Robrae Week 2023 Prompt: The Bond
Please do not repost or copy/paste.
It was a slow day, Robin was using the time to read the newspaper, Raven was mediating on Robin's right, Star was in the kitchen making the pudding of friendship, Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing video games… He loved these days, even the news that Warp had escaped couldn't upset him… much. They had destroyed his tech, what's the worst that could happen? On second thoughts maybe he should look into…
As he was having his internal debate… Starfire vanished!
The paper in Robin's hand seem to shimmer and he frowned as he noticed a news article, that he was sure had not been there a minute ago. It covered the independence day celebrations taking place on Tamaran, which marked the anniversary of the day Tamaraneans had successfully fought off Gordanian invaders. The article was paired with a photo of the entire Tamaranean royal family cheerfully waving from their balcony. Sensing his unease through their bond, Raven floated down next to him and opened her eyes, "Robin?"
"Starfire…" but before he could articulate his concern there was a scream from Beast Boy… Cyborg was gone.
Tossing the newspaper aside, Robin grabbed his laptop. A quick google search showed someone called Emil LaSalle had saved a Victor Stone and his mother from the explosion at Star Labs. The photo showed a horrified Victor Stone being covered in kisses by his weeping mother, while his father thanked Mr LaSalle for saving his family.
"This is not right!" Robin murmured.
But before he could expand, Beast Boy disappeared. Raven and Robin looked at each other and then Robin looked back at his tablet… another google search showed a Garfield Logan had been saved from a green monkey attack by explorer… Emil LaSalle.
Robin frowned, Emil LaSalle again… and why did he look so familiar?
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a shiver down his spine. He reacted without thinking, grabbing Raven's hand, "Raven…!"
Raven frowned, griping Robin's hand tightly, as she saw Robin fading in and out. "Robin…"
Unlike the others, Robin stabilised although he kept a firm grip on Raven's hand. They both looked at each other.
"Emil LaSalle must be Warp," Robin thought out loud, "he's taking out the Titans before we become Titans… He must have tried to save me too… but for some reason couldn't…?"
Raven was also frowning, and uncharacteristically, she neither pushed Robin away nor released her own grip on Robin's hand. "Robin…" Raven hesitated, then took a deep breathe and continued when his eyes focused on hers, "our bond was formed to protect you… Warp will not be able to alter your timeline without… changing mine…"
Still keeping a tight grip on Robin's hand she transported them to her room. That's when he realised it was bad… because no one was allowed in Raven's room… even if the world was ending… unless… unless the world was ending…
Raven used her powers to light candles and position them in a circle while she drew a rune on the floor… the rune would be the doorway to home… to Azarath.
"Raven…?" Robin whispered, unsure whether to interrupt her sudden flurry of activity, but needing to understand the situation.
Raven sighed, "Something is wrong, someone is stopping our friends from becoming Titans by changing their pasts, first Star, then Cyborg, then Beast Boy… now…"
"Me?" Robin paused, then continued, "Why did I not vanish?"
"The Titans became Titans because of key moments in their lives, Starfire was captured, Cyborg and Beast Boy were both created trying to save their lives…" Raven paused at looked up at Robin "Robin was born that fatal moment at Haly's Circus… but Warp is unable to change your past without changing mine.."
Raven hesitated before continuing, "I was born to open the portal for Trigon… the only way to stop me… would be to…"
Robins face went pale, and he bit out "We will not let that happen… wait… you're going to Azarath?"
Raven sighed, she'd hoped he wouldn't work it out quite so quickly. Since Robin was clearly expecting a response, she murmured in her raspy monotone, "There might be a way… our lynchpin moments both occurred when we were eight years old…"
Robin's pain shimmered through the bond, even as his expression shuttered.
Raven's eyes softened, even as her empathic powers reached out to comfort him through their bond, she continued "that was also the age I first came into my power, I… I used them to tried to contact my father…"
Raven hesitated, "The monks… my mother… they will not fight back Robin'
Robin's eyes glazed with bewilderment, "They will let Warp…?" he couldn't bring himself to complete the sentence.
"Yes," Raven whispered, "I didn't have control of my powers back then, but now I can fight back!"
"… and I will too!" Robin stated.
"Robin…" Raven started.
Robin cut her off, his temper flared in an uncharacteristic moment as his emotions hit her with their full intensity through their bond, causing her to stumble back, even as he tightened his grip on her hand and continued, "I went to hell for you… I teamed up with Slade for you… I will find a way to go to Azarath… I will do what it takes to keep you safe… Raven…"
Raven's eyes went from violet to a deep purple, their combined emotions running through the bond in an unguarded moment, causing her power to spark and shimmer around her. She didn't say anything, simply completed the ritual rune. Once completed she stepped back, away, even as Robin stepped forward. Raven hesitated, "If you insist on coming with me…"
"I do!" Robin interrupted flatly leaving no doubt.
"… then we will need to collect your 8 year old self first, so Warp cannot try to… stop you from becoming Robin." Raven finished, keeping her glaze on Robin's face.
Robin swallowed hard, but he held out both hands. Raven reached out to hold them once more in hers, using their bond she transported them to the Haly's Circus of Robin's past.
Robin kept a firm grip on Raven's hand, although he wasn't able to pick up emotions and thoughts through the bond with the ease that Raven did, he knew Raven well enough to know that she might allow Warp to save Richard Grayson from becoming Robin. Raven had always craved a family, she would not be able to stop Warp from saving Robin's family, even if that meant she would need to die for that to happen.
However, the decision was taken out of either of their hands, as they saw Warp being warmly thanked by Mary and John Grayson for noticing the frayed rope and raising the alarm. The 8 year old Richard, still dressed in his red flying Grayson costume gazed past Warp to the older Robin and Raven.
Robin had not disappeared… he was still there.
At that moment, Warp looked up in surprise to see Robin still there, still in his costume, with a scowl he spat out, "perhaps I can still save you Robin, otherwise I will remove you… both… together!"
With that ominous threat he pressed a code on his time piece and both him and a wide eyed Richard disappeared. "No!" Raven exclaimed, her magic unable to stop him in time.
She grabbed Robin's hand again, and leaving his bewildered parents, transported them back to her room. Letting go of his hand she walked to the centre of the rune. As she stood at the doorway to Azarath, she held out her hand to Robin, giving him one more chance to walk away, save himself, ask to return to a world with his parents… Robin looked her dead in the eyes, as he took her hands in his. Her purple eyes brimmed with emotion, before turning a bright white, as she uttered her spell, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Carazon Rakashas Endere...Vaserix Endrien Azarath...Azarath, Azarath!"
Raven and Robin were swept into the swirling vortex of time and space, bursting through the gates guarding Azarath.
Once on the other side, Raven let go of one hand, but kept hold of the other. She rubbed his shoulders as he struggled to breathe through the effects of inter-dimensional travel… without throwing up.
"Robin, please we are in my past, don't touch anything, any change no matter how small might have a significant impact on my childhood, my life, or worse my fathers defeat."
Robin was still nauseous, but he squeezed her hand and his eye's met hers through his mask.
Raven led Robin through the bustling streets of Azarath, keeping a firm hold on his hand and ignoring the curious stares of the general public.
Soon they arrived at the steps of the Temple of Azarath, that was when they saw him, Warp was half dragging and half carrying a struggling and crying 8 year old Richard Grayson up the steps of the temple.
On the soil of her birth, with its magic coursing through her veins, Raven's soul self left her body and soared as it's namesake, it scooped Richard from Warp's grasp and into Raven's arms. Robin barely managed to hide his surprise as his younger self clung to her, as if he intuitively knew she would keep him safe.
With Richard safely in her arms, Raven used her magic to send Warp back to his own time, just without his time disc.
"We have to move fast, it will not take Warp long to return…"
With one hand still holding the older Robin and the younger Richard still clinging to her cradled in her other arm, Raven ran towards the temple entrance. Robin was wondering if it was weird to offer to carry himself when they burst into a beautiful room, fit for the high-priestess of Azarath and her daughter, the Princess of Azarth-Scath.
A young Raven looked up from the book she was reading, and her eyes widened. As she scooted back, Robin was hit with extreme deja-vu, young Raven looked identical to the child version of Raven he had carried out of hell, from her white leotard and cape to her expression of fear and mistrust. He wasn't able to stop himself from breathing her name as reaching out his hand just like he'd done before, "Raven…"
She looked at the hand reaching out to her "Who are you?"
Robin hesitated, "I'm Robin.. I'm… that is… I will be… your… friend…?"
Young Raven gazed up at him with large violet eyes, "I'm not allowed to have friends…"
Both Raven's expressions remained stoically blank. Robin's mouth tightened as he tried to refrain from turning round and punching the monks. Richard, however, slipped from older Raven's arms and climbed up next to younger Raven. His glitzy red costume was in direct contrast to her plain simple white. With the innocence of a child, he blurted out, "I'm Richard Grayson, of the Flying Graysons! I'll be your friend!"
Young Raven's eyes refocused from Robin to the younger circus performer, who was grinning at her with an endearing lop-sided smile, his eyes sparkled like sapphires, his expression was open and honest, with only the slightest hint of mischief.
Young Raven looked at Richard with some bewilderment, but before she could respond, there was an explosion, ignoring the monks beseeching him to stop, Warp entered the room. "Enough!"
Warp lifted his blaster and aimed at the younger Raven and Richard. Older Raven and Robin watched as Warp pulled the trigger, as if in slow motion.
Reacting, older Raven threw up her hands and the first shot hit her black protective bubble. "Robin take the kids and leave!" She shouted, concentrating on keep the shield up.
"No! I won't leave you!"
The words were not in the familiar timbre of Robin, but of the younger Richard Grayson, who had positioned himself in front of the younger Raven, whilst glaring at older Raven in innocent defiance. Robin meanwhile, scowled at Warp, already in fighting stance.
"Cute…" Wasp snarled, "but the Titans will not stop me from stealing priceless artefacts… I don't know why I couldn't save Robin but now… I can kill two birds with one blast!"
The shoulder-mounted laser blasters activated, pounding Raven's shield. The Ravens, Robin and Richard watched as it started to crack…
It seemed to shatter in slow motion. Raven dropped to her knees. Robin leapt forward, staff raised, eyes focused, but Warp caught him with his air freeze unit.
Then he turned his blaster back on Richard, who looked scared, but also determined, still refusing to move from his position, protecting Raven with the only shield he had… himself.
Warp activated his laser blaster… Richard squeezed his eyes shut, but he didn't move. Before the laser could reach it's target, a clear, childlike but already chilled monotone said, "Nobody hurts my friends!"
Her eyes glowed white and the power that erupted from the younger Raven was pure and white, it absorbed the laser blasts before slamming into Warp. Then there was silence… until a young Grayson turned to throw his arms around a bewildered younger Raven before asking older Raven, "Where did he go?"
Older Raven's emotions shimmered through the bond, before she could control them, "I didn't…"
"I sent him home, to his time, and to a prison cell from which he cannot escape!" Young Raven replied in her monotone, despite still being hugged by an emotional Richard Grayson.
Older Raven enclosed Robin in her black magic and gently lowered him carefully to the ground, breaking Wasp's air freeze. "Er… thanks… Raven…"
As they looked back at the younger versions of themselves, Robin said, "I don't understand, I thought you said you didn't have powers yet…"
"I thought I didn't…" Older Raven murmured, her eyes focusing on their younger selves.
Young Raven had managed to untangle most of herself from Richard, but it seems he was unwilling to release her hand.
Older Raven continued, "…but perhaps I had them all along, I just didn't have a reason to use them…"
Robin was still scratching the back of his head, "but we formed the bond when we were 15… how… what…?"
"Temporal paradox" Raven murmured.
"What… we caused a time paradox?", Robin paled, his voice strained, "we caused a Flashpoint?"
"Magic cannot be created or destroyed, just transformed," Raven paused, eyes still on the younger Raven and Richard still holding hands, "our bond must be a lynchpin in the time stream… it seems however our timelines change, our bond is our density."
"Our bond is the temporal paradox," Robin breathed, understanding coming with the beginning of a headache.
"It's why he couldn't save you or kill me… our destinies are entwined with each other though our bond… past, present and…" Raven hesitated.
"Future," Robin finished, coming to stand next to her.
The younger Raven and Richard gazed up at their older counter-parts. Summoning up his courage, the Richard asked, "Can Raven come live with Mom, Dad and me… at Haly's? I'm sure Mom and Dad won't mind…"
Robin's eyes clouded behind his mask, but his pain echoed down the four way bond. Raven gently touched his shoulder, before crouching down to younger Richard's eye level. "That's really sweet, but we can't change the truth, or the past, no matter how much we dislike it. It's enough to know that one day we will be… friends."
It was with a heavy heart that Robin and Raven left the younger Raven to her involuntarily solitude and a young Richard to face the most heartbreaking moment of his young life.
As they returned to Raven's room in Titans Tower, the timeline flexed and corrected itself around them. Eventually they heard Starfire's voice attempting to tempt Cyborg and Beast Boy into eating the pudding of friendship… doused in mustard. When the world stopped shimmering around them, Robin still didn't let go of Raven's hand, resulting in her eyebrow lifting as she waited for him to release her hand… or an explanation. The younger Richard had been easier to read, he hadn't gone through the trauma of his parents loss or the questionable training of Batman. Older Richard, or as she knew him, Robin, was more guarded with his emotions, something that she normally appreciated, but at this moment, she wished she could read him without having to trespass in his mind. So, she waited patiently for Robin to articulate his emotions and thoughts, somewhat calmed by the peaceful introspect she could sense through their bond. They glazed at each other, still holding hands. With a start, Raven realised that Robin had opened his side of the bond, she could see his soul, everything that made him who he was, everything he ever wanted to be, and… his emotions, ever one. Likewise, Robin looked back into the hidden depths of purple-violet to Raven's soul, not nearly as black as she would have people believe.
"Raven… I, we…" Robin trailed off, struggling to find the right words.
Raven's eyes softened as Robin transmitted via the bond what he could not yet say out loud. Giving him one of her rare smiles, that she seem to reserve just for him, and giving his hand still gripping hers, a squeeze, she whispered through their bond, "For us, forever is for always."
Small print:
- Teen Titans/Nightwing are owned by DC Comics.
- Raven, Nightwing and Warp were created by the dynamic duo of Marc Wolfman and George Perez.
- Dick Grayson was created and introduced as Robin by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.
- This story takes characters from the awesome Teen Titans Animated Series and places them in an original work by me.