So you guys opted for an actual serious story with kid moments sprinkled into it. :)
Raven closed the door behind her and walked over to the sofa, laying Beast Boy onto the couch. The other Titans sat on the sofa as well, curled up next to Beast Boy and each other for warmth. The entire tower was dark, the only source of light was from Starfire's tiny hands. Raven stumbled around the room, her hands crawling against the walls for a light switch. The air in the Tower was freezing, similar to the air outside.
Finally, she found one and flipped it on. A couple lights flickered on, dimly lighting up the room. The sight that met her eyes were shocking.
The entire Tower was trashed. Parts of metal were scattered around the tower, the desktop that held the computer was smashed in half, a katana skewered in the middle. Raven could see that there was a dim light flashing, the label underneath reading Messages. Ceiling lights were hanging by a bare wire, swinging in the air nonchalantly. What was even more disturbing to her was the mysterious lump lying in the darkest corner of the room, covered haphazardly with a bloodied sheet. Raven bit her lip and looked down the hall, which was only lit up with one dangling light.
Oh god. What happened? Raven levitated a trashcan over to the corner with the body so her friends couldn't see it. Teen Titans or not, they were still children.
Starfire sneezed again. Robin scooted next to her and wrapped a small arm around her, trying to warm her with his body. The small alien leaned into the Boy Wonder without a protest- obviously exhausted from the day's events. Raven couldn't help but notice, and she smiled a little. Even as kids, they still knew what it meant to be a team. She hoped that they kept it that way, until she found a way to reverse it.
Something else nagged at her. The Titan East had disappeared without a trace, their home trashed, and signs of a fight apparent. They hadn't called for help, like they usually did if something got too serious.
"Cyborg," Raven asked suddenly. "You have a little phone on your arm. Did it ever ring?"
Cyborg looked up at her tiredly. "No Raben. I pwomise. No got call."
"I believe you." she looked around the room some more. There was the feeling of dread in her gut. This was worse than she thought. Now she had no allies to protect her friends, which emphasized the importance of reversing the spell even more. If Slade got ahold of one of them... they would be virtually helpless to defend themselves.
There wasn't much else to do for the night, she realized. The other Titans had a tough day, having turned into children and barely remembering who they were. She wondered if they remembered their battles, the things that they had seen and been through. They had seen things that most children shouldn't have seen.
She walked over to the sofa and kneeled on the floor, looking at them intently. "How are you guys doing?"
"Tired, Raben." Starfire whispered. "Cold."
Robin nodded his head in agreement and wrapped his arms tighter around her. Cyborg yawned and poked at Beast Boy, who was nearly asleep already.
Raven sighed. "Today's been tough for you guys, hasn't it?"
The Titan children nodded simultaneously.
"Why don't you guys get some sleep?" she asked quietly. Her eyes flickered up to the dead corpse in the corner and pushed back the disturbing feeling that came with it. "I'll find you some clean clothes and some blankets. You guys can sleep right here on the couch. I'll be next to it if you guys wake up scared."
"Iz not scared." Robin said sleepily, his head falling against Starfire. "Batman teached me to be brave."
"Batman still a poop." Cyborg muttered. Robin was too tired to make a retort, but scrunched up his face in fury.
Raven smiled half-heartedly. "I'll be back in a couple minutes to get some blankets and clothes. Don't move from this spot."
There was a quiet mumbling in agreement. Raven got to her feet and moved down the corridor, her hands on the walls so that she could find her way. The pathetic dangling light in the middle of the ceiling did little for her vision, and the rest of the Tower was shrouded with darkness. She put her hand on the first room that she found, pushing it open with difficulty, like there was something stuck on the other side. Pushing with her shoulder, the door finally giving way and her falling onto the floor.
She got to her feet and ran her hands against the wall, finding a light switch in her fingers. She flipped it on, and thankfully, the light in the room flickered on.
The small room was lined with posters of supermodels and pictures of the ocean and different species of fish species. She had stumbled into Aqualad's room. She made a face- it was just her luck to stumble into his room.
She walked over to the bed and grabbed the ocean-painted blankets and bundled them up in her arms. Levitating them above her head, she then started to go through his drawers in hopes to find something suitable for her friends to fit into. She spotted some blue underwear, and with a disgusted look on her face, she tossed them across the room. Well, that wouldn't do at all. To make things worse, nothing was small enough for five year olds to wear.
Although she wasn't surprised, she still felt a twinge of frustration. Looking through the drawers some more, she found a couple shirts that would work for the night while their suits dried.
She walked out of the room with the blankets still hovering above her head. When she walked back into the living room, she found her friends sprawled on the couch, completely lost in deep sleep. There was a chorus of soft snoring from the couch. Raven dumped the blankets on the floor and sighed, staring at her sleeping friends with guilt pressing heavily on her chest.
This was all her fault.
Whatever had happened to the Titans East had to be connected with the message she had gotten from Slade earlier. How Slade found out about how she turned her friends to toddlers was unknown to her, and as much as she wanted to just be done with the mess she had caused, she couldn't just leave her friends.
Not after all they'd done for her.
She gently picked up Beast Boy, who had fallen to the floor from Cyborg's sleep flailing. He rested quietly against her chest, curling into her shoulder. It reminded her of the time where he accidently got himself covered with toxic chemicals and mutated to this horrific beast. He had been curled up on the floor all night long, breathing like a wild animal and slashing at his carpet. But it was that same monster that had saved her life- he was more gentle in his monstrous form than she had thought. Her lips curled up at the memory.
Setting him down next to Robin, she put the blanket on top of her friends and stood there for a moment, feeling tired herself. She quietly started to pull off their clothing, squeezing her eyes shut as she changed them. This was too awkward to even think about it. She finished putting them into the awkward large shirts and put their soaked clothing onto the floor to dry. She sighed.
Maybe it was time to get some sleep as well. Perhaps a solution could come to her in a dream.
Raven awoke groggily, her body frigid with cold. Her friends were still fast asleep, sucking on their thumbs and cuddling next to one another for warmth, wrapped in the dark blue blanket. Sunlight gently floated through the large windows, finally lighting up the Tower and making it less threatening than before. Their clothing still lay on the floor, looking as though they were dry. She lifted up her head and looked around.
She saw gouges in the walls, like there was a vicious hand ripping through the drywall. Dried water stains and burnt marks also littered the place, no doubt remnants of the fight that happened here. The bloody sheet in the corner of the room was still there, with the lump underneath it. There was a person underneath that sheet. Didn't they deserve to be recognized, to have someone know that they had passed? Raven felt the need to get up and see who that person was, no matter how disturbing.
Moving as if she was in a dream, she got up and walked over to the corner of the room to where the corpse lay. Her hand reached for the sheet, with a slight tug, the blood-spattered sheet slid off.
Raven stumbled back with a muffled scream, falling to the ground and scooting backwards as much as possible.
It was Aqualad. There was an angry slash ripped across his neck, dried blood dribbling on the edges of the skin. He had been murdered, viciously, and left here in the corner to rot. Raven stared at his body with disbelief. Where was the rest of his team, where the hell did they go while he was being left here by himself? Tears sprang to her eyes and she coughed. He was their friend. And now he was gone.
How did this happen?
Raven slowly covered him back up with a blanket.
"Raben..?"
She turned around suddenly, seeing a very sleepy Beast Boy looking at her with wide eyes. He spoke again, his voice soft with worry. "Raben.. why you cry?"
She blinked, realizing that tears were still streaking down her face. She wiped at her cheeks fervently. "I.."
Beast Boy noticed the blood-stained sheet in the corner, his eyes growing wider at the sight. "What that?"
"Don't look, Beast Boy. I don't want you to see it." Raven said quickly, moving in front of it so that he couldn't see it anymore.
He gave her a soft glance. "Why Raben sad?"
Raven felt a part of her heart crumble. She wished that he wasn't so damn nice to her. "One of our friends is hurt. He's.. hurt really bad."
"Dat him?" he pointed to behind her. He eyed the motionless lump as though he was studying it. "Is he sleeping?"
"Yeah. He's sleeping." Raven felt more tears spring to her eyes. That's all it is. Aqualad's just sleeping. He's dreaming. She choked back a sob and wiped at her eyes again.
Beast Boy sat on the ground in front of her, crossing his legs like she did. "When will he wake up, Raben?"
"I don't know." she sighed, her shoulders shuddering.
The green changeling sat quietly for a moment, watching her as she struggled to maintain her composure. He gave her a small smile and leaned forward, resting a tiny green hand on hers. "Don't cry, Raben. He jus sleeping. Sleeping good, 'member? It make us strong, jus like you says."
Raven didn't say a word, she simply nodded and tried to desperately hold back her tears. The spill of emotions were threatening to break the wall she had built and spill over. Seeing her friend, dead on the floor in front of her, had been enough. And now Beast Boy, the one person that she made fun of the most and always ignored because she thought he was annoying, was still trying to comfort her and make it seem like he was simply sleeping. The look on his face was ridden with sadness, childlike remorse on his face. He knew.
He knew what death was. But he was still pretending that everything was okay, for her sake.
Why Beast Boy? Why are you being so nice to me after the way I treated you?
"Go wake up the others, Beast Boy." she said quietly. "We need to go soon. We're going to go someplace safer."
"Okay." he said quietly, turning into a kitten and running off towards the couch.
Raven took one last look at Aqualad. She felt angry that he died. He didn't deserve this.
She was going to get the damn bottom of this.
You guys like it so far? Drop a review for me!:3