A/N: I'm sorry to say that I'll be leaving on the 11th for the rest of the month, and I don't know how much, if any, computer/internet access I'll have where I'm going. I'll try to keep writing even if I can't post, though. Anyway, I just wanted to warn my readers and apologize in advance. I'll try and get up a couple more chapters before I leave. Thanks for reading, and on with the chapter!
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Black light surrounded the knives heading for five of the Titans, stopping them in midair mere inches from each person. Raven held her friends' lives in her hands. She had woken from her unconscious state, but was still lying her stomach on the ground, straining her powers to hold the knives.
Relieved, Robin turned to Balavan. "Looks like you're all out of options. You're going down."
Much to Robin's surprise, the cloaked man only flashed a smile. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeves. Saidi!"
The girl appeared, another yellow orb between her hands, aimed at the still unconscious Starfire.
"One wrong move," Balavan stated confidently, "And your friend is history."
The Boy Wonder was frozen in place, unsure how to proceed.
All of them seemed to have forgotten Raven.
Still holding the daggers back with her powers, she slowly rotated them around one-hundred-eighty degrees, and released her hold. The blades flew through the air faster than before, as a result of the releasing of their restricted energy.
Balavan, even with is quick reflexes, was unable to dodge the all knives flying at him from opposing directions. One struck is knee, causing him to fall. Another, guided by Raven's powers, hit his finger, shattering the ring.
Saidi instantly dissipated her globe and ripped off the restraining metal bracelet. She then ran to where the cloaked girl was pushing herself into a sitting position.
"Thank you, so much," the yellow-eyed girl said in her quiet voice. Despite the softness of her words, they held an infinite amount of respect and admiration. "Your name is Raven, isn't it?"
Raven nodded. "Yes, and don't mention it. Now you can go home. But if you ever come back to Earth, and I'm still around, look me up."
The alien girl nodded, thanked Raven again, and left.
Robin approached Raven as Saidi left. "Thanks. Are you alright?"
She nodded. "Where's Balavan?"
"I just delivered him to the police."
"Okay," Raven stood up. "Let's go help the others."
Robin went to Starfire's side, and Raven went straight to Beast Boy.
Removing the knife quickly but carefully, she caught the green boy as he slipped to the ground. Laying him down carefully, she placed her hand over his wound to heal it. She then healed Cyborg, Starfire, and Terra. As she was healing Robin's minor wounds, the others began to regain consciousness.
Raven was barely able to keep her eyes open as the Titans' returned to the Tower. Falling onto her bed the moment she entered her room, she could not remember ever being so fatigued in all her life. She fell into the dreamless sleep of one who has been exhausted to the limit, both physically and mentally.
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"Hey, guys!" Robin called after hanging up the phone. "That was Bruce. He informed me he's throwing us a party!"
"What for?" Beast Boy asked. The others looked curious as well.
"He said it's to celebrate of the reuniting of the Teen Titans."
"When is it?" Terra wanted to know.
"Tomorrow night, actually. He apologized for the late notice."
Starfire squealed in delight as the others began talking excitedly of the celebration to come. All except Raven, who didn't appear even slightly interested. She went back to the book she had been reading.
"Friend Raven, friend Terra and I shall have to go to the 'mall of shopping!'" Starfire announced happily.
Raven forced herself to be calm. "No, thank you," she said coldly. Starfire's face fell.
Terra tried next. "C'mon, Rae! It'll be a girls' night out! Please?"
Raven had never heard Terra say 'please' before, at least not to her. She didn't see how she could refuse with them both giving her such sad, pleading looks. She sighed in defeat.
That was answer enough for the other two girls. They each grabbed one of her hands and dragged her towards the door.
"We shall return in a few hours!" Starfire called merrily.
"Maybe," Terra added with a giggle.
Once at the mall, Terra and Starfire pulled Raven into almost every clothing store they saw and attempted to persuade her to try on dozens of outfits. But, as all of the clothes they chose were brightly colored and tight-fitting, their efforts were in vain.
Raven's disinterest did not discourage the other two from trying on almost every piece of clothing they found. Much to Raven's surprise, they often asked her opinion of the clothes they modeled for her. Raven tried her best to set aside her initial dislike of the clothing, and answer based on how each outfit looked on them. Raven was shocked—and secretly pleased—to find that they took her opinions seriously. The two girls ended up buying more clothes than Raven already owned.
With their clothes bought, however, the two girls turned their full attention to finding Raven suitable attire for the party.
After an hour of futile searching, Starfire and Terra decided to find something to drink. Raven declined their offer of getting her anything, sitting down in the nearest chair.
Right after her friends had left, Raven was approached by a saleswoman from a store they had exited a while ago. She was dressed completely in black with a red bandana over her jet-black hair.
"I think I have something that might interest you."
Curious, Raven followed the woman back to the store. She was led into a back room Raven hadn't noticed before where darker colored clothing was kept. The dress she was shown brought a small smile to her lips. It was actually something she would consider wearing. Thanking the woman, she gratefully bought the dress and returned to her seat just as Terra and Starfire appeared.
"What's that?" Terra was the first to notice the bag Raven carried.
"I bought something to wear."
"Oh! May we see? We must make sure it is appropriate."
"It'll be fine. Can we go now?"
"I would be worried, but seeing the store you bought it from reassures me," Terra said. "Okay, Raven. We won't peek, but you have to promise to wear it."
Damn, Raven thought. "Fine," she sighed.
As they walked out of the mall, Starfire chirped, "That was wonderful! Raven, did you also enjoy our time together at the 'mall of shopping?'"
"Yeah, c'mon, Rae, admit it. You had fun, didn't you?" Terra added.
"I guess," Raven replied, mostly because she did not want to hurt Starfire's feelings. But she had, in truth, enjoyed the time the three of them had spent together away from the guys.
The girls returned to find the boys, not surprisingly, playing video games. They didn't need to ask what the guys had done to keep busy while they had been at the mall.
Once the girls had put their things in their rooms and returned to the living room, Robin asked, "Anyone hungry for dinner?"
"I'll cook," Beast Boy stood up and headed for the kitchen.
"Oh no you don't," Cyborg headed after the green boy at a run. The familiar argument could be heard ensuing from the kitchen.
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As the others stuffed themselves with the variety of food arranged on the table, Raven simply picked at her food. For some reason she didn't feel very hungry, though she had barely eaten anything all day. In fact, she felt a bit queasy.
"Hey, Raven," Robin said, noticing her barely-touched food. "Are you not hungry?"
"I guess not," she replied.
"Will you not try some of the dish I made?" Starfire asked, shoving a dish with something shapeless and brown on it beneath her nose.
Raven felt her stomach tighten. "No, thanks," she forced out, feeling a clammy sweat cover her face and body. She was relieved her hood was up. "Excuse me." Raven quickly dumped her dishes in the sink and headed for her room, hoping that after some rest she would feel better.
But upon reaching her room, her stomach gave another heave, and she instead ran for her connecting bathroom, where she lost the little she had eaten that day. She dragged herself back to her bed, where she fell asleep on top of her sheets, not bothering to change into her pajamas.
Early the next morning, Raven went to see the doctor she had spoke with before. She was able to convince the woman to give her a prescription to ease, if not cure, the nausea that had plagued her the other night and would undoubtedly continue in the future.
Returning before the others had even woken up, Raven avoided any questions about where she had gone. And with the help of the medication, Raven's appetite returned almost to normal, and she had breakfast with the other Titans.
Seeing her eat a healthy amount of pancakes, the worry the other Titans had felt eased slightly. Assuming that the previous night had been a fluke, they decided not to inquire about it—yet.
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A few hours before they were going to leave for Bruce's manor, Raven was walking down the hall to her room when she was suddenly roughly pulled into Terra's room.
"What's going on?" Raven demanded. Both Starfire and Terra were in the room.
"Sorry, but it's an emergency," Terra said.
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To my reviewers:
TeenTitansGirl14: I agree with you about using names from different languages is a good idea. I use that method for the names I create in my other stories as well. I think it's cool you use Latin, too! I'm also glad you liked the CyRae I hinted at. Cyborg just might save Raven later… but I'm not sure yet. (I'm really big on girl power, so I usually have the girls rescue the guys. lol) Anyway, I hope the 'spacers' in this chapter are like what you mentioned. If they're not, let me know. waves both flags Thanks for the review!
Aya Sadaka(): I definitely agree with you about cliffhangers! I'm happy you liked it, though! Thanks!
ShadowShard(): I hope you liked this chapter. I think who Raven does/does not end up with will be at least partially surprising to everyone. But, of course, I could be wrong. Anyway, I did enjoy creating/researching the conversation between Cyborg and Raven. Thank you very much for the compliments. I am worried Raven got a bit OOC in this chapter. What do you think?
TobleroneQu3en(): Thanks so much! I'm very pleased you liked it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.