AN: I do not own Teen Titans. Please refrain from reviewing until the end of the story. Thank you.

Chapter 6

At a quarter past seven in the morning the alarm clock went off and by twenty of eight the two were at the bus station and standing at their gate. Beast Boy kept the tickets close, he didn't want to chance Raven seeing what their destination was, and did his best to stay awake. He almost had a panic attack when he saw the destination light up on the sign at the front of the bus, but luckily Raven was too busy people watching to notice. They successfully made it onto the bus, first, and chose ideal seats. And once they'd pulled out of the station and were on their way the changeling finally relaxed. No turning back now.

"Do you want a PB&J?" he asked as he took one out for himself.

"I'll have an apple," she replied and he gladly handed her one. "Are you going back to sleep?"

"After this sandwich, you bet," he said and took a large bite. "I'll probably sleep this whole ride. I've got nothing better to do."

"I'll jab you in the ribs if you start to snore."

"Thanks, Pollywog."

"Stop calling me that."

After finishing his sandwich Beast Boy did as he said and settled into his seat for a nice nap. Raven consumed her apple then grabbed her bag and proceeded to take her book out. But, to her shock and horror, it wasn't in the bag. She took all of her books out but the one she'd been writing notes on wasn't among them. She then dumped all of the contents of the bag out, onto her teammate no less, and came to the conclusion that her precious book was not there.

"Whoa, Raven, what's you're deal?" Beast Boy asked, digging himself out of the pile of clothes she'd emptied on him.

"I don't understand," she breathed, in shock. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?"

"My book."

"Which book? You've got, like, seven of them with you."

"My third volume of Ashen Splendor! The book I was writing in yesterday. It's not here."

He felt his stomach drop. He remembered reading it on the bus the previous day just before he'd fallen asleep. But he didn't remember ever coming into contact with it after he woke up. He'd lost her book.

"I must have left it at the motel," she said, thinking aloud. "But I never took it out of my bag. Wait a second…I was reading yesterday and I fell asleep. It must have fallen off of my lap." She leaned back against her seat and closed her eyes, looking as though she was experiencing a terrible aching pain. "How could I have done that?"

The changeling had to bite his lip so hard he could feel the skin breaking. She was obviously devastated and it was his fault. But she thought it was her fault. And he couldn't tell her that it was his fault. So he had to just let her feel terrible lest he reveal the truth about the situation he was in.

"Oh man, Raven," his voice cracked, "that…sucks."

Her eyes closed tighter and she subtly shook her head back and forth, trying to will away the reality. "A year of dissecting that book piece by piece. Gone. How could I have been so careless?"

The shape shifter felt as though he were going to throw up. "D-Don't worry, we can get you another copy. You said we were going to a book store, right? We'll get you another one there and you can start writing notes about it again."

She took in a deep breath and slowly released it. She then sat up straight and opened her eyes. "It's alright. It's just a book." She grabbed her bag and began placing her belongings back into it. "Like you said, I can always get another. I'm sure I'll be able to remember most of my notes. And I'll possibly be able to dissect even deeper than I did the first time."

"Yeah, that's the spirit," he smiled, masking his guilt and unhappiness at making her so upset. "And you've still got those other books to work on."

She placed her bag under her seat and said, "I don't feel like reading at the moment. I'd rather just…think for a while." She placed her hood up, crossed her arms, and went into a stiff meditative state.

Beast Boy knew she was far more saddened than she was letting on if she didn't want to read. Reading was her favorite pastime. He thought of some way to make her feel better but nothing came to mind. Only telling her the truth and that was something he just couldn't bear to do. He wished she were a more normal girl. He knew how to cheer up those sorts of girls. But he knew of no way to please Raven other than shutting up. So that's what he did.

She stayed still and silent for over an hour, simply staring at the back of the seat ahead of her. The changeling did his best to take that nap he'd been planning on but the guilt rolling about in the pit of his stomach wouldn't allow him to even nod off. He tried to use his CD player again and did manage to keep it suspended in a fashion that kept it from skipping. He was just about halfway through the second CD he'd popped in when he saw her move from the corner of his eye. He discreetly watched as she took her bag out, picked out a book, and settled in to read. And that's how she stayed for the remainder of the ride.

Just as his legs were about to cramp the bus pulled into its destination. He was both relieved and nervous at the same time. He certainly was glad she didn't have her powers or he was sure half of the station would be pulled down with all of the stress she'd be experiencing that day. They exited the bus and began to make their way towards the street. They were scheduled to visit the tea sanctuary, after all. But just as they were about to walk out of the large entrance doors the empath stopped, eyes glued to the sign above the doors that read, Hopestown Station. Beast Boy knew she was piecing everything together and the anxiety made him feel nauseas. He certainly was putting his own body through an awful amount of stress, but then again this was his fault in the first place.

"Hopestown?" she read. "We're supposed to be at Eastpoint Station."

"What? How can that be?" he acted to the best of his ability. "We must be at Eastpoint Station."

She frowned and tugged at his wrist. "Come on." She walked, or rather marched, towards the nearest information desk. She approached so sharply the poor girl working actually jumped back for a moment. "What station is this?"

"H-Hopestown," the young woman replied.

"That wouldn't be another name for Eastpoint, would it?" Raven asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, I don't think so," the woman shook her head like a cornered child. "A-Are you at the wrong station, perhaps?"

Raven growled and turned away. "Unfortunately I think we are." She grabbed Beast Boy again and dragged him over to a large state map that hung right before the elevators. They looked it over and saw that they were a good two hundred miles off course. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Aw, dude, how did this happen?" he feigned confusion.

"I don't know, Beast Boy, how did it happen?" she turned to him. "You were the one who bought the tickets yesterday."

For a moment he was sure she'd figured him out but he quickly spat out the story he'd worked up the day before for this moment. "It must've been the woman at the front desk. She wouldn't let me use the computer but she let me tell her what to do. She must've chosen the wrong destination."

Her anger towards him faded and turned to general frustration. "I knew we should've just gotten up early and taken care of it ourselves in person. Come on, we've got to try and get back on course." She looked at the map for another minute then, seeming to have made up her mind, went to the ticket counter to buy the tickets that would send them back in the right direction.

They had a half hour wait for their bus so they sat at their gate. Raven was very tense and obviously upset. She'd had a rather unfortunate day thus far. Beast Boy felt terribly but decided to just push it deep down where he could no longer feel it. He went to get them some lunch from the small food court while Raven made a call home. When she asked for a hamburger he didn't put up any sort of fight. She deserved to eat what she pleased without him lecturing her after what he'd done.

"Hey Raven, how's everything going?" asked Robin through the communicator.

"Is that Raven? I wish to speak to her!" Starfire exclaimed from off screen then came into view, pushing Robin away. "Hello friend! I have been missing you. I was quite sad this morning when I got up and you were not meditating. Are you having a most enjoyable time?"

"Starfire," Raven's brow twitched. "Put Robin back on."

The alien's smile diminished and she quickly handed the communicator back to her boyfriend. That tone meant that she was in no mood for chitchat.

"Sorry about that," said Robin. "You don't sound very happy."

"I'm not."

"Uh oh. Things not going well?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Beast Boy's that bad?"

"Surprisingly enough, Beast Boy has nothing to do with it. Well a little bit but not enough for him to take the blame."

"So what happened?"

"We accidently bought tickets for the wrong bus and have ended up two hundred miles off course. And, on top of that, I left the book I wanted Melita Funar to sign on the bus yesterday."

"Sounds like you're starting your vacation off on the wrong foot. Anything I can do?"

"I don't think so. I'll keep you updated. Hopefully things will get better, though I'm not getting my hopes up."

"Alright, well, good luck."

She closed her communicator and saw Beast Boy walking towards her with a bag of food. He sat down next to her and said, "So how're things going at home?"

"I didn't ask. I'm not really in the mood to talk."

"Gotcha." He handed her her order and took out his own. "Sorry your day isn't going too good."

"It's alright. I suppose it's just one of those days." She unwrapped her hamburger and took a big bite. She let out a sigh and settled into her seat. "I can't believe I've been reduced to eating my feelings."

"Hey, we all have days like this," he said, trying to comfort her. "There's a reason junk like this is called comfort food."

"That's a good point," she said and took another big bite. "Usually I meditate when I'm this stressed out but at the moment I think fried greasy food in large portions is going to be the best solution. Tonight, wherever we end up, we're eating a big bad-for-our-health dinner."

"Sounds like a good way to end a cruddy day," he agreed.

By the time they'd finished their lunch the bus had pulled in and they boarded. They nabbed the last two empty seats that were next to each other and got comfortable; they were in for a four hour drive. Once they were on the road Raven took out her itinerary and began to make adjustments.

"So much for the tea sanctuary," she sighed and crossed it off of her list. "It'll be a tight squeeze, but I think we'll be able to go to the bookstore tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get another copy of my book there."

"Cool, I'll get a copy, too," he smiled.

"You haven't read it yet?" she asked.

"No, I just got through the first two," he said. Which was, in a way, the truth since he'd only read the synopsis of the first two books. "I'm dying to get my hands on the third."

"You should have told me. I would have let you read my copy, seeing as you've got nothing better to do on this trip and I have other books to entertain myself with."

"Yeah, heh, that would've been nice." He did his best to look genuine but this all only reminded him that he'd lost the book in the first place doing just that. "So, um, how about you tell me about it."

"I can't do that. You have to read it on your own." She folded up her itinerary and placed it back in her bag.

"But I don't wanna wait until tomorrow. Besides, I bet you could tell me all about it and explain it way better than I could ever understand just by reading it. It'll give us something to do. You know do that…bonding thing." He wasn't sure she'd take the bait but he hoped she would. He was sure talking about her favorite series would cheer her up a bit. He knew how excited he got whenever he got to talk to someone about his favorite television series. And no one ever talked to Raven about her books.

And, to his surprise and relief, she did light up a bit. "It would be nice to talk to you about something we both understand. But if I'm going to talk about it it's not going to be some short quick speech. And you have to pay attention. If you nod off or yawn or look bored in any way I'm stopping."

"Are you kidding? I get to have volume three of Ashen Splendor told to me by someone who understands it probably better than the author? I'm gonna be hanging on every word!" He turned in his seat to look right at her, a big excited smile on his face. Now was time for some of the best acting of his life!

Raven pursed her lips to hide how happy she was to hear this and turned a bit so as to look at him as well. "Alright, well you know how volume two ended with the hobgoblins claiming to be the creators of the Solstice Emblem? The first chapter is all about how…"