Title: Deafening Silence
Summary: The sound was deafening. It rang out loudly in the quiet aftermath of their latest battle. RaeRob!
Rating: T, for some violence and one little bad word.
Disclaimer: I don't now, nor have I ever owned Teen Titans or anything DC related, although I would LOVE to own Batman...
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The sound was deafening. It rang out loudly in the quiet aftermath of their latest battle. They had just kicked Dr. Light's ass, again. And then that sound just exploded in their ears. They looked down at themselves and then at each other.
"Shit." Robin mumbled as his legs gave out and he hit the ground hard, blood pooling around him. In contrast with the first sound, his team mates' feet pounding on the asphalt sounded muffled and far away as they ran to him.
"Robin." They were all talking at once but the sound of her whispering voice broke through the jumble of panicky voices surrounding him.
"Raven..." And then it all went dark.
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"Starfire, Beast Boy crowd control. Raven get Robin to the hospital. I'll contact... him." Cyborg gave out orders quickly after the initial shock of seeing Robin go down had worn off. Slade had shot him and delivered the little gem of information that the bullet had been charmed. Any attempts by Raven or any other magical person to heal him would backfire and kill Robin instantly. The team didn't stop to decipher his actions they simply acted to ensure Robin's safety and health but they were all aware that Slade had a reason and it had nothing to do with actually killing their leader. Raven let her magic extend over both of them as she kept pressure on the wound. They appeared at Jump City General Hospital a few seconds later. The ER team reacted swiftly, taking Robin from Raven's arms and wheeling him away.
"His mask." She called out suddenly. The doctor barely paused but called out over her shoulder.
"Won't be touched, I promise." Raven could feel the doctor's honesty with her empathetic abilities. Everything in her screamed to go with him, to protect him but Raven had enough sense of mind to know she wasn't emotionally stable enough right now. Instead she pulled herself off the floor, ignoring the blood (his blood) coating her hands, legs and uniform. She collapsed into a chair, didn't even pretend to be meditating and forced the tears back as she waited.
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Cyborg watched Star and BB for a second after Raven disappeared with Robin. He already had a lock on their location through their communicators but he didn't want to make this call. With a deep breath Cyborg hit the special, hidden button on his communicator. It was a direct line to Batman in case of emergency. The team had almost used this button only a hand full of times and they had hoped to never actually have to use it. The Dark Knight's face appeared a few seconds later, looking slightly concerned.
"Robin was shot." The silence was as deafening as the shot itself had been. "I have his location at the hospital I'm transmitting it to you now."
"Hospital?" Batman finally spoke, his voice barely shaking but his eyes gave way to more pain than Cyborg thought any person should have to feel.
"Yes. Raven is with him. She couldn't just heal him... look it's a long story but now isn't the time."
"Time..." Batman mumbled absent mindedly. "Time... contact Superman, tell him what happened." With those words Batman ended their call, leaving Cyborg to do his biding.
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Bruce paced. And paced. It had been three minutes. He had grabbed a spare Robin uniform that he kept on hand, and waited. He considered telling Alfred but decided not to, yet. Clark should be there any second. He was taking to long. A moment later a red/blue blur streaked in and grabbed Batman without so much a slowing down. Seconds later they stopped outside a hospital emergency room. Without a word to Superman, Batman entered the building. He knew Clark would follow. Someone, an orderly maybe, was cleaning blood off the floor. Bruce knew with absolute certainty that it was Dick's blood. A few feet away sat a cloaked figure, covered in the same blood that was being scrubbed off the floor. She didn't move, just stared at a set of double doors across from her. Clark spoke because Bruce didn't know what to say.
"Is there is any news on Robin?" At first she didn't respond, she just sat but after a moment she spoke quietly.
"News..." The word was spoken as if she didn't understand what Superman had said. Then she exploded.
"No news! NO REPORTERS!" Black energy reached out and wrapped around Superman's throat as Raven's eyes glowed an angry, violent red and she towered over them. Neither man had seen this side of Raven, pure raw power and rage combining perfectly with one goal in mind. Protect Robin.
"Raven stop!" Batman imitated Robin's voice flawlessly on a hunch. Raven snapped her eyes to where his voice had come from. It was perfect, Robin's voice exactly but there was something missing. There was something vital in the way Robin always said her name, indescribable but ever-present. Raven's red eyes looked into blue ones, not Robin's blues eyes but something inside her knew she could trust these eyes almost like she trusted Robin's eyes.
"Raven stop." The words were gentler this time, spoken in Batman's gruff voice rather than Robin's and Raven pulled her powers back slowly. When her feet touched the ground she returned to the chair they found her in.
"Has the doctor given an update about Robin's condition?" Batman spoke this time. Raven shook her head silently so Batman simply sat down next to the half demon and waited with her.
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Starfire walked into the hospital quickly, followed by Beast Boy and Cyborg. The sight that greeted them wasn't what they wanted to see. Raven (still covered in Robin's blood) and Batman were sitting side by side, staring at a set of double doors. Superman stood a few feet away, silently waiting should either dark figure need anything.
"Raven." Cyborg called out as they neared them. Superman stepped up when she didn't even look up at the sound of her friend's voice.
"They're... waiting. They haven't said a word in hours but the doctors have come out a few times to update us. Robin lost a lot of blood and if Raven hadn't gotten him here when she did he would have died. There was some internal bleeding but surgery took care of that. Once he's stable he can have visitors but they don't know when he'll wake up." The Man of Steel felt like he was made of marshmallow as the alien princess burst into tears, her knees buckling from the worry and relief all crashing into her at once. Superman caught her before she fell, letting her sob uncontrollable in his arms while her team mates went through their own silent, personal hell but at least they were showing emotions. Raven and Bruce were just... shut down. He hoped that somehow they were finding some solace in each other's silent company.
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Robin was walking. And walking. He didn't know where he was or where he was going exactly. He just knew he couldn't stop. He had to get back. Back where, he didn't know. So he walked. The sky above him was streaked dark blue, purple, white and red, while the ground beneath him was different shades of black.
"Robin..." Her voice echoed around the empty space surrounding him. Robin knew that voice but he couldn't recall how he knew it. It wasn't an artificial memory, something that could and would fade over time. It was a base memory, burned into his soul and mind. He would know her voice underwater, in heaven and hell, in death. So he followed that voice until he couldn't follow it anymore.
Two doors were suddenly there. One door was brown, plain and simple with a soft white light glowing behind it. The other door was splashed with color. Purple, blue, green, red and black mixing together to make up his life. An eerie black light glowed behind that door. Black light that was home to Robin. Robin gripped the gleaming gold doorknob of the second door and pulled it open without a second thought. The black light reached out and pulled him in, and Robin let it.
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"He's stable enough to have visitors now, no more than two at a time." The two dark figures looked at each other, silently deciding the rest of them should go first. They were going to need more time than anyone else. Starfire who hadn't released her death grip on Superman stood up and thanked the doctor. The doctor stopped in front of Raven after that, squatting down so they were eye level.
"His mask never came off, not even for a second." Raven nodded numbly and the doctor left them.
"Bru- uhh Batman maybe you should go in first." Superman said quietly.
"No the rest of you go in... we'll be last." They all wanted to argue, to tell him that he should be with Robin but Clark knew better. Instead he tugged lightly on Starfire's hand.
"Come on, I'll go in with you. Then you two." He gestured to Cyborg and Beast Boy. Raven watched from under her lashes as Starfire followed Superman inside the room. BB and Cy walked down the hall, talking about going to the gift shop to get Robin something to make his room less depressing. They left Raven alone with Batman, both simply sitting there in silence that wasn't comfortable or uncomfortable, it just was.
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"Go home." It was the first time he had spoken since the doctor had come out to tell them Robin could have visitors over half an hour ago.
"No."
"Yes. You need to get cleaned up, he wouldn't want to see you like that."
"I can't leave him."
"I'll stay, he'll be fine. Just... be quick." Raven looked at Bruce for a long moment, then she was simply gone.
She peeled off the blood caked leotard and cloak while the shower warmed up. Climbing in she didn't simply let the water rinse her body, she started scrubbing brutally. Angry red marks replaced red blood on her ashen skin. She scrubbed for ten minutes but she could still feel his blood on her. She dressed quickly in a spar uniform and cloak, her armor against the rest of the world and teleported back to the hospital. Starfire and Superman were out meaning BB and Cy were inside. There were others there now too, JLA members, Titans from all over, and others from the hero community. Raven wished they would all just leave. She just wanted to sit and wait for him to wake up quietly. No one chattering and crying. Silence and stillness so she could hear his heart beat and touch his mind.
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The first time Dick regained consciousness Raven was floating over his hospital bed in the lotus position silently, her cloak fluttering around her. Amethyst eyes snapped open and locked with his.
"Dick." He smiled at her in relief, he would always know her voice.
"Found you..." And then he passed out again.
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The second time Dick woke up Bruce was sitting in a chair on the opposite wall, his head leaning back, eyes closed but he wasn't sleeping. The petite teenage girl with her head on his shoulder was however very much sleeping, her violet hair curtaining her beautiful face. Dick glanced back to Bruce and found himself looking his mentor/father in the eyes. The two most important people in his life had come together for him. It brought a sort of delirious state of peace to his heart, mind and soul.
"Take care of her." Dick's voice was just loud enough for Bruce to hear. A slight, barely there tilt of his head was the reply. Dick lay his head back down and let the darkness of oblivion take him again.
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The third time Robin woke up Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire and Raven were all there. Raven looked at him straight away, their eyes saying everything their words couldn't at the moment. Cyborg was the next to notice.
"Rob, oh man. You don't know how good it is to see you awake. I'm gonna go get the doctor." Cyborg hugged him carefully and was replaced by BB who couldn't seem to even form words. Raven inched herself to the other side of the hospital bed while Starfire curled up on the bed with him, like a small child seeking comfort from a parent.
All the while Raven simply held his hand. No words were needed. Raven, he had just learned, was essential to his existence. So they both let Star have her moment in time because what they had went beyond a single moment. It was all consuming, it was more than friendship, more than love, it was... everything. They were everything to each other. The silence of that realization was more deafening than anything either of them had ever heard.
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AN: So yeah, this was kind of all over the place. I tried to make it more cohesive but ended up with it exactly as it was the first time I wrote it. Or maybe I should say it wrote itself and I was just along for the ride. As you can tell, it was weird to write and I think it's weird to read. Okay enough of my babbling, I hope you enjoyed.