Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.

The Healer

Chapter 5: At Night

That night Robin had a dream. It was a peculiar dream, but so are most dreams. However, his dream, this particular dream, seemed to have a message for him. The events were very different and awfully unrelated, yet they were connected somehow. The meaning remains to be deciphered, but Robin felt that the answer was much closer and much simpler than he thinks.

The black night sky had just come. Twinkling, little stars started popping out anywhere and everywhere across the dark plain. A shooting star streaked across the sky, and then it was followed by another, then by two, eight, twenty, and so on. The great expanse of land was illuminated revealing a landscape of mostly rock and dirt with patches of sickly grass. On a hill opposite of a great stone monument at the center of the land stood Robin. His eyes were bedazzled by the show in the sky. His line of vision fell on the horizon and there he saw dancing lights. These waves of spectral lights slithered into the night adding more light onto the black background. He watched as these phenomena take place, amazed by their brilliant colors and vibrant tones.

Then nothing.

A tiny spark blinked in the middle of all the darkness. Then at the corners of his eyes, a celestial body started to reveal itself. It was the moon, but it was closer than ever before; it looked as if it was sitting at the edge of the world. To its side appeared a much smaller astral form: a second moon that appeared to hug the larger one. The black sky was eventually littered with stars, and streaks of green and pink lights decorated the night sky. The landscape has also changed. Instead of a barren earth, it was covered with mostly tall grass and clumps of lush brushes and trees here and there. Robin walked through the grass using his hands to push them aside. He eventually came to a clearing with shorter grass. He stood at the center of the clearing and stood there waiting. He did not know what he was waiting for but he knew he was waiting for something. He looked around and noticed that the stars and moon had disappeared. His surroundings lost their hue but replaced by a disgusting, blood red.

From the tall grass and from all sides emerged Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire into the clearing. They trudged heavily as they came closer, their heads bent in despair. Robin's eyes widened as he watched the pitiful states of his team. The three stopped no more than ten feet away from him. He looked to Starfire, his hand starting for her.

"Hello, Starfire," he said with a desperate smile.

He continued to reach out; he wanted to touch her and feel her warmth in his hands.

"Starfire? Can you hear me?"

No response. His voice got weaker as he called out to her.

"Starfire! Starfire? Starfire, please, answer me. Speak to me."

Robin fell to his knees crying. His arm was outstretched, but he could not touch anything; he could not feel anything.

"Starfire?" he tried one last time.

Finally, Starfire responded. She raised her head and on her face was scorn. Her eyes penetrated deep into Robin, ripping through his most tender muscles, his beating heart, and fragile bones. Her cold star froze him solid; it made him shiver violently—so violent as though it would break his spine in two. She clenched her teeth before she spoke.

"How could you?"

Robin's arms were limp at his side, his face losing all expression except for confusion and sorrow, his body losing strength.

"What?" was all he could say.

"How dare you show your face!"

"Starfire, how could you talk like that? What is going on?"

"There's nothing you can say," another voice said.

Robin turned to his right and laid his eyes on Cyborg.

"Cyborg? Wha—"

"Shut your mouth. There is nothing that could be said."

"Bu—"

"No more chances, dude."

To his left Robin spun to see Beast Boy.

"Beast Boy, you too?"

"If I see your face again, I'll rip you apart!"

Robin returned his gaze to Starfire. Then he looked around again at Cyborg and Beast Boy. They all held the same face: anger, fury, contempt—nothing more. There was no longer friendship; no more bonds such as teammates, comrades, and family. Robin's only response was hopelessness.

"What happened?" he asked.

But they all turned their heads in disgust.

"Goodbye," Starfire said.

"Wh-Where are you going?"

"No more. This is it," Cyborg growled.

"Forget you," spat Beast Boy.

They left heading back the way they came. A flash lit up the sky and it was followed by a tremendous roar. It started to pour hard, each droplet beating on Robin. The rain wanted to bury him deep in the mud where he could wallow in the darkness, wondering what he had done wrong, trying to cry as hard as he could in a foolish attempt to rid himself of the pain. Lightning split the black clouds and thunder responded with its earth-shattering voice. So Robin remained on the ground not knowing what had just taken place. Then from the mud rose a figure. Robin froze watching the intruder invade his space. The form fully sprouted, bent over and closed in on Robin. The rain fell, washing the mud from the enigmatic body before him. Upon the exposure of this stranger's face, Robin was nothing but speechless. He fell back into the black mud.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The figure only laughed in response.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The person had on a large, evil grin; his eyes seeing only the destruction of those around him.

"You are stupid," the unknown figure said. "Can't you see? I am you."

Robin was looking at his own face on another body. But the face was demented by evil, his lips parched by his thirst for chaos.

"Who are you?" Robin screamed.

"I am you! Can't you see?"

The stranger laughed maniacally. The rain, lightning, and thunder seemed to dance to the rhythm of this person's blood-curdling laughter. Fear overcame Robin's expression as he was left paralyzed by this figure's presence. Robin closed his eyes attempting to escape, but he could still hear the laughter; there were no longer light and darkness, wet or dry—just the laughter. But then, a hand gripped Robin's wrist awakening his numbed senses. His eyes shot open and saw Raven. She had on an urgent countenance.

"Raven?"

"Let's go!"

She pulled him up and off they went running in the opposite direction of the maniac. They ran as fast as they could, escaping the laughter. As the distance grew, it only became an echo overshadowed by the clap of thunder. Robin watched the back of his rescuer as they sprinted across the grassy plain. She held onto his wrist; her touch comforting him to no end.

"Raven?"

"What is it?"

"Hello, Raven."

The hooded girl looked back at him.

"What are you saying now? Just keep running!"

Robin nodded and continued to follow her.

"Hurry, Robin! Hurry! …Hurry! …Robin! …Robin…!"

Robin opened his eyes slowly. The white ceiling greeted him. To his side, he heard a faint voice—it was calling his name. It was a soft voice, warm and melodic.

"Robin?"

It progressively got louder.

"Robin? Hey, are you awake?"

He turned his head towards the voice. His eyes were finally settling in.

"Hey, Raven," he said.

Raven was shaking him awake. When she saw that he was conscious again, she lifted her hand and sat back in her chair.

"You're awake."

Robin sat up, stretching his arms over his head and yawning at the same time. He placed his hands back down and asked,

"What time is it?"

"Eleven."

"In the morning?"

"At night."

"What?"

"You were asleep the whole afternoon."

"I guess I'm just tired."

"And probably hungry. That's actually part of the reason I woke you up so that you could eat something."

"Part of the reason? What's the other half?"

"You were dreaming. Must've been a bad one, too, if you were tossing and turning like you did."

"Really? I don't really remember anything."

"I guess it's for the better if you don't remember a dream like that. So, hungry?"

Robin's stomach growled, answering for him. He blushed a little at the noise.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Yeah, thank you. I am kinda hungry."

"Kinda? From the sound of it, I think you're starving."

Robin laughed. Raven smiled at him as she got to her feet.

"I'll be back."

"Thanks."

Once Raven was gone, Robin fell back into his bed and just stared at the ceiling.

"I lied," he thought. "I mean, how could I forget a dream like that?"

Then he sat up again.

"Maybe if I talk to her about it, she could probably help me find out its meaning. But then, how'd she feel about me lying to her? I'll probably just make her mad."

He looked at the empty chair next to the bed.

"I already made her say to trust her—the team—yet I couldn't even confide my thoughts with her."

He drew a long sigh.

"I'll figure it out soon enough. But it was a weird dream."

His mind went blank for a moment with only one thought remaining.

"Starfire."

He remembered her anger and her disgust that were directed at him. It was painful, and nothing could convince him otherwise.

Again, he fell back into his bed.

"It felt so real."

He closed his eyes and focused. Everything else disappeared and only the darkness remained. Yet there was a faint sound that was emitting from the depths of the sea of nothingness. He listened closely and discerned that it was the laughter from the dream. It was a sound so horrific that it made him shiver even now. Robin began to picture his face doing the laugh. That is what bothered him the most.

"Why did I see myself? And why was I laughing like that?"

A knocking on the door disturbed his thought process.

"Come in."

Beast Boy strolled in with a big grin.

"Hey dude! What's up?"

"Beast Boy, what're you doing here?"

"Just coming in to check on you."

He jumped into the air and landed in the chair. He sat sideways so that his back rested on one of the chair's arm and his feet elevated by the other.

"So, how are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"Bored!"

Robin chuckled.

"How 'bout playing video games?"

"Nah. I just beat another level and it's boring without anyone to play with."

"Where's Cyborg?"

"In his room doing I don't know what."

"Bummer."

"Even Starfire's busy."

"Really? What she up to?"

"She actually went out."

Robin raised an eyebrow.

"Where did she go?"

"Don't know, but it's been two hours."

Robin quickly sat up.

"What? Where is she?" he said raising his voice a little.

"Calm down. I'm sure she's fine."

"I'm not worried about her—er, I mean I'm worried but I just wanna know where she went."

Beast Boy gave him a smirk.

"Hey, now that I think about, I think she said something about a date."

"A d-d-date? With who?"

"Speedy."

Robin turned pale. His jaw dropped as he stared blankly at the wall. At the sight of this, Beast Boy lost it. He burst out laughing and then fell on the floor, rolling around as he laughed.

"Dude, it was a joke! A joke!"

He continued to laugh. Robin's color finally returned. He looked at the green boy on the floor.

"A joke?"

"Yeah, a joke," Beast Boy answered wiping a tear from his eye.

Robin's face turned red and his eyebrows lowered.

"That is not funny Beast Boy!" he shouted.

"But you made it so easy."

"T-That doesn't matter! That joke was uncalled for."

Beast Boy got to his feet dusting his clothes. He returned to his seat and asked,

"When're you gonna ask her out?"

Robin was surprised at the question. He was silent for a minute then he spoke.

"I don't know."

"Well, you better do it soon, dude."

"I'm working on it."

"Thinking about it doesn't mean doing something about it. If you don't act fast, my joke will come true."

Robin groaned.

"I know. You're right."

"Just trying to give some advice."

"Yeah…thanks."

"Oh, by the way, do you know where Raven is?"

"She's getting me food."

"What? You're making Raven do errands?"

"No, she offered."

"All right then. Anyway, she said that she'd watch a movie with me."

"What's the movie called?"

"It's 'Bloody Weekend'." I just bought it last night."

"Horror, huh? Wish I could watch it, too."

"Then why don'tcha?"

"I'm stuck in this bed remember?"

"Right."

"Besides, I don't wanna crash into your plans."

"I don't mind and I'm sure Raven won't mind. Wait, what are we saying? There's a TV right here!"

He pointed at the screen on the wall excitedly.

"Then can I watch?"

"Duh, 'course you can!"

Beast Boy stood up and headed for the door.

"Be right back. I'm just gonna get the movie and some popcorn."

When the door closed, Robin laid back down.

"Finally, something to do."

For a second, the dream returned. All the details rushed back into his head.

"Gotta distract myself."

The mechanized doors slid open and in came Raven holding a tray of food. When Robin got a whiff of the meal, he sat upright on his bed.

"Smells good."

"It's leftover spaghetti and meatballs from today's lunch."

She came over next to Robin and set the tray on his lap.

"Eat up."

"Don't mind if I do."

Robin grabbed the fork and began eating. Raven stood still and looked around the room. She then made her way to the chair. After sitting down, she felt that the seat was warm.

"Was someone here?"

Robin swallowed and said, "Beast Boy was here."

"What did he want?"

"He was just bored and came over for a visit."

"Oh."

"And he was looking for you."

"For me? Why?"

"About watching a movie."

"Right, I almost forgot. I guess I'll head downstairs then."

She was about to get up when Robin stopped her.

"Actually change of plans. Since I wanted to see the movie, too, we decided to watch it here."

"Oh. Okay."

"Do you not want me joining in?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You sound kinda bummed."

"Ignore that. Besides I think I sound like that all the time."

Robin chuckled slightly at her remark.

"No I don't mind."

"It's settled then."

He continued to eat as Raven sat in the chair quietly. It was not long before Beast Boy came back. In one hand was the DVD and in the other was a big bowl of popcorn.

"I'm back!" he announced.

Robin took a big gulp.

"Great! Let's get started!"

"Aw-right, movie time! Oh, Raven, you're here!"

"Yeah, here I am."

Beast Boy inserted the disc into the player underneath the TV. He then ran over to the corner to grab a chair and settled next to Raven. Robin had just finished his meal and placed the tray on the table. Beast Boy kept moving in his seat as he tried to find a comfortable position and it was bothering Raven. The boys were still prepping for the movie while she was ready to go. Beast Boy looked over to Robin and started,

"Hey, Robin, can you—"

But Raven could not wait anymore.

"Can we just start the movie?" she groaned.

"Fine, jeez. You need to chill out."

"Beast Boy, let's just start the movie before I leave."

"Okay, okay."

Beast Boy grabbed the remote.

"Everyone set?"

"Beast Boy."

"Playing!"

He pressed the play button and the movie started with a most eerie music.

Chapter end