A/N – Thank you for the awesome reviews ^^ It's kinda fun to look and see how you have readers from all over the globe. This one's a little bit shorter, but I wanted to go ahead and post it before school gets the best of me.

R&R

3

-Within the depths of despair I hear your voice calling out my name-

Garfield's heart thudded eratically, his breath coming out in short and clumsy gasps. He couldn't believe he had been so chicken. He just left! Wasn't the plan to talk to her? To see her? To touch her? Anything at all?! And yet he had run away from his opportunity to do so. The numbing sensation flooded his body when he realized she had looked at him. Did she realize who he was? Did her powers give away his facade? All of these questions that he demanded to have answered yet knew in the back of his mind could only be done so by one person. Hunched over and leaning against a tree, his eyes gazed over to the horses grazing in the fields below.

"God help me..." He whispered solely to himself. He had been so foolish in coming here tonight. The urge he felt to return home, to return to the safety of the Titan Tower was overwhelming. He just wanted to be near them. His friends, his family. The knot in his throat made his words run dry, thinking of how easy it would be to just walk back into their lives.

Garfield was so busy with his internal thoughts that it hadn't even registered in his mind that she might have followed him. It didn't even register in his animalistic instincts that branches were breaking and the sound of leaves being crushed under the soles of heeled feet were growing louder and louder with each passing moment as her presence drew near. It didnt register to him until she was standing next to the water fountain upon the vista and he heard a name being spoken from those powdery blue lips.

"Beastboy?" She called softly.

xxx

Raven's emotions were a rampage. First she had entered, registering all of the desire eminating off of the people. She registered envy shooting off of women. She noticed the eyes that turned her way. And then she settled upon the loneliness and desperation creeping past her barricade that drifted out from the corner of the barn. Her eyes had focused upon that figure, a sense of familiarity rushing over her. Her flushed cheeks turning a ghastly white as it dawned on her the sheer possibility.

'No.' She had told herself. After how many years of searching? No, it wasn't him. 'He's dead you silly girl...' and bitterness krept inside of her soul.

She watched him shoot out, and without word to the people attempting to speak to her - without word to Starfire or Robin who's gazes became uterly confused, the empath was out the door and sneaking after him.

At first she had been relieved to hear his voice floating through the night. Then she had been angry. Then relief once more. But above all else, the hurt settled within the pit of her stomach. The hurt that he had just abandoned the team. That they had thought he was gone after all of those years. The hurt and bitterness that coursed throughout her body leaving timid dashing for cover and sadness blossoming within her mind.

"It's you...isn't it?" Her voice came out stronger this time, no longer a whisper. Her shaking hands wanted to reach out, but they stayed put. Her eyes didn't dare betray the emotions she felt, although he could easily hear it within her voice. Raven took another step forward, and then another, until she was side by side with the concrete water fountain, staring at the grown man in front of her.

Garfield didn't know how to answer her. His throat was parched, his eyes ablaze from the feelings raging inside of him. His inner beast screamed to be unleashed, chastising him for taking too long to reply. He had heard her voice. He could hear her sadness, the depression emanating off of her body entwining itself with his own. The green man shuddered with the wind, turning around to face her and lowering his collar just enough for his face to poke through within the night.

"I don't go by Beastboy anymore..." It was hard for him to talk, and he felt like an idiot for saying just those few words. She deserved more than that, didn't she?

Her eyes blazed with anger at his simple reply. "Really? Is that so? None of us would've known considering we all assumed you were dead." Raven's voice was piercingly cold to match perfectly with the outside air. Her anger radiated to the point the lightbulbs overhead began to crack and explode, black magic piercing through each and every one of them.

It suddenly felt very dark...

"Raven...I-"

"You know we looked for you right?" Her voice was shaking now. "We looked for you every day. For years." Raven took another step towards him. Her eyes were glowing, her hands were shaking. Her entire body shook from the sudden onslaught of rage. "You left me."

Garfield didn't know what to say to that. Everything he wanted to tell her was stuck. He didn't know what to do. What to say to make things right, if that was even possible at this point.

"What? Have you nothing to say for yourself?" Raven's hands slid to her waist, cocking her hips to the side while she approached him until she was right in front of him. She could practically hear his pulse beat. She could hear the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Her confidence faltered for a moment, assessing how much he had changed now that she could see him clearly.

Time had done good to the both of them. And that scared her. That scared him.