Beast Boy stepped out of his room. His legs and shoulders ached, but he started down the hall anyway.
It... hadn't gone very well.
He'd started with simple laps around the roof's edge. At first, he'd been grateful that Robin was doing the exercises with him, but he was soon falling behind, focusing all his energy on simply keeping pace instead of training well. His frustration had led him to start cutting past the corners of the building, trying to finish as quickly as he could.
And if he'd been frustrated, then Robin had been furious.
Oh, he hid it well, but since talking to Starfire, Beast Boy was able to notice a few things. His clipped tone, the one-or-two word responses... and the way he refused to look at Beast Boy. The entire morning, Robin had stared straight ahead, almost as if he was more focused on his own training. He ran like he was fighting against his own body.
He seemed to lose track of the reason for the training. More than once, he'd called out a new instruction before noticing that Beast Boy was still following the previous one, and Beast Boy didn't hesitate to call him out on it. Robin had just gritted his teeth and waited for him to finish working.
And it was work. After the running, the remaining time had been spent on one thing: morphs. Beast Boy had no idea Robin knew so much about zoology- it let him choose animals that were as different as possible, in size or nature. Then, he'd simply paced, calling out the different names, barely giving Beast Boy time to breathe between shifts.
Elephant. Wolf. Gorilla. Eagle. T-Rex. Housefly.
A few times, he'd stopped to make sure the change was complete, with no unusual mutations. There were no problems- Beast Boy had felt exhausted, nothing else- but this only seemed to make Robin angrier. Near the end, he hadn't even tried to hide it, and after a vicious shouting match, he had looked as enraged as Beast Boy had ever seen him. He half-expected that they would start sparring then and there.
Instead, Robin had just... walked away. He'd breathed deep, suddenly the composed and collected leader again, and for the second time in two mornings, Beast Boy watched him walk away on the rooftop. He would have yelled after him, something clever and sarcastic, but he was too tired.
A shower hadn't helped. Wearing a clean new uniform, he now made his way past the other rooms, mind wandering. The others would probably be waking up soon, and he had no idea what he'd say to them, if they even wanted to talk. Maybe he could just not bring it up, and everyone would forget the whole thing- after all, he hadn't had any trouble since that first night, so maybe it wouldn't happen again, and maybe-
Lost in thought, he didn't notice Cyborg leaving his room, until he walked straight into his friend's arm.
"Ow! What's-" Off-balance, Cyborg put his hand on the wall to steady himself.
Beast Boy rubbed his forehead, wincing. "Sorry. I didn't... uh..."
He glanced up. There was a flicker of surprise in Cyborg's expression, but it left quickly. They both looked away, scanning the walls and ceiling.
Cyborg coughed. "So, uh, how ya feelin'?"
"Okay, I guess."
"Cool."
The hall was quiet again. This is dumb, thought Beast Boy. But he couldn't think of anything to say.
Finally, he ventured, "How 'bout you?"
Cyborg shrugged. "Could be better."
"Yeah."
Any other day, Beast Boy would've made some joke about how awkward it was. Instead, they both kept avoiding eye contact.
"Heard Robin's grillin' you pretty bad."
He smiled, relieved to have something to talk about. "Yeah. Kinda feels like that time Raven threw me against the fridge."
"Huh." Cyborg looked back to him. "Well, you'd know 'bout throwin' people into stuff, right?"
So much for not bringing it up.
Beast Boy blinked. "Uh..."
His friend was watching him patiently. Oh, man, how do I even start? He didn't have the energy for a big apology; not like with Starfire. "Look, I'm really sorry-"
"That's not gonna be enough, B."
"Wait, what?"
Cyborg crossed his arms, frowning. "Actually, I'm glad I ran into you. We got somethin' to settle, man."
Uh-oh.
He nervously took a step back. "Uh, whaddya mean, Cy?"
One of his fists punched into the other. "I mean it's payback time. Get ready."
Wait is he gonna fight me right here in the hallway won't that wake up everybody maybe they'll help me maybe they're still mad what if he beats me up this is bad this is bad nonono OH NO-
Something thudded against his chest, and Beast Boy scrambled to catch it before it fell.
A controller.
[]
It was almost too perfect.
He was reclining against the couch cushions, watching the lights dance across the screen. Cyborg leaned forward, grinning while he moved his character through the level, then shouting in anger when a stray blast from an alien's gun ended the level.
His muscles still ached, but he didn't mind. He wasn't even really concentrating on the game; in fact, it was getting harder to focus, with the flickering lights, and the jumbled sound effects, and...
He snapped out of his half-sleep when Cyborg said something, but it didn't take long to fall back. The restless nights and brutal training were finally taking their toll.
Just before he dozed off completely, everything seemed good. His best friend was with him, and that was all that mattered.
...
He could see the tribes.
It wasn't easy- there was a haze, a kind of dark fog obscuring their faces. He could barely recognize them, barely even remember them, but once he did, he started running. They were moving away, and he had to follow.
He kept running. He wanted to see them, to be near them, just to talk to them- but suddenly they were right in front of him, shaking their cloud-covered heads, dark, unfriendly, unfamiliar. They were... turning him away?
A voice floated out of the darkness. Everything changes.
The water was back.
But now it was him- he was the one falling, drowning, and the water was everywhere, and he tried to call out but no one could hear him-
The Patrol. He couldn't believe it, but they were all back. Just watching him, nothing but kindness and warmth in their faces.
This time, he expected it to happen, and it did. They vanished.
"Beast Boy! Come on, man, wake up!"
His parents appeared before him again. Gone.
The Patrol. Gone.
Even the tribes, for the little time he'd known them- gone.
The Titans...
Everything changes.
"Wake up!"
He was trapped, and he couldn't stop his thoughts. Everything was changing, everything always left him, no matter what happened he would lose them too-
"Snap out of it, B!"
What?
Lights. He was staring up at the ceiling. Cyborg's worried visage looked down at him, and at first he didn't know why. He tried to ask what was wrong.
He couldn't breathe.
The mutations had happened in his sleep. Scales ran down both arms, and he could feel gills at the base of his neck- his lungs had already shifted. He frantically looked to Cyborg, and the ceiling, and the TV, and the window, before he realized he was seeing with nearly a dozen eyes.
"You can do it, alright?" Cyborg's voice was muffled, but he could hear the way it shook. "You can fix it. I know you can."
The room itself was shifting, becoming a completely new set of angles every time he blinked, and he still couldn't breathe and it was all getting darker and he COULDN'T BREATHE-
"Beast Boy!"
Everything-
While the lights faded, he fell back inside his mind. Reaching, pulling for any glimmer of strength, he-
-changes.
He morphed.
Lungs.
Air was flooding back in. Beast Boy could feel the scales smoothing into skin, while the extra eyes slowly vanished. Cyborg's voice drifted by, but there were still dark spots in his vision, and his head was pounding.
He heard something. His own voice was speaking, but he could barely understand it.
"No."
Everything changes.
"No!"
Cyborg's voice broke through. "What? What's wrong?"
He opened his eyes again. He tried to sit up, but nearly collapsed; Cyborg caught him, helping him lean back.
For a minute, they were silent. Cyborg didn't take his hand off of Beast Boy's shoulder. "Don't ever do somethin' like that again, man."
Still dizzy, he tried not to move. "Sorry."
Cyborg's hand was shaking. "But... you're okay, right?"
Beast Boy nodded. When the ache in his skull finally faded, the words rushed out before he could stop them. "It's all changing, dude." His voice caught. "Everything."
Cyborg paused. "Huh?"
It was too much. The thoughts were flying through his head, and it was just too fast. Too painful. Beast Boy shook his head. "I don't know."
"...yeah. Doesn't matter." He sounded disappointed, but Beast Boy was glad he didn't ask for any more. He closed his eyes again.
"Look, I don't know what this is like for you, bro. But if..." Cyborg sighed. "Y'know, if there's anythin' I can do to help, just let me know."
Beast Boy shivered. "Thanks, Cy," he said quietly.
He reached over and ruffled Beast Boy's hair. "We'll figure this out, man. Promise."
Everything changes.
He had to have mumbled it again, because Cyborg shook his head. "Not everything, B."
