A/N: Thank you everyone who read and to DarkAzarathian who reviewed! I appreciate your support and hope you liked the first chapter! I'm going to shoot for updates every Sunday, but this one is early for now. Thanks again guys!
...
Her friends found her the next morning curled up on the sofa, hugging a cup of tea to her chest like her life depended on it. It had been freezing in here last night, too, but bearable enough that she'd slept until 8:30.
"Raven?" Cyborg chuckled a little. "What're you doing, girl?"
Her head made a slow swivel to rest her dark eyes on him. "You."
"Uh, me?" he blinked. "Me…what?"
She stood up, her comforter replacing the cloak that would usually be there. It billowed behind her, a menacing blue-purple shadow that made her look three times bigger. "You did this t-to, m-m-maaachhooo!" She sneezed, the comforter fell around her, and she fell back on the couch against her pillows. Her eyebrows knit together and she sniffed. "Oh, great."
Everyone stood there a moment in quiet shock, and then Robin sprang into action. "Raven? What's going on? Are you sick?"
Cyborg put his hand on her head and looked at the other arm to scan her. "What did I do to make you sick?" He asked, both confused and concerned.
"The AC in my room, it was freezing in there. It was freezing in here, too." She mumbled beneath their stares.
Beast Boy tapped his head. "Oh, that's why you were pounding on Cy's door last night."
"You were?"
"Yeah, and you never woke up." She sighed.
He blushed. "Sorry, Rae, I was out like a light."
She just shrugged.
"Don't worry," He continued. "I'll go take a look at it, but you've got a cold so stay here and stay warm." He tapped his arm and she could hear the furnace whirring all around them.
Oh, great. One little push of a button, and NOW it starts working. She seethed.
"Be right back!" he waved. "Beast Boy, start the waffles!"
Everyone cheerily moved about their morning while Raven sat on the couch, both lonely and aggravated. She didn't have to wait for long, though. Soon everyone was sitting next to her with extra blankets from their beds thrown over all of them. It was breakfast-in-couch this morning. Beast Boy nudged her and started raving about how he had some great movie marathon ideas to keep her busy.
"You know, since you liked the one last night."
Starfire made her copious amounts of tea, toast and jam, while Robin kept her sane by talking to her about something else, like literature or strategy.
"We could play chess?" He asked. Beast Boy huffed in dismay at his movie marathon being snubbed.
She was about to say 'sure', but Cyborg had finally returned after an hour.
"Okay," He began and gained everyone's attention immediately. "I ran every diagnostic I could, turned off the whole system on the upper floors, re-wired your room's circuitry AND checked the sealant on the windows."
Everyone waited.
"And… nothing was wrong."
She frowned. "That's impossible. It was like ice, I could see my breath. The hallway was substantially warmer, so it had to have been…" She frowned deeper. "Just… my room?"
Cyborg shrugged. "I mean, it could totally have been wonky last night, but its fine now. It's even hot in there." He wiped his forehead. "Speaking of, how are y'all still alive under those blankets?"
Raven glared at him, as she was confined to this cushy prison for who knew how many days, but everyone else just shrugged.
"Suit yourselves. What are we up to?"
"Chess?" Robin suggested again.
Cyborg frowned. "No way, man! Come on, something we can ALL do?"
"MOVIE. MARATHON." Beast Boy argued again.
Cyborg shook his head. "No, no, no. Raven," She raised a brow. "Get the game."
"The game?" Starfire questioned.
Raven sighed and, sneezing as she did so, resurrected the game box from under her bed. This time it was tape-free.
"YES!" Beast Boy agreed. "This is perfect! This time, I wanna be the villain!"
"Oh, no!" Cyborg countered. "It's time I put Robin in his place."
"Bring it on, Tin-Man!" Robin smirked.
"Glorious!" Starfire grinned. "Raven, this is agreeable?"
She sniffed and shrugged. "I guess."
Starfire frowned a little. "You three play the first circle. Raven and I shall rest. We shall… become vegetables, if you will."
Robin raised a finger in confusion. "Uhhh, Star, we really could use even teams…"
"Oh, no! You can't use your girlfriend as a crutch, and you don't have Raven to be your extra strategist this time. No, no, no. It's two on one, and let's see if the good guy wins this time." Cyborg was ecstatic while Beast Boy grinned with his fangs showing.
Their fearless leader cracked his knuckles. "Bring. It. On."
Raven watched with actual interest, quietly allowing Starfire to methodically play with her hair. She feared that Robin would lose his Army of the Blessed because Cyborg had deployed his Wild Hunt card. There would be no way the army could make it through the forest without the General being hunted by the Black Beast of Gore. Unless Robin could roll higher than ten out of twelve, and even if he did, Beast Boy's spy was still somewhere infiltrating Robin's forces.
She shook her head. What am I even saying? She couldn't deny that she really liked the RPG game that Beat Boy had brought home. It had the same feel of her dark fantasy books mixed with the intricate strategizing of chess. She almost wished she were playing, but then she sneezed again into her long sleeve and wished she were dead instead.
Ever since Trigon had been destroyed, she had known that there was a little less demonic energy within her, and that meant that Arella's human immune system was screwing her over.
Thanks, mom. She grumbled internally, but secretly couldn't help but be overjoyed by being a little more human. You can't change your genes, but having a demonic tie like that severed did help get rid of some of the heartache. Even if she retained her grey complexion.
"You are feeling…" Starfire didn't seem like she knew what to ask. Clearly Raven wasn't feeling well, but she also wasn't dying so…
"It's okay, Star." She rested her chin on the back of the couch to watch the boys play their game at the table. "Thanks."
Starfire nodded and kept playing with Raven's hair. The boys finished their game by stomping Robin into the dust. He fumed about it but challenged them to a final rematch. A 'best two out of three'.
"You're on!" Beast Boy declared.
"But," Robin interjected. "I should get the girls back. If I lose again your data would only conclude that you're successful with a team. Which is what we all are, right? A team?"
Cyborg wasn't moved. "Oh, no you don't."
"Aw, come on," Beast Boy, out of the corner of his eye, saw the crestfallen look on Raven's face. He was just happy she was finally interested in something that he also liked. "Let em' play."
Cyborg huffed and grumbled that 'Beast Boy better not mess this up'. Beast Boy just grinned and shrugged. Raven's ears perked up and she slowly shuffled over to the table with Starfire, keeping a blanket wrapped around her and tissues nearby.
"How do you people do this whole sick thing?" She sighed as she sat down. Starfire fetched her more tea.
"Actually, Raven," Starfire chimed in. "When the people on my planet aren't feeling well, the consequences can be a tad catastrophic. That's why all our homes and buildings are made of the strongest space rock from Runeterra Omega." She set the tea down. "Your condition does not seem nearly as dire."
Raven almost felt chided, but she smiled. "You're right." I guess I need to keep it in perspective.
"Okay, BB." Cyborg reshuffled the cards and handed Beast Boy a die. "Roll for who goes first."
Beast Boy rolled a two. He could feel Cyborg trying to murder him telepathically.
"Wow, hard to beat." Robin snickered. "Here we go." He rolled a six. "Looks like we're first!"
The game played out nearly the same way as before. Robin's team was just barely in the lead with Raven's strategic maneuvering, but Cyborg and Beast Boy's brute force was incredibly overwhelming this time. Raven found herself struggling as the game went on. Her senses must have been more impaired than she thought, and her vision was starting to go blurry. She could have sworn she was seeing the small dragon game piece again on the board. But she'd melted it, so it must have been one of the trolls. At this point it was turning into a dizzy, purple-black blob. Her ears were ringing and she couldn't understand her teammates shouting anymore. Her head swayed back and forth, and she felt a sickening lurch in her stomach right before she passed out.
…
Beast Boy had started to think that Raven was getting him sick when his head went all swimmy during the game, but when her head hit the table his hair started to bristle on his scalp. His instincts told him that, perhaps, something was actually wrong. Suddenly, everyone was looking like they were about to hit the table, too. Alarmed, he shook his head like a dog and attempted to stand up from the game, but only resulted in knocking over the chair behind him. An instant later he was falling, and crashed his butt hard onto the kitchen floor. He lay back on the cool tile and felt like he was going to vomit.
"Wh-what's happening?" He murmured nauseously before he, too passed out.
And then woke up on warm dirt that was bathed in the light of a setting sun. He rose lightly from his position and shook his head again, feeling queasy and disoriented. Sunset? It's not even two in the afternoon yet, he thought to himself. And how did I get outside?
He desperately hoped he wasn't sleepwalking in search of food again. Especially since he still was on the fence between vomiting and not vomiting. A groan behind him made him whip around too fast in reflex, and then he did throw up behind the nearest bush. Actually, it was more like a red fern of some sort.
The groaning behind him turned into a voice. "BB, you okay?" Cyborg questioned him, concerned. He had pulled himself up from the dirt and was now standing, taking a quick survey of the surrounding area. "Whoa…" He breathed.
"What?" Beast Boy moaned, struggling to rise from behind the fern.
Cyborg gestured out into the distance. "Where are we?"
The dirt they had woken up on was, in fact, a long twisting road that wove its way in and out of forest. Beyond, and very far away, was a massive medieval castle made of black and grey brick with dark purple roofing. The world around them was clearly not the one they'd left behind, but it was still completely real.
"I…have no idea." Beast Boy answered, scratching his head. "Wait…" His pointed ears twitched a little.
"What is it?" Cyborg asked. Beast Boy pointed to the sky above them.
Robin was falling.
"Ahhh!"
"I got you!" Cyborg screamed up at him like a maniac while Beast Boy quickly tried to think up a soft, fat animal for him to land on. "Robin, I got you!"
"Are polar bears fluffy enough!?"
"I got you!"
Suddenly, an orange-purple blur appeared from somewhere out of sight and caught Robin mid-air. Starfire gently set him on the ground next to her companions.
Robin was a little shaky, but composed himself quickly. "Phew…" He breathed. "That was close."
"Indeed." Starfire agreed. "Tell me friends, where are we?"
Cyborg checked his scanners, like he does, but was unable to place where they were or the source that put them there. Then he frowned. "So…you're not gonna like this, because I've said this before and no one ever likes it when I do say this—"
"Just spit it out, dude." Beast Boy pulled on one of the leaves of the nearest tree and found it to be un-pullable. It wasn't coming off. Strange, he thought. "We can take it."
"We're still…inside the Tower…" He finished.
Everyone groaned as a collective. It was frustrating how often this happened to them. "Of course we are." Robin seethed. "This must be something…supernatural?"
Beast Boy turned and frowned. "Speaking of supernatural, where's Raven?"
Everyone looked around them, and counted four instead of five.
"Crap." Cyborg slapped his hand to his head.
Starfire became worried. "But…Raven, she is ill!" She flew up high to scan the forest canopy. "What if she is harmed or she is unable to journey and find us!?" She called down at them in a panic.
"Can you sense her? Track her? Is she on the radar?" Robin turned to the team's pair of GPS systems. Cyborg and Beast Boy shrugged and set to work. Starfire could be heard shouting Raven's name in the sky.
After a few minutes of pacing the perimeter, and seeing the tail of a bloodhound pop-up here and there behind bushes and trees, they re-grouped.
"So far, nothing" Cyborg called over his shoulder. "We should just start walking."
"I'm not picking up her scent, either." Beast Boy agreed, returning to them.
"Start walking where?" Robin frowned at the castle in the distance. "None of this makes sense, and if we're still in the tower that means someone is messing with us."
"Or it's Raven pulling a spooky-unconscious-Halloween episode again." Beast Boy offered, worried. "I don't like it that she's not here."
"It could be her doing?" Cyborg shrugged.
Robin shook his head. "She was with us during her horror-movie break down, remember?"
"So?"
"So this isn't like the last time."
Cyborg crossed his arms, irritated by all the questions up in the air. "So who's doing this, huh? Because I'd like to find out and smack the crap outta them."
Starfire floated down, defeated. Her toes touched the earth and she sank down sadly. "Perhaps it is someone we've never encountered before?"
Robin started counting on his fingers. "So we have a few options. It could be either: Control Freak, Mumbo, Mad Mod or Master of Games."
"Or Larry." Beast Boy grinned.
Robin shuddered. "I don't think so, but let's hope not…"
"Seriously, guys, let's just start walking." Cyborg starting trotting off in the direction of the Castle.
"No!" Robin interjected. "Every time we get sucked into another dimension or into a magic hat we never think things through until it's almost too late. Let's stay and talk this over."
"OR," Cyborg snapped back, "Raven's somewhere in the woods, hit her head on a rock or is shivering, sick and cold in the dark."
Beast Boy's ears flattened in guilt and worry. "He's right, she's our first priority."
Starfire nodded, worried, behind Beast Boy. They all looked to Robin who was clearly outnumbered. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fine." He conceded. "But we stay on our guard and we do NOT split up."
"We're already split up…" Beast Boy grumbled to himself, and they started walking.
Starfire floated gently ahead of them. "Perhaps we shall hear her coughs from afar and locate her through her disease?"
"It's a cold, not the Ebola virus." Cyborg pointed out, sarcastically. He backed down when it looked like Star was going to rip him a new one in Tamaranean.
Such a Clorbag
Their walk pulled them deeper into the woods, seemingly endless, and yet the castle didn't look any closer than it had been before. The sun, just setting before, was now disappearing behind some mountains in the distance. It grew darker with every step, and the team crawled their way through the quiet forest.
Beast Boy groaned at their snail's pace, and briefly considered forming into a cheetah to leave them all in the dust. Except, between Robin's seething expression, Starfire's worry and Cyborg's determination to get going, he thought it would be pretty rude to leave them behind to themselves. Not to mention ill-advised.
The tension in the group was so thick he was sure he could take a generous bite out of it. There was a small, yet very detectable power struggle between the two older males of the team, and Beast Boy was NOT about to rock that boat. They rarely had these moments anymore, not since the team had been getting started in their early years. He wanted to chalk it up to worry over Raven, but he also thought everyone was frustrated with being 'had' by some random villain again.
He grumbled internally about how his life seemed to stay pretty much the same no matter how old he got. Villains were constantly trying to mess with them, things were always a little more rough than he'd like. Kidnapped friends, broken bones, a city that (as of right now) was totally fine. His team? Well, now that he was growing older he realized that they each had baggage and flaws that he'd never considered in his youth. He also realized that he'd started collecting his own baggage. The Tara thing? That had messed him up pretty bad. He'd trusted her so much, loved her, put all he had into giving her everything she'd ever needed or wanted. What had he gotten out of that? Heartbreak, that's what.
His family? The Doom Patrol? He was growing older without them. He was changing, seeing new things; making his own choices. Would they be proud of who he'd become? What would they say to his height now? The last time he'd seen them he was still sixteen or so. Now…now he was nineteen and taller than he'd ever thought he'd get.
There was a lot that Beast Boy considered in the silence of their walk, and he'd tried to put the worry out of his mind, but right now, he was just frustrated and annoyed with his friends.
Like Raven. Who just up and disappears the way that she does? He fretted angrily. When we find her, I'm giving her a stern talking-to about inter-dimensional homing devices. Or installing a pet-microchip. After all, Robin made him get one.
"Wait," He asked. "ARE we in another dimension if we're still in the Tower?"
"Uh…" Cyborg frowned at his arm. "I don't…think so?"
Robin thought about it. "I don't think so, either. It could be that we're all hallucinating within the same frequency, and that our bodies are still slumped over that RPG game." He finished.
"Oh…" Beast Boy frowned. "That's gonna be a major headache afterward. I'm pretty sure I took the chair out with me."
Cyborg patted his shoulder. "No worries. I'm probably drooling all over the board game, so sorry about that. I'll get us a new one."
They laughed a little. Starfire shivered, her nerves were on edge. "You don't suppose…" She began. "That we are being watched?"
"What would make you say that?" Robin asked.
She shook her head. "I don't know."
