*Okay, I didn't receive any feedback but a follow since the last chapter, but well…Here's your third chapter folks. Thanks for reading and please, leave me a review or fav/follow if you liked this, they mean so much!*

CHAPTER THREE

Cyborg's place, as Raven expected, was nothing too fancy, but convenient nonetheless. The main space had a wide single bed, a couch and a big television. There was also a kitchen, a bathroom and another room which Cyborg used as his workshop for his body. Though it lacked any serious decoration, it wasn't too plain or simple, as the young man had colorful furniture and several posters around the walls. Raven found it…cozy.

"It ain't a palace, but it's okay…" Cyborg said, throwing the black hoodie on the unmade bed.

"It's nice." Raven said, taking a seat on the couch and a look at the posters.

"So, the bed is a bit messy but I'll have it ready for you in just a sec…" Cyborg mumbled.

"The couch is just fine, Cyborg." Raven said monotonously.

"The bed's more comfy!" He said smiling. "I don't want you wakin' up with a backache!"

Raven pushed the sofa with her hands. It wasn't hard, it was as soft as it should be. "I won't have a backache. I'll sleep fine on the couch."

"If you insist… Let me fetch you your stuff then!" He said and moved to his small closet. He took out a fluffy pillow and a woolen blanket and handed them to her, moving to his bed.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it! If you need more pillows, just tell me so, 'kay?"

Raven nodded and placed the pillow on the couch, leaving the blanket aside. Cyborg sat on the bed and took a piece from the mechanical being they had fought before in his hands.

"It certainly looks familiar." He said, examining it closely and giving Raven a hasty look. She nodded.

"It's the same as the ones from that day."

"Yes, the technology is the same but the being didn't function too well."

"What do you mean?" Raven asked frowning.

"It was a huge robot, armed with advanced alien technology and yet the two of us easily took it out. I mean, it wasn't too quick or too effective in anything it did…"

"I see where you're taking this…"

"Yeah. I think it might have been a primal design, just to test how it worked. I'd say someone must be experimentin' with this new stuff, and I don't think that someone's from outer space…"

Raven folded her arms. "At least we gathered enough specimens to study, right?"

Cyborg nodded. "I faced a guy with a small weapon like this a month ago. I kept it too. Don't know how it works precisely, but I think that it'd better for me to safeguard it, uh?"

"Sure. But it is worrying that small criminals are emerging with these things. Where do they come from? Who makes them and how?"

"Very good questions all of them, but I can't answer any." He shrugged, pouting slightly.

"The League has identified it as a problem, it can't be too long since they do something drastic." Raven said, avoiding mentioning Robin or anything concerning their actions.

Cyborg shrugged again and opened a drawer of his nightstand, taking a small screwdriver out, to fiddle with the robot parts. "You're free to go to sleep any time you feel like it. Don't bother with me."

Raven nodded and lay back, facing the ceiling. Several thoughts ran across her mind wildly, without her focusing on any of them in particular as the moments passed. A few minutes later, the subtle sounds of Cyborg's screwdriver were disturbed by the not-so-subtle rumbling of his stomach.

"Oh, damn, I forgot!" He said laughing. "Rae, would you like anythin' to eat? We didn't get to finish our dinner before."

"I'm okay."

"Alright then! He said, making his way to the kitchen. Raven heard frying pans getting drawn out and soon, the sounds of burning oil and something frying decorated the silence of the night in the apartment. Drowsily a bit, she made her way to the kitchen doorway and watched as Cyborg poured his homemade pancake mix on the pan and then stacked a pile of pancakes on a plate next to the small oven. When the mix in the bowl was over, he turned around to place it in the sink and saw Raven watching him attentively. He flashed her a sheepish smile.

"Are you used to creepily stalk people when they're cooking or is it a new habit of yours?" He asked jokingly.

Raven tried to half-smile. "I think it's new."

Cyborg grabbed a jar of honey from the cupboard and poured a generous amount over his pancake hill before he went on with carrying it. "Let's head back inside, I don't like eating in this kitchen. It's too small for me!"

Raven simply turned around and glided to her spot on the couch. Cyborg cautiously sat on the bed again and placed his plate in front of him. "Want some?" He asked but Raven shook her head. "More for me!" He pinched the first one with his fork and Raven watched in contained curiousness about how quickly the pancakes disappeared into his mouth. More pancakes were devoured until Cyborg finally spoke, with his mouth somewhat full. "Y'know, we wern't s'bad at fightin' th't monst'h!"

"No, we weren't."

Cyborg swallowed a big chunk. "I mean, just some good old teamwork and that thing was down in a minute!"

"Mmm…" Raven mumbled, nodding her head slightly. Cyborg went on with munching on his pancakes and Raven lay back again, pinning her eyes on the ceiling once more.

Cyborg took his plate in the kitchen and lay on his bed as well, finding it quite hard to sleep. He found that though the hour was late, he didn't feel like closing his eyes and drifting away, but that he yearned for some honest talk. It had been long since he had the opportunity to speak his mind freely and have someone listen and he was itching to do so. He betted Raven wasn't feeling too sleepy either.

"Rae?"

"Yes?" She asked back, in her usual monotone voice, which Cyborg found peculiarly soothing at the time.

"Don't you miss it?"

"What, exactly?"

"The team, the Tower, the Titans…All of it."

Raven sighed. He had hit the spot. "I do."

Cyborg was happy to hear that. He didn't know why, but it felt good knowing that he wasn't the only one missing the old times and still feeling attached. He was aware that Raven wasn't the best conversational holder, but even the short answers she gave were enough, maybe more than enough, for him to go on.

"Me too. Sometimes too much, really. I miss the guys and the house and the games and the times we hung out… And, all fun aside, the team dealt better with the enemies. Two set of hands are always better than one. Imagine how great five sets of them were!"

"We had issues, though, Cy."

"Sure we did but every team has issues. Think the big League is perfect? Hell no. They're, like, drama headquarters, and still they're Earth's mightiest hero group."

"We needed time to ourselves, I suppose."

"And what did the time we took do? For me, nothing too important. How did that time work for you?"

"Perfectly." Raven answered, irony almost dripping from her voice.

Cyborg huffed. He knew it couldn't have been too great. "You know, you can speak your mind here, Raven."

"And what do you want me to say?" She asked, turning to her side and covering her shoulders up with the blanket.

"Whatever you feel like saying, I don't know… Care to tell me how you've been that past year?"

Raven didn't know how Cyborg did that, but it felt like he knew exactly what question to ask to make her feel like cringing. The past year wasn't exactly kind to her and she had been struggling not to let anything slip while she was with him; she couldn't possibly know how he felt about the split-up, though it was obvious now. Something inside her tried to comfort her, to tell her that she need not be afraid to say how she felt. Cyborg was asking because he was interested and she during all those years in the Titans that some human contact is necessary to everyone, even to her, and she very well knew that she hadn't gotten any in a big while. "Not too well." She finally said. "It's been…hard."

"Why has it been hard?" He asked and Raven traced hints of concern in his voice.

She sighed. "Because I was afraid."

"Afraid? But why?"

"My powers are directly connected to my emotions, Cyborg."

"Yeah, I know that already."

"When we split up, I was angry. I was furious and I didn't even know how many times I struggled to keep my Trigon side from coming out."

"Oh…"

"I started losing control but I somehow managed to keep it together. When the anger faded, though, all that was left was emptiness. A huge void where you should all be." For some reason, Cyborg's chest felt tense at that statement. He felt…guilty for a split second, and then compassion and sympathy. He listened carefully as Raven went on.

Raven spoke steadily. She didn't know why, but it all came naturally to her. Maybe it was the time, maybe the company, maybe a bit of everything, but speaking about it proved to be cleansing. She lived every stage of the year again, but when the words left her mouth, it seemed as if she was slowly bidding goodbye to them, getting rid of what had been poisoning so far. And so she let it all out. "I was so alone. So terrifyingly alone. You know, the Titans saved me. I never in my life expected to have anyone to care for me, but when I met you guys, I saw the good that was in me and made me want to believe in myself and that I can be something other than what I was created for. When we managed to free me from my Father, I, for the first time, felt hope and many other sentiments that I had discarded from my psyche. I don't show much of it, because with my powers, I can't exactly let everything loose, but, believe me, I did feel them."

"I believe you…"

"When we went our separate ways, I thought I'd be alright. Turns out, no so much. I didn't fit in anywhere else. I didn't belong anywhere. I guess that, even now, I am surviving, but not living. All the nasty sentiments from the time I spent before joining the team returned and I am back to square zero."

"I'm so sorry, Raven."

"What for? It's not your fault, it was our choice and I am not someone you need to watch over for."

"That's not what I meant but... we were-no, we are- friends, damn it! I refuse to believe that a fight and some stupid stubbornness managed to destroy the bonds we had. I should have been there for you and for everyone. Beast Boy wasn't either?"

"We broke up shortly after the split, but it doesn't matter. Cyborg, we should have been here for you, then, too. No one was, though."

"It doesn't matter! I was still here, I still care. You should have come to me when you thought you were all alone…"

"It's alright, Cyborg."

"Is it, really?" He asked, getting worked up. "Know what I think? We're all a bunch of egoistic idiots, not willing to admit that we need each other! Because you're not the only one who came to the Titans and found some meaning, Raven."

"Mm?"

"I am practically a pile of metal with some flesh patches here and there. Think it was easy for me to be accepted? No one believed I was human anymore. I lost so much of my body. Yet no one seemed to understand that my mind was still there, but the team. I became a hero, not just a robot freak!"

Raven inhaled deeply and nodded. She could understand him so well. It was just how it felt for her too. "I know, Cyborg. I also saved people instead of just being a four-red-eyed demon freak…"

Cyborg huffed. "So we're both freaks in the end of the day. Freaks that saved the world and did good, but threw it all away because we couldn't sit down and face our problems."

"We made a mistake back then, didn't we?" Raven said, turning around to her back again.

"Yes. A mistake. That's what it was." Cyborg said decisively. "And what do people do with mistakes?"

"They fix them."

"Yes they do. So, what do y'say, Raven? Feel like fixin' it with me?"

A small spark burnt inside Raven. Something was stirring and she liked it. It was high time she did something about the hole of never-ending darkness she had fallen into, and she had the perfect ally with her. A small grin spread on her face as the first rays of the sun rising came through the curtain gaps. "Yes."

*Here they go to get them all back together, then! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please, please, please, let me know how you found it! Thanks for reading and sorry for any typos!*