Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or the original storyline of "Beauty and the Beast". I do own the changes to the original plotline, which I hope you will all enjoy

Opening Note: I actually wrote the waltz scene some months before I even started "Understand", which was my first RobinRaven fic. I wrote it one day while I was sitting in my English class, bored. I liked the idea, and decided to turn it into a story.

Dedicated to sekai no yakusoku and castle in the air.

Also, to anyone who thinks I wouldn't give them the time of day. It is 11:31 pm.

Beast: Oh, it's no use. She's so beautiful, and I'm... Well, look at me!

-Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" (1991)

Part Six: Waltz

For a while, things went back to normal. Well, as normal as they could be for a super hero's sidekick living in an abandoned where house/ penthouse with a demoness, a talking bird, and a young human girl.

Oh, Raven.

Certainly he felt something for her. The need to protect her, maybe. Or was it more? Often he'd wake up in the middle of the night and find her curled up beside him. It was oddly comforting. And of course he never felt the urge to do more than pull her into his embrace and fall asleep with her warmth against him. She was a child, after all. But her presence made him happy, in a way.

And Arella?

Well.

She's just... strange. Strange and stubborn... and attractive. Robin blinked and focused on the chessboard, frowning a bit. Where did that come from?

He stole a glance at her perfect ebony features framed by that violent mane of violet hair and moved his knight, mentally kicking out several interesting scenarios that could be triggered simply by him knocking the chessboard aside.

"Are you going to sit there all day, or are you going to make a move, boy?" Arella smirked.

Robin blinked again. What?

"The game, Boy Wonder, the game." She waved her hand lazily over the board. Robin looked dumbly at the pieces. Oh...

He poised a hand over his bishop, contemplated, then moved it.

The door to the study swung open, and Poe was sitting on Robin's head, pecking at his forehead. Raven stood there, smiling. Arella put her hand out and Poe ceased his pecking to light on the arm of his mistress. Robin gave her a grateful smile.

"When you've had your lunch come find me again," Arella said. "We have training to do, you and I."

Ignoring the shiver that ran up his spine, Robin followed Raven to the kitchen.

"Why are you helping me train today?"

Her eyes glowed and her dark face smirked. Robin could have sworn he heard that low, amused chuckle of hers. "I will provide... obstacles," she said, leading him to a large room he didn't know existed.

"A ballroom?"

"It provides the most space," she said by way of explanation.

It was large, indeed, with a worn marble floor and fading beige wallpaper trimmed with threads of gold. He supposed Horace Wells used this room for company banquets. A number of storage boxes were piled in a far corner. The dusty drapes drooped from the tall windows. The only thing that looked as though it hadn't been neglected was a piano in the far corner. Doubtless it was slightly out of tune, but surely with a good polishing it would look like new.

He buckled his utility belt around his waist and stood in the middle of the room as instructed. As he assumed, she wouldn't be fighting him hand to hand. Instead, she levitated some of the boxes. Someone – perhaps Raven – had drawn targets on them. Arella used her mind to move them around and Robin dodged them and threw his Birdrangs at them. It was good exercise, and after a while, she threw in a chain that looped this way and that.

After about an hour and a half – there was no way to measure time in the haunted place so Robin had to guess – Arella dropped her weapons and declared their training over for the day. Over half the boxes were beaten beyond further use and Raven was waiting patiently for Robin to come to the kitchen, sitting there on the piano bench swinging her short legs.

"We'll resume again tomorrow," Arella drawled, waving a hand in a vague gesture to dismiss him from her presence.

"Wait."

She stopped short of melting into the shadows of the room, her red eyes narrowed, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. He unbuckled his utility belt and put it on top of the piano.

"Dance with me?"

The demoness's eyes widened a bit. Robin couldn't blame her. He himself was just as surprised at the question. But he didn't take it back, waiting to see what she'd say. Raven looked up at him, a strange look in her child eyes.

"Don't play games with me, boy," Arella said quietly. But she didn't leave, seeming to be waiting for something.

"I'm serious," he assured her, and seeing her relax, he turned to the little girl on the piano bench. "Can you play something, Raven?"

"What should I play?" she asked, placing her fingers over the keys.

"A waltz?" he suggested lightly, crossing the room to the demoness. She glared at him as the first notes filled the empty room.

"I can't dance, boy."

Robin allowed himself a soft laugh at that. Does she sound nervous? "I'll teach you."

She approached him reluctantly, then seemed to descend a few inches so that they were no longer the same height and she was looking up at him. In response to his confused look, she said, "You don't honestly think I walk everywhere, do you?"

"I suppose not..." He offered her his hand, secretly thankful that Bruce made him take dancing lessons for all those pointless parties he was forced to host as the wealthiest man in Gotham. Arella stared at the offering as though it were a tentacle, then cautiously slipped a petite, dark hand into his.

"Now put your other hand on my shoulder, he instructed. He was finding it hard to grasp the fact that her palm against his was warm. Somehow, he expected her to be as cold as her social grace.

"And then my other hand goes around your waist..." he slipped his hand under the folds of her dark cloak and found the curve of her waist.

As he expected, she was a fast learner. Soon, they were waltzing smoothly along the faded marble floor. It was then, with the music, that he realized how beautiful she was. In a deeply dark, almost disturbing way, yes. And the way she fit in his arms was perfect in the most bizarre way.

The melody continued, their steps matching the beats of the waltz.

It was hard to remember the exact moment when it happened, but Robin was suddenly aware that once again, his lips were pressed to those of the demoness. But this kiss wasn't secret and brief. Find her lips warm and soft, he deepened their intimacy as her hands traced his jaw, weaved their way into his hair as he wondered how she could be capable of such gentle caresses.

She pulled away from him at last, rising into the air and avoiding his gaze. "We're done for today." She sank into the shadows of the drooping curtains.

I think I even heard the melody of the waltz in my sleep. Arella wasn't in the study when I finished my dinner, so I guessed she didn't want to see me. I wondered if she was angry with me. I tossed and turned, startled when the door opened a crack. I thought it was Arella standing there, but it wasn't. The figure didn't have glowing red eyes.

"Robin?"

I sat up.

"Raven?"

But it couldn't be. My Raven was a little girl with a sweet smile and large violet eyes. This was a young woman. She looked like Raven, though.

"Did I wake you up?" She smiled softly and sat on the bed beside me, leaning against me. "Can I sleep here with you? Poe keeps me awake."

I gently put my arms around her. "Raven? What happened to you?" But she was already asleep.

Ending Note: Pray forgive the lateness of this chapter. I have finals coming up and I'm still stuck on where I should go with "This Game We Play". I think I wrote myself into a corner with that one. Also, I plan to take a break from Teen Titans fics after I've finished these two, Maybe I'll finally get started on the Ranma ½ bit I've had in my head for a while.

Signed,

The Writer, you fools