AN: To all my loyal readers, thank you for your patience and awesome reviews! You guys keep by creative juices flowing, even when writers' block pops up for an unpleasant stay. You. Guys. Rock!!!
Unfortunately, I had laptop problems and my hardrive crashed. Now, it has yet to be recovered, along with most of my latest fanfiction and other important documents. I'll keep you all updated and let you know when I'm able to take it in to see if it can be repaired. Think good thoughts for me!
Also, IRL has been utter chaos. Seasonal insomnia sucks big time...as does a constant ring-around-the-household of the same illness.
However, I will try my best to update as often as possible.
Disclaimer:I do not own the Teen Titans…if I did, the show would still be going.
"Guys, come on! I'm fine! Really. Look…" Beast Boy gestured with his hands to himself. "I'm here, talking and even whining…I'm just fine."
"Beast Boy, you collapsed for no reason at all," Cyborg said, watching his good friend. "We all know that you ate lunch, because we can all smell your nasty Tofu when it's cooking and every test came back normal…"
"And what happened to you wasn't normal," Raven cut in. Out of the other teammates, Raven stood the closet to Beast Boy.
"I agree with friend Raven and Cyborg," Starfire said.
All eyes looked to their leader, who nodded in agreement. "As do I. Sorry, Beast Boy, but the infirmary is where you're going to be staying and looked after."
Beast Boy shook his head, arms crossing over his chest. "Uh-uh. No freaking way am I staying in here again. Cyborg, all your tests say that I'm as fit as a fiddle, right?" At his friend's nod, he continued. "And Raven, you say you couldn't sense anything wrong with me." He noticed her hesitation before glancing away.
"What are you getting at BB?" Cyborg asked.
"I'll compromise," he answered and then scowled when everyone but Raven gave him a disbelieving look. "Hey! I'm capable of compromising."
Robin let out a deep sigh and raked a hand through his hair. "I want to hear this compromise of yours and it better be good."
Beast Boy nodded, moving to sit up a little more. "Look, what happened…was rather freaky. I'll admit that it got me to wig. But I can't stand another stay in this infirmary. So, I still want to be on active duty, but I'll let you decide what battles I can and cannot handle. Sound all right with you, Rob?"
Robin considered this for a moment then slowly nodded. "Ok, seems fair enough. But you'll have to train for the next two weeks before I start handing out missions to you."
"All right," Beast Boy agreed, a little begrudgingly. "I want to stay in my room. You guys can take shifts, as I know you were already planning to do…and I'll even let Cy hook me up with one of those contraptions of his to monitor my heart and what not. I spent months in a hospital and our own infirmary to last me the next five years of my life. Besides…" Emerald eyes looked to Raven. "If someone's in-between shifts and let's say my vitals start to spike, Rae is only a few feet down and across the hall." He turned his attention back to his other teammates. "It's a win/win situation."
The other three Titans were silent as they thought this over and then Robin nodded, followed by Cyborg, Star, and Raven. A smile formed on his lips.
"So, who wants to baby-sit the grass stain first?"
"I will," Raven said and then shifted a bit uncomfortably under the gazes of her friends. "Like Beast Boy pointed out, I'm closer to him in proximity and even without one of Cyborg's inventions I could sense if something was happening to him."
"Okay. Raven has the first shift for the evening. Cyborg, you start at your turn at dawn."
When they'd all agreed on a schedule, everyone aside from Raven left the room and Beast Boy didn't need his animal senses to tell him that something was bothering her on a big scale. After a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever, the changeling cleared his throat.
"Guess that you're doomed to forever watched over me," he said, trying to lighten up the mood.
Suddenly she rounded on him, violet eyes meeting his gaze. "You think that this is funny, Beast Boy!? You could've died! And it would've been the second time that I would've lost you!" She stopped, her eyes going wide. She'd never intended to let the last part slip.
"Rae," Beast Boy said, his tone soft. "I know I managed to rattle you real good, but, you're not going to lose me…"
Raven turned her back to him. "You don't know that, Beast Boy."
He sighed and then reached out a hand, letting it rest on her arm gently. "Raven, you saved me. Got me here just in time. You know what scared me the most when I felt that pain?"
"What?" she asked, her tone having become softer and it wavered slightly, as if she were holding back tears.
"I was afraid that I'd never see you again," He admitted. "Not seeing you again took precedence over everything else." He watched her stance relax slightly. "You mean a lot to me, Raven." More than you know, he thought to himself. Hell, she still thought that Stephen Malcolm was a real person and her boyfriend.
She sighed. "Get dressed, Gar. And then I'm going to take you to your room."
He didn't reply, but instead moved off of the bed carefully and changed into the gray sweatpants and black wifebeater that had been brought in for him by one of the other teammates.
Raven sat on the other side of Beast Boy's bed as he slept, having fallen asleep mid-way through a rather long graphic novel he'd been reading. Her mind was a whirlwind of different emotions and she knew that meditation was in order. Besides, he was sleeping, what's the worst that could happen? Maybe him snoring loud enough to break my concentration, Raven thought, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
She got into the lotus position and began to chant her mantra, feeling herself beginning to calm down a little more. When she opened her eyes, she was in Nevermore, only something felt…different. As she wandered, looking for her other emotions, she began to feel more and more at ease.
"Ravey!" Came the chipper voice of Happy. "We knew you'd come back here to visit us soon!"
"You did?"
"Of course!" she said. "Well come on, my new best buddy wants to speak with you."
Raven didn't need to be told who that was and so, she followed Happy until Raven found herself standing in front of Love.
"I'll let you two chat," Happy said and then disappeared.
Raven looked to Love and raised a questioning brow. "And what else do we have to talk about?"
Love smiled, meeting Raven's gaze. "About your true feelings for Beast Boy, of course."
Brimstone. Smoke. Ash. The burning of flesh. Beast Boy's nose smelt it all. It wasn't uncommon that his senses were heightened in a dream…but as he looked about, feeling the fire around him lick dangerously close to his skin, an uneasy feeling crept into his stomach.
"My, my, how long it's been," came a smooth, accented voice. "So my sweet Raven and the Beast have come to have feelings for one another. How cute."
"You…but, she locked you away in that book!" Beast Boy said.
A chuckle escaped him. "Silly creature, my new Master set me free so that we might use you to his biding."
Beast Boy growled and shook his head, "I'll never help you or your Master."
A booming chuckle caused Beast Boy to turn around, looking upon four red eyes. "Your resistance is futile, underling…and what I wish to happen shall come to pass. You cannot defeat me on your own."
No. It wasn't true. This was just a bad dream. No, this was a nightmare. Both of them were gone. Gone and lost forever as it should be.
"Face it, changeling," he moved closer to the sweating Beast Boy. "Through my magic and his strength, you'll be nothing but a slave. Besides, your more…primitive half is what we're after."
"No! I won't!" He shouted, but they just laughed at him. "I won't do it! I won't let you use that…that Beast to harm anyone! I'll tell Raven and the others what you've done to me."
Malchior laughed. "You are still a fool. Do you really think that we'd allow you tell anyone about this? Part of the fine print of the spell, Beast Boy, you cannot tell anyone about the spell upon you. In fact, when you wake up, you won't even remember this little chat."
AN: Please let me know what you think! R&R! Pretty please?