Fan Fiction ❯ Bloody Eyes ❯ Chapter 5

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Bloody Eyes

Chapter 5

Raven squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see her assailant, before turning and pulling her arm easily out of his grasp. Without opening her eyes she threw one fist, and felt it connect with a nose and the edge of an eye socket. She spun back the way she had been going, even as she heard a thump as a body hit the floor behind her.
As she ran, Raven's more rational side screamed at her that something was wrong with this situation. If it had been Mammoth, he would have just laughed at her punch, she would still have been in his hands. When she realized this, she also realized that the hand had never closed around her arm, it had just rested on her shoulder before she panicked.
Raven turned back down the hall and saw Beastboy a few feet back. When he saw that she had stopped, he stopped as well, "Are you okay, Rae?"
"Beastboy, I'm sorry, I thought..." She fell silent as she felt terror stealing over her again. "Mammoth, he's here in the tower."
"Are you sure?" Beastboy closed the last few feet between them, carefully resting a hand on her shoulder again.
"Yes, I heard him." Raven could feel herself losing control, her breathing becoming short and choppy.
"Alright, Raven, we'll find him, just calm down, okay? You're gonna make yourself pass out."
Raven fought to control her emotions, willed her racing heart to slow. "I'm okay, but we have to find him."
"We will." Beastboy pulled his communicator off his belt, "Robin, are you guys back yet?"
"Yeah." Robin's voice sounded tinny coming from the communicator, "Why, what's up?"
"We're gonna search the tower. Look for any of the hive students."
"Anybody in particular?"
Beastboy glanced at Raven before answering, "Mammoth."
"Are you sure, last I heard..."
"I know, just check for him."
"Right. We'll start at the bottom, you start at the top."
Beastboy snapped his communicator closed and clipped it onto his belt before turning to Raven. Do you want to wait in your room?"
"No, I don't want to be alone." They walked to the end of the hall before Raven spoke again, "Beastboy, where is Mammoth?"
Beastboy stopped to lean against a wall. "He's in a hospital still."
"What happened to him?"
"I... I almost beat him to death."
"He couldn't be here could he?"
"No, last I heard he couldn't stand up straight yet."
Raven leaned against that wall, dropping her head back against it, "Am I going crazy?"
"What do you mean?"
"I heard his voice, I felt him touch me. Even after what you told me, I still want to go hide under my bed. I hate this."
Beastboy sighed as he put an arm around her, "You're not crazy. It was probably a flash back."
"A flashback?"
"Yeah, you have a memory so vivid it's like you're there. Sometimes it just screws up your perceptions so my hand felt like Mammoth."
"I know he's not here, but I still need to know." Raven shook her head and leaned it against the cool metal wall, "I'm not even making sense any more."
"Sure you are, you're just under a lot of stress." Beastboy carefully put an arm around Raven and pulled her close. "We'll finish the search, and then you can sleep peacefully."

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The titans were gathered in the brightly lit common room. "Guys, I'm really sorry about this." Raven said, "I shouldn't have made you..."
"No." Robin interrupted her, "I'd much rather search the tower and find nothing than not search the tower when we should have."
"I know." Raven pulled herself back further into her seat and pulled her knees into her chest, "But I still feel horrible for it. I'll make it up to you guys."
"It is alright, friend, it is not necessary for you to do the making up."
"Maybe not, but I'll take you all out to eat tomorrow." Before anyone could reply Raven stood and stretched. "I'm going to bed, see you all in the morning."
After Raven left all eyes turned to Beastboy, "Hey, man, what happened?" Cyborg asked.
Beastboy shook his head, "I don't know. I found her standing in the hall breathing hard. I laid a hand on her arm and pow."
Robin stood and walked over to Beastboy, "That's quite a shiner she gave you. Want some ice?"
"Sure."
While Robin was getting an ice pack out of the freezer Jynx spoke, "You don't think this happened because I'm here, do you? If being here is a problem..."
"No." Beastboy answered her, "I think it was leaving her here alone. Even if you don't have issues, being alone in this huge building can be kind of weird. She got breathing hard and gave herself a panic attack, and that triggered a flashback." Beastboy took an offered ice pack from Robin and gently pressed it onto his swollen eye. "I'm worried about her."
"I know, we all are."
"I know it's just..." Beastboy shook his head, not knowing how to continue. "I don't know. The therapist'll give us a better idea of how she's doing, I guess that's all we can do."

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Raven sat bolt upright in bed, stifling the scream that threatened to make itself heard. She leaned forward, holding her head in her hands trying to erase the feeling of Mammoth's hands from her mind, trying to hold back her tears. This night was like every other night since that attack, vivid nightmares of Mammoth. At least this time she didn't scream, didn't wake anyone.
Raven looked up when she heard a knock at her door. "Come in." She managed to keep her voice firm, and to make herself sound irritated.
The door slid open revealing Beastboy. He walked into the room with a nervous grin, "Did I wake you up?"
Raven sighed, "No, I just woke up myself, actually. Is there something you need?"
"No, I just though, well, I felt that, I mean I sensed that you were upset or something." he finally managed to stammer out.
"Sensed? You're not an empath, I would have sensed it."
"No, it comes from my animal instincts or whatever. I just know what you..." he stopped himself, "what people are feeling sometimes."
Raven caught his slip, but chose not to mention it. "I just had a bad dream, that's all."
When she did not elaborate, Beastboy pushed her, "Do you want to talk about it?" He settled into a chair near her bed.
"Not really." She sat in silence for a moment, studying his green skin and pointed ears, "So you can really sense emotion?"
"Sometimes. It's usually easiest when I'm just falling asleep or waking up, not so much of my human mind is awake to mess up my instincts."
"And you couldn't sleep?"
Beastboy thought back to the nightmare that had woken him only a few moments before Raven, blood covering his clawed hands, his long fangs. "Nope. Sometimes I just don't sleep well."
"I can probably do something that would help that, you know."
Beastboy waved his hand dismissively, "You don't have to worry about it, it's not really a problem."
A sudden thought struck Raven, "How do you know so much about flashbacks and stuff." Immediately her empathic abilities, which had been picking up nothing flared into life at strong emotions pouring off Beastboy, guilt, anger, hatred. Raven almost choked on the pain that she felt from him.
"It's not something that I like to talk about."
"That's okay." She managed to tamp down on her empathy, bringing it to a more comfortable level.
"You okay? You look a little pale."
"I'm fine. It's just that I felt a little of what you were feeling when I mentioned the flash backs."
"None of us in the tower have a happy past, and we don't really talk about them. Maybe I'll tell you another time."
"Alright." Raven climbed back under her covers, "I'm kind of tired, so..." she trailed off.
"Right, I'll let you get your rest." He stood and walked to the door, but paused. "Raven, I know the other guys still bother you, why don't I bother you so much?"
Raven shrugged. "You just don't."
"Sweet dreams, Raven."
"You too."
Beastboy walked out, letting the door slide silently shut behind him.

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Raven walked out of the hall and into the commons area. The other titans were already gathered around the table, with Beastboy and Cyborg already into their usual meat versus tofu fight. She walked into the kitchenette and found a pot of water already heating on the stove. She pulled a mug down, filled it with the steaming water and dropped a tea bag into it.
Raven picked up her mug and walked out of the kitchenette area, and stopped a few feet from the foot of the table. She pulled her legs out from under her and hovered in place as Robin finally broke up Beastboy and Cyborg. The titans returned to finishing their breakfasts quickly, before Robin declared that it was time to train. "Raven, did anyone tell you when your appointment was?" Robin asked her.
"Beastboy told me yesterday. He's driving me."
At this Cyborg's head shot up. "That means he'll be takin' the t-car."
Beastboy looked up from his plate of food with a nervous look as Cyborg stood. "Yeah, do you mind?"
Cyborg walked around the table and stood behind Beastboy's shaking form. "Oh no, of course not." Beastboy jumped when two metal hands clamped down on his shoulders. "We just need to cover a few basic rules when driving it." He lifted Beastboy easily out of his chair. "I'll be a little late to practice, Rob."
Robin nodded. "Just don't hurt him too badly."
Cyborg nodded, a glint in his eye, "Don't you worry about that." He walked out of the room, heading for the garage, still carrying Beastboy at arms length.
After they left Robin spoke again, "Jynx, did you find everything okay?"
"Yeah, no problems. Great place you have here."
Robin nodded. "Any redecorating you want to do or anything, we'll help out with, anything you want to buy for your room or anything, just let me know."
"Will do." She pushed away the remnants of her meal. "First thing I want to do, is paint the place."
"Oh yes, friend! I shall help you select the color of paint." she sprang up from the table. "Also, we must select drapes, a bedspread, sheets, furniture..." as she spoke she sped up until the others had trouble making out what she was saying. She walked out of the room, still speaking, not noticing her friend's stairs, or that she walked out alone.
After she was gone, all eyes turned to the mug sitting at her plate. "You really gotta switch her to decaf, Robin." Jynx said.
"That was decaf." Robin reached over and picked up the mug. He tilted it to one side and saw congealed sugar coating the bottom. "I forgot to hide the sugar bowl."
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