Things howled in the light. Blinding, burning, shapeless things, screeching and crowding her. Pressing close.
"Balance." A girl's voice commanded, even and steady. In her mind's eye she stood in a sea of needling, endless light as a lone spot of darkness. RavenSelf swept back her cloak from her legs, white-hot claws pawing at her, eating at her shadows, gnawing at her hemline.
"Balance!" Black. Pure, still, soft, poured from her in a low rush like a blanket of rain spiraling out from her spiritual representation of herself. RavenSelf stood and watched it black out the horizon so fast it was like it was done with the sweep of a hand. She exhaled, both in her mind and her physical body. It was like a balm being applied to sunburn. Relieving.
And she saw her RavenSelf standing now, in an endless plain of darkness, a lone spot of white.
...
Raven pulled back slowly, back from her mind and back to her real body, legs folded in midair in her meditation pose. She opened her deep lilac eyes, the darkness of her bedroom penetrated only by the soft glow of the magic circle beneath her. She let it fade, lowering herself back to stand on her feet.
Her soft dark hair floated gently for a moment, swirling as if she were underwater, before it fell and settled again. Raven looked down at her wrist, observing for a moment how pale her skin was, the blue veins pulsing beneath. Pulse. A hard thing to disguise. She sighed, crossing the room and lifting her hood over her head.
The fabric wasn't just cloth. It was heavily enchanted to help her suppress strong emotion and contain her SoulSelf. Without it, Raven could become unstable, panicked and confused by feelings she'd never had to process before. They could overwhelm her and who knows what that could cause...
Especially with him around.
Raven looked into her mirror. Her eyes, bright and clear, almost seeming to glow from the shadows of the hood that hid her face. She was the most powerful, and the most dangerous of the Teen Titans. Devil spawn. Human/Demon hybrid with one foot in this world and one in another. She might look like a teenage girl but... she knew she was a monster.
And Beast Boy... ever since he'd morphed into the thing he called the Beast, ever since he'd thought he'd attacked her, hurt her, his powers had begun changing. His emotions were so open, so unguarded that Beast Boy was easily the one she was most sensitive to in the tower. He broadcasted what he felt. Maybe that was why he got under her skin all the time.
Despite trying to block him out, she was aware of a more serious side to him he kept buried under his easy going personality. Alone, he was brooding and deeply concerned over his predatory instincts. He put more focus and caution into his control, paid more attention to his abilities and like any tool being refined... it had sharpened.
He was increasingly aware body language, to changes in scent, picking up on sixth senses only privy to wild animals... to changes that her cloak didn't suppress. He was increasingly able to read things in her that no one else could and Raven hated that.
Keeping him at arm's length only seemed to draw his attention to her more. It had the potential to become a dangerous feedback loop of animal instinct and empathic reaction.
Raven shivered.
No matter how much she meditated, she couldn't find an answer other than try to control how she moved, any changes in her pulse, the heat in her, covering her scent with a spritz of a stronger perfume. Pray his dark side would stop being so enthralled with hers.
One last look at the mirror, a deep breath, then she left her sanctuary.