Disclaimer: same drill…I do not now nor ever have I owned the Teen Titans or any characters except Vilan thus far. Hence the FanFic. 

I only got one review, but I decided I would just post ;)

X REBEL HEART X

"And I'm terrified of these four walls, these iron bars can't hold my soul in."

-Saving Me, Nickleback

Chapter 2: Hints

"I'm not playing games, Vilan. What are you doing here and what do you want? I told you I was done with you fifty years ago." Raven immediately knew the mistake of her words as Robin's thoughts turned to suffocating shock and confusion. She cursed softly.

Vilan chuckled, easily breaking her already interrupted concentration. "Yes, Raven. Fifty years goes by fast for creatures such as us."

Robin watched helplessly from the floor. His arms lay limply at his side like a discarded marionette and his face contorted into a façade of calmness. Raven could feel his mind recovering, and his mental blocks reforming. This both saddened and relieved her, because she would no longer be under the strain of feeling his amplified emotions, but it also meant he was shutting her out; knowing that she knew what he felt.

Raven hung her head for a brief moment. Was it too much to ask that he would find what she had said to be a joke, or that he had misheard? Most likely. Even if he did pass it off on hearing, it would gnaw at the back of his mind, and Robin always investigated the things that were bothering him.

"Do not speak of it, Vilan. Not now. You still haven't answered my question." Raven spoke barely above a whisper.

"What, Raven you mean to tell me they do not know what you really are? You fool them as you do all others. You obviously care for this… child," he spat the word at Robin, as if the very word offended him, "but yet you do not tell them your story? How much do they truly know? But so be it, I will delve no further. Your lies are yours to tell. For your question, you know what I want. It is what I've always wanted. For you to come with me. I was unable to fulfill my…quest and I seek the comfort of another of my kind."

Raven almost laughed. She stared bitterly into his now somber face. "Vilan, you really expect me to believe that you came back simply to see me and take me with you? We didn't part on good terms. That is not the only reason, but we'll speak of this later. So you did not find your brother?" Raven's voice was still soft, but with a hint of her natural sarcasm.

Vilan's face fell. "I did not say that. I found him, but he was not as I left him. The madness of immortality has finally claimed him. You wouldn't have recognized him; he was someone else. So I did all I could, and lit the blaze. Now we are the last of our order. But you are correct, there are more reasons."

Raven nodded slowly, her rage momentarily forgotten as she let his information sink in. They were the last ones. She shook her head. It couldn't be.

"I need to meditate before I can speak any more on this…Vilan, release him!" Raven felt her face burn under her hood at the realization that Robin was still frozen in place. His face was still calm, but he was obviously very curious and interested.

Vilan nodded with a world-weary sigh. "Oh, if I must…" Grinning, he flicked his eyes towards Robin for a second, and then looked back to Raven. Robin sat for a solid minute before he realized he had been "released" and could move and talk again. He was up and by Raven's side in an instant. Resisting the urge to question the mysterious man angrily, Robin contented himself to stand beside Raven, slightly in front. He didn't think there would be any danger from him, but both Raven and the man she had called Vilan were acting strange. He had never seen Raven act like this. Robin wasn't about to let his guard down.

Vilan raised an eyebrow at Robin's boldness. The man respected the lack of fear in the crime fighter. It seemed he expected people to take him seriously, and maybe he would be threatening, if he would be any match for Vilan. He wondered what Raven's relationship was with this boy. How many other teens occupied the Tower? Vilan had just happened to come through the portal in the side of the wall into the Training Room, and the first thing he saw was a muscular but small teenage boy beating the crap out of a punching bag and mumbling something about 'she doesn't have to be alone…' Knowing Raven would sense his presence and come out of either rage or curiosity, he simply froze the boy and placed him neatly on the opposite wall and waited.

Raven put a gently reassuring hand on Robin's clenched fist. Robin looked at her questioningly. He searched her face for some sort of explanation, but as always, it remained a blank slate. During the whole conversation, her face had remained emotionless. In fact, the only different thing about Raven was this was the most he had heard her talk at once…ever. And Robin couldn't repress the thought that at this moment, Raven didn't seem like a teenager anymore.

While the two men were contemplating each other and Raven, the sorceress' mind was racing as to how she would fix this little slipup. What would she do with Vilan and how would she satisfy Robin's detective mind? Neither would prove to have an easy conflict resolution. She couldn't think of an answer now. She still hadn't meditated. Between Robin's constant barrage of questions and the incident with Slade three weeks ago, she was emotionally and mentally exhausted. She smiled grimly at the thought that she was lucky she could put together a coherent sentence.

She thought hard. If she got rid of Vilan, even for just a few days, she would have time to gather her strength and thoughts. Suddenly, a thought struck her. She could kill two birds with one stone. Raven had been planning for a while now to make a trip to Gotham to snoop around the alleys and darker clubs to see what she could dig up on Slade; his whereabouts, if he'd been spotted in Gotham or near the city limits, anything. However, with everything going on in Jump, she hadn't had the chance to get away yet.

"Vilan," she said firmly, "understand that now isn't a good time. There really isn't a good time, but I need time to think things through. But do something for me, and I'll consider your temporary company…very temporary. Go to Gotham City, it's west of here, and find all you can about a man named Slade. It is extremely important we find and dispose of him. I've been meaning to do it myself, but I haven't been available. Can you do that?"

Vilan chuckled at her cold manner. She hadn't changed at all. Of course, when you have all of eternity, you don't change much. "As you wish." He mumbled something under his breath and a swirling portal opened up in the wall behind him. "A week, Raven," and he was gone.

Raven sighed. Now came the hard part. Robin immediately rounded on her. "What the hell was that all about? Who was that and what do you know about him? Raven, I'm asking you for the last time, what is going on?"

The dark cloaked empath reached up and absently rubbed her temples with long pale fingers. Her head was spinning. "Not now Robin, give me time." Robin was furious. "Time? Three weeks isn't enough time for you, Raven? I still don't even know why Slade continues to attack you now that Trigon is gone. You're not under his influence anymore, so why is Slade so obsessed with you? What good are you to him?"

Raven glared at Robin. In a rising voice, she spoke quickly. "Robin, do you think I would really keep it from you if I knew? I don't know anymore about Slade than you do. In fact, less." Robin's face hardened at the insult Raven spat at him. "As for any insinuations that you intentionally or unconsciously just made, you can forget them, because I am not in league with Slade." Her voice had risen to a pitch just below a yell. The implications were too much for her, that she would be helping the man who a year ago had tried to use her to destroy the world. At any time, he would have killed her after her use, if he had not been working for Trigon. Raven despised Slade just as much as Robin and she couldn't believe he would say such a thing knowing how Slade had terrorized her.

Robin clenched his fists. His purpose wasn't to maker her mad right now. "Raven, don't twist my words, you know I wasn't accusing you of anything except keeping the truth from me! I know you're not working with Slade. But I need to know what your role in all of this is!"

Raven shook her head slowly, staring Robin down as if to say 'the damage has been done.' He rewarded her with a pause. "You didn't let me finish, Robin. As I said before, I know nothing about Slade or why he is still pursuing me. As for everything else, there is too much to tell. I need to meditate. I doubt that Vilan will find much in Gotham. I-"

Robin growled. "And why didn't you tell me you were planning on a trip to Gotham? Gotham is dangerous! You can't just take off on your own without telling anyone. Raven does this team mean nothing to you? You're not working on your own anymore. And if you're going to continue to be on this team, then I need to start getting some answers."

Raven hissed quietly through her teeth. The challenge had hurt her, but of course it wouldn't show. "Be patient Robin, you will have answers." She didn't want to speak anymore and made it clear. Upset that he'd all but threatened her, she wanted to be away from him. At the same time, she wanted to tell him everything about her, something that had never happened before. She had gone all this time without needing the approval of humans, and suddenly she's a Titan and she doesn't want to be alone anymore. Why did they have to make this harder? And the only truly human member of the team who should have affected her least, affected her the deepest. All the Titans depended on him for a reason, and Raven wasn't sure what hers was.

It's not that she didn't trust him, but she didn't want him to suffer with the knowledge that she had. He couldn't take what she had to tell him sitting down. "I wish I could explain to you what a monster I am, and then you would understand," she whispered. They stood for a moment longer in silence, Robin not knowing how to respond. He stared at her awkwardly. Raven, a monster? Did she mean the demon half of her? If that's what she thought he thought of her-

She didn't give him a chance to voice his thoughts aloud. Striding past him, she typed in the code to open the door. She didn't require Robin's master code because she was already inside. Besides, she could have just read his mind to find it. As she passed through the door, she could feel Robin's eyes boring into the back of her head.

Can a fly have rabies? I think the one that was just flying around my room did. runs and hides from rabid fly …If you love me you'll review  Flames are welcome, but I blame any bad writing on the fly. He distracted me. Oh yeah… Vilan's name is pronounced Vee-laahn…but I didn't even realize it sounded/looked similar to 'villain' until raerobfan pointed it out…maybe it was my subconscious telling me something… lol Don't worry, you're supposed to be confused about Raven and everything for now  raerobfan is the awesomeness because they posted my first review. throws confetti woot.