DISCLAIMER: Not mine. You sue and I'll have finally found a practical use for a cane.

Comatose
Chapter 2

Robin sat in his room, in front of the computer with text scrolling upward on the screen, Cyborg standing behind him. Cyborg tapped his foot as more text scrolled by, it had been five minutes since he'd dropped Ranma off in Raven's room and he was beginning to get antsy.

"So, who is he? Did you find anything yet?"

"Not sure yet, give it another minute," Robin replied. He scanned the text as it moved by, muttering to himself and noting certain, almost irrelevant, facts, "Age 20, deceased father…mother's location unknown, adopted by one Kimiko Takeda who's deceased…"

Cyborg blinked, "Hold up. Scroll back to the beginning, near the date of birth…"

"Find something?"

"Maybe."

----- ----- -----


Ranma sat up and opened his eyes, he watched the black flames that wreathed Raven's form and stood, slowly approaching her.

He reached out a hand and whispered her name, "Raven…"

The pitch-black flames lashed out and writhed around her like inky tentacles. Lacerations appeared on his outstretched arm as tiny lines of red, blood slowly beginning to bead above the skin. Ranma withdrew his hand, staring at the teardrops of blood that now ran down his bent arm, his eyes haunted by memories that were newer than he would have liked.

He shook his head, freeing his mind from the dark grasp of those memories and returned his attention to Raven. He watched her as she reached back towards the dresser behind her, her hand grasping air, as her eyes remained clenched shut. Ranma recognized the object lying harmlessly on the dresser for what it was and intercepted her hand.

Clasping her wrist, he hissed at the pain but ignored it as best he could, instead focusing on the situation at hand. He pulled at her wrist, moving Raven away from the dresser and spinning her slightly so she'd rest against the end of the bed.

Her eyes were open, but they saw nothing but the memories playing in her mind. The glazed look he saw didn't faze him, he'd seen it on other people, he'd even seen it on himself a time or two.

He released his grip on her wrist and dropped to his knees so that he straddled her thighs, but hovered above them. He settled his hands on either side of her face and gently tilted her head so he could stare straight into her unseeing eyes.

"Raven," Ranma spoke her name softly and repeated it like a chant, trying to draw her from the nightmare of emotions she was facing.

----- ----- -----


"There," Cyborg tapped the computer screen; drawing Robin's attention to one particular fact he had somehow missed.

Robin murmured to himself as he read. He frowned, "How?"

"Heck if I know, but I do know we left this guy alone with Raven."

"Raven can handle herself as well as any of us can," Robin replied, scrolling down slowly and paying careful attention to the details given.

"I don't feel comfortable with him alone with her, we don't know what he's capable of," Cyborg countered.

"You're beginning to sound like Beast Boy," Robin shot back, "But I have to agree to a point, something's off about this Ranma character. Like he shouldn't exist, but he does."

----- ----- -----


Beast Boy muttered, his game with Cyborg had been interrupted, just as he was about to overtake him for the win too. And then he and Raven had disappeared into the maze of halls that littered the tower.

He turned and leaned back to peek into the kitchen, Starfire was cooking…something. God only knows what or if it would even be edible, which it would most likely not be. He irked when a tentacle slipped out from under a pot lid.

"Maybe I should go see where Cyborg and Raven went off to…" Mission in mind, he slinked off, hoping he wouldn't be spotted by Starfire and subjected to being her taste-tester.

----- ----- -----


There was a knock on the door before it slid open, "Speak of the green devil."

"That was horrible, Cyborg," Robin intoned, exasperated. He hadn't turned from the computer screen yet.

"What are you guys up to?" Beast Boy asked.

"Researching," Was Robin's reply and Beast Boy looked to Cyborg for a better answer.

"A mystery man showed up on our doorstep several minutes ago. We're looking up his information now and we found something you might wanna see," He pointed to the screen as Robin scrolled back up.

Beast Boy scanned the words briefly before shrugging and standing up. The words actually processing in his mind a moment later, causing him to do a double-take at the screen, "Wait, what?"

"I thought the same thing," Cyborg commented.

"Where is this guy now? Can we question him and stuff?" Beast Boy asked. He again looked to Cyborg since he seemed to know a bit more about the man's appearance.

Cyborg shrugged, "I'm not sure. Raven was the one who found him, he's laying on her bed with her watching over him as far as I know."

"Wait a second. Did you just say he was in her room?"

"Yeah."

"Why the hell is she in there with just that stranger?" Beast Boy asked, only just managing to keep from yelling.

"Because Raven is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She doesn't need a babysitter anymore than you need sugar, Beast Boy," Robin answered calmly.

"We should at least check on her," Beast Boy muttered.

"You'll do nothing of the sort, Beast Boy," Robin said, finally turning from the screen to face them, "Despite what information the computer has brought up, we still know next to nothing about this guy. Stay alert and cautious around him, but at the same time you'll need to treat him with respect."

"What, why?" Beast Boy asked almost appalled at such an idea.

"Raven obviously knows him, so there must be something more to him than what we've read from this report. If he starts acting suspicious we'll deal with it like Titans. Until then he's a guest, and he will be treated like one. Is that understood?"

Beast Boy nodded grudgingly, "I still think we should check up on her," He muttered.

"No one is to bother Raven or her guest until such time that they leave her room," Robin said.

"Yeah, sure, fine, whatever," Beast Boy grumbled as he stalked out of the room.

"Are you sure he'll listen?" Cyborg asked.

"Not a clue, but I'm hoping he won't break down her door at any rate," Robin said, swiveling to face the computer once more. There was a moment of silence as Robin tapped away on the keyboard, saving the background check.

"Do you want me to go make sure he doesn't do anything stupid?" Cyborg asked.

"Would you? I'm going to make sure the kitchen's still standing," Robin replied, standing from his chair and beginning to make his way to the kitchen. Cyborg exited the room a moment later and went in the opposite direction, following the path he was almost positive Beast Boy had taken.

----- ----- -----


Beast Boy walked down the hall with a frown on his face, it wasn't right. This complete stranger shouldn't be alone with his Raven in her room. He paused for a second before continuing on, technically Raven wasn't his, but that really wasn't the factor he was focusing on.

This strange man had shown up on their doorstep and automatically had access to a room that had taken the rest of the Titans a minimum of two years to approach without a consequential glare from their resident goth.

It was frustrating because he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything until Robin gave the go ahead. Beast Boy sighed, it sucked not being the leader sometimes.

He was walking by Raven's door when he vaguely overheard her voice, and one other, through the door.

"…It was you who kept me from giving in," He could tell the voice belonged to the mystery man who had shown up earlier and narrowed his eyes. It bothered him greatly that this stranger wasn't a girl at least then he wouldn't have to be so damned jealous, "I would never see you again."

Beastboy frowned, having missed part of the conversation, but still not liking where things seemed to be leading.

"Me?" He heard Raven ask, she sounded slightly timid, something very unusual.

"The need to see you again-" Beastboy snorted, and shook his head, this guy sounded corny as hell, like he was reading from a script, "I needed to see you." Again, Beastboy had missed some of the conversation, but he deemed it unimportant.

Beastboy strained his ears slightly to catch more of the conversation, "After a while, though, it just stopped mattering. I knew someone out there cared and-" Beastboy knew he couldn't let this go on, at the rate it was going something that he just knew he wasn't going to approve of was going to happen.

"I've missed you," Her voice was unmistakable and, according to all of the corny romance films he'd been forced to watch courtesy of Starfire, a kiss would more than likely follow that line. And there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell he'd let that happen without any repercussions.

He lifted his hand, poised to knock, but a metallic hand stopped him before he could make contact with the door. He turned to face Cyborg, his hand still in his grasp.

"Let go."

"Robin told you to stay away from her room," Cyborg said.

"I have to pass her room to get to mine, Cyborg. Now, let go. If you'd have heard what I did, you'd let me interrupt them," Beast Boy countered.

"You're eavesdropping on them?" Cyborg said shocked, "How low are you seriously willing to go?"

"As low as I need to, now let me go," Beast Boy replied, his eyes narrowing in a rare display of annoyance bordering on anger.

Cyborg slightly loosened his grip on Beast Boy and it was all he needed to retrieve his hand and start pounding on the door.

"Raven? Raven, open the door!"

"Gah!" Cyborg quickly placed himself between Beast Boy and the door and grabbed both of Beast Boy's hands in one of his, "Stop that, Robin's gonna come up here and then we'll both be in trouble!"

Beast Boy said nothing, but glared at Cyborg between his upraised arms. Cyborg sighed and turned, "Fine, I'll knock on the door," He gently tapped the door with what he deemed a weak rap and irked when the door fell inward.

----- ----- -----


Robin looked up at the ceiling as a loud crash sounded overhead. Starfire had been showing him her latest creation in the kitchen and he was just grateful she didn't want him to taste it, though it looked as if she had just been about to ask.

He silently thanked whatever god was watching over him and stood from his seat, "C'mon, Star, let's go see what kind of trouble Beast Boy and Cyborg have gotten into."

Starfire removed her apron and floated out of the kitchen behind Robin, "How do you know it is Beast Boy and Cyborg causing this trouble, Robin?"

"Let's call it a 'gut feeling', Star," Shouts had begun filling the air and they slowly became louder as he got closer to his destination.

"What is this 'gut feeling', Robin? Is it when your stomach requires food?"

"Not quite. It's more like when you're in the middle of a fight and you naturally move to dodge an attack you couldn't see."

Starfire had no chance to reply as they came upon the scene causing the commotion they'd heard from the kitchen. They approached just in time to see Beast Boy hit the wall with a dull thud and then slide down the wall.

Beast Boy moved to get up and re-engage whomever he'd been fighting but Robin ran to the by now demolished door, skidding to a halt between the two parties.

"What's going here?" Robin demanded.

To Be Continued…


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-Lov3the3vil