So, here's what happened. I wrote this chapter about a week ago and it turned out great. It was FABULOUS. Afterwards, me being the silly nut I am, I left my computer unattended while I went out. While I was painting the town red, my roommate waddled his way to my station and accidentally deleted the entire chapter…which I had forgotten to save…
D'OH!
Needless to say, I was pissed. I hate rewriting so it put me off of this story for a few days. But I'm back! And with a hopefully acceptable chapter. I should be back to my regular, once a night update schedule. Now, read on!
I don't own these characters.
Chapter 6: Morning, Sunshine
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Raven slowly crept farther and farther away from Beast Boy and his fading voice as the bright light before her began to come into focus. She could see the boy wonder's spiky haired visage and longed to break forth through the barrier of consciousness and back into the world. However, despite how much Raven yearned to once again return to her body, her mind seemed to continuously wander back to Beast Boy and the grievous history she had just witnessed. His memories had been painted with a palette she would have never imagined would be so dark. There had been love, yes, but amidst so much pain and loss and unmitigatable death. She too had a history full of grief and strife but the way she dealt with it was through isolation, meditation, and a loneliness that penetrated everything she seemed to do. Something about Beast Boy, the way he remained so impeccably joyful and the bounce that always seemed to follow his step, cut deep into Raven's mind and she could not rid her thoughts of the image of his smiling face. Regardless of how she had always reacted to his jovial attitude in the past, she now could not help but feel a sense of admiration at the way her green friend always kept his head held high.
The bright lights before her slowly intensified until Raven found herself at the edge of her own consciousness. Breaking through it felt like breaking through inches of glass as her physical eyes burst open and she found herself in her own body once more, gasping for air. Raven was covered in a thin film of sweat and her body ached in places she had never even known could feel so intensely. Catching her breathe, she looked around the room to see all the familiar faces. Robin sat at the edge of her bed with one calming hand on her knee, looking immensely relieved to see her up and awake. Starfire was as vibrant as usual and the smile on her face was as gladly welcomed as the hug she instantly pounced on Raven. Back, half hidden in the shadows, Raven could see Cyborg with a grin on his face that did little to belay the fatigue and worry that had clearly been afflicting him for some time now. He nodded and she returned the gesture, knowingly.
"Oh friend! It is glorious that you have returned to us!" Starfire nearly engulfed Raven in more hugs that did little to soothe her bruised body. "We have been worried for quite some time now. But we never lost hope."
"We never did," echoed Cyborg with a gratified smile. "Glad to have you back, Raven."
"Definitely," said Robin, enthused, "You've been out for awhile and we were starting to get really…worried…" His voice trailed off as Raven's gaze reached the opposite side of the room and remained there. In the next bed over lay a small green fox that was covered in bandages and breathing in slow, shallow gulps. The room grew deathly silent as everybody mimicked her stare.
"The little guy…" said Cyborg as he slowly walked over to Beast Boy's bedside, "he aint doin too great. Adonis messed him up pretty bad before we got to him. After Plasmus' chemical effects wore of, he's kept…changing every few hours or so. We…" Cyborg trailed off as his head fell to his shoulders.
"We think it's what's keeping him alive." Robin's expression had suddenly turned solemn. "Raven, I-"
"This is your fault!" she interrupted, startling everyone. "You wouldn't let me go. You wouldn't let me help him! It's because of you Beast Boy is…"
Robin slowly lowered his head, dejected.
"No, Raven," said Starfire calmly as she stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on Robin's shoulder. "Robin is not to blame here. He…he did not know what would happen. He was only doing what he thought best." She looked over once more, sorrowfully at Beast Boy. "For all of us."
Robin finally looked up again and with a fierce look in his eyes said, "But she's right, Star. This was my fault. I should have known it was all a trap. I should have thought ahead. I-I'm sorry Raven." He looked directly into her eyes as he spoke. "It was my call and I blew it. For both of you."
Raven broke his gaze and looked away. It was all she could do to hide any hint of tears that she feared may show beneath her bitter exterior. Raven had shed tears in front of her teammates before but that wouldn't suffice now. She could not now. She was too angry. It seemed to burn inside her in a torrent of fire that slowly began to well up. She thought of the beating she had incurred and the shattered state of her friend. She thought of how much he must have suffered. But as thoughts of Beast Boy entered her head, she couldn't shake the image of him smiling. Teasing. Laughing. Breathing deeply, the thought soothed her and she remembered the words he had imparted upon her before she had left him alone.
"Robin…" she said meekly, "Starfire is right…actually. This wasn't your fault. It
wasn't anybody's fault. Beast Boy…he wanted me to tell you that."
"You spoke to him?" piqued Cyborg.
"Yes," she replied, "I mean…I think so. We were in some kind of altered state. Like limbo."
Starfire raised one eyebrow and with a perplexed look said, "Beast Boys is having the fun without us?"
"Different kind of limbo, Star," said Robin as he finally let loose a reluctant smile and reached his hand to his shoulder to give her fingers a gentle squeeze. She smiled back warmly and the tension in the room seemed to instantly disappear.
"So you actually talked to BB?" asked Cyborg as stepped forward into the light. "How is he?"
"Just the same old Beast Boy," said Raven with the hint of a grin, "I think he'll be ok." As she spoke, her eyes lingered back to the battered fox on the opposite bed. "At least, I hope so."
"I'm sure he will, now that you've left a trail for him to follow," said Robin with a smile as he slowly got up and started to walk towards the door. "Well I better go tell the others that you're back with us. Raven, could please meet me in my study when you're feeling better? There are some things I've been wanting to ask you."
"Others?"
"Yeah," said Cyborg as he seemed to immediately tense up, "Slade and his robots have been attacking the tower relentlessly since you've been out. You've been asleep for almost three and a half weeks. We had to call in a few reserve Titans to help out."
Three weeks! Raven thought, Great…more trouble at my expense.
"Who did you get?"
Cyborg suddenly tensed up even more and started to inch his way towards the door as he quickly mumbled, "Kid Flash and jinx…" Starfire giggled.
"Who?"
But Cyborg had already followed Robin's lead and was well out the door and down the hall as he yelled back a rushed, "Glad to have you back, Raven!" before disappearing around the corner. Raven gave Starfire a confused look as the alien continued to snigger. Finally, with a wide grin plastered on her face, she finally spoke.
"Robin says he thinks Cyborg may have…the crushes."
Raven's mouth bent into a minute smile before she lay back down and closed her eyes, exhausted from the whole ordeal of waking up.
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Cyborg hurriedly made his way back to his room as he shook off the feeling of embarrassment incurred every time someone mentioned Jinx's name. He didn't even know he still could blush as hard as he did beneath his metal exterior. To say the least, the last few weeks had been quite uncomfortable. Despite how much he hated the idea, he couldn't help admit how confusing the knots in his stomach were. But as the days went by, he had gotten more accustomed to shrugging off those excess emotions, as he did now while walking down one of the many halls of Titans Tower.
Traversing alone, Cyborg's thoughts went back once again to his green friend who was stationed in the med wing he had just left. Even though most of his systems had been offline during their fight a few weeks ago, Cyborg's human eye had been able to witness the entire beating up close. He had cried out bitterly inside his head with every blow Adonis landed on Beast Boy's defenseless body and cheered with inner vigor when the titan had managed to blind his enemy, permanently. It was shortly after Adonis was rendered sightless that Cyborg was finally able to reroute his energy supply and boot back up to full power. Though they had been able to stop the baddies, nightmares of Beast Boy's near death had been plaguing Cyborg on a nightly basis. He kept seeing his tiny body, bloody and beaten to shreds in his arms and the incumbent feeling of hopelessness soon followed him everywhere he went. Despite what his friend had told Raven, Cyborg could not help but feel like there was something more he could have done and that somehow, some way, he could have prevented all of this from happening. Few people realized how close they actually were and even now, as Cyborg came upon his bedroom door, his heart ached for the company of his best friend.
The mechanical titan was just about to grab the door knob when, suddenly, his sensitive ears picked up a distinct noise coming from inside the room. Freezing in place, Cyborg slowly and carefully leaned in to try to hear better when there it went again, only this time in the form of a distinctive snicker. He burst open the door, sonic canon engaged, only to find Jinx standing by his bed, holding a picture and with a deer in the headlights look painted on her face.
"Cool your jets," she said as she regained her composure, "I only wanted to see your room, Stone."
"I told you," said Cyborg as he disengaged his weapon and closed the door behind him, "my name isn't Stone anymore. It's-"
"I'll call you whatever I want," she said mischievously. "I can't believe you kept this." She held up the picture of her and Cyborg dancing at the H.I.V.E. Holiday Formal. Cyborg once again blushed a crimson red that he tried to hide from her smirking face.
"You know that was my first kiss that night?" she said.
"…really?"
"No!" she laughed, "but that look on your face was priceless. My first kiss was actually Seymour. Ick," she said as Cyborg made a face, "Exactly." He couldn't help relaxing a bit as she smiled almost playfully. He felt a mixture of anger, annoyance, and bemused enjoyment as he walked in closer to get a better look at the picture in question.
"Those were good days…" said Jinx as her eyes slightly glazed back into memory.
"No, they weren't." said Cyborg plainly, "You were evil back then. Plus you made me eat a unicycle. I pooped lug nuts for a week."
She laughed again, "Just because I was evil doesn't mean they weren't good times. And who's to say I'm not still a little evil on the inside?"
Cyborg eyed here cautiously. "So what are you doing in here…?"
"Like I said, I just wanted a look around. You always seem to be avoiding me around the tower, I guess I didn't think I'd run into you here."
Cyborg furled his brow slightly. I'm not avoiding you…he thought. "Are you sure that's the only reason you're in here?"
Jinx looked up annoyed only to be met by his seriously glare. Scoffing, she put down the picture and said, "Fine, tough guy, if you must know I kind of wanted to get away from Wally."
"Kid Flash?" he replied, confused, "but I thought you two are doing great together."
"We are," she said as she leaned back against a table with her arms crossed, "That is…we were…it's just that things have been a little weird in the past few days. He's been acting odd…and I get the impression he's a bit slow."
"Aw, Wally's a bright kid. What're you talkin about?"
"No, screws for brains," Jinx replied, rolling her eyes, "I mean he hasn't been running as fast as he usually does. And I should know, I am his girlfriend."
"Hmmm." Cyborg rubbed his metallic chin in engrossing thought. "I really haven't noticed anything but I guess you'd know better than me. Maybe I should run some tests on him, see what's up."
Jinx looked at the floor nervously. "I guess," she said as she lightly kicked the floor, "I'm just…I don't know…thanks for listening Cyborg."
"Don't mention it!" he shot back with a nervous grin. The two continued to chat, the first real talk they had had since the two reserves moved in. The conversation moved on to other things, jokes, laughter, Raven's revival, but while they bantered on like old friends, Kid Flash stood outside the door with his head pressed against the cold steel, his fist clenched and his ears burning.
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End Chapter 6
Kind of a slower chapter, I know, but I liked what I did. This chapter was a set up to a lot of other stuff that'll be happening. Keep a close watch! I should be updating soon. Until then, please review! Please!
