The Poison

"Alright. I'm in." Cyborg announced, panting from the strain of being transported to Hunter's mind. He was standing in an open, green field with a small forest directly ahead of him and a pond directly behind him. There was no sun, no moon, and no clouds. Just a blue sky.

"Good, I'm not allowing the team to hear what you say or listening in myself, by the way. I feel like Hunter deserves his privacy." Raven replied telepathically.

"I'm sure he would appreciate..." Cyborg said trailing off. He was awestruck by the memories that had started floating in the air around him. He could see snippets of all of Hunter's past experiences. He saw their past battles against Slade. He saw their fight against Trigon. Every memory Beast Boy made with the Titans were there. It was at this point that he realized his medical scan was correct. Hunter was indeed Beast Boy.

"Cyborg. Come in. Cyborg? Is everything alright?" Raven said, interrupting Cyborg's thoughts.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm alright. Just overwhelmed." Cyborg replied as he collected his thoughts. "I'm going to continue on, not sure what I'll find, but I'm damn well curious."

"Sounds good. Check in every so often if possible." Raven replied.

"Will do." He replied as he walked towards the forest ahead of him.

As he neared the forest, the memories surrounding him began to vanish and the blue sky turned black. Now plunged in darkness, Cyborg turned on the lights on his suit and continued on. As time passed, the forest began to thin and opened to a clearing. In the middle of the clearing sat Hunter in a meditative state. He awoke as Cyborg approached and stared at him.

"Why are you here?" He demanded, growling.

"I'm here to bring you back, man. You're body is dying." Cyborg replied, still shocked about his earlier realization.

"And if I don't want to go back?" He replied.

"You'll die!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"I'm beginning to think that's not such a bad thing. I've had a good life." Hunter mused.

"Look man. I know who you are B. Please, come home. I miss ya." Cyborg pleaded.

"What? How? Did you tell anyone?" Hunter replied, shocked.

"When I ran a test in the medical wing a while back, I remembered that your the only one whose body reacts the way it did because of your shape-shifting abilities. Then, when I entered your mind I saw memories from the time when you were with us. And no, I haven't told anyone. It's not my secret to tell. But I have to ask, why man? Why hide it from us?" Cyborg explained. Hunter let out a long drawn out sigh as he replied.

"I didn't want to be a part of the team anymore. Not after I attacked you guys and allowed Slade to capture and enslave me. I felt like I was a burden on the team."

"Bullshit. We've been going mad without you man. Raven's a mess, Starfire's depressed, I'm lonely. We may not have said it all the time, but you were the best of us. The one who made us feel better when we were down." Cyborg replied.

"I'm not him anymore. I'm not Beast Boy. I'm sorry I left but I don't think I can come back to the team." Hunter said, deep in thought."

"At least come back to the real world man. That's all I ask. We lost you once, I couldn't bear to lose my best buddy a second time. Especially not when I can do something about it." Cyborg pleaded.

"Alright. But how?"

"Just focus really hard on your favorite thing in the real world and how much you wanna see it again. A feeling that strong will break the hold of the poison on your mind and should allow your body to heal itself from the poison."

"Okay, here goes." Hunter thought deeply about his most cherished object and moments later, everything went black.