Author's notes - hello everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update this story, I've been busy and in a bit of a writer's block. I'm thinking there will only be one or two more chapters after this one, including an epilogue. I'll get down to it and just let you guys read this. Leave reviews please!
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Beast Boy had only seen Nevermore once, and if he'd thought it looked like a barren wasteland then, now it looked like that, only it'd been hit by a tornado and an earthquake all at once.
The already dead trees were split down the middle as if they'd been hit by a bolt of lightning. The ground was broken up almost everywhere and there wasn't a level place to walk.
Beast Boy winced. How could Raven have survived like this for this long on her own? How many times did she fight the same villains only to have them overthrow her or one of her emoticlones?
How bad of shape will she be in when the get to her?
"BB." Wally's voice snapped him back to the present moment. "Shouldn't we split up in our groups?"
"Yeah. Find her as fast as you can. Don't forget to hit the distress button if you find her. Don't engage in a fight, just play with them. Once we get back to the Tower we'll have everyone waiting for the fight."
With that, the teens have each other nods and headed off in different directions. Beast Boy and Jericho began to climb over a large boulder while Aqualad and Jinx carefully manuevered their way around the broken up ground, with Wally disappearing as he sped off to scout the area.
Please be okay. Please be okay. Beast Boy repeated the phrase over and over like a mantra. Raven had to be okay. She was all he and Robin had left of their team. She couldn't leave them. She just couldn't. Not when she'd fought this hard to protect them.
Now it was their turn to protect her.
Beast Boy had no idea how long they'd been climbing over boulders and fallen trees and not found a thing, nor had they received word from Jinx, Kid Flash, or Aqualad.
Suddenly Jericho's arm shot out in front of the changeling, effectively halting his next step. Beast Boy shifted his focus to the blond, confusion apparent on his features. Jericho simply motioned forward.
Beast Boy looked to find a rock in front of them. What was so important about a moving rock?
Wait. A moving rock?
Sure enough, the gray rock was moving. How could a rock even-wait a second, was that a hand?
Beast Boy stepped forward and reached out, grabbing onto the back of the "rock". His hand closed around soft fabric and a small yelp was heard, two small pale hands clamping down on his wrist.
"Please don't hurt me!" The voice sounded familiar...
Beast Boy looked down into the face of Raven. Tears were in her eyes, and he could see how afraid she was.
"Timid?" The changeling quickly put Timid back on her feet and let go of the back of her cloak.
"Garfield?" The voice softened and her eyes began watering for an entirely different reason. "It's you!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands around his neck and squeezing him tightly. "You came to save her." She whispered against his chest.
His arms went around her and squeezed her just as tight. "No, I came to save all of you." Beast Boy gripped the emoticlone's shoulders and pushed her back enough that he could see her tear soaked face. "Do you know where our Raven is?"
She shook her head. "They knew I wasn't a good fighter so they told me to go hide while I could."
"Dammit," the changeling cursed under his breath. "Guess you'll have to come with us to find her. Don't worry, Jericho and I will protect you. That was a good hiding place you had, too."
Timid blushed and drew her torn cloak tighter around herself. "It was Knowledge's idea."
"We have three of the other Titans here to help find her."
"Is Robin here? And Star and Cyborg?"
Beast Boy took a shaky breath. "Robin's back at the Tower, he's hurt pretty bad. And Cy and Star, well, they didn't survive the first attack."
Timid gasped and covered her mouth with both hands, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I know it hurts, be we need to focus on finding Rae."
Timid nodded and took Beast Boy's hand, holding it tightly. He gave a comforting squeeze before tugging her gently along behind him. He remembered the first time he met Timid, how she thought that he had hated Raven. Oh, how wrong she was.
Jericho patted the changeling's shoulder and held out his communicator. The light was blinking, meaning there was an incoming call.
Beast Boy took the device with his free hand and flipped it open. "Beast Boy he-"
"Aqualad's down!" Jinx's voice yelled through the communicator. "Wally's trying to confuse him so I can heal him but he's hit bad!"
"Where are you?"
"God I don't know! Garth, hey, Garth, stay with me!"
"Fuck," Beast Boy uttered, clenching his fingers tightly around the object in his hand. "Hit the distress signal, we're coming to you."
Coordinates appeared on the screen and he handed the device to Jericho, allowing him to lead the way.
"Gar, you're hurting me." A frail voice came from his right and he turned, finding Timid glancing down at their joined hands as they ran. His knuckles were turning white with the amount of pressure he was squeezing, and Timid's hand was paying the price.
He loosened his grip immediately, but didn't let go. "I'm sorry, Timid. Just scared."
"It's okay to be scared, Garfield." Timid gave his hand a quick squeeze. "You have your friends to help you through."
Gar squeezed her hand lightly and turned his focus forward, hoping it wasn't anything the five of them could handle.
After what seemed to be forever, Jinx and Aqualad came into sight, hiding behind a large rock while Jinx's hands moved over the fallen prince. The ran to their sides, dropping down to the duo.
"He got slammed into this rock, his head was bleeding badly and I think a vertebra in his neck broke." Jinx had tears streaming down her cheeks. "Wally told me to do what I could, but I don't know if I can fix this. He said not to worry about him, that he could distract Cinderblock until you guys showed up." Jinx tore her eyes away from Aqualad's still form and locked eyes with Beast Boy. "Please go help him."
"Jericho, come on." The changeling turned to Timid. "Stay here with Jinx. She'll keep you safe."
Timid nodded before Beast Boy launched to his feet and shifted mid-stride, turning himself into a tyrannosaurus rex and charging straight into the battle scene. He caught sight of a small speck of red and gold circling around the feet of Cinderblock, and he hoped Wally knew to move.
Well, so much for avoid and evade.
Cinderblock looked at the changeling just as he slammed into him, sending the villain crashing to the ground. He shifted once more, this time into a gorilla and began pounding on Cinderblock's face, hoping to keep the villain dazed.
He could hear shouting, but he wasn't sure of who was shouting, or why. All he cared about in that moment was subduing the villain that bad not only just cracked Aqualad's head open, but had been torturing Raven and her emoticlones for almost a week.
Beast Boy felt a hand in his shoulder and he whirled around, facing the person and roared. Once he realized who it was, he regretted it immediately. Timid was hovering in the air, her arms wrapped around herself and tears brimming in her eyes.
He shifted back and reached out to the scared emoticlone and she flinched, hovering just out of his reach. Beast Boy sighed and dropped his hand back to his side. "Timid... I didn't mean to do that to you. I'm sorry."
"Y-you were scaring me, punching that guy over and over like that. It was like you gave in to the animal and let it take over." The fear in her eyes made Beast Boy's heart sink.
"I was so angry that he hurt my friends. That he was hurting you and the other emoticlones and Raven. I lost control." He shifted his eyes to hers and reached out his hand. "But I would never hurt you or any part of Raven."
Timid was hesitant, but locking eyes with the changeling, she slid her hand into his and held it tightly. Just moments later, her eyes widened in fear and called out to him, but it was too late.
The giant on the ground had recovered, slamming his hand into the changeling and sending him flying through the air. Beast Boy recovered quickly, shifting into a falcon and bringing himself upright. The scene before him was startling.
Timid was clamped into Cinderblock's fist as he laughed, her arms pushing at his hand trying to free herself from his rock hard grip. She was calling out his name, calling out for him to save her.
Beast Boy flew straight at Cinderblock, shifting midair once more into a gorilla and climbing down the giant's arm to the captured emoticlone. Once at the villain's wrist, the changeling began pounding wildly against Cinderblock's hand.
The giant roared, bringing his other hand to swat away the young Titan once more. Beast Boy went flying from the arm of the villain, slamming into the ground for the first time. He shifted back to his human form, straightening himself out and feeling his back pop.
He was gonna be sore in the morning.
"Jinx, how's Garth?" He yelled, trying to think of the best method to take down the nuisance.
"He's breathing!" Was the pink haired sorceress's response.
"Fucking great." He muttered.
"Garfield!" Timid's voice shook as she called out to him.
"Stand back, assface!" Another familiar voice called out before a dark figure landed on Cinderblock's shoulder and ran towards Timid. The giant's hand swung once again, narrowly missing the dashing figure. The villain became angry, wildly swinging to knock the unwanted presence from his arm. The figure began doing some form of gymnastics or something of the sort; doing cartwheels and back hand springs to avoid being hit.
Cinderblock slammed his fist down on his wrist, causing his grip to loosen and let go of the scared emoticlone entirely. The figure grabbed Timid by the back of the cloak and began to levitate mid flip, taking her away from the angry giant.
Timid's feet touched the ground in front of Beast Boy, followed by the feet of another. Timid gasped and ran towards the changeling and all but wrapped herself around him. He was quick to hold her tightly to his chest, his fear dissipating quickly. He walked behind the rock to hide from Cinderblock to try and develop a game plan.
"I was wondering if you were ever gonna do something to save her." Another emoticlone in a deep green cloak crossed her arms over her chest. "Figured since I stumbled upon the scene I'd lend a hand."
Bravery. That's who this was.
"Why are you here? Why aren't you with the others?" Beast Boy snapped at the emoticlone, still holding the trembling Timid to his chest.
"Um, excuse me?" Bravery cocked a hip to the side and placed her hands on her hips. "Who's been fight for a week nonstop? Who's actually been doing something other than sitting on their green ass and being mopey?"
"I didn't know what was going on because she wouldn't tell me." Beast Boy gritted through his teeth. "Had I known, I would've been here days ago."
Timid said something to him but the sound was muffled by his chest. "What?"
She squeezed him tighter. "Don't fight."
Beast Boy cradled the back of the emoticlone's head while staring daggers at the other.
"We need to find Raven." Wally's voice and body suddenly appeared beside the changeling.
"We need to figure what to do with this asshat before he wrecks the place up even more." Bravery commented, her eyes trained on Kid Flash.
"We could wrap him up in something." The speedster suggested.
"In what? The trees he already fucking broke?"
"There's not any streetlights for us to use, and even those don't hold him for long." Jinx commented from her place beside Aqualad.
"We have to find Raven. The sooner we get to the surface, the more fighting power we'll have, and the quicker we can help Aqualad." Beast Boy began a soft swaying motion with Timid, trying to calm her down.
All around heads were nodding, agreeing with Beast Boy's new plan.
"So, how do we get around tall, gray and ugly?" Bravery jerked her thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to the large villain searching for them.
"Couldn't Jericho just control him until we can get by? Then we can run for it?" Jinx looked up from Aqualad.
"We need him to get Raven. She's gonna get us all out of here. Villains included."
"Um, guys?" Timid's voice said. "I don't think finding Raven's going to be the problem."
"Why do you say that?" Wally cocked his head to the side and stared at the emoticlone.
"The problem's going to be getting her from him." Her shaking hand pointed over Bravery's shoulder. The Titans looked up, as well as Bravery, all of them either letting out a gasp, or in Beast Boy's case, a feral growl.
Beside Cinderblock's feet was a beast, much like Beast Boy's inner beast, with Raven, the real Raven, clamped between his teeth.
"Adonis." The changeling growled before releasing his own beast and charging into the battlefield, ignoring the shouts of everyone else.