Chapter Three: Of Fairs and Fairy Tales
A/N
A bit of warning: Robin is going to say/think some things that will seem out of character. I did it on purpose and it will only last a few paragraphs. The Boy Wonder is my favorite character and I like playing with all the sides of his ego and personality. One of the sides I'm going to present is one that, like his past, is buried pretty deep. Enjoy.
…
Fires were the worst dangers the Titans encountered. They were the most dangerous and most unpredictable of all the forces they faced. Villains and criminals all had M.O.s, but fires were beyond Raven's magic and no strategy that Celine built could predict the next flicker of danger.
Beast Boy and Aqualad threw water at the burning apartment building as Robin and Cyborg steadied the firehouse. Against Robin's protests, Raven and Starfire had flown inside to make sure everyone had gotten out.
The smoke would have suffocated any other person, but Starfire was only barely fazed. She was rarely gladder¹ for her ability to endure harsh conditions. She held up collapsing beams as Raven flew through for her final sweep. Celine's scan had been useless, with so much intense flames, there was no way to pick up a small life form, but Raven's arms could. Raven found the little girl, collapsed near her bed and a man a few feet away struck down by a beam. Starfire pulled the beam away and pulled the man to her shoulders as Raven gently lifted the small girl to her arms, cradling her close. Raven's soul self escaped, carrying Starfire and their precious burdens.
Behind them, the building caved under the fire, but the fire fighters didn't give up. The small girl in Raven's arms had come to just before the paramedics came. Her big blue eyes stared at Raven and held out small fingers for her to hold.
"My name is Raven. What's yours?" Raven asked the little girl.
"Ellie Parker."
"Ellie, you're safe now. You and your father are going to be alright." Raven said. Robin didn't know Raven was capable of such kindness, but he should have. Raven was a woman after all. He watched Raven as she calmed the girl's fears, handing her a small teddy bear that the paramedics kept incase their charges were small children. Ellie's father was helped into the ambulance and Ellie placed in afterwards. Raven watched the ambulance drive off before turning back, realizing the fire had been put out. Robin observed her for a few more seconds before turning the girl's face into his shoulder, holding her close while she pulled herself together.
Robin had observed that that day had started as any other day had: Beast Boy and Cyborg fighting over breakfast, Celine sitting Indian style on the floor as she worked on a new proto-type to solve some global problem (which, Beast Boy found out, all super geniuses did in their spare time), Starfire observed Celine in wonderment at the vast array of "doodads" and "shiny thingies". It still surprised Robin just how patient Celine was to explain what she was doing to the bubbly alien. Aqualad appeared to be missing in action and the Tower was still void of Bumble Bee and Speedy. Robin's eyes scanned the common room when he realized he had missed someone.
Raven lay on the floor, either asleep against the profile of Loberos, or watching the world with her mind instead of her eyes. Robin paused a moment to just look at her and found that he could do simply that for more than a moment, more than minutes, and not be still amazed by the flawlessness of her calm. He had always thought Raven was pretty, maybe not beautiful, but that opinion, without his conscious reconfiguring, had changed. She was beautiful. Relaxed, in anger, in her eternal state of exasperation, Raven was beautiful. He might have told her so (though in his heart he knew that wasn't the case) if he didn't think ill would come from it. He liked her, in a way that he had thought he liked Starfire, but the feelings he felt for the two girls were as different as… well, the two girls… It wasn't as if he was in love with Raven and no longer in love with Starfire. The fact of the matter was Robin was not in love. He liked girls, an emphasis on the two flight-gifted Titans. He was in a strange place and hoped no one made an effort to move him out of that place, one direction or the other. Robin shook his head before leaping over the coach and exiting the common room. He made it half way to his bedroom when Starfire caught up to him.
"Robin. I have a question that requires your most honest answer."
Robin turned stark white for a moment; he could feel it in his bones that he wasn't going to like where this was going. The truth was he didn't actually owe Starfire anything. It sounded cruel in his head and even more in that moral fiber that constricted, as it saw fit, around his heart. Starfire and he were in an unusual phase in their friendship; they were never officially boyfriend and girlfriend, no matter how that relationship was hinted at and dolled up². He steeled himself for the worst. His feet steadied, knees turned to flee and an exploding disk ready if she followed.
"I have wondered the possibility of my up taking your suggestion to return to Tameran for a short getting away."
Robin face vaulted, leaving a confused Starfire to readjust his standing position, pulling him up by the collar.
"Does this present something of a problem?"
"No Star, not at…"
The alarm blared behind them and Starfire's amulets flickered to life. The two dashed to the control room and found Celine turning out orders. The fire had broken out in central Jump only a few minutes away. The apartment building housed nearly one-hundred people and not all of them had been accounted for.
The Titans took off to aid in rescue and were cheered for and praised when the fire was defeated and all one-hundred lives were out of danger. So why does Raven feel so bad? Robin knew, as Raven stepped away from him, that there was something more to Raven's poor mood than a little girl almost left behind in the fire. It wasn't the danger the little girl faced, it was the little girl… whose eyes were big and blue and held some sparkle of innocence. Maybe Raven had that sparkle once, before they told her all the terrible things she would do, before she recognized her dark powers, before she believed everything they said. Maybe Starfire isn't the only one sick for her home.³
While fighting fires wasn't common to the Titans, attending a fair later that night was the rarest thing they engaged in. Under most circumstances they wouldn't have gone. But no one felt bad about taking the night off when they got the full breadth of the situation.
Beast Boy came running in to the common room holding a paper in his hand. He knocked over Raven and Aqualad and toppled Celine and Robin's card pyramid. It was finally Cyborg's hand clutching his collar and pulling him two feet off the ground that stopped Beast Boy's rampage.
"BB, what is wrong with you?"
"I got an A! I got an A! I took my math test this afternoon and my tutor graded it right there! I got an A!"
Celine took the paper from Beast Boy's hands and turned the paper to the Titans. Indeed, Beast Boy's name was tagged to a corner and there was a huge blue A on the top. Cheers of "way to go" and "alright" rumbled across several lips.
"A ninety seven out of one hundred, that's nearly a perfect score. Good job Beast Boy." Raven said.
"Go Beast Boy, you're a smart guy! Go Beast Boy, you're a smart guy!" Beast Boy chanted as he leapt around. The team endured the over-excited changeling wordlessly for a few moments. It was Celine's shaking her head that dropped Raven's energy shrouded hand back to her side. Beast Boy finally stopped himself to catch his breath.
"That's not even the best part! My tutor was so happy with my progress; he gave me tickets to the fair in Steel City tonight! Enough for all of us!" Beast Boy fanned out the tickets and indeed there was enough for all of them. If Speedy or Bumble Bee returned that night, they'd be out of luck. None of the Titans objected with the celebration, it wasn't common that they could celebrate something other than beating the bad guy. Tonight they were going to take time to enjoy each other's company without villains or criminal activity tainting the moment.
The night sky was filled with shattering fireworks, adding to the night's already dazzling million points of light. Starfire charged happily to the concession stand for unhealthy portions of cotton candy. Robin watched her for a moment and turned green around the neck as he watched her consume cotton candy number nine. Cyborg flexed his muscle at the strong man competition and won Celine more prizes than she could carry. Each cheer of "BOOYAH!" added another stuffed animal to the pile until Celine couldn't hold anymore and collapsed under a mountain of plushies.
As far as prize winning went, Beast Boy was not having his best night. Raven tapped her foot impatiently as Beast Boy steadied his aim for attempt number three at knocking down the milk bottle pyramid. She had considered 'helping' the bottles collapse but remembered that his was for Beast Boy. Instead she stood and crossed her arms as Beast Boy missed by a good three feet.
"Oh man! This thing is rigged."
"Have you considered you're just not good at this?" So much for being nice. Raven shrugged. She had tried. Magnitude wasn't as important as the fact that she at least made the effort.
"I can't throw straight on an empty stomach! Raven! Can you get me a funnel cake? I just need a sugar fix to give me the right focus."
Raven realized she probably wouldn't get another chance to flee as Beast Boy wound up. She had walked all of twenty feet when she realized she had no idea where the funnel cake was sold. She shrugged her shoulders and walked around.
Robin found that walking in a pair with Aqualad was not conducive to having a good time. The two had been swarmed immediately by a horde of fangirls wanting a piece of Aqualad or Robin or some freaky combination of the both of them that Robin didn't want to think about. He had managed to shrug off his pursuers, but found himself in the seedy area of the fair, behind the roller coaster and face painting tent. He looked around, trying to find another way back into the fair, paranoid that the estrogen-fuelled mob was able to pick up his scent; he couldn't go backwards so he went straight ahead.
BANG
For his entire life, Robin couldn't figure out how he had missed the overhanging board that was the source of his current headache. I didn't miss it, I walked right into it. That's going to leave a mark. An old man laughed at him. At least Robin thought it was an old man until he got a full view. Robin knew it wasn't polite to stare, but he had never seen anything that old before. The hermit didn't seem pleased with Robin's stare and whacked him in the shin with its cane.
"You are very rude." The hermit was definitely a woman. She took off her robes and laid them on a stool before she sat on them. "You are fortunate that you are also very brave or I would have turned you into a newt."
Robin's shin cooled and without a word turned to leave the old woman behind.
"With the way you treat women, I'm surprised she likes you at all." Robin swallowed nervously before turning a clean 180 to face the woman again. "There is only so much saying for looks when the personality is lacking." Robin didn't know if it was a warning or not, but he had a feeling the hermit-woman wasn't done talking to him.
"I'm a smart guy, so don't play any games with me. You lead me here; I didn't stumble into that board… seeing as it's a sign for your stand, you must have wanted me to stop. So what do you want?"
"Come. Come. Sit. Sit. I have much to tell you and you're impatience can only be tolerated for so long."
It only startled Robin slightly when a chair that he knew wasn't there before waited for him to utilize it. He sat down, folded his arms over the woman's stand and waited. "Well?"
"I can't show you anything until I know what you want to see. I can't go backwards boy, just to tell you now, the past is a gift that the living can share with their loved ones. It isn't mine to tinker and parade like some gaudy stone."
"Alright, but what makes you think I want to see anything at all?"
"Because you fear, like every other man ever born. Yesterday was a nightmare, today is uncertain and tomorrow is the only thing that may not be cruel, but you're scared that you don't want the same thing as those you care about."
Robin's masked eyes narrowed behind their shield. "I can show you something, about her or you or both of you, in the most likely way your lives will overlap. It is not absolute; nothing is absolute but death and fear. I can show you parts of her, parts of you. Stories they'll write about you are at my command and every sigh and stumble that you could make tomorrow are within my hand. Now tell me dear boy what to see?"
"I want to see her happy." Robin whispered.
"Oh, you stupid boy. You will get what you asked for." Robin collapsed to the ground without warning.
…
The sky was a gold-purple hybrid as the sun finished its decent behind the west Gotham mountain ranges. Richard pulled a hand from his coat pocket to smooth out his pony tail. His destination was two houses down the street on the left. His walk was brisk but stiff, his legs were still fighting him and the cane could only alleviate so much of the pressure. His leather jacket kept out what was the beginning of the cold. Any chill could cool his bones, especially the vertebrae that were left shattered by that one faithful bullet.
The brown brick building was lit like every other house, lights on in nearly every room and the porch light glowing weakly. Richard tapped at the bulb, happy to see it shine brightly before maintaining its poor hum. He knocked sharply and counted to three. A smile crossed his handsome face when the patter of excited feet came closer and finally stopped on the other side of the door. The lock slid free and the door opened inward. Two blue eyes looked him from toe to chin, then finally at his face. The blue eyes sat in the face of a pale skinned boy; nine years old and suffering from leukemia. His brown hair was just returning peach fuzz, hidden under a baseball cap. But, boy, it was beautiful when he smiled.
"Uncle Richard!" The boy yelled.
"Hi Andrew." Before the older man could step into the house Andrew called over his shoulder "Sean! Sean! Uncle Richard is here! Get Miss Raven." A smaller boy, Sean, ignored the second half of Andrew's call and ran excitedly into the foyer, taking his place behind Andrew. Sean was going to be five in three days, it was one of the reasons why Richard had left East Gotham and visited their home. Sean bounced up and down behind Andrew trying to get a better look at "Uncle Richard". Dick Grayson let himself in and patted the younger boy on the head.
"You're getting big Sean. You're going to catch up to me soon."
"Uncle Richard! Look what I can do!" Sean bounced on one foot, then the other, then both feet. Richard clapped his hands together. "You're getting at that, kiddo." Andrew pulled Richard into the small living room and the two boys sat on either side of him.
"Miss Raven is putting away the laundry. Sean! I told you to go get her!"
"You get her! I want to talk to Uncle Richard!"
"Nothing is going to stop you from talking to him when you get back! Now get!" The smaller boy didn't move a muscle. Andrew finally gave up and went to find Miss Raven. Not a second after Andrew was out of sight; Sean furrowed his brow, noticing Richard's cane. "Uncle Richard… you said your legs were all better, why do you still have your cane?"
"You know how us old people are Sean. You push us a little and we break. Remember when Miss Raven broke her nose? She had to wear that bandage even after she was all better."
"Excuse me, but I resent the fact that you called me old, especially in my home."
Richard turned his head, playing his cocky smile, ready to win her over in a minute. Raven stood as pretty as she did in his memory. Her long straight hair was pulled away from her face with a black scarf; two plaits around her face fell over her shoulders and around the fullness of her chest. The light lilac vest she wore didn't meet her brown knee length leather skirt and a band of skin one inch tall was exposed. Ravens hands were on her hips, sandal clad feet tapping in mock anger.
"You've called me an old man more times than I can count and since you're six months older than me, by definition you must be old."
Raven shook her head and sat in an arm chair that only her or the dog, when he felt particularly bold, ever sat in. She crossed a slender leg over the other. "Now that you're done calling me an old maid, what brings you here?"
"Who said I was done?"
Raven stuck out her tongue. "It's good to see you Richard."
Richard nodded. "I just came to stop by before all the hustle and bustle begins about Sean's birthday. I'm really sorry I can't be here for it big man."
"You can make it up to me by telling me another story!"
"Sean, you mustn't be rude. Richard gave you a gift already."
"It's alright, Rae. I've got one I've been saving up for days now." The two boys scooted closer to Richard, ready to be amazed by his story. "This is my best story yet."
"Is it about when you were a Titan?" Andrew asked.
"Better, it's about another Titan, the most powerful Titan of them all. This is the story of the most beautiful sorceress ever known. She was gifted with the most amazing magic. She was the champion of the lands and with her faithful knights she could conquer any villain she came across."
"Who was she?" "What was her name?"
"We called her Fair Raven." Raven turned two shades of red as she listened to Richard's story. By some great luck neither of the boys turned a questioning eye to her. Raven sat perfectly still, not to give any hint that Richard might be talking about her. Towards the end of Richard's ridiculous rendition of how she defeated "a most wicked dragon", Sean turned a brown eye to Raven.
"Miss Raven! The sorceress is named Raven too! When your parents saw how pretty you were did they name you after her?"
Raven sat speechless for a moment before nodding. The small gesture seemed to satisfy the boy and Richard went on with his story. Later that night, when both boys were tucked away, Raven punched Richard in the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?" The assault continued when a rain of pillows dog piled on top of him.
"You promised!" Raven rasped in a furied whisper. "I asked you never to mention my past in front of those boys! I don't ever want them to know I was a Titan. I don't want anyone to remember me!"
"Raven, being a Titan is part of you. Why are you ashamed?"
"You know very well I'm not ashamed! The Titans are gone now, Richard, and we've all moved on, but that doesn't mean there aren't grudges lying around. If Sean accidentally let out that he thought I was a Titan… word spreads fast in Gotham. You know that."
"It's not like you can't defend them."
"My past is not something I'm prepared to defend them against."
Richard observed her while she sat down beside him on her bed. He fell back across the mattress, the throb in his spine at dull roar. "The potential parents decided not to adopt Sean didn't they?" Raven nodded.
"They take one look at his prosthetic legs and turn away. The same thing with Andrew, once they realize he's sick, they look for someone else. They don't even let themselves look past that to see that they're great kids."
When the Titans had disbanded eight years ago, they had all gone their separate ways. Star went home, Cyborg opened a tech lab on the other side of the country, Beast Boy returned to South Africa, "Robin" went back to Gotham and Raven had went with him⁴. "Robin" returned to Batman's side before the Joker grew too accustomed to the Boy Wonder's face and made to erase him. The bullet had collapsed his spine and like an arch with its key stone hammered from its place, his body crumbled like a Greek tragedy. Raven stayed with him, or rather, Raven brought him to stay with her in a spare room just off side of her's in the six bedroom house she had turned into an orphanage. Over the recovery period, "Robin" watched Raven grow more beautiful, mature and strong as she let each one of her nine children go. When there were only three children left, Raven exhausted herself with the last phase of healing "Robin's" body. Instead she killed him, the Boy Wonder stopped breathing and Richard Grayson was a whole man.
Raven fell back to the mattress as well. Her long hair mixed with Richard's equally long hair, the colors streamed like an unfinished painting, neither of them noticed. "No Nightwing tonight?" Raven asked.
Richard had considered staying with Raven and helping her run her orphanage. But his blood boiled for vigilante justice and he borne Nightwing. "He'll make an appearance in a day or two. Perhaps after saving the Fair Raven from the clutches of a great danger, he is her good knight."
"And what will he be rescuing the most powerful sorceress in the world from?" Raven asked, playing along.
"Despair."
Raven's brow furrowed. "Despair? I don't feel…" Richard rolled over her, supporting his body above hers with his arms. Her shock allowed him to continue uninterrupted. "Rae, that bond doesn't die just because we don't live in a giant T anymore. I could feel your pain over my body. It scared me." Raven turned her head but didn't resist when Richard's finger tilted her chin back. "You're scared Raven… that you'll have to be a mother to these boys. Why does that scare you?"
"They deserve better. Those boys should have the best of what the world can give them." Raven replied. Richard's hair escaped its pony tail and fell over her fingers as she stroked it.
"You are just as good as any foster family could be. Probably better. You've been a great mother to them. I don't know how you couldn't notice but those boys adore you. Is the idea of having them call you 'mom' so terrible?"
"No… it would be wonderful…" The tears fell out of Raven's eyes but she didn't sob a single breath. Richard understood. Raven wanted to be a mother, but she was alone and all she had were those two boys. Nothing would be able to stop two sets of parents walking into her home and taking them away. What would she have then? Raven… don't you know all that you have?
Richard did was he should have done all those years ago and every day since. He leaned down and kissed Raven, just once on her mouth. Raven's face held surprise when he pulled back. "Why did you do that?" Raven asked.
"Because you need to know. Tomorrow and as long as I and those boys down the hall breathe, we're blessed to have you and want you to be happy. I could be… as Nightwing or Richard Grayson… we can be… a family."
Raven sighed that beautiful way she did and held Richard's face in her hands. Richard dropped his full weight unto Raven's slender form. She hugged him tight.
"Do you think… you could… wear the mask?" Richard smiled that smile of his and set about making sure neither of them said more than a sentence for the rest of the night.
Beat, beat heartbeat…
Robin woke up with a throbbing headache. He turned his face towards the Hermit's stand to find that it wasn't there anymore. Of course not, that's how these things always work. Robin stood up and dusted off his cape. That vision had been… weird… nice… beautiful… frightening… He wanted to see her happy, but the whole thing made him feel glad. He looked around, but didn't catch a single glimpse of the old woman. He forgot about the fangirl mob and headed back the way he came.
Normally a tug like the one she just felt would have resulted in someone getting thrown across a room. Someone was terribly lucky Raven's mood was good. Raven turned around and found a small girl looking at her sheepishly.
"Ellie?"
"Hi Miss Raven. I saw you and the other Titans when my daddy and me got off the bumper cars. I saw Beast Boy trying to win a prize so," Ellie presented a green monkey with interlocking hands for Raven. "My daddy won it, but it's from me too." Raven knelt down in front of the brown haired girl and accepted the gift. She wrapped her arms around the miscolored monkey.
"Thank you Ellie. Thank you as well Mr. Parker." Raven noticed that a small teddy bear was poking out of Ellie's jacket pocket. It was the one she had given her only a few hours before.
"No, we're thanking you Raven. You saved my daughter's life and for that I'm infinitely thankful. I wish I had a better reward."
"No Daddy! This one's good! I picked it out Miss Raven and I want you to keep it close to your heart forever, like I'm going to do with you!" Raven sat stunned at the girl's admission. Her voice spoke without her, wishing the Parkers all the joy in the world, knowing it wouldn't measure a fraction of what she felt at that moment.
Mr. Parker collected Ellie and the girl giggled in delight as he hoisted her to his shoulders. Raven clutched the plushy closer to her chest. I wonder… if my childhood could haven been happy like that? Raven shook her head furiously. You aren't like Ellie and your father is a demon, not capable of caring and being affectionate like Mr. Parker.
The image of Mr. Parker and Ellie faded in seconds as another conquered her psyche. She was seeing herself; older, body mature. She was standing, half bent over, offering her open arms to a toddling baby girl who made her way excitedly, in uneven, rushed steps, towards her. The tiny child left the arms of her father, who sat with arms braced to catch the baby should she miss step. He needn't worry. The girl all but leapt into Raven's arms and the purple hair woman lifted the pretty child to her cheek, cooing the girl's name.⁵
The image faded, drawing a tear from the hardened sorceress's eye. Raven rose to her feet. As she dusted off her knees, she found that she was standing in front of the concession stand that sold funnel cake. She then remembered Beast Boy, who probably exhausted all of his money and sugar and went to rectify the situation.
Robin found Raven standing near a totally drained Beast Boy. The green boy could barely lift his throwing arm and for all his success, Raven couldn't tell the difference.
"The first time he tried and failed I laughed. After the thirteenth time it wasn't funny anymore." Raven raised her arms in a dramatic motion. "Oh will no brave knight gain me my prize?"
Robin stood stunned for a moment than pushed the pile of Beast Boy away from center of the throwing platform. He fisted the ball firmly before throwing his arm back and pitching the ball. He had hit dead center but only two of the bottles fell over. He looked to Raven with an eyebrow raised.
I couldn't let you do it in one try, after Beast Boy tried so hard. Robin nodded and picked up another ball, this shot knocked all the bottles over.
"We have a winner!" Beast Boy's jaw dropped and a high pitched squeal escaped him. He turned to Robin, unable to form the words to express his shock. Instead he pointed his finger at the toppled pyramid with tears running down his face. Robin shrugged, "Beginner's luck I guess."
"Good sir! Pick your prize for your lady."
Robin pointed immediately to a brown bunny with marble brown eyes. The dealer handed it to Robin who turned to present it to Raven. Raven's brow furrowed. "Robin, I can't take that. You won that."
"I won it for you."
"I… but Robin…" That's not fair.
"Raven. Take it." Then make it fair…
How do I do that?
"Trade." Robin said out loud. He pointed to the green monkey that clung to Raven's left arm. Raven looked wounded for a moment; as if the suggestion was the basest thing Robin was capable of saying. But without thinking about it, without evaluating the consequences, Raven wrapped the green monkey around Robin's shoulder and accepted the soft plushy in return. Robin's arm wrapped around Raven's slender waist and he lead her away from the Beast Boy shaped statue, back towards the full excitement of the fair.⁶
The End of Chapter Three
A/N
¹I honestly didn't know gladder was a word.
² I'm not saying there was no relationship, there definitely was one. But even Stranded didn't out and out say they were boyfriend and girlfriend.
³ I know that that doesn't make sense, but I want to emphasis that the bond that Robin and Raven have isn't flawless and there are things about her that he doesn't understand.
⁴ Robin went solo and Raven went with him. Ha.
⁵ Remember this, it'll be important in later chapters. Don't get ahead of yourselves though. "Rob and Rae and the baby do not make three"
⁶ I think it should be painfully obvious that Raven did exactly what Ellie told her to.