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

Chapter 15

The ground beneath his paws, the wind through his fur, he'd missed this far too much. He ran along the tracks at 85mph, becoming a green blur to Raven who was watching with her arms crossed, in his cheetah form. When he felt he'd exhausted his legs he propelled himself into the air and turned into a hawk. He let out a cry that echoed over the land and flew higher and higher until he'd reached his limit and dove back down, going even faster than ever. Just before he was about to hit the ground he swooped back up, turned into his human form, and landed a few feet away from her.

"Dude, that felt so good," he said, shaking out his limbs and rubbing his muscles. "I never wanna be powerless again. You know, I always secretly wished that I could go back to how I was before I turned green but after these couple days I'm now convinced that I can't. I need to be able to change into animals. And, boy, am I so glad I kept my uniform on under my clothes the whole trip." He went over to her and gave her a wide smile. "Thanks for healing me. I know I didn't deserve it."

"No you didn't but you're welcome," she said, stretching and twisting to loosen herself up. "Well, now that you've gotten that out of your system, we're going to sit down and you're going to tell me everything from beginning to end without leaving out the slightest detail. Now that I'm not in shock or in pain I'm ready to listen. I want to get a clear picture of everything that's happened on this trip because of you." She took a seat in the grass. "Now start from when the bet came up."

He couldn't believe she wanted him to tell her everything again. But, now that he wasn't dying from guilt, he'd be able to explain himself better. So he sat across from her and told her exactly how everything happened, starting from the day Aqualad had arrived at the tower. He told her about the bet and his plan to smuggle away in her bag. He told her about his quick thinking lies and how he was able to convince her that he was a fan of her favorite author. He recalled each day of their trip and which parts he manipulated, which were pure bad luck, and which he'd been genuine. And while he spoke she simply sat, her face as placid as ever, and listened.

"…and it was when you were telling me how happy you were to have me by your side that I couldn't take the guilt any longer. And, well, you know the rest," he finished nearly an hour after he'd began.

She said nothing for a bit. She just turned away from him and sat in thought. He was worried that explaining things more clearly would only make her angrier at him. He wouldn't blame her, of course, but he still hoped she wasn't going to be angrier than she had been. Now that she had her powers back she was lethal. But after around three minutes she stood up, brushed off her behind, and turned back to him.

"I'm guessing it's around noon right now. We need to get going."

"Oh, uh, okay," he said, standing up. "Are you sure you're up to flying? I could always carry you."

"I think I'll be able to make it to Empire City. I may be worn out once we get there but we've got some time. And you've got to be in top condition tonight."

"Wait a sec, did you say Empire City? Why're we going there?"

"We didn't come all this way, nearly die on more than one occasion, and put our friendship in jeopardy just to end up sitting in the middle of nowhere for a night. It's too late for me to meet Melita Funar but it's not too late for you to win this bet."

He was horribly dumbfounded by this and tried to make sense of what she was saying. "You're…gonna help me win the bet? Why would you wanna help me? After everything I did to you, why? I thought you hated me now. And if I win the bet then that means you're gonna hafta switch teams cuz you said you weren't gonna be on a team with me anymore."

"Oh I'm still pretty angry," she said, making sure he didn't get the wrong idea. "But I also think it's pointless for us to be all the way out here and not accomplish something."

He still looked at her unsurely. "Seriously? You're gonna help me win the bet because you don't want this vacation to be a total waste? That doesn't sound like you at all."

"Well maybe you've finally broken me," she said. "Maybe this trip was the final straw and I've finally decided to let my hair down and be as reckless as you are."

"Come on, tell me the truth," he said flatly.

She sighed and looked at him. "I don't really know what to tell you. This time when you told me the story of this little adventure of ours I was able to process your emotions. I know exactly how you felt about the whole affair. I know how much the guilt troubled you and I know that the nice things you did for me weren't only from guilt but also from a real place of kindness and thoughtfulness. And that those moments where we…bonded…they were genuine. You really did enjoy the book I gave you. You thought about me and gave me an amazing day yesterday because you hated seeing me unhappy. You led Boomerang away from our cabin to keep me safe. You jumped out of a moving train because you were worried and scared that I was hurt. So, for those reasons, I'm…forgiving you…mostly."

"You're…You're forgiving me?" he asked, his jaw hanging wide with shock.

"Mostly," she stressed. "You're still going to feel my wrath eventually just not as much as I was planning on originally."

"But…But…," he sputtered.

"After all, I've come to the conclusion that this trip wasn't about making a fool out of me," she said. "It was about not making a fool out of yourself. Winning this bet against Aqualad is going to help you finally conquer a bit of the insecurity you suffer from. And because of that…a little part of me wants you to win the bet. Because if I was in your place and had the chance to get one over on Starfire…I don't know if I'd have the courage to go through with it."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Raven…"

"So let's get to Empire City, get you into that concert and onto the stage, and we'll talk about your punishment after all is said and done," she finished firmly. "You're winning that bet no matter what, got it?"

He blinked then wobbled a bit, nearly ready to faint. Heck, he was ready to cry! He turned away from her and covered his eyes with his arm. "Pollywog, you're the best. I don't deserve a friend like you."

"Of course you don't," she said flatly, though he swore he could hear a slight twang of amusement in her words. "Now let's go, Garfield. I'm in desperate need of a bath, a fresh set of clothes, and a meal. We've got a lot to do and not much time to do it in."

"Gotcha!" he saluted her and turned into a pterodactyl.

The two flew towards Empire City, following the train tracks that they knew would lead them directly to where they needed to be. Soon they saw the large buildings in the distance and began to pass over towns. Many a civilian looked up in shock at the sight of a green dinosaur and a violet haired teenage girl flying overhead but, in this day and age, it was better to not question oddities that came up and just continue on with your day. It took about an hour but they did make it to the city and landed right outside of the police station.

To say that the Empire City Police Department was shocked to see them was a gross understatement. The train had reported the incident that had happened the night before and there were officers currently looking everywhere for the missing heroes. Turned out they were just looking in the wrong places, the train conductor being not quite sure where along the route they'd fallen out. The two learned that Boomerang had been knocked out by Beast Boy's parting gift and had been turned over to the authorities upon arriving at the city. The storage disks he'd been stealing were recovered and, apart from the Titans getting thrown from a moving train, no one else was seriously injured.

Once everything had been explained they were quick to get ahold of a telephone and call Robin. Raven was sure he was probably freaking out and desperately wanting to know what had happened, considering that he was alerted every time a communicator's self-destruct was activated.

"Hello?" he answered, sounding tired and aggravated.

"Guess who," she said dryly. She was speaking but Beast Boy was keeping his keen ear close so that he could hear.

"Raven?! What the heck happened?! Where are you two?"

"We're in Empire City. I take it you heard about our run in on the train?"

"As soon as the police found out two Titans had been involved I was informed. How did you two survive without your powers? They said you fell off the train!"

"Fell off?" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"I was kicked out and Beast Boy jumped out after me," said Raven. "We were pretty badly hurt but luckily our powers came back a little while ago and I managed to heal us."

"Well that's good to hear. We've been freaking out over here. Cyborg's been trying to find you guys through satellite images, Starfire's been crying ever since she found out, and Aqualad's been trying to get permission to call the Titans East and send them out to look for you guys. We're going to need a vacation from your vacation!"

"I need a vacation from my vacation," she growled.

"No kidding," Beast Boy added.

"You have no right to say anything," she pointed at him accusingly, which was pretty justified.

"What did I do?" asked Robin.

"Not you, I was talking to Beast Boy," she sighed.

"Ah. How's he behaving?"

"Oh, you know, he's Beast Boy," she shrugged. "Sometimes I want to kill him and sometimes I want to hug him."

"Hug me?" Beast Boy asked.

"Hug him?" Robin repeated.

"That would be a joke, you guys," she said flatly. "See Robin? He's rubbing off on me."

"Would that be another joke?" he asked.

"You're catching on," she said.

"Well as long as he hasn't driven you to kill him I guess everything's alright," he chuckled.

"Look I'll tell you everything in more detail later," she said, wanting to wrap this up. "Right now I've got other things to sort out. I just wanted to call you and let you know that, somehow, we're both still alive."

"Are you sure you're alright? Do you want us to come out there and get the two of you?" he asked.

"No we're fine," she assured him. "I do need you to transfer some more money into my account, if you don't mind. We need food and I need to buy plane tickets for tomorrow."

"Alright I'll see what I can do," he said. "Why aren't you coming home today?"

"Because we have unfinished business here," she said simply. "Are you guys watching this big concert that's on TV tonight?"

"The Fiona Star one?" he asked. "Uh, yeah, we've been looking forward to it. I didn't even think you knew about it."

"Oh I'm very much aware of it," she said, looking at Beast Boy. "Just make sure everyone's watching, especially Aqualad."

"Uh, okay, whatever you say."

Once she'd hung up the phone they proceeded to the train station to pick up their belongings that they'd left behind. They were glad to find everything was there, especially Raven's charge card, and apologized for the incident. Of course they were told they had no reason to apologize and if it wasn't for them Boomerang might have gotten away. As happy as they were, Raven felt the need to scold the train employees for shipping something that was so important on a passenger train.

"Well we thought it was the last place anyone would think to look for them," the conductor said lamely. "Something that important is usually transported by planes with armed guards. We didn't want to draw any attention to it."

"Then you should have put it on an empty train then, at the very least," said Raven.

"Yeah and done a better job at keeping it a secret," Beast Boy added. "That dude totally knew exactly what was going on. So one of your people must've blabbed to somebody."

"I promise that the incident is being investigated," said the man. "We've learned our lesson."

"Yes and you've learned it almost at the cost of not only our lives but the lives of your train crew," said Raven. "I hope that in the future you won't make such poor decisions."

"We won't, I swear," he said. "And, as an apology, the company would like to offer you free lifetime passes."

"Thanks but I'm done with trains," said Raven. "For good."

"Yeah me too," said Beast Boy. "I'd rather fly across the country in the form of a hummingbird than get on another train."

After leaving the train station they checked into a hotel so they could bathe, eat, and take a nap. Raven was very exhausted after using so much of her healing powers, flying for an hour straight, and doing it all on no sleep and no food. She took a long bath, ate a large meal, and then passed out. Beast Boy followed the same pattern only taking his turns after her. After all he'd put her through and how she was still letting him make good on his bet he felt he didn't deserve to even share the same room as her. She was far too good to him. Then again, she may only be doing this to give him a false sense of security so that when she did unleash her wrath it would be that much more brutal. Whatever her plan was he decided it was best if he didn't think about it and just accept the circumstance as it was.

The concert was in six hours.