Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Musical: Things Change & The End? ❯ How and why did it happen? ( Chapter 19 )

CHAPTER NINETEEN

 

Except for those eerie winds of the Dark-Void outside, it was really quiet. Beast-Boy lay perfectly still, collapsed on the floor, as everyone huddled close to him. “Is he… dead?” asked Starfire.

 

Cyborg, now able to use his wrist-computer, found that Beast-Boy's heart was still beating, and his breathing was slow. “Nope-- He's still alive, he's just knocked out.”

 

Beast-Boy didn't look so good. The light from Terra's attack hit him harder than was first anticipated. Copy-Cat however, was most amazed. “How did you do it…?” he asked Terra.

 

“What are you talking about?” Terra asked.

 

Copy-Cat picked up the book, but it didn't seem to glow for him. “How were you able to unleash the power of the Light-Prognosticus?”

 

Terra shrugged, “I don't know…! All I wanted to do was help Beast-Boy.”

 

This confused everyone. They had gone through a great ordeal to obtain the book, and bit by bit they had been unlocking its secrets to help them progress through the castle, to defeat Count Logan, and make him pay for all the damage he had done.

 

“And you--” Copy-Cat replied, and then remembering how Terra felt strongly towards Beast-Boy, “Ah! But of course…! Why did I not see it before?”

 

Everyone else wondered what he was talking about, and then suddenly it became clear. Terra knew Beast-Boy was Count Logan long before they did, and she was well aware of his plotting…

 

She loved him; she wanted to help save him from the evil that bound him. Only the power of the pureness of her heart, and her determination to save Beast-Boy out of love and apology for her actions before-- These were the only actions that could truly unlock the Light-Prognosticus and over power the Dark Prognosticus… and all this time, the Titans, and the Doom Patrol never knew Count Logan's identity, and merely wanted to destroy him out of hatred and vengeance.

 

Terra didn't know what to think, but her thoughts were suddenly turned back to worrying about Beast-Boy. Elasti-Girl was bent down by her Foster-Son, gently stroking his hot forehead with her ungloved hand. “Garfield…!” she pepped softly.

 

“Gee, he doesn't look so good.” said Negative-man.

 

“I just don't get it…” added Robin, “Why, and what would he do all this for? How did all this happen?”

 

Metno then suggested maybe Copy-Cat could try to read his mind while he was out cold and couldn't block him out. “I will try…” He sat himself down behind Beast-Boy's head, and placed his hands over it. Then he concentrated, and everything began to become clear…

 

…

 

Beast-Boy; Alias: Garfield Mark Logan… He was a young man who had the worst traumatic of lives that anyone else could only have in their nightmares.

 

He grew deathly-ill when he was no more than five years-old, and he was saved by parents who cured him with an untested serum obtained from the Amazon. This serum unexpectedly, and unintentionally mutated his body, and granted his animal morphing skills.

 

After that, his entirely life to the present was shaped by nothing but tragedy, disaster, and hardship…

 

Starting with his parents dying in a flood shortly after his mutation. An accident Garfield was still haunted by everyday, still believing he could have prevented it.

 

He was sent to live with his foster family, but they died in a tank-war explosion. Garfield was looked after by his guardian, Nicholas Galtry; A cruel tyrant man who treated the boy harshly, and embezzled his funding. He plotted to have the boy killed just so he could inherit the money all for himself, and would have succeeded had Garfield not been rescued by the Doom Patrol.

 

For years they raised Garfield, and helped him control his powers, and eventually donned him as “Beast-Boy”

 

Beast-Boy was grateful to have a family again, but Mento was still nothing but more of a slime-ball than a hero and team leader; always treating Garfield as just a kid, and never even thanking home for once dong anything right.

 

Even though Beast-Boy saved the Doom-Patrol's life on more than one occasion, instead of stopping the Brotherhood of Evil, Mento still let him have it… not caring one bit that Beast-Boy cared about his surrogate family and didn't want to lose them the way he lost everyone else…

 

Still… Mento never forgave him for what he did, and saw no choice but to kick Beast-Boy off the Patrol. For a few years Beast-Boy was forced to fend for himself, out in the cold cruel world.

 

Nobody would help him, not even for one minute. Just because he was green, they called him a freak, and cast him aside like a pesky bug. He really didn't have a friend in the world…

 

…

 

I'm a quiverin', snivelin', blubberin', nameless non-existent,

Mass of nothing, soggy pile of mush.

And I haven't got a friend in the world.

 

No…

 

I haven't got a friend in the world.

…

 

The more Beast-Boy tried to fit in, the more out of place he felt, and the sadder and lonelier he felt. He was very lucky to have run into Robin and the others, and helped form the west coast of Teen Titans.

 

He adapted to the role of a comic-relief, always telling bad jokes, and getting into mischief. This was, however, only a façade he used to hide the deep inner pain from all his hardships and trauma…

 

The Titans did give him shelter and comfort from the coldness of the outside world… but very little respect and love and care, which was what he needed most. He gave, and gave, and even tried to help make the team happy at times… but he never got more than a meaningless “thank you” for it…

 

Even when Beast-Boy felt alone, and unimportant because he wanted and needed some attention The Titans were never there for him. Not event he people of the city, who still didn't appreciate him or like him because he was green.

 

Then, he met Terra… he developed a romantic interest in her, and maybe a little shine of hope in his otherwise unbearable life, but she kept on running from him… and eventually she turned to stone, only to come back and attempt to erase her past, and force Beast-Boy to move on with his life.

 

…Move on to what? He had nothing to move on to but a future filled with more misery, more pain, and suffering. The Titans didn't make it any easier, and scolded Beast-Boy for crimes he didn't commit, and accusing him of being nuts for having claimed to see Terra…

 

Beast-Boy left the city to try and leave all the nasty things behind him and try one last time to start over only to suffer more abuse, and hatred from every town he came across.

 

All these losses. All that pain…! Overtaken by extreme anger and sadness, Beast-Boy went positively insane and decided to exact revenge. Being someone who never found happiness, the Dark Prognosticus sensed this and flew out to Beast-Boy, accepting him as the being able to read it and gain ancient knowledge of powerful magic… but only if he were to end his life first.

 

Tempted by all this, Beast-Boy jumped off that gorge in the valley, and died only to be found by the Doom-Patrol, out on safari, and they brought him to a morgue until they could decide what to do with him.

 

Beast-Boy's old body soon faded away and was essentially reborn as “Count Logan”, a villain motivated by grief and regret. Using his new powers, Count Logan began to hurt, and kill most of the people who were harsh to him, out of thirst for revenge, and he had either constructed or found his castle to serve as a base of operations and as a home, which was located in a realm composed entirely of darkness…

 

But still, even with all this power, the pain and sadness he felt from losing his loved ones, and particularly his beloved Terra was still too strong for him to bare, and his dark ambitions and thirst for revenge were no satisfied.

 

All that was left for Count Logan was to get revenge by destroying everything that took her away from him, and what made his life a living hell; existence itself. He decided to fulfill the last prophecy written in the Dark Prognosticus, which would end the existence of all worlds and dimensions. Hence, the Dark-Void.

 

As Logan continued with his plans, he lied to his henchmen by telling them that he would create a new world when the others were destroyed. In actuality, he was planning on leaving them all in ruin and killing himself since he had nothing left to live for even though he cared deeply about his minions.

 

…

 

Everyone felt just… awful! The girls had tears of pity in their eyes, Terra felt the worst. All this time Beast-Boy was motivated by sadness and regret, rather than a lust for power and revenge.

 

His being in love with Terra was what made him evil; a tragic, sadistic villain who only did what he did because he didn't want to live without her, nor let anyone or anything else continue to exist when he never got to experience the happiness that he longed for.

 

Mento felt remorse, a lot. Remembering, and seeing all the times he had let Beast-boy have, “I guess I am just a pathetic, no good, Slime-ball.”

 

“Well isn't there something we can do?” asked Robot-man. “I mean, can't we figure out how to close the Dark-Void?”

 

Copy-Cat suddenly looked frightened. “Oh, no…!” he cried.

 

Everyone turned to face him, and Copy-Cat read more of Beast-Boy's mind.

 

…

 

As remorse as he felt for all his actions, and fully well aware of how evil he had become, Count Logan felt that his remorse was pointless. Believing that life was meaningless without Terra, and what he couldn't close the Dark-Void; Once he unleashed the void--well… it was out of his hands.

 

“The Prophecy cannot be stopped! The end is near!”

 

…

 

Now everyone seemed more frightened than upset. “What are we going to do?” cried Starfire. “More like what can we do?” added Raven.

 

“There has to be something.” said Robin.

 

Copy-Cat knew there was a way. He was unable to read the Dark Prognositcus himself, but read from Beast-Boy's memory what he had learned. “The Dark Void draws power from the one in control of the Dark Prognosticus.” He said. “Without the source, the void will seal, and the universe will be restored to normal.”

 

Everyone began to catch on, but, “Wait! If Beast-Boy's the source of the Dark Void… then that means--” she shook her head vigorously, “No…! No…!”

 

But Copy-Cat regretted to tell her there was no other way. To save the Universe and restore all the worlds, “We must destroy him!”