𝑆𝑂𝑀𝑁𝑂𝐿𝐸𝑁𝐶𝐸 (𝐵𝐵𝑅𝐴𝐸)

(1) 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛 (𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦)

"I am your creator, your master, you exist only to serve me." His deep voice greets the lonely girl in the middle of the city. Her cloak billows in the cold, bitter wind, and her violet hair laps against her face.

Her determined amethyst eyes glance up at untold evil, wide and her eyeball trembling.

His serpentine gaze bores into her, his gaint, crimson figure towering over his daughter.

Raven tries to summon her powers, and nothing seems to work. She stands her ground, as her father glares at her with displeasure.

"You live only because I allow it, what hope can a mere child have of defeating her all powerful father?!" He bellows, as the earth tremors with his might.

Raven looks around, the scene making it past her cognition. She tries to respond, but again, she remains tongue tied. Trigon laughs, his devilish voice ringing in Raven's ears.

Her breathing hitches, and she feels the familiar sensation of falling through an endless void. It is a nightmare, nothing more.

She wakes, partly. Her eyes remain closed, her heart readily thumping against her ribcage, her lungs operating as if she had run a marathon. She reminds herself it was only a nightmare.

Raven decides to open her eyes.

Panic sets in as she makes an effort to attain locomotion in her arms to try and pry her eyes open. She feels the urge to scream as her attempts remain futile.

"Friend Raven," she feels soft fingertips on her shoulder. The sensation of being touched is enough for her to regain her senses. Her eyes dart open, and she gasps softly, flexing her fingers for good measure.

"Forgive me for trespassing, but I could not help but notice you are late to the morning ritual of breakfast." Starfire floats by her bedside. Raven notices dim sunlight diffusing through her thick, purple curtains.

"I must have overslept. What time is it?" Raven asks. She rarely ever wakes late, but when her friend says it's three in the afternoon, she can't help but wonder if her period of no movement was as long as it felt.

Raven finds herself grateful to the universe for not sending any missions her way on a day she is confused.

She spends her time pretending to be engrossed in her book, though her attention remains solely on the events of morning.

She does not know how to interpret the situation, and let's the book sit without a page turned on her lap, as she stares at the meaningless words, pondering over the episode.

Night creeps up, and Raven finally is jolted back to reality when Beastboy chucks his controller into the T.V screen upon losing a game. His curses fade into the background, as lethargy sets itself firmly throughout her body, just as Raven decides to call it a night.

She sits on her bed, her palms pressed softly against the same covers she was laying on when her body imprisoned her earlier.

She does not notice just how long she keeps awake, thinking of what exactly happened to her in the morning, or if it was just a fragment of her subconscious mind that had imagined the situation.

She desperately hopes it was the latter.

She does not stop to properly consider sleep paralysis, although it did run its course through her brain along with a multitude of other theories ranging from being poisoned to a dark spell, but alas, occurrences like sleep paralysis are semi-fictional to her.

She has seen such movies, where a character would experience immobility, but more often than not, there was a demonic presence involved in the scenario. However, Raven is certain that there was no other demon in Titan's Tower but herself.

Sleep burdens her, and as Raven finally rests her heavy head against the pillows, she notices the inky sky turning blue.

A crime alert shakes her awake.

As awake as she can be, Raven is hit with the exact feeling of the day before, but this time, it seems more intense. She feels a tug in her stomach, as if she's being suspended from a height and bounced from a string like a yo-yo.

It lasts less time, no nightmare accompanies it. It becomes easier for Raven to dismiss. This specific episode felt almost non-existent when she finds herself again, as the alarm continues to ring.

The sun seems to be up, and shining, Raven has clearly slept long enough, yet her eyes prick, and seem red when she glances at her communicator.

Raven's eyes once more burn, the side of her eyes red. She runs a hand through her hair.

"Ray?" She hears Beastboy.

"Come in." She says, unable to understand why her voice trembles.

"Raven?" He asks with concern. Raven has her back turned to him, and she can feel his grassy eyes on her and his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"Yeah?"

"Your alarm is still on."

Raven shuts it instantly. "Thought it was a crime alert. What's up?"

Beastboy wrings his hands. "You overslept two days in a row. And from all the years I've spent living in this Tower, you aren't a late riser."

"Get to the point." Raven deadpans.

Beastboy casts her a nervous glance. "I'm worried about you, Raven."

Her stomach squirms for a split second, and she desperately tries to contain the heat beginning to gather in her cheeks. Raven instead, rises from her bed non chalantly, and begins to tie her hair.

"I don't know what there is to be worried about." Raven shrugs, keeping her gaze leveled with the changeling's.

Beastboy nods, then uneasily shifts in his spot. "Hey, Raven?"

"What is it now?" She asks.

"We're friends, right?"

"I don't know, Garfield. We've been living under the same roof for years, fighting crime together for most of that time, what would you say?" She replies, giving it her best effort, but to her astonishment, her sarcasm still sounds half-hearted.

Beastboy's shoulders slackened. "Yeah, right. But, if something was going on, you'd tell me. Right?" He asks after a pause.

Raven's eyes brim with tears, her hands cold. She nods.