Chapter 2 A Microwave for the Soul
Raven stumbled over a tree root but caught herself. She was dizzy and breathing heavily. She leaned against a tree and looked at Beast Boy. He seemed fine.
"Are you alright, Raven?" he asked. "You don't look so great."
"I'm fine." she said. "This air is hard to breathe. . . . I guess you can adapt."
"Oh yeah!" he said proudly. "My lungs can handle anything."
Raven smiled. "I've been in your room. I'm well aware of that."
Beast Boy grit his teeth. "Look, can we just focus on finding our friends and getting back to our time?"
"That's what we would be doing if you'd stop worrying about me for no reason. You should be worried about them."
He shrugged. "I'm sure Starfire got Robin out of there, and Cyborg can handle himself."
Raven frowned. "Are you saying I can't?"
"No, that's not . . . let's try calling them."
Raven crossed her arms and looked out at the primordial sea. "Yeah, you do that."
Beast boy grabbed his communicator. "Cyborg, pick up buddy."
He was met with grating static.
"No satellites." Raven muttered.
"But Cyborg has a—"
"Built-in satellite?" Cyborg's voice came through the communicator. "I guess I really screwed up guys. A few hundred million years of evolution—all gone because I wasn't fast enough."
"Don't beat yourself up, buddy. It wasn't your fault."
Raven snatched the communicator out of his hand. "It was our collective responsibility. We're all to blame. Just tell us where you are."
"I washed up on the beach." His signal went out. "Some weird stuff down here, but no sign of Robin or Star."
"We're the weird ones here." Raven said with a slight smile. "We'll find you. Stay there."
Beast Boy held out his hand and she returned his communicator. "I could've talked to Cyborg, you know. Why do you have to treat me like a kid all the time?"
"Because you act like one ninety-eight percent of the time."
He groaned. "Yeah, but that's just a front to try and loosen the mood. That two percent is the real me."
"Yeah, sure."
She started to float away, but Beast Boy grabbed her wrist. "No, we can't work together until I know that you respect me as much as I respect you."
Raven furrowed her brow. "There are moments where I respect you. Can't this wait until—"
She suddenly froze, doubled over, and vomited on the ground. Beast Boy watched her in fascinated horror.
"Woah, did complimenting me make you that sick?"
She looked up at him with wide eyes. "I knew it wasn't just the air. . . . Radiation sickness."
"Radiation?" Beast Boy screamed. "We've gotta get you to a hospital. . . . Oh, wait."
"The wreckage from the ship." She squinted in pain. "There should be medical supplies."
"I'm on it!" Beast Boy morphed into a wolf and bounded down the mountain toward the burning wreck.
He found a first aid and trauma kit by the reactor that thankfully remained undamaged. Though he singed his fur getting it, he did not hesitate to return to Raven, neglecting even to put out the fire on his back. Raven noticed his burns but said nothing.
Beast Boy flung open the kit. "Um, how do you use this stuff?"
Raven reclined against a tree and sighed. "Just give it to me."
He handed her a syringe and some bottles of liquid. "Man, I wish I could call my mom and ask for help."
She rolled her eyes. "And you want me to treat you like an adult?"
She filled a syringe with potassium iodide and injected it into her arm. Then, she closed her eyes and exhaled forcefully.
Beast Boy squatted and stared at her. "So, are you gonna be okay now?"
Rain began to fall, and she opened one eye. "No, I need a blood transfusion, but this will have to do."
"Then you can have my blood." His eyes gleamed and he turned into a bat.
Raven leaned away as though he had a deadly disease. "Sorry, but I don't want your mutant DNA in my body."
Beast Boy morphed back and stared at her, his will shattered. Raven's face reddened with restrained mortification.
"You know what I meant, idiot. Can we just get out of the rain?"
He nodded and transformed into a mountain goat. Raven clung to his back and he carried her down the hillside and across the swamp. He found a reasonably dry sea cave and she rolled off his back.
"Thanks." she said with a slight smile. "I'm already feeling better."
"Are you sure? Maybe I could tell some jokes. They say laughter's the best medicine."
"I'm positive. . . . Cyborg should be nearby. You should find him and the others."
An intense light blinded her. It was Cyborg's shoulder light coming from the cave entrance.
"Looks like I found you." he said, shutting off the light. "What happened?"
"Just some radiation sickness." Raven said with a shrug. "What's the plan?"
Cyborg stared at the barren ground. "It's not lookin' good. I found Robin and Starfire. We're trying to get the rest of that ship out of the bay. I downloaded the blueprints for the Chronosphere before we crashed. If there's not too much water damage, I might be able to use my own power to get the planet back to our time, but there's no telling what it'll be like when we get there. That robot kept saying I didn't understand how their machine worked. Maybe it won't do as much damage to the timeline as we think."
"Maybe." Raven whispered. "I wish I could help, but I'd probably just get in the way right now."
"You're fine, Rae. This is my job."
He started to leave the cave and Beast Boy tapped him on the shoulder. "Aren't you going to ask me for help?"
Cyborg looked down at him. "Not really. I've got this."
Utterly dejected, Beast Boy watched him leave and Raven couldn't help but laugh a little. He sat down next to her and sighed.
"I'm glad I could brighten your day with my misfortune."
"You always brighten my day." She frowned. "And does having to stay here with me qualify as misfortune?"
He trembled. "No, it's not that. It's just . . . there's nothing to do this far in the past. There's no TV, videogames, or movies. There aren't even any books to read."
Raven rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess you'll have to entertain yourself with your own thoughts like I always do."
"But, Raven, I don't have any thoughts!"
She laughed awkwardly. "Do I have to teach you how to think?"
"No, no, we can just talk. Are you feeling any better?"
"I'm sick of this conversation."
Beast Boy turned his back to her and sat in silence until he heard a rumble somewhere deep in the cave. A large, eyeless, lizard-like creature emerged from the shadows and hissed at them with a serpentine tongue.
"Finally, something for me to fight." Beast Boy said, making no attempt to hide his pleasure.
"Leave it alone." Raven warned him. "Killing it could have dire consequences for the future."
Suddenly, it wrapped its tongue around Raven and dragged her into the darkness.
"And letting it live could have dire consequences for you in the present." He morphed into a sabretooth tiger and sank his fangs into the creature's black, bulbous forehead. It released Raven and skittered past them out of the cave.
Beast Boy watched it leave. "I guess we stole his home. I feel kind of bad now."
Raven wiped the mucus off her cloak. "Believe me, I'd love to return it. . . . And thanks."
He turned sharply and smiled at her. "Is this one of those moments where you respect me?"
She smiled back at him. "I guess it is. Enjoy it."
"And now that you've seen how reliable I am, will you stop treating me like a kid?"
She collapsed to the ground and sighed. "Would you stop asking me that? It's kind of pathetic. Why are you so desperate for my approval?"
He fell silent for a moment. "Well, maybe it's because I like you."
Raven blinked and stared past him at the downpour outside the cave. Her mind darted from one thought to the next like some mental fireworks show. Had she really just heard those words? Could Beast Boy really like a strange, distant girl like her when he was so friendly and normal? How should she respond? Her next words could determine the nature of their relationship for the remainder of their lives. The first option was to admit that she shared his sentiments. Though Raven berated Beast Boy and pushed him away constantly, she only did so knowing he would return with even more determination. He was the only boy who showered her with such constant care and attention, and she did not wish to lose it. Furthermore, she felt that beneath all their banter and bickering, there was something that connected them—something unknowable. Alternatively, she could say she did not reciprocate his feelings and risk irreparable damage to their relationship. She decided instead to pretend that she was meditating and had not heard him.
"Hello, Raven?" Beast Boy waved his hand in front of her eyes. "You're not entering another healing trance, are you?"
She decided to use her astral projection to leave her mortal body and think for a while. She wanted to tell him the truth, but could she afford to express her emotions so freely? If she got too attached to him, she could lose control of her powers and risk the safety of the entire team.
"Um, Raven, I think you left your body." she heard Beast Boy call out from below. "So don't get mad if I mark on your face while you're gone."
Her Paralyzing dread was cut short by a flash of light. She felt a sharp pain rush up from her lower back to the top of her head, and when she opened her eyes, she found Beast Boy and herself sitting in the gym of Titans' Tower. Of course, she was still in her astral projection, levitating over her body.
Beast Boy looked around the gym and jumped up. "Way to go, Cyborg! He must have fixed that alien machine. The future is saved . . . or is it the present? What do you think Raven?"
He stared at her unconscious body. "Hey, Raven, are you still meditating?" He leaned over her and gasped. "You passed out! What did I do? Was it the radiation?"
Raven reached out to touch him, but her hand merely passed through his shoulder. He shivered and turned around.
"Woah, that felt weird." He rubbed his shoulder. "Raven, are you playing some trick on me. If so, you might as well give up. There's no way I can get more embarrassed after what I just said."
How strange. She stared at her hand. Everything looked normal. Usually, her astral projection could interact with objects in the mortal plane. Why couldn't Beast Boy see or feel her? She then touched her own body and was horrified to find she could not reenter it.
"Great." Raven muttered to herself. "I just had to leave my body when the world went back to normal. I guess my projection is frozen in time or something."
Beast Boy clenched his fists. "Maybe the others will know what to do. Can I carry you to the living room?"
"I won't stop you." she said, standing behind him. "It's not like I can."
Raven watched him carry her body up the stairs. It was quite a strange experience, but not entirely unpleasant. He laid her down on the couch and called the rest of the team. Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire ran through the main door.
Starfire flew to hug him. "Friend, you are undamaged!"
Robin looked at Raven's body. "But Raven isn't."
Cyborg rubbed his head and looked back and forth between them. "Yo, B.B., what happened?"
"I don't know." He stared at the floor in shame. "We were talking about stuff, and Raven started meditating. Then, her soul thingy left her body, we went back to our timeline, and then her soul was gone. You don't think it got left behind, do you?"
Robin shook his head. "Her astral projection exists on a different plane than us, but it doesn't exist outside of time."
"Then her projection would have been subject to the effects of the Chronosphere, yes?" Starfire asked.
"Then where is it?" Beast Boy demanded, grabbing Robin's arms.
Cyborg pulled him away. "Calm down, B. My scanners are picking up ridiculous energy levels in the room. She's here, but we're dealing with a lot of alien tech we don't understand. It's possible her soul was frozen in time."
"Frozen in time?" Beast Boy shouted looking frantically around the room. "Then let's throw it in the microwave and unfreeze it. Where is it, Cy?"
Robin grabbed his shoulder. "You need to calm down. We have to focus if we want to get Raven's soul back before she . . ."
Robin faltered and Starfire floated between them. "Perhaps the alien Gisling could be of assistance."
"I'm sorry, Starfire." Robin turned away. "He didn't make it."
"You mean he is still trapped in the past?"
"I mean he died in the crash." Starfire stared at him in disbelief, and he continued. "Cyborg, take Raven to the medical ward and run some more scans. Starfire, we're going to Raven's room to figure out how her powers work. Time is of the essence, and the only expert we have on astral projections can't communicate with us. Raven will get weaker with every minute her soul spends away from her body."
Beast boy sat down by Raven's head. "I'm going with Cyborg."
Robin hesitated. "Alright. I know everyone's tired, but Raven's always been there for us, and now she's counting on us to save her. Remember that."
"How could I not?" Beast Boy whispered and carried her body away.
He stood by Raven's bed in the medical ward, watching her vitals rise and fall rhythmically. He had seen such signs before. It was like her body was in hibernation. Cyborg was staring at a series of computer monitors. Their blue glow filled the room with a cold, sterile light.
Beast Boy took her hand. "I'm sorry, Raven. This is my fault."
Her soul was standing next to him. She embraced him as best she could and he shivered.
"No, it's mine." Raven said with a sigh. "If I'd only been honest and told you how I felt, none of this would have happened. Now I might never get to talk to you again."
Overwhelmed by the chill of her soul, Beast Boy hugged himself for warmth and stood by her bed until dawn.
