Mind Games
Chapter 6...enjoy! :D
Pandemonium, Part 1
Raven sat in the middle of Robin and Cyborg, as they lingered patiently in the Jump City Hospital waiting room.
The paramedics had come for Starfire, and upon seeing the other Titans, gave them the option of accompanying the unconscious girl to the hospital. They all agreed, seeing that this was the best chance to check up on both Beast Boy and Starfire.
They were now waiting for the 'okay' to see Beast Boy.
Robin started pacing back and forth; Cyborg had been stroking his chin since they've been waiting, and Raven remained quiet the entire time. Not one word uttered since the trip to the hospital.
She did it again...
She hurt another Titan, but even more so...
She was conscious when she did it. She knew, in the back of her mind, that she was doing something wrong, and yet, she couldn't control it.
Why? How?
All she really knew for a fact was that she saw Bryan...how ever impossible it may have seemed, she saw him. And once she found herself in the pile of auto parts Starfire sent her into, he was gone. And she was furious.
Why did Starfire hit her? Her friend? Her teammate? It didn't make sense...
Nothing made sense...
With Beast Boy, she had no clue as to what had happened. She knew for a fact that she had seen Bryan that day, the same time everyone else told her she had thrown the changeling out of a window.
This time, however, she wasn't sure.
Bryan was there...but it didn't make sense.
He was supposed to be in the hospital, trying to feel better...expecting a permanent visit from death...
And yet he was out there, while she was in battle...wasn't he?
Or was it merely an illusion?
And Starfire...it was so sudden...and she was so angry...hateful even. Why the Tamaranean had laid a hand on her, she wasn't sure. But all the same, Raven retaliated. She remembered it now...
The dark girl banged her helpless friend time and time again into a brick wall...of her own freewill.... She knew it was...in the back of her head, she knew what she was doing...and even if she had tried, there was nothing Raven could do to stop herself from hurting the alien Titan.
What was happening?
She didn't know...it was all too much to take in...
Raven sighed – the first noise she made since her battle and realization that she almost killed another teammate.
Cyborg put a hand on her shoulder so as to cheer her up.
"You okay?" he asked her.
Raven deadpanned. "We were fighting the H.I.V.E. while I was fighting my teammate...how would you feel?"
"Hey, we all know it was an accident...dunno how it happened...but still. We're gonna get through this whole mess, like a team, just as we promised."
Raven nodded, and then looked at Robin – still pacing, still contemplative. "Is he mad?" she inquired of Cyborg.
"Robin? Nah...just thinking. I mean, it's weird...two accidents in two days?" Cyborg said. Then a sudden notion... "Rae, have any weird changes been taking place since yesterday?"
Raven thought about it. "Only that I can't meditate."
Cyborg cocked his head to the side. "Why not?"
"I don't know," Raven admitted. "But after breakfast today, I tried, and I couldn't even levitate myself right. I mean, I'm still wondering how I could've controlled my powers for that battle with the H.I.V.E.. It's so confusing...once Starfire hit me, I just...I was out of it..."
"Yeah..." Cyborg said, in a spaced out way.
Robin sat back down, his forehead still wrinkled in thought. Raven turned to her left to look at him, and in just that moment, he decided to say something.
"So what happened?"
Raven looked to Cyborg for help.
"We still don't know...neither of us," Cyborg confessed.
A moment of silence.
"That kid..." Robin began slowly.
"Who? Bryan?" Raven said.
"Yeah, him," the Boy Wonder thought aloud. "Do you think he might have something to do with this?"
"What d'you mean?" the half-robot questioned.
"Well...Raven's only been acting like this ever since he came into the picture. Beast Boy yesterday, Starfire today...who's to say one of us might not be hospitalized tomorrow?"
"Hold on," Raven said. "Are you suggesting that a boy with brain cancer is strong enough to be causing all of this?" She raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
Robin shrugged. "It's possible, isn't it?"
"Look, I know he came into the picture at a very inconvenient time," Raven compromised, "but maybe it's all coincidence. I mean, Bryan would never do that..."
"How do you know, Raven?" Robin pressed, getting even more serious. "How do you know it couldn't be him behind this?"
"Because," she said, getting annoyed already with the hypothesis, "I talked to him; he's got cancer for goodness' sake! He can't just 'up and go' whenever he feels like it."
"Why not?" Robin inquired further.
Raven shot up her eyebrow at him. "Did you hear anything I just said?"
"What I mean is," Robin stated, "that the accidents...him...they're all too incidental just to be a coincidence. Plus, you only spent an hour with him...how much did you get to know about him?"
"Enough to know he's got a good heart," Raven returned.
Robin countered, "Like what? What'd you guys talk about?"
"Regular, everyday things...what we like to read, how much we have in common...I mean, he told me I'm his hero, Robin," Raven informed him in a quiet tone. "Why would he do something to hurt his hero? He said he understood me...Robin, the kid knew me so well...you know what else he told me?"
Robin looked at her expecting an answer.
"He told me if he had one more wish...he'd make it so that I can feel without fear of hurting anyone..." she said, tears forming in her eyes. "Do you know how long I've wished for that?! To hear someone else tell me what I wanted since my childhood...he couldn't be evil."
Cyborg put his arm around her completely now to console her, to keep her from crying again.
The entire prospect of what the Gothic teenager was doing caught each of the Titans in oblivion, including her. None of them knew what was going on, and the last thing they needed was an irritated Raven to put up with while figuring out her predicament.
"He's just like any other fan I've ever had," Raven said shrugging, "except he confessed that he wanted the best for me. And he wanted me to laugh – what bad is there in a child like that?"
The boys were silent for a while.
"Maybe we could visit him?" Cyborg suggested. "Ask him what we need to know...maybe he's here to help, not to harm."
"Good idea, Cyborg," Robin said, after reflecting on the second-in-command's thought. "Raven, what if we visit him after we see Beast Boy and Starfire? Would that be okay?"
"Sounds fine to me," the Goth shrugged.
At that moment, a nurse passed by informing the three Titans that both of their friends were able, conscious, and ready to see them.
The trio got up and walked over to the nearby elevators, one of which let them through in a matter of seconds. They stepped in, and Robin pressed one of the buttons, making the contraption's doorway shut.
"You got the room numbers?" Cyborg asked after a little while.
"Yeah," Robin answered. "They put Star and Beast Boy in the same room. Guess it's easier to take care of them like that or something."
"Well, they've got each other's company," Cyborg said, shrugging.
A few more moments passed where the three did nothing but think.
Raven felt nervous. It would be her first time seeing the two after she had attacked them. "Do you suppose...they'll be mad at me?" she asked her two male comrades. She was feeling so much more like her gray side every minute...
Robin and Cyborg stole glances at each other before the leader hesitantly spoke.
"Truthfully...it's hard to say," he admitted. "I don't think they'll be. Maybe after we explain everything to them, they'll understand."
The elevator came to a halt.
"This our floor?" Cyborg asked.
Robin nodded.
The doors maintained their closed status for a few minutes.
"Come on! What's taking this thing?" Robin said to no one in particular.
Raven smirked. "I do remember telling you guys that the elevator doors take a while to open."
Finally, the doors retracted, allowing the Titans into a long, white hallway. Raven and Cyborg followed Robin to the room, located all the way down to the left.
Upon their arrival, Raven looked at the door and paused, holding Robin's hand as though to stop him from going inside. "I thought you said we were visiting Beast Boy and Starfire."
Robin arched an eyebrow, grimacing. "We are. This is their room."
"No...that's.... That's not possible," the girl protested.
"Why not?" Cyborg queried, looking at the label on the door.
ROOM 378
BEAST BOY
STARFIRE
"Because this is the room where Bryan is supposed to be," Raven said quietly.
Well, I hope the double update was enjoyable enough! I think this was my shortest chapter yet, lolz. A good 21 pages of entertainment for today.
And so, I will end replying to my absolutely-too-precious-for-words reviewers! :D
Slytheringrl1387: What's shakin' Tifferz!? Thank you so much for reviewing...twice, lolz! The spoof on our original poem made me laugh! 'Twas greatness! And I better see ya at school tomorrow, or else...I'll...cry. :'(. Lolz! Be there!!!
Dream Fox: On your toes 'bout this, eh? Tee hee... all told in due time. I thank you for the compliment about the last wish. I mean, if I was stuck in Raven's situation, I wouldn't want to have to stay emotionless...forget it! I laugh and smile at so much crap, the whole earth would be in ruins! Anyway, thanks for the review!
Dante Gemini: lolz! Glad you liked the Starfire/paper thing! I had fun writing that part! Congrats on the AP scores, too! And yeah, my e-mail's spinyloki. I just use alohomora732 for MSN Messenger purposes.
Red: Hey again! Glad you love it gobs, and I'll be more than happy to keep writing tons and tons for ya! ;D
Blowfish the Monkey Tamer: Aww!!! Other peeps have tried this idea?! Dernit! Here I thought I was the first...but then, with about 3000 TT ficcies up on here...I guess I wouldn't be surprised, eh? Well, maybe you'll find something to correct me on this time? Happy reading! ï