A full minute had gone by in complete silence, everyone looking at Raven expectantly, with the exception of Starfire, whose head was down in shame. Raven sat silently glaring down at the table in front of her, arms crossed. She wasn't going to be the first to talk, no way would she give in. If they wanted something, they could talk first. Having a lifetime of practice when it came to being emotionless and patient, Raven could have sat there all night without making a single sound if she wanted to.
Without lifting her head to look at Raven, Starfire finally broke the silence when she mumbled in a weak, sad voice, "I am truly sorry Raven, I did not mean for this to happen. I understand if you can no longer trust me…"
Raven stopped staring at the table and looked at her friend. "Star, it's not your fault. If anything, it's my fault that all of this happened. I got myself into this mess, and I should have seen this coming." Starfire's expression remained downcast after her words, however, so after another moment Raven added, "And of course I still trust you."
"Okay, now that we've got all of our 'feelings' cleared up, do you mind getting to the point Robin?" an impatient Beast Boy asked their leader. He was still a little bit confused as to what was going on, and wanted to hurry up and get it out in the open all ready.
"Raven's been keeping secrets, and she needs to tell us." He left it at that, short and simple.
"You all have secrets too, why should mine be so important?" She knew that she should tell them what had been going on lately, but at the moment she didn't really feel like obliging. She felt like fighting the conversation as much as possible, in her own subtle way.
This time it was Cyborg who spoke. "C'mon Rae, you know this isn't the same kind of secret. If it was, you wouldn't be so defensive and difficult right now."
"That's nothing new, I'm always defensive and difficult. Ask Beast Boy, he says it all the time."
Beast Boy sat up sharply, surprised at hearing his name mentioned, and blushed slightly. "Don't bring me into this."
Raven merely shrugged and mumbled, "Well I got dragged into this against my will too…"
"Rae, don't blame us, you got yourself into this."
Raven looked up to meet Cyborg's gaze, glaring slightly. She wasn't expecting him to be on her side exactly, but she didn't really think that he'd be a part of Robin's interrogation either.
"I don't want to deal with this right now." Raven slid her chair back and began to stand up. "I'm actually really tired, so I'll be in my room-"
"-Sit down Raven," Robin said calmly, which only angered her further.
Raven paused, still standing in front of the table with everyone just staring at her. She couldn't stand this anymore. "I don't want to sit down! I don't want to talk about my problem! Why can't you let me deal with it on my own? It's not hurting any of you, and I'm all ready making progress with it! And it's not like I'm completely alone here, Starfire knows, and she's helping me with it!" As she yelled, several things around the room exploded, but nothing too threatening or dangerous, so the Titans ignored it and let their friend finish.
Robin and the others were also standing at this point. "Raven, it's hurting you, and that's all that matters."
Raven could feel her powers nearing the edge, so she was constantly chanting in her mind trying to keep calm, but she was unable to keep her emotions down. Her head was beginning to hurt again, and if she wasn't careful, something bad was bound to happen. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Her eyes were closed tightly and she could feel herself begin to sweat. She had to keep her focus. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."
The others all paused, taking notice of Raven's odd behavior.
"Raven, do you need assistance?" Everyone turned their head toward Starfire as she spoke. She was looking intently at Raven, worry evident on her face.
"…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"
"Star, why would Raven need assistance?" Beast Boy asked, beginning to look concerned as well.
While the others were looking to Starfire for answers, Robin returned his focus to Raven. She was becoming slightly pale, and her quiet chanting had taken on a desperate tone.
"…Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos…" Raven's mind was once again throbbing, and she felt like her body was being slowly drained of all substance and replaced by Jell-O. She was starting to lose her sense of balance again. If she could just open her eyes she would have sat down, but the light in the room was too much for her headache.
"Raven?" Robin had taken a step forward and was now reaching out slowly toward her, not wanting to startle her with any sudden movements.
"…Azarath…Metrion…"
Robin's hand finally came into contact with Raven's arm, but the second it did she seemed to gasp in pain as she closed her eyes more tightly and grit her teeth. Her body suddenly tensed, and it seemed like she was trying to keep from screaming.
Everyone was worried now and stared silently at their friend, unsure of what to do. Alarmed by her near-silent whimpering, Robin stepped up to Raven and put his arm around her waist trying to keep her steady. The second she felt him standing there, Raven leaned against him for support, unable to keep herself balanced any longer.
Robin listened to her quick, painful breathing and felt her hand grip the material of his shirt as she tried to get past whatever pain she was feeling. She was trembling terribly, so he put both of his arms around her and slowly lowered her to a sitting position on the floor.
"Raven, you're bleeding…" Robin reached up and grabbed a napkin from the nearby table and wiped away the small trail of blood that was dripping down from her mouth.
The others were all gathered around where she sat now, watching as she seemed to calm back down, her breathing returning to its normal rhythm.
"Raven, are you okay?" Beast Boy asked, placing his hand lightly on her shoulder.
"I-" she began, but then stopped. She didn't know what to say. 'Yeah, I'm fine'? 'Well, now that you asked, I think something's wrong with me'? This was definitely not how she hoped this conversation would go.
The others all stared at her, waiting for an answer to Beast Boy's question, until they finally began to get agitated with her continued silence.
"Why is it so hard for you to tell us what's wrong?"
Raven looked up at Robin, who had spoken, then at the faces of all of her friends. They all looked so scared.
I should probably just tell them. I've put them through so much all ready, and they deserve to know.
She took a long breath to calm her nerves before she spoke. "I've been getting really bad dizzy spells for the last few weeks, and I didn't want to tell you because… I was scared."
"How bad have your dizzy spells been?" Cyborg asked, relieved that this conversation was actually going somewhere now.
"Well, they're the reason I got into all that trouble when we fought Cinderblock and when I was on the obstacle course with Robin. They haven't all been that bad though, sometimes I just get a really bad headache and need to sit down for awhile."
"Do you always bleed when this happens?" Robin asked, obviously still a bit upset that they were just now finding this out.
Raven slowly reached up and touched her lips, where there was still a little blood remaining. "No, this is the first time… It's never hurt like that before." Her voice trailed off at the end as if she were deep in thought, and the others could tell that she was just as scared as they were.
Beast Boy looked away from Raven and turned to Starfire, who had so far pretty much stayed quiet. "So Star, what was the favor that Raven owed you?"
Starfire looked up at Beast Boy, then the others, before quietly answering, "I accompanied her on the search for the cause of her ailment."
"Did you guys find anything?" Cyborg asked, now addressing Starfire as well.
"We learned that there is a new criminal in the city called Archimage who deals with different magics. We believe that he may be behind this."
"What makes you think that this Archimage guy did this to Raven?"
"Well, we cannot yet be certain, but today we also discovered that the Archimage has made deals with several other criminals, including Dr. Light."
This time it was Robin who spoke. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Because," Raven responded, "it was just after the fight with Dr. Light that I started feeling strange."
There was a long silence between the group, each person thinking about their last encounter with the light-obsessed villain and the situation at hand.
"Raven, why don't you go get some rest now," Robin said, breaking the silence.
"But, don't you have more questions or something?" she asked, surprised that he was letting her off the hook so easily.
"No, you've been through a lot, and I don't want you overexerting yourself right now. The rest of us will track down Dr. Light while you're sleeping and see what we can find out about this. All right?"
Raven stared at the others for a moment, not sure whether she should accept their offer to help or not. But they all seemed to genuinely care. She should have told them a lot sooner.
"Do you promise to let me know if you find something?" she asked, still a bit uneasy at the idea of them dealing with her problem while she just stayed home and slept.
"We shall let you know what we discover as soon as we return Raven." Starfire gave her friend a reassuring smile, making Raven feel a little more comfortable.
"All right, I guess…" Raven said quietly, more to herself than to the others. They all sat there quietly until Raven finally stood up from the floor with a bit of help from Beast Boy, and with a small "thank you," left the room.
Robin turned and addressed the remaining Titans in the room. "Ok team, you know what we need to do, so let's get to it and start looking for Dr. Light."
Without a moment's pause, the others all nodded in unison and began about their work.
So what do you think about the story so far? I hope you enjoyed it. I'm kind of in a rush right now, so I'll say this quickly: My spring break is just now starting (and about time), and I'm going to be gone for a week. When I get back I have to focus more on school again, so it might be a little while before I'm able to write the next chapter, but I'll do it as soon as I can. Anyway, that's all, and thanks for reading my story. Don't forget to review!