AN: (5/2) Before you read, I have edited chapters 1-9 for better flow and basic improvement. While I cannot force you to reread that portion, I will only recommend you if you are unfamiliar with the story after a two-month HIATUS.

Raven was at peace. She was not just at peace, but she was lying to herself; she was anxious.

It had been three quiet days since Beast Boy had stood outside her door. The invitation to be with him and Starfire had gone unanswered as she hid away in her room. Of course, she mentally followed them to the roof with her powers in the mornings and witnessed as the two shared such warmth, but she never attempted to join them physically. She couldn't bring herself to leave her room.

Was she afraid of being a third wheel in their activities? Perhaps. Was she afraid of seeing just how far she had been replaced? Yes. Was she afraid to see how much Beast Boy lit up and basked in Starfire's presence? Most definitely.

To think, Raven thought she could reclaim her spot as his best friend or maybe even something more, but by the time she realized her feelings, the window had already closed. Not like she needed a relationship or anything, though. She was a complicated person with a bookcase full of problems. No one would accept or understand her.

Well, no one but Beast Boy. He did, and he made an effort for her.

And what did she do? She lashed out at him. She insulted him. She told him to leave her alone. Perhaps, at that time, that was what she wanted, but now, as she sat in her room, reading lackluster romance novels, she realized the depth of her situation. The hole she had dug in her own life…

Beast Boy brought those chocolates, her favorite ones, because he knew her. He never complained that she used his milk, and it wasn't because he didn't know. Yes, they had small unspoken games, like trying to bait her out of her room. He even had been inside her mirror…. He wasn't oblivious, as he seemed to be. He knew who she truly was. She just never realized it. She never accepted it. Raven never accepted who Beast Boy was to her until he was gone and the chocolates had run out.

All because Beast Boy stopped trying for her.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

Raven did not need to stretch out her powers to know whose heavy hand that was.

"Come in, Starfire."

The door gave way as the princess entered the demon's domain.

Starfire approached Raven's bed, her feet slowly shuffling across the carpet, "I hope you were not expecting someone else."

"I wasn't expecting anyone," Raven moved her legs out of the way as Starfire fell onto her back on the bed.

Starfire met her gaze, holding it for a moment, searching her friend's eyes, "Not even Beast Boy?"

"He hasn't bothered me since you came home, Star."

Starfire turned away as her gaze traveled the room, "I know he invited you to join us in the mornings."

"Yes, he stumbled something like that out of his mouth."

"I imagine his emotions were driving you crazy when he approached."

Horribly so.

"His nerves were quite high. Like the Terra situation."

Starfire nodded as she placed her hand over her chest… Not her chest, her heart.

"Do you think he loved her? Terra that is?"

Did he? Raven knew his infatuation was extremely high at that time. That, as always, Beast Boy wore his heart on his sleeve. Yet, was it love that he felt for her?

"I don't know, Star," she settled on. "He definitely cared for her more than any of us did."

Raven watched Starfire chew on what she said. The alien bobbed her head from side to side, thoughts bouncing back and forth. Raven resisted the urge to read her. This was 'girls talk,' and as Starfire had always enforced, no powers. Just them–two girls talking.

"Do you wonder what it is like to feel loved, Raven?"

So obsessed with love…

"We both know how I feel about anything. So, what is it you want, Starfire?"

"I imagine love to be quite a warm feeling. Like the sun's light ever holding you tight in its arms, ever gracing you in its power, protecting you."

Raven did not respond this time as she chewed on the other girl's words. Instead, she watched as Starfire held her arm in the air, reaching out to the ceiling–to the sky.

"I imagine it is when you realize that the other person makes you happy, and you make them happy," Starfire closed her hand. "Then you hold that person tightly, hold them close to you and never let go," she let her hand flop down as she turned to stare at Raven. "That if you were ever to let them go, you would slowly feel it poison you, like coldness in your bones as you slipped into the claws of darkness and became a prisoner in your own mind. Do you understand that, Raven?"

Raven did not respond once more. The silence was ever so deafening in the dark room. The few candles she had always burned seemed to have suffocated themselves than stand to listen to the conversation before them.

"We talk, you know, Gar and me. We talked quite a bit as the sun rises and kisses our foreheads to start our joyous mornings. Yet he always avoids talking about you," Starfire found Raven's silent glare. "Did you know he never moved from where he fell when you threw him out of the tower?

"I knew he lied about why he was out there and hurt, so I had Vic pull the footage for me to see. He just sat there in the sand for hours till I carried him in. Yet, he still never said you did it to him. He lied for you even when you threw him away. He held you close in his heart like Terra. We all knew this to be true. Robin and Cyborg had bets.

"Then you never left your room, and Beast Boy never bothered you. That bond between you two had changed," Raven could not look away as Starfire dug at her heart. "At this point, I had already begun to catch the sun's first rays with him, but I could see it in his body and his eyes. He was pulling away from you. Even Batgirl saw it. You two fell apart before you ever could become one."

"Why are you talking about this, Starfire?" Raven growled, causing Starfire to sit up and tower over her.

"I wanted to give you one last chance before I staked my claim. As you were there for him first, I find it only fair. I don't want to steal him from you if he really means as much as you did for him. I have given you the past few days to act on your own, so this is your last chance. That come the morning, at the first light, I will make my move if you do not show."

"What if I don't like him like that?"

"But you do," Starfire leaned forward, begging Raven to listen.

"How do you know that? How do you know what I feel?"

"Because you look at him with the same eyes he looked at you with."

Raven hesitated. She didn't wear her heart on her sleeve like he did. She managed them. She always had to, "I doubt that. I keep my emotions well managed."

"You do indeed, but you forget I am a Tamaranean," Star held her hand over her heart as her. "Emotions are our blood. We do not hide ourselves from one another, for we all can see each other as we are. After this many years around you, I know you," she extended her hand to Raven's heart. "Just as the others know you."

Raven pulled away, leaving her bed to stand near her closed window, "And if I don't go to the roof tomorrow?"

"Then I will take that as your permission to court Beast Boy."

The taste of blood trickled at Raven's tastebuds. She didn't even know she had bit at her cheeks that much. It was an old habit she had when she was a child, one when she was frustrated at the world and needed an outlet.

She turned about, facing the alien staring at her from her bed, "What if he doesn't want you?"

"Maybe he doesn't, but then that would mean everything I said today about you is wrong. So, am I wrong?"

Raven neglected to answer as she returned to the windows, glimmers of faded sunlight skirting the edges because they failed to pierce her black curtains.

"You should seek to repair your relationship with Beast Boy, if not for the team's sake, then for at least your own. You are festering in here, this dark prison." She gestured to the room. "You read your books, escaping to the realities of romance you think you cannot obtain, but it has always been there. Tomorrow, at first light, you can bathe in the sun and renew yourself and your love. Or else I will not be sharing."

"I think you should leave Starfire."

"I- yes, perhaps I should," the alien nodded as she stood from the bed. Her feet carried her to the door, but before she left, she turned one last time to Raven, "It has been an eventful 'girl talk.' If nothing else, we, the rest of the team, would love for you to join us again beyond the confines of this room."

Raven sucked at her cheek as she refused to turn and respond. She watched with her powers as Starfire stayed for a moment before leaving. The door slammed behind Starfire as Raven's magic dissipated from it.

She couldn't help but look at her room. Maybe Star was right. This room was festering… perhaps moving things around could give it a fresh perspective?

With a swish of her hand, her magic grabbed her bookshelves, vanity, and everything in between. Her bookshelves flew beside her door, so they were the first things she would be able to reach for once she entered her room. Her vanity was now deep inside her room near the window, where she could open the shades and sit near her window if she ever desired.

It was different now. It was something new. Yeah, she was feeling better already.

She reached back for her novel and crawled back into her covers. The quietness of her room blinded her ears as she tried to lose herself in the false reality, but no matter how long she stared at the pages, her mind did not sink into the story.

Instead, she felt Beast Boy gleefully run around the upper floors as Starfire, just as happily, joined him. Eventually, he stopped as Starfire's presence merged with his, and she could feel them laughing. She could hear his laughter in her own ears. She could see his smile and how his stupid ears twitched and his eyes creased. She could see it all through Starfire's mind as the alien studied the changeling's face. She could see Starfire's glimmering green eyes and see her lick her lips before she said something and pulled at Beast Boy's arms, beckoning him to follow.

She pulled from their minds and turned her focus back to her book or what was left of it. The remains of shredded paper littered her covers as her hand gripped an empty binding. She needed to get control of her powers….

She stood and grabbed her handheld mirror, her gateway to her psyche.

She stared at it, knowing the conversations she would have with herself. Conversations and truths she did not want to accept.

Stealing one last glimpse into the mind of Beast Boy, she saw through him as he watched Starfire try some tofu before drowning it in mustard. The two of them laughed as they devoured their plates.

She couldn't stop her stomach from growling at the prospect of a meal, but she could pull away the minds of people eating.

They looked happy together. Someone had finally enjoyed tofu with him and ate it with him. She wouldn't have done that herself… Maybe Beast Boy deserved Star. Someone who made an effort for him. Someone who made time to connect with him and wasn't afraid to feel.

She looked at her mirror again, ignoring the tears that trailed down from her eyes. She stared at the bookshelves that towered her near the door like daunting guards standing before the exit. Perhaps this room was a prison. Starfire was right. She had spent too long in here, away from them, away from him.

She looked into her own eyes once more through the reflection and tears. She would see them tomorrow before the first light. She would.

She would remind Beast Boy why they were friends, why he was her best friend. That he was annoying, but in a good way. That he pushed her to leave the complacency of her room. That he made her breathe fresh air and feel things she rejected herself. That he was important to her, no matter how much she pushed him away, and he was the only one she allowed close enough to make her cry.

She felt for his mind one last time, just once more, and watched as he held out his hand, capturing the last of the sunlight as it set over the water, the same sun setting that she could see trying to break through her window curtains.

She forced the curtains open and stared, watching with him as the sun disappeared. She sat there until it was gone and dark, and her gaze fell back to her mirror.

She needed to sink into her own mind, but come tomorrow….

Tomorrow, she would join him in the morning's first light.

AN: Been two months. I apologize. I was busy with life and focused on another story with a massive swarm of eager readers, and I was just as eager to give them more to read.

However, I always react to the attention a story receives. The more people want it, the faster I provide more. That said, drop a follow, favorite, or review, and I will be quick to circle back to writing for this story. I have two chapters and an epilogue left to write.

Advancing on what to expect, while I make no guarantee of an updated pattern, I will try to update all my stories at least once a month. However, as you have noticed, this story went two months without an update. Apologies. Life is hard.

As always, if you want to reach out to me, contact me on the Emerald Library Discord server full of talented writers, editors, and some interesting people. My name is the same on this site and the server, so it should be easy to find me. Plus, I have a text channel now on the server where anyone can leave a message.

That's about it at the end of the day!

-Manke