A.N. I'd like to thank everyone who offered me feedback on the first chapter of this story. You guys rock.
Chapter two of "Like It Or Not," entitled "Awkward Moments"
As soon as Raven arrived back in her room from Nevermore, she heard furious pounding at her bedroom door. She closed her eyes for a moment, regaining her control and calm as best as she could. Raven groaned, but swung her legs over the side of her circular bed and slowly shuffled to her door. She carefully opened it a few inches, as was her custom.
Robin had been standing near her door with a very worried expression on his face for quite some time. He looked like he was about to break down her door if she hadn't answered at that moment.
"Raven, what happened?" he asked quickly, apparently extremely relieved to see her. "I've been knocking on your door for the last five minutes!"
Raven blinked at him. "What are you talking about?"
Robin stood, his mouth agape. "The entire city started shaking! I tracked the source, and it was coming directly from your room. What happened?" he repeated.
Raven still stood there dumbly, not quite sure what she should say. However, she was sure that she did not want to disclose what she had recently found out from Knowledge. Not yet. "I'm not sure, Robin. Maybe some of my power escaped during my meditation," she replied innocently, lying through her teeth. Like hell she didn't know exactly what had happened. Even though she had struggled to control her power, enough had apparently been freed that there had been something like an earthquake in both dimensions.
Robin eyed her suspiciously. "Are you sure that's all?" he asked incredulously.
"I'm sure. Why are you the only one here?" she questioned, attempting to change the subject.
He looked at her suspiciously, but decided to let the issue go. As long as the strange earthquake had ended and no one was hurt, he could move on. At least for right now. "They're at dinner still. I came back early because you had been acting strangely before you left. I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"I'm fine, thanks." Raven tried to close the door, but Robin stopped it firmly with a gloved hand.
"Are you sure, Raven? You know, if you have a problem, you can talk to me." He assured her with a serious voice. "That's what friends are for."
Raven tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. "Thanks, but I can promise you that there is absolutely no problem that you can help me with." Raven did not see this as a lie, because, after all, it was true that no one could help her out of this mess.
This time, when she tried to shut the door, he let it close in his face. After a minute of standing with his thoughts and deciding that Raven had in fact put a deadlock on their discussion, Robin turned and walked down the hallway.
Raven slumped to the floor near her doorway upon hearing his slowly retreating footsteps. This was absolutely horrible. How long could she possibly wait? Everyday she let go by would just bring more pain, and she would become less and less able to do her job as a Titan. That is, until her birthday. Then she would die. If this wasn't the mother of lose-lose situations, she didn't know what was.
She wanted desperately to tell someone about her problems. Raven hoped against hope that there was a way around this mess, that maybe if she just told Robin her dilemma he would be able to miraculously find a loophole in the system for her to escape through. Raven groaned, burying her face in her cold hands. True, he had been able to save her from dying as a portal for her father, but this was so different. This was an ancient curse. An unwavering curse that demanded her obedience. Raven trusted Robin with her very life, and could rest assured that he would do anything within his power to end this affliction. But that was just the thing: He couldn't do anything for her now. No one could. If Knowledge wasn't even able to, a teenager who was completely naïve to Azarathian law stood no chance.
Raven was still lost in her morbid thoughts when her heart began to beat very rapidly in a painfully familiar way. "Oh no," she groaned to herself, drawing her hands in a sporadic motion away from her face and allowing them to close into fists. Ice clenched her stomach, and Raven shook. Despite the horribly cold sensation that flooded her stomach, her limbs burned like they were on fire. Much like the first time this happened to her, her head felt like it was being beaten repeatedly against a metal pole, and she was having difficulty breathing. It was like the air had been knocked out of her; the more she tried to breathe, the harder it was. Her breath came in pitifully shallow, raspy gasps that seemed to resonate through her room.
Raven tried hard to keep from crying out. Her vision began to swim and then went white, and she collapsed to the ground where she laid gasping for air. Her whole body burned as she attempted to stand, but she stumbled over her own feet and fell to the floor again. Using her shaking arms, Raven crawled over to her wastebasket just in time to vomit. Her stomach was completely empty, but this did not quell the intense, searing pain. Her stomach tried in vain to rid itself of whatever was causing this agony, but Raven could do nothing more than let the curse run its course as she panted painfully, trying to fight the urge to pass out on the floor.
Raven rolled onto her back and stayed there, attempting not to move at all. Eventually, after maybe five more minutes of the horrible physical torture, the pain began to gradually lessen. Raven lay panting for air, staring up at her dark ceiling. Her mouth still tasted foul from retching, and her throat also hurt awfully, but the majority of the pain had left. This attack had been notably worse than the first. Her ears were left ringing and her head still felt unbelievably light.
There and then, Raven decided that she would need to get this marriage over with as quickly as possible. Forget searching for another alternative, and give up the prospect of uncovering a loophole from the system. There were none to be had. Even if she searched until the moment she died no escape would be found. And at this rate, Raven seriously doubted if she could survive many more of these attacks and recover fully each time. The only other option was to give in and let the curse kill her, but Raven opted for life. After all, as morbid as it seemed, Raven could either submit herself to hell now or put off the judgment a while longer. She also recognized her position as a Titan, which she currently viewed as her top priority on this planet. To give up and die would hurt the team.
Raven had made up her mind. She would confront Beast Boy as soon as he got home, and basically propose to him. Slowly, Raven staggered to her feet, swaying dangerously, but miraculously managing to stumble to her bed. She flopped on top of it, and tears sprung to her eyes that she could not stop from spilling over. Raven did not know how long she laid there in her tears and thoughts before she fell into an exhausted but fitful sleep.
TT
"Hey Rob," Cyborg called warmly as he entered the common room with Starfire and Beast Boy.
Robin raised a hand in greeting and went back to his work at a complicated looking computer screen. Charts, graphs, and pages of quickly scrolling text filled the entire monitor almost completely. "Where have you guys been?" he asked, not diverting his eyes.
"Starfire wanted to see some cheesy ninja movie," Beast Boy replied, sticking out his tongue. "It wasn't any good. Dumb plot, clichéd ending." He paused to step towards the kitchen area of the room, taking a quick look in the fridge before rapidly shutting the door in disgust with a very sour look. Sauntering to the couch, he plopped unceremoniously to the cushioned seat with a sigh. "Find anything new on Raven?"
"Not really. That earthquake was generated directly from her bedroom, and she accredited it to a power slip. I guess she's telling the truth, but it's kind of an odd story," Robin explained, frowning deeply.
"Friend Raven may be going through a most difficult time," Starfire began. When she was sure that she had the attention of the three males in the room, she continued. "According to your calendar, this month is called the May. The month of Raven's birth is also in this month of the May. Perhaps our friend is merely experiencing sadness related to the memories that the day of her birth brings."
"Huh," Robin grunted, "You might have something there. Would you mind talking to her, Star?"
"I would be most delighted to aid our friend," Starfire exclaimed, and she rushed off to find Raven.
"I dunno," Cyborg said, scratching the base of his neck, "Did you guys see what happened to her when we fought Rancid?"
"She was getting beat up a lot," Beast Boy offered from his seat, eyes closed and head resting on the back of the couch.
"More than that," Robin added, "Her powers didn't seem to be working properly."
"You think this is another fear related thing?" Cy asked his friends. He walked near the monitor where Robin sat, and peered over his leader's shoulder at the complex screen.
"No, I don't," Robin said. He appeared to struggle with something internally for a moment before saying, "You guys know that Raven and I share a bond. I would know if something like that was wrong with her again."
"But then what is it?" Beast Boy asked. "If it's not fear, could it just be about her birthday?"
"Raven's smart," Cyborg commented before sighing. "I don't think she'd let emotion like that get in the way of her fighting again."
"I don't know what else it could be," Robin said, holding up his hands in defeat. "We're just going to have to wait for Starfire to come back. Maybe she'll learn something about this from Raven."
Cyborg added a nonchalant word of agreement. "Any Rancid leads?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Not yet," Robin admitted. He went back to his computer screen, rapidly typing with both hands on a small keyboard as a few different maps were brought up. Robin smirked. "He's not very smart. It should be easy to track the guy down. It can wait until morning." Carefully, he pulled down the screen full of material he had been wading through and turned off the monitor.
Cyborg checked the clock on his arm. "Woah, It's already two in the morning. Is there anything else on the day's itinerary, Rob?"
"Nothing I can think of that needs our immediate attention," Robin replied, stretching his aching arms.
"I guess I'll turn in for the night then." Cyborg said with a yawn. "G'night ya'll." With that, he began to retreat from the room, setting the security system and locking down the Tower for the evening from his arm as he walked.
Just as he was about to slide open the door to leave the common area, it burst open and Starfire quickly flew into the room. "Our friend Raven is not in her quarters," she reported.
Beast Boy sat up from where he had flopped on the couch. "You couldn't find her?" His face grew a bit more serious, which everyone knew was rare.
"I visited Raven as I was asked to do so, and she did not answer her door after my numerous attempts to attract her attention." Starfire's eyes danced nervously. "Eventually I opened the door myself. Raven was not in her bedroom, but the mirror which serves as her portal to her dimension of Nevermore was placed on her bed."
"It's alright, Star," Robin said calmly. "She's probably meditating. We should probably just leave her alone now, at least until the morning."
"I agree," Cyborg said, then looked pointedly at Beast Boy. "And no one should even think about bothering Raven in her room when she needs to meditate." Nodding their agreement silently, both Starfire and Robin turned their eyes to give Beast Boy a stern look as well.
"Why are you all staring at me?" Beast Boy complained.
Cyborg rolled his eyes and smirked. He then bid his friends a good night again, and left the room to go recharge.
"We all should be getting some sleep," Robin said, and walked for the door leading to the bedrooms of the Tower. Starfire followed in the same direction a few moments later. Beast Boy had already fallen fast asleep on the comfortable couch, curled up with a drop of drool handing from his open mouth as he snored contentedly.
TT
After a few agonizing hours of attempting to stay asleep and finding that it offered very little reprieve, Raven had decided to travel back to Nevermore. Her time of reflection led her to realize that she was still foggy on much of her current situation, and she opted to talk to Knowledge again.
Raven picked up her mirror and was quickly taken into her mind. Upon her arrival, Raven set out for Knowledge.
Raven found her in the same grassy field, but she had moved so that she was no longer sitting in front of the dormant tree by which they had first conversed near.
"Knowledge," Raven began, mildly embarrassed at bothering her again so soon.
The wise emotion glanced up and grinned benevolently.
"I was wondering when you would come back," she spoke curtly. "I hope you have calmed down some."
Raven frowned. "I have, yes."
"Good," Knowledge replied. "What did you wish to speak to me about?"
"There are so many questions that I have," Raven admitted, "After I had time to think I realized how much I still need to know."
"Like what?" Knowledge asked.
"Like why Beast Boy?" Raven inquired earnestly. She had promised herself that she would not allow her emotions to come into play during this discussion. She would have time to just sit and cry later if she really needed to, but now was an opportune time to learn what she needed to know to save her life. Because of this resolution, Raven kept her voice down and kept her face as devoid of emotion as she could.
"The marriage laws are very complex," said Knowledge, "But in your rare situation, you must marry a man that you know well. That means for at least three years or so. Obviously he must be unbetrothed, and he must be seventeen years old before you turn seventeen. Given these stipulations, Beast Boy is the only one of your closer friends that fulfills all of the requirements."
Raven considered this. Cyborg was nineteen and Robin was eighteen. Besides, to even consider marrying Robin would either destroy the Titans hands down or get her murdered in her sleep by a jealous Starfire. She loved Cyborg like a brother, and it made her sick to think of being forced into any other sort of relationship with him. With those two off her list, she knew of no other males that she was even remotely close to other than Beast Boy. Raven quickly moved on with her next question.
"There are no priests or pastors who would marry two seventeen year olds in Jump City," Raven said. "It is illegal. We're still only kids."
"That does make it difficult. But, as you probably know, in many situations the leader of a team is given the power to conduct marriages," Knowledge offered.
"Robin," Raven whispered with a groan, resting her forehead in her palm. "This is too much. This marriage could destroy the Titans."
"It doesn't have to," Knowledge reasoned with her, "I advise you to treat the situation with care, but not to make a bigger deal over it than it merits. Technically, to the best of my understanding, there needs to be no major changes after you and Beast Boy have been married and the law has been satisfied. The only difference is a few, ah, perks that will be made available."
Raven scoffed and blushed despite herself. "Moving on," she said emphatically, "I can't imagine that the priests of Azarath would condemn every soon to be seventeen year old child to the kind of pain that I have been experiencing."
"That is true," Knowledge agreed. "That is because most children submit to the law and do not wait until so close to their seventeenth birthday to be married. Many are betrothed at a much younger age, and by prayer and petition are able to show that they wish to submit to the law. Because of this, they are spared from the physical punishment that you are suffering."
"Is there nothing I can do then, until I am married, to stop these attacks I have been experiencing?" Raven asked with bated breath.
Knowledge hesitated. "Basically, no. There is nothing. Your birthday is very soon. Eight days from now, to be exact. The absolute longest you can delay your wedding to Beast Boy is seven days from today, as the law states that if a child from Azarath is not married before their seventeenth birthday, that person will die."
Raven swallowed heavily. "What if he says no?" She wondered out loud.
"Beast Boy won't say no. He cares for you more than you think. Even if not yet romantically, certainly as more than just a teammate."
Raven frowned. "Are you certain that this is my only option?"
"Look," Knowledge replied, holding her gaze with unwavering eyes, "I've poured through all the books available to me that speak of this issue. There is no alternative. If you wish, you may also read through those books if you do not trust your own persona of knowledge to do what is best for you. If it helps, all of us are in this together."
Raven smirked mirthlessly. "It doesn't help."
Knowledge nodded sadly. " I thought you might say that. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can say to change your mind once it is set. I can offer nothing more to you unless you have further questions I can help you with."
"None right now," Raven admitted, "But if I think of any, I'll drop by."
Her intelligent emotion frowned. "I think that would get rather annoying, don't you? If you have something to say to me, say it now. I've given you what I can. Heck, if I hadn't told you about this whole marriage issue, you'd have no clue why you were slowly and painfully dying."
"I know," Raven agreed with a nod, "And I sincerely thank you for your help."
Knowledge bowed her head for a moment in a formal acceptance of the thanks. "Good luck, Raven," she wished seriously as she seemed to sink into the ground, effectively ending their discussion.
TT
Beast Boy was roused from his deep sleep by a deafening burst of thunder, followed by heavy rain that pelted the Tower. Without opening his eyes, Beast Boy flopped onto his other side and grabbed for his pillow.
This action, of course, sent him falling to the floor, where he landed none to gracefully on his rear. Jolted fully awake, Beast Boy groaned. "This isn't my bed," he whined.
A flicker of lightning illuminated the sky outside the Tower for a split second, also lighting up the room. Soon recognizing his surroundings as the common room, Beast Boy stood and muttered to himself in a sleepy voice, "Must've fallen asleep here." Stretching, he stumbled to the doors and headed for his room.
A bit miffed from having been awoken so rudely from a rather pleasant dream, he walked silently down the halls with quiet footsteps. He guessed that it was around four in the morning; the Tower showed no other signs of life. Not even Robin or Raven, the early birds, had risen for the day yet.
Beast Boy grumbled to himself as his thoughts and the act of walking called him further from his sleepy state.
He had no problem seeing in the dark hallways; his animalistic senses were attuned to every sound and motion. He paused a moment to yawn. As he closed his eyes, Beast Boy could have sworn that he heard the very faintest swishing of air coming from a distance away. Perhaps a door, or a person's shoe scuffing against the tiled floor. Of course, it was quite difficult to hear a thing over the steadily falling raindrops. Even so, he paused a moment longer, carefully pricking his ears to catch the noise if it again repeated.
It came again. It wasn't any louder, but now he could definitely tell that there was something alive in the Tower moving through the same halls in which he was traveling. He wasn't scared or anything, but nevertheless he set out at a more rapid pace for his room.
The distinct sound of footsteps was suddenly audible, getting slightly louder with every second. Could it be a teammate? An intruder? Johnny Rancid?
Somehow Beast Boy doubted that any villain would be able to make it past the security system, but otherwise foolish notions seemed a lot more real in the dead of night when one was alone.
He was walking very quickly now, covering ground as fast as he could without alerting this other being of his presence.
Beast Boy rounded a corner, and didn't have time to react before he collided with whatever this intruder was.
It let out a soft gasp as they fell, apparently not expecting the collision any more than Beast Boy was.
Beast Boy let out a high-pitched scream as he attempted to scramble away, but his leg was pinned under whoever this person was. Giving himself a split second to gather what he could, his sharp eyes made out the dark outline of a hooded figure. Raven?
His guess was confirmed as the shape said in a hushed voice, "Be quiet! Do you want to wake the entire Tower?"
"Ra-Raven? Is that you?" he spoke with a slightly wavering voice.
"However did you guess," she replied sarcastically. Without even being able to see her face, Beast Boy somehow sensed that she was rolling her eyes.
"What are you doing here? Trying to scare me to death?" he demanded.
"Me?" Raven scoffed, "You're the one who ran into me."
"Well what were you doing out of your room at four in the morning?" he demanded.
"Two-thirty, actually," Raven corrected him. "And I… I was actually hoping to find you." She could feel a blush rising involuntarily to her face, which she failed to suppress.
Beast Boy opened then shut his mouth again. Looking for him, eh?
"Uh, why would you be looking for me in the middle of the night?" he wondered.
Raven sighed. Oh God, where to begin?
"Why don't you start by getting off of my foot?" she suggested.
"Wha-?" Beast Boy began, and then realized that her foot was, in fact, wedged beneath him. "Heh, sorry Rae," he said, untangling his appendages quickly and offering his hand to help her up. She took it and carefully rose.
A silence settled over them for a moment. "So…" he said, "Why were you looking for me?"
Raven swallowed. She had spent the last ten minutes psyching herself up for this, but had completely forgotten what she had planned to say as she had walked the halls in pursuit of Beast Boy. "I don't know where to begin," she admitted.
"How 'bout at the beginning?" he offered. Beast Boy frowned to himself. So much for getting back to sleep. But hey, if Raven wanted to talk, he supposed he didn't mind missing a little beauty rest.
Another silence enveloped the two, as the rain continued to fall high above their heads.
"Join me for tea?" Raven suddenly asked. As soon as the world left her mouth, Raven mentally smacked herself. Where did that come from? Oh well, it would be better than trying to explain this mess in a dark hallway.
"Uh, sure, Raven," Beast Boy agreed somewhat hesitantly.
'Tea?' Beast Boy thought to himself, 'She scared me to death in the hallway just to ask me to join her for tea? Weird.' Regardless of how odd the offer was, he accepted and turned to go back down the halls in the direction from which he had come. Raven followed silently.
"Sorry for kinda running you over back there," he apologized.
"It was mostly my fault," Raven admitted. "I was in a bit of a rush."
"To see me?" he asked.
Raven couldn't decide if he was mocking her or if he really was just surprised. Opting for the latter, she replied simply, "Yes. We need to talk."
"Ok, I guess. Are you angry at me or something?"
"No, not at you, Beast Boy," Raven sighed, "At life in general."
"Does this have anything to do with why your powers were being all wacky this afternoon?"
"A bit, yes," was all that Raven divulged. They continued the rest of the way to the kitchen, walking nearly side by side in complete silence. Beast Boy was rather clueless as to what this was all about, but was strangely happy to have Raven actually want to talk to him for once. Content with the strange but welcome oddity, he tried not to break the quiet, which he knew she must appreciate.
Raven, on the other hand, was like an ocean of emotion. Questions, fears, and anxiety were raging just underneath her skin. It really was a wonder that so much could be running through her head and yet the air was so deceptively quiet.
Would she actually do it? To plan out what she would say was one thing, to actually look Beast Boy in the eye and speak her mind was so completely different. And why did she have the steadily increasing feeling that she was walking to her doom?
The two arrived – much too quickly, in Raven's opinion – at the Tower's kitchen. Upon entering the spacious room, the pair was greeted with an amplified sound of the rain. Raven flipped on one of the many light switches with her hand, not daring to even attempt to use her power when her emotions were in such complete shambles.
A few bulbs over the main table flickered to life, bathing the room in soft light. As if driven more by habit than will, Raven went to fill her teapot with tap water and fished a teabag from her designated tea drawer. She turned to Beast Boy. "Want some?"
Beast Boy had taken a seat at the table and had been watching her with an unexplainable emotion on his face. As if snapped from a trance by her voice, he asked dumbly, "Some what?"
Raven held up her teabag, "Tea," she said slowly, as if it should have been obvious.
"Sure," he said, shrugging his shoulders and turning his gaze to look out the window. Was it just him, or was Raven acting really, really weird? First off, when was she ever caught off balance, much less actually fall over? And even stranger than that, when did she start offering to share her tea? It was an unspoken rule in Titans' Tower that taking Raven's tea stuff was a huge no-no, kind of like borrowing the T-Car or touching Robin's hair.
Raven turned back to the counter and drew another mug from the cabinet. She filled the teakettle with more water and set it on the range again. She forced herself to calm down. Perhaps it was a good thing that her powers weren't working anyway, or else the room would probably already be torn apart by escaped energy. Drumming her fingers on the countertop impatiently, she waited for the water to heat up. Was it just her, or was it taking much longer than it usually did to warm? What time was it now… dear God, at this rate, the sun would come up before she could sit down and talk to Beast Boy. And no way was she going to sit down for a discussion like this without her tea. Raven sighed in frustration.
"Um, Raven?" Beast Boy called.
"What?" she snapped somewhat irritably, turning to face him.
"Shouldn't you turn the stove on?" he offered timidly.
Raven sputtered and turned around. Sure enough, she had neglected to start the flame. Shaking her head, she turned the small knob on the front of the stove until the starter clicked and a small blue flame lit the range with a quiet whoosh. A blush crept onto her face again, and she remained turned to hide her face from Beast Boy.
It felt like hours and hours that the room was filled with heavy silence. Raven could not stand it much longer. Although the water was still not boiling, she removed the pot from the flame and poured the hot liquid into the mugs. Adding the teabags and a bit of sugar, she stirred the water slowly with a trembling hand.
Beast Boy sat at the table, leaning back in his chair, hands folded on the tabletop. He was still quite confused. Why in the world was Raven acting so strangely? It was almost as if she was nervous… but Raven didn't do nervous. Sure, when he had first met her – over three years ago now – she had been a very timid, introverted girl. But now she was always composed, always confident, and would even carry on a discussion if there was something to be said.
Now that he thought about it, she had changed a lot. She was still quiet, of course, but not shy. Raven had developed a sort of poise over the years that was even strangely attractive. In a friendly way only, of course. After all, there wasn't room for anything else. She usually acted like she hated his guts. But he could never hate her. From the day they met and she had told him that he was funny, he had, in a small way, fallen in love. But then again, he had also fallen in love with Terra, not all that long ago.
Although it would be difficult to express it in words, the love he felt for Raven was completely different than that which he had expressed for Terra. Terra had been the only person who consistently laughed at his jokes, not to mention that she was pretty funny herself. Still, he had not known her long enough for his immature love to develop into anything more. Although he would not verbalize it, the extent of Beast Boy's feelings for Terra was puppy love; a crush. Quite a serious crush, but there was not enough time for love to grow between them before she ended up betraying them all. Her betrayal still hurt like hell, but it hadn't been love.
Raven, though… He had known Raven for as long as he cared to remember. He had fought by her side, had saved her life, and she had done the same for him on many occasions. And despite all the times she would throw a sarcastic remark in his face or respond to his jokes with a book hurled at his head, they were always friends. She had told him so. But romantically? Yeah, right. Beast Boy knew that even if he wished for it, he stood no chance. He and Raven were polar opposites. They grated on each other's nerves all the time. But how did that saying go. Opposites attract? Sure. Maybe in a romance novel or a TV show, but come on, this was real life.
Beast Boy drew himself from his reverie by quickly shaking his head. Since when did he start reading into stuff like that? Both girls were certainly out of the question for him, and his time was much better spent doing something more important, like playing videogames or forcing tofu on his teammates, than thinking.
He glanced over at Raven. She was stirring a few glasses, with her head bent slightly and her back turned towards him.
"Um, Raven?" he called to her, not entirely certain that she hadn't forgotten that he was there.
She turned her head towards him. "What?" she clipped.
"I was just wondering when you'll be done, that's all. It's kinda late, you know…" his voice trailed off and Raven nodded.
"I apologize. If you need to leave, you can," she said quietly. 'Now where the hell did that come from?' Raven thought bitterly to herself. Why would she push away the inevitable anymore? It was not probable that she would have another opportunity like this to confront Beast Boy alone again before she ran out of time.
Beast Boy was baffled. It wasn't like Raven at all to ask for company, and whatever she had wanted to say or do had yet to be said or done.
"Only if you want me to," he replied.
Raven suppressed a sigh, and took one mug in each hand. Walking deliberately to the table where Beast Boy was waiting, she felt her heart speed up even more. A bit of hot tea splashed over the rim of the mugs and landed on her hands, but she paid it little mind. The task at hand was clearly of more importance than a little spilled tea.
Raven slid into the seat next to Beast Boy, and turned her chair so that she could look him in the face while still facing the table enough to drink her tea. She pushed his mug in his direction, and he hesitantly reached out for it, mumbling a word of thanks as he eyed the liquid suspiciously. This was probably the first time he had touched tea in his life, unless you counted iced tea.
The first thing he noticed was the oddly fragrant aroma that met his nose. It was a strange, fruity scent, but wasn't bad at all. It was promising, even. He took a tentative sip. It was too hot, but not that bad. After a moment of swishing it around on his tongue, he came to the conclusion that it wasn't as nasty as one would think brownish water would taste, but he still couldn't see the big deal over it. It wasn't even really sweet or anything.
He must have been musing over his tea for too long, because Raven cleared her throat somewhat loudly. He snapped his gaze up immediately.
"So, Raven," he began, "You wanted to tell me something?"
Raven fidgeted her hands around her mug. "Well," she started in a little voice, "First off, you might have noticed that something about my powers has been… slightly askew recently."
"If askew means really glitchy, then yeah," he said without thinking. He noted that her face darkened, and he hastily added, "Sorry, they're not that bad, but we've all noticed that something's up. Star thinks you're just sad 'cause of your birthday, but Cy and Rob don't really know what to think."
"And what do you think?" Raven asked him.
Beast Boy blinked at her. Did Raven just show some interest in what he had to say? This was bizarre. Maybe he was dreaming? As if to prove to himself that he wasn't, Beast Boy took a big mouthful of his tea. It burned his mouth, and he fought to keep from spewing it all over the table. With a wince, he swallowed, sufficiently convinced that he was awake.
"I dunno, Rae," he admitted, and was even more confused when she didn't reprimand him for using the nickname that only Cy could call her. Instead, she nodded, and started tracing circles absentmindedly around the rim of her glass.
"Well, Starfire isn't completely wrong," Raven said. To say that an internal war was being fought just beneath the surface of her cool demeanor would be an understatement. It was becoming difficult for her to think straight. Should she just break down and spill, or should she dish out questions and let him piece together the puzzle like she had? This wasn't fair! Either way there was a definite chance that he would just laugh it off, or maybe just say "thanks but no thanks" and leave her to deal with her own problems.
Besides, marrying so young might really screw up his life too. After all, who would want to marry a guy if he told you he was a divorced man who had been married with a week's notice to a sixteen year old? And the Teen Titans were all about functioning together. Wouldn't a married couple be more inclined to aid their partner over their other teammates, even if it wasn't completely intended? And then there was the issue that they were just plain too young for marriage.
'Seriously, just look at him,' Raven thought bitterly. He looked like a kid. He still pouted and whined and had the body of a fourteen year old (even if he was just a touch taller than her now), with the cracking voice to prove it. It definitely just seemed wrong to force this on him. It was odd to think of Beast Boy as older than she was, mostly because of his serious lack of maturity most of the time.
And yet, there was only one other alternative, which was quite morbid indeed. Maybe it was selfish on her part, but Raven would rather opt for life and marry him than submit to hell. It hadn't taken much rational thinking to decide this. All drama aside, she needed to tell him her troubles soon. Like, now.
"Beast Boy, what I'm about to tell you doesn't have to be as bad as it seems." Raven surprised herself by almost quoting Knowledge.
Beast Boy's face grew serious. "I can handle it," he bravely said.
'If only he knew what he was getting himself into,' Raven thought with a deep breath. It was now or never. She forced her voice to be calm. At least one of them needed to remain mature right now.
"On Azarath," she said slowly. "When a girl-" Raven was interrupted by a very loud shriek of the alarm system, and they both jumped from their chairs. Red lights began to flash with every buzz of the unwelcome siren.
Raven was literally on the verge of tears. This had to have been the official worst time for a mission in her entire life. What was she supposed to do now? Her powers were all but fried and Beast Boy still had no clue of the gravity of their situation.
"You'll have to tell me later," Beast Boy called over the alarm, sprinting for the door. Raven angrily followed a second later, leaving the tea mugs on the table.
Before either of them could reach the door, it opened rapidly and Robin ran in. Obviously quite surprised to find them in the room, he disabled the alarm and waited for Starfire and Cyborg to arrive. Within a minute, the team had assembled, uniforms immaculate and every team member awake and ready for orders.
Robin sent Raven and then Beast Boy a funny look that said, 'We'll talk later,' and then he quickly diverted his attention to the large screen that took the place of the largest window. His team gathered around him. A quick pass code typed into a keyboard turned on all of the lights and brought up a map to the screen.
"Fires," he whispered, more to himself than his team. Bringing up an aerial view and focusing in, the Titans could see that Rancid had returned. Although the screen was not emitting sound, the Titans could plainly see that Rancid was giggling quite gleefully.
It is never a good sign for heroes when villains giggle gleefully.
Exchanging a few glances, the Titans waited for Robin's instructions. Robin sighed.
"Alright team, it looks like Rancid's back for another battle. At least we won't have to go through the trouble of tracking him down now." Robin's voice trailed off as he typed furiously into the keyboard. A grid of the city took up most of the screen.
Tiny red dots began to fill this grid slowly in little clusters. "Those dots," Robin said, his voice even but tight, "Are fires, located within two miles of Rancid in East JC. They're small, but Rancid must be somehow igniting them from where he is. We've got to go down there, put out the fires, find out what's causing them, keep more from starting, and apprehend Rancid."
"Sounds easy enough," Beast Boy quipped. His teammates paid no attention to him, causing him to frown and cross his arms petulantly.
Raven was nervously playing with the hem of her cloak near her stomach. "Maybe it would be best if I stayed here," she said quietly. Suddenly all eyes were on her.
Obviously anxious to get to the scene of the crime already, Robin asked, "Why's that Raven?"
After a brief moment of hesitation, she said, "If you haven't noticed, my powers have not been working well recently. I might not be able to-"
"Raven," Robin hastily cut her off, "I don't know if we'll be able to handle this without you. Why don't you come and just take it easy if you have to?"
His question sounded an awful lot like a command, and he gave her another odd look before calling, "Titans go!"
The team didn't hesitate. As quickly as they had congregated in the room, they rushed through the door to outside. Luckily, the rain had all but stopped. The moon was doing its best to shine through the rifts in the heavy clouds.
Usually Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy would fly over the bay, but Raven opted to take the T-Car with Cyborg. Robin reacted to this with a slightly troubled expression, but put on his helmet and revved up the R-Cycle without saying a word.
The team was off the island within seconds and headed to where they would find Rancid.
Raven's stomach was turning as they pulled away from the Tower, and she couldn't keep a sickening feeling of dread from coming over her. Somehow, Raven knew that this might not end well. Drawing in a shaky breath, she closed her eyes, attempting to center herself. Focusing on her hand, Raven tried vainly to call up a force field to surround it. She tried three times, and then chanted her mantra. Still nothing. After a few more tries, her hand feebly glowed with dark energy. Well, at least it was something. Even this tiny display managed to raise her spirits significantly, but a feeling of dread still nagged at her as the team sped on, nearing their destination.
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I hope to have the next chapter up relatively quickly. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and I would love your comments. Don't forget to review!
Thanks for reading.
