A/N: My thanks to all who reviewed last chapter and helped make some changes! Teen Titans have wonderful fans and I love the feedback you guys gave. Edits were made to chapter one so you may want to skip back and check them out before continuing with this chapter. Enjoy!

xXx

"Home again, jiggaty jig."

"Careful my girl that smacks strongly of sarcasm." Raven turned to face her soon to be roommate: Argent. Her hair had gotten more wild Raven noticed. She quickly struggled to stifled an inward laugh as Pink!Raven whispered that Argent looked like a cockatoo.

"It's nice to see you too Toni." She noticed the goth girl giving her the once over.

"Ya hair's longer and since when do you wear anything but leotards?" Raven tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear and nervously smoothed the front of her floor length robe.

"I didn't spend a lot of time in front of mirrors the past four years and what I was wearing was hardly a topic for much concern." She gave a shrug. "Never really thought about it till now." Argent cocked her hip and rested her hand on her own very fashionably clad form.

"Plenty of time to fix that later I suppose, I may not be a gun ho make-over girl like Kori but even I can see you need help. Anyway let's go inside and I'll give you the nickle tour of our place." She wrenched the door for the roof access open and ushered Raven in. "That all you brought?" She tapped the dusty cover of Raven's book. Raven just nodded, seeming lost in her own thoughts. "Meh, no matter Vic brought over all your things from storage; he, Gar and Rich have been setting up your room while we waited for you." She bounced from stair to stair seemingly to an inner rhythm. "This is us." She jerked her thumb at a rather grim looking door.

"We're on the top floor?" Raven said, peering over the railing. There were a lot of stairs to the bottom.

"Yea, sort of a good news/bad news deal." replied Argent, swinging the door open. "Good news: no upstairs neighbors. Bad news: there's no elevator and both of us are used to flying. Come on in. Oi! Boys, Raven is here!" Raven heard a frantic scrabble erupt from inside the apartment and braced herself for the fast approaching tackle. Sure enough, both Cyborg and Changeling came barreling towards her and crushed her ribs in a group hug.

"Hey guys." She managed to squeak out.

"Dude! Raven are you wearing a dress? And your hair is all long and stuff. You look like a girl!" Changeling rattled out, his words running together in his excitement.

"It's great to have you home Rae! You gotta let me show you all the cool stuff the League has me working on." Cyborg added, his voice competing with Changeling's to be the loudest in the room. But oddly enough, it was the voice barely above a whisper that rang the loudest in Raven's head.

"Welcome home Raven." called Nightwing from the kitchen doorway. Raven could feel various emoticlones beginning to rear their heads and quickly squelched them. Unable to speak she simply nodded in his direction. As if catching on to the sudden tension in the room, Argent quickly linked her arm with Raven's and pulled her away from the boys.

"So the apartment. Kitchen there, living room through there, we have to share a bathroom but whatever. My room and of course, your room." Raven took a few steps into the new room and had to smile. Cyborg truly had saved everything. Raven was amazed at her friend's effort to recreate her room at Titans Tower, even painting the walls the same colour.

"I wanted you to feel like you were coming home Rae." he called, leaning against the door frame. "When you left and didn't take any of this with you I kept it so that you would know we never forgot about you. We're a family no matter how much time passes." Argent popped her head around the broad half-robot.

"That's very nice and all but I gotta get in a quick word with my new roomie." She had drumsticks tucked into the top of her left boot. "I only got two things, a rule and a warning. Rule: on nights that Argent has band practices no loud noises from three a.m to 1 p.m the next day because when I don't have enough sleep I get this twitch that makes me kinda stabby. Warning: case you need to do any laundry, the machines are by the kitchen and you gotta put something heavy on the washer or it won't run. Caio." Her red and black tufted hair vanished from sight. Raven let out a long sigh and plopped herself down on the bed.

"Victor I appreciate everything you did really, but why is Richard here and without Kori? Gar I don't mind but we talked about this before I came back, no meddling." Cyborg crossed his arms and stared his friend down.

"I'm not meddling Rae, you two are going to have to address this elephant in the room sooner or later. I didn't work this hard to get you home so that you and he could avoid each other. That's not meddling, that's concern." He sat down on the bed next to her. "As for Kori, she couldn't make it." Raven looked up at her friend with quizzical eyes, but he ruffled her hair and continued on. "Now come out to the living room. We ordered pizza and when is the last time you had a slice?" Raven held her hands up in mock surrender.

"Alright, alright. Let me just find something to change into. I feel a little silly wearing this after Gar made such a big deal out of it." Cyborg gestured towards the small closet.

"There should be some of your old uniforms in there." He turned back one last time before leaving the room. "Oh and Rae, don't mention Kori in front of Richard. I'll explain everything later."

xXx

Nightwing paced in the kitchen trying his hardest not to panic. No, panic wasn't the right word. He was awash in so many emotions at seeing her face again that "panic" simply wasn't the whole story. He was elated, but furious, his heart kept leaping from his stomach to his throat and was skipping beats. He wanted to run away or punch a wall, yet couldn't quit pacing long enough to make up his mind. For four years she had lurked there in the back of his mind, the nagging ache of a path not taken. Like a punch to the gut, every single half thought wish and subconscious prayer he ever had about her came rushing back. Nightwing had fought the worst criminals in the most challenging scenarios and yet when faced with his fellow Titan he had no clue what to do. Then he heard Raven's door click shut and Cyborg come walking out. With a snarl he grabbed the larger man and pinned him to the wall.

"The hell is this Victor!" he hissed. "You lied to me! When you called me to come over you said she wouldn't be here for hours, and yet there she is. You said that you needed help and yet I get here to find most of the work done. What are you up to?" Cyborg stood up, grabbing the front of his former leader's shirt and hoisting him into the air.

"Look bird boy, Raven is our friend, our team mate and I will not let you tip toe around her like she has the plague, no matter what your hang ups are. You are going to take your personal drama, swallow it, and smile when she comes out that door. I don't care if you are all grown up and wearing your big boy Nightwing tights, you do anything but make Rae feel welcome and I will end you man. She is finally home and dude you aren't ruining that." He released his grip letting Nightwing drop to the floor.

"Yo guys can you bring me out another slice of pizza from the kitchen?" called Changeling. "Toni's got the latest Mega Monkeys and I am totally in the zone!"

xXX

Raven slipped one of her old leotards on and adjusted it in the mirror. This is looser than I remember. And when did my face get to thin? She ran her fingers over her ribs counting them easily. I guess I forgot to eat more times then I realized. Making the best she could of her too big uniform she phased through the wall into the living room.

"Hey you found your old uniforms!" called Changeling, switching off the game in a rare show of selflessness. "Which is good, because that white robe thing was weirding me out." Raven adjusted the hood of her cloak to shield her eyes. All this special attention was getting to be too much.

"Man none of that." scolded Cyborg as he pushed the hood from her face and handed her a full plate of pizza. "You don't get to leave for four years and then hide your face. Come on and tell us all about Azarath." Raven sighed but let Cyborg have his way. Tearing off a bite of pizza she chewed slowly and gathered her thoughts before sitting cross-legged on the floor. God it's good to have pizza again.

"Well like I told you when I left, I went back to Azarath to continue my training. After we defeated Trigon, I no longer had to constantly keep that part of myself in check and could begin studying certain magics that were forbidden to me before. After you and BB, sorry Changeling, left it just seemed like the right time." She paused to scarf down the rest of her first slice and started on the second.

"God Rae when is the last time you ate?" exclaimed Changeling as he stared at her devouring her food. Raven gave a shrug and levitated the pizza box from the kitchen to sit by her on the floor.

"My lessons got intense sometimes and everything else got put on the back burner. Like I told Toni that's how my hair got so long; I would forget about things sometimes. Eating being one of them."

"I thought you looked thin." whispered Nightwing from the far end of the couch. Raven felt Gray!Raven flash in her mind's eye and tucked her cloak more firmly around herself.

"What could be so important that you couldn't eat?" raged Cyborg. Raven had seen him at enough buffets in their Titan times to know that meal skipping was a sin in his eyes.

"The things I was learning were fascinating Cy," she chuckled. "For years my powers had been about containment, constant control. For the first time I had the chance to expand my magic. When I was the gem the monks were concerned that if I gained too much power I could become dangerous. But now I can tap into my emotions rather than cage them and do so much more." She decided to leave out for now the part about seeing her emoticlones all the time, instead of just when she meditated. "Like this, watch!" She waved her hand and levitated Changeling's camouflage band from his wrist. Surrounding it with her black aura for a few minutes, she pulled something that looked like a small star from the band's engravings and touched it to the red diamond on her forehead. Silver light flashed and then absorbed. Touching the crystal, Raven changed her hair from violet to green, green to white, white to red, and then back to violet again.

"THAT IS SO COOL!" shouted Changeling, punching the air as Raven magiced the band back onto his wrist.

"You recreated the spell just like that?" exclaimed Nightwing. Raven was beaming from ear to ear and he couldn't remember seeing her so happy.

"Only a part of it, but that's what the monks were teaching me. There's a way to look into a spell and see the magic that makes it. With the right pull or twist I can change it or copy it. For years I wanted to study this magic just like everyone else on my world." She paused, sadness briefly filling her eyes. "To be just like everyone else on my world." she whispered before shaking off the momentary melancholy and smiling again. "I'm still learning but it's wonderful."

"So why leave?" Nightwing's comment wiped the grin from Raven's face and Cyborg could have hit him.

"When I returned to Azarath everyone of course knew about Trigon's downfall and the part I played in it. After so many years there and being the former Azar's favourite, my mother had become something of royalty. In the people's eyes this made me a sort of princess." She caught Changeling's shocked expression out of the corner of her eye and added. "If you tilt your head and squint. Well at first I was able to use my studies as an excuse to avoid the duties they had for me, but they began to be more insistent. Soon I was being dragged away from my studies, forced into parties and some sort of charm school. They were grooming me so I could one day assume the role they wanted me to fill."

"What role Rae?" asked Cyborg.

"They wanted me to become the next Azar, the ruler of our world." She sighed and pushed the empty pizza box away from her. "I turned them down and decided to return to Earth. I never wanted to be anyone's leader or queen and I'm not cut out for high society. So I sent Victor a letter about returning home and he told me about Toni's offer. Thus here I am." Changeling smiled and stretched out to put his feet on the coffee table.

"So what's your plan? Get back to kicking bad guy butt with us? Cy and I can talk to the League if you want." Raven shook her head.

"Actually one of the big reasons I agreed to live with Toni is because I like her idea. She's taking a break from the life and using the time to take some classes and live a little. I'm not going to do something extreme, like joining a band, but I think I would like to go to college and, as I told Victor, get a job. It may be mundane but to quote Toni: 'we aren't going to be heroes forever'. Personally, I'd like to have something else to my name when that comes. I'll get back to the life eventually but I think a break could be healthy. I don't want 'Superhero' to be my only identity. "

"Well I like it." stated Cyborg as he stood and ruffled her hair once more. "Anything to keep you home. As for the job thing we'll all keep our ears open but in the mean time let me know if you need any help." He snatched Changeling from the couch before he could turn the video game back on. "It's late so we'll let you get some sleep. Night Rae, keep in touch."

"But dude Mega Monkeys! MEGA MONKEYS!" Changeling squawked as Cyborg dragged him from the room.

"Welcome home Raven." Nightwing said softy, lightly touching her shoulder before following Changeling and Cyborg out the door.

"See man that wasn't so bad!" Cyborg cried, slapping Nightwing on the back as the door closed. "I mean you were a little quiet and sullen, but that's so normal for you I doubt she even noticed." I may have been quiet, but you couldn't hear the vocal war going on inside my head. Nightwing thought, giving one last backwards glance.

On the other side of the apartment door Raven's shoulder burned like fire.

A/N: So I changed my writing style a bit, hopefully for the better. Still trying to find my rhythm with this one so keep those reviews coming.