Scraped
It's downright absurd that dark little demonseed me has healing powers. I don't really think of myself as the healing type, but it feels like I've become the team's official medic lately. I suppose we could use a medic, but I feel more like a nursemaid looking after children. Wasn't it just this morning that I healed a papercut Starfire had?
A...mother loving...papercut...
"Easy, Terra...easy..."
I try to hide a little more behind my book when I hear a loud thud on the coffee table.
"Beast Boy!"
"Sorry, sorry! Hey, Rae, can you fix up Terra?"
I peak out from my book, ever-so-slightly, and look at Terra, who's looking back at me with pouting lips and big, tearful eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"I scraped my knee." she whimpers, pointing down at her wound.
I stare at her.
"I was putting in some extra time on the training course," she says with the occasion sob and hiccup, "And I just as I got to the finish line, I tripped and fell!"
I cast a quick glance at her knee.
"You just need some peroxide and a bandage."
"But that stuff stings!"
I...continue to stare at her.
"You have got to be fricking kidding me."
"It's true, Raven!" Beast Boy whines, trying to look like he was on the verge of crying, "It really stings! Didn't you ever scrape anything when you were little?"
"No."
"What, really?"
The second I look at her, Terra realizes she spoke in a normal tone and big tears well up in her eyes.
"Dude...like, you never scraped a knee or something when you running around with all the other little monklings?"
"I didn't run around, and there weren't any 'monklings'. And that scrape isn't a big deal, Terra. Just go clean and dress it. I'm sure you'll somehow conquer your owwie."
One would expect them to leave right about now.
"You never got hurt as a kid?"
But I didn't.
"No. Never."
"Getting banged up is part of being a kid!" Terra preaches, "When I was little, I was always getting hurt!"
"There's a word for that, Terra: Masochism."
"I never tried to get hurt! It was just...y'know, kid stuff. Like this time I fell out of a tree and broke my arm, or the time I hit in the face with a baseball and had to get stitches."
"Dude!" Beast Boy winced, "Stitches?!"
"Yup. Five. Just above my left eyebrow. You can see the scar if-"
"DUDE! No way! Girls aren't supposed to have...stitches, and scars, and stuff!"
"Except the emotional kind." I mutter.
"You wanna see my scar, Raven?" she says with a morbid grin.
"That's alright."
...It's such a different place here. Terra fondly reminiscing on all the times she's been injured seems...dysfunctional. And daring Beast Boy to touch her scar is just...
Ew.
My childhood was uneventful, even if it shaped me into who I am today. But she makes me wonder, now, what I missed out on. Can you really look back on pain and laugh about it? Can cuts and bruises somehow make us a little more well adjusted?
Maybe this is silly, maybe it's absurd, but...
I'm scared of getting hurt.
I look up from my book. They're still there, still looking at me.
"What?"
Their lips curl down and their eyes water up.
"You don't think this is abusing my power? Just a little?"
"Nope!" they chime.
With a deep sigh, I hold my hand over Terra's knee, and in seconds, it's healed.
"There. Now run along and play."
As Terra gets up, she grabs me by my free hand.
"Wha-"
"C'mon. You're playing with us."
"Uh...what makes you think that?"
"You need to get out. All you've ever done since I've been here is sit around and read."
And Beast Boy joins in this assault on my peace and quiet, pushing me from behind as Terra drags me from the front.
"C'mon, Rae! A little fresh air and sunshine isn't gonna kill ya!"
"I don't know about that..." I mutter.
When the sun sets, I'm weary, and dusty, and covered in small scrapes and bruises. But those two swore under penalty of death that I could take a bath in peace tonight.
A small moan escapes my lips as my battered and bruised body sinks into the tub. I keep blaming Beast Boy and Terra for my current state, but really, I'm the only one to blame. I could have put up more resistance. I could have not let them drag me along like their plaything.
But I didn't. And I'm sore all over, as consequence. But...I can feel the blood coursing through my veins, and I can feel each breath I draw. And my body feels a warmth it's not used to.
I smile a little, for the most peculiar reason.
I feel alive.