Chapter Three: Waking-up in

He winced as he opened-up his eyes to warm candle light. The room smelled like violets and something sweet, which surprised him since he turned his head to the side and found a lovely skull with a melting candle on top of it. Too exhausted to feel surprised he looked back at the ceiling.

The was a cold cloth on his forehead, just above his right eye and there were bandages around an extremely painful part of his chest. Also he was missing a few articles of clothing, such as his shoes, gloves, shirt, and everything else except his pant and mask, which had thankfully been left on. With a small sigh he attempted to sit-up right. his efforts were however swatted away as his ribs began to yell in agony, causing him to fall back on the bed.

Just then there came voices from outside of the room he was in. He propped himself painfully up on his elbows and listened to the voices carefully, trying not to panic. After a moment he soon recognized all of the voices as the Teen Titans. Putting that together he remembered the night before and recalled passing out in Ravens' arms. Blushing to himself at the embarrassment of looking so weak he continued listening to them talking.

Raven, like he had heard from Jump City locals, was quiet and didn't say much. Of course, Robin was leading the conversation, speaking about a familiar enemy: the hooded men with wings. However, the conversation ended soon and they all called it a night, heading to their rooms.

Quickly the mystery boy pulled the blanket back up and pretended he was still unconscious. Right as he settled into place the door quickly opened and closed and the room's occupant came in. After hearing her mutter to herself about the day he realized it was Raven. She sat down on the bed next to him and felt his forehead with her lips, seeing if he had a temperature. He didn't and she locked her rooms' door with a swish of her hand. Then she got to her feet and went over to a small bed she had made for herself on the floor. Immediately she fell asleep and the boy opened his eyes.

Part of him felt awful that he had taken her bed, which he really couldn't help since he'd been unconscious the whole time. Pushing away that feeling he looked at her curiously, seeing her features in the dim light from the candle.

She was actually very beautiful, even with her freaky pale skin and purple hair. Then he looked down at the healing scar on her leg. It wasn't scabbed over anymore and was just scarred skin, only alittle pinker than the rest of her. Turning his attention away he saw his things hidden by the side of the dresser.

Gritting his teeth he got out of bed quietly and walked over to his things. They were folded nicely and smelled just like the room, which part of him liked since it was better than the laundry detergent he normally used. Quietly he pulled on his shirt and other articles of clothing. As soon as he was fully dressed he snuck over to the window.

Opening it as silently as he could the boy took out one of his grappling hooks and lodged it onto the sill securely. Then, with one last look at the sleeping form of Raven, he went out the window and left. When he was at the towers base he grabbed the line and pulled the hook back, wincing as the movement cased pain to spike up in his ribs.

He put away the grappling hook, feeling small shots of pain from almost every movement. Breathing made it worse, causing him to pause. However, he shouldn't be here lazing about all day. There's so much work and research he has to do, villains that need to be stopped. So, he was leaving, to continue his job. Just as he turned around there came a surprise, waiting for him.

Raven was there, floating silently behind him and looking on in tired worry. She didn't have her cape on, which was odd, or her shoes for that matter. However, she had brought her blanket down with her.

"What are you doing? You shouldn't be moving around, much less grappling out of a tower." She questioned him.

"I'm going back to my place. I have a lot of work to do and I can't fall behind. Besides, I didn't save you so my lazy butt could take your bed." He answered her in a friendly tone, hiding that it hurt to speak.

"I don't mind. Besides, how did you plan on getting back to the city?"

He paused, now thinking about that fun little fact.

"Swim there...?" He said slowly.

"...Genius. If you want to go back to your place, at least let me take you there." Raven said to him, her eyes saying it all.

He was about to say no but instead nodded and just went with it. She gave him a tired smile and wrapped her arms around him, making him fell very awkward. Raven didn't seem to notice though and took off at a nice pace flying into the city.

After about twelve minutes they reached an empty apartment complex. He lived on the top floor but didn't want her knowing, so he told her the second one. She dropped him off on that floor and waited for him to go to his place, just to make sure he was alright. once he opened one of the rooms she told him "good night" and flew away.

Following her to the window he watched her fly away into the night. Then he went to the stairs and began his long way up to his home sweet home. A small part of him regretted that he had only gone to the second out of twenty floors, but he smelled the sweet scent on his cape and walked on, not complaining the whole way.