Disclaimer: Meep Meep. I don't own the Teen Titans or Nevermore or anything. What I really mean to say is, if you recognize it, I don't own it. yep.
Memories and All That Jazz
The Titans trooped wearily into the common room of the Tower, completely exhausted. They had chased Cinderblock through the sewers for at least three hours. The granite villain had escaped yet again from prison and threatened society so of course the Titans had to deal with him. They were just finding it harder than normal to deal with the number of supervillains with only four members. All were wishing that Raven would get better soon, and not just because they missed her dry wit and sarcasm.
Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire practically collapsed on the couch as soon as they got in. Robin, who really wanted to sit down, didn't. He sighed longingly but maintained his role of leadership. "Come on, guys. Don't sit down now. We have to check on Raven, see if she's healed yet." he said. "We really need her. You saw what happened today. We nearly lost Cinderblock just because we were too tired to fight."
Beast Boy groaned. "Can't we rest for a little though?" he whined. "I'm so tired. Raven'll still be there later. It's not like she can go anywhere."
Robin tried to sound stern but wasn't sure he managed it. "No, we have to check on her now. Get up." Starfire stood up and stretched with a groan and Cyborg creaked to his feet. "Come on Beast Boy." Robin said.
"Don't wanna." BB muttered. All three glared at him. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" he said hastily and levered himself up. "Lead the way, boss man."
Robin did. When they got to the infirmary, he motioned for them to be quiet and called softly, "Raven? It's us. Are you OK? We're coming in." He opened the door cautiously, not wanting to disturb the girl if she was asleep. BB squirmed in under his arm impatiently. "Yo, Rae! Are you healed yet? 'Cause we really needed your help today in the fight with Cinderblock..." His voice trailed off ominously when he looked at Raven's bed.
"Hey, Robin?" BB asked nervously, "is it normal that she's floating like this?"
Raven was sitting, lotus style, about a foot over her cot, hair whipping in an unseen wind. Her eyes, squeezed shut, and open mouth made her look like she was screaming soundlessly as she hovered. Without really meaning to, Beast Boy had stepped closer to her and was reaching towards her face. He touched her pale skin and drew his hand back quickly; it was cold, colder than ice. Robin watched him then put his ear next to her open mouth, straining for the sound of a breath. Looking stricken, Beast Boy drew back, shaking his head. "She's not breathing!"
Afraid of what he was going to see, Robin looked at the heart monitor and breathed a sigh of relief. There was a beat. A strange, erratic one, true, but a beat nonetheless and heart beats meant life. Raven was alive. She just wasn't breathing was all. Nothing to panic about, right?
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An hour and a half later, Raven still wasn't breathing and Robin was starting to panic- starting, hell, he was way past starting, going towards break down.
The four Titans had tried everything they could think of to snap Raven out of what ever trance held her.
Cyborg ran analyses and even went so far as trying to shock her back awake- minor jolts that were the equivalent of sticking a bobby pin in a socket.
Robin had talked at her, tried to startle her into wakefulness, appealed to her logic, whatever he could think of.
Beast Boy poked her until Robin made him stop. When that failed, he tried telling his usual corny jokes and turning into various animals. Eventually, he got so frustrated he grabbed her around the shoulders and shook her, yelling. Robin and Cy had to drag him off of her and wouldn't let him back into the infirmary until he promised to behave.
None of the boys knew what Starfire tried. She shooed them all gently from the room, insisting she wanted privacy. As soon as the door whooshed closed, three ears pressed themselves to the metal, straining to hear. Only vague murmurings made it through and the boys eventually gave up waiting.
Robin finally left for the training room to work off his frustration and nervous energy. Cyborg and Beast Boy both hurriedly refused his invitation to spar with him and pretended to be busy.
Once Robin left, the two friends sat down outside the infirmary and talked.
"What's wrong with Rae, Cy? She never...I mean, nothing like this ever happened before. Why does it happen now?" Beast Boy mumbled, his head in his hands.
"Better not let her hear you call her that; she'll kill you," Cy warned and then sighed, leaning back to look up at the ceiling. "I have no idea, man. If I did, do ya think I'd be out here?" He shook his head tiredly. "I can't even think straight right now, BB. We both need sleep and we're not doing anything helpful just sitting here. So let's just go to bed for now, alright?" He stood and walked stiffly down the hallway.
Beast Boy sat outside for a while longer, his tired brain whirling in circles. He thought about Raven and all the time since he had met her. Icy and removed at first she warmed up to all four other Titans. Her smile was so different now. Before it made her look like she was in pain. Then it became a scary smile, right after Malchior, when she began to loosen up a little. A smile then usually meant something unpleasantly funny was about to happen, like getting hit with the stankball. Recently, even before Trigon was defeated, Raven had begun to show glimpses of a genuinely happy smile. He smiled remembering her birthday party, when she had actually grinned and laughed.
Lost in thought, he didn't hear the door whoosh open. He did notice when Starfire tapped him on the shoulder. "Friend Beast Boy, I am finished. You may see Raven now. Where are Robin and Cyborg?" she asked. Beast Boy blinked up at her for a minute, too tired to register what she was saying at first.
"Wha-? Oh, uh, Robin went to the gym to train and Cy said he was tired and went to bed. I'm gonna go in. I'll be careful. Thanks, Star." She nodded to him and headed off towards the gym. Beast Boy crept into the infirmary and sat down in a chair next to Raven's bed. She still floated, hair whipping, mouth screaming silently.
Staring at her mournfully, Beast Boy began to speak. "Rae-Raven- I have no idea if you can hear me or what but I'm gonna talk anyway. We need you, Rae- you're part of our family. Sure you can go all creepyfreaky and scare the hell outta the rest of us and you don't like to talk all that much but you are one of us. We care about you-you are our friend. I know you say you don't do emotions and stuff but I know you do. You just don't show them. You do care for us too and that's the important thing, not anything that happened with your dad. I know you feel like that was your fault, but it wasn't. It wasn't. You tried to fight it by being a Titan and that's what's important. Where ever you are right now, whatever's happening, just remember: it wasn't your fault and we all admire you for trying. So please...come back to us."
Beast Boy sat and stared after he finished, looking for signs of life. Seeing no immediate signs, he settled back into his chair to wait. I will stay awake and see her get up! he thought determinedly and promptly fell asleep.
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Beast Boy was dreaming. Or rather, he was remembering. Eggs, tofu eggs, exploding tofu eggs. An attempted apology and a broken door. Getting sucked into that creepy mirror. Meeting Raven's various weird emotions. And her father. "The mirror you found is for meditation. It is a portal into my MIND - NOT A TOY!" Beast Boy winced even in his dream, remembering her anger. The words echoed through his subconscious. "portal into my MIND, portal into my MIND"
He started awake muttering, "into my mind, into my mind." Looking around, he realized he was still in the chair next to Raven's bed and she still hovered above the clean white sheets.
Remembering his dream, he sat up straighter in sudden enlightenment, exclaiming, "Into her mind! The mirror! Gotta find the mirror!" and ran out of the infirmary and down the hall towards Raven's room.