To Claim and Possess
Chapter Seven

)O(

Raven stood in front of the door to the roof, feeling her chest tighten as she stared at the weather-beaten metal. Behind her, she felt the hot, sticky sensation of phantom breath spreading down the back of her body. It curled around her neck and infiltrated her senses until all she smelled was the scent of decay and something that smelled suspiciously like wet, dead dog.

What is hiding behind that door?

Raven chose not to respond, instead her fingers reached for the handle, feeling warm smooth metal under her touch. It was like a holy artifact, protecting her from him and what he could so to her. She immediately felt Adonis's anger and frustration rip through her psyche, trying to keep her from leaving the place where he had control over her.

You are trying to leave.

She continued to keep silent, gripping the handle tightly.

Do you think you can escape me? Find solace elsewhere? I can follow you anywhere, Raven. That is just another barrier, and I will find a way across it. I will find a way to control you. Adonis was purposefully tormenting her again, but she wouldn't let him win against her. He knew that he couldn't follow her into another dream unless he had full control of her and the dream first. Biting back whatever fear still swarmed in her throat, she pushed the door open, and stepped over the threshold, feeling his hold on her weaken as she moved into another dream.

This changes nothing.

And then he was gone.

The first thing that hit her senses was the unusual smell of warm, fresh air and wilderness, and then the blinding light spilling across vast open spaces. She shielded her eyes from the sun and walked through the tall grass, slamming the door to the roof behind her. When she looked back at it, the door appeared to be the one into her room, her name plate catching and reflecting the mid-afternoon light.

Looking over the scenery, she could only come to one conclusion: she was not on the roof. And if she wasn't on the roof, then where in the world was she?

"Raven!"

A light breeze pushed past her, carrying new smells and sounds, each one something she had never experienced before.

"Raven!" The voice called out to her again.

Finally, she turned and saw Beast Boy trotting through the grass towards her, almost sauntering as he pushed his way through the vegetation. He waved his hand and grinned at her, as if he hadn't seen her in a long time, and Raven felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness radiating from him. His emotions pushed at her in a way she had never felt before, and something inside her felt warm and fuzzy, making her lightheaded. Here, she was surrounded by all of his emotions, and there wasn't any sort of interference from any other team members or friends. The only thing she felt was him, surrounding her and calling out to her.

"Hiiiiiiii!" His greeting was drawn out unusually long by the current of the wind. For a moment she wasn't even sure it was him, but the giddy, goofy smile gave him away. He was still tall and lithe, and his shape was the same, familiar shape she had just seen in her room, but the green tinge in his hair and skin was gone, leaving beige, slightly tan skin in its place, and blonde hair that reminded her of a wheat field. She stared at his hair, imagining what it would have felt like between her fingers. For some reason completely unknown to the her, she wanted to reach out and touch it. It just looked so soft.

Raven swallowed hard and tried to keep the surprise from showing on her face as she shoved her hands behind her back, trying to clear her emotions. She had always known that Beast Boy was kind of handsome (if no one was listening to her thoughts), but she'd grown so accustomed to his "superhero" appearance of green skin, a battle scarred and dirt-smudged body, and a ripped and torn uniform, that she had forgotten that he was once a normal human. A very good looking normal human...

...who was also a man.

Her eyes drifted over him again and she quickly turned away, pretending to be interested in the shadowy outline of the mountains that peaked in the far distance. She took several long breaths and counted back from a hundred, anything she could do to keep herself from forgetting that she was dwelling inside Beast Boy's mind. Goddess help her, she needed to keep her emotions under control, or she was going to start affecting the dream, and she had no idea where that would lead her.

"Raven!" He finally caught up to where she stood and stopped in front of her, still grinning. His blonde hair caught the wind and tostled it even more. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him for an uncharacteristic hug. "I'm glad you came!"

His unique scent filled her senses and she glanced up at him as she struggled against his arms, secretly praying that he couldn't see the blush staining her cheeks. She cleared her throat and pushed at his arms, breaking his grip around her with surprising force. She ran her hands down the front of her clothes, as if brushing off invisible dirt, and raised an eyebrow at him. "That was unnecessary, and of course I'm here. I didn't have much of a choice, now did I? You wouldn't shut up until I conceded." She paused for a moment, keeping her expression as still and stony as usual. "So, where are we?"

"It's my old home. I don't know how I got here, but I'm not going to complain too much." He turned and looked at the field with a smile, as if he was reveling in an old, familiar memory. His whole aura felt relaxed and joyful, almost as if it were filled with boyish innocence. He pushed at his hair again. "I've been here before, and this is one of my happier dreams. Over that ridge is my old house, and I bet mom is trying to make dinner while pouring over lab reports."

His smile widened and he leaned back on his heels.

"That makes sense... when I walked with you last time we started out in another, happy memory." She vaguely remembered the images of Terra and him on their first date, and following them through his dream as she attempted to help him deal with his grief. But, her own emotions had gotten wildly out of control, and she had ended influencing the dream much more than she expected. In the end, she ended up hurting Beast Boy more than helping. That had been the last time she walked into anyone's dreams, lest she repeat her failure.

Raven glanced around at the grasses, waiting for the scene to melt into something else entirely. When it didn't happen, she glanced back at the grinning form of Beast Boy. "Look, not that I mind the change of scenery or anything, but I thought that your beast was going to... control the dream. I thought I would have to..." She trailed off, trying to figure out a tactful way to bring up the fantasy she had been forced to witness in his earlier dream.

"I don't know. I mean, I expected that he would too... but, I don't know. Maybe he's letting me have control? Maybe he understands what we were doing and why, and he let me have control of my dreams again." He shrugged and kicked at the dirt under his feet, avoiding her confused stare. There was a long pause before he glanced back up at her, pushing more of his hair out of his face and plastering on a broken smile. "At least, that's what I'm going to infer."

"Infer?" She tried not to think too hard on why she was standing on the savanna and not on the roof watching her doppelganger be ravaged by Beast Boy. After all, she was just grateful for the reprieve she had from both Adonis and Beast Boy's beast, so any break from either of them was simply a break in and of itself, and she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. There was another long pause between them and she listened to the wind pushing through the grass and the gentle sound of Beast Boy breathing next to her. When had he gotten so close?

She took a step away, pretending to wander through the grass to look at the scenery as it changed and move with each step. "Do you ever talk to your beast?"

He snorted, his stare moving from a far-off look into something a little more tense. Dark, heavy clouds pulled in overhead, swirling around as if the skies were going to open up any moment and a storm was going to ravage the plains. It seemed almost as if the change in his attitude and emotions signaled a change in the weather.

"Talk to him? No. Of course not." He let loose a growl, and in the distance, Raven heard thunder rumbling. "It's a parasitic animal living inside me. I don't even know how to talk to it, and I don't know if I would ever want to to."

"But maybe talking to your beast would help..." She trailed off, wincing as the thunder rumbled closer. She needed to stop pushing him. It wasn't going to do her or him any good, and his dream would quickly turn into a nightmare if she wasn't careful.

"I don't think there's anything that can help me. Even the beast."

"Never mind. I won't bring it up again."

Raven decided that now was probably not the best time to bring up the fact that Adonis apparently talked to his beast, and learned all kinds of interesting things and facts because of it. But, that would probably just at fuel to the fire.

Instead she did whatever she could do to change the subject and bring him back to his usual self. Her hand reached out and wrapped around the thickness of his wrist, ignoring the energy that popped and sizzled around the spot where their skin touched, she tugged gently at his arm. He glanced down at her shock lining his eyes, and Raven quickly dropped his hand, a blush spreading across her face again.

"Sorry, but you were changing the weather, and I'd rather not get caught in a monsoon in your own dreams." She pushed at her hair, watching as the the sun returned, streaming through the last dregs of the clouds as they dissipated above them. She glanced back at Beast Boy, trying to keep her mood light but still detached from the dream. "So, what do we do here?"

He looked confused for a moment, like he was still trying to shake off his shock, and finally shrugged. "Um... I don't know. I'm not really sure what we can do or what I'm allowed to do. Are there like rules or something I'm supposed to follow? I mean, I know last time we tried to do this it ended... badly. So... you know, I don't want to repeat that disaster if I can avoid it."

That was putting it mildly. Raven tried to shake the horrific images from her mind as a shudder rippled down the length of her spine. Once again, she was reminded why it was such an important step in their friendship that Beast Boy let her dreamwalk again.

She rubbed her arm and stepped away from him, sighing. "I didn't mean for it to end the way it did last time, Beast Boy. I thought I had better control of the dream, and in the end I didn't."

"And I was forced to watch Terra die all over again?"

Ouch. Okay, that hurt, but he was right. Raven needed to have better control over her powers or things would end badly.

"That was rude. I'm sorry." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, disheveling his hair even more. "I don't blame you for what happened, Rae. Really, I don't. I know you were just trying to help, but I won't lie, the whole experience really turned me off to your magic. In fact, it pretty much turned me off to all magic."

Raven felt a sad smile peel across her lips as she looked at him. "Even more than your trip into my mind?"

He shrugged. "At least I got to kick ass with you inside your mind."

She couldn't stop the low, breathy chuckle that spilled from her lips. "I see."

He stared at her for a long moment, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You know, I don't think I've heard you laugh in a long time. I'd almost forgotten what it sounded like."

"Well, you have to admit that we haven't exactly had a whole lot of reasons to laugh lately." Raven took another step away from him, her fingers weaving between the grasses that brushed against her body. "I guess it's the bonus of being what we are."

"That doesn't mean we can't laugh or at least enjoy life."

He walked up next to her and his hand brushed against Raven's, flooding her mind with the push of his emotion. She swallowed hard and looked up at him, trying to keep her heart from beating against her ribs. He looked down at her and smiled again, this time threading his fingers between her own, and Raven made no move to take possession of her own hand back from him. She felt another surge of happiness from her and he tugged on her hand.

"So... let's enjoy this for a while. It's my dream, right? I mean, you've told me that with your power in my aura, I can control my dream?" He tugged on her arm and started down the gentle slope of the ground, forcing her to follow him.

"Provided I'm here fueling the energy needed to control your dream, and that I don't lose control of my emotions, yes."

"That's what I needed to know. So, we can go anywhere... hmm..." He grinned again, the seriousness of their conversation fading away as he continued to look at her, feigning deep thought. "If we could go anywhere... where would we go... I know!" He snapped his fingers. "There's this awesome beach my mom used to take me to when she got vacation time. Let's go there."

"Um, I'm not really a beach kind of-" Raven's words stopped abruptly as she felt his thoughts and memories access the power stores within her own aura, pulling at her. She reeled back a little, surprised at how easy he had accessed her energy, and then it was as if he had said some magical words.

The scenery around them quickly faded into a brown blob before developing into a sparkling beach. Crystal blue water pushed rhythmically against the shore, crashing onto the golden sand as tall cliffs rose on either side of them. Behind them, a steep, grassy slope rose up to higher ground above them, beach grasses waving in the gentle sea breeze.

Raven found herself just a little awestruck at the scene. It really was a beautiful spot, and in spite of Beast Boy's efforts to be fully annoying toward her, she couldn't stop the ghost of a smile that played on her lips.

Beast Boy grinned at her. "Is that a smile I see?"

Raven quickly wiped her face of all emotion and looked up at him with a blank expression. "It's a beautiful beach, yes, but that doesn't mean you have to poke fun at me."

He seemed unperturbed by her quick change in personality and he took her hand again, pulling her down the sand and closer to the water. "I don't know why you always think I'm trying to poke fun at you."

"Besides the fact that you actually do poke fun at me?" Raven rolled her eyes, but made no move to take her hand back from his grasp. His thumb moved over her knuckles in a surprisingly intimate gesture. Color stained her cheeks again, and Raven was glad he couldn't see her face. She cleared her throat, hoping her emotions didn't resound through her voice. "You're always teasing me, Beast Boy. It's just want you do. I've just sort of become accustomed to it at this point in our friendship."

He stopped at the water's edge and turned around to look at her, a hint of sadness and remorse lining his eyes. "I don't mean to hurt you, Raven, if that's what you think I'm doing."

"I don't." She shrugged. "I just assume you're trying to be annoying."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not, you know. But you're always so damn serious, I don't think you've ever just let loose once. It's always 'it's not safe' or 'it's dangerous' or 'what if I lose control, Beast Boy'. You never enjoy being human."

"Because I'm only part human." Raven rolled her eyes and finally took her hand back. "And I say what I do because usually those things are true, Beast Boy. You're usually trying to goad me to doing something unsafe or dangerous, like stank ball. Have you ever really smelled your socks before? It's enough to peel paint off walls, you can't tell me that is safe for humanity."

His seriousness faded away at the personal jab and he laughed. "Okay, okay, you have a point there. I'm sure my manly musk is just too much for mankind."

Raven couldn't stop the chuckle even if she tried. "Stop trying to justify it as that. It's absolutely 'Beast Boy stench', and I've seen it kill flora without hesitation. It's certainly not man musk."

"Ouch, Rae. Nice way to bruise me ego." He turned and looked at her, feigning hurt as another smile peeled across his lips. "You know, I don't know why you don't come into my dreams more often."

"Don't you remember the last disaster? You know the one we just talked about?" She pushed her hair out of her eyes, feeling her fingers tangle in the strands. "Besides, it's your personal space. I shouldn't be wandering around in your head. It'd be like you coming into my room whenever you felt like it."

"I guess you're right... but I like having you around. It's fun." He sat down on the sand and pulled off his shoes, rolling the edges of his pant legs up. "And besides, you're more at ease in here... you're more relaxed. In fact, I don't think you've ever smiled so much before." He glanced up at her from his spot on the sand. "I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoyed it."

Raven raised an eyebrow and stared at him. "I am not fun."

"Oh, I don't know..."

He stood up and stepped into her personal space, just smiling at her. Raven could feel his emotions start to pull at her, and the heat from his body mingled with hers throwing her mind wildly off course as she stared into his green eyes. He was just a few inches away from her, all she had to do was move just so slightly, stand on her tip-toes, and then...

What in the world was she thinking!?

Raven pulled back a little, breaking the spell between them. Beast Boy stepped back, giving her some false comfort of space. "I think that under the right circumstances, you could be very fun." He gave her a moment to let his words sink in before he stepped back to the water's edge again, letting the surf run over his toes. "Want to jump in?"

Raven swallowed hard, trying to recollect herself after he moved too close to her, and after she let her own thoughts move to forbidden locations. She plastered on her normal, expressionless look and rolled her eyes, hoping he couldn't feel her tumultuous emotions. "Oh darn, I forgot my swimsuit."

"That's not such a big deal." He laughed and pulled his shirt off over his head, carelessly tossing it into the sand. He stood in front of her, his arms outstretched as if offering her something. "Come on, Rae. We could go skinny dipping."

Color flooded her face and she took a step back, shocked by his proposition. "What?"

He laughed again, stepping back into the surf, the water now running over his ankles. "I'm just kidding!"

Raven was about to say something else, but she didn't have a chance to even formulate her words. The next thing she saw was Beast Boy running up to her, his body doubled over as if he was going to tackle her. Oh, wait. This was Beast Boy she was thinking about, of course he was going to tackle her.

Before she even had time to think about what was happening, his arms wrapped around her waist and he hefted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Laughing hysterically (as he ignored the shouts of death threats and small fists pounding at his back), he ran back into the waves, running through the surf until he was waist deep before depositing Raven into the water.

She fell below the surface of the azure ocean, hissing and sputtering as she searched for something to cling to. Her arms wrapped around his torso, and her fingers dipped into the waistband of his jeans as she pulled herself to a standing position, shoving her wet hair out of her eyes.

"That wasn't funny!"

"I beg to differ." He smiled down at her. "I think it was hilarious!"

Raven glared up at him and pushed at his chest. "Just because you have control of your dreams doesn't mean you have the right to torment me."

"Awe, come on, Rae." He ran his fingers through her hair, releasing some of the tangles. The touch felt intimate and sincere, and he smiled down at her. "It was a little fun. Admit it."

"It was not." She looked down at herself. "And now I'm soaked."

"Told you we should have gone skinny dipping." He tugged on her hair teasingly.

Color flooded her face again and she stepped back, tripping over herself and falling back into the water. Beast Boy grabbed her arm before she fell too far and pulled her back into a standing position, still smiling at her. She fell against his chest, feeling the thump of his heartbeat under the hardness of his own muscles. Swallowing hard, she allowed herself the simple, girlish pleasure of enjoying his body for a moment before standing on her own.

Silence fell over them and Raven watched as he moved past her, heading out toward deeper water. His blonde hair caught the late afternoon light and lit up like pure gold, creating some kind of false halo around his face. Raven shook her head and followed after him, making sure to stay a few steps behind him as a buffer.

"Can I ask you something?"

He looked over his shoulder at and nodded, a smile still playing on his lips. "Sure. What?"

"Why... this?" She motioned to his body. Wincing as shock filled his face, she realized exactly what she had done. It was not her place to judge others' dreams, and it certainly wasn't her place to judge Beast Boy's. "I'm sorry, that was rude."

He shrugged, the shock transforming into hurt before disappearing entirely. "It's not really. I'm sure I caught you off guard when you stepped into my dream. It's just..." He sighed and looked back at the rest of the water. "When I dream, I never see myself the why I am now... more like the way I wanted to be. Or the way I should have been." He stared down at his hands. "Idealized in my own head."

Raven felt the words fall from her lips before she could stop them. "I like you just the way you are." She shrugged, pretending to be interested in the sand towards the shore again, and started moving closer to it. "I don't see why you should change how you think about yourself. You're exactly who you need to be and who you should be." She reached ankle-deep water and turned back to look at him. "You're perfect just the way you are."

Shock was clear on his face as he turned to look at her, and Raven felt his emotions push against her psyche, trying to break the barrier between them. He followed her towards the shore, plastering on a fake, boyish smile. "So... you think I'm perfect?"

Raven could see something in his eyes as he approached her. He wasn't as adept at hiding his emotions as he thought, and she saw something smoldering in their green depths. She swallowed hard and stepped out of the water, wringing the sea from her hair as she moved further up on dry shore. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door to her own mind shimmer into existence against the rocky outcropping.

"I think you're the way you should be... outside of this dream."

She felt his fingers close over her wrist, stopping her from moving farther away from him. "I think you think I'm perfect." He pulled at her, spinning her body around so she faced him. "Admit it, Raven... you liiiiiike me." He drew out the word, making him sound more like an elementary school boy with his first crush, rather than a grown adult.

"I tolerate you." Raven kept her face blank, realizing that his hand hadn't released her wrist, and he was still moving closer to her. He stepped up to her, blatantly invading her personal space again, his free hand reaching up to touch her chin, tilting her face towards him.

"I think you're lying."

Raven raised an eyebrow, as if silently challenging him. "Oh?"

"Mm-hm." He bent over her, his lips mere inches from her own. She felt his warm breath on her face, smelling faintly of seawater, and felt his arm releasing her wrist and moving around her back, securing her in her spot. She heard the thump of his pulse and smelled the scent of fresh pine and warm earth that was uniquely him. It took all of her effort not to sigh and fall into his arms like some dopey, dew-eyed heroine in a cheap romance novel.

Even more so, it was at this exact moment that Raven realized that she had no idea whose emotions she was feeling (Beast Boy's or her own), and who was feeding who. And, quite frankly, she wasn't even sure if she cared.

She tilted her head up and kissed him first.

His shock coursed through him, rippling into her. It startled her enough that she pulled away from him, looking into his eyes. He looked like a deer caught in headlights as he stared down at her, one of his hands moving to touch his lips.

"Did you... mean to..."

Raven rolled her eyes and pulled him back down to her lips again, this time ignoring the second wave of shock as his mouth moved against hers. There was a moment suspended in time, as if it was a snapshot of their innocence before it gave away to a wave of lust so powerful that it sent Raven's head reeling and she lost almost all control of her actions.

He pulled her against him, his lips feasting on hers violently. Raven's hands slid against his slick skin, running over his bare shoulders and down the planes of his chest. He pulled away just enough to look into her eyes before leaning down and devouring her mouth again. His hands slid under her thighs and picked her up with ease, slamming her against the phantom door to her own mind. A jolt of pain ripped through her psyche, but it was quickly forgotten under the forceful wave of lust that followed.

He pushed against her, pinning her between the door and him, which gave him enough leverage to free one of his hands from holding her weight, and letting it wander over her body and explore parts of her he never had before. He tugged on her hair before letting his hand wander over her shoulders and side.

Raven gasped for breath and pulled away to stare into his eyes. "What are we doing?"

"We're making out." He leaned back down to her lips, biting and nibbling on the already swollen flesh. His lips grazed over her jaw before traveling down her neck.

"I know that, but is this...?" Her thoughts trailed off as he ran his tongue over her pulse. She ground her hips against him in an unconscious reaction and he grunted in approval. He pulled away just enough to talk, but not enough to stop contact between their bodies.

"Do you want to stop?"

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Raven knew this was just their emotions feeding each other. She knew that this wasn't completely real, but her mind didn't care at this moment.

"No."

"Good."

His lips met hers again, nudging her lips apart as his tongue delved into the hidden hollows of her body. Raven scraped her nails down his back, letting him ravage her body slowly as the fire inside her burned to a temperature she didn't think was possible. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him even closer to her.

It was at this exact moment that Raven felt nothing at her back. Without support from the door behind them, Raven and Beast Boy tumbled into the sand.

Raven looked behind her as she untangled herself from Beast Boy's limbs. The door into her own mind had swung open and from it protruded a gnarled, furred hand. Blood spilled from the tips of the claws poking through the shaggy fur, and tainting the pure sand with crimson. Raven screamed as the fingers clawed their way up her back before they wrapped around her neck, claws gouging into her flesh, and pulling her body off of Beast Boy. The hand yanked on her neck, sending an unspeakable, horrific pain jolting through her spinal cord.

"You are mine."

"Raven!" Beast Boy's hand reached out for her, but he didn't have the power to walk into her own dream, not without her permission. He screamed and howled, the beast inside him ripping through and fur erupted on his skin. "Raven, let me in!"

She clawed at the sand as the phantom hand pulled her over the threshold of her own door and back into her mind. For a moment, she almost called out to Beast Boy, almost begged him to help her and follow her back into her mind. And then, she remembered the unspeakable horrors that existed in the confines of her own mind. The torture she was forced to endure at the hands of Adonis.

Not to Beast Boy. She couldn't do that to him.

She closed her eyes and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Raven!"

Raven slammed the door shut in his face, letting the claws in her neck tighten their hold on her. Blood dripped down her back and she turned and looked into the face of Adonis, existing no longer as a phantom force, but a true being within her mind.

"My dearest, Raven."

)O(

I didn't mean for this to take so long! But I started writing this chapter and it went somewhere I didn't intend for it to go so I had to shift gears. If it's any consolation, I have most of the next chapter written. So… yaay?

Anyway, let me know what you think!