AU, Titans never happened, Raven and Nightwing met while he was on a mission and she appeared out of nowhere and their relationship started from there.
Ugh, normally it comes naturally to write Batman (example: Bat, Familiar Faces and Calling For The Bat) but for some reason it was so hard to do in this fic!
Amnesia
Dick groaned when he woke up, his head was killing him!
He froze when he looked around. He was in a white room, on a hospital bed, with people standing around him. He saw Barbara, Bruce and Tim, but there were also two other girls in the room. One with pale grey skin, purple hair and purple eyes, the other a tall redhead with orange skin and green eyes.
"Who are you?" He questioned, surprised when all of the people in the room flinched and looked at the girl with purple hair, the girl bit her lip and ran out of the room. The other girl Dick didn't recognize rushing after her.
He jumped when a vase exploded, but Tim, Barbara and Bruce acted as if it was normal.
Dick frowned. "Guys, what's going on?" When Tim and Barbara refused to look at him, he turned to Bruce. "Dad?"
Bruce flinched, actually flinched before stepping forward and taking a seat next to his adopted son. "You were in a coma," he blurted, causing Tim to facepalm and Barbara to pale.
Shit, they knew Batman was blunt, but not this blunt!
Dick frowned. "What do you mean?"
Tim sighed and decided to take the lead, figuring neither Bruce or Barbara would be any help. Bruce wouldn't even think about breaking the news to Dick gently, and Barbara would just stumble over her own words. He was glad he disabled all the cameras in this room, if someone checked them and heard the conversation they were about to have, their secret identities might as well be nonexistent.
"What do you remember?" The new Boy Wonder started.
Dick blinked a couple of times as he thought of the question. Everything seemed so...fuzzy, it wasn't what he was used to. "I..remember saving you from the Joker. After that...nothing."
Barbara flinched.
She looked at Bruce, his expression unreadable, as always. But if you looked closely, really closely, you could see the hidden concern and slight fear in his eyes.
"Dick," Tim started carefully. "That was four years ago."
They watched as the former Boy Wonder froze, his expression mirroring Bruce's, completely unreadable. "Four...years?"
It took everything in his power not to freak out, it would only bring sympathy and if there was one thing he remembered; it was that he hated people pitying him. So instead, he asked: "How?"
"You went after Deathstroke." Barbara stepped in, her voice cracking slightly before she cleared her throat. "We don't know what happened, but when we didn't hear anything from you at the end of the day, we all went after you and-"
"We found you unconscious and barely breathing in an alley." Bruce finished.
Tim flinched at the memory. "It was bad, really bad. You managed to get Bruce scared."
Dick's eyes widened, if he managed to get the Goddamn Batman scared than it had to be serious. But why couldn't he remember?!
"You've been in a coma ever since, and turns out you woke up with amnesia." Tim said, eyes focused on his brother, not wanting to miss any kind of reaction he had.
"Who were those people?"
"One of them was Starfire- or Kori - an alien girl who fled to Earth and decided to become a hero, a decision you helped her through." Bruce answered.
Dick scoffed, not even surprised he knew people with supernatural abilities, his father's next words shocked him though.
"She was mostly here to support the other girl, Raven, your...wife."
"My what?" He blurted, staring at his father in disbelief.
"You met her a few months after the thing with Tim and Joker, you two got married last year. Tim was your Best Man, Wally wasn't all too happy about that." Barbara explained.
Before anything else could be said, the doctor came in. Asking Dick some questions that he answered with half a mind as his thoughts were set on something else.
"Are...you sure that you're okay with me staying here?" Dick asked after Raven let him into the house.
She flinched and walked towards the kitchen to finish washing the dishes, she had been busy with it before, but as soon as she heard that Dick was awake, she had dropped everything and teleported herself to Kori to drag the alien with her to the hospital. She hadn't looked at him and barely said a word since he asked who she was, she just couldn't bring herself to it. "You live here, don't worry about me, I'll be fine, I've been through worse." She stated, her voice emotionless.
He frowned. "Are you sure? I can just-"
"Dick, it's fine." Her voice rang from the kitchen, cracking when she said his name. "You're too nice."
He froze at her words, a soft gasp escaping his lips when a scene flashed in his mind.
Raven stood there, in a blue cloak hidden in the shadows. Four glowing red eyes set on him. "It would be best if you leave. I..I don't want to hurt you."
Nightwing stood his ground and shot her a smile. "I'm not leaving you here alone, it's dangerous, even if you can handle yourself."
"You're way too nice for your own good." She muttered, disbelief in her voice. But he could see that her cold demeanor was breaking and that she was considering going with him.
He smirked. "It's part of my personality."
"It's part of my personality." He answered automatically, not even thinking about what he said.
He jumped when he heard a loud crash coming from the kitchen, not hesitating to go check on the woman that was practically a stranger to him.
Dick found her there, staring at him with wide eyes. A broken glass on the ground and blood dripping from her finger. He didn't even take note of the fact that her blood seemed to be slightly darker than a human's as he let his instincts take over and made his way towards her. He gently grabbed her waist and lifted her on the counter, something he had done countless times before, he couldn't remember any of it. He grabbed a paper towel and held it against the small cut on her finger.
Raven's eyes never left him, too shocked to mention that she could heal herself. Not that she was in any state to do so right now, she was way too distracted. "You remember?" She breathed, not hopeful, just in awe.
"No," he shook his head, blue eyes glancing up at her before focusing on her finger again. "Just flashes, your words seemed to trigger the memory, where are the-"
"Third drawer next to the stove." She answered.
Dick didn't bother to ask her how she knew and just followed her instructions, grabbing a band-aid and wrapping it around the cut on her finger. He jumped when a vase exploded, Raven just winced at the lack of control she had.
"What just happened?" He asked, suspicion clear in his voice. He didn't back away though, which Raven was thankful for.
"I...probably should tell you something." She jumped off the counter, tensing when his hands flew to her waist to steady her. She knew it was just a reflex to him, but that didn't mean that it didn't affect her.
Raven motioned towards the living room, cleaning the glass shards with her powers when he was out of sight. It was better to play safe, just in case.
The half-demon seriously missed the comfort of her cloak at that moment. His confused but curious stare was making her even more uncomfortable than she already was.
She sat down on the opposite side of the couch, keeping some decent distance from him before taking a deep breath and speaking. "I don't know how to sugarcoat this in any way, so I'll just say it: I'm half-demon. My powers are based on my emotions, which is the main reason random things explode at rare times."
Silence filled the room as she looked away and waited patiently for his response. They never had this conversation before his amnesia hit, he got the message fairly quickly when they first met. She thanked her father for that, it was the only thing he did for her that ended well, even though he meant it to be a bad thing, it backfired on his part.
"Okay." He shrugged.
Raven turned to face him, confusion in her eyes. "Okay? You're not...scared or anything?"
Dick scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Raven, four years of my life may be gone, but I can assure you, I've been through things that were a lot worse than meeting a half-demon who's prone to exploding things." He smiled softly, and her heart clenched.
Instead of dealing with the consequences or letting her emotions slip out of control; Raven stood up and turned to make her way upstairs. "I should go."
He let her.
She couldn't sleep.
Her emoticlones were going absolutely crazy, even Rage was missing the warmth Dick brought when he was sleeping next to her.
He was staying in the guest room, both heroes deciding it'd be best if they were separated to avoid any kind of awkwardness.
Raven forgot one thing though; she couldn't sleep without him.
It had become a habit, she didn't go out at night as often as he did, his Nightwing duties very important for him. So she stayed awake each night until he came home, healing the injuries he might have (ignoring his protests) before dragging him upstairs and forcing him to change so she could sleep peacefully without having to worry about him being in danger.
So now, despite knowing that he was only a few doors down from her, she couldn't sleep without him cuddling up beside her.
So, despite her better judgement (not that she had any at that moment, even Knowledge was urging her to go find him) Raven got up and walked out of the room and towards the guest room.
She quietly opened the door, just to see him, just to check if he was okay. She was surprised when she saw him awake and staring out the window.
"Can't sleep?" He questioned, his blue eyes still on the window.
"No," she kept her voice in a monotone to hide her embarrassment.
Finally he turned to face her. "Me neither."
She sighed and hesitantly came to sit beside him on the bed. Deciding that it'd be best to get him to sleep, she knew she wouldn't be closing her eyes anytime soon anyway. "How so?"
He shrugged. "I keep getting...flashes of memories, it's kind of unnerving."
"Can I try something?" She asked, brows furrowed as her eyes locked on him.
Dick nodded, not caring that he didn't know her at all. He trusted her, besides, if he loved her enough to marry her before he lost his memories, than she was definitely a good person to be with.
He stared at her when she reached out and placed a hand on his cheek and turned his face so it was level with hers. "Don't get scared." She ordered, before closing her eyes and searching deep into his mind.
It made him uncomfortable at first, but after a while, he got used to it. There was something...eerily familiar about this.
He watched as she gasped when her eyes snapped open, watching him with wide eyes.
"Raven, what-"
He never got to finish his sentence as she pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his, kissing him softly.
After a while, she realized what she was doing and hastily pulled away, jumping off the bed and backing away from him a great distance. "I-I'm s-sorry. I shouldn't have-"
"Raven," he spoke, his voice a bit breathless from the unexpected kiss. "I don't know if I can be the man you fell in love with, the man you married." He confessed, looking down and picking at the bed sheets with his fingers.
He flinched when he felt her hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to try to be the man I fell in love with, you are." She clarified, shooting him one of her rare smiles. "You don't even realize that you're doing it, but everything you do, smile, act, help whenever you can, it's exactly as how I remember. You're not even making any effort but you still manage to make me smile, it's just you. Now stop feeling bad for yourself and let me try something."
He chuckled. "Last time you tried something you ended up kissing me, which I'm not complaining about, it just isn't nice to know that you're expecting something I can't give you."
Raven rolled her eyes and sat down beside him. "Listen, when I was in your mind, I found out that your memories are locked behind an easily breakable lock. Your memories get triggered by the smallest things, like me saying you were too nice. So I figured a way to do that, we may need to make a small trip though."
"What's 'small' for you?"
"You'll see." She smirked.
He blinked. "Wait, now?"
"Mhmm."
He watched as her eyes glowed white, waiting patiently as a black hand-mirror flew into the room and towards her hand. She caught it effortlessly, her eyes going back to normal as she turned it in her hands. "All you need to do is look into the mirror." She instructed, taking a hold of his hand so she wouldn't lose him when they arrived.
Dick frowned at the weird instructions, but followed them anyway. One moment he was in the room, the next, he was in a weird dimension with a black sky and floating rocks. "Where are we?" He breathed.
"Nevermore." She answered calmly, letting go of his hand and smiling softly when she looked around.
"Oh would you stop calling this place that?! It makes it seem so dark and gloomy!" A cheery but annoyed voice hissed from behind them.
Both heroes turned around to see a girl who looked exactly like Raven in a pink cloak. She shot a wink at the half-demon before rushing to tackle Dick in a hug.
"I think this is the first time she allowed you to visit! Isn't that fun? Welcome to Raven's mind!"
His eyes shot to his 'wife', discomfort clear in them. Raven sighed.
"Happy, let go of him." She ordered, her tone a bit tired.
Happy huffed but listened anyway, she shot one last wink at Dick before turning to face Raven. "Awww! But Rae! You never allow me to play!"
Raven coughed and ducked her head to cover her face with her hair, hiding her blush. Now she was glad she let her hair grow out. "You've been hanging out too much with Affection." She decided, the pink emoticlone just giggled.
Affection- like Timid -was a mix of several emoticlones. But while Timid was made of Fear, Sadness and Regret, Affection was all Lust, Love, Platonic Love etc. Somehow all of those got mixed together and put into one emoticlone named Affection, which was sometimes a bad thing and sometimes a good thing. Now it was a good thing, if that didn't happen and Happy managed to get alone with Lust, Raven might as well sink through the ground from embarrassment. Lust had no filer or shame It was horrible.
"Where's Knowledge?"
Happy pouted. "You're always looking for her! It's as if you love her more than us!" She whined.
Raven rolled her eyes. "I can't speak to Affection because she only talks about boys, which is frustrating; Lazy sleeps all the time; Timid is too sensitive; Brave is much to wild to have a conversation with, she can't sit still; Rage isn't an option for obvious reasons." Happy shuddered at the mention of the red emoticlone. "And you are much too childish and hyperactive to talk to. So of course I always talk to Knowledge because she knows how to keep a level head."
Happy pouted but sighed, figuring the half-demon was right. "Fine, but you can't blame us. We're emotions, of course we're dramatic! It wouldn't hurt to talk to us once in a while though."
Raven looked away, hating the feeling of guilt she got.
"Knowledge is in her realm by the way." Happy smiled and turned to Dick. "Goodbye!" She ran away, making airplane sounds as she spread her arms wide to mimic a flying airplane.
At her husband's questioning gaze, Raven just shook her head. "She's living the childhood I never got to have, don't worry about it, just move on."
They walked for a few minutes, Raven answering the occasional question he threw at her. That stopped when they entered a dark and sad place and a small, hesitant voice called. "Raven?"
The half-demon tensed but turned around anyway. "Timid?" She called out.
A grey emoticlone appeared from behind a rock, her head bowed as she made her way towards the 'couple'. "I think Rage is breaking free," she informed, seemingly on the brink of tears at the mention of the red emoticlone that scared her to death.
"Trying to." Raven corrected.
Timid nodded and glanced at Dick, quickly looking away when his eyes set on her. "Still doesn't remember?" She whimpered.
"Working on it, don't worry."
Timid nodded. "You know the way." She disappeared.
The rest of the way, Dick couldn't keep his eyes off Raven, wondering if she really was as sad as Timid made her look like.
Finally, he decided to say something. "Are you really-"
"You should know that since all of them are raw emotions, they are a bit dramatic. What you saw from Timid does not mean I'm like that." Raven explained without looking back.
They passed Lazy and Brave on their way to the yellow emoticlone; the orange emoticlone was asleep, as always while the dark green emoticlone was too busy jumping from rock to rock to notice the two heroes. Raven made sure to stay clear of Rage's realm, despite being locked in a cage, the red emoticlone was still powerful when someone entered her home.
And luckily for the half-demon, they didn't see Affection anywhere.
A yellow emoticlone with big circular glasses appeared in front of them, a closed book in her right hand. "Raven, Dick." She greeted formally, a slight redness on her pale cheeks when she greeted the former Boy Wonder.
Dick seemed to be neglected completely as the two entered a deep conversation. Raven explaining her plan, a plan Knowledge seemed to approve a great deal.
The yellow emoticlone let them to a library, both girls ignoring the questions of the male hero for a moment. He only stopped talking when Knowledge waved goodbye and Raven dragged him through a portal inside the library.
He was in awe as he saw each and every single one of her memories; her time with her father and six brothers (the way she was treated angered him greatly), her escape to Earth, the first time she met him and everything that happened from that moment onward.
It seemed that with each memory he saw, a lock inside his mind broke, the soft clicking sound a minor annoyance as he saw each and every thing he missed from the four years. He smiled and looked down at his unsuspecting wife, he'd act as if he still didn't remember a thing until she decided she wanted to go home; she was actually having fun, he could see it.
Raven gasped when they reappeared back into the room, the amount of energy she used taking a toll on her. She regained her breathing quickly; not that it helped, she would soon be breathless again as Dick pushed her down on the bed and didn't hesitate to kiss her fully on the lips, returning what he missed earlier.
She kissed him back at first, loving the feeling of his lips against hers; a feeling she had to miss during the time he was in a coma. But she quickly regained her senses and finally managed to push him away, forgetting how damn strong he was for a human.
"What are you doing?" She managed to gasp out.
He responded by taking her hands and trapping them above her head, placing a couple light kisses on her neck before pulling away; letting her hands go at the same time. "Kissing my wife, something I haven't done in a long time. Are you complaining?" He smirked.
She blinked in surprise. "You remember?"
He grinned. "I remembered a while back actually, but decided to keep quiet-"
Raven pulled him down and kissed him hard, allowing Happy, Affection and Brave to take over. (She had learned early on that those three were a deadly combination, but frankly, she didn't care at that moment.)
Dick pulled away after the kiss got a little more heated. "Rae, I think we should stop now; you're too tired for that don't you think?"
She didn't miss the darkening of his eyes and the way his voice was strained, but she decided not to comment on it and just nodded; getting up from the bed and making her way to their room, him following closely.
Raven went to sleep peacefully that night.
