AN: Raven sometimes used the name Rachel in the comics, but her real name IS Raven, so where did she get Rachel from. Maybe she was honoring a friend? Okay, so maybe I just had something written in my journal and decided I should kill two birds with one stone, no pun intended. That's right, this is another personal experience of mine, slightly edited to work better for Raven's character.
If you're asking, "Another?" then I should tell you, most of these are. I took more liberties with some than others.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, obviously.
If you're looking for a happy ending and can't seems to find one, maybe it's time you start looking for a new beginning instead - Ritu Ghatourney.
Garfield had dragged me out again today, and while I was angry at first, it actually become quite fun. We spent a few hours in the forest near Jump City just quietly enjoying the nature before he grew bored and pulled me to the mall. We were quite hungry after hours of trekking in the woods, so we headed for the food court first.
He told me to grab a table while he got us food, and thankfully the food court was not completely full. I trusted Garfield to get me something edible, he grew up a lot in the two years since Tokyo. Of course, it also helped that our relationship had smoothened out after I apologized for how I had acted. Now that we're not constantly at each other's throats, we were closest we had ever been.
I was patiently waiting at a table for Garfield to return when I saw someone who liked vaguely familiar. She must have felt me watching, for she turned her head and looked straight at me, scrunching up her face in recognition, trying to place me. I have changed a lot since we had last talked.
"Hey, Rachel," I greeted her.
She sat down across from me and we talked for a while. It was nice to see her again. Before I had fallen in with the Titans, I had been traveling around Earth for a while, seeing what people were like, steeling myself for when I would inevitably destroy their world. Rachel and I met on one of my trips, and we quickly became... I want to say friends, but that isn't so true. We were friendly, and I liked her more than anyone I had previously known. I'm pretty sure she liked me too, or at least appreciated me as a confidant, but we weren't as close as we could have been. Though that wasn't our fault.
I had been taught by the Monks of Azarath to block emotion and keep everyone out, and while no one taught Rachel that, she learned it herself. Rachel's home life had been... well, difficult is an understatement. Nonexistent more like it. She taught herself how not to get hurt anymore, and unfortunately that meant not giving anyone an opportunity to hurt her. I guess it was our similarity that drew us together, and allowed us to bond. But for all that Rachel was hurt, scared, and angry, she was also sure that there was some good out there. That all she had to do was go out there and get it, and then she would be happy.
I remember she drew me one time without me knowing, and showed me some time later. I was flattered, but couldn't exactly show it, so she never could see just how much it meant to me that she took out the time and effort for me. We then talked of life and death, all while looking up at the clouds. I could never understand Rachel's strength and resolve, especially when things were at their hardest. For every monstrous maw gaping wide I saw, she saw a valley at sunset. For every harpoon sinking into flesh I whispered of, she would sing of giraffes running across an open plain. What I saw chilled me, but she was chill with what she saw.
One of the last times we talked, there was a pride parade passing the cafe we were at. She told me she was a lesbian, and I readily accepted her. I mentioned being assexual, and she returned the favor, though not without a hint of disappointment that may or may not have been imagined. Maybe in another life we could have been something more, but we had both moved on with our lives, in two very different worlds.
Rachel left had already left by the time Garfield came back, but he must have seen her because he asked me who she was.
With no hesitation, I responded.
"An old friend. One I just met."
