Cyborg

"Run!" Beast boy pushed Raven towards the window. "Go get everyone to safety." Rae looked back at him and it was like her face could tell the future.

"You better come back to me." She touched his cheek already half way out the window.

"Haven't let you down yet." They parted with a small kiss and Beast Boy's eyes watched the window for a second more before turning back to me. "Let's do this."

Robin and Starfire had left to do what they could against the mysterious smoke hours ago and no one had heard anything from them since. Beast Boy turned to me with a goofy smile.

"Let's beat some weird black smoke!" There was no doubt that he knew as well as me that this would be a suicide mission, but we went to the front lines to try and slow it down at least, to give the others a chance.

"We need to move. Now!" The smoke was made of foreign materials and there was no known way to stop it. It was thick, and moved like a stampede of bulls until it caught you. Then it would take you slowly into the unknown. I lost Bee. Then I lost BB. Eventually it was just me on the outskirts of town, surrounded by the the stuff. It moved on me slowly, creeping along like a bike going uphill, and then all at once, it was over.

Beep, beep, beep

"Where am I?" The red-headed girl asked. Her eyes were a vibrant green and they watched me with innocence.

"I'm not sure, but I think- I don't think you're supposed to be here." She looked familiar but I couldn't place her, I just knew that she was needed somewhere else.

"Who are you? What are you?" I looked down at my hands. Blue circuitry wrapped my wrist and steel plating coated my fingers. Who was I?

"I'm" I couldn't quite remember my name but in the back of my head I felt a nudge of something. It felt important. "I'm Cyborg."

"Cyborg? Do you know who I am?"The long dress she wore flickered with the wind, but her eyes kept steady on me.

"I couldn't tell you." She shook her head sadly.

"coriander?" The vague scenery that had surrounded us seemed to blow away. It was replaced by a scene of blooming coriander flowers. The sun shone dimly behind clouds but it still illuminated things nicely.

"Coriander!" She smiled and picked a flower.

"What?"

"Koriand'r, I remember. My name is Koriand'r." She was floating off the ground now. "Oh, how joyous!" Then with a flourish she swooped up and flew through the field.

"Girl's weird." I smirked at her. The sun came out suddenly, and the sky was more blue, the fields were more green. I got a rush of excitement. "Hey Koriand'r what!-"

"Did that girl just disappear?"

Beep beep beep

A bee flew around my head. It reminded me of someone. I could almost see a face. I could almost hear her laugh. I just couldn't place the laugh; it was just a smear of sunshine in my blurry head. A sunshine that never really came out from behind the clouds and blinded you if you studied it too closely.

Every once in a while a breeze would sway me and the world would wash away and be repainted. The field of coriander turned to a large room with five doorways. The room was bland brave for a few chairs and complicated blue wallpaper that got harder to look at the closer you got and a red couch that sat in the middle of the floor. All the doors were white with plaques above them . The beast, the star, the mask, the hood, the bee.

I would try to go through a door but as soon as I set my sights on the handle of one things would shift and I would be somewhere new. When I tried to go through The Beast 1, a wind that came from nowhere blew and I found myself in a gray room, where all I could do was watch the wall, because there were no doors, no windows. When I reached for The star , id blink and find myself in a hall where there was door after door but behind every door was a room that had nothing but a small star figurine that sat on a pedestal. The Mask would always bring me to a circus where there were countless people but they never had faces or bodies at all really. They were just vague shadows of purple and green and orange that pushed me around. This was probably my least favorite room. My ears would ring and I could always hear someone calling to me but there was no focusing in the sea of pushy figures that swayed me. One of the most peculiar worlds was the one the hood took me to. It would always happen in a crackle and boom. I'd hear some kind of thunder and a light would blind me, and then when I'd open my eyes I would always be in the loudest brightest world of all. I couldn't take it all in. It was the only world with mirrors and when I saw myself I always looked different, I'd always feel pained and confused by what I saw. Maybe it was a man with half of him missing, looking helpless and hopeless. Maybe it was the same man with a contorted face. A face that had sharp lines carved through it and barred teeth that always twisted my stomach into a ball of fire and made my breathing louder, harder. Just seeing this man, me, always made my emotions flare up and for no reason I'd be crying or screaming. The bee door led to nothing, just a white room. It was weird, when I went to this door I was always alone truly alone, because the small bee that buzzed near my ear regularly would leave me and it would leave me confused and confined, though there was a mile of open white room around me.

I was never sure if a second had passed or an hour. It was always just a blur. Once when I was in the beast room I had been staring at the wall for what seemed like months, but no more than a second had passed. When I got back to the main room I realized that I hadn't moved in time at all. It was like in a dream when you swear a whole day had passed but then you realize that you were still in bed, just dreaming.

At first I tried to stay away from the doors but things were always so stale just sitting on the couch and the bee would always buzz around me and it was like it was begging me to do something anything. So I started going to the rooms and it was always torture and it always hurt but the bee always encouraged me to do it again. To do it differently, but there was nothing different you could do in a crowd of shadows or a white room. You could only be swayed or be still.

I think a month must have passed, when I was in The Hood and my emotions were raging at me. I liked the hoods room most of all. It had mirrors and honestly I'd much rather scream my lungs raw than walk through a quiet hall or sit in a quiet room. It was nice to feel something.

My face had deep-set eyes for a second and dark circles, then my teeth were bared and a surge of violent emotion struck me, before I was on my knees in tears. There was no controlling myself or these emotions. I was like clay being thrown on the floor and molded, never the same shape for long. My gut was always being twisted and it hurt, but I had no other choice but to give into the tears or the rage.

Theres always a choice.

I sat feebly in my despair. I yelled, vigorously thrashing at the mirror. It took no damage. A smile crossed my lips and it was the best feeling. Sometimes this would happen. The dice would land on something good and it would always be like the sun had tossed me a bone, but it was short-lived. Always short lived.

Doesn't have to be.

But didn't it? I felt a pang in my stomach and knew that in half a beat I'd be borderline suicidal or hopelessly lonely. I hated when times like this ended. Why did they have to end?

Nothing has to end. Just take a breath and focus on the good things.

I smiled and breathed in deep. The good things. I thought of the coriander fields that I was surrounded by when I first got here. The little star statue that was simple but bright and pleasant. The bee that always kept me company. Come to think of it, that was still buzzing at my side even now, and all at once I breathed out and I wasn't crying or wallowing I was still on top of the world and it felt good. I could control my emotions.

Good. If theres anything I could of taught you that's it.

A small figure stood in the mirror. A white hood covering her eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked, turning quickly and running to the figure, reaching out at the girl. She looked solid and familiar and looking at her made me feel calm but happy. I was so happy to see her. To see her pale skin and soft cape. To hear her familiar voice.

"You know." I reached to give her a hug, to hold tight to something. I grasped her and pulled her to me, full of joy and overcome by tears but the moment I touched her she took a sharp intake of breath and I saw a slimmer of her deep blue eyes before they disappeared and a black shape took her place. It whipped at the air and flew away followed by a band of cawing birds that weren't there before.

"Ravens."

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