Fan Fiction ❯ A Raven Like No Other ❯ Chapter Eleven: Painful Truths ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter Eleven: Painful Truths

 

“Hatred shall rule,” the large red figure declared darkly as `he' fired yellow beams directly at Love. She was hurled off her feet and into the wall, knocking her unconscious.

“NO,” Desire cried as she ran towards her sister. The red figure fired at Desire and blasted her into the wall just as `he' did with Love, also knocking her unconscious with Love lying next to her. Robin, Frustration, Patience and Impatience jumped and backed away from the entrance as they took their guard upon seeing the large enemy figure at the entrance. The others looked to the front entrance to see a large red figure with white hair and four yellow eyes walking towards them. This creature was all too familiar to Raven and all her counterparts and to the Titans much to their horror.

“It's him,” Cyborg said a bit nervously with widened eyes.

“You,” Raven exclaimed with narrow eyes.

“It's Rage,” Irony said, “And she transformed into the personification of our most hated father!”

“How fuck did Rage escape from Love's chains,” Rudeness yelled.

“Before you Titans try anything,” `Trigon' said, “I wish to show you whom I owe my release to.”

At that, another large figure entered through the entrance, this one on both hands and feet. He came and stood besides `Trigon'.

“It's Beast Boy,” Starfire cried, “And he's transformed into that Man Beast again!”

Beast Boy as the Man Beast growled at them as he stood up on his feet. What everyone took note of was that he now his eyes were now glowing red instead of white. He looked over at the group and saw Robin, Cyborg and Starfire.

“Beast Boy here freed me from the chains Love bounded me with,” `Trigon' said as `he' threw the chains at Love's motionless body.

“You Bastard,” Raven cursed, “What the hell have you done to him?!”

“I turned him into my obedient servant,” `Trigon' said with an evil smile, “Like the Man Beast that he is. And like all animals, he was in need of a strong master.”

“Damn you,” Raven cursed as she and her other counterparts wondered how Rage could have gained control over Beast Boy's mind. With the transformed Rage controlling Beast Boy who was also transformed, they knew that there was going to be hell.

“Don't worry Raven,” `Trigon' said, “I have no intentions of hurting Beast Boy here. Like I said, he's my obedient servant and as his master, he will carry out my orders.”

`Trigon' turned to Beast Boy and said, “Now, my animal servant...Robin, Starfire and Cyborg are my enemies. Give them pain. Kill them for my amusement!!”

Beast Boy's eyes narrowed as he roared viciously with the intent on carrying out `Trigon's' orders.

“Get to it,” `Trigon' ordered. At that, Beast Boy charged into action.

“Titans, GO,” Robin yelled as he and the others got out of the way. Cyborg fired his arm around Beast Boy with a steel cable attached to his arm. The arm wrapped around Beast Boy as Cyborg tried to hold him back. Timid, Embarrassment and Fear took hiding in the kitchen trying to keep from sight.

“C'mon Beast Boy,” Cyborg pleaded, “I don't wanna hurt you! Fight this control that...thing has on you!”

Grabbing the cable, Beast Boy pulled Cyborg to him and greeted him with a solid headbutt. With the cable failing to loosen, Cyborg was pulled back by the transformed Beast Boy and was again greeted with another headbutt. By that time the cable loosen off Beast Boy. Before Beast Boy was able to doing any severe damage to Cyborg, Starfire started pummeling him with starbolts and Robin threw one of his diskettes at him. Their attacks on him only served to fuel his rage and inhuman desire for bloodshed as he did battle with them after Cyborg regained his composure and rejoined the fight.

All the while Raven and her other counterparts took flight in battling `Trigon'. It was getting heated up as Raven and her counterparts saw two new cloak and hooded figures soared down from the air and jump kicked `Trigon' simultaneously out through the window and down into the rocky ground on the surface. `Trigon' was momentarily out from the impact on `his' head while the two new emotions faced Raven and the others.

“I'm here to set things straight,” said the first figure clad in a tan silver colored cloak and boots, “I'm Justice!”

“I'm up for some hard pay back,” said the second figure clad in a brownish silver colored cloak and boots, “The name's Vengeance!”

“Alright,” Bravery cheered, “That's what I'm talking about!”

“That's nice,” Raven said, “But right now we have to stop Beast Boy!”

After `Trigon' lost consciousness, Beast Boy stopped his rampage and calmed down as his eyes turned from growing red to white. Cyborg, Robin and Starfire looked up from the floor and saw that Beast Boy had stopped where he was.

“He has,” Starfire started, “calmed down.”

“For now as it looks like,” Robin said as he, Starfire and Cyborg stood back up off the floor.

Beast Boy turned and saw Raven. Letting out a low growl he walked over to her and stood up tall before her. Beast Boy looked and leaned down at Raven, looking at her face to face. Raven said nothing as she stared him straight into his eyes. With a roar, Beast Boy grabbed Raven and held her high up off the floor with both large hands. Cyborg, Starfire, Robin and Raven's counterparts were about to jump in when...

“No,” Raven warned, “Stay back!”

“But Raven,” Starfire pleaded.

“Stay out of this,” Raven said, “All of you! He might lose control again if you three try to help me in any way.”

Reluctantly, her fellow Titans and counterparts complied although they kept their guards up for anything they felt would threaten Raven's safety. While holding her up in the air, Beast Boy looked at Raven with a scowl when memories of when both him and her were sitting and talking together the night he changed back to normal came to his mind. He remembered how kind she was to him and how she consoled him after all that happened that day. His expression gradually calmed and relaxed as he remembered her words to him:

“Having that thing inside you doesn't make you an animal. Knowing when to let it out is what makes you a man...a man...a man...”

Those words kept ringing in his mind over and over again. There was a brief moment of silence, which was shortly lived.

“I'm not an animal,” Beast Boy said in a rough growl-like voice as he placed Raven back down on her feet and released her. He then turned and walked away from her and the others towards the exit with his back facing everyone.

“What did you do to him,” Starfire asked.

“Nothing,” Raven confessed, “I did absolutely nothing.”

Beast Boy knelted down on both knees and hands with his head lowered as a greenish white mystic glow appeared around him.

“What's happening to him,” Cyborg asked worriedly. As if to answer his and everyone else's questions, a flash momentarily burst from out of Beast Boy's body. A couple of moments later, the flash of light died out giving everyone sight again. Everyone turned to Beast Boy who was still on his hands and knees, beathing in and out hard. Soon his breathing calmed down to a normal level.

A moment he stood back up off the floor, but from what everyone saw from his back, he still looked the same except now he was now wearing black pants and boots with no shirt on and the belt around his waist had silver armor platings around it. The top front and face parts of the boots had silver platings on them also. He wasn't as big as he was before however he was now Cyborg's height with his mane-like dark green hair stretching down his green fur-covered back. His light green hands were skin bare with no fur and his fingernails looked low-cut but his fur-covered arm each still had the same two dark stripes around them.

Raven slowly went over to her friend cautiously.

“Beast Boy,” Raven called out in a calm but worried voice.

“Am I still a boy to everyone,” Beast Boy asked with a voice that sounded a bit maturer than his regular voice. Everyone present were taken aback by Beast Boy's new voice. He then turned to face everyone and what they came to see shocked them. He was more muscularly built than before and his facial features revealed a handsome guy (A/N: think of Goku's body without the head and tail as Super Saiyan 4, except the red fur his green). Beast Boy's skin was light green and his shiny emerald eyes were expressed calmness and confidence.

By this time all of Raven's counterparts were gawking at Beast Boy, except for Love and Desire who were still unconscious and Lust still wasn't present. (A/N: think of them looking at Beast Boy with large smiles and hearts in their eyes and hearts bubbling out of their heads). Raven too couldn't help but stare at Beast Boy, and Robin, Starfire and Cyborg were staring at him also. For a moment Raven was lost for words until she regained her voice, “Gar...I mean, Beast Boy! You've...changed!”

“Did I change that much,” Beast Boy asked while scratching the back of his head. Sarcasm replied, “You're no green Martian so that's a plus.”

“Girl shut up,” Bravery shouted, “Green happens to be my favorite color (pointed to her cloak then looked at Beast Boy)! And from where B.B.'s standing he makes it look sexy!!”

“Wow,” Snobby said dreamily with her hands on her blushing cheeks, “This Green Wonder became far more than I've envisioned him before!!”

Happy exclaimed dreamily, “Green Wonder!? I've heard of black beauty and white beauty but girlfriend, this is Green Beauty!!”

Fear and Timid shyly went over to Beast Boy and studied his new look and structure. Beast Boy couldn't help but smile and blush heavily from the way Raven's counterparts were all admiring him. Raven couldn't feel more embarrassed at her counterparts' behaviors.

“Glorious,” Starfire said with a surprised expression in her voice, “Beast Boy has undergone a transformation of some kind. On my home planet something like this is common for Tamaranians.”

“Well Beast Boy is no Tamaranian,” Cyborg said.

“What I'd like to know is how was Beast Boy able to transform into...what he is now,” Robin said.

“I think I speak for Raven and my fellow emotions when I say this something all of us want to know,” Curiosity said with fascination.

“Tell us Beast Boy,” Robin asked, “How were you able to transformed into this new form of yours?”

“Well, I-”

BEAST BOY!!!

Beast Boy grabbed his head instantly and fell to his knees, giving out a loud outcry. Raven and the others jumped back from the sudden outburst as Beast Boy screamed in pain.

“Beast Boy,” Raven asked worriedly, “What is it?! What's wrong?!”

“Something's attacking me,” Beast Boy wailed.

“From where,” Starfire asked looking around for the enemy, “I can't see any-”

“From inside me,” Beast Boy shouted while still holding his head. Suddenly Beast Boy started seeing flashes of images in his mind:

Flashback #1: Raven entering his room and reading his private journal then placing it back in its original position before running out and into him.

Flashback #2: When Beast Boy was offering Raven a cup of herbal tea after her abrupt departure from Titan Tower that same day while not knowing she was hiding a secret from him involving his private journal.

Flashback #3: Her snide remark to him after he offered and asked her to exercise with him in the gym after her meditation.

Flashback #4: Raven and him erotically making out together in his room on his bed before her powers overshadowed him, causing him to lose consciousness before Raven exited his room.

Flashback #5: Beast Boy waking up believing the erotic makeout session was all a dream.

Flashback #6: Her sneaking into his room and reading his journal again before she slammed it down on the desk after reading what he wrote in it and then storming out of his room.

Flashback #7: Raven and Beast Boy getting into an argument after the battle with Overload and Beast Boy apologizing thinking the whole thing was his fault with Raven not telling him the whole truth about what happened earlier.

Flashback #8: Curiosity and Rudeness reading his entire journal before Curiosity placed it back in its original position in his room without his notice since he was asleep with Fear sleeping next to him on his bed.

For all this time Beast Boy has been so over-worried about what injuries Raven would inflict on him for all that's happened when in actuality Raven herself was responsible for everything that's happened and his paranoia since day one. This served to fuel Beast Boy's rage as fangs grew from his mouth with his eyes turning from normal to glowing red. He let out a growl of animosity causing everyone to back away from him fearfully. Raven suddenly saw visions in her mind, which linked to the root of Beast Boy's sudden change in behavior.

“Oh fuck,” Raven said in a low undertone as turned to see an angry red-eyed Beast Boy looking at her after he stood back up with his clenched fists at his sides.

“Raven,” Starfire asked fearfully, “What's wrong with Beast Boy?”

“Let's just say that my passed actions have finally caught with him and he's really pissed off at me about it,” Raven answered while trying to hide the fear in his voice. Beast Boy was about to do something when...

“Beast Boy!!”

Beast Boy turned and looked to the source of the dark feminine voice that called out to him. This voice belonged to none other than the red Goth, Rage, who transformed back to her original self and was weakly standing by the broken window. Rage was currently holding her hooded head with her left hand, concealing the injury she endured from the fall while using her right hand to hold onto her ribs feelings pain coursing through them.

“To me,” Rage ordered as her eyes flashed at him, causing his eyes to glow brighter for a second. She gestured her hand to him to come forward. Beast Boy ran and made his way to her. After reaching the window, Beast Boy lifted and cradled Rage into his arms while she was massaging her injured head. Turning to Robin and the others, she said, “You Titans win this time...but we'll crush you next time!!”

With that, Beast Boy turned and speedily jumped from the window with Rage, leaving Titan Tower and the island.

“Beast Boy come back,” Raven yelled as she and the others ran to the window, only to find that both him and Rage were gone.

“Amazing,” Irony said, “Two raging alter egos in one day. Although Raven and Beast Boy's personas are opposites to each other however those two really have monstrous anger management issues that can really relate to each other.”

“Oh shut up,” Annoyance said. Tranquility and Kindness went to check on Love and Desire and a moment later, both heart sisters regained consciousness and from what they saw, things weren't in the favor of the Titans.

“Looks like I missed the party,” said a voice sounding all too familiar to Raven and all her counterparts. Raven and the others turned to see third heart sister entering into the messy and damaged common room with her hood over her head and her cloak draped and covering her body from sight much to the surprise of Raven and all her counterparts. Love and Desire had regained consciousness and found their sister making her way towards them.

“Lust,” Love spoke, “You're finally awake.”

“The same can be said of you and Desire after I realized you both were knocked unconscious,” Lust countered.

“Touché,” Love retorted as she picked up her chains and reverted them back into her white rose. Lust saw the look on Love and the others' faces and saw that more went down than just the earlier battle.

“It's Rage,” Lust said, “She took G.L., didn't she?”

“How did you know,” Starfire asked.

“It was her plan from the beginning,” Lust continued, “But there's more to it. I'm sure by now that it's completely obvious that all of Raven's personalities, emotions and myself have a special fondness for G.L. but in our own ways, and Rage is no exception.”

“Care to elaborate,” Robin said. Lust explained, “You see, Rage was attracted to G.L.'s wrathful and highly aggressive counterpart. So much so that she formulated a potion at a bio laboratory to use on G.L.”

“Well that explains why Beast Boy transformed into that Man Beast again,” Cyborg said.

“I tried to stop her from using that formula on him but I ended up fusing with her instead.”

“How did this fusion occur,” Raven questioned. Lust answered in a mischievous tone, “Emotionally speaking, at that moment of time Rage and myself surprisingly were on the same wavelength; we both sought out to have G.L. for ourselves and we've have done whatever means needed to have our way with G.L..”

Raven cringed at Lust's explanation complemented with her sly voice tone. It didn't take Robin, Cyborg and Starfire long to figure what Lust's own intentions were.

“As a result, when Rage and I merged, we turned into that rampaging emotion that was known as Obsession. Personally, merging with Rage was anything but an experience I want to go through again. After I fused with Rage, Obsession infused the potion into G.L. when she barged into his room and kissed him earlier today. Although I had very little control over the fusion however, I'll admit that I did enjoy the kissing session with him.”

“That was obvious,” Sarcasm said, “But it wasn't your first experience with him anyway.”

This caused Robin, Starfire and Cyborg to look at her, Lust and Raven questionably.

“Hold up,” Cyborg said, “What did you mean by `it wasn't her first experience with him'?”

“I might as well come out and tell you straight,” Raven interjected with a blush appearing on her cheeks, “I have kissed Beast Boy before, very early yesterday morning.”

“WWHHHAAAAAATTT???!!!!,” shouted Robin, Starfire and Cyborg in unision.

“It was involuntarily,” Raven continued, “Lust managed to take control of my body and had me passionately kiss Beast Boy. What adds to this complication is that my powers made him believe that what happened was all a dream.”

“That still doesn't seem to fully explain why Beast Boy angrily turned on you,” Robin said while trying to put everyting together, “It just doesn't add up.”

Lowering her head, Raven went onto explain everything to her fellow Titans while carefully making sure to explain the makeout session without describing exactly what she and Beast Boy did together. It was a brief while before she was done with her explanation. Starfire, Robin and Cyborg were utterly stupefied by everything they were informed about, and saw how everything now made sense and why all of Raven's emotions and personalities are so fond of Beast Boy in their own ways.

“Man,” Cyborg said, “This is too deep!”

“I'll say,” Robin agreed.

“So whereas Rage's intentions were to turn Beast Boy into her own personal Man Beast,” Starfire said to Lust, “Your intentions towards Beast Boy are sensual oriented, yes?”

“That and some,” Lust remarked with a grin, “And Raven can testify to that. After all, she was the one who freed Love, Desire and myself from the depths of her heart as she already explained.”

Raven vainly had her hood covering her blushing face.

“This is so not my day,” Embarrassment said with a shy voice.

“I wasn't seeking to release you three,” Raven said with a monotone. “Ever since the three of you were unwittingly released, I've been through one form of humiliation and grief one after another.”

“Well said for someone who's responsible for her own humiliation and grief,” Irony said.

“Shut the hell up,” Raven sternly ordered.

Wisdom, Reason and Conscience stood side by side with each other and remembering Lust's words on synchronized emotional wavelengths, the three of them started glowing until their bodies were completely absorbed into their glows. The glows then merged into one and released a temporary flash of light. After the light died out, everyone came to see a whole new emotion standing where Wisdom, Reason and Conscience were once standing. This emotion was clad in golden brown cloak and boots.

“Why should she,” spoke the calm voice emotion, “She's right after all. You are responsible for your own humiliation and grief. I believe Love said it best: “Denial will bring forth consequences”.”

“Wisdom, Reason and Conscience fused into one,” Knowledge said stating the obvious.

“Fascinating,” Curiosity said, “What did they fuse into?”

“I'm Enlightenment,” spoke the golden brown cloak emotion as she turned to Raven continued, “You placed yourself through so much unnecessary trauma because you were too stubborn and hardheaded to accept what your heart was reflecting. You denied your feelings so strongly that your mirror for meditation overloaded and released us. Since you weren't willing to express how you truly felt and denied them instead, your strong feelings and affections for Garfield Logan came out through another way.”

“Which unfortunately led to Beast Boy falling into Rage's control,” Knowledge retorted.

“Nevertheless,” Love replied, “We will break Rage's control over him and get Beast Boy back, one way or another.”

“Amen to that,” Bravery agreed.

“Ditto here,” Justice replied.

“Just wait till I get my hands on Rage,” Vengeance stated, “I'll give her a beating the like she has never felt for what she's done!”

“Till then,” Knowledge spoke, “It's best if we recuperate first before we begin our search for Beast Boy and Rage.”

“Why can't we start searching for them now,” Starfire asked. Knowledge answered, “We're without a plan nor with any knowledge of their whereabouts.”

“Knowledge is right,” Cyborg agreed, “I'm not getting a signal from B.B.'s communicator. It was either damaged or deactivated.”

“With Rage on the loose and with Beast Boy under her control,” Robin interjected, “There's no telling what dangerous harm and damages they can do.”

“Perhaps,” Raven said, “But it's not likely that they'll be causing trouble tonight. If anyone noticed, Rage was injured from the fall, and it's most likely that she'll hide out somewhere and recover from her injuries before she makes her next move.”

“That ought to buy us some time until we can find a way to break Rage's control over Beast Boy,” Robin said.

“Lust,” Desire now spoke after a long silence, “You were fused with Rage. Would you happen to have any insight on how to break Rage's control over Beast Boy?”

“That only Raven can do it and no one else,” Lust answered. Raven questioned, “Me? And how am Isuppose do that?”

Lust stepped up to Raven until both her and Raven were face to face. With a playful voice and grin, Lust answered, “Deep down Raven you know you want G.L. back as bad as I do and there's no point in lying to yourself now, especially after all that's happened. I came from your heart so I know how you feel for him in every way and what you'd love to do with him. You just won't let yourself admit it.”

“Get to the point,” Raven said with irritation.

“You already know what my point is,” Lust answered, “The thing is that you refuse to allow yourself to express it.”

Wishing to say nothing more, Lust turned and started own her way out away from the others.

“Amazing,” Femininity retorted, “Lust didn't bother to attempt to be all flashy with herself or do most of the other things she'd normally do.”

While walking away, Lust stopped where she was. With her back facing the group, she answered with a seductive and naughty tone, “I said I had plans to make a new woman out of Raven. I can't do that as long as I'm outside her. Besides, even if G.L. was here, those pleasurable sensations just wouldn't be the same. It would be pointless and flavorless if I did all that I desired to do with him outside Raven's body. And if anything, I want G.L. to have to whole “package”, not part of it.”

“And what's that suppose to mean,” Knowledge asked.

“And I thought you were the smart one,” Lust mocked as she turned to face Raven and all her counterparts, “What I mean is that I want Raven and us all as one to experience wonderful times with G.L.. I hope I made that crystal clear. Now if you all will excuse me...”

With that said, Lust turned and proceeded on way out. No one knew what say after Lust departed. With nothing to say, Raven started walking away from the others towards the exit. On her way she saw Beast Boy's torn sleeveless muscle shirt lying on the floor. She figured Robin must have dropped it during the battle earlier. She picked it up and exited with it in her hands. Starfire was about to go after her when Robin pulled her back.

“Let her be Star,” Robin advised.

“But-”

“Raven needs some time alone,” Robin said, “So much has happened in such a short time and now Beast Boy is gone. Something like this isn't easy for her to handle.”

“But we're her friends,” Starfire protested, “I know she made many mistakes but as her friends we should try to help her by whatever means we can.”

“We know that Starfire,” Cyborg answered, “But Robin's right. After all that's happened, Raven needs time to herself to clear things out. We'd probably make things worse if we try anything without giving her time to clear her mind first.”

Reluctantly, Starfire agreed to leave Raven alone for a while. Love and Desire disappeared from the group, leaving the other Titans wondering where they went. All the while, the other emotions started helping Robin, Cyborg and Starfire clean up the mess that resulted from the fight earlier. Although Raven's counterparts were keeping themselves busy in whatever way they could, they all were thinking about the same thing: how were they going to get Beast Boy back and fix the damage that was done...

 

(Later On)

Raven was up on the roof watching to late sunset. As she stood there, she looked at the torn shirt she picked up off the floor. Although she didn't verbally say it, but she already missed Beast Boy and she knew that. She embraced his shirt as if she wanted to be reminded of his presence.

“We all feel the same as you do Raven Roth,” spoke a mature voice. Raven turned to see the three heart sisters standing behind her.

“Come to berate me for being a stubborn girl,” Raven said with a sad voice.

“No,” Love answered, “You're already aware of all that went down, so berating you further would do nothing to change all that's happened.”

“However,” Desire spoke up, “You can change what can happen since the future is not yet set.”

“Therefore,” Lust said, “All isn't lost. We can still get G.L. back and have him all to ourselves girlfriend.”

“Getting him back though all depends on you Raven,” Love replied, “No else but you have the ability to get him back.”

“But how can I,” Raven asked with a softened voice, “I caused this disaster and I lost Beast Boy. Rage managed to manipulate Beast Boy's mind with those half-truth memories he saw, which caused him to fall under Rage's mind control.”

“Ironically you lost him to “yourself” in a way,” Love retorted, “Listen Raven, we never said that handling your new emotions for Beast Boy was going to be that easy. However I did warn you that trouble would arise should you suppress and deny your feelings for him. Since you chose not to heed my warning, each of your emotions came out from the mirror expressing your affections for Garfield Logan in their own ways. From Happy to Bravery to Fear to Rudeness to Cunning, and surprisingly even to Rage, and the list goes on.”

Raven was quiet as she listen to what Love was telling her. After a moment, Raven replied, “I didn't want to risk hurting Beast Boy or anyone else if my emotions were to get out of control. Yet in spite of my intentions, I only caused more trouble and chaos than preventing them, and Beast Boy and my friends were on the receiving end. I don't even know if Beast Boy will forgive me for all the trouble and misery I've put him through.”

Raven lowered her head and fell to her knees as several tears fell from her eyes with a few sobs escaping her mouth. Love stepped forward and knelt down in front of Raven and took out Raven's cracked antique mirror. Seeing the mirror, Raven looked up at Love with her tear-streaked face.

“Although Rage has Garfield's mind under her control however,” Love consoled, “She doesn't control his heart or his true feelings about you and that's solid.”

Love handed Raven the mirror and advised, “Don't deny what your mirror reflects about your new feelings and affections. Learn to control and accept them, and most importantly, be true and honest with yourself and with him. If you learn to do that, then everything else will fall into place. It's all in the mind and heart. (Turning to Desire and Lust) Isn't that right?”

Lust and Desire nodded their heads in agreement, both of whom were grinning. Raven looked down at her cracked mirror and at Beast Boy's shirt. After another moment, she turned to the sunset and said in her mind, “Garfield Logan...wherever you are, I promise I'll find you and make things right. I'll find a way to get you back with us...with me...I promise...”

 

 

TBC