Chapter Six: Ravennacht

"And you're sure you're feeling all right now?" Dr. Hook asked.

"I'm fine," Raven replied curtly. Her fainting spell had lasted briefly; she had woken up on the way to the hospital, but her friends still insisted on bringing her to see Dr. Hook.

"That's what your scans are telling me," Hook agreed, "but I just want to be sure. Instruments have been wrong before."

"I said I'm fine," Raven insisted.

"Okay, okay, you're fine," Hook concurred, noticing what Raven had apparently not; one of the computer screens behind her had suddenly gone haywire. It hadn't been switched on, or even plugged in for that matter. "I just need to talk with your friends a moment."

Closing the door behind him, he stepped out of the examining room, where an anxious group of Titans were waiting. "Well?" Cyborg asked simply.

Hook sighed. "The good news is, it doesn't seem to be a medical problem, at least, nothing our equipment can detect."

"And the bad news?" Blackfire asked.

"What makes you think there's bad news?"

"Oh please, when anyone says 'good news', it's guaranteed there's bad news."

Hook sighed. "Okay, you want the bad news? The bad news is that this is where my expertise runs out. I'm a surgeon, not a psychiatrist; hell, the only reason I'm here is because everyone seems to think I'm the expert on the subject."

"So you cannot help us?" Starfire asked.

"Not really. I have a few theories, though."

"Like what?" Robin prompted.

"Well, I hope you understand that this is guesswork, but if she manages her powers through emotional control, then what she may have could be a purely emotional or psychological illness."

"You're saying Raven's going crazy?" Beast Boy blurted out. He still remembered all too vividly what had happened the last time Raven had lost control.

"No, but I am saying she might be coming close. Has she been under any stress lately? Maybe pushing herself too hard, trying to do too much too fast? Broken heart, anything like that?"

"Broken heart? Raven?" Cyborg asked incredulously.

"It is not impossible, Cyborg," Starfire said.

For a minute, Blackfire let out a small gasp of fear, of guilt

and why is that?-

and turned to Dawn, to see if she had noticed, but she kept focusing on the conversation ahead of her, seemingly oblivious of Blackfire's lapse.

"This is Raven we're talking about," Cyborg was saying.

"You have to admit, Star, Cyborg's right. Raven's not the sort of person you'd expect to have a broken heart." Robin told his girlfriend.

"Besides, who could she have fallen in love with?" Dawn asked, her arms crossed. "I don't know much about her, but from what I've seen, she doesn't mix much outside the Titans, does she?"

Blackfire was grateful, jealous and a little hurt all at the same time when she noticed everybody surreptitiously glancing at Beast Boy after Dawn said this, but she was also more than a little angry at Dawn. Who did she think she was? Who made Blackfire her business?

i did-

To herself, Blackfire had no reply.

(scene change)

-words-

-words words words-

-they were just words-

-Soon, Corbin, I will TAKE you-

-they are just friends-

-the words are just friends-

-friends are just words-

-friends is just a word-

Raven placed her hands over her ears, trying to drown out the voices, useless though she knew it to be. She paid no attention to what they were saying, didn't want to pay attention to what they were saying, she knew them all to be lies.

Weren't they?

"Azerath Metrion Xinthos… Azerath Metrion Xinthos… Azerath Metrion Xinthos…" she whispered under her breath. Contrary to what Dr. Hook believed, she had known about the computer malfunctioning behind her, had felt the energy flow quietly from her. She was losing control of her own powers, and she didn't know why.

From outside the closed door, Raven managed to catch snippets of conversation, and she focused desperately on those from the outside, so she would not have to listen to the ones coming from within. "… manages her powers… emotional control… purely emotional… psychological illness." Dr. Hook was saying.

Emotional problem? Unlikely. Raven knew too much about emotional control to lose it so easily, or to allow it to degrade to the point where it caused such chaos.

But at least she knew how to control her emotional excesses, whereas psychological pain… that was undoubtedly the more terrifying prospect.

They were still talking outside, but Raven could not hear them anymore. She was too busy gripping the sides of the examining bed to care about what they were saying outside. She could feel it again, the pressure within her almost physically tearing her apart.

"What is happening to me?" she whispered to herself.

She had to do something.

(scene change)

"Alright, here's what I'll do," Hook said, having talked to the Titans and weighed his options. "As I said before, I don't know anything about this, and even if I did, I'm a doctor, so I wouldn't be able to help you much. I can however, give you some contact numbers of two of my college professors, as well as an old friend, who I think can help."

"Are they doctors too?" Robin asked.

"No, but they do know quite a lot about the supernatural, more than I do at any rate."

"It's a start," Robin admitted, when Raven suddenly walked out the door.

"My mirror," she said, "I have to get to my mirror." She was covering it up really well, Robin noticed, but not well enough. Although to most of the Titans Raven seemed her usual self, only Robin and Blackfire noticed the way her hands were shaking slightly.

Dr. Hook noticed it too. "Maybe you should stay here a while longer-"

"And maybe you should listen to those who are better than you!" Raven growled, and this time everyone noticed the two pairs of glowing red eyes that shone through the darkness of her cloak. This time however, there were no storms, no awesome displays of power, just a pervasive feeling of dread, of abject fear, all emanating from those four glowing red eyes.

All over the hospital, misfortune seemed to strike. Births experienced sudden complications. Minor surgeries threatened to become life-threatening. Machines gave wrong readouts, and fuses started overloading. All around the hospital, the well-oiled machine began to creak.

Then, just as suddenly as the tempest, the terror disappeared, and for the most part, life in the hospital began to return to normal again. The complications proved minor, nothing to worry about, doctors assured mothers. Surgeons quickly took action, and minor surgeries remained just that. Machines experienced momentary technical glitches, and returned to normal, problems for an uncaring Tech Support in the morning.

Around the hospital, most people escaped with nothing more than an interesting story to tell at the next social gathering, as well as a vague recollection of feeling as if someone walked over their graves.

Not so the Titans, or Dr. Hook. What had happened was something that they would take to their graves. But there would be time enough for that later. For now, they had far more pressing concerns, Raven almost passing out in the doorway for one. Such was their fear, that it was perhaps only reflex action (and perhaps a little more) that allowed Beast Boy and Blackfire to catch Raven before she hit the floor.

"Okay, will somebody please tell me what the hell just happened?" Dr. Hook asked, as Blackfire and Beast Boy helped Raven to her feet. He looked around, to see if anyone else besides him or the Titans saw what had happened to Raven Thankfully, it had been a relatively slow night in terms of patients coming in, and their particular section of the hospital was relatively deserted.

"My mirror… I have to get to my mirror," Raven whispered.

"You better do what she says," Hook said. "I am not looking for a repeat performance."

"We'll get her out of your hair," Blackfire snapped.

"That's not what I-"

"Don't worry Doctor, I'm sure Blackfire didn't mean anything by it," Dawn said, looking directly at Blackfire as she said it. Blackfire didn't return the gaze.

Robin was the next to speak. "If Raven has emotional or psychological problems, the best place for her to stay would be with us anyway. Can we have the contact numbers?

"Not yet, I'll have to look for them first. Shouldn't take too long, though. I'll call you when I have them."

"Thanks."

After the Titans left with Raven and Dawn in tow, Dr. Hook went to his office and immediately began looking for the telephone numbers Robin had requested, and by the looks of it, urgently needed. Let's see now, Egon Spangler, Rupert Giles, and Wesley Wyndham-Price…

(scene change)

"It is magnificent, even when immature and unconscious," Cassius Wolfe said, as he looked into the huge chamber at his newest project. "Do you not see the potential in something like that?"

"Not really, sir. All I can see is a tool, nothing more."

"Karl, Karl, Karl," Cassius said, shaking his head at the small-mindedness of his assistant, "you must learn to broaden your horizons, see what is beyond our friend below us. We hold in our hands what maybe the greatest warrior in human history. Never before has one organization held so much power! 'Look at Umbrella' I hear the naysayers tell me, as if their mindless armies of the dead and their private nuclear weapons stock frighten me! 'Look at Wayne Industries' they tell me again, expecting me to bend my knee to a worthless playboy with more money than brains!"

He turned to Karl. "But I, only I have these," he said, pointing below him, "cunning, intelligent, dangerous. Look at Umbrella! What warrior qualities to the walking dead, the weakling dead have? And when it comes to usage of nuclear weapons, how many poorly thought out excuses is the public going to take before they realize the truth and hang you? Bruce Wayne? Ha! I would call him a paper tiger, except he isn't even half as dangerous! And that is while he still has his fortune, before he fritters it away!"

With the air of a dictator watching a military parade, Cassius looked upon what was below him, swarmed over by technicians and biologists, as well as remotely guided robots operated by those scientists who weren't as expendable. "There's a saying, Karl: The dictator wants obedience; the tyrant demands worship." He turned back to his assistant. Smiling, he finished, "I resent being called a tyrant."

He turned his gaze away, and fixed it upon the scene below, as if it continually drew him, screamed for his attention. "So, Karl, how about the other part of the project?"

"Easily done sir. Apparently our rival Mr. Szalinski does not seem able to grasp that the world is full of nasty people, or at least, to the extent of getting better security. The device was acquired without any trouble or attention being drawn to us, and our scientists managed to supply the required adaptations. We are currently in the middle of testing our new aging beam right now."

"And?"

"The results, if my reports are to be believed, are incredible, achieving a 100 success rate in accelerating the aging process, and now all the Research Division is doing is 'tweak the process' in the words of the head researcher, making it more precise. At the moment all the test subjects seem to either end up not old enough or too old to be worth anything. Don't worry sir, they're homeless people our forces picked up from nearby towns; no one anyone will miss, nor not enough to set off alarm bells."

"Good. Dangerous though it is now, our little friend can only fulfil its purpose fully grown," Cassius said, more to himself than to his assistant. Then, he was struck by a thought. "What is it called again?"

"Well, you designated it Project Tyrant Lizard 2, sir," Karl began, clearly bewildered by his boss's apparent memory loss.

"I know what I called it Karl, but what is its name? To what do we owe the honour of coming ever closer to sitting on the throne of God?"

Karl looked at the reptilian beast below them. Not having his employer's sense of the dramatic, he stated simply, "Well, I don't think the American media gave it a name other than 'monster'," he began, "But the Japanese sailors who found it called it 'Gojira'."

(scene change)

Helped up by Beast Boy and a defiant Blackfire, who had endured Dawn's frosty silence all the way back to the Tower, Raven staggered into her room, looking for her mirror. Her eyes swept the room, trying to pick out details in the darkness.

And then, she saw it, lying exactly where Raven had put it before going to bed, the only thing in its place.

Most unnerving of all, the fracture had grown longer, this time almost splitting the mirror in half. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one's point of view), only Raven knew what it meant.

"Leave, now," Raven told her two friends, as she picked up the mirror.

"But Raven-" they both said at the same time.

"Go. Please," Raven said, her tones flat, her eyes begging. Beast Boy and Blackfire looked at each other.

"If that's what you want," Blackfire said, sounding unsure.

As the two of them exited the room, Beast Boy added, "Raven, if-if you need me…"

Raven could only nod in agreement as she watched her two friends step out the door.

(scene change)

"You think she's going to be all right?" Beast Boy asked, as they proceeded to their respective rooms.

"Why, Beast Boy, are you actually worried?" Blackfire said, with forced cheer.

"Of course I'm worried! Aren't you?" Beast Boy snapped, extremely offended at Blackfire's apparent lack of concern.

Blackfire opened her mouth to say something, another forced attempt at humour, and sighed. What was the use? "…yes, yes Beast Boy, I'm worried." She smiled ruefully. "Just trying to lighten the situation, I guess." Seeing Beast Boy's incredulous look, she added, "Well, it was obvious you weren't going to do it," she said flippantly.

Beast Boy looked as if he was going to tell her off again, then his face took on an identical rueful look. "Yeah, well, what can I say? I got jealous," he replied.

"I can tell," Blackfire said. It was obvious to both of them Beast Boy was only half-joking.

"Blackfire?" Beast Boy asked, after a short lull in the conversation.

"Hmm?"

"What's going on between you and Raven? I mean, what's really going on?"

"Beast Boy, we've been over this already," Blackfire said, her voice expressing all of the exasperation but none of the sudden fear that she felt.

"Yeah, but- but I-"

"Look, Beast Boy, I said it before, I'll say it again: There is nothing between me and Raven," she said. Well, it was the truth, wasn't it?

"Okay, okay, I get it. It's just, well…" he trailed off, his gaze involuntarily turning in the direction of Raven's room, before he turned back to Blackfire. "See you in the morning," he told her.

"Yeah, see you too," she replied, before she went in the opposite direction. She was about to enter her room when

"Blackfire?"

Blackfire turned around to find Dawn coming toward her. "Yes?"

"Blackfire, we need to talk. Just the two of us."

(scene change)

"Are you sure?" Robin asked the distinguished figure on the computer screen in the main room.

"As sure as I can be, given the rather scant information you've given me," he rebuked gently.

"Well, it's all I can give you. As I said, both Professor Spangler and Wesley told me to come to you, and besides, Raven's not exactly the sort to open up to people." Robin replied.

"Ah, don't worry, Robin; it seems to be somewhat prevalent amongst the majority of the young. You of all people should know this."

Robin laughed. "You read people's minds too?"

"One does not train Slayers without knowing a thing or two about the teenage psyche." He yawned. "I don't mean to be rude, but it is late, and while that may not be much of a problem for Batman's young protégé, it is for me, so if there wasn't anything else you wanted to ask me…"

"No, no there wasn't. Thanks for your help."

"You're welcome."

As the screen shut off, Robin rubbed his eyes. Giles could say anything he liked about being Batman's student, it didn't mean Robin would not need sleep.

He walked to the refrigerator, intending to get his midnight snack early, when the main doors opened and Starfire emerged. "Hello, is anyone? Oh, it is you, Robin. I thought you had already gone to sleep," she said.

"No rest for the wicked, Star."

Starfire's brows creased in puzzlement. "But- you are not wicked, Robin. In fact, you are one of the most kind-hearted-"

"It's just a figure of speech, Star. Don't worry, I haven't gone back to working for Slade."

"Robin!" Starfire said, shocked. "If that was meant as a joke, it was not funny!"

"I'm sorry; it's just that, considering the news I just got, my mind's a bit shut off."

"Why? What news did you get?"

Robin sat down, and sighed. Now that he had time to properly process the information he had been given, he had lost his appetite.

"It's really messed up, Star."

Starfire sat down next to Robin.

"It's really messed up."