Mind Games

Hiya peeps! Wowzerz…'tis is my fourth ficcy already!!! See, what I'm trying to do is get at least one ficcy, one-shot or not, out every month, just because that's the way I am. :P.

This one in particular, I know I'm gonna enjoy writing. Originally, anyone who read my profile would know that this was supposed to be the one-shot "A Wish Granted", BUT because of newly found inspiration, I'm giving this story a very different twist. I call it: my first psychological thriller. ::claps hands ecstatically:: .

But before the ficcy begins, I've got a few peeps to thank and dedicate this to. ::ahem::

While I was writing "A Wish Granted" (now made into this chapter fic), a few things happened in my life that were inspirational.

For example, it is because of the movie I, Robot that I came up with this last minute – I'll admit, the plot came to mind today – idea for this whole psychological thriller scheme. And a scene in Spiderman 2 inspired me to write a similar scene in this chapter (brownie points for those who can identify it!)

More over, The Sage of Story's ficcy "Bring Me to Life" and both of WitchGirl's TT fics were both so outrageously thought-provoking that they were both reasons why I was inspired to write this fan fiction. I encourage any avid reader to check out their stories.

Troubled-ego also had a hand in this…I don't know why or how…but she does. I know it seems crazy n' all, but it was something about her abso-friggin'-lutely hilarious ficcy SCHOOL WOES! that also inspired me, though I can't pinpoint what or why…. Maybe it's because we're from the same state…hmmm…. :S

Otayz, so to the dedication…

I dedicate this ficcy to EVERYONE who's reviewed my other three ficcies and have been an inspiration to me. It's because of people like you who take the time to critique me that I take the time to write in the first place. My passion for writing would be lost without you.

I'd also like to thank everyone whose stories I've read. Reading jogs the mind, and I'm proud to say that I've learned loads from you all, so thanks so much for writing, and in writing, inspiring me and teaching me along the way!

Everyone who has me or a story of mine on their favies list, I know that you know that I know that you know (lolz! had to do that :P) how hard I work to entertain you guys that much, and you're all an inspiration for me, too! So I most definitely dedicate this to you!

I'd like to end saying that this fic is specifically dedicated to The Sage of Story and WitchGirl, who are experts in the field of "deep stuff". I would dedicate this to BBcommedygirl and troubled-ego, but I know how much they appreciate the "funny stuff" and would rather make people laugh more than cry. In saying that, I solemnly swear that my next humor fic will be dedicated to you two fuh sho! I do have to give you two kudos, though, because while I was writing Alcoholics Anonymous…, I was totally thinking of you two .

And now, I present you with…the disclaimer…

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Teen Titans. I DO own the plot and all that other snazzy stuff that people have never heard of because it derived from my mind. For example, I may not own the Titans' Tower, but I at least had the decency to come up with a local hospital (and name it after the city, btw) which I now dub MINE (not the city…the hospital :P) seeing as it came from MY HEAD and not the TT writers…. So in the immortal words of Cyborg: "BOOYAH!!!"…and in the immortal words of some mortal who said this and I conveniently forgot who for this very occasion: "Stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it!"

And I don't own Spiderman, even though I wish I at least had a scrap of his super snazzy suit. I don't own I, Robot either…even though the movie has nothing to do with this…ugh. Whatever…on to the story!

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Chapter 1 – Room 378

Raven was sprawled on her bed, looking up at the vast white of her ceiling, thinking.

Bryan, Bryan, Bryan… she mused with a sigh, resounding the name of her requester in her head. Who are you and why would you want to see me?

She propped herself up on her elbows and reached over to her nightstand to retrieve the letter she had read about five times already.

Upon reading it again, it was still unclear to Raven as to why anyone would want to see her. She scanned the lines that popped out to her the most – the lines that have become her favorite to read over and over again:

Bryan is a patient of the Jump City Hospital who is undergoing treatment for cancer. Upon his check up, doctors have confirmed that he won't be leaving the hospital anytime soon. It is their hypothesis that he has an estimated two weeks to live.
According to the profile Bryan filled out for us, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, his greatest wish is to meet you.

Every time Raven read that, her heart skipped a beat, and it did so again now.

She placed the letter back onto her nightstand, and thought about the conversation that took place after she read her mail to all of the Titans.

"You should do it, Raven. It's not everyday someone's last wish is to see a Teen Titan – or any superhero for that matter." Robin's words echoed in her head repeatedly.

It was true. This was the first piece of mail that Raven had ever gotten requesting her presence for an individual. The daily invitations to charity events, and the like, that the Titans were always receiving couldn't compare to the honorable feeling a letter like this gave someone.

"Yeah, Rae," Cyborg chimed in. "Why let the kid down? I mean, yeah, he's going to a better place –"

" – but he'd probably feel better off going there if he knew he had met you," Beast Boy finished.

"It is a wonderful opportunity you have received, Raven! Think of the joyous rapture you will feel to have made a fellow being happy before his time on this planet is complete," Starfire said.

And yet, Raven didn't "do" happy. There was no backing out on such an invitation, though, especially when the psychic realized that her friends had already made the decision for her.

She had made the call previously that afternoon to the Make-a-Wish Foundation to inform them of her decision on their letter.

Of course she would go.

---

"Hi," Raven said, putting her hood up, when she stopped at the front desk of the Jump City Hospital. "I'm looking for a Bryan. Bryan Spencer?"

The nurse at the desk looked at her curiously for a moment, whilst chewing a wad of gum. Raven looked at her tag – Hi, my name is Harriet.

Harriet held a strange resemblance to 'Mimi' from The Drew Carey Show, Raven realized. She only knew because she had seen Beast Boy channel surf to that show on a few occasions. In fact, if Harriet hadn't caked on so much make-up, the Goth was sure she would have looked a lot prettier.

The nurse took out a file with the name "Bryan Spencer" written in sloppy handwriting on the top. She flipped a few pages, and took out a copy of the letter Raven had received from the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

"You're Raven, right? From the Teen Titans?" she asked.

Raven lifted up an eyebrow. Was this lady serious? The dark girl outstretched her hands and looked at her uniform – blue, and the same as always. She looked back at the nurse who was still wearing the same questioning expression as before.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I am," Raven replied, sarcasm creeping into her voice.

Harriet smiled and waved off the comment, as though Raven had complimented her nail job or something.

"Don't get me wrong, it's just that so many people like to dress up like you and your friends nowadays," Harriet explained in her heavy New York accent, giggling at intervals. "It's so cute…. So there was a little girl in here the other day, about 5-years-old, and she was wearing…" the nurse trailed off at Raven's expression.

The introvert was lightly tapping her foot, arms crossed.

"Right," Harriet said, shaking her head and looking back down to the file. "It's…uh…Room 378. Up three floors, all the way down to your left."

"Appreciate it, Harriet," Raven said, nodding to the nurse and making her way to the elevator.

Within three seconds, the elevator doors opened, allowing Raven to go in. Being that she was the only one boarding, the doors closed right away.

It took about three minutes just for the elevator to escalate and open up its doors to the second floor. The Goth made a mental note to just levitate herself to the upper floors the next time she needed to come here – she would have been past greeting Bryan by now.

A doctor strode his way into the elevator, glanced at Raven (who acknowledged his presence with a slight nod), and pressed the fifth floor button; the contraption now slowly made it's way to the third floor.

"I like your costume," the doctor said, after a while.

"…Thanks," Raven returned.

Silence.

"…So, they having some 'Teen Titan Fan Club' meeting upstairs I don't know about?" he inquired after another moment.

Raven looked at him oddly, and then shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

"Wouldn't you?" the doctor smirked.

She looked at him again with a blank expression, and decided to say nothing on the subject.

"…So, who's it you're supposed to be? Raven, right?"

The elevator halted at Raven's destination. And just in time, too, she thought.

"I am Raven," she confirmed.

The doctor laughed again. "Right. Of course you are."

Raven had enough. A tick was starting to form in her temple, and since the doors hadn't opened yet, the dark girl decided to take the initiative and step out on her own terms.

Her eyes glowing white, she lifted a hand, and sent a whirl of black energy revolving around the closed elevator doors. She exited through the telepathic portal she created in a graceful manner, leaving a dazed and stunned doctor staring after her.

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Room 378

BRYAN SPENCER

Raven looked at the door timidly. She wasn't sure what to expect – what would Bryan be like? What would he look like? What was she to do? Say?

"Excuse me, Raven?" a voice said, piercing through the wall of questions that formed in her mind.

She almost jumped at being addressed, but, instead, turned around calmly to look at the person who called on her.

A man – about Cyborg's height, Raven noticed – with sandy hair, and eyes to match, was smiling at her. His long white T-shirt and blue jeans made him look somewhat unprofessional, and a bit younger than he probably was, but by the nametag, Raven could tell that he was a representative of the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

"Um…hi," he said, extending a hand, "I'm Carl Sandberg. I –"

"- you wrote the letter sent to me," Raven finished, remembering his signature at the bottom of the official invite.

"…Precisely. I'm glad you remembered," he chuckled lightly.

A slight pause.

"Um. Exactly…what am I supposed to do here?" Raven asked, after shaking Mr. Sandberg's hand.

He studied her slightly before answering. "Raven, have you ever been near a cancer patient?" he said slowly, becoming more serious.

Raven shook her head naively.

"Well, allow me to explain Bryan's situation. Come, sit down for a moment," he offered, acknowledging a hospital bench a few feet away.

Raven took a seat, and looked attentively at the representative. When they were both situated, Carl continued.

"Bryan," he explained, "has cancer in the brain. He's numbering his last few days. Doctors give it a couple of weeks; he's expecting it any time now. So, when you go in there and see him, don't be alarmed if he looks somewhat…um…"

"Dead?" Raven offered, trying to finish the sentence. "Weak? Ugly, perhaps?"

"I was going more for 'pale'," Carl replied.

"Oh…. Yeah, that…works…well," Raven stammered, feeling bad for offering more offensive adjectives.

Carl chuckled heartily at Raven's reaction. "That's okay. Uh…he's undergoing chemotherapy, so don't seem surprised to see that, well, he's bald, first of all. He's also got a few tubes here and there on him."

"What do I do in there? I mean, I don't know what to say. I've never done anything like this before," Raven confessed.

"Just…be yourself," Carl advised, patting Raven's back (much to her dislike). "After all, that's who he wanted to see in the first place, right?"

Raven shrugged in response, nonchalantly. The advice, to be honest, didn't do her any good at all, but she waved off the conversation, and stood up. Carl did the same.

"I dunno if he's sleeping right now or what not," Carl admitted, "but, uh, if he is, it's best you just sit there for a while, if that's okay with you."

Raven nodded.

"Alright. So, go in when you're ready. Uh, we usually give this type of thing an hour or so, so I'll check up on you in about thirty minutes, sound good?"

"Sounds good," Raven confirmed, staring at the door. She looked back at Carl, who merely gave her a thumbs up, and then looked back towards the silvery ball that was the doorknob.

She twisted it slowly, so as not to wake Bryan in case he was sleeping, and pushed the door in gently.

Upon first sight of the room, Raven felt different than when she was standing out in the hallway. The room had a different vibe – a familiar one.

It felt as though she was in the comfort of her own room. She felt at peace within the confines of the boundless white walls – meditative of spirit. This aura, this calmness…. It was all too familiar to seem like a hospital room.

And then she saw him.

Bryan.

At this moment, he was sleeping. To look at him made Raven feel strange – she longed to do something… to make him happy.

Even though she didn't 'do' happy.

She inhaled his features again. His complexion was flawless – smooth, peach, clear. His head had a godly shine under the fluorescent lights; his hands looked so gentle. He looked so gentle.

And innocent.

Here was a kid who did nothing in his life to deserve disease, and yet lied down in front of the Gothic Wonder, punctured with clear tubes that trailed up to an IV bag a few inches away from his bed. His chest was speckled with suction cups that led to a steadily beeping heart monitor. And when one looked past the sickness that possessed the boy, and refocused on his angelic features like Raven did, he was so tempting to talk to – to touch.

Raven wouldn't do so, though. She would wait to come into any sort of contact with him; she would wait until he was awake and ready to meet her acquaintance.

The dark girl's eyes scanned the room and spotted a nearby chair that she brazenly took a seat in. She sighed, now really unsure of what she should do to pass the time. She looked to Bryan once more. He was sound asleep.

I should've brought a book, Raven thought, as she wrung her fingers.

It took about 20 minutes of enduring thorough silence and boredom until she finally managed to shut her eyes in a comfortable position on the chair.

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Well, I'm gonna end this like I always do: Pwease R & R! Oh, and remember, brownie points to whoever can guess the Spiderman 2 scene I've made an allusion to!