Even In The Grave, All Is Not Lost

Shine a Light

A/N: so i think updates are going to be a bit iffy for a while. have had covid all of this month (still have it) and it's made my underlying health issues so much worse. so i'm not going to push myself too hard when it comes to getting chapters out (i also don't know how badly this is going to affect my cognitive function going for). I do have one other fic that i'm still posting regularly for but that's because i had it 90% complete before i got covid so it's much easier to update. this fic takes a lot more brain power.

I also haven't been able to respond to the comments you guys have left yet but I just want you to know that i loved them and really appreciate them. i'll try to respond when i'm feeling a bit better <3

. . .

"Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul."

- Alice Walker. . .

Raven sighed, half-heartedly rubbing at her eyes as she dragged her feet into the lab. Another night without any sleep that lasted more than a few sporadic half-hours, sprinkled about, too brief and infrequent to really hold much relief.

One day, the nightmares would leave her. At least, Raven hoped they would. If she lived long enough. Which she probably wouldn't.

The pain on the other hand. . .

She wasn't fool enough to hope for any reprieve from that.

The pain was with her to stay, a domineering roommate that left broken beer bottles scattered across the floor - shattered glass for her to stumble over in the night. A roommate she could never get rid of.

Not without getting rid of the whole damn house too.

(something A.L.I.E. seemed to be taking care of for her, though the universe would forgive Raven if she couldn't find it within herself to be all that grateful)

Giving her eyes one final rub - as though that would wake them up - she started down the stairs, blearily taking in her surroundings.

Luna was in the lab already. Waiting for her.

(of course she was)

And she was waiting for her. Because there were no signs of a blood bag or IV, no hint of Abby or Jackson, and so there was no other reason for Luna to be here.

No other reason but her.

Raven's pulse jumped painfully beneath her skin, a habitual reaction that was growing older by the day. A tired reaction. Even though finding Luna waiting for her was hardly a new occurrence, Raven's body didn't seem to understand that. It was sure as hell taking its damn time to adjust.

Covering a yawn, she stumbled blindly for a moment, brain scrambling to find a task that might actually prove useful. The rocket was a pain in her ass that didn't seem in the mood to dislodge itself any time soon. No solutions yet to the missing barrel. Raven was considering going down to one of the bottom levels for inspiration. She'd found a database there the other day before they got sick (she may or may not have been avoiding Luna at the time), filled to the brim with old research papers and studies that Becca had accumulated over the years, many of them her own. Raven could transfer it all to the main network and rifle through them up here, or even in the mansion - the latter arrangement she knew would be preferable for Luna (Raven no longer entertained the notion that she wouldn't follow her wherever she went). And maybe. . . maybe in that database was the information they needed. Some old experiment of Becca's that could get them out of this mess. She'd made an A.L.I.E. 2.0, who was to say she hadn't made some nightblood 2.0 as well? Or at least drafted the plans for it. Raven would even settle for a half-baked hypothesis.