"Tell me, what are you using?" He said as he walked over to the IV drip and took it down.
He looked at it for a moment before turning back to raven and taking the IV needle out of her arm.
"That's never going to work." the strange said then sat down on the bed next to Raven. "Magic must counter magic. Have you tried this."
He reached out and placed his index and middle fingers on Raven's temples. At this point Beast boy jumped forward in an attempt to stop the stranger from hurting Raven. But was thrown back as a invisible wall of energy seemed to be thrown up.
"Stop!" Robin Yelled, throwing a birdirang at the stranger, but this to just seemed to bounce away.
"Oh calm down." The stranger said then turned back to Raven.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, his eyes were a deep crimson and seemed to pulse gently. There was a sudden burst of energy and everything in the room was pushed back gently by about an inch or so that was not within 3 feet of the bed Raven was on.
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It was dark. Very dark. Helion stood where he was in an all enclosing blackness and looked around. He tapped his foot on the ground and bent down to run his hand along the floor.
"Stone." Helion said to himself before standing up.
The ground was made of rock, or something similar to rock, and he was breathing oxygen, or something similar to that as well. Helion's eyes grew accustom to the darkness that was only penetrated by very dim scraps of light that seemed to come from nowhere. He smiled and reached out his right index finger, extending it towards the sky. His finger seemed to touch nothing, but in the distance, a small twinkling of a star came to life. He reached out his other hand and did the same, and another distant star sparked to life. He did it over and over again, all over the now brightening sky, and slowly things began to become visible in the disappearing darkness. After a few minutes, Helion lowered his hands to his sides with a smile. Now, at least, he could see and that would make his job so much easier. Helion heard a small giggle, the kind heard from small girls, behind him and he turned around. Sitting on a tall stone was a girl who could only be the younger version of Raven, she looked to be no more then 8 years old. She wore the same style of robe that Raven wore, only it was a very light blue, almost white.
"Raven's not going to be happy that you're messing with Nevermore." The small girl laughed as she stood up on the large stone.
Helion looked up at the girl and thought for a moment. Nevermore? could that be the name of the world her mind has created? It was all very obvious that was true, but still you had to wonder.
"Well then, I would like to say I'm sorry. Could you please tell me where Raven is?" Helion said up to the small girl.
"Sure." The girl said and jumped down from he high perch.
She fell quickly and was about to land right on top of Helion who made a move to catch her before she hit the ground. But she seemed to slow in her descent and landed gently in Helion's outstretched arms, bridal style. She laughed at this and hopped out of Helion's arms and ran forward a few feet before turning around.
"Come on, I'll show you." She called before turning back around and running off across a large stone bridge.
Helion watched her run with a confused look on his face before starting after her. He quickly closed the gap between them as he took longer strides, and managed to keep up with the small girl without running. He took the time to look around at the world of Nevermore, and it was an odd sight to take in. Large stones floated through space lazily, never quite stopping and never quite moving. They just gave off the feel that they were not stationary. It almost hurt to look at one for to long. The area where they were walking was made of interconnecting, large, stone pathways that seemed to be floating without any support. But who was Helion to question the mind of another, especially one such as Raven. He looked back to the girl who was leading him. She ran, almost floating, and her childish smile never left her face. He had a pretty good idea, but he asked anyway.
"So, you look like Raven but you're not really her. So who are you then." Helion asked as he kept pace with the girl.
She slowed slightly, but her smile never left. "I'm an emotion. Everyone here is an emotion, except you. There were 2 others, but that was along time ago. Raven keeps us here and its fun most of the time, but I never get to be out much. She's always using sadness and bravery, Even happiness gets out more then I do." She pouted for a second, but her smile returned just as fast.
Helion smirked "Would Raven want you telling me all of this?" Helion asked the girl, who by now he had a pretty good feeling about which she was.
A worried look passed over her face and she stopped running. Helion skidded to halt as well and nearly crashed into the girl. "You're right. She wouldn't be very happy with me. But you are not going to hurt us are you? You don't seem like a bad person, I know these things." The girl almost beamed as she spoke her feelings.
Helion chuckled gently and looked at the girl. "I'm going to guess you're Innocence right?" Helion asked with a laugh behind his voice.
"Yep, you're right. How did you know?" Innocence asked with her head tilted to one side after her smile faded slightly.
"Lucky guess. And no, I would never hurt you." Helion said, but then stopped himself, his light smile fading, and added. "That's why I am here. I hurt Raven by accident, now her friends are worried and I need to get her to wake back up. She is asleep in the outside world and won't wake up. I need to say sorry or her friends are going to hurt me." Helion explained to Innocence.
Innocence listened to Helion speak and turned to face him. The small girl gave him that ever present smile "Don't worry, I can see that you really want to help Raven. I do to, so we can be friends and work together to help her wake up." Innocence beamed and extended her hand to shake on it.
Helion laughed and took her hand giving it a firm shake. "Then lets get going, Raven has to be here somewhere."
A nervous look descended over the face of Innocence, like someone had just found out about a secret she had.
"You do know where Raven is right?" Helion asked, already knowing the answer.
Innocence shook her head no and small look of sadness came over her momentarily as she cast her eyes downward. It was not a very pretty sight for Helion to see. He had known this girl for all of 10 minutes, and he had grown so used to that smile and look of happiness on her face. A frown was just so out of place for the girl. He placed a hand gently on Innocence's shoulder and her gaze lifted to see Helion give her a warm smile.
"Don't worry about it." Helion said and stood back up. He held out his hand towards Innocence "Come on, lets see if we can find another emotion to help us."
Innocence bright smile came back and she took hold of Helion's hand. "OK." She was silent a moment and a melancholy look came over her. "I'm sorry. I was lonely. The other emotions don't play with me any more. They all grew up and are to old to play "kids games" anymore. I just wanted someone to play with."
Helion got down on one knee and brought himself eye level with Innocence. He smiled. "Don't worry about it. I understand and I'm not mad." he thought a moment. "Look, when we get Raven to wake up, if she lets me, I will come back and play with you."
Innocence's smile returned almost immediately and her whole face brightened up. "Promise?"
"Promise." Helion said then stood back up. "Now lets go find Raven."
Innocence beamed and took his hand. She dragged him towards a large stone arena that appeared out of nowhere while they were talking. "I think Bravery is over here."