Part 14- Questions

NOTE: Normal is Raven, Bold is Beast Boy, Italic is thoughts/dreams.
Author: rle3630
Game/Show: Teen Titans
Characters/Pairing: Raven and Beast Boy
Disclaimer: Mature Themes (language). I do not own Teen Titans or anything from the DC Universe.

Raven sighed as the hot water soothed the sore muscles in her back. She hated to admit weakness, but she had missed being able to have a hot shower instead of the occasional dip in a freezing cold stream filled with snakes she’d been having for the last few months. Finally deciding enough was enough, she turned off the water and got out of the shower and caught sight of herself in the mirror. Raven wasn’t usually one to care much about her appearance beyond the basics, but even she couldn’t help but do a self-appraisal every once in a while.

Looking at herself she realised that she had lost more weight than she had realised. Where she once had not quite an hourglass figure but at least a feminine curve to her, now she looked just a bit above sickly thin. Her hair had grown out a bit since she lopped it off to just above her shoulders when she left the U.S, knowing she wouldn’t be able to rely on running water to keep her long tresses clean in the middle of nowhere. Her violet eyes looked huge in her gaunt face, making her look fragile and delicate. Raven scoffed under her breath at the notion and quickly got changed into the spare clothes Rita had given her.

Raven smiled to herself as the white skirt swished around her ankles as she buttoned the jade coloured blouse. She touched the fabric of the top, mentally comparing it to his skin. She had never really thought much of the colour until he came along, now it vied with blue as her favourite.

Pushing the sappy thought to the back of her mind Raven cleaned up her things and stowed them in the spare room. Rita had convinced her to stay with her for a day or two to keep her company. She used the computer in her room to check her emails and was saddened at the almost empty inbox. What did you expects, why would they want to talk to a monster like you? Give it up already, it’s pathetic. Raven pushed Angers barbs aside, deleting the usual spam about ‘lasting for hours’ and ‘learn the secrets the fat-cats don’t want you to know.’

Raven then checked her drafts folder for any messages from Roy. It was their main way of communicating, leaving each other un-sent messages helped the paranoid archer keep tabs on her without running up a huge phone bill. Raven scanned the message, smiling at his fawning statement about his girlfriend, rolling her eyes at his comments about her ex-teammates, and sighing at his not so subtle hints that he wished she would come home. Even less subtle then usual since he simply asked: “So when are you coming home?”

Raven sent a brief reply telling him that she was staying with a friend a few days before she headed back to the little village she had been staying in the last few weeks, helping them dig some wells so they could have easy access to fresh water without travelling tens of miles in the blistering heat. She paused and then told him she was feeling a little lonely since she hadn’t heard from anyone but him since she left. Saving the message to the drafts folder, she turned off the computer and went to join Rita for dinner.

Raven moved through the lounge room into the kitchen where Rita was cooking. “That smells wonderful.” Rita looked over her shoulder and smiled at her. “Thank-you. I don’t always get the opportunity to cook, so when I do I tend to over-do it.”

Raven sat at the barstool at the counter and watched the other woman cook. She couldn’t help but think of BB going through the same motions when he cooked up whatever vegetarian recipe he had recently discovered, always offering to make extra so she could join him. “Can I ask you something, Raven?” Rita’s voice pulled her out of her pleasant musings. “Ok.” Rita turned from the stove where she was tossing their stir-fry dinner. “Why didn’t you just teleport to see the Logan’s’? You’ve been there before haven’t you?”

Raven played with the blouses cuff as she figured out the best way to explain it. “It felt…disrespectful to use my powers to teleport there. I know it sounds stupid, but it feels like I was invading their privacy by just appearing out if nowhere.”

Rita smiled at her and went back to the wok. “So how long have you been in love with Garfield?”

Raven almost toppled off the barstool at the abrupt question, leading to Rita turning and chuckling at her embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked like that. But it was something I’ve noticed when we’ve visited Garfield in the past; a glance here, a small smile there. It’s obvious when you know what to look for.”

Raven paled at the other woman’s words. “You don’t think Gar…” Rita laughed. “I hate to say it about my baby boy, but when it comes to matters of the heart he tends to be oblivious. Just look at how he coped with that Terra girl’s death.” Rita clucked her tongue and flipped the ingredients in the wok with a flick of her wrist. Raven didn’t reply, not really sure what to say when talking to her friends’ mother about his sex life. “I’m sure she’s a lovely girl, but I’m not sorry that the two of them have finally ended it. I didn’t entirely trust her after she betrayed the Titans and without trust it’s almost impossible to build a healthy relationship.”

Raven felt the same way, that’s why it would never work between…Wait, what?! “BB and Terra broke-up?” Rita nodded while pulling sauces out of the cupboard. Raven’s head reeled. “So after all that time grieving her and what they could have had, after sleeping his way through the blue-eyed blondes of Jump City and beyond, after all the times I was woken up at 3am to give him a lift home from some bar he had drowned his sorrows in, NOW he gets over her?!  DUMBASS!” Raven fought to try and slow her breathing and calm her emotions who were torn between celebrating that BB was once again single and cursing the green idiot for taking so long to get over the earth-mover. You’re assuming he broke-up with her. Rude might not make her presence known very often, but when she did it was usually to get on Raven’s nerves. She’s right though, Terra could have dumped him, or it could be a temporary break-up brought about by a fight. It would be foolish to get our hopes up. It wasn’t good when Knowledge and Rude agreed on something. In fact, Raven could never remember that ever happening before.

“Better now than never. I don’t think it was Terra he was mourning as much as the loss of his first love. You know how it is, it’s always the hardest to get over.”

Raven blushed and avoided the other woman’s piercing stare. “Tell me about it,” she muttered under her breath.

Rita smiled as she began serving up their meal. “I hope you don’t mind, but it’s vegetarian. Garfield said you liked it.” Raven’s heart thumped in her chest as she gave a small smile and more or less inhaled her food.

*****

BB stared at his computer and urged it to submit to his will. “Come on, damn it! Tell me I have a new email.” He had been sending Raven an email every day or so; updating her on everything going on in Jump City, telling her all the scandalous details about fellow superheros (Jinx and Cy’s ‘secret’ relationship featured heavily), and mainly just trying to show her how much they all missed her and wanted her to come home. Star and Dick weren’t speaking after their huge blow-out over him inviting Barbara Gordon to their wedding without him telling Star about his and Barbara’s past ‘relationship’. Cy wasn’t there a whole lot of the time, instead staying at a ‘friends’ place most nights. And BB was so turned around he didn’t know what to think anymore.

Why had Terra lied to him about that night? Had she really put a secret surveillance camera in his room? Was she working with Slade again? Had she really spiked Raven’s tea to send her over the edge when she was already emotionally fragile? Why lie about being the mystery woman? Those questions and more refused to leave his mind and caused him more than a couple of sleepless nights. It was horrible, but BB almost missed the days where he could just go out and relieve stress with whatever random fan-girl was ready and willing. Now it felt wrong, like he was cheating on Raven even though they weren’t together.

BB repeatedly knocked his head against his desk, hoping for either answers or a concussion to silence his never-ending thoughts.

“Friend Beast Boy, are you unwell?” BB’s head shot up as he realised he had left his door open, allowing anyone who walked past his room an unobstructed view of him being pathetic.

“I’m fine Star. I think Raven might be avoiding me. I have sent her dozens of messages and I haven’t even gotten a few words letting me know she’s at least safe.”

Star sighed and moved further into his room. “I am yet to hear from friend Raven as well. Do you believe she is well?”

BB leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know. It’s killing me but I don’t know how we’re supposed to get back to normal from here? How can I even apologise to her if she won’t even talk to me? Hell, what I wouldn’t give for her to even type the words “Get fucked”, at least then I would know she’s alive.”

Star moved towards him and wrapped him in a bone-crunching hug. Before BB lost both lungs, they both heard a cough from the doorway. Both of them turned, Star’s arms still around BB’s neck, and BB watched as Dicks face slowly got redder and redder. “Sorry to interrupt but Roy wants to talk to all of us.” Without another word, he left the room.

BB looked up at Star and realised she was trying to subtly wipe tears from her eyes. “Star, please don’t cry. You know I can’t take it when you cry.”

Star sniffed before turning to BB and giving him a huge smile. “Do not worry friend. It will all work out in the end. When two people are meant to be together, it always works out how it is supposed to.” BB wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince more, him or herself.

BB sighed and followed her out to the Com-room, ignoring the glare their fearless, and apparently brain dead if he thought BB thought of Star as anything more than a sister, leader and sat on the couch between Star and Cy.

Speedy stood before them in his usual casual clothes of red hoddie and black jeans, the rest of them in uniform. They all sat in silence, none of them wanting to talk first.

It wasn’t long before Speedy broke, however. “Look, far be it for me to butt into your teams argument, but I thought the last time I was here you guys were on your way to pulling you heads out of your arses and trying to make up with Raven. Apparently I was wrong.” Say what now? BB looked at his friends, trying to see if any of them knew what the hell hair-boy was going on about.

“Friend Speedy, what do you mean? I myself have sent multiple emails to the address you provided us speaking of wedding plans and such. I believe Beast Boy has done the same with no reply from Raven to even tell us if she is well and whole.” Star sniffed and wiped at her eyes. BB shuffled over as Dick moved away from the counter he was leaning against and sat beside her to comfort her.

Apparently tears meant a temporary cease fire. “I’ve been sending her emails too. I mean not every day or anything but at least 2-3 times a week I send her an update on what criminals have been up to their old tricks, what training we’ve been doing…” BB rolled his eyes, typical Dick. “I’ve even been sending her updates on the Titan pool on how long it will take Cyborg to admit that he and Jinx have been hooking up.” Speedy chuckled as Cy went very pale. “Say what now?”

Star went from teary sniffling to joyful giggles in seconds flat. You had to hand it to her, she rarely let things get her down for long.

“I don’t understand. If you’ve been sending her messages, how come none of them have been going through? I’ve been keeping an eye on her inbox in case any of you sent her a message that I deemed inappropriate and so far the only messages she’s been getting are spam and the ones we do back and forth in the drafts folder. And when she sends emails to you guys, she doesn’t get any replies.” BB wasn’t sure what bothered him more: the fact that Raven hadn’t gotten any of his 50+ messages, or that Roy not only had access to her emails but was using it as a cutesy pigeon hole.

“Are you sure you wrote the email down right? I’m telling you, we’ve all been sending messages to her and she hasn’t replied to any of them.” Speedy looked at Cy, and then at each of them in turn. What he saw apparently convinced him that they were telling the truth. “So someone has been blocking messages from you guys to Raven and vice versa? Why?”

Dick spoke from his position next to Star. “I think for the same reason that they had Terra spike Raven’s tea. To isolate her. Think about it: If you wanted to get at Raven a year ago, you would have had to go through all of us, and then Raven herself isn’t exactly a push-over. Now she’s alone, vulnerable and thinks that the people who she was closest to have completely turned their backs on her. Someone has worked very hard to make sure that Raven is not only isolated from us, but is somewhat fragile and vulnerable as well. If I’m right and what this person wanted all along was Raven, then now would be a perfect time to strike. It would also explain the surveillance in Raven’s part of the Tower: they wanted to learn as much as they could about her so they could find her vulnerabilities and the perfect time to strike. What I still can’t figure out is who could have set up the cameras in the first place. Raven doesn’t let very many people in her room.” As Dick trailed off into thought, BB’s heart stopped and his stomach bottomed out as Dick’s reasoning sank in.

“If that’s true, and if we’re still sure Terra was the one who dosed her tea, then do we still think it’s Slade pulling the strings?” Cy looked at the rest of them, hoping someone else was having an easier time of untangling the convoluted plan than he was.

“Using people’s weaknesses against them is definitely in Slade’s wheel-house, but I can’t see the end game in getting Raven on her own. He can’t still be working for Trigon because he’s dead. If he had wanted her, why not just take her when he knocked all of us out and put us in those chambers? No, we’re missing something and I have no clue what it is.”

“Ahhh, I hate to break-up this brain-storming session but am I the only one who is worried that Raven is out there on her own with a possible weirdo after her and wonky control over her powers?” Cy asked.

Everyone stopped and looked at Speedy. “What?”

“You know where she is, don’t you? That’s what you said before.” Cy said.

Roy shrugged and stared at his feet. “I did, but I don’t know where she went after she left Cape Town.”

“What the hell is Raven doing in Africa?!” Cy yelled. BB paused before running over to the computer and pulling up a video chat. It didn’t take long before Rita answered. “Garfield is something wrong?” BB ignored Roy coughing ‘Milf’ under his breath, leading to Star asking what that meant and Cy hitting Roy.

“Do you remember you asked me if I had gone to see Mum and Dad lately? When did you notice that someone had been there?” Rita smiled, not really lessening the helpless and panicky feeling running through him.

“I went there just this afternoon actually, and you won’t believe who I found.” Rita panned the camera to the left to show that back of a woman with purple hair cut just above her shoulders wearing a white skirt and green top, looking at pictures on a mantle. BB recognised the place as the apartment he had bought for his adoptive parents to use when they wanted to get away from being superheroes. Needless to say, Rita was usually the only one who used it.

The woman turned around, a photo grasped in her hand. “Is this Gar in a cowboy costume?”

BB ignored the chuckles behind him as he drank in the sight of the woman who had been haunting him.

“Raven!”

She jumped and dropped the photo, looking around until she focused on the computer screen.

“Beast Boy?”