Raven woke with a jolting start, nearly jumping out of her bed as the lightning flashed and the pounding rolls of thunder attempted to break though the Titans quarters's bulletproof windows. She stared at the purplish-blue ceiling as she gathered her composure, her breathing slowing down to base levels.
Nightmarish slumber and weeping skies do not go well together after all.
Raven pressed against her queen sized bed, forcing herself to sit up, despite her eyelids still weighing an average of a ton. The room is illuminated pure white for a split second, and the deafening roars of lighting crash against the glass once more.
The pale (now even more so) teen shook, and stirred slowly out of bed, deciding that a nice hot cup of peach tea should calm her unsteady nerves. Stretching her slender arms as far as she could, she donned her purple cloak over her pajamas: black tank top with gray pants and floated over to her room's metal plated door, which opened swiftly after detecting her presence.
Exiting her room, Raven made her way to the kitchen, in which she opened the cabinet third from the left and took a stark black jar, filled with her favorite teas and opened it, taking a bag and returning the jar back to its shelf.
The wait for the water to turn hot was uneventful, if anything, as Raven silently scanned her tumblr feed, quietly laughing at loops of Princess Butterbean do flips over and over again, smiling over beautiful artwork from artists' blogs she follows and so on.
As she poured steaming hot water onto her skull shaped mug (with a pink bow on it, of course) and took a sip of what is now tea in her hands, a low moan escaped her throat, the taste of peach entering her palates. With each quiet sip, a sense of serenity washed over her, calming her nerves as the salvo of light and noise invaded the Titans HQ.
Then she heard a quiet ring in living room, indicating that the front doors of the HQ has opened, which is impossible because the building only lets in Titan members and those given a keycard and as she recalls, no keycards have been given in recent.
Placing her cup down on the kitchen table, Raven floated over to the elevator near the living room, a cautious hunch forming on her shoulders.
She watched as the digital numbers on the display on top of the elevator rise.
Someone's inside the elevator.
Raven looked towards the security feed, trying to see who the intruder was but all she saw was static. Whoever this person is must have a reason of not wanting to be seen.
She continued observing the elevator display, watching it rise until it finally stopped at floor 39: the indoor gym.
"But no one uses that room except... Oh no." Raven whispered as she pressed 39 on the elevator panel.
The first thing that exits the elevator door is the warm and anxious breath that escapes the purple Titan as she slowly floated towards the a wall of the room, inching forward to see who else has entered the room.
As she peeked through her cover, she saw the perpetrator: a man silhouetted by the darkness of the room, only illuminated by the occasional bolt of lightning.
The man is sitting on a bench in the center of the room, his back facing towards Raven, hunched over as if he's clutching something in his stomach.
The man raised his head to face the ceiling, slowly and breathily gasping in pain as he pulled what appeared to be a metal pole from his gut, droplets of blood flying away from him as he pulled it out.
"No, not again..." Raven said to herself as she hurriedly walked towards the silhouetted figure
"Goddamnit." A deep, low voice cried, as the owner of the voice collapsed to the floor, creating a soft clang as he landed. He clutched his stomach as he reached for what seemed to be an opened plastic container lying near him and grabbed hold of a roll of bandages.
This boy needed help
"What happened to 'I'm done sneaking out'?" Raven bitterly asked as she stood tall in front of him, arms in her waist and a look that could kill.
A sigh of defeat
"Sorry Rav, I-"
"You promised me this would stop, that last week would be the last time."
"But there's so much the Titans doesn't see, there's so much crime that goes-"
"Robin you don't have to prove yourself to any-"
"I'M NOT TRYING TO PROVE ANYTHING."
"THEN WHY ARE YOU BLEEDING OVER THE FLOOR?!"
Raven's voice faltered and broke as she struggled to wipe the tears off of the pained expression on her face. All Robin could do was look down.
He stared at the gaping hole in his gray shirt now covered in blood and soaked in rainwater and with the roll of bandages in hand, attempted to cover up the wound... only to wince in pain as he moved his arm.
A distressed Raven stopped Robin in his endeavor and grabbed hold of the bandages, staring at Robin's masked eyes, pleading him to let her help. Robin having no position to refuse eased his release on the bandages and laid his head on the ground.
The injured bird felt soft hands take over his body as his clothes were stripped from him one by one: first his mask, which hid a short cut on his left eyebrow and revealed his icy blue eyes, senseless in expression. Then his brown leather coat, cut up at the sleeves and red at where the wound would be. The coat followed with a blue shirt, now with the lower left portion of it a deep red.
Now Robin's torso was undressed; but it painted a grotesque picture. Bruises ranging from red to purple covered his body along with deep gashes and long cuts that surely add permanent marks on to Robin's already scarred torso. Robin turned his head away from Raven, not daring to meet her gaze.
Raven couldn't help but stare at his bare upper half. At the epitome of physical fitness for his age, he might as well have been sculpted by Michelangelo and she wouldn't be able to tell the difference; his collar bones well pronounced and almost seemingly drawn in, his shoulders and biceps compact and filled with volume, his 8 pack with parentheses to cover them, and V cuts that looks as if they could cut diamonds. And not to mention the scars...
Guilt washed over her as she realized how much pain he must be in while she stared and immediately grabbed the components from the bathroom that are necessary for patching up wounds: rubbing alcohol, threads and a needle, cotton balls, and bandages. As much as she wanted to take Robin to the hospital, they both knew how terribly the consequences would be. Cy and Star would probably kill Robin him if they found out he went back on his word.
"If you won't do it, I will." Robin said huskily, clutching his stomach and rolling his head back, his eyes closed.
Raven stared at him; he looked pitiful, self-destructive. The man that saved her from herself was walking between life and death right in front of her and although he would never admit it, he can't face himself alone, not now.
Without another word, she straddled him and took the alcohol in hand.
The rain pours on.