Mind Games

Wowzerz! Thanks for all of the reviews you guys! And for being patient, too. I posted on my profile that I wouldn't be able to put anything up until today...sorry that it was so late today, btw...because I was at the beach since Wednesday with my cousins. I seriously couldn't have started this at a worse time, and so I'm very, very appreciative that you're all in it for the long haul (I hope...:P) with me.

In reply to Flying Star, I never did get your e-mail, and now I'm super-curious as to what it was...b/c, y'know, I feel all special when people e-mail me! lolz! XD

Everyone else... Gawd, you're SO CLOSE!!! But there's abso-friggin'-lutely NO WAY that I'm giving away my story. There are many hidden clues in each chapter, though. Including the previous two.

With all of that said and done...enjoy chappie # 3!!! :D

No Kidding

The words resounded in Raven's head mercilessly, as she looked time and time again to the antagonizing figures that were Robin and Cyborg.

"I…what?" Raven finally managed, shaking her head as though she didn't hear Robin right.

"You," Robin said, with exaggerated emphasis, "almost…killed…Beast Boy."

So she heard correctly…

But no…

"No," Raven returned, in a voice set to mangle the words that came from Robin's mouth. "That's ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous here, Raven, is how you can deny this whole thing! We saw you!" Cyborg exclaimed. "We saw you beat him to shreds, smash his body through a window, and then go outside to make sure the poor kid was unconscious! YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO HEAL THE DAMAGE!" he yelled, trying to get face-to-face with the Goth; he was held back, however, by Robin.

"Friends!" a voice said, near the staircase that descended into the living room. "What is the occasion for having one's voices become so extensive in volume?" The Tameranean who spoke the words turned a corner to where she could see the chaos and gasped at the sight of Raven. The dark girl and the two male Titans ignored Starfire's presence for the moment, though.

"Okay, then," Raven said ever so calmly, an eyebrow arched, crossing her arms as if to intimidate the other two. "Go on. Show me the window that I smashed Beast Boy into."

Cyborg grinded his teeth and looked to Robin, who answered Raven's dare. "We can't show you. You put the panel back in place when you went outside."

"Liar," Raven accused through gritted teeth. "How dare you tell me I hurt a fellow teammate, when you all should know that I would never, ever do something like that of my own freewill."

Starfire decided to jump in now, and hesitantly walked forth to Robin's side. "That is what we thought, Raven. Until now."

"We called 911. They should be here any minute to pick up BB," Cyborg confirmed.

"And if you take one step near him at that time, don't think we won't fight back," Robin forewarned.

There was a moment's silence in which all of the Titans, aside from Beast Boy and Starfire, were staring daggers at each other. The alien girl simply looked at Raven sympathetically, and winced when Raven searched her eyes.

Finally, the Goth girl said, "This is a joke…isn't it? Isn't it?" She wanted to laugh, she really did. And why not? Why couldn't this whole situation be a joke?

The half-robot looked at her in disgust. "We would never joke about near death, or death itself, Rae, you know that."

But Raven refused to accept that. "Go on. Say it. Say 'April Fool's, Raven!' or whatever it is you want to say. Just tell me that this is a joke."

"Raven," Starfire said firmly, analyzing the psychic's form. "This is not a jest. Beast Boy is severely damaged, and would be conscious now and presently conversing with us had you not…well…"

"But I couldn't have," Raven pressed on, hoping someone would believe her. "Come on, you guys. I told you; I confirmed it. I said that I was going to see Bryan at the Jump City Hosp – "

"When?" Robin asked abruptly.

Raven blinked. "Yesterday. That's when I made the call."

"And so you went today?" he inquired.

"Yes."

"To see Bryan?"

"Yes."

"…Who the hell is Bryan?"

Raven froze. "Are you kidding me?"

"There hasn't been one joke in this entire conversation. What makes you think I'm kidding you now?" Robin said flatly.

If Raven had a voice then, she might have admitted it. She was scared.

Here she was, fresh out of the Jump City Hospital seeing Bryan Spencer, and all of a sudden, she's hit with this. And the looks on their faces… Raven was sure she would never forget the looks on her teammates' faces. So serious. So uptight. So…sullen. Not like the faces she knew. At all.

"Bryan Spencer. He's a patient at the Jump City Hospital. The people from the Make-a-Wish Foundation sent me a letter informing me that he wanted to see me…before he died. He's struggling with brain cancer." Raven said all of this slowly, making sure the other three understood every syllable that came from her mouth.

"Wow," Cyborg said. "And to think you made that up from the top of your head just now…that's…wow."

"Why don't you believe me?!" Raven whined. "Come on! It's me. Raven? You've got to understand…" she said, desperate to know why everyone was against her.

"Raven," Robin said. "We know what we saw. You never left the Tower."

"Yes, I did," Raven insisted, getting angry now. "I just came back from seeing Bryan. I haven't seen Beast Boy, or any of you guys, since this morning!"

"Raven, you threw BB out of a window five minutes ago –" Cyborg said.

"No I didn't!"

" – you never left the Tower –"

"Yes I did!"

" – besides, you've been acting weird this entire day –"

"I know I left…"

" – and you broke the damn window –"

"NO I DIDN'T!!!" Raven screamed pounding the air with her fists.

As soon as Cyborg fell silent, a near by panel shattered to the ground. Upon hearing it, Raven seized up with tension.

That was her anger, getting the best of her…like it shouldn't have. She was shocked at how she could lose control so easily. Gulping, and looking at her stunned friends, Raven slowly spun around to the commotion she caused. Freshly cut window shards littered the carpet, glistening in spite of the circumstances.

The introvert took a random piece of glass and studied it.

It wasn't freshly cut.

It happened before.

Outlines…. She saw barely imprinted fine lines of where the glass had been broken before.

"No…" she whispered.

An ambulance siren pierced the silence that fell within the Tower. Raven's eyes scanned the foreground in front of her wildly. At once, the whirling red color could be discerned from the stormy violet sky that blanketed Jump City.

Upon seeing the ambulance park, and witnessing a team of rescuers pull off a boat they tied to the car for this very occasion, Raven swiftly made her way to the window she destroyed, and looked out of it. The lake mist brought a sense of vivacity to her nose. The amethyst sky influenced her mood, and made her feel more calm and collected than in the previous moment.

And then she looked down. Down to the massive boulders that surrounded Titans' Tower. Down to the earthly brown…the dirt, the pavement, the green boy sprawled against it all.

Raven felt her jaw drop.

Beast Boy.

That was Beast Boy down there…a foot and arm dangling at odd ends.

That couldn't have been…no. That wasn't her dirty work.

The Gothic girl spun around to her fellow Tower inhabitants. She shook her head, hoping against hope that they would, by some strange miracle, denounce that this whole thing ever happened, and tell her that the situation was simply a prank.

Then she would look at them furiously, plot revenge, and storm into her room.

But it didn't happen.

Starfire, Robin, and Cyborg all looked at her and nodded. It was confirmed. She did this.

She was the reason the ambulance had come. The reason Beast Boy was now suffering…the reason all of her friends were suffering. But why?

Raven looked back down. The rescuers were halfway across the lake, where they would retrieve Beast Boy and attempt to wake him up…make him feel better, when all the while, a new feeling would consume Raven – guilt. Even though she had no idea how this happened.

She was visiting Bryan Spencer! This couldn't have been her doing.

And yet, it was. How?

Without another thought, she jumped from the window, and levitated herself to the ground where she would examine her fellow teammate.

Raven analyzed the changeling's figure intently. A few shards that pricked him were still in their place on his body.

It was painful to watch him.

Punctured. That described his whole body; it was punctured in a million different places, it was a wonder to Raven that he survived. She stared at his chest for a while, witnessing the slow but constant sharp intakes of breath.

It frustrated her, really…beyond belief. It was Beast Boy. And up there; that was Starfire and Robin and Cyborg. Her comrades. Her friends, her breath, her life. And she almost managed to successfully tear out a part of her life through hurting Beast Boy.

A particularly bloody rip in his abdominal region caught Raven's eye, and without thinking, the dark girl touched it.

Immediately, she gasped for breath. She saw it.

It was her.

It was too painful to watch, and yet, try as she might, Raven couldn't make herself lift her hand off of Beast Boy's body…not yet. Not while she was having a premonition of what she did.

Reading her book…an annoying joke…God, he was so bothersome at times…he wouldn't leave her alone.

She told him to, and he wouldn't…a tick formed in her head…he was still trying to get her to lighten up…he wouldn't quit…she would make him.

She closed her book harshly…too harsh to be of her nature…Beast Boy had flinched at her action. She got up off of the sofa…glared at him…lectured him…and when she thought her point had come across loud and clear, she decided to retire to her room for the afternoon.

It didn't come across loud and clear, though.

One crack…one joke was all it took.

Anger flared in Raven's eyes…turning around…mentally throwing the changeling onto the couch. Another lecture…to leave her alone…did he understand?

He cowered in fear…and then took that as a joke…

And Raven could get angrier…it was now possible…a wave of black energy sent him into a window pane.

He was sorry, he said…WHY WOULDN'T HE JUST SHUT UP?!

Again…and again…each time the glass broke more and more…each time her laughter became more maniacal…until he flew out…a stunned look on his face…the last reaction she saw of him…before his attempt to morph into a bird, away from the danger…for a split second, successful…then, a failure…about six feet away…he shuddered when he hit the ground…she leapt after him…

He was okay…she noticed…the window wasn't…a wave of her hand…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…and the shards were replaced into their positions in the pane.

A cold hand clamped at hers, and Raven's eyes shot open. She was teary eyed – a sharp pang in her chest registered everything she had seen in her premonition.

The rescuer who took her hand looked at her skeptically, and removed her palm from Beast Boy's bloodied body.

The man quickly rejoined two others who were hoisting a cot out of the boat. The two remaining men picked up Beast Boy carefully, and placed him onto the cot, preparing to load him onto the boat.

One of the guys came over to Raven who was now joined by the rest of the Titans.

"Any idea how this happened?" the man asked.

Raven looked at the others, biting her lip, thinking full well that the truth was going to explode out of them at any given moment.

"Freak accident of some sort," Robin shrugged. "Not sure what happened."

The guy nodded, and went back to the boat. "We'll make sure someone calls you when he gets to the hospital," he shouted.

Robin acknowledged the comment, and then motioned everyone back to the Tower.

Raven simply stood there for a moment, baffled by what just happened.

"You coming, Raven?" Robin asked, spinning around from the doorway.

Raven turned to him. "You didn't tell them the truth," she remarked.

He merely shrugged at the comment, and then, hesitantly, made his way back to the Goth.

"…You…really didn't know what happened…did you?" he asked slowly.

"No…I didn't. I don't," Raven said, tears now silently falling from her eyes. She would have wiped them away…in fact, she would have hidden the hurt, period.

She didn't feel like herself, though. She wasn't herself. She was…confused, and scared, and so many other emotions. And she wasn't afraid to show it right now; she wasn't afraid of breaking anything else. She was just scared at how everything would turn out.

"Come inside…we'll…tell you what happened," Robin offered.

"Robin?" Raven said, her voice slightly higher pitched than usual. It was impossible for her to be expressionless right now.

"Yeah?" he said.

"…Do you believe me?" she asked, forcing herself to look him in the eyes…tear-stained as she was.

It took the same amount of strength for Robin to look in her eyes. "I'm trying to," he said, in not so much as a whisper, putting a hand on her shoulder, and leading her up to the Tower.

As always, reviews are welcome, appreciated...and will someday be required :P.

Oh yeah, and btw...this has REALLY been bugging me lately...do any of you know if the Tower is "Titan's Tower", "Titans Tower", or "Titans' Tower"...this whole apostrophe thing is bugging the crap outta me... :S. Otayz...I'm beginning to ramble! :P