Teen Titans: Half-Life
Chapter 10: Nevermore, Once Again.
"Raven's Mind for Dummies: Chapter 1 - Introduction. Whilst traversing the intertwining synapse highways of goth girls' Id, ego, and super-ego, it is duly important to keep these three points in mind:
It is DARK; be sure to have a several flashlights equipped at all times, with plenty of spare batteries.
It is DANERGOUS; always pair up for your travels with at least 1 other good friend. One who, ideally, doesn't know what he's gotten himself into and with plenty of spare weaponry. Especially beware of the midget kamikaze raven birds, with big teeth and freaky red eyes.
It is SPOOKY; so pack several pairs of clean underwear and don't forget your 'brown alert' emergency funds for your concluding stop at the dry cleaners."
In his mind's eye he could already imagine it. If Beast Boy ever got around to writing it, this is how it would go.
In front of him was a deep violet school backpack, into which he packed the uneaten tofu burgers from the previous dinner, checking for the third time that he had indeed packed spare undergarments and an extra uniform. Also contained within, was a high-beam flashlight with spare batteries and bottled water.
The first time they had gone into Raven's mind, they had had help navigating the landscape from the various personified aspects of her personality. This time it would be different. There was no telling what effect Trigon's presence had, and Raven's mind was in no shape to help. The latter due to a combination of blunt head trauma and a drugged induced, unconscious state of being. There was no telling how long they'd be in there or what they might encounter. But one thing was certain; they would not come back until they had cleansed Trigon's taint. Beast Boy promised himself that.
................................................................................................
One hour later the 4 Teen Titans sat down in the main room, forming a semi-circle, with Knives standing a generous distance away from them. In the midst of the Titans, was Raven's Magic Mirror looking harmless on the carpeted floor. BB had once described it as a beauty mirror, but the creepy Goth-themed frame and handle, that surrounded the impossibly reflective glass, said, 'Keep away! This is one highly disturbed individual and you should not play with her things, if you know what's good for you.'
Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg, as well, all carried extra equipment on their persons or in bags for the journey ahead; food, water, and a few other essentials. Only Cyborg and Beast Boy had any experience of the world ahead and Robin suspected they hadn't even begun to scratch the surface behind Raven's nature. To Robin, she was almost as big a mystery as Slade and possibly more dangerous.
Slade.
Robin couldn't get his mind off of Slade. For the past hour all his thoughts fixed on Slade and wouldn't let go. It had been nearly two months since Robin had broken away from being Slade's apprentice. But the wounds had yet to heal. It was time for Slade to make a move. Robin felt certain that Slade would re-emerge soon. When and how, Robin couldn't be sure.
"Slade has a hand in this, I just know it." Robin thought to himself. "What has the puppeteer tied his strings to now?" Robin's fixation with Slade bordered on obsession. Had he told the others of his suspicions, they might've agreed with him, if not for the fact that he theorized Slade's involvement in everything slightly off norm.
"I will be prepared, Slade. When you show your face again, I'll be ready to take you down."
If Robin only knew....
................................................................................................
"So how do we enter the mirror?" Robin asked.
"Try the ON button." Knives called from his safe distance.
" Yeah, where's the remote? I think it needs new batteries, dude." BB smirked, "Or you just need to hit it a few times." He lifted the mirror and rapped it on the ground, lightly, a few times before Robin stopped him.
"Careful Beast Boy, don't break it." Robin's voice raised a few decibels in annoyance.
"Yes, Raven would be most displeased if you broke her mirror of magic," added Starfire.
Beast Boy gave a snort of displeasure, "I was only joking. No need to bite my head off."
"Now's not the time for jokes, BB." Robin scolded.
"It's never a good time, is it." BB whispered below his breath. "At least Knives can appreciate a good joke, right dude?" BB twisted around, to face Knives, as he said it and Knives nodded his head in agreement. It didn't seem fair, to BB that is, that the only person who seemed capable of sustaining a sense of humor, wasn't going to join them. He had to convince Knives to come along for the ride; at least the two of them could have a little bit of fun.
"I'm not going." Knives answered before Beast Boy had finished forming the question in his head. BB expression dropped like soggy bread.
"If he is brave enough," Cyborg pointed at Beast Boy, "to go back, so can all of us." BB wanted to protest the obvious insult but he choked back his objections.
"What are ya? A man or a munchkin?" Beast Boy added.
For a second, Knives seemed to seriously consider the question, before he knelt to the ground, did a funny little stub legged dance and sang in a high-pitched voice,
"I'm off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of OZ." Quickly regained his footing and escaped the room via the mess hall door. There was a crash of body meets wood as Knives collided with the dinner table, which he had forgotten took up a generous portion of the neighboring room, and ended with a one-sided dialog between himself and the table using a very, very creative assortment of colorful four-letter words.
"Who the hell put this table here!?"
Beast Boy brayed with laughter, only slightly more vigorous then the other Titans, apart from Starfire. It seemed that she didn't quite understand the slapstick element of human humor.
"A wizard?" She wondered, "Does he play pinball?"
"No that's a song, Starfire." Robin corrected, their laughter reinforced by Starfire's confusion. They laughed until their sides hurt, the stress of the last few days melting away in their amusement.
................................................................................................
Once they had sufficiently calmed down, 10 minutes later, there were several apologizes exchanged between Robin and Beast Boy. They all agreed that the last few days had been taxing and stressful and that there is always a little time for laughter. That was another save they owned Knives. If nothing else, Beast Boy was determined to get Knives on the team, once they returned from this assignment.
How to enter the mirror? That was the next step. Last time Beast Boy had held the mirror up to his face, unaware, as he usually was, at that time about the mirror's unique properties, he had commented about zits on his face, when the mirror had literally reached out to grab him. In Cyborgs attempt, to rescue Beast Boy, he had also gotten him self dragged down into the mirror world.
Beast Boy tried to re-create that very situation, but no matter how close to his face or what kind of face he made, or how many zits, real or implied, that he popped, the mirror remained silent. BB went a step further and started moaning to himself about his handsome good looks and how manly and irresistible he was to girls and even topped it off with a vain kiss to his reflection. Again the mirror taunted him with silence.
Then someone theorized, Cyborg actually, that is they brought the mirror closer to Raven they might get a stronger reaction. Thus they found themselves in the white sterilized interior of the medical unit. Forming a circle around Raven as she slept peacefully, they placed the mirror on her chest and placed both her hands on the handle.
................................................................................................
"What are you doing?" Knives looked at his watch, "It's been an hour since you started this ridiculous leisure curiosity."
"We've tried everything," said Robin, "talking to it, begging it, chants, spells incantations; we even tried insulting it and praising it. It just lays there."
"So does Raven," Knives observed.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, lets assume that this mirror is indeed a portal to her mind,"
"Which it is, I should know." BB pointed at himself.
"I'd conclude," Knives ignored BB, "it's also linked to her physical condition."
"So to break it down" Cyborg picked up the mirror, "that as long as she remains unresponsive so will the mirror."
"Amazing it ever worked in the first place then." BB smiled
"Can you revive her long enough for us to use the mirror?" Robin asked, taking a few steps toward Knives.
"No," Knives yanked the mirror from Cyborgs hands. "It'll have to wait."
"Healer Knives is right," agreed Starfire, "friend Raven needs her time to recover from her struggle."
"Doctor's orders." Knives said, half joking half serious. He held up the mirror and peered at his reflection, "and what sort of mind has a mirror this unfashionable?" To answer that question Beast Boy transformed himself into an adult raven bird, flew over, and perched him self on-top of the mirror and pecked it a few times before reforming back to normal, "Quoth the raven: Nevermore." BB recited, probably the only line he remembered from that poem. Knives held the mirror out to Robin, who reached out to accept it.
As soon as Robin touched the mirror, the ceiling lights directly overhead flickered briefly. Everyone looked up to investigate the strange phenomenon. As their eyes grazed the incandescent lights embedded in the ceiling momentarily before the power was cut and the room was plunged into darkness.
"What just happened?" BB and Cyborg asked in unison. Beast Boy reached into his pack for the flashlight. Groping blindly in the dark, it was no easy task to find it. Fortunately for Cyborg, he had a flashlight already built into his arm, an especially powerful one too. He ignited its powerful radiance and one side of the room was vibrantly lit. Basking in the light, Beast Boy was alone. Cyborg quickly paned his armed around the perimeter of the room and found no one else.
The others were gone, including Raven. Only the impression of her body, on the mattress, remained.
"Where'd everyone go?" BB lit his own flashlight.
"Search me," Cyborg replied bemused, "Someone has cut the power too. I'm gonna find the circuit breakers." Cyborg walked over to the door and it opened automatically despite the loss of power. What he saw before him, immediately recognized. An infinite, star filled, blackness as far as the eye could see, permeated only by a long narrow, rocky path leading to the horizon and a halo of pulsing red that hung in the sky like an evil sun casting that corrupted everything it's bleak radiance touched.
They were back in Raven's mind, just Cyborg and Beast Boy, once more.