Its her birthday-not the bad one where Slade ruthlessly chased her through the time locked streets. It is one year later. She awakens to an empty tower. No Cyborg and Beast Boy arguing over whether to serve tofu or real meat. No Robin brooding over the latest Slade lead while Starfire makes goo-goo eyes at him. Even Kilowatt who had only been there a few weeks at the time was oddly absent. Today it seems will finally be just a nice calm morning. Slikie is the only one in sight-rolling around for some inexplicable reason on the kitchen island. She stares at him a moment before she puts a pot of water on the stove to boil for some tea. Even with her powers she takes a look around to make sure no one is watching as she leans over the island and scratches the worm's tummy. She even laughs aloud as he seems to make oohing and aahing sounds to indicate that's just what he needed. Raven has her tea in peace and quite as Silkie finally settles down upon the kitchen island for a mid-morning nap. She stretches-almost tempted to go back to bed herself, but she goes instead up to the roof to meditate in the morning sun. It's there that the morning's peace comes to an end.
"Happy Birthday!"
"She is annoyed at first-no birthday has ever been very happy for her, but there is just something different about this one. She gives in as she is whisked over to a picnic breakfast of homemade waffles-her favorite. She looks around at all her friends who want to make this a perfect day for her. Suddenly the happiness of the day ends as she collapses in a coughing fit-something just doesn't feel right about that-she is sure it never happened.
Raven awakens struggling to draw breath as her coughs finally subsides-a very rude awakening from the dream that she longed to stay in.
He props her up on the pillows and places a glass of water to her lips-letting her drink. "Easy now, not too fast." He sets the glass down when she pulls her head away.
She finally opens her eyes and looks around to find herself in a lavish room. At first she thinks it is just some desperate attempt from her mind to give her something to hang onto. She jumps startled when she realizes someone is sitting there by her on the edge of the bed.
"I see you're finally awake. You've been unconscious for several days now."
"Who are you? Where am I?"
"You are a guest in my home. I couldn't leave you to freeze to death out there on the street after all you've done for this city. My name is Elrich Johansen, I'm a local business owner.
"Thank you for helping me, but I really shouldn't impose-"
"-Where will you go?"
"I...I don't know. I don't really have anywhere to go since they closed down the tower."
"You aren't even well enough to get out of bed. You will stay here until you are well and you have gotten your strength back, then we'll find you someplace decent to stay...and who knows perhaps I can even find a job opening for you." Elrich lays out a set of clothes on the bed. "These should fit you. I've had some things sent up for you-in the bathroom. Why don't you go get cleaned up, then we can have a bite of dinner?" He gets up and leaves the room before Raven can reply.
Raven just lays there looking around the room. This is something that she could never even imagine in her wildest dreams. It looks like something right out of a fairy tale. A tear slips from her eye as she has a sudden longing for a prince that she fears she will never see again.

Elrich stands there outside the door. He wonders just how long he can keep up the good samaritan charade before she catches onto him. One thing is for sure-he is going to have to find a way to block those powers of hers before she gets enough strength back so she can use them to escape. He goes now to the phone to order up some room service. He fully intends to tempt and pamper the girl so that she will never want to leave even when she does find out why she's here.

Raven doesn't even realize just how weak she is until she gets up and makes her way to the bathroom. She shouldn't trust some stranger like this, but he did save her life and honestly it isn't like she has anything to lose. She is shocked by the grandeur of this place as she enters the bathroom. Marble sinks-crystal fixtures-a tub that looks big enough for an army. Its this that she's drawn to now. She is so weak that she has some difficulty turning the knob for the water. She stands there in awe for sometime before she finally sheds her tattered clothing. Raven stops looking at her reflection in the mirror. She is nothing but skin and bones. How this guy could've ever recognized her even in her tattered old uniform is beyond her. She finds a collection of scented body washes and shampoo-even an expensive looking silver brush and mirror set. She climbs into the bath settling into the soothing water where she works on taming the mess of her tangled hair. She thinks she could really get used to living like this. Raven quickly comes to her senses. This isn't something that is going to be permanent. A nagging thought does creep into her mind-why would a total stranger be so eager to help her find a place to stay or even a job and not take her to a hospital. She quickly tries to push it away as she intends to enjoy the luxury treatment while it lasts-but in the back of her mind the thought still lingers.

She can't even remember the last time she has eaten anything, but her attention is drawn to the view of the tower. It's lit up-but somehow its different-the lighting is darker and strobe lights flash in many of the rooms. It's strange though that out of all of them her old room remains dark.
"Is there something wrong with the food?"
"No...I was just looking at the tower.
"I hear its the red light district now. Things have really changed since the new mayor took office."
Raven looks up startled by what Elrich just said goes on at the Tower. She takes one last look at it before turning away. She doesn't have much of an appetite anymore, but its been way too long since she has had anything to eat. Raven all too soon finds herself looking back up at the tower as she longs for the past spent there with her friends.
"You must be wondering why I didn't take you to a hospital."
"The thought did cross my mind."
"That's another of the mayor's changes. To put it nicely superheroes have been outlawed. That's probably why no one tried to help you if they recognized you. No one would want to get you in trouble-authorities are bound to think you're here to play the heroine again." He sits quietly for a few moments watching her almost non-exsistant reaction to that piece of news. "Where are the others now? If you don't mind me asking."
"Starfire went home. I remember Beast Boy talked about going to Hollywood."
"Ah yes, I remember he was several animals in a movie once. I bet he was steamed when they color corrected them all."
"I think he was hoping to become a big star."
"Maybe he will have better luck this time around. What of the others? Didn't Terra just disappear?"
"Slade tricked her into working for him. We never saw her after he was defeated. Beast Boy thought he found her once. If it was Terra then she wouldn't admit it."
"Rumor has it a big Tech firm was interested in Cyborg."
"He mentioned going out to Steel City to join the Titans there."
"Didn't one of them move up to the Justice League?"
"Speedy."
"Robin went back to Gotham-so why did you stay?"
"He's back in Gotham?"
"For several years now-it was all over the news when he was hurt pretty bad in an explosion."
"An explosion? Did you hear if he's okay?"
"The last I heard he is back to fighting crime now-he changed his look though. The uniform is the color of a real robin. There was someone else wasn't there?"
"Kilowatt...he went home too."
"And what about you no home-no family?"
"I'm not from here. My home world was destroyed...by my Father."
"I guess that explains why you haven't gone to him then."
"He can rot in hell for all I care."
"So I take it you're not human."
"Half-my mother was from Earth."
"Then you have family here."
"Only a grandfather-he passed a few years ago. I only saw him once-he was delirious by then. He thought I was my mother and kept apologizing for the way he treated her. He needed to make his peace, so I didn't tell him I wasn't her." Raven looks up suddenly-she can't believe how much she's revealed about herself to this man she doesn't even know.
"That was kind thing for you to do."
"Maybe. I feel very tired, I think I would like to lay down for awhile."
"Of course." Elrich stands up and sees Raven back to her room and helps her to bed. "Just call out if you need anything." He stands there outside the door after closing it for a few moments. No family-no former Titans to interfere-he thinks this is going to work out very nicely.

A note on this chapter:

I sometimes refer in my stories to things that may have taken place in either the cartoons or any incarnation of the comics. Part of this chapter refers to some of the older Batman comics. There were a total of three Robins. Dick (Richard) Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake. I needed a reason for Robin to be Nightwing now-which is why I referenced that. Had something really happened to Dick Grayson former leader of the Titans-Raven would have known about it through their bond. She didn't feel that which is why she was shocked by the news.

Just in case you're confused now, I'll try to explain what happened. In the comics Dick Grayson he went off to college and Jason Todd took over the role of Robin. For whatever reason no one much liked him and he was killed off by a fan vote. The Joker beat him up and left him to die in an exploding building and Batman never got to him in time. The third Robin was then Tim Drake (he was also a member of one incarnation of the Titans in later comics after Raven died) who apparently was intended for at least awhile to be the version of Robin they were putting in the cartoons. That had me confused for a long time because they had Robin becoming Nightwing-yet in a Static Shock cartoon Batman tells Static that the Tim Drake version of Robin (who had a different costume) went to join the Titans. Thankfully it wasn't long after that there was a documentary on the history channel talking about comics that cleared all that up. I just wish my editor had seen it because I end up with migraines when I have to explain all this stuff to her.