Quote the Raven

A Gravesite for Two

It was somewhat noisy in the presence of the rubble that used to be Terra's cave. Beast Boy had no idea how nature continued to buzz so freely when everything there should be so dark, so vacant... Wait, scratch that. He wanted her "grave" to be a happy place. A place she would have been proud of. The peaceful scenery would have pleased her greatly, he just knew it.

Sitting there being pleasantly warmed by the sun, the emptiness began to grow too vast. The only cure for this was to fill the gaping area up with words. "Hey, Terra." He spoke softly. "I don't know if the girl I saw was you, but... I miss you a whole awful lot." Staring off in to space, he could feel the corners of his eyes grow hot once more.

"You know what I miss the most?" He asked through his tears with a pained smile. "How you laughed at all my jokes. Even if it was fake, it still felt good to be recognized as funny." He sat still, letting reality soak into him as nature continued to buzz.

At a loss of what to do, he said the first thing that came to mind. "Knock, knock." He spoke in a sin song voice. "You would've said 'who's there', but I can play your part. Cows go. 'Cows go who?' Cows don't go who, they go moo!" At the end of his wise crack, he let loose a dry chuckle that slowly faded into whimpers.

"I can imagine you saying what a goof I was as you laughed for me." He stated with a wavering tone as he lowered his eyes. "You can't do that any more though, because-" he paused to suppress a sob. "-you're gone."

Tears streamed silently down his face as he trembled with sadness. Nothing could ease the awful feeling that ate away at his insides, thirsting for his very life. He contemplated simply giving those feelings what they wanted, but then he felt a hand rest softly on his shoulder.

He snapped around quickly, surprise in his eyes, but what he saw was not the reaper. "Raven?" He questioned as she crouched down to his kneeling level. He stared at her sympathetic features until reality hit him. How much had she seen, heard, and smelled even! Who knew if she could smell emotions like he could, she had a mirror that lead to Nevermore for Pete's sake!

"Why are you here!" He exclaimed as he stood up abruptly, causing the girl to retract her hand. "I knew you would be here." She said softly in her monotone. "Everyone is looking all around town for you. We just want to he-" before she could finish, the shifter angrily cut her off. "Help! You want to help!" He practically screamed. "Nothing can help! I lost hope for that months ago..."

He averted his now nostalgically saddened gaze as the empath softly called his name and attempted to reach for him once again. Taking the form of an owl, he glided noiselessly from her grasp and the area. 'Now, this, is the animal that says who.', he thought bitterly as he fled under the setting sun.

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His wings ached and his vision blurred as he landed roughly upon his windowsill. Thankfully, he had left it open and could flap his way to bed with ease instead of having to pry it ajar with his talons. He did exactly that, collapsing the instant he recognized the bed underneath him. Feeling himself shift back to his human form, he immediately relaxed and was overcome by a restless, intangible sleep.

That's what lead him to his current pit of despair in which escape was impossible. It wasn't like he could sleep either, for his dreams were not true dreams, but nightmares. He couldn't bare to relive Terra turning to stone even once more than his mind had already shown him.

An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he tossed and turned in his discomfort. It had been two days since the incident, and the only time he had come out was to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. Cabin fever was beginning to take over, and he felt near starving, yet he couldn't bring himself to leave.

He heard the distinct growl of his stomach in the midst of his depression. 'Maybe lack of food is the way to go', he thought as he eased himself back down. He was just about to attempt sleep once more when he heard a light rapping on the door.

His first thought was to ignore the request for entry, but he was then overwhelmed by the scent of sincerity, more than he had encountered in a while. Someone genuinely cared about him...

"Who is it?" He asked hesitantly, expecting Starfire to demand him to "partake in the friend chat." He was thoroughly surprised when a completely different voice rang out, gently announcing, "It's Raven."

That was some plot twist. "Raven at my door?...I must've finally fallen off the deep end...", The green skinned boy concluded in a whisper as he slumped over with disbelief. He supposed the loads of confusion must have been another lovely "perk" of depression. How simply, and utterly glorious. Now there was only one question left: what was he to do with this visitor?