Chapter 7: Sweet Dreams

Oh goodness, new things! I love new things! So begins the second half of this story arc. There should be 8 or so more chapters after this (yikes). Let's hope it goes smoothly, shall we?

Huge thanks to valenciabelieves for dropping me such a wonderful review!

Someone was saying her name. Raven lifted her head from the sand, squinting. The sun was now directly overhead, rays glaring off the white ground. She guessed it must be around noon, which meant she had been asleep for how many hours? Four? Three? There was no telling with this place. Raven groaned as she struggled to a sitting position. She blinked a few times, making sure she really was still in this mysterious hell. Truthfully, Raven had hoped she would wake up and find herself back home. She sighed and stumbled to the water's edge to splash her face. Her muscles still trembled with exhaustion, and as she sipped the cool water, her stomach clenched with hunger. Raven looked behind her to the line of trees leading back into the forest. There had to be an easier way out.

…

"We need to get an IV line in her," Cyborg said as he studied the panel behind the hospital bed. "If you're right about her being somewhere else, then we can safely assume she's exerted herself past the point of exhaustion."

"She was exhausted before we even got to the hill," Robin pointed out as he gathered the necessary supplies and handed them over to Cyborg.

"This is bad," Cyborg muttered to himself. "It's only midnight. Not enough time has passed since we got home for her to be in such bad shape." Cyborg looked up from his scan of Raven. Robin looked thoughtful.

"Maybe time works differently where she is right now. Accelerated or something. I don't think I've seen her muscles relax for more than a minute or so since we've been here," Robin said as he studied Raven's tense body. The constant twitching had stopped for maybe five minutes at one point, but other than that, there had been some sort of constant motion. "A whole day could have passed where she is."

"A day would make sense," Cyborg said as he cut away at the right sleeve of Raven's leotard. He cleaned her inner elbow with an alcohol swipe and was about to insert the needle when she twitched suddenly. Cyborg reacted immediately, jerking the needle back away from her.

"I don't know if this is going to work," Cyborg said. "I don't want her hurting herself by yanking this thing around if we get it into her arm."

Robin sighed and ran a hand down his face. "You're right. God, we need to get her to wake up soon."

"I'm going to go see what Star and BB have. Be right back," Cyborg said as he stood up. Robin gave him a half-wave as he left the room.

"Hear that, Rae?" Robin said, sitting down next to her and taking her hand in his once again. Her fingers wrapped around his automatically, clinging to him as her foot kicked out.

"You need to wake up, Raven," Robin pleaded. He covered the hand he was holding with his other hand, gripping tightly to her as if she could feel the pressure from wherever she was. "If something happens to you…" Robin's voice faded as he thought about the unthinkable. If they couldn't get her back, if she never woke up, if she died in this other world. Robin took a shaky breath and gritted his teeth. They would get her back.

"I need you," he whispered. The door slid open behind him and he raised his head, not bothering to let go of Raven's hand. If there were any chance he could get through to her, he would take it.

"I believe we might have something," Starfire said. "Beast Boy found it."

"Well, Star helped," Beast Boy said as he looked at the piece of paper in his hands. Cyborg clapped him on the back with a grin. "Okay, so, I was thinking, you know how Tempest never actually went into the city? Well, it probably wasn't the police or the fire department that called in about him. They were so busy dealing with what looked like a freakazoid storm, so I don't think they would have noticed a dude up on a hill with everything happening."

Robin nodded slowly, following Beast Boy's logic. The green boy handed Cyborg the paper before continuing.

"So I looked into the dispatch logs to see exactly how we got that call to go get him. I mean, someone had to have known something about him, right?" Beast Boy was getting more excited as he went on. "Turns out some kid noticed him while they were out on the streets in the rain, and his mom knows who Tempest is! Starfire called her while I checked on anything else that might have come up, and she talked to the lady."

"Yes, she was most helpful," Starfire said. "She said she knew him when she was younger, out in a state called Indiana, yes?" Beast Boy nodded in confirmation and Starfire continued. "He was a youth when she lived there, and when he was a child, he was struck by lightning and then began to act most strange. His parents sent him away, and when he returned, he was the evil Tempest we have fought."

"Apparently he used to have a different name, but the lady didn't remember," Beast Boy added. "Something with a C?"

"Oh my goodness!" Starfire suddenly exclaimed. "Oh glorbnax I am the most stupid! I think I know who he is! I will return." And with that, she shot out of the room.

…

Raven slumped against a tree trunk and slid to the ground, unable to take another step forward. She had followed the small stream out of the pool for a few miles, but there was nothing but trees and sun as far as her eyes could see. At her back, the giant waterfall rose out of the forest, but she had no desire to go back there. The looming threat of the Thing hung heavy in her mind, and while she had yet to encounter it again, that didn't mean it wasn't close behind. Although, the further she walked, the less she really cared.

"Pointless," she muttered, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. The only upside to this place was that her emotions seemed to have kept themselves quiet. Fear wasn't rearing its ugly head, Anger hadn't made a peep, and most curious of all, the newest addition to the ranks hadn't said a word. Raven sat up quickly, ignoring the spinning in her head. Love hadn't said a single word. The new emotion's arrival had caused quite a stir in Nevermore, and she also was quite vocal as new emotions tend to be, especially when Robin was on Raven's mind. Since arriving in this mysterious place, Raven didn't deny there had been many an occasion where she thought of her masked leader. Yet there was no sign of her wordy emotion. That was enough to cause alarm.

Raven quickly arranged herself in the lotus position and began her chant silently. Normally, it only took a few minutes for the world to fall away from her. And this was such a quiet, peaceful place at the moment, perfect for meditation. Raven concentrated, but her focus could not move beyond the dirt beneath her legs or the backs of her eyelids. She could not enter Nevermore.

She felt panic begin to rise in her chest once more at this new revelation. Her powers weren't working, Nevermore was out of reach, and she was as alone as she'd ever been. Not to mention the hunger rumbling in her stomach; it was almost nauseating. Raven clenched her hands into fists and pressed them against her eyes, forcing herself to calm down and take deep breaths. How had she arrived at this place?

"Think, Raven, think," she demanded. Flashes of the HIVE crossed her mind, but she knew Jinx was not this powerful. No, there was someone else. She thought back to the Thing. It's eyes were so familiar, their silver glare burned in her mind. Something about storms, rain, lightning perhaps? She hadn't even thought about this earlier; she was so trapped in survival mode. Not that she was doing so well with that, Raven thought bitterly. She took another deep breath and opened her eyes, studying her hands as if they held a clue. Again, she found herself wishing Robin were here. Raven was excellent at puzzles, but he was better at mysteries. And this was a mystery she needed to solve, fast.

At least her clothes were dry, she thought to herself. A sudden flash of memory came to her: storming rains, swords, mud. She sat very still, willing the film reel to continue in her mind, but it was gone. Looking over herself, Raven frowned. Shouldn't her uniform be ripped? Yes, she had a distinct memory of the thing being torn. She reached a hand back and found the hood of her cape was also still in perfect condition. Could this be a dream? But that didn't explain why she couldn't access Nevermore or her powers, so it could not be her dream, if it was a dream at all.

The clue was in those silver eyes. Their stare would not leave her mind. Raven chewed on her lip, deep in thought. The eyes, her powers, the leotard. She knew the left arm had been ripped up to her elbow. Studying the fabric, Raven weighed a decision in her mind. Would it make it better or worse if she ripped it herself? It was hot out anyways, she decided. And something deep within her was telling her this was the right decision.

"Well, that went well," she deadpanned to herself. Two sharp rocks and several attempts with her teeth had left her with no progress. She forgot how hard it was to tear that fabric. Raven sighed and chose instead to just roll both her sleeves up. It really was getting quite warm. First, she rolled the fabric of her right sleeve up to her elbow. As her fingers touched the left sleeve, a quiver of anticipation ran through her, and she had no idea why. Slowly, she folded the fabric back. Once, twice, and on the third time, something peeked out that should not be there. There were markings on her skin.

Abandoning the careful roll she had started with, Raven shoved the fabric up to her elbow. Memories flooded back in crashes of lightning as she stared at the lightning bolt and words on her arm. Tempest. A crack of thunder rolled across the clear sky, and she shouted out as her arm began to burn and the words twisted around themselves, creating a new message.

…

"It's happening again!" Robin yelled. Cyborg and Beast Boy rushed to him and Raven, watching with reluctant fascination as "Goodnight Titans" twisted around into "Sweet dreams." Raven shouted in her sleep, arm once again lashing out and banging into the metal guardrail of the bed. Robin grimaced. She already had an impressive bruise on her wrist from the last time that happened.

"I wonder how much that hurts," Beast Boy said quietly. Cyborg simply shook his head.

"We have to get her out of there," Robin said. "Do we have any idea where Tempest even is?"

"I didn't have any luck with that," said Beast Boy. "Sorry." The changeling hung his head, eyes locked on Raven's pale face. She was like his sister, and when he had the chance to help, the chance to find something on Tempest, he fell short. He always fell short. Sure, he had found something, but right now that just wasn't enough. Robin noticed the forlorn look on Beast Boy's face.

"At least you found something," Robin responded. "It's the best thing we've got right now."

"Yeah," Cyborg agreed. "I couldn't pick anything up while we were in that area, anyway. Wherever he's hiding out, it's well hidden." Beast Boy nodded firmly, his spirits a bit higher.

"And Starfire might find something that will help us," the green boy said, some of his usual cheer back in his tone.

…

Tempest studied his inscriptions on the wall with great care. The girl with lavender hair had figured it out. He could feel her mind pulsate with answers, and he knew it was only a matter of time until she escaped. Rising from the ground, Tempest knocked his makeshift table over with a roar.

"Azarathian," he growled. Tempest looked down at the shattered coffee cup and twisted table leg and sighed. Grumbling, he knelt down to clean it up. He only had himself to be angry with, really. If he had actually done his research, he would have known the girl was an Azarathian and would have known she had magic to rival his. Curse his impatience. If only he had gotten a good look at her on the roof, he might have noticed the gem on her forehead. He could have waited for one of the humans and cast his piece of magic over one of them instead. But no, he had leapt at the first chance he saw.

One of the swords fell over in the corner, the hilt humming with energy. Tempest regarded it with a solemn look. They were coming. His spell had alerted them to his presence on earth, as he knew it would, but it had happened faster than expected. He blamed the Azarathian. Her own powers were undoubtedly magnifying the presence of the spell, and they were quite attuned to the magics of Azarath. At that thought, a smile curled across Tempest's face. He might have the last laugh after all. But never mind that.

Tempest returned to his spot on the floor and gracefully sank onto the stone. Picking up his piece of chalk, he prepared one last message to send to her, though this time, he had a different messenger in mind.

Don't worry, all questions will eventually be answered! There are many more chapters to be written. I'm surprised I did this one all today, actually... I should probably edit it more, but I'm just eager to get these posted, so here ya go! Review review review!