4. Sunlight

An unknown amount of time had passed. In the light of one small flickering fire, Rage was sitting on the cave floor, holding Beast Boy in her lap. His clothing was torn, but his body appeared whole again.

Rage looked haggard, her hair matted and dirty. She was rocking back and forth and mumbling the same thing over and over again, as a mentally ill person might.

"…Kill you all. Make you suffer…Kill you all. Make you suffer…"

Evidently, she didn't have a large vocabulary. But her words didn't match her actions. What she was doing was holding Beast Boy's head in her lap, absent mindedly stroking his hair.

He opened his eyes.

"I didn't kill you," she said.

Alarmed at where he was, he quickly scooted back from her and sat up. She didn't make any threatening moves. In fact, she barely moved at all. Something was wrong with her?

"Um…Thank you," was his cautious reply.

"I wanted to, but I…" she paused to gather her breath. "I couldn't."

Beast Boy studied her in the flickering fire light. She seemed very weak, and not in good health. Her breathing was loud, as if she was having trouble getting enough air. Her two sets of eyes still glowed red, but the facial expression was somehow softer, as if she was missing her earlier anger.

He glanced around at the charred and blackened cave. "I like what you've done with the place. Made it more like home?"

She only grunted.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm thirsty," she said after a long pause.

Beast Boy saw that the pool had mostly refilled by now, and the water was clear again, the sediment having settled to the bottom. He looked around for something to carry water with. To the side of her was the lantern that he had brought in with them.

He got up and walked over to it. It had been smashed during the battle, but he found a piece of metal that he could bend into something like a cup. After doing so, he scooped up some of the water and brought it to her.

Kneeling beside her, he put the cup to her lips and she drank it all. He filled the cup again and brought it to her.

"I don't have any power left," she said, coughing. "I'm not going to make it."

"Don't say that," he said as she drank the water. "I'm not going to let that happen."

Tearing off a piece of his already torn shirt, Beast Boy soaked up some water from the pool and gently rubbed her forehead and cheeks, cooling her down and wiping off some of the grime.

He heard grinding and rumbling sounds in the rock above the cavern. Maybe the whole chamber was finally going to cave in.

"I only know how to destroy things," she said with a certain sadness in her voice.

"Maybe," he replied. "Or maybe there is more to you than that."

The rumbling was growing louder, and seemed to be coming from the opposite side of the cavern.

"Can I talk to Raven?" he asked her.

"Raven is so annoying," she grumbled.

"Tell me about it," he deadpanned. "But still, I'd like to talk to her."

"What if I never see you again?"

"You'll see me again, but as part of Raven. You're so tired. Rest now, and let Raven come back."

"Did you mean what you said earlier…about how you felt about me?"

He clasped one of her hands in his.

"Yes."

"When I'm strong again, I'll probably go back to hating you," she warned.

"We'll see," he said with a smile.

The two sets of red eyes closed, and the ones in her forehead faded away. In a few moments, Raven's real eyes opened, back to their normal color.

"What happened? Where am I?"

"It's OK. I'm right here. Do you remember anything?"

"No."

She stared at him, slowing becoming aware of the world around her. She was talking to Beast Boy. Beast Boy! For no reason, there was this overwhelming rush of happiness to see him. She had no idea why, just a vague feeling of a tragedy having narrowly been averted.

The rumbling sound had become very loud, and they could tell it was the sound of metal grinding against rock. The ceiling on the other side of the cavern was pierced, and a conical drilling machine broke through the ceiling in a shower of dust and rocks.

As it descended further, they could see electric lights coming out the windows of an operator's compartment. Inside was Cyborg!

Search lights beamed around the cavern until he spotted them. Then he cut off the motor and kicked the door open so he could jump out.

Beast Boy and Raven shielded their eyes from the sudden glare. Cyborg jumped the 20 feet or so to the ground, carrying a medical kit.

He was covered in dirt and his metal parts, especially his hands, were scratched up, as if he had been clawing his way through the rocks without tools at some points as he desperately searched for his friends.

"I found them! They're alive!" he shouted into his communicator, and then ran over.

"Beast Boy! Are you OK? Raven?"

Beast Boy stood up as he approached. "We're OK. We're sure glad to see you!"

Raven smiled, but was too weak to stand. Cyborg knelt next to her and checked her condition with a medical scanner.

The drilling machine was lowered to the floor on a cable, exposing a vertical shaft. Soon Robin entered by sliding down the cable, followed by a flying Starfire.

Both were covered in grime from digging, and had their clothing torn, but both were grinning from ear to ear. They ran over to the group. Starfire immediately hugged Beast Boy and then knelt and hugged Raven.

"She needs to get to a hospital," Cyborg reported. "Her vital signs are very weak."

"She's going to make it, right?" Beast Boy said.

"She'll make it, but we've got to go now."

"Star," Robin said, "fly back up and lower the basket."

She did so immediately, disappearing up the shaft.

Robin and Cyborg helped Raven to stand.

"We found Slade," Beast Boy mentioned.

"We found him too," Cyborg added. "After you trashed his lab, we caught him in the wreckage."

"You caught Slade?"

"Had to let him go, though," Robin said.

"What?" Beast Boy almost shouted. "Why?"

"He made a deal with us. We let him go, and he gave us the approximate co-ordinates of where you two must be."

"That had to be a tough choice," Beast Boy said.

"Not really," Robin replied, patting his friend on the shoulder.

A cylindrical metal basket, big enough for two people to stand in, was lowered down the shaft. They all walked over to it, with Raven being assisted by Beast Boy and Cyborg. About half way, she stumbled and so Beast Boy picked her up to carry her, with some help from the others.

They were the first two into the basket, and Starfire operated the winch to hoist them up.

"So you really don't remember what happened?" Beast Boy asked, still carrying her as they were being hauled up the shaft.

"I don't remember anything."

"That figures," he muttered to himself.

He continued, "Well, we had quite a party down here together, you and me. Now we both have a hangover."

"Don't say silly things, Beast Boy. You know that only makes me angry"

"You're not so bad when you're angry. Maybe even a little cute."

Raven closed her eyes. What the hell was he talking about? But, unexpectedly, there was not the twinge of rage trying to form inside her, only the strange euphoria and relief about something…it was so odd.

Oh, who cares? she thought. She was so tired and not in the mood to try to figure anything out. She rested her head against Beast Boy's shoulder and fell asleep as they emerged into the sunlight.

.

Author's Note: I hope you liked the story. If so, I have another story in a similar vein 'Teen Titans Halloween Chiller 2014'