Raventhedarkgoddess: Finally managed to get this uploaded in one piece after a week's ban and a couple of outbound file deletes.... (glares at brothers) Anyway, it's short, but I hope you guys enjoy it, wish I weren't having writer's block......

Chapter Fifteen: Submerged

The silence could not have been thicker over the group of teenagers as they made their way into the T-shaped house, Terra now supporting the weakened Raven, Robin carrying Anna's body, his eyes cast down to the floor, the night spinning through his head, spinning in circles before his eyes so that he was hearing the crys, feeling the battle instead of watching the ground.....

"Careful, Robin," Lecita croaked out, speaking her first words since they left the battle scene. "You're going to hit the doorframe." Her concern made everyone wince slightly inwardly: Her brown eyes were now devoid of anything but sadness and untold greif and pain. I only have the Titans now.... I don't have a real family now.... I need to get out of this life, away from my sister and all this pain..... She felt her black braid, heavy with blood and the weight on her injured neck, smacking her back. I've just got to clear my head.......

Robin pulled his eyes quickly to the door, away from Lecita's face, and managed to lay the body on their faded couch without further problems. Raven looked around: All of her friends, despite needing a good bath and a little time, were fine, but from what she could tell everyone was an emotional wreck. If only I could maybe let them know I feel the same as they do.... Damn it.....

"Come on, Rae, everyone else is going to make plans for the funeral and you need to come upstairs so I can help you with those cuts," Terra said gently. The blonde's soaked hair fell around her face, her eyes almost completly covered by her hair, the blue glittering clearly from what Raven could see where she stood. She held out her hand, but Raven couldn't help feeling like something was wrong, like somehow she and Terra shouldn't be standing here talking after everything that had happened.....

It's just the unease of the night, just the unease of the the night, Raven tried to tell herself, failing to reassure herself. "Alright," she heard herself mutter, her voice still devoid, not really revealing anything about her, least of all the shock she was feeling. It's going to be okay, Terra is your friend......

A knife, glinting, flashed itself through Raven's mind. Isn't she? Their footsteps moved them quietly away from the low voices, the sobbing, anyone that might hear them and know if something happened, the halls that had looked so familer now haunted by shadows and death. She moved quickly to be behind Terra, her eyes casting around the narrow passageway all the same. Isn't she? The question refused to leave her head.

"Why don't we go into your room and I can help you clean up?" Terra suggested quietly, trying to be friendly but failing, hearing the dead tone to her voice, the horror at what she herself had done two months ago, still unable to believe that she was really here after all this time.

"No, we'll go into your room instead," Raven murmered, still limping but refusing to hold onto Terra any longer. I can't let her get inside my head, I can't be messed up and I can't let her know how worried I am about having her in the house... We don't need anymore stress right now........ I just don't want her in my room because my room is private, that's all, that's all it is.......

"My.... My room?" Terra asked quietly, shock setting in. "I still have a room here, even after everything I did.....?"

Raven didn't answer her, but instead walked toward one side of the hall, opening the door that Terra reconized immidatly, revieling that almost everything was in it's place, but that dust had been kicked up slightly. "Beast Boy insisted that your room be kept after you 'died'. He went a little crazy, actually," Raven said in a dead whisper, trying to sooth her nerves with the sound of her own voice. I'm just trying to keep the nice, honest truth going, that's all......

Terra looked around in amazement at the room, although it was exactly as she had left it those few months before. Beast Boy really does care about me..... The thought provoked a slight smile onto her lips, but it was quickly removed by the sight of Raven's blood-covered body as she changed into a black sleeveless dress so that the cuts were more readily accessable. "Rae, you look terrible......"

"I'll be fine, I just need you to hurry and patch these cuts. We're needed downstairs, to...." Raven left the statement unfinished, because both of them knew what they were needed for: Comforting Lecita and making sure that no one went to peices while making arrangements for the funeral.

The silence hung tensely between them, Terra working silently, Raven studying the blonde girl's trembling hands and scared face as she bangaged Raven's left arm, starting at the wrist and trying to calm her tense body as she worked her way up. I don't want to think she could be capable of anything like that ever again, but.......

"What's this scar from?" Terra asked quietly, seeing the top of the long white scar that ran the lenght of Raven's chest. Her blue opticals filled themselves with a litteral concern as she glanced at it. "Did something happen to you guys after I..... left?" Left being the easiest word for me to say........

"It's..... It's from you, as you were leaving us last time." Raven hadn't meant for the words to come out so bitterly, but their hard edge did not shame her.

"I am so, so sorry......... Raven, I don't know what to say, except that I never meant it, never meant for anything like this to happen....... I can understand why you guys are probably going to throw me out, don't want me here......" Terra's voice caught on it's own tearful edge. "If I hadn't been so caught up....." Her hands finished the long bandage quietly and she looked around the room once more. Looks like I'm not going to be staying here.........

"Hey, that's the past. You can always start over here..... You're right, you didn't mean for any of this to happen, and you deserve a second chance. Let the scars live in the past, Terra." Raven turned her back to Terra and began to dress again. "After all, what are friends for if they can't forgive you when you make a stupid mistake?"

"Raven..... Thank you."

"Don't bother. Help me fasten this, will you?" Raven smiled slightly as Terra came over and helped Raven to stand up, fastening the red gem with a quick ease, and the two of them left the small room. I can't believe I still have a home here..... Terra smiled. At least SOMETHING has gone right over the course of two months........

"I think we're going to have to do it tonight, before I go back into pieces..... The sooner we start, the sooner I forget," Lecita was saying. Cyborg was stroking her hair, which she had obviously washed, and, although her face still reflected inward hysterics, she was no longer sobbing. Cyborg sighed: Despite the fact that he knew she probably wouldn't respond, he wanted her to notice him more than anything else. I just wanna help her out......

"Alright, so we'll have the funeral in about an hour. Raven, will you be able to walk by then?" Robin looked over at Raven in concern.

"I'll be fine for a little while." Silence filled the room, Beast Boy holding Terra's hand, Cyborg looking at Lecita, trying to pull her away from her pointed determination to stare out the window, Robin trying to get Starfire to at least nod to something he whispered, and Raven sat alone, rubbing a hand over her injured arm, feeling the cuts in spite of herself. Everyone's just so lost in their own thoughts, said a voice in her head. Nothing's going to change if we can't figure out how we're going to capture Slade and get back on our feet.

But how do you get back on your feet when you've been knocked down so many times?