That night was undeniably tense in the tower. With Raven and Robin gone, the three remaining Titans sat in awkward silence until Beast Boy himself left. Cleanup was done without a word murmured or whispered and the room was left to air out. Even Robin couldn't bring himself to sleep out there and instead brought pillows and blankets into his office.

Come morning things were not as tense. Breakfast was made, eaten, and happy discussions filled the air. But that was because there were two Titans missing.

"What are your plans for the day?" Starfire asked, cracking open a mustard bottle to start off her day.

"I don't really have any plans. I'll find something to do though. What are your plans?" Robin replied.

"There are some new stores that have opened that I have yet to visit. I was hoping to look around."

"That sounds like fun, you should go." Cyborg said, putting some utensils away. "I'm going to the hardware store. Hoping that Rae will join."

"I hope she also joins." Starfire agreed with a sad smile. "She has been quite, wrong lately. This is not her normal manner."

"Yeah." Cyborg sighed, " I'm hoping she'd go with me. I don't know how much I'd be able to help her, but I can offer a change of scenery. It's not much but it's something."

"I think it's a good idea." Robin agreed. "It's beneficial to have a change in scenery once in a while."

"Maybe we could get lunch." He thought out loud. "Although that might be pushing it."

"It doesn't hurt to try." Robin shrugged.

"The girl does like to eat." Cyborg mused. "You know what, I'm gonna go and ask. Wish me luck." He jokingly saluted and exited the room.

"Do you think he will be successful?" Starfire asked Robin who just shrugged.


Cyborg would be lying if he said he wasn't trying to hype himself up. He wasn't scared of the witchy Titan per say, he just never knew what kind of mood she was in and didn't want to get the short end of the stick or make her feel worse.

Thankfully, he didn't have to knock as the door opened as soon as his second foot hit the floor.

"Hey!" He greeted, trying to play off his startled-ness.

"Good morning." Raven said evenly, looking a bit startled, closing the door behind her.

"So," he clasped his hands awkwardly, looking like a child rocking on their feet nervously asking their mother something with the most likely answer of 'no'. "I'm going to go to some stores today to pick up materials and I wanted to extend my offer from yesterday and see if you would like to come."

"Uhm," Raven looked at the wall behind him, quickly thinking if that was something she wanted, or was able, to do. "Suuure?" She drew out.

"Is that a question orrrr?" He drew out too.

"I don't thiiiiink sooo?"

He chuckled. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I was thinking about getting lunch after so I don't know how long it would take."

"Lunch?" She perked up. "From where?"

Metal shoulders were shrugged. "Wherever."

She thought for a moment. She wanted to stay home, but lunch. And she would like to be a part of the process. Maybe she would pick out a paint color. "I'll go with you."

"That's fine, I can send you pictures of things if you- wait. Did you say yes?"

She nodded her head and fought back a smirk.

"Well alright then! I was planning on leaving within a half hour or so, is that good with you?"

"Yeah, I'll be down by then."

"Great! I'll see you then."

Raven gave a nod in parting as he walked down the hallway, a skip in his step, like a happy leprechaun.

Sighing, she waited until his steps were inaudible before she went back into the room facing the disaster that her emotions had caused the past hours.


Raven hurried down the halls to the garage. She was late. It took her longer to clean up the mess than she had expected. She was a wreck last night, she wasn't going to sugarcoat it.

After Robin left she wasn't able to pull herself out of her angst and wallow. She alternated between anger and sadness, directed at others and at herself. She cried for a long time, eventually exerting herself to the point of exhaustion in the early hours of the morning, again. Not wanting to face one of the sources of her anger from the night before, she skipped breakfast and cleaned the mess the best as she could. It had been a while since her emotions lashed out like that, but it had seemed to become a trend as of late.

"I'm here." She announced, trying not to sound as winded as she felt.

"You look like you just ran through the obstacle course. You need a minute?" Cyborg asked with an amused nervousness.

"I'm good." Raven said getting in the car, leaving no room for debate. "Let's go."

He stood and looked at her for a few seconds before he shrugged and got in the car.


"Alright," Cyborg started as they entered the hardware store and obtained a cart, "they have some wood on hold for us towards the back of the store and the rest is up to us. Thought you could look at the windows too in case you wanted something different."

Raven nodded as she fell in step beside him turning her nose up at a selection of Christmas decorations. Seriously? It wasn't even Halloween yet. The tiny villagers in the Christmas villages seemed to be mocking her with their smiles. 'Look how happy we are!' They said, 'Too bad you can never be this happy.'

A few people tried to stop them to talk and take pictures, but Cyborg kept his strive and gave a wave, not once stopping while Raven just shoved her hands in the hoodie pocket and played with them anxiously. She didn't particularly enjoy going out much and was still trying to process everything. There were a lot of sounds, lights, smells, and people that were quickly starting to overwhelm the Titan. She made a move to grab the side of her cloak but grumbled when her hands grabbed air when she realized she was out in normal clothes.

Hearing the grumble, Cyborg turned to look at her. "You ok?"

She didn't really reply with much of an answer, giving a shrug of her shoulders and bringing the hood of her sweatshirt up to help combat some of the unwanted noise. It wasn't the same as her cloak, but it was better than nothing. Her meditation had been going just as well as she had been those past few days. Every time she would try to control her breath, to find peace in her mind, it wouldn't let her. As soon as her eyes would close, she would remember her time with the dragon and her mind would wander into places she didn't want it to. So she obviously has been quite unbalanced lately.

"I'll be as fast as I can." Cyborg said.

She gave a shrug and a mumble of "It's fine." She would have to go out sooner or later, and this was an important errand. Not to mention lunch. She didn't have breakfast, too deep in her own angst and not wanting to see Beast Boy to have an appetite. Plus she didn't eat much of her dinner the night before, even after Robin brought it to her.

"Were you listening?" She suddenly heard Cyborg say.

"Huh? Oh, uh, no." She admitted, slightly embarrassed, not one to normally space out.

"I said that we're going to use this wood to act as a support so we can re-plaster the wall. The same for the floor and ceiling but that'll be trickier." He explained nodding in thanks to the sales guy who handed the beams of wood over.

"So I'm guessing that we also need to get some dry wall or something?"

"Yep." Cyborg smiled. "Such a smart cookie."

Raven gave the slimmest of smiles but let it drop when he turned. 'No,' she thought, 'I'm not.'

"Alright," Cyborg announced as they approached the window/glass aisle, "got anything in mind?"

"Uhhhhhh," Raven looked around. Up and down, left and right, inside and out, they all looked the same to her. "A window preferably."

"Yes, and what kind?"

"One that opens?"

"In which direction?"

"Uh, open direction I guess."

Cyborg shook his head in amusement and walked towards one window. "Do you want one that opens like this?" He demonstrated taking the bottom panel and pushing it up. "One like this?" He went to another one and pulled the top panel down. "Or something like this?" He went to yet another window and pushed the panels out, opening to the outside like a medieval princess about to burst out into a song.

She couldn't help but let out a small gasp upon seeing that last window. That, that one right there, was the one she wanted.

"This one then huh?" He smiled seeing her face light up for the first time in a few days.

"Yes." She whispered almost dreamily. It was beautiful. She didn't know what to expect, didn't even give any mind to a new window thinking they were all just going to be the same, but this is exactly what she wanted.

"It is pretty neat huh?" Cyborg said, inspecting every inch of the window. Once he deemed it acceptable he pulled out his checklist to check the measurements of her previous windows, bent down with a dad-like groan, scanned the bottom shelves for the right sizes, and made a noise of triumph as he pulled out the right sized box, putting them on the bottom rack of the cart. "Now, where are those plaster repair kits?"

It took longer to find them than they wanted to admit. But in their defense, who would have expected to find the kits in the paint aisle? Surely it would have been with the drywall.

Since they were there, Cyborg told Raven to go and look at some samples while he figured out what plaster option or kit would best get them their money's worth.

There were a lot of colors. Raven walked over and blinked as she slowly kept looking up, seeing more and more variations of what seemed like the same color. The walls in her room were currently painted a dark purple. It was so dark that it looked black most of the time. And since the windows she picked out had white frames, she figured that maybe she would consider a lighter color this time to better match the white but still staying in the blue/purple color areas.

By the time Cyborg came to find her, she had taken a few of the sample slips, contemplating on which one she liked the best.

"You know, if you want we can get a few paint samples that we can put directly on the wall so you can see what it'll look like in your room." Cyborg suggested. "Ooh, this one looks nice." He pulled out a blueish gray color.

Raven made a face.

"And what's wrong with this color miss thing?"

"Eh, it's too gray."

"Are you looking for more color?"

"I don't know." She sighed. She was getting overwhelmed and quite hungry. Not a fun combination that Cyborg thankfully picked up on.

"Tell you what," Cyborg started, knowing she was nearing the end of her social battery, "since we're here, let's get a few samples so we don't have to come back and then we can leave to get some food. How does that sound?"

She nodded in confirmation and picked her top four color choices. It took a bit of searching, lots of muttering over trying to match the long serial numbers on the paper samples to the right small containers, but they figured it out.


Lunch. It was what she had been waiting all day for, and it was delicious. They stopped in at a deli type restaurant that they had saved a few months ago and were generously awarded free meals whenever they visited to show their gratitude to the young heroes.

Cyborg had gotten the deluxe meal of a sub, side salad, and soup while Raven got a sandwich and some chips. They both practically scarfed down their food in minutes, completely famished.

"So," Cyborg started after leaning back in his side of the booth and resting a hand on his stomach for dramatics, "do you think you'll be helping with some of the repairs this evening or would you rather chill and decompress for the remainder of the day?"

Raven pushed her plate to the side so she could rest her arms on the table, putting most of her weight on them. "I don't know. Maybe a bit of both. I might help for a little while."

"There's no pressure to help with any of it if you don't want to."

"No, I do. It's just, I don't know." Her eyes found comfort in the pictures behind him instead of his gaze.

"It's new, that's for sure." Cyborg said, trying to help fill in some gaps. "And I bet it's all pretty overwhelming at times huh?"

She nodded and reached for the strings of her hoodie. "I mean, I am thankful and appreciate Robin's room for the time being, but it still makes me feel guilty." She ended softly. "And it's not the same. Well, I guess this time it won't be the same either."

Cyborg nodded, filing the part about feeling guilty for another time. "It will be different, but that's the fun of it in some ways. You get to make your room how you want it to reflect you now."

"But I liked it the way it was before."

"I know. And this might sound a bit harsh, but it won't be like it was before." He said softly.

She looked down at the hoodie strings in her hands silently. She knew that her room wouldn't be the same. New windows, paint, furniture, and she was excited for it, but also very anxious. She had already established her space, she was used to it. The light, smell, sounds, textures, it was familiar. And she was afraid of that new unknown. That she wouldn't be able to make this space what it once was.

"Can we go?"


When they got back, supplies were dropped off in Raven's room and alone time was declared. Cyborg went back out quickly to get some more things he forgot and didn't want to drag Raven to while she spent some time by the shore.

It was such a nice day and she didn't necessarily want to waste it being holed up in Robin's room. She could open a window, sure, but the sloshing of the water as it hit against the rocks and other small waves calmed her mind in a way that silence and meditation wasn't able to recently.

There were a few trees on their island, leaves turning a powerful red and falling like small flames gracefully floating to the ground. They fell all around her, some intertwining with her hair blowing in the wind. She would take them one at a time and place the leaves on the surface of the small ripples, watching as they floated and swam, all taking different courses. Some sank, some kept afloat. Some she rescued from falling to the bottom, others she didn't. Some she tore up watching how the small pieces floated away from each other while some stuck.

She watched the coupled leaves with a dreary gaze as they slowly bobbed back to her. She stuck her finger in the water, separating the two torn pieces and watched as they worked hard against the current to be reunited. She stopped them before they could group and sent one in the opposite direction and sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest.


Robin stood watch at the windows in the main room. He had been thinking while the other Titans were out. Mostly about what Raven told him last night. He had been tossing thoughts over in his head all afternoon, trying to figure out any other way he could help. He would solve this problem himself if he could, but this was Raven, and her feelings were different than most.

The first few days of the bond, he felt like he was going insane, again. He had these thoughts and feelings that weren't his. It took him until Beast Boy made a stupid comment, like always, when he felt a very deep urge to hit him. He was very confused because he didn't even notice them half the time but when he looked over at Raven who seemed like she was just barely restraining herself from hitting him, it all clicked. Since then, she had admitted she was feeling some of his projected feelings too and they worked together to figure out how to not project so loudly into each other's mind.

Now, her side of the bond was practically sealed shut. He tried to mentally approach the wall, but it didn't budge, not once. The past few days though, off and on he would feel intense heart clenching emotions that would practically knock the breath out of him, catching him completely off guard. And he knew where they were coming from.

He watched her as she sat by the water. It sounded a bit creepy, he knew, but he was there before she came and wanted to make sure she was ok. Now that he knew some of what she was feeling, depressed, guilty, there was a thought in the back of his mind to watch over her by the water.

She seemed to be playing with the leaves. It looked like tiny fairies dancing around her, the orange and red complimenting her purple hair nicely. Admittedly, he was surprised she chose not to hide away in his room after her and Cyborg's outing and felt a pang of delight seeing her outside. He didn't know the thoughts going through her head at that moment, but he could be her silent protector for a little while.

"Hey man!"

Well, there that went.

He turned to greet Cyborg and walked away from the window, not wanting to potentially spoil her time or explain that he wasn't stalking their friend.

"Can you help me for a minute?" Cyborg asked. "Rae said she wanted some chill time before she came and helped but I could use a hand with what I'm doing now."

"Sure."

When they walked in, Robin couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness upon seeing the still shambled room. Before this room held an aura of power that was so strong that it could make the most highest of world powers stumble. But now it seemed shy, embarrassed about its state. Things were misplaced all over. Her bed was moved to the wall closest to her bathroom, the dresser and desk by the door needing to be taken down and thrown out but its contents still inside for her to make decisions about. The books were the same. Those that fell off were neatly stacked on the floor but the rest were left untouched.

"Can you hold the wood in place while I drill? It's easier with another set of hands."

"For sure. Right here?" He asked, holding a piece of wood that fit perfectly horizontally in one of the holes as it touched a bean vertically.

"Yup. Watch your fingers." He warned motherly before he drilled a few screws in securing the piece in place.

They did that for more than the minute Cyborg asked for. It was probably close to a half hour that they worked and chatted for. It was like a puzzle, trying to find the correct places for the cut wood. The room was filled with sounds of drilling and voices trying to overpower the powerful whirr of the tool as it hummed and thumped against the holder's metal hands.

When there were no more pieces, struggling to attach the ones on the ceiling, they just sat and talked for a while. They were like little kids, sitting in front of each other and talking about anything that crossed their minds.

Raven had slowly become the topic of discussion, both hesitant to talk about what happened but it impacted all of them, her especially.

"She seemed, different today." Cyborg approached cautiously.

Robin nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Yeah," he sighed, "I've noticed."

"Did she say anything when you saw her last night?"

"Not really. She feels horrible but I feel like that's pretty obvious."

"She's nervous too." Cyborg added.

'Nervous.' Robin thought. "About what?"

"Her room. At least that's what she told me. She didn't give much explanation but it seems like she's afraid of her new room."

Robin nodded slowly. That makes sense. She's a person of regularity, familiarity. She only ever used the same one cup for her tea, the same blankets. If she wore a bracelet she would wear it until it broke and then wouldn't decorate her wrist because not being there was the new norm for her. It wasn't something that crossed his mind at first, but now he couldn't imagine the additional stress and worries that she was keeping in. She had admitted some of her feelings the night before, but he didn't feel like it was his place to share that now.

"She seemed excited today," Cyborg went on talking about the windows and picking out potential paint colors, "but then once we left and she got thinking, she started to get almost scared. I don't like using that word with her, but she looked terrified for a moment. And I want to help her, but I can't if I don't know how to."

Robin nodded again, those same words coming out of his mouth last night. "I know, it's hard. But right now until she tells us what we can do to help, we just have to be there."

They worked in silence after that. The gravity of the situation fell over them as their minds went into different directions until the girl of their thoughts appeared.

"Hey!" Cyborg smiled warmly. "You ready to do some work?"

"I guess so." Raven took a few steps in looking around at the room she hardly recognized. She was glad the wood was cut down in the workroom instead of in here. She didn't want to have to clean up the annoying bits of sawdust and be nervous about splinters being everywhere. Well, more than there already were.

"We did the beginnings of patching the holes," Cyborg gestured around the room to the various semi-patched walls, "you can help plaster the drywall if you want. It would be super helpful if you could do the ceiling."

She nodded, confirming she would do the ceiling. She wondered amusedly how they managed to do the wood before she came.

"I brought up the brushes if you want to test the paint too."

"Alright."

It was silent again as they worked. Raven having nothing to say or wanting to share and the boys not sure what to say or if they should. She worked on the ceiling, levitating as she was able to effortlessly juggle the arms full of materials and keep the drywall up as she pasted it to the ceiling. Robin worked on the walls, choosing to do the holes closest to the floor first since he would have to ask Raven for assistance for the higher ones but not knowing if he should interrupt the silence. Cyborg nailing and gluing leftover floorboards that he luckily found leftover from when the tower was being built was the noisiest, overpowering the sanding sounds with his hammer.

Raven had not expected to help as much as she did, but she worked and worked and before she knew it, she couldn't see the stars that were starting to glow anymore, the ceiling fixed. 'The floor above will have to be fixed though.' She thought. 'And the rooms above to the roof.' She added with a defeated sigh. But at least this was done.

Cyborg had finished not too long ago, declaring he was making dinner. The floor was finished seamlessly. You wouldn't have known it was looking like swiss cheese just hours before. She was glad that at least something would still be the same.

She floated down and looked around, brushing the dust off of various places on her body. Robin, done for the evening, was sweeping the dust and bits of debris that dotted the floor, somehow making more and more white piles even though he had swept the entire room twice.

Raven stood and watched him sweep for a moment, watching as he made small piles among the floor from their sanding.

Looking up he saw her watching him and gave a smile. "You doing alright?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to answer that honestly?"

She blinked, taken aback at his straightforwardness. "No."

"You don't have to be ok," he started carefully and kindly, "but I don't want you to lie about how you're feeling."

Not knowing how to respond, she simply nodded, looking back at the floor. Was she really going to tell him? Yes. Kind of. "I… I'm not sure what I'm feeling."

He stopped his chore and put his attention on her. "Is it because there's too much or a lack of feeling?"

"Too much."

He nodded in understanding. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Do you want me to?"

"I would like you to, but that's up to you."

She thought for a second. She had shared more than she expected and wanted to, but if she told him, he wouldn't dismiss her feelings. She knew that, but it scared her regardless. "I.." she hesitated, but continued when she felt nothing but support and compassion from him. "I don't like that things have changed. I want them to be what they were, but I know it can't."

Robin didn't know what she meant by "things". He guessed her room but it could just as easily be something else. "How does that make you feel?" He asked.

"Anxious. Angry. Upset." She muttered. 'At myself.' She thought.

"Has it been getting better or worse as the week has gone on?"

'I don't know.' She wanted to say. But this was important. He was giving her grace, patience, and nothing but support in that moment. She knew she might not get another chance to express some of her feelings, having the atmosphere like it was with just the two of them. She was completely overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed, just barely keeping it together as she forced herself to stay standing and fought back the tears that were demanding to come out. "Worse." she whispered.

He nodded again empathetically and waited to see if she would say anything else but wasn't surprised when that was all that she said. Robin watched her demonear, how much it's changed in just a few days. The girl who once stood tall and powerful was practically crumpling in front of him. Her air of stability and calmness was now overcome with fear and anxiety. Something happened in those few days she was with Malchior, more than she was letting on. He knew, but he didn't know. It took this long to pull the information out of her that she shared. He wanted to know more, to help her, but he couldn't do that if she kept everything a secret.

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Just… keep doing what you're doing." She finalized. "You're helping me more than you know."

He wanted to reach out and grab her arms, desperately shake her saying "Tell me what I can do! Let me help you! I will do anything for you!" But he gave a kind smile and said, "Alright, you can always come to me for anything."

"I know." She murmured, breath starting to hitch and excusing herself as she departed to the bathroom, trying to escape the feelings that were starting to bubble over and spare the embarrassment of breaking down in front of him.

Knowing she most likely wouldn't return, Robin continued his sweeping until no more while piles formed and went to join the others for dinner.