Brotherhood

Chapter 2: Things Change

Raven walked into the room where Beast Boy lay on the couch unmoving, the gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathed and an occasional groan the only outward signs that he was still alive. Raven felt completely and totally exhausted, but nonetheless fought hard against the sleepiness that threatened to drag her down. Taking a seat near Beast Boy's head, Raven placed one of her hands on each of his temples and slowly closed her eyes. She felt their energies beginning to blend, forming the bridge that the empath hoped would be able to accelerate the healing process.

Superficially applying energy to the area of the wounds was one thing, but this method allowed her to send much larger amounts of it directly into his skeletal and muscular systems. It was like swapping out one cup of coffee for three simultaneous IVs of pure caffeine. Unfortunately, there was another side effect to the more direct merger that Raven hadn't fully prepared for: her empathic abilities allowed her to sense and manipulate energy flows between bodies, but along with the energy came emotions as well.

And Beast Boy was a very, very emotional person. The whirlwind of feelings almost knocked Raven over as it crashed into her, but she held her ground even as the strain of doing so caused sweat to bead on her forehead. The tornado broke apart in the middle of the black void that was the space between their minds, the fragments shifting and swirling until they had coalesced into forms. Raven recognized the Titans, Terra and the Doom Patrol, but there were some other people she didn't know; she assumed Beast Boy had a strong emotional connection to them, whoever they were. Taking a moment to catch her breath, the empath walked over to the figure of Cyborg and held out her hand, placing it on his head.

She was immediately hit by a wave of happiness so strong it made her giddy enough to spontaneously laugh out loud, and a sensation of deep trust and friendship so complete that it made Raven envious and made her ache deeply at the same time. What she wouldn't give to have someone as close to her as that, someone who trusted her absolutely and wasn't afraid to actually say it—

But then Raven's envy was brutally undercut by the memory that Cyborg was dead and gone, and all she felt then was intense pity for Beast Boy: it was going to be ugly when he woke up and confronted the truth.

Shaking her head, the empath banished the ghostly figure of Cyborg back into the void. She was about to simply sever the connection and go back to healing Beast Boy the old-fashioned way when Raven caught something out of the corner of her eye that made her stop and re-consider. A shimmering hologram of herself stood a short distance away from one of Terra, the doppelganger silently tempting Raven to reach out and touch it. She could find out exactly what he thought about her, if she wanted to. It would be so easy—

No, she stopped herself, pulling her hand back just inches away from her mirror image. It would also be a heinous invasion of his privacy. And why did she even care what Beast Boy thought about her, anyway? He was immature, hyperactive, and still heartsick over losing Terra for the second time. Shaking her head firmly, Raven focused and pulled herself out of the connection she had forged between her soul and Beast Boy's. As she sluggishly came back to her senses, the empath heard a voice floating on the edge of her perception that steadily grew louder and louder.

"Raven? Raven? Hey, Raven, are you okay? Say something!"

"I'm fine," she forced out tersely without thinking, before she blinked once and realized that Beast Boy was looking at her with concern written all over his face. It quickly became replaced with surprise and more than a little anger as he heard her words, though, and Raven immediately felt guilty.

"Sorry I snapped," she apologized after a moment. "It's been a hell of a night, and I'm exhausted."

"Don't worry about it," the shape-shifter replied easily, rubbing the back of his neck and sighing. "I know what you mean; I feel like shit. And if you hadn't spent so much time healing me, I'd feel even worse. Thanks again, Raven."

The empath felt her guilt increase even more that his words, and she turned away to get those piercing eyes off of her.

"Don't thank me yet, you moron," she parried. "You still have a lot of injuries I need to finish patching up."

"Oh, I know," Beast Boy said with a groan. "Mallah almost ripped me in half back there..."

As he remembered the battle he'd fought against the overgrown gorilla, the memories of the previous hours came rushing back to Beast Boy in full force. He sprang to his feet at once, looking around wildly.

"Where is everyone?" he asked quickly, a manic edge to his voice. "Where's Cyborg? What about Robin and Starfire? Are they all right? What the hell happened here, Raven!?"

"Beast Boy, calm down!" Raven shot back with as much force as she could muster, which was just enough to get Beast Boy to stop freaking out and look over at her. "You might want to sit back down," she continued, her tone gentler this time. The shape-shifter gave her a confused look, but slowly sunk back down onto the couch with a wince all the same.

"Raven," he said slowly, "what happened to us?"

She thought of five different ways to break the truth to her teammate, but in the end Raven decided that the direct approach was the best one.

"Robin is dead, Beast Boy," she said as evenly as she could. "So is Cyborg. You, me and Starfire are the only Titans left."

"What?" Beast Boy exclaimed, his eyes going wide with surprise. "Is that some kind of twisted joke, Raven? You can't be serious! I mean, there's no way that would ever happen to Cyborg or Robin…" his voice trailed off as he saw that Raven's face was completely still, and her violet eyes held no traces of even the faintest amount of humor.

"You're not joking," he said flatly, shock creeping over his face as the weight of Raven's words finally settled over him. "Oh god, you're not joking."

"No, I'm not," she answered, her voice gaining a slight edge of its own. "I wouldn't joke around about something like this, Beast Boy, and you know it."

The shape-shifter was silent for several moments, and Raven could feel his emotions re-arranging themselves before her eyes. All of his outward exuberance receded and vanished to somewhere deep within his psyche, locked behind doors even Raven couldn't see through. The empath kept waiting for something to fill the empty space, but nothing moved in; Raven's eyes widened as she realized that nothing was going to.

"They're still out there, aren't they?"

The tone of the question was so cold and sharp that Raven felt like she'd just been stabbed, and she had to force herself not to flinch.

"Yeah, they are," she answered, "but if you think you're going to go after them, you're insane."

"Why?" Beast Boy shot back, and Raven was torn as she saw the pain and rage so clearly flowing off of him. "Do you think I'm too weak?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Beast Boy," she parried with equal strength, fueled by her rising anger. "This isn't the time to give in to your desire for revenge!"

"What else is there to do, Raven!?" Beast Boy shouted back, tears at the corners of his eyes. "Where can we run? Who could possibly help us!?"

"We can run to Gotham City," Starfire's calm voice broke into the argument. "I believe we might find friends there."

Raven and Beast Boy both turned on the newly-arrived Tamaranean, ready to say something, before the sight of her holding Robin's lifeless body in her arms silenced them both.

"I have received word from the hero called Batman that there might be a way to revive Robin, but if it is to work we must hurry to Gotham City right now."

"What about Cyborg?" Beast Boy asked immediately, a sliver of hope creeping back into his voice, but it faded as soon as he saw Starfire shake her head.

"It seems as though a body is required for the process to work, and we do not have Cyborg's with us," she explained. "I am sorry, Beast Boy."

The shape-shifter shrugged sharply after a moment, walking quickly towards the door.

"Forget about it," he growled. "Let's just get to Gotham, before another one of us dies."

The sunrise was coming to a close as the three Titans touched down in Gotham a few hours after leaving Jump City, the squalor of the decaying slums laid bare in the revealing light. The trio of heroes was silent as they made their way cautiously through the back alleys and narrow streets, stepping over more than a few drunkards and overdosed, passed-out junkies as they went.

"How can anyone live here?" Raven asked to no one in particular, not expecting Beast Boy to reply with the first words he'd said since they had left the ruined Tower.

"No one lives here, Raven," he said bitterly. "Robin told me about these slums one time. Everyone who lives in Gotham lives downtown; the only people in the slums are the ones who come here to deal and die."

Raven found herself having to force down the urge to hit Beast Boy with a jab so hard it would bust his jaw. She was already sick of his new tough-guy façade, and the last thing she wanted was his callousness to start infecting her own mood. But before she could say anything in reply, the Titans crested a small hill of dirt and garbage and the Water Tower they'd been seeking came into view at last.

"It seems as though we have arrived," Starfire said, too tired to sound happy but not too tired to smile. As the trio approached the base of the structure, the figure of a lone woman became visible. She was tall, lithe and muscular, imposing even as she stood in a totally relaxed stance. Her face was angular and her eyes coal-black, intently watching every movement of the three ragged refugees.

"You are the 'Shiva' that Batman spoke of, yes?" Starfire asked to break the silence, and Shiva nodded.

"The one and only," the master martial artist answered simply. As her eyes fell on Robin's corpse, Shiva's expression softened for a moment, but it had re-hardened before any of the Titans could be sure they'd seen otherwise.

"I couldn't believe Richard had actually died when Batman told me," Shiva continued, "but I guess even he had his limits, after all."

"Richard?" Raven asked with an arched eyebrow, and Shiva looked at her in mild surprise.

"What, he never told any of you his real name?" she asked, and all three of the Titans shook their heads. Shiva gave a short laugh.

"How typical. Come, we should get moving; the Lazarus Pit works best within four hours of the time of death, and we have a bit of a hike ahead of us."

The trio followed after Shiva as she weaved her way effortlessly through the labyrinth of Gotham City, the locals tripping over themselves in their haste to get out of her way as she passed. Raven noticed that Beast Boy was lagging slightly behind the rest of the group, and saw her opportunity to finally get some answers out of the shape-shifter. Slowing her stride, she took a few steps side-by-side with Beast Boy and made sure that Starfire and Shiva were out of earshot before breaking the uneasy silence.

"All right; cut the bullshit, Beast Boy."

The shape-shifter chuckled.

"Is that supposed to be a threat, Raven?" he countered. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that."

"Fine."

Raven's pointer finger jabbed out at the center of Beast Boy's forehead before the shape-shifter could so much as blink, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head while the rest of his body stayed perfectly still.

"Hey, what the hell was… that… for…"

Beast Boy's voice died on him as he looked around and saw with no small amount of fear that he was somehow back in the bizarre, reality-bending place that was the inside of Raven's mind.

He was back in Nevermore.

"What the fuck?" he snarled. "This isn't funny, Raven!"

"I thought we already established that I'm not the joking type, Beast Boy," the empath's annoyed reply came from behind him. The shape-shifter spun around, finding himself faced with the original Raven and all the incarnations of her emotions, apart from the red, wrathful one.

"We're in my world now," Raven continued calmly, "and so we're playing by my rules. If you ever want to get out of here, I suggest you drop the tough-guy act right now; it's irritating the hell out of me."

When Beast Boy fell silent, Raven assumed that she'd pushed him into a nice, familiar corner and that he'd soon bow his head, apologize and walk away with his tail between his legs. Which was exactly why she didn't recognize the signs of the fury bubbling up behind the shape-shifter's eyes until it had boiled over the edge and exploded.

"An act?" he began, quietly at first, but gaining force with every word and never losing the lethal edge of his tone. "You think this is an act, Raven? Are you serious?"

The empath arched a skeptical eyebrow, ignorant of the bomb she was a few poorly-chosen words away from setting off.

"Are you telling me it isn't?" she parried. "I know you, Beast Boy. This is just a defense mechanism to help you deal with your grief. It isn't really you—"

"Yes, it is me, Raven!" Beast Boy shouted back, all of the sadness and self-loathing and anger he'd been trying to keep under control finally snapping. "I've just finally decided to grow up, because the old me isn't going to fucking cut it anymore! Think about what's happened: our home is a ruin, Cyborg is dead, his body is being used for god-knows-what, Robin's dead too and Slade has complete control of Jump City while we're stuck here, trying to find shelter in Gotham like blind rats!

"Don't you see, Raven?" Beast Boy continued, now almost within arms-reach of the empath as the rest of her personalities scattered to the four winds in the face of the shape-shifter's outburst. "Slade and his allies, they finally decided to drop the hammer on us for good, and we weren't ready. They caught us by surprise, and we paid for it. Big time.

"We've already lost two of the Titans, Raven," Beast Boy finished with a sigh, his voice softening as the strength of his anger slowly ebbed away from him. "I've already lost Terra, and I'll be damned if I lose someone else I care about just because I wasn't strong enough to protect you." He reached out and took her hands lightly in his, a silent promise that he sealed with a single, reassuring squeeze.

Raven had no words to reply to such an unexpected outpouring, and so she found herself in the mortifying position of having been rendered speechless with shock by Beast Boy, of all people. Maybe things really had changed.

"Well, that was very touching and all," a slithering, malicious voice broke in that sounded like Raven having an incredibly bad day, "but don't the two of you have somewhere else to be right now?"

The pair snapped their heads around in unison to behold the red-cloaked Raven that was the embodiment of Trigon's influence hovering in the air, four eyes glowing and black energy surging out from all around her. Before either of the Titans could react, dark tendrils had snaked around their midsections. Two powerful shocks later, Beast Boy and Raven found themselves back in the real world, short of breath and more than a little shaken.

"What the…" Raven managed to get out. "She—she kicked me out of my own head, and forcefully teleported both of us through my soul-self. How is that even possible?"

"I don't know that any more than you do, Raven," Beast Boy answered, his voice as calm as Raven's was disturbed. "But I do know something else."

"Which is?"

A small smile crept over the shape-shifter's face, and for a fleeting moment it was like they were back in Titans' Tower and he was waiting for her to laugh at an incredibly corny joke.

"You beat whatever that thing is once before," Beast Boy said quietly but confidently, not wanting to be overheard, "and I'm sure you can do it again."

Raven gave a small smile of her own at that, but it was quickly erased as the four travelers finally came to the iron door that marked their destination. Shiva knocked sharply on the metal, and a few seconds later a slat opened to reveal a pair of eyes.

"Name of the sleeping dragon?"

"Ibn Al Xu'ffasch," Shiva replied evenly, and the slat closed again before the door swung open with a weary creak, revealing a long set of stairs going down into the pit of Gotham's underground. The sentry ninja stepped aside and Shiva moved swiftly by him, the three Titans wordlessly following her lead. The staircase snaked down and around, leading into rusty catwalks and outright gaps between grated platforms, before the path arrived at a large double-door. It was made of high-quality, reinforced steel, and a picture of a demon's head was engraved deep into the metal.

"Here we are," Shiva said, a smile on her face as the door swung open. It revealed a huge, almost cavernous room that seemed to be a gigantic dojo, packed with martial artists and people dressed in classic ninja garb, all training in weapons combat or unarmed styles. But Starfire's eyes were drawn at once to the cluster of holes near the far wall that housed red, roiling liquid:

The Lazarus Pits.

"Welcome to the League of Shadows."

…………………..

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please review. It lets me know people are digging the story and keeps me fired up to continue with it. Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I didn't want this chapter to run long like the previous one did, so I figured I'd cut it off there. Next chapter will see some new faces, the attempt to revive Robin from the dead and some old secrets finally coming to light.

See you then!