Chapter 7 – how an empath feels. "We don't expect that he will ever wake up. He doesn't need a life support machine yet..." the doctor trailed off in Ravens mind. 'Never wake up. What will we tell Starfire, it'll break her heart.' She looked down at her feet, and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Her breaths were shallow and slow. "Rae, are you all right?" Beastboy questioned uneasily. "I've got to go." Raven looked around the room nervously. She felt her powers surging through her as she descended into a pool of darkness. "Whoa! Rae, stop!" Cyborg yelled as the Teen tried to leave the room. She stopped and brought herself back. "What?" her normal voice was a wash with irritation. "Rae sit down and calm down..." Beastboy suggested to Raven timidly. "Fine!" she threw herself down onto the chair, as she did this she made a nearby bookcase fall. 'Take control! You can't let go. Emotion's hurt people.' Raven sat and listened to the doctor for a few moments more then interrupted. "So what you're trying to say is that there's not a hope in hell for Robin?" Raven spoke in her usual monotone voice, showing that she had regained control of her emotions. "Yes. You could say that." The doctor replied truthfully. "Well at least you don't lie. Excuse I need to get some fresh air." Raven stood form her seat and left, using the door this time. 'Idiot. Doesn't care. Tells lies I know he's telling lies.' She leaned her head back and stared at the prison like ceiling. Her eyes started stinging. 'I can't let go. I can't show my emotions.' "I can't do it!" she whimpered to herself and collapsed onto the floor in a heap. The tears leaked steadily from her eyes. "Um Rae?" Beastboy saw the sobbing wreck on the floor. 'Beastboy go away.' She felt the tension between the two of them, she also picked up an unknown feeling from Beastboy. Raven swallowed and sank into floor. She guided herself into the gardens of the hospital. 'At least he can't track me.' She found herself under an immense oak tree. The green leaves swayed in the gentle breeze. Raven pulled her hood back and let the wind entwine with her hair. She took a deep breath and felt the freshness and the cleanliness of the air around her. It held it's own emotions and they were of independence and of new life. With every breath Raven took she felt the birth of a new airy spirit. She sat entranced by the feeling of creating a life for what seemed like seconds but in reality was hours. "There you are!" a frustrated Beastboy came upon the relaxed Raven. He approached her carefully making no sound at all. "Ahh!" Raven jumped when Beastboy laid a hand on her shoulder. A black aura surrounded her hands and Beastboy. "It's me!" he yelled at Raven. "Sorry. Just don't sneak up on me like that!" Raven let Beastboy down tenderly. "You all right?" Beastboy asked. His voice swimming with concern. "Yeah." Raven looked away from Beastboy when she answered. "Rae, you're lying." Beastboy saw through Raven's lie straight away. 'He knows me to well.' "It's that doctor. He just gets on my nerves. All that, there's no hope stuff. Does he know how he sounds?" Raven revealed. "I know, he irritates me too." Beastboy agreed. He lowered himself onto the ground next to Raven. "Nice day isn't it?" the awkwardness in his voice made Raven giggle inside. 'If happy was here...that feeling, it's back... what is it?' Raven's confusion showed on her face. "What is it?" Beastboy's face held an expression of concern and query. 'Questions, questions. You can't change the nature of a human being.' "Just a problem I have to deal with myself." Raven sighed deeply willing all her worry out with that breath. "I'll see you later." Beastboy said picking himself up. He laid a caring hand upon Raven's shoulder and she smiled up at him in return. Her eyes seemed to glaze as she was consumed by that feeling. The one emotion that eluded her. She knew terror, she knew anger, happiness she had experienced these emotions as a child but this one she had never come across before. She sat puzzling in the shade of the oak. The sun warmed the earth and the flowers danced, led by the breeze. This picture of serenity sunk Raven into a feeling of relaxation and security. The sirens of the ambulance tingled in Ravens ears and brought her to her senses. 'Someone's hurt, but how?' She heard the paramedics yelling at each other, their urgency seeped through her skin and met with her heart. She started to shake with fear and anxiety. 'What is happening to me? Why am I feeling like this?' Shrieks of pain, terror and sadness filled her head they echoed around until the intensity of the pain in her own body made her cry out. Raven looked to the stretcher that held the bearer of all this pain, as her eyes connected she felt her stomach churn never before had she seen so much blood. She wretched slightly. Trying to compose herself she stood. 'I feel terrible. I feel like my insides have been wrenched from my body.' Raven swayed. Her legs felt heavy and useless. 'I can't feel my legs!' She fell hard on to the unforgiving concrete that she had unwittingly stepped onto. A fresh wave of terror took a hold of her but this time it was her own terror, her own pain that she felt. "... Her legs have been crushed..." "... Get another pint of blood here PDQ ..." "... We can't save it..." Raven felt fresh tears falling from her eyes. This time she vomited. The mental images. The blood. The emotion. It was too much. 'I can't take this, I can't take this!' Raven pushed herself up into a crawling position and started to drag herself back to the oak tree. 'I haven't taken any damage so why am I so weak?' A sudden pain in her heart made her gasp for air. Her lungs were empty. The air was there. 'Why can't I breath?' She tried calling for help but nothing came, only a feeble squeak. 'Beastboy, help me, help me, I need you.' Raven carried on fighting for air, but each breath she took couldn't satisfy her body. It longed for more. It needed more. The smiling flowers seemed to laugh uncontrollably at the sight of a suffocating empath. 'Even flowers mock me... I'm hallucinating aren't I? Great!' Her breathing cleared up and she lay clutching at her heart. She only had a few moments to recover before a new wave of despair overcame her. "Rae..." "Beastboy." She sobbed. He held out his arms and took Raven into an embrace that held comfort and caring. She let the tears soak into the morphs clothes as she gave up fighting against the emotions, they were too strong and welcoming for her to resist any longer. She just let Beastboy comfort her as she tried to come to terms with the fact that her powers were advancing and she'd have to learn to control them again. smiles widely any ideas of what should happen next? Soz bout all the characters being in one story it just kinda makes it easier coz my computers processor is too slow anyway please review. gets down on one knee to beg please please (you get the picture.) and I hope you like it!