Chapter 25. Expectations.

Raven was attempting to meditate on the roof but felt too restless to concentrate, even for a short period of time. It had been almost two weeks since she last heard of him. She had mixed feelings she was trying to suppress or analyze the subject, whichever could bring her more comfort. But as expected, neither one approach was comforting in the least. She was worried about how, after that ordeal of his kidnapping, could he be able to manage another load of emotion as was going to his parent's graves.

Sad, because he had chosen Meliah to go with him instead, which also could be converted into jealousy for the same reason. Disappointed in herself for feeling so helpless in a situation well out of her control. Then she thought, "Why do I feel all … this?" her days dragged when she wasn't fighting criminals which lately was more often than what she cared to admit.

She wondered "Why do I feel so empty when he's not around?" The tower was quiet even if Cyborg was playing his videogames. Robin would play with him sometimes but it wasn't as loud as when he played against Beast Boy, which in other times, she would have welcomed the peace and quiet, but now? It was just … unnatural.

"You miss him" a voice in her head said softly. A statement, not a question.

"You're wrong. He's loud and annoying, that's why his absence is noticeable"

"And yet, you long to hear his voice. Hear his laugh and God forbid, even his jokes."

"Oh no, definitely not his jokes, but…" she stop to think better who was she talking to. She had been so lost in her thoughts that when the voice in her head started the conversation, she hadn't even paid attention as to which of her emotions was. The voice, unfamiliar, yet comforting, soothing. Somehow the one word she said out loud could answer her every question. "Who are you? I don't recall ever speaking to you before"

"Sometimes words are unnecessary. Sometimes you just… feel"

"You know well I don't "feel" things unless I allow them to, and you just… popped out of nowhere. Who are you? Why are you speaking up now?"

" Because we miss him dearly".

Later that night, Raven dreamt about how his smile could brighten her day, even If she didn't show it. How she could stare at those green eyes and how warm and comfortable she felt when she slept in his arms.

…

…

Before she knew it another week was gone and Raven couldn't take it anymore. Her emotions were acting up even more and remained in her room afraid she would destroy something by accident. Fighting the bad guys helped her release some of that penned up frustration she felt not knowing Beast Boy's whereabouts, but, she could only punish them to an extent.

Robin had to intervene more than once so her demonic side wouldn't take over and she could create some serious damage, perhaps even kill. Control Freak would not be able to watch any horror movies any time soon.

Dr Light had just come out of rehab, not being able to sleep in the dark anymore after his first encounter with Raven and whatever he saw within the midst of her cloak. This time he started trembling and fell on the floor in a fetus position just at the sight of her. When the police arrived, they only shook their head and wondered why would he even escape prison.

After that, Raven would return to her room, not caring about food or anything else. One morning, when Robin asked if anybody had seen Raven and no one had, he decided to pay her a visit. That afternoon he knocked on her door.

"Raven?… its me, Robin … can I come in?"

"No" she said without hesitation.

"Raven, I just wanna know what's going on"

"Nothing is going on Robin, go away!"

With an exasperated sigh, he pressed the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and shook his head. "Raven? don't be so stubborn, You know I can override the code of your door." He saw the door encased in her dark energy before she replied. "Not anymore" She said a bit more defiant.

"Raven, I can wait out here for as long as I need to until I see you but you cant keep this shield forever so please, just… let me in"

She hated it but he was right, as exhausted as she was there was no way of keeping up the shield on the door, so instead, with a move of her hand, she opened it from the other side of her room. Robin saw the door open and carefully entered into the dark void of her room. It was chilly and felt a soft cool breeze against his face. For a moment he thought that maybe she had sent him thru one of her portals just as she had threaten others before when she was being pestered. It was dark but after a few moments his eyes adjusted enough to notice a small strand of light coming thru the curtain from the far end. He sigh in relief.

And there she was, leaning on her shoulder against the wall next to the window, arms crossed over her chest peeking outside thru the barely open curtain on the other side of her bed. He walked slowly not wanting to disrupt her thoughts anymore than necessary but tripped over something and almost fell. She waved her hand absentmindedly and a row of candles light up on top of her dresser. Not too bright, but shed enough light for him to see his steps.

He saw the candles flicker at the soft breeze and then looked up. A swirl of books, artifacts and clothes floating above his head in circles. Her bookcase was in disarray and other clothes lay on the floor in shreds. He resumed his walk over to the sorceress.

"I told you to go away" she said softly, not looking away from the window.

"Not when I know something bothers you to this extent" he said as he walked closer. He stopped in front of her, with her hood still over her head he could barely see part of her cheek, nose and chin. "I know you've been upset because Beast boy is not here but I know something else must have happened to bring you into this depression. Please tell me."

She took a deep breath and let it out in shaking intervals before answering "He chose her" and a tear run down her cheek. Carefully, he dried the runaway tear and softly pulled her chin to face him.

"What do you mean, how do you know that?" she was looking down as he pulled the hood off of her head her eyes were swollen from crying who knows how long and had dark circles under her eyes.

"I called him a few days ago. I was planning on going and I called him to find out exactly where he was but… she answered and said he wasn't available to take my call. When I asked her to tell him to call me back she said "I'll let him know you called but… I'm not sure if he's gonna call you back"… I should have known back on the boat. I offered him my help but he flat out rejected me and took her instead"

He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and put his cheek on top of her head. After a moments he tried to push him away "I've told you before Robin, I don't need your pity" she said while trying to hold back a sob.

"Raven, pity is the last thing I feel for you right now…" he continued after she struggled some more to get free " sshhh , listen to me… Raven?… will you please listen to me?" she stopped struggling and started to sob instead.

"Raven, what makes you think he would choose her, or anybody else for that matter, over you…"

she shrugged in his arms and after a couple of deep breaths she said "I don't know, maybe because I'm grey with purple eyes and hair, short tempered, sarcastic even mean to him. Not mentioning I'm part demon and can make things explode at random"

"None of us cares about that. He, doesn't care about that, in fact, I would say that's why he's attracted to you. Raven… you don't seem to see yourself how the rest of us do. I'll tell you what he sees that you don't. He sees a beautiful, smart, awesome, one of a kind woman that keeps him grounded that makes him try to do better every day just to impress you and that's not recent, that started ever since he met you… that's not something he's gonna forget overnight just because a pretty girl walks in front of him"

Something else in the room exploded but neither of them moved. "That still doesn't explain why he took her instead" She was calm now but not enough as the things were still circling above them. Her head against his shoulder. He chuckled to her comment.

"The only reason he took her instead is because she knows where his parent's graves are" this made her look up.

"What? I thought he would know that already" she said with a frown. He shook his head no and with a smile he said "No, he didn't. Dr Simmons told me he was gone before they ever found the bodies. He didn't even know they had graves he could visit. And if Meliah had his communicator is because he wanted privacy… I bet you that this entire time, he's been talking to them and didn't want any interruptions"

"You sound so sure…How do you know?"

"Because I also lost parents when I was young, but unlike him, I was around when they were buried and I visited their grave every day just to tell them how much I missed them and how my day was. It is because of what happened to them that I decided to fight crime."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know"

"Don't be. I don't regret one bit my decision. That led me to have a great team and most of all great friends that I'm willing to risk my life for anytime. Even if they don't want me to"

She smiled a little at this while he kissed her forehead and pulled her back against his chest. This time she hugged him back.

Starfire was at the door that wasn't completely closed. She peaked inside, curious as to why Raven's door was open that's when she saw Robin kissing Raven on her forehead and hugged each other tightly. She had not been present for the rest of their conversation but as the mayhem of things came down, everything was silent for a moment before she heard Raven say

"Thanks Robin, I don't know what I would have done without you" He let go off her and said "Only for you".

Starfire's eyes went wide then narrowed along with a frown and took off silently before anybody noticed her presence.

Raven walked over to the pile of things that had fallen from the ceiling and started to sort it out. Robin walking on the opposite side trying to help pick up fallen figurines and broken pieces of small statues that had been destroyed.

"Hey Robin… when you told Starfire you would take her dancing after the mission, did you mean it?"

"Of course. I even made reservations at a nice restaurant with a dance floor"

"How did it go?"

"I never told her and I had to postpone it anyway."

"Why?"

"Well… after the encounter we had with Control freak I was kinda worried about you. I knew you were upset because Beast Boy wasn't here and I didn't think it was fair to you to…"

"To rub more salt on the wound?… she interrupted. She had also stopped cleaning while she heard his explanation. "Robin, is not fair for Starfire. You could have at least told her you had plans. Is not fair for her to keep her waiting like that"

"I know, and I tried but every time I looked for her, she was gone. Cyborg says she's been going to the park a lot lately"

"why have you not gone looking for her. Aren't you worried about her?"

"Why? Is there something to be worried about?'' he said, this time he drop the pieces of clothes he had in his hands and frown.

"Not that I know. But, aren't you the least bit curious though?"

"I'll talk to her tonight." he said after a moment and resumed cleaning. "Besides, I don't want to jump to conclusions and say the wrong thing. That's what got me in trouble with her last time" he said as he dumped the clothes in a hamper near the closet.

A small piece of garment fell from the bundle on his shoe and when he picked it up to the level of his eyes and turned it with his fingers, trying to make sense of what exactly it was, found a small black bow. But as he realized what it was, his eyes went wide open and suddenly the piece was encased in dark energy, snatched from his fingers and thrown in the hamper while the lid levitated in place.

"I prefer to sort out my own clothes if you don't mind. You can get the broken pieces by the mirror"

He nodded and without a word headed to the dresser where the mirror was broken in pieces all over including the open drawers. Another shred of glass fell, this time inside the top drawer which was halfway open with barely anything in it. He stuck his hand trying to get to the piece of glass while balancing other pieces on his other hand but when he pulled it, another small garment was stuck on the edge of the glass and his fingers. This time the lace material was pink with a small rose bud.

A drop of sweat fell from his forehead as he tried in vain to disentangle the thong from the glass only with his fingers but managed to rip it instead. He hung his head and turn to Raven who was now facing him with her arms folded across her chest. He gave the ruined garment to her while he blushed and whispered "sorry".

She narrowed her eyes and said "And this is why I don't let anybody in my room"

"Sorry" he said again. This time the broken pieces of glass where encase en her dark energy and carefully pulled away from him and thrown in the trash can.

"How about you leave me the cleaning and you check on Starfire"

"But.."

"NOW!" she said eyes glowing white.

"Yes ma'am" he said and run out of her room.

…

…

Starfire flew her way to the roof while tears run freely down her cheeks. She stepped on the edge and sat down, hands on her lap, head bent and looking down to nothing in particular. She sniffed a couple of times before pulling her communicator out and dialed the number she now knew by memory.

"Hey Gorgeous, ready for… Star? What's wrong, why are you crying?"

"It's awful… I feel like a fool… I'm angry, I'm sad, I don't know what to do… please friend, can you meet me right now. I really need your company" she said as more tears blurred her vision of the screen.

"Of course Star, just come, I'm already at our spot" Starfire tried to smile before closing the communicator. She flew towards the park at the edge of the city and was almost there, she could even see Red X waiting by the fountain when a loud explosion caught her attention and while she turned to see where had it come from, a missile collided with her and with the loud explosion knocked her out of the air as the thief watched in horror.

"STARFIRE!" he yelled as he run towards her landing site. There was smoke everywhere and cars on fire. And there, in the middle of a crater, lay the tamarenean unconscious. But as Red X made his way to her, he was hit with a light post and was sent flying across the street and crashed into a wall.