Yes, finally the next chapter has arrived!! I have nothing else to say so let's start the story.

Robin: O my God! She has nothing to say!!

Fighting Flu

Chapter 8

The Titans quietly creep down the stairs. A cough was heard. Beast boy's ears perked up. 'Raven?' His feet broke into a run.

"Beast boy!" Cyborg reached for the animal shape shifter but he changed into a leopard and escaped Cyborg's attempted capture. The rest of the teens were forced to run after Beast boy before he killed himself. Beast boy transformed back and stopped suddenly, causing the others to crash into him. A shadowy figure turned around and switched on some lights. "Oh Raven, we have some visitors."

Flu stood above the Titans—who now stood up from the floor in their fighting positions—and smirked. "You finally came. I've been waiting for you." The Teen Titans looked into his piercing yellow eyes as he stared back at them, seemingly amused. He continued to smirk as a person in the background inched her frail body upward.

Beast boy looked on to see who this person was and recognized it to be... "Raven!" he shouted.

It surely was Raven. She struggled to get up on her feet; it was as if the Goth girl had weighed so much that she couldn't lift herself. But in reality, she was too weak to stand. She gave way and collapsed on the floor.

"Raven!" the green metahuman screamed, running up to the sick telepath. "You're going to be okay. I promise!" He held her hand and tried to gently pick her up. Something struck the changeling, making him release Raven and land flat on his back. He opened his green eyes to see Flu narrowing his yellow eyes at him. "Don't touch." Flu reached for Beast boy, grabbing him by the collar. Robin tensed up and clenched his fists. "Put him down!" ordered Robin.

Flu obeyed and tossed Beast boy aside. Flu didn't even use any effort, but Beast boy skid hard across the dirt ground. The Titans ran up to him to see if he was alright. Beast boy stood up, holding onto his left upper arm. His eyes gleamed with hatred.

"Beast boy..." Raven weakly mumbled. It was barely audible and Beast boy was the only one to hear it. Raven lay weakly on her back. Her eyes shone with deep helplessness. Beast boy's eyes widened. Never had he seen that look before. He had never seen Raven in such a weak position before and from the looks of it, Raven didn't like it either.

"Let's play a game," Flu began. "If Raven walks to you, you can keep her and bring her back home. But if she doesn't reach you, I keep her and can do anything I want to her."

Robin snarled. His patience running low. "Does this look like a game to you?! What's the catch?!"

Flu smirked. "No catch, Boy Wonder. Let me tell you a brief tale about myself. I am a Virus. I feed off of pain, fear, and suffering. Without it, I die out. But the more I am fed with, the stronger I become. Every victim feeds my hunger and makes me stronger. I have control over the sickness that you call 'the flu'. It was named after me actually. I've traveled around the universe infecting people with my flu virus. I raise their temperature so high, that they end up burning to death from the inside. I've been on this planet for awhile and had my own helping of victims. Raven here, is my current victim. Oh, by the way, I think that I should mention that no one whom I have infected has lived." Flu laughed.

The Teen Titans felt sick to their stomachs. This guy was a lunatic! "Why should we play this dumb game?" Robin asked.

"You might actually have a chance with getting her back. I already know that you can't defeat me."

The masked leader grunted. "We'll do it." The Teen Titans stood across from Flu and stood, waiting for Raven to get up again.

"Your telepathic friend's temperature is 114 degrees. She has much power. For a usual human, it would take that much to kill them. Your friend only has a hard time moving. I wonder how high it would take for me to raise the temperature until she bites the dust."

"Enough talking! Let us begin." Starfire jumped in, unable to hear anymore of Flu.

"Fine." Flu turned his gaze onto Raven. "If you want to go home with your friends, stand up and walk to them."

If you could picture the dirtiest look that anyone could give, Raven was giving that look to Flu right now. As she struggled to stand, her frame looked skinny and weak. Sweat poured down her face and her eyes were so glassy, that they looked as slick as metal. She gasped for air possibly to try and cool off the inside of her burning body. Her hair was a mess and her body shook. She stood without moving to keep her balance. One step, she took that one slowly. The key was to take as much time as possible. Another step, she was making little progress and she still had a long way to go. With each step, she began to speed up just a little more.

"Come on Raven!" Beast boy cheered.

Robin clenched his fists. "A little further..."

"Go Raven!" Starfire screamed.

"You can do it!" coached Cyborg.

Flu nodded his head and kept his stare on his prey. "Just a little more, Raven..." he muttered, showing off a toothy grin.

Raven kept her pace and slowly moved one step after another. Her breathing increased. Her heart pounded faster. The room began spinning, she felt more nauseous. Her knees buckled as her eyes and her throat burned.

Robin turned to Starfire. "What's going on?" he asked noticing something looking like steam surrounding his apathetic friend. "Is that steam?"

It was steam. It was the very heat coming out of Raven's body. The closer she moved to her friends, the higher her temperature became. It was no longer 114 degrees. Her temperature was now well over 135. Raven gasped for air and collapsed back onto the ground as if she belonged to it. The heat inside her body was literally boiling her blood. That is where the steam was coming from. Her eyes bulged out of her head as she opened her mouth for more air. She coughed and sputtered with all her might until something red came out of her mouth. "Help me..." she choked, squeezing her throat so that she might ease the pain. The blood that she threw up, sizzled on the ground. The sweat that fell from her face began to evaporate.

"What the hell are you doing?!?" Robin screamed with fury. He stood his ground and did not dare to move an inch for Flu could just end it there.

Flu scoffed. "Oh, I didn't tell you? The closer Raven gets to you, the higher her temperature becomes. That's part of the game. Raven is a tough combatant though. No one has survived this long. No one has gotten past 120 degrees."

"So what's her temperature now?" Cyborg inquired, half wanting to know, half not wanting to know.

"Hmm," Flu thought for a moment. "About 138 degrees Fahrenheit."

The Teen Titans' eyes grew wide as watermelons. Raven had a furnace inside of her body. She was already burning up from the inside.

"MONSTER!!!!" Beast boy screamed with all his might. Tears fell from his face from seeing Raven suffer so much. He turned to her. "Raven! Get up! You can't let Flu beat you!! Get up!!!"

Raven was listening, but her body was failing her. She rested her head on the ground, ready to become one with the dust. Beast boy couldn't take it anymore. Flu cheated. He was going to pay and Raven would die anyway. If she didn't get up and run to them, she would die and if she just lay there, her body would burn. But how could she survive this long anyway? 'It's almost like Raven isn't human.' the changeling thought.

Starfire couldn't take much herself. She was only watching her friend die and there was nothing that she could do about it. She examined Raven. The telepath looked like a fish out of water. She was knocking on death's door. Suddenly, Raven stood up once more and fell to her knees. Knowing that she didn't have much strength or much time left, Raven crawled to the Titans. She could feel everything get hotter and hotter as she inched closer and closer. Was this the end? Will her body burn up as soon as she reached her teammates? Will she even reach them? She had too much pride to give up. She would rather go down fighting than waiting for death to slice her open with its sickle. The fires inside rose higher. The steam surrounded her and she smelled her own blood cooking. She was a lot stronger than she thought. Why had she gotten this far? Was it because she was Trigon's daughter? She looked ahead and barely made out the figures that were her friends. All of them were cheering for her except Beast boy. He only looked on with worry and fear. She saw his tears. Water...how she yearned for it!

Raven was so close to them. She was about a yard away but she stopped and smiled. Robin and the others stopped cheering. Was this it? They all looked hypnotized by her smile. It was the sweetest smile she ever had and it was like the smile sent one simple message to them. That message was from Raven and it was:

'Good bye.'

Starfire already knew what happened and burst out in tears right before Raven hit the ground one last time.

Flu sneered. "151 degrees Fahrenheit." The steam around Raven stopped and her body slowly began to cool off, but she remained still and never moved. Starfire ran up to her and held her hand. "Raven! Wake up please! I beg of you!" The tears came down like waterfalls but Starfire's tears didn't even begin to compare with Beast boy's. He was so shocked, he couldn't even blink. Cyborg and Robin eventually joined Starfire in mourning.

Flu smiled and waited for his newly arrived energy... "What?" he looked back at the dead-looking psychic. "Where's the energy? Where is the meal I am to receive from her death? I have nothing. No energy! C-can she still be alive?! But how?!" Flu screamed in frustration. "She should be dead!"

The Titans looked up from Raven's 'corpse'. Beast boy looked as well. A bright yellow aura surrounded Flu and the same thing happens with Raven. The teens backed away. Raven's corpse flew up and her eyes shot open. She was alive and Flu was finishing her off. The steam was returning and Raven's expression was of utter shock as she could feel the essence of life being drained out of her.

Robin wouldn't have anymore of it. He rammed into Flu at full force. The aura disappeared around both the Virus and the telekinetic. Raven dropped to the floor where Beast boy immediately rushed to her aid. The other two Titans joined Robin in attacking the enemy.

"Raven..." Beast boy ran his finger through her hair. "Rest here. I'll take care of you." he whispered as he gently placed Raven back onto the ground. He crawled over to the backpack that the Tamaranean had dropped and dug through it for the canister of water. "Aha!" The shape shifter opened it and poured a bit on Raven's face. "Good thing it's still cold." he smiled, dropping some of the water in her mouth. She swallowed and he jumped in excitement. She was getting better already. After forcing Raven to drink all the water, he gave her some cough medicine. Raven made a face of disgust after swallowing the concoction. Then she looked like she would throw up again.

Flu looked like he was getting pummeled but he threw the super heroes off of him. "Fine! You want to fight, I'll give you a fight!" He reared back and dealt Cyborg a heavy blow in the stomach. The poor android flew back across the room and hit the wall right behind Beast boy, sliding down.

"Cy, you okay?!" the green one yelped.

Cyborg lift his head a little to roll his eyes at his animal buddy. "What do you think?"

Starfire shut her eyes and fired barrage after barrage of super bright starbolts at her opponent. When the smoke cleared Starfire looked in shock at what stood there. Flu stood straight up, crossing his arms over his chest. "Seriously, you're a fine looking specimen but you have terrible aim." Flu admitted.

Starfire was awestruck. "I did not hit you?"

"You hit me but...I didn't really feel anything. Not even a tickle." Flu smirked and plucked Starfire from the air. Immediately Boy Wonder jumps on Flu's back and tries stabbing him with a bird-a-rang. Flu laughs and hurls them at the same time. Robin rolls around in the dirt before coming to a stop while Starfire just lands on her face. The Virus places his hands on his hips and continues to laugh at the pathetic display of superheroism. Suddenly, a green bull smashes into the laughing blue germ and nails him against a wall. Flu lifts bull Beast boy by the horns and tosses him away where the green shape shifter transforms into a hawk and swoops at Flu for more. Starfire, Robin, and even Cyborg charge after him.

The amazing Flu dodges hawk Beast boy and jumps on Robin's head forcing Robin to flip forward and land face-first on the ground. Then Flu jumps up again and split kicks Cyborg and Starfire. Beast boy comes back like a boomerang and changes from a hawk to a kangaroo, nailing Flu on the head. Flu stands erect like he hadn't been hit by anything. Kangaroo Beast boy eventually falls on his back, transforming into an anaconda, launching at Flu and coiling around his transparent blue neck. The anaconda squeezes but Flu acts like nothing's happening. The other three get back on their feet again.

"How about we try some teamwork? Cyborg, let's try the sonic boom." Robin grunted.

Cyborg nodded and it didn't take long for them to be running up to Flu. Cyborg shot his sonic cannon and Robin threw his light disk into the blast. The room was filled with white.

When the blinding light vanished, all the Titans rubbed their eyes but Flu kept his eyes open and didn't even blink. He still had the snake around his neck. Finally, getting irritated by Beast boy's attempted strangling, Flu yanked the snake off of him and threw it at a dazed Robin.

"You okay, BB?" Robin inquired after coming to his senses again. Beast boy reverted back to normal and responded by holding his head and groaning. Starfire lift Cyborg as he shot from his cannon and Starfire shot her eye lasers at Flu. Robin stampeded to the enemy and attacked in a fury of punches. He kept punching and punching hoping to make Flu's outer covering so irritated that it either breaks or bruises. He has to feel pain somehow. Robin looked up at the opponent as he was attacking furiously. Flu didn't move. He continued to stand still as a statue. Finally, thinking of the Teen Titan leader as an annoyance, Flu slapped him across the face causing Robin to twirl in the air like a spinning top before smacking into the ground and landing in an uncomfortable position. Starfire dropped Cyborg on Flu who ended up moving out of the way just as Cyborg collided with the ground. This time, the tin man would attack in a fury of blows. Flu managed to stay still just as before. Starfire inwardly screamed as she saw Robin sprawled out in some twisted position. Her eyes glowed with deadly anger as she tackled Flu to the ground.

Flu actually fell on his back! He wasn't expecting the Tamaranean to pack such an attack. Cyborg and Starfire each pounded Flu while he was on the ground. Flu still showed no signs of weakness. Although he was being pounded, he was not feeling a thing. He did not feel the cold, hard metal fist slamming into his face or the burning green aura of the wild alien princess's starbolts sizzling into his "skin". In fact, he thought that all of that kinda tickled. So it may have looked like he was getting beat up, but in actual reality, the two Titans had done no damage to him at all.

Flu decided to kick them off but he kicked them off so hard that they hit the roof of the basement. A stegosaurus charged at the alien Virus and was caught and spun around in an instant. Beast boy rolled around on the ground before coming to a complete stop. "Is there anyway to beat this guy?"

He saw his leader get up and run after Flu. Robin started stabbing the Virus with a bird-a-rang but the weapon broke and Flu twisted Robin's arm, kicking him to Starfire who was now lying on the floor with Cyborg. All three of them got up again to desperately find some sort of weakness. They tried everything and still haven't made a single scratch on the evildoer.

"He has to have some sort of weakness. There is no way that this guy can be invincible. I have to find a way to beat him...for Raven...for the rest of Earth...for all of us. But how do you beat a flu?" Beast boy wondered. He looked back at where he last left Raven. She looked dead but he knew that she was only unconscious. She has been through too much for her own body to handle. Beast boy felt pity for her. He felt her pain. "I have to do something. There has to be something that can weaken Flu...but what is it?" Suddenly it hit him. "Wait a minute! I think I know how to end this once and for all!" It was time to put his plan to work.

That's that! Next chapter will be the last so stay tuned! You'll like the last chapter. I've got something special in it for all of you BB/Raven fans. By the way, it might take me sometime to post some chapters up cuz my dad took the plug of DSL out because my brother spent too much time on the computer. Man, even though I try to behave, it always seems to be like I get punished somehow! I'll try to bribe Trigon into re-plugging it in. But I'll try to get the last chapter up in a jiffy! Also, I heard new episodes of Teen Titans come starting July 31! See you guys later!!

Raven: Can I have some tissues? sniffle