Choosing to Run

Raven sat there as she waited for him to speak, and he just stared. His green made her shiver, and she had to look way; they were too intense. "Well?"

"I didn't live in Tai's past," she heard him stand up, but didn't look up at him. "So how should I know?"

"Didn't you see me in your dream?" she hissed out. "I saw you… but your reflection was of a boy with blond hair. That was Tai, right?"

"Yeah, so?" he heard him moving across the room.

"And I was there," she stood up, still not finding herself able to look up at him. "But my reflection was of a girl with red hair and eyes. Who is she?"

"You mean Lilly?" he scoffed. "Lilly is just another figment of my imagination, just like the Tai and Raija and the village and everything. Where did you put my shirts?"

Now she looked up at him. Her eyes flared with anger as she stared him down, making it his turn to look away. He sauntered over to the mirror on the wall, and she saw the raven on his back… as well as a glimpse of her demonic eyes in the mirror.

Muttering Azarath Metrion Zinthos! she calmed her nerves.

"Why would you even want to be in Tai's past?" he asked, falling back onto the ground. He pulled his knees to his chest and stared at his reflection. "Sure, he has almost a fairytale life, but he doesn't get what he wants. The person he loves most ends up leaving him. His daughter scorns him for keeping her in Africa for so long. The village ended up forcing him to leave, because he's disrupting their rituals and the nature around them. It's not a happy fairytale. Why would you want to be there?"

She pondered on words to say as she walked up to the mirror as well, eyes tracing over the raven on his back… so many questions about Tai and Lilly, let alone that raven, and she needed to get all the answers.

Crouching behind him, a hand on his shoulder, she decided on the first question to ask; 'Why don't you believe?' But something stopped her… and that something was in the mirror. Staring back out at her was a smiling red head; wrapping an arm around a blond haired boy she could only assume to be Tai. And when she turned her head to look at Beast Boy, she realized her arm was about to copy the red head's… she retreated, cradling a wrist in her lap.

"Why don't you believe in Tai?"

He laughed as he looked up at her, and she was horrified to see no humour in his eyes. "Tai was a bed time story that my dad used to tell me. A story that supposed to die with the parents, and then maybe, just maybe, come back to you later when you have kids of your own to put to bed… but no, Tai haunts all my dreams, sleeping or not, to the point that he's now telling me that I can never look upon my own reflection again unless I do what he never did. And that's a rather pointless threat, because he didn't get to do a lot."

Raven stared at him, the weight of his words doing nothing to push her away. She shifted closer as she tried to think of what to say next, opening her mind in case he let a stray thought tumble out and help her… nothing. It was almost like he had a brick wall built around his mind.

It was Beast Boy, who opened his mouth to speak next, but just right then, she felt someone prod into her self conscious – nothing nearly serious to harm her, and nothing she couldn't bat away easily, but it seemed to push her forwards, so that just as Beast Boy started to ask why she was staring at him, they kissed.

Beast Boy looked back at her stare, wanting desperately to move out of her line of vision. Why was she staring at him like that? Maybe she likes you. Tai's voice rang out in his head, and he tried to ignore it… instead, he opened his mouth to ask her why she was looking at him so… intently.

Then she kissed him.

Time must have frozen. No doubt about it; the entire planet probably would of blown up by now with how much emotion Raven seemed to pour into one tiny, innocent kiss… which was probably why he didn't push away. No, instead he slowly wrapped an arm around her waist, and dared to lean in closer. His eyes drifted shut.

No explosions. Time must have stopped.

All at once everything shattered apart, but not with auras of black and explosions as he thought, but a pain in his lower back. He pushed away from her, eyes still shut, and yelped in pain. He cursed profanities and demanded to know just what she had done to him… but when he finally calmed down enough to open his eyes, she was gone.