A/N: Keeping true to form as far as these Echoes are concerned, I have absolutely nothing to say about this. I've stopped fighting them, I've stopped putting my two cents in. The characters and my muse completely owns me on these. I can tell you that the whole idea of it was inspired by the idea of a wistful Raven saying, "I was a child, once." And then the song came on and...-shrug-.
Not beta'd. Not even by me. I think I read over it once. Forgive me?
Thanks: Later tonight or tomorrow on 'emsscraps'.
Echoes
by Em
"Far away, long ago / glowing dim as an ember / things my heart used to know / things it yearns to remember..."
- Once Upon A December, from Anastasia
Snowfall
(13: Wonderland)
Raven seemed to go still and pensive as the soft, eerie melody floated around them. She stared at the swirling flakes of fake snow inside the globe and her eyes became distant. "I was a child," she whispered, as if she didn't actually intend for anyone to hear her. "Once upon a time."
"Is that melody from your childhood?" Cyborg asked, just as quiet, as if afraid to break the spell.
Robin remembered something, the scene racing across his memory in that way her memories did sometimes ever since they had shared time in each other's conscious. Raven shook her head and blinked and the look was gone. She glanced at him and turned to Cyborg.
"I do not remember," she answered, handing the musical snow globe back to Beast Boy and walking away.
Robin followed, finding her standing at the large window, staring out at the snow. He knew she felt his approach, but she didn't acknowledge him, even when he stood behind her, so close he could see where her breath fogged the glass. He stared at the storm outside for a moment.
"I remember a storm," he said, his tone low and pensive. He knew the memory wasn't his, but he remembered it as if he lived it. "Like this one, but I was happy because there was a party..."
Raven listened quietly, her expression never changing. "It was the solstice."
"I remember horses," he continued in the same soft, low tone. "Beautiful large horses, brown and black and white, coming through the storm like something out of a tale, pulling large painted wagons and covered sleighs..."
"The guests," Raven answered. "We never had guests except for the Solstice, once a year..."
"I remember wings on a little girl," he looked confused, as if he was sure he couldn't be remembering correctly. "Really colorful wings, painted every color, red, green, blue, the colors blurring together in the firelight as the little girl with silver hair moved..."
"They always performed," was all Raven answered. "I thought they really were the fae they pretended to be for so long."
"Dancing," Robin added, after awhile. "Adults dancing, looking so graceful, as if they'd practiced it."
"I always wondered how they'd learned," Raven added, swallowing, her eyes focused intently on the snow outside.
"Someone's sings this sweet song," Robin remembered, starting to hum a few bars. "So haunting."
"Azar had a beautiful voice." Raven frowned. "I can't remember the words."
Robin sighed as he remembered something else, "Someone holds me," he said through the tightness in his throat. "Safe and warm."
Raven swallowed, "Mother," she said, wrapping her arms around herself tightly and closing her eyes against the sight that had allowed her to remember such things.
Without thought, Robin slid his arms around her from behind, locking them in front, pulling her back into his warmth, resting his face against her shoulder when she didn't resist, feeling her heart beat against his.
"She wasn't supposed to touch, to hold..." he hesitated, frowning.
"But I didn't know that then," she added. "I was always so cold."
He laced his fingers through hers, and she let him. "I remember..."
"No more, Robin," she whispered and her voice was only mildly broken. "No more memories. No more past."
"I've got you now, Raven," he said into her ear. "I promise."
When she let her head rest back against his chest, he only held her tighter.
"I know."