Red Bird, Black Bird
Robin loved the sunlight. He always had.
When the world seemed to have all the charm of a bucket of sawdust, when his body was violet with bruises and his spirit dull and aching, the sun served as an inspiration. Robin was a leader, a fearless one at that, and couldn't afford the luxury of being anything less than brilliant. The sun was perpetually warm and dazzling and the young hero was much the same. Mentor to his friends, beacon of salvation to the terrorized, scalding force to the villains that plagued the city- Robin only differed from the Earth's light source in that he still persisted after dusk.
On certain days like the present one when crime was unreported and the weather clear, Robin would sit atop Titan's Tower and watch the sun slip below the water. He enjoyed the company of his friends, but every so often he craved solitude apart from that which lurked in the confines of his study. In truth he preferred the sunrise and all that it represented, but he witnessed the dawn often enough. Sunsets were a rare treat.
This one was particularly beautiful. The plated windows of the tower soaked in the waning light and glimmered like pools of silver. The clouds were a sorbet of pink and orange textures, as rich in color as Starfire's hair. Robin could almost see her in the ember-spangled sky; the dog-eared folds of her laugh lines in the space between two clouds, her fragrant fingers flexing behind the sun's rays, her eyes in the twinkling glow of the water's surface. He smiled, affection welling within him.
"Starfire would like to see this," he breathed aloud. "She'd think it's 'most glorious.'" The young hero grinned, and was juggling with the idea of going to find her when he heard someone open the door to the roof. He swiveled around to see Raven poking her head through the enameled surface, a shock of blue amidst the golden glass. She froze when she saw him sitting there.
"Hey, Raven!" the masked boy called out cheerfully. She regarded him curiously as she stood.
"Robin," she acknowledged. "I didn't expect to see you here." She hesitated for a moment, lingering by the door. "If you want to be alone, I'll go. I just came here to meditate."
"Not at all," Robin said, beckoning her over with a wave of his hand. "Meditate away!"
Raven nodded, walking over to sit next to him at the edge of the tower. She crossed her legs and levitated to the height of Robin's shoulder. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she chanted.
Robin leaned back, letting the rhythm of Raven's mantra become a chorus to the setting sun. It was little more than a sliver now, hugging the cusp of the lake like a halved tangerine slice. The red-gold pigments in the sky were being steadily replaced by the deep, languorous blue of a summer's night. A milky current of stars washed over the horizon. Everything was changing and contrasting all around him- everything but Raven, steady and constant, floating at his side.
She was dark and mysterious, as haunting as the infant night that had just begun to bloom. Raven was as much like the lunar mosaic above as Starfire was like the zesty sunset. Two ends of the spectrum, both impeccably lovely, and yet one far more melancholy than the other.
But Robin knew Raven better than that. The two of them understood each other more intimately than anyone else on the team. She had explored his most private memories as an empath, and he had been a confidant for her during her darkest hour. It was why Raven always sought out Robin's support and optimism, and why Robin had literally journeyed to the depths of hell and back to save her. They were connected, like a lotus flower to its filaments. Robin strove to make her happy, more so than he did for any of the other Titans, even Starfire. Her friendship was profoundly special to him.
It was the silence that broke the young hero's thoughts, and he was stirred by the realization that Raven had stopped chanting. Her lilac eyes were open, staring ahead wordlessly.
"Everything okay?" Robin asked.
"I'm not used to having company like this," she said levelly. Robin glanced at her, discouraged.
"I won't bother you, I promise," he assured. "But if you'd rather do this by yourself, I-"
"No," she asserted quickly. She looked down at her hands. "I don't mind. It's… nice."
Robin smiled. "Do you come here at sunset often? I usually don't see you much after dinner." Raven shook her head.
"I mostly meditate in my room, where it's quiet. Sometimes I come up here at night if I can't sleep. But never this early."
The masked boy laughed. "I guess we must always just miss each other, then."
Raven slowly levitated back down to the surface to sit at Robin's level. "So you like to watch the sunset?"
"When I can spare the time," he said easily. "You've got to love the view. It's beautiful."
The girl nodded, her pale face shrouded by the hood of her cloak. "The last time I saw you up here, it was the day when… when I…"
"I know," Robin interrupted gently. It had been the day when Raven had become an apocalyptic portal, ushering on what had seemed to be the end of the world. "I remember."
"You were up early to watch the sunrise then," she recalled. "You said it gave you hope."
"It did," he said warmly. "It still does."
"Then what does the sunset make you feel?" Her eyes seemed sad, two amaranthine gems of solitude. "Does it make you feel hopeless?"
Robin narrowed his eyes. "Raven, are you sure you're alright? What's wrong?"
She didn't speak for several moments, and then sighed. "It's nothing."
"I know you better than that," Robin said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You can talk to me about anything. We have a bond, remember?"
"I know," she replied, a faint smile whisking past her dark lips. "But nothing's wrong. I'm just thinking out loud." Robin motioned for her to continue, rubbing her arm in encouragement. Raven took the hint.
"The sunset makes me feel like the world is ending," she said candidly. "I guess that shouldn't be a big deal, since we've already seen it end once. But what would you do, if the sun came crashing down? Or the moon?" She cast a sidelong glance at the young hero. "I don't think even the Titans could stop that."
He wondered if Raven always thought about such ominous things, meditating in the darkness by herself. It troubled Robin to think of her like that, alone with frightening thoughts coating her mind like cold sugar, with no one nearby to comfort her.
"Yeah, I don't know if even I could stop another Armageddon," he said with a light chuckle. He didn't want to tell her that if the sun came hurtling at Earth, by the time anyone noticed, all life forms would already be incinerated. Instead he shrugged, saying, "If the sun or the moon fell down right now, and if I knew we couldn't stop it, I'd just hold you until it was all over." Raven looked startled.
"Why would you hold me?" she asked, shifting backward.
"Because you're my friend," he replied, scratching the back of his head. "And I wouldn't want you to be afraid or sad in the end. I'd want you to be safe in the arms of someone who cares about you." The blue-caped heroine didn't respond at first, but then at last said, "I wouldn't be afraid."
The masked boy laughed. "You do remember what happened the last time you denied feeling afraid, right?" He raised his arms and made a scrunched face in a weak impersonation of one of the nightmarish beasts Raven had accidentally unleashed once before by suppressing her fear. She didn't seem amused.
"I wouldn't be afraid if I was with you," she clarified, her voice soft. "You'd be brave enough for the both of us." She sighed. "Hopeful enough, too."
Robin hated to see her look so forlorn. "Have you ever had a dream about the end of the world before?" he asked.
Raven shot him a sarcastic glare. "Only ever since I was prophesized to be the cause of it during infancy."
"Right, right, sorry," Robin said, cringing. "What I meant was, have you ever dreamed of something like the sun crashing down?" She shook her head.
"Well, I have," he told her. Raven turned to face him, her interest piqued.
"I remember looking out the window of Titan's Tower in my dream and seeing the sky fall apart. The stars went first, showering down like green rain. Then the moon came rushing at us with a flaming halo. Some people panicked and tried to run. Others just watched in awe."
"Which did you do?" Raven asked.
"Neither," he said with a grin. "I barely noticed. I was too focused on you. You, and Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg. We were all smiling, holding hands. It was peaceful. Almost… exciting, even. None of us were afraid, because we were all together. We were with our family." Robin looked at her seriously. "So you don't ever have to worry about the sunset, alright? Because I'll always be here. You aren't alone."
Raven didn't speak, and Robin began to think he had offended her somehow. Then the young hero felt the cold touch of her palm resting atop his gloved hand. She squeezed it ever so slightly, and whispered, "Thank you."
Pride flooded the masked boy's chest as he saw how relieved she looked. He was beginning to realize that Raven didn't need someone to shine light into her life, someone who was permanently bright and joyful like Starfire. What she needed was someone with the capacity to understand her, to help her cope with the anxieties she kept hidden. And as much as Robin tried to emulate the sun, he couldn't deny the darkness within himself, a deep lavender pool of complexities and haunted memories. It was the same darkness that was embedded in Raven.
"From now on," he told her, "any time you think about things like this, or any time you have a nightmare, I want you to tell me about it. I want to make you feel better."
"Robin, this is who I am. I think like this all the time," Raven muttered. She seemed conflicted. "I don't want to bother you."
"Please, Raven," he said. His sincerity was distilled in the clear ring of his voice. "I'm asking you this because I want you to talk to me. It's not you bothering me; it's me wanting do what any good friend would."
Raven contemplated it. "Fine," she said gruffly. "But don't tell the others. Especially Beast Boy."
"Not a word," Robin vowed as the lake finally swallowed the sun.