I'm a Monster Chapter 6

6. Let Me Help You

Melvin looked up when Robin and the others arrived at the monastery.  "What's up Robin?" she asked, feigning sleepiness.  "It's kinda late."

"Sorry to disturb your sleep, Melvin," Robin said kindly.  "This shouldn't take to long.  See, we're trying to find Raven."

"Is Raven in trouble?"  Melvin gave Robin her cutest innocent expression.

"She might be.  We just need to find her.  We think she passed by this way.  Have you seen her?"

Melvin shook her head.  "I haven't seen her.  Timmy, Teether and I were fast asleep till you got here."  She gestured to where Timmy and Teether were still snoring away.  "We haven't seen her.  You sure she came this way?"

"Admittedly...no."  Robin looked flustered.

"THen why'd you wake us up?  Couldn't you have just asked the monks or something?"

"YOu're right.  Sorry for waking you, Melvin."  He turned to go.

Melvin closed the door, but instructed Bobby to listen invisibly, and share what he heard.

"Well, Robin?"  That was Cyborg.

"She was lying.  I don't know why, but she knows something."  Melvin flinched when Robin said that.

"But why would she lie?  Would she not want to help Raven?"  That was Starfire.

"Maybe she thinks she is," Cyborg said.  "What is Beast Boy got to her first?"

"And told her what?  What could Beast Boy tell her that would mean she doesn't help us?"

"Maybe that you're planning on taking Raven down and hard...and out if necessarry.  Which I still don't agree with, by the way."

"Are you suggesting Beast Boy would tell them Raven had become a monster?"

"No.  But what if she did see her, and wants to help her?  Beast Boy shows up, telling her he wants to help Raven.  Everyone knows how he feels about her, so she'd believe that.  He gets the info about her direction from her, then says she shouldn't tell you, because you're planning wrong action.  All beleivable to a little girl."

"So she does know and won't tell us?  Why that-"

"Robin!"  That was Starfire.  "Melvin is trying to help the one she looks to as a mother as best she knows.  YOu will not blame her for this, or take action against her!"

Silence for a time.  "You're right, Star.  I don't know what came over me."

"Come on.  If she was here, she'll probably still be nearby.  We'll search in a circle and find her eventually."

Melvin shuddered.  She had to get a message to Raven and Beast Boy...but how?

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Raven hid inside the boughs of the tree, shaking and crying.  Melvin and the others...they were sure to fear and hate her now.  Anyone who saw her now couldn't help but be repulsed.  She was a monster...and it showed.

She heard noise approaching her, but she was too tired to run.  She would face whatever came now, whatever the consequences.

"Raven?  You here?"

She nearly fell out of the tree in shock.  "B-Beast Boy?  What are you doing here?"

"Helping you."

"But..."  She couldn't think what to say.

There was silence for a while.  Then Beast Boy spoke up.  "I paid the farmer for that cow you ate."

There were a lot of things she'd have expected him to say.  That wasn't one of them.  "What?"

"That way you weren't stealing, you know?"

Raven sat silently for a while.  Then she laughed.  She laughed so hard she started to cry.  She laughed so hard she fell out of the tree.

Beast Boy caught her easily in his arms.  She flinched away from his gaze, but he was still smiling at her.  "I found you, Rae," he said, holding her close.

She stared at him.  "Beast Boy...look at me!  I'm a monster, I ate a live cow, I nearly ate a person, and I scared Melvin, Timmy, and Teether out of their wits!  And you're worried about a larceny charge?"

Beast Boy shook his head at her.  "A few things.  First, instead of eating the person, you ate the cow.  So you still have enough control of yourself to think, plan, and choose.  Second, Melvin and the others were scared FOR you, not of you.  They told me you came this way, and made me promise you'd be okay."  He smiled.  "As for the monster bit..."  He set her down and changed into the Beast.  Then he changed back.  "I'm pretty sure I'm an expert there, and what I see before me isn't a monster."  He leaned in and kissed her on the lips, ignoring where two fangs protruded when her mouth was closed.  Pulling back, he continued.  "I see the woman I love, scared of what's happening to her, and trying desperately to hold onto herself as her body and darker nature struggle against her control...but she's winning."  As Raven stared at him, he smiled.  "So you can see why I'm worried about the cost of a cow."

Raven stared, then clung to him, crying, the strain, stress, and emotional turmoil of everything that had happened draining out of her.

Beast Boy smiled down at her, then scooped her into his arms.  "Come on," he said, still smiling and carrying her away.  "There's a lake nearby.  You'll feel better after you clean yourself up.  YOu always do."