( Wrote another chapter, seem to be on a streak, hope it doesn't end. Reviews keep me happy and writing, just saying *hint* *hint* …please write one :) ~RavensMind~ )

Chapter 6: The Council of Many Colors

"The moon is full, the ghosts of the past have been collected, and the chances of relief are few. There is much that draws these monsters within the darkened halls of the tower from their confinements and out into the view of Raven's emotions. Weapons fashioned from Raven's power have protected them from the more anxiety provoking feelings and memories. However, they are not equipped to deal with the onslaught of negative predictions and associated depression. In their council, the emotions must be made to cooperate with Raven and each other, before their bids for control ruin her pursuit of a better handle on her powers and greater sense of self."

After dinner, Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy left on their mission to Gotham. But not before getting a lecture from Robin on how to deal with Batman and the new team dynamic they'll have to accept. Starfire agreed to try and keep Cyborg and Beast Boy from fighting while they're around Batman, as the last thing Robin wanted was for Batman to get some idea that he can't control his team, or that they were too juvenile for the task they took on in defending their city from various threats. Raven, for the most part, said nothing more than goodbye, as she was feeling worse than before. They all noticed, but didn't ask her about it. Once Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had left the tower, Raven handed Robin their notebook.

"Promise me you'll write tonight instead of doing more investigating for the case they're going to be working on in Gotham," Raven said.

"I'll try my best," Robin said, reluctantly.

"Good," she said, making to leave the living room.

"Woah, hey, where are you going?" he asked.

"To my room to sleep, I'm not feeling well anymore," she replied.

"Not going to stay and keep me company?" he asked.

"I might have, if I wasn't feeling this way. Maybe tomorrow I'll spend the day with you, if we don't have a crisis in the city," she said.

"I'd like it if you did," he said, smiling at her, "Good night, Raven."

"Good night, Robin," she said, offering him a brief smile before heading to her room.

He watched as she left, feeling powerless to help her, and he always hated that feeling. He frowned and walked over to the couch with the notebook they had been writing in earlier that day. He sat down and tried to push all thoughts of the case he had dropped out of his mind, so he could concentrate on his writing. It would have been nice to have gone with the others, if nothing else to see Gotham again, and Alfred too. Though he would happily miss the insanity of that city's underworld. He had no desire to see Batman.

Flipping the book open, he glanced out of the window as he heard it begin to rain. The strong wind blew several red leaves against the glass. Fall had been relatively crime free in the city, he had been hoping the team would finally get a chance to enjoy Halloween without having a case to work. Now it seemed that he and Raven would be the only ones to have that chance. He smiled and started writing.

RRRRRRR

Raven had taken two sleeping pills, then undid her cloak clasp and belt, and slid under the covers of her bed. She was asleep in under a few minutes. She did not dream, she couldn't afford that luxury. Instead, she engaged in a deep, special meditation to interact with her mind and her emotions. It could only be done while she was asleep. Her mirror didn't allow her to rest her body the way this method of entering her mind did. It was still relatively new to her and she could still be subject to elements of her dreams and nightmares.

Tonight, she had one mission: to gather her emotions and get them to work together so she could use more of her power and fully express herself. She also wanted to know what it was that kept her from feeling like her usual self, what it was that weighed her down, that fired negative predictions at her.

She entered her memory tower and stood beneath a flickering chandelier in the hall. She glanced around, noticing the latest changes, including some more lights, a lighter shade of blue paint on the walls, and a few happier pictures hanging around. Cleverness rose out of the floor to greet Raven with a small smile.

"I've gotten most of the others ready to talk this out, only Hatred refuses to join us until she talks with you one on one, and she will not shut up about it," Cleverness said.

"Okay, I'll go and see her, I just hope it's not another lame attempt to gain control," Raven said.

With a nod, Cleverness vanished through the floor. Raven walked down the hall towards Hatred's cell, finding a door that she hadn't seen in the tower in a long time. The doorknob had an 'R' that matched the one on Robin's uniform. She kept walking to Hatred's cell, deciding to check out the room later. She walked down a long, winding staircase and unlocked the door at the bottom.

Hatred glared at Raven with a grin from behind the bars of her cage that was suspended from the ceiling. The chains around Hatred's arms and legs clanged against the cage as she moved to the front of the bars as Raven approached. Raven looked down and took a deep breath before looking back into the red, red eyes of Hatred.

"Took you long enough," Hatred said with a snarl.

"What do you want?" Raven asked.

"To help you, of course, so you can help me," Hatred said, grinning.

"I'm not interested in giving you another chance to take control of my powers," Raven said.

"You have it all wrong, gem, you can leash me, just let me run," Hatred said.

"I'll consider it, if you join the others so we can suppress my depression," Raven said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not so fast. I have more to say to you," Hatred said.

"What now?"

"I know why you are having nightmares, why your powers are taking it out of you. Your depression is affecting you and your powers, because someone has a handle on your ability to see into the future."

"Who?"

"You're worried about me getting control, because I have before. Who else has gained control of your powers?"

"Fear, or Despair as she's going by now."

"You're afraid of me, of what's happening, of what will happen if I put you at the mercy of a father long since dead. You'll never get more power, more life, if you keep letting Despair call the shots. She should be down here, not me."

Raven nodded as she considered Hatred's words. She paced slowly, wondering how it had escaped her that Despair could do what has been happening. It was the best explanation she had found.

"If I leash you, what can I expect from you?"

"Full, controlled use of your demonic form, and access to darker powers. I promise to help you, I don't want to be stuck down here for the rest of your life."

"Fine, we'll see what we can do together. Will you join me and the others to deal with this?"

"Why waste time? Just let me go and get Despair and drag her down here."

"We need to know if what you're saying is true, then explain what will be happening. You'll have to help fight off the last of the negative predictions and the remains of my father's memory."

"Then we lock up Despair?"

"If we need to, yes."

"Let me out and lead the way."

Unlocking Hatred's cell, Raven then unchained Hatred, and helped her out. Hatred glided out of the cell and followed Raven up the winding stairs as she walked all the way to the top. They passed one floor after another, up, and up until they reached the top floor. Raven opened the door and introduced Hatred to the other emotions, who were gathered around a large stone table. She walked with Hatred to the head of the table, ignoring the looks the other emotions were giving them.

"It's been awhile since the last time I called all of you here to deal with a problem, so some things have changed, as you can tell. Fear is now Despair, Passion has been given more control, Happiness and Courage have been working together – they've been overworked actually, Cleverness has been supporting them, and Hatred has largely been confined to her cell…until now," Raven explained.

The others raised their eyebrows and regarded Raven with shock and suspicion. Cleverness held her tongue, suspecting there to be more. Hatred stood silent with a small grin on her face.

"You all know what's been happening, we need to stop this, it's been affecting me too much – I can barely sleep without help, my powers are weaker, and I'm feeling hopeless. Hatred claims that Despair is to blame for all of it and I'm inclined to agree. Hatred also wants to help, and is willing to be controlled if she can stay out of that cell," Raven said.

"I also suggest that Despair take my place in that cell," Hatred said.

Most of the emotions objected immediately, starting an uproar that was ended by Cleverness demanding quiet. They all turned to her and waited for her to speak. She straightened her glasses and adjusted her hood.

"Hatred's claim makes sense, Despair has been given too much freedom, but I don't know if trading Despair for Hatred is the best course of action. If that's the plan, then I say that Passion should watch Hatred and intervene when necessary, and have Happiness along with myself on call, until we know Hatred can be trusted," Cleverness said.

"I'll agree to that," Passion said.

"I won't," Despair said.

"You don't need to, you're suspected to be the one causing our problem, so we can decide what we want," Courage said.

"Can you prove that it's something else causing this, Despair?" Cleverness asked.

"No. It is me," Despair said.

The room fell silent. Hatred crossed her arms as her grin spread wider. Raven stared at Despair with a look of betrayal. Happiness somehow managed to frown.

"Why have you done this? Do you know how much damage you've done? How much you made us do to fight this?" Cleverness asked.

"Yes, I know. I just…needed to be heard, because Raven was shutting me out too much, she needed to know that something had to change, because deep down – she is sad," Despair said.

"Things are changing, slowly, but it's happening, she has plenty to look forward to, and plenty to do," Passion said.

"Maybe, I just don't see it, and I tried to see it," Despair.

"Yeah, you tainted her predictions," Hatred said angrily, "You made her hopeless, which started her depression."

"Fine then, Courage, you will be watching Despair to make sure she doesn't keep causing trouble," Cleverness said.

"Is everything settled?" Raven asked.

The others nodded. Passion raised her hand and looked to Raven with a smile. Raven raised her eyebrow and tried to guess what Passion would say. Probably something about pursuing her powers.

"They can go, but I need you to come with me – I have something to show you, behind a certain door you passed when you came into the tower," Passion hinted.

Robin. Of course that's what she wanted to talk about. Raven sighed and walked over to Passion, she dismissed the other emotions and followed Passion down the winding staircase. She braced herself for whatever challenge or plan Passion wanted her to work on. More ways to spend time with Robin, probably. She wasn't sure if she did feel that strongly about him, but then she had this problem with her emotions she had been dealing with. She was hopeful that what she had done would be enough to put things back on track.

They reached the ground floor and started for the door Passion had referred to. Four large red eyes appeared on the wall, glaring at them as flames surrounded them. Hatred rose out of the floor and ripped the eyes off the wall like she was tearing off wallpaper, then put the flames out with her cloak.

"Thanks," Raven said.

"Just doing my job," Hatred said, before taking off after one of Trigon's flame soldiers.

Passion opened the door and led Raven inside. Her eyes went wide as she took in the room before her. It was huge and almost completely filled. Photos on the wall depicted some of their best memories together, then there were books filled with their conversations, and several items on display. To their left was a locked door that only Robin had the key to, and Raven had only been on the other side of it once. It was the door to Robin's mind through their bond.

"Do the others have a room like this?" Raven asked Passion.

"They have their own rooms, but no, they aren't like this," Passion said.

"Why?" Raven asked.

"I don't think you understand how close the two of you really are," Passion said.

"And you're going to tell me, aren't you?" Raven asked, dreading what Passion would say.

"I don't think I need to, that's part of why Despair was able to cause so much damage – you know exactly how you feel, but you won't admit it to yourself. You were afraid of what might happen to you, to him, to your team," Passion said.

"It's not true, I don't feel that way," Raven protested.

"The whole reason I'm here is because you do. And you know how to get to him, to connect and build more trust, to have him care more about you than anyone else. You've been dying to say something to him, you almost did once, but you took the easy way out and asked him to get that journal before you said it," Passion said.

"Do you blame me? My emotions wouldn't be able to handle what he would say, if he would be angry, or glad. It's his secret after all, his name," Raven said.

"He hasn't heard it from anyone else but his old partner since he left Gotham and it's just the two of you here, no one is in earshot. I know he'd love it for you to reach out to him more, this is one way to do that, and you think it will work. You want to know," Passion said.

"I do, I'm just not ready for the consequences of doing this. I can't deal with more emotional stress right now," Raven said.

"I'm the 'emotional stress' you're talking about, and I'm more than ready – and getting closer to him won't hurt you or your powers, I promise," Passion said.

"What about the team?" Raven asked.

"That's not my area, but I'm sure you two could work something out if it went that far," Passion said.

"Fine. I'll do it. When I get a chance," Raven said.

"Great! Keep writing in that journal with him too. Well, I'd hate to do this but…" Passion started.

"What?"

"Good morning, Raven," Passion said with a smile.

Everything went black. Raven slowly opened her eyes and rolled onto her back in her bed.