a.n. gracefulraven- "his Raven"... X3; I loved that. hehe. I'll try to check out your new story... but I may not have a lot of free time with school and all. x.x; raex18- X'll speak this chapter. Don't worry. :) Karusu-hime- I'm really glad you like it. And if it doesn't go the way you wanted the story to go, please don't hurt me. XD; The Morrow- Confusing? How so? Hopefully things will be explained before I end this in a couple of chapters. Hehe. raven717- It's not forever forever... just... a week forever. / And if there's ever a prize for the 300th reviewer, you might get freakishly lucky again. LoL. Boldprint56- Not planning a sequel at the moment, sorry. But that's always a possibillity. Kendra Chetnova- After 25 chapters, Slade is so mine to act anyway I want. XD;; And hopefully you'll like how he acts in a chapter or two. :33 lolopixie- Yay! I was hoping people would think the mask-leaving thing was huge. :3 I'm really glad you're so into it. I dunno how I made people like Slade, either. LoL. Tritium- No typos? Nice... I should get an award. :D ...or at least a plaque. LoL And cool, you like the robots, too? When my friends were reading the handwritten chapter, they looked up at me and were like, "but what about the droids?" hehe. Without them, there really wouldn't be a story at all. o.O; faLLen-dreamz- Sorry, Raven won't be a good guy in this story. :( But any more TT fics I make that aren't sequels to this will have Raven as a good guy. Don't worry. :) psycicflower- Typing with one hand? Are you using both hands for different things or is one hand hurt or broken? o.o;; Hopefully not the latter. And for all those questions, you shall find answers in this or the next chapter. ...except for the Irish question, 'cause I dunno what that means. XD; The old Batman show... wow. That was so cheesy it was bordering scary. LoL. I'm more a fan of I Dream of Jeannie, really. hehe. Moon's Darkness- Raven was already blacking out when Slade took off his mask, so she hasn't seen his face. Not yet, anyway. :3 Zarola- Wow, thanks a lot. :D I'm glad you liked it... hopefully this one, though devoid of any action, really, will be just as interesting. ...I hope. o.o;

Chapter 26

Raven just stared at the mask for the longest time.

Finally Robin said, "I'll... put it in the villain showroom with the rest of the Slade memorabilia." As he withdrew his hand, Raven suddenly reached forward and snatched the metal mask.

"I'll keep it," she said softly yet firmly.

"So," Beast Boy spoke up at last, breaking the long, somewhat awkward silence. "X and the guys filled us in on everything with Blackfire and Slade and the deal and the foreverness we've been gone and all... but how are you?"

Raven slowly ran a finger around the rim of the mask, her gaze following the trail. A ghost of a smile was on her face as she considered the question. How was she? Confused, lonely, abandoned, intimidated, uncertain... Most of her powers were being used to suppress all those feelings, so she figured she wouldn't be doing anything else for awhile. Finally she just said, "I'm fine." Raven didn't see everyone's prodding expression for her to divulge more information, so they never heard anything else from her about it.

The dark girl looked up and around at her four teammates. "What about you? How did Blackfire get you guys?"

"Very sneakily!" cried Starfire. "I was flying back to Tamaran when she captured me. My sister was in her cloaked ship on the edge of my planet's galaxy and when I was near enough, she pulled me right out of space and into one of the tanks! Before I could break free, it was already filling and solidifying."

"Almost same thing happened to us," Beast Boy piped up. "Blackfire snuck up on our ship and kinda fried our engine with these crazy ray-thingies," -He added equally crazy hand gestures- "and beamed us into the tanks somehow. We were all trying to get out, but the weird goo was spillin' in and turning hard and chunky already."

Raven allowed a small smirk to slip onto her face. Here she had been expecting some grand battle in which Blackfire somehow gained the upper hand. But the Titans hadn't even had the chance to fight.

"So practically the whole time you guys were gone, you were in tanks on Blackfire's ship?" she said, skillfully hiding an amused expression. Starfire and Beast Boy looked timid while Robin and Cyborg looked indignant, but nobody answered her.

In the silence that followed, Raven glanced around the room again, then out the window. "What happened to the Hive?"

"They weren't quick enough," Cyborg said, his scowl melting into a proud smile. "When they woke up, they found themselves all tied up and ready to go to jail. The Hive, Dr. Light, Cinderblock, Blackfire, all of 'em."

"Yeah," nodded Beast Boy, "but that Master of Games was hard to take down. Took a bunch of us to get him. But we won."

"So only one got away?" Raven murmured, mostly to herself. She noticed that everyone was conveniently avoiding talking about how the dark girl had attacked them. However, as was his freakish way, Robin seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.

"Raven, we don't hold it against you," he said, clutching her shoulder. "Slade has tons of ways for making people obey him... I know." The dark girl felt like laughing. Not laughing for humor, but because the Titans were so clueless and would never think or understand that Raven had joined Slade willingly.

Looking at them now, crowded around her bed with worried expressions, she saw them in a different light. A week or so ago, she would've given anything for this sight- to have her friends back and to know they truly did care for her. Now, though, this was the last thing she wanted.

Raven drew her hand across her brow in a tired way. She wasn't in the least bit confused anymore. This atmosphere stifled her- the girl was far more uncomfortable around the Titans than she had ever been before. She wanted to get out- to get away. But above all, she wanted her robots back.

"Yes, friend, we are ecstatic you are all right! Now that we are all back together, we can forget about the evilness of Slade and be a team again," Starfire said reassuringly. The rest of the group mimicked her hopeful expression. Raven, however, kept her cold, somewhat distant look; the whole time she was running her fingers around the rim of Slade's mask.

"Yeah, you did a great job of holding down the fort while we were gone. Except for the whole Slade-takeover thing, you were the perfect housekeeper," said Beast Boy with a grin stretching from ear to pointy ear. When the dark girl didn't seem to take it as a compliment, his smile flopped and he part way hid behind Starfire.

"Maybe we should go, guys. Raven probably needs some rest," Cyborg spoke up as he gestured toward the door.

"And besides, we need to rescue the T-ship from Tamaranian space. Team, meeting in five minutes," added Robin, who was the first out of the room. Raven knew he didn't expect her to come and she was grateful for that. Right now she wanted to have as little contact with the Titans as possible. Her thoughts were interrupted when Starfire enthusiastically shook Raven's arm.

"I know! I shall make a delectable soup to aid in your recovery, made from the innards of glekk'n beetles!"

Cyborg steered the alien from the room, saying, "I think Rae's had enough of a fright for awhile. Don't need to make it worse."

A minute later only the honorary Titans were left. Cautiously, all four approached the bed.

"This is the 'we' I was talking about," Speedy said, smirking. "We've all been working pretty hard to get the Titans back home. Thanks for helping, by the way." Raven arched a brow. He had said that seriously, not sarcastically.

"I helped? How?"

"You didn't stop me when I took that disc," replied Aqualad, leaning on the bed footboard. "Thanks, Raven. Our plan could've been completely blown if you had handed me over to Slade."

"And see, if you'd just have let me explained to you about your friends and Slade, we could've avoided this whole mess," X said, puffing out his chest. Raven merely scowled. She had half the mind to push him right out the window... again. Hotspot interrupted her thoughts.

"We're just glad everything worked out in the end," he said sincerely. The dark girl half-forced a faint smile. She wasn't happy with the latest turn of events, but the four guys did work hard to get the Titans back.

After a long while of silence, Raven finally asked, "How did you all loners end up on a team together?" In answer, the honorary Titans pointed to X.

"But he's not the easiest guy to work with," Speedy said quickly, smiling when X glared at him. When Raven's gaze fell back to the mask, all four guys figured it was time to leave.

"See you around, Raven," Aqualad spoke up with a slight wave of his hand. "I'm going back to Atlantis."

"You guys aren't staying together?" asked the dark girl, looking up. A short, awkward silence followed as the boys exchanged glances. Then, simultaneously, they broke out laughing.

"No way," grinned Speedy, shaking his head.

"It was fun while it lasted," Hotspot admitted, "but I will never be on a team with any of you again. And I hope you two are never on the same team ever again." The fiery boy acknowledged X and Speedy. He then turned and led the way out of the room.

Last in line, X stopped in the doorway. He looked back at Raven. "Hey, back before you attacked everyone in sight, you asked me why I brought the Titans back." He paused, as if choosing his next words carefully. "Do you... did you... not want them to return?"

For once, Raven put down the mask and stared straight at him. "I was just getting used to the way things were again. I didn't want another change to happen. I felt closer to Slade in a week than I've ever been with the Titans in the past few years." The dark girl looked as if she could go on, but suddenly stopped. Her gaze dropped down to her lap. "Now that the Titans are back," she began in a softer voice, "I'll have to earn their trust all over again, which will be so much harder to do this time around."

"Even so, it's a far better life than what you would've had with Slade," X replied, leaning against the door frame. Raven's eyes flashed up, a cold glint in them.

"Says you."

X almost chuckled. "You're not a very happy girl, are you? Or are you on some kind of medication for allergies or indigestion or..."

"Get out of here," sighed Raven in an exhausted manner. The thief straightened.

"Yeah, okay. I don't want to be yelled at again. But before I go, I got something here for you." The dark girl looked politely curious as X searched through his belt. Finally he withdrew a Titans communicator and tossed it to her. "Figured you'd get more use out of it than I would. I'd rather not be part of your team's cheery little conversations, anyway."

Raven looked skeptical holding the device. "And you think I would?" X laughed at that.

"But seriously, things like that are a lifesaver. Keep it close." With a wave, he left and the door slid closed behind him. Raven sunk further under her sheets; she was still tired and there was nothing else she could do in the room but rest. Almost instantly her eyes were drooping.

"And here I thought they'd never leave," a voice spoke up, startling the girl. It was undoubtedly Slade's voice, but where was he? Quickly Raven's sights landed on the communicator and she opened it. Staring back at her was the familiar masked head. It looked like he was in his lair in the sewer.

"How is it being back with your family, as you called them?" he asked after a short pause.

"Family? I'm adopted," muttered the dark girl with a sulky expression.

"Are you, now?" was Slade's reply. "Well, you have a little family of twenty here who misses you."

An excited grin cracked on Raven's face. "My robots?" The communicator screen shifted to the side of Slade and showed a group of droids, some working on fixing others. As if on cue, they all looked up and over at the screen.

"Hi, guys!" Raven called, realizing too late that it was a bit too loud. The communicator view returned to Slade.

"They will be here when you come back."

"Raven?" a voice questioned as Starfire poked her head into the room. "Did you say something?"

The dark girl glanced down at the screen to see Slade incline his head in a farewell fashion. The screen went dark and Raven nonchalantly closed the communicator.

"Ah... no. I just... um... what are you doing back here?" Beaming, Starfire popped into the room carrying a clear bowl of the most unappetizing thing Raven had ever seen. The putrid green liquid with specks of pink sloshed thickly against the sides of the container as Starfire walked. It even seemed to move when she stopped- move on its own.

"I brought you glekk'n innards soup!" the Tamaranian announced cheerfully, offering the entire dish to Raven. Just one sniff made the dark girl reel back against her pillows.

"Actually, I'm not too hungry right now," Raven said quickly.

"In that case, I shall leave it here until you feel like eating again," smiled Starfire, setting it on the beside table.

"You do that," mumbled the dark girl as she watched the soup move on its own again. Quickly she took an extra pillow and set it between herself and the table.

"Raven," Starfire spoke up, stepping behind the bed footboard, "may I ask you something?" The dark girl resisted a smirk as one of Slade's replies immediately jumped into her mind.

"That depends on what kind of answer you're searching for," she quoted. Starfire seemed a little puzzled at the reply.

"I search for a truthful answer," the alien replied with childlike wide eyes. "What did Slade do to make you stay? However, if the memories are too painful, you do not have to answer." Raven was silent for a moment.

"He kept me here by lying to me. But I stayed because he understood me... he trusted me."

"We trust you also, Raven," Starfire said softly.

"But do you all understand me?"

"I try. I believe I understand much about you," replied the Tamaranian in the same soft voice.

"Of course you would. We switched bodies. But not the guys. They don't want to. They don't accept me," Raven spat bitterly, all the talks with Slade resurfacing in her mind.

"You are their friend- you are my friend- we would never let anything happen to you! The boys do not have to understand you to protect you," said Starfire. She looked as if she was about to cry listening to Raven's words. "This is all Slade's fault. If it were not for him, none of this would have happened!"

"You're right about that," agreed the dark girl, fighting back a smirk.

"All the Zarklob Curses upon his head!" Starfire shouted as she pounded the footboard with her fist. The entire bed shook at that. The alien offered a Tamaranian apology when she noticed a deep fist imprint in the board.

"Maybe you should go and... calm down," Raven suggested in a somewhat scared voice.

"Perhaps that is a good idea," nodded Starfire. "Robin wishes to assemble a team to retrieve the T-ship. They will be leaving today for Tamaranian space." The dark girl vented a faint laugh, more cruel than funny.

"Right after they get captured, they're going back?"

"We have no enemies in the space, now. The team will be safe," Starfire replied when she reached the doorway. She pointed to the soup and paused, as if trying to remember something. At last she chirped, "Dig up!" Raven didn't have to look at it anymore; she could hear it moving. Or was it... growling at her?

"By the way Starfire," Raven said just as the alien had disappeared from the doorway. She quickly poked her head into the room.

"Yes?"

"That bet you made with Beast Boy about what's really under Slade's armor... you're both wrong."

A pout slipped onto Starfire's face. "And I was certain it was Korklb scales..." Her voice trailed off as she contemplated this new information. "So it is true, then... he really is human?"

"'Fraid so," said Raven, pulling the covers up to her shoulders. The alien girl bid her good night and left.

Raven rolled onto her side and set Slade's mask and the communicator on the other bedside table. All she could think about was leaving. Talking with the Titans, the atmosphere had seemed strained. Not only was she creepy to them, she was a potential enemy. Even with Starfire. She was trying to be friendly to Raven and act like nothing had happened. But there was some kind of barrier between the dark girl and her team anymore. There had always been a barrier it seemed, but not like this- not such an obvious one. It was uncomfortable. She just hoped it wouldn't be for long.

-

"I want this entire tower searched for Slade's devices. And if Raven ever leaves the tower by herself, I want her followed," Robin told his team.

"Please, Raven is not our enemy!" cried Starfire. She had just spent her time defending the boys to Raven and now it was going to be the other way around?

"She isn't," Cyborg agreed with a shake of his head, "but Slade is." Robin punched a fist into his palm.

"And there's a chance she can lead us right to him."

"You think Raven's gonna get kidnapped by Slade again?" Beast Boy questioned. When Robin didn't reply, Starfire gasped.

"Raven would not willingly return to Slade! Never!"

Cyborg put his hands up. "Easy, Star. We don't know anything for sure."

"We know she's our friend," the alien defended adamantly. The boys seemed unconvinced, yet donned hopeful expressions for Starfire.

-

As she waited for sleep to overtake her, Raven stared at the mask and communicator. X was right- it would be a lifesaver and she would definitely keep it close. She was expecting more calls, anyway. If none came, the dark girl would stick to her word and hunt Slade down.

That last thought made Raven smile and as she drifted off to sleep, she hardly even heard Starfire's soup growling.

--
Next Update: Thursday, Feb. 9th.

I had originally intended for this to be the end of the story. I showed it to my friends and they were just like "... that's it? Oh come on! That's not an ending!" So I wrote more. LoL. ...the power of persuasion.