Disclaimer: I don't own the TT or the original book
Where we left: "AAAAHHHHAAA!" Without thinking; Raven jerked to the side and shot a blast of black energy to whatever was behind her; she heard something hit the floor a few feet away from her and wasn't until then that she dared to open her eyes and find out what she had exactly blasted at…
Now with the story…
I fantasmi mi lasciano le cicatrici, cicatrici che non posso cancellare
Chapter 20
"Ouch, that hurt!"
"Told ya we should've called first, oh great leader."
"Oh, crap!" Raven exclaimed rushing to the other side of the hallway where Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Bumblebee and Aqualad were sprawled out. "Are you ok, guys?"
"You're stronger than I thought, girl." Bumblebee said from the floor, Raven helped her up while Aqualad pulled Starfire to her feet and the other two boys stood up slowly as well.
"I'm sorry, you startled me." Raven admitted looking at each of her friends. "Next time don't sneak up on me like that."
"Don't worry; one bruise will be enough to remind me of that." Aqualad said rubbing his left shoulder where he had landed.
"Sorry Raven, we didn't mean to scare you." Robin said truthfully. "But, are you ok? You look a little shaken up… Did something happen?"
"Nothing to worry about Robin." Raven lied, rubbing her temples to calm herself. "It's nothing really."
"You sure?" Asked Cyborg. "You're wet."
"I let the rain fall on me when I was coming back to the Tower." Raven lied again, she didn't like to lie to her friends but she couldn't tell them what had actually happened in the forest with Roy or they would get more suspicious about him and what was really going on between Raven and the ex-Titan; she didn't want the others knowing that just yet.
"Oh yeah, about that;" Robin started before anything else could be said. "I need to talk to you."
"Not now Robin, I'm not in the mood to hear other one of your lectures." Raven said, taking a step backwards as if to prove that she didn't want to be near him.
"It's not a lecture Raven; this is important." Robin insisted; the rest of the Titans slipped quietly into the main room leaving the two birds alone "There are some things I need to discuss with you."
"If this is about Roy then forget it." Raven said knowing the talk was actually going to be about Roy and that was something she was going to evade if she could.
"Raven, listen… I know something is wrong with him-"
"I knew this was going to be just another complaint about me being Roy's friend." Raven interrupted, crossing her arms quickly before letting them fall back to her sides with an exasperated sigh and turning on her heel ready to go into the main room.
"Wait!" Robin snapped, taking hold of Raven's arm and stopping her before she could get away from him. "Listen, this goes beyond my thoughts about him; I'm serious just let me explain this to you."
Raven turned around and looked at him; his face wasn't in the frown he had been wearing ever since he knew about Roy living in the forest, but a concerned one which Raven had learned to recognize as a sign of seriousness and honesty. Possibly what he was going to tell her was actually beyond the attitude he had been having towards the redhead for a few days now.
"Ok." Raven said finally with a defeated sigh. "But I'm warning you: If this turns out to be a lecture about my friendship with Roy I'll-"
"It won't!" Robin promised still holding Raven's arm. "Could we go to a more private area?"
"If you let go of my arm I could be able to move better." Raven pointed out and Robin quickly, although hesitantly, did as he was told.
"Let's go to the gym." Robin proposed; he was going to propose they went to either of their bedrooms but he didn't want to make the situation more awkward than it already was. He felt relieved when Raven nodded without another word.
The pair took the elevator to the floor the gym was on without saying anything to each other. It was weird for them to be alone again even when they were supposed to be teammates, but it wasn't such a surprise considering they had been avoiding each other since their break-up. They were only seeing each other because they lived in the same house and were still a team regardless of whether they had personal issues. And, while they used to team up for whatever mission the Titans had, after the separation they had never been teamed up again and that was one of the main reasons for Raven to be so close to Beast Boy nowadays.
Speaking of Beast Boy, Raven now remembered she had to go visit him. Her investigation with Roy had taken the whole afternoon and it would probably take all of the following day. Perhaps she would allow herself a moment to visit her green friend even if it was for only a few minutes; he deserved it after all.
The birds soon reached their destination and entered the gym; Robin let Raven in first not forgetting his manners and then he entered allowing the door to close behind him. Raven had turned on the light by then leaving the whole room illuminated.
"Start talking." Raven commanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Look Raven, I'm not sure if you will believe me about this but I'm not sure what to think about Roy now." Robin started seriously. "Even more so after what I just saw."
"Go on." Raven urged wanting to know what thing Robin came up with this time.
"After finding Roy's arrow stuck in Beast Boy's car I went directly to the forest to talk to him about that and ask him a few questions." Robin started to explain. "But I wasn't really expecting to see what I saw."
"Really?" Raven asked puzzled; she was pretty sure Robin hadn't seen her and Roy together and the tone he was using wasn't of anger or anything of the sort but it was more like a concerned one .Without giving him more expressions, she just raised an eyebrow ."What was that?"
"He had cuts, Raven." Robin answered. "All over his stomach."
"What?!" Raven asked, now really shocked. "You think he could have been attacked or something?"
"No, Raven;" Robin started, shaking his head. "What I think is that he did that by himself."
"What?" Now Raven was disbelieving. "You think he actually hurt himself?"
"Yes; that's exactly what I think." Robin said with a nod and then heard the girl sighing; she didn't believe him. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"Well," The sorceress started, looking Robin directly in the eye through his mask "It wouldn't surprise me if this was a lie; I admit you sound truthful but you do have a virtue for lying."
"This is not one of those times, Raven." Robin assured walking closer to her "I'm serious; those scars he had didn't look to be made by accident and most of them were rather small. The cuts were far too exact for them to be made by accident or by some attacker."
"How can you be so sure about that?" Raven snapped. "Did he let you examine them enough for you to get to that conclusion? Did he tell you anything about them?"
"Obviously he didn't say a word about it." The masked leader said, exasperated. "He wouldn't admit it; he just said it was none of my business and that no matter how many times I asked I was not going to get an answer out of him."
"Is that the best you could come up with?"
"Raven, this is serious!" Robin exclaimed, tired of her attitude; he was pretty sure she was acting that way because of how she felt about the ex-Titan and Robin started to feel jealous again. It simply was not fair; while Robin and Raven had to live together for a few years to develop any kind of relationship, Roy had won Raven over in a matter of days. He wasn't sure just how deep Raven's feelings for the redhead went but he was pretty sure it could compare to the ones she once had for him, feelings the masked leader wished hadn't disappeared but remained hidden within the sorceress "What do I have to do for you to believe me?"
"Robin, this is hard, ok?" Raven said, starting to pace around the room. "It's just that, you've always masked your emotions just like you mask your eyes. Even when we were… when we got closer to each other, there were times when I didn't know how much I could trust you; and now, after all that's happened with Roy and you… It's just hard."
"Hard, is it?" Raven turned away from Robin not daring to look at him, not under these circumstances.
"I'm sorry if it hurts, but it's the truth." Raven said finally, still with her back to Robin.
It was hard for her to say that, but she had to be honest, at least with that; she had never dared to tell that to Robin when they were dating but there actually were times when Raven felt she couldn't trust him simply because he didn't trust her. Many times she had let it pass but when he started to get jealous over her she knew she had had enough of his mistrust; how could he be jealous over her battling boys, talking to them or even of them looking at her even if it was only to make sure she wouldn't attack them? That was one of the most remarkable differences between Robin and Roy; Roy seemed to trust her more than Robin did. The little argument she had with the redhead just a moment ago was actually her fault, not his.
"Raven, look at me." Raven heard Robin say, she sighed and turned around to look at her masked leader, but almost immediately she noticed something different. "Will this help?"
"Robin…" Raven exhaled, only a few times had she had the chance to see Robin eye to eye like now; without anything to hide his blue eyes from her purple ones "But…"
"You said I masked my emotions as I did with my eyes." Robin started "Now I have my eyes un-masked and so you will no have doubt about my emotions."
Raven stared into Robin's eyes even when they were a few feet away from each other. To make sure Robin was being honest though, she walked closer to him to the point they were almost touching. Robin stayed immobile as Raven examined his eyes carefully, trying to see right through him. After a couple of minutes Raven took some steps backwards and looked down.
"Are you completely sure of what you saw?" Asked Raven a few seconds after it all happened. "Can you be sure he was the one who created the gashes?"
"Absolutely." Robin assured with a nod.
"Well…" The girl said letting her arms fall to her sides. "It is unexpected but not as shocking as I thought it would be."
"What do you mean?" The roles were reversed now; it was Robin's turn to be in the shadows.
"You do remember what happened when the Gordanians last attacked, don't you?" Robin nodded, not being able to say anything. "Roy is still horribly hurt about it."
"Still?" The boy asked. "But it has been so long; I thought he was over it already."
"Robin, don't be so hard on him." Raven said nearing her leader.
"But he needs to get over it; otherwise it'll affect him even more than now and it-"
"What if it was Bruce?!" Raven interrupted suddenly resting a hand on Robin's shoulder. "Imagine it was Bruce in Oliver's place; imagine it was him who died that day."
Robin stayed silent after that; the question had actually made him think about what would happen if it had been Batman who died that day and not Green Arrow. How would he feel then?
"I remember he was given some time off and I remember his team was always by his side, but you know what else I remember?" Raven asked and continued without waiting for a reply. "I remember there was a special group of people who supported him the most because they knew what it would be like to lose a mentor and a family member. That group was formed by Aqualad, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and you. All of you have mentors that took the role of parents as well and could understand better than anyone how Roy should have felt back then; it helped Roy a lot after Oliver's death, I know it did. I know you did."
Raven stopped talking and let everything sink in for Robin who wasn't saying a thing and his eyes seemed to be lost; they were dull.
"Do you have any idea..." Robin started a moment later "Of what Roy's role is in this whole ordeal?"
"To tell the truth, I'm not completely sure." Raven admitted shaking her head.
"What do you mean 'completely'?"
"Robin," Raven started. "I think I know what is happening but I need to investigate deeper and stop it before it becomes a real danger for everyone."
"But how about you?" Robin asked, worried "By investigating on your own you're putting yourself in danger and I don't want you to get hurt or something; I wouldn't be able to take it."
"Trust me, Robin." Raven said. "I've been going to the forest long enough for you to realize Roy is not going to hurt me."
"This isn't only about Roy." Robin explained "If it wasn't Roy who provoked Beast Boy's accident then there is someone else out there who could want to hurt any of us; you alone will give them more chance of hurting you."
"Richard." Robin was taken aback by the sound of his real name coming from Raven's mouth; only one time had she used his real name: The day they broke-up. "Trust me, this is different from other cases we've had to investigate before; this goes beyond whatever we've faced before: Not only are we in danger but one of our own friends might be into this in a different way than we believe and with Beast Boy in the hospital this is getting harder by the minute. Not even Terra's case was this hard. Please, I didn't trust myself before and that led us to a betrayal; now I want to follow what I feel in hopes of getting it right. Please, just for a while; if anything happens I'll come with you right away and you can do as you please with the investigation, I'm only asking you for some days… Only that."
Robin stared surprised; he hadn't heard so many words together coming from her since they had broken-up. Whenever they spoke after that, it had usually been short sentences as not to be with each other that long. Besides, Raven was almost pleading him and that was something he didn't like to see her doing; that was not like her. Robin knew she could defend herself; she'd proven that more than once, but it didn't take away the feeling of worry he had and even less, knowing that she was probably right about the case. It was simply not a normal case.
"I'll let you do it only if you keep your promise of calling me if anything happens." Robin finally acceded extending his hand for Raven to shake; she did so without hesitation.
"Will do." She said, letting go of her leader's hand "We better get back to the others and discuss this with the rest of the team."
"Sure." Robin replied, putting his mask back in its place. "Let's get going."
The way back to the others was just as quiet as the one they had made to the gym but it felt lighter none-the-less; as if that little talk had helped them calm their nerves a little bit about being alone with each other again. Something that made the situation better for Robin due to the fact he had managed to finish a talk with Raven without making her angry. Raven, on the other hand, wasn't as comfortable with it as he was; it was all making her more confused about her feelings for her ex and for her new boyfriend… Was Roy still her boyfriend anyway or did she just make them break-up a few minutes ago?
"Hey guys!" Raven snapped out of her trance the moment she heard Cyborg's voice; she hadn't even noticed the moment they had arrived at the main room "Everything cool?"
"Yes Cyborg, everything's just fine." Robin answered taking a seat at the table where the others were, he took the seat between Bumblebee and Aqualad while Raven settled herself between Cyborg and Starfire.
"So are you going to join us in the investigation?" Raven shook her head at the Atlantian who raised a questioning eyebrow. "You got grounded then?"
"Robin will let me make my own investigation for a while." Raven explained making everyone turn to the masked leader.
"Man, did she threaten you or something?" Cyborg asked, astonished. "You would never allow her to do something like that."
"This is different Cyborg." Robin said briefly. "But now let's get down to business; Raven, I'd like you to explain to us what you think would be causing the strange happenings."
"I can't actually give you a real explanation about what I suspect." Raven admitted with a sigh. "It's just kinda weird."
"You wanna know what's weird?" Cyborg asked suddenly. "I found one of Roy's puppets in my car."
"What!?" All the Titans asked, astonished.
"Are you certain of that, Cyborg?" Asked Starfire fearfully, Cyborg nodded.
"I saw it with my own eyes and I touched it; actually, I have it in my car right now." Cyborg said "That was the reason for me being late; I couldn't get to the hospital because the puppet jammed my motor. Fortunately it was nothing serious and I was on my way as soon as I took the puppet out."
"Cyborg, please tell me you're joking." Raven said rubbing her temples.
"I wish I could Rae, but it's the truth." Cyborg answered knowing fully well why Raven was so worried.
"But it can't be! I tripped over a puppet when I arrived at the Tower." Raven exclaimed walking towards the couch only to find the puppet under it as if hiding. Ever so carefully, Raven took the object out and showed it to her teammates. "It scared me to death."
"Cyborg," Robin started. "Did you check the puppet in your car for any DNA?"
"Just before entering the Hospital." Cyborg said with a nod. "But I got the same results I got with the one at the crime scene: Not a sign of it ever being touched except by Speedy… Roy… Whoever. But the weird thing is that the DNA on that puppet was two weeks old."
"So, again, we are stranded." Robin sighed looking down.
"How did the puppet get here anyway?" Bumblebee asked to no-one in particular. "And how did it get in Sparky's car? They can't move by themselves."
"What if they can?" Raven said suddenly. "This could be some kind of magic trick or perhaps this has to do with spirits."
"That would change a lot in Speedy's case." Aqualad said. "I mean, if the puppets actually could move by themselves –or if anyone was controlling them- it would mean Speedy is actually innocent and it was someone else's doing."
"But remember we still can't take Roy off the list." Robin said seriously. "Trust me, I do hope he isn't the one behind this but we have to keep looking for more clues before getting to a conclusion; it could still be him."
"You think he is still a suspect?" Cyborg asked, surprised. "He couldn't possibly get the puppets here."
"If we're talking about the fact that he may be able to do it then the answer is yes, now, if we talk about him actually doing it; that's another thing." Robin explained.
"How could he be able to do it?" Asked Aqualad, still not wanting to believe in the possibility of one of his friends hurting another one.
"His DNA may not be recognized by the computer anymore but we can't forget who he is; after being trained by Green Arrow and his methods, Speedy has been taught to think as a villain does in order to be always one step ahead from them and he also knows a lot of tricks that could allow him to enter the Tower." Robin said using Roy's former nickname to make clear he still thought that, no matter how much Roy had changed, he and Speedy were still one. "Besides, let's not forget the security systems have been acting weird lately."
"The intruder or intruders must have messed them up so they wouldn't be discovered." Cyborg spoke up. "Even the security cameras seem to be off lately."
"Then we suppose for the moment that the puppets do not transport by themselves but someone else might be delivering them to the Tower?" Starfire asked. "I propose we make a list of all the villains that might be capable of such things."
"Well; if we make a list of suspects and have to leave Roy in it I'd add Red X too." Raven said leaving the puppet on the couch and going back to her place at the table. "This is not something I imagine him doing but he is a lot like Robin, thus, making him a lot like Roy. He was able to get into the Tower once, he can do it again."
"I say we should add The Puppet King." Cyborg then said. "After all, he himself is a puppet and has all that magic stuff that he knows how to control."
"I recall the Mad Mod once was able to get into our home and make us breathe that sleeping gas to kidnap us." Starfire said suddenly. "He has proven he is also capable of entering our home if he wishes."
"I'll call Argent and see if she has any news of more unfrozen villains in case we think someone else could do it." Robin announced. "Let's leave Slade as our last suspect, much as with Red X; this isn't his style but we have to watch out for everything."
"I know he is supposed to be frozen and all but until Argent informs us if it's still true, we might as well add Control Freak to the suspects list." Aqualad spoke up earning questioning glances from the Titans West.
"Why?" Asked Cyborg and then he saw Bumblebee glaring at her teammate before sighing and answering herself.
"When you told us to watch over the city while you were away fighting the Brotherhood of Evil, control Freak kinda used the TV to enter and exit the Tower." She explained. "He can use that remote of his to transport anywhere as long as there's a TV there."
"Ok…" Robin started strangely; the Titans East had never told them about that adventure, but it seemed nothing got out of control so there wasn't any problems in that. "Well, seeing as Mumbo is still in prison, I guess that would be it with the suspects. Having that in mind I propose we start looking for any kind of clues that might lead us to a concrete answer."
"And meanwhile, Raven is going investigate if there's any kind of spirits in this whole mess." Cyborg pointed out. turning to Raven.
"Sure, just be careful Raven." Aqualad said, standing up. "We don't want anyone else in the Hospital."
"I know, Aqualad." Raven acknowledged as she saw him walking towards the kitchen. "Where are you going?"
"I'm hungry." The boy answered simply, continuing on his way.
"Me too." Bee said "Do you have anything to eat?"
"Sure." Starfire said also going with the Titans East to the kitchen, Robin followed after her. "Please feel free of helping yourselves with our edibles."
Raven and Cyborg saw them walking away and then the mechanic Titan turned to his teammate.
"Hey, Rae." He called. "Before going back to the Hospital, I looked for more info about the forest."
"And, did you find anything interesting?" Asked Raven leaning closer to him so the rest couldn't hear their conversation.
"There is more support on 'The Carver' theory." Cyborg said "Specialists had gone and looked for his spirit and they found a lot of other spirits but never that one. But the weirdest thing is that the energy in the forest has been so abnormal lately no-one dares to go in there anymore."
"What do you mean by abnormal?" Asked Raven curious glancing for a moment to the kitchen to see if the others were trying to listen to their conversation; fortunately they seemed to only be arguing over what to eat.
"The specialists say the supernatural waves have been moving a lot lately and they started noticing that just a little after we left to fight the Brotherhood of Evil." Cyborg explained quickly. "No-one has gone to investigate for about two weeks now because it scares them the way the waves are suddenly rising and falling; they tried to exorcize the place once about a month ago but they couldn't do anything about the spirits."
"That's weird." Raven said aloud "These spirits must be stronger than what I thought."
"And still you didn't feel them." Raven looked the mechanical Titan in the eye, surprised by his words, she stayed quiet to see if he had anything else to say; he had. "You have been going to the Forest more than anyone else on the team; and you never said a word about them."
"And you're right Cyborg." Raven sighed disappointed in herself. "I never felt them and I don't know why."
She was waiting for Cyborg to say something to her but he remained silent, the girl could see from the corner of her eye that he was just staring at her waiting for something else from her. Sometimes she just hated her teammate for being able to read her that well as it happened with Robin and sometimes Beast Boy. Could she have lost her mysterious self already?
"They seemed to be hiding or something because, even though I could feel strange waves coming from within the forest, I never actually found any spirit either." Raven admitted. "Besides, I kinda forgot about that when I discovered Roy was living there."
"So you forgot about the forest and its inhabitants when you started to see Roy." Cyborg said aloud with a chuckle. "He must be something special."
"Its inhabitants?" Raven said aloud ignoring the last comment "That's who they are; the Forest's inhabitants…"
I fantasmi mi lasciano le cicatrici, cicatrici che non posso cancellare
Raven and Robin seem to get closer to each other but do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing? And more about the forest was discovered, but Raven never felt the spirits before… Wonder why?
Ok, this is it for the moment; I'll start with the next chapter right away but I'm also with the other updates so I hope I can finish soon. Please review in the meantime.
The phrase says: The ghosts leave me scars, scars I cannot erase.
Coming up next chapter:
"The Carver?" Robin asked with a hand on his chin "So that's why Raven says there might be spirits in this whole ordeal."
"This is just part of the reason, Robin." Cyborg explained "I'm pretty sure she has already something in her mind but she's not sure if it's true yet; that's why she isn't completely clear with her explanations."
/…/…/…/
"So this is how it looks from the outside." Aqualad said taking a look at the metal wall before him "This is where Speedy is living at the moment."