- 9/11 for Raven -
In memory to the lives lost on September 11th, 2001.
"Raven?" Beast Boy beckoned at Raven's door. He had knocked and knocked. It was like she wasn't even there.
"Robin?" Raven asked, outside the World Trade Center in New York, on the sidewalks, holding out her communicator.
"What? Why aren't you at the tower?" Robin asked in surprise, and she looked up at the towering skyscraper.
"I got a really bad vibe from the World Trade Center here in New York, so I decided to investigate. I'll be back there in an hour tops." She said, and closed her communicator.
She then walked to the front of Rockefeller Center, and shook her head at the peaceful music. "That's more of Starfire's style." She thought, as she entered the lobby, New Yorkers casually passing her by.
She took an elevator to the 45th floor, packed in with 5 other people. One older man with a white goatee in a brown suit and black tie gave her a weird look, as she walked out and looked around the office. It was a bit crowded, but the bad vibe wasn't on this floor.
She then took an elevator up to the very top floor, and went towards the roof. A locked door met her up there though, and she shook her head. "I could really use one of Robin's lock picks about now."
Suddenly, the entire hallway shook, making her stagger into the nearby janitor's broom and bucket. She then fell over as the sound of an explosion made her ears pop.
She stood up, ringing filling her ears, and staggered down the steps and to the floor below, where several workers were looking out the windows below them, right before smoke covered their sight. Fire alarms went off, and everyone rushed downstairs. This was what the bad vibe was about. She quickly followed them downstairs. Suddenly, thick smoke covered the hallways, and they all started coughing, including her. She used her energies to cast the smoke away from them, but it kept coming back. Thicker and heavier, blanketing the staircase.
She decided to phase through the floors to where the impact sounded like, and was met by an unstable surface. The floor she was on… was solid black, and there was a frame of what looked like a plane sitting there, all charcoaled. Coughing, she phased a floor below her, back into the staircase. There were 4 people trapped at a locked door unable to get through. The first was an old woman with a curly hairdo; the second was a middle-aged woman that appeared to be pregnant. The third was a young man with a short brown haircut, and a light blue shirt, with a checkered black and white tie and black dress pants. The fourth and fifth were two office workers, one wearing a white suit, black dress pants, and a black tie, another wearing a white shirt with a chest pocket and black dress pants also, but less baggy. One whispered to the other, "Jim, what do you think is happening?"
"I don't know, but what I do know is we need to get downstairs now." He said a bit loud, and the old lady replied unsettled, "I'm trying, I'm trying!"
Raven fazed through the wall, shocking the four of them, and took off a lock from the other side, as they all flooded into a vacant floor. "Where do we go now?" someone asked, and Raven spoke up.
"I can take some of you to the very bottom floor… but with all the floors it will take about 20 minutes, and I'll have to come back for one of you." She explained.
The young man with the blue shirt and checkered tie replied, "I'll stay, you all go."
Nobody really hesitated, and she began taking all of them down the floors with her in her black energies, as the young man left behind put his hands on top of his hands in stress and looked out the windows, wondering what happened.
"For our viewers just joining us now-" a newswoman began for the Jump City news media, as the Teen Titans with the exception of Raven watched the news, gathered around the green bended couch, " we have breaking news that a giant plane has crashed into the World Trade Center in New York… we don't know how this happened, but we have been told… that a plane was hijacked early this morning and slammed into the Pentagon… so this may not of been an accident. Keep in mind though that-"
As the woman carried on talking, and helicopter footage began streaming in, Beast Boy, whose face was in awe, asked Robin, "Is this what Raven was talking about?".
Robin replied, looking wide-eyed at the screen, "I'm not sure."
"Well, what of those poor people? We must assist them at the World of Trade Center… and the Octagon!" Starfire demanded, as Cyborg shook his head.
"Raven's already doing that, isn't she?" Cyborg pointed out, as Robin went into that deep kind of thought that always put his face into a pickle. He then took out his communicator, and looked at the status on Raven's communicator. 'Unavailable' it read, and he looked back up at the screen, narrowing his eyes.
Once Raven got the people down to the south tower's Plaza, she stopped dead in her tracks, as the others hurried out, just looking straightforward.
Blood covered the windows, and bodies were everywhere. People were jumping. The sight boggled her mind, and even her emotions had a hard time keeping their cool. She turned away, and phased back up into the ceiling, going back for the other man. Halfway through the 10th floor, another explosion rocked her, and sent her falling back down to the 9-th floor. She sensed it. The other tower had been hit.
She had to hurry. She fazed back up to get that last young man who decided to stay behind so the others could get out.
"Look!" Beast Boy shouted, pointing at the TV Screen, as they all turned their attention back to the TV. Another explosion, this time on the other building.
"Oh no!" Starfire yelled, and began to shake.
"Man, this isn't good." Cyborg muttered to Robin, as Robin leaned over resting his elbows on the couch, watching the TV.
She finally got back up to the last man, and he was standing near a window.
He turned after he heard her poof back up through the floor, and nodded.
"Let's go." He said, and she said one word.
"Wait."
He stopped about 10 feet away from her, and waited. "You're going to see something very bad when you get to the bottom floor." She said in her usual monotone voice.
"Ok, I got it-" he began, as the building quivered. "Let's just get out of here!"
Suddenly, the entire floor shook, and Raven's energies naturally covered her up because her bad vibe had become so sudden. But her energies stayed transparent too long.
She saw that young man look up in shock, and then get crunched between the ceiling and the floor like a pancake, as he screamed once, then nothing.
When her energies finally faded, she found herself in a giant cloud of tan-colored smoke and debris. She stared down in horror at the tons of pieces of building below her that were barely visible. Her emotions went wild, and suddenly, her energies pushed the North Tower towards the south, and it began tilted just a bit more.
"Oh man!" Cyborg shouted now, as the TV showed the South Tower collapse.
"Oh no!!" Starfire cried in shock, as Cyborg began freaking out. "This is bad, man! Very bad!"
"Those… those poor people!" Starfire added.
Beast Boy turned his head to the others, speechless and in shock.
Robin shook his head shamefully, and frustration set in.
"Wait, what about Raven?" Beast Boy finally managed to say, and Robin's face lit up… in shock.
He rushed over to the counter were he set his communicator, and immediately dialed up Raven. No response, as he slammed it back down in frustration.
"Aw, man, what if she's gone now too?" Cyborg said.
"No, I shall not stand here and have you say that!" Starfire shouted, as Robin stepped forward.
"Raven's fine. She sensed it happening in the first place, so she knew how to survive." Robin demanded.
Beast Boy slumped down on the couch, staring at the TV screen, as the smoke cleared and the South Tower was gone. He managed to get his voicebox working for one word, filled with disbelief and shock. "Dude…"
Raven got home later that night. She walked past the Titans solemnly, covered in dust and smoke. She went into her room. Beast Boy was the only one who followed her to the doorway, the others staring behind at a loss for words.
"Raven?" Beast Boy asked hoarsely.
Suddenly, he heard sobbing. "Raven, is that you?" Beast Boy asked, yet he continued to hear it.
"Raven… there's nothing you could of done." He said hoarsely, almost starting to sob himself.
"Raven?" he said, tearing up a bit.
Still sobbing, no answer. He began to walk away, when the door opened.
He turned around to see Raven, in pitiful shape.
"I… saw a man…die… right in front of me. I can't get his face… out of my… head…" She told him chokingly, and he went forward and hugged her in support.
"I know, Rae… I know…" he whispered, patting her back.
Song used: When September Ends by Green Day
Seven years has gone so fast.
Wake me up when September ends...
To this day, Raven has not forgotten that young man with the light blue shirt, the checkered necktie, and the black jeans. But she also can say this: "I save 5 lives that day… including an unborn baby."
Here comes the rain again,
Falling from the stars.
Drenched in my pain again,
Becoming who I am.
She floated among the dust of the South Tower, and then felt debris as the North Tower fell brush her back… but she just stayed there solemnly, hood up, letting the debris brush up against her back. It sent chills down her spine. Nobody could really imagine how that affected her. And the people it affected are endless…
As my memory rests,
But never forgets what's lost,
Wake me up when september ends...
This story is dedicated in memory of all the lives lost on September 11th 2001. God Bless those who lost loved ones and may they rest in peace.
Also in dear memory of my cousin's father. He left behind a widow and 3 sons in New Jersey. R.I.P.
A/N: That cousin's Birthday is Saturday… remembering what happened to his father inspired me to write this Fic.
God bless. –fanaticwr1t3r