Superior Vena Cava

Raven fell to the ground, weak from the rage that had just racked her body. Her chest was damp with sweat and pressed to the gritty cement under her. She craned her neck to look up towards Beast Boy, who was crumpled in a pile next to a giant boulder. She struggled to push herself up to her hands and knees, half dragging herself over to Beast Boy. She slowly got closer and saw a small pool of blood under his back. Just as she reached him, she felt the presence of her teammates, Robing and Cyborg, running up behind her. (Starfire stayed back to prepare the medical wing). Raven reached out her hand to touch the back of Beast Boys head, stretching her fingers until Cyborg scooped her up from the ground before her index finger made contact with an emerald lock of hair. Panic set in, but Raven was too tired to control it.


"Nooooo!" She flailed, trying to fight Cyborg's steel grip but he held on tightly. It hadn't occurred to Raven that her powers weren't spiraling everything out of control but, internally, Cyborg was equally terrified and relieved. The others had surrounded Beast Boy's body so that every time Raven fought for a glimpse from around Cyborg's chest, her attempts failed her. Cyborg sat Raven in the back seat of the T-Car as he silently started to address the scrapes on Raven's knees. Raven felt his eyes looking over all of the blood on her leotard and cape.


"It's not mine." She whispered with a haunting voice that gave Cyborg chills. He instantly knew  it wasn't just Beast Boy's either. Raven pulled her hood up, avoiding eye contact with Cyborg as she watched over his shoulder as Robin scooped up Beast Boy's limp body. Raven felt herself zone out in thought as she silently watched Robin race back Beast Boy to the car and lay him across the back seat and onto Raven's lap. Raven pulled his limp body tight into her chest, hiding her face from the others under her hood. As Robin and Cyborg got into the car, Raven pulled her cloak around Beast Boy to keep him warm. Her grip was tight and the car ride was long, not due to time, but due to the nerves hanging in the air.


Raven stumbled out of the car, powerless as Cyborg scooped up Beast Boy from her and ran to the medical wing. She stood there, numb, zoning out in the garage with her cloak covering her face. She felt the warm glove of Robin's hand, gently placed on her shoulder as she closed her eyes. 


"Let's go." Robin whispered softly as he braced his shoulder under her arm for support and walked her up to her room. Robin refused to let Raven in to the medical wing until they were sure Beast Boy was stable due to the fear of Raven's powers spontaneously coming back. Starfire  watched over Raven, who lie quietly in bed with her back turned to Starfire as she stroked the back of her head. it was the kind of awkward affection that Raven rarely let Starfire show, but in this moment, she craved her warm, alien, hands going through her purple locks and nails grazing the surface of her scalp. She closed her eyes as her fatigued weighed her down. She drifted off to sleep next to Starfire. 




Meanwhile, Cyborg was doing the best he could to surgically remove all of the stony shrapnel from Beast Boy's chest. His eyes picked up the edge of a pastel green scar that almost had a slight lavender tint in the  edges of the lumpy scar tissue. He looked closer, scanning the long scar along his collarbone with curiosity. He didn't remember him hurting himself recently. The scar was fresh, and the purple tint almost looked as if Raven had healed it. Cyborg made a mental note to ask Raven about this later. His thoughts went back to pulling shards of rock. There was one piece that took all of his concentration to remove. Cyborg had to cut two ribs just to get to the piece of stone but what he saw shook him to the core. The rock was embedded right next to the superior vena cava which is a major vein that carries deoxygenated blood to the heart. One more inch or one false move and Beast Boy would've been dead instantly. Slowly, he pulled the stone out and stitched him back up. He couldn't believe the damage Terra had done. "It was almost as if Beast Boy didn't fight back." The thought stung his chest as Cyborg realized exactly what happened. 




Raven woke up to her face against Starfire's stomach and her arms wrapped around her like a vice. She glanced up to see Starfire was out cold and drooling lightly on Raven's pillow. She internally chuckled as the grogginess wore off and she remembered everything that happened. A sharp pain in her chest appeared when she realized that it was late and no one had come in to update them on Beast Boy.




Cyborg was fighting fatigue but kept working away. It was times like these that he was glad he was part robot because he could work through stress and exhaustion without his hand's accuracy being compromised. He glanced up at the clock and saw 12:31am before pulling out the last shard of stone. He finished stitching Beast Boy up, carefully and methodically, tying the knots of the stitches. Hearing his low battery beep, he sunk into the chair off to the side as Robin, in scrubs, wheeled Beast Boy out with and into his recovery room. 


After cleaning himself up, he trudged out to Raven's room. He knocked on the door as he stepped in to see both Starfire and Raven curled up together. This was an unusual sight for Cyborg to see but he was glad Starfire was keeping her company. Raven's groggy eyes peeked up as she sat up in bed. The motion woke Starfire as well.


"Yo, go back to sleep. I just wanted to tell you that I removed all of the shrapnel and he's holding up. BB had one piece that was removed dangerously close to his heart that we are keeping a close eye on but everything else should heal just fine. You can probably see and heal BB tomorrow but he won't be awake for a while." Cyborg whispered gently as Raven nodded, taking in every word. Cyborg turned to leave and heard a hoarse "Thank you," whispered from Raven. He let out a tired grin and stumbled off to bed.

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