Raventhedarkgoddess: Again, thank you for all your reviews and support! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this story updated, I lost two others and so my account's been locked up. Anyway, now to try to actually get into some plot… Always a problem for me, but I shall do my best.

Chapter Seven: Open Your Eyes

Raven awoke on her couch very late the next day. She wasn't actually sure what had happened, short of the fact that for a moment last night, or perhaps more than a moment, she had a feeling similar to that of being home. She gave herself a mental slap and sat up slowly, looking around her home with some despair at its' emptiness, and for a moment she couldn't help but wonder if last night had been another cruel dream planned by her mind.

The way she was dressed and the knocking on her door told her she wasn't, as did the sunlight coming through the uncovered window, small and stain-glassed, and making a pattern where she had just lain. The small rose rested against the arm of her stained couch, and she opened it to reveal, of course, the only person who could have destroyed her surreal, if not pleasant, alternate reality.

She opened it, struggling to blink back the tiredness behind her eyes. She looked to the left and to the right, but there was no one there. Raising her hand and praying she wouldn't lose it enough to use her powers, she took a step out into the hallway.

That was when the vase fell over. It was tiny, blue marble, and she was lucky it didn't break. In it was a single black rose and next to that…

There in the hallway lay a small note. The handwriting was spinning and messy, as if the hand that wrote it had been shaking or at least out of practice, and at once she knew who had sent it. "Robin…"

Raven,

You left the Tower in a rush last night, and I know I was being mysterious and moody as you left. I actually just wanted to ask you if we could meet up somewhere, just the two of us, to talk about what happened.

After all that's gone on, I can understand if you decline. But I was hoping we could meet up in Angel's Park again, because after all the memories, I have something I really need to talk to you about.

If you'll do it for nothing else, could we meet for old time's sake? We can't keep letting this tear us apart, and I want more than anything to see you again and work this out somehow. I know I can't make up for everything… But will you let me try?

I'll be waiting on the hill between nine and ten. Please, Raven, for my sake…

Robin

For his sake… Heh. Why should I ever do anything for his sake again?

When there are so many memories of times when he couldn't do anything for my sake? Instead of letting herself get lost in the memories, however, she checked the clock before standing up and making herself some herbal tea from her stash- She couldn't have eaten if she'd wanted to.

Robin stood outside the building, looking up at the window of Raven's apartment longingly, wondering if she had received the note, wondering if she would see it, wondering if she would even respond. Still, there was nothing to do but stick his hands into the deep pockets of his dark jeans, forcing himself to turn away, adjusting his sunglasses as he went.

Wearing his sunglasses didn't really make much sense, because there wasn't any sun. Still, Robin wore them, mainly to feel like he was more concealed, more of a different person than the one who had worn the mask all that time.

He needed to feel different from the one who had screamed those words at Raven. He wanted to feel different than the one who had called her a heartless demon, the one who was so obsessed with catching Slade and finding the 'real' Raven, as he remembered her. Maybe I'm just crazy, he thought, straddling his motorcycle and preparing to take the long way home, already thinking about what he would do, getting ready to face down the demons in their pasts.

Self-created demons.

The hours pasted slowly, and finally Raven found herself walking up the long marble staircase. Already could she see the Boy Wonder, sitting without his usual cocky stance, on the bench under the watchful statue of the angel, whose wings were still bent in and surrounding him as his shadow from the final dredges of dying light. Here goes nothing, she thought to herself.

"Robin?" Her voice came out little more than a strangled whisper, but still he turned to look at her, hair moving as if blown by some unseen wind.

"Raven," he said with a smile. "I'm so happy to see you again…" He motioned with his hand for her to sit down and, submissive to his wishes even after all this time, sat down on the stone bench once more, this time keeping her distance from him and folding her hands over in her lap. She looked over at him where he sat in his street clothes, and then quickly looked back off, into the setting sun.

Robin sighed, noticing how dull she looked through his glasses. She looked back at him and he felt his throat sticking; what was he supposed to say?

"Raven, listen to me… I really want to talk to you about what happened… All that time ago. You know, back when we were still a team, I was… cruel to you."

"Cruel doesn't even begin to cover it," said Raven in her dry monotone, wrapping her arms around herself as if protecting herself from his words.

Those dry, cruel words took Robin back in the depths of his memory to another time, another time that was much more pressing on his mind than even the present, which was worrying him beyond belief as it was.

"Do you think I'm being too cruel to her or what!" Robin was yelling at Cyborg. Standing there at the top of the stairs, one arm around Starfire and the other around Beast Boy, for it was the only way she could walk, Raven listened to their argument. The two seemed to be involved, heated intensity coming through their eyes as they stared one another down.

"Yes! Look at her! She's beaten, bruised, and willing to leave because you're the one who insists that demon blood leads to stupidity or something!" He was angry and he moved forward. "You're the one who hurt her, Robin!"

"I am not! I'm not being cruel! I only speak the truth!"

"Do you, now?" Raven hobbled forward despite the other two attempting to restrain her, making her presence known to the two at the bottom of the stairwell. Her eyes seemed to burn with, of course, an intense pain from before, from the night Robin had first opened his mouth and uttered those upsetting words. "So what you're saying is that you truthfully think I'm just some worthless example of demon scum who you don't really need around here anyway?"

"I never…"

"Yes, you did." And she had turned and moved away from him, struggling to stay upright on her own as Starfire and Beast Boy caught her under the arms and kept her from going down on the stairwell.

"I'm not being cruel to you!" He hollered at her. "You're the one who's a stupid…" He clamped his mouth shut over the last word, but Raven already knew what it was.

"You're right… Cruel doesn't even begin to cover it." And so she had tossed her head and looked away while the others, standing on either side of her, after they frowned one time at Robin to let him know he was an idiot, helped her out of the room.

"You blew that one, man," Cyborg pointed out. "You blew it."

"Robin, are you all right?" Raven asked, staring at him in confusion as she called him back to the reality of the meeting he had asked her to come to. She accidentally brushed his hand, which jarred him back to sudden reality. She pulled her hand back very quickly and he almost felt like sighing.

Even through the darkness of his glasses, he could see that her expression was disgusted. He wasn't sure, however, if it was with herself, for even reaching out in the first place, or with him, or perhaps both. Either way, it caused frustration to bubble up inside Robin, the same frustration that drove her away. I won't let this happen… He shook his head quickly back and forth, as if trying to shake the thought off.

"I'm fine," he retorted, then wondered vaguely why he had to be so cruel to her and so snappish all of a sudden.

Silence followed the unconvincing and cruel reply. Raven shifted, noticeably uncomfortable, closer to the back of the bench, still trying to meet Robin's eyes in spite of the slight fear she felt at what she might see in looking at him. He sighed, wishing he could have made himself easier for her to talk to.

But I'm too busy being an idiot…

"Listen, Raven…" Robin began again. His voice faltered over his words and so, rather than attempt to speak again, he reached out and grabbed her hands, holding them tightly in his own. "Listen, I want to tell you everything, and I want us to talk. If you want to listen, I can…"

But that was when it went off. A small, ringing noise, flashing in his jeans pocket, and even Raven realized the small Titan communicator as he whipped it out, still tightly holding one of her wrists in his own. (Later he would realize just how rough he was being with her and what kind of effect it had on her, both then and far in their pasts)

"Robin, listen to me. We've got an emergency."

"What kind of emergency?" Robin asked. "And how far from Angel Hill are you?" He knew Cyborg was in a familiar part of the city, because the buildings looked familiar.

"Right outside. Slade's back."

Robin saw Raven cringe next to him. "You're SURE about this?" He asked, reluctantly letting go of Raven's arm and slamming his fist against the side of the stone angel.

"Just… get out here now. Starfire and Beast Boy can't handle this, so I'm gonna go." And then the little screen went blank, leaving Robin staring at it with contempt, anger, and yet somehow… Hope.

I can set this right! He stood up and turned to face Raven. "I've got to go now…" He stumbled closer to her and fell against her as she stood up, and so she barely caught him and they stood like that for a second.

"Hold on." And her hands removed his glasses, revealing his perfect eyes. For a moment, she found herself lost in them, but she managed to speak, blinking. "Don't you think you ought to take a look around before you go rushing into things half-blind?"

And look around Robin did. The sky was completely dark, and Raven was standing against him, as he reached behind him for another mask in his pocket. "Raven…"

"We'll talk later. I'm going with you."

"You're… Raven, you shouldn't…"

"I'm not worthless, you know." And with that, she turned her back to him and started to run down the path, leaving Robin to run after her.

Who's really trying to prove something here? He found himself thinking. Either way, I have to do anything to protect her.

Maybe Raven wasn't the only one who would need protecting.

Raventhedarkgoddess: Thanks, guys. R+R! Love ya'll.