Teen Titans
Fragile Dreams

A/N Here is the second interlude. It starts immediately following the last episode, which is annoying, but I didn't really have a choice… I couldn't fit this part into the last chapter so I had to do it here. No big deal. I promised you a Rob/Rae, and here is where you're going to start to really get it. Rob/Star was just for plot set up. I said to have a little faith. :-D.

A warning… for a chapter that goes really, really badly for Starfire, I hope it shows that I really don't hate her. I find her inability to speak normally very annoying, but I like her character. So yeah, there's a lot of Starfire in this chapter… I'll make it up to you with Robin and Raven at the end, ok? Ok. On to the story, since half of you won't even read this.

See if you can catch the running gag I seem to have started in the interludes.

One final note – This chapter will be about fifty bajillion times better if you can actually hear the song. It was a demo song for Linkin Park, so as far as I know "And One" is legal to download. If you like Linkin Park, you'll like it.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? I also don't own the song And One… that honor goes to Linkin Park. ALSO, I have a feeling the ending of this chapter is inspired by something I read once, but I can't figure out what for the life of me. If you figure it out, please tell me in a review.

Fragile Dreams Chapter 10 – Second Interlude: And One
"What is it that we require the talking about, friend-Robin?"

Robin hated himself for what he was about to do, but he knew it was for the best. He had a lovely woman in front of him, who was totally dedicated to him to the exclusion of anyone else… and he was going to hurt her very badly. He was here to break Starfire's heart. He couldn't stand what he was about to do, but it would be worse to go on living such a lie, wouldn't it?

"Star…" he paused. How do you say this? How to you break it to a girl who doesn't understand this planet that you just don't like her, can't like her, no matter how endeared she is with you? "I don't think we can go out anymore."

The alien girl stiffened. Whatever she expected from this conversation, this had obviously not been considered. 'I'm so sorry, Star…'

Star's hopeful naiveté made it even worse. "I believe I don't understand your meaning, friend." She looked so hopeful, so scared, and so delicate… and he let out a sigh. Now or never.

"Star… I really appreciate everything we've done in the last months. I enjoyed it, and we had fun. You're an incredible girl, and anyone would be lucky to have you." Robin got up and started pacing in front of the couch, not daring to look at the Tamaranian. "But we just can't keep on doing that. I like you a lot, but the more we do this, the more I like you as a friend, a teammate, and a sister. Not a lover. I'm sorry." Robin finally looked over at Star. Her head was down, and it looked like she was trying not to show how sad she was.

The young alien looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears she tried not to let down her face. "Why?" she asked, her voice so soft, so innocent and so fragile it seemed a snowflake drifting lost in the storm. That was the one question Robin feared the most, because he couldn't really give her an answer. The only answer he had he could barely accept himself.

"I don't know Star. I don't really understand my own feelings. I just know I can't feel about you the same way you feel about me." He finished lamely, trying not to crack as the tears she so valiantly hid started flowing. 'I'm sorry Star. We just have nothing in common.'

Robin's internal voice had something to say about that. 'Now your just lying to yourself if you seriously say that's the reason. It's not as much that as how much you have in common with someone else, and you KNOW IT,' the voice cursed, punishing him for his cruelty to Star.

His ex-girlfriend stood, nodded, and turned her back. "I… understand." She started to float towards the door, but stopped halfway. "Might we have another chance sometime?"

Robin sighed. He really doubted it, but there wasn't a chance he could tell her that. 'Wouldn't anything else just hurt her more, though? Give her false hope?' He shook his head to clear it, and then spoke as kindly as he could, "Star… I don't know. I wouldn't count on it though." Without turning to look at him, she nodded her once and floated out the door. Robin sat back down on the couch, resting his head in his hands. "So… what now?" He asked to no one in particular.

Raven woke with a cry, soaked in her own sweat and breathing heavily. 'The damn dream again,' she mentally cursed fate in general and her father in specific, getting out of bed. The clock read 4:14… there was no way she was going back to sleep tonight. She stripped off her clothing and turned on the water in her bath… she needed to clean up. Sweat wasn't the only thing she could feel. Just under her skin, her heritage also lingered hauntingly, and no amount of scrubbing would ever remove it..

This same dream had followed her since Trigon had inserted himself into her soul self when he killed Arella. Raven was floating over a blasted city, her four eyes glowing the same red as he cloak. Statues of stone people littered the ground, and the sky was dark and scorched. It was an offer, she knew… a little message from her father of the power she could have if. All she had to do was give up on her humanity. Raven shuddered. 'Never.'

The dream had continued like it always had… the prophecy she now knew had been told at her birth began to echo through the broken streets, softly at first, but the reverberations slowly grew in volume until they formed a devastating roar through her head. Raven shuddered again, despite her best efforts. 'I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. The ancient prophecy was just one of many possible futures… he can't make me do anything,' she tried to convince herself, but her trembling form could attest she wasn't very successful.

The tub was full now, so she climbed in. In the silence, she could hear the evil words echoing. Using her powers, she reached out and turned the radio on, and on an impulse set it to the same station she had listened to months ago. The station was just in the intro to a song… she'd never heard it before, but recognized the voice as belonging to the singer from Linkin Park. (A/N Not many people who listen to the radio can't ID that voice.)

Where should I start?
Disjointed heart
I've got no commitment
To my own flesh and blood

Raven was shocked, and slightly scared. Once was coincidence… twice was the sort of thing BB would create a conspiracy theory about. There was no doubt in her mind that the song was again about her. She sank deeper into the tub as she let the lyrics play out, opening her thoughts to let her hear her emotions.

'Disjoined heart… that certainly sounds like me. Flesh and blood. Could mean my own existence, or my family. Either way, the song is right.' Knowledge chimed in.

Left all alone
Far from my home
No one to hear me, to heal my ill heart, I

Keep it locked up… inside….

'Yup, that's me.' She said, ignoring the protests of her emotions. She knew they didn't like being trapped inside her anymore than she liked to be so cold and emotionless all the time, but it was the only way. And she was lonely. She badly wanted someone to understand her… especially if that someone was Robin. Her heart was truly ill, she realized, and not just because she was so emotionless. Robin also was a reason.

Can I express
To the point I've regressed?
If anger's a gift, then I guess I've been blessed, I

With great effort, Raven managed to tune out anger's menacing laughter as the song spoke. She shuddered despite the warm water flowing over her gray skin.

Keep it locked up… inside…
Keep my distance from his lies…

Is it too late to love me now?
You helped me show me...
It is too late to love me now?
You don't even know me

Memories of Robin's visit to her head came to mind with these lyrics. Robin had indeed helped her to express herself: part of why she trusted him so much. The memory of Robin's jaunt in her mind brought brooding on the part of Anger, and excited reflections by Courage and Happiness. They had both liked having him there very much… both were much more capable of admitting how much she liked him than Raven herself was. Timidity hadn't enjoyed having him there all that much, but that was no surprise… she didn't like anything. The new, gold-cloaked emotion that Raven still couldn't identify also joined in the chorus with Happiness and Courage.

Breaking a part of my heart to find release
Taking you out of my blood to bring me peace
Breaking apart my heart to find release
Taking you out of my blood to bring me peace...

Breaking a part of my heart to find release (LET…)
Taking you out of my blood to bring me peace (ME…)
Breaking apart my heart to find release

(GO…)

There was a long instrumental here, giving Raven time to digest the lyrics and what she felt about them. Knowledge immediately picked up on the relation. "Your heart, and emotions, are broken apart Raven. Your meditations insure that." No one needed to explain the next line. They all were thinking about Trigon, and they all knew it. Raven wanted his blood gone from her. He wanted her to let her go. The lyrics came back on, this time a sort of soft rap.

Spit drips into the jaw, the witless witness
With the cryptic code, realism shifts the mystic
Dark all I do embark, through the shadows
With my thoughts cataloged, analog, rip that along
Keep my distance, answer with resistance, face with persistence
Your twisted web of tangled lies strangles my hopes to waste
And numbs the taste
And I'm forced to face these hate crimes against
The state of being feeling

Raven couldn't believe this. This was a perfect explanation of what she did with her emotions, and why. It summed up her long battle against her father in a brief few rhymes.

I keep it locked up… inside…
Keep my distance from your lies…

Keep my distance…
Keep my distance…
Keep my distance…
Keep my distance…

Raven lay in the tub long past when the song had faded into the distance, lost in her thought. Finally, the radio began to annoy her, so she flicked it off. The water in the tub was getting cold… she must have been in there far longer than she would have guessed. She rose, toweled dry, and dressed. The song still running through her head, she went to eat. "How sad is it that a song understands me better than any of my teammates?

When Raven entered the main room, she saw Robin sitting on the couch, staring into space. 'How long has he been there?' she thought. "Robin?"

Her soft, hauntingly beautiful voice reached the boy wonder, and he turned on the couch. The leader had dark rings under his eyes, telling her clearly he had not slept. "Oh… good morning Raven. You're up early."

"You're up late. What's wrong?"

Robin moved over on the couch, leaving room for Raven to sit. Before she could think about it, she did. "I felt like there was a battle raging in my head. It wouldn't have let me sleep if I tried."

Raven had come to terms with that she liked Robin, but she had resigned herself to only being his friend. If he could just be someone to understand her, that would be enough. Hearing this from her friend, she couldn't help but be concerned. "What happened?"

"I had to explain to Star why I couldn't go out with each other anymore."

The empath's world froze instantly when he said that. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had to be sure. "Could you repeat that?" she said in her usual, perfectly disinterested monotone, "What do you mean?" Mentally, she crossed her fingers.

"I'm not going out with Starfire anymore. She took it kind of hard." Robin's face tightened as he relived the conversation. He thought he'd rather go back and fight Slade all over than have that conversation ever again.

Raven didn't know what to think. She shouldn't be so joyful for her friend's suffering, but this presented her with a hope she had all but given up on: the opportunity to be something to Robin. "Why not? Can't you go out with her anymore, I mean."

Robin didn't even hesitate. He trusted Raven as much as she did him. "We just have nothing in common. She's so fragile, so delicate… she could never understand my world. I could never really share my life with her." 'Unlike you,' he mentally added, cursing his inability to say anything to her. If he trusted her so much, why was this so difficult?

'Unlike me,' Raven mentally added, cursing her inability to say anything to him. If she trusted him so much, why was this so difficult? 'Robin, we have far more in common than either of us would ever want to admit.

With Raven, Robin would be able to discuss anything, without fears of breaking one of the naive Starfire's pleasant illusions about the world… he could speak the truth at all times, knowing that no matter how unpleasant the truth, Raven would be able to deal with it.

The two Titans held an awkward silence between them for minutes as they each looked at the other. To both, it was obvious that the other wanted to say something, but neither could muster up the courage. Both also had a feeling that they both wanted to make the same confession to the other, but neither could make themselves believe that feeling, calling it wishful thinking. Raven couldn't help but feel the irony. Half an hour ago she had been listening to a song that she had agreed with wholeheartedly, telling her that she couldn't allow herself to feel… yet here she was, wanting to tell Robin exactly how much feeling he made her do. 'What is it about Robin that makes me want to throw out everything I've always been?'

Finally, Robin broke the silence because he couldn't stand the tension anymore. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Raven blinked. She didn't expect that. "I was trained on Azarath since I was young, along with the arcane arts."

"I suppose what I'm really asking then is why would you take all the time to learn how to fight when you have powers like yours. I had to learn, because I have no powers of my own. Learning hand to hand combat is the best way for me to fight crime. Why would someone with as much power as you need to know how?"

"Have you ever heard of the Buddhist monks that live in China, Tibet, and India?"

"Huh?" Robin was confused. She had just made a giant logic leap… he didn't understand where she was going with this one bit. To him, she had just jumped from point A to point G without hitting any of the letters in between, and he didn't get what she was saying. "Uh, sort of, but I don't see…"

Raven cut him off. "How about the Shaolin monks? They're a very famous group from China."

Robin still didn't get it, but he had heard of that group. "The ones that shave their heads everyday?"

"Yeah, them. Why would a group of people who's only goal is spiritual enlightenment be taught martial arts almost from the day of birth?" Raven saw in Robin's eyes that it had clicked with him where she was going, so she continued. "Control of the mind and control of the body are very linked."

"Ah. I never really thought about it that way. It makes sense." The two Titans again fell into a silence, but this one was nowhere near as uncomfortable as the one preceding it. The pair started to edge closer to each other, almost unnoticeably. Emotions started running rampant in Raven's head, but she noticed nothing breaking, so she didn't care too much. Outside of the tower, the sun began its long arc into the sky, and sunlight streamed into the darkened lounge. Raven didn't have her hood up, so the light caught her across her open face and lit up her features. 'My god, she's beautiful.' Robin would have shaken his head to clear it, but he never got a chance.

Cyborg walked in, yelling about waffles, then he stopped dead when he noticed the two on the couch… and it was floating. Somewhere in the middle of that, Raven's emotions had started to levitate the couch without either noticing. Robin was quick to cover for the both of them. "A little more to the left, Raven," He said, "A little more… ah, forget it. Just put it back where it was." Raven let the couch down and got off it along with Robin, meeting Cyborg's questioning stare. "Just doing a little redecorating," he explained. Cyborg shrugged, then turned back to making breakfast with a 'Who, me? I didn't see nothin!' expression on his face. The two Teens plopped back down on opposite sides of the couch and sighed at the precise same time. 'Back to business as usual,' each thought, and the walls of privacy and secrecy went back up between them.

But they were not as high as they had been. Not nearly as high.

End Chapter 10
A/N – How do you like that, fellow Rae/Rob fans? All I have to say is "so it begins." There is a little blue button just too the left of the text your reading right now. It says "review." Press it. Thanks a lot, I want any opinions I can get.

As for the song… my god. That's Raven's theme song, isn't it? I made a CD the other day that's basically a soundtrack for this fic, and it was a ton of fun.

That said, lets hear it for fan service! Raven in the tub? What? You couldn't see it? Heh, sucks for you. Yes, to be honest, I DO get a kick from fitting the commercial break's into the story.

Next time on Teen Titans – Fragile Dreams:

-Starfire gets sent to the future
-I write an episode from Star's viewpoint?
-I write an episode from only one viewpoint?
-Is that... allowed?

Next Episode: How Long is Forever?