Important: I have changed the title to A Deeper Kind of Sickness due to inva-telkontar's note that it was incredibly similar to the title of her own story.

Author's Note: Thank you sincerely to every single reader who has reviewed this story. Dona and Dr. Phillip J. Salus are both my characters that I made up.

Chapter 8: Doctor

12 years ago, Dorcha Temple, Azarath.

The night sky was darker than any that had passed before on Azarath. The white and golden sparks of light that marked the far off stars were covered by clouds almost as dark as the sky the drifted in, only shadows on the shadow that stretched over the planet at the absence of day. Silence wasn't uncommon on Azarath, but the silence in this night pressed closer than any silence before. The feeling was ominous. It surrounded the inhabitants of the globe with an urgent nudge that told them all, even the inexperienced in meditation and spiritual realms and those who weren't the mediums they were born to be, that something was happening.

In the hidden room deep inside the doors of a large meditation temple, two women floated above the floor. One was slender and pale, with silky purple hair that was cut short, ending at her chin and framing her thin face. The second was also pale, but not as slender. Unlike her sister's, her hair was as black as the night outside, and it swept low to the small of her back, rustling with invisible breeze. Palms pressed together, they chanted in unison with their eyes closed.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos. Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos."

A small girl with hair as violet as her mother's quietly peaked her head into the room, gripping the doorframe with her small white fingers. She went unnoticed by the two women.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos."

The wind in the room picked up, tangling the locks of the women as they chanted. The black haired woman suddenly cried out, ripping her palms away and glowing in black energy. Her sister's eyes snapped open and she grabbed a glass sphere that had been sitting on the floor, snapping it in half and holding the two empty pieces in the air in front of the glowing woman.

"Only child with darkened powers,

Only child from Azarath made,

Though condemned with burdens,

Only she through Hell may wade.

Fight against the current, demon child!

Though it pull at thou thawing heart;

For shalt He destroy the son you bring,

Who was begot from new love true,

Your child to pull his reign apart,

The hope for future shall end at you –

Thy love, thy life, thy world are through."

Her words smoothly left her open mouth, gliding in and out of the air and liquefying. Her companion positioned the broken sphere, catching each drop of stunning white fluid. She carefully aligned the jagged edges of the broken orb, muttered a word and watching as they melted together again seamlessly, capturing the pearly prophecy securely.

"Dona, are you alright?" She asked her sister, who had fallen from her levitated place and was rubbing her temples with two fingers.

"Yes, sister, yes." She said slowly. She stood. "I only fear for the girl in the prophecy. Sister, I believe I know who she is." A knowing look came over her face.

Dona's sister shook her head violently, her purple hair ruffling.

"No, Dona, no. It is not her! I cannot be!" She protested. Dona only smiled sadly and looked toward the door, where the tiny face still stared, transfixed, at her mother and aunt. The little girl gasped when she realized her aunt had spotted her, and scampered away, soft footprints making dull thuds on the temple floor.

Present

After a day of silently enduring Raven's requests for solitude (she had said she needed to regain control of her mind alone), her friends couldn't bear to let her suffer and, disregarding Raven's request, the Teen Titans had called in a doctor. Starfire energetically ushered the tall man and his black leather bag into their living room when he arrived. He stood only a few inches taller than Cyborg, thin and a bit gangly with a crown of graying hair around the bald spot developing in the back of his head. His nose was straight and long and the color of his eyes gave one the impression of thoroughly scrubbed steel. He wore a somber business suit in a dark stone hue, covered by a sterile white medical coat that hung loosely around his lanky figure and reaching just above the back of his knees. Pinned to it was a shining golden nameplate that read, "Doctor Phillip J. Salus, Jr." His black shoes were polished and not a speck of dirt could be seen on them, and his clothes and skin were equally immaculate, cleaner than it seemed humanly possible to be. It might have been his sheer height, but he gave off a presence of importance and authority that commanded respect.

"Where's the patient?" He asked. His voice wasn't a low and deep one or high one but somewhere in the middle, with a strangely reassuring resonance to it that none of them had heard before.

"Up the stairs and to the right." Cyborg answered, leading the way. When they arrived the door slid open automatically and Doctor Salus entered without delay, followed by the apprehensive Teen Titans.

On the bed, tossing and turning, was Raven. The enchantress's skin was gray and covered with a thin sheen of sweat, and her eyes were closed against the pain in her stomach. She was muttering unintelligible words in her uneasy sleep. The doctor pulled the chair from underneath the desk nearby close to the bed. He gently tapped Raven's shoulder, and she groaned and opened her eyes. She stared for a second, then her weary features turned to furious.

"You called a doctor?!" She said, her fury barely disguised by the façade of calmness she was trying to maintain. The mirror that hung above her dresser shattered.

"Raven, we had to!" Robin exclaimed. "You're sicker than you think you are and we don't know what to do."

"Yes, we only acted against our vow for fear of your health and wellness." Starfire explained quietly, but Raven wouldn't hear it.

"I told you I was fine! Why don't you listen to me?!" She said icily, sitting up a bit too fast. She cried out as the quick movement startled her already aching head and she fell back onto the pillows painfully. Cyborg made a move to go to her side but Salus waved him away with a hand. Cyborg settled for hovering at the foot of the bed with the other Titans, unhappy but dealing with it.

"Now, Miss Raven… Let's see what's wrong with you, shall we?" The doctor asked, and the tension in the room came down a notch with the heartening sound of his voice.

Raven huffily sat back against the birdlike headboard of her bed, glaring at her friends, who penitently stood in the background. Doctor Salus reached down and retrieved his leather bag, setting it methodically down onto the bedspread and unzipping it. He pulled from it a stethoscope and various other medical appliances covered in sterile wrappings and hygienic cloths. He looked up.

"Could you leave the patient with me, please?" He asked politely, but the tone of his voice assured them that they didn't have a choice. They left the room and waited silently in the living room, halfheartedly reading or staring into space. The doctor turned back to his patient. She glared at him, but the effect was lost due to her tired, sickly appearance.

"I know what is wrong with me. Leave." She demanded.

Phillip J. Salus didn't budge. He patiently smiled.

"Then tell me why you're so ill, if you already know." He said. She scowled. Suddenly, she rolled onto her side and broke into a fit of coughing. The physician reached into his black leather bag and retrieved a tiny bottle of clear liquid. He poured half of its contents into a small cup, and held it out between his index finger and thumb to Raven when she had stopped coughing. The shaky girl eyed him suspiciously but downed the liquid, sighing in surprise and relief as it washed down her throat, miraculously soothing her esophagus.

"I've never known any medicine like this," She said, still not quite trusting him.

"You've never known any doctor quite like me." He responded evasively. He changed the subject. "But tell me what's wrong with you, if you're so sure."

Uncertain, Raven took a moment to consider before folding. She was too fatigued to argue much in her head.

"Uhh, I supposed you can be trusted… My father is the son of the devil." She said flatly, to which Salus raised his eyebrows. "No, no," She recovered. "I mean, literally. As in, I'm the granddaughter of the devil."

"Really…" The doctor murmured.

"And anyway, he's always inside me trying to take over as the form of rage, but that is partly why I meditate, to keep rage at bay."

"And…?" Salus prompted.

"I'm getting there!" She bit frostily. "And now, I've gotten sick because he decided this was the time to try and overpower me, and it's even worse because I'm pregn –" Raven clapped a hand over her mouth.

"You are?" Doctor Salus was thoroughly shocked. This girl was only just seventeen, not even an adult! She was merely a child.

Raven sighed. Stupid fever; she was giving away information no one needed to know.

'Except Cyborg…' She thought guiltily.

Doctor Salus tried to divulge more information from the ill teen, but after her brief spell of talkativeness she had lapsed back into pain and sickness. He checked her temperature and other medical measurements, administering medicines that were designed to diminish pain. After a few minutes, he stood, wished her well, and exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

Back in the front of the Tower, the Titans heard the telltale swish that signaled the opening of a door. The four jumped up and raced to Raven's room, Starfire in the lead.

"OOF!" Four voices yelled one after another as Cyborg fell over Robin, who fell over Beast Boy, who fell over Starfire as she halted unexpectedly and was knocked over as Beast Boy ran into her. The doctor stood outside of Raven's door with an amused smile on his face as he watched the teens try to untangle themselves from the pileup. As soon as he was free, Cyborg jumped to question the man of medicine.

"How is she? What's wrong with her? Is she okay? What's happening? Tell me!" He cried.

The doctor's amused expression turned grave.

"I've talked with her and examined her state of illness, and there's not all that much that can be done."

The faces of the Titans fell.

"But," Salus continued. "When I spoke with her she revealed that she is battling her father. He wants control of her once and for all, but that's not the only reason she's been sick."

"What's the other reason?" Robin asked.

"She probably does not wish for me to tell you, but your friend is with child."

The jaws of everyone in the room dropped. Slowly, all eyes turned to Cyborg, who stared in shock and disbelief at the doctor.

"Wait," Doctor Salus warned. "There's more. I believe that the original morning sickness and vulnerability she began to feel at first showed her father that she would be easily taken over, and whatever influence he has over her body has caused adverse biological effects, causing her to be gravely, gravely ill as a result. If she doesn't recover soon, there's no telling whether she or the unborn child will recover at all."

There was silence. Then Beast Boy spoke.

"So Raven… is pregnant… and she's going to die?" He asked.

Author's Note: I was worried about this chapter, only because it seems to be one of the defining ones that really make or break the story.

If you didn't catch it, and thought I just made them up, here's something:

Dr. Phillip J. Salus: In Latin the word 'salus' means help or assistance

Dorcha Temple: In Gaelic the word 'dorcha' means dark

Dona: In Gaelic the word 'dona' means bad or unlucky

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