Good gravy. Well, I told you on my bio page. I don't update very well, but I will finish this damn story. Anyway, Here it is, Chapter 6...I think. Ugh, crap. I've lost count.
Quick disclaimer. In this chapter there's a lot of details. I personally enjoy details, which ultimately makes it my downfall in updating my stories. This chapter is 25 pages long, it's a nice big fat juicy one to help apologize for the year long update. And it mostly talks about what's going on inside Beast Boy's head. So, I've been watching a lot of House lately...and um, I've picked up some medical junk from that show and from google. I don't know if it's right or not, but even if it's not...just work with me on this and roll with it.
The Beast Returns Ch. 6 - If Everyone Cared
"Get her on screen," Cyborg said. Starfire put Raven down on the bed next to Robin and immediately hooked her up to the monitors that surrounded her headboard of the bed. Raven laid there unconscious and breathing very fast.
"She is on," Starfire said.
"What happened in there?" Robin asked hotly.
"Beast Boy transformed and attacked her," Cyborg was typing on the computer to get her vitals. Robin eyes went wide behind his dark mask.
"What? How did he transform? You told me that your automated cuffs would keep him restrained, Cyborg! What did he transform into?" Robin asked again.
"Starfire, start wrapping Raven's hand to stop the bleeding, now," Cyborg commanded. Starfire quickly obliged. She got the bandages out of the cabinets.
"I'm sorry…so sorry," Raven mumbled.
"Why do you apologize, Raven? You have done nothing wrong," Starfire placed her hand on her head.
"Cyborg, what did he transform into?" Robin asked again sitting up in anticipation. Raven screamed.
"NO! YOU CAN'T!" Raven grabbed her forehead aggressively. Starfire removed her hand from her, "Don't hurt me! NO!"
"Raven! Calm down, please!" Starfire reasonably shouted. Her pulse got faster, and the computer tried to keep up with it, "I must bandage your wound!"
"What's going on?" Cyborg shouted and ran over to her and Raven. Raven was fidgeting in the bed, "her pulse is going crazy!"
"I simply touched her forehead and she began to scream," Starfire reasoned.
"We're going to have to restrain her in order to get those bandages on. C'mon help me with the straps," Cyborg pulled onto the restraining straps that were connected to the bed from the underside. Starfire did the same and they snapped the two conjoining belts to each other and tightened them over Raven's still moving body.
"No! Please, I'm sorry!" Raven shouted with her eyes close. Starfire tried to keep Raven still on the bed so Cyborg could mend her profusely bleeding hand.
"Alright, let's wrap up her hand," Cyborg said.
"Let us hurry, Cyborg, I don't want our friend to be in more pain," Starfire said.
Cyborg lifted up her injured hand into his so he could wrap it up to stop the bleeding, but there was something in her system that caused her blood not to be red, but a dark shade of green. Her wound was also a dark green, this was something that amazed even Cyborg with his medical intelligence and forced him to let out a "whoa," with surprise. But before Cyborg could even make an educated guess on what it was…Raven gasped and opened her eyes.
"Raven!" Starfire said. Raven ripped her hand away from Cyborg's and held it tight while she was breathing in desperately to calm herself down. Small beads of tears began to form around her eyes; the wound in her hand was extremely painful.
"Rae, are ya with us? Can you say anything?" Cyborg asked gently as he placed a comforting metal hand on her shoulder. Raven focused more on the two above her. She tried to sit up, but the belts were holding her down. The focus in her vision finally restored; she was able to relax and see Cyborg and Starfire hovering over her.
"Get these restraints off me," Raven monotoned. Cyborg gave Starfire a nod and she began to unbuckle the belts. Raven slowly sat up in the bed still holding very tightly to her hand. Raven said with worry, "Where is Beast Boy?"
"We're not worried about him now, we need to get you taken care of," Cyborg said seriously. He started to take her hand away, but Raven resented, "Raven, I need to bandage up your hand unless you have enough strength to heal it yourself,"
"Are you joking? You're worrying about me when Beast Boy is outside of the tower transformed into that…that beast!" she said to Cyborg.
"He transformed into that?" Robin asked with a shocked expression. Raven turned her head towards Robin and gave him a confirmed nod.
"Raven, please, let Cyborg look at your wound," Starfire asked her.
"I can heal it myself. We need to go after Beast Boy, now," Raven argued.
Robin's chest burned with anxiety and worry…for innocents were now in danger.
"Cyborg, Starfire, I think you both know what your objective is now," Starfire and Cyborg were hesitant. Their procrastination was not for the fact that they would be going after to take down one of their friends, but for the fact that they would be leaving Raven and Robin at the tower completely vulnerable in the infirmary.
"We can't leave with you two in here," Cyborg replied with force.
"Don't worry about us, you need to find a way to restrain him," Robin ordered. He saw Cyborg give a small nod for response.
"Go, now, both of you. Do anything and everything by any means to take him down," Robin ordered them, and Starfire and Cyborg left the room with urgency.
It was a quiet, yet cloudy evening grazing through the skies of Jump City. Citizens were bustling around enjoying the nightlife. Lights would flicker on and off showing in blaze advertisings for a different business, when suddenly a roar could be heard in the distance. A giant tall dark forest green beast jumped onto the main street of the city. The beast gazed into the night sky with his bloodthirsty yellow eyes and sniffed the cold dank air of the city streets. Someone made a noise from behind him, and the Beast turned his head quickly to see who was threatening him. He turned fully around and roared at the crowd of people, and they immediately began to panic and run in different directions.
The Beast began to rampage down the Jump City streets. Citizens everywhere were running away from the action. The Beast roared in rage as he lifted nearby automobiles high over his head and threw them across the road and hit closed down shops and buildings. The police finally arrived on the scene.
"Let's move!" one of the officers commanded. The squad all lined up in stance with their high tech taser guns, "Fire!"
The Beast turned around to see several shots of red hot lasers speeding towards him. He took a few shots, but suddenly snatched up another automobile and tossed it towards the squad making them scatter. The Beast roared again and started charging. He quickly drew out his long sharp claws and began to attack. Slashing at any sight of flesh he could see, he moved with fast and enraged energy, which had the police scared off. The officers ran away as their police vehicles were thrown in their direction. Others were trying to drag themselves away while their wounds and bruises prevent them from going any faster.
The Beast began to get bored with the officers and took off in the other direction. He ran down the street destroying all sorts of city property. Chaos seemed to be surrounding the Beast which only angered him more. He wanted the screams to stop. He halted and turned to the source of the screams. He sniffed the air for a moment then suddenly pounced onto innocent bystanders. The civilians started to panic and run as fast as they could away from the horrible beast behind them.
Suddenly, the Beast was knocked forwards onto the pavement. A giant blue stream of light could be seen in the distance. He quickly got up and roared at the predator.
"Beast Boy!" he could hear the alien princess shout in the distance. The T-car was parked in the middle of the fork with Cyborg standing near it with his sonic cannon at the ready.
"You must stop this at once! We do not wish to hurt you!" said Starfire flying above the T-car.
The Beast did not listen and attacked. He flew in the air to slash his ferocious claws at Cyborg. Cyborg luckily enough dodged out of the way and the Beast crashed into the T-car instead making the car roll over on its side.
"Star, take'em down!" Cyborg shouted in the air at Starfire.
"But--,"
"It's the only way, Star!" Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at the green monster and suddenly had the Beast's attention. He turned around and grabbed the T-car then the Beast threw it towards Cyborg's direction. However, Starfire's star bolts hit the green beast directly in the back making the Beast's toss a little off. Cyborg was able to easily dodge the car. This was enough to distract Cyborg and the Beast seized the chance to attack.
Cyborg gasped in surprise when he saw long claws swinging at his face. The Beast was fast on his feet, but Cyborg was able to closely dodge all the attacks. The angered beast was swinging his claws left and right to try to take down the strange robot. However, Cyborg caught one of the claws of the Beast. But, the monster came back with a surprise and snatched Cyborg's steel cranium with his teeth. Cyborg screamed in shock when the Beast swung around in a fast circle to throw Cyborg in the distance. Cyborg landed on the other side of the street into a building and was unofficially down for the count.
Sniffing the air, the enraged green animal was shot from behind by a light green star bolt. It turned around and saw Starfire in the sky. With a starbolt at the ready she started to dive to attack. The Beast jumped up in the air to grab her, but Starfire was quick to follow and dodged the hairy hands. Starfire began shooting her starbolts again. The green monster jumped all around the street trying to dodge all the flying green discs of light.
Back at the Tower, Robin laid there silently on their thick infirmary padded beds. Robin's injuries began to take toll, every once in a while Robin would tense up in pain from the intense cuts in his skin. He hated being in the infirmary, even more when he was the one in the bed; it was a sign of weakness to him. Robin was anything but weak. However, he knew that staying put was the fastest way to get better.
Raven wasn't as injured as bad as the others thought she was. She was sitting up straight in her bed quietly massaging her damaged hand. Like Robin, every other minute it would send a shooting pain through her hand, but she would hold in her expression. She finally got the nerve to get out of the bed. She walked over to the medicine cabinet on the opposite side still rubbing the inside of her hands together. She opened the cabinet doors to pull out some medical supplies, more or less wrapping tape and healing ointment. Quickly and abruptly, Raven applied the ointment to her injured hand and then began to wrap up the wound in tape. It still hurt, but at least she felt more comfortable without the worry that it might get even more infected.
It was strange; she couldn't understand why her wound did not heal properly. Many different answers kept popping up in her head to explain why, maybe her powers are weakening or maybe she was more tired than she allowed herself to realize, but in the long run none of them truly made sense. In the end, her wound was still there and area around it was still green. She wasn't about to give up on the whole situation, but she decided to ignore it for now. Raven gracefully turned around and headed towards Robin's bed. Robin was staring up at the ceiling.
"How're you feeling?" she asked. Robin turned to stare at her in obvious way.
"Stupid question," Raven muttered, "At least you're not in shock anymore,"
Robin sighed, "Doesn't mean I'm not worried," Raven nodded. Robin began to sit up a little more on his non-injured right elbow to face her, "Did you find anything out?" Raven looked up.
"About what?"
"About Beast Boy, did you read his emotions?" he asked. Raven lowered her head and turned the other way.
"Yes, I did," she said sadly. Robin anticipated more.
"Well? Did you get anything?" he pushed on. Raven pondered over the experience that she went through with Beast Boy. Everything he had felt, everything he went through was plaguing every corner of her mind. She wasn't sure how to handle it, or even how Beast Boy keeps it under control. Raven may not have understood all of Beast Boy's memories that crossed her thoughts that night, but she knew one thing for sure. Beast Boy's mystery just got bigger, and now he's starting to suffer for it.
"More than you can possibly fathom,"
A green starbolt shot the monster straight in the back as he attempted to attack the foreign robot man. Cyborg rose from his feet and jumped on the Beast to keep him down.
"C'mon, B! Snap out of it! Whoa-AH!" the Beast threw Cyborg off of him again. Starfire flew down to help him up; since it was only the two of them fighting they needed to be aware of their limitations.
"Cyborg, what shall we do? We cannot defeat him," Starfire said fearfully. They watched as the Beast drew closer to them, mouth hanging open with saliva dripping down the sides with fierce painful yet evil looking yellow eyes. Cyborg lowered his head.
"We've got no choice, take him down with everything you got," he looked at Star. She nodded and rose in the air. Cyborg transformed both his arms into his famous sonic cannons and aimed them at the ready. The green Beast eyed Starfire rising and kneeled down to attack.
"On three…one," Cyborg started to count. His cannons started to glow along with Starfire's green eyes.
"…Two," The Beast walked into a fast run, using both of his arms to go even faster. He started to roar with fierce energy to attack.
"…THREE!" Starfire's eyes lighted with deadly green beams, Cyborg's arms blasted huge sonic waves of blue directly into the Beast's direction. It was a direct hit, but the blasts did not wane, until at last Cyborg shouted.
"Hold your fire! Star!" Starfire's eyes stopped glowing and Cyborg lowered his arms as the smoke from their attack died down. And from the smoke the Beast jumped over their heads and dashed down the street in the opposite direction.
"Aw, DANG!" Cyborg shouted at him while running back to his flipped over T-car. He cursed and saw Starfire come to help him, "No! Don't lose his trail!" Starfire nodded and sailed across the night sky after the Beast leaving Cyborg to flip over his car and high-tailed it in the same direction.
"He is heading towards the ship dock!" Starfire shouted in her communicator. Starfire sped up to keep track of his trail. The T-car zigzagged through the many streets that led towards the city's harbor. The Beast finally slowed down and quickly entered inside one of the dark warehouses nearby. The T-car screeched to a stop while Starfire flew directly inside and waited for Cyborg to catch up. Cyborg got out of the car and suddenly heard the Beast howl loudly in pain. He called Starfire.
"Starfire, what happened?"
"Beast Boy, he is unconscious," she said. Cyborg entered inside the warehouse and just in front of the warehouse entrance laid an unconscious Beast. Cyborg walked in closer, and Starfire finally landed on the ground. They halted, and they waited, but for what they weren't sure. They hope his transformation would die down and he would change back, but he did not.
"Why is he not changing back?" Starfire asked.
"I don't know," Cyborg was surprised, he wasn't sure what to think of this, but he started to check him out. There was a very large dart stuck on the side of the Beast's neck.
"What is it?" Starfire asked. Cyborg kneeled down.
"It's a tranquilizer and a very heavy dose of it too," Cyborg inspected the dart. Then he heard a noise.
"What does--?" Starfire was cut off by Cyborg's sonic cannon. Cyborg was standing at the ready with his cannon glowing, pointing it at the mountains of various crates inside the warehouse.
"I know you're there!" he shouted to no one, "show yourself!"
"Please, lower your weapon, I mean no harm," said Dr. Register, he stepped aside into the light. Cyborg saw an average size man come into sight. He had a lab coat on with rubber gloves and a tranquilizer gun in his right hand, and he was hot with sweat, Cyborg could tell by the sight of his greasy dark brown hair matted against his oddly tan forehead. Cyborg decided that he was no threat and disarmed his cannon, and Starfire followed his suit.
"Who are you?" Cyborg asked in a demanding tone. Dr. Register lowered his gun.
"Dr. Register, Head of the Department of Supernatural Diseases at STAR laboratories," he introduced himself.
"I have a hard time believing that," Cyborg lifted his arm again, but this time with a tight fist, "The department of Supernatural diseases has been—,"
"—suspended. Yes, I know, I'm on temporary leave due to my intense research and experiments on the nerve virus called sakutia, I'm sure you know about it," Dr. Register explained. Cyborg shook his head no because he did not know about the disease, although he may have heard of it.
"No?" Dr. Register responded, "Well, I know you have witnessed the symptoms, sakutia is the disease that has infected your friend that lies before us,"
"Does that mean you know what is going on with Beast Boy?" Starfire asked curiously.
"I'm afraid I am as puzzled as you are at the current moment," as Dr. Register commented Starfire had a hint of disappointment in her eyes, "However, I believe I can restore him back to his original form, but I cannot cure him of his disease," Cyborg relaxes his arms and stands up straight to listen more intently and then addresses him again.
"Can you explain to us what's happening to him then?" he asked still somewhat demanding. Dr. Register was not intimidated by this at all as he explained Cyborg's questions very patiently.
"There is not much to explain when I myself don't know what exactly is going on, but from the looks of the situation at hand, it seems Mr. Logan's sakutia disease is doing something that all doctor's fear the most when it comes to viral diseases," he explained professionally and calmly as possible, "it is mutating."
"So, what can we do about this?" Cyborg asked him quickly. Dr. Register placed his gun on a nearby crate and knelt down beside the large unconscious Beast.
"Well, what I will do is inject a serum that will help him transform back to normal and you will be able to take him back home. However, I think we can work together to help Mr. Logan's serious condition…," Dr. Register took out a bottle and filled up a medium size syringe with the liquid inside the bottle and held it up to the light.
"After you take him home, keep a log on his vitals, his behaviors, and keep a close watch on him. And if anything gets out of control…," Dr. Register injected the needle of the syringe into the Beast's neck and immediately the Beast turned back into the human form of Beast Boy with his uniform pants ripped to shreds and his chest exposed with nasty cuts, bruises, and claw swipes.
"…make sure to use this," Dr. Register held up the bottle full of medicine to give to Cyborg, which Cyborg took from his hand. Starfire knelt down by Beast Boy ready to pick him up to take him home. Dr. Register also stood up and smiled cunningly.
"You make sure to give me call if anything should happen to him," he held out a card with a number and his name "SAMUEL REGISTER, SUPERNATURAL DISEASE SPECIALIST," printed right above it. Then he disappeared into the shadows of the warehouse.
Cyborg and Starfire finally came back to the Tower with Beast Boy contained and sedated. Robin demanded that he be let out of the infirmary immediately. The others weren't so thrilled on this idea considering Robin had a sling on his arm, many bandages that covered his neck and chest, and the burn mark on his leg, but the team reluctantly obliged. Cyborg, Starfire, Robin, and Raven were all in the living room discussing the newly acquainted Dr. Register and finally getting something to eat.
"So, this guy is a supernatural disease specialist?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, apparently he's been researchin' up this disease that Beast Boy has, because the way he talked about it convinced me that he knows his stuff," Cyborg replied as he ate some leftover mighty meaty pizza. Starfire sat right next to Robin rubbing his sore arm.
"Yes, I did not believe him at first until he turned Beast Boy back into his human form," Starfire commented. Raven was sitting right next to her, she had an uncomfortable look plaguing her face every time Dr. Register's name popped up yet she didn't know why.
"He said that he would help out with Beast Boy, he even gave me his card," Cyborg handed over Dr. Register's card to Starfire in order to give it to Robin. Robin glanced over the card and assumed it was pretty legit.
"Alright, we'll take up on his offer, but only as a last resort. I don't like the sound of this Dr. Register, and the last thing I want is to put Beast Boy's care in the wrong hands," Robin decided to hold onto the card just in case, "let's get some rest, it's been a long night, we'll deal with this in the morning." And they all left the sofa to go into their separate rooms for the night to try and sleep this difficult night away.
Morning came, and the weather wasn't as glamorous as the morning before. Clouds covered the sky and left a very heavy wind in the atmosphere. Robin woke up in his room with his arm still in a sling and his body as stiff and sore as ever. But, he took it as a sign that pain was an omen for healing. He got up and headed straight down to the infirmary to only find Cyborg working diligently on the still sedated Beast Boy.
"Hey," Robin said. Cyborg looked up from the computer monitor he was sitting by across from where Beast Boy was laying. He looked up and saw Robin.
"Oh, hey, man," he replied. Robin grabbed a chair and sat down beside him.
"Did you sleep at all?" he asked.
"Oh, no, not at all," Cyborg said, "but, I gave my battery a little juice and then I came down here to work on some tests on Beast Boy,"
"What kind of tests did you do?" Robin questioned. Cyborg started entering some data on the keyboard.
"Just about all the tests I could do when he's out of it," Cyborg said, "a limbic test, cardiovascular, muscular biopsy, DNA test, and I thought about doing a urine test, but since he's sedated that would call for a catheter and um…well, for that one I figured simply waking him up would a little less…traumatizing," Robin had to sneak a chuckle at that one.
"I guess we'll just have to wait for him to have a girlfriend to even make that option possible," Robin said.
"We could get Raven to do it," Cyborg commented jokingly.
"Aw, man…I realize that Beast Boy and Raven is your new target, but seriously, was that necessary?" Robin said in disgust as Cyborg drew him a lovely mental image after what he just said. Cyborg just laughed. Suddenly, Raven walked through the door to check in with Beast Boy.
"So, how's he doing?" she said behind Cyborg and Robin, which they immediately shut their mouths. The boys turned around and saw her leaning against the countertop nearby.
"Um…well…according to the tests, his brain function is at an all new high, his heart rate is fast, his DNA activity went back down to normal, and he's still sweating up a storm so he's losing fluids fast," Cyborg swiveled back around.
"I don't blame him, it's really hot in here," Raven mentioned. Cyborg stared at her curiously because he knew that the temperature of the room was in fact 70 degrees thanks to his hi-tech arm. But, he decided to not mention anything.
"My next test is a blood test, but something happen to all our syringes and I can't find a sterile one to use, but I think our shipment of medical supplies came in this week. So, I just have to open it," Raven nodded in agreement. Cyborg glanced at her hand still wrapped in bandages, "how's your hand?"
"It hurts, and it's still green," she replied.
"That's not a good sign, Raven. Maybe we should look at it," Cyborg suggested. Raven hid her hand away from him.
"No, worry about Beast Boy first then we'll worry about other injuries," she replied. Cyborg put his hands up as an expression that he was "fine," with it, "let me know how that blood test goes, I'm going upstairs to eat breakfast," with that Raven left the room to go upstairs. Robin watched her leave the room curiously while Cyborg kept his eyes glued to the computer screen. Robin turned back to Cyborg.
"Did she just say that she was going to eat breakfast?" asked Robin. Cyborg stopped typing and looked up with the same curious look.
"Uh…yeah, she did. She does know that requires the consumption of food right?" Cyborg said.
"I believe so, but Raven never eats breakfast other than her regular dose of tea," Robin explained. Cyborg turned his chair around a bit and leaned his metal elbow on the edge of the computer table.
"Should we be concerned about this?" Cyborg asked Robin in a brotherly sort of tone. Robin turned around to face him and smirked.
"If she gains ten pounds in a week, we'll give Jenny Craig a call," Robin joked. Cyborg threw his head back.
"Oh, dog! You're lucky she wasn't in the room when you said that!" he laughed, "Alright, alright, enough of that, get out of here and let me run that blood test," Robin got up and left the room, "I'll call you if something's up." With that Cyborg went back to work, in hope of curing his green friend.
"I better break out that box,"
It was now the afternoon and it had been a few hours since Cyborg withdrew some of Beast Boy's blood for testing. Now the only thing to do was to wait for the results, which Cyborg took the opportunity to go find him some food. A few hours afterwards during the mid-afternoon, Robin was walking down the hallway slowly towards the Ops. when Raven suddenly came through the door he was about to walk through and she stopped him.
"Robin, can I talk to you?" Raven asked him with her arms folded in a serious manner. Robin shrugged his shoulders.
"Sure, what do you need?" he asked her. Raven glanced at the floor for a moment.
"It's about Beast Boy," she said. Robin stood calmly and did what he does best, predict.
"You're worried about him," he said professionally.
"Of course I am, aren't you?" she asked him.
"Yeah definitely, one of my teammates is in the infirmary heavily sedated due to his uncontrollable powers, why would I not be worried?" Robin retorted. Raven looked down at the floor again in disappointment with there spiky-headed leader.
"…You're a good leader, Robin, but a terrible liar," she said almost disgusted that he actually attempted to lie to her, and he should know better. Robin sighed and gave in.
"Alright, fine. No, I'm not worried about him. I think he'll recover fine and we'll move on with our lives. And he'll be his old…carefree…self again like always," Robin wasn't very enthusiastic about it. And Raven could tell.
"Robin, the only reason you are not worried about him is because you are holding a grudge against him," she said straight on.
"Okay fine, I admit it. I'm not too fond of Beast Boy at the moment, but can you blame me after everything that's happened with him?" Robin defended. Raven kept her cool.
"In his defense, yes I can blame you," Robin stared at her annoyed, Raven tried to reason, "Beast Boy is not himself, Robin. He's hiding something from us, and right now he is hurting because of it," Robin didn't know what to say to that, Raven rolled her eyes and loosened her grip on her crossed arms.
"Anyway, I'm not here to point fingers at anyone, I actually came to you to warn you," Raven said with determination. Robin looked confused.
"Warn me?" he replied with his masked brow raised. Raven grew some nerve and added some annoyance to her mix to convince him.
"Yeah, warn you. You need to stay away from Beast Boy," Raven said. Robin was mildly taken aback.
"And why should I do that?" he asked.
"Because he is holding in a lot of aggression right now, and to tell you the truth most of his anger comes from you," she finally said. Robin was silent at her words as if he almost didn't believe it, but she continued after a small moment of stillness, "so I suggest you lay low for awhile before he does any more damage to you than he already has,"
Suddenly, both of their communicators went off. Robin removed his from his belt and noticed that Cyborg was calling them. Robin opened his communicator screen to speak with him.
"Cyborg, report," Robin respond rather lowly. Cyborg had a very serious face; even his metallic eye seemed serious.
"Y'all better get down here," he said. Robin closed his communicator and placed it back on his belt. Robin and Raven began to head towards the elevator, and since Cyborg signaled every Titan to hear, Starfire was quickly flying right behind them. The three Titans were quiet as they descended down towards the 1st floor of the Tower, which held the infirmary, the confinement room, and a private medical lab. Robin assumed that Cyborg was in the medical lab so instead of walking into the infirmary, where Beast Boy was, he took a left down the hall a few feet and entered the lab. Cyborg was sitting down in front of a computer that was connected to several machines for testing blood. The nearest machine to the computer was the blood spinner machine which contained four tubes of thick dark green blood. The three Titans, lead by Robin in front, walked closer to Cyborg.
"What is the matter, Cyborg?" Starfire asked in unease. Cyborg pressed enter on the keyboard and a huge digital list of at least a hundred different words displayed on the screen.
"Do you guys know what this is?" Cyborg asked the others. The three Titans leaned in to read them.
"A list of chemicals?" Raven responded dryly.
"…Unstable chemicals," Robin interrupted. Cyborg nodded his head yes in all seriousness.
"You want to know where I found all these?" Cyborg turned and picked up one of the test tubes that contained the green blood.
"In here," Cyborg held up the tube close in their faces, "…in Beast Boy's blood," the others were silent as Cyborg placed the tube back on the spinner, "looks like we figured out why Beast Boy's been acting so…violent…,"
"But, Beast Boy has always had volatile substances inside him since the day we met him, why should this be any different?" Raven asked.
"Because Beast Boy's blood never contained nuclear compounds!" Cyborg spat. Starfire gasped in shock, but Raven kept her eyes wide open in surprise, "This list has been broken down to show me what exactly is in this tube. I recognize a few of these chemicals, but the rest I'm still in shock that there is such a massive quantity in here,"
"Well, from this list what do you know?" Robin asked him. Cyborg pointed to a small subcategory on the screen.
"These right here, with all of these combined they create the antidote I made for Beast Boy the first time he couldn't control his—," Cyborg just had an epiphany, and he turned around quickly to Starfire and Raven, "Starfire, Raven, go search Beast Boy's room. Remove anything suspicious," The girls nodded and headed out the room. Robin grabbed a chair and sat next to Cyborg as he began to type quickly on the computer.
"What are you thinking?" Robin commanded. Cyborg grunted.
"I believe Beast Boy is taking experimental medications to cure his disease," he said.
"What?" Robin said in shock.
"Yeah, I know. That's what I thought," Cyborg pulled up the results from his blood test.
"How do we get him back?" Robin asked.
"Well, I think the obvious thing to do is decontaminate him," Cyborg leaned back in his chair.
"Detox him?" Robin questioned.
"Yeah. Get rid of all that gunk in his blood. What I'll have to do is stick two needles in him, one in the vein and one in the artery. I'll connect those syringes to a machine that will take away most of these foreign metals inside of him out, especially the radioactive ones. The machine will suck up his blood through one end and filter out the bad stuff and then pump it back into his body, clean as it can be,"
"If you do that wouldn't you be removing the disease that gives him his powers?" Robin asked.
"No, his disease is a nerve virus, it's planted in his brain and there's no way to remove that," Cyborg explained, "which scares me,"
"How so?"
"I have a hunch that most of these compounds have already infiltrated his nervous system and attempted to attack his virus. That has to be the only reason that Beast Boy is injecting him with such dangerous chemicals. Because I'm pretty sure that you can't get a high from plutonium," When Cyborg finished his lecture the girls came back in with a small cardboard box. The boys turned around when the door closed behind them.
"Did you find anything?" Robin inquired. Starfire was quivering, but Raven nudged her to encourage her to show what they had found. And what they found was a shoe box. Starfire opened the box and showed it to Cyborg.
"Looks like we found out where all your syringes went, Cyborg," Raven stated. The box contained at least fifty used syringes. Cyborg shook his head in incredible anger. He couldn't believe that Beast Boy would do this to himself.
"Where did you find them?" Robin demanded.
"They were hidden deeply underneath his bed," Starfire mentioned. Cyborg sat back in his chair and crossed his arms in thought.
"Hopefully, with the detox, we may be able to retain some the normal parts of Beast Boy. At least he'll be rid of most of that poison," Cyborg thought aloud.
"And maybe…just maybe, he'll be able to talk to us about how he got these deadly compounds, and why he did it," Robin stated.
"So, what do you want us to do after that, Rob?" Cyborg asked. Robin stared at him and gave him some thought. Then he came to a decision.
"Cyborg, start the detox, then once you're finished, you and I will start to do some detailed research on these results you have. We need to find out what they are doing to Beast Boy," Cyborg nodded in agreement. Then Robin looked over at Starfire, "Starfire you will have the first watch on Beast Boy," Starfire also nodded silently, "Raven," she looked up "here," Robin handed her a small business card, "we may need some extra help," what he handed her was the business card for Dr. Register.
After the Titans were given their assignments it was well passed dusk and the sun began to set. Raven found herself in the kitchen area with the Tower phone in her hand and Dr. Register's card in the other ready to make the call. She stared down the small thick card investigating every speck of ink that was stamped to it.
Raven didn't know why, but from the sound of his name, Register, she did not trust him at all. She didn't even know why this mattered, if the Titans needed extra help to save Beast Boy then what's stopping her from doing it? Nevertheless, she decided to trust her instincts. She put the phone down and chose not to give the card back to Robin.
Therefore, the next place she found herself heading was back to the infirmary. Raven went down the elevator again for what seemed like the eleventh time that day. She walked out and began to head down to the infirmary. She opened the door and heard the gently beeping of Beast Boy's heart; what she saw was Starfire sitting in a chair next to Beast Boy in his bed, and Starfire looked up when she entered.
"Good evening, friend," Starfire spoke. Raven acknowledged her by walking towards the chair placed next to Starfire and took a seat.
"How is he?" Raven asked her while fanning herself. Starfire looked over her shoulder at Beast Boy. Beast Boy was lying on his bed perfectly still and extremely tense. So tense that his eyes were squinting and his mouth was frowning down as if he was in pain and trying to fight it off. His forehead had veins popping from it in anger. His lungs moved in short breaths and the air exited through his nose in huffs rather long relieving releases. His chest was tight, so tight that his muscles looked like they were about to burst out of his skin.
"He does not wake, so I am assuming that is not good," Starfire said softly. Raven softened at her innocence.
"No…that is never good," she said, and then she sighed, "at least, this may make him better," she referred to the large square metal machine that was attached to the wall above Beast Boy's head. Suddenly, the door behind Raven opened and Cyborg appeared.
"Hey, follow me to the lab, we may have an explanation for Beast Boy's problem," he said and then he walked out. The girls figured that Beast Boy would be fine by himself when they went to lab, since it was next door. So, they left to follow Cyborg. They entered the lab with Robin at one of the computers staring at some more results and going over some notes on paper in front of him. He turned when they walked in.
"So, what do you have?" Raven spoke first. Cyborg pulled out three chairs, one for each of the girls and one for him.
"You may want to sit down, this may take awhile," he said. Starfire and Raven agreed and sat down. Cyborg took in a deep breath and began.
"Okay, I'll try to make this easy enough to understand, but we may have found a diagnosis," he started. Starfire and Raven quietly listened, "Emotions in humans are caused by reactions from outside forces. Scientifically, emotions are caused by chemicals reacting in the brain, like dopamine is the chemical for pleasure and excitement," They all nodded and understood.
"There's another chemical called serotonin that also reacts in the brain. But, when serotonin goes off it causes anger and depression. What happened to Beast Boy, when he originally got soaked with that first chemical in that animal lab and first transformed, was that the chemicals from the lab infected his serotonin. It made it multiply and increased the quantity to very dangerous levels whenever he was angry, even as something as small as him being annoyed, it just increases constantly.
With this, his beast form transforms when he has too much serotonin, and that excessive chemical has no where to go, so it infects his entire mind. That's why he is so unresponsive and violent when he forms into that shape. He has no control and that's why he has no memory when he transforms," Cyborg finally finished his explanation and he hoped everyone there understood what he said. From the expression from everyone's faces it looked like they did, except for Starfire.
"I am still confused, Cyborg," Starfire chimed in, "how does this beast-form relate to the disease that he already has?"
"Actually, that's the kicker," he said, "it doesn't relate because his beast-form transformation is a completely different disease from the one he already has,"
"So, Beast Boy has two diseases?" Raven asked in concern. Cyborg nodded his head.
"Yeah, he does. But, Beast Boy believes that he only has one disease. So, he injected all these chemicals into him thinking that he's gonna cure his sakutia, but the only thing he's affecting right now is this beast-disease, which in the long run is making it worse,"
"This diagnosis of this new disease, also explains why Adonis could transform when they were both covered in that chemical," Cyborg explained.
"So, this disease can also infect regular human beings? Not that Beast Boy isn't a human being but, others do not have sakutia," Raven asked.
"Yes, this can infect others. But, the difference between other people and Beast Boy is that an average human being cannot survive the transformation for too long," Cyborg spoke.
"What do you mean?" Starfire asked.
"When Beast Boy transforms, he could last for days in that form, maybe even weeks, but that doesn't work for someone like Adonis who transformed for only one day, not to mention it was miracle that he was able to transform back to a human," he said. A silence spread throughout the room as this new information officially sunk in all four of the Titans there.
"So…I guess, the next question is…can you make a cure for this?" Raven asked this question in a very soft and fearful voice. Both Starfire and Robin had their eyes glued to every expression Cyborg made for a clue about what he would answer. Cyborg slowly drummed his metallic fingers against one another as he looked down putting deep thought into his answer, when he looked up at Raven ready to reveal what he had to say.
"No," that one answer felt like nails against Raven's heart, and she knew that everyone was feeling the same way, even Robin was too.
"But…," hope gleamed again in anticipation as well.
"I may be able to treat him," Cyborg explained, "There is absolutely no way to cure this thing because it's way too far into his system to get rid of it. It's already become a part of him.
"But, after his blood gets clean, I can start over. Run some molecular structure scans to see exactly what's happening. The problem is I can only go so far," The hope was slowly starting to fade, "this toxin is infecting his neuron chemicals, so there's no way to actually physically get rid of this disease unless I was to dissect his brain like some high school science project,"
"So, what's your plan of action?" Robin asked Cyborg.
"Well, once the detox is over, Beast Boy should mostly be back to his regular old self. But, we should still be very cautious around him. We need to keep him calm by any means necessary," He was looking directly at Robin. Robin just turned his head away.
"If we can keep him calm and relaxed, then hopefully that'll give me enough time to find a way to fix this, if he's willing," He finished.
"Let's hope so," Robin muttered. Before they knew a small red light was blinking next to Cyborg's large computer screen, and then Beast Boy's heart monitor screen popped up. Cyborg turned to see what was wrong.
"What's going on?" Raven asked.
"Beast Boy's awake, c'mon let's go," Cyborg got up and the rest of the team followed suit. The opened the door to the infirmary, and sure enough, Beast Boy was sitting up in his bed with his elbows resting on his bent knees, with needles and monitor pads covering every corner of his body. Beast Boy had his head down and didn't notice the others walking closer to him, but when they all stopped closer to his bedside he looked up and faced them. He took a deep breath in and sighed.
"I'm sorry…so sorry," he said hoarsely. Everyone there smiled at him, and Cyborg started to pat his back.
"It's alright, man. Everything is going to be fine," Cyborg encouraged him, and Beast Boy softened his tired face.
After Beast Boy had awakened, it was late at night. However, Cyborg and Robin stayed in there talking to Beast Boy about everything that had happened, and they were questioning him on many different things that have yet to be answered. Beast Boy definitely did not enjoy the questioning, especially since his body was completely exhausted, and he did not give them the answers that they wanted to hear. This, of course, did not go well with Robin, when Robin doesn't get answers the first time, he won't stop until he does. Cyborg unhooked Beast Boy from the machine that was filtering out his blood. He told him that he should have enough strength to sleep in his own room tonight. This news pleased Beast Boy, and he immediately put that news to good use. After that, all the Titans were relieved that the situation at hand has been handled; now they all felt that they could get some peaceful sleep, well, two of them anyway.
It was the afternoon the next day, and Raven was walking down the hallway heading towards Beast Boy's room. Beast Boy had been in his room all morning. He has yet faced his friends after he was finished in the infirmary. Raven wanted to talk to him to discuss what they had just endured this past week. Her hand, which Beast Boy bit into, was now wrapped and taped up in a new and clean bandage. She did attempt to heal it again, but her healing somehow did not do much, she still felt stinging and pain in her palm, and she did not know why especially when the skin seemed to be healed but it left a terrible green bruise underneath.
She stopped in front of Beast Boy's closed door. She kept her silence to see if she could hear anything particular coming from his room. However, she heard nothing, but the silence. Raven sighed and calmly knocked on the door.
"Beast Boy?" Raven called. She heard a small ruffling noise and some heavy breathing. Now it was obvious that he was alive in there, next was to get him to answer the door. She knew a forceful approach wasn't going to get them anywhere so she decided to relax and reason.
"Beast Boy, listen…I believe we need to talk…," she said softly, a tiny growl could be heard on the other side.
"I know you probably don't want to, but a little talking wouldn't hurt anyone," Raven finished and she waited outside. She wasn't going to give up, so she stood there for several long minutes for him to open the door. Raven wasn't expecting him to even allow her in; she just wanted to see him. However, he did not oblige.
"Look, I'm not Robin or Cyborg. I'm not going to reprimand you of what happened in these past few days…" she listened intently so she could hear him move, then she sighed.
"I just don't want you to be alone," she finished again and waited. Raven stood there and heard nothing but the silence around her. She sighed to herself again and began to turn around to walk away. That was until she heard his door open behind her, and then turned again to see Beast Boy standing in the door way.
Beast Boy's body was completely exhausted. Raven could tell immediately by how he held himself, and how often he would breathe in. His face was sunken with black bags under his eyes, his hair was flat and untidy, and he looked positively thin underneath his tight uniform.
"Can…can we go somewhere else?" he asked her gently.
"Of course, what did you have in mind?"
They flew in the sky. Beast Boy was in hawk form as Raven flew gently behind him. She didn't know where she was taking him, but she had a small hunch. It was soon realized that he was taking her back to the outskirts of the city, and back into that forest where he was once found before the cruise ship attack. They landed in a small clearing. Beast Boy transformed back into human as Raven touched down. Beast Boy didn't say anything, but continued to walk and Raven did the same. They stopped at the same small cliff that Raven found Beast Boy not even a few weeks ago. Beast Boy sat at the edge, and Raven did the same. They looked outward to sea, and Jump City glistening in the evening light.
Raven turned to look at Beast Boy; she noticed that he was calmer and at peace then he was at the Tower. She turned her head again before he could realize that she had done so.
Raven didn't enjoy the silence much longer, so she began to speak up.
"So…this is a nice place," she said, "you come out here often?" Beast Boy kept his focus straight ahead and was making absolutely sure not to show any emotion, he knew she would pick it up.
"Yeah, as often as I can, I try to come out here to think, but now I usually come out here when…well, when my powers get out of hand," he said.
Raven nodded and decided not to press the matter further. "So…how are you?" This question was the only Raven knew how to start up a conversation with. Beast Boy didn't look at her.
"Been better," he said. Raven nodded her head slowly, and she began to take off her hood to show her face.
"I think you know why we need to talk," she said getting serious, "and I think we both know what we need to talk about,"
"What's the point? You already know everything," Beast Boy said with a bite in his voice.
"That's not true, I only know how you're feeling. I don't know what you are thinking, but I know what the results are from you're thoughts and…just to put it lightly, they are not very…pleasant," Raven said softly, "In order to resolve your problems—,"
"And what is going to help my problems, Raven?" He raised his voice. He turned his body to look at her, "Cuz it's not going to be resolved with a light conversation! No! I've been going that crap all my life! And I don't need--,"
"I'm sorry," Raven suddenly interrupted him. The fierce look on his face softened.
"What?" he said quickly.
"I'm sorry…," Raven bowed her head and closed her eyes, and then she turned her head to make eye contact with him, "…for everything you've been through…I had no idea," A small silence spread inside the space between them, "you are definitely a lot stronger then I am," she dryly joked at herself.
"What're you saying?" Beast Boy asked. Raven pulled her knees up.
"I'm saying if I went through half of the terrible things that have happened to you over your life…I would have to be institutionalized," Beast Boy almost took the offensive on her comment, but decided to let her continue.
"But, here you are, still living, still the same person you always were, and you still have that same smile on your face. That's something I admire about you Beast Boy. You always look to the future with optimism and you hide everything about yourself," Raven glanced over at Beast Boy again, he was staring out in the ocean supporting himself on his hands behind him. Raven's lips curved slightly, "I don't know how you do it though."
Beast Boy looked over at her, "do what?"
"How you can withstand all that pain, all that negative energy, and all that rage. I felt your raw emotion in that brief amount of time that night, and the weight of it all flowing through me…was unbearable…," Beast Boy furrowed his brow, and she turned away from him again and spoke, "for a moment, I felt like I wasn't going to survive,"
Beast Boy softened, "I guess…when you feel all that within a small amount of time…it does kinda get unbearable."
"You're telling me," Raven joked softly, "I'm surprised I didn't blow up the tower last night,"
"Yeah," Beast Boy chuckled. Suddenly, he had an epiphany, "Hey, why didn't you blow up the tower?" Raven looked at him weirdly.
"What?" she asked raising her brow.
"Well, aren't your powers suppose to act all crazy when you feel extreme emotion?" he asked her curiously. Raven saw his point, and answered.
"Only when it's my own emotion," she replied. Beast Boy was confused.
"But, you still felt it last night," he said.
"Yes, but it wasn't my emotion," she retorted, "It was yours,"
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," he said turning his head back to face the ocean sea. They were both silent for a time. Raven kept her stare closely on him while Beast Boy was thinking.
"You want to know something?" Raven started off. Beast Boy turned in response to listen to her.
"What?" he said softly.
"You and I aren't very different from each other," she stated. Beast Boy had to smile at her words.
"Really? What makes you say that?" he sarcastically chuckled in his throat.
"You disagree with me?" she said.
"Yeah, I do actually, we're totally different," He retorted, "Humor me, how are we the same?"
"Alright…well to start off," she started, "we're both superheroes,"
"That's a given," he said.
"We both have unfortunate past lives," she said.
"Well, yeah, I can agree to that," he agreed.
"We don't exactly have the best track record in dating,"
"Yeah…can't really argue with that one,"
"And…we both enjoy stories,"
"No, I don't like to read as often as you do,"
"Alright, you don't like to read, but you do enjoy hearing about stories, whether you are watching television or reading comic books, you still enjoy stories just in a different way," she explained.
"Well, yeah that's true, but I'll bet I don't like the same type of stories as you. You're more into those really hard to read suspenseful fantasy stories; I'm more into those funny yet very actiony kinda stories,"
"Okay, I'll agree I will read novels that test my intellect, but in the matter of us interested in different genres, we're still not that different,"
"You're telling me, that you read action stories?"
"Of course, all the time actually,"
"Wait, wait, so every time you are reading in the living room, you are reading a story with some kind of hero that slays bad guys with either guns, swords, or any futuristic sort of weaponry that will create oodles of gory guts in order to save mankind?"
"Yep,"
"You do realize the next time I catch you reading I'm going to steal your book,"
"I highly doubt you'll get that close,"
"Okay, okay, enough of that," he finished that subject, "so, what else do you think we have in common?"
"Well…we both hide our feelings," he looked down. He was silent for a while as he absorbed her words into his thoughts. He knew she was right though, as she usually is. He still tried to prove her wrong on some level.
"But…you're not allowed to feel and I am," he uttered softly under his breath.
"Yes…but you agree with me that you are hiding what you feel?" she asked.
He silently nodded.
"So, I at least know what you are putting yourself through. I can understand you better than the others would," Raven replied.
"So, can you tell me how to deal with it, then?"
"I don't believe there is a way…but then, your case is not that similar to mine. You are allowed to express yourself freely yet you choose not to. As in my case, I choose not to express myself because I'm not allowed to," he silently listened to her in sympathy for her, "So, the only advice that I can give to you is to just go ahead and express yourself, both the good and the bad. The only person it will affect the most is you,"
"I…I don't know…if I can…,"
"You can, you just need to have confidence in yourself. And don't be afraid of what other people will think of you, what you feel will only matter to you," she reassured him by placing her hand over his, "and I'm here for you, so you can tell me what's going on. I will listen," she finished, and then Beast Boy shook his head.
"Nah, you don't want to listen to me blabbing on about how crappy my life is and how bad it was in the past. It's probably not as bad as I think it is, so it'd be just a waste of time," he tried to defend himself.
"No it will not. It won't be a waste of time because I never waste my time. And the fact is I do want to listen to you. I want to know face behind the superhero that the world sees you as. I want to know you,"
"Why? Why do you care to know about me?"
"Because you are a bigger mystery than you think you are, Beast Boy, and it's a mystery that I have been trying to solve ever since I met you," she saw him smile at bit, but still saw a small glimpse of confusion in his eyes.
"You know that I can feel emotions from others who are around me, right? When I first met you, you played the happy go lucky kid who never put a frown on his face, and I saw that. But what confused me about you is that you were hurting on the inside and I didn't know why. And back then I didn't care because it wasn't my business to know, and I didn't want to find out for fear of getting close to you and to anyone at that time. But, things have changed, and we all have changed too. Now, I want to know," Raven finished her reasons which had Beast Boy listening intently to every word. With every word moved him deeply. He was slowly starting to break his barrier.
"Tell me what's been bothering you for the past few weeks," she said with a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh…I don't know," he swept a hand through his hair; "a lot of things have been bugging me recently. Everything I think about causes this uncontrollable anger,"
"Like what? What do you think about?"
"Well, I guess to start off…when I'm alone…I think of the city, and how bad the crime is, and I wonder if there are any good people outside of us out there. I think of the team and our purpose and if people really care about how much effort we put in to our job, and if it's really worth it long run. I think of Robin and how uptight he is all the time, but I realize it's for good reasons even though I may not think so sometimes. I wonder if he will ever see me as a…friend instead of a business partner, I guess. And if he'll stop treating me like I'm just there and I have no where else to go.
Then I think about him and Starfire dating and how I am slightly jealous of their strong relationship. Cyborg and how I wish was I was as cool as him. I think of you and I wish that I was as smart as you, had more self-control like you do. And I wish that we had a stronger friendship…" he started to fade into a silent pause. Raven encouraged him.
"Go on," she said.
"I think about the Doom Patrol, and wonder what they're doing and why they don't keep contact with me. I think about the news, and then I hear something bad about some country in Africa because of all the civil wars going on and then I start to think about my old life there. I wonder if the tribe I use to live at still exists, if the people there are okay, if the lab my family use to work at still exists. Then I start to think about my parents…," He started to tear up and his voice started to crack.
"I often wonder about what would have happened if my parents were still alive, and then that reminds me that it was my fault that they died. I wonder if they were ever proud of me, or would they be upset at me because I'm not good enough at anything. I wonder what they think of me because I don't know how do even the simple things like doing something nice for a friend, meeting new people, say the right things, or even know when to keep my big mouth shut.
I can't fight crime right, I can't save enough lives, I…just…can't do anything!" He stood up and kicked the ground with his feet.
"I can't even say a stupid joke right, and even when I do try to do something right, I mess it up, and I set this image for myself that I'm some stupid immature kid like I'm the big idiot of the Teen Titans!" He sat back down again and wiped his tears and sighed. Raven placed her comforting hand on his shoulder again and rubbed it softly. He continued to choke a bit on his tears.
"I just…wonder what could've been. I know that's bad for me, but I just can't help it. I feel like there's no one to talk to, no one would understand what I'm saying, and even if they did I don't believe they would know what to do. I've tried talking to Cyborg but he just shoved it off and says 'let's go play some video games, that ought to cheer you up,' but it doesn't. Nothing does. Nothing ever does," Beast Boy threw a rock across the way.
"Beast Boy…," she started.
"Ugh, I even hate the name I gave myself. See? I even mess up on my own name,"
"Well, what do you prefer to be called?"
"Even my real name sounds stupid, so I don't know; at this point I'm not worthy enough to even have a name,"
"Well, your parents didn't think so when they were naming you, so your name isn't bad," she pointed out.
"My parents did call me Gar from time to time," he said rubbing the loose tears hanging on his cheeks with his forearm, "I guess…that would be reasonable,"
"So, would you like me to call you Gar, more often?"
"…I guess,"
"Alright then," she agreed, "How do you feel after all that?"
"Clinically depressed," he said. Raven rolled her eyes.
"Okay, but do you at least feel relieved?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess," he said.
"Then that's a start," she said, "Look, you're right by saying there's not much I can do to help solve all your problems. I believe most of your problems you may have to solve yourself," he bowed his head in disappointment.
"But…maybe the one thing you need right now is a friend," she said, "and not just another acquaintance and not just another teammate. I mean a better friend who would want to hang out with you on your terms,"
"And who is willing do something like that and where would I find this friend?"
"Well, I'm willing,"
"Yeah, okay, you don't even hang out with me before any of this happened,"
"Exactly…," she said sadly, she removed her hand from his shoulder to cross it with her other arm to shield herself, "maybe this time I can prove to you that I'm not just some creepy girl locked away in her room with a bunch of spell books. I think if we spent some more time together we could become better friends, and in the long run maybe I'll redeem myself for not hanging out with you in the past, and you may forget all your troubles," Beast Boy looked up at her with a fearful expression, yet there was a small hint of hope that gleamed on his face. He really hoped that this would work out, and maybe he wouldn't feel so lonely all the time.
"So, what do you say? May I be your friend…," Raven extended a hand for him to shake in agreement.
"…Gar?" Beast Boy stared down her hand and looked up at her genuine expression several times. He sighed and gave in.
"Okay," he simply said, and took her hand and shook it lightly.
"Okay," she responded with a small smile.
"Thanks, Raven. This actually helped,"
"That's good to know, I'm glad I can help you,"
"I think it would help more if we did this more often, not the 'me venting my feelings' part, but the 'get-to-know-you' part," Raven softly smiled at his lack of words.
"I would like that, but if you need to vent, I'm here for you too,"
"I'll keep that in mind," he said and with that they finally let go of each other's hand along with a small moment of silence.
"So, I think you need a good pick-me-up after all that," she said, "do you want to go get some pizza? I'm starving,"
"Sure, I could go for some pizza,"
"Alright, let's go,"
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed that. And, I've noticed...looking back at all these chapters and I leave these little comments at the end, asking for "constructive criticism." I think I've reached the point where I could just care less. Ha ha. You could just put "I've read it," and I'd be happy. At least I know people still enjoy this as much as I do. Anyway, I really do appreciate all the people who are still reading this story. And I understand your frustration, but the main reason of why I don't update as much as I should is just one reason and that is...the world just plain sucks. So, thanks for R&R!