Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Teen Titans or any characters in the DC Universe.
"Raven!" Starfire shouted. "Shield yourself and I'll fly even faster!"
As Raven enveloped her body in her dark energy she felt a surge in acceleration. Bower's Ravine was almost 90 miles from the tower and even at her own top speed it would take Raven nearly an hour to get there. She recalled the chain of events that led to this moment.
She had been sitting at the circular couch sipping on her tea while reading a book when Beast Boy's panic call arrived. She bolted to her feet, dropping her mug on the floor, shattering it. Starfire was in the kitchen, baking some indigestible Tamaranian cake, and saw the panic on her friend's face.
Raven asked her to bring up a map to Bower's Ravine on the TV screen while she phased into the infirmary, where she grabbed a med kit, which she quickly stocked with 4 pints of Beast Boy's stockpiled blood. She immediately returned to the common room, where a map was displayed on the giant screen. Robin and Cyborg had arrived.
"What's going on Raven? Why do you have a med kit?" Robin asked.
"Somebody shot Gar in the canyon. He's lost a lot of blood." She replied in a panic as she prepared to depart.
"I can get the T-Ship ready in 5 minutes." Cyborg informed her. "It'll take you too long to fly there on your own power. There's no way you could get there in less than an hour!"
Starfire could see the fear in Raven's eyes. She ran up to Raven and picked her up bridal style, much to her surprise.
"We cannot wait! I will take you there Raven. Robin! Open a window."
Before Raven could say anything Starfire shot out the window like a missile, her rate of acceleration was so intense that Raven struggled to not black out. Soon the Tamaranian was flying so fast that Raven couldn't open her eyes.
She clutched the med kit tightly as she shrouded herself with her obsidian light, feeling the rushing air buffet her shield relentlessly and with great intensity. She had no idea how fast they were flying, but she knew that their speed had to be astounding.
Robin and Cyborg watched Starfire and Raven quickly disappear in the distance; the only indication of their presence was a trail of condensed moisture not unlike those left behind by jet airliners.
"Cyborg, how fast are they going?"
Cyborg checked the readings on the ops console.
"They're just shy of the sound barrier. Raven's raised a shield around herself. I hope she can hold it."
"So they'll be there be in what? 8 minutes?"
"That's right. I'll get the T-Ship ready. They might need some backup; we don't know who shot BB."
Robin nodded. "Do it. I'll get some more med supplies to take with us."
Starfire's alien mind had been able to memorize the entire canyon map in only a few seconds and it paid off as unlike Beast Boy she didn't take any wrong turns on her way to Bower's Ravine, where they arrived on schedule. Raven felt the sudden deceleration and noticed that the buffeting against her shield had all but disappeared. She dropped her shield and separated from Starfire. She pulled out her communicator and enabled the homing function, locking onto Beast Boy's transponder code.
"Starfire! Follow me! It's this way!" Raven shouted as she flew deep into the Ravine.
The Tamaranian nodded and followed her. The Ravine was a maze, full of nooks and crannies that would have made a visual search slow and time consuming. Using the transponder she made a beeline to where Beast Boy was located but even with the communicator it was difficult to find his location.
The first thing Raven found was his backpack, which was lying on the canyon floor and was stained in his blood. Raven knew he had to be nearby and shouted his name repeatedly as she scrambled through the brush, desperately trying to find him. Starfire assisted her by removing the vegetation as they searched. In just a few minutes they had cleared a 50 meter radius from where the backpack was found.
It was the then that Raven found his communicator, half buried in the sandy soil on the canyon floor.
"Where is he?!!" She screamed in panic. "We have to find him Starfire, he's dying."
"Look Raven, over here!" Starfire said, while hovering over a spot near the backpack.
Raven quickly hovered over and saw what had not escaped Starfire's sharp alien eyes. There was an indentation in the sand stained with blood. Beast Boy had fallen there. There were a pair of footprints that appeared nearby, seemingly out of nowhere, and they approached the indentation. It was also obvious that the owner of the footprints had picked him up and dragged him a few short feet before the footprints disappeared.
"Someone's taken him." Starfire said grimly.
Just then a faint call for help could be heard not far away down the canyon. They both raced to its source and found themselves in front of the remains of a major landslide. It was evident that it was fresh as there was still dust in the air. A muffled voice could be heard under the rubble and the two Titans began to dig to rescue the victim trapped under the avalanche of sand and gravel. Within a minute they had dug him out. It was a man dressed in desert camouflage and who was carrying a high power rifle.
Raven yanked him out of the sandy tomb with her powers while Starfire destroyed his rifle, bending it like it was a garden hose.
"You worthless piece of crap! You shot him! You shot my Garfield!" Raven roared at him, her 4 eyes were glowing a bright blood red.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know it was Beast Boy until I got closer. Please don't hurt me." He whimpered.
"Where is he?" She roared in an otherworldly, guttural voice.
"I don't know." He stammered. "I never got to him. The ravine wall just caved in with no warning and buried me. I swear I don't know what happened to him."
Raven knew, it was now all too obvious. As she was about to shout out her name she saw her approach, gliding on a small boulder. As she approached Raven could see the expression on her face: fear, terror, panic.
"Follow me." Was all she said to them in a weak voice.
Raven burst into tears when she saw him, lying in the bed in Terra's lair. His arm was wrapped in a bloodied makeshift bandage. Starfire had taken the med kit from Raven and had hooked up an IV catheter to his good arm, through which he was now receiving fresh blood. He face was pale from the blood loss and had almost lost its green color altogether. Starfire began to attend to his wounded arm.
"Raven, I will require your assistance."
Raven felt a hand on her shoulder.
"He needs you Rae." Terra reassured her.
Raven choked back her sobs and finished unwrapping the bandage from his arm. Her eyes widened in horror at the magnitude of his wound.
"We have to get him to a hospital; this is beyond my healing abilities."
"Can you at least stop the bleeding?" Terra asked.
Raven nodded. "I think so. Star! Call the guys and have them bring the T-Ship, and have them bring more blood packets."
"Yes Raven, I will do as you ask."
Raven's blue light danced across Beast Boy's savaged arm and the flow of blood slowly began to decrease until after a few minutes the arm stopped bleeding altogether.
"Good job Rae." Terra congratulated her.
Raven stopped to look at Terra. The Geomancer had changed since she last saw her in Slade's underground lair. She was taller now, even taller than Starfire. And she had bloomed, much to Raven's chagrin. Raven had to admit to herself that Terra was now quite striking in her beauty.
"Our friends are on their way, and they are bringing more blood for friend Beast Boy."
"Thanks Starfire." Raven said as she noticed that some of Beast Boy's color had returned and that he was breathing more normally. Without thinking she reached over and gave him a tender kiss on his lips. As she stood up again she noticed that Terra had seen her uncharacteristic public display of affection.
"So, I take BB's your boyfriend now, huh? I have to say you scored Rae. I mean, look at him, he's like … wow!"
Raven sighed. "He's not my boyfriend." She confessed.
"You are wrong Raven." Starfire corrected her. "He is your boyfriend; he just doesn't know that yet."
"If only it were that easy Starfire." Raven replied.
"You sure about that Rae?" Terra asked.
Raven nodded. "If he's my boyfriend, then why was he out here looking for you?"
Raven looked around Terra's lair while Cyborg examined Beast Boy's arm. She did this not out of curiosity for the Geomancer's canyon dwelling but because she could no longer bear to look at her beloved's mangled arm.
Terra's home was a cave she had carefully carved out of solid granite 500 feet over the canyon floor. There was no path to the entrance to her lair, which opened to a sheer drop. The entrance was small and its location kept it permanently hidden in the shadows, making it very hard to discover.
The interior was spacious. She had taken great care to bore the walls nice and smooth and her dwelling had several rooms. It reminded Raven of Bilbo's house in the Lord of the Rings movies with its tunnel shaped walls and passages. Terra had fitted it with electrical fixtures, which she powered with a strange reactor she had stolen long ago from Slade. The lair was nicely furnished and Raven even thought it was cozy.
Terra noticed Raven sulking in the shadows.
"Are you OK Rae?"
"I will be once his arm is healed and he's back in the Tower."
"He'll be fine Rae, you'll see."
Raven nodded. "So why did you move out here? Gar said that you were doing fine in high school."
"I was trying to do fine, but I never really fit in. Janine and Megan were my only two friends. And my grades stunk. I couldn't do anything right. But after BB started visiting me people put 2 + 2 together and figured out who I really was. At first I denied it but they wouldn't let it go. Then they began to harass me but I ignored it. After that they tried to physically intimidate me. They sent this huge girl who made the football team to beat me up, but I kicked her ass. I guess Slade's training didn't go to waste. After that they sent a whole posse after me and I had no choice but to use my powers. As you probably already know a few of them wound up in the Emergency Room with broken bones. The rest … well, you already know."
"I'm sorry to hear that happened Terra. Believe me; I can sympathize with being an outcast."
"So what's going on with you and BB? You used to hate him."
Raven sighed. "If you mean that I mistreated him, you're right. But I never hated him."
Terra chuckled. "Ok, so maybe 'hate' is too harsh. But I never dreamed I'd ever see you kiss him. Or do you only kiss him when he's asleep?"
Raven glared at the Geomancer. "If you must know, we have kissed before, when we were both awake and lucid."
The conversation ended abruptly when Cyborg got up from Beast Boy's side. The changeling looked much better now, but Cyborg's expression was grim.
"We need to get him to a hospital. He's stable now, but his arm's a mess. He has nerve damage for starters, plus all sorts of muscular damage. He was hit 3 times. I'm guessing that the poacher's gun was a custom rapid fire repeating weapon, and very large caliber too. Had just one of those rounds hit him in his torso he would have died instantly."
"Can he be moved now?" Raven asked.
"Yeah, and it's better if he gets the reconstructive surgery done sooner rather than later."
"Where will we take him?"
"The trauma center at Mercy Hospital." Robin interrupted as he shut his communicator. "They're ready for us. Can you move him to the T-Ship?"
Raven nodded and raised her hand, enveloping Beast Boy's unconscious form with her obsidian power.
Beast Boy had been in Surgery for 5 hours now. Robin, Starfire and Cyborg were called away to deal with Johnny Rancid, who had just robbed a bank. Robin had told Raven to stay behind and wait for Beast Boy to come out of surgery. Her only companion in the waiting room was Terra. The hadn't shared a word with each other for over 2 hours now, and Terra decided to break the ice.
"You've changed Raven."
The sorceress looked up from the magazine she was reading.
"You're kidding. I'm still short and gray. If anyone's changed, it's you."
"That's not what I meant. You're a lot softer now. You seem like a different person."
Raven sighed. "Not different enough. I asked him to be my boyfriend and he turned me down. He eventually told me that he's afraid of me and that I make him feel inadequate, inferior."
"Ouch."
"He wants you Terra. Why do you think he went searching for you? He was practically obsessed."
"Why me? I figured that after I blew him off he'd never give me the time of day again. I wonder though…"
Raven stood up from her chair and walked over to the geomancer. "What?"
"I've been having strange dreams lately."
"What do you mean?"
"I dreamt that BB and I lived in a jungle, kind of like Tarzan and Jane. The dream always ends the same way."
"How?"
Terra paused, as if deliberating her answer.
"He asks me if I'll be his mate."
"And?"
"That's it."
"So, you don't answer his question?"
"No, I always wake up first."
Raven stared at Terra, her amethyst eyes piercing in their intensity.
"Do you want to be his mate?"
"It's just a stupid dream Raven."
"No, it's not. He has similar dreams about you. Have you met anyone else in your dreams?"
"Like who?"
"I dunno, a stranger I guess, one who encourages you to accept him."
Terra stepped back in shock.
"How did you know?"
"Like I said, he's had similar dreams. I even went into one. I met his alter ego, the Wild Man."
Terra sat back down, her jaw was trembling.
"She told me that my wild man was coming, that he was to be my mate."
Raven summoned all her willpower to not scream in anguish, but lost her deadpan facial composure.
"Rae, are you OK? You look really upset. Is something wrong?"
"Do you love him Terra? Do you want him?"
"I'm sorry Raven, I'm not trying to steal him from you."
Raven paused before replying.
"You didn't answer my question."
Terra's face betrayed an anxious, disturbed expression.
"I don't know!"
Before Raven could continue grilling her blond rival a doctor in scrubs walked into the waiting room. He was middle aged and looked exhausted. He recognized Raven and approached her.
"Miss Raven?"
"Yes."
"I'm Dr. James Miera."
"How is he doc?" Terra asked in a worried tone.
"I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced."
"This is Tara Markov, she's … a friend."
The Dr. nodded. "I have some good news and some bad news".
The girls stared at him, words were not necessary.
"The good news is that we were able to reconstruct his arm. Once he heals there won't be any visual vestige of his wounds."
"So his arm works?" Terra asked.
"Yes, he should be able to use it in a nearly normal manner."
"What do you mean by nearly?" Raven asked, unable to conceal the fear in her voice.
"I'm really sorry Miss Raven. Believe me, we did try our best, but there is some nerve damage that we simply couldn't repair."
"How bad is it?" she said as she choked back her tears, while Terra began to sob quietly.
"He'll be able to use his arm OK, but his right hand will always be weak. With some therapy he should be able to use a spoon or a pencil again, but I'm afraid that his superhero days are almost certainly over."
"When can we see him?"
"You can see him now. I've already spoken with him, but he was still a little groggy and might not remember our conversation. Follow me; I'll take you to his room."
Beast Boy was adjusting his hospital bed using the control panel with his left hand. His right arm was bandaged and he tried to not look at it. The room wasn't all that different than the infirmary. It was full of gadgets and smelled of antiseptic. He heard footsteps outside and the door swung open as Raven, Terra and the doctor walked in.
"You can check out whenever you want Beast Boy. I've already sent instructions to Cyborg for your follow up care. He's on his way to pick you up. I also reminded him to bring you a fresh change of clothes."
"Thanks Doc." The changeling replied as Dr. Miera stepped out of his room. Raven ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him after giving him a tender kiss.
"How are you feeling?"
The look on his face said everything. He was despondent.
"I can barely feel my hand Rae."
"Don't worry Gar, I'll find a way to heal you, I swear I will."
The pair remained in their loving and comforting embrace for over a minute, until he noticed the other girl who was standing in the shadows near the room's entrance.
"Terra?" He asked, barely able to recognize the changed geomancer.
"Hi BB." She said as she approached him. Raven released him from her hug and gently stepped back.
"What happened?" He asked. "How did I get here? The last thing I remember was being shot while I was flying."
"Terra found you right after you fainted. She stopped your hemorrhaging and saved your life."
"And Raven arrived a few minutes later with some medical supplies and saved you a second time. You had lost a lot of blood. Raven was smart enough to bring a few units of your blood with her."
The changeling grinned. "I'm lucky to have two pretty ladies watching out for me. I'm almost didn't recognize you Terra."
"I almost didn't recognize you!" she giggled. "You've become quite a hunky guy."
Garfield blushed slightly but soon was looking at his nearly disabled hand. He weakly wiggled his fingers.
"I guess it could be worse." He said sadly. "At least I still have a hand."
"Don't fret about it BB. Raven's right, you're gonna heal and be good as new."
"But what if doesn't heal? What will I do? Most of my animal forms will be crippled."
"Don't worry about it Gar. You're going to heal. Trust me."
Beast Boy looked into Raven's eyes.
"But what if I don't heal Raven? I won't be a hero anymore. I'll have to leave the Titans."
"You'll do no such thing BB. He's still a Titan, right Raven?"
"Damn straight he is!"
"Thanks guys." He replied sheepishly. He took Terra's hand with his left and squeezed it.
"Terra, are you coming back to the Tower with us?"
The Geomancer glanced at Raven, who simply replied. "That's up to Robin."
Sorry for the short chapter. I'll try to post another one by Sunday.