AN: if I, Ami, don't update in more than three or four days, and you REALLY wanna read this story, then I, Ami, advise you to start Emailing me ASAP and pestering me to continue before I, Ami, lose my muse. It has happened many times before, and it'll happen many times in the future.

Tall Tales

He waltzed into the kitchen with a grin and a hello, before digging out his soy milk from the fridge. After grabbing a bowl and spoon, he joined Starfire and Cyborg at the table.

"Friend Beast Boy?" Star asked innocently as he poured his cereal.

"Yeah Star?" he replied, giving her a toothy smile.

"You are taller," she noted. Cocking her head to the side, she looked at his form. "Have you stretched in your sleep?"

"You mean grew?" Cyborg offered.

"Yes!" Star leaned towards him and gave him a hug in appreciation… just as Robin walked in. "Thank you Friend Cyborg!"

"What's this all about?" Robin asked, staring at Cyborg a little longer and harsher than necessary.

"The little grass stain here's not so little anymore," Cyborg sneered. Beast Boy glared at him.

"I'm not a grass stain!" he growled.

"Your right," the robot's cybernetic eye glinted just as demonically as the real one. "You're just a little twig!"

"Take that back ya ol' tinker mobile!" the green boy stood up now, forgetting about his cereal.

"Only a twig could survive eating the crap you eat!" Cyborg stood up as well.

"Friends!" Starfire tried to interfere. "Please don't fight!"

"Better than killing animals!" Tai yelled, agreeing with Beast Boy.

"Yeah!" Beast Boy agreed. "Much better than killing animals!"

Cyborg blinked, looking at Beast Boy in confusion. The shape shifter just grinned in victory… then Cyborg spoke.

"Um… BB?" the robot asked.

"Giving up already?" Beast Boy taunted. Yay! He was finally winning!

"Not that BB…" he noticed Robin looking at him strangely as well. He looked at Star who seemed as clueless as him.

"What?" He took a small step back; he didn't like this… was Slade behind him or something? He checked quickly, before looking back at them. "What!"

"Who were you agreeing with?" Robin asked.

Beast Boy blinked then looked to his right to find Tai… but the blond boy wasn't there. He almost fell to the ground as he realized what had happened…

Had he actually imagined Tai? Here?

"I've gotta go!" He squeaked, transforming into a falcon and zooming out of the room. He heard his friends calling after him, but didn't stop. Where could they go that they wouldn't find him?

The roof! He thought. No one's ever up there! And it's light out! They would never suspect me of going out into the daylight!

He silently cheered to himself as he headed up to the roof, making a note to do a victory dance before solving his problem… but as he got outside, he realized why he never really went up there… it was so bright.

"Bah…" he groaned, transforming back to his regular self. He covered his eyes and started pacing, not really paying attention to the atmosphere around him. "Okay… back on track… Tai's here… no, he's not real. He was a figment of my imagination, always has been, always will be… the problem lying in the fact that he was here, outside of my dreams… isn't there some law against that?"

He sighed, muttering profanities to himself. "Why were you outside of my dreams?" he questioned the morning sky as he stopped his pacing. He slowly leveled his eyes, getting use to the light. "Why did you leave my insanity? Does this mean that you'll stop haunting my sleep? Will you invade my real life?"

Raven woke up slowly that morning, her lavender eyes lazily taking in the clean lines of the tiles of her ceiling. She'd been having a nice dream… she'd been having it a lot recently, as it slowly took over her normal nightmares.

She used the minute concentration needed to remove her blankets and call a thin, aqua book to her side. Flipping open it's pages, she skimmed over the contents; the first pages were the details of her original nightmare, written and rewritten again and again in a messy hand, parts smudged out and redone. Nearly a quarter of the way in, the writing became calmer, more serene, as the words of her dream were poured out onto the white paper.

The details were still vague, but it helped her remember.

A massive raven with violet eyes would fly from the moon to greet her hand, only to shift and change, melding into the shadows. Eyes would forever glow and challenge, stepping back when she went forwards. Something happened during this time… maybe a conversation?

But then… then she tripped. Over her cape, a root, or just out of her own clumsiness she didn't know. But the figure would catch her, submerging them both into shadow… and the eyes, they changed. They shed their hard, challenging violet ways and turned soft, loving…

"… but which colour?" she mused. With a sigh she put the book back down, then got up to dress in her uniform. The leotard was draped over the back of her chair with her cape and belt, which she clipped on afterwards. Slipping her boots on last, she took a deep, calming breathe.

Should she meditate before or after she left?

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…" she whispered, feeling her feet rise above the ground. She searched her mind for any disturbance, and found none. Opening darkened orbs, she slowly slipped through the floor down to the living room.

Am I finally gaining control? She wondered. Have I over powered Trigon at last?

She rested her feet on the ground and walked towards the kitchen, only to find Starfire sitting cheerfully at the table. "Friend Raven!" the alien chorused. "You have awakened early… do you wish to make breakfast with me?"

"No Star," Raven smile, chuckling softly. She stopped when she noticed the toaster start to turn black, and returned to her stoic nature. The toaster returned to normal, and Star gazed at her with hurt eyes. "Maybe another time."

"Okay Friend Raven!" Star jumped up and hugged her tightly 'round the neck, almost strangling her.

"Can't… breathe…" Raven gasped, trying to conjure up the will to pry the alien off of her.

"Sorry…" she apologized, releasing the half-demon.

"It's alright Starfire," Raven forgave her. She decided she didn't want breakfast today. "I'm going to go up to the roof to meditate, alright?"

"Okay!" Star cheered, giggling to herself. Raven rolled her eyes, pulling her hood up over her eyes as she decided to take the long route to the roof: walking.

Her trip was uneventful, disturbed only by an annoying beeping of Beast Boy's alarm clock as she passed the green boy's room. The raven from her dreams flashed before her eyes, accompanied by a slight pain.

Rubbing her forehead, she continued.

When she reached the roof, she spent a few minutes just basking in the light of the rising sun. She noticed with disappointment that it was already above the horizon… with a sigh, she pulled herself above the ground, folding her legs into her lotus position.

'Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…' she chanted in her mind, closing her lovely eyes. 'Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…'

Her mantra continued, but the image of the raven didn't leave her mind… she couldn't place her finger on it, but there was something wrong with it. Where the wings too large? The beak too sharp? The eyes too menacing?

'The eyes…' she interrupted her chanting, looking up at the horizon. 'The eyes were different…'

Before she could think how, the door behind her crashed open; she settled on the ground and turned, her cape floating around her… there stood Beast Boy, eyes shielded from the sun, not seeing her as he paced.

"Okay… back on track…" she heard him mutter. "Tai's here… no, he's not real. He was a figment of my imagination, always has been, always will be…"

She couldn't help but notice how distressed he looked.

"The problem lying in the fact that he was here, outside of my dreams… isn't there some law against that?" Sighing, he muttered words that made even her blushed. "Why were you outside of my dreams?" He slowly looked up towards the sky. "Why did you leave my insanity? Does this mean that you'll stop haunting my sleep? Will you invade my real life?"

Raven blinked, surprised; since when has Beast Boy's vocabulary been larger than 'tofu' and 'game station'?

"Calm down Beast Boy," he continued. "This is just… an imaginary thing… right? It'll go away… he won't bother me any more… I can go back to being regular old, green, tofu loving, all-round nice guy, Beast Boy…"

She couldn't stop the snort of laughter.

His reaction was instantaneous. Turning fast enough to get whiplash, he stared at her like a deer caught in head-lights.

"R-raven…?" she could tell how nervous he was from his voice… but at what? Did she know something that she shouldn't? Was there something about this mysterious Tai the team wouldn't like?

"Um… hi…" she tried to think of something to say… something that wouldn't be awkward or strange; she said the first thing that came to mind. "Have you gotten taller..?"