Behind The Scenes 6 - Season Finale
Sorry it's been so long with this one. I wandered from the story I had planned and it turned out to be more difficult to continue than I expected. Anyway, on with the show!
Beast Boy's eyes cracked open, reluctantly, and with a sigh of disappointment, he looked up at the ceiling of the Campers' bedroom. He had hoped he would wake up back in his own bedroom and that the whole escapade had been only a dream. Having said that, however...
"Beast Boy?" Raven said groggily. He turned to face her and smiled. She smiled back, truly and honestly. Beast Boy's smile grew a little wider at that.
"Mornin', Rae," he returned. Despite the obvious downside, he was glad to have been given an opportunity to get closer to the sorceress. They were all good friends, of course, but Raven kept what she felt was a necessary distance most of the time. But there were moments when she drew closer: she bonded with Starfire during the puppet fiasco, for example. She linked her mind to Robin to save him. Those were out of necessity rather than desire but still brought them closer. Then there was Cyborg and his car, one of the few times Raven voluntarily reached out to one of them on a personal level. For a moment, Beast Boy allowed himself to be envious of the seemingly easy relationship she had with Cyborg, until he remembered the way she had approached him on the shore after the Beast incident. He grinned at the memory, glad she had chosen to reach out to him in his need.
"Beast Boy?" Raven's voice snapped him out of his recollection and he realised he must have been staring at her.
"Sorry, Rae. Just lost in thought I guess." Raven's smiled shifted into her familiar smirk.
"Well, that is unfamiliar territory for you," she joked, dryly.
"Oh, ha ha," he responded sarcastically. He shook his head and swung his legs over the side of the bed, unsure if he preferred Raven's warm smile to Raven's customary jibes. He turned to ask if she wanted to be first in the bathroom but paused as he watched her assume the lotus position and close her eyes. "I thought you didn't have your powers."
"That is true. But after yesterday, I feel I could use a little serenity. I won't be long." She began to chant her mantra quietly as he pushed open the bathroom door. He performed his ablutions efficiently and knocked to make sure Raven was decent. She called him in and rose herself. He quickly dressed while he had the room to himself and waited for her to finish. When she knocked he let her in and swapped places, giving her the privacy to get dressed. He plopped down on the closed toilet and tapped his fingers together. He snickered quietly when he heard Raven grouching at her character's wardrobe through the door. He stepped toward the door and pressed his ear against it. There were several wordless grumbles before she spoke again: "Damn bra..."
"Eep!" Beast Boy squeaked, quietly enough that Raven didn't hear. He recoiled from the door as if it were hot iron and returned to his seat. When Raven had mentioned her unmentionables, Beast Boy's brain had naturally betrayed him and pictured the girl in said unmentionables. He knew Raven didn't have her powers, that she wouldn't be able to sense his feelings, but was still terrified she would somehow know and pulverise him anyway!
No. No, that wasn't fair. The tempestuous friendship between Beast Boy and Raven had, for the most part, progressed past their old cycle of prank and retribution. Not that he didn't still annoy her sometimes, but they had learned to accept each other more readily. As he calmed, he told himself it wasn't a big deal, like whenever someone says 'don't think of an elephant', that's all you can think of. She said bra, he thought bra. And it was perfectly natural for a guy to think about beautiful girls, especially when said guy had a crush on top of that.
"..."
Beast Boy almost slipped from the toilet to the floor, his eyes wide and unseeing at the path his thoughts had taken. He leapt to his feet and stood in front of the bathroom mirror, pointing at his reflection in accusation.
"What did you just think?!" he hissed. He almost fainted when there was a light tap at the door.
"Beast Boy, I'm ready," Raven called. Beast Boy looked at his terrified reflection.
"I'm not," he whimpered.
CONTROL FREAK'S LAIR
Robin tapped his foot and checked his watch for the third time in as many minutes. He grumbled and set his jaw, again for a third time. Cyborg sighed.
"GIve it a rest, Rob, he'll be here soon," he appeased. Robin huffed at him.
"You haven't even told me who we're waiting for," he complained.
"What can I say," Cyborg answered, shrugging his shoulders. "He likes to make an entrance and asked to make the introduction himself. Trust me, though, he ain't dangerous. Well, not to us anyway..." he hinted, glowering at the miserable Control Freak. Robin stopped tapping and started pacing.
"He said he'd be here ten minutes ago," he grumbled. "I'll know the moment he arrives - I set up a sensor perimeter when you started work on the Mother Box."
"And that is why I'm late." Robin whipped around to see a man float into view. He wore a red and yellow costume with a full face mask and a green, high-collared cape. He didn't float under his own power, rather each foot was set on a flat, hovering disc. Robin checked his sensor readings through his communicator: it read all clear.
"How did you get in? I covered every point of entry!" he cried. The newcomer winked.
"All but one, though it took some time to find it," he said with a small hint of smugness. He stepped off the discs to the floor and walked towards the Titans. Cyborg chuckled.
"This is him, Robin," he confirmed. Robin watched him as he smiled and extended a friendly hand.
"Scott Free, at your service, though some know me as Mister Miracle, God of the Escape."
THE CAMPER RESIDENCE
Raven eyed her companion with confusion and, if she was honest, a little worry. Ever since they had exited their bed- the Campers' bedroom, he had been jumpy, skittish, fidgety and a few other synonyms besides. They had eaten their automatic breakfast with little conversation and things had reached a point where Raven of all people was planning to initiate a conversation with Beast Boy.
"So... what can we expect from this episode?" she asked. Beast Boy looked at her and then took a long look at the calendar on the wall. As the episodes had progressed, it had jumped forward a few days each time to suit and, for some reason, he found the date it showed to be very confusing.
"What? That makes no sense..." he muttered. Raven glanced between him and the calendar a few times.
"What doesn't make sense? Aside from everything else, that is," Raven asked. He looked back at her with confusion in his eyes.
"Yesterday was the last episode. The finale. And not just of a season but the whole show, it got cancelled after that. I expected us to either get spit back into the real world or just start the show from the beginning... but the calendar moved forward. I've never seen this episode," he explained. Raven listened with trepidation. Not knowing what would happen made her feel even worse about their situation. With another glance, she confirmed they were in another Saturday, so at least they probably wouldn't be separated. She turned back to Beast Boy, only to find him reticent again, looking away from her. She sighed in exasperation.
"Beast Boy, is something wrong?" she asked. He blanched as he faced her.
"W-what? What makes you say that?" he asked shakily.
"You've barely glanced at me all morning... and you've been too quiet even for my liking!" she said. He looked at the floor and twiddled his thumbs.
"Sorry, Rae..." he mumbled. Raven sighed again.
"It's alright, Beast Boy. I know how you must feel," she said, gently. He looked up at her fearfully.
"You do?" he squeaked. Raven nodded.
"It's natural to feel embarrassed after yesterday... you should know there's no need. You had a very stressful day and needed to express that," she said. He smiled awkwardly - she thought he was embarrassed about his crying on her shoulder! Well, let her keep thinking that.
"Thanks, Rae!" he said, trying to make himself seem more cheerful, though he was certain Raven's eyes hadn't twinkled like that before... unless he just hadn't noticed it.
Raven smiled back at the changeling as he thanked her, a warmth settling in her belly at the sight of his grin. For a moment she found her eyes lingering on him, thinking she was just checking he was definitely alright. Did his eyes always sparkle like that?
CONTROL FREAK'S LAIR
"God of the Escape?" Robin asked. Scott Free nodded - he always had to explain this part.
"You've heard of the New Gods of New Genesis? Of Highfather?" he asked. Robin's expression showed his comprehension.
"Yeah. Yeah, they're the enemies of Apokolips, right?" he asked. Scott nodded again.
"That's right. Well, I'm one of them, a son of Highfather, though I was "raised" on Apokolips," he said. Robin's eyes widened beneath his mask and Starfire wrapped her arms around herself.
"I have heard many stories of the planet Apokolips and the cruel Darkseid..." she said, shuddering. Scott looked at her.
"They're all true, every bad thing you hear about the place. Anyway, I was the first to escape the pits of Apokolips, though it took years of trial and planning, hence 'God of the Escape'. I have a feeling, though, that you're less interested in my adventures and more interested in this." As he spoke, he pulled from a pouch a small box with ribbons of light moving across the surface and, listening closely, you could hear a faint pinging sound.
"What is it?" Robin asked.
"This is a real Mother Box. We're going to try and have a conversation with the one you found here."
THE CAMPER RESIDENCE
Beast Boy jumped as the phone rang. Suddenly, Raven found herself knitting and Beast Boy had a paper in his hand as they followed the script. There came some alllegedly humorous talk about who should answer which "Tom" lost. He answered the phone and his content expression fell. He slowly put the phone down and looked toward "Lucy".
"I lost my job," he said. With that said, they both felt the weight vanish from their minds: the scene had ended. Raven frowned at Beast Boy, though - he still looked upset.
"Why so glum? You didn't really lose your job," she stated. He nodded distractedly and took a deep breath.
"I know what episode we're in," he muttered.
"You do? I thought you hadn't seen it," she inquired.
"I haven't. This episode was never aired, Control Freak must have some special edition box set," he explained. Raven shrugged and sat back, though he immediately sat upright again.
"Wait. Wait. You said they cut an episode for- Is this that episode?" she asked.
"Yup," he answered nervously.
"The one where they... they..." she stammered.
"Y-yeah," he mumbled, his eyes darting around, looking anywhere but at Raven.
"Where they... they... we... we..." Raven continued.
"Mm-hmm," Beast Boy agreed, trying to sink into his seat. "The one where we k-k-k-k-k-"
"Kiss."
Whoop, and up goes the tension. Scott Free better hurry things up! Sorry this took so long, I've been struggling with this story for some reason. I actually think this bit isn't that good but I needed to get it out there. Maybe I'll try and tidy it up in the future. Still, got the ball rolling again. Enjoy!
-Jack