Chapter 2

Welcome to the Tower

A bright slit of light blazed through a narrow split in the darkness, invading her peaceful sleep. Slowly, the world began to once again take shape. A bright light was burning overhead, and a thin white sheet was pulled over her. The violet haired girl let her eyes slowly drop back into focus before letting them roam around the room. She easily recognized the Titan's medical center. On the bed next to her was a soundly sleeping Beast Boy, a bandage wrapped around his shoulder. She let her head roll around to her other side, and, if not for the pain that still bound her movement, almost jumped from her place. There, sitting on a chair fast asleep, was a young man she did not recognize. He was wearing a pair of black jeans, and a black sleeveless shirt. Hanging on the chair at his shoulder was a deep crimson trench coat. Raven strained her head to try to see if there were any others in the room other than this sleeping stranger, but only succeeded in pulling on her wounds. A soft cry escaped from her lips as she fought to keep her pain under control. The noise was noted by Cyborg's extensive monitoring system, and notified the rest of the Titans that she was awake. Robin was the first one to the room, responding to the call the security system had sent out.

"Welcome back." He whispered, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She managed a weak nod, and turned her head over towards the black clad stranger, as if to ask what he was doing here.

"He's the one that saved you." Robin quietly informed her, "He's been sitting up here all night watching over you. He refuses to leave until he's convinced that you are alright. Not too many of his kind of people left out in the world any more…"

Robin's voice trailed off as he looked back at the boy sleeping in the corner. "And we don't even know his name," He whispered to himself.

As if on cue, the stranger stirred and began his trek back to the light. One eye slid open, lazily taking in his surroundings, noting the boy wonder standing over the girl, and that she was awake. The other eye quickly joined it as I shook off the last of my slumber. I rose from my seat and made my way over to where the two young superheroes were.

Raven made an attempt to sit, only to be stopped by Robin's firm touch on her shoulder. "Don't even try," he told her, "you don't need to be moving around just yet."

Slumping back into her bed, she turned her head towards me, "thank you," she managed.

She hurt, even just those two simple words she had managed had been pure agony for her, I could feel it. "I'm just glad I could help," I told her, trying to close it out so she wouldn't have to talk again, "Quiet now, you need your rest."

I glanced over towards the green elf that was still sleeping on the next bed down. His wound was a bit more extensive and damaging, but somehow, he seemed to be healing faster than would be possible. I looked back to Raven, who was seemingly holding on to the last strands of consciousness again, and watched her fall back to her dreams.

Robin motioned for me to follow him outside, and I complied, now knowing that Raven was on her way to recovering.

"Listen," I started, "I know that you are upset because I attacked one of your teammates, but you have to understand, if I didn't do something, he would have killed her."

"And how can you know that," He growled, a sudden anger in his voice that I sensed he had been hiding from Raven, "Beast Boy has been with us for a long time, and we know that he would never do something of the sort."

"He wasn't himself," I replied, "You have to trust me on this, I don't know how else to explain it."

"You can't know that, nobody can!" came his retort. "And how do you expect me to believe someone I found attacking my team?"

"There are some things that are better left unexplained." My sharp gaze was matching his fury by now. There was no trust left in this world.

"Right, as if there was anything that could surprise me by now." He shot back. "I have a cyborg, an alien, a half demon, and a shape shifter that I live with, I dare you to surprise me with something different."

"You want the truth?" All reason had left me now, and I threw caution to the wind. 'I can hear things that nobody else can'

Robin looked at me confused, until sudden realization hit him. I had not opened my mouth with my last retort, instead, it had been spoken directly into his mind. I stood there and soaked up the realization of what he was dealing with, and at the same time, regretted what I had just done. I just blew my cover, my identity was out in the open again, and I now had to find somewhere else to live…again.

I turned to walk out, but a firm grip landed on my arm, holding me back. "I'm sorry, I never expected something like that."

I turned unbelievingly towards the crime fighter. Was it true that he wouldn't freak out because I could read minds, or run away afraid for the very security of their own thoughts?

Robin turned to walk away from the medical center, motioning for me to follow him. As we got farther away from where Raven and B. B. slept, he turned to me. "So what really happened down there?"

I asked if there was somewhere I could get a cup of hot coffee, and a place to sit, informing him that the story may take a while.

After a lengthy explanation about how everything had happened that night, and 4 cups of coffee later, I was finally ready to meet the rest of the team. I was led to the meeting room where the machine – man was sitting playing a video game, and the red-head was creating…something…in the oven.

"Cy, Star," Robin called out to the two, " I want you two to meet…er…"

Robin glanced anxiously over at me, suddenly realizing that he had never asked my name. "Ryk, at least that's what my friends call me."

I was promptly attacked by the red head, who began assaulting me with a barrage of questions.

"HellonewfriendRykwillyoubemyfriendIlovemeetingnewpeoplemynameisStarfirebythewayandI'mfromtheplanetTameranwhatsyourfavoritecolorwillyoubestayingwithusIlikeyourredcoatwhatsyourfavoritefood…"

"Star!" Cyborg interrupted, "STAR! I think he would like to breathe now."

I nodded enthusiastically, my face starting to turn shades of blue.

"Oh, I am sorry new friend Ryk, I just get a carried away sometimes." She apologized.

I shrugged it off, and let her know that it wasn't a big deal. I mean honestly, she wasn't even from the same planet, so how was I supposed to hold something like a hug against her. Anyways, she was kind of cute, in her own exotic way.

I turned to greet Cyborg, grasping his firm handshake, and returning it to the best of my abilities. As far as I had met, he seemed like the most down to earth guy on the whole team, but then again, I really didn't know much about the two sleeping in the medical room either.

"Well Robin," an emotionless voice from behind caught my attention, "don't you think you should introduce me to my rescuer?"

Robin and I both spun around looking to see a winded Raven leaning against the door frame. "You know you shouldn't be up and about yet." Robin scolded.

"I couldn't sleep any more." She replied flatly. The look in her eyes told the boy wonder that it was time to drop it. She was up, and there was nothing he could do about it. "I figured I at least owed it to him," she motioned towards me, "to at least thank him before he heads off again."

Starfire's eyes were suddenly full of sorrow, "You're leaving us? But you just got here."

I looked over towards where she was sitting, and shrugged, "I go where the wind carries me."

Robin helped Raven over to a seat near where I was standing, and waved me over. He went through the formal introductions before leaving her and I alone to sort out what had happened back there in the sewers.

"I don't know what to say," she began, "I'm really not good at these thanks things."

I looked deep into those ice blue eyes and smiled gently, encouraging her to go on. As she glanced up into my eyes, she seemed to get lost for a moment. Quickly recovering, she looked away and hid her blushing cheeks from my view.

"Ow, my shoulder!" stated a new voice.

"Well, that's a little obvious," Cyborg quipped cheerfully.

"Dude, not even close to funny," the green elf whined. He slowly started to stretch out his arm, grimacing at every little movement. "So, am I the only one that doesn't know what happened to me? I remember bits and pieces, but I know I went to bed early last night, and this morning I woke up in medical with my shoulder bandaged."

I cast my gaze down towards the ground, catching his attention. He stared at me for a moment, a brief second of recognization followed by our entire fight flooding into his mind. "You were the one that attacked me last night! You and those knives of yours, why the…"

His voice trailed off when he noticed Raven's bandage wrapped body, "Raven, what happened?"

She looked wearily up at him, "You really don't remember, do you?"

Then it all came flooding back to him. The weight hit him so hard that he literally fell to his knees holding his head. "I let it happen again," he sobbed, "I let it happen again, and this time, it hurt my friends. Raven, I…" His words disappeared into a silent sob.

Robin stood up from his seat on the couch, and quickly covered the space between himself and the changling. He knelt next to the sobbing boy, and laid his hand reassuringly on his shoulder, letting the boy cry it out.

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Raven and B. B. were back in medical, and I was sitting in front of the couch, soaking up some of the afternoon news, and just generally taking it easy. Not something that I was used to, but something that I was enjoying nonetheless. The rest of the Titans had wandered off to one place or another, or so I thought.

Down in medical, the Titans had all gathered by Robin's call. They stood around Raven's bed, talking amongst themselves in hushed voices.

"He's too dangerous, and we've only known him for a day," Cyborg spat, "This is way to fast and you know it."

"I agree that this is fast, Cy," Robin calmly responded, "but he not only saved Raven, he stopped B. B. without killing him."

"Guys, I agree with Robin."

A pin could have been heard hitting the floor at that moment, as every Titan's head swiveled to look at the little elf boy. "You may pick your jaws up now," he said with a smile, "but seriously, he was brave enough to fight for someone that he didn't even know, and put himself in harms way for no other reason than to save Raven."

"Dude, he attacked you!" Cyborg still couldn't believe what the little elf was saying.

"Yes, I know." The changeling looked sorrowfully at his shoulder, "but he did it for the right reasons."

"Then you do it."

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I stretched and yawned as the news wore down. There was nothing interesting today anyways, we had kept our escapades in the sewers quiet enough to keep under the media's radar, and for that, we were all thankful.

I heard the door hiss open behind me, and I turned to see who it was, hoping for a little distraction from the boredom that had overcome me. Beast Boy, his shoulder still wrapped, walked slowly into the room.

"Hey," he greeted me, "mind if I sit down?"

Smiling, I assured him that he was welcome. He stepped around the couch and crashed on the other end of it.

"So…still looking for a place to stay?"

I looked over at the changeling, wondering what he was up to. "Yeah, I'm still in the market for a place."

"Why don't you crash here with us?" he smiled, "we've got an open room downstairs, and don't see anyone else using it in the near future."

I pondered the proposition for a moment, "I thought you guys were a bunch of crime fighters, though. Wouldn't having an outsider here like me just slow you guys down?"

His reply faltered slightly, "Well…umm…that's the other thing that I wanted to ask you."

My jaw could have hit the floor. They wanted me to fight alongside of them? The famous teen titans wanted me here? I hardly knew any of them, much less did they know me, or my haunted past.

"I don't know what to say." I replied.

"You could say yes." The flat voice told me that the elf and I were not the only two in the room.

I turned to see a bandaged Raven being held up between Cyborg and Starfire, with Robin standing alongside. The feeling of acceptance hit me, and warmed me right to the core. People that accepted me for who I was. I had hidden nothing from them, and yet they still accepted me. Maybe I could fit in here.

I nodded towards them, and stood up as Robin approached me. I took his hand in a firm grip, as we silently sealed the contract, binding me to the Titans.

Robin smiled at me, "Welcome to the Tower."