The floor bucks and splits, sending plumes of smoke and ash billowing to the ceiling. Gar doesn't feel it. Numb, despite the turmoil. Cold, despite the suffocating heat and thin layer of stone between his feet and a vein of lava. He can't process. He can't figure out what's happening, can't take all the little puzzle pieces and make them click.
Danger. There's danger, he knows that much. The volcano, roaring like a beast from hell, threatening to erupt and drown Jump City in fire any moment. Slade, vanished into the gray clouds, waiting for his chance to strike. And Tara-
The ground rumbles again, splitting beneath him to reveal angry, boiling red. Gar stumbles, catching himself on the jagged rock wall. He stares at the sheen of shimmering gold energy holding the cracks together. Protecting him from the fire waiting to devour him.
The pieces click.
Gar jerks his head up, desperate eyes finding Tara standing in the middle of it all with outstretched arms. "We need to get out of here," he rasps, throat rubbed raw with smoke.
"You go," Tara commands. Her eyes flash yellow. "I need to stay."
His breath comes fast and shallow, chest tightening. A shuddering gasp, but all he inhales is more smoke and dust. His shoulder presses against the wall as he struggles to breathe.
Tara's expression softens as she crosses to him, hand brushing his cheek, and Gar closes his eyes. Desperate to hold onto something he can never have.
"No." He shakes his head weakly. "Please, there's another way. There has to be. I called Cy and the others, they'll get here soon and then…"
Gently, like he might shatter at the touch, Tara lifts his chin. Her eyes glitter, tears cutting trails through the soot staining her face. Cupping Gar's cheek, she leans forward. The kiss tastes like salt.
"I'm sorry," she whispers. Then she steps back.
"If there was another way-" Gar reaches out, grasping her forearm, silently begging her to look him in the eyes "-would you take it?"
Her sad smile rips his heart out.
Gar spent every moment he could with Tara for the past year. Glued at the hip, Vic used to joke with an aggravating eyebrow wiggle. Inseparable. Best friends, then first loves. He knows Tara Markov like he knows himself, if not better.
Now, she stands before him veiled in ashes and destruction. And for the first time he sees her.
How did he miss it? How was he so blind that he didn't know she was just like him? How did he miss the darkness in her eyes, the hesitancy in her smile?
How did he miss all the yellow lights screaming "warning"?
Tara's gaze flicks past him, eyes widening, hands lifting. "Gar-!"
A whoosh, the rush of air at the back of his neck as Gar shifts into a badger. A sword splits the air above his head.
"Not to worry," Slade purrs, blade neatly reversing for another attack. "A joint burial can be easily arranged."
Beast Boy staggers back, changing to an ankylosaurus, the sword glancing off his armor. It's pure reaction. His heart and mind are still locked on Tara, head turning to keep her in sight as the roof begins to cave in.
It's why Slade's second attack lands, piercing the plating gap at his neck. Pain arcs down his arm. Human again, he cups the wound, blood gushing between his fingers. A single space, a single breath, then he chooses tiger form and lunges. Every instinct in him, predator and prey, screams the next attack will be fatal. He has to strike first.
Outclassed, outmatched, Beast Boy snarls under the sting of another wound, this one a clean cut down his stomach. Across his snout, a curving gash. Down his back, a vicious slash. To his head, a spinning kick.
Then the cold floor against his wounds, against his exposed and all too human skin. A boot presses into his spine. A hand clenches his neck.
This is it. This is the end.
An outraged scream rings out, a scuffle starting next to him. Followed by a sound.
He's never heard it before. A dull, wet thunk. A squelch. It takes a moment to register. It doesn't trigger a reaction.
But Tara's pained gasp does.
Gar lifts his head as Slade twists the sword. With a flick of his wrist, he withdraws it and Tara falls to her knees. Red stains her stomach, blooming fast. Gar hears his own voice from a distance, screaming her name.
Tara stares down at the wound, one hand covering it, the other braced against the stone floor. She tilts her head back, shock warping to anger. The hand on the ground fists.
It's poetic justice. A life for a life. A blade of metal through the stomach for a slab of rock through the head. She slumps to the floor as Slade's fractured mask falls from his face.
Gar's knees hit the ground, his hands hovering over her, shaking. Afraid to touch her, afraid not to.
"Tara, no, please no…"
Blood, blood everywhere, coating him and her, making bile rise in his throat. So much blood.
She shivers. Hands and shoulders trembling, the wind of impending death chilling her to the bone. Her ashen face creases with the pain of breathing, of existing. Gar gathers her in his arms, cradling her head to his chest as the cavern crumbles behind them. He stumbles into the night, silent so far outside Jump City. The ground rises to meet them. He can't set her down as gently as he wants.
The volcano collapses behind Gar with a roar dulled by the ringing in his ears. Tara lets her hand fall to the dirt, golden eyes fading to washed out blue.
No eruption. No possibility of streets filled with fire and people screaming in pain. Jump City is safe.
Gar doesn't give a crap.
His shuddering fingers streak Tara's hair with blood as he brushes it from her beautiful face. She tries to smile. All her life, she's tried to smile. How did he miss it? How could he, when he's been doing the exact same thing?
"Don't leave me. Please don't leave me."
She shakes her head once. It stays lolled to one side when she finishes. She laughs weakly, a dry rasp. "I'm just… so tired…" Her grip on his hand falters. "I'm sorry, Gar… I didn't… I… should've…"
Something stops working. And that's it. Like flicking a switch, she's gone.
No. It doesn't make sense. She's still shaking. If she's gone, then how is she still shaking?
Slowly, her body goes limp in his arms. And Gar realizes it's just him.
"Why?" He touches her cheek, runs his fingers over the familiar skin. Something in his chest twists. "Why?"
Tilting his head back, he screams into the empty sky. He screams at no one. At anyone. At the universe, demanding an answer.
"Why is it always someone I love?"
Love. He never told her he loved her. Until it hurt, he didn't know.
"That sword was meant for me." Face pressed into her neck, he cradles Tara's body. She's cold. Already, she's so cold.
"It was supposed to be me. Why isn't it ever me?"
