AN: Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own Teen Titans, and neither do you!
Chapter 6
After about her sixth mission, since she was back on duty, Raven learned that her heart was as strong as it was going to be. And that was not at all a good thing. During each mission she could tell that her friends were doing their best to make it as easy for her as possible. She knew this and yet she could not tell them that she knew. She didn't want them to know that she was appreciative to the fact that they only allowed her to do so much before taking the situation into their own hands.
Her heart hurt every time she was excited, surprised, anxious, scared, or anything that made her heart accelerate in speed. So far the pain had been pretty bearable, but it did slow her down. And it was becoming harder for her to conceal the fact that she was in pain. But, somehow, Beast Boy always knew when she was in trouble. He was the reason it was becoming hard for her to keep her pain a secret.
And the dizzy spells and feeling of weakness haunted her just as often. She read up on it and that meant her heart wasn't beating fast enough. This was just perfect; her heart was either going too fast or not fast enough. She hated it. She never had to worry about her heart beating before, but now she couldn't even go a half an hour without it taunting her.
She had finally finished all of her thank you cards and sent them all out. She sent a very nice one to Beast Boy, figuring she might as well. Little did she know that he hung it on his wall to remind him of her. She finally caught up on all of her meditation and now she was right back to where she was before she had been shot, all of those four months ago.
And Beast Boy still hadn't told her that he was in love with her. He felt like the right moment still hadn't come yet. And now he was just pissing his teammates off. They hated knowing that he loved her and that she still didn't know. The one thing the team disliked was keeping secretes from each other. And this was a big secret that they had been hiding for four months now. And Starfire had nearly slipped five times now.
Raven sat in front of one of the large windows, meditating. It always felt good to clear her mind of all the worry and dread her heart now carried. To imagine that things were back to the way they were before her life had been changed.
"Raven?" asked Starfire softly. Raven had given her a very harsh talk on not screaming her name at her when she was meditating.
"Yes?" asked Raven, keeping her eyes closed.
"I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to the mall of shopping," said Starfire with a small smile.
"No thank you," said Raven.
"But I wish to try on the clothing," said Starfire. "And I have asked Robin and Cyborg and Beast Boy and they all said that they were busy, though they could not tell me what they were busy with. And I do not wish to go alone. Please, will you go with me friend?"
Raven hated that Starfire was so sweet and innocent. How could she say no to her? She sighed and said, "Fine, but not for too long."
"Wonderful!" said Starfire, clapping. "I shall fetch my purse." And with that she flew off.
Raven groaned and touched her feet to the floor. She really detested the mall, but if she went with Starfire this time she wouldn't have to go again for a while. So she would just have to bite her lip and put up with it. She was about to go fetch her own little purse when everything around her began to spin. She fell to her knees and closed her eyes, waiting for it to pass. The weakness she felt really was a bother at time. She quickly regrouped and went about her business.
The two girls left the tower and made their way to the mall. Starfire was practically shaking she was so excited to try on clothes with Raven. Of course, Raven was positive that she wouldn't be trying on anything. She would just give Starfire her opinion on what she was wearing.
Slowly Starfire's pile of clothes in her arms grew and grew. If it was bright, cute, or tight fitting she had it. Starfire had a closet full of clothes that she only wore on special occasions. Like when she and Robin went out on a 'secret mission' which usually meant a date.
"Oh Raven, is clothes shopping not most enjoyable?" Starfire gushed as she grabbed a purple pair of hot pants.
"Yeah, it's real exciting," said Raven sarcastically.
"Why have you not selected any clothes to try on?" asked Starfire.
"Because I'm not going to be trying on any clothes," said Raven.
"But you must!" said Starfire. "Surely you can find something to try on."
"Starfire, I really don't like clothes shopping," said Raven plainly. "You know that."
But Starfire ignored her and decided to look for something for her. She had enough outfits already, she could try finding something for her friend. She grabbed a few darker colored clothes and handed them to Raven.
"Here you are!" she said with a large smile.
"Gee, thanks," said Raven, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, now we must go to the bathing suit section," said Starfire, grabbing Raven by the wrist and dragging her to another part of the store.
"Bathing suits?" asked Raven. "Why?"
"For friend Aqualad's birthday party," said Starfire. "He has announced that it is to be a pool party, did you not know?"
Raven searched her mind to see if she had forgotten about it. And, unfortunately, she did remember Beast Boy telling her about it a few days back when she was trying to meditate. She groaned at the thought of a pool party.
"I think I'll pass," said Raven. "I'll just tell him I'm sick or something. Besides, it's not for like a month or two."
"But you must go!" said Starfire. "All of our friends wish to see you."
"Why me?" asked Raven.
"Because you were injured severely and now you are well," said Starfire. "So you must attend."
"The last thing I want to do is walk around in a bathing suit," said Raven.
"But you walk around in your leotard," Starfire pointed out. "A bathing suit is very much like your leotard."
"Perhaps, but my leotard covers up the upper half of me," said Raven. "And that's the part I don't want exposed."
"Why?" asked Starfire, curiously.
Raven really didn't want to reveal the fact that she was disgusted by the hideous scars that now decorated her chest. Looks were something she had always said didn't matter, it was what was on the inside that counted. But she was truly self conscious of her body now and didn't want anyone to see it.
"Just forget it," said Raven. "Let's go pick a bathing suit for you."
"But you must have one as well!" said Starfire. "Please, Raven."
"Whatever," said Raven at last, sick of talking about it.
Starfire dragged her about and finally, after choosing about thirty-two bathing suits, she found a pink bikini with purple flowers tastefully decorated about it that she liked. Raven had never been so relieved. Starfire then begged and whined until Raven chose one for herself. She grabbed a one piece, black bathing suit and threw it on the pile of clothes Starfire had chosen for her.
"Wonderful, now let us try our clothing on!" said Starfire with a squeal and flew over to the changing room. Of course, she wouldn't go in until Raven went in, as not to be tricked. Raven had done that once before and Starfire was not going to let it happen again.
Unfortunately, Raven was always a step ahead. She went into the changing room and sat there, waiting for Starfire to be finished. The whole time Starfire talked to her and asked how she was doing. Raven had a negative response for each item she was supposedly trying on.
"Are you finished, Raven?" asked Starfire.
"Yes!" said Raven, glad that her hellish nightmare at the mall was almost over.
The two girls emerged out of their changing rooms with the bundle of clothing in their arms. Raven had hers neatly folded, since she had nothing better to do in the changing room. Starfire held two piles, the larger one being what she was going to buy and the other being what she was not going to buy… at least, not that day.
"And what shall you be purchasing?" asked Starfire with a smile.
"Nothing," said Raven.
"But you must!" gasped Starfire. "At least, you must buy the bathing suit for the party."
"I already told you I'm not…" started Raven, but she was cut off by both her and Starfire's communicators going off. Her heart jumped for a moment and she winced at the ache that it brought. She quickly ripped the communicator out of her pocket and flipped it open. "What?" she growled.
Robins face appeared and he said urgently, "It's the Hive Five."
"We're on our way," said Raven and she closed her communicator. She grabbed Starfire's pile of clothes and threw them and her own pile of clothes into a few bags. She then tossed their Titans credit card at the cashier and said, "Just charge us for one of everything. I'll be back later to pick the card back up." And with that she and Starfire quickly flew off with their bags of clothes.
They arrived on the scene and saw the Hive Five in full attack. They threw their clothes into the back of the T-car, once they found it, and joined in. Cyborg was going after Billy Numerous, shooting his sonic canon at all the various Billys. Beast Boy was taking on Gyzmo, which posed the question of would technology beat nature? Robin had Kid Wicked to take care of, which was harder than he thought since the silent villain was very much like a male Raven. Starfire and See-more once again were having a battle of the eyes. This left one Titan and one villain left, and Raven was not at all happy about being left to take him on.
Mammoth grinned and laughed in his throat when he saw Raven. She quickly remembered that she had to keep herself calm, no matter what. Keep her heart at a steady beat. She knew how he fought; the team had been fighting him for many years now.
Mammoth quickly grabbed a truck and hurled it at her. She quickly raised her hand and encased it in her powers before it could touch her. She whirled it around and sent it right back at him. He punched it and the thing crumpled and dropped right in front of him. She grabbed a few lampposts and attempted to restrain him with them by wrapping them around his massive body. He easily flexed his muscles and they burst off of him.
He then cracked all of his joints and she knew he was about to do something big. He got in a running stance, and then bolted after her. She quickly started to levitate higher into the air so he could not reach her, but it was too late. With one massive leap into the air he grabbed her and slammed her down in to the pavement. This was not good.
Her eyes turned black and she blasted him off of her. He seemed down for a moment so she stood up and brushed her cloak off. She saw him get back up and start towards her again. She raised her hands and tried to lift the pavement he was standing on so he would fall, but he was too quick. Before she had time to react he collided into her. He was moving so fast he was able to keep her firmly pressed against one of his large hands. He ran her right into a wall and held her there tightly.
"You're not much of a challenge," he said in his low, beast like voice. "I wonder why that is." He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off of the ground. "Oh yeah, that's right, you're weak now." He squeezed her throat tighter and lifted her higher.
Raven couldn't breath and she couldn't speak. Her heart began to race and with that came the pain, stronger than ever. It was so great she could not summon her powers. She couldn't do anything. She grabbed at his massive hand and tried to pull it off of her, but it was useless, he was too strong. She was losing oxygen quickly and the pain only increased to a place she never believed it could go. Tears streamed down her face and she tried to plead for him to stop, but he only smiled and squeezed her throat tighter. Everything around her seemed to start to darken and she was on the edge of passing out.
Suddenly Mammoth was hit broad side by a green T-rex. He let go of her and she collapsed to the ground. She gasped for breath and tried to sit up. She supported herself against the wall, on her knees, and clutched her chest.
Beast Boy let out a massive roar and then whipped his tail around and smacked Mammoth as hard as he could. The giant flew into a building and with a groan, fell to the street. Starfire threw a beat up See-more onto the down Mammoth and then Robin added Kid Wicked to the pile. Cyborg dragged Billy Numerous over to his villain friends and threw him on top of the mound. Beast Boy then retrieved the dazed Gyzmo that he had taken out before attacking Mammoth.
"You'd think they'd learn by now," said Cyborg, shaking his head with disappointment.
"At least we got them all in one group," said Robin, looking at the pile that was formerly the Hive Five.
"And the police are on their way, correct?" asked Starfire.
"Yup, we just hafta keep an eye on them," said Cyborg.
"I wouldn't worry, dude," said Beast Boy with a grin. "I don't think they're getting up for a while." He then looked around and noticed that they were missing one of their own. "Raven?" He saw her sitting against the wall of a building, clutching her chest. "Raven!" He and the rest of the team went running over to her.
"Are you okay?" asked Robin.
"No," she said, wincing and gritting her teeth from the pain.
"Please, what is wrong?" asked Starfire, very worried.
Raven couldn't say it, she could only grab her chest and let out a cry of pain. The pain within her had intensified again and she fell over completely. Beast Boy quickly grabbed her and kept her in his arms.
"Cyborg, quick!" said Robin.
Cyborg quickly scanned her body to see what was wrong. He looked at the results in the screen in his arm and his eyes widened. "She's havin a heart attack!" he said. He quickly dialed the hospital and said, "Yo, we need an ambulance here, now!"
Raven could feel everything around her fading away, and yet the pain remained. Tears of pain streamed down her cheeks and she gasped to breathe.
"Please, what is happening?" asked Starfire, who was terribly confused.
"What do we do?" asked Beast Boy desperately.
"Keep her awake," said Robin. "Raven, can you hear me?"
A chill went through her as she knew that this was probably it. She had been spared from death so many times, but this was not to be another one of those occasions. She could feel it. She gripped onto Beast Boy's arms as tightly as she could and he could see the fear in her eyes.
"Come on Raven, hang in there," he pleaded.
She could just hear the sirens as the darkness slowly began to creep over her eyes, blinding her and bringing her into deaths open arms. Her hold on Beast Boy began to loosen, and that's what scared him the most.
"Raven, you gotta stay with us," said Cyborg, his words falling on deaf ears. Her sight went black and her lids closed.
And the ambulance still hadn't arrived. Cyborg checked her and saw that her heart had stopped. "Damn it!" he screamed. "Beast Boy put her down."
"Why?" asked Beast Boy.
"Just do it!" screamed Cyborg. He did and watched as Cyborg hovered over Raven and began to push down on her chest five times, then checked to see if anything changed. He did it again and again and still he could not get a pulse. "You're not dyin on me, Raven!" he said firmly and punched a few buttons into his arm and a slot in his left leg opened up to reveal a defibrillator. He quickly charged it up and screamed, "Clear!" All the Titans moved back as Cyborg shocked Raven, causing her chest to rise and then fall back to the ground.
Beast Boy watched in horror as Ravens body limply lay there, only moving when Cyborg sent a shock of electricity through her. He knew he should have reacted faster, he should have kept her out of harms way. And now there was nothing he could do but watch helplessly as Cyborg tried as hard as he could to bring Raven back to life.