A/N: I know, I know, a pathetic return after a long, long vacation. Still, it's something. I've finished it (finally), and I'll be posting a new chapter every Monday from now on until I wrap it up. This is the point, by the way, at which the story takes a drastic change for the gorier. Brace yourselves.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." The voice came from everywhere at once. She couldn't hide. Where was she? The world was black. Had she gone blind? "Help me... someone help... can't see..."

"No one can help her. We found her. She's ours." The owner of the voice was obvious now.

"Don't come any closer... you're dead... I killed you years ago..." Something ripped into her head. It was oozing something... not blood, but life. She realized vaguely that she may lose all the life she had left. 'Better than the alternative,' she thought. 'I don't want to be trapped here...'

"Aw, is the poor little girl hurt? Does she wish we were hurt instead?"

"Yes, I do!" Raven cried, feeling the life being drained out of her.

"Too bad," the voice taunted. Then, mocking Raven's voice, it said "We can't hurt anymore. We can't feel anymore." A high-pitched giggling ripped through Raven's head.

"You got what was coming! If I'd left you alive, then--"

"Then what?" the voice sounded angry now. "That precious human would be dead? He was going to die anyway, wasn't he Ravie? He did die, in the end. We were just making it quick for him."

"He had a chance! You would've taken that chance away!" Raven was struggling against the oncoming blackness of death.

"We had a chance too, didn't we? Ours didn't matter!"

"You're a psychopath! You would've hurt more people! I did the world a favor!"

The voice became no more than a whisper. As it spoke, the source darted around, her speech always coming from a different direction. "That's what she wants us to believe... but she knows... she knows what really happened, doesn't she? She knows she killed us... she knows she wasn't in control... Murderer. She's a murderer, isn't she? Yes, she is. A murderer. Nothing more... nothing less... a murderer... Murderer... Murderer... Murderer..." A thousand voices echoed the chant as it escalated, growing in volume until it was ripping through Raven's already pounding head. She cried out in pain and frustration, but was powerless to do anything to quiet the mantra. The worst part was that it was all too true.

Raven felt the darkness coming. The life was oozing out of her, and she was sinking. Falling away from the voice. The nausea that came with the loss of thought was fading, and being replaced by a buzzing in the back of her head.

Beast Boy rushed to the edge of the bed, fighting the telekinetic force that tried to tug him off the ground. He knew that if he let his feet leave the floor he'd be thrown into that swirling mass.

Reaching up, he grabbed Raven's nightgown and pulled her out of the mini tornado. She suddenly began to convulse violently, writhing in his arms. He could feel her cold sweat against his skin. If he didn't get her to stop this, she might hurt herself.

He searched his mind frantically. What should he do? How could he stop this bad dream? Bad dream... His mother had always hugged him when he had bad dreams. Would it work?

It's worth a try, he decided, and clasped Raven tightly to his chest. Her struggling slowly stopped, and as she lay there in his arms, she began to cry softly. He held her tighter, stroking her hair gently and muttering soothing words under his breath. He felt her arms go around him as Raven buried her face in his shirt. He slowly rocked her back and forth. "It's all right. Don't worry Raven, it's gonna be okay."

Raven was about to let go when she saw something in the dark. She cringed, thinking it was the Victim, but no wailing voice accompanied it. It was reaching for her, and she realized that 'it' was Beast Boy. His arms wrapped around her, and then he was pulling her back. Back to the surface of the black ocean she was drowning in.

Something was wailing behind her. It was the Victim. Her plan had been foiled for now. Reaching the surface, she gasped for air, and Beast Boy held her to his chest, whispering to her. Softly, she began to cry.

The objects floated to the floor around them, settling in their rightful places as though nothing had happened. The shattered lamp repaired itself and came to rest on Raven's bedside table, and the sheets tucked themselves neatly around the mattress. Her crying faded, and her ragged breathing became the steady breaths of sleep. Pulling the covers down on her remade bed, he lay her on the mattress. As he pulled the sheets back up around her chin, he had the sudden urge to kiss her. Before he knew what he was doing, he had landed a butterfly kiss on her forehead and slipped out of the room.
A/N: So how's that for random, huh? Don't worry, a means to an end, a means to an end. Your reviews are still appreciated, by the way.