(It's finally here. The sequel to Mentors…Funny story, I had the first five chapters typed up and was ready to publish it in May, but it was on an external hard drive – which decided to commit suicide for no reason a couple of days later. So, this will be the 2nd time this story is told, let's hope that makes it better! I'll have another comment at the end of this chapter, so please read that as well. Hope this was worth the wait! ~RavensMind~)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, characters, properties, etc. All credit for the creations go to the original authors.

Mentors 2: The Wound

Chapter 1: Reflection

~There must always be conflict. There must always be wars to be waged, especially the ones that push man above what "man" is. Never will a pursuit be greater than this. What "is" is dynamic. Define only what was and leave the carcass for the scavengers. Said scavengers must be quick and able to traverse any terrain, and always…they must trust that there will be another carcass. If the scavenger is a raven…it usually needs something else to create death… and something always does...~

"Much better. You are improving at a much faster rate than I anticipated, you may yet learn what power has long been eluding you," Azar said, watching Raven train.

"Good, I'm getting tired of these small-scale exercises with my powers," Raven said.

"I fear that this rate of learning will not last much longer though, mostly due to the boy," Azar said.

Within the confines of Raven's room, she and Azar were training her mind more rigorously than usual. It wasn't often that Azar was allowed this much time with her, as Robin was still wary of Azar, but he was pre-occupied. Robin had locked himself away for weeks within one of Wayne Manor's studies and had been furiously pursuing leads for a particularly clever criminal. This wasn't exactly new, but it had gone on longer than it usually did. Raven hadn't seen him at all during those weeks, although she had spoken to him telepathically several times – all yielding the same result or answers.

"You think he'll find whoever he's looking for?" Raven asked, hopefully.

"No, I think he'll find you more appealing than his research again before long," Azar replied.

"I've tried to get him to talk to me about who he's looking for, but he never tells me. Do you think he's concerned about the cult?" Raven asked.

"It has been four months since I helped you, and the Titans, be free of them and your father's influence. I doubt that is who he is searching for…" Azar said, letting her voice trail off.

"You know who he's searching for…don't you?" Raven asked.

"Yes, I do," Azar replied.

"Aren't you going to tell me?" Raven asked.

"No. It will ruin your concentration. Appreciate the time he has unwittingly given us to train your mind. Be mindful, you're about to come crashing down," Azar warned.

Raven was levitating in her cross-legged position over her bed, which was encircled by a ring of red flame. The fire could not burn anything, which made it safe to use indoors, it was instead an elaborate healing aura that behaved as fire with the opposite effect. Azar had been helping Raven cultivate certain powers accidentally left to her by Trigon. Standing by the door, Azar watched with a critical eye, ready to correct Raven's technique.

"Do you think he is bored with me at all, or is he sacrificing time with me to catch a dangerous criminal?" Raven asked.

"You know him better than I, but based on his past actions, I can only believe the latter to be true. You waste time dwelling on his concerns, this energy is better spent now, furthering your abilities," Azar replied.

"So you don't care?" Raven asked.

"Quite the contrary, the boy is almost as important to me as he is to you, he must struggle with this compulsion to find the culprit. I do not help him as I help you because it would not be welcomed, and this brand of aid is not useful to him or what he is doing. Your abilities must be cultivated carefully, so you can impart your knowledge to him. I am primarily here for you," Azar said.

"I…can feel his stress, as if I was there researching with him, it's an added weight that is making this training more difficult. Could we stop for the day?" Raven asked.

"I suppose so, you've made enough progress to justify that," Azar said.

Ending her spell, Raven slowly descended onto the bed as the red flames burned out. She stretched out on the bed and took in several deep breaths, feeling the exhaustion begin to set in. Every time she channeled some energy through her powers, she could feel some sort of satisfaction within, as if she fed her energy by wielding it regularly. Azar had been teaching her many such techniques over the past couple of years; Raven was now more capable than she had ever been. Robin had been learning some tricks here and there, to safeguard his mind, and Raven's. Most of their most intimate moments were now taking place within their minds during those intense moments of learning and understanding. This was not at all to suggest that their physical pleasures were lacking, just that they found other meaningful ways to connect like never before. They had been apart and over-stressed for weeks, and that took its toll on both of them in different ways.

"There is much that hangs in your mind at the moment…do not let these things linger. Whatever you may be worrying about may not necessarily be real," Azar said, standing beside the bed shrouded in a dark mist.

"We have heard from the other Titans recently…Starfire still doesn't accept Robin and me. I had hoped that she would in time, understand. Somehow I knew…it was never going to happen. I just worry what she may try to do in her desperation," Raven explained, frowning slightly.

"You are wise to be concerned about that one, she is…unstable – now that the one who served as the thing to ground her no longer belongs to her. Her response will be anticipated, but the way she chooses to respond will be unpredictable. I will assist you in any capacity that I am able to," Azar explained.

"I am not afraid for Robin or myself, I am afraid of what may become of her and our friends. I don't want to alienate if I don't have to, and I definitely do not want to hurt any of our friends," Raven said.

"I know. But be honest with yourself, are they truly still your friends? Were they ever?" Azar asked.

"I…I can't even answer that. Let me think on it. Is that terrible to say?" Raven asked.

"Never. Reflection is necessary and painful truths are more useful to you than blind affection. But you know this," Azar said.

"Thank you. I'll think about all of this and see what Robin feels, if I ever see him again," Raven said, frowning yet again.

"That one is more passionate than I could have anticipated, and he will come when he has reached a point of pure exhaustion. Which may be sooner than you expect," Azar said, reassuring her.

"I know, I'm just tired of waiting for him," Raven said.

"Unfortunately, our time together is up… You have made remarkable progress in your training, be proud of such leaps and celebrate them. I trust you'll know what you must do in regards to your friends in time. Until our next meeting," Azar said, beginning to fade into nothingness.

"Thank you again, Azar," Raven said.

"Anything for you, dear girl," Azar replied before vanishing completely.

Despite the powers at her command, Azar could not afford to spend too much time away from the tomb that she had made home, for it had been infused by Azar with some preservative and restorative magics that kept Azar at the top of her form. It was going to be lonely for Raven after Azar left. For the past several weeks, the only people Raven had had contact with were Alfred and Azar. Terra had called a few times to talk, but that was it. A lot of thoughts were doing laps in the pool that was her mind and she was finding it difficult to center herself once more. It should come naturally to her now, one would think, but she was struggling. Just then, there was a knock at her door. Robin, she sensed.

"Raven? Can I come in?" Robin asked from behind the door.

"Yes," Raven replied, sitting up on the bed.

Entering the room, Robin shut the door behind him and looked longingly over to Raven. Robin looked as if he hadn't slept in a while or cut his hair, and appeared sluggish. Despite Robin's appearance, Raven returned the same gaze and gave him a warm smile. Robin only took a few steps before Raven was up off of the bed and had her arms around him.

"This was just what I wanted," Robin said, holding her, "I was kind of afraid you'd be angry with me."

"How could I be angry with you? You were doing something important and I understand how you needed to do it. No distractions," Raven said.

"I want you to know how hard it is-," he started to explain.

"I know. I could feel how stressed you were, how torn, and how badly you wanted to be done. Just take it easy now, relax and I'll…think of something for us to do," she said, pulling away and grinning at him.

"Umm…I'd love to, but I'm kind of tired for that…" he said, smiling at her.

"Something less strenuous then…a bath or shower?" she asked.

"Great idea," he said, as enthusiastically as he could manage.

"We need to discuss a few things at some point…tomorrow might be better for it," she said.

"You're right, it would," he said, chuckling a little.

"Hmm…I think I like your hair longer, Robin," she said as they started walking to the bathroom with an arm around the back of each other.

"Do you? Funny, I liked your hair longer too," he said.

"When was my hair long?" she asked.

"When we dealt with Trigon, I found you and brought you back to fight him, you grew quickly and your hair was longer for some odd reason," he said.

"Ah, yes…Do you want me to grow it out like that now?" she asked.

"If you grow yours out, I'll grow mine out," he said.

"That's an attractive offer," she said, chuckling slightly.

"You think so?" he asked.

"You don't?" she asked.

"Well…" he started.

"Finish that thought and you can forget living past it," she said.

Robin laughed and said, "thank you for being so understanding about these past few weeks, I promise I'll make it up to you."

"You don't need to promise, I know you will, because I believe in you and I love you," Raven said, smiling.

"I love you too," Robin said, pulling her in tighter as they walked in to the bathroom to prepare for their night together.

Amidst the rubble of the Titans' kitchen, Terra picked up an opened can of some soy product and gritted her teeth as she tossed it at Beast Boy.

"Why? Why? I don't even…How did this happen?" Terra asked Beast Boy, furious.

"Cyborg said that soy sucks, and it doesn't, so we…got into a fight," Beast Boy said.

"Great. You know we're supposed to be getting ready for the newly recruited Titans to move in, and now this happens…You and Cyborg are fixing the kitchen, I don't care how long it takes, just get it done before the new recruits show up," Terra said.

"That'll take foreevvvveerrr," Beast Boy whined.

"Don't care. Get it done," Terra said.

"Come on…" Beast Boy pleaded.

"How did Robin and Raven deal with this for so long? Amazing. Clean it up, fix it up, I'll be monitoring the city," Terra said.

Beginning to pick things up, Beast Boy slowly assembled what was in the kitchen cabinets and stacked them in the corner of the living room. Then, Starfire glided into the room and approached Terra hastily.

"May I have a few days off so that I may go and see Robin?" Starfire asked.

"No. No one is going anywhere until the new recruits have arrived," Terra said.

"Who are these two recruits again?" Beast Boy asked.

"You'll meet 'em soon, don't worry – Cy and I figured everything out, they seem like they'll be great for the team," Terra said.

"Why will you not tell us their names at least?" Starfire asked.

"It's better if you meet them without any preconceptions, they're different," Terra said.

"'Preconceptions'?" Beast Boy asked.

"I talked about this with Raven, she had some good ideas about how to handle it," Terra said.

"Handle what?" Beast Boy asked.

"You guys meeting them," Terra said.

"Can we-," Beast Boy started.

"Just fix up the damn kitchen already and stop trying to avoid it," Terra said, annoyed.

"Where is Cyborg?" Starfire asked.

"He is picking up and bringing the two recruits here in the T-Car, they'll be here in a few days. This gives Beast Boy enough time to fix the kitchen, but you may have to help him, Star," Terra said.

As different as things were without Robin and Raven, it could be said that no one expected what would follow and just how different things would be with these new recruits.

(In the original write-up of the first few chapters of this story, before it was lost, I had decided to create some OCs as the 2 new Titan recruits. Let me know if this is something you'd want to see or not, otherwise I'll pick from the East or something. The OCs wouldn't get too involved, they would not be the focus at all, and neither would the East Titans I'd pick. Glad to be back writing this, in all honesty. I hope you enjoy reading it. Review please, I adore feedback! Next chapter may be up around July 7th or so, I'll try to get a regular update schedule going soon. ~RavensMind~)