Darkness stretched across the room, dispersed only by the dim light at the desk. Silence filled the place, broken only by the quiet scribbling of a pencil against the paper or turning of a page in the book. The clocks seemed to be moving slower with every passing minute. But she knew. She didn't even need to check the time to know that it had hit midnight. The air around her became denser, a breath stuck in her throat. The scribbling stopped for a second as she raised her head to take a look around.

She knew full well that she was alone. The librarian had left hours ago. But he'd just left the key to Raven, as usual. Perks of being the leader of the book club and a regular at the library, she supposed. And yet… The shadows warped around her, drawing closer, wanting to embrace her in their cold grasp. She released a shaky sigh, her grip tightening on the pencil. November 2nd. All souls' day. Her birthday.

There was no other day in the whole year she hated more than this one. And although she always made sure everyone knew this, no one truly understood it. How could they? If they knew the whole truth about her, first of all, they wouldn't even believe her. Bruce had been the only one kind enough to hear her out and not call her a lunatic, but she was sure not even he quite understood what she meant. And she hadn't really bothered convincing Dick either. Not after their first conversation…

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The door opened and Bruce entered, followed by a young boy and Alfred with a bag in his hand. Hidden from everyone's sight, her blue eyes watched their every movement with growing curiosity. It was the same boy she'd seen at the circus that day. That tragedy… The shock, the sadness, the grief that washed over her from every corner of the place. But his was the most prominent one. She'd felt how his entire life had just fallen apart. It had been almost too much for her to take. And now the boy was here still carrying all that pain in himself. She didn't quite understand why, but she knew Bruce was doing what he felt was the right thing to do.

Although the two of them seemed to be about the same age, saying they weren't close was an understatement. They both kept to themselves a lot. Raven was a very quiet and private person to begin with and Dick just… had a lot going on with him already. And it stayed like that for a long time, with only quick conversations here and there. Most of these conversations happened at nights when neither of them could really sleep. Though Dick never knew the reason why she couldn't sleep was actually him. Or rather, his emotions. So they just happened to hang around in the kitchen munching on Alfred's cookies that he tried so hard to hide.

"So, Raven," he spoke up, dipping a cookie in the milk, "I never thought to ask."

"Ask what?" She gave him a quick glance, busy with her own cookie.

"You're Bruce's daughter, right?" He'd opened his mouth to continue with a question about her mother, but Raven interrupted him.

"No."

"What do you mean, no? Aren't you Raven Wayne?"

"I am." She nodded slowly and looked at him. "But he… took me in. Just like you."

"So he adopted you. Then… you're an orphan, too?"

"I… I guess?" Truth to be told, she didn't quite know what that word meant.

"You guess?" He could see it in her eyes that she didn't really understand what he was asking her about, so he decided to rephrase it. "Are your parents dead? Like mine?"

"Oh. No." This answer confused Dick.

"So why are you here then?"

"I just… ended up here and they didn't, I guess." Raven now felt a little like she was being interrogated and grew slightly uncomfortable, although she felt nothing but genuine curiosity from him.

"How- Where are they then?"

"They're… far away." Her features grew sadder as she decided she was done with the cookies.

"Where?" He pushed, his eyes following her as she went to go wash her glass, waiting for her to respond.

"Azarath." She finally responded.

"Where is that?" He blinked, having never heard of the name. Just by the name of it, it did sound like a very far off place though.

"A different dimension." She turned to look at him with complete seriousness and confidence in her eyes. But it only made him laugh out in disbelief.

"A different dimension? There is no such thing."

"There is. You can get to Azarath only through a portal with a magic spell. That's where my mother is. And my father is in another dimension behind the Great Door of Azarath."

Dick truly didn't know what to make of this all. She seemed so convinced in the truth of her words, he didn't know whether to believe her or not. And for the longest time, he didn't know what to even say to this all. But eventually he decided to be logical about it and write it off as fantasy.

"You're just making stuff up." He scowled at her. "If you didn't want to tell me the truth, you should've just said so."

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"The curfew is at 9 pm, you know." A voice suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts and she jerked back in her chair, instantly looking behind herself.

"Dick..!" She gasped and took a moment to regain her breath. "D-don't scare me like that."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to." He looked at her apologetically and took a seat opposite of her, holding his hands under the table.

"I'd ask you how you knew I'd be here, but-"

"You're always here." He grinned and she nodded with a small chuckle. "I have something-"

"Dick." She knew where this was going and felt the need to stop him. But he was having none of it.

"It's nothing much." He smiled at her and pulled a small box that he'd been holding in his hand from under the desk, sliding it across the surface closer to her. "I know birthdays have never been your thing, but… It's your 18th birthday, Rae, I couldn't not get you anything."

A part of her wanted to argue with him. But in her family, it was never any use. If, when it came to friends, she could hide her date of birth, there was no escaping family. And although Bruce, Alfred and Dick respected her wish to not celebrate it without completely understanding it, they'd never gone a year without getting her a present of some kind. So she really had no other choice but to accept it. As long as no one had the idea to throw her a party, she guessed it was all good.

"I know. I appreciate it." She smiled, glancing down at the small box before returning her gaze to him. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." He let a shrug roll off his shoulder and held a moment of silence, thinking over his next words before speaking them. "You know, I've never really understood why you don't like to celebrate your own birthday."

"No one ever has." She replied simply with a hint of sadness in her voice. "But I suppose no one but me has to."

"But if someone wanted to?"

"Like who?"

"Like me." His straightforward answer surprised her and it really showed in her face. She blinked and opened her mouth to say something, but her mind was blank. So Dick decided to elaborate.

"Rae, we've practically grown up together. We've known each other for years. And yet… You have to agree that we've never really been close. There's still so much I don't know about you."

He wasn't wrong. Raven had always kept her distance, no matter what. It wasn't that she found it hard to trust people. Thanks to her empathic abilities she could determine if a person had a malicious intent or if their heart wasn't pure. It was more… a fear of being misunderstood. There were so many things this world didn't understand or know about. And if she were to flaunt her powers, people would fear her. Just like they did back then in the orphanage where Bruce had taken her after he'd found her on the streets. Everyone there was afraid of her after… an incident. And that was the last thing she wanted in her adult life. It was for the best to just be… normal.

"There's still so much you wouldn't understand about me." She spoke softly, tilting her head to the side.

"I could try to. If you let me." He was determined, she had to give him that. And it was the first time in forever when he'd pushed this question. She wondered why, all of a sudden, he returned to it. But as he said it, they'd spent years under the same roof and barely knew about their lives before Bruce took them in. Although Dick had been more open about his. He'd shared some bits and pieces here and there, partly hoping she'd do the same. But that day never came. And for him, it felt like she didn't trust him. Which wasn't true. So maybe-

"Perhaps not tonight." She sighed softly, looking at the time on her phone.

"I'm not saying you have to do it straight away. But… Maybe someday."

"Someday." She gave him a small smile and nodded, taking him aback by surprise. To be honest, he hadn't expected a positive outcome from this conversation. But he was glad. Someday definitely sounded better than never. And that was all he could ask for.

"Great. Well"- he stood up from his seat- "I'll leave you to it. Don't stay up too long."

"I can't promise that." She grinned. A chuckle escaped him as he made his way out of the library.