Beastboy fell silent after the scream.
His four friends gathered around the small bed they had placed him in. Starfire looked particularly stricken. "What has happened to friend Beastboy?"
Cyborg looked over the results of Beastboy's scans. "Someone tortured him, mercilessly. Let wounds start to heal and then ripped them open again. I haven't seen anything like this. IT'S OUR FAULT! We should have been doing more."
Robin looked over at him. "We did everything we could. It just wasn't enough. We have to find out who did this. We have to make sure that they know what happens when you pull this crap. Cyborg, any clues?"
"Nothing. Burns, cuts, bruises. but nothing that can help us."
Beastboy started to whimper. "Why? Who are you? What do you want? Stooooaaaaaaaaaaahh. The pain, the pain. NOOOOOOOO! I'LL KILL YOU! I'll kill you. I'll ki..." Beastboy broke out into sobs.
A blue aura started to surround him. Bruises vanished and cuts started to heal. The skin knitted itself back together. Raven collapsed under the mental pressure she'd put herself under. "That's, the best I can do. The rest will have to heal naturally, but his eye, His left eye is gone."
The three other teens turned to stare at the scars that covered the left side of his face. Robin looked over to Cyborg. "Can you help him with that?"
Cyborg shook his head sadly. "I know what you're thinking, and no, it would be ripped apart whenever he changed, and that could kill him. Too many nerve connections to risk it."
"No, no, don't hurt me. don't hurt me. YOU BASTARDS! WHEN MY FRIENDS GET HERE THEY'LL RIP YOU APART! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS! hurts, so cold, please. help can't, can't, please stop."
Four sets of eyes dropped in shame. Robin's voice could barely be heard. "We need to sleep, but someone should stay with him."
"I'll do it. If he wakes up, I'll let you know." Raven stared down at her friend.
"Are you sure? You and Beastboy aren't exactly..."
"I'm sure. If he won't calm down, I can just put him back to sleep. Go on. It'll be fine."
Three Titans left the room, each one glancing back to see their friend laying on the small bed. They turned away from the scarred body of Beastboy.
Tears came to Starfire's eyes. "I am sorry friend, I have failed you."
"We all messed up Star. We just have to do our best to help him, deal with this."
"A month of being tortured, I'm not sure that we'll be able to do anything. We just have to hope that he can make it through this." Cyborg glanced back at the door that had shut behind them. "Even if he can make it past this, he'll never be the same. How could he be."
Raven closed her eyes and sent her consciousness to her injured friend. No barrier held her from his mind. His mind was nothing but darkness. Raven would have attributed it to his sleeping if it wasn't for the feeling that crawled up her spine.
A light shone through the darkness.
Raven slowly followed the bright shine. A small golden ball floated among several. Red, gray, and a bright green ball floated alongside it. Others littered the floor.
Raven tentatively reached to the red ball. Her mind blanked as rage and an ancient monster seemed to scream into her mind.
"The beast, his anger. separated. How?" Raven looked at the small red ball. She glanced over to the gray ball. She reached over and touched it. Pain flashed through her, nothing but a sample of the last month.
Raven pulled back and stumbled over her own feet. She landed heavily on the floor. Her hand brushed one of the balls that rested against the ground.
She was flying through the darkness of a ventilation shaft. She slipped through the grate and returned to human as she headed toward the door. Her hand reached out and unlocked it. The door was shoved roughly inward. "You take too long kid. Start doing better or you know what'll happen. Raven pressed herself against the wall in fear.
Raven's mind was roughly ejected from what she realized was one of Beastboy's memories. She was careful not to touch another as she got to her feet. She reached toward the floating green ball that was most likely the Beastboy she knew. It turned black at her touch.
"Leave. You don't belong here."
"Beastboy? You're safe now. You're not going to be hurt."
"Safe? I'll never be safe. I was safe once, my friends let me be taken, they didn't come for me. I'm never safe."
Raven started to panic. "We looked for you! We've spent the last month following every lead and rumor. We couldn't find you!"
"I'm never safe, never, the Titans let me be captured. They let them torture me. None of you care. Get out."
"It's not true. We tried everything, we couldn't find anything, nothing we heard was true. We tried, we really did."
"Not hard enough, get out."
Raven's skin began to crawl. She'd never heard the shape-shifter speak like this. "but..."
"Get out, now."
Raven continued protesting against the voice. Three balls started to glow. The golden one started to shrink. It stopped floating and dropped among the orbs on the floor. The glow from the other three started to merge."
"Beastboy, please..."
The light grew brighter.
"Beastboy was your friend. Beastboy is dead."
The light pulsed and shot toward her. Raven's consciousness was forced from his mind. She returned to her body and fell from her chair. "No, no, we tried. Don't hate us. We tried." A tear escaped from Raven's eye.
She heard the door slide open. "Friend Raven? Is something wrong?"
"I-I-I entered his mind, he blames us. He hates us."
"But friend Beastboy is not like that."
"He said that Beastboy was our friend, and that Beastboy was dead."
"What? But he is right there."
"He didn't mean he was dying, he meant he's not our friend anymore."
"Move." Raven and Starfire turned around.
"Friend Beastboy, you're awake. But you should rest. You are not well."
Starfire went to guide him back to the small bed against the wall. He smacked her hand away. "Get out of my way Starfire."
In shock she moved to the side. Her one time friend shuffled through the door.
The two girls watched in silence as the young man started down the hall.
He made it to the elevator and rode down to the entrance hall of the tower.
Four teens stood in his way.
"Don't go Beastboy. We can help you. You're our friend."
"Move out of the way Robin. I don't follow your orders anymore."
Robin looked sad while Cyborg stared at his best friend. "BB, man, we can help. Just give us a chance."
"You can't help anyone, none of you. Where were you when I needed you. Now move."
Cyborg continued looking at him before moving out of the way.
Beastboy, continued slowly toward the door that would let him exit from the tower. A yellow disk went sliding between his legs and stopped a few feet in front of him. "Take it, call us if you need anything." Their leader's voice was anything but steady.
"I won't." Beastboy's foot came down and smashed the small plastic device.
The door slid open, and the young man walked into the darkness.