(Hi there. This is my first fanfic, so I'm hoping to give it at least a decent shot. Anyway, without further ado..)

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own 'Teen Titans'

Prologue

Candlelight flickered throughout the circular room, pouring over the grey, granite table and casting eerie shadows of the room's cloaked inhabitants about like dark and twisted wraiths. All were silent, with not so much as a whisper passing from mouth to mouth. Faintly, distantly, the sound of footsteps could be heard, and after a few minutes the blunted ring of a person walking on tile finally stopped outside the room. A few blips like the sound of a phone being dialed and the large steel door, the only modernized part of the room from the looks of it, slid open to reveal a figure silhouetted in flourescent lighting from the hall outside.

From the end of the table a voice spoke, deep and resonant in its tone. "Welcome. Please enter, my son."

The figure hesitated, scanning the group and the room carefully before taking the final step and allowing the door to close behind him. The white, skull-like face on his mask stood out clearly in the candlelight. "I told you already, the name is Red X."

Chapter 1

The falling rain plinked quietly onto the windows of the Tower. It was mid-October, and outside the large panes, the waters were clouded over by a blanket of blue, pouring out their torrents onto the earth below. Raven glanced up from her position on the floor by her bed and sighed. She marked her place and closed the small book she'd been reading, placing it carefully on its shelf before standing up. She subconsciously wiped a few nonexistent flecks of dust from her purple pajamas and grabbed a navy sweatshirt on her way out the door.

Down in the kitchen she found Cyborg digging through the fridge and mumbling something to himself about how insane it was that they could afford to live in a state-of-the-art tower but still manage not to have enough food. She smiled momentarily and entered the kitchen, standing behind the open fridge door and reaching up to where her packets of herbal tea rested on top of the freezer.

Soon enough Cyborg shut the door, the makings for a turkey sandwich in his arms. He suppressed a yell at the sight of her standing next to him and stammered, "How did you.. what.. but..?" He shook his head. "Ya' know what? Never mind. I don't think I even wanna' know." He continued over to a counter to put together his snack.

She chuckled and continued to fix her tea, turning on the stove and setting the teapot on a burner. She turned, leaning against the edge of the counter to wait for the water to heat. Cyborg glanced up and met her eyes, smiling. "So, Raven, what has you up so late tonight?"

The girl shrugged. "Guess I just couldn't sleep. I had already finished one book and started on another when I decided I might as well come down here," she paused, a thought hitting her. "What about you? Don't you...," she fumbled with her words.

Cyborg laughed quietly. "Plug in at night? Yeah, I do, but sometimes," he thought for a moment, "Sometimes, the human half just doesn't feel like it, ya' know? It's not like there's been much to do lately, and.. well, I guess I was just thinking some." He finished making his sandwich and returned what was left of the ingredients to their places in the fridge.

Raven nodded understandingly. "I know what you mean," she said, trailing off as she noticed her tea was finished. After pouring herself some, she joined Cyborg at a small table by the oversized window. Both of them stared out at the waves and the sky for a while, enjoying the silence between friends and their late-night snacks.

As opposed to the usual, Raven broke the silence. "It seems Robin and Starfire are getting a lot more comfortable around one another," she said nonchalantly.

Cyborg glanced up from his half-eaten sandwich. "Yeah they are. Sure took em' long enough though, didn't it?" She nodded in response while he proceeded to set his sandwich down and grin across the table at her. "What about you, Raven? You and BB seem to be on pretty nice terms right now."

Raven's eyes grew wide, and she could only hope the darkness of the rooms hid the blush rising through her face. "Beastboy? I.. don't think so."

Cyborg snickered jokingly before letting a smile cross his lips. "He's grown up a lot Raven."

She wasn't sure what to make of this at first but finally shrugged it off. "We all have, Cyborg, but right now I'm just trying to take this whole learning to feel thing one step at a time. It's not exactly an easy process."

He nodded, "Mm, understood."

Now it was Raven's turn to poke fun, a small smirk playing across her features. "So how's Bumblebee doing?"

"Oh, she's great. In fact, I was talking to her last ni...," he stopped short and stared at her. "Wh... what are you getting at, Raven?"

She laughed, then turned to look out the window, the silence taking over again.

A few minutes later, Cyborg finished and pushed his crumb-covered plate aside. Leaning back in his chair, he rested his hands behind his head and closed his human eye. "Can I ask you a question, Raven?"

She snapped back from her contented daze and stared at him in surprise for a moment, but then nodded. "Sure, I guess."

"What were you thinking about that kept you up so late reading?"

She looked back out the window, smiling slightly as she worked on forming an answer. "I... I guess I was just thinking about how relieving it is, being able to feel things now without having to worry about the consequences, thinking how amazing it is that someone like me could have a family instead of a monster who just wants to use me for his own purposes, and also," she paused, "thinking about my mother." She looked over to her friend, who smiled and nodded.

"I thought maybe it was something like that."

She took another sip of tea and responded, "What about you?"

His eye opened, seeming to stare through her for a minute before refocusing. "Guess I was remembering how things were, before all of this," he motioned towards the robotic parts of his body, "But also about how great it's been here, even being like this."

Raven smiled. Indeed, it had been great, even through the hard times. Before she could continue, though, her thoughts were interrupted by several faint banging noises. "What was that?" she asked, standing up.

Cyborg was already on his feet. "I dunno'. It sounds like it's coming from the ground level though." He checked his scanners. "Mm, looks like someone decided to drop in after hours." They took off toward the elevator.

Robin sat up, cold sweat running down his bare chest and shoulders. He forced himself to breathe. Where was he? He glanced around sporadically, fists clenched tight, expecting an attack from any and every angle, but after some time he realized there was no immediate danger and calmed down. "Only dreaming," he whispered to himself. Finally regaining his composure, he laid back on his bed and rubbed his closed his eyes through his mask. For some reason, these dreams were still haunting him, and he had no idea why.

His communicator went off, blending with the tapping of the rain on his window. "Robin!" came Cyborg's voice. He looked to where it lay on a table next to his bed with a questioning expression on his face. Then, after glancing at the alarm clock he picked up.

"Cyborg, what is it? It's 3:17 in the morning," he said a little drowsily.

"Man, something's going down. You're gonna' want to get down to sick bay as soon as possible." The communique ended, leaving him perplexed as he sprang out of bed, his black pajama pants flaring behind him, and threw on a white sleeveless shirt before heading out the door.

A couple of minutes later, he jogged through the door of the Tower's medical facility. "What is it...?" Robin's voice trailed off as he stood bewildered, staring at the newcomer who was now laid out on a hospital bed. "Red... X." The rogue lay unmoving, his mask thrown off to the side revealing his honey-blonde hair which fell to a little above his chin. The suit was torn open in several places, all of them stained with blood. His face was also heavily bruised, and a large gash ran across the bridge of his nose and down his right cheek. In his left hand he gripped tightly onto a steel belt, the front of which was shattered.

Cyborg nodded solemnly as Raven monitored the thief's vitals and made necessary adjustments. "He's pretty messed up, man. Looks like he used up what little was left of his energy in getting here from wherever this happened; he's unconscious for now, but," he turned to Raven, who looked up and nodded at him, "we think he'll be alright once he comes around."

Robin exhaled and let the words sink in before answering. "Okay. You two keep an eye on him for now." A thousand questions were running through his mind. "And let me know when he comes to." The others nodded, and he turned to leave.

"Should we wake Starfire and Beastboy up?" Raven asked quietly from across the room.

Robin paused, looking back over his shoulder. "If it's all the same, I'd rather they didn't see this for now." She nodded in understanding. "I need to go make some calls; let me know if anything develops." He left the room and disappeared, enveloped in the darkness of the hallways and the recesses of his mind.

A/N: Well, thanks for reading and hope you like it. Many thanks to JisuMizuki-chan for her beta help. Reviews are highly welcome, but I'm not going to beg. I'm just honored that you apparently took the time to read my work. Anyway..

Til next time,
WandererDex