DW 5

Ch.5 Past Scars And Present Feelings

It wasn't the white light that woke him, no. It was a familiar scent, one that he had grown accustom to over the years; one that he would recognize anywhere. It smelt of lavender and books, with just a hint of jasmine. And it was close. Beast Boy's eyes shot open as the smell overwhelmed his senses. He jolted himself upright, only to feel a stinging pain surge through his body. He placed one of his green hands onto on his bandages that wrapped across his torso….Wait, bandages? Why would he need bandages? And why were his gloves off? And most importantly: WHY WASN'T HE WEARING A SHIRT?!

"Ahem?" His ears twitched at the sound of a slight cough. Beast Boy looked up, his attention now on the sorceress that sat near his bed. Raven's legs were crossed, as she laid the book in her hand upon them. She moved it below of her other hand that was enclosed to a fist away from her mouth and opened her eyes, allowing Beast Boy to dive into the amethyst beauties. Then he watched as her eyes drifted back into her book.

"You might not remember this, but the reason you're wearing bandages is because you attempt to save our fearless leader by sacrificing yourself." Beast Boy's eyes widened, as suddenly he remembered the mission that they had been on. There was one rogue gunman that had gone unaccounted for, aiming for the least resilient of them all, Robin. He remembered jumping in the way as the Beast, the only thought going through his mind at that time being 'Protect'. He knew what he said as he fell to the ground, but didn't manage to catch their fearless leader's face. BB was about to ask a question, but apparently she wasn't having it.

"Which was stupid of you to do, idiot—did you forget that his cape his made of steel? He would have been fine! And you wouldn't have had Starfire so worried!" By Star, she meant herself. BB knew this all too well, but it still caused his ears to droop knowing full and well that he had caused her to worry. But then they perked up again, this time out of curiosity.

"So….Who's idea was it to take off my shirt?" At this, Raven pushed her book in front of her face, to hide a slight blush that Beast Boy could still see. His smiled widened big as she muttered an inaudible 'Me…' Well, inaudible in you didn't have super strong, yet charmingly pointy babe magnets.

Beast Boy gave a small chuckle, and before he could ask how long he had been in the infirmary, the teen's resident bubbly alien floated in the doorway. To be honestly she didn't give off the same bouncy energy as normal, even Beast Boy could sense it. In her hands was a tray for tea, obviously for Raven.  

The orange skinned girl gave her sister-friend a kind, yet weak smile. "I am most joyous that you have awoken friend Raven. I know that I bringing you your tea may seem 'strange' as you put it, but do not fret. Friend Bumblebee successfully made your favorite, fearing that I may mess up in my condition. How is friend Beast Boy's doing?"   

While she had spoken, Starfire hadn't even looked into Beast Boy's direction, out of fear that she may start the leaking of the eyes that humans called crying. Beast Boy himself had decided to stay silent, out of fear that one of Starfire's 'hugs' would cause internal bleeding and reopen the wound. Raven stayed silent and sipped her tea-huh. The dark girl would have never guessed to put honey in her tea. It gave a nice sweet flavor.- knowing that her naive friend would soon noticed her green friend's awakening…..

"BEASTBOY!!!" Was Starfire's cry of joy, causing him to suck in a deep breath in order to protect his lungs and Raven to spill some of her tea (which she stopped in midair and placed back into her mug. She had expected Star to be loud by not enough to shake the Tower). "Oh, friend I have been most worried about you-so much in fact that I have made several bowls full of the Pudding of Sadness! But not so much as friend Raven here! She has not left your side once since you have been in healing, having refused much of the persuading to sleep in her room. Just as I was coming to ask her again, friend Raven was-" Starfire stopped mid-sentence, as she sense a presence of pure evil and death behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she found only Raven…

The alien girl gave a sheepish smile. What she had found when she had first arrived to the medical ward was Raven was fast asleep on his lap. Not wishing to disturb their slumber, Starfire had gone to receive some of Raven's tea. Now that little bit of information could very well get her killed. Starfire let go of Beast Boy, her injured teammate sucking air way more air then truly needed, and slowly backed out of the room.
7
With only her head in the doorway, she announced, "I will start the Taffy of Happiness as well as inform our friends of Beast Boy's awakening!" And with that she was gone. Once they were sure she had left, Beast Boy asked, "So did you really stay with for however long I was out, Rae?"

The empathic girl clasped her book upside down on her lap and nodded, not expecting his motion of thanks. This time is was his turn to stun her. Raven turned cherry red as Beast Boy leaned over (rather painfully mind you) and kissed her on the cheek. Suddenly a shatter and an "!" could be heard. The two then screamed "STARFIRE!" who had poked her head back into the doorway and sweat-dropped.

"Yes? ...I was not doing the dropping of the eves, if that is what you are thinking-just merely looking for a penny that I had dropped earlier. Do not mind me." If Raven could have shoot lasers out of her eyes, much like Starfire actually could, let's just say her friend would have probably been ash at that very moment.

The alien princess disappeared from sight, Raven taking the time to actually sense if her friend was still there or not. This time for sure Starfire had actually left to tell the news to the other Titans. When she opened her eyes, she found Beast Boy staring at her. Fighting the slight blush that was threatening to creep into her cheeks, she was about to continue reading when Beast Boy asked her an important question. "So Titans East is here?"

Raven only nodded, replying with, "Yes. After coming home, Cyborg called them over after the mission and we set you up in here-" To which Beast Boy interjected with, "Why is it that the dashing green hero always ends up in the hospital? What kind of a cursed fate this?"

She rolled her eyes, a slight smile on her lips as she continued without losing her place. "-and asked if they could take our place watching over the city. We wouldn't be able to function correctly as a team without you. What happened the other day has taken a deep toll on all of us: Cyborg has yet to leave the garage, Robin locked himself in his room, Starfire's hasn't had complete control over her powers, and I haven't been able to mediate for the past four days…"

Raven's eyes went to the bandages around his chest, images of the last couple days flashing in her mind. Her slapping their leader and selfishly blaming their teammates condition on him once they had gotten out of public view, Cyborg struggling with all his might to get her to leave Beast Boy's side before he could surgically remove the bullets, Starfire coming in and out of the medical ward to bring her food.

There was an awkward silence between her and Beast Boy, and due to her lack of mediation and of course the bracelet's enchantment, her emotions would do anything but keep silent. Happy was ecstatic that BB was alive, along with Timid who was actually smiling. Affection and Lust wanted to lay their heads against his chest and rest, but it was Curiosity's voice that spoke the loudest. "Beast Boy," The green teen looked up at her trustingly, "How did you get those deep scars on your body?"

Every Titan had a dark past, all of which they would rather not speak off. They only express qualities they wish for the rest of the world to see: Robin's with his unyielding determination, Starfire's too extreme happiness and positivity, Cyborg's loud and yet gentle brotherly-ness, Raven with her calm and collectiveness. Beast Boy knew that even he put up an extreme front, what with his 'stupidity' and lame jokes.

It was the way they each coped with the shadows of what made them what they are, each worst than the last. It was also something that even as a team, they never truly discussed. But to be honest, it was probably Raven and Cyborg they knew the most about. Heck, the team knew more about Starfire and Robin past than they did his.

They had seen how he acted with the Doom Patrol, but that didn't know anything about the time before this. In actuality it was Beast Boy that was the most mysterious, second only to their leader. He knew that sometimes Raven, being the empathic beauty that see was, was able always catch that sad gleam that lingered in his eyes, but could never really place it with who he played off to be.


If he told her, everything she knew about him would change. If he told her, old and dark memories would claw their way back to his front of his mind, forcing him to relive the worst days of his life. But what scared him the most was that if he told her, she probably wouldn't look at him with anything but pity for the rest of his life. It was these thoughts and more that caused the blood from his face to drain, making him look almost as pale as Raven.

Raven must have realized this, for her eyes softened and her voice became quiet, "Beast Boy, you don't have to talk about if-" Beast Boy shook his head, cutting her off without saying a word. After a minute or so of gather his thoughts, Beast Boy spoke. "If you want me to know about these scars, I'll need to beginning. Do you really know want to know how I got this green scar all over my body?"

The question was rhetorical, of course, but left it's desired affected. Raven eyes flickered with Sadness's blue, as did the pheromones she gave off. She said nothing, ready to just listened, nodding her head as he gave a gentle of smile at her concern. BB looked away from her, shuddering slightly as he remembered the screams and cries of the other children, the sting of leather on his chest and his back. He blinked, the painful memories vanishing, but his scars still aching.