Title: Cemetery
Author: LusciniaeCantus
Warnings: None
Word Count: 1,976
Disclaimer: Truly heartbreaking, but Teen Titans is not mine. Needless to say, if it was, things would be ... somewhat different. XD
A/N: Thanks to all the reviewers for my last one-shot. I do try to
please. This one is quite a bit more solemn than the last one, but I
hope you enjoy it nonetheless!
Cemetery
Jump City Cemetery was not, by nature, a cheery place. Today, however, the invisible veil of gloom and misery was heightened by the relentless rain pouring from a sky thick with dark grey clouds and the occasional flash of lightning illuminating the long orderly lines of headstones only served to escalate the dismal atmosphere of the cemetery. Water trickled down the headstones, further eroding the already scarred and ancient headstones of the dead. The citizens of Jump had all taken refuge in their homes, lit brightly with fluorescent lights, and were waiting out the thunderstorm with mugs of hot cocoa and cheerful chattering. One, however, was not. A lone figure stood unmoving in the cemetery, seemingly oblivious to the rain soaking her dark purple hair and staining her cloak a darker blue than normal, making it cling solidly to her skin.
Water ran in rivulets down her smooth cheeks to drip steadily off her chin. Eyes two shades darker than the violet of her hair were swirling with suppressed emotions as her gaze rested heavily upon the headstone in front of her. There was a bouquet of fresh, white chrysanthemums lying before the tombstone. The young woman's lips moved in a low, steady murmur. The words that left her mouth were not the customary words of her familiar mantra though. Today, as with this date every year since she came to Earth, Raven Roth stood in the middle of the cemetery, her head slightly bowed, whispering words of an ancient prayer. She mouthed words of loss, longing, sorrow, and hope. And although her words were snatched from her as soon as they left her lips by the howling wind, she continued to stand there, performing the same ritual she had done for the last three years.
She felt his presence enter her awareness before he himself even registered that he'd found her. The Boy Wonder had been running, and running hard judging from the harshness of his breathing. Now he was standing about 3 paces away from her, his masked eyes boring into her unwaveringly. His whole being emanated feelings of anxiety, worry, and finally relief so strongly that Raven couldn't help but sense them even through the barriers she normally erected against her empathy. She gave no visible sign that she'd noticed him, but her chanting stopped as she waited for his inevitable questions.
"What are you doing here?" he asked at last, his breathing still somewhat laboured. Silently, Raven mused that he must've run over half of Jump City if he was that tired out.
"I should be asking you that."
There was a pause at that, almost as if he was trying to figure it out himself. "I noticed you weren't around the tower and came to look for you."
"I can take care of myself."
His mask showed the crease between his eyebrows as he frowned in confusion. The wind had calmed now, though the rain showed no signs of letting up, and the two birds stood in the new silence awkwardly. "I know that," Robin replied at last. And he did. He'd seen her do things that more than proved her capability to take care of herself, but… "I wanted to make sure you were ok." Another pause as he tried to reason out his presence there in his mind. "Is that wrong as a friend?"
It was a rhetorical question so Robin wasn't surprised when he got no response from the Dark Witch, but he had been half hoping for an answer. Did he cross the line between friendship or was it ok that he was worried about her when he couldn't find her and had the sudden, inexplicable urge to know where she was, to see her and reassure himself that she was indeed ok?
He wasn't sure of the relationship between himself and Raven anymore. Before Trigon, the line was clearly defined. They were teammates who respected each other's abilities and understood the other's need for privacy. Friends out of necessity. After Trigon and the mind meld… well, he wasn't sure anymore.
"It is unnecessary," she stated impassively. "I can take care of myself." The last part was said in a near-whisper so that Robin almost did not catch it. It sounded like Raven was trying to convince herself, but the Boy Wonder wisely chose not to point that out.
"I answered your questions Raven, but you still haven't answered mine," he reminded her. "What are you doing here?"
Her lips twitched and tightened, suppressing a frown though she was clearly displeased at his persistence. Which only served to make Robin more curious. "It's none of your business."
"It is if you're going to end up sick and out of commission because you've been standing in the rain with only a cloak and a leotard on," he retorted. His voice softened and he took one step closer to her. "Why are you here Raven?" He took care not to emphasize the 'here' as he took in the tombstone and the bouquet of flowers in front of it. What unknown inner demons drove you here of all places?
Now she did frown, her lips turned down just slightly at the corners and a faint crease appearing on her usually smooth brow. Despite himself, Robin felt his own lips twitch with a warm smile. He was still the only one that she'd allow such unconscious displays of emotions, however small they may be. "I'm here… for her," Raven finally replied slowly. She made no indication as to 'her' might be, but Robin's eyes behind the mask darted to the tombstone she was positioned in front of. His sharp eyes were able to pick out the weathered words easily.
Elizabeth ReevesBeloved mother and cherished grandmother.
May angels fly with you.
Elizabeth Reeves? Robin had never heard of the woman before in his life and certainly never in relation to Raven. And judging by the severe erosion on the stone, this woman was buried long before Raven's arrival on Earth. His confusion escalated. He let his silence speak for itself.
Raven sighed, her intake of breath almost a shudder. For a moment Robin was concerned about her being too cold, but her quiet voice cut off any thoughts he might've had of ushering her home right then and there. "Three years ago today is the day I lost both my mother and Azar because of… him." The dark bird still avoided naming her demon father if she had a choice. "I came here to remember and to pray."
Anyone else would've wondered why she would even want to remember such a traumatic experience, but the leader of the Titans understood. It was memories like this that defined who they were and made them stronger. It was moments like these that had shaped them into what they were and to remember them was to remember themselves and why they did what they did, why they must do what they did. Robin had enough dark memories of his own to understand that perfectly well. So instead he asked her something he couldn't understand. "To pray?" He hadn't prayed since his parents died that day so long ago and he hadn't thought Raven to be the praying sort.
Raven obviously sensed this as well, since her lips quirked up in a wry half-smile. "I was raised among priests, you know." Then her face sobered up again into that blank, impenetrable mask. "But I guess hymn would be more appropriate a word than prayer. It's to honour their memories, but also to let them know that they are dearly missed to those left behind. It is an ancient ritual on Azarath and I'd usually have a half-dozen priests with me while I did it, but…" She shrugged. "You work with what you have."
"But, who is she?" Robin indicated to Elizabeth Reeves' headstone with a wave of his gloved hand.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No," she replied flatly, looking at him for the first time since their conversation started. Her eyes told him clearly that he had a big 'IDIOT' imprinted on his forehead right then. "I thought I had just said that. But, it really doesn't matter, does it?" She turned her deep violet eyes back to the gravestone. "I need something solid to help me remember them properly, something visual and she needed some fresh signs of life in front of her tomb. It's mutually beneficial."
"So… you do this every year?"
"Yes."
"I see." A pause. "I never noticed." The last sentence was murmured half to himself.
"But now you have." Her facial expression did not change, but her voice held a note of satisfaction and gratitude.
"Yes, now I have," he echoed, a soft smile dawning on his face.
The two birds fell into silence again, but this time it was the natural and comfortable silence of close companionship. The rain was now falling with less force, and shafts of sunlight peeked through the thinning cover of storm clouds.
"Hey Raven?"
"Hm?"
"You said that on Azarath, you'd have a more formal ritual with half a dozen priests?"
"Yes. It would be a formal remembrance ceremony with the proper incense and all six priests chanting the prayer with me. Not all people would be remembered so formally of course, but Azar was the High Priestess after all."
"I see." The gears in his head began turning. "Would it be possible for us to get that kind of incense on Earth?"
Raven shot him a mildly curious look. "Probably. It's rare, but not unattainable." Her look turned suspicious. "Why?"
A smile flashed across Robin's face. "Well, I was thinking that maybe we could get some of that incense and we could remember them together. It'd be more formal, wouldn't it? You know… I could be your backup chanter or … something," he ended lamely, his voice having started to trail off. "If you'll let me," he added.
An odd look flickered in Raven's eyes as she regarded her leader. "That would be… nice," she allowed with a slight inclination of her head.
Robin felt himself releasing a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding, and rush of warmth ran through him. "Thank you," he said softly, aware of the enormous amount of faith she had yet again entrusted him with.
She acknowledged his words with an almost imperceptible curve of her lips, her eyes softening from their customary cynical edge. Then a light breeze blew through the cemetery, sweeping across their wet clothing and skin. Robin's earlier frown returned when he saw the small shiver that Raven could not quite contain in time.
"You'll catch a cold," he chided gently with the concern of a leader for his teammate and something more. Stepping forward, he reached out to grasp her hand and began tugging her in the direction of Titan's Tower. She was caught by surprise when his warm hand enveloped her considerably smaller and colder one, and was about to protest when she found herself being tugged out of the cemetery grounds.
Huffing lightly, Raven levitated to his side, keeping pace with the Boy Wonder. There was still a faint mist hanging in the air saturated with moisture, but the sun's rays were streaming down from the sky like endless pillars of light and flooding the rain-drenched world with gold. Jump City had the dreamy quality that a heavy rainstorm brings where everything was quiet and peaceful and it seemed that the usually bustling city was just a sleepy little town on the verge of waking.
And never in a million years would Raven admit that she was happy at that moment, truly happy, to be holding Robin's hand and walking through a world suspended between dreams and reality.
But the truth was that she was.
Truly happy.
Notes:
1) I'm a bit sketchy on the exact circumstances of Arella's death and whether it happened on the same day as Azar or not, but it just seemed appropriate that Raven should mourn and remember the two mother figures in her life on the same day. After all, Azar was like her spiritual mother and Arella was her biological one. At least, that's my spin on it.
2) Another thing is that I obviously have no idea whatsoever how the dead are commemorated on Azarath and everything about the priests and the hymn is pure author's creation. So don't tell me that that's not canon because I am well aware of it.
And that's about all I have to say. Please leave a review if you liked it or didn't like it. If there's anything else wrong with it, like any typos, OOC-ness or grammatical errors, do let me know. )
Happy New Year's to you all!