A/N: The 2nd chapter. I think no comment is needed, so enjoy, then review.

Disclaimer: The same as in Chapter 1.

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Chapter 2

Night has come. The Titans were in their rooms, most of them sleeping, the quiet of the night was filled only with the hum of computers monitoring the defensive grid of the island. There's no way to get in or out of the tower without knowing the codes. The tower was equipped with state-of-the-art technology and was the safest building in the world. But this didn't make Raven feel any safer. Somehow she just couldn't let go of the stressful feelings inside her. None of her usual technics helped and now she was trying to fall asleep without any success.

"What the hell's the problem? I had never had any difficulties with sleep!" - she thought. She was becoming quite irritated by her failing attempts to rest. She sighed, knowing that no matter how much she tried she couldn't sleep right now. So she decided to go into the common room and read one of her books. Maybe she'll get sleepy that way.

When she arrived the common room was empty as she expected.

"The others must already be sleeping. It's already 2:43 a.m." - she whispered to herslef silently as she took a look at the clock on the wall. After making herself a tea she sat down on the couch, opened her book and started to read.

Same time, Robin's room

The leader of the team was having problems falling asleep as well. He was just turning around in his bed, never finding a good position in which he could sleep. Unlike Raven this wasn't new for him. Spending many years as Batman's sidekick made him get used to night life with only little rest allowed. After all, the criminals weren't going to wait until he wakes up and stops them. After realizing that his futile attempts to sleep wouldn't succeed tonight as well, he decided to walk a bit through the corridors of the tower, making sure that everything was fine.

After a short walk he arrived at the door of the common room. The lights were on and this surprised him. He didn't think that anyone would be up so late. So he went in to take a look what could be the reason for one of his teammates to be awake. As he stepped in he noticed a small figure sitting on the couch, obviously a girl. She was wearing a black leotard and a dark blue cape. Her violet hair surrounded her pale face with two purple eyes now looking at him. Robin looked in them and couldn't tell what she was thinking. Raven was always like this. With others it was different. Just by looking in the eyes of people he was always able to tell what did they feel, what did they think. For him the eyes were truly the windows into the soul. But with Raven...it didn't work. He could stare at her for minutes and still couldn't tell anything about her. It's as if she wouldn't think, wouldn't feel. Of course he knew that she was only hiding her feelings, but she was so effective at this, that it made him nervous. She could attack them at any moment and he wouldn't have a chance. Not that there would've been any sign of this, but still...you could never know.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" - he asked her, inspecting the book in her hands and the small cup in front of her on the table.

"I couldn't sleep." - came the obvious answer.

Robin decided to sit down next to her. As he did he noticed that Raven moved further away from him, as if she would be afraid to be close to him. He sighed. Raven was always reserved, but in the last few days she had ceased almost all contact with the rest of the team. Everyone was worrying, fearing that she might have some problem that she doesn't share with them. It wouldn't be the first time. Robin decided to find out what's bothering the young girl.

"Want to talk?" - he asked catiously. It isn't wise to bother Raven. Especially when she's reading.

"There's nothing to talk about." - she replied with a cold voice.

"You sure?" - he didn't believe her.

Instead of answering the question Raven just turned a page in her book. This angered Robin a bit. He wasn't used to being ignored. And it was obvious that she was hiding something from him. He desperately wanted to find out.

"Look, Raven, I just want you to know, that if there's some problem you want to talk about I'm here for you. You don't need to be ashamed to ask for..." - he started, but stopped as Raven looked at him. Now he was sure for 100 what was Raven feeling when he looked at her. It was anger. He has seen so much anger only a few times in the eyes of the most vicious criminals and was shocked to find the same hatred in these amethyst eyes. She looked at him as if she wanted to strangle him. After a few seconds however she calmed down and returned to reading her book.

Robin sat there, knowing that it would be stupid to provoke her with more questions now. He was puzzled by her behaviour and didn't really know what to do. She has never acted like this before. Something was surely wrong, but he knew that he wouldn't get any answers from her without getting hurt. So he decided to leave the dark Titan alone. Perhaps tomorrow she'll be in a mood to talk. He knew that he must make her talk, 'cause hermood was changing quickly from bad to worse.

"Well, good night. Try and get some sleep." - he said to her as he stood up from the couch and walked to the door of the room. He looked back. She was still sitting in the same position. He knew that underneath her calm appearance there was a turmoil in her soul. But without knowing it's reason there's no way to help her. He turned around and went back to his room.

"Why doesn'tshe tell me what's the problem?" - he said quietly as he lay down on his bed. Then he slowly fell asleep.

Back in the common room

"I'm sorry." - Raven whispered. She closed her book and lay down on the couch. She got really tired and felt sleepy. She looked at the watch once again. 4:31 a.m. She was too tired to go back to her room. But not too tired to think about what had Robin said.

"Should I tell him? Maybe hewould understand all of this."

She sat up and looked at the door where he stood before he left.

"No! He can't help me. No one can, I must get through this alone. This is my burden, I have to bear it. The ritual requires it." - she thought.

Soon it would be dawning. She had to leave before the first rays of the sun touch her face. She felt as if she was about to faint. She hadn't eaten in days. It wasn't allowed.She took a small piece of paper and scribbled something on it. Then she logged into the main computer and entered the codes. She sat the timer to reactivate the defenses after three minutes. She went up on the roof. She looked around. It was still dark, but was getting brighter with each passing minute. She had to hurry, or else she would fail. And so she flew away into the darkness.

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A/N: Heh, well, what did you think? Don't worry if you don't understand anything, I promise that everything will be revealed in the next chapters. And I know, I should have written it a bit longer. I'll try to make new chapies longer. Now plz review. Update coming a.s.a.p. :)