HOME | DD

Description
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Teen Titans or any DC character. You’d think the damn lawyers would grow tired of a person having to REPEAT THEMSELVES EVERY TIME!!! but I guess it’s mandatory.

Rated M: Mature situations, dialogue and just to be safe ok?

===============================================================
Yeah yeah I added this again cause I added something new. Flashbacks ^_^

‘Thinking/Thoughts’
“Dialogue”
Narration
Flash Backs
===============================================================

Chapter 8: Memories of the heart

“HELP!!! ANYONE!!!” screamed a young security guard at the top of his lungs. His skin had turned paler that its normal pigmentation at the sights he had witnessed that night. He drew another deep breath to continue pleading for help but was interrupted by the arrival of two strange vehicles. A large metallic man emerged from what appeared to be a futuristic muscle car and scanned the area as if expecting a war zone. A smaller teen got off a red motorcycle and approached the metal man before noticing the young guard. Before he spoke another figure approached them. It was a beautiful girl that landed next to the other two figures, her skin was a strange color but the young guard was dumb founded by her body. He stood there staring at the alien beauty for a few minutes before snapping back to reality. He ran over to the thinner teen and grabbed his arm. “Quick, you have to help my cousin. He was attacked a while ago.” he screamed as the masked teen stared at him.

“We know. You were the one that reported the green monster chasing someone into the warehouse?” asked Robin as if already knowing what the guard would answer. The titan pushed past the guard and headed straight for the warehouse entrance. Starfire and Cyborg had just reached his side before the guard began speaking again.

“You don’t get it. There is another monster now!” he screamed at the trio of heroes making them halt their advancement.

“Another monster?” asked Cyborg with a worried look on his face.

“Yeah. There was this goth girl and she suddenly turned into this huge monster and captured my cousin with some freaky black tentacles.” as Bobby finished his sentence a look of shock and fear appeared on each of the titans. They knew what he meant and they knew what Raven would do to her victim with every second that passed.

The teens wasted no time in entering the warehouse. The instant they saw their friends, their faces turned grim. The scene was far from what they were expecting. In fact it failed to register to them altogether. Raven in her demon form was cradling The Beast in her arms and appeared to be weeping. Her four red eyes were shedding what the titans could only assume were tears of blood. Black tendrils of energy were wrapped around the green beast in what could have been mistaken for a loving embrace. They cradled him close to her and the ones closest to his face gently stroked his fur. It was a scene straight out of a monster love movie, if such a thing existed. Robin opened his mouth to shout out an order but his words were silenced as Starfire approached the two monsters that were her friends. Her face had softened and fresh tears streamed down her face.

“Friend Raven I am glad you are unharmed but you must return to your normal form.” Starfire’s voice was soft but firm. She looked at her friend and smiled as if to reassure her that everything would be fine. Her smile faded as a dozen or so new tendrils emerged from Raven’s demonic form and lashed out at her.

“Star look out!” screamed Robin in shock as a barrage of tendrils struck the alien princess with horrendous force. He had already taken out a sonic disk to knock Raven out but Cyborg’s hand blocked his shot.

“Cool it leader. I think Star has a plan.” calmly added Cyborg, his eyes never leaving his friends. He trusted Star’s judgment but he also remembered what Raven’s demon side was capable of. Whatever Starfire had planned he hoped it would prevent them from having to use force to calm Raven down.

Starfire opened her eyes once more as the barrage ended and smiled once again. She had to get through to Raven and she could only think of one way to do it. “Friend, if we do not get Beast Boy back to the Tower he might perish. Please friend. Allow us to help.” her voice was full of worry but she knew her words would cut deep. As soon as she finished speaking the impact of her words took form. The tendrils of energy surrounding Raven slowly lowered The Beast and placed him on the floor. They began to dissolve and retract back into the goth teen as her form slowly returned to its normal state. Her eyes fused back to two and her height and size slowly diminished. As her cloak shrunk a pale figure was uncovered. His eyes were shut tight and his body was shaking violently. His skin was a ghostly pale and his body was contorted into the fetal position. Cyborg rushed to the teens side and scanned his body and vital signs.

“Well physically he is ok… but his brain activity is violently erratic. Whatever Raven does to people when she drags them into the darkness it leaves them with more psychological scars than I can imagine.” commented Cyborg as his attention turned to Raven. Although she had returned to her normal form she still cradled the Beast as best she could in her arms. Her eyes shone with fresh tears as Cyborg scanned her body with his arm’s computer. He gently placed his hand on her shoulders and smiled softly at her. “You get a clean bill of health Rae.” he tried his best to comfort her but she paid little attention to his words. She turned towards him, her eyes flowing with tears.

“You have to help him…” Raven’s voice was weak as she tried her best to suppress her sobs. She knew what her future held. Robin would be furious for what she did to Joseph. Starfire would probably never trust her again and Cyborg would most likely scream at her for what happened to Beast Boy. But she would face all that later, now all that mattered was making sure Beast Boy was safe. Her thoughts were interrupted as a pair of orange arms wrapped around her and hugged her gently. She winced momentarily at the touch but slowly relaxed into the comforting embrace before she knew it she was being slowly distanced from The Beast. She turned towards her friend and began to weep on Starfire’s shoulder. As she wept she could sense Cyborg slowly moving by her and scanning The Beast before turning his attention back to his friends.

“Guys…we have to get BB some medical attention as soon as possible. His Beast form takes a hell of a lot out of him but if he morphs back to his normal form before we remove the bullets…” Cyborg’s voice trailed off as he analyzed the damage Beast Boy’s internal organs would suffer. “Raven…I know you’ve been through a lot, but moving BB around too much is out of the question. I need you to teleport us to Central Hospital. I have a friend there and at this hour there will be no one around to bother us.” his voice was full of concern as he looked at Raven. She nodded softly and made her way to Cyborg’s side. She looked at Starfire and Robin with a mixture of worry and regret.

“I can’t teleport us all…I don’t have the strength.” her voice was soft and full of worry as she gazed at her two friends.

“Don’t worry Raven. We will take care of everything here and meet up with you guys later.” replied Robin with a comforting smile. He knew the hell she had gone through and he wasn’t about to cause her anymore. Their main concern right now was the well being of their friend. After that he would decide on what course of action to take.

“Thank you.” replied Raven with a soft smile. For the moment she felt a small weight lifted from her shoulders. She gathered all of her remaining strength and engulfed herself and her two friends in a vortex of dark energy. In an instant they were gone and only Starfire and Robin were left.

“So what are we to do now?” asked Starfire as her gazed turned back towards Robin.

“We do our best to put things back in order.” replied Robin with a solemn tone. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his communicator. “Titans calling the Justice League…J’onn please answer…”

Central Hospital: Emergency Room

“Azarath…Mentrion…Zinthos.” softly chanted the dark teen. She had been trying her best to calm her emotions down but her concentration was elsewhere. It had been nearly three hours since she teleported Cyborg and Beast Boy to the hospital and her patience was being overpowered by her emotions. The moment the trio had appeared inside the emergency room one of the nurses let out a scream that rattled everything within hearing distance. It wasn’t until Cyborg’s friend, Dr. Rodriguez, came to the scene that the nurses calmed down. Apparently he was an old colleague of Cyborg’s father and had kept in touch with Cyborg since he moved to Jump City. They had been in the operating room for nearly two hours now and Raven was losing her patience. She offered to heal Beast Boy the moment the bullets were removed but Cyborg ordered her not to. ‘Who the hell does he think he is telling me what I can and can’t do?’ she thought bitterly glancing over to the operating room door.

‘He is your friend. And he knows it wouldn’t do any good.’ replied Knowledge calmly.

‘But I can heal him quicker than anyone else.’ shot back Raven eager to end her internal battle.

‘Yes you could. But at what cost?’ asked Knowledge, her tone calm but stern.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Raven. She was too tired to get into any mind games with Knowledge. She just wanted a straight answer.

‘At your current state of exhaustion you might have been able to heal Beast Boy. But the strain on your body would have been too much to handle and you would have most likely died.’ replied Knowledge, she knew the physical strain that healing others left on Raven. And she also knew that for them to require outside help to heal Beast Boy the wounds must have been pretty serious.

‘I don’t care if I died as long as Beast Boy was ok.’ shot back Raven without realizing what she had said. Could she really care so much about her friend that she would give up her own life to save his?

Knowledge allowed herself as smile before returning to Nevermore. ‘At least she is closer to accepting it…’ she thought as she returned to her library realm.

Raven’s thoughts drifted as she waited. She remembered all the times Beast Boy had been there for her. Especially after Malchior… ‘After that he would talk to me everyday… he would ask me about my past and about my powers…he was even interested in learning about Nevermore…’ she thought as she remembered the day he first touched the subject.

He had been coming to her room everyday for at least two weeks after the incident with Malchior. He would bring her some tea and they would simply talk about their pasts and their lives. That day he had brought two cups of tea instead of just one. Raven looked at him oddly before the question left her lips. “You like tea?”

“Yeah…kinda. Not the same kind you drink but I do like Earl Grey at times. It helps calm me down or helps me think.” replied Beast Boy with a nervous smile as he set the tray on the floor in front of Raven’s bed. He had truly liked these past few days of them talking. The rest of the Titans stopped after the first week fearing that they would overstay their welcome or that they would make Raven uncomfortable, but he wasn’t like them, he never gave up at least when it came to her. This was a rare opportunity to get to know the girl he cared about and he wasn’t about to pass it up.

“When did you even learn about that type of tea?” asked Raven realizing too late the tone she used. She didn’t want to seem offensive, especially not to him. He had been the only one of her friends to keep visiting her after the first week had past since their battle with the Dragon. He was sweet in a way; he never seemed to give up, no matter how many times she tried pushing him away.

“Well I am a geek. Earl Grey was the favorite drink of the starship captain of a series I watched every day. I decided to try it once and grew to like it.” he answered in with his trademark toothy grin.

“Oh…I guess I will have to try it someday.” added Raven sipping her cup as a smile graced her lips.

“Cool. We can go to a place I know at the mall. Don’t worry it’s kind of away from the main areas so its pretty peaceful.” he replied before taking a sip of his own cup and smiling. “So what is today’s topic of choice?” he asked looking up from his cup.

“Umm… I don’t really know. We’ve talked about a lot of things already. I would have thought that you would grow tired after the first day…I’m not all that interesting.” she replied with a low voice. She had never wanted to get close to anyone and now after the incident with Malchior the thought of letting anyone else get close to her frightened her immensely. A shock spread through her system as Beast Boy placed his gloved hand on her shoulder. She hated how silent he could be when he wanted to. He had sat down next to her on the bed without making so much as a peep. She looked at him for a moment and found herself lost in his emerald eyes. They showed sincere interest and a hint of something she couldn’t see clearly. Before she could react he pointed to her meditation mirror.

“How about that? I’ve been wanting to ask you about that place since Cy and I visited the first time.” he asked trying his best to move Raven’s attention elsewhere before a blush took over his face. Raven glanced over to her table just as a shade of red crept over Beast Boy’s face.

“That place is called Nevermore. I created it to keep my emotions in check. In a sense each person has a similar place within his or her mind. Except mine is a bit…under developed since I haven’t gotten full control over my powers…” her voice trailed off as she felt another wave of dread hit her. ‘Assuming I ever get control over my powers…’ she thought before another shock hit her. Beast Boy had laid her head on his shoulder and now had his head resting on hers. His arm was around her shoulder and had pulled her into a comforting hug. Normally she would have sent him to another dimension for this or perhaps held him down and force fed him a steak or two. But right now she felt as if she was in heaven, she felt secure and safe, she didn’t want this feeling to end. She relaxed a bit more before starting to tell Beast Boy about her emotions and how they came to be. About an hour passed before Raven finished talking. She was sure Beast Boy hadn’t paid much attention to her but she didn’t care.

“So you have eight main emotions and from those others can be created?” he asked, his voice a mixture of awe and curiosity. He could have never imagined that her mind was so complex. He had known her for years but now he felt as if he was truly getting to know her.

“Yes. Also Rage isn’t the only one who can take control over me if I’m not careful but the other emotions don’t seem to want to possess me as much as Rage desires it. The mirror is meant to allow me to enter the realm freely but it also keeps anyone else from interacting with them.” she replied, not even bothering to open her eyes. ‘He is paying attention to what I say.’ she thought as she opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of the time. ‘It’s almost time for dinner…’ she thought before a flash of light interrupted her thoughts. She pulled away from Beast Boy and saw that he was just as shocked as she was. Her eyes darted to her door and she saw the source of the flash.

“Aw this one is going straight to our album.” jokingly commented Cyborg as he looked at the photo his arm’s digital camera had just taken. The scene would have gone unnoticed if he hadn’t come over to ask them if they wanted to order take out tonight. “Now if you two love birds are done then we can decide what to order for dinner to…” his voice was cut short as a tendril of black energy wrapped itself around his mouth.

“If you don’t give me that photo I will rip you apart and reassemble you as a high tech toilet!!” screamed Raven as her energy wrapped itself around Cyborg’s metallic arm and threatened to rip it out of it’s socket. She removed the tendril from the Metal man’s mouth to see what his response would be.

“Ok ok Rae. Chill out. I was only kidding.” replied Cyborg trying his best to calm his friend down. A compartment in his arm opened up and a small memory card emerged. It was instantly covered with energy and floated towards Raven’s hand.

“Now get out!” she screamed before releasing her metallic friend. The moment the Cyborg could move he dashed out of the hall and straight to the common room.

“Nice one Rae. I haven’t seen the tin man that scared since his last blind date.” jokingly added Beast Boy smiling at the scene he had just witnessed. His smile faded as he felt himself being thrown out the door and smashed against the hall. All he heard before Raven’s door shut was a low “I’m sorry”.

‘He still kept coming back, even after you threw him out.’ softly added a new voice within Raven’s mind. The voice was soft and comforting.

‘Great. Like I need more voices in my head.’ Raven thought sarcastically trying to identify the new voice.

‘You’ve had me for a while. But you’ve ignored me until recently.’ the voice replied.

Raven’s internal battle was cut short as she saw Cyborg emerge from the operating room dressed in a full surgical attire. She couldn’t see his face since he still had his surgical mask on but she saw something reflect in his eye. He walked over to her and sat himself down on the chair beside her. She couldn’t bring herself to ask him how the operation went. She was afraid that his reply would be something she couldn’t take. As if reading her mind he removed his mask and smiled at her.

“The little grass stain is going to be fine. His tougher than he looks. The bullets didn’t puncture any major organs or arteries so he will be fine after he gets some rest.” said Cyborg feeling the drain the day had taken on him. He couldn’t wait to hook up to his power station and sleep for a week.

“I’m glad…can I see him?” her voice was soft and frail. She felt at peace for the first time that night.

“Not yet. He is still out of it. He is back to his normal for though so don’t worry. If you want Rae you can go back to the tower and rest. That way you can heal him as soon as your body is rested.” replied Cyborg in a tired voice. He still had to contact Robin and Starfire to let them know how Beast Boy was doing and to see what needed to be done about the incident at the warehouse. He was about to stand when he felt Raven’s head rest on his metallic arm. She looked drained but something was bothering her.

“I don’t want to leave Cyborg…” she added in a low and weak voice.

“You are a stubborn one huh? Ok…as soon as they set everything up in BB’s room I will come get you so you can rest there ok?” he replied and saw her face brighten slightly. She gave him a small nod before he got up and walked back to the operating room. He allowed himself a smile before returning to the operating table. Dr. Rodriguez was washing up as the metal man came back into the room.

“You have some interesting friends Vic.” jokingly smiled the doctor as he dried his arms and removed his mask. He looked at the green teen now resting peacefully on the table. He could have lived to be a hundred and he would have never thought he’d get the chance to help a superheroe. Especially one who’s DNA was so erratic that it allowed him to morph into practically any animal he had ever seen.

“Yeah doc…but they’re family.” added Cyborg as he pulled out his communicator and prepared himself for the barrage of questions that would come from Robin and Starfire.

End of Chapter 8.
========================================================