I posted, I posted, I posted----
Okay, I haven't updated in nearly two/three months! I'm awfully sorry, but I don't have much free time to type this. I think the reasons are all too familiar with you guys. School—school is crazy. Making us think like hell. All my weekend is pure occupied with 1) assignments 2)tests 3)assignments and...I dunno—did I mention assignments?
Next, this chapter is not so well off, partially because I'm not much in a happy mood. Am weary and, as of the moment, hate a certain someone who actually gives me inspiration for a couple of antagonists XD
Last, I hope you're not mad because I repeated this fic, and if you think the last one was better. If you hate me so much, please go look at another fic. I bet they'd appreciate you reading
Disclaimer: Don't own Teen Titans...
--Yume
-----------------------------------------------------
Raven's face showed emotionless—hiding the dread building up inside as Star disappeared behind the thick red carpet and she moved to the next place in line, still trying to sop the pounding on her head.
Calm down!, she snapped to herself. Then with a smirk, someone could get hurt.
She sighed, trying to hide from the public's eye, glaring at each of the noisy, excited girls queuing behind her, what did they find in here? Much less anything exciting. It's just awful—what if she ended up with a loser? What if things go wrong—and he leaves her to bear the humiliation? Not that she'd care what people think, but...
"You okay?" She jolted at the voice, then relaxed when she realized it was no other than Nairu. Her palms were sweating when pulled her hood up, paling more behind it. "I'm fine." She said.
Nairu shrugged. "Whatever you say, Raven, what ever you say. Jeez, if you're nervous, don't beat around the bush."
"Nervous? By that you mean I am Scared?" Her voice fought back. Scared...? No, that was a foolish implication! "Nervous?" She repeated, full mockery present. "When I fought thousands of villains-wannabes before even...even...," She paused. "Even a Titan herself. What makes you think I'd be nervous now?"
Nairu was silent. 'Because those affect only your mind and your peace, but this...this affects your heart. And because for the few times, you're not the one playing the cards. You're afraid to get hurt, rejected—l-like...Terra did to you, but that was different. Because in this, you're all on your own.'
But she didn't say that. Just looked at the goth and returned to her former conversation with one of the girls. Raven tried to look smug, but to no avail.
She was, however, curious enough. Whoever ended up being her partner couldn't possibly hurt her—unlike ways her father could. He, she was living in fear of, everyday, fear that side of her would take over—and what should she care what he might feel? ( a/n: More than she let on, in the least)
"NEXT!"
The loud voice banged against her ears. All the girls immediately stopped and looked straight at the front line—at her. Raven reddened behind her hood as the stares fell on her. With a casual but hasty grace, she slipped behind the curtains and disappeared.
Holding her breath, she paused and look around, not expecting...total darkness. She couldn't even catch a first glimpse of who he was!
One of the workers felt her reluctance and instead, gave her a small push. "Go on."
Hesitantly, she walked forward—to where, she did not know. Her hand felt the wall, then...no more...it must be two paths crossed together...
"Hold my hand." A voice rang from the darkness. Raven jerked sideways. The voice sounded...awfully familiar.
Raven squinted, but only enough to see the faint outline of a gloved hand. Taking of her hood, and with her heart madly disabling her sense of hearing, she reached out and held it firmly.
----
Robin entered, a worried look flashing across his face.
It was dark, he noted. They must've intentionally cut off the lights to save expenses...or maybe just to hold the suspense.
He immediately saw the only source of light—a colored tablet on the side, lighting instructions. Awkward but straightforward instructions.
Take her hand, it said. And that was the only thing it said.
"Hold my hand." He then repeated, loudly enough for whoever on the other side to hear.
The separate halls, he suspected, came to a joint in the middle where his partner must already be waiting. He hurried to the joint, when he felt the walls on his right abruptly ending.
He waited. A jolting sensation came over him when a cold hand—she must be nervous, he mused—interlocked with his.
Slowly, they made their way towards a direction, a huge white arrow hardly seen, and serving as their guide.
Robin, slightly beginning to feel sick of the darkness, walked. Before he knew what was happening, he bumped into a piece of thick cloth, and was outside.
For a while, he was unable to open his eyes, raising a hand to cover them. When he adjusted, his jaw fell as his eyes met hers.
----
Raven gasped—one of the few times she ever did. Because the image before her was more than her mind could comprehend.
Her mind suddenly swirling, she stepped back dizzily.
"...Robin?"
----
"Robin?"
His name escaped her lips. Robin opened his mouth to reply, but he couldn't find his voice.
Raven, looking...confused, stood before him...more beautiful than he remembered. Her short, violet hair was outlined by the rising sun her eyes stared back right at his. But it wasn't the usual dark, mocking nor I-can-see-through-you ones...it was genuinely surprised.
"Urghhh..." he snapped from his trance as he heard her voice again. His eyes widened, but he reached out in quick reflex, just in time to catch her as she fell. He staggered backwards against her weight, but steadied them both.
...She had fainted.
Robin...
Raven started, waking from her sleep with a hand stretched out in the air, as if catching something that wasn't there.
Then, a warmer hand covered hers. She blinked. Was that..."Robin?"
She turned to look at him, concerned look etched all over his face. She swore she blushed under his gaze. She was starting to become highly uncharacteristic...
"Are you awake?" he asked.
When she came to her senses, she snatched her hand away and uprighted herself on a sitting position. She almost fell, tilted sideways.
Robin instantly catched her again before she fell.
"Why am I in a...a BOAT?!" She yelled in frustration. "What happened to me?"
The boat wavered, rocking on the sides. The duo panicked as they tried to steady the boat. Robin quickly held her shoulders in arm-length.
"Stop moving."
Raven didn't disobey. Gradually, the boat steadied. Robin let out a sigh of relief. She pulled from his hold, cursing when his touch left tingles in her skin.
"Well," Robin began. "You must be eager to know why you're here. You..err...passed out." He stopped there.
One look at her face told him she didn't believe him. But wasn't she the one who demanded to know what happened? So, he would give her a reply.
"You must be lying," Raven interrupted flatly in her monotone voice. "Fainting is beyond me."
Robin looked exasperated. "Well...well...you did. And anyway," He added before she could interrupt again, "We had to go aboard this...canoe...boat, because there were other customers waiting. So they helped me get you in here...and the rest is history."
She gritted her teeth. "No need to spend good day here." She wasted her time, only to faint—and before the Titan leader! "I'm going."
Without a backward glance, she hoisted herself above in the air, prepared to leave.
"You can't."
Raven glared at him, without emotion. "You can't stop me."
Robin turned away from her hard gaze, staring at his reflection at the cool water. He ignored her statement. "We're supposed to be together in this...whole...ridiculous outrage. They don't allow you to get back until after the whole exercise—just rowing the boat for around half an hour, and that's it. We'll forget this ever happened."
It was just a spark, but she saw it, the second before he pulled his gaze away from her. Fear. Fear of Rejection. Good. He should be afraid.
Raven gritted her teeth. "...Fine. Such a waste on a fine day." She swore Robin flinched, ever-so-slightly.
"Let's just get on with it, alright?" Robin said. He sounded...miserable...?
Raven closed her eyes and settled the seat front of him. Maybe she shouldn't have said that...
Raven watched in silence as Robin grabbed the paddle and started rowing. And this was supposed to be romantic?
She sighed, looking around. She had just only realized a few minutes ago that they were in a huge river, a generally empty river surrounded with white and red wild flowers. She also saw that they weren't the only one there.
There were a bunch of similar boats all around them. People clasping hands, snogging, doing sweet talk. She felt like she wanted to barf—it was all too sickening.
Robin, however, paid no attention to anything around him, eyes focused on the steady waves of the water, absently rowing. His thoughts drifted away.
One of the first things he asked was, Why was Raven here? Of all the places she should be in...I mean, give me a break. Her ego is way against this.
Maybe you judged her wrongly. It was his conscience. Again. Seemed to be always there to somehow contradict him.
But, really. Truth behold, she doesn't fancy romance
Just because she doesn't show it, doesn't mean it's right to give prejudices.
Honestly, the spiritual voice was driving him crazy. Sometimes, makes him think he was delusional.
More than that, why was Raven acting so...stingy?
He may not be her soulmate or whatever. He might not be all handsome nor courageous. He may not be girl-attracting. But she didn't have to rub it in so hard. The things she said made him feel...below even just half an hour of her time. Surely he was worth more than half an hour?
Ugh. Now he sounded lovesick. Greeeaaattt.
"...So, how are you feeling, Raven?" Robin asked. He was growing uneasy in the prolonged silence.
Raven just nodded. With a dismissing glance, she looked out again.
Robin sighed.
-Efforts at conversationï wasted.
-Dayï as Raven already mentioned wasted
-Moodï bummer. Deflated.
He took the hint and didn't speak for the whole evening until they finally finished the course.
Raven smirked as the couple finally saw the 'harbor', where many were already deporting. With an exasperated smile, Robin rowed hastily, reaching the port in zero-time.
"Alas, finally. This torture has come to an end." Raven muttered. Robin had stopped listening to her sarcastic and albeit hurtful remarks.
"We'd better go!" Robin made his way out of the boat, glad as his foot stepped in the solid ground. Hours seeing only water for miles in every direction had taken a toll on him. He felt oddly seasick.
Raven didn't need a second reminding. Quickly, she left the boat. But just as quickly, Robin was gone. She didn't even notice him walk away. At the moment, she was too preoccupied with her own thoughts. Thought that were starting to merge with guilt.
It was all too fast. She found herself alone and pretty much lost. The road was cement, leading in different other routes. With an inward sigh, she took one of them at random, hoping against hope it would lead her back to the Tower.
Maybe I shouldn't have been too harsh and complainant a while ago...
-----------------------------------------------------
Eh-heh...Bad ending, no? As I said before, I wasn't in a nice mood and the story followed en suite. Sorry, if you expected more—which I think you did, considering how I messed up in this chapter.
If you want to voice your comments, please review! I would gladly read them and try to pick better moods and improve at my writing.
Thanks for bearing with me!
Now, to personal replies!
xZxChevalxZx: thanks for the compliment! Sorry for the long update...
darkvampyre: well...thanks for bothering to read my fic!
Kissa: I really appreciate you reading!
Lindsay: Again, sorry for the long update...
tempestchaos18: here's the next chapter! Hope ya like it!
SelenaWheeler: I've been saying this for some time now...here's my update. Hope you like it. Though it's kinda sad...
TheDarkestGarden: Thanks.
Dark Weezing: you might hate this chappie a bit more...Thank you VERY much for your comments. And I ma reading more fics now to get a clear view of Robin's conscience. I'm not sure I put in the lay of the land. Sorry. Hope this chap isn't so bad...
Lord Rance: I considered your idea, but there are a few holes. One, both stories have Nairu, as exactly the same person. Two, the plot is VERY similar. Three, the events are similar. So, if I post both stories, they would look like twins...but I do appreciate your idea!
--Yume