This fic has turned out to be more angsty than I originally planned. Angsty-angst-angst.
Beware the gore!
This Bird has Flown.
Cyborg had just lain down on his palette and was about to shut down when he felt the chill. He thought he had imagined it; it was a feeling that prodded him in the back of his head, and minutes later, the prodding turned into a cold chill that swept over his mechanized body forbiddingly. He shivered.
That's when he heard Raven scream.
- - - - - - - - - -
Cyborg slammed open his door, nearly taking it off the frame in his rushed effort to get to Raven's room. Her terrified scream had died away and was silent, but rang hauntingly in his ears. He met Starfire zooming down the hall at him, looking very distressed, and her green eyes wide.
"Cyborg! You heard the scream as well!" she squeaked franticly.
"I did." He replied shortly, and took off down the hall with Starfire in wake.
The hall was silent, and sinisterly dark. This wouldn't have seemed out of the ordinary; until Starfire pressed her ear to Raven's door and heard muffled cries that sounded almost ghostly. She pulled back slowly.
"Raven…she is…crying." Starfire whispered.
Something is wrong.
Beast Boy came skidding around the corner a second later.
"I-did you guys-?" he panted, then leaned heavily on the wall to catch his breath.
Cyborg nodded.
"Where is Robin?" Starfire asked suddenly.
"He said he was gonna talk to Raven at….some….point…" Beast Boy trailed off, and his eyes widened.
Very slowly, all three pairs of eyes turned to the door, and they could hear the disembodied cries from within with horrible clarity.
Something is very wrong.
- - - - - - - - -
Robin's body hit the floor with a dull thud and a thin moan of pain. Raven barely heard the scream that tore from her throat, anguished and unearthly, as it echoed through the tower. She followed him to the floor, ignoring the sharp pain in her thigh as she fell to her knees. She lifted his limp form into the sitting position; already blood had pooled beneath him, and she felt the warmth of it on her hands when she touched his back.
his life is bleeding onto my hands
She forced him to lean against her, dead weight falling against her shoulder. Suddenly, she felt his hand grasp her arm like he had before, but weakly. She didn't look at him, not even when he breathed her name in a pained voice. Tears welled in her eyes.
She found the dagger handle protruding from his shoulder, and wrapped her pale fingers around the handle tightly. With a shuddering breath, yanked out the offending blade and threw it aside. Another wave of crimson seeped from the wound; Robin's hand went limp on her arm, and another moan escaped him as he faded into unconsciousness.
Why is she dizzy?
Why can't she think?
Oh Robin, please stay awake…
She utters another small scream, and frantically presses her hand over the bleeding wound, willing it to heal, forcing what she can of her powers to work this time….
…..if not for me, work for him….
Her hand glows dimly. In the back of her consciousness she hears voices outside her door.
Nothing is happening.
Robin is still bleeding.
Despair creeps her icy hand into Raven's heart, and she screams again.
Her vision is blurring.
Dizzy, can't think.
His blood is on her hands.
She is more afraid than ever.
"The door is locked!"
"Break it down!"
Starfire obliges at Cyborg's command, despite all she's been told about staying out of Raven's room. She rips the door clear off the frame and Cyborg rushes in through the threshold, scanning the dark with his mechanical eye.
A frightened gasp from Starfire jerks his attention in the direction of her pointing finger.
Raven's violet hair hangs like a curtain around her face. Sobs wrack her shivering form as she stares at her splayed, red-stained hands. Robin lies in front of her, looking rather innocent were it not for the widening stain seeping from his shoulder.
- - - - - - - - -
"His condition is stabilized, but his blood-loss level is high."
Cyborg turned from the monitor to look at the motionless form of his leader, still unconscious, lain out on the gurney.
Cyborg had had only a moment to take in the shock after seeing the scene in Raven's room before she had spoken. She looked up at him with tear-reddened eyes and choked "Help him." And without a questioning word he lifted Robin from the floor and dashed to the medical room with Beast Boy on his heels. They staunched and cleaned the wound, then stitched it evenly, checking all his vital signs to insure no fatal damage was done. The dagger had come dangerously close to a lung.
By then, Raven had retreated to the roof, as Starfire reported, and was doing nothing, not even meditating. Just standing, watching.
Waiting.
"Then he will be alright?" Starfire asked anxiously from her seat at Robin's bedside.
"Eventually, Star. His shoulder will be out of commission for awhile, and hopefully no lasting damage." He sighed and looked troubled.
"Do we know what happened?" Beast Boy crossed his arms and leaned against a wall, looking grim.
"Raven did not speak to me, but I feel it was an accident," Starfire paused, looking at Robin. "Raven would not do something like this, not on purpose, and not to Robin."
"I know Star, but we have to assume the worst." Cyborg said heavily, hating the words as he said them.
"So? You assumed the worst about me once, and the worst wasn't even me! Raven may be creepy sometimes, but she wouldn't do something like this." Beast Boy defended, his chin jutted out aggressively.
"I know, BB, I know." He exhaled, rubbing his brow. "But this is different. She was right there."
"Raven has never screamed like that," Starfire said quietly. "It was strange…." She looked shaken to the very marrow.
- - - - - - - - - -
Like a patch of night she moved through the tower, drifting silently down hallways. Her eyes were red from crying, but she had washed the red from her hands hours ago.
She pushed the door open the door to the medical room quietly as possible, but no one was there to hear.
Except the boy on the gurney.
She shut the door behind her and took the seat next to the gurney that Starfire had occupied earlier. She watched him in silence for a while before she lowered the hood over her cloak and reached out a timid hand to touch his.
Gingerly, she slipped her other hand under his shoulder, placing her palm over the stitched wound. A white glow radiated from her hand, then transferred to his shoulder.
The light increased for only a fraction of a second, and then vanished altogether.
Muscle joined with muscle, and torn flesh knitted back together, leaving a brown scar only half the size if her smallest finger.
Robin shifted slightly, and Raven jerked her hand back, but he didn't wake.
She exhaled deeply and with remorse.
"I'm sorry Robin." She whispered, and then rose. With brief hesitation, she reached out and brushed strands of jet-black hair from his face. Her fingers touched the edge of his black and white mask, and she knew that now she'd never get to ask him.
She leaned down and kissed him softly on his cheek.
Standing straight, she replaced her hood and withdrew her hands into the folds of her cloak. When the door clicked shut behind her, and she set off down the hall, more tears leaked from her eyes.
She remembered a line from a book she once read, walking from her room with a knapsack slung over her shoulder and another clutched in her hands.
'Only thieves and children run.'
She had stolen something from him. It was precious, and she couldn't give it back, not now, probably not ever, even though she wanted to with every aching fiber of her being. What it was, she might never fully comprehend. But she had stolen. She was a thief.
And now she ran.
"The bright day is done
and we are for the dark."
-William Shakespeare
Angst!
5 points and a braincookie to whoever figures out which book she's talking about.