From Five to Four Ch 4
Disclaimer – I don't own any thing you recognize in this story. I do not intend to profit from writing FF.
Breathe. Exhale.
The building just exploded. Oh my god. Beast Boy was in there!
Breathe. Exhale.
We failed to stop the bomb. We couldn't stop Slade. We couldn't save Beast Boy.
Breathe. Exhale.
Open your eyes.
With a sharp exhale, Raven opened her eyes and slowly looked up. The area near where the last building stood was demolished. The once strong and modernized building was reduced to its foundation; even that was rocked to its core. The surrounding buildings also suffered major damage, but nothing like the last building's fate.
Raven looked around her, her wet hair swishing around her face. Gripping the dock railing for support, she pulled herself to her unsteady feet. "Robin? Starfire? Cyborg?" She hesitated. Did she dare to say his name? "Beast Boy?"
No immediate responses. Raven heard the groan of metal, and then a human moan. She turned around to see Cyborg half stuck in a black car. Raven ran over to him just as he successfully pulled himself out of the severely damaged vehicle, but fell to his knees. "You okay?" she asked him, offering a hand.
Taking it, Cyborg sighed, but rose to his feet. "Barely." He took a quick look over Raven's shoulder at once was a building. "Beast Boy didn't make it out in time, did he…"
Raven looked down at her feet, her hair shadowing her face. "I…I don't think so."
"Come on." Cyborg put a hand on the empath's shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "We need to find the others." With a quick nod, both of them rushed down the street hoping that they could find their friends. Alive.
Looking over further down the street, amongst all the monochrome gray, Raven spotted a bundle of something red. Hopefully that's not somebody's blood…
After motioning to Cyborg, Raven and Cyborg rushed over to the vibrant color. In the midst of bits of broken metal and displaced pieces of concrete lied Starfire, her shoulders and back askew at a terrible angle.
"Oh god, it looks like her back may be broken. Can you heal her?" Cyborg asked Raven.
Raven knelt down and brought out her hands encased in a light blue power. "I can try."
Breathe. Exhale. Raven tried to relax her body as she prepared to transfer some of the injury and pain from Starfire's body to her own, thus healing Starfire. Her injury was significantly more dangerous than Robin's broken arm some time ago as the human spine was thicker, and a lot more important in staying alive. "Stay with me, Starfire" Raven urged her unconscious friend, accelerating her healing process by intensifying her focus. A single drop of sweat trickled down the side of her face. Her hands even began to tremble slightly. In response, the blue aura around her hands glowed just a bit brighter.
Minutes later, Raven had taken a great deal of the injury's pain and couldn't take it for much longer. Starfire's shoulders and back were now properly aligned, the healing process nearly as complete as Raven could manage. Raven suddenly collapsed forward next to Starfire, her eyes clamped shut in a tight wince.
"Raven? What's wrong?" Cyborg hurriedly asked, kneeling down beside her. "What happened?"
After a few quiet, strained groans from the dark haired girl, her face relaxed.
"Raven?"
"Hh…healing such an injury…" Raven paused, the dull pain within her returning. "…does that to me."
Cyborg looked over at the redhead. "And Starfire? Will she be okay?"
"More okay than she was before." Raven managed to sit up relatively straight and look over at her female friend. "She's still alive and her heart is beating, so I guess that's pretty good."
Breathe. Exhale. The dull sensation inside Raven seemed to subside with each deep, focused breath she took. Good.
"Do you think she'll regain consciousness soon with such an injury, even if partially repaired?" Raven asked Cyborg, looking over her shoulder.
Cyborg stroked his chin with a contemplative expression on his face. "It's hard to tell, even if she were a normal human. Nearly broken backs tend to end with long visits to the hospital if not to the morgue. Nearly broken backs partially healed by magic, I have no idea. I mean, she's a strong Tamaranian. She'll endure."
As both conscious Titans watched Starfire, her eyelids fluttered and her lips quivered. "Starfire?" asked Raven, observing very cautiously.
Raven's dark amethyst eyes were soon met with bright neon green ones.
"My neck and back are most uncomfortable."
Waves of relief washed over Raven and Cyborg, and Cyborg released a shallow breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"Whew! She's alive," Cyborg sighed, wiping his brow.
Raven looked around, her purple eyes searching. "Anyone see where Robin went?"
"Yeah, he was standing next to me. I think he landed over there." Cyborg pointed to the city's forest park. "We better hurry."
After helping Starfire up and making sure she was recovered enough to walk or fly, the three headed over to look for Robin in the woods.
"Robin?" called Cyborg, "Where are you?"
Raven stopped abruptly. "He's near." She turned sharply to her right and took off running.
Ever since the mental bond was established when the reagent in Slade's mask infected him, Raven could sense Robin even better. The fact that he was unconscious didn't even matter. His mind was still there, just not as active.
Raven spotted a heap of something black at the bottom of the hill next to a flat gray stone. Could that be…
"Robin!" Raven quickened her pace, the other two hot on her trail. She knelt down next to him, putting her hand on his right shoulder. "Are you alright?"
No response.
"Robin, you need to wake up," Raven insisted, shaking him gently.
"Mrhrhrhh…"
"Come on, Rob, we need to find Beast Boy still," added Cyborg.
"Beast Boy!" Robin roared, springing to life. He immediately sat up, his hand flying up to his forehead. "Ack…"
Raven lightly placed her hand on Robin's head, embedding her fingers in his gelled hair. "You might have a minor concussion. Take it easy."
"There's no time to take it easy! We have to find Beast Boy," Robin spat, shoving her hands away as he stumbled to get up. Robin swiped out his communicator from his belt only to have it crumble to pieces in his hand. The material broke apart in multiple places, leaving fragments of the whole. Robin looked over to his friends. Both Raven and Starfire stood with their communicators in similar states in their hands. "Cyborg?" Robin asked.
"Way ahead of you." Cyborg touched the screen built into his arm. "Beast Boy? Do you copy?" The responding call was nothing more than static.
"Perhaps he is unconscious and cannot respond?" Starfire offered quietly.
Robin stomped over to a nearby tree and landed a fierce hit in the middle of the trunk. "Aaah!" He was breathing heavily, his face tinged with red. "Slade went too far. Too far, I tell you. And he can't take it back."
"Robin, you're talking like Beast Boy's—"
"He was still inside the building when it exploded, Raven. What chance did he have to make it out alive when the bomb was directly above him?" Robin yelled. "A miniscule chance. We'd need a miracle."
"Hey, miracles have happened before," Cyborg acknowledged, nodding to Raven.
"Please, Robin, we must hope for the best," Starfire pleaded, standing close to him.
Robin sighed. After a moment, he turned to his friends. "Split up. We'll search the forest."
"But our communicators are a little, well…damaged," responded Raven, emptying her hands of the pieces of her communicator.
Robin looked at her sternly. "Yell."
A/N - Thank you for the reviews! Almost there! Anyone else pick up on Robin's intense desire to see everything okay? Who thinks they can explain why?