Hey everyone! Here's Chapter 10! Hope you enjoy! :)
Bbrae-4ever fanfics: I know :( That was a painful chapter to write, with all the tragedy and sadness, but quite necessary. I hope you enjoyed it though! :)
PSI-Triforce: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story too; there's a lot to come! Don't worry! It wasn't a sucky review and I really appreciate the review :)
RPGPersona: The meeting is definitely a challenging one for all of them, but is especially taxing for Beast Boy. I figured, with him being a scientist who worked with Beast Boy's parents and coincidently BB's cure, he would be able to somewhat easily come up with a cure, whereas the villagers would likely be unable to do so. Since they can't come up with a cure, it's a relatively quick and easy way for him to wipe out a population. I kept debating between a knife and a gun, and although a knife is a generally weaker weapon choice, I felt it worked better in this story. I tried to make his, for lack of a better term, 'breakdown' as panicked and as extreme as possible, and I hope that came across well. I find it difficult to explain emotionally charged scenes such as this accurately. I hoped the calming scene worked well too. It was definitely an interesting scene to write. I hope you enjoyed the incident/chapter! :)
BartWLewis: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and hope you continue to enjoy it :)
Please keep reading and reviewing!
When the sleepless team gathered in the morning, there was near silence. They were all still pretty shaken up from the previous night's events. After they had gotten back to the campsite, they had gone to their respective compartments. Cyborg dropped Beast Boy off in Raven's compartment, too worried to let him be alone. At that point, Beast Boy had been done crying and shaking. Rather, he was completely silent and somewhat unresponsive to everyone and everything despite being perfectly conscious. Everyone then settled in for what became a restless night, only to be awoken a few hours later by the blinding sun.
"I reviewed the papers we gathered last night. It's 100% confirmed that Register was behind the outbreak. He wrote in his documentations that he managed to genetically alter the virus to spread it more rapidly. The silver collars that were found in the lab and that were reported by victims allowed him to control the monkeys who carried the virus, which then allowed him to spread the virus that way in addition to the injections. Since this is a genetically altered version of the virus, it may be more complex to cure, or perhaps even impossible. There were no documentations that spoke of a cure or treatment, but I did find logistical data that explains the altered virus more in depth," Robin explained, his voice solemn. He handed the logistical data to Cyborg, knowing that he would be able to properly analyze it. "We need to go to the village and alert Abioye to what happened. He needs to be aware."
The team noticeably tensed up, especially Beast Boy, knowing that that conversation was going to be a tough one. Even though Register's death was completely by accident, they felt like there was going to be backlash. The villagers weren't fond of the team, and they definitely weren't fond of Beast Boy, so this wasn't going to go well.
Cyborg studied the sheets that Robin had handed him, transferring the information to himself so that he could study it faster. Soon, he let out a disheartened grunt.
"I don't even know where to begin to treat it, let alone cure it. I kept hitting road blocks when I was studying it a day ago, but I couldn't figure out why. Now that I understand that it was modified, I don't think it's curable. The data on it doesn't allow it to be curable," Cyborg explained, disappointment coating his words.
"Is there truly nothing that we can do?" Starfire started, equally upset at the news, "Surely there must be something. They are suffering greatly."
"I wish there was, Star, but I don't think there is. It was nearly impossible to cure before, but since being modified, it just may be completely impossible now," Cyborg responded.
Robin appeared to be deep in thought before responding.
"Well, we knew from the start that curing it was going to be a longshot. Our main goal was stopping the spread of infection, and we succeeded. No more people can be injected with the virus, and the monkeys that were under his control are no longer under his control. Those monkeys are still out there and can still infect, but it's under their own will, which we can't stop. If we can't cure it, we can't cure it. But at least we tried," he said, trying to comfort his team. It seemed to provide them with some ease, but it still upset them that they couldn't save the victims. "We should go ahead and go to the village. The sooner we let Abioye know, the better." The teens nodded, stood up, and proceeded to head towards the village.
Their walk there was slower than normal. They were really dreading that conversation, and although walking slower just simply postponed it, it was preferable to facing it head on. Despite their slow walking, they eventually reached the village and had to find Abioye.
Like always, they were welcomed with the judgmental and fearful stares of the villagers, as well as the occasional slur. They had learned to ignore it, or at least ignore it as much as possible. Raven glanced down at Beast Boy, knowing that he still hadn't spoken a word since yesterday. She couldn't imagine what he must be going through right now, but she could feel intense pain and guilt radiating off of him. She reached for his hand and took it, startling him out of his pained trance. He looked up briefly at her. Where a small smile used to grace his face at moments of comfort like this, stood instead a pair of darkened eyes and a troubled frown. In another attempt to lighten his spirits, Raven offered a small smile herself, but it was unreturned. Rather, he returned his dead gaze back to the ground below him.
They soon located Abioye and were greeted in his usual manner.
"Greetings," the village leader said to them as they approached, "how was your search yesterday?"
The Titans, save for Beast Boy, all looked at one another before settling their gazes on Robin.
"Actually, that is what we needed to discuss with you," Robin said to the man, his voice feeling hesitant. "Something happened yesterday when we went."
"What is it?" Abioye asked, a serious expression now covering his face.
"Uh, it's more of a private conversation. Is there somewhere else where we could speak with you privately?" Robin requested.
"No," Abioye said strongly, "If there is something you need to tell me, you can tell me openly. What you have to say shall not be kept secret from my people." At this point, a small crowd had started to form around the Titans and Abioye, becoming increasingly more interested in the conversation.
"Uh, well, first of all, we confirmed that Dr. Register was in fact behind this all. We found his lab and we found documentations about the Sakutia outbreak. He mutated the virus to make it easier to spread, through both injections and monkey bites. The virus can now no longer be spread, or at least not in an unnatural way like it was. Since the virus was mutated, though, it appears to be incurable. Those already infected can't be saved," Robin explained.
"Did you find Dr. Register?" Abioye asked.
"Well, about that," Robin started before he was interrupted.
"How can you say that the virus can no longer spread if you have not located Dr. Register?" Abioye interjected, assuming that Robin's lack of a clear answer meant that he had not been located.
"The virus can no longer be spread because….because Dr. Register is dead," Robin said, bringing even more attention to the group than there had been previously.
"You found him dead?" Abioye interrogated sternly.
"Not exactly, uh-," Robin tried to explain again, but was cut off.
"So you killed him?" Abioye challenged.
"Please, just let me explain - ," Robin pleaded, but Abioye and the villagers weren't having any of it.
"How dare you murder an innocent man?!" Abioye roared, stunning the teens with his choice of words.
"Innocent? Innocent! He was murdering your children! He was far from innocent!" Cyborg yelled, choosing to no longer remain silent.
"Dr. Register was a respected man in this village, and he has been here for many years. Yes, he has made some questionable choices, but he was still an esteemed member of our society," Abioye continued.
The teens were absolutely dumbfounded. How could this man say that Register was innocent? He was not a man who even deserved respect, let alone one to be considered respectable and esteemed.
The villagers that had surrounded the teens were murmuring ferociously, becoming angry at the news of Register's death. Suddenly, one lunged out at Beast Boy, tackling him to the ground. It was the same man who had attacked him on the first day that they had arrived.
"Mimi niliwaambia angeweza kuleta laana juu kijiji chetu ! Yeye ni muuaji ! Yeye ni mmoja kuwajibika !" the man yelled as he pushed all his weight on Beast Boy, who looked up at his attacker with wide eyes. (I told you he would bring a curse upon our village! He is a murderer! He is the one responsible!)
"Tafadhali , kuacha! Huwezi kuelewa !" Beast Boy yelled, trying to defend himself. (Please, stop! You don't understand!)
"Hakuna kitu kuelewa! Wewe ni taka machukizo ya maisha. Natumaini msiba hatma sawa na wazazi wako. Wewe kuleta kitu lakini maumivu na mateso !" the man yelled hatefully. (There is nothing to understand! You are a disgusting waste of life. I hope you befall the same fate as your parents. You bring nothing but pain and suffering!)
Beast Boy, unable to respond, just looked up at the man. He felt as if his soul was being drained from his body.
"Kuondoka. Sasa . Mimi ili wewe kujiondoa na kusababisha machafuko hayo na kurudi kwa familia yako mara moja," Abioye stated sternly. The man looked up at him, grumbled something, and got up off of Beast Boy. He spit at the boy on the ground before stomping off. (Leave. Now. I order you to quit causing such chaos and return to your family at once.)
Before he knew it, Cyborg and Raven were helping up Beast Boy, who was still in a daze from what had just happened. Cyborg leaned over and whispered to him.
"What did he say to you?" he asked, concerned at the obviously hurt expression on his younger friend's face. Beast Boy simply shook his head, refusing to answer. The three of them returned to the rest of the Titans, facing Abioye once again.
"You shall leave this village immediately and never return. You have completed your mission, therefore you have completed your time here. And you," Abioye said, focusing on Beast Boy, "Remember, if you ever return, you will be executed. Leave. Now." Abioye then turned and walked away from the teens, and the rest of the villagers followed suite. The teens stood there in disbelief, not believing Abioye and the villager's complete lack of understanding about the situation. Robin then turned to his team.
"Beast Boy, are you okay?" he asked. Beast Boy simply nodded, refusing to speak. "On that note, we should leave. We don't want to possibly cause any more altercations, or worse." The teens nodded in agreement, and proceeded to head out of the village and back to their campsite.
Beast Boy trailed in the back alone. He even avoided Raven and Cyborg. The team took notice of this, but decided not to bring it up. Beast Boy had been through a lot on this trip, and the last thing he needed right now was to be suffocated by his friends. They knew that he needed his space, so they would give it to him unless the situation became dire.
They soon reached the camp, and just as easily as Cyborg had set up the camp, he took it down. Within an hour, they were all packed up and ready to leave. Each teen got into their respective section of the T-ship, and they took off. As they left, Beast Boy stared out his window, watching the terrain of his original home get smaller and smaller before ultimately leaving his view, knowing that it very well may be the last time that he ever saw it.