Birdcage
Author's notes-Sorry for the delay in this story. I've already started the next chapter and am hoping to finish it up this fall.
Chapter thirteen
Robin opened his mouth to yell for Jinx but found it difficult to get the words out. He gasped for his next breath and managed to get his hand to his belt. Stabbing at the branch with his birdarang he was able to cut through, dropping to the ground. He hadn't bothered landing gracefully as he quickly looked around for Jinx. He could faintly make out her voice in the distance and stumbled to his feet. He hurried towards her, leaping over large roots and moving around trees. Finally he caught sight of her in the darkness and started to cut the branches that had pulled her away. Ripping the last bit from her throat she let out a cough before Robin helped her to her feet.
"Well that was unpleasant," she muttered wearily, "Seems like your friend really doesn't want to be found." Robin grimaced at the thought of the attack being Raven's fault.
"Or someone else is trying to keep us from finding her. Are you okay?" She cleared her throat some and rubbed her neck.
"I'll manage. Besides we better keep moving before the trees decide to hug us again," she moved passed him only to realize she wasn't sure which direction to go. "Guess we got turned around." Robin looked in every direction as well, trying to figure it out which way he came from. He started moving in a particular direction remembering a particularly large root he had leapt over earlier. After several more steps he could see a faint beam of light and headed in towards it. They made it back where he dropped his flashlight but beyond that it was hard to tell which direction to go from that point. There was a flash of bright lightning in the distance and the wind picked up. "I'm really starting to not like this place," Jinx stated quietly.
"We should find shelter for now," Robin suggested as he picked up his flashlight, "at least until the storm passes." Jinx brought her hands up in front of her and there was the rumbling sound as the ground shifted slightly. Robin turned the light in the direction of the noise and saw a large tree moving independently out of the ground. It was bent towards another tree nearby until it was resting against the other's side. Roots moved upwards and wrapped around the two trees until everything was closed off from the rest of the woods. Jinx brought her hands down and let out a deep breath. A particular large drop of rain hit her shoulder followed by another one. The two of them hurried into her make shift tent just as the the sky opened up.
Surprisingly enough it was pretty dry inside except for the occasional drip. There wasn't a lot of space inside but it was enough for them to sit comfortably.
"Hopefully there isn't anything alive in these woods. Maybe something off the ground would have been better," Jinx suggested.
"I think it's fine considering our situation and it's not like you had a lot of time to pull it together," Robin brought up as he found a stick and absentmindedly stabbed the dirt. "So how does a place like this even come into being?"
"Short version-magic," Jinx stated bluntly causing him to arch an eyebrow.
"Well yeah but there has to be more to it, right?"
"So this particular place would be considered an alternate dimension but it's isolated from anything else in reality."
"So whoever made it would be the only person who could come and go whenever they wanted?"
"Pretty much, for all we know Raven created this place years ago," Jinx tilted her head with a faint smile on her face, "You don't know a whole lot about magic, do you?"
"Not as much as I should," he admitted, "Not really sure why she would need a place like this though. Maybe when she was trying to get away from her dad but she didn't use it then anyway so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me."
"Sometimes it's just nice to have a place that's just for you." Robin let out a heavy deep sigh.
"We shouldn't have left her alone for so long," he said quietly to himself but she heard him anyway.
"I don't know, she always seemed like she liked time to herself. I know I love having my own space. No boys' stinking the place up. No offense." He shrugged back. He knew she was trying to cheer him up but he couldn't help but know he was one of the reasons she escaped to this place. She didn't want to worry about him getting hurt. He hadn't been strong enough to fight against her nightmare, had been too consumed with his own emotions. As he became more and more lost in his thoughts, Jinx shifted some in order to get comfortable before drifting off to sleep. Listening to the soft sound of the rain, Robin found it difficult to keep his eyes open as well.
Random thoughts and emotions kept his sleep from being restful. There were thoughts of Starfire, a perpetual hope that somehow it would still work out with her even though deep down he know it wouldn't. The most troubling thoughts though were the ones that didn't seem like his own. The emotions that came with these thoughts were the most painful. A feeling of being abandoned and lost was one he wished he wasn't familiar with. It made him realize that the reason he had always cared for Raven was because deep down he really related to her the most out of all his friends. Not that they all didn't have their own baggage but Raven definitely had dealt with some dark stuff from her past that could have swallowed her if she'd let it. He knew what that felt like. The idea of going through something soo painful that the grief or fear of it could consume you. She had always pushed to make the right decisions even when it wasn't easy. Some times he believed she was better at it than he was. There were so many choices he regretted, had known weren't right at the time but did it anyway. And yet despite his faults she had confided that he still pushed her to hope against all odds and believe in the good they did.
He had to find her. Had to keep her from becoming another regret.
