Chapter 25
Muffled sounds, shouting, a loud long sound. His head slowly began to clear the sounds became recognizable, voices, panicked voices shouting. A loud steady beep. Pain hit him hard. His throat was blocked, he couldn't breathe, panic began, he turned his head, he saw Raven, he saw Cyborg holding paddles and bringing them down to her. The long beep was the sound of her dying. The pain took him back into the darkness.
His eyes fluttered open, everything was fuzzy again, but he could breathe, the pain was mostly gone. He felt afraid but he turned his head anyway, she was gone. Raven's bed was empty. He tried to look around the empty room, he found Karen sitting in a chair not far from him, she held her head in one hand, she was likely half asleep. He called out to her, his voice came out a whisper and his throat gave renewed pain as though it had been raked with Jade's claws. His whisper was enough to get her attention.
Karen rushed over to him and hugged him tightly. When she finally let him go he pointed to Raven's bed, he tried to ask but his voice wouldn't come out this time. Karen looked at the empty bed and slowly turned back to him, there was sadness in her eyes. His tears began before he realized it, he cried out, his throat felt as though it ripped and tore at the effort but his sadness over powered his pain, for a moment he had believed, had hoped, that she could survive, that he hadn't killed her. Karen grabbed him and held him close, she tried to calm him, she was talking but he couldn't hear her beyond the screams within his own mind. Finally her words broke through the surface of the raging storm of emotions.
"She's alive."
He began to calm as he absorbed the words cautiously. She held his face towards her so she knew he was listening.
"She's alive Roy, but she hasn't woken up. Richard hasn't said anything more."
He blinked at her, still absorbing and understanding slowly. She was alive. He nodded to let her know he understood. She pulled her chair over and sat down holding his hand.
"It's been a week since you first woke up. We had to medically induce another coma to detox your body of the drugs. While you both were connected we couldn't give you a full detox, we had to keep you at least partly drugged because we didn't know how the shock would affect your link with Raven. But when you woke up we, well your clean now." Her voice was quiet, she was upset. "You should be ok to move tomorrow. Look, I'm sorry Roy but we have to insist on rehab, you already have a room at a very good rehab in Gotham, it seemed like a good idea to send you away from home but somewhere we could still keep an eye on you."
She turned away from him and wiped away a tear. He squeezed her hand, she looked back and he nodded at her and tried to smile to let her know he understood and agreed. She smiled and let a tear fall. He laid back in his bed and glanced back at the empty bed where Raven had been, he wanted to know she would be ok.
"I'll keep you updated." Came a voice from the door, it was Cyborg. Roy turned and looked him, he was sure the shame he felt was clear. Cyborg stared at him for a moment.
"I'm glad you're back, we all are. But it's gonna take time." His voice held sadness and anger. He left the room.