The fic begins with somewhat standard prologue sequence, saying that Trigon, the Big Bad of Season 4, created the Dark Prognosticus, but when it almost killed him, he, unable to destroy it, sealed it away, so that it could only be opened by someone with an empty heart who had never experienced true happiness. Interestingly enough, the music, from the prologue sequence of Secret of Mana, fits the sequence perfectly, even if the author doesn't get any credit for making it.
The fic picks up where the last episode of Teen Titans left off, with the "White Monster" captured and brought to jail, kept in a cage with metal bars. One would think that a monster like that, which could absorb the properties of the iron, would require a container like the one that was used on Plasmus in the first episode.
Unfortunately, Beast Boy is in no mood to celebrate, after what happened with Terra. The "Things Change" line is played for the first time, with even the Cartoon Network logo visible. Beast Boy lies in bed, with poorly animated tears running down his face (a lot of people cry in this fanfic, especially Terra, and it doesn't look any better), and shots of his search for Terra from that episode are shown. The Teen Titans become concerned about how he's going AWOL and is depressed, but Beast Boy continues his stalking... and the narration tries to pass it off as him being concerned about her, in spite of the other Titans dismissing his concerns
Beast Boy snoops around in Raven's room to find a spell to bring Terra back to normal (which is not a good idea, especially not when even Raven, the magical expert of the group, doesn't fully understand some of her items). He finds the Dark Prognosticus, and although he initially can't read it, he gains the ability after a moment.
Raven catches him in the act, though, and the other Titans yell at him for poking around in Raven's stuff (again, since her room has some of the most dangerous items in the tower, it's a bad idea). Raven asks if Beast Boy knew what he could have done with it, and when he tries to explain, they won't have it.
A word about the dialogue. The author often tells us that a character is saying something, without revealing what is being said. This can sometimes be an acceptable or even useful technique in writing, shortening if not bypassing superfluous conversations, but here, it leads to important parts being missed. Those who read My Little Unicorn will likely notice that in that fic, he wrote it as though he was summarizing a TV episode (trying to make it equivalent to an episode's length, even when it didn't necessarily make sense to), rather than writing actual literature.
Robin repeats his "If this is how you want to act, do it somewhere else. None of us are interested." lecture from "The Beast Within," with his lips poorly animated. If the intent was to show that the Titans don't care for Beast Boy, then Mykan failed; in context, Robin said that after Beast Boy, under the effect of the chemicals, threatens to attack Raven over her calling him a jerk after he rejects her apology for bumping into him. The fic even goes as far as to compare it to the Doom Patrol, which Beast Boy had left due to how they treated him (particularly Mento yelling at him for disobeying orders and saving the rest of the team).
A word about Beast Boy. Some describe him as the one who gets picked on by the other Titans, particularly Raven, but with Raven, he sometimes gives as good as he gets, and often gets on the others' nerves. He's a genuine Nice Guy and largely well intentioned, albeit bumbling, but he's not the put-upon saint that Mykan and some others portray him as.
Beast Boy, in the middle of Wangsting, gets approached by Terra, in a scene highly reminiscent of one of their meetings from "Things Change", as it includes copied screenshots. It's worth pointing out that Terra wears her school uniform (a white dress shirt, blue skirt and black necktie for most of this series, possibly because of Mykan's laziness.
According to the narrator, she knows how he feels, but politely asks him to get over her; even considering how biased the narration is in favor of Beast Boy, it's hard to see what exactly is wrong with her doing so.
Beast Boy then tells Terra a story that he didn't tell others, one about himself, Garfield Logan (Keep this in mind for the future, and the fact that the narrator helpfully pointed this out, when only Elasti-girl called him "Garfield" in the series). He says that he was mutated by a serum to cure his illness, and lost his parents and other families, including the Doom Patrol, and that he tells jokes to hide his pain.
The narration tells us that the other four Titans reject him, and so does everyone else, from the Doom Patrol to various minor people, like the two women from "Every Dog has its Day" to the librarian and Terra's friends from "Things Change." The narration says that Terra was his Only Friend (the only way it could be true was discounting the Titans' status as True Companions), and that when she faked amnesia (at which point the "Things Change" line is repeated), he suffered more grief. Terra's motivation for this- her desire to live a normal life- is brought up, but it's pointed out that Beast Boy can't move on, and Terra is momentarily upset to have caused him pain, with a face more befitting an Oh Crap! moment.
The first of "Beast Boy's Magic Voices" is shown, with Beast Boy lip syncing to "Haven't Got A Friend In The World," even though his voice isn't nearly as deep as Len Carlson's.
- Next Installment: As the Titans get sick of Beast Boy's whining, particularly when he crosses several lines, he cuts ties with them.
