The Device that leads Home
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
Chapter 1
Cold, colder, yet growing colder still. Raven leant against the walls of a lonely ally, looking down at the littered floor with food packets, mould and cardboard. Rats skittered across the floor and along the wall grabbing and picking at food that rested on the ground. Their tiny paws turning the food over and over till they were satisfied and moved on. She watched with a slight interest as a growl came from her stomach. It felt like she hadn't eaten in a long time, and she couldn't remember when she had last eaten. It was unusually, how her mind couldn't pin point the last time she may have eaten, or even what she was doing up until this point. She knew that this wasn't where she was meant to be. She had a home, a good one with friends that honestly cared about her and how she felt. But something about those memories seemed distance. Even though she tried, she couldn't recall what she was supposed to be doing. Why was she here? Why was she waking from sleep inside a dark alley where no one seemed to be? What happened to her?
Looking down she could see her tatter clothes and stained skin. The cape she wore was ripped in half leaving torn edges that barely shielding her body against the cold air. Her boots covered in muck and the souls felt worn. Looking closer there was a hole in the right side and the left felt thin, damaged. Her leotard was ripped in places up her body showing the red and tender skin underneath. Her arms had small cuts up them, and her legs where covered in small blue patches. From all the damages, she could tell that there had been a fight and she'd been part of it. To her it certainly seemed as though she was in some sort of danger and had tried to hide from it inside this alley or had wound up here by another means. It was possible that someone had tried to dispose of her and assumed she was dead before leaving her, or they could have run out of time and run. There were endless scenarios that could have caused her to wind up in such a place.
She felt the haze that had fogged her vision beginning to clear and her surroundings became less of a motion blur. She blinked a few times, trying to see as clearly as she could before be allowing herself to stand. Lifting herself off the ground was more of a struggle then she had assumed it would be. Her body protested and ached as her knees bent inwards, she used the wall to lean against while pulling herself up. Once she was in a sort of standing position she took in as much breath as she could, unaware of how much of an exertion standing would be. She felt her body shaking as she tried to keep herself up right. The muscles begging to be allowed to sit once more. She forces her mind to understand the surroundings and kept herself positioned on unsure legs.
In the alley, there was no signs of rubble, major damages, or even any tools for fighting. It seemed to have only been used by people that were without a home. She pushed herself from the wall and staggered forward, holding onto the dumpster to keep herself from falling once more. Overhead there was a shattered window from one of the buildings. The glass that had sprayed from the window was covering the dumpster and the path that she had travelled. Besides this, there was no other signs of any danger or damages. She considered the idea that maybe, while she was panicked and fearing for her life, her powers may have caused her to teleport to safety before she had passed out. That would certainly explain the lack of damage around her and why she was in such an odd location.
She left the shadows of the ally, wondering where to go now. She wasn't sure where she currently was within the city or what directions she would need to take to return to her home. Though when she thought about it, she couldn't be sure what home was. Her uniform was something she always wore so it would tell her nothing, but then there was a yellow device attached to her belt. She pulled it carefully from her belt, listening as it clicked as it snapped off and turned the device over within her hands. Raven knew she should recognise the colours of the device, black and yellow, but she could not recall where it was from. There was only one clue she could go off the hexagon device which was related to the H that appear in the centre of blackness.
H she'd seen that letter before, and when she thought about it she'd seen the shape before as well. This was the mark of the Hive Five, a symbol that all the members of this villainous group carried. So why did she have one. Did this mean she belong in the Hive Five. Was she a villain? She didn't recall ever doing a villainous deed, but then, she couldn't really recall much now. She knew that she had never wanted to be on the side of evil yet this device suggested that she had ignored her own desire to be good and become the simplest thing which was evil.
Raven placed the device back on her belt and walked down the half-lit street. Around her was buildings in desperate need of repair with shutters hanging on to the wall by a hinge, doors either completely gone or worn so old with thinning paint. There were gaps within the layers of bricks as though someone had smashed them time and time again and weeds grew over the walls of the buildings, weaving and climbing, stretching to reach the top. Along the path she walked there was also weeds sprouting up and cracks in the pavement.
This was not the type of place she liked to be in, it screamed of desperation and haunted memories that her powers might try to latch onto. She couldn't stay in places like this too often, places that held the memories of the past. Those memories would latch onto her empath nature causing her emotions to run wild.
Finding the strength, she used her powers to lift herself from the ground into the air and above the buildings. She didn't recognise the area she was in and none of the landmarks that caught her eyes. She knew that the easiest thing to do would be for her to head into the deepest section of the city, where she'd be able to remember streets.
The way her mind was right now was odd. She knew places she'd been, streets, cafes and even stores however she could not remember what she did with her time, what had happened to her and if she had a home. The easiest way for her to explain her mind was that someone had taken long lasting memories and removed them from her mind while allowing her to retain information needed for basic life.
The city was light up with lights that caused stars to disappear the closer you stood. The streets buzzing with people and cars. She couldn't see anything fascinating, though she had a fair idea of where she was. As she came closer to the scene ahead of her she found herself becoming tired. She hovered across the roofs, scraping her feet as she moved from one to the next. Her powers wearing thin and soon she found herself collapsing on the roof of a museum. She looked up though her vision was blurred. The tips of her toes and fingers had turned numb and sky become darker. Her hand drifted to the device attached to her belt. Click the latch sounded as she pulled it towards her. Taking a small breath and praying this was the right action she pressed the button on the device and uttered a word before blacking out once more.
"Help"
Fuzzy and white, the room blurred around her from her distorted vision. The lights that hung over her, striking through her eyes forcing them to close. She could her footsteps and voices from her left, though she couldn't make out any of the details. Eventually when her mind settled and started to gather information she could tell that she was now in a medical bay. The sounds of a machine beeping rhythmically to her left and on her right a drop that would fall with intervals. Even the way the room was illuminated told her that this was a place where someone might undergo minor surgery. There was a faint smell of anti-bacterial soap and latex which could only be from gloves. The lights that would be needed to see the person as they were being worked on.
In her mind, she briefly remembered calling for help when she was in a state of disarray before passing out. She knew that the team would help her, they always had. Hadn't they? She found it odd that she was reduced to reminding herself about her own team and what they would do for her. It was like she was trying to convince herself that these where things she remembered and wasn't just creating for the sake of security.
"I think she's wakin'" A southern voice said. The voice didn't remind Raven like she had thought it might. She didn't know who this person was or if she'd been friends with them. The only thing it really told her was that one of the people around her was likely from the country and was male. The pitch of his voice suggested that he wasn't over the age of 25 but he wasn't younger than 15. She couldn't narrow it down much further than and in the end that sort of information wouldn't really help her.
"Idiot, she's awake just recovering." Another voice chimed in, sounding completely different to the first. Where Raven would assume the first person to speak was from somewhere in the south, this new voice sounded like it belongs in the streets. The voice still sounded quite young though, and tense. She imaged the person was uncomfortable with the situation but didn't know why. The person behind the voice was directly to her left and closest to her face. She'd already worked out that there was five people around her, staring at her. There was two on the left of her, and two on the right with the final person at the other end. She could tell this, because the ones on the left weren't turning to speak to each other, rather they were voicing the opinions to the room around her. Also, one of the ones on the right were breathing rather loudly and the one at the end of the bed was leaning against the blanket.
"What should we do?" the furthest voice said. This one was deep and currently sounded confused. To her the voice sounded older, as though the person may be in the age range of 18 to 30. She wasn't even sure that 18 was right, he had sounded a lot older than anyone else in the room, but the way he spoke wasn't what she would have expected an older person to say. He was confused and seemed worried, not something someone at the age of 30 would often think or sound like.
"I don't care what we do, you idiots figure it out, I'm going to work in the garage." This voice had started at her right but slowly moved towards what she assumed was the door of the room. Besides being child-like she didn't hear anything important in this voice, though something he had said managed to hit a spark. She had memoires of working with someone in a garage while he built a car. Somehow, she knew more about cars now, then her own life. She couldn't picture the scene completely though; she saw the garage and tools but not what the car looked like or who she'd worked with. She did however, remember that it had been an experience that she'd enjoyed and that it meant much more to her than she'd give it credit for.
Sick of listening to the conversations and curious about her whereabouts she opened her eyes slowly and took to a sitting position. The people around her held nothing in their faces that she could identify. The southerner wore red with his eyes covered by large goggles. She couldn't see much of his face besides that wide smile that seemed aimed at her direction. The boy on her left that was closest to her was wearing white and green and had a large eye in the middle of his head. She didn't recognise much about him, though his small stature seemed oddly like something she could remember and the tech that was engraved into his head was also something she recalled.
The man on her right was tall and built, she could see the outline of him and knew that she'd meet someone of a similar build before. The last boy that stood on directly down from her was wearing a faded pair of blue jeans, a purple shirt and a red flannel over the top. His hair was wet and dripping down to his shoulders. Unlike the others, he wasn't dressed in a costume or hiding his face. She didn't remember anything about who he was, and couldn't even tell much be looking at him.
Ravens eyes fixed on the sheets below her, unsure of what to say or how to act. There wasn't a feeling she could compare this to, the idea of knowing nothing around her. She fiddled with the sheets, feeding it through her fingers and untangling them, hoping to find the words she needed to speak. Soon enough she stopped trying to say anything and settled for looking at the sheets with all her focus. The boys around her seemed nervous and unsure of how to act, well three of them did anyway. The southerner was creating copies of himself and trying to shove them forward like a tribute, the boy closest on her left opened his mouth or raised his hands on and off and the one at her right was looking at the ceiling with the bridge of his nose clenched between his fore figures.
At the end of the bed, the out of place boy was pulling candy from nowhere and shoving it into his mouth, happily. He didn't seem to understand anything about the situation or if he did, he just didn't care. Eventually, Raven felt her stomach clenching. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten anything. She didn't even feel comfortable asking for food from these strangers. How was she supposed to do that, she didn't know them or understand anything about them, how could she ask for food from them?
As she was concentrating on her pain, Raven found the room becoming darker. She realised that it was the lids of her eyes closing, as she faded into a deeper sleep. There was nothing she could do to fight it? her body was sore and she was starved. As much as she wished to remain awake and aware of the situation, her body simply refused and she was for to sleep.
"Ah crap, what'll we do now." Billy said as the group stared at Raven. She had been up and aware of them before collapsing back down onto the bed. It was clear to the boys that she was unwell and there may have even been something wrong with her, but they knew next to nothing about taking care of sick people. They left her to sleep and headed into the kitchen where they each sat around the table in silence.
It had been only a while ago when they had fought the Titans, a day or so and they remember something happening near the end of the battle. But whatever had happened it happened when only Raven was in the building. The next thing they knew she was calling them and asking for help. The communicator that was used to contact the Hive Five belonging to Kyd Wykkyd and he was currently holding it between his fingers and looking it over as though it were foreign. He said that he had no idea that he was even missing the object, but then he never kept good track of anything he owned.
"I don't know, if we call the Titans they might think we were behind this. I don't really feel like trying to explain that we did nothing to them." Seemore said as he wiped over his face with his hands. Mammoth sighed and moved over to the kitchen, he wasn't used to dealing with situations that required a lot of thought. He often left that for Gizmo and Jinx and when Seemore had join it gave Mammoth someone else to ask for help.
"Well, since she's sick it's probably best to take care of her till she gets better." Seemore mumbled and looked around the room for a moment.
"I've never helped anyone that's sick before, I can deal with cuts but that's about it." Billy said as he looked to Seemore. The two both sighed and dropped their heads, at a lost for what to do.
"Taking care of her won't really be that hard and once she better she can go home." Kyd said as he placed the communicator down. He kept his hand on it though, concern that the moment he wasn't aware of its location he'd forget it again.
"Then what should we do?" Mammoth asked Kyd. It took a moment, but once he seemed to know what he was doing Kyd set Mammoth to work, making a generic stew. He let the others be as he took the stew to the medical room and sat beside Raven. She seemed to be tired, but sleeping was doing nothing for her. Her skin looked sickly pale and there were a few torn spots in her uniform. Kyd could see through the holes of her uniform that she was bruised badly and knew that she was likely sore. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder and tried to wake her by calling her name softly. Raven soon awoke and seemed to become alert, bolting up and turning her head. He could see that she was scared.
"I've brought you something to eat." Kyd said, smiling at her as he motioned to the bowl which sat at her bedside. She looked at the food and her eyes seemed to lighten a little and her stomach growled. It was very clear that she was hungry and had been for some time. She reached forward and took the bowl, but her hand was shaking almost violently as she tried to bring it closer to herself. Her hand slipped and she dropped the bowl, some of the food landed on the ground, but most of it landed on Kyd who had tried to help her after noticing her struggles.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I should have been…" Raven started but Kyd waved her off.
"It's okay, I'm the one really at fault here, it was clear that you were sore and weaker than normal but I didn't try to help. I'll go get another bowl and when I get back I can help you eat it okay." He smiled at her and turned on his heels, but was stopped when Raven spoke in her quite tone.
"Weaker than normal. So, then you know me?" she said her face seemed to be lightening as she looked up at him. It took Kyd a long moment to think of any reply, he was caught off guard by her question because it was so unusual.
"You mean you don't know who you are?" he asked her in return and was meet with a nod of confirmation to his question. Kyd lent back against the wall. He could have walked out the door and told his friends of this news, but he had already decided what he was going to do. It was interesting to see someone so void of their own memoires, and it would be a fun game to play. He decided that he was going to keep her, if only for a little while. "Of course, I know who you are, you're our friend and a team member. But there will be plenty of time to talk about this, first let me go get you another bowl of stew." With that Kyd turned and walked out the door, he figured that he could change later, for right now what was most important was getting everyone else on board with his idea.
In the kitchen, the boys sat waiting to find out what she was going to do to them. They had all figured that during her attempt to get help she had simply made a mistake and called using a communicator of theirs, but now Kyd knew better. His friends looked at him weirdly as he entered, their minds likely concocting a story of how he became covered in the stew. He walked over to the small kitchen and served another bowl and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water. Only once he had everything ready did he turn to his friends.
"She doesn't remember a thing. She didn't even know who she was." Kyd said, getting a spoon out of the draw, as the thought occurred to him.
"So, she doesn't know that where her enemies?" Billy asked, a little unsure of what Kyd was telling them. Kyd nodded and explained what he had said to her and what he wanted to do. Though they seemed a little unsure, they all said it would be a great idea. After winning over his friends, Kyd returned to Raven and sat by her bedside again, he scooped some of the stew onto the spoon and raised it so that it was level with Raven's lips. She looked at him, pleading with her eyes as she tried to take the spoon, but Kyd shook his head and pressed the tip against her lips. She sighed and allowed herself to be fed. Once she had finished eating, Raven sat there and watched Kyd as he cleaned up the floor from the earlier mess.
"I'm sorry about that. I can help if you want." Raven said, she hated that she had made a mess. That she had been so weak that even a simple task like lifting a bowl had been a challenge for her.
"It's okay I don't really need help. And don't worry so much about it, you were still tried." He placed the last bit of broken glass into the bowl. "Now are you ready to go?" Kyd asked, confusing Raven a bit more.
"Where are we going?" she asked as she watched him throw a handful of lollies into his mouth. He quickly chewed them before speaking to her once more.
"I'm going to take you to the room you will be using for tonight." He said.
"I didn't realise I was going to be staying here. Does that mean I live here then?" She asked.
"Yeah, you move in a while ago, but Seemore will tell you more about all of that. First things first, I'll help you get settles and then tomorrow we can get you back in your room." he said. Raven was about to ask him something when Kyd grabbed her body, just above her hips and lifted her off the bed and to the space just in front of him, away from all the spilled stew. He pulled her with him, down the hallway into a room with pinks and purples covering the majority. There was dark furniture that seemed wore from time, the bed had been used with lumps in the mattress and crinkled blankets.
"So why can't I stay in my room?" she asked as he looked through the draws for something to give her.
"There was a pipe burst. Billy is fixing it now but it means that we'll have to dry out the room before you can stay in it." he said and passed her a pair of shorts and a singlet. "I'll grab a towel for you as well and then I'll take you to the showers." He moved over to a cupboard and pulled out a towel and handed that to her as well.
"Whose room is this one?" Raven asked, tilting her head to the side as she looked down at the things he had handed her.
"It belonged to a friend of ours, but she it's really around anymore so it's just kinda here now. Anyway, do you want to go for a shower or not." He said and then walked out of the room. Raven followed closely behind him, worried that if she where to move on her own she'd become lost. They walked down the hallway to another door and Kyd took Raven inside. It seemed to be a shower made for schools or athletes since there were many shower heads and only a wall to really separate each space. Kyd walked her to the end of the room where she could sit her stuff and he looked through the draws for a soap or something she could use to wash herself. "It's been a long time since a girl was in the house, I guess we just don't think all that much about this sort of stuff… Wait here I'll be back in a moment." he said before ducking out of the room and heading off.
Raven sat on the seats and looked around the room. The room was big and reminder her so much of what most gyms had. A small area where people could change their clothes, shower and then head out. She wondered why anyone might have this type of set up in their normal bathroom though. Unless all the guys would often shower together, but she didn't think that was really the case.
Kyd came back with some stuff in his arms, mostly products for hair and a body wash, plus he also had a small cloth in his hand. "I figured we'd have this sort of stuff somewhere. Now you can go for your shower and I'll just be outside if you need anything." Kyd left her again as he went out of the room. Raven felt uncomfortable as she stripped off and stepped into one of the stalls. They didn't cover her body completely since they were only half walls and she was worried about someone walking in. She turned the shower on and stared to clean herself, finally aware of all the grim and grease that had been on her skin.
Outside of the room Kyd lent against the wall with the others around him. They were all talking about what to do with her now that they knew about her memory problem.
"Is it really okay for us to do this. I mean not tell her of her friends or help her get her memory back." Seemore asked the whole group.
"I mean, it's not going to be permanent or anything like that, just muck around a bit to get the Titans back for always beating us." Billy said. He seemed to be a little worried that she might hear them and was talking in a whispered tone.
"So where not going to do anything to hurt. We should also make sure no one else finds out she's here." Seemore said to conform what Billy had said. Everyone nodded in agreement and then Seemore turned to Kyd. "Since you're the only one with a big bed that can be shared, I guess she'll have to stay with you." He said and laughed a bit the end.
Kyd glared at Seemore as he spoke. "I'm not the only one with a large bed, Mammoth has one too. And besides I was just going to let her stay in Jinx's room since she's not using it."
"I said that could be shared… Mammoth uses all of his bed and he has a much larger build so he needs the space and what if she becomes curious and starts looking around Jinx's stuff. What's the chance of her finding something that will remind her of the Titans?" Seemore said back to him.
"Then she can stay on the couch." Kyd said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He had to agree with Seemore about her room, just searching though her clothes Kyd found pictures of the Titans, all doodled over and theirs eyes marked with X's so it's likely that she'd find something. But he didn't want her in his bed.
"She can't really stay out there, Adonis and Privet Hive tend to walk in whenever and if they see her you know they'll… well… they'll be themselves, their creepy selves." Billy said as he lent on the wall furthest away from the bathroom. Kyd growled and was starting to grind his teeth together. He really hated that they were right, but then, Billy had a bunk.
"What about Billy's room. He has bunkbeds, she could stay on the top." Kyd said desperately. He knew why Billy had bunkbeds, he even knew why Billy was not an option. He was someone you couldn't really share rooms with due to his habit of copying himself during his sleep. They all just gave him a board look and rolled their eyes.
"We all know that's not going to happen. It's just not possible for me to share a room with anyone. It's your room Kyd, it's the safest spot and you know it." Billy said. The other two nodded in agreement as Kyd glared at them. He threw his arms up and sighed, deciding that he couldn't get out of this.
"Fine, but you will all pay." He mumbled as forced a bunch of sweets into his mouth. The others laughed as they headed to their rooms for the night and Kyd was left alone by the bathroom door. After a little bit, he heard a small knock from the other side of the door but when he went to open it, the door was held firmly in place. "Raven, what's wrong?" Kyd asked.
"Um, it's just the clothes are really tight on me and you didn't… There just too tight." She said as she leant against the door. Kyd turned around and looked at the roof. Jinx was the only one that had girl clothes here, though he did recall Angel leaving a few of her things here occasionally, so it was possible that there might be some in his room.
"I'll go get something different, just give me a minute." Kyd said and he was gone before Raven could reply. After a few minutes had pass he came back with Angel's workout pants and one of his tops that he had been meaning to throw out. "Here, try these." Kyd said and he held them to the door. Raven reached out and took them and after a long moment, she finally opened the door and came out. The pants fit her nicely but the top was baggy on her.
"I don't believe I've worn clothes like this before, but I think it actually suites me." She said before smiling up at Kyd. Kyd felt a blush rise over his cheeks at the sight, but pushed it back down.
He turned away from her as he answered her "It looks pretty good I guess." He then started walking to his room. Raven didn't know what she was to do so she followed him, and when he stepped inside his room she waited outside the door. "You can come in you know." Kyd said. He kicked some things around the room, making more space on the floor for her to move around. Raven took a small step inside the room and hovered there. She was still uncomfortable with being inside a stranger room. "Since we don't know how much damage there is from the fight that caused your memoires to go away, we've decided that for tonight it'll be best if you stay with me so I can keep an eye on you. That way if you fell sick or need anything you can just ask me for it." Kyd said, kicking the last thing he could under the bed.
Raven looked around the room, a little lost and unsure. She still barely knew him and even though he said they were friends she had no memories of him or anything to help her feel safe. But she also didn't know how to ask to stay somewhere else. Kyd pulled a pillow off the bed and throw it on the floor before turning to his dresser and looking for clothes for himself. When he turned back and saw her still standing in the doorway, he sighed to himself. Kyd stepped forward and grabbed her hand, pulling her forward and taking her over to the bed, where he sat her down. Raven looked away from his face and there seemed to be something wrong but Kyd couldn't understand it.
"I'm going to go and change, when I get back I will be sleeping on the floor so you have the whole bed to yourself. I'm not going to do anything to you I promise." Kyd smiled and pulled a candy from his pocket and placed it in her hand before he left the room. Raven sighed and laid on the bed, pulling the cover right to her chin and trying to force herself to sleep. She had so many things running through her head right now. She just hoped that if she was to remember, everything we be alright. Once she remembered she'd become comfortable around her friends.