Chapter 3: Soothe

(Its fluffy time, my dear RobRae fans :3 )

Night fell.

All the lights have been turned off, and the T-shaped building had been put into its shutdown mode. Nobody could get in, or break in, at this moment without getting caught by their security system and had to leave the island on a medical stretcher when their automatic anti-intruder gadgets come into life and start blasting at them by full force, or when meeting the wrath of five superheroes pissed off for having their precious sleep ruined, whatever came first.

That's why Robin skipped patrolling his home tonight. He had taken to the habit of touring the entire tower from the bottom floor to the rooftop on a daily basis, mostly just to put his own paranoia to rest. Years after years battling against all kinds of villains have nurtured within him an annoying personality that always on alert and always assumed that something would go wrong if he just let his guard down within one second. And it would never let he hear the end of it if he just miss one single patrol.

But tonight, even that stubborn and delusional side chose to ignore its daily duty.

It, just like every part of Robin himself, had something much more important to focus on, something that put all of his regular priorities in the shade.

The Boy Wonder's brows knitted into a straight line, his masked eyes bored into the piece of parchment he had in hand, as though he was seeing if he could somehow burn a hole through it. On his desk, the pile of files and paper and broken gadgets had been replaced by stacks of heavy, ancient books. Some of them were left wide opened, notes of all kinds taping to them, making it hard to see their own pages and whatever written on them. Still, through the tiny space between each piece of notes, certain words of the massive books could be made out, and no matter what they are, they seemed to always mention about the same things.

"Marks of Scath"

"Prophecy"

"Gem"

Robin's unblinking eyes continued to stare at the parchment in his fingers, at the blazing red symbol resembling a sinister S stretching from its top to bottom. He had been trying to uncover its meaning for an entire day, ever since they returned home from that unsettling library full with disturbing things that he had a hard time believing them to be true. Slade's demonic power that nearly wiped out his entire team, malevolent spirit that tried to send them to their doom, secret chambers for unknown purposes…

Raven's birch white face as she fled from him desperately trying to cover the red marks on her body, the red marks marred her skin like deep cuts from a sharp blade…

Grinding his teeth together, Robin couldn't keep himself together anymore and ended up having the growing anger within himself take over him completely. The anger was like a growing flame, feeding on his negative emotions and increased in size with an unbelievable speed. Letting out a furious growl, Robin crumbled the parchment and sent it flying into the wall opposite him, watching as it bounced back and rolled closer to his feet. Like a reminder of nightmarish things that would eventually befall them one day, and that there was nothing he could do but to helplessly watch it happen…

"Robin?"

Instantly, the rage within himself subsided, and his heart softened as something warm washed through him, like a delicate sun ray landing on the stormy clouds weighing down his mind, go through them layer after layer, before reaching his core and dissolved most of the emotional hurricanes inside him.

He turned back, and met the worried gaze of the slender girl curling up in his sheet, propping her body up on her elbows. Looked like he had woken her up.

Picked up the ball of crumbled parchment, Robin quickly flattened it and set it down on the floor next to him. His floor was now carpeted with papers and notes similar to it, some had gone all black due to the amount of words scribbled on them, while some are full of highlight marks as though they contain some discovery of the century. Scattered atop them were pieces of pencils and pens, signs of blind fury and pure depression overwhelming a certain masked boy.

"Go back to sleep, Raven. You have been through a rough day, you should get some rest." He flashed her a fainted, tired smile, silently thanks God that he had decided to put on his masks tonight otherwise she would have seen his blood-shot eyes. She had already had too many problems of her own to deal with, he didn't want to add more to that by making her worry about him. "You feel any better now?"

"You take my books here?" A question was her reply to him. Her voice was soft with a hint of curiosity lingering on its edge as she took a long look at the mess that was once his floor and desk. "Did you find anything?"

"Nothing, but I think I'm getting somewhere." That was a lie, of course, a blatant lie and he knew that she would see through it immediately. But he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth, the words just couldn't come out of his mouth.

She said nothing. But the way her violet eyes seemed to have been drowned in utter darkness was enough to show him what was going on in her mind. She looked just as normal as always, and all the while ruined in every way. There was no longer any hope in her gaze, only silent despair. Like she had fallen into an endless pit and had no way to get out.

His heart plummeted to his stomach as he looked at the young, petite girl on his bed. Through their bonds, he could steal a glimpse of her emotions. They were constantly shifting, one after another taking over her mind, yet, none of them was optimist or pretty.

He hated it whenever she was in misery.

Robin tossed the papers aside as he rose from his spot on the floor. Enough of digging around in a hole where he was certainly it wouldn't lead to anywhere useful. He would find other ways to deal with this Prophecy and Trigon when morning came.

Right now, he had more important things to care about.

The Boy Wonder walked over to his bed and took of his cape and shoes. Raven raised an eyebrow as he did so, but she didn't say anything.

She didn't even protest or tried to move away as he lifted her head and torso up, and slid his body into the space between her and the headboard of his bed. And Robin knew that she was giving him the green light to go on. Sitting down and making himself comfy on his bed, the Boy Wonder carefully tucked the violet-haired girl's head under his chin and let her back lean against his chest. His legs stretched out as he positioned them next to hers, and his arms wrapped around her body, bringing her close to the warmth of his chest. Shielding her, protecting her.

Of all people, Raven was never truly passionate about cuddling. The last time he tried to use her as a human pillow, he had been seen across the room and nearly into a coma. Had he not been that close to her, he would have met his end right then. But now, the girl just simply relaxed and allowed him to hold her in his arms. As he eyes closed and she turned to press her face against his shoulder blade, he knew that she just needed this as much as he did. A dose of medicine for her fatigued, tormented, restless soul.

"My mother used to sleep with me like this every time I was feeling blue. She said that nothing cure a wounded human better than a big warm hug." He murmured as he buried his face into her hair, deeply inhaling the scent of lavender lingered on each violet strand. It brought peace to his troubled heart, reminded him that she was still here, still with him.

"She seemed like a kind person." After a long while, when he thought that she wasn't going to say anything, Raven replied, her voice just above a whisper: "She must have loved you a lot."

"She did." He patted her head slightly, as though she was a small child, or perhaps he was lost in his own memories that he unconsciously repeated his mother's gesture of comfort back in his childhood. His fingers trailed down her hairline, her temple, and he caressed her cheek slightly. A smile soon plastered across his face as the dark girl quietly lifted her slender hand and laced her petite fingers into his large ones. His arms around her squeezed a fraction tighter, and Raven found herself sinking further into the warmth of his body.

Robin kissed the top of her head, slowly trailed his lips down her forehead until they met her chakra. And the girl returned the favor as her pale slender fingers gripped his strong hand tightly and pulled it to her lips. She didn't quite kissing it, but didn't release it either. Like she was trying to hold on to him to prevent herself from being wiped away in the flame of her inescapable destiny.

And he was more than willing to let her.

"I see my mother today… And Azarath… all rendered into ashes…"

Her raspy voice entered his ears. And even though she had tried to hide it, he could still pick up a hint of fright lurking inside each word of hers.

"Our world will be next… I don't want to do that… I don't want to destroy it…

"Robin…" Trembling, the dark girl slowly lifted her gaze to meet his, and his heart almost shattered as he saw the terror as clear as daylight in her big eyes. She looked as white as a ghost, and about to break into tears at any moment…

"I don't want to…"

He looked at her in the eyes, didn't even advert his gaze away. Then, slowly, quietly, he pulled her tighter into him, and allowed her to bury her face into his broad chest. He didn't know what he was supposed to do to stop her father, to save Earth from being dominated by his Hellish army. But there was one thing he knew for sure. He would never let her shoulder that weight all by herself.

"Then you won't."

Brief, and curt. It wasn't just certain soothing words, or a promise. Rather than that, it was a statement, a confirmation from him.

"But…"

"I won't let that happen. The tragedy of Azarath won't take place on our planet. You have my words on it."

Again, brief, and curt. But somehow, his words lit a fire of hope from within her, and she found herself leaning closer into his embrace. The warmth radiating from him seemed to fuel her spark of hope, and for the first time in weeks, Raven felt truly safe.

She always felt safe in his embrace.

"Thank you."

A small whisper left her lips, and the dark girl closed her eyes, letting his warmth melted away the cold darkness rooted within her heart…