Chapter 3

Raven finds herself standing alone in the dark hallway with a door looming over her. She takes deep breaths before sliding it open and peering into the room on the other side. A few steps in and she sees the long windowed wall revealing the city at night. The moon outside lights the room in a haze of blue, revealing the mural on the wall of mountains. "Raven?" A voice comes from behind her. She turns, hand out and ready to use her powers against the intruder, but lowers it seeing a blonde girl in the center of the Room. "Terra? What are you doing here?"

"This is my room, remember?"

"But you're gone."

"You know that's not true. You saw me last night at the diner. You didn't tell anyone. How could you?" The blonde girl steps towards Raven slowly, the "T" on her shirt reflecting in the moonlight. "How could you leave me there? I thought I was a Teen Titan. I true friend."

"You betrayed us."

"And you betrayed them too. You could have told them you saw me last night but didn't. Why?"

"Shut up!"

"How could you?"

"Stop it!" Her voice turns aggresive and she turns her back on Terra, suddenly seeing Beast Boy standing in the door.

"Raven?" He says with a look of disappointment on his face. "How could you?"

"Beast Boy. I'm just trying to protect you. Protect everyone"

"How could you?" She hears Terra say again, only now when she turns, Terra is in a school uniform and Beast Boy has appeared beside her.

"Don't worry Terra," Beast Boy says as he embraces her. "I won't let you go again."

"Beast Boy no! Don't trust her!" Raven shouts as she watches Beast Boy and Terra look at each other tinderly. She can't understand what is unfloding before her eyes and begins to step back. Suddenly the floor has vanished and she realizes she has stepped against the windows and they have vanished. She's falling rapidly towards the earth and her ability to fly is gone. She looks up at Terra's bedroom window, eyes widened in shock. "Beast Boy!"

With a gasp, Raven awakens from the nightmare. She pants heavily and looks around the room. There is no sign of Beast Boy or Terra. She catches her breath and tucks her head in her hands. "It was just a dream..." She thinks through its meaning then wonders what could have caused it. Deep down, she knows. It was her own fault. By not being honest about seeing Terra, by ignoring how she felt about the entire situation rather than dealing with her emotions, they had forced their way out in a nightmare. The alarm clock begins to ring and Raven notices she had woken up only a minute before her alarm. She pushes herself from the bed and turns the alarm off before changing into her uniform. Deciding to skip her morning tea, she heads straight up the hall towards the roof.

...

"Azarath Metreon Zinthos..." she whispers one final time as the sun fully appears over the horizon. Raven opens her eyes for the first time in an hour and finishes her meditation.

"Perfect timing," Robin says from behind her.

"How long have you been standing there?" She says over her shoulder.

"Only a minute. I wanted to check on you."

"Um... why?" She asks confused as she stands and faces him.

"I heard you shout this morning."

"Shout?"

"Yea you called out 'Beast Boy, No'. At first I thought you were in trouble but when I opened the door and looked outside I saw you walking up the hall."

"I must have shouted in my sleep."

"I haven't heard you have a nightmare in... a while."

"Robin," she sighs, "You have your own nightmares to worry about. The fact that you heard me already tells me you didn't sleep well last night."

"No. Ever since Beast Boy mentioned Slade..."

"Yea." Raven crosses her arms and stares at the Boy Wonder who rests his hands on his hips and looks down. "Why do you care so much, Robin?"

"About Slade? I don't!"

"He taunts all of us but you really take it to heart. The only thing I can think of... is that you find him threatening."

"Hey! I do not-" But he stops when Raven gives him a look.

"Don't try Robin. I know you too well. I've been in your head."

"Well what do you expect me to do? Ignore someone who wants to destroy the Teen Titans?"

"Robin it's just going to make you bitter. You have to stop thinking about Slade as a threat. When you do... you just give him more of your time. More than he deserves." She listens to her own words and realizes that's exactly what she was doing regarding Terra. She found herself bitter at the thought of the old Titan. Now she was having nightmares about her. She even was making bad judgement calls. Could it be that Terra... was Raven's Slade?

"Raven? You ok?" Robin tilts his head seeing her eyes wander off.

"Y-yea... I just. I'm going to patrol the area."

"Want some help?"

"No, I'll be fine. Maybe I'll check on the rest of the T-cameras and make sure they haven't been tampered with."

"Ok. Call if you need anything."

Without answering him, Raven levitates into the air and flies towards the city.

"This is a bad idea," Raven tells herself as she stands outside Jump City High School. She nervously looks from side to side as the school bell rings. Kids who were chattering away on the lawn and front steps groan or laugh as they hurry into the building. At that moment, Raven catches sight of Terra and whisks towards her. "Terra?"

The blonde turns and her eyes widen at the sight of Terra. "Raven?"

"You know me?" She lowers herself to the ground and takes her hood off.

"Y-yea..." Terra tilts her head at the mysterious titan as if trying to remember something. "You're a Teen Titan. I saw you guys fighting the other day on the street."

"Oh... right." She notices Terra looking around which makes Raven check over her own shoulder. "I'm... not with anyone. It's just me."

"So your friend didn't come? The one who thinks I was your team member."

"You weren't a team member," she sighs. "At least not to me." She mutters the last bit under her breath then catches Terra staring at her.

"You didn't get along with this Terra girl, did you?"

"Not really."

"I can tell. Then why are you here? Even if I am who Beasty Boy keeps saying-"

"Beast Boy."

"Wouldn't you be glad I don't remember?"

Raven stands up straight, not pleased that this girl was trying to figure her out. She quickly, but calmly changes the subject. "What were you doing at the diner last night?"

"So you're spying on me now?" The way she said that sounded just like Terra. The subtle annoyance and condescending tone mixed with personality.

"Just answer me."

"I go there to study every week."

"You looked upset."

"Yea. I got a text from my friend that they couldn't meet me to study. Maybe others don't take learning seriously but I have to. I have a sponsership to keep."

"A what?"

"It's like a scholarship but it comes from a donation. I'm a foster kid and my guardians couldn't afford a school like this so they signed me up for the new program. Anonymous benefactors pay for students with high grades. If I keep my grades up then I'll keep my sponsorship and get into a good college."

"Do the benefactors know which students receive their donations?"

"They're not supposed to," the girl grumbled.

"Why do you say it like that?"

"Um, no reason," she looks at Raven nervously then begins to look around as if suddenly aware of her surroundings.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. I just need to get to homeroom." She turns towards the school but Raven wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"Wait," but as Raven reaches for the girl's arm, it causes the Terra-look-alike to flinch and swerve out of the way.

"Just leave me alone."

"I think there is something you're not telling me. You're afraid of something. I need to know what. Now last night you went to that diner and someone went out of their way to make sure we didn't run into you."

"Then take a hint and leave me alone!" She shouts to Raven and begins running towards the school. Raven stands there for a moment before pulling her hood back on. She gives the area a quick scan with her eyes and left with more questions than she arrived with.