Collecting the Pieces of a Broken Mirror

' Thought '

"Speech"

Chapter 2: Fire and a Shattered Mirror

Cyborg couldn't see a thing. The windshield of his baby was being bombarded by the raindrops, but he managed to find his way. After long minutes, they reached their destination: a circus. It has been closed down five years ago, and now there was nothing but the red-and-white canvas used as a ceiling, hundreds of bats and an eerie feeling. Or at least it seemed so.

Robin was the first one entering it, cautiously looking for someone or something that could have caused the alarm to go off. Finding nothing but darkness, he called out for his fellow teammates. Starfire used her powers and lightened up the place.

"Creepy...", mumbled Beast Boy, morphing into a bat and flying around.

The sound of the rain was amplified and echoed, causing the Titans to shiver slightly.

"Looks like there's nothing here... must've been a false alarm or something...", said Cyborg. "Let's get outta here, this place is making me shiver!"

They all nodded and were heading to the exit when the lights suddenly turned on. They all looked around, alarmed, and noticed a huge mirror in the circus ring.

"It wasn't there before," said Robin, synthesizing all the Titan's thoughts.

"But then, how did this huge reflection device appeared of all sudden?", asked Star, a bit scared. She had never liked circus, and most clowns frightened her.

"Dunno...", mumbled Robin, getting closer to it. "Better check it..."

Raven had a bad feeling about all of this. Minutes before, she had heard laughter blent in the raindrops' singing, and it was weird enough to make one's blood run cold. She looked at Beast Boy. He appeared to be quite calm, and that eased her. He had a very good hearing, and if he hadn't hear anything weird, so it was everything okay. It could only be her imagination, something from her head, but her blood was colder indeed...

Her... head...

Her head and her blood? Well, she knew quite well what she had inside them, which was not very comforting...

'Calm down, girl... you are nuts, that's all. Nothing is going wrong, everything is gonna be alright. Everything.'

She got lost in her thoughts for a minute. When she finally got out of her mental maze, she noticed Beast Boy was waving his hand in front if her eyes, smiling.

"Hey, y'alright?"

"Yes..."

"You don't seem well... what's the matter?"

She smiled at him discreetly. It was amazing the way she felt secure when he was around.

"Don't worry, Beast Boy... I guess it's alright."

"Then come," he said, grabbing her hand and taking her to the front of the mirror. Her skin felt so soft that in spite of the situation, he felt like he could just turn and kiss her. This feeling grew and grew inside him each time he looked at her. So it was it. When they were back at the T-Tower, he would tell her everything. It wouldn't be so bad... she apparently had some feelings for him, too.

Everyone else was checking their reflection. They were... kind of having fun.

Raven looked at Robin's reflection, and then Starfire's and Cyborg's. She lingered at Beast Boy's and then looked at herself. There was a flash, and then she saw her father standing where she was supposed to be.

'No... no!'

She felt something pushing her down and fell on her knees, still looking at the mirror. Her father kneeled down too. Then it hit her. It was not her father. It was... HERSELF!

"NO! I AM NOT LIKE HIM!", she yelled. Everyone then turned at her, worried.

She could not take it. She was not like her father! She never could be like him! But, then why was she seeing him...?

"Rae...? What's wrong?", Beast Boy asked softly. He acted normal, but he was very worried.

"NO! NO!... no...", she said, and started crying. She was not really sad, but she was losing control and fighting herself to keep it. Her emotions were running loose. Things started to blow up, and Raven sobbed harder. She couldn't stop herself.

Beast Boy hugged her, stroked her hair and whispered comforting words, trying to calm her down. The Titans gathered around her, none of them really knew what was happening or what to do.

Starfire looked at the mirror and let out a shriek. There were no Titans in the Mirror, was only a deformed creature with red skin and four yellow eyes. They all stepped back. Raven shook and stared at her reflection hatefully. Beast Boy and Cyborg knew what that thing was, but they did not know how it got there. It was supposed to be imprisoned in Raven's mind!

Raven stood up, shaking from head to toe. She glanced at their friends, asking for help silently. But none of them could help her, mainly because all the shadows of the place started to move around them, closer and closer, until each one of her friends was tied up and immobilized by the darkness.

They screamed in pain as the shadow's grip grew tighter each passed second. Stunned, all Raven could think about was destroying the mirror.

Her eyes grew white as she chanted "Azarath, Metrion... ZINTHOS" and black energy blades flew from her hands. The giant mirror shattered into millions of pieces, but the shadows were still there, and the Titans, her friends, would die if she couldn't do anything.

The Titans were trying to defend themselves, but it was useless. All they would get was exhaustion. Raven tried to calm down and help her, but in vain. There was this loud, intense noise in her head that was driving her to despair.

She looked at the floor. There were hundreds of mirror pieces, each one showing a red skinned, yellow-eyed, evil, Raven.

She yelled as she saw her friends pain. She could hear Cyborg's parts crushing and Starfire's eyes slowly turning blank as she screamed no more - 'Unconscious'. Robin was still fighting it, and she could hear his ribs cracking. Beast Boy's arm was twisted in a strange way, and a small track of blood was running down form his mouth to his chin.

It was more than she could take, and her eyes turned red. Her demon side was free.

oOo

The Titans were worried. Raven fell down and started to cry and to scream. It was not like her... what was the matter?

Robin patted her shoulder, but it was like she hadn't felt it. Starfire called her softly - she was someone Raven never had (completely) ignored. However, Raven continued sobbing. Cyborg wondered what could be wrong, even though he had been in Raven's mind before, and knew what could be found there. Beast Boy knelt down by her side. He was worried about her.

All of a sudden, her eyes glowed red. - 'Uh-oh.. not a good sign...' - She stood and walked to the mirror almost like the zombie in a movie they had watched a few days before. Raven placed her hand on the cold object, and it glowed as red as her eyes. Smiling, she took a step back. The mirror seemed to melt, becoming an huge silver ball.

Silence fell upon them. A second later, the ball exploded and millions of mirror fragments shone in the air. Raven regained control.

"W-what happened? Are you guys... okay?"

"Sure, Raven. Are you hurt?", asked Beast Boy.

"No! And... and the shadows? How did you... ?"

"What shadows, Rae? Nothing happened to us, but you seem to be in some kinda trouble..."

"Nothing happened?" Raven was shocked. "So it all was just a dream?"

"Nothing happened, but we are worried about you! C'mon, let's go back to the tower!"

She nodded. She was relieved by the fact nothing had happened to them at all. But... she had lost control. Was it because of the emotions towards Beast Boy? Nothing else had changed...

She noticed the rain had stopped. Now the road was a great swamp, and Cyborg cried over his baby's very dirty painting and tires. When the half-robot got in the car and turned on the engine, Raven heard someone call her name. As she looked back, she saw her father standing behind her with a grin deforming his face. She ran and tried to get to the car, but then large walls of fire caged her. She tried to fly, but she had lost her powers.