Written by: DemonAlchemist

Author's Note: I'm not dead! Also, Woohoo! Damian is on deck! Let's see what kind of fun I can start to have with our snarky little Robin. I know it's been close to 4 months since an update, but that was half due to a hectic schedule with no energy to write, and half due to the number of times I rewrote this chapter when I could write(and rewrote parts of chapters 1&2)! Yeesh, perfectionism reared its ugly head… hopefully all the hair I pulled out was worth it though!

Warning: foul language, violence, OOC(to be safe), slow burn romance…

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any of the DC characters; they are property of DC and Warner Bros. I do not profit from this work of fiction.

Nightmares of a Former Life – Ch. 3

As Raven stood there motionless the gem on her head began to burn once more, the rumbling in her psyche was louder this time. That was enough to startle her out of her trance; she couldn't allow herself to weaken like this. He was only a trigger because of her nightmares.

"What's with the face?" Robin questioned. "Are you hurt?" The apathy in his tone made it clear he couldn't care less if she was.

Doing her best to ease into a more neutral stance, Raven took a couple of mental breaths. "It's nothing, just a headache," she replied coolly.

The young man quirked an eyebrow, but decided to say nothing more. Raven moved past him and into the kitchen; at least one positive thing to come of this exchange was that the kettle was already boiled. In a familiar manner she retrieved her cup and a bag of chamomile tea, then stood back and took in her surroundings. It looked as if Damian had his motorcycle helmet with him, and he was in full Robin gear.

"Does Nightwing know about these plans?" she finally asked, and gestured towards his equipment.

"I don't see why he should. This is going to be the city I live in for a while and I think I have the right to get to know it," Damian insisted.

"You're also part of a team, and as such that means discussing plans with others so they can help if things go wrong." Raven counterpointed.

Damian put on his domino mask and picked up the helmet. "I'll manage," he finally replied before he turned on his heel and left.

Raven frowned into her teacup; obviously it would take a while for him to understand the dynamics of working in a team, if he did at all. Clear to her as well was that his abrasive nature was a front, as there was a strong sense of misplacement and loneliness that came from him. Though that fact didn't make how he presented himself any less insufferable. What about him stirred her father though? Nothing had been communicated to her, just an instant sense of dislike from Trigon; it was perplexing. The late night gave her no time to reflect on this matter though, and she abandoned her half empty cup on the counter to retreat back to her room.

Luckily when Raven woke the following morning nothing else had disturbed her rest. After she washed and got dressed Raven found most of her team mates already engrossed with their meals in the dining room. Save for one, not surprising to her, Damian was no where to be found.

"Is that dude ever coming out of his room?" Garfield asked. "I mean I don't think we made that bad an impression." He was waving his fork around as he spoke and it caused Jaime to duck repeatedly.

"Dude, can you have some kind of consideration for the people around you?" The scarab on Jaime's back chirped and the Latino looked back in concern. "Easy there, he's just getting excited."

If Raven was sure about what would be happening tonight it was obvious why Dick wasn't forcing Damian out of his room just yet. Friday nights were reserved for a specific kind of team building and it was not a choice to be anti-social. Allow him the space while he was free to have it. Honestly it was rather nice of the older Titan, given how much Damian was likely going to hate this evening. With no more thought on the matter she made herself a simple breakfast of tea and instant oatmeal, and joined the chaos in the dining room.

The shock of the morning came when everyone entered the training arena and found Damian already inside setting up. "I was wondering when you guys would all be awake," he commented and pulled a small tablet from a back pocket. "I figured we would go over some training exercises today; I'd like to see what all of you are capable of." He didn't bother to look towards the others to see if they heard him.

Garfield burst out laughing and Jaime raised an eyebrow. "Dude, you can't be serious!" the virescent Titan crowed. "I don't know if anyone told you, but you're not the leader of this group, Dick is!"

"Technically I am passing those reigns on to Kori… however, I don't think this is entirely the worst idea," the older man replied. "Starfire?"

"As long as it doesn't involve the team fighting against one another for now, I can go along with such an idea," the red head agreed.

Beastboy stood there in shock before he folded his arms and turned his head away indignantly. Jaime looked at Damian suspiciously in the mean time. "If we have to show off what we have to you, are you going to return the favour?"

Damian said nothing, but gave a knowing, almost devious smirk. Nightwing approached Robin and helped finish getting the simulator set up; within moments each Titan began to have a go with the various programs. Raven watched each one of her team mates, and so far, everything seemed to be normal; Beastboy was his wise cracking self, Jaime was focused, and Starfire was powerful but graceful. So, what was this sense of foreboding that was shrouding her?

As Raven was about to step up the signal in Titans Tower began to blare. "Looks like your fun will have to wait Raven. Titans, go!" Dick shouted.

Everybody mobilized without a moment to waste, and the alert brought the team to Jump City's electrical plant, but where the team was expecting Doctor Light or even Toy Master, who they found surprised them. It seemed to be a rally of the average citizen, protesters mostly, complete with hand written signs of angry slogans and the odd mega phone. One large group seemed to be swarming on a smaller one, and it wasn't looking good.

"Uhh guys, I don't want to make it sound like I'm not willing to help, but shouldn't the police be handling this one?" Beastboy asked.

"Take a closer look," Damian instructed. "The people being overrun are the police."

Raven could feel Dick's energy tense significantly. "Alright Titans, disable the protesters with as little harm possible; we have no idea if they're being brainwashed or not!"

Damian was first to get to the group and tossed a handful of snap-flash pellets at the feet of the individuals closest to the police. Several bursts of light came from them followed by a series of shock-waves in the ground. It was alarming however, that mostly only the police seemed affected, as they stumbled backwards several feet and became disoriented in their movements.

"I thought those were the guys we were helping!" Jaime called as he joined in the effort. Carefully he did what he could to restrain the bug's powers and fire some warning shots on the ground in front of another section of the group, in an effort to knock their feet from under them.

As the Titans continued to engage with the protesters, they realized something was off; the people in this group were all unusually strong and fast. It also didn't seem as if they were brain washed, but all were clearly following a collective goal. Raven could sense that they didn't seem to be possessed by any kind of demon either. When it looked as if the team wasn't going to be able to do anything to stop them without extensive damage the empath knew that there would be no other way.

Raven flew above the crowd and drew a breath, after she channelled a shred of her father's essence into her soul she projected her soul-self into the minds of the beings below, careful to avoid her teammates. The collective group of protesters immediately looked up and glared at the empath, and growled incoherently. However, one middle aged brunette woman, with cold blue eyes gave a signal to the protesters, and the collective began to retreat. Still trying to minimize damage the Titans stepped aside and allowed the swarm of people to bull-rush through. Raven noticed the only two team mates not to move aside were Robin and Nightwing, who followed at a distance.

They didn't have to go too far as there was a couple of buses carefully parked about two blocks down the road. Each of the dark-haired duo stealthily placed a tracker underneath the bumper before they retreated themselves. When she was satisfied that they hadn't been seen and were returning, Raven descended back down to help the rest of the team check on the police. Most of the officers seemed to be alright; a couple had a broken arm or leg, but other than that it was just superficial cuts and bruises.

"… impressed, honestly I thought you would be going on a field trip with our little friends back there, and hiding under the bus or something!" she heard Nightwing's voice tease as he and Robin came closer.

"I'm not twelve anymore," Robin protested, and annoyance seemed to radiate off him.

Raven could almost smile listening to the brotherly exchange. She gently approached the most afflicted officers and volunteered to heal their injuries while Nightwing and Starfire approached the most senior member and did their best to retrieve some information about the altercation. From what they were told the group didn't reveal who they were affiliated with, but were at the plant to protest how this particular location was causing damage to the environment and demand not only its closure, but also its destruction.

"Who the hell are these guys, Greenpeace's angry little brother?" Beastboy joked.

"We won't know until we review the data on the trackers Robin and I placed on the back of those buses. For now, it's back to the tower Titans," Dick replied.

When the group returned to their base most of the team went to clean up and get changed for the evening activity coming up. Raven noted that yet again Damian and Dick stuck to business and headed straight to the computer room to begin downloading the path from the tracking device. It didn't take long before she could hear squabbling coming from the two.

"You can't be serious Grayson, that's the stupidest thing I have ever heard," Damian protested.

"I'm sure you can understand as good as anyone that the way your father does things isn't exactly healthy. This is an opportunity to relax and get to know the people around you as more than just weapons to be used," Dick countered.

"Batman believes in training, and honing your skills and knowledge, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that."

Raven did her best to remain distracted with her book. She had noticed that after he first couple of interactions with Damian the rumblings in her mind had quieted some; her theory was that this was very likely due to the fact that she had other events to focus her energies on. More distraction came when Garfield walked up beside her towelling his hair off.

"What in the world is going on?" he asked.

"From what I can gather, Dick just told Damian about our plans tonight, and he's not taking it well," she answered.

"Batman is not who leads this group," Dick enforced. "When I started the Titans, I made damn sure that there was going to be space for proper emotional connection; and scoff at the name and the idea all you want, but 'Friday Fun Night' has been an important theme in the Titan dynamic."

"Yeah dude, and Dick's even kept it diplomatic, every member of the team rotates out weekly on what the activity is going to be," Beastboy chimed in. "I hope you like getting your digital butt whooped, because I picked the arcade!"

"You're all a bunch of idiots!" Damian shouted. "We just finished a highly unusual altercation with a group we've never encountered before. We should be planning our next moves."

"What moves? We don't know who these people are, or who they work for; and until that bus stops, we have no real leads. Sitting in front of a computer waiting will do nothing but make you crazy. I've downloaded the tracking program onto my smart phone; and if it will make you shut up, I'll do the same with yours." The older Titan held out his hand with an expectant look on his face.

Damian looked as if he was going to protest further before Starfire entered the room. "That is enough boys!" her strict tone admonished. "Damian, if you ever expect to be any kind of leader in the future, you first need to understand the chain of command and gain the respect of the individuals around you. That means following orders, even if you don't always like them; I thought surely someone who had worked as tightly with Batman would understand such a concept."

The young Wayne gave a disgusted noise and sneered at the Tamarainian warrior before he reluctantly handed his phone to Nightwing. With nothing more to say he left the room to get changed himself. Raven was relieved that the tense air in the room was diminishing, she released her determined focus on her book, and allowed herself to be completely present in the room once more. Things were quiet for a moment before Dick's face broke out into a gigantic grin.

"I knew you'd be a good leader for this team," he crowed, and kissed the red head on the cheek. "Although I have to admit, that was almost below the belt with the Batman comment."

The group was soon off and found their way to a local arcade without much more argument and trouble. Beastboy was the first one out of the van, and he eagerly ran into the building to purchase tokens for the machine. Jaime was equally as jovial and quick on the heels of his friend. Dick even helped Damian to moderately get into the spirit of things when he challenged him to end their previous dispute with one of the many combat games.

Everything seemed to be genuinely positive in this moment, no matter how tense the mood had felt getting here. Raven was content and found it easy to maintain her sense of calm. The entire team was playing together and bonding; they all found games they loved, and engaged each other in various fighting and racing challenges. Beastboy even got a massive audience on the DDR machine, though no one on the team felt like stepping up for a round on that one. It took a while for Raven to finally realize something was off, Damian was missing.

Despite not knowing the young man for very long this wasn't exactly surprising, and she scanned the arcade for any signs of him. Before long she caught wind of some teenagers urging their friends to check out the brutal fight happening out back. Oh no. Raven's stomach fell, and as quick as she could she ran for the doors of the arcade; when she finally made it around back what she found was surprising.

Damian stumbled back as he took a nasty hit to the jaw, and a young blond male no older than herself and Damian wrung out his hand before he took a fighting stance once more. A small group of teenagers were watching and cheering, save for a young woman who seemed to be shouting at the blond boy to stop. The young Wayne remained in a defensive position, but somehow didn't block a punch to his gut in time; what in the hell was going on, this wasn't right.

Raven tensed as she watched the exchange; with each blow to Damian her mood grew darker. She watched as blood began to dribble out of the corner of his mouth, and started to feel sick. Tension in her rose when memories of the dreams became intertwined with what she was watching. Just before it seemed like Robin was going to stumble and fall, that darkness enshrouded the empath completely. Without any rational thought she manifested her black soul and picked the blond teen high off the ground. She was silent and seethed with rage, every other sense around her evaporated, all she could see was delivering vengeance.

"-ven! RAVEN!" Dick's sharp voice eventually penetrated her senses. "Raven, what are you doing put him down!"

It took a moment but finally the area around her came into focus once more. Her ferocious high finally came down and the blond was dropped to the concrete below. As he ran off into the night Raven noticed that everyone except for Dick and Damian had scattered, but she could hear their screams of terror in the distance. Even the stoic young Wayne had a mildly shocked expression on his face right now. Raven was breathing heavy and she trembled slightly.

"Dick I- I'm sorry," was all she could manage before the blessed release of unconsciousness took her.

TBC...

End note: At last, the true antagonist begins to come out of the woodwork… sort of. I had a bit of help with this one, and bounced some ideas off a fellow DC fan, hopefully it turned out for the better. I've luckily also reached the point in this story where ideas are starting to flood my head, I'm FEELING this… I just have to keep my damned motivation up to get said inspiration to page!