Hey, here's the next one. I'm…not sure with this. It needs to be here so that I can get to the eventuality that I'm aiming for but…I can't help but feel it's…rushed. What do you think?

I also want to know whether I should up the rating of this story after this chapter, oh, and I have a poll here. How many of you think I should have a go at writing a lemon? (I think that's what they're called)

Anyway, here's number twelve, enjoy.

Oh, and I made this stuff up, I just thought it'd make sense, y'know?


Chapter twelve: Explanations.

By La Anjita


Robin could physically not keep his eyes off of her. Throughout the course of the next few days Robin found his eyes to be inexorably drawn to the dark sorceress of the team, no matter how hard he tried to resist.

Not that he particularly wanted to resist, she was most definitely a sight for sore eyes, he was just afraid of being noticed; he knew Raven liked her personal space. But no matter how afraid of this he was his eyes just wouldn't care for that particular problem.

He would find himself staring at her face, her swan-like neck, her perfectly proportioned chest and her flat stomach. His gaze would travel along the length of her long slim legs and covered arms.

There was a moment, later in the week that found Robin staring once again at his pale teammate, where Robin's perusal of Raven and her figure ended abruptly. He was staring at her face, relishing the sight of the contours and purple shadows and admiring her as he had done nearly a week ago on that contented afternoon. He looked up to watch her concentrate calmly on the pages of whatever book she was reading-

She was staring back.

Robin jumped and blushed furiously with both embarrassment and shame. Her eyes were narrowed in an annoyed frown and her lips were pursed. She placed a leather bookmark in the place that she had reached in her novel and cradled it in the crook of her arm. Standing, she moved towards the door rather briskly and motioned crisply at him to follow before disappearing through the door. Robin gulped and complied.

He looked around and scowled in confusion; how did she expect him to follow her if she just disappeared? He walked onward, peering around the corner and finding nothing. He let out an exasperated groan of frustration before turning around to head back.

'Ah!' He stumbled back slightly; surprised to see the object of his confusion standing barely inches in front of him. Before he could blink she had moved towards him with a brusque step and pushed him backwards. He didn't fall, however, until the two had emerged on the roof, black magic dissolving into the air.

'Woah!' His limbs flailed as he fell and landed painfully on his backside, knocking his head in the process. He sat up with a groan, rubbing his head and rump.

'What-?'

'No, I think it is I who have the right to question.' She moved to stand just beyond his feet, arms crossed again and a distinctly annoyed expression on her face.

'Will you care to explain exactly why you have been staring incessantly at me for the duration of the past few days?'

Robin fidgeted slightly and looked at his hands, braced as they were against the floor to keep himself upright.

'No. Look at me Boy Wonder, I want an honest answer.'

He avoided her gaze and she sighed. His head was forced up by a hand of black energy and was kept there by the same manifestation of Raven's magicks.

'Look at me!' She turned away slightly, regaining some of the composure she had just lost. She looked sideways at him with an angry eyebrow raised.

'Either you speak or I'll get it out of you myself.'

Something broke nearby and Raven groaned in frustration, running an agitated hand through her hair. Robin looked on in slight awe. He'd never really seen an agitated Raven before and he felt a slight thrill quiver up his spine at the thought that he was the one to bring this side of her out into the open. He looked up at her as she turned back around. Her eyes were flashing dangerously and her hair was slightly mussed from where she'd pulled at it in annoyance.

Robin wondered absently whether this was how she would look if aroused. He watched her stumble back, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. Damn it, she's telepathic!

He looked back at her, cheeks equally red.

'This…this is what you were thinking? Why you were staring?'

Robin nodded, somewhat surprised at how small and…slightly panicked her voice sounded. She shook her head, running her hands through her hair again, leaning her head against the nearest gym equipment. Robin thought she looked rather-

'Don't! Stop it! Stop thinking like that! Go stare at Starfire or…someone.'

'But-'

'No! It's disrupting the hold I have on my emotions!'

'How can-?'

'Lust! I've been battling with her for two weeks! Do you know how hard it is to restrain her?'

Things were breaking and melting and Raven's eyes were screwed shut.

'Restrain…'her'? Who's-?'

Raven regained what composure she could salvage; he needed an explanation if this was to be resolved. She looked him in the eye (he had to figure out how she did that), hers still shining with rogue emotion but slightly more composed than they had been. The black aura that had been randomly attacking inanimate objects was fading.

'My magicks are affected by emotion. No, not like Starfire's, hers …fuel them. Mine are merely a hindrance. If I lose control of my emotions then I lose control over my magicks, but it's more complicated than that. I can't control my emotions if they were as mixed up as normal mortals' are because those are haphazard and meshed together; it would be impossible to maintain control over them, assuming that I even manage to control them in the first place. To overcome this I was taught to divide them all into different groups of similar emotions; fear and timidity, for example, are similar. Do you understand so far?'

'I think so.'

She nodded. 'I was taught to condense these groups into different entities; different versions of myself representing each emotion. Timid is one, she encompasses fear, guilt, timidity and so on. Affection is another. It was she who dictated my actions that other night, you know, with the tea.'

He nodded.

'There are eight in total. The most dangerous one is Anger because it was she who harboured the influence of Trigon and it would have been she who killed me and every other living soul in this universe by forcing me to become the portal when I was not fully ready to destroy him had I lost complete control of her.'

Another nod.

'The only emotion who battles with Anger for the post of most harmful emotion is Lust.'

'But, how can-?'

'What do you think Lust consists of, Robin?'

'Well, love and-'

'No. Affection includes love. Lust is composed of such emotions as desire, passion, seduction, want etc. It is because of this that she is dangerous.'

'But why-?'

'Can you guess what would happen if she got loose, Robin?'

'She'd feel the urge to-'

'No. Urges would have nothing to do with it; she is made up only of desires and such, she would not pause and then feel the urge, she would just…act. Immediately. Whatever male in the immediate vicinity that took her fancy would be faced with the prospect of several hours of a demon's idea of sex.'

'What's so bad-?'

'Non-consensual sex, Robin.'

'Oh. But if they consented?'

Raven sighed, not wanting to have to explain. 'Robin, a demon is a violent creature. If I were to have sex with someone it would be love at the forefront of my mind during it and therefore it would be far gentler. That's because the human side of me is more dominant in some aspects; my magick is demonic; my physiology is not. My mind is demonic; my emotions are not. My lust is demonic; my love is not and so on. If I were to have intercourse with someone lust would become humanised temporarily for the purpose it is needed because my subconscious would control it.'

Robin's masked eyes were wide, but he nodded none the less.

'If I were running around with only Lust fuelling my actions then there would be a trail of violently raped if not dead men in my wake, because a demon's lust is just as evil as a demon's anger.'

'Oh.'

'And you with your thoughts and your staring are meddling with my hold on her.'

'Oh. Oh.'

'Yes,'

There was a silence during which Robin stared at Raven with a new respect. This is what she's been battling with? I had no idea.

Raven was breathing as evenly as she could, reciting her mantra over and over again. When she stood she was reasonably controlled. She looked down at him, offering a hand. He took it and she pulled him up.

'Don't tell.' It was a childish phrase and Robin noticed suddenly that she looked very small at that moment.

'Can you love?'

'I don't know.'

'Have you tried?'

'I…no, I haven't tried, except for Malchior, but he was a wizard; he had me under a spell from the start. I did not love him.' He squeezed her arm gently.

'Give it a try Raven. Find someone to be close to and give it a chance.' She nodded absently.

'I'll try. Now I need to meditate. I'm…sorry for blowing up at you like that.'

'No worries Rae.' She smiled slightly and something else exploded. She winced and then walked slowly down the steps to her room. Who knew Robin was so sentimental?

She sat in her lotus position atop her dark sheets. Between the recitals of her typical mantra her subconscious was mulling over Robin's suggestion.

What would it be like to love?


Yeah so, that's that. Please review; I need lots of feedback at this point 'cause I'm not sure if this is going too fast. If you guys think it is then I'll try to slow it down but I won't know unless you guys tell me.

As always, thanks.

--La Anjita