The sound of familiar beeping echoed against the walls of Titans Tower as the chilled air appeared to only make the noise louder. Though it was well into the afternoon, the silence was unbroken and the two Titans who were generally so lively were now sulking as they watched for any signs of life from their pale companion.
Nothing.
She had been in a trance for several hours, hopefully healing herself. Cyborg had seemingly given up on treating her apart from wrapping her body in thick layers of gauze after a few basic disinfectant procedures. With empath in the state she was in, the robot knew time would heal her. He simply took to monitoring her stats while she remained hovering a few inches above the infirmary bed, her eyes closed in peaceful concentration.
Beast Boy was a different story. He had refused to give up on the dark girl, finding it ridiculous to believe there was nothing they could do to help her. As the hours washed away, he sat there without a word; his head rested at her bedside as his mind prayed she would open her blue eyes once more.
It was Beast Boy's eerie silence that kept Cyborg from asking the changeling what had happened to Raven. He knew the boy would tell him in time. He would have to be patient. Not bother to argue with his green friend about leaving the dark girl to rest alone, the synthetic Titan shut the door behind him, knowing full well that Beast Boy would alert him when Raven woke up. For now, he went to the T-Car in an attempt to get his mind off the present crashes of worry that seemed to be playing games with his mind.
Beast Boy checked his watch. 3:31 PM. Raven was still out cold. The young boy's curious eyes searched the room for any sign of life. Nothing. He was alone with his thoughts. Flashes of the previous hours' occurrence came flooding back to him as his wandering orbs became fixed on Raven's amethyst locks; they were still crusted with blood. The longer he started, the more time he spent in the past, reliving the terrifying images of the girl's mangled body, and yet he couldn't decide what was worse: Seeing her in such pain, dyed red, or watching her drift away in silence while cloaked in white.
Before he could ponder any further, Raven slowly lowered her body to the bed, eyes still closed. A few moments passed before blue broke the day and her eyes met with emerald pools watching over her.
"Beast Boy?" she uttered just below a whisper.
"I'm here, Rae." Beast Boy gave a long sigh of relief as he reached slowly for the empath's left hand and caressed the silky skin of her fingers.
The dark girl let her hand rest in his for a brief moment, too tired to pull away from his gentle touch. Her eyes never left his even when he took the opportunity to stare down at the part of her that was grazing his own skin.
'Why is he being so kind to me? After everything I've done to him…' Raven's thoughts were interrupted by a violent vision that clouded her mind.
She was suddenly face to face with Robin. Rain fell from the sky as she watched the boy be beaten mercilessly by a shadow in a red cape. Blow after blow brought nothing but pains of agony and rivers of blood from the helpless Titan as the battle raged on. Having been thrown to the ground, Robin struggled to his feet and staggered over to where Raven watched. His masked eyes met her gaze before he collapsed on top of her.
'I love you…' his voice chocked as he pressed his blood covered lips over hers for a brief moment before going limp.
Raven screamed out his name in terror when she felt his body fail and yet, her fear was soon shifted toward a strange animal flying toward her. It took her only a few moments to name its face as a distant lightening bolt illuminated its silhouette.
It was a bat.
"Raven!"
Beast Boy's shrill voice awakened her from the short-lived nightmare. Raven's eyes drew into focus, causing the changeling's blurred image in her mind to become washed with the details of concern and fear.
"What happened, Rae?"
The empath continued her stare a few moments longer before fighting against her body to sit up. Suppressing a yelp of pain as waves of sheer torture flared within her muscles, Raven slid off the bed.
"I…I had a vision," she stuttered, gripping her head as the sting reached her mind. She felt the warmth of Beast Boy's arms surround her as he helped her to her feet and walk slowly toward the door. "It was…about Robin."
The changeling cringed inwardly at the sound of their leader's name. A series of images played in his eyes as guilt seeped into his skin as he remembered the moments he had eavesdropped on the two dark Titans during their last moment of strained affection.
"He..he's hurt. We…need to call him…and make sure he's okay." Raven waited a few seconds before lifting an intense gaze to meet Beast Boy's concerned emerald eyes. "I couldn't see Starfire."
Though her words had frightened him, his heart began to race for a much different reason. Slowly, he came to realize he was not mesmerized by the darkness she spoke of, but rather the shadowy beauty that was unharmed by her agony ridden eyes. Her sapphire pools had not lost their luster, her lips, though chapped, were still alluring, and her pale, blood-splashed skin was still soft as his fingers carefully caressed the part of her side her tore uniform had left open. He felt her squirm at the light touch and yet that only propelled him to continue.
'What the Hell am I doing?' Beast Boy shouted in his mind as he tore his eyes away from the injured girl to properly open the door for her. She struggled without his support at first, but the moment she had passed out of the doors range, he reached for her, allowing a soft smile to graze his lips. 'She finally shows she likes someone else and then I suddenly fall head-over-heels for her? Great timing, Beast Boy.' Curiosity won over his thoughts as he stole a quick glance at Raven. Her eyes were noticeably worn; the skin surrounding them was smeared with the black shadows of missing sleep, which seemed to blend perfectly with the blotches of blood still drawing designs on her skin. 'Geez, even with all those cuts, she's still gorgeous. Wait…what? What am I saying? Even if I do like her, it doesn't matter…she has Robin."
"Garfield…what troubles you?"
"Wh-what?" Beast Boy was thrown from his battle at the sound of Raven's calming monotone gently calling his real name. His eyes met hers again and he quickly searched for any trace of sarcasm hidden behind them. He found none. "Did…did you just call me-?"
"Your other name wasn't…calling your attention…back."
"Oh," the green boy muttered as he flushed in embarrassment. "Umm, nothing's wrong, if that's what you were asking. I was just…thinking."
Before Raven could open her mouth to pry further, Cyborg came walking down the hall in their direction, a goofy smile clearly painted across his dark features. It was obvious to the empath that any more questions at this point would simply awaken the interest of their cybernetic friend and that was not what the girl was hoping to accomplish.
"Well, I see your both up and about," Cyborg cheered, his grin evidently fake as he came closer. "How about we go in the kitchen and get ourselves a bunch of hot, steamy, mouth-watering, strawberry-topped waffles?
"The amount of time…and thought…that it takes for you to….describe a food snack…is simply disturbing."
Beast Boy let out a soft chuckle as he rejoiced at the sound of Raven's harsh sarcastic humor making itself known. Even though she had been a bloody mess just a few hours ago, the dark Titan had not given up the opportunity to crack a snide remark when it was deemed appropriate.
Cyborg's face dropped to a playful glare. "S'cuse me! Seems someone's still got a nasty tongue despite all that treatment I gave 'er."
"Oh, leave her alone, Cy. She might give you a mentally controlled super wedgie with her powers if you're not careful."
The giant laughed as he began to walk on ahead. "Sorry, BB, that's somethin' only you have to worry about cuz one, Rae can stand me more than she can you, two, I don't wear clothes, and three…well…three's not important."
The simple sounds of joy the three were flourishing in did not last. As the hours strolled by and the day gave way to night, Cyborg and Beast Boy lost their smiles as Raven sat nearby, sipping a warm cup of her herbal tea. The changeling eyed his passive friend with curiosity as she grew nervous in the presence of the rising moon.
"Raven," Cyborg started slowly. "What happened to you? I mean, it's not every day BB comes runnin' after me with you in his arms, not to mention the fact that you were both covered in blood."
"It…it was nothing."
Beast Boy glared at Raven for her failed excuse and began to search the pockets of his uniform. Grasping something cold, the boy brought it out from his left side and handed it to Cyborg, its familiar image causing tremors of fear to pass through Raven as she looked on only for a brief moment.
"She used that to hurt herself." He waited for Cyborg's eye to lose its intial shock before he continued. "Slade was in her room."
Raven's mind, though shaken by the words flying past her, was now focused merely on the moon and its ascent. Her arms began to burn through the bandages and though the ache made her wish to tear the disgusting wraps of white from her, she was hoping they would somehow keep the symbols of her birth hidden from view. She was wrong.
Before Cyborg could open his mouth to question the empath, Raven jumped to her feet as an overwhelming sense of pain racked her body, causing her to cry out. Beast Boy stood to help her, but the girl would not allow him near.
"Stay back!" she shouted as a flicker of power shot from her chakra uncontrolled, throwing the changeling into a nearby wall.
Torn between which injured Titan to run to, Cyborg stood frozen. He watched Raven slowly sink into the floor, and he made no move to stop her, the scare of her unwinding power still fresh in his mind and circuits. Once she was gone, the robot moved quickly to Beast Boy.
"Are you alright, man?"
"Dammit!" the young boy shouted as he moved into a sitting position. "Why does she always do that when we try to help?"
"Don't worry man; we'll get it out of her eventually."
Darkness filled every corner of the cave, blending well with the damp cold that hung in the air. Sounds of something dripping filled the fallen boy's slightly conscious mind as he lay there with his back resting against some soft material he could not name. His eyes were still closed as he lifted himself.
"I see you're finally awake."
Robin's head turned swiftly to the direction of the noise before the echo concealed it. His shielded eyes opened and struggled to focus against the consummate darkness. As the moments flew by, he succeeded in cutting through the unseen light. He recognized the approaching figure all too well. Anger seeped into his voice as he sat there, staring with glaring eyes.
"Batman…"
A/N: Wooo! Another chapter done. Chapter 14 will focus more on the Robin, Starfire, and Batman side of the fanfic. I'll be pushing that side of the plot along to sorta catch up with how far along the BB, Cy, and Rae portion of the story as gotten. I've decided not to follow the show's episodes. I may include some ideas, but the way these ideas and scenes come about will be of my own making. Hopefully this fanfic will end with a similar in concept ending to the Raven Arc of the show...I think I have an ending in mind already.
One more thing: STOP BASHING THE PAIRINGS!
I am really sick of reading reviews that only say OMG!11311! I want rob/RAe! or DUDE! Rob/Ray sucks!#!#141! BB/Rae is teh rox!. I'll pair up whoever ends up together. The characters control this story and wherever the plots leads them, and with whomever they are drawn toward, that is how I write them. If you don't like it, tough!