"She needs your help, and she needs it now. Only you and you alone can save her." Richard lowered his head at the mention of this. He didn't know what to do. He hadn't seen her in a long time, why would she be asking for him now of all times Why should he even care anymore? Richard raised his head. "What if I decide not to help? What's going to happen to her?"

The dark figure smiled, "then you might have to say goodbye to her in pieces. You understand?"

Richard took a deep sigh and nodded to respond to the threat. "Yeah, 100 million dollars and you want me to go alone to deliver it. I got it."

The phone went dead as he stood there as if waiting for a sign. He hung up and opened his drawer. He began making phone calls to get the money. It was easy since he basically had all that in his accounts from his own investments. In an hour he had all the money needed. He packed it all in the leather bag. Why had they targeted her and why was she pleading for his help now. Sure they used to be together in high school but after the breakup they didn't see each other, or for lack of a better word he just could seem to find the courage to face her after that day, all he knew was that he needed to go now and begin to deliver the money in order to get her back unharmed. He was instructed to use the buses in order to get to his destination and that he would be watched. It led him to believe that there would be more than just one kidnapper. He was sitting in the bus waiting for the last stop when his mind began to wander back to his high school days.

He was hanging with his usual batch of friends both from a couple of years back and some he just met that same year. His friends were spending a lot of good times at their table, which was officially their table as they always sat there and ate and such. He was speaking to Vic, Roy, and Garfield and where enjoying some of Garfield's funny jokes, at least when they were funny, when a girl suddenly sat down next to him and Vic. Richard didn't mind at first since he figured she had to be Vic's friends, which she was, and was happily in a conversation with her. Richard suddenly looked at Vic with a look that said 'who is she?' Vic quickly realized and introduced her.

"Hey guys this is my good friend Raven, she's like my little sister that I never had. That's Roy, Garfield and this is…"

"Richard, nice to meet you Raven"

"Hi, what are you guys talking about?'

"Nothing much, just a bunch of jokes and what not…"

"Oh really, can I stay and hear them?"

"Sure!"

And that's how his friendship started with her, just a pleasant meeting between them.

The bus stopped all of a sudden and nearly tipped Richard over.

"Last Stop on the northeast route!" the bus driver exclaimed.

Richard walked out of the bus and sat down on the bench of the next bus stop. He could feel the stares of the passerby's and the murmurs of who he was. He didn't care he was too busy trying to focus in what to do. They had only given him an hour to get the money and were now keeping an eye out for him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. Richard shook his head and tried to think of something else while waiting for the bus to get there.

It had been a couple of days before she became a regular member of the table and always sat between Vic and Richard, and although Vic was like a brother to her, she mostly spent her time talking to him. Something about her made him feel at ease. He couldn't wait any longer as he followed her after lunch to go ahead and ask her out, what did he have to lose? He was rich but he didn't tell anyone that, he felt that if everyone knew he would lose his real friends and just end up with a lot of people that only wanted him for his money and not for him. He took her aside, "Raven look I ... well I want to say… would you like to go out with me sometime?"

Raven smiled "You're so cute when you look worried." And she began to walk away.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

She came back and kissed him on the cheek," what do you think the answer was?"

He smiled and quickly snapped out of when he heard someone speaking to him.

"Hey young man, are you going to get on or what?"

"Oh, sorry," Richard replied. He had to do something, he knew he would call Vic, he would help him. He just had to not make it as obvious. He smiled, 'I knew those ventriloquist classes would pay off someday. He used the leather bag to shield his hand from being seen as he dialed and waited.

'Please answer, please answer' he kept silently saying as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

Richard took a breath, "Vic? It's Richard, just hear me out and listen, Raven got kidnapped and the guys that kidnapped her have asked for 100 million dollars for her safe return, now I have the money but when I get there I don't know if they're going to do as they say so I need your help to get her free, just go quickly to the end of the bus route East. Don't meet up with me but just follow me, okay?"

Richard waited for his reply hoping to have gotten his point across." Okay, when do you need me there?"

"Now!" and he hung up. If he was lucky it would be another half hour before the end of the line, enough time for Vic. Although it was good news his mind wandered back to her.

He held her to him, hugging her as if he would lose her if he were to let go. "I love you Rae and I would always want to be with you. Before you I didn't think I would live this happily!"

"Don't say that, it makes me feel uneasy that it seems that you lean on me for emotional support."

"I'm not; I'm just complimenting you and saying how much I love you."

He felt a shudder in her. They had been going steady for a while now, and he was about to graduate, she on the other hand was going to graduate the following year. "What's wrong?"

"Richard, are you sure about us, do you really think of us lasting that long?"

Richard was shocked at the question, was she doubting their relationship? "Of course, I already told you I wanted to marry you someday." She lowered her head when he said that, "but your not that sure… are you"

"No, I love you, I do… it's just that… don't you ever wonder what's out there?"

He looked away disgusted, she wasn't the Raven he knew. "No because I didn't have to, but you need it, don't you?" He let go of her hand, hoping she would say that she was joking, that she was only testing him to see what he would do.

"Yes, I just didn't want to say anything until you went to college first."

He closed his eyes, it was if someone tore his heart out but instead of stomping it, they just took it, leaving avoid there.

"Then go and do what you want, you know where to find me if you ever… No. Don't even bother, just leave." Raven seemed to walk towards him as to say something comforting but he didn't allow her. "Go NOW!"

She walked off on her own, looking back at Richard. Richard kept walking feeling the void inside; he kept walking hoping to make the pain go away.

"This is the last stop!" Richard snapped out of it again. He was shaking it off when he noticed a car waiting far off with someone who closely resembled Vic.

'Knew he'd make it'

"Hey Dick," Was all he heard as he turned around, "You might want to follow the birdie."

Richard stepped off the bus and sure enough there was someone with a leather jacket that had the Raven bird on it. He followed as he was told, hoping to get this over with without any incident, he turned the corner and was showed the inside of a van. "Get in."

Richard sat in the middle of two large men. "This is going to take a while so enjoy the ride." Richard nodded and held on the leather bag.

Once again he found himself wandering back.

He was hurt and he showed it. He stopped hanging out with most of his friends, although he still talked to them, and always seemed angry. He began to train tirelessly to get her off his mind, but it didn't work, after getting tired all he could think about was her face. He got up and ran his hands through his hair. "Get out of my head!" and began to punch the stuffing out of the punching bag. After a couple of weeks of this he didn't care about what people thought about him. He let everyone know that he was rich and was always seen in the company of many girls trying to date him for his money. He didn't care, with every girl he was with his mind let go of Raven. He slept with them, but even that didn't bring him satisfaction. In the end he gave up on a lot of things. He didn't trust anybody; he felt he didn't need them. He left town to get to his college early. He was the only student not present for the graduation ceremony and he didn't really care. Nothing seemed to fill the void and it was definitely not going to be helped by going to it. He attended college but was never seen with a girl at all. He just focused on his studies and his physical training. He heard that Raven was also in the same college, but truth be told he couldn't face her. Once he was done with college he had taken over the family company and he had made billions with his smart investing. He lived his life alone and uncaring until the call about Raven and well he was here.

"We're here. Get off." Richard did as he was told. He walked out and saw a couple of men holding Raven. She seemed to have struggled for quite a while as her hair was a mess and could see the burn marks on her wrist from the ropes. The man with a x scar on his face was grinning. Red X, a local crime lord.

"Here," Richard shouted as he dropped the bag in front of him, "you have your money now let her go."

"Why Richard, are you that eager to get her…hmm? Maybe I should've asked for more money."

Richard walked to him and stared him in the eye, "Give. Her. Back!"

"Temper, Temper," he said as he shook his finger, "you don't want to upset me, you're only one person, what can you do?"

Richard lowered his head as to admit defeat. The man laughed and shut up when Richard looked up and uppercut him straight in the jaw. He went to the man holding Raven and lunged to throw another punch when he used Raven as a human shield, smiling as he thought himself brilliant of the action, only to have Richard spin around Raven and land a backhand to the jerk holding her. She fell to the floor with a loud thud. He picked her up and helped her run as the rest of them began to follow them with guns.

"No you fools, don't shoot him or her, I want them alive. We can always ransom them for money." The men listen to Red X and put away the guns and began to pick up objects on the floor.

Richard helped Raven out of her restraints and received a hug from her. He pulled away. It hurt more than it comforted him.

"We got to get you out. Here take my cell phone and call Vic, he should be around here to take you away from here."

"What about you? Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine," he replied without even looking at her, "Just go and find him."

Raven could feel the tension in him. She wanted to say something to him about it all. "Richard…"

She was cut off by his glare, "What part of 'just go find him' do you not understand."

She was hurt by that cold treatment but she listen and began to run out of the warehouse.

"Hey! There she goes, get her!"

Richard jumped out, surprising one of the men, "Here!" Richard connected with a straight right jab. All the men stopped and turned to him. Most of them had 2x4's in their hands and others had pipes. Richard smiled as he realized it was nothing he hadn't been through before, and got ready with both hands raised and poised for combat.

"Alright ladies, who wants to get their asses kicked first? No one wants to? Fine then I'll start with all of you!" He lunged at the first one he could see connecting with a right hook. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a 2x4 coming towards him. He used his forearm to block it. A sickening thud was heard but Richard didn't even flinch. "Sorry but that was nothing." He spun and connected with a backhand facing his oncoming attackers. He rushed forward not caring about how many they were only that they were responsible for the feeling in him right now. He kept punching, blocking, and kicking everyone that got in front of him, He had just connected with an uppercut when he felt a sharp pain on his side. One of them had connected with a 2x4 and as he turned to face him he received another blow to his left shoulder and heard a loud snap. He went down to one knee but quickly recovered connecting with a right hook to the man's jaw. As he began to turn and face the last one he felt a sharp pain on the back of his right shoulder. He quickly fell to both knees, he could feel a wooden board stuck to the back of him with a nail and as he tried to move it he felt a sharp pain again. He fell forward. He was bleeding and by the look on how fast the pool of blood began to gather it was pretty profusely. As he struggled to get up, he felt someone step on the board and him to keep him down. The nail seemed to be piercing even deeper. He grimaced at the pain, and once again tried to get up only to be pushed once more. His vision began to get blurry all of a sudden.

"You only annoyed me you know. She can't have run too far, we'll find her and we will torture you by torturing her!"

"That's where you're wrong you see I didn't come alone."

"He came with me," Vic called out with the police around him, "and I suggest you put your hands up."

The man got Richard up used him as a shield, and pulled a gun placing it at his temple.

"Or what, you're going to shoot me, one move and I'll fucking blow his brains out. Now tell them to put their guns away or I'll blow his brains out."

"Don't do it, just get hi- ah!" he felt the sharp pain again. "Shut up Grayson!"

He knew this was going to hurt a lot, and by that he meant A LOT! He swung his left arm forward, causing huge amounts of pain from his broken shoulder, then back to hit him in his family jewels as he rolled forward to avoid what was going to ensue. Lots of gunshots were heard but Richard just closed his eyes as the pain was beginning to get to him. His vision began to be consumed by the darkness all he could hear was his voice being called by a beautiful angel.

He opened his eyes to reveal a white ceiling. He tried to get up but he couldn't even manage that.

"Don't struggle, you'll just make your injuries worse." A voice told him.

His vision was still blurry and couldn't really make out who it was. He felt a hand interlock with his own. It soothed him. He closed his eyes seeing that he still couldn't see properly.

"Guess you must still be tired," the voice mumbled, "Are you awake?"

Richard didn't bother to answer, he was too tired to reply and it was just like she said, he wanted to sleep. His mind was recovering though and his body began to wake him up.

"Guess not," said the voice and he quickly felt a kiss on his forehead, "can't believe that after all of this time, I still love you."

He opened his eyes and looked at her. It was Raven. He didn't know what to say, worse of all he couldn't say anything, his mind was frozen. She looked longingly at Richard as he smiled.

"There's my Raven," He raised his right hand and caressed her cheek but stopped and closed hi eyes, "I… love you too."