disclaimer: i own nothing, Linkin Park owns the lyrics
with you.
Richard was unnerved. She had been inside his mind. Seen things no one but the beholder should have to know, to relive. His raven colored hair fell over his unmasked face, blue eyes starring across the bay out his window.
His hand moved up to these said eyes as they closed tightly, blocking out the artificial light in his room. Richard sighed heavily, feeling more and more like Bruce everyday.
There was a nock on his door. Groaning, he looked at the digital clock in his nightstand
2 a.m.
Who the fuck is up at two in the goddamn morning? Robin thought angrily as he fitted his mask to his face. Oh yeah, me.
Walking towards his door he hesitated before opening it. If it was Starf-
It was Raven.
She had mascara residue under her eyes, her skin looked paler than usual, and she looked pissed.
"Go. To sleep." She said her eyes watering from the light in Robin's room.
Robin's eyes narrowed.
"Not to sound childish, but you can't tell me what to do." Raven's teeth clenched.
"You have not slept in a week, in result I have not slept in a week. We have a connection. The only reason you are not unconscious on the other side of this hall is because I'm more concerned about you than what my temper will be like in the morning."
"Aw Rave, I didn't know you cared," said Robin rolling his eyes. He had forgotten the connection her and Raven shared. But he couldn't sleep, he was (and he hated to admit it), he was afraid.
"I can't sleep Raven," Robin whispered.
"Then I can't sleep," Robin rolled his eyes again. She could be so difficult sometimes.
"Why can't you sleep?" Raven asked, her voice softening.
Robin looked at her.
I woke up in a dream today
To the cold of the static/and put my cold feet on the floor
Forgot all about yesterday
Remembering I'm pretending to be where I'm not anymore
She had been inside his mind once, doing it again would be that much easier.
Azerath Metrion Zinthos. Raven chanted her mantra in her head and closed her eyes.
The same images as before flashed across her minds eyes. Two people falling, bats, and Slade.
Raven's eyes opened and Robin gasped.
"Hypocrite," muttered Robin folding his arms across his chest and looking at his steeled toed boots.
"Excuse me?"
"You're all about privacy, and then you go and pull something like that…" Robin's voice faded out.
Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. Raven was starring at Robin, who was still looking at his boots.
"You know that's his first name," said Raven quietly. Robin looked up at her, eyes slanting.
"Who?"
"Slade, that's his first name. He was a military officer; he's missing his right eye and uses 90 of his brain, to make up for it."
Robin looked at her suspiciously.
"Did you-,"
"I looked on the internet," Raven's deadpan cut him off. Robin shrugged and looked away.
"Do you need help sleeping Robin?" Robin's head snapped onto Raven as his selective hearing kicked in. he raised an eyebrow suggestively. Raven scoffed.
"Boy's." she muttered.
A little taste of hypocrisy
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake/slow to react
Even though you're so close to me
You're still so distant/ and I can't bring you back
The light in Robin's room went out. Immediately Robin's breathe quickened. He grabbed Raven's hand out of impulse and fear.
"It's okay." Raven whispered. She squeezed his hand, but Robin's breathing didn't slow.
"He's alive Raven, I know he is. He's, he's not human," Robin whispered, tugging Raven closer to him. Her cloak brushed against his bare arm and Robin shuddered.
"He has a wife and two sons," said Raven beginning to lose the feeling in her hand, "he's human."
A door on the floor above whooshed loudly as someone went to the bathroom. Robin pulled Raven into his chest, his heart pounding.
"He's taunting me."
It's true/ the way I feel
Was promised by your face
The sound of your voice
Painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me
I'm with you
Raven could feel her legs tingling from lack of blood. She groaned softly as the Beat of Robin's heart became even faster.
"Robin, your heart, you need to calm down."
"Yes Robin, calm down." A voice, so cold, so cruel, so familiar.
"Slade!" Robin's arms dropped Raven and he spun around. His eyes locked on the now open window in his room.
Taking a tentative step forward, Raven's hand's tightened around Robin's cape. His head turned to look at her.
"Looks like we're both crazy now," Raven shook her head.
"This is not an illusion," whispered Raven. She walked in front of Robin, her hand pressed against his shoulder.
SMAK!
Raven was knocked backwards into the hallway. A trickle of blood dripping down from her temple where a dart was logged, dazed but still conscious.
"RAVEN!" Robin shouted her name and swept his gaze across the room quickly, no one. He looked over the ceiling. Nothing. The hallway's only occupant was Raven.
Robin kneeled down next to Raven, as she groaned, closed eyes twitched open. Robin removed the dart and wiped blood from her cheek and she winced.
Indigo eyes turned hazy as she stared at Robin.
"I never noticed that you could see the color of your eyes if you looked hard enough. Blue's my favorite color," oh yeah, she was delirious.
Robin helped her sit up, her violet hair tickling his arms.
"Tsk, tsk Robin. You should never let someone else fight your battles." Robin's blood ran cold and he unsheathed his bird-a-rand, throwing it in the opposite direction of the voice. A grunt satisfied him as he hit his mark.
"Did you know that our names are birdie names? Robin and Raven. Beast Boy can turn into birdies!" emergency lights on either end of the hallway erupted, enveloping them into darkness.
"Raven snap out of it." Robin lifted her face up to his, her eyes glowing a milky green color.
"She can't snap out of it Robin," whispered Slade's voice in his ear.
"What did you do to her!" shouted Robin flinging an electronic disk at the man that stood not five feet away.
"You'll have to figure out yourself. The rules of the game are simple, don't let her die."
You/now I see/keeping everything inside
You/ now I see/ even when I close my eyes
Click, clickclick, clickclickclickclickclickclickclick.
Robin typed feverishly. Raven was getting worse, every now and than she would either start shaking violently or she would start sweating. Robin had been in his room for three hours. He couldn't find anything. Yet.
There was a nock on the door. Robin cried out angrily, this was getting ridiculous. Starfire kept trying to ask him if he wanted the milk of cows. He needed time to think!
"What do you want- Beast Boy?" Robin stopped mid-rant and looked at the green changeling.
"Yeah, um, was wondering if you and Raven are ever gonna come out of their because- whoa, what the hell happened to Raven?" Beast Boy pushed past Robin and dropped to his knees, looking Raven in the eye.
"Sakutia," breathed Beast Boy, eyes widening.
"What?" asked Robin squatting down next to Raven, who was rocking back and forth, shivering.
"Sakutia, it's a rare disease only one human has been known to survive. Stage one is delirium, then you've got your body temperature either skyrocketing of plummeting continuously, and that's about 75 minutes after contracting the disease, stage three's kind of like a truth phase, you just can't stop talking and then, usually the forth stage," Beast Boy looked at Robin, who was brushed hair off Raven's sweaty face, "is death," Robin stopped, slowly he looked at Beast Boy.
"It's an African virus, and it's not contagious."
"How do you know all this?" Beast Boy's lip trembled slightly.
"My parents were scientists," Robin nodded. Beast Boy checked the clock on the wall, "how long has she been sick?"
"'bout three hours," Beast Boy nodded and stood up.
"My parents kept a record of the effects the virus has, I have them in my room," Robin nodded again, and then looked up.
"Beast Boy? Who was the survivor? Do you know?" Beast Boy paused by the door, not looking back at Robin he nodded.
"Yeah, me."
I hit you and you hit me back
We fall to the floor/ the rest of the day stands still
Fine line between this and that
Slade tapped his foot impatiently; the game was still in play. But now there was a new player.
The beeping of a code reached the maniacs ears. Shadow faced and shaking, Beast Boy walked into his room.
"Hello," Beast Boy froze, starring open mouthed and petrified at the sight of Slade leading against his now open window.
"Jesus," whispered Beast Boy. Slade kicked over a picture Beast Boy had of Terra, as he walked towards Beast Boy.
"Go away," hissed Beast Boy, transforming into a tiger he lunged at Slade, but Slade was quick, Slade was always too quick. It was his fault.
Beast Boy transformed into a python mid-jump and coiled his body around Slade's chest, crushing the air from him. Slade shouted in agony as his ribs cracked.
"No!" shouted Slade, "You are a player in this game!" Slade's arms ripped Beast Boy off him, "and in this game, "Beast Boy tore off hi left glove from his hand, and five curved claws, each the length of his palm, extended from his normal fingernails.
Slade grunted as Beast Boy's claws flew across his chest.
"In this game there is no cheating."
A kick to the stomach sent Beast Boy flying into the edge of his bunk bed. He crumpled to the floor, blood dripping off the mattress where Beast Boy's head hit.
Slade placed a small metal ring by Beast Boy's photograph of Terra.
When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real
Now I'm trapped in this memory
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake/ slow to react
Even though you're close to me
You're so distant/ and I can't bring you back
Robin was watching Raven; she was laying face up on the floor, breathing heavily. The cut on her temple had healed itself, and Raven's hair was fanned around her face, when she suddenly sat up and looked strait at Robin.
"Kiss me," she demanded.
Terra watched him; her attire glittered in the lighting of Slade's 'establishment'.
"Your friends can't win," she said. She walked around him, like how a vulture stalks it's prey, slowly, waiting.
"Shut up," he hissed, clenching his fists and glaring at her.
"Especially Raven, she's not going to last more than half an hour if she's being taunted," Beast Boy shook his head.
"No, she'd kick your ass, there's a reason she has no emotions."
"You mean her tantrums?" taunted Terra, pressing a white button on the floor near a fan, silver electricity crackling along its edges.
"I said, shut up," Beast Boy hissed again, feeling blood trickling threw his gloves.
"You think I give a fuck?" chuckled Terra, "you're just a pawn, a sad little pawn. A fucking do-gooder, all five of your perfect little squad, it's like the fucking Breakfast Club up in that Tower, and I'm mean old Mr. Vernon, crushing your hopes and dreams."
"Bitch," spat Beast Boy, teeth bared. Terra highlighted a portion of the floor and pelted it at his head.
The rock shattered, but Beast Boy stood his ground, stars twinkling in his eyes.
Beast Boy's eyes opened.
Shaking his head and stopping as he felt blood splatter against his face. He ground abs stood up, reaching under his blood soaked mattress on the top bunk, and he removed a manila folder with 'Sakutia' printed in black sharpie on the front.
He checked his clock; he'd been out for five minutes.
It's true/ the way I feel
Was promised by your face
The sound of your voice
Painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me
I'm with you
"Excuse me?" Robin nearly shouted backing up as Raven slid onto her knees.
"I love you, I don't know why, I want to feel you, whenever you're around me, my knees go numb and I can't breathe, being connected to you, you don't really like Starfire, she's just a pretty face, she's naïve, she thrives on attention, she likes Aqualad and some guy from her home planet. Besides," Raven slid onto Robin's lap and tugged the mask on Robin's face loose, "we're very much the same," Raven dipped her head and captured Robin's mouth in hers.
Being a guy, Robin didn't mind. Besides Robin thought as he slipped his tongue inside her mouth (while completely oblivious to the fact he was taking advantage of her), they did have a connection.
You/now I see/keeping everything inside
You/ now I see/ even when I close my eyes
Sakutia: Sa-coo-t-ah: a disease normally obtained by animals, rarely infected by humans. When infested with the virus, in humans and fauna alike, normally proves fatal. No recorded survivors. (a.n. I know that only animals can survive it, this just makes it more interesting) Tests and observations conducted by Doctors Mark and Marie Logan. The first stage of infection: delusion. The second stage of infection: hot and cold flashes. The third stage of infection: the 'Truth Stage', uncontrollable motion and/or vocals. The forth stage of infection: (with the exception of death) a complete bodily shutdown or 'dead sleep' for 30 minutes. As the body begins to die, insert the serum either directly into the wound or (in case no air bourn wound is present) into the clearest blood vein present. No pain is being inflicted upon the victim, no further assistance is needed as the patient is currently healing at their own pace. Recovery between 7 to 9 days.
Robin's eyes scanned the contents of the folder. Photos of Beast Boy himself during the stages of Sakutia.
"The fifth stage is fucked up, the reason you shake so badly is because of the serum. Its pretty nerve raking, literally, and you're all drained and I turned green," said Beast Boy, looking at Robin from where Raven was rambling on about the different roots to the word 'pigeon'.
Robin nodded and gazed at Beast Boy with normal colored skin.
"I would never be able to picture it if I didn't have these," said Robin shaking his head and placing the pictures and folder next to a needle full of interestingly colored green monkey blood.
"This blood," said Robin, picking up the needle and examining it closely, "it'll make her better?" Beast Boy nodded.
"It's worked before, the counter drug my parents formulated isn't as quick working as the blood itself, but I have that incase I had ever gotten Sakutia again."
Without warning, Raven passed out.
It's true/ the way I feel
Was promised by your face
The sound of your voice
Painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me
I'm with you
You/now I see/keeping everything inside
You/ now I see/ even when I close my eyes
Robin sat in the common room couch next to Beast Boy. The changeling was watching the sun rise and Robin was blinking very, very slowly.
The two boys froze as they heard slow, unenthusiastic clapping behind them.
"well, well, well," said a sly voice. The boys turned to see Slade standing in the kitchen, his one good eye slashed villainously, "it looks like you've completed round one. I hope you're enjoying this as much as I am," the two boys leaped over the couch, running at Slade, who merely snapped his fingers.
Their vision blackened and both fell into a dead faint.
No
No matter how far we've come
I can't wait to see tomorrow
With you
John and Mary looked up at their son, who watched in horror as his parents fell from their trapeze act towards the ground. Dick couldn't help but sob as a strong, kind hand pulled the boy into a protective embrace.
The Flying Grayson's had Fallen.
And now Robin would rise
No matter how far we've come
I can't wait to see tomorrow
Cold water dripped onto Robin's mask, awakening him from what could only be described as a bad day.
Beast Boy shifted next to him and Robin turned his head.
"We're fucked, aren't we?"
"Is that you're new favorite word or something?" a monotone reached their ears as Raven sat up to look at them.
"How did you recover so fast?" asked Beast Boy, his head spinning around as fast as Robin's, but for entirely different reasons.
"I can heal myself dumb ass."
"Maybe you should explore the dictionary with me, we'll find new words."
"Oh goody, I can hardly wait."
"Fantastic, it's a date then."
"My god please shut up!" shouted Robin, utterly annoyed with their bickering. There was total silence for about five seconds.
"Yeah Raven, gosh."
Robin groaned and bashed the back of his head against the dirt floor. Wait. Dirt?
Robin scrambled to his feet and spun around. He stopped when a stature caught his eye.
Slade was hitting a new personal low.
"T-Terra?"
No matter how far we've come
I can't wait to see tomorrow
Beast Boy stood up, his face was unexplainable. He looked cold, hurt, happy, and confused.
Raven, without realizing it, slipped her face onto Robin's shoulder, afraid of what Beast Boy would- what she would do, now that Terra was mere feet from her.
"How did we get here?" asked Beast Boy harshly. Raven shook her head, trembling in Robin's arms.
"Round two. Melt down," Raven spun around, eyes white hair flying around her face.
"Why won't you just DIE!" she screamed levitating a rock pillar and heaving it at Slade.
"My dear," (a.n. I just wrote door…) said Slade disappearing as he walked towards them, "I can't die." Slade appeared behind Terra's statue.
"Get away from her!" screamed Beast Boy transforming into a lion and leaping at Slade, knocking the two of them off balance and slamming into the ground.
"Beast Boy!" shouted Raven as the two crashed into magma rocks, falling, shouting.
Then there was silence. Raven ran forward up until she reached Terra's statue. Looking over the edge of the overhang, she saw Slade and Beast Boy going all out. Raven bit her lip as Robin ran up beside her.
"This is bad," whispered Raven, clutching Terra's statue for support as her knees began to give way.
Beast Boy morphed into a ram and knocked Slade off his feet. Slade hurtled into the cavern wall and crumpled to the floor.
Normal Beast Boy stood, breathing heavily. He turned to look up at Raven and Robin; he waved and started back towards them.
"Don't move!" said Slade, Beast Boy spun around, only to look into Slade's face pointing a molecular neutralizer at him (a.n. in other words a fucking gun).
"No!" shouted Robin, arms being held back by Raven's dark glow.
"You think it's my fault she betrayed you?" hissed Slade circling Beast Boy. Beast Boy's realized Terra had done the same thing and glared at Slade.
Slade chuckled, "she was never cut out to be a hero. Everything she said to you was false, she didn't like you, and she liked you because I told her to."
Beast Boy stopped. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists.
"It's not your fault either," Slade hissed in Beast Boy's ear tauntingly.
Beast Boy's eyes flew open, "shut up!" Slade chuckled.
"Make me," he whispered. Beast Boy roared, lunging at Slade only to-
BAMM!
The crackling of the gun in Slade's hand died down; steamed hissed off the barrel. Raven screamed so loudly the walls began to shake. And Beast Boy's knees hit the gravel.
He was dead.
You/now I see/keeping everything inside
I'm with you
You/ now I see/ even when I close my eyes
I'm with you
Slade looked at the birds. The raven screaming into her feathers until her cords merely stopped. She gasped hoarsely into the robin's wings next to her. His red chest heaving at an extremely hyperventilated rate, no sound escaping his beak, horror gripping his every fiber.
"Ga-ga-gaga-game o-o-over," cackled Slade as his voice transmitter faltered, and the Slade 'Bot self-destructed.
Neither Raven nor Robin moved from where they were. Finally after what seemed like forever, Raven opened her mouth.
"It was all a fake," Robin nodded, his eyes brimming with tears. He held Raven closer to him and kissed the top of her head.
The two watched Beast boy's still from (slightly singed from the explosion) as his blood emptied from his body and coagulated into the dirt floor.
You/now I see/keeping everything inside
I'm with you
You/ now I see/ even when I close my eyes
I'm with you