Chapter 7
The Unraveling
"I don't know what happened…"
"All vital signs are clear, there is no damage anywhere, especially to the brain."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Poor Raven, for having such bad dreams causing much pain."
"I don't think she was having a dream, something is really going on inside her mind…"
"I am telling you guys, Terra's inside Raven, but she's hiding it from us."
"Don't be stupid, Beast Boy, besides if all that was true then you're saying that Terra's the one who nearly killed Raven…"
A silence hung in the air as the Titans considered those dreaded words.
"She did betray us."
"But then she saved our lives."
The conversation was interrupted as a low moan came from the hospital bed. Raven opened her eyes just to see four heads hovering over her and scrutinizing closely.
"Could you guys back up a little, you're sucking the air out of my personal space."
The Titans quickly backed away, muttering apologies under their breath. Then Robin cracked a small smile saying, "I'm glad you're okay, you definitely gave all of us quite a scare."
Raven tried to move, but when she did a shot of pain went up her back to her head, causing her to lie down again.
"Oh move not, dear Raven, you are still hurting from your injuries," Starfire said, moving forward to help her. But Raven managed to wave her away, "I'm fine, I'm fine, I can heal myself remember?"
"Nonetheless, I still want you to stay here for a while." Robin told her, a firm line set on his face.
Raven gave a little nod as she settled on the bed ready to sleep. Robin motioned the others to come with him and one by one they followed him out the door except for Beast boy, who stayed a couple minutes longer just to stare at her.
"Beast Boy! Come on, give her some privacy."
After a long last look, he finally left her room; then a little while later, Raven finally fell asleep.
And she was falling…
She was falling into an endless black space, studded with stars and littered heavily with floating rocks. In fact, it all looked very familiar as she landed on one of the rocks and started walking along the path. She didn't know where she was going, but her feet seemed to know as they led her to an unknown region of, what she finally realized, was her mind…
She kept hearing murmurs and mutterings as she came closer to that area. Curious, she started to look for the faces of the people who were talking and, most importantly, what they were talking about. She finally got a glimpse of what seemed like a part of a cloak. So, imagine her surprise when she found out to whom that cloak belonged to… then who was talking to it.
"Well done, my fair friend, the damage you've done here was absolutely ingenious. Taking on two emotions at once was an act of brilliance... and bravery."
"That wasn't brilliance, that was an accident. I would've never been brave enough to take on two of them at once, I must be insane."
Raven balled up her fists and clenched her teeth, or at least that was what she felt like she was doing as she wasn't sure she can be seen or not. However, her rage was obvious; how Terra could be talking to something that evil, that disgusting when Raven specifically warned her about Anger was just unbelievable. Now that idiot of a girl and Raven's father was plotting against her. What it had to do with her emotions she didn't know and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. Anger spoke once more, its tone one of soothing calm, like a father comforting a scared child,
"Don't think too deeply on the matter, you are doing just fine. Everything is going according to plan; soon all the emotions will be on my side and together you and I will finally have control…"
You will never have any part of me on your side ever, you disgusting, you foul-
"Really?" Terra asked Anger, interrupting Raven's furious thought. It nodded its head, a small smile forming on its face. Terra looked at the lone emotion with childlike adoration as she wiped her tearstained face.
"Well, then the army is almost complete, there's just one left. Thank God that Raven didn't notice what is going on right now."
Now Anger really started to smile, showing every single on of its pointy, sharp teeth, " But my dear, she does…"
Terra now had a look that simply stated that her world fell apart, "What?"
"Ah, didn't you know? For every emotion you maim, it causes a migraine that ravages every inch of her body."
Terra's lips were trembling, "How come you never told me?"
"You never would have done all this if you knew." Anger told her, staring at her closely.
Terra stared at it back, "Well, I won't do it anymore and you can't-"
She was interrupted by a sudden Xena-like yell from behind, and before she can fully turn around, she was suddenly enveloped in darkness.
"Hey! What's going on? I can't see!" Terra yelled, thrashing her arms around trying to feel for something, but all she managed to do was fall over backwards. As she landed, the darkness flew off of her and fell with a resounding "oof!"
Propping herself on her elbows, Terra rubbed her head and finally turned around to see what exactly had attacked her. The army green immediately told her that it was the Brave Raven and it didn't look as if it was going to surrender soon as it did a bouncy backflip and landing perfectly in a fighting position.
"Uh oh." Terra whimpered.
"Destroy it." Anger commanded her.
Brave jumped up to do a flying side kick to Terra's head, but luckily she moved away in time. Terra got up with sword in hand, ready to do battle with it. When Terra moved, Brave landed hard on the ground, but once more with a spectacular flip, it was ready to punch her. But Terra was quicker though; her sword managed to cut the throat of Brave, and it landed on the ground with a gasp… and it didn't get up again.
Terra looked at the emotion with a shocked expression as Anger came up behind her with its deranged smile.
"Won't do it anymore, indeed," It whispered, causing shivers up and down Terra's spine, "Now my army is complete…"
A small whimper escaped Terra's lips.
"Don't feel so guilty my dear, you'll soon see your precious Beast Boy again, that is what you wanted, isn't it?"
Terra nodded, keeping her face down.
"Good, now there is only one thing to do…"
A cascade of pain, much, much worse than before suddenly seized Raven and she can feel herself screaming, screaming in agony…
"Raven, are you all right? What is-"
Robin's words died in his throat as he stared at the pale image of Raven. It was like looking at bad scene out of The Exorcist, her body was levitating above the bed, but as limp as a rag doll. Her eyes were rolling back and drool was coming out of her mouth. The other Titans ran in soon after Robin and were as shocked as he was to see Raven this way. The felt helpless as Raven started to have another seizure.
"Oh Robin, what can we do?" Starfire cried out, her eyes full of tears.
"There is nothing we can do, her powers are way too unpredictable." Robin looked at the Titans, his face full of somber seriousness, "Stay back, don't go anywhere near her, and be ready for anything…"
The Titans nodded, all their expressions matching his, obviously determined to help their fallen friend.
"You pathetic fools…"
Those words came out of Raven's mouth, but it didn't sound like Raven at all, or even Terra. This was more sinister, most evil…
The Titans turned around to look at Raven; she was still levitating, but there was a crazed look on her face that gave the impression that a demon took over her body…and mind.
"You can't help her now, she gone, gone down to the hell where she belongs, and you lowly do gooders can never bring her back." Raven hissed, beads of sweat running down her face.
"Raven this isn't you-"
"Silence, mortal!" Raven yelled at Robin. Then, unexpectedly, she waved her hands at Starfire, but nothing came out, nothing happened.
Or did it?
The boys were suddenly seized by a scream, not from Raven, but from Starfire. They turned to the side only to see that their comrade had flown through the wall and was unconscious on the other side.
"Star? Starfire!" Robin yelled, quickly rushing to her aid. It was too late though, she was definitately out of it. An echo of evil laughter came from Raven, then she crumpled back onto the bed like a fallen marrionette.
"Robin?" Cyborg asked gently as Robin looked like he was seized by an anger that none of them have ever seen before.
"Lock her up." He said through gritted teeth.
"What?"
"Lock Raven up, she is too dangerous for anybody to deal with. She has officially gone crazy." With those last words, Robin picked up the limp body of Starfire and took her to a safe area in the Tower. Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at each other sadly, for there were no other emotion that can describe how they were feeling that day.
Meanwhile, the real Raven was still screaming, falling endlessly in an abyss she didn't know. She finally hit solid ground with a hard thud that split her lip but luckily not busted any of her teeth. But her luck was about to end…
"I've been waiting for you, my precious."
Rolling onto her back, she looked up to see a sea of faces looking at her once more, but this time it wasn't the Titans…
It was her.
At least if she had four red eyes glowing on her forehead.
Raven's eyes widened in shock as she realized that her father had done exactly what she feared he would do: Turn all of her emotions against her.
"Yes, I've done exactly that, aren't you proud of your old man?" Anger said with a breathy laugh.
"You-" Raven stopped what she was about to say because she just realized something. She touched her hands and they felt real, like she was, like she was…
"You sucked me into my own mind?" Raven gasped as they all still stared down at her.
"What, did you think you were still dreaming?" said a new yet familiar voice as Terra joined the staring circle.
"How could you do this to me, after all I've done and let you do in my body." Raven snarled.
"Actually, it's what you didn't let me do that made me side with your father." Terra told her, smug satisfaction written all over your face.
"You know that he's-"
"Your father, yes, we talked about it when you were distracted, we talked about everything that you've done to us, about how you trapped us and never let us do a thing we wanted."
"I thought you felt bad for doing all this."
Terra smiled wider, "I lied about it all, isn't that great?"
Raven couldn't believe her ears, she wanted to strike Terra but she felt so weak, so drained that she could only muster up enough energy to ask her one question…
"What? What could you have wanted so badly that you wanted to use my body for?"
"To see all my friends!" Terra shouted, suddenly pointing her glowing, pulseating sword at Raven's throat. Raven eyed it carefully.
"What the-"
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Terra yelled, her face taking on a maniac expression that she never, ever, shown before. She dug the sword deeper into Raven's throat. "Prepare to die you freak."
"Look who's talking, you're the one without a body of your own." Raven managed to retort. Terra's eyes flashed with anger as she raised the sword, and Raven closed her eyes knowing no help was going to come her way.
This was the end…
"Love to the rescue!" said a high squeaky voice.
Or was it?
