Chapter 31 – A Cry for Help

January 7th 2012, 11:44 pm

Robin was sitting at his evidence desk, one hand supporting his head and the other one pattering the smooth and cold surface, not really analyzing anything in front of him. Right now, he had a serious problem. But his problem had nothing to do with villains. His problem's source was in his own Tower.

For starters, he lost an important member of his team. He sighed, remembering the talk he had with Raven about ten months ago.

"Leaving?" he asked, surprised and annoyed, walking to the empath "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I'm moving outside of the Tower, and I will no longer be a Titan" she answered with an unchanging voice "I can't tell you exactly for how long"

"Raven, I cannot let you do this without an explanation" he demanded, crossing his arms "Have you talked to someone else about this?"

"No, and I don't intend to" she shrugged "In fact, I'm just informing you because you're the leader"

"It's not" he said, raising an eyebrow "There's something else. Don't even try to hide it from me, you know just as well as I do about the connection between our minds"

The leader watched the empath's expression tremble lightly, and for a moment he thought she would collapse. However, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and when she opened them again, she was impassible as before.

"What happened just now?" he insisted, getting closer "Why did everything start to explode? Did you have something to do with that?"

"Fine" she agreed unwilling to, diverting her look "But you have to promise me you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you"

"I…"

"Promise!" she demanded, and Robin could tell she wasn't going to give up.

"Okay. I promise" he said, anxious. Raven looked down, like she was deciding something.

"I'm pregnant" she informed, lifting her look. Robin certainly didn't expect that. The leader lost her serious gaze, his mask getting round of shock. He opened the mouth to say something, then closed it again, uncertain.

"I found out today" she continued, ignoring his attempts of saying something "And right after it… I caught Beast Boy and Terra kissing in his room"

"No!" exclaimed Robin, suddenly finding his voice. Raven just nodded, and he knew she was saying the truth.

"But… Beast Boy wouldn't do this…" he mumbled, going all detective like "And right after the explosions, Terra appeared with him unconscious, even if there wasn't anything indicating a head bump… That is… A little weird"

"Robin, what I want you to know is that I don't care about this right now" she said, surprising him for the third time "You saw what happened when I saw them. That was very dangerous. I could have dropped something on myself and harm my baby"

"But… If you just talk to him…"

"Being near Beast Boy will be extremely unstable to me, Robin" she raised her hand, interrupting him "I cannot allow that, not when there's a third person totally innocent and so frail around. Do you understand?"

"Of course I do…" sighed the man, crossing his arms. He was running out of arguments "So he doesn't know?"

"No. And he won't, not until this child is born and I am ready to deal with him" she claimed, convict "That's why you can't tell anyone about this for now"

They remained a while like this, staring at each other, with a problem and no solution between them.

"I'm leaving tonight" she said at last.

"Where are you staying? Do you need any documents?" he asked, resigned "I have for all of us in case of emergencies…"

"Thank you, Robin. That would be great." she smiled faintly.

Robin rubbed his face with his hands, trying to keep awake. Raven had left nine months ago, and by then she was one month pregnant. It was almost sure she already had the baby. He knew it was soon, but… He couldn't think of a better way. Another memory crossed his mind, a much more recent one, from only three days ago.

He was training in the equipment room when he heard a yell. He stopped punching the sand bag in front of him, paying attention. So he heard:

"Robin, come here now!" it was Cyborg's voice. He didn't think twice. He ran through the hallway, towards the yelling, now followed by heavy knocks.

Entering the common room, he found something that left him momentarily paralyzed. Beast Boy had his eyes with that weird yellowish glow again, but this time he was attacking everything in front of him, like he was seeing something they couldn't – or something that wasn't there. Starfire and Terra were in defensive positions and Cyborg ran to him.

"Help the girls to contain him!" he asked, not taking his eyes off his changeling friend "I'll go get a sedative!"

"Dude, you're not going anywhere!" yelled Beast Boy to the couch, changing into a tiger and biting the stew.

"He'll destroy everything if it keeps going like this…" mumbled Terra, apprehensive.

"I'm afraid of the moment he decides to transform into an animal bigger than what the room can support…" said Starfire, exactly what Robin was thinking.

"It's okay" he approached the girls, speaking low "I'll try to talk to him… If he attack me, Star, you take him out of the Tower flying, it's okay if the window breaks. Terra, you guarantee they have a safe place where to land."

No waiting for a response, he approached his friend carefully, who, after cutting the couch in two, was walking randomly in his human form.

"Beast Boy" he called with the voice low and calm, a hand stretched ahead "It's me, Robin. It's all fine. Nothing is attacking you."

"Robin?" he asked, and the glow sparkled in his eyes. He seemed to get sight of something behind his leader and yelled: "Watch out!"

Robin dodged right in time to not be sliced by the fierce claws of a green lion. Then he saw Starfire passing in high speed, hugging the feline and taking him to the window, that shattered in a million shards when they both went through it.

Getting up, the room's doors opened and Cyborg came inside, carrying a big syringe with a clear liquid inside.

"Where is him?!" he asked, and Robin pointed to the window, to where they both ran. Right under them, Starfire was holding Beast Boy against a floating piece of earth with difficulty, while he changed into a different animal every second "Hold him tight, Star!"

Cyborg jumped, landing heavily behind his struggling friends, and diverted the Tamaranean with his arm, quickly hitting Beast Boy with the needle and injecting the sedative. The green jaguar turned into a snake, which turned into a wolf and finally into his human form again, falling on his knees and with a sleepy expression completely falling down.

Beast Boy wasn't well ever since Raven left, but now, they reached a critical state. This recent attack caused a lot of damage, and they were forced to intern Beast Boy, leaving him under constant doses of tranquilizing and tied to the infirmary's bed, always supervised. He didn't seem to know who or where he was. Although, for what Robin could observed, the problem wasn't really who or where, but when. For some reason, Beast Boy's mind was coming and going, making him relive moments of the past and act in the present.

Cyborg couldn't find out what was wrong. They tried to call a specialist, but he couldn't find anything either. He suggested it may be a condition developed from a great shock, and he said therapy may help. But the changeling refused to talk to him, and not even seemed to be listening most of the time.

Robin had lost another member of his team. But he was afraid of losing him forever if he couldn't find anyone capable of curing him. And there was only one person he trusted and that had the ability of getting inside one's mind to see what was wrong up close.

The problem was convincing her to come back.

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January 8th 2012, 6:55 am

Caleb was five weeks old and, right now, yelling with all the strength he had. Raven woke up from her brief period of sleep and leaned to the bassinet next to her bed. Picking up the crying baby in her lap, she half sat half laid while breastfed him. Her eyes closed heavily and when she opened them again, her son wasn't hungry anymore, but also didn't seem to willing in going back to sleep.

She sighed and looked out the window, seeing the sun rising in the horizon. She got up lazily and walked to the kitchen, still with Caleb in her arms. She remained standing, lightly swinging him to make him fall asleep, while a kettle covered by a black energy floated to the tap, filling itself with water and then going to the stove, which lighted a small flame by itself. The baby started to whine again and, before it turned into a screaming, Raven put him on her left shoulder and hit lightly on his back, relieving him from his gases.

"Now you can sleep, right?" she asked, holding him in front of her. However, Caleb only stared at her with his big violet eyes wide open. Raven had never appreciated the color of her own eyes as much as now. She smiled involuntarily. To her surprise, Caleb smiled back.

"You smiled" she said, her own smile being replaced by an admiration expression. The doctor told her the babied only recognized a smile and smiled back after one month old. She could feel the satisfaction emanating from the little human being, which soon was replaced by confusion when he saw his mother's expression changing so quickly.

"I love you" she said, smiling again and getting a beautiful smile in exchange. It was funny. It had been so hard to say these three words to Beast Boy, but in the last five weeks, it was something she said every day, without any discomfort, it was only natural.

The kettle whistled and she put tea leaves – which fortunately didn't make her sick anymore – in her blue mug and poured hot water in it. Caleb followed her moves with curiosity. She was about to go back to her room and try to sleep some more when she heard a familiar noise. Looking around, she saw a light coming from the center table. It was her communicator.

She hesitated, not knowing what to do for a moment. So she tried to reach the communicator and realized she had Caleb in one hand and the mug on the other. She put the mug on the table and the baby on the crib. He complained a little for being abandoned, but then she spin the bird mobile and he was completely distracted, fascinated by the color's movements.

The empath finally picked up her communicator. The screen said 'Robin'. That wasn't so bad. She fixed her hair as much as she could and answered.

"Raven!" greeted Robin's voice, followed by a nostalgic image of her leader.

"Hi, Robin" she answered with a smile, sitting with the communicator in front of her "How's everything?"

"How are you? Did you have the baby?" she didn't fail to notice the fact that he avoided to answer her question.

"I did" she said simply.

"Did everything run okay? Is it healthy? Is it a boy or a girl?" he questioned, curious.

"Everything went fine. It's a boy, a perfect boy" she said with a hint of proud in her voice.

"I'm very glad to hear this, Raven" he affirmed with honesty and a melancholic smile "Really. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Robin. But… That's not the only reason you called me, is it?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Well… No, it's not" he admitted, still looking into her eyes "We have to talk"

"If this is about coming back, Robin, I'm not sure if I'm ready…"

"Raven" he interrupted her in a serious voice "Please, just listen to what I have to say"

"I know it must be hard to you right now, with a baby to care alone… But I… We need your help. Urgently"

"What happened?" she asked, concerned, feeling the gravity in Robin's words.

"It's Beast Boy" he revealed, and she made an effort not to say anything, considering the million of thoughts that crossed her mind in that moment "Raven… He is not well. Ever since you left, he's been behaving… Oddly"

"We thought it was just the shock of your departure, maybe even some depression…" Raven felt a squeeze in her heart to hear that "But now, we came to the conclusion that something a lot more serious is going in Beast Boy's mind."

"His… Mind?" she asked, confuse.

"Raven, he is losing it" told Robin, with a miserable expression "There's no other way to put it. He has amnesia crisis, sometimes he doesn't recognize us or call for people that are dead, or even people we never heard of before."

"The situation became critical four days ago, when he started to attack people and object in the Tower randomly" the empath took her hand to her mouth, surprised "We were forced to sedate him and inter him. Cyborg did all he could, we called doctors, but it was all useless."

"You are our last hope… His last hope" he finalized with a frown "Please Raven, come back and help him."

The empath ran her tongue through her lips and automatically turned to see the crib where her son was. She wasn't pregnant anymore, she had full control of her powers and ten months had passed. She was without excuses not to come back.

Besides… Regards what happened, she still loved Beast Boy. And she couldn't help but feel thankful for the little miracle in the crib that tried to reach the paper birds. She couldn't just stand there while he was suffering.

"Okay" she answered "I'll leave tomorrow morning"

"We can pick you up if you…" he started, but she interrupted him.

"No" she didn't want anyone to see Caleb yet "I'll be there tomorrow afternoon. I'll do everything I can"

"Thank you, Raven. Call if you need anything"

"There's no reason to thank me, Robin. See you soon" she turned the communicator off without waiting for a reply. She really needed to meditate.

She walked to the crib and sat with crossed legs next to it, floating in the air, closing her eyes and saying her mantra.

She was so distracted by the recent news that she didn't notice the mobile was still spinning, its top portion covered in a dark green aura.

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