Fan Fiction ❯ We Three Spirits ❯ Just a Hug ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans except for the little SD statue I have of BB. And I love him.

 

A/N: Well this randomly came to me a while ago, and I'm thinking on it. Hopefully I'll be inspired enough to continue it…

 

We Three Spirits

 

Chap 1: Just a hug.

 

It seems like it's been years since I've last seen my husband. Of course, for all I know, it has been years. Decades, millennia even. That's the funny thing about heaven-there is time and then there isn't. I can't remember how long it's been since I've seen him, but I remember the place I last saw him.

Mark was waiting for me by the tree near our old hut. This was soon after the death-I had already visited my mother and Mark told me he had seen his old piano teacher from his years in Europe. Our conversation was cut short by our son. And even though I knew the rules, I knew he couldn't see us, or hear us, or touch us, I reached out for my baby. He was young- still so young. It couldn't have been more than a year after our death.

He brushed through my arms and I felt my heart in my throat. I would never hold him again.

I felt Mark's hand on mine. I stood. I was still so used to being human; I was blinking back tears even though my spirit could not produce them. To distract myself, I watched our little boy begin to climb the tree. Little Garfield, turning into a monkey, a squirrel, whatever suited his needs. He was so enraptured with climbing that he didn't notice the smoke coming from the village. Not until it was too late.

Without being able to do a thing, Mark and I both screamed as he screamed. As he watched his people-the only family he had left in the world be slaughtered. But as suddenly as the scream had come, it ended. My baby climbed back into the folds of the tree. And he was silent, looked as if he would be silent forever. I felt my hand reaching for him as my body began to float back. And without warning, I was gone.

Since then I have seen Garfield- Beast Boy as he now calls himself- many times. I saw him running wild through Africa, I saw him being captured by the slave traders, escaping with four other children, stealing his lunch, working in a small factory on the outskirts of Casablanca to earn airfare back to the states. I saw the look on his face when he realized his uncle was dead and his cousins scorned him. I watched as he fought off death, police, and nature.

And on one special visit, I saw him finding a boy and a girl. A boy and a girl like him- mutants. A freak as some had called him. And with an obstacle course, a bank robber, and a handshake I watched him become a Teen Titan.

But something about this time must be different. I know where I am, vaguely. On the inside of his home; the home of the Teen Titans. I'm outside a door that reads BEAST BOY. Do his teammates even know his real name? And then, before another thought can flow through me, there he is. All I hear is a mutter of “Marie” and I'm in his arms. I can feel his skin against mine, as much as the spiritual world will allow anyway. And all I can think is, “This is what heaven is.”

After a moment, Mark makes an odd noise in his throat and steps away from me, watching something over my shoulder. I turn, expecting to see my son and instead there's a woman. Another spirit, like us. I can't help but stare for a moment- she's beautiful in a way that no human creature would ever be.

“Why is there another?” Mark whispers into my ear. The woman smiles, I know she can hear us.

“I've seen this before- another deceased mother was once watching on when I witnessed Gar escaping from slave traders,” I explain, “Whatever this event is, it's as important to her as-“the last part of my sentence is cut off by a door opening. And there he stands, Garfield Logan, still a teenager. But not for much longer. I smile sadly as I see his eyes, not as young as they used to be. Oh the mischief is there- Gar will always have mischief- but the horrors of his life are finally catching up to him. He will never be the little boy I saw running toward that tree again.

With a sigh he leaves his room and begins to wander down the hall. We three spirits follow. And he stops at a door. RAVEN.

He shuffles his feet for a moment.

“Raven?”

Silence answers him. She obviously isn't there right now. I turn to say so to my husband when he continues.

“It's me. Look. I'm sorry.”

Confusion is written on Mark's face as I'm sure it is on mine. The other spirit seems to be in deep thought. And suddenly the door answers him.

“For what? You weren't the one who-“

“No,” he cuts the voice off, “I'm sorry that…he broke your heart.”

It's obviously a girl behind that door. He seems too young to be dealing with this yet. And with a girl who wouldn't even have the decency to open her door. What had my son done to her to deserve this treatment?

“I know it was all a lie,” replies the door, “But he's the only one who ever made me feel like I wasn't…creepy. And don't try to tell me I'm not.”

My son hesitates for a moment.

“Okay. Fine. You're way creepy. But that doesn't meant you have to stay locked up in your room. You think you're alone Raven, but you're not.”

Gar still looks a little scared and a little uncertain. But I see resolve in his eyes. The same resolve I saw in his fathers eyes when-

The door opens.

And this girl, Raven, has him in her arms. Even I can see she's been hurt, the circles under her eyes are huge, and tears are still drying on her eyelashes. Gar doesn't react, I smile to myself, he's still young enough to be shocked by this. Thank God.

After a moment he pulls back. And replies with what any teenage boy would.

“Uhhh…” but before words can be formed, words I don't think I can handle hearing from my son, to this replacement of me, to the new woman in his life, to this girl that he loves- before all that they are interrupted. I have one thought as that familiar pull begins to take me.

Never before have I been so happy to see dirty laundry.

 

A/N: Please review; it is the nectar of the gods!