Okay. Before we start in on the second chapter, there are a few things I have to say.
To everyone who reviewed, thank you! I always tell myself that getting reviews isn't my objective when I write, but I'd be lying (quite badly) if I said they didn't make me happy. If you left a signed review, I should have replied to it. (If it bothered you, tell me and I won't do it again.) On the note of replying to reviews, I have a few words for my anonymous reviewer. Well, more than a few...
First off, thank you so much. If getting reviews makes me happy, getting a review that shows me I have an active reader invested enough in the success of my story that s/he takes the time to tell me what's wrong with my work makes me positively giddy! I took what you said into consideration.
Nice catch on Temple's recap of Seth's tendency to destroy things. She said "races" and I meant it to mean humans, Tamaranians, etc. Knowing the line came across as less than clear is good to know.
I have no real response to your comment about Starfire getting shot. You're right insofar as the show lets her off unharmed (kids' show) but, for what it's worth, I try to maintain consistency in my stories. Showing the people behind the heroes, with all their mortality and emotional baggage, is something I strive for. And I won't tell you to go away (perish the thought) so I hope to hear from you again.
Now I've talked enough. On with the show!
"You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give." - Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
Darkness Calls: Chapter 2
Raven awoke to the sound of chiming machinery. There was a steady rhythm near her, and she giggled when she realized the rhythm was a perfect match to the blood pulsing in her ears.
Raven's chest screamed in protest of the tiny giggle, and she stopped. She was in pain. The girl frowned. Her healing powers had always patched her up whether she was conscious or not. The empath concentrated, and her powers picked her off the bed she was lying on. An envelope of healing magic cocooned her, and the pain began to abate. Raven registered briefly that she had a mending rib before her healing magic pulsed over the injured bone, setting it right.
"I am pleased to see you awake."
The sorceress opened her eyes and lowered herself to the bed, keeping her healing magic flowing. Starfire was sitting in a bed next to her. The cheery Tamaranian looked haggard and drawn. Her torso was wrapped in medical gauze. The dressing needed to be changed.
There were two other beds in the room. Robin was lying on one, hooked up to all manner of monitoring equipment. The leader of the Teen Titans had tubes in his mouth and both arms that were pumping him full of drugs and nutrients. His skin was beginning to show signs of jaundice, and his body was shaking intermittently.
Beast Boy was in the other bed. The green changeling appeared unharmed, but he was sitting up in bed with his eyes fixed on the far wall. Raven could feel anguish cascading off him, and she knew the team jokester was in a world all his own.
"Are you okay, Starfire?" Raven asked when she saw the bandages wrapped around her friend's torso. It all came flooding back to Raven – Starfire had been shot.
"I thank you for your concern. Cyborg was able to remove the bullets and replenish my blood supply. Nothing was broken, and I shall make a full recovery with time." Starfire lapsed into pained silence. "But I fear the damage done to me is the least of our concerns."
Before Raven could ask, Starfire elaborated. "Robin has not awoken, and Cyborg does not know how to remove the toxin in his body."
"You're hurt. I could–" Starfire shook her head, cutting Raven off.
"The pain is something I must bear if I am to learn. It is no matter: I have endured worse." The empath didn't know how to respond to that cryptic declaration.
"Why's Beast Boy in here?" Raven asked, and she found herself whispering without meaning to lower her voice. The changeling hated hospitals; he should have gotten up and left once his injuries were healed.
"Friend Cyborg says he is in shock. The creature that possessed Beast Boy stabilized his DNA," Starfire said. Raven blinked. Realization washed over her seconds later. If Beast Boy's DNA had been stabilized by that shade then he would be unable to transform. That explained why he hadn't taken flight when he was falling.
The empath looked up and saw Beast Boy staring at her. His eyes were vacant; the little spark that always lingered in the former changeling's eyes had been smothered and buried under layers of loss. Raven instinctively drew her powers into herself, minimalizing her empathetic abilities. She knew what she'd feel and did not want to share Beast Boy's pain.
That thing took a huge chunk out of Beast Boy's identity.
Starfire caught Raven's eye and frowned in understanding. The Tamaranian turned to face Beast Boy and tried to engage the former changeling in conversation. Her efforts were useless, and he continued to gaze at the two Titan girls blindly. In all her time knowing him, Raven had never wanted Beast Boy to make a joke, but she would have gladly paid for one of his jokes at that moment, no matter how bad it was.
That thing had broken Beast Boy.
"Where's Cyborg?" Raven asked.
"He has been constantly busy searching for a cure to Robin's condition," Starfire said with a worried glance at their leader. "And when he is not attempting to find an antidote, he is busy assisting the police in the search for the prisoners we were unable to capture and contain."
Raven winced internally. It sounded like she'd been out for a while, and she was afraid to ask exactly how long it had been. The idea of Cyborg doing all that work by himself made Raven feel sick, as if she'd failed her friend somehow. They all had.
"Why isn't Beast Boy helping?" Raven asked. Starfire gasped at the question, and Raven felt like reaching out and dragging the rouge words back into her mouth. She'd spoken without thinking. The idea that Beast Boy was just a civilian was too new, too strange, for her to accept, but the green boy didn't have Robin's martial prowess. Without his powers, Beast Boy couldn't be a superhero. He couldn't be a Titan.
The former changeling was looking at Raven again, she could tell, but she avoided his gaze. He should have yelled, he should have glared, he should have shot off a scathing remark. Anything would have been better than his vacant stare. The door to the medical bay swung open, and Cyborg walked into the room with two trays of food stacked one on top of the other.
"Hey, Starfire. B. I brought you guys something to eat, if you're up to it."
Starfire shook her head. Beast Boy remained silent. "I do not require nourishing," Starfire smiled. "But I believe Raven is prepared for a meal after four days fasting."
The empath smiled gratefully at Cyborg and inclined her head at Starfire. The alien princess was getting good at reading her; Starfire had picked up on Raven's disorientation and volunteered the information in a subtle way that protected the empath's pride. A few months ago, Raven would have been horrified by the prospect of someone getting to know her that well, but now the fact couldn't have made her happier.
Raven scowled at her soup as Cyborg placed it in her lap. There was something unnatural about all this: her powers hadn't reacted to her injuries, and she shouldn't have been unconscious for that long. The fall had hurt, but four days was too long.
"I'm feeling better," Raven said. "When I'm done eating, I'll help you with one of the antidotes." Cyborg fidgeted and cast a sidelong look at Beast Boy. He turned his body so it blocked his hands from view and held up a single finger.
"Why?" Raven demanded, putting her spoon down with a dull clink.
Cyborg glanced at Beast Boy and sighed. "His DNA is stable. I'd have to intentionally disrupt his genetic sequence to cure him. That could kill him. Hopefully, whatever that thing did to him is temporary."
Raven nodded and placed her tray on the bed, sitting up and walking unsteadily to Beast Boy's side. The former changeling did not react to her approach. He still looked like Beast Boy. His ears were still pointed. His skin was still green. A single canine still stuck up from his lower lip. Raven waved her hand over his motionless form and concentrated. She'd been unable to use her powers on Beast Boy while he was falling because of something the shade did to him. If that effect was only temporary, then the stable DNA might be temporary as well.
A black sheen formed around Beast Boy's torso, and the green boy shivered. Raven withdrew her powers and gave Beast Boy a small nod.
"How do you feel, Beast Boy?" she whispered. He didn't acknowledge the question. "Beast Boy?" she pressed.
"Stop," he said. Beast Boy's voice was sharp and raspy. The words tore out of his mouth with a bitterness and self-pity she'd never heard from him before. Even after Terra's death, Beast Boy had not sounded this hopeless. The empath's heart wrenched in sympathy.
"Just stop, Raven. I don't want to talk."
The demoness scowled at the green boy before taking a deep breath and wiping all traces of emotion from her mind. The annoyance, concern, and shock were washed away, replaced by a sea of tranquil rationality.
"Fine," Raven said before going back to her bed and picking up her tray. With a last nod to Starfire and Cyborg, she swept out of the room. The halls of Titan's Tower were eerily silent as Raven headed to the living room. The empath often complained about all the noise the boys made, but the tower felt wrong without Robin's stereo system blaring or Cyborg and Beast Boy yelling at each other over some idiotic triviality.
The kitchen was swamped by dirty dishes. The pot Cyborg used to cook Raven's soup was still warm on the stove. She walked to the sink and turned on the water, letting the warm jet flow over her skin and splash against the grimy crust on the bottom of a casserole dish. The water and the suds had a soothing effect on Raven. She washed the casserole dish until it sparkled like new spun glass, and then she continued to scrub away at imaginary dirt on the gleaming surface.
"That's the most he's said in two days," Cyborg said from behind her. The eldest Titan picked up a drying rag and took the casserole dish from Raven's hands. "He's really out of it, but I haven't had time to help him out. I've let the guy down. Between you, Robin, Starfire, and the prisoners I haven't had the time…" Cyborg vented a frustrated growl.
"The prisoners can wait for now," Raven said, picking up her second-in-command role without realizing it. Cyborg nodded and waited, deferring to her judgment. That alone spoke volumes about how much trust and respect Raven commanded from Cyborg. The head-strong boy used to clash constantly with Robin about the distribution of power.
"Robin and Beast Boy need to be our priorities. We'll deal with the prisoners as needed. What have you found out about the toxin?" Raven asked as she started scrubbing at a cereal bowl with food crusted to its rim.
"I've never seen anything like it," Cyborg said. The drying rag sighed over the wet glass as he dried the dish. "It's some sort of hemotoxin. Robin's red blood cells are being shredded, and his liver and kidneys are beginning to degenerate. I put him on a drug cocktail, and it's slowed the rate down, but the thing's chemical structure… It's almost like the toxin is adapting. Robin's condition keeps getting worse, and tissue around the wound is getting more and more inflamed no matter what I do. He might lose his leg if this keeps up."
Raven closed her eyes as two waves of grief consumed her senses, one from Cyborg and one stemming from her own usually silent emotions. The attack had been meant for Beast Boy. Robin had saved the green jokester from almost certain death, but now the Boy Wonder was facing almost certain death himself. Raven was no doctor, but she knew a few basics, and she knew Cyborg would never sound so grim unless he was positive. It was only a matter of time.
"You don't think the toxin is natural, so let's start there. The creature that poisoned Robin felt wrong to me. I'll look into adaptive toxins and try to figure out what we're dealing with. Cyborg, we need all the time we can get. You have to outsmart the toxin. If it's adapting, let's give it a lot to adapt to."
Cyborg nodded grimly. The only way to do that would be to pump Robin full of miscellaneous drugs. It was a risky move, and they both knew it.
"Is Starfire well enough to help me?" Raven asked, passing the bowl she'd been washing to Cyborg.
"She should be," Cyborg said after a pause. "Star can't do any strenuous work, especially without being on pain meds, but reading should be fine. Don't tell Beast Boy or her how bad it is, not if you don't have to. They wouldn't deal with it well, especially in their condition."
Raven swept to the door and paused as the doors swished open. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that alone for so long," she said before disappearing. The pain etched in Cyborg's soul lingered as Raven walked down the halls to her room. He'd been shouldering a monumental burden by himself from the moment he'd started treating Robin.
Raven knew she loved Cyborg, but the depth of that love was just beginning to reveal itself. For four days he'd tried to save Robin from a poison he knew had no cure; he'd patched up Starfire's wounds and watched her refuse pain medication; he'd run around the city to capture the dangerous men and women who'd gotten away during the battle; and he'd seen his best friend slowly curl into himself and die, swallowed by the beast of depression. Raven felt a spike of rage flare to life when she thought about Beast Boy, sitting in bed feeling sorry for himself when Robin was dying only meters away from him.
The demoness smothered the rage. Beast Boy didn't have his powers any more, but his nose doubtlessly maintained its animal keenness. Animals could smell death. Raven had no doubt that Beast Boy knew exactly what was happening to Robin.
Books flew off the shelves when Raven entered her room. She grabbed everything she could think of – spell books, history books, and science books. The hardback books fluttered around Raven as she pulled more and more from their perches. Raven rushed out of her room and headed back to the medical bay once the majority of her library was in tow.
She left her fiction and mythology books alone.
ooooo
The surface of the Basin shimmered as Raven's door slammed behind her. Morana chuckled merrily at the empath's retreat.
"Mistake," she cooed at the Basin. Morana's sharp gray eyes landed on Raven's untouched mythology books and she laughed again, long and hard. The sound echoed in the vast chamber with a ring like clashing blades. "But why would you look to fiction or mythology to explain the supernatural when you can consult your little magic books?"
Morana was a short woman with a rich Asian complexion and viciously short hair. It was a form that appealed to her, and so she adopted it, though she'd played with the appearance of her physical form many times.
The Basin flickered to a topographical view of Raven and Starfire sitting in their hospital beds with large books cracked open in their laps. Beast Boy was staring with vacant eyes at the pile of books, something flickering in the depths of his green eyes, a shadow of the Titan. The hero.
"Oh, Seth, your mind is so delicious…" she whispered. There was a rumbling chuckle behind her.
"You think so?" Seth asked with a smirk.
Morana smiled warmly and walked over to the beefy man, rolling her hips seductively as she approached. "That isn't the only thing," she breathed, licking Seth's neck and trailing a hand across his chest. Her nails snagged loose threads on Seth's shirt. The beefy man cleared his throat impatiently and walked to the Basin. Morana grinned and followed him.
"How did you get Temple to agree to this?" Morana asked.
"I appealed to her sense of order. Earth surviving Trigon's rein wasn't part of the plan," Seth replied. He waved his hand over the Basin and the image started to play in reverse, an indistinct blur of color. The scene came to rest, revealing Cyborg working feverishly on Robin's limp body while Starfire held a cloth to the holes in her chest. Cyborg's arm chimed as Raven called his communicator.
"And things have to go according to Temple's little plan – even when the plan is horrifying. Smart," Morana said.
Seth nodded. He wasn't truly hearing the praise, and were he listening, he wouldn't have heard anything unknown to him. It only took a few millennia of studying people to be able to manipulate them. Temple was the easiest: Seth usually just had to think about what he wouldn't do in the same situation.
"How long do you think we should play with our food?" Morana asked with an impish giggle. She ran a finger along the rim of the Basin. Grains of black sand formed in her finger's wake.
"Only me," Seth said distantly. "It was part of the deal. I got one hour to fix things and then Temple put the entire dimension on lock-down. Nothing can get in or out unless it's through a window."
Morana scoffed and swept the black sand onto the gleaming floor. The white surface sizzled against the sand before the black matter evaporated. "Where's the window?" she snapped.
"Not here. I only made the one, and it isn't connected to us," Seth said. "It will take a while for it to open up enough for things to travel between the dimensions. It's out of our control now, Morana. Isn't it magnificent?" Seth closed his eyes and breathed deeply, intentionally ignoring the seething Asian next to him.
"Some of us would have preferred some insurance," Morana hissed.
"Where's the fun in that?"
ooooo
Raven snapped the book before her closed and tossed it onto the floor. Beast Boy's eyes trailed the text to the floor. Starfire was busily thumbing through a chemistry textbook, but she wasn't finding anything Cyborg hadn't already told Raven. The empath listened to her friend's discoveries impassively, praising the cheery girl for her efforts. It wouldn't be helpful for Starfire to be demoralized. Unfortunately, if the Tamaranian kept moving at this pace, she'd discover Robin's chances of survival on her own.
Starfire closed the book before her and placed it on her bed. The girl's brow knitted in thought. She started fiddling with her fiery locks as she worked through her thoughts.
"Raven, why is Robin not getting better if he is on treatment for all known sources of hemotoxin on Earth?" The redhead floated over to Robin and put a hand on his sweaty brow. His skin was clammy.
"The toxin isn't natural to Earth," Raven said at length, picking up one of her spell books and showing the cover to Starfire. "Cyborg has managed to slow it down, but there doesn't appear to be a modern cure."
The gentle beep of Robin's heart monitor was the only sound for a long minute. Starfire landed on the ground. Raven could feel the flash of recognition and the avalanche of emotions that followed, plowing into each other and crushing each other with their mass until one distraught emotion was indistinguishable from another. Starfire hadn't landed willingly: she was in too much emotional pain to feel the joy that facilitated flight.
"Robin is dying," she said numbly. She shook her head violently, and Raven eyed the dressing around the Tamaranian's chest apprehensively. "No! That cannot be correct. Cyborg must be mistaking in his diagnosis. There is a remedy somewhere on this planet that can repair the damage done to Robin! Raven, Cyborg must redo the tests!"
Raven tried to keep her mental defenses erect against the onslaught of Starfire's emotions; they poured off the alien girl and crashed against the empath's mind, demanding entry. Raven put her spell book in her lap and motioned for Starfire to sit on the bed next to her. Starfire dropped onto the mattress.
"We're going to do everything we can to help Robin. Starfire, you have to look at me," Raven insisted when Starfire's eyes strayed to her clasped hands. "We're going to do everything we can to cure Robin, but you should know that he probably won't survive."
Starfire growled. Her eyes shone brightly with green radiation. "You claim we shall attempt every possibility, but you already believe our efforts are doomed to failure. You have already given up."
The bitterness in Starfire's words stung Raven, and the sorceress sucked in a startled breath. She'd only heard Starfire this mad once or twice, but the anger had never been directed at her. It wounded Raven to her Starfire speak to her like that.
"I haven't given up, Starfire. I owe Robin too much to give up on him like that. But we don't know what we're dealing with, and we're on the clock. There's only so much abuse his body can take before it's overtaxed."
Raven pointed at the monitor reporting Robin's brain activity. Waves were spiking along the readout. Starfire followed Raven's eyes. They both knew Robin would be in unimaginable pain if he was conscious. Being unconscious would only protect him for so long before his psyche was scarred or destroyed.
"I do not wish for Robin to die," Starfire mumbled. Tears slipped from lipid emerald pools and blazed paths down Starfire's tanned skin.
"We'll do what we can," Raven said. The promise sounded weak to her, and Starfire wilted. "Listen, Starfire, I need your help. Robin's in trouble. I can't go through all these books by myself."
There was a slithering sound in the corner and all the books stacked there toppled over. Beast Boy moaned and poked his head out from under the mountain of texts. The former changeling rubbed his head and picked up the closest book.
"Three is better than two, Star. Especially because I'm really bad at this type of thing," Beast Boy said. Raven arched an eyebrow at the green teenager. His eyes were still distant, and his emotions felt muted.
The three Titans lapsed into silence as they worked through Raven's books. The sun peaked in the sky and began its slow descent into the spires of Jump City. The golden globe was impaled on the first skyscraper on the skyline when the Titan's alarm went off. Red lights flashed and the klaxon blared. Raven shot to her feet. She drew her new communicator from her belt.
"Both of you stay here and keep working. Cyborg," Raven said, snapping the communicator open. "Meet me in the garage. You and I will take this." As Raven rushed out of the medical bay, she caught a faint emotion from Beast Boy. It was fleeting and quickly suppressed. She didn't stop to puzzle over it.
The door to the garage opened at the empath's approach. Cyborg was already sitting in the driver's seat of the T-car. The engine was running. Raven threw herself into the passenger side seat and buckled up. Cyborg caught Raven's expression and cursed.
"Star knows?"
"She's smart. We should have expected she'd figure it out sooner or later," Raven said.
The propulsion jets installed on the underside of Cyborg's baby gunned to life and lifted the car into the air. The tower dwindled in the rear-view mirror as the technological wonder Cyborg constructed flew over the bay toward Jump City. Water rippled under the T-car as it flew over the sea. Salty spray splashed against the car's underside. Cyborg punched the radio to life, and radio traffic filled the car.
"We have an officer down! Repeat, officer down!"
"Suspect last seen on foot heading south-east on McArthur Boulevard."
"We need an ambulance at 2231 Glossy Fields. Three civilians in need of immediate medical attention."
"Suspect seen on Abyssinia Road heading–"
The report was cut off by a gurgled scream. The officer's last moments were transmitted over the radio as she drowned in a stream of her own blood. Cyborg turned the wheel sharply, his jaw set. Raven reached out with her perceptions in search of the fear and pain that would be sewn in the monster's wake.
"She's heading west."
Neither Raven nor Cyborg had ever seen Abyssinia Road. They both knew the road was a part of the residential district, block A7, but they'd never seen the street. It was easy to spot: police cars lay overturned in the road, large gouge marks left in the concrete. Spikes stuck out of the ground and the cars. They were embedded in houses and sticking merrily out of ruined mailboxes.
Cyborg whistled to relieve his stress. Raven reached out with her powers and tried to find the twisted emotional presence she'd felt in all three of the creatures at the prison. The presence was very angry, venomous, and directly behind the T-car.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven shouted. Black energy enveloped the car and shot it into the air. There was a powerful impact beneath the vehicle, and concrete shrapnel pounded against the car's stomach.
Raven released her hold on the T-car and threw her door open. She released the latch of her seatbelt and flew into the air. The T-car continued down to the road without her. A large quill slammed into Raven's protective shield the moment she summoned it. The shock of the impact made Raven wince, and she dropped a few feet closer to the ground before regaining control.
The creature was crouching behind the remains of a police cruiser. A dead officer was resting against the crumpled metal, coated in the crimson coat of her life's essence. The creature's skin was covered in quivering barbs, and Raven narrowed her eyes.
"Let's end this!" Raven called to the creature. The empath crossed her legs and closed her eyes, careful to remain mindful of her surroundings.
"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos!"
A flash of white light consumed Raven before the empath flew from her body. Raven's embodied soul – her soul self – rocketed toward the woman. Poisonous spines shot through Raven's magical body harmlessly. The black form dove into the creature. What Raven encountered inside was unlike anything she'd ever encountered.
The demoness had used her soul self to fly into other people and things before. She'd flown into Robin's mind; she'd flown into monstrous toxic sludge; she'd once (on Beast Boy's suggestion) entered the couch in the living room. Nobody knew about that. Those had emotions and thoughts in them or at least trace amounts from external sources – an essence Raven could grab onto and use to navigate. There was nothing like that inside the creature.
Raven cast about inside the creature's mind in search of a thought, an emotion – anything – she could use as an anchor and a reference point. She found herself caught in the midst of a churning sea of tortured consciousness without a single concrete thought or emotion to guide her. It was nothing but utter chaos. Raven thrashed around in the turmoil.
There was so much. There was nothing. The creature's very essence was shredded to ribbons, twisted and deformed until a screaming mass of indistinct soul struggled to salvage itself from the wreckage – the remains of a wanton slaughter. Raven could feel a weak mind buried in the quagmire. The mind was ashamed and afraid, robbed of her body and senses. Raven was positive she would have vomited if her embodied soul had a stomach.
Dread settled over the empath when she realized exactly how much trouble she was in: she didn't know how to get out. She had no reference points, no guides, and was essentially trapped in the undefined quicksand of this creature. She was trapped in this abomination's body, sharing the pain of a woman whose very soul had been effaced.
Pain ripped through the tormented creature, and Raven writhed under the shared pain. Rationally, she knew that Cyborg had just shot the woman with his sonic cannon, but the demoness had a hard time hearing her thoughts over the screeching semi-emotions around her. Confusion, anger, pain, humiliation, rage, terror. They clashed together and threatened to asphyxiate Raven with their frenetic mass. The empath tried to use the semi-emotions as anchors and guides, but they evaporated so quickly. It was like trying to climb back out of thin ice: every bit of progress was rewarded by an immediate and inevitable new break, making the task all that much harder.
"You're not supposed to be here," a voice barked. It was a deep, male voice, and no sooner had Raven registered what it said than her soul self was propelled out of the creature's body. Raven crashed into her body and fell to the ground. She rolled over and promptly emptied the contents of her stomach.
The shaken girl rose to her knees and stared at the abomination, horrified. Cyborg was busy slamming into the monstrosity. His metal plating kept Cyborg safe from her poisonous attacks (he didn't have many biological components that could be harmed), but the eldest Titan was careful to shield sensitive areas. That woman was not human. She had been human once, but now there was absolutely nothing but power and anarchy and the tatters of an eviscerated soul.
"I'm sorry," Raven rasped. She grabbed a collection of large spikes with her powers. The massive spines rose into the air. Raven surrounded Cyborg in her powers, picking up the startled boy and tossing him out of the way as four large projectiles sped toward the creature. It didn't have enough time to dodge. Three of the spikes hit their mark, driving through the woman's flesh and exiting on the other side of her body to slam into the earth.
Cyborg gaped at the dead creature.
"You killed her," he said as he picked himself off the ground.
"It. That thing wasn't human," Raven spat. She closed her eyes and wiped her anger and disgust away.
"Neither is Starfire," Cyborg pointed out.
Raven shook her head. Cyborg needed to understand. "There was nothing there. That thing used to be a human being, but there was nothing left. Nothing but pure and utter chaos. I had to put her out of her misery." Raven closed her eyes. The bitter taste of vomit coated her tongue. Her throat burned. "And there are two more of these things out there somewhere. They don't think or feel anything, Cyborg. A tiny part of them knows what they've become, but they have no control… Their souls have…"
Cyborg's expression softened, and Raven realized she was kneeling on the ground next to a puddle of her own sick. She was shaking. Cyborg's feet clicked against the concrete as he moved to Raven's side. Cool metal rested against Raven's back, moving in soothing circles.
"I trust you, Rae. It's just a shock. We don't kill criminals."
Raven nodded. She knew that. She joined the Titans because they showed her the very best of what a human being could do and be. Tears filmed over Raven's violet eyes, and the empath let them fall, reveling in the emotions she was feeling. It was such a relief to feel a fully formed emotion again. She never wanted to touch that abyss again.
"It's going to be alright, Rae," Cyborg said. The metal hero scooped Raven into his arms. She made a small noise in protest, and Cyborg shushed her. "You need to get back to the tower and rest. There's nothing we can do here."
"Wait," Raven said. Her voice cracked. "Take one of the spines." Cyborg grinned and rumpled Raven's hair. Her glare was undermined by the purple locks hanging over her face.
"Already got one," Cyborg smiled. It lacked warmth. "When we get back home you're going back to sleep. Then we can talk about this. I'll see if I can synthesize an antivenin." Raven nodded meekly. Cyborg did so much for the team and rarely asked for anything in return. He could make Raven feel so small sometimes, but the empath never felt safer than when the metallic Titan was watching her back.
"There are some books in my room," Raven said as Cyborg laid her in the back of the T-car. "Mythology." Then Raven closed her eyes. She fell asleep on the ride back to the tower, comforted by the thrum of the T-car under her. Her dreams were fragmented and unpleasant, and the empath awoke to a massive headache and the taste of stale vomit.
She was in her room. The curtains were drawn over the windows. Raven rose from bed slowly, staggering from the hammering in her head. She cast the curtains aside to reveal a sleeping city. A tiny sliver of the moon was reflecting in the bay, a strip of white in the depths of the sky.
City lights winked at Raven from across the bay, increasing her headache. The tower was silent, and Raven's cursory scan of the building revealed one sleeping larvae, Robin's tortured subconscious, two Titans deep in restless sleep, and a vacant presence in the living room. Raven turned her attention to her bookshelves, but even the fiction and mythology sections were gone. The naked shelves held out their arms in anticipation for the books' return.
ooooo
The living room was dark when Raven entered. The GameStation III sat untouched before the television, and the computer was shut down. Raven could feel Beast Boy in the room. Her eyes scanned the room.
"Beast Boy?" she said into the darkness. "Beast Boy, are you in here?"
"Yeah…"
Raven followed Beast Boy's voice to the kitchen. The former changeling was sitting against the refrigerator with his knees pulled to his chest. He was hugging his legs tightly. The boy wasn't emitting any emotions. It wasn't uncommon for people in shock or denial to intentionally numb themselves to their feelings, but Raven didn't like the shell Beast Boy was becoming.
"What are you still doing up?" Raven asked. She sat down on Beast Boy's left and tossed her cape over her legs to combat the air vent directly above the refrigerator. Beast Boy shrugged.
"Do you think we'll be able to fix Robin?" he asked at length.
"I hope so," Raven whispered. "I think I remember reading something in one of my mythology books. It might have the answer we're looking for. But I don't know if we have time."
Beast Boy chuckled, but there was no amusement in the sound. There was no emotion in the sound at all. "I never imagined Robin would die like this. I mean, Robin's the leader of the Teen Titans! He's supposed to get mortally wounded fighting Slade and die after saving the world one last time. Not because of some stupid accident. Not because of me." Beast Boy whispered the last sentence, and Raven didn't say anything. Those words were not meant for her ears; Raven doubted Beast Boy even meant to verbalize them.
The air conditioning cut off and plunged the room into silence. Raven crossed her left ankle over her right ankle and pondered her next words. "He isn't dead yet. We might have enough time. And if we don't, Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, died after heroically saving another's life. And Richard Grayson, our friend, died protecting the people he loved."
Beast Boy didn't speak, and Raven was afraid to break the silence. "How'd you know Robin's name?" he asked. Raven snorted.
"I still can't transform, Rae," Beast Boy said, shifting the conversation. "I've been trying. After we cure Robin, do you think it'll be possible to cure me?"
Raven sighed and uncrossed her ankles. "It's hard to say, Beast Boy. What that thing did to you could be temporary. After it left your body, I couldn't use my powers on you. I can now. With time, your DNA might naturally revert to its previous construction."
"I just feel so useless," the green boy groaned. The former changeling shifted to look Raven in the eyes. She saw a surprising amount of pain swirling in the jade orbs. She drew into herself instinctively. "I can't do sciency things like you and Cyborg. I can't fight like Robin. I'm not smart enough to do research. Without my powers I'm just... I'm just a green freak."
Raven felt the slap of Beast Boy's emotions even through her defenses. The boy was in so much pain. He became a hero to do the right thing, but he also became a hero to fit in. Raven knew that. There was nothing the energetic prankster feared more than being alone. That shade had robbed Beast Boy of his sense of purpose. Raven put her hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. He stiffened.
"Beast Boy, your powers aren't what define you. Your actions and your personality are what matter. I've never met anyone who cares as much about animals as you do, and nobody on this planet would ever think about spending so much time and energy trying to get people to laugh. No matter what happens, you know you're our friend. You're family."
The living room doors swept open to admit Cyborg. The cybernetic teen walked around the kitchen counter and rounded on the refrigerator. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked sleepily.
"We were having a moment," Raven said, standing in one fluid motion. "What are you doing awake?" Cyborg gestured to the display built into his arm. The power cell was at ninety-nine percent capacity.
"I looked at your mythology books, Rae, but I didn't get anything from them. You should take a look in the morning. The toxin has slowed down. We aren't out of the woods yet, but we might be able to dodge the bullet."
Raven felt relief surge through her. Most of it was hers, but there were trace amounts of Beast Boy's and Cyborg's emotions in the mix. The entire day had been taxing beyond belief, but it looked like they could maybe reintroduce a semblance of order to their lives. Maybe.
Miles above Jump City, within a stone's throw of the moon, was a patch of swirling red night. It was dark and quiet, barely noticeable, but the patch was growing slowly. Flame erupted on the other side of the window in the sky as a tendril of fire lapped at the tear in the dimensional fabric. The window widened just a little more.
AN: Take a few minutes to review. You know you want to...
