A.N. Sorry about the wait. I find that schoolwork and fan fiction are pretty much incompatible, which unfortunately results in much slower updates than I would like. But luckily, summer break is approaching! I'll have a whole lot more time to devote to my writing then. Again, sorry that this took so long. Please enjoy the chapter.

Chapter three of "Like It Or Not," entitled "Will You Marry Me?"

Titans Tower was only a few miles from East Jump City, and much to Raven's dismay, they arrived at their destination in record time. As promised by their tracking devices, Rancid stood victoriously atop a dented red car, his expression that of wicked jubilance. Upon their arrival, the Titans could see the aforementioned fires. More seemed to pop up every few moments, each starting off with a tiny explosion, but quickly growing to burn anything in their immediate vicinity. It was too dark to tell what was starting the fires, as it was, after all, only three in the morning.

Cyborg and Raven got out of the T-Car, and Beast Boy and Starfire dropped neatly out of the sky. Robin dismounted the R-Cycle, and the Titans stood closely, waiting for Robin's orders.

"If it isn't the little Titans, come back for another whooping!" Rancid cackled loudly from his perch.

"How are these fires starting, Rancid?" Robin called, fists clenching. He dropped into a fighting stance, and his team followed suit.

Johnny laughed, clearly not intimidated by the boy. Crossing his arms over his broad chest, he spoke again, his voice condescending and scornful. "Figure it out, Big Bird, before your city burns to the ground!" And with that, he leapt from the car top with a sudden jump, and went darting down the dark, rain-slick street, laughing all the way.

Without a moment's hesitation, Robin began shouting commands. "Beast Boy, Raven, take down Rancid! Cy, Star, help me figure out the source of the fires and stop them! Titans, go!"

It was like those two words had flipped a switch. The team sprung to life, hurrying to carry out their orders.

Beast Boy transformed into a wolf, and let out a howl before putting his nose to the ground and dashing away in the direction that Rancid had disappeared in. Groaning silently to herself, Raven followed on foot. Turning back for an instant, she saw the rest of her team fanning out, eager to start the mission. She saw that Robin had stopped at one of the nearest small fires, and had unlatched his cape, draping it over the fire to smother it. He caught her glance briefly. "Raven, get moving!" he called, and Raven turned around, doing her best to hurry in her pursuit of Johnny Rancid.

Robin focused his attention back to his task at hand, smothering the fire with his cape. The fire was still tiny, engulfing only some weeds and debris at the edge of the road, and without oxygen, it was quickly extinguished. Robin turned. Something scurrying across the open road caught his eye. Illuminated by the light of a few nearby fires, he could have sworn that there was a little animal slithering across the pavement. Robin's mask narrowed. Could it be another one of Rancid's mechanical pets?

Before he could answer his own question, he saw another little object dart across the ground immediately to his left. Stopping just a few yards from his feet, the thing stilled for a moment, and then unceremoniously burst into flames. Robin jumped back in surprise, grabbing up his cape to beat out the new fire.

All right, so now he knew what was causing the fires, but how many of these things were there, and how could they be stopped?

He glanced around himself. Starfire, looking awfully confused, was flying a few feet from the ground to his left and was throwing a starbolt here and there at the mechanical objects.

"Starfire!" he called to her. He immediately had her attention. "Don't shoot at them! They explode!"

"Rob, what are these things?" Cyborg said uneasily, appearing by Robin's side. He had his sonic cannon drawn, but had not yet used it.

From the corner of his eye, Robin spotted another moving thing. Focusing in on it, he saw that it appeared to be a little metallic lizard type thing, making it's way up the wall of a nearby craft store.

"More of Rancid's animals. I don't know how he's controlling them, but there might be hundreds of them in the city!" Robin cried. The two boys stood on the pavement with a feeling of helplessness, looking on as the tiny creature stopped for a moment on the storefront, then combusted.

Cyborg ran to the building. "It's too high up!" he called, watching the fire with panic as it spidered across the face of the building, many feet over his head.

"Cyborg, the fire hydrant!" Robin offered. Quickly, Cyborg kicked the top off of the closest hydrant, and a geyser of water immediately shot up. Looking around, he then hustled to the middle of the street, picking up a manhole cover easily and jogging with it back to the broken fire hydrant. Cyborg positioned the manhole covering so that it deflected the water to hit the blazing face of the building. After a moment, the flames were put out, and all that remained from the fire was the charred wall of the building and grey smoke, wafting up to the sky.

"Nice work, Cy," Robin said approvingly of his friend. Flashing him a thumbs-up, he and Cyborg turned and rushed off.

They spent a while putting out the fires that had already started, using any means that they could. Robin came to the conclusion that Rancid couldn't have an unlimited number of these little robots, and eventually, they would run out. Until then, if the Titans could just manage to take care of the fires that had already started, Rancid's offensive position would run itself dry. Sure enough, ever so slowly, the number of new fires began to lessen.

"Hey Rob, you better come see this," Cyborg suddenly called to his leader.

Robin was by his side in an instant, peering down at what Cyborg was staring at.

"I accidentally stepped on it," Cyborg said, a bit confused.

There on the pavement lay a pile of metal bits, sparking every few seconds, but completely harmless.

Robin grinned broadly. "Cy, I think you've just discovered how to disable these things."

Cyborg smiled.

Within a half hour, the three Titans had managed to track down every one of the already dwindling number of lizard-like robots, and equipped with the knowledge of how to easily diffuse them, they were able to quickly destroy the tiny animals without allowing more fires to ignite. Certain that the situation was under control, Robin placed a call to the JCPD, and fire trucks were summoned as a precaution. As soon as he had finished this, his communicator buzzed. He flipped open the screen, and saw that Raven's communicator had sent out the signal, but she had ended the transmission before he could speak.

Instantly, he was worried. "Cyborg, Starfire! Raven and Beast Boy might be in trouble."

"I've got their coordinates locked. They're not far from us," Cyborg said, and the three of them took off in the direction of the signal.

TT

While their teammates were busy putting out the fires, less than half a mile away, Beast Boy and an exhausted Raven were winding through the back alleys of the city. Beast Boy, still in wolf form, turned a corner, and ran straight into a dead end alley. He stood there sniffing for a moment, but it was clear that he had lost the scent. A moment later, a very out of breath Raven caught up with him, and put her hands to her knees, breathing deeply.

"Lost him?" Raven asked between gasps for air.

Beast Boy changed back to his human form. "Yeah," he sighed. "You ok?" he inquired in concern.

Raven nodded, but Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Yes. We're not here to assess my condition, we're here to track down Rancid," Raven bit back.

Beast Boy looked stunned for a moment. "Fine," he retorted, "Just trying to be nice."

Raven continued to breath deeply for a moment, then straightened. "I'm sorry for snapping," she replied. "So what now?"

"I guess we'll have to report back to Robin, and man, he's not gunna be happy," Beast Boy said sadly.

"We tried," Raven said, "What more can we-"

She was cut off by sudden harsh, raucous laughter, coming from the top of a building high above their heads. Rancid. He leapt from the roof of the edifice, landing carefully on the fire escape of the building, then slid neatly to the ground. He skidded to a stop at the mouth of the alley, effectively trapping in the two Titans.

Now, normally this would hardly phase Raven, but seeing as how calling up her powers to levitate away or even put up a force field was out of the question, she began to panic.

Rancid chuckled, noticing her fear. "What's th' matter, missy? Your powers still fried?"

Raven blinked. She opened her mouth to give some smart reply, but Rancid quickly went on. "Ya know, I'm not as dumb as you all think I am. Did'ja think old Rancid couldn't tell that every time you chanted your magic words earlier today nothing happened?" He guffawed loudly, as if he'd said something particularly witty.

"What are you doing to the city?" Beast Boy spoke up, doing his best to sound harsh.

Rancid brushed him off. "Ya know," he drawled, "Fighting you little kiddies has taught me one thing: there's power in numbers. I just thought I'd even the playin' field a little," Rancid gloated gleefully. "I might not stand a chance fighting five to one, but when it's you five against an entire army of robots, you kids stand no chance!"

"I haven't seen any robots," Raven said uneasily glancing about.

Rancid stopped laughing. "That's 'cause they're tiny," he said matter-of-factly.

"They're baby robots then?" Beast Boy said with a taunting voice and a gleeful laugh.

Rancid fumed. "No, they're not! I made them tiny so you couldn't catch them!" he retorted angrily.

"Well, you did a great job, because I haven't even seen them," Beast Boy chortled.

Raven carefully drew her hands underneath her cloak. Maybe she couldn't take down Rancid, and Beast Boy might not be able to alone, but perhaps if the rest of the team came they could surprise him from behind. She just had to reach them on her communicator…

"What do you think's been starting the fires?" Rancid yelled, throwing up his arms.

'That's it,' Raven thought. 'Keep him preoccupied, Beast Boy.' Raven tried to keep her actions unnoticeable from Johnny's perspective as she slowly took hold of her communicator and flipped it open. Dozens of uses had trained her fingers to use the keys without looking at them. Raven sent out a signal to Robin, shutting her communicator before he answered to keep the thing from making noise and blowing her cover.

Beast Boy must have picked up that she was sending for help, or maybe he was just enjoying taunting Johnny, because he edged over to the other side of the alley, effectively taking Rancid's attention from her area as he continued to tease the villain.

"Well, if your robot army is so great, why hasn't it destroyed the city?" Beast Boy called.

"It is right now," Rancid retorted.

Beast Boy laughed condescendingly. "Those tiny little fires aren't going to stop the Teen Titans!"

Johnny grinned evilly. "As we speak the rest of your team is struggling to save their city from my newest creations."

"Correction," said a low voice from a shadow-cloaked figure behind Johnny Rancid. He spun around and saw that Robin was crouched behind him. "His team," Robin finished, "Has already foiled your latest pathetic scheme."

"Yeah, man," Cyborg boomed, as he and Starfire joined their leader, effectively forming a circle around Rancid and cutting off his escape. "Next time build some lizard bombs that can't be disabled by stepping on 'em."

Rancid's face fell. His mighty air was replaced with one of panic as he gulped, immediately on defense mode. He peered around, looking for an escape. Without warning, he turned and sprinted to Raven's right.

"Raven, take him down!" Robin called.

Raven knew that she wouldn't be able to summon up her powers, so she did the only thing she could think of on a moment's notice: she put herself in his path. It didn't take a genius to realize what would happen next. Shamelessly Rancid ran full force into the girl, sending her tumbling to the ground as he darted by without slowing. She landed sharply on her back, her skull audibly cracking on the ground.

"Raven!" Beast Boy called, rushing to her side. Raven tried to raise her head, but she found it incredibly difficult and painful to move.

Robin growled in anger. "Titans," he barked, "Get Rancid!"

Starfire and Cyborg had gone in a heartbeat, Cyborg wielding his sonic cannon and Starfire offering friendly requests for Rancid's surrender while throwing starbolts. Robin followed them.

Beast Boy knelt by Raven's side. "Raven?" he said cautiously.

Raven was having trouble focusing her eyes on anything. The foggy world was tilting. She tried to sit, but was only rewarded with a shock of pain that hit her head like a truck. She groaned, bringing a hand her skull.

"Raven," Beast Boy said, his voice frightened. "Why aren't you healing yourself?"

Raven forced herself to ignore the pulsing pain and focused her attention and energy on summoning her healing powers. She concentrated on healing her skull. More slowly than usual, she felt the pain alleviating as the offended area repaired itself. She brought a shaking hand to the back of her head, and found it to be matted with blood or rainwater, but otherwise healed.

Beast Boy wasn't quite sure what to do. For some reason he had never quite understood if you aren't supposed to touch a wounded person, or if that was just a person with broken bones. Regardless, he felt rather useless as his friend attempted to fix herself and he sat silently next to her.

Raven grinned feebly, trying to show Beast Boy that she was all right. Cautiously, he helped her sit, supporting her back with one of his arms. He let her rest the back of her head gently on his shoulder and made an effort not to move.

"You alright now, Raven?" he asked quietly.

"I'll be fine," she assured him.

The two waited there for just a minute or two longer, until the rest of their team returned. One look at their faces told Beast Boy and Raven that they had not been successful.

"He escaped," Robin said angrily. "He jumped into the sewer, because somebody forgot to replace a manhole covering."

"Hey, don't get crabby, Rob," Cyborg warned. "We were pretty successful tonight, even if we didn't catch Rancid. We destroyed his newest robots, and brought his pride down a couple hundred notches."

"This is true," Starfire added, walking to stand by Robin and laying a hand on his shoulder. "Do not be angry for what be did not accomplish, but be happy for the success we enjoyed."

Robin sighed. "But it's Rancid. He's a petty criminal, and we should have been able to take him down." Robin seemed to remember that Raven had been hurt, and knelt by her side. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "How is your head, Raven?" He asked quietly.

"I'm fine," Raven said. She swallowed, then shrugged off his hand and shakily stood with Beast Boy's support. "I apologize for letting him get away."

"Don't worry about that now. Let's just get home," Robin replied. "Titans, let's go."

Raven squared her shoulders and drew up her cowl. The world was spinning around her, but she refused assistance as the team headed back to where the T-Car was parked.

The ride home was silent. Robin took his R-Cycle, but the rest of the team was driven by Cyborg in the T-Car.

As soon as the team arrived home, Robin took Raven aside. "I need to talk with you," he said discreetly.

Raven nodded her consent, and allowed herself to be led to the common room. They took seats on the large semi-circular couch in front of the biggest window.

"Raven, we've all noticed that your powers have been acting strangely lately. What's wrong?" Robin asked in concern, catching her gaze and holding it.

Raven looked at him sadly. "I'm not ready to tell you yet, Robin," she replied softly.

He nodded grimly. He hadn't expected a straight answer. "We're all worried about you. I'm sorry for forcing you to come along with us on this last mission. I should have known that you wouldn't be able to fight."

"It's not your fault," Raven assured him.

"When will you be able to tell me what's wrong?" he asked.

"Soon," she responded. "But first, I need to speak with Beast Boy."

"Beast Boy?" Robin wondered out loud.

Raven knew that he would try to figure the situation out on his own. "Robin," she said, "Before you assume anything, let me assure you that neither of us did anything at all compromising for the team. I just… need to speak with him."

Robin nodded. "I guess I'll leave you to talk with him then," he said, rising from his seat. Raven nodded her appreciation, and Robin walked from the room. Upon opening the door, he found Beast Boy pacing about the entrance.

As soon as the changeling saw that Robin had caught him there, Beast Boy jumped, looking a bit guilty.

"Good night, Beast Boy," Robin said tiredly, walking past his teammate before he could stammer an excuse.

"Night, Rob," Beast Boy responded, and then hurried into the common room as Robin continued to walk steadily down the hall.

As the doors closed behind him, Beast Boy saw that Raven was sitting on the couch. He went to sit next to her. The two of them sat in silence for a moment, two feet or so apart, Beast Boy blissfully ignorant and Raven feeling quite tired and pathetic. She continued to stare out the window overlooking the city, praying that somehow she would know what to say. It was Beast Boy who first spoke.

"You wanna finish telling me what's wrong?" he asked.

Raven swallowed, then turned her body to face her teammate. "Yes," she croaked, then cleared her throat. She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, willing down her nervousness and eager to get this over with. "Like I was saying before the mission," she began anxiously, "I know why my powers have been refusing to work lately."

"Why?" Beast Boy asked quietly, his eyes locking innocently with hers.

"Each child born on Azarath has a curse put on him or her," she replied, doing her best to match his gaze. "The curse states that if the child does not marry before his or her seventeenth birthday, the child will die."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. Well, he definitely hadn't seen that coming. Not by a long shot. That certainly explained why Raven had been acting so weirdly over the last few days.

"No way," he whispered. "So you've got to…"

Raven nodded grimly. "I have to get married. Soon."

"To whom?" Beast Boy said, his voice still very quiet.

Raven attempted a wry smile. "Well, why do you think that I had to speak with you first?"

At this, Beast Boy paled quite a bit, and his jaw just about hit the floor. He gulped loudly, and looked like he could pass out at any moment.

"M-me?" he stammered, obviously panicked. His gaze locked with hers again. "You mean… if we don't… then you'll… die?" he squeaked out the last word, wringing his hands in his lap.

Raven nodded sadly, watching his discomfort and feeling terrible.

"When do we have to…?" he asked, his voice cracking.

"I must marry before my birthday, which is in less than eight days," she replied somberly.

"But why? There's no other way?" he wondered, feeling utterly lost and confused. What on earth was he supposed to do? He wanted to help out his friend, but by marrying her? Weren't they too young for that? Besides, they didn't even love each other!

"There is no other way," Raven confirmed.

The room was silent for a long time. Beast Boy was engrossed in his shock, and Raven bit at her bottom lip in anxiousness.

"This is so sudden," he said meekly, still in a daze. He shook his head in utter disbelief.

"I'm sorry," Raven replied.

Beast Boy eyed her questioningly. "It's not your fault. But," he hesitated, "Why me?"

Raven closed her eyes. "This isn't a normal situation," she stated.

"Tell me about it," he murmured.

"No, I mean as far as the curse goes," Raven replied. "I was supposed to marry a boy from Azarath, but there is no one left. Since I'm half human, that means I have to marry someone from Earth instead. The person has to be seventeen and I have to have known him for a few years." Raven sighed. "And, congratulations, you fit the bill."

Beast Boy stared at her weakly. "I can't believe this," he said.

"I just found out yesterday," Raven sighed regretfully, "I wish that I -- we -- had known sooner."

"Like years sooner," Beast Boy agreed.

"But there is some good news."

Beast Boy's ears perked up. "What?"

"According to the law, we only have to remain married for two years," Raven said.

His face clouded over. "You mean, then we would get a... divorce?" He spoke the word 'divorce' in a whisper, like it was some sort of obscenity.

Raven nodded. "You don't seem very happy about that."

"Well, I'm not," Beast Boy said strongly. "Marriage is a big deal, Raven. Don't just ask me to deal with it for a couple of years then end it like it doesn't matter."

Raven frowned. "There really aren't any other alternatives."

"Rae," he replied sadly, "I know you don't," he hesitated again, "Love me, but still. Do you know what you're asking me to do here?"

"Of course," Raven said regretfully, "And that's why I'm sorry."

Beast Boy felt like he was in a dream. A very, very bizarre dream. This was just a little bit too much to grasp. He felt ashamed, and slightly dirty, at the very prospect of marrying Raven, just to divorce her in two years, even if these were special circumstances. Friends didn't do that sort of thing. He had always been taught that marriage was sacred, and it was never something to rush into or leave. And how would this change the team? What if word got out to the media he and Raven were getting married at seventeen? One thing was for sure; this would drastically change the Titans. Beast Boy was quite happy with exactly how the Titans were at present, and he would hate for things to change.

Was it selfish to feel like that? He knew that it was, but there was nothing he could do to change his opinion. Raven needed him big time, and shouldn't he feel at least a little bit honored that she was relying on him? But, by far, the most important thing to remember was that if he didn't agree to marry her, she would die. No, he couldn't let her down like that, even if it cost him his contenting normal life. And, as is the proper mindset of any superhero, Beast Boy had no qualms that even though they were not exactly the closest of buddies, her life was just as important as his own, if not more so. This principle of selflessness was one of the biggest and most difficult that he had ever learned.

Beast Boy took a deep breath. "Raven?" he said, surprised at how steady his voice was.

"Yes?" Raven replied nervously.

"I'll marry you," he decided at last, and offered her a halfhearted grin, meaning to comfort her.

Raven returned the smile, and she sighed to herself with relief. It was official. At least she would live.

She felt a bit awkward, not knowing what to say. Should she thank him? Apologize? God, he looked so worried, with good reason too.

Without fully realizing what she was doing, Raven scooted close to him on the couch and put her arms around her teammate with gratitude.

She felt Beast Boy stiffen in surprise for a moment at her gesture, then relax and slowly return the hug, wrapping his long arms around his fiancée and patting her back. Raven felt a strange sensation in her stomach. It wasn't exactly butterflies, but she felt oddly excited. Raven closed her eyes, letting her chin rest on his right shoulder while she thanked Azar for Beast Boy's sacrifice.

"Thank you," Raven whispered in his ear, and she truly meant it.

"Don't mention it," Beast Boy said lightly, pulling away. He suddenly gulped, the gravity of the situation hitting him again. "We've still gotta tell the others, don't we?"

Raven nodded. "But that can wait until the morning," she told him, moving herself back on the couch again so that they weren't quite so close.

"That's fine with me," he replied, happy to put off what would certainly be quite an awkward meeting. He still had to learn more about this whole marriage issue from Raven first anyway.

Beast Boy cleared his throat. "So, uh, since we'll be married and all, does that mean-"

Raven silenced him by putting up a hand. "Nothing major has to change," she told him.

"And that means we'll still… ya know, sleep in separate beds and all?" Beast Boy asked, his face heating up.

"Of course," Raven said. "At least, as long as that decision is consensual."

Beast Boy couldn't help but feel a little bit downhearted about that, but he really couldn't help himself. After all, no sane, red-blooded male is happy to go into a marriage expecting abstinence. Of course, he kept in mind that this was Raven, but still, wasn't it kind of, well, just wrong somehow to be married and not… do married things? But, hey, maybe that was jus his teenage sex drive talking. Realistically, though, they were kind of young, and how bad for the team would it be if Raven were to become pregnant? God, if this whole marriage situation wasn't enough to harm the competence of the Titans then that certainly would.

Beast Boy must have been thinking for too long with that oddly hesitant look on his face. "The decision is consensual, correct?" Raven asked, a hint of unease lacing her words.

He looked at her for a split second. Man, this was one hell of a sacrifice. "Right," he said, but Raven would have to be a fool to miss the irresolution betrayed in his tone.

"Beast Boy," Raven said seriously, "You know that neither of us is ready for a relationship like that. Maybe if we were five years older and not Titans." Raven swallowed. 'Wait, what the heck did I just say?' Raven thought to herself. "And in love," she added hurriedly. "But we're not."

Beast Boy nodded feebly. "I know," he said. "But there's plenty of time to change our minds," Beast Boy remarked, flashing her that trademark toothy grin of his.

Raven smirked. "In your dreams."

"I dunno, Raven. Even in my dreams, I never saw this coming," he admitted.

"Me neither," Raven agreed.

Even if they did not voice it, both Titans were scared senseless. They were frightened of the change that this forced marriage would bring and worried that the team might not be able to cope. As they sat there on the sofa for what was left of the night, just talking about what was to come, neither of them felt prepared to marry. As the sun was just beginning to rise over the bay, they finally went their separate ways, Beast Boy feeling fearful because of the massive change in their lives that was coming, and Raven content that at least she would live.

--

I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon. Make sure you review if you have anything to say.

Thank you for reading.