CW: This is the mature version of this story. This chapter includes Lemons. For the T rated version follow this link: s/13259754/1/Ravensong-t

Legalities: I do not own or own rights to the Teen Titans

Chapter 6

Nightwing sat in the courtyard of the abandoned winery, gazing over the withered vineyards reaching their barren branches and vines up through the tendrils of low hanging mist that had come with the rain. His thoughts were everywhere and nowhere at once, desperately thinking about his plans to rescue Raven, yet unwilling to think about her. He wished the rain would wash away the devastation that clenched his heart because of her. Everything was getting confused, muddled. Sometimes he thought his thoughts weren't even his anymore.

He turned his face away from the dying vines and propped his foot up on the stone bench that he sat upon, resting his elbow on his bent knee as the rain dripped into his eyes and plastered his hair against his face.

A small splash caught his attention toward the entrance of the courtyard. He turned his head and pulled his sword in the same motion, barely interested or worried at who might be there knowing that he could deal with anyone trespassing on his newly self-proclaimed property. But as he saw who stood there he couldn't believe his eyes. The tip of his sword fell forgotten to the cobblestones.

She stood before him, as soaked in the pouring rain as he was, her hood dropped behind her and her hair draping around her face in wet locks. Her cloak and the skirt of her dress billowed in the wind despite the extra weight of the water. He couldn't hide the shock on his face at her presence in the courtyard. He rose slowly from the stone bench, blinking rain water out of his eyes and squinting at her as if to make sure that his eyes didn't deceive him. She remained rooted to the spot where she stood under the trellis archway, her breathing becoming more rapid as he began to take a few slow steps toward her, the tip of his sword dragging on the stones at his feet.

"Why?" he asked, stopping once he had reached half the distance between them, hope dancing in his eyes but his grip on his sword still firm. He had learned never to underestimate Raven.

She made no answer as emotion choked her, the hard lump in her throat making itself painfully known. Still she made no movement toward him.

"Why did you come here?" he asked again. "After all my pursuit, all your running . . . here you are? Why -"

"Why am I drawn to you? Why do I feel you pulling at me? . . . I don't know," she whispered, barely audible in the splattering of the rain. "Why did I leave the safety of the Titans Tower to come after the only man besides my father that I ever feared? I don't know that either . . . I shouldn't be here." She turned as if to flee, trembling so hard that she was grateful her hands were hidden within her cloak.

"So where does that leave me?" he demanded, his anger beginning to rise. "What am I supposed to do with all these leftover feelings of you? Because I don't know. What happened to us? All I tried to do was save you. All I've ever done I've done for you."

She stopped in her tracks, her trembling so strong that Nightwing could see her shoulders shake. "I no longer know you," she said, trying her hardest to not turn back.

"I don't even know me anymore," he said in a moment of unexpected honesty and vulnerability. Raven didn't have a response.

"I don't know what's happening to me, Rae," he said softly.

She turned to face him and he still had his hand tightly wrapped around the hilt of his sword but the other was pressed against his head like he was struck by a sudden migraine.

"You . . . who are you anymore? You're a monster and a murderer and -"

"Then why did you come?" he yelled, standing and shaking his head his eyes cold and hard.

Raven had no answer as she looked upon him. All the preparation that she had made on her way from the Tower, all the strength that it had taken for her to leave the Tower at all, fell to her feet in forgotten words.

"You're a monster and a murderer and I have to know if the real you is still in here. I just saw him. I – I need to know . . ."

"I am who you made me. No more and no less."

Nightwing raised the point of his sword and aimed it at her.

"All that I have done I've done for you. You are the only one that can end this. If you're not here to come home with me then why are you here?" He stepped forward a step, his sword glinting in the moonlight. "Tell me you don't love me. Tell me you don't love me and I will spare you. If you can say it I swear to you that you can walk out here right now. I'll give you the chance to leave this realm before I pursue you once more. I'll spare your precious Titans. Tell me you don't love me."

Tears began to swarm in Raven's eyes as she faced the point of his sword without a single gesture of defense. She opened her mouth desperately trying to form the words that she knew she must say, as much as she was conflicted of whether or not she believed them.

No sound came to her lips.

"Tell me you don't love me," he pressed.

"I just . . . it feels . . ." the lump in her throat was making it impossible to speak without the strain of emotion in her voice.

"Tell me you don't love me," he whispered, closing his eyes. When they opened they were no longer hard. "Rae. Please."

Everything was lost.

"Every day I spend running from you feels like I'm going to die anyway," she choked out. "I am terrified every day of you, yet . . . You're in there. You're here now. This. This part of you is the real you, not the monster with the hard, cold eyes. I can't leave you in the darkness. Yours was one of the first loves I've ever been able to feel. I can't forgive what you've done, if that was even you, but I can't forget you either. I just . . . I don't know . . ."

"Tell me you don't love me!" he screamed, a look of rage flaring across his face and darkening his eyes once more.

"I . . . I don't . . . "

Nightwing stared her down as she tried to spit out the words, but the rage in his eyes couldn't sustain itself in her presence. His eyes softened yet again and his always steady sword hand wavered.

"I can't."

She began to sink to the ground, no longer strong enough to support herself under the burden of her emotions and utter exhaustion. Nightwing pushed his resolve to stand his ground aside and rushed to her, casting away his caution and throwing down his sword as he grasped her by the shoulders. She lifted her face to look him in the eyes and the strength of spirit and naked emotions within the violet depths of her eyes nearly knocked him back a step. She grappled with the conflicting emotions inside feeling that she may never love anyone else as much as she loved Robin turned Nightwing, yet also knowing that she'd never feared anyone more. Even now, giving in to the pull she felt toward him she was terrified. Being held in his arms was like being caressed by an old lover and threatened of her life all at once.

Raven turned her face away, unable to face looking into those eyes that she had once known so well and that now switched between someone she loved and someone she didn't even know. He placed a hand beneath her chin and lifted her face toward his once more, rubbing his thumb along the scar upon her chin; a scar that he had put there before she began to flee through dimensions. He hesitated, looking into the face of the only thing he had ever really desired and seeing the need in her eyes, as well as the scars on her face and all consuming fear; all of which were things that he had instilled in her.

Unable to resist the urge any longer he kept his hand under her chin as he lowered his face to meet hers. The feeling of his lips pressed against hers sent shocks through her nerves, both of fear and longing. She trembled, though she wasn't sure for which reason. She returned the kiss with fierce passion, but part of her couldn't help being petrified of how little she understood him.

But his arms felt right as they circled around her, his passion for her clear: He had chased her through countless dimensions to reach her. He had saved her life. He had had a hand in killing those closest to them to get to her. But none of those reckless and obsessive things could hide what drove him.

He loved her; and she had only ever been truly loved once before.

The kiss was a release of all they had inside them; passion, desire, love as well as violence, rage, and hatred, all of it poured into that single kiss. She tried pulling away but he held her shoulders in a firm grasp. Giving in and shoving the terror aside she gripped him more tightly, a gesture that he returned in kind. His lips moved in sync with hers and when his tongue sought entrance to her mouth she complied without hesitation. He stroked back her long, dark hair and stepped forward pressing Raven's back against the closest pillar. His hands slid down her arms and grabbed both of her hands. He lifted them and pinned her hands to the pillar above her head as he continued to kiss her with fierce hunger.

She was lost in the current of her emotions and swept up in the undercurrent of his. Pulled away from the safety of the shore in a riptide that she could not hope to control or escape. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he released her hands to hold her against him as he backed away from the column. He spun with her in the rain, her cloak spreading out behind them showering glittering droplets of their own to mingle with the rain, and as her warmth transferred to him the pain that had filled him for so long finally started to fade. The cracks in himself that he could not piece together on his own began to knit together. He felt unconflicted for the first time in nearly a year. Like two sides of him had been warring and now they had something to both lay down arms for. Something they both wanted.

He undid the clasp of her cloak and it fluttered to the cobblestones beneath them. He laid a trail of kisses down her neck to her collar bone, sending chills down her spine. His hands gripped her thighs so tightly she was sure there would be bruises. Her hands busied themselves undoing his cape and sending it flying in the wind. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her hands in his long, dark hair. His hands trailed down her back, then back up her thighs leaving a trail of fire in their wake before they stopped to grab her ass.

She gasped as he bit down at the soft flesh where her shoulder met her neck and moaned as trailed from there to her ear with his tongue. She could hear the zipper being undone behind her and she shivered as her pale skin was exposed to the cold air and rain. He laid hot hands on her bare back and turned toward to building.

He kicked open the doors and entered to get her out of the rain. He walked over to where he had made his makeshift bed and laid her down, covering her with his body. She trembled but it had nothing to do with being cold.

She fumbled with his belt as he laid her torso bare, pulling her top from her. His belt released and she tossed it carelessly to the floor. He pulled off his shirt and hovered over her before tangling his hand in her hair and staring intently into her eyes.

"Rae," he panted. "Rae we can't-"

She pushed herself up and covered his lips with hers before he could get out another word and he was lost. Whatever he had been trying to say slipped away and he returned her kiss with renewed passion as his other hand reached down to unclasp and discard her belt. They shed the rest of their clothes and relished the feel of being pressed up against each other once again. His hands explored every inch of her and her head tilted back in ecstasy.

His hand trailed up her thighs and he trailed his fingers along her slit, feeling the heat of her and the wetness that indicated her readiness for him. She moaned as he parted her lips and stroked the soft bud of flesh at her core. She panted from the delectable feelings he elicited from her and let out another lingering moan as he slipped a finger inside of her, his thumb still ministering to the pearl of her. She gripped his shoulders painfully with her fingers as her back arched off of the mattress, her head thrown back against the pillows.

She cried out as she shattered, her body taught as every muscle tensed. Her body pulsed around his fingers as the tension in the rest of her left, her body dropping back to the bed as she gasped in breaths. He withdrew his fingers and trailed his hand up her stomach and wrapped around her breast as he shifted to straddle her. He rolled a hard nipple between his fingers and drew another moan from her lips as her back arched again. She ran her hands down his sides and dug her nails into the hard muscles of his ass as he pushed into her. She dragged her nails up his back as she hissed and he groaned at the feeling as he took slow, hard thrusts into her.

Her body clenched around him as she angled her hips upward to meet his thrusts and his lips crashed on hers again as his pace quickened. One of her hands slid up to twine through his hair as the other traced the hills and valleys of the muscles of his back. She clenched his hair in her fist as he slipped a hand down to rub the bundle of nerves that he knew how to play so well. It didn't take long for her to cry out as she was undone again, her body pulsing around his cock. She dragged her nails along his back again and he crested the peak as well, his body growing tense as he panted his release. She ran the tips of her fingers up and down his back, in a tender, gentle stroke as he came down and he moaned his approval. He fell to her side as they tried to catch their breaths, limbs tangled and sweat coating their skin.

It took several minutes for them to regain their breath and by then, adrift in the haze of the heat and the euphoria, they had drifted off into the sleep reserved for those at peace.

O • O • O • O

Nightwing awoke amid the tangle of sheets and blankets on the makeshift bed among the crates and casks left by the former owners of the winery. The weak light of dawn poured in from the window to the courtyard and through the door they had not bothered to close on the way in from the rain. He took a deep breath and relished the feeling of true happiness that he had not been able to feel for a long, long time. It seemed like a lifetime since Raven had touched him like she had last night; not consumed by fear but from far different emotions. They could leave now. He could return and rebuild his world with her, make her see what he had seen and understand who he had become. He could make things right because things for him were finally right. Things made sense again. The part of him that felt like an invading presence was at peace with him. The war within him could be over as long she was with him.

He rolled over and reached toward the other half of the bed for the other half of himself and felt nothing but cold sheets beneath his hand. He jerked upright and pulled the covers aside to reveal a bed empty apart from himself. Cold fear spread through him, surprising him: He had been expecting anger.

It was then that he noticed the note on the pillow where her head had lain not a few hours ago. With a trembling hand he reached for it and read what was written upon it.

"I am in love with a man that I no longer know. The deeds of the past rest too heavily upon me to simply forget. Know only that I do, truly, love you still . . . but not what you've become. Forgive me my weakness. It was never my intention to hurt you. See what you've become, what you've done because of Noctis, and remember who you really are. The real you. He was here last night. Don't lose him to the darkness. Help me save you. Let me save you. I owe you that. -Raven"

For long moments he sat without a motion, without so much as blinking. He wanted to crumple the paper but found that he couldn't knowing it was the last thing she had given him.

He had saved her, both from a pointless death and from those around her who sought only to corrupt her and to turn her against him, and still she chose to leave; to battle with him instead. But he refused to lose her. Not again.

His eyes grew hard and the anger he had been expecting found him at last as he rose from the bed to pursue her for what he hoped was the last time.