XANA's Virus :Chapter One:

CHAPTER ONE: Sickness and Delirium

The day began just like any other before it; the same old monotonous thing. The tofu/meat dispute between Cyborg and Beastboy… Starfire’s silly sounding, yet perfectly logical solution, and Robin simply trying to ignore the two so he could try to talk to Starfire.

The only thing that well out of the ordinary was that Raven had not yet come out of her room, and it was, as Robin noted, almost noon.

“Anybody seen Raven?”

Everybody shrugged just as the “whoosh-door” opened to admit a very tired looking Raven.

“… Morning…” she muttered absent-mindedly as she made her way to the table area, only to fall asleep again, snoring softly and fitfully.

“Raven?” said Beastboy, setting his tofu-stuff down to look at her.

“…Hmm?…” Raven mumbled, half-asleep.

“Are you okay?”

“…Exhausted… couldn’t sleep…” She suddenly sneezed, wiping her nose with a nearby napkin, voicing a groan of discontent. The titans took note that she seemed flushed, indicating she might have a fever.

“… I dink I bay hab a code… or subing like dat…” she said through a stuffy nose, giving up on trying to clear it, and tossing the napkin in the trash.

Cyborg scanned her to check her body temperature.

“101.2 degrees…” He said. “Defiantly something’s up.”

“…I dink I’ll go to by roob…” She said thickly. “If I’b sick… I prob’ly should be resting…”

Raven got up to leave, only to collapse back into the chair, hands to head.

“…Ugh… too dizzy…” she moaned.

“Raven? Do you want one of us to help you to your room?” Robin asked.

Raven nodded mutely, eyes closed. She hoped closing her eyes would help her vertigo to subside some, but it stayed the same.

She felt her arm get draped over someone's shoulder. She squinted and saw it was Beastboy. He had his right arm supporting her back as his left hand held on to her right. Raven blushed a bit, but thanks to her fever, it was barely noticeable. Beastboy helped her walk to her dimly lit room, and assisted her to her bed. Very grateful, Raven slumped back into the pillows with a very content sigh, where she immediately fell asleep.

: A COUPLE HOURS LATER:

Beastboy had been passing Raven’s room when he heard a faint whimpering from the other side of the door. Very. Frightened. Whimpers.

He pressed an ear to the door, frowning. Then, with a pneumatic hiss, the door was opened and he

entered the darkened room. Curled up on the bed, shaking with fear, was the source the whimpering; Raven. She was extremely pale, cold sweat had beaded up on her face, which harbored an expression of genuine fear.

“Raven?” Beastboy whispered, reaching out a hand, placing it on her shoulder, he shook her gently, taking note that she was now burning up from her fever. Almost at the exact moment his hand made contact with her, her eyes snapped open and she drew away from him with a startled gasp, her face twitching occasionally as seconds passed.

Beastboy snatched up a nearby thermometer (A/N: Don’t ask how he found a convenient one lying around… he just did…) and attempted to place it in her mouth, which is pretty hard to do when the person you're trying to do it to is delusional. Raven screamed out when he tried.

“ No! No no no no no NO!” She inched away from him. “ Stay away from me!”

Her eyes were wide and her pupils were shrunk to panicked points.

“Raven… You need to calm down…”

“Leave me alone!” She didn’t seem to hear him, and, not quite surprisingly, she scurried for the door. Beastboy sighed exhaustedly, rolling his eyes before going after her. Walking over to her, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward the bed, having to endure her trying to pull away, hitting him, and trying to gnaw at his hand so she could break free. When that didn’t work, she screamed.

“HELP! HELP!”

And of course… expected results happened: Robin darn near broke down the door, but stopped, a bit confused at the scene before him as the other two Titans joined him.

“Thank God, dudes…” He cried, seeing them as Raven pulled free and huddled into the corner. “She’s freakin’ delirious! I’ve been trying to check her temp… but she’s been freakin’ out!”

Cyborg did his scan thing.

“105.9...” he said seriously. “Not a good thing…”

Raven was shaking too much to stand up right, and dropped to her knees, arms wrapped tightly around herself, rocking gently as she whimpered quietly.

Robin walked slowly over to her, so she wouldn’t be startled be any fast movement, and kneeled to be level with her.

“… Raven…” he said softly and slowly, placing his hands on her shoulders. She squirmed, but he held her firmly. “… You need to calm down… it’s just us… you’re very sick right now… and you need to trust us…”

Raven whimpered again, brow furrowing slowly, as recognition took hold.

“… Robin?…” her voice was faint and weak. “…wha-?”

Suddenly, she brought a hand to her head as she trailed off. Then, with a soft moan, she fainted.

“Is she okay?” Beastboy whispered worriedly.

“Just fainted from exhaustion…” Cyborg replied quietly. “…Nothing too serious…”

Robin gently picked her up, and carried her to the bed, covering her with a blanket.

“Now…” He said. “First… we need to tend to that fever. Starfire, can you get an ice pack from the freezer? Then wrap it in a towel and bring it here? Thanks…”

Starfire drifted out of the room to fetch the requested item.

“I’ll check the web for any ideas on this…” Said Cyborg, leaving the room.

Robin and Beastboy were left alone with Raven. The room was silent, occasionally broken by the sound of Raven’s wheezing breaths of air. She stirred for a moment, groaning, but returned back to normal sleeping with a sigh.

Starfire returned with the ice pack, and placed it on Raven’s forehead. She tensed for a moment at the sudden freeze, then relaxed.

“She will get better, will she not?”

“Of course, She will, Star.”

Beastboy picked up Raven limp hand, and held it in his own.

“She will…”

:COMMON ROOM:

“So, let me get this straight…” Cyborg said to someone on the huge TV screen. “You’re sayin’ that you fight a virtual monster named X.A.N.A., who launches attacks on our world, but has decided to attack outside of France, and has possibly targeted our sick friend?

“Well…” said the kid with glasses, blonde hair, and a turquoise turtleneck shirt. “Once you say it like that… it does sound kind of insane… but you have to believe us… X.A.N.A. has activated a tower, and our super scan picked up ‘X.A.N.A.-activity’ in your part of the world…”

“Why here?”

The kid re-adjusted his glasses as he prepared to answer.

“Oh, I don’t know! So we can’t be quick to respond… how the hell should I know? I’m only 13!

“Riiiiight…”

“I’m serious! Do you want to save you friend or not?”

Silence. The kid smiled with a " Ha, gotcha there, huh?" grin.

“I’m sending our co-ordinates via E-Message…” He said. “See you in several hours…”

The screen blinked off, and showed a printable version of directions… Cyborg sighed… how was he gonna explain this to everyone?