Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. --
Beast Boy woke up groggily on his left side on something cushy. The cushy thing was soft, like sheets on a bed. He was confused. He tried to open his eyes all at once, but the light was too blinding. Slowly he inched his eyes open to see…
"AUGH! Cyborg! You can't do that!" Beast Boy scrambled back a little bit and pulled the covers over his mouth. Wait, covers? he thought. Where am I? After Cyborg retreated from his place directly in front of Beast Boy's face, (which to the waking person is quite scary) BB quickly scanned the room of what he could see (on his left side).
"Relax, Beast Boy." Robin smiled at him. "Don't try to get up."
"Uh, you guys?" Beast Boy swung his legs over the side of the bed, completely disobeying Robin. "Why am I in the med bay?" He got up and instantly regretted it. "OW OW OW OW OW OW! You guys booby trapped the floor so that if I step on it, my left leg gets ZAPPED!" He jumped back onto the bed and curled into a fetal position, again on his left side. Robin and Cyborg looked at each other, confused. Cyborg looked back at Beast Boy.
"Uh, no we didn't."
Beast Boy furrowed his brow, and then suddenly smiled as if he figured it out. "Oh, so you put a sensor on my left leg that zaps it when I step on something solid!" Cyborg sighed. Robin followed suit. "You don't remember how you got here?" Robin asked in disbelief. Beast Boy shook his head and Robin continued. "Well, we found you outside of Raven's room when Star went to go see Raven and tell her she was fine. We can't figure out what happened, but we found a lot of things that might have caused-" Robin stopped mid-sentence. Beast Boy raised an eyebrow as Robin and Cyborg looked at each other. Cyborg shook his head, and whispered in Robin's ear, "Not yet." They forgot, apparently that Beast Boy had exceptional hearing.
"Caused… Raven's… condition…" Robin said. Cyborg glared at Robin, and he shrugged. Beast Boy's eyes went wide as he suddenly remembered what had happened. He didn't even take note of what Robin had just said.
"You guys! I remember what happened!" he said, gathering their attention. And so Beast Boy began to tell the whole story, beginning to end.
"…and then a weird green light shot out of me and landed on Raven! And then that's all I remember." Robin bit his lip in thought. "Well, obviously when you fainted you-" Robin began, but was soon cut off by Beast Boy. "WHAT! I did NOT faint! Fainting is for girls!" he exploded. "I just… well, I…I fell unconscious to the floor without me knowing it." He smiled triumphantly. Cyborg rolled his eyes.
"Ok… when you 'fell unconscious to the floor without you knowing it', you obviously twisted your ankle. But that doesn't explain Raven, or why you both are very weak." Robin scratched his head. Beast Boy furrowed his brow. "What DID happen to Raven?" he demanded, swinging his legs over the side of the bed again, wincing in pain as the covers caught his ankle. Cyborg looked at Robin and nodded. The metal man looked slightly behind Beast Boy.
The changeling took the hint and slowly turned around, careful of his ankle, saying, "Oh, good, you put Raven's bed next to mi- AIEEEEEE!" He hurtled out of the bed, paying no intention to his throbbing foot. He clung onto Robin's back, shivering with fear. "YOU GUYS PUT RAVEN IN THE SAME BED AS ME!" he said as loudly as he could while whispering. Cyborg laughed out loud, while Robin, laughing also, shoved Beast Boy back in bed and attached some wires to his head. "Don't-haha- take-hahahhahaa-th-haha-these- hahahh!- off! Hahhahahha!" Robin managed to get out between laughs.
"QUIET you guys!" Beast Boy hissed at the two laughing titans. "GUYS!" he said. "What are YOU doing? Do you want to get me killed?" His answer was just more laughing from his teammates. "You're gonna wake her UP!" he yelled as quietly as possible. The two titans stopped laughing. Suddenly they had somber looks on their faces. Beast Boy raised an eyebrow and asked suspiciously, "What?" They looked at each other, neither one wanting to talk. Cyborg nudged Robin, and Robin nudged him back. Cyborg sighed and started talking.
"Raven can't wake up, Beast Boy…" He paused and looked down sadly. "She's in a coma." (A/N: This would have been a good place to end the chapter, but it's too short, so on we go!)
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
After Cyborg and Robin told him all that they knew, Beast Boy raised his head. "So you just found her and she was… she was…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. Robin nodded somberly. "Do you have any idea what could have happened to her? Why she screamed?" Beast Boy shook his head and put his hands over his face. "Ok, well, you know who to call if you remember." Robin rubbed the back of his neck in silence.
"You guys?" Beast Boy looked up. "I have a few questions… I hope you don't mind…"
"Of course not!" Cyborg gave him a huge cheesy smile. Robin nodded in agreement. "There are no stupid questi-" Beast Boy cut him off. "Okay, well the first one is, can I poke Raven?" He grinned and held up a finger jokingly.
"…ons…" Robin continued slowly. "…except for that…" Beast Boy sulked. Robin rolled his eyes. "Go ahead." Beast Boy's face brightened, and he poked Raven slowly. She didn't move. He grinned and chuckled, poking her again. When she still didn't move, he chuckled again and started poking her repeatedly. He grinned as if it was the most fun thing to do in the world. His two teammates looked at each other, one eyebrow raised. Robin tapped Beast Boy on the shoulder. "Stop, now, Beast Boy. What are your other questions?" The green teen stopped and his smile faded. "Oh, yeah." He rustled the covers and looked down. "Um… Do you guys have any idea at all when Raven will… wake up?" They shook their heads simultaneously and sadly. "Some people come out of their coma in days, and some…" Robin stopped.
"What? Some what?" Beast Boy looked at him frantically, knowing what he was about to say, but hoping he wouldn't, that it would all just go away.
Robin sighed. "Some… never wake up." Then there was silence. Pure and complete silence. Cyborg looked around at all of the glum faces. "Beast Boy," he said softly, "How 'bout you ask us your next question?" Beast Boy nodded and continued hastily, trying to fill the silence as fast as possible. "Why didn't you guys put my ankle in a cast?" Robin began, "Well, we were counting on Raven to heal you, but since she's-" Cyborg elbowed him hard in the ribs and looked at the Wonder Boy with a glare that obviously meant, 'Shut up unless you want my fist in your mouth'.
"We were just going to, right before you woke up." He gestured to a table with medical tools on it. Beast Boy was confused. "What'd you need a butcher knife for?" he said, eyeing the knife. Cyborg grinned nervously, grabbed the butcher knife and hid it behind his back. "Hehe, nothing!" he said a little too fast. "How about you ask another question now?" Beast Boy raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He looked down and scratched his neck nervously. He looked up and smiled weakly. Robin tapped his foot impatiently. Finally, he blurted it out. "Why'd you guys have to put me in the same bed as Raven?" He blushed furiously immediately after he said it.
Cy laughed. "Now THAT is Wonder Boy here's fault." He gestured to Robin, who sulked, never meeting eye contact with Beast Boy. Cyborg continued. "He mentioned somehow to Star that there are sometimes bugs in your bed that drink your blood… aka bedbugs… She is currently 'debugging' all of the mattresses in the med bay." He grinned. "You are on the only mattress that we could convince Star not to debug. Considering it takes her three weeks to complete one mattress once, and she likes to do each one over twice, I'd say that you are stuck as bed buddies with Raven for a LONG time!" With that, he burst into laughter, Robin joining in.
Beast Boy shot a glare at the Wonder Boy and slunk down in the bed. "Uh, I have one last question." Cy's laughs died down, and he nodded, signaling for Beast Boy to continue. "Well… Can Raven…. can she… well, can she hear us?" Robin stepped forward. "Uh, some people can, some can't. I don't know, for sure, actually… Some people say that they like having people talk to them, but I don't know for sure, as I said before." He sighed. "Any more questions?" Beast Boy shook his head and took a deep breath. "You guys can put a cast on or whatever you need to do now…" And with that, Robin and Cyborg began treating BB's ankle, in silence once more.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Beast Boy sighed. It had been three hours since he had woken up, and all the other titans (save Raven, of course) were out doing something else. Cyborg was out getting new parts for the T-sub, and Starfire and Robin were at the movies together. He sighed again. Sitting in a hospital bed with a comatose "bed buddy" as Cyborg had put it, is not exactly the most exciting thing on earth.
Beast Boy turned his attention to Raven. Can she hear me? He wondered. He looked at the "sleeping beauty", and looked away again. Beast Boy had been starting to think of Raven in a whole new light, recently. Thinking about her a lot made him wonder a lot how he felt about her. And although he wouldn't like to admit it, he liked her, as more than just a friend. She was so beautiful, and mysterious in a wonderfully strange way. She knew how to hide her feelings, and how to show them when need be. Her rare smile always brightened up the room, and when she looked into his eyes, he felt paralyzed, as if the world had stopped moving. The dark empath enchanted him, and she didn't have the slightest clue.
"Hey, Raven…" he whispered softly, shifting his gaze back to her gentle face. "I wonder how long it's been since we've talked, you know? Just you and me." He paused, and sighed. "I wish I knew for sure if you could hear me… You probably think it's torture not being able to talk, and not being able to move." He looked away. "Well, it's torture for me not knowing if you'll wake up, not knowing if I'll ever talk to you again." He laughed softly. "Of course, with you talking back." He smiled, staring once again at Raven's soft features. Why can't I look away? He asked himself. Why do I find her so beautiful?
"I know you don't think that I'm funny… And that's ok. I know you never did, and you probably never will." He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the pillow. The green boy took a deep breath. "I just wanted to let you know, Raven. If you can hear me… If you never wake up, I just want you to know that-" The door burst open, and in walked Cyborg, holding up a piece of metal with many different parts attached to it. "Hey, BB, have you seen my screwdriver? I know I put it someplace…" He scratched his head and wandered out of the med bay, closing the door behind him. Beast Boy sighed. Thanks, Cyborg, he mentally berated the half-robot. Now he'd never get enough courage to tell her. He decided not to say anything else to Raven. After all, he didn't even know if she could hear him or not.
Inside Raven's mind, all of her emotions were going haywire. Rage was ranting on and on about killing Cyborg. Wisdom was frantically flipping through all the textbooks she could find, trying to find the answer to what he was about to say, Knowledge helping her. Happy was prancing around, singing karaoke love songs, and Brave was yelling, "Let's take on Cyborg!" Timid was off sulking in another corner, whispering to herself things about Cyborg and Beast Boy hating her. All the other emotions were doing what they normally would do. The real Raven was going berserk over all the noise. Finally, she yelled, "QUIET!" Instantly everyone was silent. "Knowledge, Wisdom!" The two emotions stopped flipping through books and looked up. "Yes?" they said in unison.
"Why do I even care what Beast Boy was going to say?" Raven demanded. Knowledge scratched her head and looked at Wisdom. Wisdom pushed up her glasses and began speaking. "You care because you have an emotion that you have been denying for a long time. And despite the fact that you don't recognize that emotion, that she has been surfacing every time Beast Boy's around." Wisdom looked into the middle of the crowd of Raven's different "personalities". Everyone looked where she was gazing. Soon all eyes were turned on the lavender-cloaked emotion in the center of the crowd.
Raven stepped towards her. "And who are you?" The emotion blushed at all of the attention she was getting.
"I'm Love," she whispered softly.
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Minutes passed slowly. Then hours, then days. Soon, before Beast Boy knew it, a week had passed since the… incident… with Raven. His ankle had healed almost completely, and he was now allowed to walk around the Tower, as long as someone was there with him. But Raven showed no signs of getting better. Thankfully, she also showed no signs of getting worse. So, as Robin had told Beast Boy, it could go either way. She could wake up right now, or she could just get worse and worse… until…
Beast Boy pushed that thought away. No! he thought. She's stronger than that… He turned to look at Raven. Even though he could walk around now, he still spent most of his time with Raven, curled up under the covers. "Raven, please wake up… Please!" He looked at her pleadingly. "I need you, Raven. I need you to insult me, I need you to make sarcastic comments about my jokes, and I need you to smile for me, just once…" He sighed sadly. "I miss everything about you, Raven. I miss watching you drink tea and read a book. I miss offering you tofu even though I know you'll refuse it. I miss talking to you…" He closed his eyes sadly.
Raven was going crazy inside her mind. "WISDOM!" She yelled. "How do I get out of here!" Wisdom shook her head sadly. "You have to do it on your own. I don't know how to make you wake up." Raven calmed down. "Ok. I'm calm. I can do this. I can will myself to wake up. I will wake up…" Wisdom held up a finger. "Uh, Raven?" Raven groaned. "What?" Wisdom smiled guiltily. "Uh, I forgot to mention that you won't remember our conversations in here when you wake up." Raven's eyes snapped open. "WHAT?" She growled. Then sighed. "Fine. Nothing worth knowing in here, anyway You're all lying. There's no way I love Beast Boy. If by some strange chance I DO, then I'll figure it out when I wake up. I don't care." Wisdom shrugged. Raven sat down on the ground and closed her eyes. She started chanting her mantra, and she focused with all of her might.
Wake up, wake up, wake UP! She thought furiously. Wake UP! Wake up for Robin's training sessions! Wake up for Cyborg's victory dance when he wins video games! she thought as she yelled another, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" and felt herself gather more confidence. Wake up for Starfire's horrible cooking! And another "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" with more confidence. Wake up for Beast Boy! was her final thought that gave her her strength as she yelled one final, "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" And then all was black.
Beast Boy opened his eyes. He thought had heard a rustle. Yes, that's it, a rustle on the other side of the bed. Could it be…
"Raven?"
Raven rolled over on her side with her back to Beast Boy and shut her eyes tighter. "What? Just five more minutes… tell Robin I'll be at his stupid training session…" She rolled over again, to face him. Beast Boy's face lit up. "Raven! YOU'RE AWAKE!" He couldn't help himself; he reached over and hugged her. Raven's eyes shot open. "Beast Boy! What are you doing in my bed?" she yelled, throwing him off of her and onto the floor. "Oh no, what have I done!" she exclaimed in horror. "I don't remember anything… What have you done, you pervert?" she held her head in her head. Beast Boy just smiled, happy that she was awake.
She leapt up in horror and backed away into a corner away from Beast Boy. "What have you done!" Beast Boy shook his head. "Nothing, I swear! Just give me a chance to explai-" She cut him off. "NO! Get away from me you, you, you, AUGH!" she screamed in agony of not finding the right word.
At this point, the other titans had heard the ruckus and had started over. By the time they got there, Beast Boy was cowering in one corner, Raven towering over him with arms stretched in front of her. Here's the first thing they heard as soon as they walked in the door:
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU PERVERT!" Followed by a very angry: "AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!" The 3 remaining titans ducked and cowered, for surely the explosion from Raven's powers would destroy all of the med bay.
But nothing happened.
She tried again: "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" Still nothing. "What did you do to my powers!" she yelled at Beast Boy. She heard the other titans enter and she ran to them, cowering behind Starfire. "What happened…" she whispered, unsure. And then she blacked out, suddenly realizing how weak she felt and how tired she was.
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After everything was explained, Raven bowed her head in shame. She felt weaker than ever. She was hearing Robin talk, but she wasn't really listening.
"And we found you passed out in front of a bowl and a book. We didn't touch the bowl or the book in case you got mad at us, and not one of us had been in your room," Robin finished. Raven looked up suddenly. "Where's that book!" Starfire grinned. "I shall go retrieve the book," she said gleefully, and sped off, just to return in a matter of seconds. "I believe I have found the possession for which you are looking!" she said, beaming as Raven nodded. Star handed it to her. Raven flipped through the pages madly. On what seemed like the thousandth page, she stopped. And stared. And stared some more. Everyone crowded around her to see what was happening. And their jaws dropped.
"You got rid of your powers!" Robin exclaimed in fury. "How could you do that!" Raven looked away. Beast Boy saw her face as felt anger build up inside him. "Robin! It's not her fault. I said things I shouldn't have, and that's what caused this." Raven looked at him coldly. "I don't need you to defend me, Beast Boy. This was my fault and my fault only." She looked at Robin. "I'm sorry, Robin. I'll try as hard as I can to get my powers back." Robin sighed and put his hand to his forehead. "What exactly happened? I heard the noises, but I didn't see what happened." Beast Boy looked up at him.
"Well, I was like really scared because Raven was all like scary, but then, I was freaked out because nothing happened when she was like, 'Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!'" At the end, he held his hands in front of him towards Cy, Star, and Robin for effect. To everyone's surprise, they all were lifted off of the ground in green energy and slammed into the wall, while Beast Boy was levitating in the air.
A chorus of AAAAHHHHHHH's and OH MY GOSH!'s were heard throughout the tower. Raven stared in shock. Beast Boy stared in wonder. Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg all stared in pain. It was silent except for the whimpers coming from Cyborg, rubbing his now bruised arm. Raven raised one eyebrow and looked at Beast Boy.
"Beast Boy…" He gulped and guiltily looked at Raven. "Yes, Rae?" Silence.
"Why do you have my powers?" He gulped again. "I don't know?" He looked around at all of the faces staring at him. "You could check the book…?" Raven looked down at the book, still keeping an eye on Beast Boy, and for the first time, saw the warnings. "Oh great Azar…" she whispered as she turned the book around for everyone else to see. "Beast Boy has my powers… And I have his…"
Everyone gasped. Raven explained all of the warnings and how it affected them.
Robin sighed. This was going to be a long summer. Raven and Beast Boy's powers switching… "Some thing I don't understand is why Raven can't do the spell over again." Raven sighed. "The person performing the spell has to have Azarathanian powers." Robin nodded. "Another thing I don't understand is why your powers aren't affected by your emotions anymore." Everyone turned to look at him. "What?" Raven hissed. "You're lying." Robin raised an eyebrow. "You mean you guys haven't noticed? She's been this close to killing Beast Boy-" He held up his forefinger and his thumb one centimeter apart. "- and nothing's exploded. Beast Boy has been scared to death of Raven and nothing's exploded. How do you explain that?" Raven's jaw dropped. So did Beast Boy's and Starfire's and Cyborg's.
Star was the first to speak. "Oh, this is just glorious! Friend Raven may be happy now! Friends, let us go celebrate!" She giggled happily and went over to hug Raven, who shuffled away from her. Beast Boy perked up. He grabbed the book from Raven's hands and pointed to the rule that said: "Do not move during the process. If one of you moves, part of your power will not be transferred, and thus will be lost forever."
"Look!" he exclaimed. "When I stepped out of the freaky light thing and the rest of the rainbow-y colors went into the wall, that must have been the part that tied Raven's powers to her emotions!" He grinned and hopped around happily. Robin sighed again. He made a decision.
"Raven. Beast Boy. I've thought about this, and since Beast Boy has to know Azarathanian language to perform the spell, you both will spend almost every waking minute teaching each other things. Beast Boy, you will teach Raven how to change into animals. Raven, you will teach Beast Boy your language and also how to manage your powers." He scratched his head and took a deep breath, anticipating the barrage of disastrous comments that would soon be yelled into his ear. And as he thought there would be, an outraged Raven and Beast Boy started yelling.
"WHAT! I'm not spending all of my waking hours with the village idiot!"
"No way I'm going to stop doing my normal stuff and go with the creepy goth!"
"This isn't fair! I need to do things by my self, Robin!"
"Playing videogames is essential to my health, and you know Rae won't let me do that!"
"I need to meditate ALONE without any noises or people disturbing me!"
"Are you kidding! She'll kill me before I see tomorrow!"
"I don't let anyone in my room for a reason, Robin!"
"Actually, I think I'll die before I see 9:00 tonight!"
"There are secrets about me that need to be kept!"
"Make that 7:00!"
Then both together: "No way!"
Robin sighed and rubbed his temples. "Alright, Raven, Beast Boy, you will each have one and one half hours each day to do things you want or need to do. Otherwise, my rule still stands. Until you can get your powers back to normal, you will spend every waking moment, as I said before, with the other. You two are essential to this team. We need you, and I will not stand for crime in Jump City." Raven sighed and glared at Beast Boy as if this was all his fault. Beast Boy sighed and glared at Raven as if it was all her fault. (Which it was. Ironically…)
Raven groaned and muttered incoherently into her hands. Beast Boy just stood there, staring into outer space, no doubt thinking of all the possible ways that Raven would torture (then kill) him. Raven continued muttering into her hands. Beast Boy continued staring into outer space.
Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin all just stared at them, waiting for something, anything to happen. And when it didn't, they all quietly left the two to their own devices.
The last thing they heard as they walked out of the tower towards the pizza place was Beast Boy screaming in fright.
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A/N: Please Review! If you'd like me to continue, that is.
REVIEW! Please!