Author's Note: As usual Thanks all you Readers and Reviewers! I appreciate it! And you all ROCK!
Teen Titans- Titan's No More!
Chapter 10
Nightmare
Raven found herself at a crossroads and she didn't know which way to go. Beastboy called to her from one direction and in the other was all was all dark. You'd think the decision would have been simple, but something deep inside was urging her to go the other way. She started to move to the black, but Beastboy's cries, which had grown more urgent, made her pause.
She was suddenly afraid of the black, and it seemed to grow and come alive with that knowledge. To her alarm as she became aware that she had started to back away, that it was indeed growing larger threatening to consume her as she backed away wide eyed.
Raven's body felt like it was moving in slow motion. She kept trying move anyway though. She had turned away from the black and was trying to run from it, but it was too late. She was already being swallowed by it.
The dark had her in its jaws, but it was more like sinking in quicksand than actually being eaten. She fought with herself against struggling for she found that like with like actual quicksand the more she struggled the faster she would sink. Time stood still as the tears were welling up inside her and despite how hard she fought them they were spilling over now. In the background she heard Beastboy's frightened cries and she tried to be brave for him.
Beastboy looked up at his former leader all the anguish fading away at the sight of him. It was Robin! This was Robin and he would know what to do! Beastboy thought relief washing over him. He was no longer alone and someone had at last heard his prayers. Everything was going to be okay now! It had to be! He thought, as he wiped at his tear stained cheeks and Robin tried to give his former team mate a reassuring smile.
There was an awkward silence as Robin moved another one of the plastic manila chairs closer to Beastboy and then sat down beside him before asking. "What happened?"
Beastboy looked away a bit ashamed and reluctant. He didn't want to admit to his former leader how bad things had gone without him. He didn't want to let Robin down, but he supposed he had no choice. Beastboy let out a heavy sigh, and Robin looked at him concern written in plain black and white all over his face.
"I-I'm not really sure, I have an i-idea, but the Doctor still hasn't told me anything." Beastboy admitted remorsefully.
Robin looked at his friend, taking everything in. Beastboy seemed to have grown so much in the nearly three months-had it really almost been three months, now? Robin asked himself astonished. He mentally shook himself. Beastboy would need him all here; he would have time to think about how much things had changed later, the important thing now was to be here for Raven and Beastboy while he could.
Raven's head was in a fog, what had just happened? She mentally asked herself. She tried to move, but her body wouldn't respond. She tried desperately to think back to the last thing she remembered but all that seemed to come to mind was a sense of suffocating and black which caused her to have to fight back going into hysterics. She remembered Beastboy's tear filled sky blue eyes, and also his tear stained cheeks vividly. Had he really been crying? Crying for her? She thought back trying to keep her mind focused on his reactions instead of the horrible sensations she had lived through…had she lived through them? She thought with a shudder. Where was she now? She mentally posed, as she nervously began to scan her surroundings for any sign of well…anything. But there was nothing there, nothing but the thick fog. Raven began to panic, she had begun breathing in short, quick, and painful breaths as fear began to take control.
Beastboy sat alone again for the moment while Robin had gone to call Starfire. He was back to tapping his right foot apprehensively and keeping his eyes moving from empty to door to empty door hoping that any minute a Doctor would appear and tell him…well, something.
Beastboy watched as Robin remerged from the hall he'd went through to get the pay phones not that long ago. Beastboy attempted to give him a shaky smile.
"It'll be okay, B." Robin assured him using the shortened version of his name since they were in a public place. Beastboy didn't say anything, which worried the former boy wonder further. They sat in uncomfortable silence for a long while after that, waiting for a Doctor to come and speak with them.
An hour later and Robin had somehow managed to fall asleep in the manila plastic chair beside B.B who was in a dreadful state of upset. He couldn't take it anymore! This horrible waiting and unknown was going to drive him insane literally if someone didn't tell him something soon! So, he got up and made hi way, determinedly, to the front desk.
"E-Excuse me?" he stammered his intrepidness beginning to pass, but he forced himself to go on before it was completely gone. "But, a friend of mine was admitted here earlier and…and she, I-I mean I haven't heard anything yet a-and…" he faltered; he'd lost his intrepidness fully now as he gazed up at the woman behind the desk close to tears again. "I'm sorry young man, I-I'll page someone, what's your friends name?" said the woman behind the desk kindly.
"Raven." He answered.
"Last name?" the woman requested with the same kindness in her tone as before.
"R-Roth" he told her shakily.
"Why don't you go sit back down and I'll do what I can to hurry them along, okay?" the woman suggested still just as kindly.
Beastboy nodded and slogged back to his seat next to Robin. He didn't have to wait long this time, before a Doctor came through one of the empty doors. The Doctor glanced up from his clip board to the woman at the desk who tilted her head in his direction and as the Doctor made his way over to them Beastboy shook Robin lightly to wake him.
"Hello" the Doctor greeted his voice was thick with exhaustion; it had been a long and busy night. "I'm Doctor Carl Rodriguez" he informed them before he went on. "You are friends of Miss Roth's I presume?" he asked.
Both boys nodded neither trusted themselves to speak. They just wanted to know if there friend was okay. The Doctor looked at them sadly before he went on. "Does the girl have any family?" he asked them.
Both boys again shook their heads this time for a 'no', and the Doctor's face shifted showing a bit more upset. "I really shouldn't release this information to anyone but family or a legal guardian, but seeing as how it appears that the child in question doesn't have either and you boys have been here for so long I feel like should at least tell you something."
Beastboy inhaled heavily here it comes he thought worriedly holding his breath, as the Doctor continued to speak. "Your friend should be fine." Beastboy let out his breath relived but the Doctor wasn't finished. "She is just a little undernourished and under an extreme amount of emotional stress. That is why she collapsed today and why she remains unconscious as we speak."
"You mean she hasn't woken up yet?" asked Robin concerned.
The Doctor nodded. "That's what has got us troubled as well. Normally, if it was just the issue of the malnourishment, Miss Roth would have already woken up by now and we would just keep her until she seemed healthy enough to release, but since her stress levels are so high it's like her body has just chosen to shut down." He answered in lemans terms.
Beastboy stared at both Robin and the Doctor like they were speaking some foreign language. He was having trouble breathing and if he'd been standing he would have been in trouble because the room was starting to spin. This had to be some kind of nightmare he thought while Robin looked from the Doctor and back at Beastboy worriedly.
"Thank you, Doctor Rodriguez" Robin told the man focusing his full attention on his friend as the Doctor nodded gravely and left them to get back to work.