Chapter Text
Before she could fall to her death, Robin swooped in and caught her. It would be several months before Raven thought of this as a good thing.
She came to on a rooftop, in Robin’s arms. She’d never seen him look so relieved.
“Let’s go home,” he said.
She stared at him blankly. Something was off.
Robin kept his voice slow and soft as he helped her to her feet. “Are you hurt?”
She looked down at her hands. The sigils were gone. So were most of her clothes.
She shook her head.
“Can you fly?”
The thought of flying was incomprehensible. There was a weight in her chest, and it was trying to drag her down, deep into the dirt, lower than dirt, to a place she would never rise back up from.
“No,” she rasped.
“Ok,” Robin said, still in that uncharacteristically soft voice. “I’m going to call the R-Cycle, and then we’ll go home. Do you want my cape?”
Her brow furrowed. It had been weeks since she and the others had gone “Robin-ing.”
The others. Unbidden, the vision of her friends encased in stone flashed across her mind. She flinched.
Robin unclasped his cape, and held it out.
She looked down at herself again - cloakless. She took the proffered cape and swung it around her shoulders on autopilot.
The weight of Robin’s heavy, titanium-reinforced cape settled over her, and instantly Raven felt more like herself. She pulled the cape closer.
Beep beep beep-a-dee beep beep-a-dee!
“Robin here.”
“Robin!” Beast Boy’s voice came out slightly tinny from the T-Comm’s speakers. “Dude, finally! Do you know where Raven is?”
“She’s with me,” Robin replied
“Joyous! You are both unharmed!”
Cyborg’s voice was almost accusatory as he asked, “Where did you guys go? You disappeared right as the factory was collapsing.”
“We went after Slade,” said Robin, “but he got away.”
A detached part of her thought, More like he went after us.
Some of her hair had gotten trapped under the collar of Robin’s cape, and it itched. Raven hated long hair. She pulled it out, loathing the way the caught strands seemed to slither up her spine. How long did it take for hair to grow this long? Was that how long she had until the end of the world?
Azar, Azar, Azar…
“Hey,” said Robin, interrupting her thoughts, prayers, panic spiral, whatever. The T-Comm was back on his belt. “Let’s go home.”
The R-Cycle was waiting for them by the time Robin gingerly lowered them to the ground via grappling hook. Robin passed her a helmet, and was relieved when she put it on without further prompting. There had been a moment, back on the roof, when he’d been afraid Raven wouldn’t wake up; even now, he wasn’t entirely sure she was fully… there .
Jump City was a lot noisier at street level. Pedestrians saw the two heroes and, recognizing them, stopped to watch them or started scanning the skies for trouble.
Robin mounted the R-Cycle, and waited for Raven to get on. And waited. He twisted around in his seat.
“Raven?”
Raven was seeing two Jump cities at once. One was busy and alive in the cool embrace of night, and the other was all her fault.
“Raven, let’s go home.” He was still speaking in that strange soft tone. Raven felt too weary to question it. She got on the damn bike, and put her arms around him.
Robin gunned the engine, and off they went. Through the busy thoroughfares and quiet side streets. Around construction zones and between apartment blocks. Someone was having a fancy party, with a red carpet and limos and paparazzi. Someone else was digging through a dumpster. Twice, they pulled over to let fire trucks with flashing sirens go by.
They did not see Slade again, though both of them looked for him.
They took the undersea tunnel back to the tower, and parked in the garage.
The floor was a mess; Cyborg must have been doing some metalworking, because fragments of metal littered every surface. Robin had barely noticed the veritable shrapnel before, because all of them wore heavy duty combat boots; but now, watching Raven pick her way across the room barefoot, he felt a rush of concern.
It was disconcerting to see her so vulnerable.
“Do you need-?”
“I’m fine.”
They made it into the elevator just before the sound of the tunnel door signaled the arrival of their friends.
Raven stiffened. Robin jabbed the door-close button.
The steel door slid smoothly shut, Robin caught a glimpse of the T-Car, and a moment later they were ascending.
“You go on ahead,” Robin said, when the elevator reached the Ops Room. “I’ll debrief the others.”
The first thing she did was shower.
She locked the bathroom door, peered into the air vent, did a psychic sweep to make sure no one was nearby, double checked that the door was locked, and then, for good measure, she draped Robin’s cape over the mirror.
Usually she had the heat tolerance of wrought iron, but today the water burned. She jerked the handle all the way to the coldest setting, but her skin still burned where his hands had been and where the message had been delivered.
She scrubbed at her arms and legs, desperately trying to erase the prophecy from her skin.
The water pooling at her feet was clear; it felt like there should be blood.
“Dude, you couldn’t hold the elevator for us?” Beast Boy complained as soon as he entered the living room.
Cyborg was more focused. “What happened?”
“And where is Raven?” asked Starfire.
“In her room,” said Robin, answering the easier question first. He massaged his temples, still trying to make sense of everything that had happened that evening.
“Raven got me and her out of the factory, but Slade came after us. After Raven, specifically. I don’t know what his plans are this time, but he kept saying he had a message.
“He managed to separate us, chased her halfway across the city, and then pushed her off the broadcasting tower. I barely caught her in time. And then we came back here.”
Beast Boy’s eyebrows shot up. “Dude, you were only gone for, like, 10 minutes.”
With the mystery of everything else that was happening, Robin had forgotten about that.
“Oh yeah. Raven… stopped time somehow?” He said. “Or possibly slowed it? When she was trying to get away from Slade.”
Beast Boy and Cyborg’s eyes widened, but Starfire was scrutinizing him. “And you are… not chasing Slade?”
Robin took a deep breath. “No. I need to stay here tonight. We all do, to protect each other in case he tries to make another move.”
His team nodded in agreement.
“We should try to cheer Raven up,” said BB suddenly. “Saaaay, with a party?”
“Raven will want to meditate for a while,” said Starfire knowingly.
“That’s okay! It will probably take us a while to put everything back together,” Beast Boy said, with a nervous laugh. He turned to Robin, unconsciously seeking his leader’s approval.
Every instinct in Robin’s body was screaming that he needed to go after Slade, needed to triple-check the tower’s defenses, investigate how he was back from the dead, and alert every superhero and law enforcement official in a 500 mile radius that Slade was back… but Robin knew his team; they were as shaken by Slade’s return as he was. He could delegate party-planning to the other Titans, and shoulder the burden of dealing with Slade alone, but he also knew himself. It would be too easy to fall into obsession again, without his friends at his side.
A party would be good. A party meant that the five of them would be together, in case Slade tried anything.
“I think we could all use a little cheering up,” Robin said carefully.
“Heck yeah!“ BB cried. “Star, can you help me blow up some more balloons?”
Very soon Star and BB were both in full-throttle party-prepping mode, for the second time that night.
Robin watched them absentmindedly, already second-guessing his decision. Surely now that the bad thing had come to pass, Raven wouldn’t be so against a party? It would be a distraction for her, if nothing else. An excuse to surround herself with friends.
Robin remembered his last encounter with Slade. Real or imagined, he hadn’t wanted to be left alone afterwards…
“Alright,” said Cyborg. “Now tell me what you’re not telling them.”
Robin started; he hadn’t realized Cyborg was still standing there.
“I saw her in the elevator,” Cy whispered. “Did Slade- ?! ” he couldn’t finish the question.
Robin grimaced and shut his eyes. “I don’t know what he did.”
“And what was the message? The one he said he was going to deliver?”
“I don’t know that either.” Robin opened his eyes again. “The most we can do right now is make sure Raven feels safe and supported.”
Snip
A long strand of purple hair drifted down onto the dresser.
Snip
Another strand fell away, like cut ballast. Only one more to go:
Snip
There was a knock at her door.
Raven’s head whipped around. No. No, no, no- She knew sooner or later someone would come asking questions, but she didn’t think it would be this soon. She also didn’t think it would be… Beast Boy?
Yes, that was definitely Beast Boy’s psychic signature outside her door, rapidly disappearing down the hall. Something was up.
She opened the door, and sure enough, there was no one outside her room; just a printed arrow lying on the floor…
Raven followed the arrows to the common room, and—after a lengthy pause, during which she debated turning around—opened the doors.
For the second time that night, there was a sudden burst of light, noise, and confetti. It was easier to bear, now that she was expecting it, but it still took an effort of will not to turn and flee.
Beast Boy grinned nervously. “Um...surprise?”
Her expression must have been stony, because Cyborg stepped forward.
“Look,”he said, “we know you didn't want a party, but after... today…”
“...We hope that you might reconsider,” Starfire finished.
Beast Boy sidled up to her. “You may not like your birthday, but we're all glad you were born!”
They were ganging up on her. That was just like them. Or was it?
Raven grimaced. She looked around the room carefully. She was on guard for pity, or worse, suspicion. The latter of which was irrational; it was too soon for them to have guessed the nature of Slade’s message or her destiny.
The overwhelming mood in the room was uneasiness. BB, always one to live in the moment, was feeling a blend of nervous and hopeful anticipation—he was probably only thinking about the silly birthday party. Starfire was suspicious, but, Raven noticed with relief, it seemed to be directed towards Robin. Cyborg was angry, as well as a second feeling she couldn’t quite place, but whatever it was made her feel warm and safe. Robin was the easiest to read, thanks to the psychic bond that existed between them; his thoughts revolved around Slade, around protecting her and the team from Slade, around controlling himself and his obsessive tendencies towards Slade, around suppressing certain memories of Slade…
Dully, she noticed that the party decorations from before had been salvaged and taped back together. Her skin still burned with unseen sigils.
Raven cleared her throat.
Her teammates leaned forward with bated breath.
“...We're going to need ice cream.”
The reaction was instantaneous. Starfire literally jumped for joy.
“Coming right up!” cried Beast Boy, already running for the kitchen.
“I’ll cut the cake!” called Cyborg.
“And I shall fetch the throknar!” Starfire trilled, racing away to fetch the Tameranian meat crown in question.
Raven watched the activity from the steps. Only Robin remained at her side.
“You're sure you're okay?” he asked, in a low voice.
“I will be.”
“What you told me about your destiny, that something bad was supposed to happen? I guess it did,” said Robin. “I'm sorry I couldn't stop it.”
“No one could,” said Raven. It hadn’t even happened yet. The worst was still to come.
Robin clearly hadn’t picked up on her defeatism, or if he had, he had elected to ignore it, because he punched his fist into his hand and gave one of his signature Team Leader Motivational Speeches: “We will find Slade. We'll figure out how he did what he did, and why he was after you. But right now...you're safe.” He put his hands on her upper arms in what was meant to be a bracing gesture, unknowingly mirroring the way Slade had gripped her by the arms just hours ago. “You're here with friends. It's over.”
Raven watched him rejoin the party, watched her friends fuss over whether to leave the candles on the cake or put them onto a massive bowl of ice cream. When no one was looking, she glanced at her palms, at the burning sigils she could still feel on her skin. For a brief moment, the words foretelling the end of days flared red.
“No,” she muttered. “This was just the beginning.”