Author's Note: OK. So it took me a while getting this up. I warned you. Luckily, chapter seven is written and ready, however chapter eight is being annoying now. So yeah. Just... keep your eye peeled. Chapters should come within the week, or if not, then within two. I shouldn't ever exceed those limits.

Also, I would like to thank all you wonderful people for giving thoughtful reviews! I love the questions you ask! I'm sorry, I can't name you all, but your questions bring ideas to mind. And your corrections as well (such as the whole "that's not how Raven's past went" thing.) Though it's been established that Rae's past has been improvised and remolded by Yours Truly, I enjoy any information you can give me about her ACTUAL past. The name of her mother, for instance, came in handy and I got an idea and used it. The question about Robin's mental self... soul self, I like that (and will give you credit... "El Jugador" for coining the expression). Perhaps that shall be answered in time. You see, I like questions, because they jolt me out of the limbo of writer's block. When you think these questions up, you force me to think of answers either to incorporate into the story or explain in Author's Notes.

Also, I do understand that switching between Raven Raven and Larkin Raven (if THAT made any sense) can be confusing... When inside their heads, or writing in their POV, I call each by their given name-- Raven as Raven, and Larkin as Larkin. When outside their heads, or in a general POV, I call each by how the look like, or the name they've given themselves-- Raven as Ray and Larkin as Raven. If that just confused you more, please, by all means, ignore it.

As a last note, I would like to remind everyone that this fic is dedicated to Instant Coffee The Magnificent (Without the magnificent in her actual title-- though it should be there.) Currently, she's been pretty stressed, so all give a shout out to her to have a little fun now and then but also finish the school work/other work she needs to do-- so her great story can be posted quicker. So I just wanted to say that this chapter was mainly posted for her (though this story was mainly posted for her) as my way of saying "Feel better!" and "Here's something non-stressful for you to do." But by all means, Heather, don't let reading this interfere with your more important work. I'd fully understand if you read and reviewed this when all that is done. Cheers, hon.

So, I give you Chapter Six:

Chapter Six: 4:00: Quoth the Raven

4:00

Raven walked the white foreboding corridors of Sun Oak's warily.

It feels like I've been here before... she thought.

Abby had suggested the walk would clear her cluttered head. While unconscious, she had used the pillars of memory of her own four best friends to keep her mind from falling. Enforced by her feelings for them, and her determination, she was certain that if anything was strong enough to keep her from going completely insane, that would do it.

Larkin had attacked her mental barrier, which had caused the mental skeleton she had erected to crumble and it had crashed in on her. Her memories, for the most part, were intact, though she was sad that there were some memories she would never know again.

Damn Larkin, she thought to herself. But she knew cursing him would do her no good. She needed a strategy, a good one, in order to defeat him once and for all. But how?

Abby had vowed to help her. "If I can do one thing in this world to help a super hero, I will," she'd told Raven proudly after she'd fluently lied to Dr. Taylor about taking Raven to Jump City General Hospital for a CAT scan. He'd scolded her for not telling him, then quickly gave up when he noticed she was no longer listening. Raven was impressed that he hadn't even asked for the CT. Abby had informed her that Taylor treated her more like an incompetent medical student than an experienced nurse. Just as well, he expected her to lose half the things for which she was responsible. And since he didn't need the results of Ray's medical check-up, he just assumed Abby had 'misplaced them.'

"Sometimes, it's quite convenient," said Abby with a wink.

Abby had ordered Raven to relax a little, despite her protests. And so now, she found herself wandering the halls of the psychiatric hospital, past rooms with names she didn't know...

All but one.

Raven paused outside of room 251. Under the room number was the name "Dr. Light," and his doctor, which happened to be Taylor as well.

Raven put her palm cautiously on the door. It was cold and harsh, as well steel should be. She frowned. Strange vibes were coming from this room.

Dr. Light... Why is this name so familiar?

She looked around and noticed that she was in the closed ward where her own isolated room resided. She hadn't meant to wander here. Something had carried her here, and was still calling to her.

Cautiously, she pressed the button which unlocked the door and stepped inside.

The light was blinding. Raven had to cover her eyes.

A cloaked man, cowering in the far corner looked up. His eyes widened in fear and he frantically tried to flatten himself further against the padded walls.

"No... No..." he muttered, looking petrified. "Nonono, not you!"

"Please," said Raven slowly, "I don't want to hurt you..."

"Nonono..." the man mumbled. Raven frowned.

"You... you recognize me?"

"Evil, evil, evil..." the man uttered. He threw his hands over his ears as he sank to the floor, his eyes screwed shut. "Evilevilevilevilevilevil YOU!"

Raven hesitated. "I... who are you? Do... Did Larkin do something to you?"

"Dark. It's so dark..." His voice was unusually high pitched.

"Are you kidding? It's not even brighter on the sun!" Raven said.

Suddenly, the man's head turned and Raven froze. "No," he said. "You."

"I'm not Larkin," said Raven, slowly. "Whatever he did to you, I don't want to hurt you..."

"Hurt me..." the man echoed. "Hurtme hurtme hurtme..."

Raven took another step towards him, but he shrieked.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

Raven obeyed and stepped back instead. "I... How do you know who I am?"

"I felt that I must scream or die! And now– again! –Hark! Louder! Louder! Louder! Louder!"

Raven eyed him warily a moment. She opened her mouth to speak, but he continued in his rant. He covered his ears.

"Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –Tear up the planks! Here, here! –It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

Recognition hit Raven like a gong and it resonated through her damaged head.

"Poe..." she whispered, as the man writhed on the floor in mental agony. "Why are you quoting Poe?"

The man's behavior changed completely as he stopped in his screams and sat up, staring directly at Raven. "It haunts me at night..." he whispered. "While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping... As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

Cold fear settled in the pit of Raven's stomach as the muscles in her throat constricted. She blinked. "You... you don't recognize me as Larkin, do you?" she asked, stuttering.

Slowly, wickedly, he nodded up and down, grinning a twisted grin. "I opened wide the door; Darkness there, and nothing more..."

"No..." Raven muttered, stepping away from him, as if his insanity was spreading. "No, please, stop."

But he rose to his feet and advanced on her. "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before..."

"Please, no more," said Raven. "Who are you? Who am I? Oh God!" And the little boy began to sob.

The man stopped and eyed her curiously as she cried.

"Who am I?"

Strangely, he kneeled next to her and placed a hand tenderly on her shoulder. She looked up at him, into his broken eyes and saw the damage that had been done to his mind.

Her damage...

She gasped.

"I did this to you?"

He smiled fleetingly, but it was like seeing the smile of a ghost.

Slowly, words began to rise in the back of Raven's throat as she became entranced by his dead eyes... "Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"

The grin on the man's face widened. "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore...'"

Raven trembled. Of course, how could she have forgotten?

"Dr. Light... Beast Boy... and Cyborg... my mirror... Oh God..." Raven stood. She looked at the man with pity. "I... I'm sorry," she said. "No one deserves the pain I caused you..."

Quickly, she dusted herself off and left the man, silent now, alone in the light.

Which, to Raven, was far worse than being alone in the dark.

"Starfire, what's wrong?"

Raven jumped as a star bolt destroyed the floor at her feet. She looked, wide-eyed, from the floor to Starfire. "Bad day?"

Starfire let out a frustrated growl and nearly burst into tears. "I do not believe I said such a thing! Nor that you were the one who made me say it!"

Raven looked strangely worried but Starfire didn't notice. "I made you say what now?"

Starfire pouted as she slid to the floor in the hallway. She stared at her feet gloomily as she spoke. "I spoke with Robin about the illness you says he has."

Raven seemed to relax. "Oh. You told him that, huh?"

"Yes!" Starfire declared angrily, staring up at Raven with fiery green eyes. "And now, he believes I am a lorf-sucking klorbag!"

"Um... I don't think he really thinks that," said Raven, kneeling down beside Starfire and putting an arm tenderly around her shoulder. "I think he was just shocked. He's in denial right now. He won't believe anyone, not even me, and I've tried. He won't even let me into his head to fix the damage."

Starfire looked up at Raven, eagerly. "You... you can do that? You can fix him?"

Raven gave Starfire one of her newly common smiles. "Of course I can. It's a simple physical deterioration that can be fixed with some mental therapy. I'll need to work from the inside out, though, and I'll need access to his subconscious, which he's refusing me. I never realized he was so mind-sensitive. Every time I try to get close, he can feel me and he pulls away."

"I can help!" said Starfire eagerly. "We all will help. If it will help Robin recover, we all will do what we can."

Raven grinned broadly. "That's exactly what I needed to hear." She rose to her feet.

"Raven?" Starfire said, timidly, looking up after her. "You... you do believe that he will be alright? He was... hurt, when I spoke to him. I suppose I was... upset with myself for being so cruel. I did not like that distressed and painful expression upon his features when I spoke."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about him, Starfire," she said. "You're a wonderful person. You were just trying to help. Later, he'll realize this and love you all the more for it because you were the first to be honest with him."

Starfire brightened. "Do you really believe that is so?"

Raven gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course I do."

And then, Starfire did something Raven hadn't expected. She leapt up and hugged her.

"Thank you!" Starfire exclaimed. "I am so fortunate to have you as one of my best friends!"

Larkin, in Raven's body, stared dumbstruck over Starfire's shoulder. Slowly, cautiously, he returned the hug, a strange feeling stirring in the pit of his stomach. "Best... friends..."

Sandy, the current admin attendant, poked her head into the exam room Abby and Dr. Taylor were in, running tests on an MPD patient.

"Abby, someone's on the phone for you," said the freckled face.

"Who is it?" Abby asked.

"Dunno," said Sandy, shrugging. "He wouldn't say."

Abby nodded and smiled at her. "Thanks," she said. "I'll take it in a minute."

As the attendant disappeared behind the white door, Taylor was eying his patient intently over his clipboard. "Why don't you take that call now, Abby. Mrs. Kennedy doesn't seem to be going anywhere."

The woman on the couch laughed. "Oh please, Doctor," she said, melodically. "Call me Jackie!"

Taylor raised a mocking eyebrow at Abby, sharing a quiet joke. "As I was saying, I'm sure I can take care of... Jackie here."

Suppressing a giggle, Abby nodded silently. "Yes, Doctor."

Snagging a clipboard from the stack on Sandy's desk, Abby looked it over as she picked up the phone. "This is Abby Clarke."

The voice on the other end was the last she had expected to hear.

"Abby? Hi. This is Robin... from the Teen Titans? Hey listen, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me about that patient you brought over today."

Abby stopped reading her chart. "I'm... sorry?"

"Ray, I think you said his name was. Right?"

"Uh... yeah," said Abby, frowning. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"I'm not sure what I'm looking for," said Robin. "I just wanted to sort some things out about him. How long exactly has he been at your hospital?"

Abby paused and smiled. "Which one, Ray or Raven?"

"Excuse me?" He sounded quite baffled.

Abby giggled. "Well you wouldn't be calling about him if you didn't believe the kid on some level. So tell me, Robin, what about Ray's fantastic story has captured your imagination. No, no wait, don't tell me– he looks like Raven, right? That's gotta be it." Abby burst into full-out fits of laughter.

"I guess I shouldn't have called then," said Robin, obviously offended. "Sorry to have bothered you."

Abby sobered and sighed. "Robin, wait," she said, her voice absent of mockery. "I was just... well, checking. Hold on a minute." Abby looked up. "Hey, Sandy. Could you go and give this chart to Dr. Taylor and ask him why the anorexic in 311 hasn't been discharged yet? Thanks, you're a doll..." Abby gave Sandy her winning smile.

Sandy reluctantly took the chart and rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said, knowing full well Abby's intentions.

Abby looked around at the open hall and was glad to see no one else was around. She jumped into Sandy's swivel chair and began to play solitaire on her computer.

"OK," she said. "So you do believe him, er, her, er... well, you believe the story."

Robin hesitated. "... Yes...?" It was almost a question. Abby smiled.

"Good answer," said Abby. "Why."

"Why?"

"Yeah, why," said Abby. She abandoned her game of solitaire when she noticed Sandy's purse under the desk and snatched it. She began to dig through it as Robin thought of an answer.

"Why is a complicated thing to ask... do you believe her?"

Abby pulled out a pack of Wrigley's gum from Sandy's purse and unwrapped a stick. "Yeah, actually. Though I gotta tell you, I didn't until after that display with your Raven over there."

"So this isn't some sort of psychological crap to test to see if I'm crazy, right?"

"That remains to be seen," said Abby. "Why have you called."

"Why does anyone call a psychiatric hospital? I want to know if I'm crazy or not." Abby nodded at this statement, chewing her gum slowly.

"I'm not exactly qualified to diagnose those things," she said.

"Well, then can you tell me the diagnoses on Ray?"

"Classified," Abby said. How she loved saying that word.

"Do you like being difficult, or is it just in your nature?" Robin snapped, annoyed.

"A bit of both, actually," Abby said with a grin. She then leaned onto the desk and held her hand over her mouth secretively so her words would only be heard by the receiver. Her next words were very solemn. "Robin, I can't tell you anything about Ray," she said. "But I can tell you my personal opinion on Raven."

Abby could hear the knowing smile in Robin's voice. "Ah," he said. "Loopholes."

"You got it," said Abby. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Cyborg, Beast Boy, put that game away," Raven ordered pompously from the top of the stairs. Neither boy responded. She dropped her composure and looked at Starfire. Taking a deep breath, she repeated, "Boys, now's not the time for video games. Your friend needs your help." Again, no reply from the Titans in question. Again, she frowned at Starfire. "I don't get it. Don't they respond when Robin calls them?"

Starfire grinned. "But Raven, you're not saying the right words." Smugly, she reached beside her and pulled a red lever on the wall. An alarm went off and the living room blinked red.

Immediately, the boys were in front of them, ready for orders. "What's the problem," asked Beast Boy.

"Yeah, let's kick some ass!" Cyborg cried.

Raven glanced at Starfire. "Very good," she said. "I never knew you had that in you." Starfire blushed. The boys frowned. "We need your help," Raven explained. "Robin... well, his hallucinations are getting worse. I need to get in his head and patch up a few things. But I can't do it if he won't let me. If it were anyone else, I might have been able to slip past their shield undetected... But Robin is one of the rare people who are mind sensitive, which makes things much more difficult... I'll need your help."

Beast Boy and Cyborg blinked at her. "You interrupted Mortal Combat... because Robin's crazy?" Beast Boy said.

Raven shrugged. "You could put it that way..." Both boys rolled their eyes.

"Come on! I was just about to finally beat him for once!"

"Cyborg, I think this is a little more important than video games!" Raven snapped. "Aren't you worried about Robin's sanity?"

"I never thought he was sane to begin with," Beast Boy said, blinking innocently.

Raven scoffed, annoyed. "I mean, honestly, you're not the least bit concerned that Robin's mind is falling apart?"

Again, Beast Boy and Cyborg blinked. "Um... no."

"Hey, he seems fine to me," said Cyborg. "Until he starts cowering in the corner and accusing us of plotting to murder him, I think we can let that be."

"Don't you see?" Raven cried, furiously. Everything in the room, the couch, chairs, the TV, all began to float menacingly in the air. "It's already begun! Robin's accusing me of trying to hurt him and the team! He tried to convince Starfire that I'm evil! I don't look evil to you, do I?"

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow as he watched their espresso maker float between them, engulfed in dark energy. "Uh... do you really want me to answer that right now?"

"Ugh!" Raven exclaimed, snatching her cloak in her fists. The TV cracked and all the light bulbs in the room shattered. Everything else fell to the floor as she stomped off down the hall.

Starfire blinked at Cyborg and Beast Boy, now in the dark. "I think that went rather well, do you agree?"

"Ray... Ray!"

Abby walked down the hall, poking her heads in rooms. Shit, I hope I haven't lost him...

"Ray!" she called. Suddenly, she stopped as she passed the archives. She frowned when she entered, seeing little Ray sitting on one of the filing cabinets, reading through a folder, looking very pale.

Abby sighed. "Ray, there you are, I've been looking all over for you!"

But Ray made no reply as he continued to stare at the file.

"... Hey... Ray... Can you hear me, kid? Um... Raven?" The name tasted strange on her tongue, like some exotic food she'd never heard of. Calling a little boy like that, with his pale skin and dark eyes and hair, disturbed her for some reason. As he sat there, staring at the file, she felt as though she were speaking to a corpse.

Finally, Ray closed the file and looked up at Abby inscrutably. "I paid a visit to an old friend of mine," Ray said. "Dr. Light. He gave me an idea."

"Doctor... he gave you what?" Abby looked surprised. Raven frowned.

"What's wrong, Abby?"

Abby closed her eyes and shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "Dr. Light disturbs me. Was that his file?"

Ray looked down at the files in his lap and then up at Abby, his expression blank. "No," he whispered as his only reply.

Abby looked into his eyes, which seemed sad a moment, as he put the file back into a drawer in one of the filing cabinets... titled "R." When Ray straightened again, he looked at Abby.

"But yes, Dr. Light did give me an idea," he said, the sadness in his eyes gone as his voice returned to normal volume. Abby was confused. The change was so sudden, she wondered if she had imagined the curiousness in his expression.

"And are you going to share that idea with me?"

Ray smiled and his eyes were bright. "I don't know if you know this, but a while ago, the other Titans and I battled a man with the alias of Dr. Light. I... well, my powers got a little out of control. I was having some internal conflicts... Anyways, he reminded me... shortly after the battle, Beast Boy was annoyed with me and somehow, his grubby little paws came in contact with my Mind Mirror."

"Beast Boy had a what now?" Abby said, baffled.

Ray chuckled. "Of course, it sounds ridiculous," he said. "But I use that mirror a lot in meditation. It's a place where I can seal away my emotions and bitter thoughts, a... reflection of what's in my head. If they found that mirror now, they would be sucked into it and I could speak with them on my Mental Plain. I could talk to them."

"So... you want them to find a mirror that would help them get into your head?" Abby said. Ray nodded, as if it were quite simple. Abby was still skeptical. "And how, oh brilliant one, do you expect them to do that?"

Ray bit his lip. "I haven't quite figured that out yet," he said.

Abby grinned and raised her eyebrows. "Well, I have," she said, jingling her car keys. "Robin wants to see you."

Understanding, Ray nodded, his face expressionless as he floated out of the room. "I'll get my coat."

Abby watched him leave. When the door closed, her attention turned back to the filing cabinet.

"R, huh," she muttered to herself. "What are you hiding, little guy?"

She pulled open the drawer and looked through it, but there was no file that should have interested the boy. Seeing as he'd only revealed his name to them hours earlier, their slow secretary wouldn't have had time enough to find his "John Doe" file and title it "Ray."

Sighing, she gave up and was about to push the drawer closed when she noticed a file had been put in backwards from the others. Frowning, she pulled it out and looked at the name on the file.

"ROTH, ANGELA," the file said. There was a large red stamp on the front of the vanilla folder: DECEASED.

Silently, she too took a seat atop one of the shorter filing cabinets and skimmed through the file herself, her eyes devouring information like a starving lion.

...Prone to violence... Suffers from manic depression... Severe schizophrenia... symptoms include inability to express emotions, detachment from reality, misinterpretation of fantasy as reality... Prone to incomprehensible ramblings... Neglects daughter... Suicide attempts: 3... Also suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... cause of this unknown, but therapy producing results... masochism

Abby eyed the folder curiously, wondering what on earth Ray could have wanted with such a file...

There was a tentative knock on Robin's door. He looked up and opened his mouth, about to say "Come in," when he hesitated. Frowning, he said instead, "Who's there?"

"It's me," came the familiar deep voice of Cyborg. "Can I come in, man?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Robin said, turning back to his London Times.

Cyborg was tentative as he carefully avoided the miscellaneous junk that littered Robin's floor. "Do you ever clean your room?"

"I'll get around to it," Robin said, highlighting a sentence in the article he was reading. Cyborg nodded.

"Right..." He seemed distracted.

Robin looked up at him, curiously. "You didn't come here to comment on my organizational skills, did you?" he said.

Cyborg bit his lip. "Nah... listen, I came to warn you."

Robin looked surprised. "Warn me? About what?"

"The fact that you don't know makes me glad I came," said Cyborg. "Raven's up to something."

"Is she..." Robin muttered. "What is it now? Do I have Cancer too?"

"Nah," Cyborg said. "It's still just your head. But now she wants to fix you. And... I don't know, Rob, somehow that just doesn't sound right."

Robin cocked an eyebrow. "Fix me? What the hell does that mean?"

"I don't know," said Cyborg. "I know her intentions are good, but I think it'll do more harm then good..." he seemed uncomfortable. He bit his lip again, and finally burst out with something he looked like he'd been meaning to say for a long time. "Listen, man, even if you are, you know, sick, messing with your head's no real way to handle it, in my opinion anyway. Please, Rob, just tell her... tell her you'll get help, that you trust her, that everything's fine, and maybe she'll leave you alone. This whole mental intrusion thing really bothers me. Just tell her that you don't need her in your head, you don't... you don't want her there, please, man, I don't know if I could stand it–"

"Cyborg," Robin interrupted. "It's OK. Raven's... been in my head before."

"But..." Cyborg held his breath. "I don't know, man, something's... different about it this time. I mean, I feel more comfortable around her now and all, and I... I like the change, but something isn't adding up. On the one hand, it all seems to make sense, but on the other... there are gaps missing in the data. It's like when you find a new program on your hard drive and you don't know where it came from. My systems are screaming VIRUS but nothing seems to be wrong. I just have a real bad feeling about having that girl in your head. I really don't think it would be a good idea this time."

"So... you're saying Raven seems different. Better... but worse?" Robin said.

"Uh, yeah," said Cyborg. "I know it doesn't make much sense when I say it, but it did in my head. I don't know." He shook his head. "But... I mean, I trust Raven and all. Especially after that whole incident six months ago. And I want to believe... I do believe that..."

But Robin hushed him as he held up his hand. "Cyborg," he said. "Whatever you believe, I got you. And thanks for the heads up. Remember, man, I always have your back."

"And I always have yours," Cyborg replied with a smile. "Even when you and Raven are mudslinging."

Ray stomped his feet in the mud in middle of the stony courtyard, looking up at the gray sky.

"Hey!" Abby protested. "Aw, Ray, these were new pants!"

Ray made no response as he sat on a cold bench, kicking his muddy feet back and forth. His head was swirling with flickers of thought. Raven's mind, inside the boy's head, was like a light switch, flicking on and off.

Currently, it was switched off.

He stared blankly at the tall walls that surrounded the courtyard and some distant part of him wondered dimly if any had ever tried to scale them and had fallen to their death.

"Ray?"

The voice did not penetrate the little boy's ears. He looked at her with dead eyes a moment, then turned his attention back to the moss covered walls. It was a cold day, even for October, and a layer of afternoon frost lay over the blades of dead grass. Everything was brown and gray. Nothing new.

Raven's mind flickered on a moment, and the boy shook his head vigorously, almost angrily... and then it was dark again.

"Ray..." Abby sighed, sitting beside him on the bench. She took his hand in a motherly fashion and stroked it soothingly, tenderly. He looked so lonely on that bench, staring off into God knows where. She took him around the shoulders and leaned his head against her chest, rocking him back and forth.

"Ray," she said again. "Sweetie, we have to go see the Titans. Remember? My... my car, and all... Ray? Raven?"

The boy was silent a moment. And then, suddenly, something changed in his demeanor and he snapped out of whatever trance he had been in. He pulled away from Abby viciously, sneering at her.

"Never touch me again," he hissed.

Abby rose to her feet and held her hands up defensively. "It's not my fault you went totally brainless for a moment... Are you OK?"

Ray was trembling and his eyes were wide. He shook his head, his body seeming like it might go into a seizure. "Stiff joints..." he muttered. "This body's been alive longer than it should."

But it was more than that. Abby put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Ray, what's going on?"

He looked at her with horrified eyes. "I never want to feel like that again," he said. "Never. Never."

"What happened?" Abby asked.

But Ray just shook his head again, his body still shaking. "No. No. Not now. We have to go. We might have less time than I thought."