Chapter 5: Secret His eyes shut again, wishing that he was dreaming all of this.
"Because I don't want…to see him hurt," he heard Terra say and his eyes snapped open.
Did he hear right?
Could Terra…still be saved?
He moved out of Tezumi's embrace and stared after Terra who continued to walk down the hallway while talking to her friends.
A smile formed on his face and he almost wanted to hug the girl next to him.
He knew she didn't forget him!
Tezumi looked at him in confusion at the sudden change of expression before she saw that he dashed away.
And this time, she was the one that felt disappointed.
Meanwhile 4 Titans arrived back at the Tower thanks to the T-Car. And Raven immediately noticed that something wasn't right.
It was too quiet.
"Don't tell me Beast Boy went into my room again. If he touched any of my books this time, I'll make sure he'll vanish forever," Raven mumbled under her breath.
"Do not worry, Raven. I am sure that he is just resting from our fight with Cinderblock," Starfire assured the half-demon.
The 4 Titans passed his room and they stopped.
"I am not sure if it is safe to disturb him yet. Maybe he is still trying to do 'the cooling off'," Starfire said worriedly.
"I don't think his room would be where he would cool off. He usually just plays some games on the Gamestation," Cyborg said.
"Let's check then," Robin said and opened his door.
And just as guessed, except for some dirty laundry in the corner of his room, there was nothing else to find.
"I wonder what we have to do to anger him enough so he washes his laundry," Raven murmured, lifting the smelly clothing with her dark magic. "Let's see if he's in the common room," Robin suggested and all agreed.
Raven made a quick stop in the bathroom to throw the dirty clothing into the washing machine.
"Is it just me or is the common room too quiet for BB to be in there?" Cyborg asked.
"And what do we do if he is not in the common room?" Starfire asked, her worry once again surfacing.
"We'll…make him see what will happen if he decides to disobey orders," Robin said in a low voice.
They arrived at the door of said room and Robin stepped in front.
"So you mean…you will use force on him?" Raven asked and Robin turned to look at her.
"We have to see about that."
Robin took another step forward and the door slid open and they stepped inside the hall, carefully looking around.
But the shape-shifter was nowhere in sight.
"I guess he won't leave us any other choice," Robin murmured.
"What do we do now?" Starfire asked but Robin didn't turn around.
"Make him forget," the leader answered and surprised stares were directed at those words.
Only Raven didn't believe her leader. "You can't," she replied and Robin turned to face her.
"So you think that it's ok for him to abandon us for…Terra?" he retorted with a hint of anger.
"Of course not! But what…if that's what he wants?"
Robin looked at the half-demon in surprise.
"What…if we're too late…to change his mind?" Raven murmured but Robin remained silent, his eyes glued to the Gamestation lying in front of the TV. "What… if he is convinced that if he kept pursuing this girl, she might want to come back to us – come back to being Terra again."
"It won't come to that," Robin growled, obviously angry that Beast Boy abandoned his team for yet, another time.
The Boy Wonder passed Raven with quick strides, heading for his room.
"Give me some time."
Raven's words made him stop in his tracks.
"I know he's hiding something. I feel that something is not right. Just give me some time so I can find out what causes him to act like this and I will bring him…back to the way he used to be," Raven said, not believing her own words.
"Fine…but if he decides to ignore us again…"
Raven had an uneasy feeling, seeing his hands clenched to fists. But Robin continued his walk without another word and Raven felt a sudden surge of determination flooding through her.
"And I will find more about this girl. She won't be a secret for long," Raven murmured as if to herself.
"Girl? What girl are you talking about, Rae?" Cyborg asked but was dumbfounded to see her walking past them. "Thanks for making that clear," he mumbled sarcastically.
The sound of the bell echoed through the hall and Beast Boy realized he had to speed up his pace if he wanted to have the chance to talk to her.
Terra's blonde hair swayed from side to side as she approached her classroom. Her two friends waved goodbye as they headed to the principal's office and Terra walked the rest of the way by herself.
But she heard the tapping of footsteps somewhere behind her – a few teens were still walking back to class but it was the speed of the footsteps that made her nervous.
Like something chased her.
She turned around…but except for a couple, nobody was there. So she slowly turned back and resumed her walk.
And it didn't take long for the footsteps to follow her again and this time, she spun around suddenly.
"Who's there?" she asked shakily.
But the hallways stood empty.
"I'm starting to…see things," she murmured and turned away.
And that's when she screamed, almost tripping as she took a step back.
"Sorry if I scared you. I just wanted-"
"You gave me a heart attack" Terra shouted angrily, getting over her initial shock. "Why are you still here, Beast Boy?"
He smiled nervously, trying to find words that would hopefully calm her down. "I just wanted to talk."
"I'm late for class."
Terra passed him with quick steps but he held her back as he took her wrist. Her eyes opened in confusion but switched to annoyance when she faced him.
"Did you lie?" he asked, his face fixed in an expression between hope and seriousness.
Her expression didn't change.
"Did you lie when you told your friends…that you didn't want to see me hurt?" he asked, his expression losing some of his seriousness and gaining some of its hope.
Terra's expression turned to surprise and the shape-shifter smiled at her.
"So is that a 'yes'?"
Terra closed her eyes. "You will only hurt yourself," she murmured and pulled out of his grasp and hurried back to her class as Beast Boy looked after her in disappointment and sadness.
But it seemed…that Terra still cared for him.
And that was why he would keep going after her.
He followed her to her classroom and sneaked a peek from the glass pane and saw that she was busy scribbling notes into her notebook and he found himself staring a bit longer than he was supposed to before she gave him a stern look and a young woman with black hair passed her desk, probably her teacher. The changeling dropped to the floor, deciding to wait for Terra to finish with her class. He didn't have anything better to do anyways.
Meanwhile Raven arrived in front of the school and sighed. "Let's hope he is still in there," she mumbled and entered the building.
The hallways stood empty…only a door was swinging gently to her right and Raven approached it.
She felt a presence inside.
Her hand lifted towards the handle but she stopped, hearing…snoring sounds. Raven turned around and found that the sound came from around the corner.
She turned said corner and saw a figure sitting next to a door, leaning against the wall. "I should have guessed," Raven murmured, seeing that Beast Boy was snoring with an open mouth.
Her hands glowed dark before Beast Boy was covered in dark energy and started to float after Raven as she made her way out of the school.
A dark-haired girl stepped out of the bathroom after Raven passed it and her eyes lingered on the floating shape-shifter.
Beast Boy let out a long and loud yawn after getting his deserved nap. "That was the best nap I had in days. I wonder if her class is done," the shape-shifter mumbled while stretching.
"She's done alright. It's three in the afternoon."
Beast Boy shot up at Raven's voice. "W-what are you doing here, Raven?"
"I'm here to talk," she replied.
"Huh? Why am I in my room? Where's the school? Where's Terra?" he wondered, looking around in confusion.
"And that's exactly what I want to talk about," Raven said and Beast Boy looked at her in confusion before his expression hardened. "You…brought me here?"
"Only because…you're taking all this stuff with Terra too seriously."
"Seriously? So you want to tell me that you're not happy that she's back?"
"How do you know…that she's Terra?" Raven asked, lowering her gaze as memories of the rock user flashed before her eyes.
"Because…she said she didn't want to hurt me," he murmured and Raven looked up when hearing this.
"Doesn't that prove…that she wants you to forget her?"
"No! That only proves that she cares…about us."
"Beast Boy…if you don't stop following that girl who obviously doesn't want to see you again…then Robin…"Raven started but stopped, not knowing what would happen if he found out.
Beast Boy's expression turned to anger, hearing that Robin once again tried to force him to choose between Terra and his team. "Robin what?" he said in a low voice.
But Raven herself didn't know the answer. "Who was she?" she murmured after a short moment of silence.
"Terra, our teammate," he replied.
"No! I mean…that other girl. When you went after Terra, you bumped into an Asian girl. Who is she?"
Beast Boy looked in confusion at her until he remembered said girl. "She's a friend."
"A friend? And why is that?" she asked before the changeling's expression turned serious once again. "She tries to help me. She respects my decision to save Terra from a life she doesn't want," Beast Boy said, his voice rising slightly.
"Terra is right, Beast Boy. If you keep following her, you will only hurt yourself…and that girl is only helping you with that," Raven said but Beast Boy refused to listen to her.
"That's the way you see things. Or did Robin tell you to spread lies so you can keep me locked up in the Tower?" Beast Boy shouted angrily.
"Be quiet! Robin might hear you…and if he knows that you won't listen…then…something will happen to you. And I can guarantee you that you won't like it." "I know you just try to keep me away from Terra but now that you try to keep me away from Tezumi too…I'm wondering who my real friends really are," Beast Boy growled, jumped from his bed and went out of his room in silent anger.
"Because I don't want…to see him hurt," he heard Terra say and his eyes snapped open.
Did he hear right?
Could Terra…still be saved?
He moved out of Tezumi's embrace and stared after Terra who continued to walk down the hallway while talking to her friends.
A smile formed on his face and he almost wanted to hug the girl next to him.
He knew she didn't forget him!
Tezumi looked at him in confusion at the sudden change of expression before she saw that he dashed away.
And this time, she was the one that felt disappointed.
Meanwhile 4 Titans arrived back at the Tower thanks to the T-Car. And Raven immediately noticed that something wasn't right.
It was too quiet.
"Don't tell me Beast Boy went into my room again. If he touched any of my books this time, I'll make sure he'll vanish forever," Raven mumbled under her breath.
"Do not worry, Raven. I am sure that he is just resting from our fight with Cinderblock," Starfire assured the half-demon.
The 4 Titans passed his room and they stopped.
"I am not sure if it is safe to disturb him yet. Maybe he is still trying to do 'the cooling off'," Starfire said worriedly.
"I don't think his room would be where he would cool off. He usually just plays some games on the Gamestation," Cyborg said.
"Let's check then," Robin said and opened his door.
And just as guessed, except for some dirty laundry in the corner of his room, there was nothing else to find.
"I wonder what we have to do to anger him enough so he washes his laundry," Raven murmured, lifting the smelly clothing with her dark magic. "Let's see if he's in the common room," Robin suggested and all agreed.
Raven made a quick stop in the bathroom to throw the dirty clothing into the washing machine.
"Is it just me or is the common room too quiet for BB to be in there?" Cyborg asked.
"And what do we do if he is not in the common room?" Starfire asked, her worry once again surfacing.
"We'll…make him see what will happen if he decides to disobey orders," Robin said in a low voice.
They arrived at the door of said room and Robin stepped in front.
"So you mean…you will use force on him?" Raven asked and Robin turned to look at her.
"We have to see about that."
Robin took another step forward and the door slid open and they stepped inside the hall, carefully looking around.
But the shape-shifter was nowhere in sight.
"I guess he won't leave us any other choice," Robin murmured.
"What do we do now?" Starfire asked but Robin didn't turn around.
"Make him forget," the leader answered and surprised stares were directed at those words.
Only Raven didn't believe her leader. "You can't," she replied and Robin turned to face her.
"So you think that it's ok for him to abandon us for…Terra?" he retorted with a hint of anger.
"Of course not! But what…if that's what he wants?"
Robin looked at the half-demon in surprise.
"What…if we're too late…to change his mind?" Raven murmured but Robin remained silent, his eyes glued to the Gamestation lying in front of the TV. "What… if he is convinced that if he kept pursuing this girl, she might want to come back to us – come back to being Terra again."
"It won't come to that," Robin growled, obviously angry that Beast Boy abandoned his team for yet, another time.
The Boy Wonder passed Raven with quick strides, heading for his room.
"Give me some time."
Raven's words made him stop in his tracks.
"I know he's hiding something. I feel that something is not right. Just give me some time so I can find out what causes him to act like this and I will bring him…back to the way he used to be," Raven said, not believing her own words.
"Fine…but if he decides to ignore us again…"
Raven had an uneasy feeling, seeing his hands clenched to fists. But Robin continued his walk without another word and Raven felt a sudden surge of determination flooding through her.
"And I will find more about this girl. She won't be a secret for long," Raven murmured as if to herself.
"Girl? What girl are you talking about, Rae?" Cyborg asked but was dumbfounded to see her walking past them. "Thanks for making that clear," he mumbled sarcastically.
The sound of the bell echoed through the hall and Beast Boy realized he had to speed up his pace if he wanted to have the chance to talk to her.
Terra's blonde hair swayed from side to side as she approached her classroom. Her two friends waved goodbye as they headed to the principal's office and Terra walked the rest of the way by herself.
But she heard the tapping of footsteps somewhere behind her – a few teens were still walking back to class but it was the speed of the footsteps that made her nervous.
Like something chased her.
She turned around…but except for a couple, nobody was there. So she slowly turned back and resumed her walk.
And it didn't take long for the footsteps to follow her again and this time, she spun around suddenly.
"Who's there?" she asked shakily.
But the hallways stood empty.
"I'm starting to…see things," she murmured and turned away.
And that's when she screamed, almost tripping as she took a step back.
"Sorry if I scared you. I just wanted-"
"You gave me a heart attack" Terra shouted angrily, getting over her initial shock. "Why are you still here, Beast Boy?"
He smiled nervously, trying to find words that would hopefully calm her down. "I just wanted to talk."
"I'm late for class."
Terra passed him with quick steps but he held her back as he took her wrist. Her eyes opened in confusion but switched to annoyance when she faced him.
"Did you lie?" he asked, his face fixed in an expression between hope and seriousness.
Her expression didn't change.
"Did you lie when you told your friends…that you didn't want to see me hurt?" he asked, his expression losing some of his seriousness and gaining some of its hope.
Terra's expression turned to surprise and the shape-shifter smiled at her.
"So is that a 'yes'?"
Terra closed her eyes. "You will only hurt yourself," she murmured and pulled out of his grasp and hurried back to her class as Beast Boy looked after her in disappointment and sadness.
But it seemed…that Terra still cared for him.
And that was why he would keep going after her.
He followed her to her classroom and sneaked a peek from the glass pane and saw that she was busy scribbling notes into her notebook and he found himself staring a bit longer than he was supposed to before she gave him a stern look and a young woman with black hair passed her desk, probably her teacher. The changeling dropped to the floor, deciding to wait for Terra to finish with her class. He didn't have anything better to do anyways.
Meanwhile Raven arrived in front of the school and sighed. "Let's hope he is still in there," she mumbled and entered the building.
The hallways stood empty…only a door was swinging gently to her right and Raven approached it.
She felt a presence inside.
Her hand lifted towards the handle but she stopped, hearing…snoring sounds. Raven turned around and found that the sound came from around the corner.
She turned said corner and saw a figure sitting next to a door, leaning against the wall. "I should have guessed," Raven murmured, seeing that Beast Boy was snoring with an open mouth.
Her hands glowed dark before Beast Boy was covered in dark energy and started to float after Raven as she made her way out of the school.
A dark-haired girl stepped out of the bathroom after Raven passed it and her eyes lingered on the floating shape-shifter.
Beast Boy let out a long and loud yawn after getting his deserved nap. "That was the best nap I had in days. I wonder if her class is done," the shape-shifter mumbled while stretching.
"She's done alright. It's three in the afternoon."
Beast Boy shot up at Raven's voice. "W-what are you doing here, Raven?"
"I'm here to talk," she replied.
"Huh? Why am I in my room? Where's the school? Where's Terra?" he wondered, looking around in confusion.
"And that's exactly what I want to talk about," Raven said and Beast Boy looked at her in confusion before his expression hardened. "You…brought me here?"
"Only because…you're taking all this stuff with Terra too seriously."
"Seriously? So you want to tell me that you're not happy that she's back?"
"How do you know…that she's Terra?" Raven asked, lowering her gaze as memories of the rock user flashed before her eyes.
"Because…she said she didn't want to hurt me," he murmured and Raven looked up when hearing this.
"Doesn't that prove…that she wants you to forget her?"
"No! That only proves that she cares…about us."
"Beast Boy…if you don't stop following that girl who obviously doesn't want to see you again…then Robin…"Raven started but stopped, not knowing what would happen if he found out.
Beast Boy's expression turned to anger, hearing that Robin once again tried to force him to choose between Terra and his team. "Robin what?" he said in a low voice.
But Raven herself didn't know the answer. "Who was she?" she murmured after a short moment of silence.
"Terra, our teammate," he replied.
"No! I mean…that other girl. When you went after Terra, you bumped into an Asian girl. Who is she?"
Beast Boy looked in confusion at her until he remembered said girl. "She's a friend."
"A friend? And why is that?" she asked before the changeling's expression turned serious once again. "She tries to help me. She respects my decision to save Terra from a life she doesn't want," Beast Boy said, his voice rising slightly.
"Terra is right, Beast Boy. If you keep following her, you will only hurt yourself…and that girl is only helping you with that," Raven said but Beast Boy refused to listen to her.
"That's the way you see things. Or did Robin tell you to spread lies so you can keep me locked up in the Tower?" Beast Boy shouted angrily.
"Be quiet! Robin might hear you…and if he knows that you won't listen…then…something will happen to you. And I can guarantee you that you won't like it." "I know you just try to keep me away from Terra but now that you try to keep me away from Tezumi too…I'm wondering who my real friends really are," Beast Boy growled, jumped from his bed and went out of his room in silent anger.