Coming Home
Chapter Two: Decisions
Raven was in her hotel room, doing something she had not done for quite some time. A few years, if she remembered correctly.
Raven was meditating.
Not to get control over her emotions, and therefore her powers, but to gain information from herself.
She wanted to know why she had come here, exactly, and what she planned to do.
Yes, she was here to see her friends, but was that all? She had originally wanted to rejoin the Titans, but now that she thought about it, she saw hundreds of opportunities before her.
She didn't look like the Raven they knew. Her hair had darkened, becoming black, and she was taller. The only thing that remained the same was her eyes, and even those had darkened slightly.
She didn't look like Raven, so why did she have to be? She could just pop in and say hi to her friends, let them know she still thought about them and loved them, and then live as a normal person. She could enroll in college, get a job, have a life. No more hero business, and no more princess duties. No more politics, and no more worrying about her past.
Raven sighed. She wanted to be normal so very much, but she also wanted to be with her friends again. She was torn between the two.
She gave up trying to meditate on the matter, and reached for the newspaper that she had picked up from the lobby that morning. Raven flipped through it and saw an article about Batman. She kept flipping, and then saw something about Bruce Wayne.
Then it hit her.
She didn't know why she didn't think of it before! She could be normal, and still be Raven! If Bruce Wayne could do it, if Peter Parker could do it, then so could she.
Raven made up her mind to look for an apartment the next day. Then she would look into college courses and a job. She wouldn't be a Titan, but she would be their friend and ally. Just not as the girl they knew as their friend...
Nightwing looked at his friends, happily eating their dinner. Changeling was laughing at something Terra had said, and Cyborg was asking Star for advice on how to handle Bee.
Nightwing cleared his throat. Immediately the chatter ceased, and all eyes were on him. He smiled. Ah, the perks of being the leader...
"The Titans anniversary is coming up, and I thought we might have a party," He said. The suggestion was met with great enthusiasm by his teammates.
"We can invite the Titans East!" Cyborg said, thinking of his girlfriend. This suggestion caused Star, Terra and Changeling to start spouting off people they could invite.
"Where are we going to have it, though? Last time we had a party here, it really wasn't pretty," Changeling said.
"Good point. The grass stain's right," Cyborg said.
"Hey!" Changeling shouted. Nightwing chuckled. Even though the'd all grown up, those two hadn't changed in the way they still fought and teased each other.
"Bruce offered to have it at the manor," Nightwing said.
"Awesome!" Terra cried, grinning. Out of all of them, she had changed the most in the shortest amount of time. The Titans had matured without her, while she was trapped in her stone prison. But she had soon caught up, acting only slightly like the teenager she once was.
"Yeah, I love that place!" Changeling agreed.
"The Batman's house truly is amazing," Star agreed.
Nightwing laughed at their reactions, and stood up. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed." He told them. They looked at him as if he were crazy.
"It's only eleven, man!" Cyborg told him, astonished.
"And you'll be sorry if the alarm goes off at five in the morning," Nightwing answered, walking off towards his room.
On the way down the hall, he did something he hadn't done in months. Since her birthday, actually. He paused at the metal door with a single word on it.
RAVEN
The door said. It was practically the only thing that signified that this room had belonged to the dark girl. Otherwise, it was completely ignored.
Nightwing quickly turned away and continued walking. She was in the past now. Raven could be dead for all they knew.
But something was telling him that she wasn't.
Call him crazy, but perhaps it was the envelope on his bed marked The Titans in her neat, spidery handwriting.