Chapter 6- Mystification
"Where could he possibly be taking me?" Raven thought as Slade led her up a flight of stairs. They stopped at a plain wooden door. He opened it, and it seemed like the whole world changed. The room was a beautiful grandeur ballroom, with appropriately dressed couples dancing around. The ceiling was a dome painted cherry red. The walls were black streamed with gold. The floor was shimmering black tile.
"Welcome to the Gothic Ball, my dear. I suggest you get ready, after all, you're the guest of honor," Slade stated, stroking Raven's hair, pointing to the red-carpeted staircase. She ran upstairs, where she saw a door. Raven opened it, and inside was a dressing room. On the rack was a blood-red dress, adorned in black sashes. She grabbed it and went behind the screen to change into it, but shortly afterwards, she screamed.
"My hair! What the hell happend to my hair!" she yelled rushing to the mirror. Raven literally had raven-colored hair; it had turned jet-black and grown down to her waist.
" Slade must have done something while stroking my hair," Raven thought, looking at herself in the dress, "At least I can do something with it now."
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present our guest of honor, Raven!" the announcer bellowed. She came down the stairs in her stunning dress and her hair in an outstanding up-do. Slade waited at the bottom of the stairs. They started to dance, and weirdly enough, Raven felt like she was the luckiest girl alive.
"May I recite a poem?" Slade asked Raven as he spun her.
"Okay...," she responded.
"Disbelieving this, someday we shall have marital bliss, someday we shall be, someday you will love me," Slade recited. Raven stepped away from him, stunned. "But I still love Robin," she told him.
"ROBIN!" Slade shouted. As he said that, the world around them disappeared. The room became a limestone area, like where Raven first woke. The staircase became limestone stairs. Raven looked around and whimpered, "W-Where did-, how did-, what happened to the ball?"
"My dear, I created a dream-world, just for us," Slade explained, "now when you talk about loving another, your dreams disappear." Raven, too freaked out to say anything, nodded her head walked back to the dressing room. Inside was different as well. An arch led out to a ledge overlooking the lake. She strolled out there and took her hair down, letting it blow in the breeze from the lake. "Slade is playing tricks to make me love him," she muttered to herself, holding a piece of her hair, "a-and I'm falling for it..." She started to feel warm tears run down her face.
"We're not stopping until I know she's safe!" Robin yelled.
"Perhaps we could go to her favorite depressing cafe," Starfire suggested slowly. She was, after all, still healing.
"Good idea, Star," Cyborg responded. The Titans headed in that direction. They were a few feet away when Robin stopped short.
"What is wrong?" Starfire asked. Robin said nothing. He knelt down and picked up something. "Her rose..." he softly said, "with my mask still around it."
"And her communicator," Beast Boy added, picking up the pieces, "Gee, that explins a lot."
"It looks like she threw it, after we voted her out, I guess," Cyborg deducted.
"But why the rose?" Robin desperately asked, with tears in his eyes.
"Maybe she wanted to forget the past, start a new life," Starfire offered. Robin wasn't ready to forget Raven, though. He placed the rose in the pocket of his cape. "Let's go home, team," he said, to everybody's shock as he walked alone.
"Come on, BB, he's gonna hit the bottle again," Cyborg warned.
"Just lemme get this communicator so we can use it for the next Titan," Beast boy responded.
"What have I done? I should have let her stay," Starfire thought as she flew towards the others.
