Last chapter: A stranger who looks like Raven and proclaims to be from Azarath shows up at the door. And the titans decide to let her stay.

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Raven's secret-keeper

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Unforeseen Surprises

Chapter 2: The Healing Process

"On one condition," Cyborg added.

"You need to train with Raven," Robin elaborated. "She can show you how to control your emotions, and your powers."

"Really? I can stay?" Her eyes lit up and a glowing smile added to her bright moment.

Then her eyes closed, and she moaned weakly. She yawned again and began rubbing the side of her head. Her eyes went from lightly closed to tight with her pain. She made a high-pitched "mmmmmm" noise and Robin asked if she was okay in a concerned tone.

"I... think so... I just fell, that's all..."

While she said this, Raven took a small step towards her. "How far from?" She looked at Dove with concern in her gaze.

"Well... uh... ow!... The sky, a few feet over a building in Jump City."

"And you lived!?" Beast Boy chimed in excitedly.

"Well, yeah. I fell onto the building. But it still... hurt... a lot." Dove winced and backed away from Raven, sensing something she didn't like.

"It's OK, I'm just going to heal you," Raven said gently.

"Heal me...?" Dove wasn't sure what to make of it, but a bad experience caused her to back into the wall. "How?"

"With my powers." Then, as Dove moved left to avoid Raven's periwinkle-auraed hands, she added, "It won't hurt."

"I'm not scared of pain, but..." Dove lost her voice to the fear rising within her.

All of the others watched this odd behavior. No one had ever resisted healing before (what was so wrong with her that she didn't want the pain gone?) and Raven had never volunteered to heal someone before, especially a complete stranger.

But somewhere deep down, Raven sensed that Dove wasn't a complete stranger. Dove was her. Only she wore white. Dove was from Azarath. Dove had powers unleashed by emotion. Dove had seen Azarath destroyed. And Dove knew how terrible Trigon was. Raven could sense it, all of it, when Dove told them her story. When she talked, pain was in her voice. Suddenly Raven was determined to learn more about Dove.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," she said softly and reassuringly.

This surprised the titans more than they already were. Raven never uses that tone!

Raven began taking slow, careful steps towards Dove.

Dove looked at Raven, wide-eyed and shivering with fear. Then she huddled her arms to her chest and turned her head to the ground on her side, and she began her high-pitched, quiet whimpering.

Raven asked, "What's wrong?" in a soft tone that no one , not even herself, recognized.

"No... don't... please..." Dove begged softly. Raven could just make out what she said. Her voice was soft, tight, and hoarse.

Dove slowly collapsed to the ground so that her knees were bent against her body, arms and head in the position they were in before.

Raven, hands no longer glowing, knelt on one knee to level with Dove. "Why not?" she whispered, sensing urgency in Dove's voice.

Dove opened her tightly closed eyes a bit and said, "Just... don't... please..." Suddenly, tears began flowing from Dove's eyes as if a thunderstorm had erupted and caused a flash flood beneath her closed eyelids. She wanted to cry "stop it!" but couldn't. Her throat was too tight.

"Just let me," Raven told her quietly. "You'll feel a lot better. Physically and mentally."

Raven began to sense the other Titans staring at her intently, but tried to ignore it.

Why should I trust you? Dove wanted Raven to know that she wouldn't let her, but was too upset. All she could do was look up at Raven, blinking her tearful, traumatized eyes.

Suddenly, Raven and Dove locked eye-contact, and Dove felt a flash of something she'd never sensed before and let out a small gasp of surprise. Emotions flooded into her, and before she could comprehend what was happening, another white bolt of white energy escaped her control and flipped over the couch Beast Boy and Cyborg were sitting on, taking them with it.

Dove cowered into a tighter ball than ever in her corner and began whimpering. She stopped suddenly and let out a noise of pain, coughed once and moaned, again holding her throat with one hand.

Dove then began coughing, gently at first. Then she went into a coughing fit, struggling to breathe. She put the hand that was over her throat over her mouth.

Raven, though it was hard to see because of how violent her body-rocking fit of coughing uncontrollably was, noticed Dove shivering.

"I'm gonna get her some water," Robin announced.

"That's not all she needs," Raven said quietly. She, surprising the titans beyond the horizons of their dreams, inched so close to Dove that any closer would make contact and took off her cloak before wrapping it tenderly around Dove's heaving, traumatized, shivering uncontrollably body, and Dove grabbed the edges shakily and wrapped it tighter around herself. Raven began rubbing her hands in swift motions to help, and wasn't surprised to feel Dove's robe damp and cold, not dry like hers.

Robin gave Raven a glass of water, and Dove took it and eventually managed to drink some of it. After about three seconds, the coughing began to cease, and it soon stopped completely.

Dove let herself lean weakly against Raven's body as she gasped desperately for breath. Gradually the shivering stopped, too. When she had stopped shivering altogether, Dove lifted her head and whispered, barely audible and raspy, "Thanks," but she barely got it out before she moaned softly and fainted in Raven's arms.

Dove woke up in a dark room on a spacious bed. She felt, for the first time in almost two years, warm and relaxed. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a window. Outside, the sky was overcast by dark heavy clouds.

A couple of birds flew into a sheltering tree, and those birds reminded her of -

"Sieara!" Dove said, and sat up so suddenly her back crackled. "Oh no..."

"'Sieara'? That sounds Azarathian," a familiar voice said to Dove. She gasped quietly and turned to her right. The voice was Raven, who Dove hadn't seen sitting there before.

"Yeah." She sighed. "It is," Dove told her, recovering from the shock.

"Who's... Sieara?"

"She was..." She inhaled, still catching her breath... "...my companion..." And she let the breath out softly.

"You brought someone with you out of Azarath?"

"No, she's a dove."

Raven looked skeptical.

"Sieara was my best friend since... as long as I can remember. She's never been separated from me for any longer than a few minutes before, and when she flew off it was to find food."

The wind howled at the window, and Dove tensed.

"Are you okay?" Raven asked, only a little concerned.

"Yeah," Dove replied, half convincingly.

Then there was a huge clap of thunder, and Dove screamed shortly but loudly and huddled up close to Raven. She began whimpering and shaking with fear.

Raven wasn't sure how to react to this. "What's wrong?"

"I-I don't kn-kn-know," Dove replied with pure honesty.

There was a knock on the door, and Raven got up to answer it.

It was Robin. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine."

"Who screamed?"

"Dove. I think it was the thunder. But she'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

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Sieara is pronounced sigh-ear-uh.

No, they're not in Raven's room.

I know Raven seems a bit out of character, but you'd be too if this was your circumstance. (And I wrote this story a long time ago, so cahracterization was hard for me...)

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-Raven's secret-keeper