Raven woke up, stretching her arms and yawning. She looked out her window to see that the sun was just beginning to rise. She stood up and changed from her pajamas in to her outfit of choice; a black leotard with a royal blue cloak over it. She went to the roof of the tower, and sat down. Looking at the sun, she began meditating.
"Azarath, metrion, zinthos." She repeated. She heard a door open.
"Morning Rae." A perky voice said. She recognized it as the Beast Boy's. She ignored the comment, hoping to continue meditating.
"Hellooooo? Raven, you there?" Beast Boy asked. Raven stopped her meditation and looked at him.
"What?" She asked, angrily. He knew better than to interrupt her meditation.
"Me and Cy were wondering if you wanted to referee a game of StankBall?" He asked quietly, knowing she could snap at any second.
"No." She said, calmly. She went back to meditating, but was soon interrupted by a buzzing.
"Titans, trouble!" Robin yelled, coming up to the roof. Raven stood up and ran down the steps, bringing her to the living looked at the screen, confused.
"It doesn't say who it is." He spoke. Raven and Robin exchanged glances of confusion, before she shrugged. "The warehouse on the pier." Robin told them. They nodded and left to get to the pier. Raven flew, alongside Starfire and Beast Boy, Starfire carrying Robin and Beast Boy holding Cyborg. Raven zipped ahead of them, having a bad feeling about this mission.
She got to the old abandoned warehouse before the others, and she was confused. She saw nothing. No trouble. No giant rampaging monster. Nothing. She turned around and saw the rest of the team flying up.
"Perhaps something happened inside." Starfire suggested. The team went in, to see that no one was there.
"Well," a voice taunted, "I see you got the message. Good work Titans. Although, I only need one of you right now."
Raven's eyes widened, and she nervously looked at Robin. He looked back at her with a reassuring look.
"My sweet little Raven. It's been so long. Too long." Raven turned in circles, trying to find Slade.
"Where are you? Are you gonna be a coward and not show yourself?" She growled in to the opened air, still unsure of where Slade was.
"My dear, do I seem like the cowardly type?" Slade asked.
"First of all, never call me dear," she stated, "and secondly, you seem like a coward hiding from me right now."
"Raven," he said, coming out from his hiding spot in the shadows, "I need you." Raven narrowed her eyes.
"And what, exactly would you need me for?" She asked, ready to fight if needed. "And why do you still have powers?" She asked, noticing the mark of Scath on his forehead.
"Trigon isn't the only one you can get powers from, you know." Slade informed her. Suddenly, he wasn't where he had just been standing. She felt warm breath around her neck. She whipped around and was face to face with Slade. Her eyes began glowing red with anger.
"You know Raven, I do wonder when you're planning on letting your friends know about your - how should I put this - issues?" Raven looked at him confused.
"My only issue was eliminated over a year ago." She spat, referring to her father, Trigon.
"No, not that issue. Your self-esteem issues."
"What self-esteem issues?" She asked, playing it off as if she had no clue what he was talking about.
"You know what I'm talking about. You know, those issues that cause you to pick up the razor blades?" Raven's eyes widened.
"Rae, what is he talking about?" Robin asked. Raven ignored him, not wanting to talk about the topic.
"What Raven? Upset that I told your friends about your little issue?"
"Damn straight." Raven snapped. Before she knew what she was doing, she managed to throw him in to the wall using her powers. He became embedded in the wall, and Raven picked up a boulder, and hurled it at Slade. He fell to the ground, she advanced towards him slowly, not wanting to be taken by surprise. When she got near him, she picked him up by his collar and held him against the wall.
"What the hell do you need me for?" She growled.
"You'll find out soon enough." Then he was gone. He vanished. Raven clenched her fists, before walking out of the old warehouse, and flying back to to tower. She was going to kill Slade; even if it was the last thing she'd do.
XxX
No one got hurt, which was good, but the team was still getting over what Slade told them. They were currently sitting in the common room. The entire team, except Raven, who was in her room, was sitting on the sofa.
"I am confused. What do razor blades have to do with friend Raven?" Starfire asked, not understanding what Slade had said.
"Let's just say she's not happy." Cyborg said.
"Well, if friend Raven is not happy, should we not be cheering her up?" Starfire asked.
"She needs to be alone for a little bit." Robin told her. She frowned but nodded.
After a long period of quite, Cyborg broke the uncomfortable silence.
"Why do you think she cut?"
The group sat in silence.
"It could be anything. Stress, her dad, there's a lot of possibilities." Robin answered. Cyborg looked towards the green changeling in the room.
It was a well known fact that the changeling had a crush on Raven.
"If anyone goes to talk to her, B should. He understands a lot more than any of us ever have." Cyborg stated. Robin nodded.
"Go check on her now." Robin told him. Beast Boy nodded and went to Raven's room.
Knocking on the door lightly, he called out to her.
"Rae? You in there?"
"What?" She spat.
"I just wanna talk. I'm not mad, I promise."
"You're not mad?" she asked, her voice cracking, which was obvious evidence she had been crying.
Beast Boy shook his head. "How could I ever be mad at my best friend? I just don't want to lose you, ever." She opened the door and looked at him.
"Let's take a walk."