One moment, she was there. The next, she had gone. With Warp, and the stolen artifact. Raven had leapt through the time portal after Warp, but when Robin attempted to follow suit, the portal simply blinked into nothingness. So now, Raven found herself struggling in midair combat with Warp, surrounded by clocks. She viciously tore at his vertex regulator, damaging it and causing her to fall. Falling, falling. Warp falling away into darkness. Suddenly, there was cold.
Gasping, Raven burst out of a mountain of snow. Where am I? All she recalled was falling out of the stream of clocks, and Warp getting away. He got away, she suddenly realized, angry. But now, she had something more important to deal with. She was lost. Looking up, Raven's eyes met a tall, T-shaped tower, covered in snow, and with a cracked window. It had clearly fallen into disrepair. Titans Tower! Raven entered the building. It seemed found a string of musty spheres. Star's Blorthog beads! For some reason, seeing them so...musty worried and saddened Raven. Someone walked in. He was half-metal, half-flesh, but his robotic parts were gray. "Cyborg?"
Cyborg filled Raven in. "You've been missing since, well, since Warp disappeared." He told Raven how the Titans had disbanded, and where to find the others. First, Raven tracked down Beast Boy. She found it demoralizing to find him in a hopelessly rundown one-man circus. He was balding and had gained weight.Beast Boy seemed disheartened and had lost his sense of purpose. Raven found Robin and Starfire together. Except now, Robin was Nightwing, and when she walked in...they were making out. For some reason, this filled Raven with hurt, and an unfamiliar feeling washed over her, directed at Starfire. Jealousy? Really, Raven? You have more important problems, she chided herself. She forced herself to face the view, and cleared her throat. "I need to talk to you, if you aren't already busy with your mouths."
Nightwing and Starfire flushed, breaking away from each other. "Raven!" they said simultaneously. She explained the situation, and Nightwing pulled out an old Teen Titans communicator.
The whole team surrounded Warp. Even Cyborg, in his rundown state. The regulator on Warp's suit completely broke down, turning Warp into an infant. Cyborg reopened a time portal for Raven, who took one last look around at the former team. She opened her mouth to tell them something about teamwork. "I-we…." She trailed off. Cyborg gently nudged her to the portal. She stepped inside.
Raven tumbled into the museum. Not in the future. In her own time. Her team let out strangled gasps of relief. Robin quickly ran over and helped her up. "I can stand, you know," she muttered, glaring. In reality, she was desperately trying to hide a blush. What is happening to me? Am I...dying? Is this a crush? No. No, it can't be. Besides...he's already with Star. Or it's going to happen eventually, she thought bitterly, thinking about the moment she'd witnessed.
Raven recounted her story to her teammates. Almost all of it. "And so, I went to Robin, er Nightwing, and Starfire, and...I told them about Warp, we gathered the team, I came back, the end!" She hastily finished her tale, not wanting to talk about...it. Starfire stood up. "So as I was saying, we need to always stay friends. After fighting we must do the apologizing and hugs." The rest of the Teen Titans nodded, and Starfire beamed with happiness. Raven picked up a Blorthog necklace. "Happy Blorthog," she said quietly, but with a rare smile. Her friends quickly followed suit, and soon, they were all laughing together again.
But later, as she meditated, when Raven generally kept a clear mind, her thoughts kept drifting back to the kiss. Why had it bothered her so much? Why was it still bothering her? Maybe it was-no. She swallowed. It couldn't be. It would ruin her friendship with Robin. Face it, he's meant to be with Starfire. Raven closed her eyes and chanted, hovering above the ground, "Azarath...Metrion...Zinthos…" All of a sudden, her eyes flashed open. She dropped to the ground. "I...I love him. WHY HIM? You always manage to choose the wrong ones. He's not meant for you." But now, her mind was set on Robin. She felt it. He was the one. Raven stepped into the hallway, and slunk down to Robin's room. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand to knock. Just then, the door slid open. Robin. His hair…wow, I never noticed he smells like wonderful-
"Raven? Is there something you needed to tell me?" Raven landed back in reality, shaken from her thoughts. Great. Now, she was back to square one. She couldn't tell him. "No, in fact, I just wanted to return these." She quickly produced a pair of his boxers, brought along in case she backed out, or her confession went wrong. Robin blushed and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh...hehe...thanks." Raven sheepishly muttered a 'thank you' and then realized her mistake. "Um...I mean...you're welcome," she stuttered.
As Raven walked away, Robin couldn't help but think, She's cute when she stutters. No, Robin. Don't think like that, she only likes you as a friend.