Chapter 11.
I stared up Raven from my perilous perch on the rim of the fissure, my feet dangling toward nothing. My arms were sore from gripping my bo staff. "Ahh, help?" I said meekly.
She lunged at me. She grabbed my wrist with one hand and took a fist full of my cape and back of my shirt with her other and heaved. I could feel her powers boosting my feet as I scrambled up and away from the precipice. I paused on all fours for a moment, panting, before I rocked back to sit on my ankles. "Glad you could make it."
She stared at me in disbelief, then threw her arms around me, pressing her face to my neck. I was stunned for a moment before I wrapped my arms and held on.
She pulled away, her eyes tear bright. Her hands clasped my neck, her fingers extending up behind my ears as she looked me over. "You idiot," she said and gave me a solid whack on the back of my head. "You stupid idiot. Do you know how worried I—we've been? You've been gone for ages! "
"I was?"
"We only found out because Batman called. Apparently you failed to check in. We all thought you were still busy working on a case."
"Oh… yeah."
She hit me again, on the chest this time. "You fool. What possessed you to go off on your own?"
What was with the name calling? Even though it looked as though Raven was struggling not to cry, one little tear betrayed her and slipped down her cheek. I wiped it away without thinking about it. "I'm sorry I worried you."
Raven closed her eyes. Hands clutching at my shirt, she leant forward and rested her forehead against mine. "You imbecile. You scared me."
I leant into her, I don't know where this new attitude from her had come from, but it felt so right. I dared to hope— and then I remembered Beast Boy and everything changed. Awkwardly, I pulled away and wouldn't look at her.
She cleared her throat. "We need to get you out of here. Where's the telepath?"
"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but I'm not a telepath," Dream Catcher interjected.
Raven spun, standing at the same time. She shifted, standing so she was protectively in front of me. "Let him go," she snarled.
Dream Catcher shook her head. "I can't."
"Give him back, he's mine."
"What?" I squeaked… in a manly sort of way.
A look of comprehension dawned on Dream Catcher's face. "You're the one who gave him twisted dreams. I can see your tendrils in him."
"What?" I squeaked again. Damn it, what's wrong with my voice?
Raven's hands clenched into fists and her stance stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Dream Catcher tilted her head as she sat on the floor. "I have been a dream twister a long time, I know."
"Well, you're wrong." Raven sounded adamant and I wondered at that.
Dream Catcher leant to the right, peering around Raven at me. "How often have the dreams come?"
I frowned, wondering why she wanted to know. "Ahh—"
"Don't answer her," Raven snapped, moving to block Dream Catcher's view of me. "It's a trick."
"If they're coming more than once a week, he's in trouble," Dream Catcher said morosely. "With your clumsy tendrils, his mind will overload."
"Robin's not dreaming anything he's not supposed to," Raven snapped. "I made sure of that."
I stared at her back. For a moment it seemed impossible to comprehend. "Anything I'm not supposed to?" I questioned, my voice flat. I stood, yanked my bo staff from the ground. "What have you been doing to my dreams?"
Raven spun to face me. "No, Robin, you don't understand."
I stared at her. "I don't understand? You're damn right I don't understand. Raven, I've been dreaming of you every single night for past three weeks. Every night. Every time I've closed my eyes, you've been there. You know the dreams I've been having, you saw them. Do you know how hard it is to see you every day after dreaming of you like that? Do you know how hard it is to act normal? I thought it was my fault, I did everything I could to stop them. You got so angry at me after the first one. What would you do to me?"
She shook her head, side to side ever so slightly, her large eyes locked on me and her face horrified. "No," she breathed. "Every night?"
I was hurt, unable to believe that Raven could do that to me. I clung to the hope I'd misunderstood. "Yes, every night! What did you do? Did you send them?"
She shook, trembled, her hands covering her mouth. "I didn't send them."
"Then who did?"
"No one sent them," she replied. "No one sent them. I was trying to protect you."
"Protect me from who?" I snapped. I was so angry. So angry. Everything that happened could have been avoided if she'd just confided in me. "If someone was after me, I have a right to know! Protect me from who?"
She seemed scared. "From… from… me. They're my dreams."
From Raven? The dreams were Raven's? Not mine? Raven dreamt them? Holy crap.
She hung her head. "I never meant to hurt you. I didn't know what to do, after I read that first dream. It was mine, I couldn't understand why you'd had it too."
"But… but…"
"I tried to find out why it happened. I thought maybe I'd broadcasted it and because of the bond we share, somehow you'd managed to pick it up. I thought I'd closed down the link, I spent all my effort into making sure it wouldn't happen again. It couldn't possibly be every night. You were never supposed to get them at all. Are they repeats of the same dream? Or are they all different? Why didn't you tell me?"
"What does that matter?"
"Because, if it's the same, it might be a loop and I can—"
"Fixing it is not the point. Why didn't you tell me it was your dream in the first place?"
"Because you came, all apologetic about having it, and you'd said you'd never think of me that way."
I shook my head. "I said I'd never take advantage of you. Not that I didn't think of you that way. Obviously you think of me the same or you wouldn't be dreaming like that."
Raven blinked. Paused. "I thought this was what you wanted."
"You thought what was what I wanted? To think I was going crazy? C'mon, Raven, don't use that excuse. You're an empath. You know what I feel."
"But…"
"I felt those dreams. You were afraid. Terrified. What are you afraid of? Us? Of feeling a real emotion? Opening yourself up to the possibility? What was so frightening?"
"We'd never work."
I shook my head, dismissing what she said. "You said that already. But, Raven, you kissed me, remember? You must have felt something, since you shoved me out and ignored me for weeks on end. You haven't even given me a chance."
"It was a mistake. I can't have feelings for you."
I stared at her. "Can't or won't."
Raven drew herself up and looked me in the eye. "Won't."
She didn't like me. She didn't want me. Not in that way. She was with Beast Boy. I wouldn't stand in the way of that. "I see."
"Robin—"
"No. When we get out of here you will fix these dreams," I demanded. "Then—" All at once it was too much. The events of the day, the events of the past three weeks, it was all too much. Whatever precarious balance I'd had was gone. I was dizzy. Things were tumbling out of control. The headache I thought I'd forced away when I took back command of the dream came back full force. "Oh, no." I dropped my head, pressed it to the bo staff again, desperate to pry the stupid headache from my body.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't do this," I mumbled. My legs felt like jello, wobbly and uncertain. "I need to get out of here." I took a step toward the chair where the dream catcher lay hidden and stumbled.
Raven's voice echoed, adding to the thudding of my head. "Robin?"
"I need to get out," I said clutching at my head. "Something's wrong."
"It's too much," Dream Catcher said, sounding woeful. "Too much. I never realised. I would never have kept you if I'd known. I'm so sorry."
The world around me was being unmade. Great slabs of the wall were torn from the foundations and shattered, cast into a million pieces. The pieces disintegrated into dust and vanished on the breeze. Portions of the tiled floor vanished. The room trembled.
"I have to get you out of here," Raven said. "Stand still."
I frowned and turned to her, just in time to see her eyes glow. Black sparks danced from her fingers as she lifted her hand.
A moment later, I was in agony. It was like she'd poured boiling oil into my ear. My body folded and I collapsed backward onto the ground. Fire blazed along my skull, melting my brains. I couldn't see through the water in my eyes. I couldn't draw breath, my body shut down.
"NO!" Dream Catcher shrieked. "Don't cut the cords. Don't cut the cords!"
My boots skittered on the ground, slashed and writhed, desperate to find purchase. My hands clawed at my head. I was positive there was something alive in there and I had to get it out, no matter what the cost. I ripped at my hair. I think I screamed.
"Robin! Robin!"
Wind howled and tore away the walls, the roof disappeared, sucked up into a tornado. Wind ripped at me, lifting me up into the gaping mouth of the grey maelstrom in the sky above me. Up, up and away.
"Don't leave me!"
It hurt too much to stay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
"Robin! No! Please!"
Eyes. Beautiful, tear filled eyes emerged from the dust and dirt and swirling winds of the tornado. I felt melancholy. They were searching for me. Holding me down. Pinning. Trapping me in place. Tethered. The storm was yearning for me and she wouldn't let it have me.
"I'm sorry," the blue eyed dream said. "Forgive me."
She pushed me down and down and down, then took my place in the maelstrom.
