(RAVEN'S PERSPECTIVE)
'It h-hu- hurts.'
'I'm so tired, Raven. Tired of being tired.'
I sat up and held my head.
"Beastboy..."
Sweat dripped across my face and I weakly opened my eyes.
Goosebumps washed my skin as I sunk into reality.
He groaned softly, "Hm…?"
"I think we should go to the Med Room. I know you are sleepy and all but..." I saw the blood that seeped into my pillows.
"I'm alright, later today." he slurred.
"You aren't. The later, the worse. I'll come with you, let's go."
I wrapped his limp hand into mine.
He closed a soft grasp around it, then opened his forest eyes.
I was still haunted by his words from earlier, but his touch relaxed me.
"Thank you." he smiled innocently.
His eyes coruscated through the inky shadows.
"No problem." I smiled back.
Someone knocked on the door, then I went to open it.
"Where's Beastboy?" Robin quizzed.
"He's in my room." I informed him.
Robin gave a confused facial expression.
"BUT it was only because he was extremely tired. I did nothing with him, I promise." I reassured quickly.
Robin folded his arms across his chest and sighed.
"I'm serious, Robin. You know we are just friends."
"I trust you. Is he okay? I saw what happened earlier."
"With anything like that happening to a person they would be nowhere near okay. But you know he insists otherwise." I whispered the last sentence.
"Raven, I can hear yah, ears like a dog." Beastboy called.
"We gotta take him to the Wing. Pronto." Robin commanded.
"Certainly. What took you guys so long? All you had to do was put him out with water."
"Yeah, we did after fighting with him for so long. You know three A.M., no one's head is really working straight." Robin yawned.
"It's okay, he's defeated, you guys are safe, that's all that matters. Our biggest matter is Beastboy right now." I frowned, whispering to my leader.
"Right. Cyborg and Star set everything up already. Beastboy?" Robin gently moved past me.
"Hey, Robin." Beastboy winced.
"Let me help you."
Beastboy slipped his hand over Robin's shoulder and I held Beastboy's other side.
"Damn, back in here again." Beastboy sighed.
"Oh, boy. B, you look spent." Cyborg helped position the changeling on the bed.
"Well, I' m broke, that's for sure." Beastboy held his head back to stop the nosebleed.
"Pffttt. Not like that, Brit Boy." Cyborg hooked Beastboy up to some wires.
"Beastboy, are you the okay? I heard of your nose bleed during the battle." Starfire rubbed her eyes sleepily.
Beastboy smiled feebly, "I've had better days."
It hurt me that he still smiled through all of this.
"Okay, I think we should run another vital test. You're going to have to change into a hospital robe." Robin said.
"Those make me feel like a naked piece of broccoli. Besides, I feel like I'm in the arctic over here." Beastboy whined.
"It's only for a little bit, after that you can put back your clothes on."
"Booooiiii, are those even your clothes? They look girly." Cyborg mocked.
"Maybe." Beastboy winked at me.
I rolled my eyes, hiding the blush developing in my cheeks.
After a couple of minutes Beastboy was changed into his robe.
Cyborg ran the vitals and recorded them.
"Blood pressure: the systolic is one fifteen, the diastolic is seventy-four." Robin read.
"Hmmmm..." Cyborg used a stethoscope and checked Beastboy's heart beats.
Cyborg looked into Beastboy's ears with an otoscope. Then, Cyborg told him to open his mouth.
"Say "ahhhh"." Cyborg shone a light into the changeling's mouth.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
Starfire and I giggled at our friend.
"Your neck seems swollen." Cyborg claimed.
"And my chest and upper arms. My armpits feel swollen, too."
"Your armpits, yuck."
"Yeah." Beastboy shrugged.
"Lemme see," Cyborg lifted up Beastboy's arm.
"Yikes... looks really lumpy over there. Besides the green Christmas trees for decoration." Cyborg jeered.
"Cy!"
"It is okay, Beastboy. When I underwent the unpleasant Transformation, I grew hair on my feet." Starfire stated.
"Really? Was that the time you asked me about that zit?" I faced Starfire.
"Yes, such terrifying memories, let us not discuss it." Starfire shuddered.
"These tiny red spots. Petechiae." Cyborg examined Beastboy's face, stomach, and back.
"Puh-what?" Beastboy quizzed.
"Petechaie." Cyborg confirmed.
"And that is..." I rasped.
"Tiny red spots from bleeding underneath the skin. They are caused by small broken blood vessels. B, you on any meds?"
"No. Why?"
"Because these can be caused by medicine, bug bites, abrasion, or trauma. Have you gotten any of these?"
"Nope."
"Someone please explain the cold sweats, the fevers... all of that." I exhaled impatiently.
"Okay, what do you mean by "all of that"?" Robin asked.
I snapped, "All of the symptoms he's had for how long, what else?"
"Easy, Raven, relax. I was only asking a question. The only thing I recall is Beastboy being hot and the nosebleed he had the other day in the garage." Robin returned.
"You know damn well I am never relaxed." I huffed.
"Raven, calm down." Starfire spoke tenderly.
"I can't sleep at nights anymore, Beastboy's been sick for days on end, and you want me to be calm?"
"Rae," Beastboy whispered.
I looked at him, his jade eyes softened my composure.
I disliked nicknames, but those three letters spilled out of his mouth like honey.
"Chill, it's my fault. I sat here and suffered and convinced myself it would all go away. I got so used to telling myself things were okay when it wasn't. I can take a few painkillers for now for these headaches." Beastboy maintained.
"So, there was more to it than you simply being tired and not eating." Cyborg wrote on a clipboard.
"Yeah. No eating, no sleeping, too much sleeping, body aches. Bleeding, fevers, night chills, swelling, headaches, and nausea. Plus, the dots and short breathing. Not taking showers 'cause they trigger fevers. The whole nine."
"Ah, that makes sense. Your absence of morning concerts are linked directly to your showers." I scoffed.
"Probably the seizure was connected to these symptoms as well." Robin analyzed.
"I would think so, since all of this occurred in the same time frame." Cyborg agreed.
"But, Beastboy, why did you not inform us of such concerning conditions?" Starfire asked.
Beastboy sighed.
"I wish I knew, Star. Maybe, I was too afraid to admit that I was weak. I was too afraid to admit the side that no one else really sees. Clearly, I've done a horrible job at hiding it."
"You have nothing to hide, friend. We are all friends, we are family. We are here to be raw and honest with each other. We are all we have left, we should not waste our lives running and cowering from the truth. We must stand up and face the challenges with those we love dearest." Starfire advised.
"Girl, you deserve a Grammy's." Cyborg laughed.
"Dang right, she does." Robin smiled.
"All jokes aside, B, you had a low blood count the last time we checked." Cyborg frowned.
Robin stated, "We should investigate that."
"Yeah, I mean it looks like we have to run a CBC and Peripheral Blood Smear." Cyborg's shoulders fell as he looked at the clipboard.
"CBC?" I asked.
"Complete Blood Count, displays information about each blood cell and their amounts." Cyborg tapped the pen anxiously on his lip.
I rubbed my temples, feeling stressed. My empathetic senses were bearing my emotions, and my friends'.
"Why do we have to do that?"
Starfire kindly handed Beastboy a fresh set of napkins.
"Beastboy these symptoms look... cancer related." Cyborg established dimly.
"Huh!?" Beastboy sat up and grimaced.
"Ah, damn, what the hell?" Robin ran his hand through his dark hair, let out a deep sigh.
Glass shattered in a corner, and I felt my emotions come to the surface.
I glanced at the half-robot, "You're lying, please, tell me you're lying."
"I wouldn't lie. I'm not sure yet, Raven. We have to run more tests to make a fair diagnosis. These signs border cancer closely though." Cyborg's voice was shaky.
"Please, tell me, what is "cancer"?" Starfire questioned with a nervous expression.
"A disease, Star. A deadly one."
Beastboy looked at me with tears in his eyes, but I was already crying.