Chapter 10

Raven awoke with a start.

The first thing she was aware of was the cold; a cold that chilled her to her very core. The next thing that she was aware of was that she had fallen asleep in Beast Boy's room. Finally, she realized that it was almost sun set.

Sitting upright with a jolt, Raven stared at the window. The shades were pulled back, revealing the sun dipping lower on the horizon. The sky was a bloody shade of red, as the blazing sun fell slowly into the golden sea.

Soon it would be dark out.

Jumping off of Beast Boy's bed, Raven backed away from the window. She looked around the room with new eyes; eyes that saw only painful reminders of her lost friend. Trembling, she backed out of the room.

In the hallway, she let the door slide closed before turning on her heels and running back to her room.

-

Beast Boy watched from the bed as Raven left his room. She looked paler than usual. Almost scared, but not. It was like she had been scared, sad, and confused, all at the same time.

Beast Boy curled his fists angrily. Why did this keep happening? She just kept getting worse.

"How the hell am I supposed to make her happy?" he yelled. Pulling his fist back, he furiously punched the wall. The effect wasn't very satisfying though, as his hand passed through with little resistance.

Sighing, he left his room. He knew were she would be now.

He reached her room quickly, passing through the door without a second thought. She was sitting on her bed, like he knew she would be. Her legs were curled to her chest and her arms were wrapped around them, like he knew they would be. Her room was brightly lit by her lights, candles and lamps. Her curtains were thrown open to show the last rays of sun before the city was immersed in darkness.

She had done this every night for the past five days. After haunting the tower, she would return to her bedroom in time to turn on all her lights before night took over Jump City.

She wasn't afraid of the dark. She was afraid of him. Afraid of him appearing if she stayed for too long in the dark. She was going to need some serious psychotherapy if he didn't come back soon.

Or, he could just leave. It was tempting, to say the least. Beast Boy was beginning to see that he might be working on a lost cause, and he couldn't stand seeing Raven this upset. If he left, she could move on, and she wouldn't risk seeing him and being pulled back into depression.

"No," he muttered to himself. "I'm going to stay. I'll make Raven happy if it kills me."

-

Raven rubbed her eyes wearily. Squinting her eyes, she sat up. Her bedroom lights were still on, as well as all her lamps and candles, accompanied by the bright morning sun shining into her window. As she stared around the bright room, something in her snapped.

"This is getting ridiculous," Raven growled, sitting up straight. "I can't go through the rest on my life living like this."

In the corner of the room, Beast Boy stared with wide eyes.

'She wants to be happy again? Would that count as the third task?' he thought excitedly. Thinking it over quickly he decided, although a bit reluctantly, that it probably wouldn't. 'I didn't do anything to make her feel better, only worse.'

Still, Beast Boy was happy. If she wanted to be happy again, it would be easier to help make her happy, wouldn't it? Even if it didn't count as his third task, he didn't care. As long as Raven was happy, he could learn to deal with death.

He watched as she quickly walked across the room and stood before her mirror. Lifting a pale hand, she slammed her fist against the smooth glass surface. Beast Boy's face contorted in confusion, wondering what she was doing. She did it again, causing the glass to crack, and the answer hit Beast Boy like a blow to the head.

"No, Raven! Don't do it!" Beast Boy yelled, holding out his hand. "Don't do it!"

Tears formed in her eyes, and he knew she had heard.

"I can't live like this," she mumbled. "I can't continue seeing him, hearing his voice… I can't live like this."

She bent down and picked up a shard of glass from her mirror. Realizing she wouldn't listen to his ghostly voice, Beast Boy sprinted out of her room. As he ran through the halls, he shouted for help.

"Guys! Raven's going to hurt herself! Stop Raven! Help her!"

Three Titans rushed out of their bedrooms, looking down the halls with wide eyes.

"Did you hear that?" Robin called, running up to Cyborg.

"Yeah," he replied. His face was pale. "It sounded like…"

"Friends! Come quickly!" The two boys turned to see Starfire standing in front of Raven's room, horror etched on her face.

The two boys froze in shock as they saw what Starfire had discovered.

A pool of blood surrounded Raven, as she crouched in the middle of her room, tears streaming down her face. The glass from her mirror glittered crimson in her brightly-lit room.

"Raven, stop right now," Robin ordered, forcing his voice to sound calm. "Do you know what you're doing to yourself?"

"Of course I know," Raven snapped.

"Calm down Raven. Just drop the glass, and we'll take you down to the infirm-"

"No, Robin! I don't want to go to the infirmary. I don't want to drop the glass. I just want to d-"

"Girl, don't you dare finish that sentence," Cyborg warned her. Everyone looked at Cyborg in shock, unused to the anger in his tone. It was unlike anything they had heard come from him.

"Why not?" Raven challenged, standing up weakly.

"Because…" he paused and took a shuddering breath. "Beast Boy wouldn't want you to."

His statement was met by silence, as everyone let the words sink in. Raven looked down, refusing to look in Cyborg's eyes.

"I can't think of a worse way to… disrespect Beast Boy's memory. Do you know how upset he would be to know that you want to kill yourself because he's gone!" Cyborg's voice raised, and angry tears were forming in his human eye. "You're not the only one that lost a friend, Raven! He was like a brother to me! We all loved him, just because you might have loved him in a different way, doesn't mean that we haven't suffered as much as you!"

Tears streamed freely down Starfire's face, as she and Robin watched silently. Cyborg glared at Raven, trying to stop the tears threatening to spill out. Raven stared back, scowling and breathing heavily.

Finally, Raven's chin quivered. With a shaking hand, she dropped the shard and took a step forward.

"How can you all stand to go on living with him gone?" Raven asked, voice wavering slightly.

"It's what he would have wanted," Cyborg replied quietly.

Silently, Raven took another step towards her friends.

"I need help," she told them quietly. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to help me."

Smiling sadly, Cyborg walked over to Raven and pulled her in a soft hug. Starfire joined them, followed by Robin. Together, the three stood hugging and crying openly.


My goodness, if I keep writing like this Raven's going to have a psychotic breakdown! Oh wait, she pretty much already has.

I really don't like this chapter. It's just not good. I mean, it's not horrible (maybe) but it's not good. At least, I don't think so. I've tried rewritting this chapter so many times, but it just won't come out much better than this. So, sorry if it sucks terribly, but I'm going to try and make the next chapter better. And less OOC on Raven's part.The poor girl, I feel sorry for what I'm doing to her. Meh, whatever.

Tammy Tamborine