Chapter One: A Broken Facade
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.
Robin sighed, and shuffled the papers he'd been looking over for the past hour in the solitary quiet of his room. He inhaled deeply, and gagged from the smell wafting throughout the Tower. Starfire had started her 'Pudding of Sadness' yesterday, this one being particularly smelly, and the rancid odor had spread like wildfire. This was one of the reasons Robin couldn't concentrate. The other, also the reason Starfire had made the pudding, was the fact that Raven had disappeared several days ago. Robin walked down the hallway, deep in thought. He passed Raven's door, and remembered the note she'd left there, telling him and the other Titans not to go looking for her. That had been five days ago.
Robin continued down the hallway, the putrid smell strengthening with each step. He was afraid to ask Starfire what vile ingredients she had put into the mass of opaque gelatinous goo. Even Cyborg and Beast Boy had decided to go to the arcade to play videogames. Robin walked out the front door, and went to his favorite place to think; Slade's old hideout.
The decrepit building groaned in the heavy storm wind, the old steel supports settling beneath the weight of the building. Broken glass and bits of metal crunched underfoot, and thick black cables snaked across the floor. Two thunderstorms were colliding overhead.
"R...Robin...?" a cracked voice said from the shadows. The door glowed black, flew off its hinges, and fell to the ground with a loud clang.
"Raven, is that you? Where are you?!" he called, looking around frantically, trying to pierce the inky blackness of the shadows. A familiar figure in a tattered blue cloak stepped out of the shadows. "RAVEN!!" Robin yelled as he ran toward her.
"You should leave. A storm is coming. The others will be looking for you." she said, stopping him in his tracks. Her face was still hidden by her hood, and her voice sounded as though it hadn't been used in days.
"I'm not leaving without you." Raven turned her back to Robin, lightning illuminating her silhouette in sharp contrast with the angry black sky visible through the window. Robin stepped forward, and put a hand on Raven's shoulder. She was shaking.
"Don't touch me." she muttered in a dangerous voice as all the glass in every window simultaneously burst out of the frame, momentarily illuminated by lightning.
"Everyone's worried about you. We all care about you, Raven. We miss you, and need you on the team. Please come back." Two of the old support beams glowed black, and splintered into thousands of metal shards flying in every direction. By reflex, Robin pulled his cloak over himself. He watched in horror as Raven did nothing to protect herself, and the needles and daggers shredded her skin and cloak. She didn't flinch; she seemed ready to die. She turned to face him once again. Blood trickled down her body.
"This is why I won't go back. I refuse to endanger them. I'm far too unstable and dangerous for friends." she said. "I care about you too much to put you at risk..." she whispered. Her eyes widened; she hadn't meant to say that aloud. Robin hadn't heard.
"Tell me what's wrong."
"No." Raven flew through the broken window, and began to walk to the pier, toward the Tower. "I'll know if you follow. Leave me alone." she said as Robin made a move to follow her. She continued walking, leaving a trail of crimson droplets. Robin followed her to the edge of the pier. She seemed determined not to return. "I told you to stop following me. I'm not going back. Go home." she said, keeping her back to him.
"I won't leave without you." Raven took flight. Robin's eyes widened in shock. His friend was in so much pain; she wanted to die, and was running away from him. Robin refused to lose her so easily; he took out a red and yellow ball, and threw it at Raven. He knew it was rash, but the net that exploded out of it proved effective by enveloping her. He tried to pull her out of the sky.
"Azarath Metrion--"
"Raven, STOP!" Robin cut her off, and gave the line a hard yank. Raven fell like a stone from the sky. Robin leapt forward, caught Raven, and rolled with her down the pier. He used his own momentum to land on top of her, pinning her wrists down. He tore the mesh of ropes off her.
"Let me go!" she screamed, twisting beneath him. She didn't use her powers for the risk of everything around them exploding. She would if it had been anyone but Robin on top of her. There was no other way to get him off. Her hood fell back, exposing her ashen face and the pained look upon it. Their faces were so close, their noses were almost touching, their breath mingling with the misty air.
"You have to let someone in, Raven. Let me help."
"There's nothing you can do. There's nothing anyone can do for me."
"Raven, I care about you. Let me help you."
"Don't say that! I don't want to hear that from anyone, especially you! Just stop, Robin. I don't want to hurt you." The moon found a break in the clouds, bathing the two in silvery light. Robin blinked to make sure of what he saw. Raven looked so vulnerable, lying there on the ground."Please, Robin..."
Time seemed to stand still. There, in the violet depths of Raven's eyes, rested something Robin had never seen before. Longing, sorrow, fear, regret, agony...emotions she'd long kept hidden beneath her apathetic facade. Rain started to fall, caressing them in the cool tears of the bruised sky. The clouds began to eclipse the moon once more. In the rapidly fading moonlight, Robin saw something he wanted in her expression, her eyes, something she wanted to give him. Robin closed the small distance between them, pressing his lips against hers. He was overcome by a longing he'd never been aware of. She'd ensnared him, just like that. Or had she all along, and he'd been too distracted to notice?
Tears streaked the dust and dirt on Raven's face as she let out all of her emotion. A wall of water rose around the pier, and rolled away from it. Small buildings shuddered as a great wave of Raven's power shook their foundations with the force of a minor earthquake. She turned her head, breaking the kiss. She looked up at Robin. The pain and joy in her eyes scared him. She went limp, tears falling from her closed eyes. Robin got off her, and looked at her in a state of shock. He picked her up, and walked back to the Tower, his mind and senses numb. What had he done?