboy." He happily obliged, walking in slowly to balance the tray. Raven sat down on her bed, but Gar remained standing. Raven gave an exasperated sigh, and said, hand me the tray and sit down!" Gar did as he was told, thought he was beginning to get hurt by her harsh demeanor.
Raven sensed this, and brushed her hand through her hair, sighing again. "Beastboy, I'm sorry for being so on edge lately, and for snapping at you just now… Birthday prophecies tend to put me in a bad mood." While she spoke in her usual deadpan monotone, Gar heard a hint of humor at the last part. He gave her a smile and said, "No need to apologize, I understand. Any luck finding out about the Awakening?" Raven clenched her jaw shut, biting back any cruel words she might say. She instead said, "Barely. I have found small traces in my books. More often than not, it is simply a brief mention, but no information about the Awakening itself. Usually it will be something like, 'and Valefor became the demon of wisdom, after the Awakening. The most interesting mention is, 'Trigon rose to incredible power after his Awakening, revealing his true form of hatred and rage. His power was so immense, he easily conquered a dimension, and his presence was felt in many other parallel universes." Gar looked at the large books and said, "Why don't you take a break to eat, and I can read for a bit?" Raven glanced up at him, relief evident on her face for only a moment before being suppressed into her normal blank stare.
"No offense Beastboy, but you wouldn't understand anything you were reading, and you aren't as fast as me." Raven said with a frown. Gar smirked and said, "I managed to grasp Plato's concept of the Forms, and the allegory of the cave. Besides, when you weren't paying attention I've been… 'Borrowing' some of your basic magic books and reading up on it… Hehe.. Don't be mad?" Raven stared, and then let out a small chuckle before agreeing. She handed him the book she was currently on, and eagerly grabbed the soup. After inhaling a few bites, she paused to enjoy the flavor. "Beastboy, this is really good. What are the little white cubes?" Gar grinned widely and said, with a slight chuckle to his voice, "Its tofu!" Raven froze mid-chew for a moment, and then slowly continued. "Tofu's good." She said after swallowing. Gar laughed, and then said, "Maybe you are just really hungry." Raven nodded, and took a sip of tea before continuing. Gar read in silence for a bit, and then started flipping pages. He finally got to something that caught his attention. A poem, titled "Heritage of the Demons."
It read:
As we age our powers grow,
Waiting to ripen before they show.
After one and twenty years we see,
Keepers hold is gone from thee.
Every demon knows the feel,
Near the time to break the seal.
Gar gave Raven a huge smile and said, "I think I found something!" Raven stopped sipping tea) her soup was long gone), and scurried over to Gar. She looked at the page and said, "This is interesting. But what does it mean?" Gar frowned and said, "You tell me what you thing first." Raven reread it and said, "It sounds like I get new powers, but other than that, the poem makes no sense." Gar nodded, and said, "Rae, you look tense. You've been working crazy hard, how about a shoulder rub?" Raven glared for a moment before saying, "Ok, just for a little. And If I don't like it, I'm throwing you out the window." Gar smiled even more at this, and quickly reached over. He started rubbing the knots out of Raven's shoulders and neck, making sure not to squeeze too hard.
Raven almost melted at the first touch. She didn't realize how stressed and tense she was until Beastboy began massaging her. His warmth soothed her cramped muscles, and that along with the food and tea was starting to put her to sleep. "He's really good with his hands…" At this thought, Raven snapped out of the almost-trance, sitting bolt upright. Beastboy quickly withdrew, alarmed at her sudden tenseness. She moved away without a word, using her powers to put away the books. Gar frowned and said, "Rae, are you ok?" She could sense the concern in his mind, but his emotions were quickly quieted. She didn't know he could do that.
Instead of answering, Raven said, "You know what Beastboy? I have always liked that you call me Rae. To everyone else, I'm Raven, but you were never so creeped out by me that you didn't try to be a friend. You always felt comfortable enough with me to call me Rae, and I've always liked hearing you say it…" Gar was shocked, but Raven continued. "And I am only telling you this because we do not yet know what will happen tomorrow. And should I happen to go all crazy evil, or attempt to destroy the world, I just wanted you to know that." Gar smiled and said, "Since we are on the topic of names, can you do me a favor?" Raven looked at him questioningly. "Can you maybe call me Gar instead of Beastboy? Beastboy feels too… juvenile." Raven smirked.
"And Gar would be short for…?" She asked
Gar gave her a fake death glare before mumbling, "…Garfield..." He then turned into a fat tabby cat before hopping onto her pillow and kneading it with his claws. He curled up there and stuck his tongue out at her. Raven started laughing, but hid it behind her hand as best she could. Gar smiled, until he was blown off the pillow by her powers. "I'm sorry... Gar. I didn't mean to do that." Gar stood up, now back in his human form, and said, "S'ok. Just hit my head on the way down. Hearing you laugh was more than worth it though, so no big." She gave him a smile and said, "Would you do me a favor now?"
Gar smiled and said, "Anything for you Rae." She blushed at this and, thanking the darkness of her room, said, "Can you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone when… whatever is going to happen happens. Gar nodded and helped her back to the bed. "Get some rest Rae, you need it. I'll wake you before midnight." She smiled at him again before curling up on her bed. "Thanks Gar. By the way, when did you learn to hide your emotions?" Gar grinned and said, "A while ago. I figured, since you can feel other people's emotions, I wouldn't want to bother you with my jumpy emotions, so I learned to suppress them." Raven thought his reasoning odd, but said, "Ok then." With that, she drifted off into a deep sleep.
A/M: The "M" is for "Moat." Anyway, not much happening here except a sad attempt at semi romance between the young couple. No worries, the next chapter will be much more exciting. STUFF HAPPENS THAT WILL LEAVE MANY PEOPLE SAYING STUFF LIKE, "OH DANG!"