*In all honesty, I had some difficulty writing this chapter. I'm trying to go on what the medication does to Raven throughout her day. Hopefully, it all makes sense. Enjoy!*

*For Joel*

Exhaustion

"Miss Raven, are you alright?"

Raven's eyes opened slowly to see her nurse hovering above her, a worried expression on her face. "What…happened?" she asked, her voice raspy.

The nurse sighed. "You had a mental breakdown…you were unstable and…we had to sedate you."

She placed a hand on her chest. "They…need help…" she whispered.

"Who needs help?" the nurse asked gently.

"I don't know…but I can hear them…they're calling me…" she felt tears in her eyes.

"Please…you must eat something." She helped the former sit up.

"I'm not hungry," she said bitterly.

"I'll…give you a minute," she said as she left the room.

The dark sorceress stood up, looking outside the window. The glass had been replaced as well the clock by her bed. It was late in the afternoon. Her eyes flickered to the door and she floated out, looking around. Some of the residents were chatting with one another, most of them wondering why she had not shouted in the morning. It was such a common occurrence to hear her shouting that it was strange when she didn't do it this morning.

Raven floated out and all eyes landed on her. She put her head down and sighed. She just wanted to find out who had tried to contacting her. Whoever they were, she couldn't stop thinking of them.

She decided to sit on a metal chair facing the window.

A few minutes later, the nurse arrived and placed a tray of food on her lap. "Eat up," she said softly before walking away.

She ate automatically, not paying attention to the taste. Her mind wandering back to the strange voice. How had they contacted her? Why were they contacting her? Who was contacting her?

She threw the fork back down on the tray of half eaten food and crossed her arms.

One of the residents, an older man who referred to himself as 'Dr. Light', glanced at her. "What's the matter? Not hungry?" he asked condescendingly.

Her eyes flickered to the old man beside her. He was wearing a white hospital gown and dingy slippers. He was missing most of his teeth and was balding at an exponential rate. He glared her, almost begrudgingly.

Raven stood up and placed the tray on the ground. She couldn't explain why she disliked him so strongly, but she ignored him and walked back to her room.

Her eyes were heavy and she felt exhausted. Grant it, it was a possible side effect of the medication and the apparent sedation, but she couldn't shake the feeling that another major reason she was so languid now was because of…what she did.

Her eyes strayed toward her hands. "How did I do that…?" she asked herself. She couldn't quite remember what had happened. She heard that voice…those doctors tried restraining her…she felt scared…

Instinct; that was it. She was in danger, and she was protecting herself. "Why would I need to protect myself anyway…" she asked herself.

"Because you're a hero," a woman said.

Raven turned her head to see one of the residents sitting at a table, drinking a cup of water. She recognized her as Mary.

Mary had always been the one to tell her she was a hero; a hero with many friends.

"Hmph," the white cloaked girl uttered. "I'm no hero," she spat as she crossed her arms.

"Yes you are…" she placed her water down and stood up.

She had red hair up to her neck, and she was wearing a pale yellow blouse and faded jeans with paint stains on them. Raven didn't know much about her history except the she was only in the hospital because she had become disconnected from the world after her daughter committed suicide 2 years prior. Mary refused to talk to anyone or seek help, causing her to lose her job and unable to live on her own. Her family visited often, but they were no help to her. In fact, the only person Mary chose to talk to was Raven.

"What makes you so sure that I'm a hero?" Raven asked dryly.

Mary didn't meet her eyes. "We're all locked up in here because we have problems…but you…you're just creating something out of nothing."

Raven shook her head. "Impossible. You can't make something out of nothing."

"Exactly," Mary replied curtly. "Your friends are out there. But you refuse to acknowledge their existence."

"My friends…were never real…I made them up…because I was lonely…" her voice took a dead tone.

"They are very real…just like that demon inside you…it is very real…they just force you take all sorts of different medications…haven't you noticed that none of it works the way you want it to?" Mary had somewhat of a cynical expression on her face.

"So? Nothing works here, anyway," she said blankly.

Mary chuckled. "Now you are making nothing out of something. They're giving you something, and it's not doing nothing."

She huffed and walked the rest of the way to her room. She was scowling, wondering why out of everyone else here, Mary chose to talk to her.

The medication wasn't helping. It was only making her tired and her vision blurry.

Raven stopped dead in her tracks.

She realized something…she had not heard the voice all day, except for the middle of the night and the morning…

"I…took the medication right before I heard the voice…could it be…"

She heard Mary's voice behind her, "That the medication is slowly making you unable to use your powers, hero?"

Raven turned around slowly. "That's not true…"

"It is very true. You were only able to hear that voice because the medication wasn't in your system. Once it was…"

Raven's nurse walked up to Raven quickly. "Miss Raven, you must rest now," she urged, taking her arm and leading her the rest of the way to her room.

Raven let the nurse guide her. Once she was inside, the nurse smiled, looking worried. "Please, get plenty of rest." The nurse shuffled away.

"Hmm…" Raven walked over to her bed and laid down. "Strange…even for her…"

There was no doubt that Raven suspected something was happening. But it was perhaps just her irrational thoughts. She was crazy, after all. "Hell, I'm in a mental hospital," she muttered to herself.

But was that really it? Her thoughts jumped from topic to topic and from conclusion to conclusion.

Mary's words sounded in her mind. "They're giving you something, and it's not doing nothing."

Raven started drifting off to sleep. "Maybe…she's right…maybe…nothing works here, but not in the way I think they don't work…"

By now, the effects of the medication was starting to wear thin. Raven's eyes closed and she entered a deep slumber, wondering just what she was going to see in her dreams tonight.