Hello peoples! I thought I'd try my hand at a multi-chapter story that I wouldn't finish all in one night as a holiday present to people :)
WARNING: STORY WILL CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS.
Raven sat up with a groan, her throat going dry. A dull ache enveloped her. Her joints, that had been digging into the hard painfully cold metal of the roof, throbbed uncomfortably. An icy wind kicked up making her shiver and her muscles tense. Raven mentally cursed her luck. She would have to be born the daughter of an inter dimensional evil demon from the depths of hell. The tiny pieces of gravel that had found their way onto the roof dug into her legs and her skin stuck to the frozen metal. She pulled it off with a grunt and the open skin began to bleed. Although she normally didn't sleep wearing her long cloak due to its bulk and pull around her neck should it twist, she was reconsidering. Raven blinked her eyes, flashes of her horrific nightmare resurfacing in the blackness. Desolation, red skies, bodies…so many bodies. Always bodies…in various stages of putrefaction. The smell of sulfur and decomposition was thick and the air so hot it practically burned her nostrils and lungs. Raven shook her head a few times in a vain attempt to dislodge the images. With her body protesting every move he made and teeth chattering, she yanked open the heavy metal door that lead inside the tower. Raven immediately realized her mistake as the alarm rang out. She screwed her eyes up at the noise as a stinging sensation came to the back of her eyes. They began to tear up at the obnoxious red lights blinking in the darkened halls. She knew that the Titans would begin to search the place and they were headed her way.
"Raven?" Cyborg's concern came through as he put his hands up and slowly approached her. "Again?" She nodded and Cyborg, raising his arm, quickly shut off the tower's alarm.
"Cy! Cyborg what's happening?!" Robin's voice called out.
"Go. I got it covered." He stated reassuringly. Raven ran back onto the roof and chanting her mantra teleported to her room. Faced with the darkness and eerie shadows of her room, she immediately began having second thoughts. Raven didn't want to go to bed just yet and face the horror that awaited her when she closed her eyes. So she grabbed her cloak and went into her act.
Meanwhile on the roof, Cyborg was dealing with his own problems, namely one that had spiky black hair and wore a mask. "Cyborg you said the security system was airtight." Robin said narrowing his eyes.
"Not my fault that someone forgot to lock the door." Cy defended.
Beast Boy despite being tired, began looking around. "Hey, anybody seen Raven?"
At that moment, a spiral of black magic appeared and Raven materialized behind him. "Perimeter secure, there's no intruders." She spoke, her rolling voice sounding more gravelly than usual.
"Ah!" Beast Boy let out at her proximity and the telltale drop in temperature that accompanied her magic.
"So this alarm is one of the false variety?" Starfire questioned, unaffected by the chill drifting into the hall.
Robin looked back at Cyborg. "Yeah Star." He confirmed. "Alright team, be sure to stay vigilant and make sure that all potential access points to the tower are secure from now on." Robin spun his bo-staff and tucked it away into his utility belt. "Cyborg be sure to check for any alerts on loose doors in the future." He yawned and gave a stretch. "Goodnight."
"Night dudes."
"Pleasant schmorlax!"
"Night." Cyborg let out. After the sound of footsteps had faded away, he turned back to the dark girl standing next to him. "Was it bad?" Raven nodded, but said nothing more. "C'mon I'll walk you to your room." Cyborg said placing a hand on her shoulder and guiding her downstairs. "Why do you do it? The teleporting?"
"I don't know." Raven stated tiredly. "My powers just activate and then off I go." That was a lie, well not entirely…Raven suspected she subconsciously tried to escape her nightmares so she teleported in order to do so.
"There doesn't seem to be a pattern." The half-human, half-robot mused aloud. "You haven't teleported into anyone else's room have you?"
"No." The thought of showing up in Beast Boy's pigsty of a room made her wrinkle her nose in disgust. Starfire's girly den of stuffed animals along with that slimy moth larva she took in as a pet was just as revolting. At least the night she'd wound up in Cyborg's room hadn't been so bad. The soft bluish glow of his machines and the silent whirring noises of various mechanical devices had gently woken her out of her stupor. He'd sat up and without the slightest hint of judgement, merely asked her why she was lying in the middle of his floor. Raven had given him an excuse of a nightmare that caused her to do it; she'd greatly softened the details, merely stating that it had been just an overwhelming feeling of dread and to escape it she must've subconsciously teleported. That wasn't the whole truth however, Raven had been having pretty bad nightmares lately. Despite defeating her farther, she was still plagued by visions of the fiery hell she had at one time unleashed upon the Earth. Fortunately, Cyborg didn't attempt to pry or get details. He merely walked her back to her room and gave her some water. He'd offered to sit with her until she fell asleep, but not wanting to appear helpless, Raven politely declined.
"Well here ya go." Cyborg said stopping outside her door. "You want me to- "
"No." Raven cut him off, then taking a breath. "I'll be fine. I just need a goodnight's sleep."
"I'll bet." He agreed, then frowning a little. "There's never anything you can remember from them?"
"No, nothing." Raven lied. "Just dread. And a lot of it." She clarified.
Cyborg paused, staring at her and for a moment, Raven wondered if he could see through her lies. Unlikely though it may be, perhaps she had underestimated the half robot man's perception. "Well try to have a good night and you know where to find me."
"Yeah, goodnight." Raven called to him as he turned and walked down the hallway back to his room.
He called back to her jokingly. "If I can't find you, I'll check the kitchen, training room and the garage…" As she listened to the list of all the place that she'd found her way to these past few weeks, Raven began to tense up inside. She didn't want to think about what awaited her tonight as she closed her eyes. Her nose wrinkled at the memory the disgustingly warm scent of decomposition and sulfur. Her stomach rolled up into her throat at that and a wave of nausea overtook her. Luckily, Cyborg's voice brought her back. "Just steer clear of BB's room, never know what'll be in there."
"Right." Raven let out going into her room. Her body was a mass of discomfort and exhaustion seemed to have sunken into her soul. The days were infuriatingly long and the nights, well…she didn't even want to think about those. She was tired and perhaps it was starting to show. Only Cyborg knew about her little nighttime journeys, involuntary though they were. Raven didn't want the other Titans to know about her problem. She'd always kept everything, well…mostly everything to herself. They would be worried about her and Raven didn't want their pity.
Even though Cyborg had promised to keep her nighttime travels to himself, Raven reasoned that he probably informed the other members of the team about her difficulty sleeping. Beast Boy had lightened up with his jokes on her, Starfire didn't bug her to go do 'female bonding activities' with her anymore. Even Robin didn't seem as harsh as he shouted orders or provided feedback on training. Though everything grated on her nerves these days, it did seem as though her friends were trying to help in their own way.
Raven stared at her room wondering if somehow moving the furniture or changing things up somehow would be the solution to her problems. She mentally chanted her mantra and her furniture was encased in her black magic, but it wobbled and faltered in the air, various little trinkets falling from their places. Of course this would happen with her nerves frayed and pulled taut almost to the point of snapping. With a huff, she withdrew her powers back into her and stomped over to her bathroom. Maybe a nice hot shower or bath would make it easier for her to sleep…so Raven entered her bathroom hoping for the best.