He was falling. Or maybe he was really flying. Whatever was happening it was overwhelming. No sooner had he knocked down the barriers of his mind than suddenly he was bombarded with sounds and images. Everywhere he turned he saw and heard them. All his memories, personal thoughts and feelings, all his inner machinations flooded his senses. His body had a strange uneasiness to it. He felt light and queasy, like his insides were floating around, bumping against the inner walls of his body. Pressing his hands to his ears he squeezed his eyes shut. Deep down he prayed for it to stop. He wished for someplace quiet. He wished for someplace peaceful.
Suddenly he became still. The uneasy feeling in his guts disappeared and the chaos around him vanished. What felt like soft ground pressed against his knees and he chanced to open one eye. What he saw was miles and miles of green field stretching far beyond his capacity for sight. Turning his attention above he saw a bright blue sky and a brilliant yellow sun shining down on him. He felt compelled to ask aloud where he was but instead remained silent. He could only assume he was still within his own mind. He had no sooner rose to his feet when suddenly there was a voice behind him.
"You need to go back."
Spinning around he found his alternate self standing only a few yards away from him. His face was stern and tense, his eyes glaring. It would seem the life had returned to him. "You need to stop what you're doing and wall yourself back up before it's too late."
Beast Boy looked deep into the double's eyes and a defiant smirk slowly spread across his face. He looked down and gently shook his head. "Nah," he said. "I think what I really need to do is stop listening to you."
The double was silent.
"And you know what else. It seems to me that you have no real power over me anyway. You weren't keeping me in that cell. I was. And you know what else else? I'm done with you. If you're really something that exists inside me, then I'm deciding right now that I don't need you and I don't want you, so why don't you just buzz off?"
The double remained silent. Slowly he looked down. A breeze blew across the field and suddenly his body was becoming transparent. Slowly he continued to fade until finally he could no longer be seen and once again Beast Boy was alone.
Beast Boy nodded affirmatively and turned to continue on his way, where ever that may have been. However, he had no sooner faced the opposite direction when suddenly he felt something collide with bridge of his nose, knocking him to the ground. Stars filled his eyes as he struggled to collect himself. Once he had, he looked up to find his alternate self standing over him, his fists clenched tightly.
"You think because you exercised a little free will and got yourself out of that prison that you can just wish me away like I never existed? I may have needed you to let me in before, but now that I'm here I'm not going to just leave." The double's eyes were burning with furious anger. His body was rigid and tight, ready for battle. "Now I'm not going to tell you again," he hissed. "Get back inside your cell."
Beast Boy climbed to his feet. His eyes defiant. The blow to his nose had really hurt. He didn't know who this Beast Boy was or how to get rid of him, but one thing was certain: he was done being ordered around by him. He struck a ready stance. His double did the same.
"You'll only end up hurting yourself," it said.
Cue the final battle.
Driving her hand into the large red button on the other side of the door, she immediately heard the Titan Alarm begin reverberating throughout the stairwell and the rest of the tower. She grunted slightly with exertion as she struggled to keep the unconscious Beast Boy, or whoever he was, suspended in a field of black energy behind her.
She'd paused for only a moment after watching the green teenager go tumbling off the side of the tower. After that, instinct took over and she immediately threw herself over the side after him. Feeling the air surging across her thinly covered body, she soared down towards him and thrust a black energy field around his body, easing him out of the fall and then bringing him back up to the roof. She had to admit she was scared. She remembered laying him down flat on his back. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. The blood from his nose was already beginning to dry on his lips and chin and had already stained the front of his white t-shirt. Suddenly fearing for his safety, she remembered calling out to him.
"Beast Boy," she said. Her suspicions were still running high, but at the moment her concern prevented her from calling him anything else. "Beast Boy," she said again, lightly shaking him. Still he was unresponsive. She could feel her hands beginning to shake and immediately she calmed herself. Gathering the unconscious teen once more in her black energy field she carried him back inside the Tower where she activated the manual Titan alarm (one of several Cyborg had installed all over the tower for emergencies). She then immediately teleported both of them to the medical bay. After setting the young man down on the nearest bed, her communicator began to beep.
"Raven, are you there?" Robin's voice crackled over the two-way. "The alarms are going off."
"I know," she answered. "I'm in the medical bay. There's something wrong with Beast Boy." She turned to the teen in question still lying motionless in the hospital bed. She felt sick. It hurt her to see him like this, even someone who looked like him."If it is Beast Boy."
"What?" said Robin. "What do you mean by that?"
She didn't answer. She just told him to get the others and hurry over as fast as they could.
It was then that it happened. Like an avalanche, a fifteen foot high ocean wave, it hit her. A veritable explosion of emotion racing into her body, anger, fear, sorrow, flooding her senses so suddenly and so violently it nearly knocked her to the ground. The feeling was unlike anything she'd felt in a long time. Grabbing her temples she squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated. With all her will she focused on drowning out the burning, the freezing, the sweet, the bitter, all the sensations that now flooded her being. Finally the attack subsided and she was once again able to breathe easy. She turned to Beast Boy who still lay motionless in the hospital bed. There was no doubt the surge of emotion had come from him. But still she found it difficult to believe. What she had just experienced, it was unnatural. No human being should have been capable of something like that.
Slowly she approached the motionless green teen. She then rested her fingers gently on either side of his head. "I'm sorry for this," she said. "But I need to know what's going on in there." She closed her eyes and concentrated. And soon she felt her soul self leaving her body and venturing into his mind.
To her surprise, however, she didn't get far.
She had no sooner entered then suddenly she was overwhelmed by a terrible pain. She shrieked in agony as her soul self was ravaged by an unseen force. She attempted to preserver, driving forward deeper into Beast Boy's subconscious, but the further she went the more the pain intensified. Something was trying to keep her out. Finally she could take no more. She broke concentration and could once again feel her soul self retreating back into her body, the pain decreasing in severity along the way. With a snap she was whole again. Slowly she opened her eyes to realize she was on the ground and the rest of the Titans were now standing over her.
"Oh Raven," cried Starfire, clearly upset. "Are you hurt?"
"What happened?" interjected Robin.
Finding her strength, she stood as Cyborg grabbed her under her arms and steadied her. A major puzzle piece had just fallen into place. Looking to her teammates she took a deep breath.
"The Beast Boy we've been talking to for at least the last few days isn't really Beast Boy," she said firmly.
The team looked to the motionless green boy lying in the bed then back to Raven.
"That is not Beast Boy?" asked Starfire, deeply worried.
Raven shook her head. "No, it's him," she said. "I'm sure it's him. But...I don't think he's alone."
The team looked at her, puzzled.
"I tried to enter his mind just now," she said. "And I think there's something else in there with him."
He honestly didn't know what he was doing, if he was winning or if such a thing was even possible given the circumstances. He didn't know if this was all really happening. He was after all in his own head. Did that mean this was all even real or had he and his double now merely become thoughts, just a pair of electrical synapses surging through a complex network of nerves? Whatever the answer, he knew one thing for sure, as he was sent crashing to the ground from another blow from his opponent, the pain he was feeling was most assuredly real and self preservation was only possible if he fought back.
Quickly hand springing back up to his feet, he transformed into a massive buffalo and charged. His alternate self countered, turning into kangaroo and leaping into the air, clearing the attack. Beast Boy then felt a sudden blow to his back and the air go rushing from his lungs as his double came crashing down on him in the form of a 400 pound gorilla. It then began clubbing him on the back and head with its powerful paws. Transforming into an elephant he shook wildly and threw the beast from his back. Charging he attempted to stomp the double into the ground. The alternate him was too quick, however, turning into a sparrow and flying between his legs. He felt another sharp blow sting his side as a tyrannosaurus tail whipped him hard, knocking him to the ground, making him loose his concentration and turn back to human form.
"This is pointless," said his alternate self, shifting back into human form as well. "Face it, Beast Boy, I'm better than you."
Despite his pain, Beast Boy smirked as he once again pulled himself to a standing position. "Yeah," he said with a wincing smile. "You and a lot of people. So don't go thinking you're special."
Again Beast Boy charged, this time in the form of a snorting long horned bull. His double quickly countered, turning into a sasquatch, grabbing a horn in each hand, lifting him in the air and body slamming him to the ground.
"Stop fighting so hard," his double shouted, almost pleading. "You have no idea what you're doing." There was worry in his voice. "And anyway you're not going to beat me. I'm everything you're not. I'm strong, smart, clever, witty, I actually know how to play the guitar, I'm charming-"
"Not to mention incredibly boring," Beast Boy interrupted suddenly as he climbed to his feet.
His double glared at him. "What?," he sneered.
"Listening to you go on and on about yourself...You're putting me to sleep over here," he laughed. "Besides there's only room for one know-it-all on the team and I don't think you want to fight Robin for that spot."
The double narrowed his gaze. "Make all the wise cracks you want, but you know that I'm still better than you. I'm the better Beast Boy. Me! When it's all said and done it's me who-"
Loud, phony snoring noises silenced the double as Beast Boy pretended to fall asleep, closing his eyes and lolling his head off to one side.
"Stop it!" shouted the double.
"Hmm?" groaned Beast Boy, rubbing his eyes. "Did you say something? I'm sorry you're just so uninteresting."
"You're just a clown," the double spat. "You need me. That's why you let me in, remember? Because I was who you wanted to be."
At that last comment, Beast Boy's face turned serious. "Yeah," he said. "You're right. I did want to be you." Then he smiled. "Oh well. Everyone makes mistakes. Right?"
The double was fuming.
Beast Boy was slightly taken back when suddenly he saw his alternate self's eyes begin glowing a dark and terrible red. Out of nowhere, dark clouds suddenly began moving in over the grassy field casting a shadow over the entire area. Lighting cracked the sky and thunder boomed so loud it seemed to shake the ground. Without saying a word, the alternate him began to transform. Growing and growing he began towering overhead. He dropped down on all fours as his hands and feet grew deadly claws. Wings shot out from his back; his neck and face elongated and horns sprouted out the side of his head. His teeth became like daggers and his flesh became covered in scales until finally he stood before him a large and terrifying dragon. With his eyes still glowing red he cast his gaze down.
"Enough," he growled. "I am your better. You are nothing more than a clown," Then opening his jaws, he breathed deep and from out his mouth cast a raging inferno down upon his rival.
"I need to find out what we're dealing with," said Raven throwing on one of her blue cloaks over her black dress.
"What do you expect us to do?" said Cyborg, sounding slightly irritated. "Just sit here on our thumbs? His vitals are failing and he's not responding to anything. If we don't do something soon he's going to-"
"I know!" Raven shot suddenly. She then calmed herself. "I know that, but there's nothing you can do," she said, exiting the room. The words were painful but true. "I'll hurry back as soon as I can."
There was something, some outside force occupying Beast Boy's mind, and had no doubt been controlling his actions for some time. For what purpose Raven had no idea. Each attempt to enter his mind to expel the foreign contaminant was met with failure, exacerbated by the fact that there was no way to tell what exactly it was. The only thing she knew for certain was that whatever it was, was now very quickly killing him. It was after the third or fourth try to enter and expel the entity that she got an idea. Entering the young man's mind once more she made a bee line straight for his memories. Diving into the chaotic mess she struggled to sort through the noise to find only his most recent memories. Tracing back his steps through their date, the training exercise from before, him asking her out. Finally there was something strange. She saw him talking to himself in the mirror. His reflection seemed to have with a mind of its own. She felt his confusion and used it as a guide. Going back further she traced this event back, back through the days prior. Back. Back. Until like a beacon shining through the dark she was drawn to a specific event that seemed to be the starting point of the whole ordeal. She now knew where she needed to go for answers.
The bell rung sharply and then fell to the floor as the door to the old shop threw violently open, smashing against the wall, cracking the wood. With ice cold determination she marched up to the cracked and dirty glass counter at the end of the room just as the owner of the shop came bursting in through the dark purple curtains.
"What the blue freakin' hell on toast do you think you're doing, you stupid-" he didn't have time to finish.
Eyes glowing a brilliant and terrifying red, Raven conjured her dark energy, encompassed the counter and sent it skidding along the floor and out of her way, making a terrible grinding noise against the floorboards before colliding crudely with a stack of mounted medieval weapons.
Seeing the anger in the young woman, the little troll like owner's demeanor softened. "Now, now, take it easy," he said, putting a hand up defensively. "Whatever problem you're having with the merchandise we can work something out."
Without saying a word she seized the diminutive entrepreneur up in her dark energy and dragged him back into the warehouse like rear of the shop. Trying to recall each step from Beast Boy's memories she weaved her way through the piles of boxes and random junk, until finally she came to rest in front of an tall object obscured by a maroon colored sheet. Releasing her captive she let him drop awkwardly to his bulbous rear and then began walking toward the covered structure.
"Woah, woah, wait, don't touch that," said the store owner, suddenly realizing what was in front of them.
She did not stop. Despite his pleas, she ignored the squat store owner and grasped the sheet in both hands and pulled hard, revealing the mirror hidden underneath. She now stood before the reflective surface and yet it was strangely empty. It was indeed a mirror and yet her reflection was not there. Rather she saw only the piles of junk stacked behind her. She saw neither herself nor the stout Slaven who now cowered on his knees behind her, facing the opposite direction with his hands covering his head in a duck and cover fashion.
Seizing him once again in her dark energy she lifted him up off the ground and brought him face to face with the mirror. Peeling back his eyelids she forced him to look into the reflective surface, which was still just as empty as ever as before.
"You have some explaining to do, Slaven."
He should have been terrified. Seeing the fire erupting out of the monster's gaping mouth, he should have been running and screaming in horror, but instead he felt no fear. Clenching his fists, he stood his ground, defiantly.
In an alternate reality he saw her, standing there with him, holding his hand.
Then the fire struck.
But he felt no pain. In his head he could hear his alternate self saying that he wasn't a hero, he was just a clown. "No," he answered back. "You're wrong." In a brilliant flash of light the fire disappeared. The surprise was evident on his doppelgangers face. Standing tall he could feel new strength flowing through him. Concentrating, he felt himself grow heavier as brilliant golden armor spread over his chest and down his arms and legs. He felt the weight in his hands as a massive broad sword appeared in one hand and a sturdy shield in the other. He now stood as a knight before the dragon.
Actors and actresses often play more than one role in a single production.
Smirking at his foe, he now knew he was neither a hero nor a clown. He was both.