Muhahahahahaha! I have returned and this time, with a much larger chapter filled with . . . well, you'll just have to find out for yourself! Ha ha ha!
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Raven threw herself upon her bed, exhausted from the day but excited at the same time. She had just finished an interesting conversation with Robin, if interesting meant flirtatious and hilarious. She knew her heart was constantly pointing her toward him, but she preferred to take it one step at a time, and each step took about a month, if not a week.
She used her powers to bring an apple from the one side of the room to the other, and lightly set it down on her nightstand. She began to tidy up her room, not that it was as messy as Beast Boy's, but she liked to keep her room neat and tidy, for she never knew when someone, say Robin, would come into it.
Her dresser took the longest to clean, mostly because there was a bunch of junk on it that she needed to sort through. She found a comb, her communicator that had been missing, and a penny, among all of the other things. She felt the cool metal of the coin as she pressed it into her palm. It was the one that had given her luck during her father's dreadful return; the one Beast Boy had given to her.
Why she had kept it, she didn't know, but as she turned it over in her hand, she knew that she would keep it as one of her prized possessions. It reminded her of the events that had taken place when Trigon had taken over the Earth, but among all actions, Robin's hope stood out the most.
Even now, she could see his hope growing with each obstacle they had encountered and overcome. She let her mind wander, back to the beginning, when they had just met and a new team had been created. They had been so different at first, to the point where they hated each other, but they overpowered that hate, and became stronger than they ever imagined.
Hope.
It was the one thing she lacked, the one thing she had too much of.
But she couldn't see it, even if Robin was right and she was the most hopeful person on the team, it was invisible to her.
She longed to know that her urge to be victorious had caused them to defeat all of the villains they had.
But no matter how much she wanted it, she knew she could never see how much she believed in herself, how she believed in the team.
So focused on her thoughts, Raven didn't hear the knock on her door.
"Open up! C'mon Raven, I know you're in there! Get your creepy butt out here, we're leaving!"
"Shut up, Robin! I'll go when I want, just give me five minutes!"
The pounding on her door stopped, as the leader's voice grew softer as he headed down the hall.
"Well, that's fine! I'm not so sure that the T-car will be here when you're done though!"
She chuckled to herself, as she mentally pulled her hood over her head, concealing her facial expression.
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When she arrived in the garage, Starfire and Cyborg were sitting in the front, Cyborg impatiently tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. She was forced to cram in between Robin and Beast Boy, which may not have been so bad, if it weren't for the green changeling that was squished against her.
Raven, clueless to where they were headed, tried to keep her cool, which right now seemed impossible. It was only a matter of time before Beast Boy thought of yet another boring joke to crack. Then she'd had to think of a sarcastic comeback that would shut him up, which of course was more work for her.
It was a long boring number of long boring seconds later that they arrived at the Pizza restaurant. This, once again, was Starfire's choice, possibly with a little influence from Cyborg. Raven dreaded being embarrassed by her friends, especially by Star's topping selection.
Parading around in bright suits and masks was enough to ruin one's day, unless they were saving the world. She often wondered why they had never changed their clothes and act like regular people.
This was something else that Raven added to her list of wants that would never come true, which was growing larger by the second.
She kept quiet while her friends fought over the pizza they should order. She wanted to slap each one of them for arguing over a pointless matter over a pointless food item.
But as much as she desired it, her hand remained on the table.
Finally they decided to get a plain cheese pizza, and both Cyborg and Beast Boy crossed their arms in rage.
"Look what you did, you little Grass Stain! Now I'll never be able to taste the new Meaty Man special."
"Well, you could've added a few veggies on the top. The might actually help get you tin can to regular size, you tin can."
Beast Boy, along with Robin, was pushed out of the booth, onto the cold, hard tile.
Before the changeling could do anything, Robin entered the booth, taking a seat that separated the two immature pinheads.
Raven applauded his courage, knowing that if they continued to fight, he would be in the middle of the childish brawl. She winced as a kick aimed for Beast Boy connected with her leg, under the table.
Beast Boy and Cyborg had interrupted their argument to laugh at her pain.
Embarrassing as it was, Raven sat coolly, and waited for the perfect moment to silence them with a satisfying slap.
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After an interesting dining experience, they exited the restaurant, letting everyone that remained breathe a sigh of relief.
The Teen Titans took the shortest route home, Beast Boy trading spots with Starfire, to keep the peace, if any at all still lingered between them. Robin had surrendered the window seat to Raven, giving her time to cool down from the anger that eminently was inside of her.
The T-car made a sharp turn at the corner, the same one they had rounded just two minutes earlier, and Cyborg revved up the engine.
They sped away, stopping to turn at other corners that now were forming a circle.
If this is Cyborg's idea of taking the short way, the seething demon thought, I'd hate to see what the long route is like.
As they prepared to complete their fifth circle around town, something that hadn't been there before caught each and every eye of the Titans.
There ahead of them lay a pile of cars, desolated and destroyed. A few of the supposed drivers lay sprawled across the road, obviously in a great deal of pain.
Robin would have been the first at the scene, but Raven took her time getting out and the alien on the other side of him was fast asleep, drool trickling down the side of the window. He shivered at the thought of what Cyborg would say if he saw this, but pushed the image away and climbed out of the car.
The closer he got, the more he realized that this was no ordinary accident. The street, on which this had happened, was usually never too backed up with traffic. As a matter of fact, this street was hardly ever used, and yet six or seven cars lay in the middle of it.
The leader began counting the cars, the numbers he whispered in sync with his heartbeat, which was now racing.
One . . .
Beast Boy and Raven helped a man inside a crunched vehicle to the sidewalk, and realized that he was missing an arm. The green youth shrieked as he saw his hands covered in blood. Raven just wiped it on her cloak that would definitely be washed later on that night.
Two . . .
Starfire drowsily made her way over to the pile of metal, her eyes widened with shock.
Three . . .
Raven began to lift the car on top from the heap, discarding it in a dumpster. The black aura around it faded, as another was surrounded by it.
Four . . .
Cyborg, with the help of Starfire, was able to pitch in and help Raven remove some of the vehicles from this mess.
Five . . .
Beast Boy aided a woman by snatching her child from the back seat of a sports car. He used his sleeve to wipe red liquid from a cut on its forehead. He carefully placed the baby in the hands of its crying mother. Together they wailed, in joy and shock, as the Titan's thoughts returned to the matter at hand.
Six . . .
Raven was now down to the last three cars, and had filled the dumpster to capacity.
Seven . . .
As he counted the last car, Robin noticed gas leaking from the tank of a silver SUV at the bottom. His eyes wandered to the building that one of the cars had broken into, eyeing at the man crouched on its roof.
Slade.
He was holding a short, stick-like item in his hand, and a box in the other. He connected the end of the stick to the box, and pulled. A flame ignited on the match, and it gently fluttered to the base of the crash.
Words formed a warning to his friends, but Robin didn't get them out in time.
The flame met the gas, and the remaining three cars exploded together, like fireworks on the Fourth of July, but this was no celebration. His friends were in there; under the wrath of the fire's fury.
He wished, he prayed that they were alright, that Raven had shielded them from the explosion, but sadly, she was just as surprised as he was, and as panic shot through her body, the idea of making a barrier disappeared from her mind.
Before he knew what he was doing, Robin rushed towards the flames. He winced at the heat, but as the fire swallowed him, he continued searching for his friends.
The edge of a cloak caught his eye, and with all his might, he dragged it from the chaos.
It was released easily, but he soon noticed that he had only the cloak in his hands, not the girl of his dreams. It was stained with blood, now a dark purple. He tossed it aside, and rushed back.
He found Starfire on the ground, Cyborg next to her. He used all of his strength to attempt to get them out, but his efforts were futile.
The smoke began to rise, a beacon to the city of Jump. Robin ignored everything tip he had ever received about fire. He didn't crawl on the ground, and inhaled the smoke from the fire.
His vision blurred and his muscles aching, he feel to his knees unconscious.
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When he came to, Robin could see nothing but smoke. The fire had been doused, and yet the wind did not carry the smoke away. He was laying against the asphalt, uncomfortable.
But now was not the time to worry about his comfort. He looked up, his eyes meeting the metal mask that had constantly haunted him.
Neither one of them said anything, just stared into the place where a person's eyes would normally be. Both of the masks concealed their secrets, their emotions, their fears, and yet, their biggest enemy in front of them.
"I could tear this mask right off of you face this very instant, Robin," the villain's raspy voice warned. "You wouldn't even be able to defend yourself. Then I could finally see you eyes, that look of fear in your eyes, that I have longed to see since the day we met."
"I'm not scared of-" Slade cut him off by placing one of his metal boots on the hero's chest.
"You are scared of me, you just choose to deny it. You hide everything, but your eyes hide nothing. Should we see who's sacred of who?"
Robin would have said no, but Slade increased the pressure of his foot pressing down on the leader's chest.
"My, my. Can't protest, can we? Well, Robin, your state is somewhat in need of rest, so I'll wait to wreak my revenge on you."
As he turned to leave, instead of Slade removing his foot from Robin, it only pressed harder.
The crunch that Robin heard, sent pain through his body, and he violently fought to breathe.
Slade kicked at the unconscious body of the teenage hero, and when satisfied, left it.
"Ta ta, Robin."
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Dun, dun, duh! Did that ending surprise you? It was a lot different than what you would have expected after reading the first paragraph of the chapter. Opinions would be nice, but they are not required. I'm just happy if you read it.
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