Hey. Sorry everyone. I got grounded from my computer for bad grades. So I couldn't update. I'm seeing my cousin again tomorrow for Easter, and she'll probably give me the 3rd chapter then. I'll publish it when she tells me to. Unless I get grounded from the computer again. Which probably won't happen. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Don't Look Back

Chapter 2: Moving Forward

"Why can't I stop thinking about her?" he thought as he reached Grand Central Station. "Why Raven? Why now?" There was just something about her that was plaguing his mind. "Raven…" he thought, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I have to leave, but one day I'll come back for you." Once he stepped on that train, he didn't look back, and he knew he would miss her. He thought about her on the long train ride, and wondered if he was doing the right thing. He didn't know why he was thinking about her or what it was about her that captivated him so much. He kept thinking about the unbreakable friendship that they had formed over the past year. It was true that they had become than anyone else in the tower… well, except Dick and Kory, but Gar knew that she was the one that he cared for the most. He could tell her anything and he knew he could trust her. He would talk to her about his problems with Terra and she would tell him about her problems with Mal, her ex-boyfriend. On long summer evenings, Raven would sit with him on the rooftop and they would watch the sun go down until the stars came out. He could never remember a time when he wasn't with her. She was his anchor in a storm, his balance, his equal. She was a huge part of him, that he felt was the hardest thing to let of. She understood him, when no one else did. He wanted more than anything to take her with him, but he knew he couldn't. He could really use her advice right now. He needed her to comfort hi. To tell him that everything was gonna be okay. That he was making the right decision. "Oh, Raven, where are you?!? I need you!" he thought desperately, hoping that whatever telepathic connection they had, that she would hear him crying out for her in his mind. It was a shallow hope, though. Right now, they were so far apart that it was impossible for her to hear him. "Please Rae, help me! I need you so much! I'm scared! Please!" The train began to slowly pull out of the station and Gar watching as all the places he used to hang out and be a normal teenager with his friends rolled by the window. As if to add to Gar's sad, dreary mood, raindrops began to pelt against the train windows as Gar watched his home and everything he ever loved shrink into the distance. All of his feelings were all coming down on top of him, crowding him with anguish. How cold he have been so blind? How could he have not seen this coming? He looked out of the train window and whispered one last longing goodbye before closing his eyes, curling into a ball by looping his arms around his legs and resting his forehead against his knees, and drifting off to sleep

"Where could he be?!? I called him nearly 3 hours ago to come meet us!" said Dick, pacing the living room floor, "I just don't get it! He's never been gone without checking in. Something must have happened."

"Fear not. I have faith that our friend is in good hands," replied Kory, who was trying her best not to break down herself. Suddenly Dick's communicator buzzed in his hand.

"Victor, anything?" he asked eagerly.

Victor hung his head in defeat and replied, "Not a thing. There's no sign of the little gross-stain anywhere."

"Did he say anything to you… before he left? Anything to indicate where he might have gone?" questioned Dick.

"Not to me. You should ask Raven. You know the two of them are close. If he said anything about where he may have gone, he would have told her."

"Thanks, Vic. I'll try Raven. Just keep looking, and if you find anything…"

"I know who to call," finished Vic with a small, sad smile as his face disappeared from the communicator.

"Where's Raven?" asked Dick.

"She is in her room," replied Kory. "Why?"

"I need to talk to her," answered Dick, heading for Raven's room.

"I just don't get it!" thought Raven in frustration as she tried to calm herself down. "Why would he leave without telling me where he was going? Doesn't he care about me? Does he even know how worried we are? When I find him I'll…" But she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Raven, it's me, open up!" came Dick's voice. She opened her door and allowed Dick and Kory to enter. "Has Gar said anything to you that he might be going somewhere for a while?" asked Dick.

"No, he hasn't. He's been really distant lately, like something was bothering him. He's completely blocked me out. There's something-" Then she remembered something. "… wait a minute! Before he left, he said to me, he was really excited about something. He said he'd just found Terra, and he was gonna prove it… that she was still alive. I just sort of shrugged it off, and that's when he left. I… didn't see him again after that."

"Are you sure that's what happened?"

"Positive."

"Okay, thanks, Raven. And don't worry, we'll find him," Dick replied, exiting with Kory.

"I hope you're right," whispered Raven, turning to look out the window. "Oh, Garfield, where are you?"