Chapter 13. Oddities

Beast Boy enjoyed his allowed five minutes as if there was no tomorrow. Her lingering lavender scent filled his senses with new hope and wonder. Raven was always fierce and strong in battle. Always the silent protector that watched the team's back, but he had to admit she had saved him in more than several occasions. But this beauty right here in his arms was soft , passionate and even fragile. But never, even in a vulnerable moment was she weak. Meliah was right, her presence wasn't subtle but it wasn't her demonic side that he perceived, but her strength, both in character and determination. Her passion for what she did and what she was willing to do on an everyday basis in and outside of battle.

With each passing minute, the less he wanted to go, but if he had any hope of having a future with Raven, he thought "better not blow my chances now" and with that decided he disentangled himself very carefully from Raven's sleeping body and walked quietly to the door, opened it and carefully inspect there was no one in the hallway till he got to his room.

Once there he slowed down to really think. He leaned against the door and was lost in thought looking out the window across. He walked to his dresser and saw himself on a passing glance. Then look down at his tattered clothing and immediately remembered why it was like that. He shuddered at the memory. Raven's Rage wasn't sweet and gentle at all, but angry passion. And he felt that when she kissed him and blushed at the thought. As terrified as he had been afterwards, he had to admit he had enjoyed the feeling of Raven's lips on his once more, even if it had been by Rage's doing.

Lost in thought, he opened the top drawer and after rummaging around for a few seconds, he found a clean uniform. He changed absentmindedly when he remembered Rage's words "Beware of her inner self. Meliah may be your friend but her wild side is not".

"What did she mean with Meliah's… Meliah!… I totally forgot about her" he said to himself after he had realized with a gasp his lack of concern for his friend. He finished changing and left his room.

..

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In the common room, Meliah woke up slowly. For a moment felt confused about her surroundings but memories came back with a rush and remembered her mother was dead. She closed her eyes for a moment trying to get a hold of her bearings. Sighed deeply and opened them again. She turned to the huge windows in front of her and saw the bright afternoon light in full blossom. Never had she seen such a bright day before and yet felt so gloomy and desolated inside.

She sat down and the first thing she noticed was the bottle of her medication on the coffee table in front of her. The instructions were written on it. Not that she needed to but read them anyway and with a relieved breath took the required amount and almost finished the contents of the glass when a movement caught her eye. To her far right was Cyborg, sitting at the other end of the sofa with an intent look on the screen. His fingers swiftly moved over a device on his hands.

She noticed the huge TV for the first time. Cyborg had seen her out of the corner of his eye but waited for her to see him first. He had volunteered to watch her in case she woke up with vengeance in mind. But hoped she didn't. his arm was still sore from the scratch he got earlier when she turned into a cheetah and Raven had not been in the healing mood. not after all the teasing they did to her. Him included.

"Super Mega Monkeys 7, the coolest game down in history" Cyborg said with an enthusiastic smile.

"I'll take your word for it" she said with a smile.

"You should eat something. Medicine that strong can hurt your stomach" He said and motioned for her to follow him to the kitchen. Her leg was still sore but bearable. She sat at the table and watch Cyborg go thru the closet and took out what seemed to be ingredients. He offered to make whatever she liked.

"I have no preferences, anything you make will be just fine"

"Ok little lady. I'll make you a dinner you'll never …" He stopped mid-sentence as he thought of something "Are you a vegetarian like BB?"

"No… I didn't know he was"

"He says he wont eat meat because…"

"Because I turn into those animals at some point tin man. I feel bad for them" Beast Boy interrupted as he walked into the kitchen.

"Garfield!" She said and her expression brighten as she said his name.

"Hey M" He said while he approached her. Grabbed her face in his hands and kiss her scars one by one. She closed her eyes at his touch and softly inhaled his scent but it was somehow different. A hint of lavender and a hint of… "Is that brimstone?" she thought to herself.

"How you feeling?" Beast Boy asked as he sat down on the chair next to her.

"Much better" He smiled at that.

"So is the tin man trying to get you to eat meat when there is delicious tofu in the vicinity?"

"I cannot say I've tried tofu before. And meat has been the only available thing in the jungle for a hungry wild animal like me" she said with a smile. Cyborg gave her two thumps up.

"You can try tofu if you want, its just as nutritious"

"Oh c'mon B, let her eat what she wants, if she's hungry for meat then I can help with that" Cyborg said and winked at her.

"Dude! What gives?!"

"What's going on?" Asked Robin as he entered followed by Starfire.

"BB here wants to introduce Meliah to his nasty tofu and I'm trying to make her real food"

"And hitting on her in the process" Said Beast Boy with a frown. Meliah just watched them argue back and forth. Then looked at Robin and

shrugged.

Robin cleared his throat and addressed Meliah. "We are very sorry for your loss, Meliah. I have arranged transportation for you and Beast Boy to go to Gotham tomorrow morning so you can pay your respects"

This caused the other two to get silent. Meliah's expression changed to one of utter sadness. "Thank you Robin, I greatly appreciate it"

Cyborg glared at Robin who in exchange raised an eyebrow. Beast Boy grabbed her hand and said "Don't worry M, I'll be right there with you" she smiled at him and leaned in gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Gar"

Starfire walked next to her and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder "In my planet, when we face such sorrow we enjoy the digesting of the pudding of sadness, would you like to try?"

Starfire didn't wait for a reply, instead, placed a plate with a gooey pinkish gelatin with pieces of something green inside in front of Meliah who looked at it with curiosity. Shrugged to herself and took a spoonful in her mouth before any of the guys could react on time.

The taste was a brutal mix of sour milk and raspy lemon with hints of mint. There was no way of biting into it but when she felt what was probably the green stuff on her tongue, almost fussy and rubbery, she swallowed hard.

Robin's and Cyborg's faces went as green as Beast Boy's along with Meliah's who had closed her eyes tight and felt burning while the pink gelatin went down her throat. And as if she had swallowed hot sauce she started to cough then took a deep breath. With watery eyes, she blinked the tears away and shook her head while she grabbed on to the table.

There was silence for a moment. Meliah sniffed, carefully placed the spoon down on the plate, very aware of the trembling gelatin and put her hands on her lap, cleared her throat and with a raspy voice she said " Thank you… I feel much better now"

"Wondrous!" The alien girl said clasping her hands in delight "I shall cultivate the fungus and prepare some more for your trip tomorrow" and turned away with the unfinished plate

Meliah's expression was of utter fear. Without looking away from the gelatin, grabbed on to Beast boy's knee and slowly turned to him and with wide eyes she whisper "Fungus?" before the alien turned to her again with a smile and flew out of the kitchen.

Meliah watch her go and turned to Beast Boy again "Save me" she said to him and the others burst out laughing.

"I can honestly say I have never tasted anything worse than that… not even when…" she shuddered and a chill run down her spine "nope… not even then" .

Cyborg handed her a glass of water which she finished in one breath while they were holding their stomachs rolling on the floor with laughter and gasping for air.

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Raven woke up exactly five minutes after Beast Boy had left her room. Slowly, she turned to lay on her back. She felt content for some strange reason. None of her emotions were acting up and yet they were very present. She felt as if she was missing something. Looked around not knowing what she was looking for. Then it hit her. "How come I'm in my room?" she said out loud to herself.

She had fussy memories of when she was in the roof, Beast Boy had showed up and after that, she couldn't remember. For some stranger reason, she felt happy when she thought of him. "oh no, what happened?" she said out loud again, somehow hoping her emotions would answer her like they had been doing for the last couple of days. But there was silence.

Meditation was out of the question, Too confused to concentrate. So, she decided to get up and find Beast Boy and ask him what had happened. She walked out of the room into the hallway. Caught a flying glance of Starfire on her way to the roof. That only meant two things. She was going to sunbathe (which she only did on early mornings) or she was going to get more of that fungus she liked to grow for her puddings. She grimaced at that thought.

She kept walking until she reached the common room. When the doors open was surprised by what she saw. Cyborg and Robin bent over in laughter and Beast Boy almost the same but closer to Meliah. Too close for her liking. Then a rushed memory passed by. She caught a glimpse of Beast Boy with a bare chest. That gained a gasp that caught everyone's attention. She blushed when Beast Boy looked at her and smiled at her.

She pulled her hood over her head to try to get some privacy on her reactions. Robin approached her, still holding his stomach and trying to control his laughter.

"You seem happy" She said in her monotone.

"Meliah tasted Starfire's … pudding … of sadness" he said in between laughs and gasps of air.

"I see it worked too" she said unmoving. He finally calmed down and asked

"Everything ok?"

"yes… bad dream… couldn't meditate" she said while she shook her head and closed her eyes at the memory.

"Come, Cyborg was getting ready to prepare dinner and…" he was interrupted by the alarms and red and yellow lights flashing all over the common room.

Everybody sobered up and run to the computer where Robin was already typing on. Starfire showed up seconds later.

"Who is it?" Asked Beast boy.

"Red X!" Said Robin and turned to Meliah who arched an eyebrow who still didn't know the name of her rescuer and was confused by the look Robin gave her.

"Titans. Go!" Yelled Robin but Beast Boy stopped him.

"Dude, what about Meliah?"

"She'll be safer here than anywhere else"

"I'll stay with her, I don't want to leave her alone" said Beast Boy leaving no room for argument.

Robin nodded, turned and left followed by Cyborg and Starfire. Raven lingered a little longer and Beast Boy walked to her.

"Are you ok?" he asked trying not to get too close. "I'll be fine… be careful" she said nodding subtly on Meliah's direction.

"You too" He said softly and she phased thru the floor never leaving his eyes.