Original Air Date of the episode 'Spellbound': October 9, 2004
Chapter 7 – Stankball Game
Two months went by. The training sessions with Raven couldn't be having better results. The empath made Terra take several tests so they could understand how her powers worked, and they talked a lot about the moments that she lost control completely and how she felt during them. Soon they realized she only lost control at critical occasions. When she felt fear, angry or distress. Her powers tried to give her what she wanted most in the situation: to escape.
Terra got really relieved when they realized her powers weren't like Raven's. She was afraid of living like her friend, without feeling anything all the time. According to Raven, that was how she lived. But Raven told her that her powers obeyed to her at all times. But on critical moments, she couldn't think straight, her heart's orders prevailed, and her powers follow it, and that was something very difficult to control.
That was what they focus from then on. Raven made her meditate with her for two hours every morning, and meditate alone for one hour at the afternoon. That's because in the morning, Raven helped her find her center and clear her mind. On the afternoon, she should try and do that for herself. After the morning meditation, Terra should run the Tower's obstacle course trying to empty her mind of all thoughts but finishing the course. It was very hard at first, since Terra got distracted easily, but soon she learned how to concentrate and it became a natural thing for her to do whenever she fought.
After one month they reached the hardest part of her training: control the emotions that made her lose control. Raven told her to close hey eyes and created distressful situations in her mind. It was something extremely tiresome for both of them. Raven started with simple things, like someone taking her slice of pizza or running into her. At first, even those situations made the island tremble. After some sessions, nothing happen, as Terra breathed deeply to make her mind clear and separate her powers from her actions. So Raven slowly made the situations worse. Once, Raven made her see the Titan Tower in flames and all the titans dead. The island shook so much everything fell to the floor. To Terra's surprise, Raven didn't scold her, but apologized, telling her she wasn't ready for that level yet.
Raven made her see Beast Boy kissing another girl, then everything fell off again. Then she made her see Slade asking her to join him, which caused a little earthquake. After situations like these, they meditate together and went back to the very same scene, until Terra could handle it. That really helped Terra. After two months, she barely lost control in any situation. Besides, she started to like and really trust Raven.
One day, when the two of them talked about their worst loss of control, she had an impulse of telling her how tempted she felt to accept Slade's offer. But she got too scared of losing Raven's trust, so she didn't say anything.
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October 17th 2004, Beast Boy's bedroom, 1:04 am
Beast Boy rolled from side to side on his bed, but couldn't sleep. Even though he was exhausted from the fight he struggled alongside with his friends only a few hours ago, and the fact that he could feel every part of his body aching, he simply couldn't sleep.
His anger for Malchior still throbbed in his head. He just could not believe he let a jerk inside a book hurt one of his best friends. And Raven, of all people, the one everyone suppose to be unreachable. He was also feeling a little guilty. Maybe if he hadn't left her so alone, he could see what was going on and stopped it before it burst. But he didn't have time for Raven anymore. He was with Terra now. And Terra wanted to do fun stuff all the time. He loved that so much, but he couldn't abandon his friends. Especially Raven.
Deep down, he stopped seeing her because he felt guilty towards Terra. He was afraid that his blonde girlfriend would find out that one day, very far away, he had a little crush on Raven. But he was totally over that. Even before Terra came around and he fell for her. Because Raven would never look at him that way. She barely even looked at him in any good way. She was… How can I say? Platonic.
But he had a special affection for Raven and he always would have. Just like he liked Starfire, and would also get really mad if she got hurt. But Raven was different. She didn't show off when she wasn't okay, and she didn't let others see what was best for her.
"That's it man" he thought, opening his eyes "I'm not going to let Raven go through something like this ever again. Everybody leaves her alone like she wants and don't realize that's not the best for her. So, if she likes it or not, I'll take care for something like that not happen again. And Terra will understand. She also really likes Rae"
With these thoughs, he got up, put on his sneakers and ran to his friend's room.
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Raven had already fixed her room's ceiling with her powers, and now she was organizing fallen and broken things. When she finished, she turned back to the book, left on the table. She took it carefully and kept it inside a chest with a sad look. Her heart ached more than her body because of the battle. She sighed and, before she could think about what to do, she heard a knock on the door.
"Raven" she heard Beast Boy's voice "It's me. Look, I'm sorry"
"For what? You're not the one who…" she started.
"No… I'm sorry that… He broke your heart"
"I know it was all a lie… But he was the only person who ever make me feel like I wasn't… creepy" she said "And don't try to tell me I'm not"
"Okay. Fine. You're way creepy" replied Beast Boy "But that doesn't mean you have to stay lock in your room"
"You think you're alone, Raven. But you're not"
Suddenly, she came out of her room and hugged him, not really thinking about anything. As she hugged him, she felt warm and comforted. It was better than being alone trying not to feel what she couldn't help feeling. Then she released him and step away, noticing that Beast Boy's mind was in a big mess of feelings. Before she could sort which one was the strongest, a green ball hit the changeling's head, taking him to the ground. It looks like they weren't the only ones that couldn't sleep. She turned and found Cyborg with a victorious smile, punching the air.
"Whohoo! Stankball!" he yelled
Raven knew this was pointless and childish. But she still had her heart warmed up, so she could not stop her happy emotion to pick the gross ball from her friend's head and joining the stupid game.
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October 17th 2004, Titan Tower's common room, 9:26 am
Terra bent the cereal's box in a bowl and added milk and sugar. She passed the box to Starfire, who also bent it on a plate, but she added mustard. Robin was sitting at the alien's other side, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Weird that Cyborg still hadn't got up" said Terra, chewing her cereal.
"That is true" agreed Starfire "Usually, when I arrive, he's already here preparing his breakfast based on eggs and pork meat"
"Last night I heard him and Beast Boy yelling through the halls" said Robin, without looking up "They were playing some ball game…"
"Stankball?" asked Terra "Weird. Yesterday, after that dragon battle, I was so tired I went straight to bed"
"Me too, although I was really concerned about our friend Raven" said Starfire "She must have been pretty sad"
"By the way Terra" Robin lowered the paper "Now that Malchior's gone, and after Raven's feeling better, I think it would be good if you guys continue your training"
"Oh… Okay" mumbled Terra, putting another cereal spoon on her mouth. The free training week was so good she was actually glad for Raven encountering that Malchior person. She could spent more time with Beast Boy and went out with Starfire. Besides, she particularly didn't think she needed training anymore. It was under control.
In that moment, Cyborg came through the main doors, stretching and yawning.
"Friend Cyborg!" Starfire greeted him "We were wondering when you would get up!"
"I overslept…" he said, opening the door and picking eggs and some bacon "We couldn't sleep yesterday so we played Stankball till like 2 am"
"You and BB?" asked Terra.
"Plus Raven" answered Cyborg with a smile. All three of them stopped what they were doing to look at him "As crazy as it sounds"
"Friend Raven played a game that involved running and throwing a ball?" asked Starfire, smiling "That's wonderful! I was afraid she would be inconsolable!"
"That is great, I also thought she would take some time to recover" said Robin, also smiling.
"I think Beast Boy had something to do with it, because when I throw the ball at him, he was at her door" said Cyborg, frying his eggs "He's gonna wake up late today…"
Terra, unlike her friends, wasn't smiling. She was intrigued. What could her boyfriend had possibly done to make Raven, the most nagging person she's ever met, happy enough to play Stankball? And why didn't they invite her to play too?
Suddenly, the door opened and Raven passed through it, floating. She looked as she always did, with a peaceful expression, but no smile.
"Good morning, friend Rave!" yelled Starfire, getting up and giving her a crushing hug "I'm so glad to know that you're feeling better!"
"Ahhh… Good morning, Starfire" answered Raven out of breath "Thanks, I am"
The alien girl released her and walked with her to the kitchen, where all of them greeted her with happy expressions. Except Terra, looking a little unsure, but she didn't notice it. Raven put her kettle full with water on the fire to make her herbal tea, and the morning went like any other. Nobody talked about the last week's events. But they all missed Beast Boy, who was usually blabbing and arguing with Cyborg about tofu.
Terra finished her bowl of cereal and was about to leave when Raven called her.
"I imagine you kept meditating this free week, right?" she asked, pouring the hot water from the kettle in a blue mug.
"Hmm…" started Terra. No, she hadn't meditate a single time "Oh, yes, but I forgot some days…"
"Yeah… We'll pick up from where we left tomorrow, at the usual time" said Raven, putting the kettle down. Terra nodded and ran through the door, feeling discouraged about the prospect of waking up at five am again.
She decided to go check on Beast Boy. He had slept enough. She ran to his room and knock hard on the door to wake him up. She heard movement inside, then he appeared, eyes still closed and messy hair.
"Hey, BB" she said, leaning and kissing him on the lips. The changeling felt a chill down his spine and woke up immediately. Terra almost never kissed him out of nowhere.
"Hey, Terra. I'm sorry, I overslept" he mumbled scratching his neck.
"It's okay" she shrugged "I heard you had a game session with Cyborg and Raven last night"
"Oh yeah… We couldn't sleep" replied Beast Boy. He didn't really like Terra's tone when she said that.
"So how did you make Miss Creepy play with you guys?"
"… I just went to talk to her about what happened. Er, don't call her like this"
"Oh, I'm sorry, you were the one who said she was creepy" answered Terra with innocence.
"I know, and I take it back" he said, passing his fingers through his hair "I just don't want this to happen again"
"This what?"
"Well, you know, she got heartbroken over a jerk"
"Oh, that's right… BB, today is my last free day, don't you want to go to the movies or something?"
"Sure Terra! I'm gonna get dress and we can go!" answered Beast Boy, going inside his room.
When they got back from the movies, Starfire called Terra to paint their nails in her room. That took about an hour. Coming out of her friend's room, with her fingers separated and stretched, to the black enamel to dry, Terra spotted Beast Boy in front of Raven's room, talking to her.
"Oh, Terra, good thing you're here" said Raven looking at her "Could you please take your boyfriend away so I can meditate peacefully?"
"BB, are you bothering Raven again?" asked Terra laughing.
"I wasn't bothering her, I was just inviting her to a Stankball match!" he defended himself.
"It's okay, I can play with you" answered Terra "You're safe, Raven"
"Finally" the empath said, closing the door.
"Bye, Rae!" yelled Beast Boy, taking her girlfriend's hand and walking away.
"Beast Boy, why do you always go to Raven's room if you know how annoyed she gets?" the blonde asked, confused.
"She gets pissed, but I think she gets happy deep down, Terra" he answered, shrugging "Nobody gets that. If everyone 'leaves her alone' she'll feel lonely and sad"
"You really think so?"
"I do. Look at what just happened"
"Yeah, I suppose you're right" Terra said after thinking for some time.
"You don't mind that, do you?" he asked, insecure. His girlfriend went silent for some moments.
"No, I don't mind" answered Terra, hugging his arm "You're a very nice person, BB"
"Thanks" mumbled the changeling, feeling an electric chain runs through his body.
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Author's Note:
This chapter ends the first part of three in this story. If you think there's too much BBxTerra and not enough BBxRae, I assure you that from the next chapter on this will change.
Some mature issues will be addressed, but the fic is and will remain rated T. That means somethings will be mentioned or implied, but not deepened.
I thank you all for the feedback and the nice reviews! I hope you continue to like the story.
