Traitors and Teachers

Chapter 3

Cyborg looked up from his work, seeing Raven standing in the doorway to his car shop. He turned off the radio before he spoke.

"Hey Raven, what are you doing here? Weren't you meditating?" Cyborg had noticed for the past couple weeks she had been meditating as much as possible, yet her grey skin was turning pale and there were dark circles forming under her eyes. She looked worn down, mentally, but she had not explained to any of them what was wrong. And she had no intention of mentioning it, they wouldn't understand her loss of control over her emotions and the related dangers, nor did she trust them enough to mention what had happened between her and Slade, they would most likely tell her to go to Robin, or tell him themself.

"It's not helping," she admitted. Trying to use meditation and rigorous mental training to gain better control, she in fact felt herself lose control bit by bit. Meditation was no longer helping, she was afraid to sleep, and she had resigned herself to never ending research or staring blankly at her wall. Cyborg looked at her for a moment, seeing the physical toll it had on her. He knew something was wrong, Robin and Starfire were also concerned. It wasn't until someone mentioned it to Beast Boy that he noticed.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, guessing she wouldn't tell him what was wrong directly. She stepped into the room and closed the door before she leaned against a workbench. Perhaps the 'talking about it' approach could help, but she couldn't be too detailed without getting into things she didn't want to explain. Or couldn't explain.

"Bad dreams, I keep losing control of my powers when I have bad dreams," she left it unsaid that she had been having bad dreams every night, but she could not even remember the dreams. Upon waking up she would be able to remember fragments, but her first priority was always reigning back in her abilities before they did any damage. By the time she was back in relative control she would have forgotten the dream. The only thing remaining was an acute feeling of dread and illness that could linger for hours. Cyborg nodded once, setting down his tools and setting down two stools. He motioned to one as he sat, and the empath took it.

"Any idea why you are having bad dreams?" she shook her head. She had notions, suspicions, but nothing she could explain to him. Cyborg wouldn't understand the complexities of empaths and telepaths or some other entity in her making her lose control.

"So what did you come down here for?" her eyes closed before opening on Cyborg, looking at him. She wasn't sure, it's not like here she would find the solution to her problems in the engine of the T-car. But she needed something to do.

"I need a distraction. Can I help with anything, Cyborg?" she asked, and after a nod and a couple minutes she was helping Cyborg clean the inner workings of the car. They worked in content silence, only speaking to give directions, but for the most part enjoyed the other's company as they slowly made progress. When Raven and Cyborg each had a good layer of grease and oil on them, perhaps an hour or so later, Raven spoke as she handed him a clean piece of metal.

"Slade wants me to be his apprentice," Cyborg nearly dropped the piece she handed to him, and he couldn't stop his jaw from dropping and a shocked: "What!?"

"A month ago or so, remember when we were in Slade's lair, and I found him but he got away? He told me he was considering getting a new apprentice..." Raven put her hand on her forehead as if she had a head ache just thinking about it. He would realize this conversation was not to leave the room, right? Cyborg wasn't stupid or thick like Beast Boy could be, and Starfire may not be able to keep a secret from Robin. Cyborg had gone silent, shocked, and after numbly attaching the piece in his hand he straightened up to look at her properly.

"Have you told Robin?" Raven shook her head, she was sure Cyborg understood why she hadn't. Robin would go berserk, he had his own personal vendetta against Slade that was never settled.