Traitors and Teachers

Chapter 16

Once more Raven was restricted to a hospital bed, in a healing trance for an unknown amount of time. She was spending more time in the Titan's hospital ward than her own room it seemed. Her teammates were sleeping at the moment, it was the night after her run in with Doctor Light, and her friends had finally decided to get some rest. But she was not alone in the room, a man sat on the windowsill, watching her from his perch and humming to himself. He had been there for a while, since all the Teen Titans had retired to their beds and surrendered to sleep. He had no such luxury, he had been unable to rest since she was injured, beset with worry. But there was nothing more he could do for her except watch over her, gently brushing her mind and keeping her trance free from negative emotions. His proximity seemed to rouse her, and her floating body gently touched the bed. He said nothing, watching her silently for several minutes, as she appeared to be sleeping.

Her eyes opened and she sat up, head facing straight ahead as she realized her vision had not yet been restored. But she did not need to use her eyes to know there was another in the room, and that it was not one of her teammates. He put his mental defenses back up when she reached for his mind, and she tilted her head toward him.

"Who is there?" she asked, voice quiet but easily heard in the stillness. From the moonlight coming in through the window he could see her eyebrows furrow as she recognized the mental defenses and she stiffened. He remained silent, not sure if he should depart or stay, he had not intended to be discovered. But she seemed confused and not quite believing who was in the room with her, so he spoke.

"Feeling better?" he asked, his deep voice causing her to turn her face toward him more. She nodded slowly, confusion obvious on her face.

"Slade... what are you doing here?" she said his name as if she still wasn't sure this was real. Perhaps she thought she was dreaming.

"I came to watch over you, make sure you were alright," he said in the same soft and deep voice he had begun with, almost afraid to be overheard by the others. Raven's expression grew thoughtful, and she directed her face forward again, causing her hair to obscure her face from his view.

"I will be, thanks to you. Guess it was a good thing I healed you after the cliff," she didn't need to explain what she meant, and he nodded even though she could not see.

"You don't need to thank me," he said, and they went quiet for a time. Neither was sure what to say, what sort of conversation do you have when your arch nemesis is visiting you in a hospital bed? After a few moments of silence Raven drew her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. Slade wondered at this insecure motion, wondering what she was thinking about.

"But I do," he could barely hear her, her words were little more than a breath. His eyebrows knit together as now he was the one to be confused, until he realized what she was talking about. He saw her shudder, but he was not sure if it was cold or fear.

"It was a life worth saving," he replied, quiet, but she shook her head.

"Doctor Light wasn't going to kill me," she voice was a bit louder now, but now there was a distinct trembling in it, the entire subject clearly bothered her. It was causing him to grow agitated at what she meant and what had happened.

"What... do you mean?" he asked hesitantly after a moment, afraid of the answer.

"I... I looked into his mind. I saw what he wanted to do," she had to stop and gulped, and Slade had a feeling she was about to have a break down. Not wanting her to burst into tears he stood, not sure if he should approach her or not. How could he comfort her, given who he was?

"He wanted to- was going to- he-" her shaking had increased as she tried to finish what she had to say.

"You don't have to explain," he said quickly, seeing how it had upset her and taking another step forward. She bit her lip and rested her head on her knees, breathing hard as she tried to calm down. He stepped forward, almost at her bed when she went quiet, even her breathing went soft for a moment.