I love you, my wonderful reviewers! I wrote as fast as I could, but I couldn't upload until I finished work. Enjoy!
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It was really quite beautiful. As Raven – very, very slowly – woke up, the sun rose to where it should have been; it was dawn at last. Beast Boy and Robin supported her back as she rubbed her eyes. Her body slowly lowered itself onto the floor of the rooftop, until Robin had her back leaning against one of his legs, keeping her in a sitting-upright position. She looked extremely tired.
Beast Boy kneeled in front of her and cautiously took both of her hands. She looked sleepily down at them and mumbled something.
"Didn't catch that," Beast Boy grinned, unable to contain his glee. But to his surprise, she whipped her hands out of his and abruptly stood up.
"Cyborg!" she cried, looking up, as if remembering something. She then looked back down to Cyborg's broken, lightless body, several metres away, and ran right to it. Beast Boy followed her closely, heart tightening once more at the sight of his fallen friend.
Starfire had woken up too, and Robin helped her stand up, letting her lean against him. They both looked as if they really had survived an atomic bomb, with clothes singed half-off and hair splayed out in all directions. The Boy Wonder and the Tamaranean stood next to Beast Boy and looked sadly at Raven, who was now kneeling next to Cyborg, more awake than ever.
"Cyborg, I'm so sorry..." she whispered. "I could have stopped myself, I could have..."
"Raven, please don't blame yourself," Robin murmured squatting down to her level. "You weren't in control at all."
"This was never meant to happen," Raven continued, ignoring him. "This is all my fault; I'm so sorry, Cyborg." She laid her head onto Cyborg's metallic collarbone and sighed sadly. The other Titans looked at each other nervously, wondering what would happen.
Raven gasped audibly, and all three Titans leaned in. "What is it?" they asked in unison. She glared at them, though not unfriendly. "Quick," she said in a business-like tone. "Let's get him down to the infirmary." She closed her eyes and put her hands in a strange formation. "Azerath," she murmured. "Metrion...Zinthos!" Cyborg's body was lifted into the air by Raven's powers, and followed her as she hurried to the door to the stairway.
"Could it be?" Starfire whispered hopefully. "Cyborg...?"
"Come on Star, Beast Boy," said Robin. "Take Cyborg's arm and go with Raven. I'm going to take Mirror Master to his cell...and I'll make sure he stays there."
Starfire nodded. Beast Boy wordlessly picked up his friend's broken-off arm and solemnly followed after Raven, his brain obviously working at full speed, made apparent by the serious, pained expression on his face. This night's ordeal was all over...but it didn't feel like it. Not yet.
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Raven was surprisingly handy with Cyborg's tools. Beast Boy and Starfire watched in pained silence off to one side as the dark girl rushed around the infirmary, carrying wrenches, screws, hammers and wires. The atmosphere was unreal. The two Titans wished they could congratulate Raven, comfort her...or something. She'd just been through a magnificently terrible ordeal, and she was completely ignoring that it had never happened. They both desperately wanted to talk with her, or at least ask her how she felt – but it looked like there was no getting through to her.
After ten minutes, Robin returned, and joined the silent pair at the edge of the room. "How is she?" he asked quietly.
"She won't talk to us," Beast Boy replied, equally quiet but sounding indignant. "It's like we aren't even here."
Robin thought for a moment, and then joined Raven by the gurney. He held down the replacement metal plating Raven had been battering and said, "Here, let me hold that,"
She still said nothing, but let him hold the plating as she screwed it on with a tiny, electric gun. Robin motioned for Starfire and Beast Boy to approach, and they did, but hesitantly. Minutes later, they were all helping to fix Cyborg's body, but there were still no words being said.
Beast Boy cursed himself even more during the silence. Of course Robin had known what to do – Robin always knew what to do. He seemed to understand people better than anyone (aside from Raven herself). Just for once, Beast Boy wanted to be the one to rescue Raven. Just so she could see that he really, truly, profoundly cared for her.
After what felt like hours of excruciating silence, Cyborg looked just as good as new...well, almost. Cyborg himself was really the only one who could repair his body properly. However, though his body was restored, Cyborg was still not awake. The Titans held their breath, wondering what Raven would do next.
What she did wasn't in fact the miracle they had been hoping for; some sort of life-bringing spell. No. In fact, Raven plugged Cyborg's recharging cord into his chest and turned on the battery charger. Once that was done, she swept her cloak around and rushed out of the infirmary, without a single word to the other Titans.
When in fact, Cyborg's body began lighting up once more, the Titans were filled with hope – however, they all still worried about what was wrong with Raven. Had she been injured somehow? Why was she ignoring them like she was? Beast Boy, Robin and Starfire each felt somewhat responsible for her behaviour. Perhaps they had said something to one of her 'personalities' that had offended her? Perhaps Raven felt at fault for everything that had happened, and was shutting herself away to keep them 'safe'?
Nevertheless Starfire, the most emotional, sensitive one of them all, could not stand Raven seeming so upset. She'd already seen Raven's emotionless side, and it seemed that that personality was the one in control right now. Ignoring all taboo, Starfire stormed back up to the roof of the Tower and stomped her foot by Raven's cross-legged form.
The dark girl barely glanced at her. "What?" she growled.
"Friend Raven, I do realise that last night must have been terrible for you. However, I cannot stand to see you like this. You refuse to talk to us, even though we are desperate to help in any way we can." Here, Starfire took a deep breath. "What is 'the deal' with you?"
There was a long, deadly silence, in which Starfire almost blurted out several ready-made apologies. Then Raven finally replied, "Sorry, Starfire. I never meant to upset you so much."
It seemed like an invitation, so Starfire sat down next to her. "It is okay," she began, but was cut off by the dark girl.
"No, it's not, Starfire. Even after all that has happened...all my personalities and emotions running wild, with no holding back...I feel...I feel dead. I feel unclean."
"Dead? Unclean?" Starfire echoed. "You are still the same Raven are you not? You are still a Teen Titan; our best friend. You are still our Raven."
"Just forget it," Raven murmured, obviously regretting her outburst.
"No, I won't," Starfire countered. "If you want me to repeat last night's conversation, I will gladly do it! There is no way I am going to let you bury yourself like this."
"Okay, okay Starfire..." Raven sighed.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm quite sure."
"Are you extremely sure? I will, you know."
"I'm sure," Raven stressed, and suddenly found herself giggling. She stopped herself abruptly in shock.
"There!" cried Starfire, sounding immensely satisfied. "You aren't dead at all!" The alien girl's grin was impossible to ignore, and Raven returned a small smile. However, before either of them could say anything more, Robin burst upon the scene, literally, as the door to the stairs flew open.
"Cyborg!" he shouted, sounding thrilled. "He's awake!"
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Whoopsies, still haven't finished yet! Sorry, just trying to work up a proper closure here. I'm quite particular with them, you see. A bad ending makes a great story just good. I will start writing the next chapter as soon as this is uploaded.
