Okay, here we go, the long-awaited Chapter 6, when Robin catches up to Raven, and I get the last bit of song-ficy-ness out of my system. After this, the exciting stuff starts up again, I promise. Oh, and for those of you who haven't read my profile, thanks go out to Insanity for Dummies, softballtitan009, azarathgirl, StormySummers, Cygnus de hielo, serenity77, David's Bride, Chico De Los Ojos Café, krissy-08, And FOREVER, ravenrocs4eva, and anyone else I forgot. Now, without further ado, on with the chapter!

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Raven!"

Robin pounded down the hall of Titans' tower, his boots scuffing on the carpet as he dashed forward, pursuing his elusive quarry. "Raven!"

She had passed this way. He knew she had; not by Starfire's directions, but by something from deep inside him that told him she had been here not a moment ago, chilling the air with her cold, deepening the shadows with her darkness. He swore he could feel traces of her presence still lingering in the air, taunting him, teasing him, leading him onward, ever onward.

Voices whispered in his mind, doubts, fears, thoughts of failure that always plagued him. They tried to turn him back, warning of what would happen if Raven hated him after all – but to no avail. He raced down the winding corridor, skidding around a sharp corner – just in time to see the trailing edge of a dark blue cloak whip out of sight at the other end.

"Raven!" He put on an extra burst of speed, chasing the moving shadow that sped just ahead of him, always just beyond his grasp. "Raven, wait! Slow down!"

She ignored him, not even looking back as she ran down the hall. Robin ran after her, panting, swiftly closing the gap between them. "Raven, why are you running? What's going on?" He reached out one gloved hand – just a little further, and he could grasp her shoulder, halt her headlong flight, ask the questions he needed to ask and cure whatever crazy disease had infected his mind. Just a little further –

His gloved fingers closed around her forearm, bringing her up short. She stumbled at the abrupt decrease in speed, her foot catching in the thick carpet, nearly sending her sprawling onto the floor. Robin kept his firm grip on her arm, reaching out to grab her other wrist, steadying her a moment before she would have hit the ground.

"Let go of me," Raven snarled, regaining her feet and trying to break free of his grasp, pulling back against his fingers. But Robin was not about to let her get away again, and his grip remained firm, holding her in place.

"No. At least – not until we've talked. I'm not stupid, Raven. You've been avoiding me, and I want to know why."

There was a moment of immeasurable silence as the two of them stood still, surrounded by shadows in the middle of a darkened hallway, Robin's hands closed tight on her wrists, her eyes staring straight into his mask. "What's going on, Raven?" he asked quietly, unable to contain himself. "What have I done to make you so angry?"

The spell was broken as Raven renewed her attempts to break free. "Everything!" she snapped, finally realizing that Robin was not going to release her until she told him what he wanted. Her struggling ceased, and she settled for glaring at him instead. "Why is it so much to ask for you to just leave me alone?"

"Because I can't," he said softly, his gaze never leaving her face. "I can't leave you alone until you leave me alone, and I can't get you out of my mind."

Raven's expression softened for the briefest moment, and Robin felt a strange kind of hope rise up in him – then, without warning, her face twisted into a scowl, and her eyes gleamed with anger as she tried once again to tug her hands from his grip. "Stop it!" she snarled, her voice thick with not anger, but despair. "Stop talking like that! Maybe I have a reason for avoiding you, okay? Maybe I actually know what I'm doing! Now let me go!"

"Raven, listen to me. Do you think I would have come after you if I didn't need to? I need you to listen to me, Raven, for just a few minutes, before I go completely insane. I can't stop thinking about you, hearing your voice in my head, seeing your face – I need to talk to you, more than anything I've ever needed before. I've been thinking – about last weekend, what happened –"

"No!" she shouted, far louder than she needed to, as though trying to drown out his words. "Stop, Robin, please! I don't – I can't –"

She gave up trying to escape, going limp in Robin's grasp, all of the anger draining out of her as quickly as it had come. "I can't," she repeated, closing her eyes and slumping against the wall behind her. "I can't. Leave me alone, Robin, just leave me alone."

Robin only stared at her, uncomprehending. Anger he had expected, but this sudden depression frightened him more than any threat could have. He let go of Raven's wrists, standing there staring at her as she leaned heavily against the wall, as though it was the only thing keeping her on her feet. "Raven?" he asked softly, concern written all over his face. "Raven, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she muttered, her voice thick with unshed tears, her face averted and her cloak pulled tight around her. "I just – don't."

"If it's about – what happened in the city last weekend – I'm sorry," Robin said hastily, hating to see her like this. "It was just – I was being stupid, and I'm sorry. I want to be your friend, Raven, if nothing more. You –"

"No," she interrupted, more loudly than before, her tone tinged with despair. "There can never be anything more! We're just friends, Robin! Just friends – we're not – we can't be –"

She trailed off into silence, and Robin saw the gleam of reflected light that was a tear trickling down her cheek. The very sight made his whole soul ache, and he felt something snap uncomfortably close to his heart. Greatly daring, he placed two fingers under her chin, tilting her face up and wiping the tear away with his thumb.

"We can't be what?" he asked softly, glad that she did not try to pull away from his touch. "More than friends? Why not, Raven? You know I feel that way about you – and if you don't about me –" he shrugged, trying to hide the searing pain that thought called up in him. "Well, I hoped you did. If I'm wrong –"

"No," she murmured, still unnaturally quiet, "No, it's not that. I do – I always have. But I can't, Robin, you don't understand. You'd never understand."

"Try me."

She pushed his hands away, staring down at the floor again, averting her eyes. "I'm just – I don't think I'm ready," she near-whispered, toying with one corner of her cloak, determinedly not looking at
Robin. "It's been so long – so long since I've shown any emotion – any at all –" she pulled her cloak tight about her, as though trying to keep the world away, to protect herself from some unseen force. "This is all so – so –"

"So strange," he murmured, looking down at the floor himself. "So new. So right – you're afraid that it will just overwhelm you, and that if you give in to it, you might be crushed and never feel anything again – even though you might die without it. How do you think I'm feeling?" He reached out and took one of her hands, marveling how her pale skin seemed to glow with its own light in the shadowed hallway. "We have to be brave, Raven – fight past that fear. This – this isn't going to go away. I can feel it. This is going to be with us for the rest of our lives if we don't do something about it."

"I know," she sighed, finally raising her head, her violet eyes staring straight into his masked ones. "I know it won't go away, but – I'm not used to so much emotion. I'm sorry, Robin, truly sorry – but we have to stay friends, and only friends." Her brief assertion over, she turned her head, breaking her gaze. "Not – anything more – not yet."

Robin stood silently, regarding her out of masked eyes, his hand still holding hers. She's right, he thought to himself, seeing the look of utter despair on her face, knowing how much it had hurt her to reject him. She's used to bottling up her emotions, keeping them inside at all costs. It makes sense that she wouldn't be ready to express something so – so powerful. She's only been without powers for a week, and it took four days to get her to laugh. I'm used to showing all kinds of emotion, and I can barely handle what I'm feeling right now. This probably is best.

Then why does it feel like she's ripping my beating heart out with her bare hands?

"I understand," he said softly, letting go of her hand and stepping back into the shadows of the hallway. "I – I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"I guess," she whispered, hugging herself as though trying to make herself as small as possible, her gaze fixed firmly to the carpet. "And Robin – thank you."

"Anytime," he answered, forcing a small smile, trying to ignore the searing pain that burned in his chest. He stood there for another long moment, staring at Raven as though he was trying to memorize her every aspect, as though he would never see her again. Then, feeling his smile slide away, he turned and walked back down the hall without so much as a backward glance.

Raven watched him go, feeling her own heart twist itself into several pieces as his cape vanished around the corner. Sliding down the wall to sit on the floor, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, closing her eyes tightly.

What have I done? she asked herself, feeling the pressure of tears building up behind her eyes. I just – oh God, what have I done? I love him, I really do – I love him more than I've ever loved anyone, and now, when he comes to tell me he loves me back – God, I must be insane. Now we'll never be anything other than the two friends who were too stupid to realize what was meant to be.

It's for the best, I know it is. I'm afraid. I've never been more scared – this emotion is going to drive me crazy. I'm freezing and burning all at once, and I can't think without remembering him, or speak without saying his name, and I can't handle it. I've barely learned how to smile, and now I'm so afraid – I don't know what to do, where I can go, who I could get to help me relieve these crazy fears. I can't go to him anymore, now that I've shattered both our hearts.

Even as she thought that, Raven knew it wasn't true. She knew that even after the pain she had put him through, Robin would help her in any way he could. He would comfort her, reassure her, drive her fears away with his calm voice and his warm touch – even if he did it at the cost of his own heart.

Raven felt the tears building up behind her eyes finally break loose, and she buried her face in her hands, more aware than ever of the darkness that surrounded her. "I've lived my whole life in darkness," she whispered, shivering from the power of the emotions that coursed through her. "I thought I had finally found light – and here I am, in the shadows again."

And there, sobbing alone, surrounded by shadows, she spoke aloud what she had been hiding so long, so deep within her mind that she had only now admitted it to herself: "I love you, Robin. I always have, and I always will."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Robin tapped a succession of numbers on the keypad mounted beside his door, stumbling into his room, his head bowed, feet dragging on the floor. He waded through the mess that covered his floor, collapsing onto his bed, his mind a whirl of violet the color of the night sky between the stars. He lay motionless in the middle of a tangle of blankets, staring blankly at the newspaper clippings that papered the walls, trying to distract himself from the pain that spread through his entire body with every beat of his heart.

It's not that big of a deal, he thought vaguely, his masked eyes roaming around the room. It's just a girl telling you that she doesn't like you back. Or that she does, but isn't willing to show it. So why does it hurt so much?

Because it's not just some girl. It's Raven – and there is no one, no one in the world like Raven. Damn it, this isn't how it's supposed to be! The hero is supposed to confess he loves the beautiful girl, who admits she loves him back, and everything is supposed to be fine. So why is Fate tormenting me like this? He rolled over and closed his eyes, trying to blot out the images dashing through his head – Raven, Raven smiling, Raven laughing, standing on a city sidewalk in the pouring rain – Raven dancing with him, her cold hands in his, her violet eyes glowing with hundreds of emotions she had never felt before – the soft sensation of Raven's lips on his.

A soft knock on the door startled him out of his reverie, dissolving the scenes that flickered behind his eyes. "Who is it?" he called snappishly, both angry and pleased to escape from the memory of Raven's sweet kiss.

"It is I, Starfire. May I enter?"

Robin flopped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Sure, Star, come on in," he sighed, not even bothering to look up as his door opened with a hiss of metal sliding over carpet. "Sorry my room's such a mess. What did you need?"

"Well……" the pretty alien paused on the threshold, looking hesitant, before drifting into the room, her toes just short of the trash-strewn floor. "I was worried about you," she admitted. "When I spoke with you earlier, you seemed …… distressed, and I have not seen you since then. Tell me, how was your talk with Raven?"

Robin looked up at his pretty alien friend, surprised. Star? Worried about him? "It didn't go so well," he sighed, rubbing his gloved fingers against the edge of his mask.

Star floated further across the floor towards the bed, concern written all across her face. "You and Raven have quarreled? Are you upset? Is there nothing I can do to help?"

"No, Star," Robin sighed. "There's nothing you can do. This is something Raven and I have to work out on our own."

Starfire frowned, but didn't press the issue. Instead, she floated over and dropped hesitantly onto the edge of Robin's mattress, watching him curiously as he stared blankly at the ceiling. "I do not wish to see you unhappy," she said softly, concern in her voice. Robin raised his head to look at her, as though truly seeing her for the first time. She genuinely cared about him, about what he thought and why he was upset. He could see a depth of caring in her eyes, one he had only ever seen from Raven during their moonlit dance.

Star continued to watch him for a few moments, but when he did not reply, she shrugged, lifting up into the air again and drifting back towards the door. "I shall leave you," she sighed, her shoulders slumped, her hands hanging limply by her sides. "I can see you wish to be alone."

"Star, wait!" His voice stopped her inches from the door, her hand hovering above the switch that would let her back out into the cold world. "Stay here with me? Just for a little while?"

Pulling her hand back, she turned, giving him one of the widest smiles he had ever seen, and leaped joyfully back onto his bed. "Of course, friend Robin," she said warmly. "Anything for you."

Outside the Tower, ignorant of the troubles that plagued the superheroes inside, a storm was brewing. The dark clouds that had been hovering over Jump City for days began to thicken, swirling together, sinking lower towards the innocently sleeping city below. And when the first flakes of snow fell, they fell softly, like the shards of crushed hopes and shattered dreams drifting down to earth.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Raven padded softly through the shadows that lined the inside of Titans tower, her feet finding the familiar stairs despite the dark. She did not need to see; not when she had walked this path so many times that it was burned into her brain. Moving swiftly and surely, she climbed the stairs, heading for the distant square of light that outlined a door high above.

Pushing open the door, Raven slipped out onto the roof, blinking against the light that fell from the clouded sky – not as bright as direct sunlight, it was still a sharp contrast to the darkness of the tower's halls. She shivered as a cold, biting wind whipped up around her, brushing her hair back off her forehead, stirring her cloak so that it streamed out behind her like a pair of dark wings.

Raven closed her eyes, savoring the cool, clean touch of the wind against her face, drying the tears she had cried that night, numbing her skin and diluting her pain. Something freezing and feather-soft brushed against her cheek; she clapped her hand to her face, looking in wonder at the tiny, exquisitely crafted snowflake cupped in her palm.

She stepped carefully out onto the roof, the thin layer of snow crunching under her feet, as more snowflakes fell in silent spirals all around. Padding silently over to the edge, she turned her gaze up to the sky; it was completely calm, a tranquil sea of slate-gray cloud, split by the occasional rift where white sunlight managed to filter through. Snow fell in curtains over the dark bay, vanishing as it touched the waves of blue shadow, obscuring the distant, sleeping city from view.

Reaching the edge of the roof, Raven wiped one spot clear of snow, settling down on the concrete in the cross-legged stance she used to meditate, her gaze still fixed on the distant city. She loved the snow; it hid all darkness with its pure white, numbed all pain and anger with its angelic cold, softened the sharp corners of buildings and roads, muffled sound with its gentle touch. It was catharsis, cleanliness, all she felt she could not achieve. She leaned out over empty space, looking down at the jagged rocks and depthless water below, wondering how easy it would be to step over the edge, what it would be like to fall. She wasn't morbid, she didn't wish to die – she only wondered what it would feel like to be plummeting towards darkness without a hope of salvation, to know that in a few moments you would no longer exist. She missed that sensation of flight, the ecstasy she had not experienced since she had lost her powers. Letting out a single, long-suffering sigh, Raven rested her hands on her knees, closing her eyes and losing herself within her thoughts.

There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea

You became a light on the dark side of me

Robin sat alone in the darkness of his room, his elbows resting on his knees, his head in his hands, gloved fingers clenched in his spiky hair. Disconnected images drifted through his mind, made blurry by lack of sleep; violet eyes, long red hair, green light, moving shadows….. all jumbled together, until it faded into a swirling vortex of gray and white, snow and sleep.

Love remains

A drug that's the high and not the pill

He felt vaguely sick; his heart was pounding, his pulse racing, a headache hammering at the inside of his skull with every beat of his heart. He felt drunk, disoriented, every new breath sending a jolt of electricity through his weary body. He was exhausted, yet he knew he would never sleep, not while every inch of his skin burned.

But did you know

That when it snows

My eyes become large, and

The light that you shine can't be seen

Raven could see the white of the snowy landscape even through her closed eyelids, and she reveled in it, basking in the light that banished all thoughts of darkness from her mind. The cold wrapped itself around her, numbing her, like some drug that enriched her senses, made her acutely aware of everything around her; the peaceful sky, the murmuring bay, and the utter emptiness all around.

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey

Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah,

Now that your rose is in bloom,

A light hits the gloom on the grey

Robin moaned, feeling as though the darkness around him would suffocate him, wrap itself around his body, seep in through his skin until it consumed him. Already he could feel it settling in his lungs and his heart, drawn in with every breath, slowing his frantic heartbeat until he felt it might stop altogether.

There is so much a man can tell you,

So much he can say,

Words and memories blurred together, poetic phrases coming to his lips and dying in his throat before they reached the open air. He tried to speak, to tell the shadows in his room of the torment he endured, the sweet touch he craved, the green eyes trying to fill the void that violet ones had burned into his heart.

You remain

My power, my pleasure, my pain

Baby, to me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.

Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby?

He couldn't live like this. He was going to die, alone in the darkness, unless he did something, and did it soon. So, dragging himself onto his feet, the Boy Wonder staggered out of the dark den that was his bedroom, stumbling down the hall towards the staircase that led to the roof.

But did you know

That when it snows

My eyes become large, and

The light that you shine can't be seen.

Raven felt Robin approach long before she heard him, through some strange sense deep inside her that could feel him coming closer – maybe a residual trace of her psychic abilities. She considered running away; but the cold had calmed her, slowed her breathing and her heart, until her limbs felt heavy, and she doubted she could have gotten away from him. So she sat where she was, eyes still closed, hands resting on her knees, back to the door that creaked slowly open and the figure that stepped even more slowly out into the storm.

Robin paused on the threshold, admiring Raven, the dark glossy blue hair that fell down to the nape of her neck, the white skin that showed above the neckline of her cloak, and the cloak itself, wrapped about her like night incarnate, strewn with snowflake stars.

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray

Ooh, the more I get of you the stranger it feels, yeah,

And now that your rose is in bloom,

A light hits the gloom on the gray.

He stood there, staring at her, watching the snow dance around her, blown by a faint breeze, and wondered what she was thinking. Was he haunting her mind, as she had been haunting his? Did she regret telling him they could be nothing more than friends, or was she glad? Was her heart still as cold as the ice forming on the water far below?

I've been kissed by a rose on the gray

I've been kissed by a rose

"Listen, Raven, about last night," he said slowly, struggling to speak, "I just wanted to say – I wanted to apologize again. And I'm glad that we can at least still be friends."

I've been kissed by a rose on the gray

I've been kissed by a rose

"I've been talking to Starfire," he continued, his voice hoarse from lack of use. "Since……. after….. what happened, I hope you don't mind."

There was no answer.

There is so much a man can tell you,

So much he can say,

You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain

Baby, to me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.

Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby?

"I don't want to hurt you, Raven." Even though you hurt me.

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray

Ooh, the more I get of you the stranger it feels, yeah,

Now that your rose is in bloom,

A light hits the gloom on the gray.

"You were right. I know that now." And it's tearing me apart.

Now that your rose is in bloom

A light his the gloom on the gray.

Robin stood there, staring at the back of Raven's head, the snowflakes that had become entangled in her dark hair, the cloak that hid the rest of her from view. She did not speak, did not turn around, did not acknowledge his presence.

A faint siren wailing suddenly drifted up from the darkness below the stairs, along with a flash of red that stabbed into Robin's eyes after the clean white of the winter sky. He vaguely heard the clattering of Cyborg's metal feet clanking down the halls, and still he did not move.

"Trouble," Raven said softly, the only sound in the white silence. "You'd better get going, Wonder Boy. Your team needs you."

Maybe so, Robin thought to himself, hesitating a moment before turning and descending into darkness. But I need you.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Raven waited for what felt like an hour after Robin left before rising and retreating down the stairs herself, skirting the shadows, guiding herself by the white light falling through the windows at each corridor's end. She wound her way through the maze of the tower's interior, finally reaching the main room, slipping between the doors and settling herself down on the deserted sofa, one of her favorite books clutched in her hands. Curling her legs underneath her, she allowed her cloak to drape itself around her like a blanket, a shield against the world, against the darkness that still haunted the corners of the room.

She opened the book she held, immersing herself in its pages, losing all thoughts and memories, drowning in poetic phrases and vivid metaphors. She let the characters' woes replace her own, as she always did, until her pain faded into nothing and the barriers she had constructed rose again, cutting off all emotion and conscious thought.

Her concentration was suddenly shattered by a crash that echoed around the empty room, bouncing through the halls until it was impossible to tell where it had come from. Dismissing it as one of Cyborg's 'babies' malfunctioning, Raven ignored the sound, returning to her book.

The crash came again, louder than before, accompanied by what sounded suspiciously like breaking glass. Lowering her book, her finger marking her page, Raven looked up at the doors – all of which remained closed, giving no hint as to what might be happening beyond.

A metallic clang reached her ears, followed by the harsh, screaming sound of metal being torn from its hinges. And just as she realized that something might be wrong, a set of emergency lights began to flash red in the ceiling, the familiar siren wail of the alarm drowning out all further noise. Dropping her book to the floor, Raven stood hastily, watching as thick sheets of steel fell down in front of each door, and a titanium sheath grew over the windows, effectively locking her into the dark cavern of the main room. She whirled around, searching for some hint as to what was happening, her ragged breathing echoing loudly in the silence.

Darkness folded itself around her, and when nothing else happened, Raven felt herself relax, comforted by the lack of sight and sound. Maybe there was nothing to fear. Maybe it had only been a malfunctioning machine that had triggered the security system and initiated lockdown. The others should be back soon, and they would fix the bug, let her out, and everything would be fine………

No sooner had she thought this, than what had once been the window exploded in a blossom of fire.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Dunh dunh dahhhhh! Who (or what) will it be? Will everyone's favorite psychotic masked mastermind make a reappearance? Or will it be something far, far worse? Tune in next time to find out!

I told you the boring stuff would be over soon, but I couldn't bear to move on without doing a fic to 'Kiss from a Rose' by Seal. It's one of my absolute favorite songs. Go listen to it, it's great! But before you do that, please review?