Chapter 2
He woke up feeling sore all around. 'Note to self: Do not get sentimental, EVER AGAIN!' He thought as he surveyed his surroundings as well as anyone could without opening their eyes. And that was pretty well in his case.
He heard a steady humming sound near the end of his bed. 'Sounds like a energy flow. Very controlled. Someone is levitating.' "Raven?" The humming stopped and he heard how her feet hit the ground and the whisper of her cloak moving. "You're awake" He sneered and opened his eyes. "My, my. You sound surprised" He tried to sit up. Several metal alloy straps stopped him.
"We need to talk" Raven said with his hood up and her arms crossed. He looked at his restrains and snapped the one keeping his right hand tied to the bed. He scratched his nose. "Okay. First of all my name is Du'grel and as you know I'm not from around here", He looked at her head to toe, "You do know that you're wearing a leotard?" Raven was taken aback by how unaffected he was by the fact that he woke up tied to a bed and by the way he could see that she was wearing a leotard even through her cloak. 'He's only trying to control the conversation' "I am aware of that fact. Why are you here?"
"We never really covered that, did we? Simply put, I came here to join the Titans to -", His jaw clenched shut and his eyes flared. He closed his eyes and mumbled alien words. He then opened them again and his jaw opened agin. "I just want to make up for a couple of things I´ve done in the past." He laid down on the bed and let out a breath. "But I guess that's not going to happen now, with Robin… And Jinx I guess…"
'Hope I didn't kill anyone…' Raven was able to catch the stray thought flouting out of his mind. She had tried to get in his head every single time they met. It was like poking at a hornet nest. There was a dozen of different strays of thoughts flying around in his head at the same time and they all blended together in to a unfatomaneable jumble of words and sounds. None of them were in the same language and all of them didn´t even sound like him. He definetly was a telepath if nothing else.
"I see you have not been able to heal… that… guy…" He was looking at the ceiling and probably through it. "I think I should know their names. I'm sick of only knowing you" Raven quirked an eyebrow "Then, how do you know me? I don´t think we ever met." He smirked widely and looked back at her eyes. "That´s what you think. And really, a leotard, why in gods name would anyone wear a leotard?"
Beast Boy burst out laughing right outside the door and there was a thud when he hit the floor still laughing. The over stressed vein on her forehead popped up and she mentally threw Beast Boy in to a wall. "I have to work on keeping my opinions to myself. Can I get up now? You know that these won't hold me down?" She turned around to see him ripping the special restraints made to withstand his supposed strength. 'Those could have held Cyborg down. Is the air colder in here all of the sudden?'
"Yes, it is colder than usual. I have a tendency to drain energy around me. I think it's a survival mechanism of sorts. " He was dusting himself off.
on "You… Did you just read my mind?!" He looked at her clearly amused and then started talking to her like she was a child "No, Raven. Like I said, I drain energies around me. And thoughts are basically only complex bursts of energy", He shrugged and leaned on the wall, "Or maybe I did read your mind. I don't really know."
He slapped rubbed his hands together "Right then! I'll go see about Robin" He stepped into the wall he was leaning on and disappeared. Raven also disappeared in a pool of darkness. She appeared in the room where Robin was being kept.
Du'grel was standing at the end of the hospital bed looking down at him. "I presume that you can't fully heal him", Raven nodded, "He will be a crippled ex-hero if nothing is done?" He continued. Raven nodded. He nodded back and lifted his hood to hide his face. He turned to face her, only his yellow hawk-eyes shone from the shadows of the hood. "Okay…" He said in a plain tone.
He shot a small white ball of energy at the window left of him. It melted a perfectly round hole in the window. It faded into the distance He shimmered into nothing and appeared right in front of Raven. His eyes bored into hers. "Why did you even bring me to the tower? You could have just left the authorities take care of me?" Raven pushed him away. "Why…", She was cut off by a suspicious flicker of light in the corner of her eye.
She turned to the window just in time to see the white ball of light flying back towards the tower. It was skimming the water and thus raising two huge pillars of water behind it. "1…" Du´grel said with a electronic crackle in his voice. Raven realized that he was imitating a rockets launch countdown. He was a weird one. The energy ball started rising up straight towards the window. It seemed to get brighter by the second. "2…" The ball suddenly diwed in to the sea and shot up right before hitting the rocks. It had grown in to a man sized mini-sun and it hoverde just outside the window. Du´grel walked to the window and reached a hand through the fist sized hole that he had melted in to it. "3." The ball nudged a little and hit his stretched out hand.
A blinding bolt of lightning shot up his arm and then spread out onto the overcoat. His jacket had turned white and looked like it was sewn from tiny strands of lightning. His eyes shone so brightly that it hurt to even look at them. "I'm ready to heal him now if you want me to" Du'grel said in a voice that was booming like thunder. It had a subharmonic edge to it that made the glass of mustard on Robins nightstand shatter.
The other titans slammed into the room just then and Cyborg asked "You get away from him!" He looked at the cannon arm with his radiating eyes. "That's cool... It's sonic, right? How come does it shoot a beam of light then?
Beast Boy, with his more keen electrostatic senses, put his hand on Cyborgs right arm and shook his head looking straight into his eyes. Starfire looked into the room behind their shoulders. "What is happening in the room where Robin is currently situated. Two hawk-eyes met two emerald orbs. He snickered under the confines of his hood. He made a low bow to Starfire. "Hello, Koriand'r. I am prepared to heal your Robin, with your permission of course, princess of the glorious Tamaran… Been there actually. Liked it. Nice people. Didn't even try to kill me once."
Starfire blinked. Once. Twice. "Uhmm… If you are able to cure friend Robin, please do" He just nodded and straightened up from his bow. He walked to Robins bed and raised his hands over his chest. "Raven, could you shield Cyborg a little. I might fry him with this" Raven nodded and moved to Cyborgs side, encasing them both in a bubble of black energy. 'Why do we trust him? He has only hurt us and he did totally destroy that bank. I might never trust him, but I don't want him as an enemy. Judging from what I've seen, he might be even worse than Slade if he goes down that road. Not smarter, but more destructive. He doesn't know his limits."
He started singing low in his throath and his hands started glowing crimson red. His words fueled the light and it started flickering like a flame and it started to let out a thick red smoke. His singing filled the room. It was slow-paced and soothing, like a lullaby you sing to a scared child to sooth him after a bad dream. Raven saw Starfires eyes starting to drift closed. Beast Boy was already curled up on the floor asleep. He had collapsed there due to his weakness to any kind of mental suggestioning. Cyborg was as unfazed as her and was staring intently at the small screen on his arm. "The electro magnetics are off the charts and there's a lot of subatomic particles in the air" Raven sighed "In English…" Raven said in a irritated tone. Cyborg looked dead serious as he said "As he said: He is like an nuclear reactor"
The red mist started flowing down from his hands and covered him in a wall of red glowing mist. Then the song picked up pace and the mist started swirling with it. Raven was certain she saw shadows dance above Robin. One shadow in particular was getting clearer and clearer. It was a frame of a short boy in a mini-cape and mostly gel-based hair standing up defying gravity. It was Robin. He was dancing ghoulishly with the tempo of the song, his stance ghoulish, arms flailing around limply. He picked up the tempo of the song again and the shadow Robin became a clearly recognisable outline of Robin.
He stopped singing and the shadow Robin stopped dancing and regained his usual confident posture. The figure looked down at the sorcerer. Du'grel spoke a few soft words to the figure. It nodded. He let out a final word and the red smoke retreated in to the shadow and gave it form and then it laid itself down inside Robin. Falling through his flesh and bones and directly into him.
Robins eyes shot open and he stared at the white coated man standing next to him. He lowered his hood "Welcome back, Robin: The Boy Wonder" Du'grel waved his hand and smiled. Robin looked around. He saw Starfire leaning on the wall snoring and slowly sliding down the wall. Beat Boy was still fast asleep and Raven and Cyborg were encased in Ravens black energy. A thought started to form in his mind.
"Lets not start this again. Ask Raven am I attacking you. Do not jump to conclusions again, please." He looked utterly exhausted. Robin looked to Raven, still wary of the person next to him. Raven dropped the shield after getting the ok from Cyborg. She just nodded her head and tried to kick Beast Boy awake. He only flipped over and groaned, still snoring. "We'll have to make him laugh again."
Robin got out of the bed in one fluid motion. He didn't even seem sore, actually, he was jittery like a cocaine addict, and his hair was even more shot up than usual. He stood there looking again intently at Du'grel. Du'grel was swaying on his feet from exhaustion, his coat flickering from black to white like a broken lamp. His eyes and hair were glowing only faintly.
Robin walked to Raven. "Why is he not in jail? He attacked us and almost got away with it!" Raven looked at the eyes which were strained so open that they looked completely round. He was full of energy. She glanced at the half-sleeping form of Du'grel. His energy. We owe him. "He didn't attack us. I mean; he did not make the first move against us. We actually attacked him first, now that I think about it"
Robin looked dumbstruck. He hated losing, and mistakes were only losses of judgement. He looked at the almost sleeping figure leaning on the wall. "But-" "He was able to heal you. Not me" No, now Robin was truly dumbstruck. "Was it that bad? But I feel…" He stopped to look for the right word to describe how he was feeling. Cyborg nudged Starfire awake. She muttered something in tamaranian and slowly opened her eyes.
Her eyes shot open when she saw Robin, a standing and talking Robin. She flew to him and gave him one of her bone crushing hugs. "Friend Robin! You are well!" Raven could swear he saw Robins eyes grow even wider as Starfire was closing in on him.
The sound of laughter surprised the occupants of the room. Starfire dropped Robin and he started to rub his now aching sides. Du'grel was leaning on the wall and was trembling with laughter. It was a very low sound. It was the kind of laughter you had to smile with, even if you didn't get the joke. Even Raven felt her lips twinge a little. She suppressed the sudden urge to burst out laughing. 'It has to have something to do with the fact that he's a telepath. He affects people without even knowing it.' Raven thought.
He slid down the wall, still laughing. One good thing about his eyes was that you saw exactly where they were looking at. He was looking between Robin and Starfire and then again to Robin. He laughed louder. He fell to the floor and curled up holding his stomach and laughing his head off.
Raven looked around. All the titans were looking at the laughing boy in wonder (Du'grel, not Robin). They looked at each other, they shrugged in unison and left the room. Robin was almost himself now. And he looked like he was deep in thought. "So, what do you know about him?" Everyone looked at Raven. " His name is Du'grel. And my powers don't work on him, so there's a chance that he is some kind of demon. He admits that he's not from earth and says that he's been to Tamaran. All I can say that he hasn't actually attacked us directly, but that doesn't prove that he would not do so in the future. I couldn't trust him if I tried" Robin nodded and turned to the other titans for their opinion. "I'm willing to give him a chance" Cyborg simply stated. Robin nodded and turned to Starfire. Starfire opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped t think about what she was about to say. This was rare for the alien girl and put some more weight on her opinion. "I trust him" She said with a look of determination etched on her face. Raven raised an eyebrow "Why?"
Starfires confident demeanour cracked a little at Ravens tone. "What do you mean? I think he has proven himself to be a good man. He doesn't wish to hurt us and he has proven to regret the mistakes he has made", She gestured to Robin, "And he is willing to join us and fight crime, so he can't be that bad."
Silence… Robin nodded again, still in deep thought. "Beast Boy, what about you?", He looked up, "Where's Beast Boy?"
Someone cleared their throat behind Raven. All of them turned to look. They saw Du'grel standing there with a sleeping Beast Boy slung on one shoulder. "You forgot him in there. I would laugh at that, but right now I'm spent" He offered Beast Boy to Raven. Raven was stunned at the change in him. His eyes were still the same, but the hair was exactly like Robins, just white.
He offered Beast Boy to Cyborg when Raven was not taking him up on the offer. Cyborg was also looking at him with a gaping mouth. He furrowed his brow. "What are you looking at?" He dropped Beast Boy to the floor when no one seemed to care for him "You… Look like Robin." Starfire said.
His expression didn't change. "So?" Starfire spoke up "But… Robin looks like Robin, not you." He surprised everyone by changing into a perfect replica of Raven. He had even the exactly same looking cloak on. Even the eyes changed this time. Raven was ready to blow something up out of shock when he spoke with her voice. She would have if she was not… well, herself. "Better now?" He giggled with Ravens voice. It was a rare and a pleasant sound. He looked at the original. "I would like to sleep now. Can I sleep here, or do I have to go somewhere else?"
Robin clearly just gave up and said "Yeah, fine. You can stay here, but we'll be watching you." The other Raven looked at Robin. "I was not asking you, was I? Raven, can I stay here?" Raven was confused and disoriented from all the stuff during the day. She was not a bit confused from having to talk to herself. She did it with her emotions all the time. The thing that was confusing and disorienting was to see herself laugh. She did not realize that her face where so "girlish" when she laughed.
She nodded and Du'grel turned back to the white haired Robin. "Thank you m' lady. I'll be on the couch if anyone needs me, just remember not to touch me."
The titans looked at his retreating back. He disappeared behind the corner and they all seemed to snap out of a haze. "Cyborg, we're on lockdown for the night.", Robin said.
A couple of hours later
Raven settled down from her meditation on her bed. She didn't realize what had happened to her emotions. Almost all of them liked the white haired stranger. Happy was laughing her head off and shouting his name in the air… Unfortunately, so was Lust. She shivered at the sight of Lusts condition. And this happened in her mind. Her. Mind. He was dangerous if he was doing this to her. He was absolute evil, even if he seemed to be a titan fan of sorts and wanted to be a hero and a kindred spirit to her. 'Wait! Kindred spirit? I didn't think that! No, impossible! Which one of you was it?'
"But he is a kindred spirit to you" Said a voice from inside her. Raven closed her eyes and met the voice face to face. She saw herself in a light blue cloak. "Which one are you again?" She rubbed her temples to fight off the coming headache. "I'm Honesty. You'll have to face it and say that you wanted someone who can understand your situation" "He is nothing like me!" Then Logical appeared. "Of cource he is not like you. He had no monks of Azarath, no prophecy and no help in controlling his powers. He was marked into a freak at an early age and lived a life full of hate and neglet because of his abilities. Even if he is not a half-demon, he might be the only one that can understand you"
Raven sat up on the bed. 'How can my emotions be so stupid?' She curled up on the bed and fell asleep 'I'll think about it tomorrow…' She was asleep in a matter of seconds.
There were exactly five cameras watching the boy sleeping soundly on the couch in the common room. There were also 25 sentry turrets on standby inside the walls and ceiling. He had taken his coat off to sleep more comfortably. 4 of the cameras and 13 of the sentry turrets were frozen solid. The rooms every surface was covered in frost. There was only one warm spot in the sensors of the cameras. It was the sleeping figure of Du'grel.
The thing the sensors did not register though was a even more cold breath of air escaping the boys mouth and figure. It floated a few centimetres above the floor and moved through the T-shaped building. Directly through the walls and ceilings of the building. towards the bedrooms. It stopped in front of one door briefly, then it slipped through it and confidently continued through the room, careful not to touch anything directly with its form.
Raven clutched the sheets closer to herself as the mist materialized and wiped a stray strand of hair from her face. She felt a cold breeze on her face and shivered under the sheets. The mist turned into a outline of a man. It stayed by Ravens bed, watching over her sleeping form.
AN: I will not post Chapter three until I know what you think. Review, people, review. It means a lot to me.