Disclaimer- Don't own Teen Titans

A Girl's Heart

Beast Boy sighed as he entered the living room. It had taken days to repair the tower after Malchior had trashed the place. Raven's room had taken the brunt of the damage and the longest to repair. Though once finished Raven retreated inside. Truthfully Beast Boy wasn't sure when he'd seen her last and that bothered him. What bothered him more was that it didn't seem to bother anybody else.

"Has anyone seen Raven?" He asked.

"No, but it's Raven…" Robin shrugged.

"Yeah… but did you pay any attention to what happened?"

"Yeah dragon nearly destroyed the tower…" Cyborg chimed from the couch.

"No… what happened to her!" Beast Boy shot back.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked curiously.

"Think carefully about the way she acted after she cursed that dragon back into that book!" he said then stormed off to her room.

It didn't take long to get to Raven's bedroom and knock on the door.

"Raven? It's me. Look. I'm sorry." he said.

"For what? You're not the one who…"

"I'm sorry he broke your heart."

"I know it was all a lie. But he was the only person who ever made me feel like I wasn't…creepy. And don't try to tell me I'm not."

"Okay. Fine. You're way creepy. But that doesn't mean you have to stay locked in your room. You think you're alone, Raven, but you're not."

That obviously drew her up short because she didn't reply.

A few seconds pass then the door opened. Beast Boy was stunned when Raven threw her arms around his neck. He froze for a second then returned the embrace, his arms slipping easily between her cloak and body clutching her gently to himself.

He took a deep breath of her scent and caught the unmistakable stench of her anguish. He didn't brag about it but he had arguably the best nose in the team even in his natural human state. Then another scent caught his attention, salty, bitter… tears. Was Raven crying? Raven never cried, but then he heard the sobs and Beast Boy came to the conclusion that having this moment in a public corridor wasn't the best idea.

Meanwhile Robin had been chewing on what Beast Boys had said as he went to his office. How had she behaved after cursing the dragon away? Then it suddenly dawned on the boy wonder why Beast Boys was so adamant that leaving Raven to her own devices had been a bad idea. Apparently something had happened between her and Malchior, he wasn't sure what but she had seemed upset, for lack of a better word, heartbroken. How had Malchior gotten to her? The book, that held the answer, but there was no way in hell she'd let anyone have that not after all it took her to curse Malchior back into the book.

Then it dawned on him, Malchior must have fooled her, used her as his means to escape. Maybe even gone so far as to seduce her. Raven was young and Malchior was ancient it wasn't too big a stretch to believe he could have paid attention to what she told him, found a way to convince her he loved her and win her heart in return. Finding the right words to seduce a girl like her would have been sadly too easy. She often isolated herself and seemed the outcast, if he could convince her he didn't see her that way even Raven could have fallen for him.

He had pulled up the camera down the hall from her room and was watching as Beast Boy approached her room.

"I'm sorry he broke your heart." Beast Boy said to Raven's closed door.

Robin listened to the conversation trying to figure out how Beast Boy had realized how badly she was heartbroken when even he hadn't.

Then Raven's door opened and she came out throwing her arms around his neck, clinging to him like he were her only lifeline. Beast Boy returned the embrace. Then Robin noticed her shoulders began to shake. Was Raven crying?

Robin was dumbfounded as Beast Boy took Raven back into her room allowing the door to close behind himself.

"I cannot believe none of us realized friend Raven was hurting so much." Starfire said breaking the silence of Robin's office. Her voice carried the sadness and self directed anger they all felt.

"Yeah, can't believe I'm saying this but the grass stain was right and Raven… damn…" he whistled through his teeth. "Any idea what happened?"

"Malchior was in that book, probably has been for ages, my best guess is he manipulated things, details in the book to make himself look like the hero and… I hate to say this but…"

"He seduced her…" Cyborg concluded his fist clenching in protective rage. "The bastard realized she felt like an outsider and used that to get in deep with her so she would free him because she thought he loved her."

"The question is why did Beast Boy realize it before we did?" Robin asked.

"I do not know…" Starfire sighed.

Meanwhile Beast Boy still held Raven in his arms, his right hand had moved and was now threaded through her short hair. He loved her so much and his heart ached for her. He was tempted, it would be so easy to coax her into a kiss, but it was too soon. The wounds Malchior inflicted on her heart were too fresh. So, as much as it hurt he did nothing, said nothing about how much he loved her. He just held her in his arms and let her cry it all out. He would get his chance but not tonight. Tonight he'd be content to just be the friend she leaned on.

Raven pushed away sniffling as she collected her composure. She didn't intend to fall apart so spectacularly when she'd embraced him, but when he returned the embrace she finally felt like she wasn't alone for the first time since she discovered Malchior's deceit. That feeling of having someone care was too much for the delicate balance that had been her emotional control since that terrible moment when she realized she had meant nothing to Malchior.

"I don't know what…"

"Raven… stop… you needed that, crying isn't a sign of weakness… you were hurt… you needed to let go of that pain before it consumed you." Beast Boys cut in his tone gentle and Raven wondered when he became so intelligent or was he always more intellectual than he wanted other people to think?

"Look Raven I know you're in pain now but one day you might find someone who really will accept you exactly as you are and love you the way you thought he did. Someone who would rather die the most painful death you can think of before they'd ever dream of hurting you in even the slightest way." He said "But you have to come out of this room."

Raven looked at Beast Boy, she knew he was right, but she had no idea the person he was talking about was himself.

Beast Boy looked away to hide his own emotions, he loved her so much but now wasn't the time.

Later that evening he came across Robin who insisted they have a chat in his office.

"Robin… don't go there I know you're protective of Raven but you weren't in that room with her while she bawled her eyes out… I was!"

"I know, I realized what you were talking about, Malchior did a number on her."

"First broken heart." Beast Boys sighed.

"I'm trying to understand something… how is it you realize what happened before any of us did?" Robin asked.

"Robin, a broken heart isn't hard to identify, especially when that heart belongs to someone you love." Beast boy admitted turning his back to Robin "When you want desperately to put those pieces back together for her but you're afraid she won't accept your help or even if she did you wouldn't know where to start to put them back together."

"Beast Boy, what are you saying?" Robin asked in surprised confusion.

"I love her… but Malchior did so much damage I'm afraid I lost any hope I had of winning her heart."

"Give here credit, she'll recover… she just needs time."

The next day Beast Boys was in the living room when he saw Raven come out of the hallway to make herself some tea. It was a step in the right direction, a sign that maybe there was hope for him yet.

The End