"My name is Garfield Logan. What's yours?"

Gar… field? Raven told herself that it was not possible. 'It's not real. I'm in a dream. Someone wake me up.' And with that, a nearby fallen limb shattered into splinters.

Garfield jumped at the sight of the limb and almost turned to run. Raven sighed and quickly controlled her breathing in an attempt to calm herself down. She shouldn't be stressed out over a silly dream. Breathe in, breathe out. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath… Metrion… control… calm… need of herbal tea…

'I hate kids.' Raven thought miserably.

Young Garfield began to become restless during Raven's attempt to calm down and fiddled with some twigs on the ground. Almost as though he had forgotten that just seconds before Raven had frightened him with her powers. Raven looked at young Garfield again and studied his movements. He was still growing, but his shortness was not a big change from the "real" Beast Boy. His arms were two skinny bean poles shooting out from his sleeves. He had hair that looked as though someone had attempted to comb it with little success, and some blotches of dirt on his face. He had the same eyes as the real Beast Boy though, deep green forests that almost seemed to hold something wild.

Young Garfield looked at her again. "Who are you?" He asked rather bluntly.

Raven shook her head. Definitely a dream. "Just think of me as a figment of your imagination." She replied. She didn't know why she didn't tell him her name. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she had the feeling that she shouldn't tell him who she was.

Beast Boy blinked, and then proceeded to give her his signature grin.

"If you're a figment of my imagination, can you do anything I want?" He asked.

"I don't take orders from anybody shorter than five feet."

"Can you fly?"

"…Yes…"

"Show me!"

Raven sighed. "I already told you I don't – "

"Why is your hair purple?"

"It's my natur – "

"Why are you wearing a blanket?"

"It's not a blanket, it's a clo – "

"Why is your skin so – "

"ENOUGH!" Raven yelled as a nearby sea of vines burst into black flames. Beast Boy stared, frightened at the sight. Then, as quickly as he had appeared Beast Boy was gone.

Breathe in, breathe out. What did she expect from a little kid anyway? Raven despised children, but then this was a dream. Raven desperately needed to wake up now. She stretched her arm in front of her body and stared at the pale gray flesh. Wake up… She quickly pinched her forearm and felt the sting of pain. Pain? Okay, maybe sometimes you can feel pain in dreams. This had to be one of those times.

Raven began hiking in the direction that Beast Boy had run. She really had no idea where he had gone, she had never been very good at tracking. This was Beast Boy anyway, he was probably using some sort of heightened animal sense to hide his tracks even more. Therefore Raven soon found herself very lost just like earlier. Nothing to do but move forward.

Moving forward… What a strange phrase. Especially since Raven didn't know which way forward was.

She finally saw an opening in the plants ahead. Hope rising, Raven walked a little faster towards what was looking more and more like a small clearing. She finally reached the edge of the trees and found herself in front of a cozy little house sitting in the small clearing. It had some bits of machinery surrounding it, computers and satellites sitting underneath little canopy tents. Through the windows Raven could see some lab equipment resting on a counter next to a sink.

Looking closer Raven saw that there was a woman inside. Raven immediately retreated behind a tree in order to avoid detection. Raven told herself to try and avoid all contact with others until she found out what had happened. Maybe… this isn't a dream.

Unexpectedly Beast Boy's younger self ran from somewhere else in the jungle into the clearing. He made a beeline for the house's front door and was through the door with speed Raven had not expected of him at that age. Raven watched as his mother scooped him up into her arms and gave him the kind of hug that parents give their kids after the child just took their first solo trip to grandma's and back. A face of worry and anxiety that melts into a satisfied pride and joy. They looked so… perfect standing there. It was definitely a moment to remember. Raven felt a small pang when she realized that she didn't really know how that felt… being held like that.

Beast Boy smiled at his mom and said something to her gleefully. She responded with a parent's loving grin and a quick remark. They held an entire conversation full of laughter and excitement. Raven had never seen anything like it. It was amazing.

Then Beast Boy must have felt a need to explore some more, because he was soon walking through the threshold and out into the jungle. He turned around to wave to his mother and then his back disappeared into the trees. His mother waved cheerfully until he was gone. Her face fell, and a look of worry mixed with love reflected on her entire being. It was in that moment that Raven felt the strange sense.

She felt Beast Boy. Yet, it wasn't the Beast Boy she knew. This was a feeling of Beast Boy's soul. Raven had heard of this before, but she had never experienced it.

It was sometimes said that the body and the "essence" could be separated by a hand of very powerful magic. The "essence" was sometimes called the soul, but it was not the same as the soul. Raven had thought that the difference was that the essence was more of was influence that person, made them what they were. While the soul was always there, the essence could change, sometimes even take form if separated from the body. Perhaps then… that insane woman from before was actually a witch? That would mean that this woman had found a way to separate the essence from the body, which explains Raven almost losing her soul-self which meant…

Things had gotten rather bad.