A/N: I don't own the Teen Titans. This copy of this chapter has been heavily edited for continuity and grammar. It seems to work a lot better now and I thank my reviewers for trying to talk a little sense into me. There were some really crazy run on sentences in there. I hope you enjoy it more, because I enjoyed writing it,
CrimsonBlade117.
Echoing Terrors
The night flew past as the villager tried to run even faster from the Beast which pursued him. His first thought upon the realization he was being stalked back on the trail was of fighting but he soon realized how insane it was as he saw the ghastly form of the Creature which approached through the sparse wood line. In the lightly filtered moonlight he could see its matted fur and long feral mouth that stretched out with a jagged row of wicked teeth that gleamed even in the weak moonlight as though the teeth themselves thirsted for blood….any blood….innocent blood.
Fear overtook him while he saw the creature stop and lock its eyes on him as it bent its head lower and moved forward in anticipation of its twisted favorite game. He felt his stomach get queasy and his muscles tense as adrenaline flooded his system. The Creature began to move slowly his way; it was ready for the game and it wanted it right now.
The man's walking stick lay as an unintentional marker upon the path where he had fled into the woods. It was dropped in a streak of sheer panic as he fled from the Beast that if given the chance would consume him with malignant glee like so many before him. He had raced through these woods as a young boy for bragging rights but he had never raced for his very life. Panic began overtaking him even as he first began to sprint away from the terrible Creature in the darkness. Fear overtook him as the Beast closed the gap, making him even weaker prey as it drew in for the kill.
The Monster knew the smell that came from its prey and was utterly intoxicated by it as it gained ground the man. It was the stink of fear that came from the man, the stink of a special fear that weakened the will to live and slowed the body with its weight. It bared its terribly sharp fangs as it closed on the man, feeling as though the man's raw fear was a drug…..and it was such an addict. Finding the perfect time to strike the Beast sprung forward, jaws wide to bury its teeth deep into the mans shoulder and neck, feeling the man's flesh give way to those horrifyingly sharp teeth as…
……Beast Boy sprung from his bed clawing into the perfect darkness which surrounded him and trying to cough out the imagined flesh and blood from the innocent villager as he tried to get the phantom blood off his face and neck. It couldn't have been real but that didn't get the feeling of hot blood off his face as he swiped repeatedly at his lips and chin and spit on the floor. No matter what he tried he couldn't get the coppery and horrifying taste of blood out of his mouth. He slowly started to calm down as the taste of blood faded but his body stayed tense and rigid as he hunched over and gripped his head fighting back tears of rage.
Though the taste of blood had departed the sting of a guilty whip still seared deep into Beast Boy as the memory of the innocent villager's death played again and again before his eyes beyond his control. Slowly steadying his grip upon the huge tide of emotion that threatened to over take him Beast Boy stood up straighter and made his way to the door.
Beast boy had been building the routine of going to the bathroom in the middle of the night when he woke up from these nightmares; they had been getting steadily worse as the past few weeks had passed. He understood relatively nothing about the dreams which haunted him nearly every night but he could tell they were taking their toll on his life, making him miserable most of the time. He didn't understand why he felt so guilty about something that he dreamed but he figured that maybe he deserved to be miserable because he did some terrible thing and he didn't remember. With that reason he said nothing to his team mates about the problem which plagued him nearly every night and day.
Trying to ignore the acidic guilt and sadness eating at his insides Beast Boy opened the door to the hallway and stepped out. He was used to the reduced lighting was used in the Tower between 11:30pm and 5:30am. He saw it quite frequently going to the bathroom after awaking from a nightmare. He went into the bathroom and turned on the lights, moving to the sink to wash his face. He squinted tightly at the floor because the lights in the bathroom were much brighter than those in the hall at that hour.
Beast Boy approached the sinks and mirror with his head bent down and his eyes practically shut. What he couldn't see was the lights slowly begin to change and pulse in time with his heart as red color seeped in as well. Suddenly he noticed the lights were dimmer when he put his hands up to his face to rub the sleep from them. He was struck cold to the core when he saw that they were red as though covered in blood as he held them close to his face. Fear held him tightly as he looked down at his bloody hands in front of him. In that suffocating and tight grip he was forced to bring his eyes to the mirror above the sinks.
He felt ice water surge into his blood as he looked through the mirror and saw numerous bodies mysteriously suspended behind him….torn apart. The pulsing red lights cast shadows on the floor from the hanging corpses. These were the innocent villagers he'd dreamed of every night since he had descended into the hell that he was trapped in. The looks of horror that was cast upon their face as they died their agonizing deaths were frozen on their mutilated forms, limbs hanging limp from their mangled bodies.
He thought he had escaped from the nightmare, but it was completely obvious that he hadn't as his eyes scanned the bodies. He'd never dreamt of awaking before, and frankly it absolutely scared the shit out of him. Recovering from this horrific twist Beast Boy looked around, trying to take in his surroundings.
As the horror of what lay before him sank in Beast Boy noticed that the girl hanging just to his right and a few meters behind him was still alive. She was bleeding from bites on her arms and one on her shoulder, but they didn't look too deep. She looked to be in her late teens and would've been quite attractive except that her ripped and bloody poor villager's clothes pulled the eye from her beauty a little.
The bites were nasty but it looked like she would live except the expression of pure terror that was on her face as she looked behind Beast Boy's back. Just as Beast Boy noticed the direction of her gaze he felt and saw in the mirror a hand grab his shoulder. Behind him the hand's owner hoisted himself to his feet, and peering over his shoulder was himself. Though the stranger wore a dark grin with freakishly bright crimson blood that ran down his chin. Blood was spattered on his face like a brutal and primitive war paint.
"You look surprised and upset Beast Boy; I'm disappointed with you," the darker Beast Boy said as he looked at Beast Boy over his shoulder. While being the same color as Beast Boy's eyes the darker one's had a cold madness in them that fit perfectly with the blood upon his face and mouth; he was a monster. Opposed to Beast Boy's playful tone and lighthearted mannerisms, this dark creature's voice was rough and harsh like he had gravel deep in his throat but didn't notice or care. Though strongly held in place Beast Boy felt a wave of anger wash over him as he looked into the twisted and tainted face that glared at him over his shoulder through the mirror.
" How can you pass judgment on me for a little….fun? You know you're a fucking monster that deserves to die for what he's done! The part of you that can see what you've done is punishing you Beast Boy, and God do you deserve it…..all those innocent people!" the evil Beast Boy said in a perfect horrified and righteously angry voice. Beast Boy's face contorted from disgust to rage. The dark one cleaned the blood off his fingers and face with a white handkerchief that showed the crimson of the blood perfectly against its snowy material.
"The blood on my hands is on yours as well you fool, you need this just as badly as I do!" the dark Beast Boy said with venom as he balled up the bloody rag and threw it at Beast Boy. Released instantly from his horrified paralysis he caught the bloody rag out of instinct and dropped it to the ground, his face contorted with disgust. Beast Boy looked into the mirror and saw himself once again. Blood was splattered all over his face and soaked his shirt from his mouth down. His hands looked as though they had been washed in it….the only difference was the eyes in the mirror. His eyes were scared, tired, horrified and appalled by what was going on; his eyes were alive while the Other's eyes were quite dead to any heartfelt emotion.
Beast Boy turned to see his darker self moving towards the girl who hung from thin air, her clothes torn just like her spirit. It was evident that she'd lived in a state of constant fear for she simply closed her eyes as the Beast approached. Beast Boy could see she was trying not to quiver as the Other circled around her and looked over her shoulder at Beast Boy. Beast Boy moved towards the Other and the girl; he wouldn't let him hurt her.
"Haha!" the dark one cackled manically as he observed Beast Boy's approach. "Isn't that cute deary," the evil one whispered in a sick and erotic tone into the girl's ear, moving his mouth just inches above her skin from her ear down her neck and back to her ear again, "he wants to come save the beautiful damsel in distress." The Other stepped out from behind the girl reaching over her shoulder and drawing his fingertips slowly along her jaw and over her shoulder and across her back in a sick and possessive manner.
"If you want to take her from me you'll have to earn her first little man." the Other purred. Beast Boy felt a chill from the Other's tone reach deep inside and grab his heart like a vice.
Beast Boy cried out in rage as he sprinted at the monster in front of him and leapt at him. Changing into an ape in mid air he landed on top of the Other, punching him viciously in the face repeatedly. Taking the blows the dark one rolled to the left and then the right using the movement to free his arms. With its arms free it did an extremely powerful double handed strike to Beast Boy's chest from beneath, that sent him flying back in the air stunned.
Though he was caught off balance by the power of the strike Beast Boy recovered quickly and landed horizontally on the wall. Using the wall jump back at the dark one he took the form of a jaguar in midair. He pounced on the Other as he was trying to get up; Beast Boy had already began tearing at him before he knew what was happening. By the time Beast Boy was flying away again from a tremendously powerful backhand, the dark one had begun to bleed badly from gashes up and down his arms and bites on his shoulders.
Beast Boy hadn't been able to recover quickly enough the second time to avoid hitting the wall and actually demolishing it. He came to rest laying on the floor of the next room, the supply room for that floor. As he lay for a moment surrounded by various supply items he thought he would attack as a jaguar again, because he had done some good damage. Plans of attack were suddenly far from his mind as he saw the dark one dart through the jagged opening in the wall to pick him up and slam him down by his ankle. Still grasping tightly onto it the dark one then pick him up and slung him viciously into a wall across the room.
Beast Boy lay truly stunned, covered with rubble and surrounded by chunks of reinforced concrete with rebar ripped from the wall by his vicious meeting with it only seconds earlier. Blood oozed out of many cuts from the protruding rebar and concrete all over his body as he dazedly started to formulate a plan of attack. Deciding to attack as a Bengal tiger he gathered himself as quickly as he could and looked around for his foe, wondering why he hadn't come for him. He got to his feet and moved back to the bathroom through another jagged hole in the wall. The explanation for the Beast's absence was apparent as the dark one lazily made his way to the girl with his back to Beast Boy. He had obviously decided to make it interesting and force Beast Boy to attack because Beast Boy knew that nothing good could happen to the girl if that monster made it to her unchallenged.
Beast Boy changed forms as he sprinted towards the Other and reached him as he drew within ten meters of the girl. Seizing the moment he leapt at the monster before him. Beast Boy was ready to land on him as the dark one's hand sprung out and caught Beast Boy by the throat, holding him there for a second. Beast Boy didn't hesitate and started tearing into the Other's side with his back legs and his arm with his claws; choked or not he was going to stop that bastard from laying one hand on that girl.
Beast Boy felt righteous satisfaction as he tore into the dark one but that was very short lived. The dark one lifted Beast Boy up and slammed him down by the throat hard enough on the concrete to break it in fracture lines fanning out from where Beast Boy had come down. Keeping a solid hold on Beast Boy's neck the madman picked him up and slammed him down again with all the force he could muster. Dust and debris flew everywhere and the floor was totally shattered where Beast Boy was viciously slammed; the rebar in the concrete was open and bare and debris surrounded his broken form.
As Beast Boy opened his eyes, his vision was hazed at the edges with pain that saturated his entire body; only thinking of what would happen to the girl kept him from falling unconscious as he clawed his way up from the dark. He wondered how many bones were broken as he gingerly moved and tried to sit up while looking around the room desperately for the girl. Then his eyes finally found her and she was fine….relatively. She hung in the air about ten meters from where he was sitting on the ground with the monster looking over her shoulder. This time one of his hands had reached around and rested on the dirty attire above her stomach just below her belly button.
"So here we are weakling, what a big surprise; you weren't able to defend your woman!" the Other said half laughing maniacally at Beast Boy as he peered over the girl's shoulder with his cheek touching the girl's though she had turned her head from him. "You may wonder why I want her so badly," the monster behind her said as he leaned his face forward to run his lips down her neck to her shoulder on her skin this time as he moved his other hand down her arm, "it's how youfeel that fuels my desires for her; it's your love that makes me crave her so badly." he said as he moved his hand up to her shoulder and let it drop as he moved his lips back up her neck and came to look Beast Boy straight in the eyes.
"See her true form and understand what you failed to protect you putrid ball of filth." the dark one said as he took the hand he dropped and passed it over the top of her face to the bottom. Beast Boy gasped as he saw Raven's dark hair appear in place of the girl's dirty blonde, her beautiful violet eyes show in place of the girl's baby blues. Even though the Other didn't pass his hand over her entire body Beast Boy could see it change underneath her clothes, thinning in some places and forming more curves in others. Raven didn't say a word as she pleaded with Beast Boy with her eyes, her entire being alight with fear and uncertainty.
"Now she pays for your weakness; I truly hope you savor this moment in the spectacular failure that is your life for what little time you have left. When I'm done with her I'm going to come for you. The last thing you'll see before I kill you like a dog in the street is her blood spatter across my face!" the Other screamed as he pulled his head back and opened his mouth. He bared his teeth and they got longer and sharper as his face became more and more deformed. His jaw and face stretched more and more like that of a feral beast, just like the Creature from Beast Boy's nightmares. Beast Boy's blood ran cold as he sat by helpless to come to Raven's aid. Would he actually sit there and watch her die; for him that would be so much worse than any death possible.
A thousand years of torment ripped at him as time utterly stopped with the monster's jaw opening into the air preparing to rip into Raven's neck. Through that eternity Beast Boy's voiced echoed in his head, I have so much to tell her, will I really let it end here?
A/N: Thanks for reading, I really hope you enjoyed. Please check out my other work on here if you're interested. I'd love more reviews and I hope you enjoy it. Once again I hope you enjoyed that and look forward to the next chapter,
CrimsonBlade117.