Anywhere but here.
Raven would have rather been anywhere but standing in front of this tall tower. Waist deep in lava, tarred and feathered… Instead she was standing on the rocky shore of an island, trying to ignore the seawater that had somehow gotten into her boots.
She had though the worst had come when she pulled the mesh fabric from her bag two nights ago. Luckily, Robin believed himself to be a gentlemen and left the room for her to change. When he came back, she was just leaving the bathroom. He had stared for a moment before turning sharply away and leaving through the door. By the time he came back, she was under the thick brown blanket that draped the bed.
In the morning, they managed to get dressed again with little difficulty and hopped in the car. The next day was spent in relative silence, not for lack of trying on Robin's part. She just wasn't all that talkative.
Robin decided to drive straight through the night and Raven raised no objection. The pale mesh fabric could stay in her bag for another night.
Arriving this morning in Jump City, Raven was surprised to see how far the city had fallen. It was worse than any of the slums she had lived in during the past eleven years. Drug dealers set up on street corners in broad daylight as the police smoked up in their car down the block. The "ladies of the night" were apparently no longer restricted by the rising sun and strutted down the sidewalks. The sunlight illuminated the cuts and bruises dusting their skin. The buildings were in shambles and the streets in disrepair. It looked as if the concrete had been blasted away in battle.
Her heart clenched painfully when they drove past the decrepitude pizza parlor that had been a home away from home away from home.
Soon, she could see the giant 'T' looming in the distance and she began to panic again. Her palms were sweating terribly and just when she had made the decision to bolt, Robin stopped the car. It was time to fly across the water to the island.
Only the idiot refused to fly. Saying something about "being spotted" and "not a good idea". She would have laughed at his paranoia if her mouth was not suddenly dry. He escorted her into a wooden boat that looked like everything else in the city. It looked like it would turn to pulp if you blew on it too hard.
And it almost had turned to pulp, if the squelching in her boots was any indicator.
So here she stood, with her head cranked back to look up at the tower that represented everything she had left behind. It was dizzying.
In fact, she was starting to get a headache.
"Robin, I don't think I can do this. I'm really not ready to be back."
"It's Nightwing, and that's nonsense," he said, almost yelling to be heard over the waves crashing against the shore. He stalked past her up the rocks to the main door of Titans Tower. She had not choice but to follow.
He stopped at the door and turned right, to a screen implanted in the side of wall and pressed one of the many grey buttons beneath it.
After a few seconds, the top of a young girls head appeared in the screen. She had mulatto skin and dark hair plaited into a multitude of fine braids and pulled back in a ponytail. Her eyes were large and dark; her cheek was smudged with oil.
"Who is it?" Asked the little girl in a singsong voice. Robin just sighed loudly.
"Oh! It's Uncle Robin! Uncle Robin!"
"Again, my name is Nightwing now…"
"Oh no, Daddy says I have to call you Uncle Robin because it 'boils your beans'. He says it keeps you from getting 'too full of yourself'," said the little girl, jumping excitedly up and down.
"Why don't you tell Daddy to get his butt down here so I can kick it?"
"Nuh-Uh! My Daddy could whoop you good. Just you wait, Uncle Robin. I'll go and get him."
With that, the little girl was gone from the screen. Raven turned to Robin with a raised eyebrow.
"Uncle Robin?" She drawled.
"Yes. Her name is Chloe and she is Vic's oldest child. And don't you dare make fun of me, because you will soon discover that you are 'Aunty Raven'."
Before Raven could voice her displeasure, a man appeared on the screen. It took her a moment to realize that the man was indeed Cyborg. His human half still looked the same, with the addition of a few laugh lines, but his cybernetic half pulsed purple instead of blue.
"Chloe tells me there is someone out here looking for a fight," he said in his great booming voice. Raven felt her knees go weak at the sound of it. God, she had missed him.
"Yeah, me! Apparently you've been telling her to call me by the wrong name. Something about keeping me in my place," Robin replied in an equally loud voice, but you could hear the underlying laughter.
"Well, that, and the fact that it makes life in the Tower more interesting. What are you doing back so soon? I thought you were looking for Raven?"
"I'm obviously back because I found her," said Robin smugly, reaching with one hand to pull her into the view of the screen. Cyborg stared at her in a shocked sort of disbelief.
"Boo-yah…," he whispered before darting out of sight. Raven was just about to wonder where he went when she heard crashing from beyond the door. Before she could back away, the door snapped open and out rushed Cyborg, pulling her into the monster of all hugs.
He chattered incessantly without her listening. She was too wrapped up in the novelty of being held by another human being. It had been so long… She could feel the pressure building behind her eyes and fought the urge to cry.
She had just gotten her emotions under control again when Cyborg held her at arms length to get a better look at her.
"You've grown so much. You're beautiful, Raven." He seemed to realize that 'Rae' was a taboo word.
She couldn't hold it in anymore. The tears trickled down her face.
And the boat behind them exploded.
Good riddance.
____________________________________________________________________________
After her little escapade, Raven was led into the Tower still shaking splinters from her hair. She had threatened both men with death if they ever mentioned her outburst and they both managed nervous, lopsided grins.
They took her to the consul room and sat her on the couch. Robin slinked away to the kitchen as Cyborg wandered into the hallway, presumably looking for his children. Raven was left to look out the large window at the sea and pick through memories.
Before she could become too distracted, Robin returned with a cup of herbal tea and set in on the table in front of her. She just stared.
"Why do you guys still have my tea in the Tower? Don't tell me this stuff is eleven years old…"
Robin burst out laughing. "Come on Raven, we're not that bad! I swear this stuff is brand new and free of mysterious blue mold."
"Maybe it's new, but I doubt you've managed to keep the fuzzy blue mold off of it."
"Actually, believe it or not, there is no mold in our kitchen anymore."
"I don't believe it," said Raven flatly, floating in the air towards the kitchen. Robin leaned back on the couch smugly as she opened the refrigerator and gazed in awe. It was sparkling.
"Nicole runs a pretty tight ship. She keeps the place clean," explained Robin.
"Nicole?"
"Ah, you know her as Jinx. Remember how I said she married Cyborg? She lives here in the Tower with their children."
"Nicole!?"
Robin decided at that point that it would be best to ignore her. Raven was obviously frazzled.
By the time Cyborg had returned, they had settled into a comfortable silence. Raven was sipping her tea with a far-off look on her face and Robin was flipping through a magazine.
"Huh, I guess Starfire's tea came in handy," said Cyborg as he stole a glance into Raven's cup.
"Starfire's?"
"Yeah," supplied Robin. "She started drinking your tea after you left as a way to remember you. Eventually she became addicted."
"Hmmm…"
"Oh," jumped in Cyborg, "before I forget, the girls went into town for some shopping. We had to get Star out of the house before she started cooking. She was so nervous. Nicole took her out and brought Dinari with them."
"Nervous? Dinari?" Asked Raven.
"She was anxious for your return. She starts to get a little twitchy and reaches for her puddings. Ugg, and nobody wants that."
Raven had to stifle a chuckle. It was good to know some things never change. Then she came back to the matter at hand.
"Dinari?" She asked again.
"Oh, of course," started Cyborg, looking a little uncomfortable. "Dinari is my youngest son. He just turned five actually. You already met Chloe, she's seven now. We have another on the way too. Me and Nicole… Or Jinx, as you know her."
Cyborg looked to be waiting for some kind of response but Raven didn't know what to say. They trailed off into awkward silence. A few minutes later she spoke up.
"You are," Raven whispered, "happy together, yes?"
"Yes," he whispered back unnecessarily.
"Then I am happy for you," said Raven, smiling softly and breaking the tension.
Robin cleared his throat in an attempt to break the 'warm fuzzies' in the room. He had never been very comfortable in situations like this.
A crash in the hall interrupted any biting comments Robin might have made. Raven could hear muffled voices behind the door and looked up just as it 'whooshed' open.
First in the door was a woman she could only assume to be Jinx, if the bright pink hair was anything to go by. Her hair was longer now, down to the small of her back and poker straight. Her bangs were cut in jagged lines and fell into her unnatural eyes. She was laughing at the person unseen on the other side.
Thrown over her shoulder was a small sleeping boy, presumed to be Dinari. He had the same skin tone as his sister, who was tugging on her mother's skirt. Raven had to admit that they made a very attractive family, especially when she saw Vic walk over and kiss Jinx on the cheek in welcome.
As they moved out of the way, Raven was finally able to see the other visitor.
Or rather resident.
In the doorway stood Starfire, clutching the back of her head and laughing. It appeared that the crash had been her flying into the lighting fixture and knocking it into the ground. Robin was at her side in an instant, checking her for injuries. She tried swatting him off half-heartedly but let him see the bump on her head anyway.
With everyone together and laughing so innocently, time seemed to slow down. Raven seized the moment to observe Starfire, before she realized that her friend had come home at last.
She moved with a fluid grace, as if each move was calculated. She was extremely curvy but carried it well because her frame was so tall, easily over six feet. Her hair was longer and held back in a low ponytail fastened with silver. Her outfit was black and silver now, instead of the purple. She wore a breastplate of silver and silver bands up her arms. Her skirt was black and past her knees, with two long slits up the sides and fastened in place with a silver belt. Her feet were as bare as her midriff.
Starfire slowly scanned the room and gave Raven a chance to see her eyes. They were soft with laughter at the moment but she could see the unbearable sadness buried within. They looked too much like her own eyes and Raven could feel her heart twist at the sight.
"… Raven?" Whispered Starfire.
Time resumed its normal course as Starfire stepped over to her lost friend. Raven took an involuntary step backwards. Starfire took another step forward and Raven took another step back. Eventually Raven could go no further and bumped into the window.
"Is it you?" Asked Starfire as she reached out with a shaking hand. Raven flinched when she touched her cheek.
God, she was beautiful. Her emerald eyes were filling fast with tears but she was still radiant.
"Yes," whispered Raven, "I'm home."
Starfire pulled her into a tight hug and began to sob. Raven found herself clutching back blindly and could feel her own tears streaking down her face. She could feel the pressure building up and she knew something was about to explode.
She really didn't care.
There weren't many places she would rather be than right here.
Until the television blew up.
"Aw man!" Complained Cyborg and Chloe in unison. Raven could feel her face heating up as Starfire giggled into her hair.
She took it back. She didn't want to be here.
Anywhere but here.