A/N: Look! It's finally here! Many thanks to all of you for being so patient, or at least pretending to be. This is my last week of finals and volleyball, so it's been stressed. After the 11th person told me to 'quit being lazy, get my ass in gear, and write' I decided 'to hell with finals' and I finished up chapter 7. Props to TomatoYaYa who bothered me nearly every day without fail to finish.
Any errors are my fault, as this chapter is unbetaed. Also, this is approxiamately double my usual chapterlength to make up for the wait.
Honesty
Chapter 7
For the second night in a row, Robin found himself abruptly awakened from his slumber by a high-pitched noise, though, at least this time, it was morning. However, it was not the Titans' alarm system that woke him up. It was Raven – screaming in her sleep.
Reflexively leaping out of bed and landing on Raven, his knees straddling her hips, Robin grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her violently, yelling loudly, "Raven! Raven! Wake up!"
Jerking awake, Raven's eyes opened, wide and terrified. There was a loud boom as Robin and every other object within a five-foot radius of Raven was thrown against the wall by her black power at her return to consciousness.
"I'm sorry!" Raven said frantically, sitting up. "I had a nightmare! My powers don't act up during my sleep, but when I awake…"
Robin laughed slightly, as he got up, dusting his uniform off. "Chill, Rae," he said, grinning. "It's okay."
Raven looked downward, blushing slightly, as Robin walked over and sat down beside her on the bed.
"Must have been one heck of a nightmare," Robin said conversationally. "I think everyone in the city heard you."
"Sorry," Raven muttered, her face flaming.
"What was it about?" Robin asked, curious. Raven's eyes widened in renewed terror, and words poured from her mouth.
"It was terrible!" Raven said emphatically. "There was a big fat lady who came into the tower and hypnotized us all to act like little kids and she put me in a yellow dress and pigtails and the HIVE recruited two new guys and there were mutant gingerbread zombie men and Starfire had nine stomachs and…" The new lamp Jinx had brought in yesterday evening promptly blew up with a loud bang as Raven ranted.
"Whoa!" Robin said, cutting off Raven's stream of words. Raven stopped, but quivered slightly. Robin bit back an amused smirk. It was funny to see Raven so worked up over a mere dream.
"It was horrible," Raven said, upset.
"I'm sure it was," Robin said gently. Without thinking, Robin impulsively pulled Raven over to his side, enveloping her in his arms in a caring hug. Raven stiffened instinctively, before relaxing, and burrowing her head into Robin's shoulder slightly.
"I was wearing pigtails," Raven said, horrified, clearly still distressed over the dream.
"It'll be okay," Robin soothed, stroking her back tenderly. "It's just a dream."
"But it seemed so real…" Raven protested. "Like a vision or something…"
"They always do," Robin said softly.
Raven stayed motionless for a while, just staying in Robin's arms. She shifted slightly, sighing, and Robin became extremely aware of her body wrapped in his arms. Every nerve ending seemed to be focussed in the areas where Raven was leaning against him, and all blood fled from his head to his arms as well.
Robin just sat still, the fact that Raven was in his arms dimly echoing around his mind. After some time, though Robin's hadn't the slightest idea of whether it was a minute or an hour, Raven shifted again, and moved out of Robin's arms.
"Thanks," she said quietly, a soft smile on her lips.
"My pleasure," he said, smiling back.
Raven flushed, and looked away.
"Sorry about that," she said awkwardly. "It was just such a weird, eerie dream…"
"Speaking of weird," Robin said, recalling the events of the previous evening. "What happened to you last night?"
"I kind of flipped out…" Raven said, her face coloring. "It's not like Kitten didn't deserve it, though…"
"No," Robin interrupted. "Twice, last night, you were able to tell a lie. But now, the curse is still affecting you. What's up with that?"
Raven frowned. "No idea," she said.
"I want to find out," Robin declared. "It's way too strange to let slip by."
"Maybe you could call Cyborg and talk to him," Raven suggested. "That way, while you talk to him, he can let Jinx know we're up so we can get some breakfast?"
"That's a great idea," Robin said, grinning, withdrawing his communicator from his belt. Raven raised an eyebrow.
"Let me get this straight:" she said, "Some nights, you wear your belt, boots, and cape to bed, but other nights, you sleep in them?"
"Yeah," Robin laughed. "I don't bother all the time. It gets annoying to take everything off and then put it back on, and I'm so used to sleeping in my equipment. I can do either one fine."
"Talk about lazy," Raven smirked. Robin rolled his eyes at her, smiling, before adeptly flicking open his communicator and pressing a button.
An annoying little tune played, before Cyborg came into view, sitting on the sofa. "Hey Robin!" he said brightly. "How's it going?"
"Pretty well," he said. "You guys finish up last night?"
"Yeah," Cyborg said. "Jinx was really annoyed, though. She threw Kitten in some sort of bubble thing see snitched off of Gizmo and rolled it downtown, so no one else would catch the curse. Now, Kitten's in an isolated cell so no one else can get infected."
"Cool," Robin said.
"Would you have Jinx bring us some breakfast?" Raven requested.
"Why?" Cyborg snorted. "All you ever have is herbal tea, anyway."
"That's none of your business," Raven said curtly.
"Wait a second..." Cyborg said, confused. "I thought you guys had to answer any question honestly. Why don't you have to?"
"Thank you!" Robin cried. "I've been wondering that since yesterday!"
"Really?" Cyborg asked Robin, who nodded. "That's really weird."
Raven scowled, apparently not liking being talked about as if she wasn't there.
"I know!" Robin exclaimed. "Sometimes she has to tell the truth, sometimes she doesn't. It's like the curse is intermittent or something."
"Funny," Cyborg remarked. "Well, I'll send Jinx up with some grub, and while you guys eat I'll look into it, okay?"
"Sounds good," Robin agreed. "Talk to you later."
"See ya," Cyborg said. The screen of Robin's communicator flickered to black.
Robin snapped it shut and turned to Raven, a triumphant grin on his face. He was slightly surprised to see Raven had moved, and was now looking out the window towards the east, a strange vacant expression on her face.
"Uh… Raven?" Robin said uncertainly. "Everything okay?"
Raven didn't respond.
Robin looked at her, concerned. They had been locked up for four days, which couldn't be good for Raven's emotion-run powers. She had seemed to be experiencing drastic mood swings, as well.
The tone of comfort that had settled between them since Raven's nightmare seemed to have been sucked right out of the air, replaced with a feeling of foreboding.
"Raven?" Robin asked again, this time walking over beside her and joining her at the window. "You alright?"
"Look," Raven said, pointing off into the distance, ignoring his question. Robin squinted into the sun, looking for what Raven was gesturing at.
"What?" he asked.
"The clouds," Raven said simply, not turning from the window.
Robin squinted again, and this time, he saw what Raven was referring to. There were dark, heavy, ominous clouds hanging over the horizon that seemed to be slowly inching towards the rest of the sky.
"A storm's coming," Robin observed.
Raven stood silently at the window, not moving.
"Raven?" Robin asked again, growing more and more uneasy. Is everything okay? he wondered, distressed. Why is Raven acting so strangely?
"This is the second storm in three days," Raven remarked, still looking out the window.
"What?" Robin asked, confused.
"Remember?" Raven turned around to look at Robin. "It stormed the night Kitten robbed the jewelry store, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," Robin said, recalling. "What's your point?"
"That was a normal storm," Raven said, turning back to the window. "This storm isn't."
"What do you mean?" Robin asked, growing slightly irritated from Raven's mysterious comments.
"This isn't natural," Raven said.
"Raven!" Robin snapped, his patience waning. "You may not have to answer everything honestly anymore, but please, stop speaking so cryptically and tell me what the heck is going on!"
Raven whirled around, looking slightly shocked. Robin swallowed hard.
"I'm sorry," he apologized hurriedly. "I didn't mean-"
"It's okay," Raven said, still looking slightly stunned from Robin's outburst. "We've both been locked in this room for a while, and our nerves are worn down. There's no need to be sorry." Robin opened his mouth to speak, but Raven continued.
"I'm the one who should be sorry," she said, looking slightly ashamed. "All this time, people have been speaking in cryptic comments, and now I start… you must be going mad…"
"No kidding," Robin said, glad she understood how he felt. "I can deal with you not being ready to tell me about you past, but this is too much." He offered her a dim smile. "Care to explain?"
"Okay," Raven said. She turned back and gestured at the approaching storm again. "This storm," she said, "isn't normal."
"How can a storm not be normal?" Robin interrupted. "It's just a storm."
"This one's not natural," Raven said patiently. "We just had a storm, and the sky was perfectly clear afterwards. There's no way the atmosphere could collect enough water to storm again so soon."
"So… what's that mean?" Robin asked, trying to understand.
"Someone created this storm," Raven said darkly.
Robin stood still for a moment, stunned.
"Someone created this storm?" he asked, astonished, gesturing at the black clouds. Raven nodded. "Is that even possible? Can that even be done?"
"Oh, believe me, it can be done," Raven said grimly. "In Azarath, they were a fairly common occurrence. We called them 'pravocella', meaning evil storm."
"Hang on…" Robin said, trying desperately to keep up. "I can understand that someone can create a storm. That's not that far fetched, considering Thunder and Lightning and all the magic users we've run into, but now you're telling me this storm is evil?"
"Precisely," Raven said. At Robin's agonized expression, she smirked slightly, but continued.
"A pravocella is created by a combination of dark magic and evil intent," Raven explained, a slight scowl on her face. "It takes great hatred to create, and a distinct perversity of the caster, as well."
"Really?" Robin asked, intrigued. He couldn't help but want to learn more about Raven's history. "How so?"
"A certain sacrifice is required as part of the spell," Raven said delicately.
"What kind of sacrifice?" Robin asked.
"Let's just say- a violent one," Raven said carefully.
"What kind of violent sacrifice?" Robin persisted. "What kind?"
Raven gave up all attempts at diplomacy.
"A human sacrifice," she said bluntly. "The caster has to select a victim and murder them with a silver knife, draw symbols with their blood, before saying the incantation." She looked at Robin's horrified expression. "Satisfied?"
Robin nodded dumbly.
"Good," Raven said, in a tone that clearly closed the discussion. "I'm going to go take a quick shower while we wait for breakfast." Without another word, she glided over to the bathroom.
Raven's words didn't seem to fully register in Robin's head. Her words kept echoing in his head.
A human sacrifice…
There was no way… you only read about that sort of thing in books… it never actually happened…
Human sacrifice…
Or did it?
Sacrifice…
A loud bang from outside the room brought Robin back to his senses. Shaking his head to clear it, Robin sat down on the nearest bed, and withdrew his communicator, opening it, and pushed a button on the side, calling one of the other Titans.
"Hi, Starfire," he said into it, looking down at the Tamaranian's cheerful face.
"Oh, hello, Robin!" Starfire said excitedly. "I have not talked to you directly since the curse of Jinx was placed upon you! Tell me, how are you fairing?"
"Rather well, actually," Robin said. "Listen, I need a favor: can you get to the Titan database?"
"I suppose so," Starfire said. "Cyborg is in the room of medical help, so I can access it."
"That's great, Star!" Robin said enthusiastically, as Starfire got up and moved. "Are you on yet?"
"Yes," Starfire confirmed. Robin could here keys clicking in the background. "Now what am I to do?"
"Do a search for all information on 'pravocella'," Robin instructed. He spelled it for her.
"I have never hear of such a word," Starfire remarked, as she tapped on the computer. "It sounds foreign."
"Raven mentioned it," Robin explained. "I want to know more about it."
"Aha!" Starfire said. "I have found a match!"
"Really?" Robin said, eagerly. "What's it say?"
"Pravocella," Starfire read aloud. "Though the original date of creation is unknown, a pravocella is a storm created through the casting of the Ymber curse, which creates a storm that the caster can control. Pravocella is often referred to as the 'evil storm' because of the immoral requirements of the Ymber curse to cast it. This curse is often used to create a cover of darkness for when a crime is committed, or to flood something. It is also used for assassination as the caster can choose to control where lightning lands."
"It goes on to say how to cast the Ymber spell," Starfire informed Robin, looking ill. "It involves the murder of innocent people and other actions that are grotesque. Do you want me to read that to you as well?"
"No, that's okay," Robin said hurriedly. "Don't bother. I don't want to know."
"If that is the end of your request," Starfire said, "I must leave this conversation. I have to ready myself."
"Get ready? For what?" Robin asked, curious.
"My date with Speedy," Starfire told him happily, a smile spreading across her face. "He brought me pretty dead earth plants and asked me to accompany him to a 'play' this evening. I am most excited!"
"That's great, Star!" Robin laughed, her enthusiasm contagious. "I hope you have fun."
"Oh, most assuredly, I will!" Starfire said joyously. "I shall 'see you'!" Robin's screen flickered to black as the Tamaranian disconnected the line.
An evil storm, Robin thought, glancing towards the window. This can't be good. Although he ad never heard of such a thing before, Robin was sure that this pravocella thing was a bad omen of things to come. Shaking his head, Robin moved to replace his communicator.
As Robin went to put it away, two things happened in quick succession. First, the communicator chimed again, signifying Cyborg was calling back. Second, Raven came out of the shower, not in a leotard, like she had before, but wrapped in a towel.
Robin fumbled for the communicator and caught it, just as he caught sight of Raven. His eyes bulged and he fell backwards off the bed, stumbling as he simultaneously opened the communicator and clumsily dropped it beside him, breaking the threatening mood of the room.
"Dude? You okay?" Cyborg's worried voice said, concerned. Robin could here Raven laughing from the other side of the room. His face flushed, and somersaulting over to regain his footing, he saw Raven smiling at him, laughing, still in her towel.
Robin felt his eyes inexplicably drawn to the lithe mystic as she laughed. Her amusement was evident, yet her laughs were good-natured, and sounded like the tinkling of rain. Her towel had slipped slightly, revealing a portion of her ample cleavage, causing Robin's mouth to become dry. The towel went to mid-thigh, making her smooth legs look endless.
"Robin?"
Reluctantly stopping his visual voyage, Robin pulled himself back together and picked up his communicator from the floor. "I'm here," he told Cyborg, his eyes, traveling over the edge of the communicator toward the dark goddess standing by the wall, smiling teasingly.
"I found what you asked for," Cyborg told him, "About why Raven can't lie."
Robin snapped back to attention. "What did you find?" he asked, his mind jerking back to the task at hand.
"Yes," Raven drawled from behind him. "Do share. I'm positively dying to know what you've discovered." Robin whirled around to see Raven standing behind him, looking over his shoulder into the communicator, her body hidden from Cyborg's sight by his. Robin was slightly grateful that he was the only one to see Raven like this, though he wasn't quite sure why.
"It has to do with her birth," Cyborg explained. "Raven has demon blood in her; about half. It's what gives her her powers and healing abilities. Because of it, Raven is more quick to heal from injuries, physical and magical alike. Her body is healing from the curse, making its effect on her intermittent. She should be fully healed two or three days before it wears off of you, Robin."
"I surmised as much," Raven murmured. Robin felt his chest tighten as Raven leaned forward against him to get a better view of the communicator, absently pressing her chest against his back.
"That makes sense," Robin said awkwardly. It was hard to gather enough thought to form an adequate response with Raven pressed up against him like that.
"Now, about that breakfast…" Raven reminded Cyborg. Cyborg's human side of his face flushed slightly.
"Sorry," he said. "It slipped my mind."
"Why did the prevention of our starvation slip your mind?" Raven deadpanned, her eyebrows raised. Cyborg winced.
"I was hanging out with Jinx and stuff," he muttered, his face a brilliant red.
"Why, Cyborg," Raven said, a jaunting tone in her voice, "you're blushing. Could there be some deeper reason to why asking Jinx to feed us slipped your mind?"
"No!" Cyborg said defiantly, his face flaming. "I'll get Jinx to get you breakfast. Talk to you later." Cyborg hurriedly terminated the connection.
Raven laughed, and walked over to her bed. Robin's gaze was pulled to wet tendrils of hair sticking to the back of her neck, the bulge of her rear, and her silky legs.
"What do you think about that?" Raven asked, as she crouched down to retrieve a clean leotard from the dresser Robin had let her use. Robin felt strangely sorrowful that Raven hadn't bent over to retrieve her clothes.
"It's hot," Robin responded automatically, his attention still focused on Raven's body. Robin colored, but Raven didn't seem to realize what he meant.
"I'm not sure 'hot' is the right word," she said, levitating her towel in front of her as she changed behind it, "but it's definitely cute." Her changing completed, Raven let the towel fall, and sprawled out on her bed.
"Who knew?" she mused aloud. "Jinx and Cyborg. I'd have never expected it."
That's what she was talking about! Robin realized. She was talking about Cyborg! Not her body! Robin groaned, slightly ashamed that his mind had been too focused on Raven to comprehend her question.
"Oh, don't worry," Raven said, misinterpreting his response for the second time. "Jinx may be a villain, but she's not too bad. Her sassy attitude will match Cyborg's perfectly."
"Starfire's going out with Speedy to the theater later tonight," Robin told her. "Did you see that one coming, either?"
Raven laughed. "I'm not surprised," she said. "Starfire used to have that crush on you, so it's no surprise she's attracted to someone so like you."
"Everyone seems to be pairing up," Robin mused to himself. "I wonder why."
"We're just at that stage in our lives," Raven said, smiling. "We're teenagers. It's only natural for us to be attracted to someone else and act on it."
"Beast Boy hasn't gone out with anyone since Terra," Robin objected. "He doesn't like anyone."
"You're hardly one to comment," Raven smirked. "Neither have you."
"So?" Robin said defiantly, his face reddening.
"It's just an observation," Raven said, smirking at his defensive response. "Do you like anyone?"
Robin bit his tongue, holding in his response for as long as he could. Raven leaned toward him, interested.
"Yes," Robin said finally. "I like someone." He waited, wincing, for Raven's inevitable question.
This is it, Robin thought to himself, his heart pounding. I'm actually going to tell her. There's no way out of it.
To his surprise, the question didn't come.
Opening his eyes, he saw Raven, looking at him with a soft expression on her face.
"I'm not going to force you to tell me something like that," she told him gently. "That's personal. It'd be invading your privacy."
Strangely, Robin felt somewhat sad that she didn't ask him.
"You can, however, tell me whenever you'd be comfortable with me knowing something like that," Raven said, looking at him, a foreign spark in her eye.
Is she… hopeful? Robin thought, astonished. Does she want me to tell her who I like?
"I…" Robin opened his dry mouth, the words hard to come out. "I…"
"Food's here!" Jinx announced, bursting in through the door, carrying a large tray, overflowing with bacon, eggs, bagels, milk, and other breakfast foods. She set it down on the table, giving them a wide smile, before flouncing out the door, skipping on her merry way.
Raven and Robin sat still for a moment, shocked by the strange scene they had just seen, before bursting out in laughter. They had never seen Jinx acting so strangely or happy. They laughed for several minutes.
"That – was – funny!" Raven gasped out, her face flushed from lack of oxygen, smiling nonetheless.
"No kidding!" Robin laughed, smiling slightly. He fell silent, though, and Raven stopped her giggling shortly after. "It kind of killed the mood, though."
Raven's eye flashed, but not with anger. She looked intent, and Robin swallowed hard.
"Raven," Robin began, "I- I need to tell you something."
Raven held up a hand.
"Like you said, it ruined the mood," Raven said quietly. "Now is not the time for sharing secrets. Tell me when the time is right."
Robin listened, and understood. It's like I'm forcing it out right now, he realized. Raven wants me to tell her only when I want to, not because I feel obliged.
Robin smiled at Raven, who returned it with a small one of her own.
"Want some breakfast?" he suggested, an unseen twinkle in his eye.
"Yes!"
Raven and Robin fell upon the tray, ravenous in their eating. As they stuffed themselves, having not eaten for a while, Robin chanced a glance at Raven, who was eating scrambled eggs with her herbal tea.
I wonder when we be the right time to tell her, Robin thought to himself. I wonder if it will be soon.
Behind the two teens, the forgotten storm swirled ominously, growing by the second. Despite the fact that Robin had forgotten it, it continued to inch across the sky towards the city, an unspoken promise of darkness and evil to come.
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dun dun dunnnnnn... :P So, what did you think? The suspense is building, and our characters will have their final conflict soon, or at least a part of it. Please, review! they are the sole energy that keeps me writing!