Author's Note: I, um, have nothing to say. Except, in response to the question of how often I update, I try to do it every few days, two-four times weekly, probably. Unless I'm stuck (which I am-- in the middle of chapter six right now and toying with a bunch of ideas). Hopefully, I'll be over that rut before I have to post that chapter. But just a warning: Unless I say otherwise, there might be a delay for chapter six.

Onward ho (with the story, that is)

Chapter 3: 1:00: Hail Storm

1:00

"Your name is Ray?" The doctor's eyebrow raised curiously, his blue eyes intent behind his glasses.

"Yes," the boy nodded, firmly.

"Do you have a last name, Ray?" the doctor asked. Ray examined his face. It was leathery and worn, and yet his eyes still had a sparkle of youth to them. As if he'd grown old in a short amount of time. There was a gray streak in his dull black hair, like smoke against smudged charcoal.

Ray paused before answering his question. "No..." he said slowly. It took a lot of effort to try and control his mind from outside of it. Inside it, Raven could feel it crumbling down piece by piece. It often made her character seem spacey and inconstant. But it was so hard. She had to get out of here.

The doctor made a few notes on his notepad, then looked up at the boy with his ice blue eyes. "Do you know where you're from?"

Ray paused again. He bit his lip. Concentrating was so hard... It needed to be said now, or nothing would ever come of it. "I need... Dr. Taylor, listen closely, this is very important."

Dr. Taylor nodded and leaned in closer, his eyes betraying intrigue in spite of himself. Remain detached. That was the rule of Sun Oak's Psychiatric Hospital. But this was the first time the boy had spoken coherently since he had arrived. And he was peaceable. Some change had occurred in him. And now, he had something important to say.

"Something very wrong has happened to me and my friends," said Ray slowly, as if the words were hard to grasp.

"There are others with your problems?" the doctor was alarmed, but the boy shook his head.

"There are others..." he said. "Not like me. But being affected by things I have done. They are in danger because of me."

"Tell me what's happened and I'll inform the police immediately," said Taylor. He wasn't sure if he would do this or not. It all depended on how believable the boy's claims were. He was, after all, in the care of a mental hospital. But it was best to keep the patient's trust.

"The Teen Titans," said Ray. "It's very important I speak with them."

Taylor tried hard not to scoff. "And... why do you wish to speak with the Teen Titans?" he asked. He's probably trying to resolve an inner conflict he's unwilling to face by acting out an old dream of meeting the super hero team, Taylor thought.

"I know you think what does a... a kid..." Ray closed his eyes, as if trying to stop himself from crying. But when they opened again, they were dry. "What does a kid have to do with the Teen Titans? I'm a friend of theirs. Really, I am." Delusions of grandeur, thought Taylor. "And they'll know me when you tell them. But..." Ray paused again and seemed to try to collect himself. "You must let me do the talking. Please. This is a matter of life and death."

Smiling, Taylor made another note in his little book and it infuriated his patient.

"Do not mock me, Dr. Taylor," he hissed, his eyes glowing unusually red. Taylor jumped up and dropped his pad and paper.

"What the hell was that!" he cried. Ray seemed to calm down as a sharp pain stabbed at his mind.

"Please!" he begged, now desperate. "I swear to God, I'm not crazy. Something awful has happened. You need to get the Titans here now!"

Frustration engulfed Raven at that moment. She wanted to scream at the world, or perhaps destroy it. But she was powerless. Weak, powerless... and alone.

"OK..." said Taylor, backing slowly to the door. "I... I'll call them." And I really will, he thought.

Raven sighed and leaned back in her bed as Taylor retreated. She closed her eyes and fled into the depths of her mind again.

She looked around at the destruction. Her emotions were nearly set loose. She would release them later. Now, she had to keep her mind from falling apart.

Without her supernatural powers, it would be much more difficult. Her powers, linked both to body and mind, had somehow remained with her body. But with much concentration and focus, she could keep her mind standing just long enough to have a coherent conversation with her friends.

Using every ounce of strength left in her, she constructed a mental force field, a mind skeleton. She erected it right next to her outer mind wall, keeping it from collapsing in on itself. She focused on her dead and decaying memories. She would need them to convince the Titans of who she really was. If she forgot herself... there was no hope for her. Indeed, her memories were the most precious thing her mind contained. They must be preserved.

Focusing harder, she created a shield which absorbed her memory center. Walking between the pillars of memory from this year and that of her life, she tried hard to hold each steady, locking them in place. She connected each to a part of the shield surrounding it. Sighing from the effort, she stepped back to admire her work.

Each pillar was relatively secure, wavering every now and then especially as the ground quaked beneath her. Yes, they would hold, but it was only a temporary solution. She needed to get out of there.

She flew to the outskirts of consciousness and examined the barrier between conscious and the many levels of subconsciousness. There were holes in the wall that needed mending. It trembled before her, the holes making it weaker. Quickly, Raven did some mental sewing and patched them like a quilt. This would help her keep a train of thought in concentration. Again, it was temporary. She felt this would only last a few hours before her mind could take no more and the supports would crumble and she would fall...

Maybe it would last until 11:00...

Ring.

"Man, I gotchyou now!" Cyborg cried as his car squealed against the pavement and he knocked Beast Boy's over.

Ring.

"Oh no you don't!" Beast Boy shrieked, standing up as he caught up to Cyborg's vehicle rounding the next bend.

Ring, Ring.

"Someone'd better get that," said Cyborg.

"Uh huh," said Beast Boy.

Both remained entranced by the screen.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

"Where the hell are Rob and Star?" Cyborg demanded. "That ringing's getting hella annoying."

"Then go answer it," said Beast Boy. "Haha! Passed ya!"

Ring, Ring.

"Dude that's not cool!" Cyborg cried.

"Yo, hold up man," said Beast Boy, as he crossed the finish line. Sighing, he reached over and picked up the phone.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Beast Boy?" came the voice of a young boy.

"The one and only," said Beast Boy with a grin. He looked over to Cyborg, who was frowning annoyed at the stats on the screen.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to hear your voice."

The green Titan frowned. "Who is this? Do I know you?"

"It's Raven."

"Raven's not here, kid." He looked towards Cyborg who went to turn off the machine. "Yo, Cy! No cheating! Save my stats!"

"No, Beast Boy," said the boy on the phone, sounding irked. "I'm Raven."

"I told you kid, Raven's out. Even if she wasn't, I don't think she's big on the kids that try and act like her. Get a better role model. What the hell is that look for, Cy???"

Cyborg was staring dumbstruck at the screen as if just seeing something.

"You little worm!" he screamed, pointing frantically at it. "You beat me with a damn handicap!"

"Beast Boy!" came the call of the kid on the other end.

"Listen, kid, I'm sorry, but we don't take fan calls. How'd you get this number, we're unlisted!"

"I'm at a hospital!" said the boy.

"So...?" said Beast Boy. He looked over at Cyborg, who looked murderous. "Listen, kid, I gotta go..."

"The coo-coo clock you gave me for my birthday drove me nuts so I threw it at you, right?" said the boy quickly. Beast Boy paused and frowned.

"Did they write about that in the paper?" he asked.

"Six months ago, a man named Charles Larkin tried to kill you by possessing my body," said the boy.

Beast Boy looked up at Cyborg. "Hey Cy, did the press know about the whole Larkin thing a few months ago?"

"No," the boy on the phone said quickly. "Because I refused to let it out. But I regret that now."

"Rae, how'd you put on that weird voice? You sound like such a kid! It's kinda funny, actually!" Beast Boy laughed. His laugh halted. "Wait, you're at a hospital? What happened?"

But at that very moment, Raven and Starfire walked through the door and Beast Boy frowned. He pointed at Raven.

"Wait, how are you here, you're on the phone?"

"What?" said the boy on the phone, his voice quivering. The Raven before them looked calm.

"Put the phone down, Beast Boy," she said simply.

"Oh God..." said the voice on the phone. Beast Boy's frown deepened.

"Hey kid, nice prank you pulled," he said into the phone. "You really had me going for a minute."

"No, Beast Boy, please!" the voice begged. "That's not me!"

"Sure," said Beast Boy. "And I'm Superman's cousin."

"Beast Boy, I'm at Sun Oak's Psychiatric Hospital in–"

"Oh!" Beast Boy exclaimed, as if just understanding. "Wow, OK, that makes sense. You really think you're Raven don't you, kid? Wow, that's kind of sad... Get a hobby."

"Beast Boy, please, don't hang up–"

"Bye kid," said Beast Boy with a grin, hanging up the phone.

"What was that about?" asked Cyborg, looking from Beast Boy to Raven.

"Kid," Beast Boy replied. "Thought he was Raven. He actually convinced me a second. Had some pretty good details."

"He's called me before," said Raven. "It's kinda weird. I'm sorry you had to deal with that, Beast Boy."

"How'd he get our number?" said Beast Boy. "Do you think he stole it from hospital records?"

"It's very possible," said Raven. "Next time he calls, just hang up. You know what he sounds like now."

"Will do!" said Beast Boy, though silently he contemplated having a little fun with the Raven imposter.

"If you excuse me, I'm going to my room to meditate." And she grinned at them again, an expression which acted like poison to its victims; Beast Boy lost his cheery disposition; Cyborg dropped the video game he'd been holding; Starfire stumbled backwards.

Raven seemed to ignore any peculiar reactions to her peculiar expression as she glided out of the room, seeming to resonate with some strange, powerful force.

"She did it again!" Cyborg cried, looking agitated. "That crazy macabre twisting of her lips into a distorted evil mutation!"

"You mean a smile, Cyborg," Beast Boy said chuckling.

Cyborg ignored him. "Dammit, doesn't she know what that can do to a person?"

But Starfire was smiling. "I am glad to see Friend Raven has lost her dreary pessimism. This is no great tragedy. It is time for celebration! Perhaps now she shall participate in our amusing pastimes and express mirth at our witty jests."

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at Starfire. "I've figured it out. She sounds like Shakespeare."

Starfire blinked at him blankly a moment, then seemed to dismiss the confusing comment. "Where is Robin?" Starfire asked.

"He's been locked in that dank, stuffy room of his all day. Maybe he suffocated," Cyborg said.

"I shall go see what has troubled him so..." Starfire muttered, making her way to the stairs.

As she left, Cyborg turned to Beast Boy.

"You really think she sounds like Shakespeare?" he said skeptically.

Tears. Warm and wet, they slipped down her face. It had been years since she'd felt the sensation. Somehow, they were comforting... and strangely soggy. She laughed, wondering what her friends would say to see her like this.

It had been a long time since she could cry without worrying about the side effects.

It had all started when she'd hit puberty. Her powers, dulled by the incapable passion of a child, had hit her full force. A boy had pushed her down at school, calling her Morticia Adams. She'd scraped her elbow, and the burn had shot through her arm and straight to her heart. She'd narrowed her eyes and cursed at him...

When his body was torn in five different directions.

Everyone else had screamed and scattered.

But young Raven had stood, staring at the place the boy had just been, standing over her like a tyrannical monarch.

And then, He began to haunt her.

Hell, how he haunted her.

Nightmares and waking trances of Hell, calling to her to join him in her destiny. Queen of the Damned. No. No, this was wrong. She was no demon. She never would be.

And she ran.

Constantly, memories she had suppressed to the back of her mind were rising to the surface. She tried hard to bite them back. To strengthen her mental barrier, she had linked her memories to it, causing her memories to continuously brush against her consciousness as they swirled around in their pillars.

She needed to contact her friends.

The phone call to Beast Boy had been futile. She needed to see them herself. But what would they do? What would they say? Would Larkin turn them against her?

She scowled at his manipulative Talent. All it would take was to sneak in through the back door of their minds and tweak their perceptions a little.

Two could play that game.

But the thought of entering her friends' minds disturbed her. And the thought of doing it to change them seemed sick and perverted. An unspoken taboo, the thought was an abominable violation to her and made her gag to think of it. It was like raping the mind.

No matter what, Raven would not resort to forcing entry to her friends' minds. She was not as twisted as Larkin. However, having been inside his head so often, she had no qualms about bashing against his mind wall in order to enter. And after all he'd done to her...

She tried to force the memory back before it revealed itself. She remembered Jordan's gaunt form, floating like a zombie around the apartment. She remembered Larkin's consistent promises that she would destroy Trigon one day. She remembered his maniacal laughter when she had discovered his true intentions. He never cared. And she had loved him so...

She let out a small sob which quickly turned into a howl. She fell to her knees and screamed at the ceiling, letting out years of pent up anguish and rage. She was going to destroy him. With her last ounce of breath, she would make sure he would never know what it felt like to be loved.

As her mind fell apart, she clung to one desperate hope. She needed to save her friends. And in return, they would save her soul.

They had to. They loved her.

And she...

She loved them.

The room was dark. She hadn't bothered to knock.

She looked at the dim light coming from the corner and could make out the arch of his back in the shadows of a revelation.

"Robin?"

He made no move to show that he had heard her. Cautiously, she crept across the threshold and tried to avoid the bits of news articles that littered the floor as she made her way to him. She was inches away from him when she caught what he was analyzing.

Clippings of the London Times from years ago, along with scattered dark colored books that looked eerie and foreboding.

"What consumes you, my friend?"

Robin jumped at Starfire's voice and looked up. "What are you doing in here?" he snapped, angrily. "Don't you knock?"

"I called your name and you did not reply. I thought perhaps you were sleeping."

"Right," Robin laughed and looked at his watch. "Me, falling asleep. And at, what, 1:45 in the afternoon? You should know by now, Star, I'm quite the insomniac. Especially... recently..."

Starfire frowned at his pensive tone, but he said nothing further, his finger underlining the words of the book he was reading. Giving up, he sighed, closed the book, and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples.

"Something's going on," he said. "It's why I can't sleep at night."

"What is this you are speaking of?" Starfire asked. "A strange intuition?"

Robin bit his lip, his brow furrowed. "It's more than that... Something's tugging at my mind... When Raven entered the room, I don't know about you, but it got so cold I started shivering."

Starfire blinked. "And this is new to you?"

Robin laughed. "Well yes, I'll admit, Raven can have that effect... but this time it was different. Something... wasn't right about her."

Starfire smiled, understanding. "This I have already discussed with her. She informs me that she is turning the leaf."

"Turning a new leaf, eh..." Robin muttered.

"Yes," Starfire said, nodding. "She said that she has all to be happy for."

"Oh, that's just it. Raven's always been happy," said Robin. At the confused look on Starfire's face, he continued. "Listen, Raven's never been particularly unhappy when she was with us. She just refused to express it as often as, well, say, you or Beast Boy."

"And this was done in order to contain her destructive powers," said Starfire, comprehending.

"So the fact that she said that confuses me."

"I understand," said Starfire. "Perhaps she has finally discovered a way to express her emotions without fear."

"Something tells me you're half-right..." said Robin. "Look, something's not right here. I just have that feeling. Ever since Raven sort of fell into my head those months ago, I've been rather intuitive when it comes to her. And now... it's just gone. And something cold has taken over, freezing my insight and... it burns me. Like a hailstorm. The only problem is, I don't know how a summer sky can hail. That's what I've been trying to figure out."

Robin gestured at the books scattered on his desk. Starfire picked one up and looked at the title. "Mind Links: Benefits and Disadvantages," she mumbled. She looked at a clipping from the London Times that had been under the book...

Largest British Cult Ring Exposed: Ringleader Disappears.

"Charles Larkin was a very influential man in British society," Robin explained. "He was also the leader of a huge national cult concerned with ESP and the likes. Most people found it a load of bull. But I think there might have been something to it."

"Why are you researching this man?" Starfire asked.

Robin sighed, his shoulders slumped. "I don't know," he said. "That intuition I was telling you about? It just screams snake."

"Abby?"

The nurse jumped at the timid voice. She looked down and her eyes widened to see a pale ten-year-old boy staring up at her with broken brown eyes.

"Ray!" she cried. "You're not supposed to be out of your room!"

"You should really lock your doors," said Ray, inscrutably. "Especially to the rooms where you keep unstable patients."

"Taylor's gonna kill me..." Abby muttered.

"He doesn't have to know," said Ray. "I need your help."

"What kind of help?" Abby was suspicious.

"I need you to take me to the Teen Titans."

Abby laughed. "Ray, sweetie, you know I can't do that."

"You can if I make you," said Ray. "And please don't make me do that."

Abby frowned. This kid is creeping me out... "It's against hospital policy."

"I'm not a hospital patient," Ray replied.

Abby raised an eyebrow. "So we're playing games now?"

"You could say that," said Ray. He looked around. Biting his lip, he motioned her to follow him, then stepped into a nearby exam room, closing the door.

"Abby, I know you're a good person," said Ray, "and you wouldn't want anyone to get hurt could you prevent it. I'm giving you the chance to save not only my life, but the lives of my four best friends."

"There are five Titans," Abby pointed out.

"Not when I die there won't be." His face was straight and deadly serious. Abby didn't comprehend. Ray sighed and closed his eyes, looking old before his time, but still too young to know. "I... can't tell you the exact truth. Because you would never in a million years believe me. So please, Abby, I don't want to hurt you. Just trust me. If you don't, the Teen Titans could die."

Abby sighed and tried to look reassuring. "Ray. I know what you must be going through. The Teen Titans are fine. No one is going to die. What you're saying... it's a delusion. Something you've created in your head–"

"That's impossible," Ray said with a scoff. "It's not even my head."

"Ray, you're not making sense," said Abby, getting quickly annoyed. Ray sighed.

"You don't want to see me angry," said Ray. "Even without my powers, it's not a pretty sight. Ask Beast Boy."

"Ray, I don't know where you got the idea of knowing the Teen Titans, but–"

"That's it!" hissed the monster now before her, in the body of a child with glowing red eyes. Abby shrieked in surprised. "You refused to listen to me, so I'm showing you what will destroy my friends. My name is not Ray. Nor did that name ever belong to the body I now possess. Someone stole my body and now, I want it back. And dammit, Abby Clarke, you're going to help me or so help me God, I'll kill everyone myself."

Abby was pale and flat against the wall. The thing before her seemed to calm down. Its eyes returned to normal and it was a little boy again, taking a deep breath and smiling at her.

"Sorry you had to see that," he said. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Now will you take me to the Titans?"

Abby merely nodded, dumbstruck.

I need to get a new job, she thought.