During those two days, Raven had slept better than she'd expected, lulled by a quiet, exhausted strain on her emoutions. There'd been no dreams to haunt her from the time she'd turned back sheets until the first light had fallen over earth. She felt like a weight had lifted off of her. Even the brief, torrid embrace of the dark and being alone had began to fade into little more than a ghost.
Today, breakfast was impossible. A positive energy she'd so meticulously held off was straining for freedom.
Cyborg spent a humbling morning trying to make a breakfast for everyone that please everyone. Robin's request cinnamon toast ended up burnt beyond beleif. Starfire's pancakes with mustard turned out alright but still managed to gross everyone out. Cyborg refused to touch anything tofu, and so, Beast Boy refused to let him make his breakfast. Raven had a simple peice of toast with jelly, much to Cyborg's releif.
It was around noon and in her room that Raven heard the voice.
("You know only a heap of broken images, where the sun beats. The dead tree will give no releif. Only a shadow is under a red rock and under the shadow of the red rock will you go. There I will show you something different from your shadow at morning striding behind you or you shadow at evening rising to meet you.") Her eyes widened. The words were crypt and echoed, carving themselves a permenant way into her head.
She walked into the living area, expecting to see Beast Boy and Cyborg playing video games. But no one was there.
'Maybe Robin and Star are training,' she thought, heading to the workout room before the training course. Instinct told her that they wouldn't be there and it proved correct.
"They might have gone to get pizza..." Although her feelings would be hurt because they hadn't asked her, she'd still hoped they were out.
("You will not find them. Did you know those were pearls that were his eyes?")
She blocked the voice. The mentioning of pearls was odd but she felt she'd rather not know. Raven already had an idea of whom the voice talked of.
("Hidden by shadow...")
She looked through the Tower some more, not really expecting to find anything.
Jump City was under the brown fog of a winter day. A mass of obscurred shapes flowed over the sidewalks, each person with their eyes fixed before their feet. For a moment Raven thought she saw Robin but as soon as she focased on him, a mist thickened.
("Death will finish undoing them.")
And then she saw Beast Boy. She dove at him shouting his name. He looked upward in a sad light. "Hey."
"Where is everyone else?"
"In town," he replied vageuly.
Raven glared at him, grabbing both of his shoulders and giving him a hard shake. The mist grew ever thicker. "Where?" She asked, the word as sharp as a knife. The world hushed and closed within itself but the footsteps continued and spread quickly. Then they were savagely still.
Something from Beast Boy's mouth...Was it words? Before she could find out, he faded beneath her hands.
"Beast Boy, if this is your idea of a joke, I think that your sense of humor has shrunken farther."
("I think we are in rats' alley, where the dead men lost their bones.") Raven shuddered and wished for the voice to be silenced. The wind shuffled around her ankles and then ruduced to nothing again. ("Remember the pearls that were his eyes.")
"Who is in my head!" Her emoutions had been hard to control but never had they talked to her with words in her mind, only in her mirror.
("If it rains, we shall play a game of chess, pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.")
"Aaarrgh!" Her friends had departed, leaving no sign of address.
("Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.") The voice laughed.
"Raven?" Beast Boy. He reappeared in front of her, solidly.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"I-I don't know," was the stuttered answer. At their backs in a cold blast they could hear the rattle of bones, and a chuckle. Beast Boy and Raven sat on the ground, side by side, neither saying a word nor turning around.
A crackle formed slowly. The dirt around them was burning, the fire jumped from place to place as Raven continued to attempt to silence the voice.
("A current under the rain will pick your bones in whispers...")
("Shut up! Be silent and remain that way!")
The voice cackled and spoke no more.