Chapter 52 'Floating'

Raven landed gracefully on the opposite side of the burning building and stood there for a few brief moments before slumping to her knees. She knew that by killing Slade she had managed to save her friends lives, however the empath couldn't help but remind herself that the one person she had wanted to protect throughout this whole mess was gone. She had failed to keep him safe and knowing that she wondered if she could even face her friends.

Her team would be heartbroken, there would be no more bad jokes, no more tofu stocked up in the fridge, and all of the moped subscription magazines would stop being delivered to the tower. No one would be there to try Starfire's cooking, after all no one else was crazy enough to try it. She would never again walk in to find him and Cyborg playing video games for six straight hours. And while Robin and him never did spend much time together this would have a huge impact on their leader as well.

Raven allowed a small tear to trickle down her face as she tried to push the horrible thoughts out of her mind. She had always been told as a child that because she was cursed with her father's blood she would never be able to feel, to love someone, but that wasn't true. She knew now, she knew that over the last few years she'd fallen completely in love with the shapeshifter and in the blink of an eye Slade had taken away her happy ending. There weren't many people out there who could love a half-demon but Beast Boy had been different, he'd always tried to make her laugh, to push for even the tiniest of emotion from her. He cared for her more than anyone ever had in her lifetime, Raven only wished she could have told him how much she appreciated his kindness, his love, before it was too late.

Roughly brushing the tears from her eyes the violet haired girl glanced up towards the sky taking in a deep breath. Even if it would be easier right now, she knew that she couldn't lose control now, she needed to be strong for her friends. After all she'd always been the voice of reason, this situation was no different.

The sunlight shining over her face shimmered as if something had briefly blocked its path and looking up she could faintly see a bird fluttering in circles down from the sky. Raven looked away dismissing it for a few seconds before her eyes widened. Looking back towards the sky she could see the small creature float down beside her. She wracked her brain quickly trying to imagine how many green colored birds could possibly be floating around Jump City, she doubted there were many.

"Beast Boy?" She whispered.

To answer her question the green bird transformed itself back into the green skinned titan. He craned his neck from side to side before finally meeting her eyes with his own.

"Dude, I know you've thrown me off of plenty of buildings Rae but I'm glad you never did it while I was sleeping before 'cause waking up to falling off a fifty foot building was so not on my 'to do' list," he replied with a chuckle.

The dark girl stared at him open mouthed, almost unbelieving in what she was seeing. Slade had pushed him off the roof, she had been so sure he was dead. Yet there he was very much alive and smiling down at her.

"You're okay," she breathed.

"It takes more than a little explosion to keep me down," he joked.

Raven quickly pushed herself upward so she was at eye level with the green teen. "I had been so sure that you were gone. I'm so sorry Beast Boy I shouldn't have allowed Slade to control me, you should have never been put in danger and-."

"Raven, I'm okay," Beast Boy replied, cutting her off.

She nodded briefly before looking up to meet his gaze and feeling her lips twitch upward into a smile. "Good, because I don't know anyone else willing to tell your awful jokes around the tower," she joked back. And with that comment the cloaked girl flung herself forwards embracing the changeling in a tight hug.

Beast Boy wasted no time returning the hug, and when she pulled away he had half a mind to pull her back for just a little while longer. However, the empath kept her arms remaining on his shoulders as she pulled back to stare up at his expression which looked slightly confused at this point.

"Thank you," she said.

"Uh, for what?" He asked.

"For…everything," Raven stated. "Beast Boy if someone would have told me years ago that I would have found someone like you I wouldn't have believed them in a million years. No one has ever cared for me in such a way as you have, and when I thought you were gone I realized I may never find anyone as caring and thoughtful as you again."

"Raven where is this coming fr-"

"Just…let me finish," she began as she took a breath. "We're heroes Beast Boy, we're put in dangerous situations on a daily basis so I need to tell you this now while I can."

The violet haired girl paused trying to maintain control of her powers, knowing she could fully bring down multiple buildings around them if she wasn't cautious.

"Beast Boy this last week has wreaked havoc on my emotions and keeping them in check is always going to be difficult but from them I've realized just how much I care about you. I…I love you Garfield."

To say the shapeshifter's face lit up would be an understatement. His expression looked similar to a kid in the world's biggest candy store for a few brief moments before it slowly softened as he looked into her deep amethyst eyes. "I love you too Raven," he replied before pulling her into a kiss that made their previous lip lock look weak in comparison.

Raven could feel her emotions bubbling inside of her as she tangled her fingers through his hair and deepened their kiss. The changeling's arms encircled her waist pulling her as close as he could for a few more sweet seconds before the loud cheers of her emotions broke her thought pattern.

The empath pulled away quickly meeting his gaze with an expression of pure shock. "Sorry, um, my powers were…"

"Yeah, I totally get it…n-no worries Rae," Beast Boy stuttered.

"We should probably get back to the others," Raven responded as she quickly realized her surroundings.

"Others?" Beast Boy asked. "Oh, yeah the others! Sorry I forgot for a minute I just…yeah we should probably go help them out now right? Although, I mean they couldn't miss us too much if you and I were to-."

He was quickly cut off by the dark girl shooting him a glare.

"Eh heh, yeah okay lets go," Beast Boy said with a sheepish grin.

"Come on Beast Man," Raven replied with a hint of sarcasm as she took his hand and began walking towards the direction of the other titans.

"Dude, so is that going to be like…your pet name for me from now on cause-."

"No."

"Aw, but Raven-."

"I said no Beast Boy."

"I mean I have a ton thought up for you already so-."

"GARFIELD."

"Eh heh, shutting up now."

Sorry for the lack of updates guys, here I thought being out of school would give me more time for updates but so far I've been so busy with work and applying for clinicals and things. But I finally found some time to add a chapter guys! I really hope you enjoy it! I'm sad to see this story ending soon, I've got maybe one or two chapters left in this but hopefully I'll be able to finish up the others I've been working on for who knows how many years now.

Anyway! Tell me what you guys think, cause I love hearing from you! Or at least share your joy with me that Beast Boy's still alive! yay!

Xoxo-Megz