The Raben Project

By

Agent X

The Invisible

A/N: For some reason this turned out to be in the style of my older chapters. It just would not co-operate. Raven's interaction with Terra is an integral part of her development, I believe. I had to include it. It's part of the reason why I love this episode. The rest is to do with the epic foreshadowing.

Question: Are there any suggestions for a new/different summary? I was thinking it could use an update.

Moment: Episode 21 (Titan Rising) – Terra runs past Raven, triggering a vision. Robin sees something amiss, and asks what's wrong.

Raven has good reason to doubt Terra.

When the girl had first come to them however many months ago, she had been troubled. There was something about her – a taint, a trait – that had stained her psyche. It crippled her control, her self-confidence and her interactions with the Titans. And back then, with the possibility of Terra joining the team, Raven had known this to be the first obstacle they would have to overcome in order to train her.

In short, Terra was afraid.

Of herself, of her powers, of the world – Raven never asked. She had always been privy to more information than most cared to share, and had learnt from her earliest experiences on Earth that it was best not to share this fact. People often resented what they couldn't understand.

The fact of the matter remained however. Back then, Terra was dangerous and she was scared and she wasn't ready to face either truth.

So she had left.

And today, she came back.

When Terra reappears, the first question on everyone's mind is 'Has she changed?'

She steps off the boulder and onto their home: confident, clean, casually greeting the people she had run from not so long ago. Raven takes one look at the petite, blonde powerhouse and can instantly see that Terra hasn't changed at all.

Her problem (a weight, a weakness) is still there: an intangible aura that lingers about her, cloying and colouring the air. The Titans meet her with varying degrees of enthusiasm (hugs, a high five, and a handshake are exchanged). Raven does not greet her. She neither likes nor dislikes the girl, and only pays half a mind to the reunion occurring behind her. It is only when the issue of Terra's power is brought up that Raven steps in. All feelings aside (meaning Starfire's and Beast Boy's), she will tolerate no threat to her friends.

As Beast Boy fumbles with his words (Who knew he could try to be tactful?) she approaches the girl and bluntly states, "You couldn't control your powers."

Terra seems to expect this. She smiles and replies, "Hello! That's why I left! Robin said I needed practice, so I've been practicing. Check it out."

They do so.

The Titans watch the aerial display, impressed. Raven alone is dubious.

She knows that control does not stem from practice (A little girl, straight from her mother's womb, is toying with magic). She knows it does not blossom from knowledge (Books upon books upon books. Knowing her history or her future does not help). It is not caused by confidence (cold, cool, calm and in control – until she is not), and it cannot be proven through tricks and performances (done in the light of day, in a moment of leisure).

So despite all of Terra's demonstrations and protestations, Raven cannot bring herself to believe this unsure girl has truly conquered her powers when her own psyche remains so unstable.

A strange vibration follows the display. At first everyone is wary, but their guest appears just as surprised as they are. The previous discussion is necessarily put aside when they head downstairs.

The city map is pulled up on their computers. As Robin deduces the cause of the ominous rumbling, the Titans ready themselves.

"Something is moving under the city." He affirms. "We need to find out what. Titans, go!"

They move the moment the command leaves his lips.

As they rush for the door Terra stays by the window, watching them go. Robin and Raven halt to look back at her.

"Are you coming or not?" Robin asks, not unkindly.

"Does this mean I'm on the team?" She enquires.

"It means we could use your help."

Terra pauses, but this seems to be enough for her. She moves to join them. Raven waits for the girl to pull ahead. As their guest draws even her skin lightly brushes Raven's.

And 'Raven' is lost.

Alien emotions assault her senses. A swarm of sensation. Information too big, too sudden to understand. Innumerable images. Indecipherable flashes of thought.

Throughout all of it there is only one overbearing feeling that she can make out.

She was wrong.

Terra's fear has changed. It's grown.

Flushed with the foreign sensation, Raven works to fight it down. Her previous doubts mutate and solidify, coming back to nip at her heels. Questions become glaring convictions that centre on the mysterious girl in their midst. She tries to separate the emotional wake from herself, seeking for shields normally kept dormant while inside the tower –

– A steadying hand rests on her shoulder.

"Everything okay?"

Raven looks up. She still stands rooted where Terra had brushed passed her. Their guest is no longer in the room. Robin waits. He has noticed something amiss and his hand remains at her side until she is ready to speak.

She knows it is not an idle question. Robin is genuinely asking for any misgivings about their new companion. But all Raven has to offer him is the clambering fear that surrounds the girl and her now stolid belief that Terra's inclusion equates to a bad idea.

"Can't tell." Is all she says. "Are you sure it's safe to have her around?"

Robin watches her seriously, but his voice is light.

"Not entirely." He admits to her. "But everyone deserves a second chance."

When Robin turns to leave, Raven can't help but think that he is wrong: by very definition, in order to deserve something one has to earn it first.

I will be honest – I had a lot of difficulty with this chapter. Mainly because I had so much I wanted to say, and couldn't get it out right. I am terribly sorry if the use of pronouns get confusing. It was hard trying to differentiate, but when the chapter is mainly about two girls, all I could really use was their names and the ubiquitous 'she/her'.

Raven doesn't hate Terra, or 'suspect' her of anything. She just mistrusts the girl's grasp on her own powers and doesn't want her friends to get caught in the result as they very nearly were the last time.

I'd just like to state that I am not a Terra hater (nor a Starfire hater, for that matter), and I think it's sad that so many Rob/Rae fans feel that in order for their pairing to work out they need to demean these other characters (that is not to say, of course, that Raven does not get her share of abuse from other zealous shippers).

Terra I think serves her purpose beautifully in the Titan verse, and though I find Starfire very one dimensional in the show, I attribute this to her under-utilisation by the writing team. This is why one of my favourite Starfire episodes is actually 'Deception', where I think we get to see another side of her.

I do hate Star/Rob, though. Mainly because it is a very shallow relationship (exactly the type that teenagers would be getting into, I suppose).