Chapter 28 – The Clock's Return
March 10th 2011, 6:25 pm
Beast Boy took some time to understand what was happening. First, he was kissing Terra, his dream's girl for some months now. Then, she was no longer this girl. His mind seemed to be pulled from side to side just like toffee.
And for some reason Raven was staring at him with tears in her eyes. Her red eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by a strong slap on his face. As Raven's steps echoed each time more distant, the emptier his heart felt.
But he couldn't understand why.
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March 10th 2011, 6:27 pm
Raven felt her heart breaking as she ran, and the shards piercing her chest from inside out. Warm tears ran through her face and her throat was hurting and closing.
She entered her room and closed the door, locking it. She leaned against it and slid until she was sitting on the floor, hugging her legs and crying bitter tears.
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March 10th 2011, 6:28 pm
Robin was concentrated analyzing data from the Jump City's prison when the computer's screen exploded in his face.
"What the…" he mumbled, getting up and checking if he was hurt.
Across the common room, in the kitchen, Starfire screamed. He turned to see the pan in which his girlfriend was cooking also burst, spreading green and hot stuff all around it.
The next moment, Cyborg came inside running, being chased by tools of his workshop, that were spiked in the couch's back when he jumped to use it like a fort.
"What's happening?" asked the cybernetic man from behind the couch.
"I don't know…" answered Robin.
"Could it be… Friend Raven?" suggested Starfire, covering her head with a frying pan.
"Could it be?" repeated Robin with a serious expression.
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March 10th 2011, 6:30 pm
Raven's bedroom was a complete chaos. The books were expelled from the bookcase violently, the bed was shaking in spot, the tables were overthrow, and the mirror in her dressing table had exploded, throwing shards everywhere.
The empath raised her head when she felt a piercing ache in her arm. Looking down, she found one of the shards pike to her skin. She took it off and, in a glance, saw the positive pregnancy test on the floor, next to the table where he once was.
Suddenly, everything stopped. Nothing more exploded, the flying objects fell to the ground and a dense silence hovered.
She couldn't do this. She couldn't lose control.
She had the baby.
If she was in danger, her baby was in danger. She could not allow that.
A strange calmness seized her. She put her left hand over the injured arm and healed it. Then she stood up.
Right now, the child growing in her belly was priority. It hadn't asked to exist, it was not to blame. It had to be protected.
To protect it, Raven couldn't indulge to lose control. She couldn't let herself feel anything but that warm feeling that filled her chest in the moment.
You could call it maternal instinct.
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March 10th 2011, 6:26 pm
Beast Boy blinked, still holding the clock.
"What was that?" he asked, confused.
"It was nothing" answered Terra, putting her hands in the changeling's face.
"Raven seemed sad…" he tried to follow her, but Terra stopped him.
"Do you… Want to chase her… Or stay here with me?" she asked in a silky voice.
Beast Boy felt his head ache. Just like his arms. Suddenly, he had the certain that if he released the clock, he would feel better. Then he put it in the close dresser.
The memories rushed in so fast he felt dizzy and he lost the floor under his feet. He fell unconscious.
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March 10th 2011, 7:24 pm
When Beast Boy woke up, he was staring at a bright and white ceiling. He immediately recognized it as the Tower's infirmary. He got up quickly.
"Raven!" he called.
"Hey BB, we were worried!" said a voice next to him. He turned, finding Cyborg and Starfire.
"Where is Raven?" he asked urgently.
"Calm down… Raven is fine" answered Cyborg "She's in her room and…"
Beast Boy stormed out of the bed, running to his girlfriend's room. Before he could reach the infirmary's door, however, he fell to the side and got paralyzed as a turtle in its back.
"Man, you can't run in this condition" yelled Cyborg, picking him up and putting him on bed again. He had to push him when he tried to escape.
"Friend Beast Boy, please!" asked Starfire, concerned "You had a strong shock against your head; we need to see if there wasn't any effects."
"No… I have to see Raven… I… I did something horrible" he mumbled, in verge of tears "She's never gonna forgive me…"
"What exactly did happen?" asked the cybernetic man, serious "Everything in the Tower suddenly started to explode, Terra shows up with you unconscious and Raven doesn't leave her room for anything in the world…"
"I… I kissed Terra" he told in an embargoed voice. Both of them looked at him in shock and surprise "I don't know what happened! I… It's like I had… Turned back in time, forgot, I don't know! Then Raven comes in and..."
He couldn't go on, hiding his face on his hands. Starfire covered the mouth with her hands and Cyborg was scratching the neck, not knowing what to say.
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March 10th 2011, 7:30 pm
"Raven" he called through the empath's door. He could hear a movement inside "Raven, please talk to me"
No answer.
"I…" suddenly, Beast Boy didn't know what to say. What would he say? That he was tricked? How? How Terra could have tricked him into kissing her like Raven didn't exist? What could he possibly offer as an explanation, if he had no idea what happened himself?
"I'm sorry…"
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March 10th 2011, 7:30 pm
"Is he really okay, Cyborg?" asked Starfire, worried about her friend.
"I don't know, Star" answered the man, seeming tired "But it would do no good to hold him here much longer…"
"Was the stroke severe?" she questioned, but got only a humorless laugh as a response "Did I… say something funny?"
"No Star, it's just that this was a very weird story…" he got up and turned on a panel, showing an x-ray of the changeling's head "Do you see anything abnormal here?"
"No…" said the Tamarean after examining the image for a few seconds "I'm afraid I don't see anything"
"Yeah, well, me neither" told Cyborg to her surprise "And there was no bump or wound in BB's head. Just like in his room, nothing seemed to fall from somewhere high enough to hit him."
"Are you saying friend Terra lied?"
"Something's wrong, that's for sure" he shrugged, sitting down "Honestly… Do you think Beast Boy would kiss Terra?"
Starfire shook her head, resolute.
"Friend Beast Boy and friend Raven were so happy together" she said firmly "Friend Beast Boy never looked at friend Terra like that again"
"That's what I think too, Star… But then, what could have happened?"
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March 10th 2011, 7:30 pm
Terra was locked in her room, once again pacing back and forth, but this time, she was scared instead of angry.
What would happen if the Titans found out what she had done?
Her idea didn't really work. Beast Boy's mind went back in time, yes, but only while he was holding the clock. And she couldn't make him hold that forever.
After Beast Boy fell unconscious, she decided to take him to Cyborg. Before she could leave the room, however, the whole floor started to tremble, and for a moment, she thought she was losing control, but it wasn't her, it was Raven. She was probably having trouble with her emotions. She felt an evil satisfaction to realize that. But this feeling was quickly replaced by fear when she managed to take Beast Boy to the hallway and the others found them, asking what happened. She said Beast Boy had hit his head when the floor started to tremble and they didn't ask further, concerned about the changeling. But they would, when the dust had settled. So she ran to hide the hourglass, which was currently under her bed. It was a smart move, because sooner after this, Cyborg went to inspect Beast Boy's room.
But once Beast Boy was awake, what would he say? Would he accuse her? Would he remember?
Maybe that was a very bad idea…
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March 10th 2011, 7:35 pm
Robin was in her bedroom, accessing the Tower's data from his own computer, since the one in the common room was still broken. All that was happening was very weird, so he decided to check the camera's recordings. Of course, he could only see what happened in the hallways, but it seemed to be an irregularity. The cameras around the rooms stopped working at 6:17. It only showed static. Like there was some kind of interference. He could only assume it was because of Raven's powers, but something didn't seem to fit…
That's when he heard a familiar noise behind him.
"Raven" he said, turning, to find the girl standing in front of him, in her uniform and the hood over her head "What the hell happened?"
"Robin" she said in her old tone of voice, the one without any emotion "I am leaving the Titans"
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March 10th 2011, 11:40 pm
"Beast Boy?" Terra called, walking in front of her ex boyfriend's room, and finding him seated on the ground, the head in his hands. He raised his look slowly, and Terra was surprise to find out he had been crying.
"Are you happy now, Terra?" he asked, rage in his voice "Raven won't talk to me. She won't even open the door. I can't even keep trying after what I did"
The both of them kept staring at each other for some silence minutes. Then Terra realized that no, she didn't want him anymore. She really had reached her goal just for the fact of taking him from Raven. Her stomach moved with something alike guilt and she wondered, again, if she was a bad person.
"Beast Boy…"
"Go away, Terra" he demanded, his teeth pressed "I don't wanna see you. I don't know how, but you did this."
"But I…"
"GO!"
She held her breath and ran away. What would be her destiny now?
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March 11th 2011, 6:04 am
Beast Boy hadn't slept all night. When the sun started to rise in the horizon, he felt a piercing ache in his chest for not waking up next to Raven. Then he decided. He couldn't let this ruin what he had with her. He would make her listen, even let her go inside his mind if it was needed, to convince her that his love for her never faltered, and that he hadn't thought about Terra ever since his feelings for her started.
"Beast Boy, we need to talk…" started Robin, but the changeling ran right past his leader, going towards her girlfriend's room. Yes, she hadn't officially broke up with him, so she was still his girlfriend.
"Raven!" he called, his voice loud and confident this time, knocking on the door again and again. But he didn't wait enough for her to answer. He opened the door.
What he found inside was enough to make his world fall at once.
Empty.
The bed without sheets, the bookcases without books, the dressing table where she sat and brushed her beautiful purple hair every morning with the draws opened and empty. No Raven.
He fell to his knees, realizing that now, it really was too late.
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A/N: I know there's still a lot of questions, but they will be answered... eventually. Thanks for your patience!
