Chap. 2

Truth's Pain

"Breakfast time!" Beast Boy yelled, as he slammed down the plates in front of his companions. Almost at once, they began to dig in, but within moments, they realized their mistake. "Tofu sausage?" Bart breathed, spitting out the food. "Dude, that is such a contradiction." "Just once, can't you make stuff we all want to eat?" Cyborg muttered. A gentle laugh came form the other side of the table, where Brett and Sara sat. "You know it's not that bad." Sara replied, as she ate her meal. "Besides, given all the meat you guys eat, you'll probably start getting a heart attack soon." "Oh come on," Milhouse snapped. "This is worse then the breakfast food at school. And they were made of gym mats!" "But then why did you eat them?" asked Starfire.

As Milhouse attempted to answer that question, Brett smiled and took a drink of his coffee. But moments later, he spit it out. "SOY COFFEE!" he sputtered in amazement and horror. "You actually made SOY COFFEE!" "Yeah," Beast Boy replied. "Do you know how many animals die because of habitat destruction for coffee beans?" Brett stared at him for a moment, then threw up his hands and said, "That does it. I'm gonna go find an animal, kill it, deep-fry it, and THAT will breakfast!" "Hey, could ya not bring back some bug like last time!" Cyborg yelled as Brett walked out of the room. "Honey, just get some real coffee!" Sara yelled, as her husband left the room.

The bat walked the corridors, so eager to achieve his goal, that he didn't see anything in front of him. Of course, that wasn't too hard to believe; he loved getting under Beast Boy's skin like this. It was just another chance for him to act like something he never got to be; another guy in an outfit of misfits. He'd been leader of the Elementals for so long, he'd forgotten what it felt like. But now that he was in the BRATS, he'd been able to let Bart be leader, and just be second-in-command. It was a pleasant thought for him, one so pleasant, it made him forget where he was going, and he walked right into Raven. It was only a slight bump, but it instantly killed the bat's good feeling. Raven continued to walk on, as though nothing had happened. But the bat's instincts, which had guided him through five centuries, told him all was not as it seemed. He knew that with Raven, subtlety was usually required, but he had a feeling that this time she could not hide anything, so he would be as the same. With that in mind, he called out to her. She paused, and turned to face him. Though much of her face was hidden within her hood, Brett saw enough to justify his thinking.

"Is everything ok?" he asked. "Fine." "Well, it's just that you look pale, even for you." "N-no," Raven muttered. "Everything's fine." But Brett was more perceptive. He knew that if this was going to amount to anything, he would have to be direct. "Then why are you chewing your hair?" Raven looked down, and realized that she had indeed, been chewing on of her bangs that had fallen into her mouth. "Something's wrong, and I think both of us know what it is. It's been wrong since your birthday, and hiding it is not going to make it any better." Brett paused for a moment, allowing his words to soak in, and then spoke the question that he already knew the answer to in his soul, but had to ask, "He's getting stronger isn't he?"

For a moment, they both stood still, neither moving, neither speaking. Then, Raven leaned against the wall, and in a broken voice, began to speak. "I-I keep having dreams… I keep seeing the future, or what the future could be…the vision that Slade showed me…. he tries to take me… and every time I wake up….. I-I want him to, more and more." She began to shudder, and Brett realized the extent of her fear. It pained him, to see her like this. Even in the hardest times, Terra, Malichor, Slade's return, he had not seen her like this. She had been stripped of most of her emotional armor, and what was left barely keeping her together. Slowly, he walked over to her, his very steps seeming to echo his feelings of concern. Reaching up, he pulled back her hood, revealing her drooping head. Gently, he reached under her chin, pulling her face up and seeing her tearing eyes. Looking right into them, he said, "We need to tell the others." But even as fearful as she was, Raven shook her head. "I can't." she whispered. "Why?" he asked. "They'll think I'm a monster. They'll hate me." "Raven, if you were a monster, we wouldn't be having this conversation. You would have destroyed the world long ago." "Brett, please. I can't let them know what I am, what's happening to me." "Raven, sooner or later, they're going to know. They'll try to save you, not condemn you." "You wanted to kill me at first, remember?" "I was wrong then. I didn't know you. But that's not important. You have to do this, Rae. They're your friends, why are you so afraid of them?"

Raven back away, her face a mass of confusion. "I'm not afraid of them." She whispered. "Then why haven't you told them about yourself?" Brett pressed on. "I'm one of the only ones here who know the truth, and you didn't even tell me that. I learned it from old books. It's this secrecy that's helping him win Rae, don't you understand? You've never really relied on anyone but yourself. Now, you're up against something that's more then you can handle, and you can't ask for help because you don't know how to ask for it." Raven shook her head. "I-I was going to come to you." "Raven, I'm not enough. I'm only one man. I cannot face down this evil by myself."

"I've kept your secret from a long time now. I've kept it from my team, from my family, and from my wife. My wife, who died in my arms, and was given back to me. My wife, for whom I would throw down everything that I am. I have to lie to her for you, and it pains me more then anything. But it's not because she is my wife. It's because she sees it too. Sara sees how you've become since this started. She may not know how bad it's getting like I do, but she doesn't need to. All she sees is that her friend is in great pain, and that she could help, if she knew how. Sara still feels horrible about the things she said to you and she wants to make amends. She comes to me almost every day, and asks what's wrong, and how she can help. And everyday, I have to tell her nothing, when I know everything. It hurts, Rae, because she wants to help you and neither of us can let her."

He finished then, the words echoing his frustrations that had been carried along with him for months. Brett would have felt relieved to have finally expunged them, but he did not. Instead he felt more sorrow, because his words had cut her right to the bone. Her tears were a river now, flowing down her face. She sank to the floor, her fears finally overwhelming her. She knelt there, sobbing silently, because she knew no other way to weep. It was perhaps seeing that silence, or perhaps the fatherly instincts that had guided him to help all the children he been given charge of, except his own, that caused Brett's next actions. He knelt down next to her, and wrapped his arms around her. He drew her to his chest and let her pour her tears onto him. "I hate him." she whispered, as her tears fell down her face and onto his, like a bitter shower. "I hate what he did to me, I hate what he makes me do to you, to all of you." Brett did not speak; he only held her there, and stroked her hair, gently hushing her tears.

Finally, after almost an hour, she stopped crying. Slowly, almost reluctantly, she pulled away from Brett, and began to gather herself. The bat sat silently, seemingly lost within his thoughts. Finally, he spoke, "There might be a way." Raven turned towards him and he continued. "Tonight, I'll go to your room when you sleep. If the dream comes, I'll enter your mind, and I'll try to help you fight it. But even if that works Rae, it won't stop him forever. If it works, we go to the others tomorrow and we tell them everything." Slowly, she nodded her agreement. Brett stood up then, and said, "I won't let him get you Raven, even if I can't kill him. I promise you, what happened in that vision is something I will never let happen."