Sorry I haven't been responding much, but THANK YOU so much for such wonderful feedback after the last chapter! Totally didn't expect that since I was writing only half-consciously :P

As you can see, I've decided to continue this story :D I thought about what to do for the plot, and I think I have a good idea now ^^ I know that some of you reviewers were waiting for this, and I'm sorry it took so long.

I hope this is to your liking. Enjoy!

At a glance, you'd think that Raven's plight began when I completely abandoned her after the reign of Trigon ended. It took me a long time to realize that the wounds had already begun to settle in her heart much, much sooner. But really, all it took was a few minutes of brainstorming to figure out - which only shows how little I thought about Raven back then.

We all knew that her heart had already been broken once because of Malchior. However, he was a dragon pretending to be a guy in order to get himself out of a book; that's not quite the same as an actual guy who just doesn't love you. I was aware of this, and because of that I assumed that she would recover. Fake guy-dragons don't count in love, after all. I was right, actually, but I didn't stop to think about the sad irony of the situation. Fake guy-dragons don't count, but they can tell you a lot about your love life – or how you've never had a love life. Malchior left Raven with a painful message: the closest thing she'd ever felt to love came from a deceitful monster.

But that was okay, Raven thought. She was destined to destroy the world, anyway. What good would any romantic relationships do when she'd end up killing her boyfriend in a few years? Furthermore, her emotions were still tethered down by her inner demonic spirit. They were still pointless, annoying things.

Yet, she couldn't help feeling a slight ache when Starfire and I had that whole argument about the meaning of having a girlfriend.

"Let's go. Unless you want to stay here goofin' around with your girlfrienddd." Cyborg teased, grinning deviously.

That was one of the worst moments of my life. There I was, standing in front of my crush like an idiot after my shameless teammate decided to yell out the word in front of everyone. I wasn't sure what I felt at that moment. It was like embarrassment had grown a hand and squeezed every blood vessel in my heart. It was overwhelming and humiliating. I wasn't ready to address my feelings about Starfire, and the only sounds that came out of me were a bunch of wheezes.

I remember that both Cyborg and Beastboy seemed to have expected that kind of response, and that they both had the same evil smirk on their faces. I also remember that Raven was the only one who wasn't smiling. I would have shrugged it off, seeing as she usually never smiles anyway, but for some reason her lips seemed more downturned than usual this time. Her face wasn't just indifferent; it was sullen. But of course, I quickly forgot about that strange little detail. I was too busy dealing with my unforgiveable humiliation, after all. "She's not my girlfriend!" was the only response I could yell back.

Raven didn't think of me in that way when this all happened, but she was still a little upset to see two people agonizing over their confused feelings for each other. She might've considered our bickering pointless, since she had so much worse a burden on heir shoulders at the time. She had to fight her destiny of becoming the all-time evil bringer of death, and in her opinion, Starfire and I probably had no reason to fight in the first place. I liked Starfire, and Starfire liked me; it was so simple, and it wasn't like we had demonic parents getting in the way of our feelings or anything.

Or…Raven might have been upset to see that even an alien was capable of being loved – by an actual guy. She knew that she was supposed to be evil, but no one else knew, did they? What was stopping all the guys on Earth from feeling anything special for her? I now understand that her sullen face was one of confusion. It was at that moment that she started forming the worst conclusions about herself. And I, like always, unknowingly helped her to it.

But wait.

"Raven, what's wrong?"

"I just don't like parties."

"It's more than that. I can tell. We have a bond, remember? You've been inside my mind. Let me inside yours."

I can only imagine how she felt at that moment. Robin remembers that incident? He thinks we have a…bond? Her thoughts probably went something like that. Suddenly, she was being more open with me than she'd ever been since we met. There was still a bit of hesitation in her voice, though. "Robin, you know me better than anyone. You should know that there are places in my mind that you can't go – where no one should ever go."

To her surprise, I only pushed further. "I'm willing to try if you'll –"

"I can't," she interrupted, turning away.

"Tell me what's going on," I continued stubbornly.

O/O

Whatever Raven felt during that deep conversation only grew stronger as her dark destiny drew closer. The more she struggled, the more I strived to protect her. I went greater lengths than anyone else in the team to save her. I teamed up with the man that haunts my dreams, whom I hate with a passion, on the off-chance that she might be alive. I dived towards a pit of lava in order to catch her, without planning how I'd get out first.

Why did I do that, exactly? At the time, I probably would have answered, "Because she's my very good friend. Uh…yeahhh…"

I did it because she's my cherished friend. I did it because she's someone who can give me hope even when the world's burning around us. I did it because she's someone I'm willing to risk everything to save – someone who I'm willing to die for.

Now if only that was so easy to say back then…

"Raven…" Starfire stared at our white-cloaked friend in awe. "That was…"

"Unbelievable," Cyborg finished for her.

The world had just been rid of Trigon in a matter of seconds, all by the hands of a single girl. She turned to me, smiling. "No, it wasn't. Somebody believed."

All at once, she'd thrown her arms around my neck. It was the last thing I'd expected to happen. The feel of her against me was so new and strange, however, that I was a little shocked for a second. Finally, I placed a hand around her, feeling the back of her lavender hair. "Welcome back."

I never even hugged her back. Not fully. I'd almost lost her forever to the depths of hell, and all I could say was "Welcome back." Even if my feelings for her were kind of dormant at the time, that was still pretty harsh. I didn't even tell her that I missed her, or that I was so happy she was alive.

She noticed this, of course, and quickly let go. Being too happy that the world wasn't destroyed, however, it didn't seem to matter much.

And then she approached me again at the Tower.

"After everything that happened…after everything I did…how did you still manage to hope that it could all work out?"

"Because of you." That was probably the best thing she'd ever heard in her life. "You don't realize it, Raven, but you're actually the most hopeful person I've ever met. From the day you were born, they said you were evil, that you were created to do unspeakable things. But you wished for more."

She looked up at the word 'more.'

"You dared to hope that you could be a hero," I continued plainly.

That must have been an "Oh" moment for Raven, but she still couldn't get a strange new idea off her mind. I'd just admitted that I never gave up on the world because of her, and her alone. "I thought it was all over," she said softly. "But now…suddenly…"

"You have your whole life ahead of you," I finished cheerily. "You can decide your own destiny."

Raven smiled at me in such a strange way. "I guess…in the end, there really is no end." Her eyes looked away mysteriously. "Just…new beginnings."

I didn't have any time to think about what she meant, because she suddenly turned to the rest of our teammates. "So what's the deal? Are we having a party in here or not?"

The first thought that occurred to me was 'Wow, she's REALLY happy.' I naturally assumed that it was because her demonic father was gone for good, because everyone was still alive. Oblivious me…

As soon as Raven and I ran down to join everyone else, Starfire flew to my side. Her smile was just what I needed after so many hours of hell and a skeleton-faced Slade.

I remember that Raven looked at me for a long, long moment as I laughed and shared soda with my Tamaranian friend. She gave me a small, understanding smile. I thought it was a smile that understood that she was free to feel emotions as she pleased, or that she was forever grateful to me for saving her. It was a smile that understood how absolutely nothing had changed between me and her. It was Raven's way of showing that she would forever support whatever I did from then on…even if she wasn't by my side.

And so it began.