"Raven, I-... It has always been the truth…" His voice was barely above a whisper, as he tried to put his thoughts into words. He ran his thumbs gently against her cheeks in small circles, his eyes looking deeply into hers as if trying to convince her of his sincerity.

But she didn't believe him. How could she? It was probably her who was affecting him now! All these emotions were overflowing her entire being and clearly impacted him while he was still in this vulnerable state.

"Richard," she sighed and placed her hands over his, slowly removing them from her face, "you need to get some rest. It's been a rough couple of days for you. You should gather your thoughts. And so should I." Her voice was calm as always, though she couldn't help but to avoid direct eye contact with him.

"No no no no, Raven, please, trust me." Raven felt another surge of strong feelings from him as he desperately tried to hold onto her hands and get her to look at him. "Stay, please… I need you to stay with me." He whispered to her and pressed his forehead against her head, but it only pained her to see him like this.

"Rest, Richard." Giving him a weak smile, the girl was wrapped in dark smoke and in just a blink of an eye, she was gone. And Dick was left standing there with the biggest hole in his chest. Like he had just been broken up with.

He stared at the wall for the longest time, unable to move a muscle. What had that magic done to him? It had tapped into the deepest parts of his heart and dug out the very thing he had suppressed for all these years.

Your deepest desires shall be revealed.

That's how it went before the world around him turned upside down. During the past few days he yelled at Kori, almost got into a fight with Tim and had this incredible urge to just punch someone's teeth out. Everything was just wrong. It turned out that his deepest desires were all so… dark. He was panicking, so he just locked himself up in his apartment. Until Raven showed up and it went from dark to arousing. If it had been anyone else, it probably would've been fine. But no, it had to be her. Sure, it made sense, it was a magic related issue. And still. A part of him wished she hadn't come. It wasn't like there weren't other magic users around. Like Zatanna, for example.

"What do I do now…?" He let out a heavy breath and finally forced his body to move over to sit back down on the couch. His heart was still racing and he could still feel the taste of her lips, her fragile form underneath his own, her fingers against his skin. It was surreal. For all this time, all these years he'd forced back any sort of feelings he ever had for her and now that door was ripped open and it was flooding out like a tidal wave.

Kori is still my best friend. I love her and you love each other!

Raven's words echoed in his mind. Sure, they loved each other still. But the passion was long gone. It'd been gone ever since that ruined wedding. After the whole mess that was Trigon's possession of Raven, Kori had never been the same anymore. Nor had he. And then her joining the Outlaws, him going his own way. They simply grew distant, even if still keeping in touch whenever they could. He loved her, but it was nothing like what he felt for Raven.

That kiss so many years ago… Even if influenced by her empathetic abilities, it still felt real. And it lingered for the longest of time. He had to push it back somewhere deep because at that time he truly did love Kori and the two of them did their best to maintain a steady relationship. But Raven never really left. She was so different. She was extraordinary. An experience he'd never had before or after that.

But not only did he try to work things out with Kori at the time, Raven had her own life as well. And one mess after the other, Gar came into her life. Even though Kori was no longer really in his life, he never dared to stand in his friend's way. So it stayed like that. He pushed those feelings back even further and continued to go about his life until they grew apart as well. She got herself a day job and entered some sort of a normality in her life, while at the same time she still stayed to help Vic and the others out to train and teach the new Teen Titans that came along over the years. And he, well… He was here in Bludhaven, going on his solo career as a police officer by day and Nightwing by night, which by itself had already become a routine in his life. Not much excitement, apart from the occasional ass-beating. And then came all this.

So now he was left all shattered and confused as to what to do next. He had no idea. The only thing he did know was that he wanted her in his life. He wanted to be with her. He wanted her. But that didn't seem like an option because she didn't want the same thing. Or, at least, that's what he was trying to tell himself judging by her words, despite how her body language had spoken differently. Or was that just his imagination? It was torturing him! He needed to talk to someone about this. To get an advice. And there was only one person who would understand him better than anyone in this situation.

Dick fished his phone out of the pocket of his jeans and dialed a number. There was barely one full beep before it already got picked up. Pretty much expected.

"Hey, Dick, my man! What's up?" The voice on the other side of the line greeted him with the usual cheerfulness. Too bad he couldn't respond with the same.

"Hey, um… Listen, I… I wanted to ask you something… But… Now I realize it's kinda stupid…" He chuckled to himself. Hearing his stuttering, his friend's tone changed almost instantly.

"Dude, is everything alright?"

"I… I honestly don't know…"

"Do you need help? Where are you? Are you home?"

"Yeah, I'm-" he didn't even get to finish his sentence before a wind rushed through the room and a figure was standing right next to him. "-home." His head turned to look at the redhead and he slowly lowered his phone.

"Sup, man?" Wally asked and sat down next to his friend. "You're paler than a ghost. Less transparent though." As always, he tried to keep the tone light, but Dick wasn't having any of it at the moment.

"Yeah, I wish I was, though. Would be easier to just disappear and get away from everything." The black-haired male sighed and leaned forward, putting his arms on his legs for support.

"Whoa, okay, that was super depressive." Now Wally was getting a bit more concerned. "Seriously, what's wrong?" Another sigh left Dick's lips. He didn't even know where to begin. Burying his face in his hands, he sat there in silence for a few moments, while Wally waited as patiently as a speedster possibly could. Then, sliding his hands down his face, he finally spoke up, his gaze focused on the coffee table in front of him.

"Did you ever-... When someone tampers with your feelings… do they ever leave?"

And now it was Wally's turn to be silent. He stared at the other and it slowly dawned on him how serious the matter was. His carefree, light attitude changed in a matter of seconds and he let out a sigh, shifting in his seat mimicking Dick's pose.

"Not really, no." His brows furrowed in a small frown. "It… lingers for the longest time. Even when I thought it had faded, the moment I saw her with another guy just made my blood boil."

"What about now? Feeling like punching me in the face?" At that, Wally chuckled, but kept his serious visage.

"No, it's not like that anymore. It's more… like a distant memory than actual feelings. Even though sometimes I still miss her. Or rather, miss having those kinds of feelings."

"So how do you live with that?"

"I don't know." He said truthfully with a shrug. "You just kinda do. You move on. Try not to think about it too much. Replace those feelings with something- someone else."

"Yeah, see, I've done all that already. And it was working for a long time. But now… Now it all got ripped open again and I'm overwhelmed."

"Ripped open? How?"

"Magic."

"Mag- Hers…?" The redhead frowned a little, feeling angry at the thought. Although he had found the strength to forgive her for what she had done to him so many years ago, the thought of her manipulating Dick with that bullshit really angered him.

"No, no." Dick was quick to reassure his friend. "Some creep who basically wanted me to turn against everything I stand for. Turns out I have some pretty violent urges buried deep inside me." A self-deprecating chuckle escaped his lips. "But then she walked into the room and it all did a 180 degree turn. At first I was afraid I'd hurt her, but then… She was all I had on my mind."

"Wow. That's… some deep shit, man."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Another chuckle. Then a moment of silence followed before Wally broke it again. "So, what now?" A shrug was the only response he got.

"You gotta tell her, Dick."

"Tell her what?"

"That you still love her!"

"What's the point? She'll think it's the magic still affecting me. Or worse, that she is still affecting me. She didn't believe me now, I don't think she'll believe me ever. And frankly," he sighed, "I'm not sure I believe myself either."

"Dude, come on! You're probably still shaken up by that magic crap. But you know you've loved her since forever. Besides, what I've learned from years of experience with magic-" Somehow this statement earned a look of disbelief from Dick. "-is that it doesn't work on what you don't already have inside you."

It was hard to admit, but Wally actually had a point there. If the anger and violence was there, magic only enhanced it. Same with love. After all, it was supposed to affect his deepest desires. So it awakened a whole bunch of them. His love for Raven just happened to be the strongest one because he actually couldn't stop himself from acting on it.

"Maybe you're right." He finally voiced his thoughts out loud.

"Of course I am!" Wally laughed and patted the other on the back.

"The only question now is how to convince her of the same thing."