Collecting the Pieces of a Broken Mirror

' Thought '

"Speech"

Chapter 7: Awakenings

Raven looked around. No sing of a glowing door anywhere inside the cold room she was in. It was night, and since there was no moon the sky was full of sparkling white dots. Raven tried to move, but there was something holding her. She looked at her arm and saw serum being conducted into her vein. She moaned and tried to remove it.

"Stop, birdie... don't do that."

Raven looked up. The night was dark, but she could see the shade of someone sitting on the window sill.

"I didn't give you permission to call me...'birdie'", she said. Her throat ached as if it had been in disuse for a long time. "Who are you?"

"Don't you remember your old... friend?", he asked in a cold, almost metallic voice.

"You... still haven't answered me...Who are you?"

He injected a warm liquid into her left arm. Alarmed, Raven grabbed his neck. He knew he couldn't breath, but didn't seem to mind. He twisted her wrist, and her eyes turned white.

"There is no need for that, my dear Raven. My medicine will soon affect you, and you will sleep quietly until morning."

Raven suddenly felt sleepy and sank in her pillow.

"Who..."

"I am Slade," he said as took off his mask and kissed her forehead. "and I am someone you will wish not to have forgotten, dear. Now, good night."

Raven closed her eyes.

In half a second, she opened them again. It was a great autumn morning.

"I see you've finally awakened, sweetheart!", said a voice from the other side of the room. "These are great news!"

An old, mother-like nurse came to Raven's beside, taking notes and adjusting the machines.

"Can you take those off, ma'am?", asked Raven as she tried to point at the different tubes which supplied her with oxygen and nutrients.

"Of course! You are a lot better now, and won't need those...", the nurse said as she took tubes from Raven's nose and each of her arms. Raven sighed in relief. "By the way, you can call me Claire."

"Alright, Claire..."

The nurse happily walked to and fro the room and the goth followed her with her clear eyes.

"Claire?"

"Yes, darling?"

"When can I get out of here?"

"Judging by your condition, you could leave now. But..."

"But?"

"You have to wait for your friends to come and pick you up. I was the one who called them yesterday night when you showed signs of consciousness, as they asked us to do, but it is weird that none of them came here until now..."

Raven had no idea of what the nurse was talking about.

"And if they don't show up, when can I leave?"

"With your supervisor's permission... around one in the afternoon, darling...Oh, your clothes!"

"What about my clothes?"

"We have to get rid of them when an accident involving toxic gases and radioactive components happened in the laboratory..."

Raven's eyes widened a bit.

"Hoho.. but there is nothing to worry about, dear! I will get new clothes for you right now... and then I'll show you a place where you can take a bath. My, my… two years are really something, are they not," Claire said as she left the room.

'She is someone happy with life... but did she say two years? Have I been here for this long?'

Raven slowly got up and yawned. The cloudless blue sky peered in, and a cold breeze made her shiver slightly.

'Two years...locked in this room... '

She looked at a small mirror at the side of a cupboard. Raven touched her face lightly and then ran her fingers through her hair. Her long, lavender hair now almost reached her elbows. And she liked it. She was as pale as ever and her face didn't change much, unlike her body. She was in a great shape in spite of the time she had spent in the hospital, and she had really grown up.

"What a weird sensation... I know this is me, I'm just... not used to it'

She had already noticed her gem was missing, but its shape was still there. A diamond outline gave her a somewhat exotic look. Strange. Without the gem, she felt a lot lighter... she felt free.

"I'm sorry, dear... but I'm afraid I... whoa, are you already up?"

"I felt strong enough, Claire. What are those?"

"Oh yes! As I was saying, I could not find any suitable clothes for you... most of the donations is children clothing, so it was hard even to find these."

The nurse showed a purple nightgown. A quite short one, on Raven's eyes.

"Am I supposed to wear it... when I get out of here?"

"I'm afraid so, dear. But I have also found this," she said happily as she showed Raven a very long black coat. It would reach Raven's ankles, and it seemed to be quite warm with all of that fake black fur on its ends.

"Thank you, Claire," Raven said, smiling. She was being affected with the nurse's constant happiness.

"Oh, you're welcome, young lady. Now, here are your shoes, you towel, underwear I bought for you, and you can take a bath right there," Claire said, pointing at a door at the end of a corridor.

"Claire, I don't know how to thank you... I mean, you didn't have to-"

"I didn't, but I thought you could use a little help... by the way, would you like to have lunch with me? And don't worry about money, we can eat at the hospital's canteen..."

"I'd love to, Claire"

"Then you can meet me at the hall by midday, alright?"

"Yes, and thank you again," Raven said as she headed to the bathroom.

When she took off the thin cloth that covered her body, Raven felt cold. It was almost winter, after all. Fortunately, the water was warm. It felt great to have it running down her skin. It was a bit hard to wash such a long hair when Raven was not used to, but she managed it.

After the bath, she dressed up and didn't look so bad after all. The nightgown even matched her eyes and hair.

'I guess I can live with this...'

She went to her room and looked outside the window. Orange, red and brown leaves floated down the streets. A few birds chirped and hopped up and down on the naked branches of trees. The reddish grounds, the untouched pure blue of the sky, and the cold breeze blent perfectly and formed a magnificent autumn day. Raven did not remember ever seeing such a beautiful morning.

She looked at a clock hanging at the wall. Almost midday. She would better hurry if she wanted to find the hall Claire was talking about.

oOo

Beast Boy yawned. It was early, about 8 or 9.

"Finally! It was right about time, lazy cabbage," said a female voice coming from the bathroom (his room was a suite).

"Good morning, Terra."

"Hn..." she said as she brushed her teeth, wearing only pink panties and bra. After she was finished, she came out of the bathroom and started to get dressed.

"You should get dressed as well. Or have you forgotten the picnic Star planned for today?"

"Uh... actually..."

"No wonder. With a brain like yours..."

"Hey, can you stop that, T?", Beast Boy said, trying to pick up one of the tee shirts from the floor. "I had a weird dream... I could almost swear I saw Raven waking up..."

"Duh, as if I care about a stupid dream about her. Wake up! She's almost dead."

"Don't talk about her like that!"

"And if I do? Have you also forgotten I was the one who helped you out of the depression she caused?"

After that, Beast Boy said nothing.

"Which one?", she asked, showing two tank tops: a pink and a yellow one. Beast Boy shrugged.

"Useless," Terra said, rolling her eyes as she struggled inside a black top and rushed out of the room.

Beast Boy remained in his room a bit more. Then he took a deep breath and went after his girl and friends.

oOo

At their lunchtime Claire told Raven about her children and grandchildren. It was amazing to listen to all those stories, and the girl wished she had a family like that.

"Here, sweetheart. These are Jack, Lucas and Anne, my kids. Jack is still twenty-one and single, but Lucas and Anne are married...," said the nurse as she showed small photographs hanging from her wallet.

"Your children, if one could call them that, are lovely,"

"I had a hard time with them, but can't complain. They're wonderful! Here is Anne, the older one, and my first granddaughter, Tara."

"Is Tara this blonde one," asked Raven, pointing at a little blonde smiling girl at the corner of a picture. She seemed very happy, and looked beautiful and almost angelic with her blue eyes.

"Yes, isn't she beautiful?"

"Indeed"

"I think that's why she was kidnapped when she was seven years old..."

"And is she okay?"

"I don't know, we haven't seen her since," Claire sighed. "She must be your age by now, darling."

"It's a pity she is lost."

"True, darling, true..."

And an hour went by. They talked and talked. Raven felt strange about that conversation with a person she barely knew, but she felt safe. Claire was a very good person.

"Well, time is up."

"You may go home now, Raven dear."

"Yes - Home... what's a home anyway? - I'd better get going."

Claire smiled at her, and gave her a hug. Raven hesitated, but then hugged back her new friend.

"I want to thank you for everything you've done, Claire. If there is something I can do for you, ask me and I'll do my best..."

"Don't worry about it, Raven," interrupted the old nurse.

"But I do."

"Okay then. I need you to do me a favor. Two, actually."

"Ask."

"First, if you find ever find Tara tell her we all love her and would like to see her again..."

"I'll do it."

"Second... be as happy and live as fully as you can, Raven dear."

Raven looked at her. And could do nothing but smile. Unlike her, it's true, but she was feeling emotions new to her. Happiness. True happiness.

"I'll do my best, Claire."

"Promise me"

"I promise."

Claire hugged her once more. She had been the one taking care of her through these two years and even though she was new to Raven, Raven wasn't new to her and she really cared about the girl.

"Come down, we need you here!", said a voice coming from a window.

"I am going, Anne!", she said.

"Anne? You daughter Anne?"

Claire winked at her. "Hoho! It's time to go...", and went away, waving at the goth.

"Time to go... but where to," the girl thought as she floated over the hospital building and then above the entire city.

She spotted a large green field a few miles away from the city. A road went through it, but it wasn't much of a nuisance.

It was a good place to test her powers. They haven't been used for quite a long time, and could be dangerous when suddenly awakened.

She landed. The weather now was warmer and since there was no one around, she was able to take off her long coat. The sensation of the wind playing in her hair and silky nightgown was great and before she realized she was already in a trance. Slowly waking up from it and feeling peace burning inside her, she lay down on her back, touching the soft grass, and enjoyed herself as she let her powers play on that which seemed to be an infinite green field.

A car in high velocity broke the silence.

It would be a perfectly normal scene if the car wasn't in EXTREMELY high velocity and followed for a red-haired flying girl, a blonde flying on a rock, a robot, a boy dressed in green spandex and a green hawk.

Raven dressed her coat again. She could not appear in front of all of them wearing that short purple piece of clothing.

"Alright, time for some real training..."