Chapter 5

Jump City. March 30th, 2017. 8:13 AM.

Raven walked out into the kitchen to greet her teammates. She'd been through this ritual time and time again during her time as a Titan; being the first to wake in the morning, greeting the morning sun as it emerged over the bay, and retreating back into the Tower to find her friends crawling into their daily routine. But this morning carried with it a bittersweet overtone. These past few days had been some of the best and brightest of her life; with Trigon finally removed from her mind, it was like seeing the world again for the first time. Her mind was more sharp, and all of her senses seemed almost elevated. She could see things more clearly, hear sounds she had tuned out before. Even her sense of smell seemed as if it had been re-tuned, and she began to appreciate all the little aromas in the world she lived in.

But at the same time, her newfound brightness was somewhat diminished; don't misunderstand, she loved all of her friends. They had all done so much for her, and cared for her when even she couldn't find the heart to care for herself. But Damian was different; Damian was the only friend she had to came even close understanding her plight. She was born of a demon, destined to do unspeakable things. Damian was given a similar fate, being the blood heir to a madman at the head of an ancient order of glorified murderers. The both of them were born to help their predecessors take the world of men for themselves. Only Damian truly understand how difficult it was to discard that destiny, to break free of the confines of her life's purpose, and to forge a different path. Only he understood, because only had done the same thing. She saw herself how hard it was for him…

"You are an Al-Ghul!" the voice of his grandfather echoed in her mind, as she remembered watching him clutch his sword with both hands in defiance.

"No…" his own words rang out with fervent determination as he readied himself for one last confrontation with his dark heritage. "… I'm a Titan."

Damian was the best friend Raven had ever known. He was the one who freed her from father's grip, risking his own life for her sake. She wanted to share her newfound outlook with him… But Damian was gone. No sooner than she found herself freed from the chains she'd been bound in for so long, Batman swooped in and whisked his Robin away to Gotham, on the other side of the country. She understood why he did it, of course; they had no idea what effect Trigon's assault on Damian's soul would have left on the boy. They needed to examine him, run tests, make sure he was still in one piece. But that didn't change the empty space he left behind in the Tower. She missed him.

But she kept her own grievances private as she greeted her friends in the kitchen. Jon floated past her, sipping on a glass of orange juice and waving contently. She smiled and offered a quick wave back, and continued past Jaime, who was half-awake nursing a mug of black coffee, and poured herself another cup from her pot of Earl Grey. As she raised the hot beverage to her lips, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist, pulling her into a hug. She didn't even need to turn around, as the familiar smell quickly revealed who was behind her.

"Morning, Gar." She smiled as Beast Boy's head rested on her shoulder, his dark green stubble gently scratching against her cheek. Usually she detested how overly physical his expressions of feelings were, but it seemed that everything was a little different. Today not even this bothered her.

"Mornin', Rae," he mumbled through his sleepy grin. He unwrapped his arms from around her, and she turned to watch as he leaned up against the countertop behind him. He met her gaze with tired eyes, giving away his lack of restful sleep. She didn't need to be an empath to see that.

"Are you… feeling okay, Garfield?" Raven tilted her head slightly at the sight of the bags beneath his eyes. "You look like you've been up all night."

"Yeah, I've been having some, uhh…" Garfield shook his head. "… some rough dreams lately. No big deal, just, y'know. Not sleeping as well as I usually do."

Raven put a hand on his shoulder. "I know how that gets. I've been there. Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Nah, I'm alright… thanks, though." He grinned back at her. She nodded, deciding to not press the matter. But she felt something… off. She could feel something pulling at him.

Gotham City. March 30th, 2017. 4:36 PM.

"Father, this is ridiculous."

Damian propped himself up with his elbows on the cold plastic of the infirmary bed, looking over at his father with a look that conveyed, as best he could, the sheer irritation he was experiencing about this whole ordeal. Bruce did not turn around from the charts hanging in front of him, instead electing to keep pouring over the information in front of him. Damian flopped over on the gurney and let out an exaggerated sigh. He was fine; whatever Trigon may have tried to do to him, it didn't work. The old serpent was gone forever, Damian had made sure of it. Right now, all that mattered was getting back to California. Getting back to Jump City. Getting back to the Titans. Getting back to Raven.

"Your brainwave activity is normal… Good." Bruce finally turned back to face Damian, his eyes reddened with weariness. He'd been running test after test, every examination fathomable, to ensure that his son was alright. "I think that's everything… short of a confessional."

"I think we both know that wouldn't help anything."

"… I'll get Clark on the line. He's the closest thing we have to a decent minister around here."

Damian shook his head as his father walked away. This was preposterous; sure, his father was nothing if not thorough, but he'd never once heard him mention religion before. He was about to shove off and bury himself in his bed when a figure emerged from behind the wall of medical charts around him. Damian knew someone was there, but upon seeing who had been hiding there for the past half hour, he couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"For the record, I'm on your side," Tim Drake said through a smug half-smile, "and I think Bruce knows whatever is going on with you isn't gonna show up on any test."

"That's because there isn't anything going on." Damian crossed his arms, his eyebrow twitching slightly in annoyance. "I'm fine."

"Oh, you're perfectly healthy, don't get me wrong," the older boy sighed as he leaned up against the flimsy plastic mattress. "But there's definitely something going on. You're acting different. You're less abrasive, more personable. And I can tell you what it is."

"Oh really?" Damian's voice swirled with sarcasm. "Then tell me, Tim, what's 'going on with me' exactly?"

"It's that girl," Tim grinned assuredly. "Raven."

Damian almost froze for a split second, but quickly covered his surprise with a dramatic sigh. "Oh no, not this again…"

"Don't try to deny it, man. It's practically tattooed on your forehead. You're in love."

Damian hopped down from the bed and put his hands on his hips. "I'm afraid I don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"Well then let me spell this one out for you," Tim crossed his arms and cleared his throat. "Before you joined the Titans, you would have just as soon cut me in half as you would get out of bed in the morning. You didn't even know my name, because you deemed me 'irrelevant to your destiny'. But now look at you. You're saying please and thank you to Alfred, you're not grunting at everybody, you're overacting to cover up you're emotions just like Bruce…" Damian straightened up suddenly, as if he'd gotten a chill. "… And not two minutes ago, you didn't call me 'false son', you didn't call me 'Red Robin', you didn't even call me 'Drake'… You called me Tim."

Damian kept his eyes to the floor, quiet and unmoving. Not a single word passed between the two for about seven seconds. Slowly, the younger Robin lifted his eyes and met the other's gaze.

"… What am I supposed to do?"

Tim smiled, his eyes giving off a wave of reassurance, and put his hand on Damian's shoulder. "You take it a day at a time. Don't jump in too fast. Be there when she needs you. Learn how to make her smile, make her laugh. It'll take time, but if you put your whole heart into it, it'll come."

Jump City. March 30th, 2017. 9:45 PM.

Pier 64 had become something of a confusing place for Raven. She loved the evening that she and her friends spent there about a year ago, because that was the night that she finally got Damian to start opening up. She got him to smile… Really smile. But then… that was the same night she almost lost everything.

But that night was far behind her. Right now they were here to "unwind" after everything that had just gone down. Kori insisted that they do something fun to help "ease the tension in the group". But everyone knew she was making that up; despite how horrifying the events that transpired six days ago were, everyone was surprisingly at peace… although deep down, Raven appreciated the distraction. She was definitely happy, but it was hard to be so optimistic without… well…

"Rae? Hey, Rae!"

When Raven snapped back to the present, Jon had seemingly appeared next to her, a bag of popcorn in his hand.

"Wha… How did–" the mage girl had to stifle a laugh as Jon shoved a handful of the popped kernels into his mouth. "Good night, Jon, we just walked in the front gate! How did you get that so fast?"

"Mmah mwulk rummuh phmm."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Jon held up a finger as he gradually forced the load of popcorn down. "I walked really fast." He grinned, and Raven just shook her head and smiled. "Anyway, you wanna hit the Ferris wheel with me? I heard the fireworks show starts in a few minutes, and it's supposed to be pretty sweeeet!"

Raven shrugged. "Maybe… I mean, I dunno if I'm gonna get on the wheel…"

An ear-to-ear grin spread across Jon's face. "Oh, I see… Not sure you wanna ride it without the right guy, right?" He winked, and then walked on ahead to join up with Kori. Raven rolled her eyes; Jon was a sweet kid, but when he got an idea stuck in his head…

Raven felt a light nudge on her shoulder. She turned to see the source, and her eyes practically lit up.

"Y'know, I was actually thinking of going on the wheel myself if you wanted to come along," Damian said, a shaky half-smile on his face.

"Hey! When did you get back in?" Raven leaned over and bumped into Damian as they walked. His cheeks just barely showed a twinge of red as he leaned back into her.

"About five minutes ago," he replied, nodding towards the group ahead of them. Raven looked forward and saw amongst her friends an additional couple, a man and woman about Kori's age, walking alongside her.

"You remember Grayson? He brought me to the Tower for the first time? That's him and his girlfriend, Barbara. They're here to tell Starfire that they're engaged." As if on cue, Kori stopped for a second before letting out a squeal and jumping onto the pair, the three of them laughing as they toppled to the ground.

"Wow! Good for them!" Raven smiled as she saw how elated the three were. She paused for a moment, and then turned to Damian. "And yes. I'd love to ride the Ferris wheel with you."

"Great." Damian grinned. Now THAT was a smile.

Within a few minutes, the two of them were high in the air, looking down from their gondola on the pier below. They even managed to spot all of their friends; Jon and Jaime were bent over the shooting range, Kori was walking about with Dick and Barbara, and Gar was up on the dance machine, locked in a fierce throwdown with a rather quick-footed blonde-haired girl. They almost thought they saw Gar trip up again, when suddenly their eyes were drawn skyward as the air burst into luminous wonder. The sounds of rockets cracking and crackling filled their ears, and magnificent flashes of all different colors filled their vision.

As the display went on, Damian slowly crept his pinky over Raven's, slipping into place around it. Raven blushed just enough to see, and after a moment her hand shifted, locking her fingers between his and squeezing gently for a moment. As the both of them kept their eyes and ears focused on the sky, part of their minds turned towards the warmth that formed in the cradle of their joined hands.

Fireworks certainly are something special, aren't they?