Chapter 16

Raven eyes blinked open. She was still in her mind, but her surroundings were different. Things were like normal. The bleak, gray ground and the black sky with red streaks. But…what had changed?

"Not much." Raven glanced up, and watched as the Feminine Side slowly levitated down from her high position. "I just decided that since this will be your residence soon, then the least I could do is make it suitable to your liking."

Raven's eyes widened, and she looked around in a blind panic. "Where's Beast Boy?"

A smug smile slid over the over-sized mouth. "He's sleeping comfortably. For now at least."

Raven tried to lunge at her, but something was holding her back. Gasping, she looked down, seeing that she was bound to the rock mountain with metal cuffs stabbed into the wall, restraining her hands and feet. She tried to phase her hand through the metal, but it wouldn't work. "Silly Raven. Do you not remember? I'm a part of you. I'm aware of what it takes to keep you in check."

Raven took a deep breath, trying to control herself, and set her face, making sure that she showed the Feminine Raven: she would NOT be intimidated. "What do you want with us?"

The Feminine Side twirled in the sky, obviously delighted that she was in control. "Oh, dear sweet Raven. What makes you think I want anything to do with Beast Boy?"

Raven's brows rose. "The fact that you've been hanging on him ever since you met?

She chuckled, an eerie sound that Raven knew she could never make. "Oh, and I suppose you think I'm interested in that little green freak?"

"He's not a freak. Maybe he has a corny sense of humor and can be a little nosey. But that makes him mildly obnoxious, not a freak."

There was that annoying laugh again. Only now it was higher, more maniacal, just like in the movies. It worried Raven to think that something within HER could make such a noise. "Come on Raven! The boy is GREEN! He has elf ears, a fang, and changes into other creatures. Of course he's a freak!"

Raven's confusion must have been evident. "I was only coming on to him so he would bring you down here. I had hoped that you would come in again so I could convince you to do me a favor."

Raven waited, knowing whatever it was, she wouldn't do it. "I want to trade places with you. I will live on the outside, and you will be inside my mind."

Her eyes widened, and she thrashed about against her restraints. "Give me a break! Like hell I'd ever do something like that!"

A brow rose. "Is that a fact?" She snapped her fingers, and a large gray mirror materialized out of thin air. Raven stared at it for a few seconds in confusion. At first, she only saw her reflection, and what she saw she didn't like: A vulnerable, restrained girl, with a pitiful look in her eyes. The glass suddenly turned black, then she saw Beast Boy; unconscious and helpless, reflecting her exact position being cuffed to a stone wall. She couldn't tell where he was, for at this point, all places in her mind looked the same again.

Her eyes widened. "Beast Boy! Beast Boy wake up!"

That irritating chortle rose back to life. "He can't hear you Raven! This glass only allows one to see and not to touch or speak to those inside."

'But what about reading their minds?' Raven thought victoriously. She closed her eyes, and tried to find Beast Boy's essence. But there must have been some sort of psychic block; she couldn't reach out any further than where she was. Clenching her teeth, and closing her eyes, Raven concentrated as hard as she could to get through, but it just wasn't working. "Oh, poor, poor Raven. You don't understand do you? You're in my realm now. So long as you stay here, your powers are at my command."

Raven felt a sharp stabbing in her head. "Ack!" She shook her head, as if to shake the feeling out.

"Look Raven."

Delirious through the pain, Raven rose her eyes. She gasped; through the mirror Beast Boy was being encircled by a black aura, the waves of energy arching and twirling sinuously around him. "Aah!" The violent stab in her head suddenly grew sharper, and through fogged eyes, Raven watched as the black aura attacked Beast Boy. Raven heard him yelp in pain as the energy around him assaulted him on the inside. His eyes shot open, and Raven gasped.

"What's happening to me? ARGH," he shouted from his side of the mirror. The blackness that now encompassed Beast Boy entirely was slowly getting smaller. To the inexperienced eye, one might think that it meant the energy was going away and Beast Boy was getting better. But to Raven…

She could sense the strength growing in her powers, the mounting force on Beast Boy's body. The energy was slowly constricting his insides, and if she kept going, he would literally implode internally. "Dah! Ahha!"

Raven yanked against the metal cuffs, ignoring the pierce in her head as she tried harder and harder to interfere in the Feminine Side's control. "No! Leave him alone!"

A malicious smirk and an eyebrow rose on her face. "Now why would I do that?" Even though she let up her hold on Raven's mind. But she was still there. Raven could sense the presence of someone else in her mind.

The sharp piercing temporarily went away, and Raven blinked a couple times to get her vision back completely. "How is this possible? You're in my mind! I should be able to control you! It shouldn't be that you control others through me! How are you doing this?!"

"Whoa! Calm down dearie! Conserve your strength."

Raven looked back to Beast Boy, who looked a little groggy, but soon closed his eyes again. Suspiciously, she glanced back at the Feminine Side. "What are you talking about?"

She sidled up to the mirror, and ran her hand down the side of it. "You'll need all the strength you can get when it comes time for us to trade places."

Raven gave her the most menacing glare she could manage, and growled, "I already told you, that's not gonna happen!"

"Oh really?" She questioned smugly.

"AH!" The power of the psychic force the Feminine Side had on her was overwhelming. She demonstrated that power:

"Ahhhhhh!" The mirror showed Beast Boy thrashing against the wall, the black energy encircling him once again.

"Well, Raven," the Feminine Side said over the double screaming. "You could ease both your pains, and surrender your position in the outside world. Or I could kill both you AND Beast Boy. I'm sure you know that I'd hate to do that sweetie. Such a mess and all."

Raven didn't want to give in to her. But Beast Boy was…WAIT A MINUTE! "Wait!"

Thinking that Raven was ready to surrender, she snapped her fingers again, and stopped. "Yeees," she queried in a syrupy way.

Raven panted, in a slight state of shock from the quick switch from pain to nothing. "If you---don't---don't love him, then why did you say that when Beast Boy and I first came back in here?"

Her eyes widened, not expecting Raven to remember the entrance. "Wh-what did I say?" She asked, recovering quickly.

But Raven was smarter than that. "Don't be stupid! When he and I first got here, you said that if you couldn't have him, nobody could."

A grin spread over her mouth. "Oh, that. Well, as far as Beast boy knows, I still love him. It'll be less of a shock when you and I trade you know."

Raven turned her head. "If you don't love him, then why do you want to trade places with me?"

She covered her mouth, and let loose that maniacal laughter, this time letting it echo throughout anywhere within that field of sound. "Oh Raven, don't you understand? It's all about power! The closer I am to your reality, the more power I have."

Raven let loose a smirk of her own. "You don't understand. My friends will know that it's you and not me that's in our world. And besides, how the hell did you turn out to be so power hungry anyway? I've never looked for power, or a position of authority."

"Well Raven it's all very simple. I've studied you dearie. I know just how to act around the others. And let's just say that even though you've never looked for authority, doesn't mean that I can't. We're a bit more different than you'd like to think my dear. Why, I'm practically my own person."

The quiet way she said it almost actually scared Raven. Almost. "Either way, I'm still not going to trade places with you!"

That brow rose again. "Oh really?"

This time, the throb came back instead of the stabbing, and Raven ignored it. But what she couldn't ignore, was Beast Boy. He looked to be in greater pain than ever before. He thrashed and flayed against the metal, and Raven watched as Beast Boy tried to change. He was about half-way into a mouse, when Raven felt a mental thwack against her brain, and Beast Boy virtually whip-lashed back into human form. "Agh! No! Stop! Please!"

Raven noticed a sparkle on Beast Boy's face. She leaned closer, then saw it. Beast Boy's eyes were watering. He was actually crying in pain. She watched as he physically began to grow smaller. His organs and muscles were getting so much closer and tighter that he was actually beginning to get slighter.

If he kept going, then he was going to die.

"Stop it! Fine! I'll do it! Just leave him alone! Stop hurting him!"

She grinned, the ultimate evil triumph. "That's more like it." She snapped her fingers once more, and this time, the mirror disappeared. "Once you complete the spell, then I'll give you Beast Boy back. Until then, he stays here."

A small tear came from Raven's eye. She hated it when she was vulnerable. But what she hated more was the idea that someone might hurt her friends. "What am I supposed to do?"

(In Raven's Room.)

'There is a spell in this very book; Nevermore as you know.'

The stone-faced teenager stirred the powder into the wooden bowl, and poured about a tablespoon of holy water into it. She carefully added red crystals, and took one strand of her hair, and placed it in the cup, where it melted away.

'It is the ingredients for a potion that we both must drink.'

She took a flask and a beaker from an upper shelf.

'It is simple to conduct, and the ingredients are easy to find.'

Dusting the pedestal in the corner of her room and carrying it to the center, she remained completely emotionless. The less grief the better.

'Once you have memorized the spell, and have the potion prepared, then come back to me, and we can perform the ceremony.'

She poured the potion into the beaker, swirled it, then dumped it into the flask that she corked and placed at her belt. Quietly, she looked for the last time around her room. This place was her home. This room was where she had gone to hide in times of fear and anger. This was where she got a closer bond with her friends. This was where she fell in love…

But it was all going to be history soon. Nothing more than a memory and a figment of her mind.

Then, she jumped into the book. The swirling vortex spun her swiftly before she landed once more in Timid's territory.

Completely silent, she carried herself proudly as she marched throughout her own mind. She immediately recognized the two figures across the long way. The march to them was slow but sure. Bringing her hood down and still walking, she made sure that her face didn't give away anything she was feeling. Not that she was feeling anything to cover at the moment. She had a lot of practice at having no feelings.

Once she came up to them, she glanced down at Beast Boy, who looked to be in a hypnotized state. "Do you have the spell?"

Raven eyed Beast Boy. "Hand him over."

Telekinetically, the Feminine Side slid beast Boy over on the ground. Not even glancing down at him, Raven began the spell. "In the mind, in the soul,"

Her counterpart grinned. "In the heart, in the body,"

In unison, they chanted, "One at a time, two at a change."

A white glow surrounded them. Raven opened the flask, took a swig, and tossed it over the Feminine Side, who growled in return. "You couldn't be a little bit more careful?"

Raven licked her lips, trying to remove any traces of that foul-tasting liquid. "What do you care, nothing spilled."

After stiffening, the Feminine Raven took a drink. They both suddenly glowed a bright red, and Raven blinked, then said, "Can I say goodbye?"

She appeared to think about it, before nodding. "It'll be about a minute before the spell takes its full effect. Be my guest."

Raven knelt down at Beast Boy, and gently shook him awake. His lashes fluttered, then he looked up at her, and said, "Raven? Did we get her?"

She smiled gently, which caused his eyes to widen. "No. But maybe you can later. I had to stop her from torturing you, so she and I are trading places."

He sat up, and took her hand, looking at her strangely. "Raven, nobody tortured me. I've been by myself in Brave's territory for the past hour. Nothing's been happening."

Her eyes widened, and she looked over at the Feminine Side, who had her arms crossed with a satisfied grin. "Poor dear. It appears we'd both do anything when it comes to Beast Boy eh?"

Beast Boy's grip tightened. "Raven, what's she talking about?"

Raven looked down at herself. She was glowing red, and the spell was going to go to work any second. "She tricked me! She made me think you were being tortured so I made a spell to…" Words escaped her as the gravity of the situation finally came to life. Her face fell to her hands.

Beast Boy grabbed her shoulders, his eyes glittering in panic. "Raven come on, don't worry, we've just got to get out of here before it works."

Raven whimpered. "It's too late."

He cupped her face, and said with conviction. "Well don't worry! I'll do whatever it takes to get you out!" He then crushed her mouth in a possessive kiss.

Her eyes widened at the force he put behind it. She tried to kiss him back, tears that she never thought could fall dropping from her eyes. "NO! Stop that! You don't understand what will happen!"

Raven broke away, and a bright light started to flash. Beast Boy was suddenly glowing the same blood-red that she herself was radiating not two seconds ago. The Feminine Side snatched Raven's hand. At a closer glance, one could see the four dangerous red eyes. "You've changed the spell! Beast Boy will now be the one stuck here!"

Her jaw dropped, and suddenly, an even brighter flash cracked across the sky. The Feminine Side was gone, and Raven sensed what was about to happen. She was next to go. To go back to the outside world. But Beast Boy…

She grasped him, and clung as tight as she could. "No!"

He took her arms and caressed her hair. He knew it too. "Rave, I'll be fine."

She looked up. "Stop it! Quick, kiss me again, we can reverse it, and you'll be free!"

He shook his head, and a smile of confidence rose to his lips. He was sure, and certain, and ready. How he managed to become so brave so fast was unbelievable. And Raven thought he never looked more incredible. "As tempting as the idea of kissing you again sounds, I won't do it Rave. I can't let the girl I love give up her freedom just to save little ol' me."

Raven blinked. "What?"

The burst of light flashed across her vision, and Raven was in her room. Beast Boy was gone.

"NO!"