I'd like the complete answer please."
The words caught Raven off guard, her emotional wall and her ability to make her emotions disappear from her face like actors from a stage fell for a second. She quickly righted herself. "That is the complete answer, Robin." She stated, this time a fair amount more coldly.
"I know you're lying to me Raven, is the truth really that bad?" He responded, somewhat pleading in his tone this time.
"Robin, its two o'clock in the morning, do you really have time for this kind of discussion?" Raven asked.
"Of course I do, you're my teammate and friend, I'll always have time for you." He responded in his normal voice. This statement made Raven's heart short-circuit a bit. She hadn't been prepared for this statement, nor the sheer honesty put into it. She mulled over his words in a half hearted attempt to scour any meaning other than the honesty and care out of his statement. She decided against her better judgement and decided that she would indeed share a few of her issues, in the hopes that his words could provide some semblance of comfort to her troubled mind.
"It's about you." She started. "Robin, I'm worried for you, the arrival of these new criminals has worried me, and with the fact that they keep getting stronger than the villains we've faced before makes me concerned for your safety." She stated with some semblance of concern drifting into her voice. What she had said was true, his lack of special powers made him combatively the weakest member on the team, but that wasn't the real reason she was concerned, but she wasn't ready to say that yet.
Robin shook his head slowly. "Raven, I understand that you, and the rest of the team are worried for my safety, I really do." He took a breath and steeled his expression. "But you can't expect me to just let the rest of you take all the risks and sit back."
Raven looked deeply into the masked eyes of her leader. "Robin, this isn't so much about your physical safety but more so your internal health." She took a breath and began anew. "Robin, we all know you can handle yourself in combat, that much we know and accept, but during the relatively short period in which we've known each other you've had several mental short-circuits." She finished, anticipating his response with a less than positive outlook.
"You're talking about the Slade incident, aren't you." Robin stated coldy while staring into her eyes. She couldn't see his eyes but she could feel them glaring at her, piercing into her soul and seeing into the very depths of her being. She knew he couldn't see that deeply into her mind but that didn't ease the worried feelings that his gaze gave her.
He inhaled deeply, then released his breath in a very loud sigh. "Raven, that was one time, I let my feelings get the better of me and made rash decisions, it won't happen again." He stated.
"That's the problem Robin, we don't know if it'll happen again." She sighed. "We don't know how liable you are to snap like that again, especially with the new threats looming on the horizon we don't know how you'll react if something bad happens." She looked deeply into his masked eyes. "What if something happened to one of us, would you stay calm and focus through the problem?" "Or would you blindly throw yourself into the fray in an attempt to stop the issue through pure force?" She forcefully stated.
Robin visibly recoiled at the statements. He hadn't expected this level of emotion from Raven of all people, nor had he expected her to be so angry at him for his behavior. Most of all, however, he hadn't expected her to have this issue of all things with him.
"Raven..." He began to state.
Raven's eyes narrowed. "Don't 'Raven' me Boy Blunder, your tendency to not think things through once your emotions get ahold of you is well known for getting you in trouble, and you know it." "Robin, you think what you're doing is for us, the best for us as a group or for Jump city as a whole, but you're forgetting a pretty damn crucial detail."
"And what would that be?" Asked Robin, slightly afraid of the response he would receive.
"That we care about you Robin." Raven whispered in a low tone, the anger and force in her voice fading away. "Robin, we understand that you have this compulsive desire to see every criminal behind bars, but sometimes that desire can hurt you, hurt us, hurt me." Raven said, gesturing to herself at the end of her statement.
"Raven." Robin stated. Raven sensed a small hint of emotion in his voice, just enough to keep her from saying her next words.
"Raven, I'm sorry that I put you guys through all of that struggle, I really am, and you can trust me when I say that it won't happen again." Robin took a breath before continuing. "Raven, it hurt when I did the whole Slade thing, when I was forced to hurt you all, it really hurt." Robin's expression softened, his gaze wavered while Raven kept her eyes locked on his. "The looks on your faces, the look of betrayal and hurt was too much to take, I don't want to ever see that again." Robin finished.
Raven looked Robin up and down, she could see the shame from the memory manifesting itself in the form of odd movements and the way he just seemed, off. "Robin you don't have to feel that badly about it, it's over and done, plus, I'm here for you." Raven stated, although she whispered the last part.
"Come again?" Robin asked innocently.
"I said we're here for you, that's all." Stated Raven as she collected herself. "Anyways that's what I had to say, what were you going to discuss?" Raven asked politely, she could feel his emotions still, and that he felt as though the conversation was somehow, unfinished.
"Robin, if you have something to say, please say it." Raven pleaded with him.
"Don't worry Raven, it's fine." Robin said softly. "I'm going to head to sleep now, see if I can get some rest."
"Sure thing." Raven responded as she left the room.
Raven sighed as she ghosted her way back to her room, her tea had become cold and she still felt off about the whole encounter. "I wonder what goes through his head sometimes." She thought to herself as she continued drifting down the hallways. Damn Cyborg for making the tower so complicated in structure. She knew it was for defensive reasons but it just got in the way so many times. At least it gave her more time to think.
After a few minutes of wandering the tower she finally found and entered her room. She decided to meditate for a few minutes before going back to bed, in an attempt to calm her mind from the incident earlier. Not a minute later she was deep within her mind.