I do not own any of these characters, all scenarios are from the ideas of a fan of these characters and are unofficial
Raven wore an expression of intense concentration that morning. A cold mug of coffee sat before her, abandoned with the arrival of that day's newspaper. The dark half-human pursed her lips as her conscious screamed not to get overly concerned. She glanced at the front-page image for the second time when her emotions felt sufficiently subdued.
It was a small preview image for the third-section article, not a particularly alarming scene, but very odd. Throughout San Francisco, all of the streetlights of generic design had been destroyed, many taking small power lines with them. Raven groaned inwardly, she had a very strong hunch as to what (or rather, who) had done it.
The rest of the group had hung back all morning. Beast Boy had been tempted more than once to prod at whatever weight seemed to be resting on the girl's shoulders, but Cyborg intervened each time. Everyone sat around with the usual breakfast chatter, consciously ignoring Raven's current pensive behavior.
"Cy..." Everyone looked at the dark lady, surprised that she had broken the pattern of pondering silence.
"What's up, Rae?" Cyborg inquired rather softly, aware of Raven's concern despite all of her attempts to force it away.
"I need to talk... in confidence." Without another word she floated out into the hall.
The choice of who to talk to was obvious for Raven. Cyborg and she had become very close recently. The mechanical jock was the first person she had developed a true bond with, and she trusted nobody else as deeply as he. She gave her truest friend as real a smile as she could muster at that moment as he joined her, Beast Boy's complaints echoing from the kitchen. ("Oh sure! Share with the guy who can be reprogrammed to forget!") Beast boy had not taken well to the thought of the newfound bond between Raven and Cyborg, which had come so easily. The changeling felt that his attempts at getting Raven to open up where greater than anyone else's, and yet, it had taken scarcely a week for his metal rival to grow close to her.
"Are you okay Dark Girl?" Cyborg tentatively placed his large hand on her shoulder; Raven's concern was much more evident then. "You saw the paper, right?" "Sure I did," the jock replied, wondering where this was going. "Those streetlights, I think I am the one responsible for taking them down." Well, she had never been one to beat around the bush. Cyborg stepped back some, studying her face. "But...how would you have-" "Done it?" Raven closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, indigo strands of hair falling over her face, "my powers freak out constantly." "So something's been bothering you..." Cyborg caught on. "And it's apparently expressing itself at night while I sleep." Raven gave an empty sigh, a light bulb shattered overhead. "Man, this is really eating at you, huh." It was more of a statement than a question, and was treated thusly. "The weird thing is... I don't do it while I'm awake. I think whatever feeling is doing this has been so suppressed... that it expresses itself when I sleep." "Could it be a fluke? I mean, this is the first time this has happened, right?" "Well... no." There was a slight pause and Cyborg gave an inquiring expression. "Last week, I woke up each night and the tower had been torn apart by my powers... stuff scattered everywhere. I was able to get everything back by morning. I tried to stay awake for the nights following, but last night I couldn't. The issue must have built up, making the damage greater when I eventually slept again." "What are you gonna do Rae?" Raven's tone was dry, "I was kind of hoping you could help me with that." "Where do we start?" This issue was uncomfortable for Raven. She was asking her best friend to help track down something she must have fought very hard to suppress. "I've been trying to think of when during my time awake I lose control... trying to notice any sort of pattern." "Well, whenever you see Star watching 'Aladdin' your eye twitches and the lights flicker," Cyborg recalled with a grin. Raven nearly laughed, her hood rustling with a slight expression of power. It figured that Cyborg couldn't ever be completely serious. "Somehow..." Her tone was flat yet amused, "I don't think that's my problem." "Hey you never know!" He was glad to see his friend's mood lighten to the usual sarcastic nature, "maybe some deep-seeded and well-hidden desire for romance is setting you off." "Or... not," Both grinned. "Don't sweat it Rae, we'll figure it out. Just relax for now, you look terrible." He smirked as she glared, and both turned back towards the rest of the group.
---------
"You call that a MOVE? What are you, stupid?"
"Stupid?! Hey just because I'm handsome-"
"About as handsome as Star's cooking!"
Despite his attempts at concentration, Robin found himself rather amused listening to Beast Boy and Cyborg quarrel, having to smother a chuckle at the last comment with his book.
"What does Cyborg mean...? I do not understand?" Starfire's question was directed towards Raven, as the two had been immersed in a game of cards. Raven and Robin exchanged amused glances from the opposite ends of the room before the empath answered, "It's nothing, Starfire."
"I see, in that case... rummy, correct?" The alien girl held up her cards for Raven to inspect.
"Right. You're getting good at this game."
"It is much fun," Starfire smiled. She was glad to have finally connected with the distant Raven, and enjoyed having a relatively close friendship with the other girl. Among being good companions to one another, it was less isolating to have another girl around.
"It's still raining..." Raven stretched her torso and stood up as she made the observation. "It's been pouring for hours."
"It is very dark as well," Starfire added, "as though night has never left us."
And it was dark, very dark. In fact, raven noticed, it seemed to be getting darker by the second. A dreadfully familiar sense kicked in, and the girl swayed with nausea. Her body ice cold, Raven's powers flared in a shield around her, and she was dragged into the confines of a scorned reality. It was a land built upon sin, a constantly twisting and intensifying dimension of chaos, her father's realm.
"Soon," a deep voice, the voice of Trigon, boomed the simple word. All at once, Raven was hit with all of the negative memories and emotions her mind could fathom. Every ounce of pain or suffering she had ever experienced was suddenly thrown into the empath's face. The spiritual strain was immense, too much. Raven's powers could be held against the waves of emotion no longer, and they doubled back onto her. Trigon's daughter fell into blackness.
---
"Raven... Raven! Are you okay?" The voice of Robin brought Raven back into consciousness and the physical realm. Raven, covered in a cold sweat, shuddered and peered up at the masked face.
"What happened... what did I do?"
"Oh thank goodness! Are you injured, friend?" Starfire's concerned eyes now stared down at her; Raven realized she was on the floor.
"You fainted, Rae... Keeled right over," Cyborg's expression was that of recovering worry.
"Yeah dude, we turned and you where just... still!" Beast Boy chimed in, making a show of shuddering. "You looked like you where a corpse or something."
Starfire whimpered at that thought as Robin offered his hand to Raven. Raven pulled herself up slowly and gave a grateful expression to the Boy Wonder. "Thanks..." Slight color rose to her cheeks.
"Can you remember anything? Do you know how it happened?" Robin's gaze, even through the mask, held Raven under an odd scrutiny. As she thought about what to tell her friends, the girl felt an urge to rip he mask off and see what it was hiding, as though it was the holder of Robin's secrets, and could break through the enigma who was her team leader.
"I... I saw my father; I think this was some sort of warning..." The other members of the team started, Beast Boy leapt, a cat, over to her side, and then resumed his normal form.
"What kind of a warning?"
Raven's head was spinning, she had to get away, had to think. "I don't know... I'm going to my room. I'll be out later."
"What if you should faint again, friend, please do not wander alone!" Starfire pleaded.
Raven sighed, but the other girl was right. "Fine, who of you can be the quietest?"
"I'll come with you." It was Robin who spoke, the obvious choice. Raven was relieved; of all people, Robin had the most respect for her requests of silence and seclusion.
With that, the dark lady began to walk down the hall; Robin following at her heals with his book. The three titans who remained in the television area watched them go, utterly puzzled.
"Dude, spill! What did you two talk about this morning? You know what's going on, don't you!" Beast Boy threw the accusation at Cyborg.
"First, I DON'T know what's going on and second, even if I did know, Raven spoke to me in confidence."
"But Cyborg, what if something should happen, we must know what is wrong with our friend," Starfire looked mildly distraught.
"Guys I promise, any lethal information and I'll tell you two in a second, but what Rae said this morning is her business, and I am going to respect that." Cyborg's voice left no room for argument.
"You'd better," Beast Boy muttered as he vaulted over the back of the couch and resumed his video game. Cyborg followed, thoughtful, and picked up the other controller. "Hey Star, watch me kick furball's butt!"
"Ahem, who will kick whose butt?"
"What an odd custom, is it meant to be painful?"
--------
The silence was refreshing, Raven noted. The icy feeling that had settled inside her was slowly fading to warmth. Though she hated to admit it, the company of the Boy Wonder helped. He was quiet, as promised, reading his book while seated in an unusually tall antique chair. Every few minutes the two would, in unison, glance up to check on one another. Robin would give an encouraging smile, knowing not to pry just yet, and Raven bore a look of gratitude.
Such an instance occurred just as a loud crack came from outside the window. "What was that?" Robin was on his feet immediately.
"Down boy," Raven glided to the window, where a cool breeze was creeping in, "I think it was the tree out front."
Robin stalked over to stand beside her. "I've never seen weather like this before, flood reports are pouring in..."
Raven lifted an eyebrow, giving an incredulous look, "tell me that wasn't a pun."
"If I said it wasn't would you believe me?"
"No, not really."
"Sometimes I need to lighten the mood... it comes from working with Batman." Robin grinned.
"Hnn." Raven gave a careful smile, one that just barely reached her eyes before it was gone without a trace.
"Hey," Robin put a hand on her shoulder in the same manner that Cyborg had done that morning, "we're here for you. If you can accept help... I can try to provide it."
"I know..." Raven's voice was quiet, "Thanks."
He grinned lightly, not wanting to make the day drearier, "We're a team, that's what we do. Feel up to leaving the tower tonight?"
"To go where?"
"Someplace..." Robin held out his hand and caught some stray droplets of rain as they entered through the window screen, "Someplace dry."
---
"Cyborg, can I talk to you?" Robin approached his huge friend in the kitchen. Beast boy was napping as a cat on the sofa, and the two girls where in Starfire's room "bonding."
"I think you already are," Cyborg observed, seating himself.
"It's about-"
"Raven, I know." Cyborg met Robin's taken aback stare. "I was already pestered. Look, man she talked to me in confidence, and I'm not going to be a bad friend by blabbing." The metal man folded his arms.
"I know, trust me. Nobody respects that more than I do."
"But...?"
"But I DO want her to open up to me, like she has with you. I'm concerned." Robin folded his arms in a similar manner.
"Look, man, there's no secret you have to crack or anything, just give it time. She's hard to get close to, and we can never understand what her life has been like."
"Well, I'm taking her for dinner tonight to make her feel better. She's been gloomier than ever lately. I'm just worried we won't be able to connect, we're so different..."
"You're taking her out?!"
"Just a casual thing... a cheap restaurant, you know, nothing special. I'm trying to cheer her up." Robin shrugged, the idea hadn't seemed so ludicrous to him.
Cyborg studied his leader's face, and then grinned. "You'll be fine. You two have a certain dynamic."
"If you say so..."
Yeah, so just having some fun writing this. Let me know what you think, and be honest. I'll continue this story most likely, regardless of the responses it gets.