Raven had been at the park for half an hour. She sat on one of the cold wooden benches that lined the pathway of the park, her mirror set down next to her. The lights that dotted the landscape had long been on, giving the place a feeling of being frozen in time. Even though she was out alone, in the open, at night, this was the safest she'd felt in a long while.
She couldn't bring herself to return to the tower… not yet. Her thoughts were all mixed and she didn't know what to do about her current situation. She had hoped that maybe sitting on the bench would give her time to clear her head, or at least give her some insight as to what she should do.
Raven let out a tired sigh. This wasn't helping. She stood up, ready to go home, when a rare feeling occurred. She turned around and stared at her surroundings as if looking for some clue as to what it was she felt she wanted to do. After a few more moments of staring and wonder, a smile came to her face.
She took off her cloak, folding it neatly and laying it on the bench next to her mirror. Then she slipped off her shoes and placed them on top of the cloak. Raven paused for another moment, incredulous of how obeying she was being to her emotions.
Taking a quick look to make sure no one was around to witness Jump City's "weird" superheroine acting in such a bizarre way, Raven took a deep, calming breath.
She stepped lightly into the grass, her bare foot feeling the cool dew that had begun to settle on the ground. She began to walk around slowly, staring all the while down at her feet as they settled on the damp ground.
It felt good to have time just to herself, to let go for once in her life and feel free to do what she wanted. This almost made up for her lack of meditation for nearly the past two weeks. She had been wound up really tight lately, nearing the end of her sanity it seemed.
Another moment of spontaneity passed when Raven suddenly lowered herself to the ground and sat with her knees brought up in front of her chest. She reached out with her left hand and grazed the tips of the blades of grass around her.
The young Titan yawned. It was getting late, and she was becoming tired, but she still didn't feel ready to leave. It was just so peaceful here.
I'll just stay for a little while longer.
At that thought Raven laid back on the ground, looking up into the night sky. It was perfect. The color was of a deep blue, almost black, with dots of white breaking it's consistency. There were a few gray clouds off in the distance, but they didn't concern her at the moment. They were still a ways off.
Looking into the heavens, all of the thoughts that had been plaguing her as of late began going through her mind.
How am I going to get myself out of this mess?Sometime over the next few minutes, Raven drifted off into a peaceful sleep, there in the park beneath the luminescent night sky.
It had been over four hours since Beast Boy said that Raven had left. Now the four remaining Titans were gathered in the living room, tensions high, waiting…
"And she told you that she was only going to be gone for a few minutes?" Robin stopped pacing the room to turn toward Beast Boy, who sat at the table looking guilty for letting her go.
"Ya, she said she'd be back in a little while… I should've stopped her when she left."
"BB, she went through the floor, not much you could've done to stop her." Cyborg gave Beast Boy a reassuring smile, then added, "Besides, we don't even know that anything happened to her. Maybe she just decided to go out for a while. After all, she's been cooped up in the tower for days now. She's not the type to just sit around if she doesn't want to."
"Yes, perhaps she is just 'needingher space'. Raven is very complicated, but also she is very smart. She can defend herself adequately should any trouble arise, I do not think there is need to worry just yet."
"Star, it's 3:00 in the morning. She knows that she shouldn't go some-"
Robin's words were cut off as the doors slid open, revealing a certain purple-haired heroine.
Raven entered the room, intending to get a cup of tea before going to bed, but stopped when she noticed the group of friends gathered around the table staring at her.
Setting her mirror down on the counter, she sighed and turned to face them.
"Where have you been?" Robin took a few steps forward.
"I went to the park. I needed to get something." Raven kept her usual indifferent tone.
The other three sitting at the table decided to let Robin handle the situation. They knew how Raven could get if she felt cornered, and they didn't want to get maimed or thrown through the air just for speaking. He was the expert when it came to group discussions.
"What takes four hours to do at the park?"
Raven could tell from Robin's look that he wasn't anywhere near finished questioning her for the night. She had dodged him too much lately, and it was bound to catch up with her eventually. Still, the fact that she had practically been ambushed only made her angry. She didn't have to put up with this.
"It's none of your business what I was doing." Raven just continued to stare straight into the eyes of that familiar black and white mask.
"I'm the leader, of course it's my business. But more importantly, you're my friend, and I'm worried about you. We all are."
"I'm not anyone's business, Robin, leader or not. I have my own way of dealing with things, you know that."
For several moments they both just stared at each other. Sensing that she wasn't going to back down on that point, Robin decided to go about it a different way.
"Why didn't you take your communicator with you?"
At this Raven paused. Hadn't it been in her pocket? She began to feel around in her cloak, checking pockets until finally she realized that one had a rather large hole in it.
"I guess it must've fallen out."
Robin held out her communicator to her, which she hesitantly took. It almost felt like she was a prisoner being given an ankle-bracelet tracking device to wear at all times.
"Don't lose it again."
"Fine."
Robin half turned toward the rest of his teammates behind him, but kept eye contact with Raven.
"All right Titans, lets go to bed. We've got a long day of training tomorrow."
The others stood up from the table and began to walk past the two standing in the middle of the room. After a brief moment Robin started to join the others and go off to bed. "Good night Raven."
The door closed behind him and she was left alone.
How is it that I just keep making this worse?
Raven became frustrated and let her powers get the better of her. As she spun on her heel to turn to the kitchen for some tea, a nearby lamp exploded in a cloud of black energy.
Okay,another chapter down. As usual I'll try to get the nextone up as soon as possible. Thanks to all who take the time to read my story, it means a lot to me. Don't forget to review.