Hey everyone! Here's Chapter 24! I hope you enjoy!
Bbrae-4ever fanfics: I can understand where you're coming from, and I don't think you're being mean at all. I do agree that the way he is reacting may be over the top for the difficulties he has had, but there's also a mental aspect that goes along with it. Depression is rarely just situational; there's often a biological aspect as well. People who have conditions such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder often react in extreme ways to things that healthy people wouldn't ordinarily react to, and it's generally not in their control. So to a healthy person, his reaction is extreme. But to someone who has dealt with mental illness, his reaction is pretty standard. Even then so, everyone who does experience depression or some sort of other mental illness is going to react and handle it differently, and Beast Boy happens to handle it pretty poorly. And I agree that sometimes anger works much, much better than compassion, and the two often come hand in hand in this type of situation. And I'm glad you liked the chapter! :)
RPGPersona: Things have certainly escalated. If his problems weren't obvious enough to his team before, they definitely are now. And I agree, he's lucky that it wasn't against someone competent. Although collapsing from malnourishment is definitely not a good thing in and of itself, it does allow for the situation to change in hopefully a more positive manner if handled correctly. Hope you're enjoying the story! :)
Please keep reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it :)
The first thing he noticed as he emerged from his groggy slumber was the compression of one of his hands. It felt warm and comforting, and helped soothe the confusion he felt as his mind cleared. The last thing he remembered was walking in the city with his friends, and then everything went dizzy and black. As he pushed through the cloudiness in his mind further, more things leaked into his consciousness. He was suddenly very aware of a stinging pain all down his arms and on his thighs, and it was different than the burning he normally felt there. He shifted uncomfortably, the pain easing into his awareness more and more.
As he shifted, the compression on his hand tightened as if to hold him in reality. He heard mumbled noise, slowly becoming clearer and clearer.
"Beast Boy," the voice said urgently. It was a female's voice, and it was very familiar. It reassured him. He felt a warm hand caressing his cheek carefully and heard the voice again. "Beast Boy."
He mumbled out an unintelligible murmur of affirmation. He heard the sound of some sort of device being clanked around before hearing the loving voice again.
"Cyborg, I think he's waking up," the voice said before the device closed.
He just barely opened his eyes and was immediately assaulted by the fluorescent lights above, eliciting another murmur from his mouth.
"Beast Boy," he heard the voice again, now recognizing its owner.
"Rae," he whispered as he attempted to open his eyes again. He saw the empath sitting next to him. She was holding one of his hands in her own, her other hand resting on his cheek. Her expression was one of distress. Her eyes were wide and full of concern, her touch soft and caring. "What…what happened?" he mumbled.
"You passed out. We were heading downtown to the pizza parlor and you collapsed. We brought you back to the tower and put an IV line in you. You're extremely dehydrated and malnourished," she explained.
He looked down at the IV line in the crook of his elbow, and saw the plethora of stitches surrounding it.
"You stitched me up?" he asked quietly.
"No, Cyborg did," she explained. As if on cue, the metal man walked into the infirmary.
"Hey, B," he said solemnly as he approached the two.
"Hey buddy," Beast Boy uttered.
Cyborg walked over to a table that was near the two and grabbed a syringe with a pain killer in it. He then walked back over to his friend. Beast Boy eyed the syringe nervously, and Cyborg took notice of this.
"I'm going to give you a dose of pain medicine through your IV line. If you still need some when this wears off, I have some pills you can take. I imagine you're feeling the stitches quite a bit," Cyborg explained as he injected the clear fluid through the line.
Beast Boy nodded. "Yeah. The stitches kinda sting."
"I bet. This medicine should kick in soon enough, though," he said. Once the injection was done, he set the empty syringe back on the medical table and took a seat next to his younger friend. "We need to talk, B."
Beast Boy gulped nervously, suddenly wishing for nothing more than to escape back to his room to be alone.
"This is getting really serious, and we need to do something about it. You can't keep living like this," Cyborg said, his human eye expressing sorrow.
"He's right, Beast Boy. This is getting really severe. I took your blade away, but it's obvious that you found another," Raven added, noting the wounds on his arms.
"I'm fine, really. Nothing to worry about," Beast Boy retorted, craving for the conversation to end.
"Really? Nothing to worry about? You've barely left your room in the last few weeks, you've barely eaten anything in the last few weeks, and you're hurting yourself really severely. That seems like more than enough to worry about," Cyborg countered.
"Uh…," Beast Boy started before being interrupted.
"You've made yourself so dehydrated and so malnourished that you passed out! This isn't healthy, and you know it!" Cyborg continued, his voice somewhat rising now.
"But I'm not hungry," Beast Boy said.
"I don't give a damn if you're hungry or not, B! If you don't start eating, I'm gonna shove a tube down your nose and force feed you," he said, practically yelling at this point.
Beast Boy visibly tensed at that last statement, and Raven could feel his nervousness rising at the possibility. Cyborg, taking notice of the younger boy's stress, lowered his voice.
"Beast Boy, all of us care about you so much and we hate to see you in so much pain. You need to get help. You can't keep living like this," Cyborg said, his voice still firm, but now more caring.
Despite his best attempts not to, Beast Boy's eyes started watering. Both Cyborg and Raven noticed this at once. Raven, who was still holding onto his hand, gripped it harder and brought it closer to her. Cyborg set his hand down on his friend's shoulder and started rubbing it, providing comfort. Before he could stop it, the tears started flowing from his eyes. It started out as one stream, but soon became uncontrollable floods.
Raven, aware and careful of the IV line and the brand new stitches, picked up Beast Boy and embraced him tightly in a hug. He returned the hug and tightly wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the tug of the IV and the pain of the stitches. Cyborg joined in the hug, wrapping his arms around Beast Boy from his side.
"It's okay, don't worry," Raven whispered into his ear as she rubbed his back.
His tears continued strong, but after a few minutes, slowed and eventually came to a stop. He departed from the hug, and Cyborg and Raven returned to their seats. Beast Boy remained sitting up, wrapping his shaking arms around his abdomen.
"I'm sorry," Beast Boy apologized, his voice barely audible, "I didn't mean to break down like that."
"You don't need to apologize for that, Beast Boy. It's fine. We understand," Raven said, grabbing his hand again and rubbing it with her thumb.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong in crying," Cyborg agreed.
Beast Boy simply nodded, not trusting his voice to speak.
"I'm going to run up to the kitchen and get you something small to eat, okay?" Cyborg said. His eyes met with Beast Boy's. They looked broken, destroyed.
Beast Boy nodded, not wanting to argue with his best friend. With that, Cyborg stood up and left the infirmary. After a few moments of silence, Raven spoke up.
"Beast Boy," she said. He looked up to meet her eyes. "Are you going to eat what Cyborg brings down?"
"I'll try, I guess," he responded.
"Please do. I know you're not hungry, but your body still needs the nourishment. Besides, maybe eating will help lift your spirits somewhat," she offered.
"I doubt it," he responded, breaking the eye contact.
"I'm not going to say I understand what you're going through, because I don't. I can't even begin to imagine what you must be feeling lately. But, I can promise you that it will get better. Those feelings cannot and will not last forever," she stated.
"I know, but it doesn't feel like it'll get better, ya know? It feels as if it's made a permanent home in my mind. I don't know how to make it go away, and it's driving me insane. I hate it so much, Rae," he said, his voice broken.
"I know. I hate it too. We all do. We hate to see you in so much pain. You don't deserve any of it. But you're strong, and you're a fighter. You don't need to know how to make it go away. You just need to keep fighting it, and you'll win," she said.
Beast Boy didn't respond, and Raven knew that he needed some silence for the moment. She continued to rub his hand with her thumb and they waited for Cyborg to return with the food.