The secrets I must hide (The secrets of a Raven)

A story By Limitless Darkness

Disclaimer: Do not own Teen Titans – The Titans and any of the other characters Made up by DC comics and others ect!

Chapter 1

The beginning of the end: Birthmark.

The titans were called out on a new mission.

The only thing mentioned to them, was that there was an intrusion. It had all been a little hectic with Raven's birthday going a little… well not as planed.

So when they entered the lair, everyone was a little on edge yet not considerably worried, and definitely ready to let off some steam. Wondering whom it was the Titan's discuses it on their way in, thinking up potential enemies. Until…

Robin stopped midway causing Beastboy to bump in to him, which made Beastboy a little startled and made him utter a little "ugh!"

"No!" Robin said with a surprised and horrified expression painted allover his face as he looked up.

Slade stepped forward from the shadows.

"It's been a long time. Hasn't it Titans? A MONTH, A YEAR, A MILLENNIUM?"

"Far to long for my tastes, anyway." Slade turned his head towards the titans giving them a sharp look as he said, "I was beginning to think I'd never see you smiling faces again!"

The Teen Titans stood dumbfounded, as most of them didn't realize what it was Slade had just said. Just his being there seemed so… unreal.

'Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Didn't Terra kill him?' The collective minds of the Titans thought. But he was here, and back, in real flesh and blood.

Cyborg opened his mouth stunned by horror and only slightly managed to utter "You… How did you survive?"

Followed up by Beastboy saying. "Terra took you down!" "WAY DOWN!" with an angry and frustrated expression upon his face.

Robin shouted something that Slade didn't seem to really care about, something like… "I don't know how you got back, and it's not important" Robin pointed up at Slade. "but I'm still ready to take you on!" Slade cut him of. "Hmm! That's precious, Robin, but I didn't come back for you!" Slade said.

Slade shifted his look from the Titans as a group to intensify his gaze upon Raven.

Slade jumped up on the railing of the catwalk he stood upon. Firing up his hands as he went straight in for the attack, no hesitation at all towards Raven. The burning fist moving through the room with amazing speed and precision coming awfully close to her face, lighting it up with a blazing brightness, Raven didn't enjoy. The Titans fled in each direction to avoid the attack. Raven shifting in to her raven shaped soul self, dodging the attack.

Having gained new powers, Slade enjoyed his little play with fire! You could almost sense the smile on his face behind the masks, as he sends the next ball's of fire towards the other titans.

"Ever had one of those days where you just feel happy to be ALIVE!" He asked in an excited tone of voice!

The titans grouped together again as thy watched Slade lit his fists on fire and using them to create an updraft while spinning to lessen his weight as he jump down. The smoke cleared from his jump and he stood in a fighting stance, ready to take the Titans on.

Dude! Beastboy said.

"Yeah!" Cyborg uttered, "Since when can Slade do that?"

"Not sure!" Robin said, "but he won't be doing it for long."

"TITANS GO! " Robin commanded.

Cyborg started by shooting of a super concentrated sound wave from his right his arm trying to shoot Slade, as Starfire assisted him by shooting starbolts at Slade. None of them hitting Slade as he created a wall of fire that lifted him up unto the catwalk again.

Robin reached for his utility belt, taking out three ice disks In hope of stalling him.

Robin jumped in to the air flinging the disks at Slade. They hit!

They were spot on, and encaged him in ice. The titans watched Slade for a moment, as the ice that was supposed to have frozen and trapped Slade, started to steam and break.

Using the fire Slade now possessed he let him self free in a small explosion. The pieces of ice scattered everywhere. Raven seeing the opportunity, used the sharp pieces of ice lying around as a weapon, she warped the pieces of ice in black magic and send them flying towards Slade, Beastboy following in the shape of a gorilla, trying to smash him.

Both missed as Slade maneuvered away form their attacks only to be greeted by Starfire throwing a huge starbolt at him.

Slade created a cage of fire to catch the starbolt, lit it even further only to return the favor.

Starfire's eyes widened as she saw the ball of fire coming her way. For a moment she closed her eyes as fear consumed her. She then opened them again to throw a starbolt in defense, causing her to let out a little scream, the ball of fire to explode, and smoke to appear.

Cyborg tried to think… what to do? Slade was almost invincible in this state. He looked around and saw a row of pumps working behind him. Cyborg used his robotic strength to break one of the hundred feet long pumps, then swung it at Slade with an aggressive battlecry.

Slade at that moment saw it coming. He lit his entire body on fire and melted right through the pump.

After seeing that, the only thing Cyborg could muster to say was, "Whoa!" as he looked surprised and shocked at Slade.

Slade turned his head to look at Cyborg, then commented in his usual cold, yet almost humored monotonous voice, "Whoa? … That's it? … No clever comment? …I was looking forward to that." Cyborg's expression turned in to a bitter frown.

Cyborg then flung himself at Slade in anger, but as soon as he reached him, Slade countered with a Flick of power and fire on Cyborg's forehead, causing Cyborg to fly several meter's back ramming him right in to Raven's now failing pre attack, and causing him to land on top of her.

Beastboy tried attacking but to no avail, Slade dodged every effort Beastboy made as an attempt to hurt Slade.

Before Beastboy could do anymore Slade put his fist to the floor of the catwalk using the fire to cut the ground Beastboy stood on, to pieces causing some of the catwalk to crumble.

As the catwalk was crumbling under Beastboy he shifted in to a bat and flew away dodging his near fall to the ground.

Robin then took over by swinging up behind Slade on the remains of the catwalk. Slade saw him and walked in to the machinery next to him. Robin, following Slade into his trap, stepped on to the turning winding wheel beside him, Beginning their usual game of hide and seek.

Inside the machinery Robin jumped from turning wheel to turning wheel, finally finding Slade. Slade lit up a staff then jumped towards Robin, suggesting an attack that he knew was a slight bit more then Robin could counter. Slade sliced Robin's staff in half and watched in delight as Robin's stern expression turn soft.

"Take my word for it Robin" Slade said. "You shouldn't play with fire!" Slade was now swinging the flaming staff towards Robin, hitting him, and sending him flying a few meters on to the nearest platform wheel.

Slade then tilt his head to the side, as he watched Robin's unconscious figure lie on the rotating platform and said, "It really has been nice, seeing all of you again."

He then turned his attention to Raven who, stood over an unconscious Cyborg as she said, "I just want this day to end!" with a bitter smile in addition to a sympathetic and sad expression in her eyes.

"I think we both know this day is far from over" Slade said in a cold voice. Raven looked up in chock and turned her head only to see Slade continuing his speech behind her. "Hello Birthday Girl, Ready for your present?"

'You sure talk a lot today' Raven thought for a second, She then became really infuriated and turned towards him using her powers to form a ravens claw pushing him upwards towards the upper wall of the building with immense force! Hoping it would crush him.

A cloud of dust came from the smashed brick making her unable to se what had happened to him. She flew closer to the dust cloud to inspect and see if she had succeeded in stopping him.

After a short while She still couldn't se anything, which made her turn her back to the fog and made her place her cold palm on her now warm forehead.

The thoughts in her mind about the day, now intense. It was troubling her deeply, and so was Slade. Could this be linked to her father? Could Slade? She didn't need to ask how, as she thought about it, she already knew.

"I Have a message for you" She heard Slade say as he walked out towards her from the smoke he had been in. Raven turned in an instant meeting his sharp blue eyes.

She tried to attack but couldn't as Slade now had a firm grip around her wrist, staring at her with greedy eyes, sending waves of pain through her body.

The pain made her lose focus for a second, which resulted in her fall on to the nearest turning platform like winding wheel.

As she rose from her fall, she looked to her wrist, which now showed the mark of Scath.

Slade whom was now almost excited, was surrounded with his own emitting electricity and stated "It Has Begun!"

He then began to destroy the entire lair making everything explode and fall, forcing the titans to escape for their lives.

Starfire saw Beastboy standing stunned, almost ready to be hit by gigantic falling parts from the surrounding machinery, she hurried down, flying as fast as she could to grab his hand and fly him to safety, before he would have been crushed by a huge metal object.

Cyborg started running for his life, and Robin now standing in the middle of the chaos reached for his grappling hook in the hopes that, that would save him in this tense situation. He swung across the room and landed a few meters behind Cyborg, who was now running from an enormous winding wheel that followed him like a big coin rolling on a table chasing an ant.

Robin started to run as fast as he could feeling the adrenalin rushing through his veins, as he now realized which situation he had now placed him self in.

He ran, and ran not far behind the other titans. He almost caught up to them, but the walkway he was running on, suddenly started to bend and he tripped. A moment went as the wheel got closer, and Robin turned to look at his now grim fate.

As the spike of the winding wheel was about to end his life, Robin took a deep breath in as horror overtook him and he tried to make him self ready for death.

Raven, watching this from the sidelines, she couldn't take the sight of it. She screamed out in grief as she saw a flashing image of her friends dying before her eyes.

She wished that it would all just go away, she whished… for it all just to stop!

"STOP!" she shouted as an immense power flow escaped Raven's body.

Everything seemed to slow down till it eventually came to a halt.

Raven looked around at the still world that now surrounded her. Slade was free-floating in mid air. Beastboy about to turn to a tiger to run away faster, objects that was before about to fall was now hanging free in the air not moving an inch.

Raven started to walk around as she could not believe her own eyes and she asked herself, "How did I…"

Slade suddenly said. "You might be able to stop time Birthday Girl, but you can't stop me!" Slade began to glow a slight orange and began to move. "You can't stop any of it, really! " he said "I have to SAY, Raven, When I found out the truth, I Was very impressed… All this time I had no idea, the POWER lurking inside you." He said as he moved objects in his path towards Raven. "The glories destiny that awaits! " he moved his hand up to his masked chin as if to initiate thinking hard over something as he slowly said "It is always the quiet ones… isn't it?"

Raven didn't care she didn't want to hear. All the thoughts of what her future had in store for her pained her greatly. She slammed her hands on her ears the pain was just to great.

She ran as Slade approached she didn't want to hear any more as he started to speak again.

"But honestly, did you really think you could just run away? Blow out the candles and whish it all away?" Slade asked.

Raven didn't answer she just ran and tried to escape him the best she could.

But he was right behind her all the time only a couple of steps back.

He started to speak again "Today… IS the day it begins…"And Raven began to wonder if he would ever shut up. "You have known this all of your life" Slade continued, he walked closer to her, and Raven who now stood up against a wall had a hard time not facing him.

Leaning in, inches apart from her face, they now stood face to face, the atmosphere heavy. Slade slightly bend over as if to make her face reality, he then spoke again. "It IS going to happen!" he breathed in, then continued, "And no matter what you wish, and no matter where… you go… " He said almost in a pedo style manner. "No matter how you squirm " he continued as Raven turned her head away from his and clenched her teeth and eyes, "There is nothing… you can do… to stop it!"

When the panic left her mind, and she halfway recovered her trauma of Slade in her face, she flew past Slade, and over to where the frozen in time Robin, was almost crushed by the wrenching wheel.

She touched him as if to wake him up with her powers. Then a deep gasp was heard throughout the room as Robin struggled for his last breath. When he realized that he wasn't dying he looked confused at Raven needing answers, asking her, "Raven?"

She frantically looked up as to see if Slade was following. Then helped Robin on his feet and used her powers to form a raven of energy to get them out of there.

Slade just stood there and watched.

Raven managed to get them to a far away street where she released Robin on to the street.

"What's going on? Why is Slade back? Where did he get those powers? " Robin demanded as he sat on the cold asphalt starting to rise, as he looked around him, he asked, "How did you stop time?"

Raven thought a bit about this, she couldn't just tell him the truth. That her father 'TRIGON' gave him back life, gave him powers.

That Slade was after her, for her to open an interdimensional portal to what could probably best be described as hell, or something like it. That she was the key to the end of the worlds as they knew it, and that the place Trigon was going to come from was the way he was going to reshape their world. It would be a world with endless suffering, concurring, screams, and pain.

NO! She wouldn't tell him she couldn't. And heck Slade probably didn't even realize, that what Trigon had promised him, he would never get.

Slade was Trigons little dog, that did his bidding.

Trigon made Slade, one of The Titans most powerful enemies, who usually had a mind of his own, in to a slave of Trigon's will. He was probably blinded by gold fever… metaphorically speaking. Slade was to convince Raven that destroying the world was her destiny. That she was a apart of it, that she had to do this, and not really realizing, that there was NOTHING at the end of the tunnel for him when he had done so.

Raven both laughed and shivered internally at the thought.

Raven was afraid. Afraid of what was to come what she was going to become.

If the Titans realized… If Robin realized… she started imagining… First he would think she was CRAZY.

Then, when he realizes she is serious, he would dig in to it and realize WHO she was, WHAT she was. Realizing that she would probably be hiding more such as her amount of power, ability's, among other things. She wouldn't just be 'good old' reliable, 'grumpy', meditating Raven anymore she assumed. No! She would be different. He would start building up a wall between them, angry that she didn't trust him more, that she didn't have faith in him as her leader, and as her friend. Following his mentor, and there by, shunning all he distrust.

Knowing that her friends would probably follow the same pattern she started to get depressed.

And it would only start there. They would shun her then throw her away… maybe even… HATE her. And she didn't want that. Not from him, not from any of her friends. They would all look differently on her with eyes of distrust and disgust, and she would be left… the one thing that she never wanted. But was now forced to consider as a possibility.

She played it cool, letting no emotions of doubt and sadness creep in on her face as she faced Robin, and would try her best to answer his question knowing she was forced to lie.

She turned away from him and answered in an unsure voice, "I'm…I'm not sure." She looked down at her arm and saw the read glowing marks that Slade left on her disappear.

"I never wanted this day to come, and when It did I just wanted it to stop… I guess I got my wish…" Raven said in a bitter regretful tone.

Robin asked, "What is happening?"

"It's my birthday." Raven answered.

Slade appeared on the roof of a skyscraper close to them looking down at them with eyes of excitement! He was looking forward to tormenting them and having a little fun!

'Two birds with one stone' he thought to himself. 'Thanks to Trigon, I get to torment The Titans and I will have great powers at my possession as I do so, and soon they will be mine to keep for as long as my life permits, and best of all I get my life back' ' I'm tired of being dusty old ashes and bones. I want back what was taken from me, I want… to be complete again'

Slade jumped straight down in front of them.

Robin ran in front of Raven telling her to run, having already realized that Slade was after her. He would try to defend her as long as he possibly could.

Raven ran and Slade never letting his eyes leave her, turned in her direction. Robin ran in between initiating that Slade wouldn't get to Raven unless he went past Robin.

Robin Attacked going in for some lethal kicks to the head as a defense, thinking that would be enough to stop Slade.

Slade let him self get kicked by Robin as if to satisfy Robin's need to vent off, and to give him what Slade considered a fair chance not to look like he was a complete failure in that kind of power class.

Too Robin it looked like he broke Slade's neck several times, and at some weird point, deep down in Robin, it felt good, as if he were in control like he could let go of his previous fear of Slade.

But not underestimating his opponent Robin was waiting for Slade's next move.

Slade recovered in seconds, and a bone cracking noise could be heard as Slade went from a bend over posture till a straight and upright stance again.

Robin wore a horrified expression not believing what he was seeing.

Slade thought with an internal sigh 'I don't have time for this' as he summoned flames from the earth and send them in a beautiful formation, as if to exercise his talents, to hit Robin.

Robin was hit, hit hard. He crashed in too a car followed by flames burning him and adding to the force, it was sheer luck that he survived, only slightly harmed and not too burned.

Raven heard this and turned back for him, she returned to the street she had just previously, seconds ago left in a normal state, now engulfed in flames.

Slade stepped out of them, "I have a message for you, and I WILL deliver it. Whether you like it or not " Raven slowly walked backwards as she began summoning her powers to take care of him.

Raven's thoughts went from saving Robin to crushing Slade. She summoned sewer cables to bind him in place. "The sky will burn, flesh will become stone" he said as he simply pushed the sewer cables away. She threw street items at him. He continued, "The sun will set on your world, never to rise again." He deflected her second attack by exploding the items. He then vanished in to thin air, just to appear behind her.

He grabbed her upper arms as he let her experience the sensation of the multiple waves of unimaginable pain going through her.

"Time won't wait forever, you cant run away from who you are." Slade said as he threw her to the ground.

Raven thought to her self. 'Don't you hear what it is your just saying Slade? You will never gain what you seek from my father. All you are in this moment, Is a notion that I never wanted. A warning of a future that may yet still be. Because of YOU! Why are you so dense, so… imbecile'

She tried to make sense of why a man like Slade would go that far to deliver her a message, that would in no way benefit him self. Slade a man she used to think had more brains then most!

As she was about to stand up while still sitting on her knees she turned her face towards him, eyes glowing white as her power shined through, ripping up parts of the road they were on, the size of cars and crushing him like a fly between two hands.

When she got back on her feet, Robin came back in to mind. As she started running, she screamed for him once. "ROBIN!" Using her powers to lift the heavy cars and artifacts away from the crushed Robin.

While in her search, she tried thinking up ways to escape.

Raven having realized that this was a goose chase between her and Slade, she didn't want to involve Robin anymore. She wanted to find good place for him to hide. While she dealt with Slade which she at the moment did pretty poorly.

She lifts him up, finding out that he was hurt pretty badly. She then had to make him run as fast as he could as she tried to think up a solution.

'Just how much power had her father given Slade?' she asked her self.

She ran in to the nearby church straight ahead of them hoping Slade wouldn't be able to find her, and at some point that the myth of the devil or other "evil" things not being able to enter was true. But deep inside she already knew that it was all a lie, there was no house of god… there only was…!

Blasting the doors open Raven helped Robin inside the church as they walked up the aisle together.

Raven started to imagine all the happy people coming through this room as they were celebrating the joy of their loved ones getting married. She imagined the community helping each other, giving their respect and just general kindness, support and love. A kind of love that were given specifically in these halls. She thought why couldn't it be like that everywhere even outside of these walls. Why did it have to be specifically in here? And why was she forced to do something she never in her wildest dreams whished to do?

Sacrificing her self for the grater Evil…? That sounded kinda wrong to Raven.

As they continued up the aisle Robin let out a sound of exhaustion. He then collapsed on the ground and Raven sat and held Robin gently for a moment before speaking to him.

"I shouldn't have dragged you in to this… any of you. But you're in and you need to know. I need to tell you! …When I was born, they looked in to my future and on this day… the anniversary of my birth, something… is supposed to happen. Something very bad… that's why I… didn't wanna celebrate. But just because you don't have a party, it doesn't mean that it's not your Birthday."

As the birds talked, Slade had in the meantime managed to brake free and was now on his way towards the two titans. Walking outside the church, he cast a dark shadow upon it, as he walked by.

Robin recovering from his collapse started asking about what the symbol on Slade's forehead meant.

Raven didn't want to answer but became a bit happy that Robin kept his sense in a situation like this. Whom else then Robin himself, would be able to note such details while in heavy combat. (An:/yes I know Batman and others… but they are not part of this story at the moment)

The door to the church literally exploded. Robin flinched and smoke appeared. When it faded away, a man of two faces stepped in, Slade.

Slade clapped his hands once and he was now letting the fire run down the aisle separating the birds.

Taking Robin out and then turning to Raven.

Slade was squatting with a wall of fire behind him as he said to Raven.

"It's just me and you now, kid."

Raven ran out of the church back door with a ball of fire chasing her heals, she ran down the alley as Slade appeared in the door opening and sighed, "you are making this much harder then it needs to be"

He created a wall of fire before her and she looked back in terror. "The message must be delivered." he said as he approached her.

Raven took the form of a raven and flew off through the wall of fire letting her pass, before she away from the wall, in mid air turned in to her human form again.

Slade followed flying after her, Raven trying her best to escape found it quite hard. She took cars from the street flung them at Slade, but they either missed or he cut through them.

She looked back to se how much it had delayed him but he was right on her tail.

Now trying to catch her with claws of fire, Raven trying her best to dodge them, and fight back using magic and pure power.

She continued her escape flight in between to skyscrapers and the grabbing hooks disappeared.

Slade though still right on her tail was trapped for a second, because Raven tried slamming the skyscrapers together to trap him but to no avail. He came right at her like a rocket towards its aim. Grabbing her, and flying her in to a buildings rooftop.

A loud crash was heard and a dust cloud appeared. Raven stood up and started to run, but too late Slade had her by the cape and ripped it off her. "What you have concealed you shall become, you have no other choice." he said as she fell. He looked down her in a desperate manner as She then rose back up to fight back, which resulted in him grabbing her arms as she struggled and tried to fight back. They were now standing on the rooftop Raven's clothes ripped in pieces her skin showing, covered in red marks and ancient scrip's of the prophecy. Rage took over Ravens body.

Ravens eyes became white power emitting from her body running towards Slade to attack him almost full force, but Slade just took her wrist and said. "The message will be delivered, your destiny shall be fulfilled" Raven then screamed in pain yet again as waves of pain went through her body.

Days turned to nights, nights turned to days in a split of a second. Raven lost all feel for time as flashes of brainwashing images went through her inner eyes.

Ravens hair grew and her clothes were ripped to shreds even more then they were before leaving the marks of the prophecy even more visible on her body.

She grit her teeth closed her eyes and fell to her knees, holding her arms close to her body hugging her self as if she was cold and in incredible pain.

She opened them again only to be greeted by a vision of death and terror surrounding her, buildings were destroyed, the ocean turned to lava, the sky was red and the world pretty much seemed gray. Which pained Raven inside cause that was not her world anymore, that world was… dead!

As she continued too look around she spotted her Father In the far distance sitting on the couch of the living room on the titans tower. That was to say that his ass covered the entire midsection of the upper part of the tower.

Treating her home, where she had lived with her friends and made great memories, as a common living room chair, angered Raven. How could he come here and ravage her world this way when he knew she cared about it.

Wasn't he her father shouldn't he have some kind of understanding of her feelings? Raven continued to resist him.

The things that hunted her most of all, was the vision of her friends in stone with a suffering look upon their faces, as they were dragged down by clinging people trying to hold on to something as everything turned to suffering.

As she continued to look around she uttered a "No!" This was not what she wanted the world to become; it was not a world she would even have wished upon her worst enemy.

Slade answered with a "Yes…! Look at it. Drink it in, behold the world you are destined to create"

"No I wont do it. This is just a vision, this can't be real" Raven tried convinced herself.

Slade then grabbed her upper arms again and said. "This is the future, your future, it began the day you were born, AND NOTHING CAN STOP IT. This WILL come to pass, I will make sure of it. You are going to destroy the world Raven, it's written allover your face."

"NOOO!" Raven screamed, this absolutely couldn't be she wouldn't accept it, she would fight it, she would find a way.

She emitted immense power that shaped like a raven and caused the vision to be disrupted turning the world normal again and time to flow normally.

Slade held her until her marks disappeared with the moon behind them and the night beginning. Slade got a sudden urge to… drop her. Seeing as he would otherwise have to deal with Robin who he saw from a distance was on his way. And Raven herself was getting heavy he couldn't continue carrying her deadweight as she continued to collapse.

Ravens consciousness was wavering and she didn't feel like she could support her own weight on her own legs anymore, she felt the cold wind stroking her cheeks as she started to fall. The tight grip from Slade seemed to loosen as he said, "We'll be in touch" his voice seemed to fade the last thing she caught was "Oh! and Happy Birthd…" as she fell and she felt a familiar and comfortable presence near by.

Next thing she knew she was laying in Robin's strong firm arms, feeling the safest she had in a while and having a serious erg urge to cry.

She looked at him with big Indigo-blue eyes and almost broke down.

"Lets go home" Robin said in a sweet voice, as he looked at the tormented girl before him. He could tell she wasn't ok, because no one ever was after dealing with Slade for so long.

It took Raven about a minute to leave from Robins embrace, not really knowing what to do with her self after all that had happened.

He generously lent her his cape for warmth and minimal public exposure as he knew Raven would be able to teleport her self home in an instant, any moment now.

Raven began to stand up feeling a little weak reviewing everything she had experienced throughout the horrible moments with Slade.

She stood still for a minute her now long hair floating in the wind. She then looked back at Robin, gave him a Thank full smile and asked him if he would like a 'ride' home. Robin had left his motorcycle at the lair so he said yes since the lair was closer to home then this location across town.

He remembered the familiar feeling of magic and raw power turn him in to just a shadow of him self, or so he felt. It was a cold feeling, as if he doubted his own existence, mixed with an uncontrolled freefall, and a view of wherever you're going. Maybe this was what death felt like…? But he had gotten quite used to it and tried to remain as calm and comfortable as possible under the short amount of time he was to be there. Besides how often does one try such an experience? Just because it's scary doesn't necessarily mean its bad.

As they flew across town Robin began to see that they weren't heading home.

Robin recognized the place as the outsides of the lair they had been in earlier and before he could ask why, she had let him go.

They now stood in front of the lair entrance. The building looked dark, worn-out, and ready to collapse at any time. If it was Slade's intention do destroy mindlessly then Robin would have given him a medal for his accomplishment.

He could see the police and news reporters had already been there, one of them left a destroyed camera cable behind, and the police had taped the hole area, making sure that no one would enter on unofficial business.

Robin looked down at the ground it had rained a slight bit in that part of the city so there was a small pool of water reflecting one of the streetlights and the dark starry night above him. He looked over to where Raven stood not saying a word.

Raven returned the silence by just looking at him then looking to the left. Robin followed her gaze. He didn't understand why they were here.

Robin had wanted to go through the place to check for any clues relating to Slade's reappearance, but first he wanted to make sure Raven was all right and that she was at a safe place that allowed her to rest up and feel good again, before he would dig into the case.

He new she needed her space, and that privacy which was a rare but luxuries thing to have these days, with the media and people all over the social networks going crazy and spinning up stories and gossip about them, could prove a challenge.

"Robin" she said with her usual monotonous voice with a hint of softness.

"Yes" Robin answered in an automatic response.

"You left your motorcycle here didn't you?" Raven asked.

He looked at her a little confused and eyes kinda unfocused, 'wouldn't she rather want to go home immediately?' He thought to himself.

"I almost forgot" she said quietly as she pointed with a long delicate pale finger in the direction she looked. "Do you want to ride it home?" she asked, voice calm and still quiet "I know how much you guys dislikes traveling the way I do."

Robin stared intensely at his bike that he had left there earlier. He then thought about it for a moment, and replied. "It is a bit cold, yes! but I don't completely dislike it, and right now it doesn't feel that bad. He gave her a little smile as he looked at her, "Besides I would rather get you home to a safe place, you need to rest and regain strength" he said in a very strong yet soft and confident voice.

Raven then saw the exhaustion in his eyes and body, that he until that moment had done a very god job of hiding from her.

She felt a bit touched by Robin's kindness and had the slightest of difficulty placing her emotions.

The mixed emotions causing her to make the streetlamp Robin had looked at earlier in the water reflection to explode, and the area around them to turn a slight bit darker hiding Raven's little smile.

"Robin would you sit on your bike for me?" she asked.

"Why?" he replied not understanding what she was thinking.

He did as she had asked and waited for her reply. Still wearing Robins cape loosely she tied it in a little knot around her shoulders. She then walked next to him placing her left hand on his left shoulder swinging her leg over the bike. Now sitting behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist holding on tight, but not as tight so that it would hurt him from his previous injuries.

Robin felt a strange sensation going through his body as Raven almost clung to him. He was about to start the bikes engine, when the bike was suddenly immersed in dark magic.

"I'm not gonna let you drive home in that state" she said with a rare smirk in her voice.

Robin smiled "I can never fool you can I?" he asked in an almost laugh. Now knowing that the cover he had tried so hard to keep up had crumbled miserably to dust. He felt so strange having her protect him when she was the one whom had gone through the worst parts the encounter with Slade.

But it felt nice having a god time with Raven on their way home. this for sure would be a moment he would remember for years to come.

Back at the tower:

Raven and Robin had finally reached home.

The other Titans who had seen them coming went down to greet them feeling that this was the strangest mission they had ever been on.

The garage opened and Raven and Robin hovered in.

Raven placed the bike firmly on the ground and Robin put his leg down as if he was the one stopping the vehicle.

The garage door closed behind them, and in front of them was now a group of concerned faces.

"Where have you been?" Starfire asked in a wavering voice.

"Yeah! We looked everywhere for you" Cyborg said.

"Dude! It was like you just vanished in to thin air or something, don't do a Houdini act on us, and then leave us behind again. We almost thought that Slade had gotten to you and you died in there." Beastboy yelled at them in a loud scared voice.

"And what was that about Slade and his new powers! How did you escape? When we looked for you, you had suddenly vanished and Slade along with you, we used hours looking for you thinking you might have been berried under the machinery and explosions in the lair" Cyborg said.

"I could not believe my own eyes, there was just so much destruction, and I wished not to se my dear friends in such a mess" Starfire said using her arms to hug her self tightly as she stared down to the side.

Ravens mood which suddenly changing from a almost happy neutral mood, now turned to a grim one, as she suddenly lost all remaining positivity in her body being reminded of all the bad that she was soon to face.

"I'm Going to my Room" she said walking towards the elevator not really in the mood to use her powers.

"Wait!" Robin said, but she didn't stop, and she didn't look back as the doors shut behind her.

Robin looked down in regret then looked up a slight bit agitated at his friends. "She doesn't need this now, lets give her a little time." He said in a tense voice, the other titans feeling his anger.

"What happened?" Beastboy then asked again insisting on an answer.

Robin tried to cool down his emotions as he began to tell them all that he had experienced with Raven and the limited knowledge that he had gained.

Raven had just now reached her room and the first thing she did was walk straight over to her bed and dive in to it face first.

She could feel the scars healing on her skin as she reached for her pillow that she hugged intensely.

There she lied for about 10 minutes curled up in an almost a fetal position processing the events of the day, seeing Slade's masked face staring back at her with cold eyes behind her eyes.

She then rolled over on her back and stared intensely in to the ceiling for a minute, before she decided to rise from her bed walk over to her closet to reach for a new fresh set of clothes.

After grabbing the clothes she headed directly in to her private bathroom. As she walked in there was a lingering cent of lavender. She turned on the light to be met with a semi bright light that could be changed according to preference.

The room was fairly large, she had a shaded glass shower on the right of the room with shelves next to it, Shampoo, body shampoo, lotions, creams and essences stored on them, and a very deep big round black tub in the middle of the room with a small table next to it with a couple of good books on it.

There were also sinks in the room with a big mirror over them the sinks round as the tub and comfortable to the touch. On the wall there was a small cupboard with her dental things, medicine and first aid things if ever needed.

And under the sink, cupboards with toiletries and cleaning gear in edition to the rest, which was stored in another cupboard next to her closed of fairly large room inside the bathroom containing the toilet.

She walked to the hooks next to her Shelves stocked with towels small and large. Pastel Blue, Light Purple, a dark Black and, shadow purple was the colors that dominated the towels as she placed her clothes on the hooks. She then leaned over to the side to reach for a big towel that she placed on a long table under her small, thin, long window, which she had shaded for privacy in her bathroom. She was very happy to be able to open her window after her baths, since she loved to steam the room. Not to say she had bad ventilation in the bathroom on the contrary it was excellent even when she used her small glass, steam sauna.

She walked over to the tub put the cork in the bathtub and turned on the water, which now fussed out.

Raven could with the sound of that drown her thoughts and worries of the day. She went over to get some lavender essence, which she mixed with a few others before putting in some soap and giving it a wonderful mixture of somewhat unexplainably good and comforting senses.

As the water continued to rush out the pipes she undressed threw her shredded clothes in the bin, and walked slowly and tiredly over to the bath.

She dipped her toe in to the warm water feeling the temperature. Not really caring about the heat, she just continued in to the bath feeling the water and the foam from the soap consume her body and comforting her with its warmth.

When the tub was filled Raven turned of the water and levitated one of her books over her head letting her eyes glide gracefully and quickly over the words.

But not in the mood for reading, Raven did as Melchior had taught her to do to gain the knowledge from a book quickly, and levitated it back to its place in her room.

Damn that stupid dragon he took all the fun out of reading with his convenient method of stealing and gaining knowledge.

She stayed there for about forty minutes letting her mind wander and then she left the tub for her shower to cool off her body for a second not to become entirely exhausted and tired.

She then grabbed her towel from the table drying of her entire body and reached out for her clothes.

When she was done getting dressed she went over to her little cupboard again reaching for her scissor, then walking straight over to her window opening it and then over to the big mirror.

She looked at her self in the mirror with her newly gained long hair and thought for a second 'should I keep it?' seconds passed by. 'No! To much work!' and she grabbed her scissor that she had just briefly left on the countertop and started cutting. Most people would probably have gone to a hairdresser, but Raven was pretty good at cutting her own hair the way she wanted it and didn't think more in to it.

The bathroom became a bit to hot in her clothes so she decided on cleaning all the hair up and then head for her room to cut of the rest.

When she reached her room, she headed up to the nearest large mirror and cut of the rest.

She was finally done, finally her self again! She looked her self in the mirror, then down at her hands. The ticking of her clock was the only noise that could be heard in the background as Raven stood in silence. She put down her scissor as she stared somewhat satisfied in to the mirror.

She then heard a loud knock on her door. Curious Raven headed for the door, who could it be? What would they want? She asked herself, as she knew she had stormed off in an inappropriate manner.

She opened the door. No one there. She went further out in to the hall. And saw a bunch of arrows leading her to the Titans main/living room.

As she opened the door the light went on and she lifted her arm to cover her eyes.

A loud noise from party horns could be heard and confetti and paper shreds was allover the place in the air and on her.

All of her friends had gathered there in the room yet again throwing her a birthday party.

Raven stood still for a moment staring at them.

And so did they, giving her a little smile before Beastboy said in a more low key then usual, but an excited way "uh… surprise!" as he smiled and wished Raven the best from his hart.

"Look we know you didn't want a party… but after… Today!" Cyborg said holding his famous three-layered cake with 3 types of frosting on it.

Starfire cut in, "We hope that you might reconsider" She smiled.

Beastboy then slide forward. "You may not like your birthday but we are all glad you were born!"

Raven looked at them all for a second. She recalled earlier where they had tried to pull the same stunt of throwing her a birthday party, and her reaction was a little bit too… strong, blowing everything up and ripping everything apart, because they wouldn't take no for an answer. Though… now that she thought back, she really did wanna smack that piñata shaped as Beastboy!

For a moment she looked away from them, then looked back at her teammates again as they anxiously awaited her answer, "we are going to need… ICE-cream!" she said.

Bestboy eyes turned big and his eyes started to sparkle with stars at her words, everybody else almost standing in shock and awe by her remark.

Getting over their temporary stun they ended up putting on a huge smiles and some laughing.

"Coming right up!" Beastboy said as he ran to get the ice-cream.

"I'll cut the cake!" Cyborg said

"And I shall fetch the Thougnarr! " Starfire said half jumping half flying, excitedly to get her crown of meat for celebration.

Robin, the last man standing looked at her with a bit of a serious expression then asked "you sure your okay?"

"I will be!" Raven replied.

Watching Beastboy running with a mountain of ice-cream towards the table where Cyborg was, And Starfire not far behind him flying to the table as well.

"What you told me about your destiny…" Robin said as Raven turned towards him, "That something bad was going to happen… I guess it did. And I'm sorry I couldn't stop it!" he looked down with a frown, sad and angry at him self for being so in capable blaming him self for not being Batman… for not being better.

They stood a bit in silence as Raven thought 'There was nothing you could have done, I'm just happy that you were there as my friend' she smiled on the inside 'but the worst has yet to come, it's not over.'

"No one could" she said a sad expression on her face.

"But I promise we will find Slade. We'll figure out how he did what he did, and why he was after you!" Robin said as he slammed his hard clenched fist in to his palm. "But right now your safe." He said as he held Raven on her upper arms, with a kind supportive face trying to reassure her that she was completely safe with them. He gave her a smile before their moment was ruined by Beastboy shoving ice-cream in to his mouth and making smacking noises.

They both kinda smiled at the situation seeing their friends happy smiling as they were enjoying Ravens party especially Cyborg with the crown of meat on his head.

"You're here with friends… it's Over" Robin said with a smiling face to Raven. Raven keeping her normal façade looked at him as he walked away happily unknowing of the fate that would soon hit them brutally.

When he gained enough distance she looked down at her hands, as marks of the prophecy glowed from the palms of her hand. "No THIS is just the beginning!"

AN/:

Hey everyone this was my first shot at a TT story please comment

This was a bit of a long story so if you made it this far I hope it was worth it.

I would appreciate it greatly if you would give me a bit of your mind and tell me what you think (Maybe even a bit of constructive criticism ^^) since this is my first time writing anything in here, and English really isn't my first language!

I sincerely apologize for my misspellings and other flaws. Also for my heavy leaning on some of the episodes, which I do because, I don't want to change those parts. Don't worry I will try to write more originally soon.

Besides that I hope you enjoyed my story and I will hopefully hear from you in the next chapter!