Let Go Chapter 6, a teen titans fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. This is a work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of.

A/N: I am currently a third way done Chapter 8! I'm still ahead! Ahahaha! Not where I want…. But I'm still winning you guys! For now…

WARNING: THE FLASHBACK CONTAINS MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT.

Flashback

"Let go of me."

Adonis smirked. One arm hooked around her neck securing the headlock as the other snaked around her waist, pressing him against her. His nose buried in the crown of her head, dragging down to her ear as he inhaled her. "What's the hurry, beautiful? The fun is just starting."

Raven squirmed, raising her hands to scratch against his forearm. "Let me go." She wasn't used to sounding so small. Her boots dragged against the concrete of the alley as he pulled her along.

"Why?"

Her stomach churned and her lungs seized at the sour whiff of his breath. Fingers crackled with black magic, her vision blurred as his hand squeezed her hip. "No," she whimpered.

"I've finally got you all to myself." His fingers walked over her stomach and then moved to caress between her thighs. "You're not getting away this time."

Not again. "Let go." Raven twisted in his grasp, her chest heaving with panic. Her feet failed as they struggled to stay grounded. "Get your hands off of me!" She growled pathetically, feeling tears sting her eyes.

Adonis pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek. "You'll like it. I promise," he murmured, fingers reaching underneath the fabric of her leotard.

"No!" She screamed. Power surged from her hands, pushing her attacker to the wall as she steadied herself.

His back slammed against the brick with a thud as he slid to the ground.

"How dare you?" Violet irises faded and doubled in deep dark red.

Her black magic swirled around his neck, pulling him to his feet and pinning him against the wall.

"What gives you the right, you pathetic piece of shit?!" Raven howled, stepping nose to nose with him. Her magic faded as her nails dug into his face, forcing him to look at her.

"I'm sorry!" He cried, squirming in her grasp.

A deep demonic laugh bubbled from her lips. "Finally something we agree on…" She hissed, grabbing him by the collar of his suit slamming his head against the brick. "You're sorry," she growled. Kicking him between the legs, she laughed watching him fold to the ground.

"Don't hurt me!" Adonis whimpered, curling up in ball.

"We're past that," she purred wickedly, kicking him in the side.

He winced at the impact of her boot. "Please," he gasped, hearing the snap of his rib. "Stop," Adonis gasped, his chest constricting.

Raven dropped on top of him, eyes fading back to violet. "You'll like it," she sneered, fists unleashing a series of punches wherever she could land them. The sound of the blows echoed off the walls like a percussion beat the empath was deaf to. The world around her faded as she kept fighting.

"Raven?"

She flinched feeling a splash of blood smack her face as her fists and nails worked furiously.

"Raven!"

She couldn't stop.

"Raven! What the hell are you doing?"

Making sure this waste of space wouldn't even have a chance to think about doing this again.

"Somebody get a fucking ambulance!" She felt his arms around her face as the world suddenly came into focus. "Oh my god, Raven! Stop!"

Raven gasped, limps thrashing as she was lifted off Adonis. "Get off of me!" She warned with a feral scream.

"Hey! Calm the fuck down!" Changeling demanded, pinning her arms above her head. "Stop it!"

The position should have rattled her, but somehow his eyes, though panicked, confused, and angry, calmed her. Raven felt her hands slip from his grasp as her head went against the wall. Her breathing slowed into a rhythmic pattern as she looked at the bloodied Adonis on the ground, feeling a brief moment of satisfaction.

"What the fuck was that?" Changeling yelled, stepping closer to her.

Raven closed her eyes, face burning with adrenaline as she swallowed back her tears. "I don't know," she whispered.

"You don't know?!" He yelled.

She looked down at her bloody hands. "I don't know."

"You almost killed him!"

Raven closed her eyes, trying to ignore him. Slicked her lips feeling victorious at the taste of her attackers blood hitting her tongue.

"I know he's an asshole, but jeez, Rae," the green teen roughly tore his hands through his hair as he looked at her with an unbelievable stare. "What the fuck?"

"Leave me alone." She wasn't finished. That asshole still had a pulse.

"Are you kidding me?! You're lucky I stepped in when I did! You might have killed him, I mean-"

"Changeling." Nightwing stepped toward them, looking over at Raven carefully. "I got it."

"She nearly kil-"

Nightwing stepped in front of her. "Stand down." The edges of his mask wrinkled as he shot Changeling a warning glare. "That's an order," he hissed, leaning nose to nose with his teammate.

Changeling glared at the empath with confused anger as he slowly backed away.

Raven watched the green teen approach the paramedics that arrived on scene.

"What happened?" Nightwing questioned softly. He slowly took her hands, wiping the blood from her fists.

Where had he gotten a towel? "I," Raven paused, flexing her hands as she looked at her swollen knuckles. She inhaled slowly. "I don't know."

"That's okay," Nightwing whispered gently. "Take a breath, and tell me what happened."

She watched the paramedics load the unconscious and bloodied Adonis, pushing the small swell of accomplishment from her chest. Pride could come after she was sure she wouldn't catch a murder conviction. Raven inhaled, feeling air sweep to the bottom of her lungs as she felt her vision and mind clear. "You're wiping off evidence." Her eyes went wide as she felt her chest tighten. The adrenaline fading from her system.

"What evidence?" He spoke casually as he continued to wipe her hands clean. "What happened?" Nightwing asked again calmly.

Raven nodded, taking a deep breath. "I followed Adonis into the alley after Starfire tracked him to 31st. He- he," her hands started shaking. "He surprised me. He had me in a headlock, and he started whispering in my ear about how I wanted-" She paused, eyes drifting toward Changeling's stare of disgust across the alley. "I told him to stop, but he put his hand," Raven swallowed the bile creeping up her throat. "I blacked out. I-"

"Okay," Nightwing sighed, giving her a tight smile. "Go back to the Tower."

"But-"

"Go back to the Tower," he repeated. "You weren't here."

xxxxxxxxxx

Flash Forward

"You gonna make it?" Raven wondered, raising a curious eyebrow as she tossed her backpack to the back seat of the car. She leaned against the driver's side, tilting her head to her travel companion.

Roy yawned, stretching shamelessly as he tucked his hands underneath his stomach to scratch his stomach. "Need coffee," he responded mouth wide open as another yawn bubbled from his chest.

"I can drive," Raven insisted, trying to snatch the keys from his other hand.

"It's my turn," he shook his head stubbornly. "Just need coffee."

"Get some from the diner."

Roy wrinkled his nose. "That coffee was the nasty instant shit."

"Coffee is nasty," she informed, shrugging unsympathetically. Raven made her way to the passenger side of the car. "Especially black coffee."

"Only to the unrefined palette," he commented, taking his place in the driver's seat. "You like cheater coffee."

"Adding sugar, milk, and maybe a little flavor syrup to my coffee isn't-"

"Cheater," Roy started, turning the key in the ignition. "Coffee."

"I like sweet-"

"Cheater!"

"Swee-"

"Cheater," he chimed singing merrily as he pulled away from the motel. "It's kind of ironic since you like tea."

"It's not the same."

He laughed, "It's bitter, like coffee!"

She shook her head, "So you're telling me you like tea?"

"I do actually," Roy grinned cheekily. "But I don't like cheater coffee."

Raven rolled her eyes, swallowing her amusement and surprise. "You finished?" She asked patiently. Leaning back in her seat, she pulled one of her knees against her chest as she watched the road.

"Not sure," Roy answered honestly, shrugging his shoulders. "Ready to tell me your natural hair color?"

"That has nothing to do with our conversation."

"That has everything to do with it," he assured her happily. His fingers tapped pleasantly against the steering wheel as he hummed with approval.

"Shouldn't you still be the walking dead without your coffee?"

"There's a coffee place not too far from here, my sneaky little bird, but," he grinned devilishly. "Back to the matter at hand. You're a brunette, right?"

There was no way out of this. "I am not a brunette." Raven wasn't sure why she confessed her well guarded secret. It honestly seemed harmless at the time.

Roy frowned, head tilting as he thought about this. "Really?"

"Really," she confirmed.

"I know you're not a redhead," he murmured, eyes widening with realization as the words left his mouth. "Holy shit, you're blonde?"

"Well…" She drawled, her eyebrows stretching up her forehead.

"Oh my god, you're blonde!" He gaped, taking quick glances at her as he continued driving. "Holy shit! I never would have guessed…"

Raven could feel his eyes along her hairline, trying to detect her natural tone. "Technically, my hair is white." She didn't think of herself as blonde.

"You're super blonde."

Her nose wrinkled, "I'm not blonde."

"It's in the blonde family," he explained, stealing another quick glance at her. That explained why the violet dye showed up so vibrant in her hair. "So, the million dollar question…"

"Why do I dye it?"

"Bingo."

Raven inhaled deeply, drumming her fingers against her knee. "On Azarath, white hair was a sign of my heritage; so when I came to Earth, I thought I would blend in more if I dyed my hair."

"You thought you'd fit in more if you dyed your hair purple?" He chuckled.

"I didn't say it was smart," Raven's jaw was tight with laughter. "The books I had that featured people from Earth showed people with a wide variety of hair colors," she explained with a small smile. "I dyed my hair purple, and I ended up really liking how I looked with purple hair."

"That's adorable." His smile was genuine.

She shook her head, a small blush on her cheeks, looking toward the road. "Now you know."

"I wanna see what you'd look like without the dye," Roy told her, reaching a blind hand to tangle in her hair. He held a strand between his fingers, rubbing curiously.

"I don't even remember what I look like with white hair," she confessed. It had been years since she'd seen herself without her trademark purple.

He nodded. "This would be the perfect time to see. You can dye it back before we get to Steel."

She sighed loudly, looking at him skeptically. "I don't kn-"

"I won't take any pictures," he promised, placing an earnest hand against his heart as he steadied the other at the wheel. "Your secret will be safe."

"Okay," she breathed reluctantly, eyes narrowing at the coffee shop chain in front of them. "I'll agree." She wouldn't admit that she, too, was curious how she'd look with her natural hair color. "If we stop for hash browns," Raven insisted with a firm nod. "And a frappuccino."

"Deal," he beamed, driving toward the coffee chain. "You and your fake coffee."

"There's coffee in it."

"Like a teaspoon," he informed her, pulling into the parking lot.

"No," Raven shook her head, frowning as her phone rang. "There's more than that."

Roy parked the car, blowing a raspberry in her direction. "Hash browns and a…"

"Caramel frappuccino with almond milk, please?" She requested, looking at her phone screen.

Cyborg.

"Cheater coffee," he smirked, getting out the car. "I'll be back. Tell everyone I say hi!"

Raven nodded, hitting the answer button. "Hello?" She spoke, pulling the phone to her ear.

"Oh you're alive!"

Here we go…

"Yo Dick, dark girl is alive!" Cyborg drawled, his voice dripping with drama and sarcasm.

Raven sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Victor…"

"Here I am thinking you're dead in a ditch somewhere-"

"I've barely been gone a day."

"That's not the point, young lady," Cyborg told her seriously. "We expect-"

"We? Don't bring me into this!" Nightwing warned cutting the metal man off.

Cyborg cleared his throat. "Well, I expect regular updates to let me know you aren't dead in a ditch."

"Okay," she chuckled softly, feeling her heart lighten a bit. "We're fine. Currently in Utah stopping for some coffee." She looked around the crowded parking lot. "Not dead in a ditch."

"Good to know," Cyborg acknowledged. "Since you haven't bothered to look at your phone."

"I'm sorry my eyes aren't glued to my phone while I drive or talk to another living person."

"Takes two seconds to type a text message."

Raven sighed, "I haven't gotten any text messages. I got a call the other day I silenced…" She trailed off, mouth twisting in thought.

"Well, missy, if you bothered to update your phone-"

Not this lecture again. She huffed, leaning back in the seat as she waited for him to finish his monthly lecture about her not updating her phone's software.

"You would know that Changeling has been calling and texting you nonstop."

Raven lurched forward, the seat belt stopping as she felt her stomach sink to her ankles. "What?" She questioned.

"He's worried about you," Cyborg told her softly.

Why did Cyborg's voice sound so serious? He was teasing her a minute ago. "Um, okay," she exhaled, trying to feign difference. "Tell him I'm fine."

"I think you should tell him yourself."

No. "Okay, I'll give him a call." She'd already decided she wasn't going to call him.

"Nightwing wants to talk to yo-"

"Oh, I gotta go." Her fingers nearly tore through the seat belt as she struggled to unlock it. "We're about to head out, and it's my turn to drive." Roy hadn't even made out the coffee shop yet; and judging by the amount of cars in this lot, he wouldn't be back anytime soon.

"Alright," he sighed. "Make sure you keep us updated."

"Will do. Bye," Raven rushed, quickly ending the call. She tossed her phone on the dashboard with a loud sigh. Her fingers rubbed soothing circles on her temples as her head fell back and her eyes closed.

She couldn't deny the sense of satisfaction simmering below the surface of her nerves.

Changeling had noticed her absence. He was bound to, but…

There was a part of her that had hoped for this to happen. Some twisted romantic cliche flashed in her head when she made the decision to leave without telling him. She imagined Changeling being grief stricken and realizing what she meant to him.

"No," she forced shaking her head. This wasn't one of the cliche romance novels he'd made fun of her for enjoying. This was real life.

Reality.

In the real world, he was committed to Terra, and she was on her way to the other side of the country. Changeling did not pour his heart out in a series of emotional messages.

Raven picked up her phone, connecting to her voicemail.

"You have twelve new messages."

Her eyes widened as Raven sat up a little straighter, pulse quickening.

Maybe he did pour his heart out.

"So, I came down to breakfast this morning and you weren't there!"

Her cheeks burned at the sound of voice, breath quickening as her chest tightened with nerves.

"Night says you're going to Titans East?! I mean, what the hell, Rae?! Since whe-"