Chapter 16 – End and Beginning
February 20th 2009, 3:43 pm
One week had passed since the Titan's big party. Raven wasn't going so well since then. Terra still hadn't tell Beast Boy about her kiss, and keeping this secret was disturbing the empath's emotional balance.
Raven knew she had reached a dead end. She reminded the last conversation she had with the blonde, the previous night. After questioning her for the third or fourth time about telling Beast Boy, she finally got a straight answer. And she didn't like it at all.
"Listen Raven, why do you care so much about it?" she asked, annoyed "You said it yourself: he could never hate me. So guess what, we both know one way or the other, Beast Boy is going to forgive me. Telling him about it will only make him sad and upset with himself for a while, then we'll be together either way. Isn't it best to spare him that?"
Raven felt her blood boiling as Rage tried to assume, but in that moment Starfire showed up blabbing about something, giving her a way out before she could rip the colleague's golden hair out.
In that moment, she had just finished meditating, and she came to the conclusion that she couldn't just watch it anymore. Before she could do anything, however, she felt extremely negative emotions approaching her. Right after that, the room was filled with loud knocks on her door.
Confused, Raven walked to her room's door, ready to lecture whoever was trying to knock down her door, but when she opened, she found something that left her speechless.
Terra, crying. Really crying, with tears, running nose and red face.
"What the…" she started, but was stopped.
"It was you, wasn't it, Raven?" Terra questioned, pointing her finger to her face "You told him, I know you did, you've been jealous of us all along!"
"Calm down Terra, what are you talking…?"
Raven stopped talking when she saw Beast Boy walking to them, with a hard expression and a mixture of different emotions coming from him. He was as surprise as she was.
"Terra, what the hell are you doing here?" he asked, and there was absolutely no trace of the kindness he used to have when talking to his girlfriend, not even his friends.
"It was her, wasn't it?" she yelled hysterically "She told you, she only wants me to be miserable!"
If Raven was surprised, it was nothing comparable to the shocking expression that came into the changeling's face, and he looked at her with hurt in his eyes.
"You knew?!" he asked, incredulous "Did you know she was cheating on me?"
Raven felt herself pale, all warmth leaving her body.
"What? No, I… I just saw her at the party…"
"That was one week ago!" he yelled "I came to see you every afternoon since then and you couldn't tell me?"
"I…" Raven was feeling lsot.
"What is happening here?" asked a voice from across the hall. Robin, Starfire and Cyborg had been attracted by the yelling and they were trying to understand the situation. Beast Boy laughed without humor.
"Nothing for you to worry about, great leader!" he answered "Just a really dog day, in which I caught my girlfriend's tongue in another guy's mouth…"
The three of them turned to Terra, surprised, and she hid her face on her hands, sobbing.
"… And then I found out that she had one of the people I trust most as accomplice!" he completed, indicating Raven. For one second nobody said anything. Terra cried, Raven bit her bottom lip with a guilty expression, Robin analyzed the situation, Cyborg seemed unable to close his mouth and Starfire looked like she was about to cry.
Then Beast Boy turned and walked away.
"Beast Boy, wait!" asked Raven, not knowing what to say. Before she could touch the changeling's shoulder, however, he dodged her hand and turned to her with a furious look.
"Betrayed by the girlfriend and the best friend on the same day…" he muttered, then he changed into an eagle and flew by the window. They stayed on the same place for a while, watching the little green dot disappear on the horizon.
"Man… I'm Beast Boy's best friend!" said Cyborg, breaking the silence. That took all of them of the trance they were.
"Is that true, Terra, Raven?" asked Robin, looking at them.
"Not of your business!" answered Terra, running into him and going to her room.
They all turned to Raven.
"I… I saw her kissing a man at the party, one week ago" she told, feeling miserable "But she say it was just that time. I tried to convince her to tell Beast Boy… I didn't want…"
"…To meddle" completed Robin, with a sad smile on his face "You did the right thing, Raven"
"Yes friend, you must not blame yourself" confirmed Starfire, putting her hands on the empath's shoulders in a consolation gesture that, for the first time, was welcome.
"But he…" she started, concerned.
"BB is just nervous" said Cyborg, raising his hand "Once he calms down, he'll see you had nothing to do with it. The one to blame is… Well…"
He left the sentence on air, but they all knew who he was referring to.
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February 20th 2009, 23:37 pm
Raven was sitting by the kitchen, waiting for the water on the kettle to warm. She was supporting her head on her hands, feeling miserable. She feared losing Beast Boy's friendship forever. The words he said, and mostly, the look he gave her didn't stop popping on her mind, and a thousand meditation hours couldn't make it stop.
All the Titan Tower had a melancholic aura, worried with the friends. Terra still hadn't left her room, or answered to Starfire's attempts to talk, and Beast Boy still wasn't back.
The kettle whistled and Raven turned off the fire. When she was pouring hot water in her blue mug, the common room's doors opened. She spilled water all over the counter and didn't even notice it when she realized it was Beast Boy coming in.
"Hey" he said with an apathy tone, walking to the couch and sitting down.
"Hey…" she answered, apprehensive. She put down the kettle on the wet counter and took her mug, warming her hands. For an instant, she thought about leaving, but she realized she wasn't capable of doing that until she had settled things with her friend.
"Beast Boy…" she started, looking at the back of his neck, from behind the couch.
"It's okay, Raven" he stopped her, turning to her "I'm sorry I said you betrayed me… The one who did that was Terra"
It was like the weight of one hundred anvils was taken off the empath's chest, and she breathed, relieved. Still, she felt like she should say something. She walked around the couch, staying in front of him.
"I wanted to tell you. But I thought Terra should do it" she explained, looking at the liquid darkening in the mug "I also thought it was a onetime thing. I had no idea she was still seeing him"
"I understand" he nodded, still frowning "Thanks for trying to put some sense in her head, and for the concern for my well-being too"
"We… We're friends" she said, like she needed to have a reason to worry about him. He gave her a small smile in return.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, thinking this was the protocol in this situation. He shrugged, indicating she could ask whatever she wanted "How did you find out?"
"I saw them" he explained without emotion, chucking without humor "I went to the quarry where she likes to train…"
"I'm really sorry…" muttered Raven, feeling bitter behind her words "But everything's going to be okay, you know"
"I suppose time heals all wounds or whatever…" he agreed without much conviction "But right now… It really sucks"
"I still have to deal with her…" he sighed, getting up "It's gonna be a long night…"
Raven remained sat until her tea was cold, wondering what exactly those words meant.
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The next day, breakfast was quieter than normal, and a light tension not spoken. Robin held the newspaper, but was on the same page for some time, Starfire poked her plate with eggs and mustard, sometimes actually eating some, Raven drunk her herbal tea in small and paused sips and Cyborg was making bacon without anyone against it.
They all turned when the other two member of the team entered the common room and walked to the kitchen. Terra had circles under her eyes and a red nose, but was no longer crying, and Beast Boy was abnormally serious, although his expression was lighter. Seeing the both of them coming in together, Raven was certain they had made up, and in her chest she felt something between relief and pain.
"Hey guys… We have an announce to make" said Beast Boy, stopping in front of them with hands in his pockets. Terra sighed and crossed her arms, nodding "Terra and I… are not together anymore"
The four friends were speechless.
"You are no longer boyfriend and girlfriend?" asked Starfire, and they nodded.
"We are really sorry it didn't work out" said Robin, standing up and patting his green friend's back.
"Thanks, man" he answered without smiling and walked to the kitchen.
"Well… Water under the bridge!" said Cyborg, trying to sound cheerful, anslo tapping Beast Boy's back "We're all here for you!"
Starfire hugged both friends and went back to her meal. Raven didn't say anything, surprised by how the things turned out. She found Terra's look and saw anger, like she was blaming her.
The fact of being totally indifferent to this made her realize the last tulip had perished.
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February 27th 2009, 4:54 pm
"Dude, I can't take those two anymore…" said Cyborg, entering the common room, extremely annoyed.
"Oh, are they doing it again?" whined Starfire.
"It is really stressful" agreed Raven, looking from behind a book.
"Beast Boy and Terra again?" asked Robin, grumpy.
"What do you think?" questioned Cyborg sitting on the couch "I was peacefully polishing the T-Car on the garage, BB was watching from afar as always, since I don't let him come too close, when Terra shows up to ask if I can give her a ride God-knows-where. Beast Boy starts teasing her, she yells back, and that goes until I throw them out of my workshop!"
"A similar event took place when friend Terra was going with me to the mall…" told Starfire, brushing Silkie "Friend Beast Boy came to borrow some of Silkie's wipes and…"
"Wait up Star" asked Cyborg, raising his hand. He recorded on his registers 'make fun of Beast Boy for borrowing wipes' then said: "Okay, go on"
"… Then friend Terra started to imply that he needed them for still being an infant, and the two of them started yelling!" she finished, tears in her big green eyes.
"It's hard to handle all these emotion instability every day…" complemented Raven, rubbing her temples.
"It's going to take a while, but…" started Robin, but a loud alarm interrupted him, and the common room's computer turned itself on, with all the information about the city's problem.
"Oh, great!" cheered Cyborg "I really need to punch someone… Who's gonna be the punching bag?"
"Cinderblock" informed Robin, checking the information "The location had been passed to your communicators. Titans, go!"
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