Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. It belongs to a bunch of creators at DCcomics and some other people. How I wish I were that creative. :huggles a Raven plushie: Instead, I'm stuck using other people's characters and ideas to create stories. It's quite sad really…
Warning: Rated for potentially morbid content in later chapters. I have problems controlling what comes out of my mind…
Summary: Raven finds herself reflecting on her entire life, even her dreaded past. After a fight with a greatly hated foe, she finds herself not remembering the fight at all, and trapped in a void where nothing remains as she wants it to be, and anything she sees refuses to stay long enough for her to get a closer look. She also finds that she can hear the voices of her friends occasionally speaking, though their bodies never appear. Could she finally be losing it? Or is there something greater going on?
Help Me Whilst I Hide
Chapter Three – Adventure
Raven sighed drearily as she looked around. She had heard the voices again. She winced, as just thinking about it made her wonder if she were going insane. But Beast Boy's voice had been extremely loud in exclaiming her name, and she thought that she had detected worry in the tone as well. Was that normal? She supposed so. After all, she had managed to deduct that there was something wrong with her real body. Had these damned wounds appeared on her physical form as well? It was more than likely.
She sighed and looked down, regarding her hands thoughtfully. They were covered in burn markings and blisters, and were painful to move. It was painful to use her powers as well, something that she had discovered when trying to experiment after the incident. It wasn't fair, shouldn't she be exempted from the pain?
Another thing she had found while inspecting her injuries was the strangest thing. A long gash in her right palm that she didn't remember acquiring. At first, she had believed that it had been caused by the thorn of a rose, which had perhaps cut into her hand when she had been knocked backwards into a rose bush, but a second glance had told her that it was far too clean of a cut. Thorns caused nasty gashes and rips, but this wound was clean and straight, as if done by paper, a knife, or maybe a shard of glass. She had also realized that it was older, far further in healing than it would have been, had it been a fresh wound.
Maybe it was a connection to whatever had sent her into this strange, dream-like state. Had she been in a fight and then knocked unconscious? That was a logical explanation to how she had gotten here, and would explain what was going on, though it still didn't give a reason as to why she wasn't able to awaken.
She sighed and levitated into a meditative position, crossing her legs Indian style and resting her elbows on her knees. She calmly shut her eyes and focused on regaining her sense of concentration and on clearing her mind so that it wouldn't wander again at a critical point. After all, that was all it seemed to be doing lately.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos… Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"
"So the theory is, that we should be able to talk to Raven by going through there, right?" Cyborg asked, looking warily at the mirror that lay on the dressing table in front of himself and Beast Boy.
"Yeah. We did last time, remember?" Beast Boy said, reaching for the handle of the precious object.
Cyborg knocked his hand away before it could come into contact with the mirror's handle, "Raven found and saved our butts last time. It wasn't the other way around, or did you forget that minor detail?" He asked the changeling, annoyance present in the tone of his voice. "What if we aren't so lucky this time?"
"Come on dude, Raven needs us. We'll find our way out eventually, whether she helps or not, don't back out on me now," Beast Boy's green eyes had taken on a glare that Cyborg had thought only Raven was capable of.
"I'm not backing out. I'm just giving you a rundown of everything and anything that could possibly go wrong. Now, we'll go, and everything I've listed will happen, as well as more, come to think of it."
Beast Boy shrugged nonchalantly, "Dude, we've fought worse things than Raven's head. Stop making excuses and let's go!" The younger teen lifted the mirror into his hands and stared into the reflective glass as he had done so long ago.
"What sets that thing off anyway?" Cyborg asked idly, clearly torn between wanting it to work, and wishing that it didn't so that he would have nothing to do with this. He did however, place his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder so that he would also be grabbed if, and when, the mirror became hostile.
"I don't know…" Beast Boy broke off as four familiar, glowing red eyes appeared in the pane of glass. "Holding it?" He suggested with a slight 'eep,' as the two of them were ensnared and dragged into a black portal.
Raven stared around, confusion on her features. There had been a force that had shattered her trance, but what could it have possibly been? There didn't seem to be anything unusual, well, nothing anymore unusual than what seemed to be normal here. However, she could sense that something simply wasn't right. Something, or potentially something, was invading her defenses, and making her senses crazy.
Her eyes darted around the area, but she saw nothing. There was nothing around that she could see, which was saying something, seeing as she could easily see for miles all around. Of course, the creature could have been invisible, which would be more than likely with the luck that she had been having lately.
She shook her head to rid herself of the lingering pessimistic thought and looking wearily across her surroundings again before regaining her meditative state.
Beast Boy grimaced as he examined the area. Either he had forgotten what it was like to be here, or else Raven had become more confusing and dark, not to mention morbid and somewhat gruesome, since the last time that he and Cyborg had 'paid a visit.'
At the same time though, the place was being far friendlier to them. They hadn't met up with any of the evil, demonic, red-eyes birds, nor had they been attacked by her angry, demon side. Best of all, they hadn't met up with the overly happy side of Raven. Of course, these things would have been made a hundred times better if they could just find Raven.
"Where is she? How do you hide inside your own head?" Beast Boy asked in a grumbling tone.
Cyborg stared at him blankly, "She might not have realized that she'd unconscious. She could be wandering around, completely lost, and wondering where she is," the older teen replied, frowning slightly.
"Come on, Cy. Raven's way smarter than that. I bet she knows the most that a person can possibly know about the inside of their head. I mean, she goes for walks through it," a grin occupied most of the changeling's face. "I wonder where her memories are kept." He looked around, as if expecting a sign to appear and point the way for them.
"We're not here to invade her privacy! What would you do to Raven if she went sifting through your head?" Cyborg exclaimed, staring at Beast Boy with his human eye popping. The guy was crazy, he had to be. Didn't he realize that Raven would skin him alive?
"I was kidding! I don't want Raven to kill me! Although, she wouldn't know if she wasn't around…" he trailed off and smirked maliciously. "You know that you want to know more about her, and what better way then to know all about her childhood?" His voice was daring, almost goading, as if he knew that there was no way Cyborg could resist something like this, but also that there was no way he could let himself agree.
"Man, think about how Raven acts now. Do you really want to find out what caused her to be so dark and Gothic?" The half-robot asked blandly with an unrecognizable tinge to his voice. Was he nervous?
"Okay, okay, I get it. We won't bother trying to find the Raven's past, because Cyborg is too scared," Beast Boy said, smirking as he began walking off in a different direction. He had him, he knew it.
"That's ri- Hey! I'm not scared! I don't want Raven to kill you!" Cyborg said in protest.
Beast Boy waved a hand dismissively and obviously in disbelief. "Sure. Well, if I promise to distract her and take all of the blame if by chance she manages to catch us, will you help me?" He asked, smiling up at Cyborg.
Cyborg hesitated, "I suppose I've come this far… Fine, though she'll probably kill the both of us anyway, no matter who takes the blame. So… Where do you think her memory banks are?"
Beast Boy shrugged, then jumped as the scenery changed from the normal, rocks floating in the middle of nowhere, to a strange, grassy field which was spotted with rose bushes, complete with black roses. There was a figure floating cross-legged in the distance, apparently meditating.
"Raven!" Cyborg called, taking a step forward, something that he soon discovered was a big mistake. The scenery changed again in a flash and the two teenage boys found themselves in 'the land where air fresheners come from.'
"Great, we see her, call her name, and get instantly transported elsewhere. What's her problem?" Beast Boy asked, looking around with disgust painted on his face.
Cyborg looked around, "I don't think that it was her fault. I think it just happened, because why would Raven move us to somewhere where she's unable to watch us? Anyway, at least we know that she's in some field… somewhere."
"Yeah, but where? That field could be anywhere! And what if Raven's moved like we were!" Beast Boy exclaimed, making wild gestures with his arms.
"It was your idea to come, remember? Stop complaining, besides, wasn't there something you wanted to do? Not that I'm insisting on it, nor am I suggesting that it's a good idea…"
"Right! Off to find Raven's memories!" And with a nearly ecstatic grin, Beast Boy began to march off down the gently worn path in the ground, and hopefully out of the far-too-cheerful area that they were in. Cyborg reluctantly trailed behind, looking around as if trying to find a way out of this.
"Where do you think Cyborg and Beast Boy went? It's weird for them to go so long without playing a video game, or fighting over something for that matter," Robin wondered aloud. He was standing near the large window that took up one of the walls in the recreation room of Titan's Tower and simply staring out through it, his mind too preoccupied to sit down on the couch and turn on the television.
"Maybe they are visiting our friend," Starfire said softly, looking up from the Tamaranian dish that she was preparing. She was sensitive to Robin's feelings about the matter of Raven's state, and knew that they reflected her own, though she hadn't yet been able to tell what he blamed for the accident. She desperately hoped that he didn't blame himself, as it was something that Robin would do. "It is a strange time, friend Robin, so it makes sense for friends Beast Boy and Cyborg to be acting strangely, does it not?"
"I guess…" Robin replied, his voice slowly fading away and dying into a gentle sigh as he spoke.
Starfire walked slowly over and stood next to him, "Please, do not blame yourself, friend Robin. It was an accident, and friend Raven will awaken soon. I am sure of it. And I am also sure that Beast Boy and Cyborg are just fine as well." She said calmly, hoping to be reassuring.
Robin looked at her, his dark mask hiding any expression that may have been showing in his eyes at that moment. "I hope you're right, Star."
Raven's eyes darted around. She knew that she had heard her voice, and it hadn't been fuzzy, broken or faded in anyway, which could only mean one thing – there was someone here, somewhere. Pushing the attempted communication aside, Raven began to ponder on who would dare to pass through her defenses. It couldn't have been a 'normal' person, mainly because there was no way that they would even be able to enter Titan's Tower, let alone get near enough to her, even if said person did have some sort of telekinetic ability.
So that narrowed it down to one of her fellow Titans, or potentially a super villain who was bursting with overconfidence. Easily eliminating the thought if it being a super villain, Raven was able to figure that it had to have been one – or more – of her team mates, which meant that they had been transported through her mirror. Now, to deduct who was wandering around her mind, unchecked.
There was no way that it was Robin. He respected her want – and need – of privacy far too much to simply invade her like this. Besides, to her knowledge, he didn't know anything about her mirror, and quite frankly, she hoped that it stayed that way.
The next person was Starfire. Though more likely than Robin because she had a much higher curiousity level, Starfire was still very unlikely. She knew enough about Raven that she would have no need to come through the mirror, and also respected the privacy and shelter that she kept around her room.
The remaining people were Beast Boy and Cyborg. How had she known that it would come down to them eventually? They knew about the mirror, and Beast Boy never left her alone, ever. So plainly, they were the only invaders on her list who made sense.
She sighed, exasperated. The last people she wanted running around her mind, unchecked, were Beast Boy and Cyborg. Mainly Beast Boy. He wanted to know far too many things that he had no right to know, and sneaking around here without her being able to stop him would be the easiest way to do so. Wasn't life just great?
Beast Boy cursed to himself as he and Cyborg walked along, him in the lead. He wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but somehow, they had become lost. He could feel Cyborg glaring through his back as a result of his inability to find his way around. He didn't feel that it was fair though. It wasn't really his fault that they were lost, as Cyborg could have taken the lead at any time, and there was no way that it could have been Beast Boy's fault that he hadn't. Except for of course, that one point where Cyborg said they should turn down another path, and Beast Boy refused to do so. But that was beside the point.
All Beast Boy was really worried about was that they hadn't managed to find Raven's memories yet. There really was a reason as to why he wanted to find out all he could about Raven, though he couldn't figure out what that reason was, and would never admit to himself that he was simply a curious person. He just wanted to know everything that he could know about Raven, without her actually knowing that he knew. It would be like learning a secret that was trusted to someone else. Of course, he wasn't exactly sure what that felt like, as not many people trusted him with their secrets.
Right now though, there was more to worry about. Mainly the fact that they were incredibly lost somewhere deep within the deepest depths of Raven's mind. Beast Boy scanned the area with obvious boredom. The place was completely deserted.
Or was it? His eyes darted to the flash of movement that they had caught onto, and widened at the …thing that had captured his attention. It seemed to be some sort of bat, but someone's warped mind – not referring to Raven, of course not! – had altered the creature in a rather strange manner.
It still looked mostly like a normal, fruit eating bat. It had the same, deep brown, almost black colouring, and the same large ears and leathery wings. However, regular fruit bats didn't have beady black eyes with red shines, nor did they have fangs protruding from their upper lips. And surely it wasn't normal for a bat to have ragged wings and a deep, crimson liquid glistening around the mouth that looked oddly like blood?
He cowered back slightly as the creatures beady eyes fixed on him with a rather cruel look. "Uh, Cy? Are you seeing this thing? I think it wants to hurt me." He said, turning an eye to his companion without looking away from the bat.
"What did you expect? It's Raven's mind, and since she wants to hurt you 99 of the time, why shouldn't the strange demonic looking creatures who live in her head?" Cyborg asked, though he too was watching the creature with a cautious eye.
"Trespassers beware…" the small thing said in a sort of a hiss. Beast Boy jumped and stared. This couldn't be good. It wasn't natural for bats to warn people about trespassing – it wasn't natural for them to speak at all! But of course, he couldn't help his curiousity.
"What's there to beware of? What am I trespassing on?" The green-eyes teen asked, still watching the bat carefully.
"Trespassers beware…" The thing said again, apparently unable to say anything except for the one line.
Beast Boy took a step forward, and then another. Clearly, the creature wasn't dangerous, just something there to warn off 'trespassers.' The fangs did look rather threatening though.
Two more steps, and just when Beast Boy thought that he would be safe, the thing swooped and went in for an attack. Beast Boy somehow managed to duck just in time. "Okay, so it's not so harmless." He said aloud while listening to the clicking noise of Cyborg transforming his arm to his cannon.
"You just had to provoke it, didn't you?" Cyborg asked, sending a blue-white blast flying at the creature. It let out a hiss as it flew to the side, its' wing singing slightly, and soared towards Cyborg, fangs outstretched.
Beast Boy didn't reply to the obviously rhetorical comment, and instead opted to change into an eagle and chasing after the bat with his beak snapping open and shut. Until, of course, the bat disappeared and reappeared behind Beast Boy, managing to take a chunk out of his tail feathers before Cyborg clipped it again with his cannon, and it finally disappeared.
"Oww…" Beast Boy muttered, having regained human form. He sat on the ground, rubbing his butt and making a face that explained it as sore. "So, what was it guarding?" He looked up and ahead, to where there was a strange arch-like gateway, with a strange, swirling black and gray portal in the centre.
"Jackpot…" Beast Boy murmured as something that looked like a child's small hand came halfway out of the portal before being sucked back inside of it.
Yes! Finally finished chapter 3! I've been working on this thing forever… Since before chapter 2 was uploaded. v.v It was really hard to think of ideas for this chapter that would make it long enough with out inserting things from the next chapter into it, but I managed, even if it I somewhat shorter than the other chapters. I can almost guarantee that chapter 4 will be one of the longest, as there are quite a few things that I want to do for it.
Edit - Line breaks look horrible because they weren't working when I tried to put them in after uploading... I'll fix them eventually...
Edit(2) - Yay! They're working again!
To my reviewers…
TrigunChic – Thanks. :) Still working on it though, cause I can't be satisfied until I find my writing flawless. Which will never, ever happen, but I can dream…
Jade-Monsoons – Yep! Gotta have the fluff once and a while! However, I'm about as good at writing romance as I am at battle scenes. Which isn't very good at all…
disappearer – I love getting inside the characters heads when I write, because I know that when I'm reading, I love to see what a character is thinking. However, like I said to Jade-Monsoons – I'm no good at writing romance.
Skye – Yay! Thanks!
stella-s55 – Thank you, and I'll be sure to. (I hope.)
:puts out a plate of cookies:
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Completed – 08/12/04
Uploaded – 08/12/04