A few more chapters and we'll be saying bye bye, end of story! I know the three previous chapters were a bit slow, so I'm upping the pace a bit, then slow down on the last three chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans

Tranquility

Beast Boy yawned and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He buried his head in his arms on the kitchen counter and groaned. Beast Boy looked and felt horrible. He couldn't sleep yesterday night. He was tossing and turning in his bed for most of the night, and when he did manage to fall asleep, he had a nightmare. He had woken up screaming and couldn't go back to sleep later.

Beast Boy felt a presence next to him. "What's up with you?"

Beast Boy looked up, blinking his eyes blearily. Raven was standing there with a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow.

"Couldn't sleep." Beast Boy mumbled, pulling his hair and groaning again.

Raven made a 'hmm' sound and shuffled something behind him. Beast Boy wished she'd go away. He really didn't want to deal with any of the Titans now.

"Have you tried meditating?" Raven asked.

Great. She's still there. "Do I look like a person to meditate when he can't fall asleep?!" Beast Boy snapped. Then he sighed, "Sorry, Rae. I'm usually moody after a nightmare."

Raven looked surprised. "You had a nightmare?"

"Isn't that what I just said?!" came Beast Boy's irritated reply, too tired to fathom what he was saying.

Raven hovered there for a moment, then she said, "Come on, I'll show you."

Raven used her powers and tried to tug Beast Boy away from the counter, but he resisted. Beast Boy made a shooing sound and threw a pepper bottle in Raven's direction. Raven shot an unimpressed look at Beast Boy as the pepper bottle landed a meter away from her.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted, lifting Beast Boy up with her powers and throwing him onto the living room's couch.

Beast Boy grumbled angrily under his breath as he was restrained to the couch by Raven's dark energy. Raven levitated in front of him, crossing her legs in midair.

Raven rolled her eyes when she caught the venomous glare that Beast Boy shot at her. "Stop looking at me like that, I'm trying to help you."

Beast Boy scoffed. "Help? Unless you can magically make me fall asleep without annoying nightmares, you can't help me."

"If you don't drop the attitude, I'll throw you out the window." Raven warned. When Beast Boy's demeanor didn't change, she continued, "Do you want to take a swim in the sea in the middle of winter?"

Beast Boy gave her a resigned look and gestured for her to talk.

Raven seemed to be satisfied with his response. "When I can't sleep, I always find meditating helps."

"And how can it help?" Beast Boy asked, looking skeptical.

"Meditating helps to clear and calm your mind and get rid of distracting thoughts." Raven replied.

Beast Boy perked up at that, seeming to blink his sleepiness away. "Really? Can you teach me?"

"Sure. First you have to sit in a comfortable position."

Beast Boy leaned back and sank into the pillows on the couch.

Raven looked irritated. "Not that comfortable. Just sit straight. You don't even have to cross your legs like I do. If you are too comfortable you'll lose your focus."

Beast Boy sat up immediately, back ramrod straight.

Raven nodded in approval. "Good. Now close your eyes and focus."

Beast Boy shut his eyes, only to snap them open a moment later. "Focus on what?"

"Ssh! Don't talk. Just close your eyes and think of nothing. Nothingness. Let the darkness swallow you and carry you away."

Beast Boy stared blankly at her. "Think of nothing? How am I supposed to do that? And the 'let the darkness swallow and carry you away' part sounds kind of creepy. Are you sure you're teaching me how to meditate and not how to convert me into some kind of demon?"

Raven gave an exasperated sigh. "I thought that you'll know how to thing about nothing since you have virtually nothing in that head of yours."

Beast Boy crossed his arms. "And I thought that your head would have exploded by now since you have so much stuff in it." He said sarcastically.

Raven ignored him and frowned in thought. "Okay, since you can't do that, I guess we'll start from the beginning. Now, I want you to conjure a mental image of something."

"Uhh…"

Raven gave Beast Boy an example. "I usually imagine I'm in the meditation chambers on Azarath. You can think of anything. From objects, to people, to places. You can think of parks, beaches, Titans Tower, even your room. Though I think it's too smelly and messy to focus."

Beast Boy closed his eyes again and searched his mind for something to think of. A mental picture of anything, huh? People, things or places. He didn't have any calming or pleasant memories about people, so that one is off the list. And there weren't a lot of things he could think of at the moment. He could only think of tofu, video games and television. All of the things 'Beast Boy' would think of.

So that left with places. A place. A particular position, point or area. A place that is peaceful and calming. Hmm…the rooftop? No, too open. The rocks at the base of the Tower? No, he usually goes there when he's depressed. It will bring up bad memories. What about the place of the last time he was truly happy? Waterfall? No! Not thinking that! Maybe, Africa? Yes, Africa. The lush green jungles of Upper Lumumba. He loved to explore the jungles. There was a small clearing in the jungle. Beast Boy used to sit on the jungle floor for hours just watching the animals go about their everyday lives.

Beast Boy summoned the image of the clearing in the jungle. "Okay, Rae, I got it."

"What is your mental picture?" Raven asked curiously.

"It's a place." Beast Boy said, refusing to elaborate further than that.

Raven looked like she wanted to push Beast Boy further for answers, but thought better of it. "Concentrate on the place. Imagine that you're there. Focus on your five senses. What can you see, feel, hear, taste and smell?" Raven gave Beast Boy a few minutes, then she continued, "Now, I want you to concentrate on your breathing. I don't want you to focus on it entirely, just be aware of it and feel each breath you take in."

"I keep thinking about other things. It's distracting me and it makes me unable to hold the mental picture." Beast Boy complained after a while.

"That's fine. That happens a lot for beginners. You are now more aware of your thoughts. Just keep focusing and in time the thoughts will fade." Raven replied.

Beast Boy tried to focus on every detail of the jungle and feel like he was part of it. Beast Boy breathed in deeply and exhaled. Inhale. Focus on the smell of the jungle. Exhale. Feel the wind blowing your face and hair. Inhale. Let the sounds of the jungle calm your mind. Exhale. Taste the small drops of rainwater that fell from the sky. And so it continued. It was a repetitive cycle, one Beast Boy never got tired of.

Beast Boy was suddenly jerked out of his meditative trance by a faraway voice. He focused. It seemed to be calling his name? Beast Boy let go and followed the voice, and instantly the mental image of the jungle shattered to pieces. Beast Boy opened his eyes and was instantly hit by a ray of bright light. Beast Boy quickly put up a hand to shield his eyes, slowly letting his eyes adjust to the brightness. Then he heard his name being called again. Beast Boy lowered his hand and turned to face the direction the voice was coming from.

"Raven? What's going on?" Beast Boy asked, looking confused.

"You have been meditating for nearly two hours." Raven informed him.

"What?! Two hours?!" Beast Boy said in shock. "Are you serious?"

Raven gestured to the windows. "Look, the sun raised half an hour ago. You were down here before dawn. Though, I must say, you didn't do too badly for a beginner." Raven admitted.

Beast Boy grinned. He knew that was as much of a compliment he could get from her. "Thanks! And thank you for teaching me how to meditate. My mind feels a lot clearer than it was this morning. I think I might be even up to a nap!"

Raven inclined her head, acknowledging Beast Boy's thanks. "I didn't tell you this earlier because you were so absorbed in your meditation, but you can say a mantra to help you focus."

"Like those three words you always say?" Beast Boy asked.

Raven nodded. "I say 'Azarath Metrion Zinthos' not only to help me focus, but also to control my powers. Saying it helps me to reign in my emotions. I've been meditating for so long and my powers are more restrained now that I don't really need to say that mantra anymore. Now I just say it out of habit."

"So what kind of mantra am I supposed to say?"

Raven shrugged. "Anything. The monks on Azarath mantra is 'Azar', which is the goddess of Azarath. Here on Earth, people do basically the same thing. They just say the name of their god, like 'Ra', 'Om' or just 'God'."

"Um, I'm not very religious. So I feel kind of uncomfortable saying those things." Beast Boy said hesitantly.

"You can say anything. Though I suggest saying something that has a meaning to you. You could say 'Re-lax', 'Inner Peace', 'Tranquility', whatever, it doesn't really matter."

Beast Boy thought for a moment. "Can I say it in another language? It doesn't have to be in English, right?"

"No. Any language is fine." Raven paused. "I didn't even know you can speak another language. You're bad enough in English, how can you even speak another language?"

Beast Boy smiled cheekily. "I'll let you in on a secret, Rae. English isn't my first language."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then what is?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out, isn't it?" Beast Boy said cheerily, standing up and walking away from the couch. Now he felt as if some of the weight has been lifted from his shoulders. He should have tried meditating years ago. Of course, he had the impression that meditating was for religious people or weird people like Raven, which was probably why he never tried.

The common room doors slid open just before Beast Boy reached them. Starfire floated in, a bright smile on her face.

"Greetings Friend Beast Boy! May I inquire to where you are going?"

"Hey, Star. I'm going to go for a little run outside before breakfast." Beast Boy answered, deciding to take that nap later.

"Glorious! Oh, after you've done your running, could you go to the room of training? I believe Friend Robin would like to speak to you." Starfire said.

"Uh, okay?" Beast Boy wondered what Robin needed this time. Robin really wasn't on the list of people he wanted to talk to right now. Beast Boy shrugged and left the common room. Oh, well, he'll find out soon enough.