The hospital smelled, as hospitals often do, of death. It was heavy in the air to Beast Boy's sensitive nose, though they tried to cover it up with sanitizers. Death and sickness everywhere, and all his friends wound up in the middle of it.
Across the room, Robin was trying to stay calm, a magazine held in front of his face. He'd been staring at the same page for nearly an hour without really seeing it. It was obvious he was mentally beating himself up, blaming himself for what had happened.
Beast Boy sat down next to him. "It wasn't your fault."
Robin's voice was unnaturally calm. "I should have realized one of the other Slades would take advantage of this opening. I should have figured out a way for everyone to come. It's--"
"If you say it's your fault again, I swear I'll punch you." The green shapeshifter bounded to his feet angrily. "Stop beating yourself up! You don't know everything that's going to happen, and you can't be everywhere at once! It wasn't your fault!"
"I'm supposed to be the leader. I'm responsible for everyone." Robin stood and glared back at Beast Boy. "It's my job to protect people, and that includes my friends! If I'm not responsible, then who is?"
"How about Slade! He's the one that did it!"
"Will both of y'all just SHUT UP!" The two turned to look at their half-robot friend. "Yelling at each other isn't going to make things better!" He continued more calmly. "You can't prevent bad things from happening to people. They do. Blaming yourself for not being able to stop something you couldn't stop in the first place is not how you deal with it."
Robin sat back down heavily, holding his head in his hands. He looked up again when Starfire came into the room, supporting a barely conscious Raven. They were followed by one of the doctors that had been working with their injured teammates.
"How are they, Doctor..." He peered at the nametag. "...Parker?"
"Thanks to your friend there..." He gestured as Starfire was lowering Raven into a chair. "...Kid Flash and Jinx will live." Obviously tired, he ran his fingers through his graying hair. "The bad news is Kid Flash has gone into a coma, and we've had no luck in waking him."
Robin glanced at Raven, now dozing on Starfire's shoulder. "Raven may be able to help with that, once she wakes up. Can we see our friends?"
"Yes, please follow me."
---
The room with Jinx and Terra was dark, the curtains pulled shut. Terra was not immediately visible from the door, but Jinx lay on one of the beds. She popped one eye open as Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg entered.
"How are you feeling?" Robin asked as he walked up to her.
Jinx propped herself up on her elbows. "Been better. Where's Raven?"
"She wore herself out healing you three. I bet she'll be in here as soon as she wakes up." Robin looked around the dark room. "Where's Terra?"
"I don't know." Her brow furrowed. "She was talking to me a bit ago, but she freaked when you opened the door. I bet she's hiding."
"Terra?" Beast Boy called. A whimper came from a corner of the room. Beast Boy approached slowly. "Terra, it's me. Remember? Beast Boy?" He knelt down next to her. She was hugging her knees to her chest, shaking as if she was freezing. She didn't react to his hand on her shoulder. "Can't escape...can't..."
"It's okay, Terra. I'm here." He wrapped his arms around her, and her shaking stopped.
Jinx swung her legs out of bed, pulling the IVs out of her arms. "Well, I'm good to go. Soon as I find some pants, anyways," she added, looking over her shoulder at the hospital gown. "Years of jokes and they still don't put a back on these."
"You don't look like you're in any shape to go anywhere," Cyborg remarked as Jinx, for lack of a better option, wrapped a sheet around her waist.
"Crazy talk, metal dude. What're a couple of cracked ribs and a concussion?" She flashed a roguish grin. "I feel like I could run a marathon and finally beat Starfire at DDR at the end."
Cyborg shook his head, knowing just how good Starfire is at 'the Dance of the Arrows' as she calls it. "Sounds like you're feeling just fine."
"But what about Terra?" Robin said quietly. "It doesn't look like she's going anywhere for a while."
"I'm fine, Robin." She was standing calmly behind them, Beast Boy holding her arm protectively. "I'm ready to fight."
"You're sure?" Nod. "Alright. Let's go see Kid Flash."
---
The little room was crowded with five people crowded inside.
"He looks so pale," Jinx breathed.
Kid Flash's face was drained of color, still slightly bruised with the remnant of a black eye decorating it. He was hooked up to monitors and machines of all types, mouth covered by an oxygen mask.
"Looks like he's just sleeping," Beast Boy said.
Cyborg checked the monitors. "His vitals are too low for sleep. The doctor was right about that coma. Think he'll stay like this?"
Robin shook his head. "If he doesn't wake up soon, maybe Raven can do something to bring him out of it."
"Not to sound negative, but do we know if Raven can actually do that?" Terra wondered.
"We don't know that she can't," Robin answered.
Jinx bent over him, studying his face. "It's worth it to try everything we can. He did save both our lives." She glanced up at Terra. "He better wake up soon, or I'll slap him out of it."
Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "You know, Raven might get jealous hearing you talk about him like that."
"What, can't I express concern for one of my friends?" She half grinned at him. "Besides, this moocher owes me twenty bucks, and if he thinks something like a coma's going to stop me from coming after him, he's got another thing coming."
"Okay, guys. We'd better let him rest." Robin started ushering them out of the room. "We've got work to do."
Jinx glanced back over her shoulder once as she left. Get well soon, you big idiot.
---
Robin's fist thudded again and again into Slade's midsection, producing an incredibly satisfying noise each time. He had his adversary on the ropes now, he knew it. Another swift combination of attacks sent Slade reeling, wobbling back and forth as if drunk.
Punch.
"This is for hurting my friends."
Kick.
"This is for violating Terra."
Hammerblow.
"This is for Jinx."
Roundhouse.
"This is for Kid Flash!"
Elbow.
"This is for Cyborg!"
Knee.
"This is for Starfire!"
Headbutt.
"This is for Raven!"
Chokehold.
"This is for Beast Boy!"
Throw.
"This is for all the hell you've put us through! And this is for you."
He raised his fist, preparing to strike the final blow...
"Robin?" He turned slowly from the destroyed punching bag. Starfire stood framed in the doorway of the gym. "Why do you talk angrily to the bag of punching?"
"Oh. I was just..." His hands waved aimlessly as he tried to come up with an explanation.
"You were just...?"
He ran a hand through his sweat soaked hair. "Working out."
Starfire walked further into the room, grabbing the towel on a nearby bench. "You are angry with yourself for the injuries of our friends."
"I know I couldn't have done anything to stop it, but I--" She cut him off by wiping his face with the towel.
"Robin, we will find Slade and make him pay for what he has done." The soft tone of her voice contrasted sharply with the look in her eyes. "And our friends will be fine. Please do not be angry with yourself."
"It's not me that I'm angry at. All I want right now is to do something extremely violent to the bastard responsible." Robin smiled grimly.
Starfire nodded and mirrored his expression. "Then we are in agreement." Robin noticed her hands were resting lightly on his shoulders, idly playing with the towel she had looped around his neck.
"Uh, Star?" She was very close, their faces almost touching.
"Yes?" She was staring at him in a way he'd never seen from her.
He didn't mind her being close, but..."I'm...really sweaty."
She gave a start and stepped back. "Oh! Yes, of course you must go wash."
Gah! Stupid! Stupid! You know what was about to happen, but you go making stupid excuses like you don't like her! What were you thinking! He berated himself as he walked towards the door. Robin looked back as he reached the door. She was standing in the same place, looking hurt. She flashed him a weak grin when she saw him looking, though.
Robin walked back across the room and planted himself in front of her. Starfire was about to step back, but he grabbed her arms and pulled her in close and kissed her before she could react.
Starfire was totally caught by surprise, but it was the good sort of surprise, like finding something you'd lost a long time ago when you were busy looking for something completely different. In fact, it was such a good surprise, it was like then finding the other thing you were looking for after that, and a twenty dollar bill in your pocket you didn't know was there.
It took her a minute to react and kiss back, but as she was about to wrap her arms around him, he released her and stepped back. "I really do need a shower, Star."
"Yes, you do." She was smiling in earnest now, a sight that made Robin's heart leap. And she kept smiling, even as he walked out of the room.
---
Morphing quietly into a small bird, Beast Boy slipped out of the window of Terra's room. She was sleeping now, thankfully. He was getting extremely worried about her, not that he wasn't before, of course. Terra was acting very erratic, alternating between crying and freaking out whenever anyone looked at her or touched her, and periods where she seemed totally normal barring the fact that she didn't remember at all what had happened to her. Those times she acted like the old Terra, but for Beast Boy, the pain she was in was obvious by the look in her cerulean eyes, the storm that swirled in the ocean of her gaze. She was repressing the memory, and part of her knew it.
Just like before...Beast Boy mused as he fluttered to the roof of the Tower. It was approaching sunset in Jump, a red glow suffusing everything. "What am I supposed to do?" He wondered aloud.
"I have three suggestions," answered the other person on the roof. Raven was standing with her back to him, cloak fluttering behind her. "One: stop talking to yourself. Two: just be there for her and stop trying to fix everything. And three: follow me."
"Follow you? Where?" He asked as she floated above the roof about a foot.
The cruel smile on her face literally sent chills up Beast Boy's spine. "We have a vermin to kill."
---