A woman in a black fitted business dress with her black hair twisted to a low bun stood in front a large painting of a woman. She studied the art crucially as if it held a greater meaning.
She had entered the art gallery located in Gotham on impulse. She had just happened to pass by the place for the third time this week and she finally decided to go in. She didn’t expect that she would be staring at the piece before her for hours.
A man in a black crisp suit stood beside her and stared at the artwork. “Hello miss, I think you are rather entrapped by this piece.”
“Hmm, I suppose I am. I can’t seem to understand this piece.” She simply replied not even turning to the man, who then glanced at her, his green eyes showing amusement. He ran his hand through his black hair, the muscles under his suit seemed to be more distinct due to the motion. It was clear that the man was very fit underneath the crisp suit, the skin that peeked out of his sleeves gave an alluring aura.
“But you must have some kind of opinion on it.” He added putting his hand down and looking back at the art on the wall.
“I don’t quite understand it.” She sighed and glanced at the man beside her, her violet eyes widened slightly as she realized that the man beside her was rather attractive. The faint light from the surrounding gave his bronze skin a beautiful glow that she could not help but appreciate– the paleness of her skin made her think that she was a blank piece of paper, rather insignificant compared to the man beside her.
But she also noticed how dim the place has become since she came in. Her violet eyes brushed past his strong shoulders and she noticed that it was dark outside.
“My how the time seemed to pass.” She whispered as she looked back at the piece, perplexed, this time about how long exactly that she was standing in front of this particular painting.
“Oh you noticed? You’ve been standing on this particular piece for hours.” The man beside her said no malice in his voice. He put his hands behind him still looking ahead. “You must have your own thoughts about this piece?” He added softly unrushed despite her and him being alone in the gallery now.
“It is quite odd.” She began and then shifted her standing position with a leg out and her arms crossed. “It is clearly an image of a woman, it isn’t really that abstract– and yet it brings out a very abstract feeling inside of me.”
“It’s simply an image of a woman, I find it interesting that you see it so abstractly and feel the same about it.” He remarked as he looked at the painting of a woman who was smiling and behind her was green grass, trees and marble ruins.
“It really isn’t an abstract art. I just wonder if this woman is the artist’s muse.” She said and shook her head and they both chuckled at the same time. Startled by the unified laughing, she looked his way and to her surprise he was looking at her too.
“Why would you think that?” He asked sincerely. She was captivated by his gentle green eyes and she blinked a few times embarrassed and looked back at the painting.
“It just seemed that the artist–” She glanced at the plaque. “Damian Wayne captured the beauty of the woman in his eyes.” She said thinking that the name was awfully familiar. The man beside her looked at the art in confusion.
“I personally don’t agree with you.” He said his tone revealing his plain confusion to her statement.
“And why is that?” She asked as she looked at him matching his confusion as she stood up properly.
“I think I should know. I’m an artist.” He said and she was startled. “If you’re implying that the artist is in love with this muse, so to speak, you are gravely mistaken.”
“I don’t think one can make this kind of art if,” She glanced again at the plaque. “Damian Wayne, didn’t feel any sort of affection for this woman. Do you think he’d paint anyone in this way if he didn’t love her?”
“I think I would know if he loved her,” He turned to her. “Hello, Damian Wayne.” He held his hand out to her in a polite manner and he smiled at her shocked expression.
“Oh, I’m sorry– I didn’t–” She stuttered and glanced at his hand that started to look awkward. “Rachel Roth.” She introduced herself as she took his hand. “I–”
“It’s alright,” Damian chuckled, cutting her off. “I like hearing others’ opinions on my work.” Rachel’s face turned pinkish at his words as she let go of his hand and looked back at his work. “But I do admit your statement is something I’ve never heard of.”
“It’s–” She sighed. “I just felt envious of the girl in the painting. Like what would make her look at someone with so much love. You must be a very lucky man then.” Rachel’s tone seemed dreamy but then her dreamy state was broken by Damian’s contagious but sincere laughter that echoed inside the empty gallery.
“I am serious, there is nothing going on with me and this lady in this painting.” He tried to hold in his laughter but she raised a brow at him. “I swear!” He raised his hands up. “I would never paint a lover and put them up in an exhibit.”
“Oh really? Why is that?” She asked him as she stared at him,
“Maybe I just don’t like sharing.” He shrugged a faint smile on his lips as he looked at the blonde woman in his painting, trying to see what Rachel was seeing with seriousness.
It was her turn to laugh, “I see.” She shook her head and gazed around her surroundings.
“You’re the only one left here.” Damian said as he looked at her and saw how she just recently noticed how completely empty the space was.
“I didn’t know– you should have said I was bothering you– I mean that you are close.” Her violet eyes glanced back at him and they locked eyes. He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back.
“But you seemed so engrossed in my work, I couldn’t disturb you.” Hearing this she laughed.
“Shouldn’t the building be closed?” She asked as she looked around looking for security.
“I own the building.” He replied and she froze and she shook her head with a small smile on her lips.
“Now, that explains why I haven’t been kicked out.” She smiled at him.
“Well you have been standing here for hours, and it is quite late, if I may be so bold, would you want to have dinner with me? We can discuss this artwork further.” He offered and she was surprised by the invitation.
She came here out of impulse, she probably should head home.
“Alright, I’d like that.” She agreed unexpectedly. Well she did enter on a whim, whatever happens after could be considered on a whim too. Like having dinner with a stranger, something she would never do on a normal day. He offered his elbow to her and she hooked her arm over his.
“I think you shouldn’t say never, who knows, maybe one day you will have your lover hung on one of these walls.” She smiled at him as he led her out the building.
He laughed at her statement, “I don’t think that will happen, Miss Roth.” To which she silently smiled.
~.~.~.~.~
Almost five years passed by and there by the same wall but with a different painting, stood the same woman with black hair in a bun, but this time she wore pants and a purple hoodie. She was quietly watching the painting of a woman who was in a white dress and standing around water turning around as if twirling with a picnic hat with a white bow. The only feature that was noticeable on the woman in the painting was her soft smile and her long black hair.
“This seems oddly familiar.” A man with black hair and in a black suit said as he stood beside her.
“Hello, Damian. It’s been a while.” She replied with a faint smile still mesmerized by his artwork. “You made a lovely piece.”
“Why thank you, Raven.” He replied and looked at his latest work.
“So, I assume this one isn’t your muse?” She asked with a hint of a jesting tone and he turned to look at her seriously.
“At one point I did tell you I would never paint my muse.” He laughed nonchalantly as he looked at the painting with endearing eyes. “And yet, here I am– showing to the world my muse.” He said as he touched the plaque with his name and the title of his work: My One and Only Muse.
“She must be really lucky.” Rachel replied and he turned to her with a small pout.
“Okay, Raven I played along because you seemed to be in memory lane, but I’m becoming jealous.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at her and she looked at him as she laughed. She raised her left hand to cover her lips and with her fingers tried to hide her amusement. The diamond ring on her finger sparkled as it caught the light around Damian’s new work and she held her laughter.
“I’m sorry,” She stifled her laughter. “But shouldn’t I be the one jealous?” She asked as she took a step forward towards him, a sly smile on her lips.
“No, I don’t like sharing.” He said as he captured her in his arms in an embrace. He rested his head on her shoulder.
“No one can see my face in that painting.” She pointed out as she wrapped her arms around him.
“I’m still a very jealous man.” He whispered as he inhaled her scent.
“Even though we’re going to get married soon?” She asked as she gently pushed him away to gaze at his face. She extended her hands to cup his face. He smiled at her at the thought that he had proposed to this beautiful woman, and that soon she will be his wife.
“I don’t want anyone else to see you the way I do.” He mumbled lost in her violet eyes and her eyes crinkled as she smiled.
“You’re monopolizing me.” She whispered back as she started to lose herself in his green eyes.
“Won’t you let me spoil you?” He asked, his breathing was uneven as his face inches close to hers.
“If you let me do the same.” She answered back as she stood on her tippy toes to become closer to him.
“If it’s you– only if it’s you.” He replied as he leaned closer and so did she.
“Yes, only if it’s you my love.” She said before their lips met.
~.~.~.~.~.
Bonus Scene
“When did you arrive?” Damian asked as he pulled away from their kiss, his voice gentle and his eyes oozing sincerity and tenderness.
“I just arrived.” She replied, the gallery empty except for the couple.
“And you decided to come here first?” He asked as he found himself cupping her face and gently brushing her cheek with his thumb.
“Yes, I decided to come here, to surprise you. I knew you would be here.” She leaned in on his hand as she overlapped a hand over his. “I was quite surprised to see that though.” She added as she opened her eyes and turned her head towards the painting of her.
“It was my surprise for you.” He gently replied with love in his eyes as he stared at the painting.
“I can now clearly see how differently you painted her– seeing this.” Raven smiled dreamily. “Those many years ago, I thought she was your muse,” She looked back at her fiancé, “I stand corrected.”
He chuckled seeing the slight mischief in her eyes. “Oh?” He pulled her closer to him. “I stand corrected too. I swore I would never show anyone my muse, but that is clearly not true anymore.”
Damian pushed her away gently and seriously stared at Raven, “How was your business trip Miss Roth?”
Raven pulled away from him and laughed. “Well you ruined my surprise, I thought I’d walk here and cover your eyes and say: Guess who? And then we laugh.” She hugged him and rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. “But this, this feels much better.” She added as she looked at the painting of her.
“So, this is how you see me.” She whispered in a dreamlike state and she felt his chest vibrate as his soft laughter entered her ears.
“It’s only you, I see.” He whispered back and she smiled at his words.
The couple was very thankful for their chance meeting in Damian’s gallery. They finally found that special someone they had talked about the first night they met. And soon, they will be waking up beside each other as spouses.
Bonus: Their First Dinner
“Actually, my mother calls me Raven.” Rachel said as she leaned forward a bit, clearly tipsy from the wine and she laughed.
“Raven?” He said, thinking that it was a very unusual nickname. “And why is that?” He asked as he watched her giggle at herself.
“I’m actually not that sure–” She laughed and he couldn’t help but laugh, finding her laughter contagious.
“At least you have a nickname.” He tried to reassure her and she stopped laughing and stared at him seriously.
“No. Way.” She pointed at him, her vision slightly blurry. “How can you not have a nickname!” She shook her head and he laughed.
“I do, it’s just– it…” He sighed and she stared at him intently.
“It’s not coming from a special someone.” She simply said in a somber state. The both became quiet and then Rachel suddenly gulped down her remaining wine. Damian’s eyes widened as he stood up.
“You shouldn’t drink anymore!” He said as he took the wine bottle away from her reach and she laughed at his reaction.
“I can drink a bit more.” She said in a slurred manner.
“Uh, no you cannot, Rachel.” He said as he shook his head.
“Call me Raven.” She whispered as she rested her head on her hand. He looked at her a bit startled by her suggestion before he could refuse her, she smiled and leaned forward.
“I insist.” She said softly as she rested her hand over his hand that was holding the wine bottle. His eyes widened at the sudden physical contact and he looked at her earnestly.
“Alright.” He heard himself reply in a soft tone and he too was startled by his response, something out of the norm.
She smiled at him with affection and he found himself reciprocating the same thing. Today seemed to be filled with unexpected things, responses that would never be their norm. But both parties were extremely thankful for going out of their comfort zone.
FIN.
~.~.~.~.~
Author’s Note:
I placed the bonus scenes because initially I wanted this fic only up to them talking again five years later. But then, I created the bonus scenes which break off from the initial way I wanted the fic written, but it does add to more depth to the story. Hope you enjoyed it!
‘There she was again at the foot of her bed, in her room in the Titans Tower—weeping. It was like she was grieving. But knowing her—she probably was.’ Damian couldn’t help but think as he stood unmoving by her bedroom door.
Raven’s head was buried into her hands as she cried.
This again. How many times has Damian seen Raven like this? How many times had he come and comforted her?
Raven noticed someone’s presence inside her bedroom. And she knew that there was only one person who would come into her room in the state that she was in.
Damian Wayne.
Damian Wayne who is the leader of the Teen Titans at the age of nineteen, which Raven had been a member for seven years and at twenty-one she has been one of the longest active team members, alongside Garfield or also known as, Beast Boy.
'Garfield. It has to be him again.’ Damian thought bitterly as he gazed down on the floor with a darkened gazed. And how many times had he comforted her over him? Of all people, how many times had he comforted her over Garfield?
“Damian?” Raven called out in a broken sob as she wiped her tears and glanced to her left side to find, and to no surprise, that it really was Damian who was inside her bedroom. Garfield would never come to comfort her after their arguments, she came to realize at some point, the one that did that was Damian. When she met his blank gaze after he looked up from the floor, she couldn’t help but give a faint smile and cried again.
“We broke up again.” She cried into her hands and in response to her words, Damian just clenched and unclenched his right fist. Of course, Raven would not feel the turmoil he was feeling and had not seen his reaction. She always failed to notice him.
He wandered very frequently, like right now, if his existence held any weight to her at all. If he was someone that would make her react the way she was, about a man who didn’t see her value the way he did.
“And what? This is for the nth time. Am I supposed to be surprised?” Damian said in a rather cold voice laced with something else he couldn’t identify at that moment. But his breathing was uneven and yet Raven still didn’t notice as she stopped crying and stared at him- and he regretted his tone. He regretted making her look so broken and hurt and he simply just wanted to undo how he had said his words. But the thing was—he meant it, with every beating of his aching heart.
“You don’t understand.” Her voice comes out so weak that his heart sunk for her or maybe for him. “This time—” Raven’s eyes widened a bit. “This time—it’s for real. No more do-overs. No more makeup. This time—” Raven started to hyperventilate. “This time we’re really done.”
And saying the words aloud—despite it not actually being loud enough perhaps because of how broken and in pain she was, made Raven realize how true the situation really is. Only a tear slipped down her left eye as she sat there frozen and very unmoving. The situation sinking deeper into her soul.
This time it’s for real. The words echoed in both their heads, and yet their emotions towards those words were quite different, almost opposite.
How many times had he heard that-was he supposed to believe it? But seeing her empty gaze and unmoving body—he knew—that this really was for real. And in Damian’s mind he had already reached out to caress her face to comfort her.
There was a small amount of happiness in the back of Damian’s mind as opposed to Raven’s sheer grieve over those words: This time it’s for real.
'Until that 'for real’ becomes another lie.’ Damian’s mind couldn’t help but whisper to his heart, the small glimmer of happiness damped just as quickly as it came. He shouldn’t even find happiness in her sorrows.
“He says he’s leaving the team— he’s going to join Young Justice.” Damian was surprised to hear this as the information had not gotten to him yet. “He told me not to follow him—because this really is the end of the line for him and I.” She pressed her lips together.
He didn’t know what to say, how to comfort her at this moment. He stared intently at her but with as much a gentle gaze he could offer. If what she said was true, perhaps this was his chance. He shook his head, to shake the thought out as it should not be the priority now but he couldn’t help it. His heart has become so weary.
“Raven.” He called out to her as he approached her slowly. Her eyes flickered to meet his gaze and as she did so, silent tears fell from her eyes again. “Maybe that is a good thing.”
And Raven did not take it well. What did Damian mean? Her tears fell faster as she broke into a sob, she covered her mouth with her right hand, unaccepting of what he had just uttered to her.
“Raven.” He called her again, as he sat beside her and touched her left hand with his right hand. “This could be a good thing. You can finally let someone take care of you the way you deserve.”
This wasn’t what she wanted to hear and it wasn’t what she expected to hear from him.
Of all the times Damian had comforted her over her numerous break-ups with Garfield he had never—ever—said such a thing to her. And she felt as though he had punched her yet all she could do was wept loudly in response.
Damian sighed and hesitated to hug her, but eventually was able to wrap his arms around her shaking form. It was not the tightest hug he could give, but it was all that he could muster to give to her. And this time he couldn’t help but wonder if she could hear his aching heart from such a close distance.
“I love him, Damian.” She wept as she gave him a tighter hug and Damian flinched at the words she spoke. But of course, Raven failed to feel it, just like the pain that he was clearly resonating from deep within his bones and soul.
Love? Damian wanted to snicker at her and yet it was also something that would be directed at him.
“Have I not tried everything to please him? Where have I failed?” She pulled away from his embrace, the distance between their faces only a mere two feet away. Her hands were on Damian’s chest as she looked up at him. “Am I not enough?” She sobbed as he furrowed his brows at the words he knew to be so ridiculous to hear.
Not enough? He felt the anger that he had buried a long time ago shimmer from very deep within him.
“Is my love not enough? Is this why he never chooses me? Didn’t I try everything to please him? Do I not deserve love? Is this why I’m always—just—I’m never chosen?” She ranted as her left hand wrapped around Damian and her forehead rested on the back of her right hand that was on Damian’s chest over his heart. And Raven continued to cry. Her words reflected the way he had been living for how many years now.
He silently bit his lip. Even though her hand was already resting so firmly over his heart, she still couldn’t feel or hear his heart breaking at that very moment. How many times had he let her break his heart over and over again?
“You call this love?” He whispered unexpectedly. And when Raven pulled away to look at him with confusion on her face—Damian understood that he had spoken his thoughts aloud. He can’t take it back now. He looked down at her, mirroring her confusion but water was pooling on his lower eyelids.
“How can you call this love?” He said in such a low voice with plain disbelief and confusion. “How many times have you cried over Garfield? How many times have you said you two will never get back together—and yet somehow you get back together—despite how many times he has hurt you. But you hurt him too—but still—the pain you two inflict on each other—when will it be enough?”
Raven felt like he had dumped cold water on her and as Damian looked at her expression- even, he had felt that he had dumped cold water on her.
His mouth quivered as he contemplated whether he should take it back-of how he should take it back. But he had meant every single word and Raven’s face was ashen from his words. She took in three long breaths controlling the ache in her chest. She found that at this moment, she was more hurt over what Damian said than over her breakup with Garfield. Damian wondered when his cycle would come to an end.
“How could you say that?” It came out barely as a whisper and her grief over her break up had become forgotten. She wiped the tears off of her face, as she completely pulled away from Damian by standing up from her bed.
“How could I?” He asked with a broken laugh as he stood up to face the door, Raven behind him as he secretly wiped the tear that slipped out of his eye. “How could you not? How many times have you two broken up in the span that I have been a part of the team? Let’s not count when I wasn’t part of the team! How can you—” A pause as he controlled his temper and the tears that wanted to fall. Damian closed his eyes as he deeply inhaled. When his green eyes opened there was a coldness befitting a son of an assassin and he turned to look at her.
“You two—not respect one another enough to just call it quits the first time—or maybe by the third time of your break ups. Why would you—you two—drag out this pain for all these years?” Damian’s voice had a hint of suppressed tension in it. And Raven laughed at his rant, but the laughter sounded so resigned that Damian’s heart couldn’t help but flinch. She had looked away from him as she continued to laugh.
“Of course, you wouldn’t understand how I feel!” Raven paused from laughing to stare at his green eyes coldly trying to compete with the indifference he was showing her. “I can’t believe that I had thought you understood me—I can’t believe I expected you to understand!” Another fit of broken laugher. Damian clenched his fist at her words. The disdain she had for Damian—he felt. And yet she still did not see his feelings- she still did not feel his feelings. How his heart at this moment was aching because of the love he had for her that he could never say out loud.
“I knew him for seven years Damian! Seven bloody years! And I love him. I love him so, so much.” And Raven could not help but start to cry again. “I love him- for seven years.”
It was a fact, it was undeniable. It simply is. He smiled brokenly at her, the indifference gone.
“Time does not guarantee that you are meant to be with someone.” Damian said it so simply and when the words fell on Raven’s ears—she froze.
“Why are you doing this?” She whispered not expecting an answer, as she simply had just spoken what was in her mind. She really did not expect this from Damian.
“Just because you know someone for a long time and love them just as long—it doesn’t mean you could not love someone with the same intensity even when you just met.” He continued on his voice soft and in a very resigned manner, and yet Raven wanted to scream at him and ask why he was continuing on.
Why was he doing this?
Her heart was aching enough already. Why were you adding to that? She wanted to say but found her lips could not form those words.
“Get. Out.” Raven heard herself say after a minute had passed, it came out softly and with no weight to it. Damian looked at her with evasive eyes. “Get Out.” She said a bit more firmly to which Damian stood unmoving with furrowed brows in front of her.
He seemed like he wanted to tell her more, but Raven did not allow him to. She wouldn’t let him break her heart again. Why did this feel even worse than her breakup?
“Get Out! I said get out!” She yelled. Damian glared at her with his jaw clenched and hands in a fist. She tried to match his anger as she glared back. But Damian knew he was at a loss, he would give anything to make her happy. And so he concedes and leaves quietly out of her bedroom. Before the door was fully closed, he heard Raven fall on her knees and wept again, muttering something he couldn’t quite catch.
“I love him- for seven years…” She whispered and repeated. She wondered for a split second if she was trying to convince herself of this fact. And she continued to grieve alone in her bedroom.
~.~.~.~.~
Damian was in the gym room of the Titan Tower. He was punching a sandbag with wrapped hands. He had been at the gym for a few days straight to vent out —in fact since his first failure at comforting Raven over her break up. He had tried to be unbiased, but everyone had a tipping point and Damian Wayne simply hit his tipping point on the matter.
Even so, he tried to act accordingly as the leader of the Titans. He had started comforting Raven in the pretense of his obligation as the team leader. But maybe it wasn’t a pretense—and if so—when had it started becoming a pretense? When did he start convincing himself that it was part of the duty as the leader? When it was clear-looking back- that he had a weak spot for Raven and that he gave her special treatment.
Raven and Garfield appeared to be as civil as they could around each other after their recent breakup. And finally, Garfield had talked to Damian about leaving the team. Something about moving up the ladder. And God hearing that made Damian want to punch the man.
What did that entail 'moving up the ladder’? Did Raven not fit Garfield’s desire—is that why they broke up this time around? She wasn’t too high up that ladder? But Damian never voiced out the thoughts that invaded him as he heard Garfield say what he did.
In fact, Damian tried not to comment about Raven and Garfield’s relationship, or lack thereof, just as he always had but the same could be said with anyone else. He tried to be as much of a team leader as needed be—and he did not—absolutely did not mention their personal romantic relationships with one another unless it was to remind them that he does not wish for it to affect the group dynamic. And maybe that was what led him to comfort Raven the first time around.
Damian valued the team dynamic too much just for a couple to ruin it. But when it was Raven who was so upset over her relationship, he would find himself in front of her door and then in her room, comforting her the best he could and with more effort than he would if it was someone else.
After Raven kicked Damian out over what hopefully was the last break-up of Garfield and Raven, Damian went out of his way to avoid Raven in the most casual and indifferent way possible. It almost bordered normalcy and yet it was clear that something had changed.
“Damian.” A familiar voice called out to him, but he did not hear it as he was focused on his punches.
“Damian.” He paused and Damian steadied his sandbag and turned to look behind him with furrowed brows.
“Raven.” He greeted simply and was about to continue punching the sandbag again. But she called out to him again and he sighed.
“What is it?” He asked indifferently and with a sharp edge, his hands on the sandbag, keeping up the appearance of steading it.
“I’d like to apologize.” He raised an eyebrow, shook his head and mock punched the sandbag and it swung a bit.
“You don’t have to—” He steadied the sandbag. “I should be the one apologizing.” His eyes do not look at her though.
“I suppose.” She said quietly after what felt like a minute had passed in silence with no apology from Damian. “But you made a good point.” He stiffly nodded, the apology he has been meaning to say was at the tip of his tongue. Another minute passed in silence.
“I know you’re looking out for the team. Thank You.” She said quietly, waiting for Damian to respond but he just nodded again and another minute of silence.
“I—I think I will take your advice—” Advice. She had called it advice; Damian’s eyes looked up at her. He was surprised to see her violet eyes look at him intently with patience. “I—I should move on—close that part of my life. Start a new book.” Damian’s right eye twitched in surprise. The apology he had been meaning to say still stuck in his mouth.
She smiled at him and she nodded and then did a 180 turn on her heel.
“I’m sorry.” He finally said but it was only a whisper. His disappointment and anger in his own inability to apologize properly made him clench his right knuckles against the sandbag, as his eyes followed her back. For a moment he thought she froze on the spot, but she continued to walk away.
'No. She had heard. But she did not give me a hard time over it.’ Damian thought as a faint rueful smile found itself on his lips.
She deserved so much better. He sighed aloud as he looked up at the cieling.
~.~.~.~.~
'Why was I back in this situation again? Had she not said that it was over for real then? I guess today is the day it finally became a lie.’ Damian stood inside of Raven’s bedroom as if he had seen a ghost.
Last time he was here—she was twenty-one. Now he is the twenty-one-year-old and she is twenty-three. Two years had passed since the last time he was in this situation—in her room—watching her cry herself raw on her bed.
And yet Damian knew—it has to be about him again.
Garfield.
His right eye twitched at the thought. An empty smile on his lips as he looked at Raven sob.
'Didn’t you say it was over—so what is this.’ The words never came out of Damian’s lips, but it almost had but she felt his intentions. And if Damian had known that his thought had been conveyed to her through his emotions—then maybe he’d think: for the first time she finally noticed my feelings.
Raven noticed that Damian had entered her room—how could she not with what he was emitting. It has been so long since the two were in this situation. It had been two years to be exact. And she felt guilty—because the last time he had comforted her in here—she said her and Garfield were really done.
And here she is—the proof of a lie.
“I—” Raven tried to muffle her cries but failed. “Him and I—we hooked up.” And to Damian those words were crushing but not as crushing as what the word 'hooked up’ entailed. Was she—she couldn’t be— “And so we secretly dated after that.” Damian couldn’t help but sigh when he heard her say that.
It wasn’t as bad as the thought of Raven being pregnant. He thought that he must be an awful person for thinking such a thing.
“But then… does that mean—” Damian looked at Raven in confusion, piecing something together in his head. How long has she been lying?
“For almost a year.” She softly sobbed as she wiped a tear away. Damian felt like he had been punched. A year. He had been trying to make her happy for two—but that one year—that half time he placed in effort, even when it was masked mostly as group activities—was happiness that Damian was not able to give her—but Garfield had.
And Damian simply saw the truth of the matter, the recent year when Raven seemed even more happier than the last—it was not because of him. He should have known. No—he must have noticed—Ah. That is right. He had seen the signs but chose to ignore it.
“Isn’t he with that girl named Terra?” Damian asked softly, quite blindsided by the truth. Raven nodded in response and he felt that same old anger he had not felt since that time two years ago—in this room, seeing her nod to his question- return to the surface. A symbol of agreement resulted in an anger that had been buried which was now reignited.
“But they had taken a break when Garfield and I got back together.” She quickly added before he could say something and oddly enough that subsided a bit of Damian’s anger. “It was just a hookup, no attachment. He was upset and hurt and I was lonely—and we knew each other well.” Raven had stopped crying at this point and was picking on her fingertips looking for hangnails with furrowed brows.
She sighed as she looked up at her ceiling as she let her silent tears fall, “It wasn’t supposed to mean anything—”
“But the love you had for him was reignited, right?” Damian couldn’t help but cut her off with a bite in his tone. And he chuckled—it was empty and shallow. “So, what is it this time? Am I supposed to be surprised you broke up again? Well this isn’t the first break up you two had—and last time surely wasn’t the last!” A hollow laugh came from Damian as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
“God, how stupid!” Damian suddenly yelled and Raven stood up to glare at him.
“How can you call me stupid! I loved him whole-heartedly for seven years and I continued to love him for two more—you don’t forget that. Even when it’s muddled—it’s a fact that I have loved him for so long and invested so much into him—into me—for him and me- us. And even when we broke up—I will always love him. He will always have a special place in my heart.” Raven paused to calm herself, the words she was spilling felt as thought she was stabbing herself too. “Even when he broke up with me now—because he realized he loves Terra.” She bit her lip and Damian looked at her like she was the stupidest person on earth.
Damian suddenly laughed, it was a rather wholehearted laughter and yet it held such muted grief.
“You think I called you stupid?” He looked at her in the eyes, and something about his stare hinted to a degree of insanity. “You actually think I called you stupid?” He shook his head with a faint smile on his lips as he glanced at the space beside her. “I’m the one who’s stupid!” Raven took a step back in confusion as she studied Damian with a knot in her chest—she thought that Damian looked a little mad.
“I like you! For the longest time, I have liked you!” Raven looked at him as if he had grown an extra head. “I might even actually love you—but what do I know—after all—you said it yourself: I don’t know what that is like!” Raven looked at him thinking when had she said that, and she realized it must have been the last time they were in this room together when he was comforting her. She had opened her lips to tell her that: that was not what she had meant, but Damian continued on.
“But you never noticed my feelings for you! I was just a fly in comparison to Garfield. Maybe if I wasn’t three years younger than you—then maybe you might take me seriously! Or maybe if I had known you first than Garfield—then maybe you would actually look my way!” Damian’s stare had started to become a hateful glare. “You know when you two broke up for reals-” He said mockingly. “I thought that maybe—maybe—this was it. This was my chance to get you to notice that I have liked you for the longest time. Maybe this was the moment you would let Garfield go and let someone else show you—just how much you deserved to be treated. How special you are to that one person—how important you are to at least one person.” Damian’s angry glare softens into resignation.
“It didn’t have to be me. It could be anyone.” He paused as he pressed his lips and squeezed his eyes shut for a second and he looked at her again. “That is fine. I don’t think I deserve that kind of special someone to dote on—and love me.” He paused again, but Raven didn’t know what to say as he looked down on the floor. “But I wanted you—” He looked back at her again with mournful eyes. “I wanted at least for you, to be happy. I wanted to know that all the years you spent crying over some stupid guy over a stupid little thing because of a stupid relationship—is happy. I wanted that for you.” He pressed his lips together as he shook his head and evaded her shock eyes.
And then the silence allowed the two to think of what had just happened. It gave Damian the time to really process what was happening—what he had said and he was shocked at what he had done.
No.
He had just confessed to her.
No.
He looked up at her with a shocked expression, his eyes so wide in realization. He had said aloud the thoughts that have been plaguing him for years, the glimpse of how his thought process has changed as Raven’s relationship with Garfield became a bane of his existence—of what he thought was also her’s and Garfield’s.
Damian’s face paled, wishing he could take back what he had just said and done. The secrets and frustration he had held in was finally said. And it sat between them rather heavily.
“I—” They had both spoken at the same time and a pause followed. Damian stared at Raven, unsure who had spoken—was it her or him. Before anything else could be said and done, Damian stormed off with his fist clenched and with long strides close to a dash.
Damian had been punching the sandbag aggressively for almost two hours now following his confession. He was embarrassed and frustrated. And thinking of so many ways to take back what he had said and done. Prior to those thoughts, he had evaluated how he could have handled the situation better.
Damian gave the sandbag a very powerful right punch that the poor weakened sandbag gave in to the hit. His fist was inside the sandbag and as he was about to pull his fist out, the sand spilling out from the hole, he heard Raven calling his name. He turned to his left to look at her with furrowed brows, and her eyes shifted from him and the sand pouring out from the sandbag, her expression worried.
Raven had been calling out to Damian a few times already before he had noticed her. If Damian knew he would be greatly disappointed with himself.
“Damian…” She started at Damian’s fist that was still half inside the sandbag.
“Look—forget what I had said. I said it to distract you. I did it as my obligation as the team leader.” He said coldly as he fully retracted his fist from the sandbag, more sand poured out from his action. He looked away from her as he checked his fists for damage. He was surprised to see that he had bruised and had cuts on his hands. His right hand had the most damage.
“No.” Raven said as she took a step forward, he turned his head at her with a glare. Raven does not back down. “We need to talk about this.”
Damian was contemplating how to bolt from this situation and Raven could tell his intentions. So, before Damian could act about his thoughts, she grabbed his fists and he flinched.
“Seriously, we can’t have our leader’s fists injured.” She said as she checked his injuries up close, turning his fists in her hands, taking her time. He was quiet but his jaw was locked and his brows so closely knit to each other.
“I—” Raven looked up at him, straight into his eyes and Damian was startled as his eyes met hers. “I had noticed your feelings before.” She softly confessed and Damian’s fists clenched, before he could yank his hands away from hers- Raven firmly held his hands in hers. “I had noticed.” Her expression seemed to have glazed over and she sighed aloud and dispelled her thoughts.
“I had noticed. But it became overlooked as I was more focused on—other things—” And for a moment her eyes glazed over again. “On Gar.” A sad smile on her lips.
“His love overshadowed your little crush on me. I—focused on him and me so much that anything else was just white noise. I forgot that you had a crush—it was just an afterthought that was forgotten.” To Raven, Damian looked as though he wanted to yank his hands off of hers and storm off, but with clenched jaws he fought not to. “And I am truly sorry.” She said as she healed his hands.
Raven licked her lips and pressed it together but her eyes looking at the ground, “And—yes—our age had been a factor – why I didn’t take you seriously. There was one time that I considered the possibility of dating you. And our age gap-” Raven made a displeased face. “bothered me. And three years, I know it isn’t much,” She glanced at Damian. “But it’s undeniable that at some point I was of legal age and you weren’t. And that—that unsettled me. But mostly—it’s because of my love for Garfield- that made me always overlook your crush. And—I really am sorry.”
Raven was looking at Damian with wavering eyes, she felt guilty, but she was also very sincere on her apology.
'This,’ She thought. 'is the final push I needed to really move on from Gar.’ As she lets go of Damian’s hands.
“I hope, everything said and done today—doesn’t affect our relationship—in fact I hope it clarified the things between us.” Raven said dispelling the guilt she had. “You are a great leader Damian, you always think of everyone, and I guess that is why you never said or did anything that could be permanently damaging to the team.”
With that Damian buried the thoughts that he was having, like did he have a chance to be with her now? No—Raven is right—he couldn’t risk the team dynamic. But he also came to love her a little bit more. She seemed to always see something more in him, things he could never see in himself.
'It’s probably why you never attempted to confess to me—to not add to the mess that was Garfield and me.’ Raven had mulled over in silence with a smile that was neither sad nor happy. Which made Damian curious if it was a smile out of happiness or sadness because then he would know the meaning behind her smile.
~.~.~.~.~
Three months after Damian’s sudden confession, Raven took the initiative to go to Damian who was in his bedroom.
It was rather late at night but she had made a decision already and wanted to tell Damian at that very moment. The room was rather dark but they were both used to it, their eyes adjusted well or maybe even better at the dark.
After Damian’s confession, their relationship was rather strained- how could it not be with such a revelation? But the two worked hard to flatten out the strain and finally they were in a position that was back to normal but never quite the same. But it was perfect—in the oddest way—it was perfect and they were content.
“Damian, I know it’s late…” Raven rubbed her left elbow with her right hand. “But with everything that has happened these past few months—I know I have to tell you this now.”
Hearing this Damian was worried. “Please Raven, continue.” He said as he pats the space beside him, on his bed. But she shook her head in rejection and she avoided his gaze. He understood that the words she was going to say were difficult on her part, and he waited patiently. He quietly observed her as she chewed on her lips and finally sighed.
“I’m planning to leave.” The oxygen in Damian’s room felt like it wasn’t enough for him to breath. And Raven instantly became worried seeing him in a mix of shock and fear. She approached him cautiously, her hand extended towards him. Raven was two steps away from Damian when he suddenly shot up to his feet and she froze as she studied him.
Damian was ashen, his jaw clenched and his fists flexing, but his eyes that were on her—seemed to go through her and in his green eyes she saw him shredding his initial reaction into oblivion. He closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath and when he exhaled, that was when Raven found herself unfrozen and had touched Damian’s arm. She looked up at him, a fear in the base of her throat that felt like it was going to burst, but he only glanced at her in silent confusion.
“I don’t plan to leave now—I was just making you aware that I will—maybe in a few months.” She blurted out, in order to speak before Damian could. “I think it’s for the best—it’s still kind of hard to see Garfield. Especially now—no maybe particularly now—because I really want to move on from him.”
“He will always affect you.” Damian whispered with the smallest hint of resignation. And before Raven could acknowledge it, he added, “It can’t be helped, our team and Young Justice cross paths now and then—and recently it seems to be more frequent.” His tone was that of a firm leader that Raven completely forgot his previous remark.
“Yes, that is exactly it.” She softly agreed. In the silence that followed she realized that she was still resting her palm on Damian’s arm, she pulled away quickly and looked away from his general direction.
“I’m not planning to leave anytime soon—so you really don’t have to worry about my replacement yet.” She said jokingly but he only quietly nodded as he observed her.
Not even a week after Raven’s revelation of leaving due to the difficulty of seeing Garfield, the three found themselves in a room in the Titan Tower. Damian was standing in front of Garfield while Raven stood by Damian’s left side with her arms crossed over her chest. A rather strained triangle was formed between the three.
“We need your help on this Damian, I’m here to try and convince you.” Garfield said as Damian took notes on Raven from the corner of his eyes. She looked as neutral as she could, but he knew that she must be having difficulties seeing him so soon— with Garfield acting as though him and her were not a thing a few months ago.
“I don’t think I need convincing, Garfield. If it’s an order from the league I cannot say no to it.” Damian simply responded.
“Well, that is true, but I guess I am here for formality’s sake.” He replied but his eyes glanced at Raven, who had caught his eyes and so did Damian.
“Raven is my right hand, and she has been in the team the longest. We will discuss how we can best assist and inform our team.” Damian firmly decided, Raven nodded her head, arms still crossed.
“Oh—well—” Garfield glanced at Raven then Damian, “I thought maybe I could—”
“We need to discuss how best to help as soon and as quickly as possible.” Damian cuts in, and Raven nodded again silently. Garfield at this point is blatantly looking at Raven. He had intended to try and talk to her, but it seemed that she did not want to.
“I—” Garfield had begun to say.
“We will contact you Gar.” Raven quietly said before Garfield could say anything else.
Maybe she did want to talk to him, it’s just that they were more focused on the mission and intel he had just provided. Garfield thought as he nodded absent-mindedly.
Damian turned to leave and Raven followed before the conversation between the three could be dragged out by Garfield.
Damian walked quickly to his room and Raven followed absent-mindedly. When they arrived in Damian’s room, Raven just stood in the center blankly. Damian cleared his throat.
“I know this isn’t the best place to bring you in—” She heard him say and she glanced at her surroundings, realizing where she was. Damian had led her to his bedroom. “But you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to.” Raven simply shook her head.
“No. I am a part of this team; I am just as responsible as you are Damian.” And he knew her well enough to know that Raven had made up her mind, and that she will not change her mind. If only he had known then, what would happen in the mission- because he had allowed her to go, then maybe things would be different for him and her.
“I know you wanted to leave because of Garfield—and this happens—if you ever want to leave this mission half-way, I totally understand.” Raven looked at him with a gentle gaze, glad for Damian’s thoughtfulness. But this was work, she should be able to do this mission. And maybe—this should be the last. And she nodded as she responded to his offer, little did Damian know that Raven was thinking of having this as her last and final mission as a Titan.
A good way to end a bad relationship she supposed—working one last time with an ex she was trying to avoid.
“I need to call in for a team meeting.” Damian sighed while shaking his head and putting a hand on his forehead. And she smiled faintly at him, but her mind steered back to a green skinned boy, she still knew she loved.
~.~.~.~.~
Damian did not expect things to turn out like this. They were pushed in a corner, the creature facing his direction trying to spot anyone on his side. Tim was somewhere behind the creature tending to a team member who had fallen. Damian was unsure if Tim was tending a Titan or a member of the Young Justice team from his hiding place behind a car.
Terra attacked the albino twenty-foot creature. And Raven who was on the far side of Damian’s general left area, heard Terra’s battle cry. The next thing Raven knew was a knot in her heart as she heard Garfield who was in vulture form, screaming Terra’s name.
Raven instantly stood up from her hiding place and ran to the center still very far from Damian. Raven saw Terra’s body flung towards her general direction and Raven catched her by putting a shield around Terra which slowed and protected her from a dangerous fall. But the act left Raven extremely vulnerable.
Garfield had landed near Damian and shifted back into human form. Raven’s eye caught the black eyes of the creature—if you can call them eyes. And she realized what it was about to do, she placed a force field around herself quickly as she reprimanded herself for her stupid move of going out of her hiding place to help Terra out. She knew completely that her decision was impaired due to Garfield screaming Terra’s name with such fear. She hated herself for being affected by it.
She hated that she still places him in high regard.
Suddenly—it was quiet. Raven’s face twisted into confusion. The shield around her was up, so why did she feel the blood drain from her? She felt rather weak. She heard Garfield screaming her name—she couldn’t help but smile. Thinking that Garfield could still scream her name the way he did when he screamed Terra's—was oddly comforting. She turned to look at her left where Damian and Garfield were, confused as she could hear another male call her name.
Raven’s eyes landed on Damian’s face, a contortion of shock and fear and maybe five other more emotions that she could not quite place. He was screaming her name, looking as though at any moment now, he would run to her. And she was even more confused. She turned back to look at the creature, but with her gaze that was casted down, she noticed what had happened.
Yes, her shield was up. But there was a black spike that passed through her shield. No—it wasn’t that it passed through, it seemed that her shield allowed it to—or to be exact her shield couldn’t close onto the black spike. She followed where the spike continued on after passing her shield, and she was in a state of serenity to see that it hit her- just below her sternum.
The mix of screams from Damian and Garfield was something she tried to focus her mind on.
Her shield dissipated as she found herself coughing blood, and the black single spike on her chest retracted. She stared at the creature blankly as the spike entered its palm. Raven slowly dropped to her knees; her brows furrowed. She could not think straight.
They were still screaming her name. She turned her head, initially planning to look at Garfield, finding it so very odd to hear him call out her name the way he was. She never knew that he would be worried about him like that after everything they had been through. But when she turned her head to the left, as her body tilted back—it was Damian who her eyes laid on.
And her eyes widened as she realized the truth. She could only hear Damian’s screaming now—but she was aware that Garfield was screaming her name too because he was in clear view from where she now laid. But her eyes focused on Damian.
For the first time she had seen and felt Damian’s fear, something she was certain he couldn’t express prior to this moment in time. She could just feel him telling her not to give in, but her eyes were droopy. She felt tired.
And for the first time she truly felt his feelings for her. The rawness—the intensity. How could she have missed it?
Raven tried to extend her hand to Damian, feeling rather guilty—and hoping she was at least able to convey her apology though the act. But it was so very difficult to keep her eyes open.
'I should have known.’ Raven thought as she tried to keep herself conscious. 'I shouldn’t have taken you for granted. I should have given you the chance—I should have taken the chance sooner to move on from a relationship that did me no good.’ Raven thought she saw Damian running towards her—but maybe it was just an illusion.
'If there is some other life—I wish to give you a chance. I wish to be happy with you.’ She swore to herself.
And her eyes fluttered shut. Raven was unsure if she indeed felt her body being lifted up from the ground. Damian held her gently in his arms as he glared at the creature’s back who was currently distracted by Tim on the other side.
'I should have seen and felt you. I am a pathetic empath for missing such an important thing. It was clearly so obvious—and clearly in front of me. You do love me Damian, I wish I could tell you that. You had loved me for the longest time—and I did not notice.
It’s pure and true—it is still love; The love I have been wanting—I’m glad I got it from you.’ Raven silently confessed to herself, the words she wished he could hear, she wished that she could have confessed it to him.
When Damian Al Ghul reached the side of his beloved—Raven. She had exhaled her last breath a long time ago. All he could do now was hold her lifeless blue corpse in his hands. He did not understand and could not comprehend—no, it was simply denial—what has happened to his beloved Raven who was in his arms.
He was kneeling down on the ground, a hand resting on the back of her neck. Her head limp and eyes closed and lips so terribly blue, his other arm under her legs. She had died a long time ago, had he come a minute earlier; nothing would have changed.
Time felt awfully too slow for him at that very moment. And yet, he was so very aware of every breathing, moving thing or person around him. And it made the non-existent breathing and moving of his beloved’s chest so sickeningly deafening in his ears.
His lips opened, and his inhalation was slow. “I want them all dead.” He heard himself say, his head spinning. “No—I want their limbs pulled apart, and I want them to suffer.” He heard himself continue on.
“Yes, my lord.” An assassin in black replied.
The heat from the flames around Damian reached his skin.
For a moment, he thought that maybe the heat would warm the cold body in his arms. He pulled her closer, but she was still freezing. He looked up at the sky, imaging a life without the woman he was cradling. And soft splatters of water fall from the sky.
It was like heaven was agreeing: that a life without her, was not a life worth living.
The rain drops pick up, and it felt like pellets against his skin. The cold from the rain quickly settles against his skin, and a small part of him longed for the heat. And he pulled her tightly against him, trying to protect her from the rain.
“You’re already so cold—no more…” He whispered brokenly; his eyes closed tightly as his back arched to shield her from the rain. But her body was so stiff against his, and it just made his heart ache even more.
Behind Damian was chaos. There were orange flames licking everything, his assassins catching those who aren’t a part of the league. Dead bodies littered all around, some people trapped inside the flames. And there was a lot of screaming. And because the rain was strong, the flames were contained but not enough to put the flames out. And Damian screamed and wept. His screams mixed with the harsh sounds of the rain and the chaos behind him. His tears blending with the painful rainfall against his face.
Eventually the flames were quelled by the rain and the screaming of frightened people disappeared. And even the pellets of water weren’t as painful and strong anymore. In front of Damian, the eerily dark, empty and silent forest seemed to mock him.
He too, stopped grieving. He couldn’t even tell if his throat was hoarse from screaming, or if his eyes burned after weeping so much. All Damian knew was emptiness now.
His assassins were hidden, too afraid to even approach him in such a state. They could see very clearly how broken their lord has become. They could see that he had fully entered into the darkness. This was something they have wanted collectively, and yet they feared the day that it would come—of the change necessary—and here it was.
The day they had feared the most.
A death they feared more of happening then their master’s.
Raven was an existence to them that was almost rather vile. It wasn’t that she was a bad person, it was because she was quite the opposite that they recognized the danger. The implication.
The weakness a Demon’s Head should not be having. And yet, it was also the same reason why they would go out of their way to ensure her safety. They could see clearly the kind of man their lord can be when she is taken off the equation. And they feared that kind of man even more.
Sometimes the assassins of the league would think that there really was no right or wrong between a Damian with or without his Raven. But they are Damian Al Ghul’s underlings, so of course, they would just follow. And since they knew he wanted her safe, following that would be easier than deciding who to fear more.
Him without her, or him with her.
Her clothes were no longer white. Her robes were always so pristinely white, thus she always stood out amongst the assassins with their black garbs. Now, it had the tinge of brown, and there was blood, dirt and rips everywhere, and mud on the parts that touch the ground. The assassins felt awful seeing her in that state. It was simply unfamiliar.
And Damian suddenly stood up. The air around him grew lifeless.
What would their leader do?
“Let’s go.” He said in such an empty tone. His voice is slightly different from what his assassins were used to.
His assassins reappeared around him. “Let’s return to Nanda Parbat.”
When Damian arrived at Nanda Parbat, the assassins who were not with their lord previously, upon seeing their lady’s lifeless corpse, understood the situation quickly. And they found that they were holding back their shivers of fear. Soon, the entire place was filled with lifelessness and trepidation.
“Prepare a basin of water, a wash cloth, sponge and every kind of essential oils we have.” Damian ordered as he continued to walk through his palace. The echoes of his footsteps are very eerie.
“Prepare the best silks we have too.” He added quietly.
He brought Raven into a room. “This was supposed to be my surprise for you.” He mumbled looking at the walls and decorations in the room. “I painstakingly prepared everything for you.” He mumbled, setting her down gently on the bed. He kneels by her side, holding her hand and resting it on his forehead. And he wept silently.
Her fingers were so stiff and cold against his skin. And it made his heart ache again.
Soon his subjects placed all that he asked for in the room. They did not say a thing about their own master kneeling on the floor by the side of his dead lover. And they quietly left just like how they entered– in complete silence.
Minutes passed before he pulled away from her lifeless body. His heart ached as he tried to remove her clothes off of her. He was so careful, he had to be. He was so afraid he’d hurt her more. And when all the dirty clothes were off her, his eyes twitched at the bruises and wounds all over her body.
He couldn’t save her.
Silent tears fell from his eyes as his shaking hands reached out for the sponge and water with some lavender oils. He gently cleaned her with the sponge and dried her skin with the washcloth. And with all the dirt and blood off of her body, he could see even more clearly all the wounds and bruises.
He was late—too late.
But as he cleaned her, he had made up his mind. He has resources.
“You might hate me for this. But I am willing to take the consequences.” He slipped in a white silk dress on her. And he picks her up, his eyes full of resolve.
The next thing Damian knew was the brown walls of the cavern illuminated by torches. And the green liquid of the pool in front of him. He was very familiar with this place. He could hear the sound of the flickering torches around him, and the sound of breathing from his own lips.
The woman in his arms, must have been dead for a few hours now. The pool looked very inviting, despite its disgusting color.
“There have been a few people that the Lazarus Pit revived—and the consequences, my beloved, I am willing to take.” He stroked her cold cheek. “Forgive me.” His apology was simply lip service. He actually didn’t care if he would hate her. He wouldn’t care if she would not be the same.
A life without her—was really—a life he was not willing to live.
As long as her heart was beating, and there was breath in her lungs, then everything was worth it.
He kissed her forehead gently and then looked at the Lazarus Pit. His eyes were cold and determined. He took a step near the pit and continued on. His hold on her was gentle, her head resting on his shoulder. Soon the water was around his waist and he lowered her. He waited for a moment, his heart aching at having to fully submerge his beloved into the green liquid, but he cannot hesitate now.
Damian kneeled and so Raven was submerged under the water, his head above the water.
He waited and waited. And it felt so long that it hurt.
She had already died because he was too late and here he was drowning her dead body. It felt like he was killing her ten times over. But he closed his eyes, his jaw clenched tightly.
And finally, he felt her twitch against him and arms wrapped around him. He quickly pulled her up by standing up. There was a lot of screaming from her, her entire eyes black.
“Raven! Raven!” He called out but she kept screaming. “It’s me!” And he felt a sting on his left shoulder. She had bit him hard, he was bleeding.
“It’s me.” He coaxed her as he patted her head. “It’s me.” He hugged her and she whimpered, teeth still on his shoulder.
“My Lord!” It was the familiar voice of a woman he had become friends with when he was twelve. The worry in her voice was so unlike her. He turned around, and for the first time, her face was not frozen in the expression that he was used to—indifference. Her facial expression matched the tone of her voice.
It was so clear on her face and in her tone, the fear and the pain she felt.
And when her eyes landed on Raven whose teeth were still on his shoulder, her body winced. She gulped down her messy thoughts. And suddenly fell to her knees.
“I should have been there!” She said her head casted down.
“Raven is perfectly fine.” Damian replied, and the woman before him, who was his shadow, his right hand—among other things, just clenched her fist silently.
“I should have been summoned back. I should have gone back.” She made her mind up. She shouldn’t have waited for a summon.
“Everything is alright. Raven is fine.” He caressed his lover’s black hair. “You had a mission to complete. And my Raven– my beloved Raven is completely safe.” Damian insisted as he continued to caress the hair of the woman in his arms who had growled at him like an animal.
“We will be alright.” Damian finally said as he walked out from the waters of the pit. The lady outside the pool silently kneeled with clenched eyes and fists.
Raven was never the same, but Damian welcomed the change with open arms. After all, she was still breathing and alive.
In a timeline wherein both or either one of Damian or Raven are anti-heroes, Phoenix would be born. Depending on the timeline, there would be subtle changes in his character, but it is constant that he would grow up as an anti-hero too.
His hair is black, his skin is caramel and his body built like his father. Naturally his eyes were so blue it looked purple in some angles. But as proof of his mother’s origins and a sign of the power he holds, his eyes that were blue had become red, an unnatural color for an inhuman being. He would normally be seen with red eyes, but people say there were times his eyes were purple or maybe it is blue?
His name was Phoenix, the same name he uses as his anti-hero alias and perhaps to maintain a form of continuity Phoenix preferred using fire, notable cases are when he is bored or angry. Phoenix would often be seen creating fire and manipulating it with his hands.
Everyone knew who he was, who his parents were and he did not have a double life. He was Phoenix, son of Raven and son of Damian, and with the respective titles his parents have depending on the timeline. At a young age he became a master of all forms of martial arts and any weapon imaginable thanks to his father’s guidance and became very well-renowned with the mystic arts due to his mother’s great effort and teachings.
He was seen as the perfect hero by the Justice League, it was very unfortunate when he decided to walk the path of an anti-hero– although it was preferred than him being a villain.
Any information about him was rather superficial yet true. Some people would say tracing his parents life would be easier than getting anything meaningful about Phoenix and that the only life worth using to dangle over Phoenix was his parents. However, using his parents as hostages to get him to cooperate would be a great feat in itself. Simply put, he was indifferent to most things and thus seen as bland. But the reality was, he is the type who would openly hand out personal information himself, not caring much about the repercussions. After all, he is a master in both mortal combat and weapons, and the mystical arts and with his grey morality, anything and everything was possible. Even so, Phoenix would rather give information about him that wasn’t harmful in any way, thus the superficial yet true statements.
He was not the type who takes an eye for an eye, he will take bodies over bodies just for an eye. And so yes, the Justice League sees the threat, but he doesn’t do anything to agitate the League.
He is often at Nanda Parbat training to be The Next Demon’s Head, and when he’s not he would go out and find things to amuse himself, like villains the heroes can’t seem to deal with because of their foolish morals.
‘There she was again at the foot of her bed, in her room in the Titans Tower—weeping. It was like she was grieving. But knowing her—she probably was.’ He stood unmoving.
Raven’s head was buried into her hands as she cried.
This again. How many times has Damian seen Raven like this? How many times had he come and comforted her?
Raven noticed someone’s presence inside her room. And there was only one person who would come into her room in the state that she was in.
Damian Wayne.
Damian Wayne is the leader of the Teen Titans at the age of nineteen. And Raven has been a member of said group for seven years. And at twenty-one she has been one of the longest active team members, alongside Garfield or also known as, Beast Boy.
‘Garfield. It has to be him again.’ Damian thought bitterly. And how many times has he comforted her over him?
“Damian?” Raven calls out in a broken sob as she wipes her tears and glance to her left side to find him. When she met his blank gaze, she couldn’t help but give a faint smile and cried again.
“We broke up again.” She cried into her hands again. In response to her words, Damian just clench and unclench his right fist. Of course, Raven would not feel the turmoil he was feeling and had not seen his reaction. She always failed to notice him.
“And what? This if for the nthtime. Am I supposed to be surprised?” Damian said in a rather cold voice laced with something else. Raven stopped crying and stared at him– and he regretted his tone. She looks so broken and hurt, he wanted to undo how he had said his words. But the thing was—he meant it.
“You don’t understand.” Her voice comes out so weak that his heart sunk. “This time—” Raven’s eyes widened a bit. “This time—it’s for real. No more do-overs. No more makeups. This time—” Raven starts to hyperventilate. “This time we’re really done.”
And saying the words aloud—despite it not actually being loud—just vocalizing it, made Raven realize how true the situation really is. Only a tear slipped down her left eye as she sat there frozen and very unmoving.
This time it’s for real.
How many times had he heard that–was he supposed to believe it? But seeing her empty gaze and unmoving body—he knew—that this really was for real.
‘Until that ‘for real’ becomes another lie.’ Damian’s mind couldn’t help but whisper to his heart.
“He says his leaving the team— his going to join Young Justice.” Damian was surprised to hear this as the information has not gotten to him yet. “He told me not to follow him—because this really is the end of the line for him and I.” She pressed her lips together.
“Raven.” He calls out to her as he approaches her slowly. Her eyes flickers to meet his gaze and as she did so, silent tears fell from her eyes again. “Maybe that is a good thing.”
And Raven did not take it well. What did Damian mean? Her tears fell faster as she broke into a sob, she covers her mouth with her right hand.
“Raven.” He calls her again, as he sits beside her and touches her left hand with his right hand. “This could be a good thing. You can finally let someone take care of you the way you deserve.”
This wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Of all the times Damian had comforted her over her numerous break-ups with Garfield he had never—ever—said such a thing to her. And she felt as though he had punched her, she wept loudly in response.
Damian sighs and hesitates to hug her, but eventually was able to wrap his arms around her shaking form. It was not the tightest hug one could give, but it was all that he could muster to give to her.
“I love him, Damian.” She wept as she gave him a tighter hug than he was giving her. Damian flinched at the words she spoke, but of course, Raven failed to feel it.
Love? Damian wanted to snicker.
“Have I not tried everything to please him? Where have I failed?” She pulls away from his hug, the distance between their faces were only a mere two feet away. Her hands were on Damian’s chest as she looks up at him. “Am I not enough?” She sobs as he furrows his brows.
Not enough? He felt the anger that he had buried a long time ago shimmer from very deep within him.
“Is my love not enough? Is this why he never chooses me? Didn’t I try everything to please him? Do I not deserve love? Is this why I’m always—just—I’m never chosen?” She rants as her left hand wrapped around Damian and her forehead rested on the back of her right hand that was on Damian’s chest. And Raven continues to cry.
“You call this love?” He whispered unexpectedly. And when Raven pulled away to look at him with confusion on her face—Damian understood that he had spoken his thoughts aloud. He can’t take it back now. He looks down at her, mirroring her confusion.
“How can you call this love?” He says in such a low voice with plain disbelief and confusion. “How many times have you cried over Garfield? How many times have you said you two will never get back together—and yet somehow you get back together—despite how many times he has hurt you. But you hurt him too—but still—the pain you two inflict on each other—when will it be enough?”
Raven felt like he had dumped cold water on her and as Damian looked at her expression– even, he had felt that he had dumped cold water on her.
His mouth quivers as he contemplates whether he should take it back–of how he should take it back. But he had meant every single word. Raven’s face was ashen from his words. She took in three deep breathes.
“How could you say that?” It came out barely as a whisper and her grief over her break up had become forgotten. She wipes the tears off of her face, as she completely pulled away from Damian by standing up.
“How could I?” He asked with a broken laugh after as he stood up. “How could you not? How many times have you two broken up in the span that I have been part of the team? Let’s not even count before I even became part of the team! How can you—” A pause. “You two—not respect one another enough to just call it quits the first time—or maybe by the third time of your break ups. Why would you—you two—drag out this pain for all these years?” Damian’s voice had a hint of suppressed tension in it. And Raven laughed at his rant, but the laughter sounded so resigned that Damian’s heart couldn’t help but flinch. She had looked away from him as she laughed.
“Of course, you wouldn’t understand how I feel!” Raven pauses from laughing to stare at his green eyes coldly. “I can’t believe that I had thought you understood me—I can’t believe I expected you to understand!” Another fit of broken laugher. Damian clenched his fist at her words. The distain she had for Damian—he felt. And yet she still did not see his feelings– she still did not feel his feelings.
“I knew him for seven years Damian! Seven bloody years! And I love him. I love him so, so much.” And Raven could not help but start to cry again. “I love him for seven years.”
“Time does not guarantee that you are meant to be with someone.” Damian said it so simply and when the words fell on Raven’s ears—she froze.
“Why are you doing this?” She whispers not expecting an answer, as she simply had just spoken what was in her mind. She really did not expect this from Damian.
“Just because you know someone for a long time and love them just as long—it doesn’t mean you could not love someone with the same intensity even when you just met!” He continues on, and Raven wanted to scream to him and ask why he was continuing on.
Why was he doing this?
“Get. Out.” Raven heard herself say, it came out softly and with no weight to it. Damian looks at her with evasive eyes. “Get Out.” She says a bit more firmly to which Damian stands unmoving with furrowed brows.
He seems like he wanted to tell her more. But Raven did not allow him to.
“Get Out! I said get out!” She yelled. Damian glares at her with his jaw clenched and hands in a fist. She tried to match his anger as she glares back. Damian concedes and leaves quietly out of her bedroom. Before the door was fully closed, he hears Raven fall on her knees and wept again, muttering something he couldn’t quite catch.
“I love him for seven years…”
~.~.~.~.~
Damian was in the gym room of the Titan Tower. He was punching a sandbox with wrapped hands. He had been at it for a few days—in fact since his first failure in comforting Raven over her break up. He had tried to be unbiased, but everyone had a tipping point. And Damian Wayne simply hit his on the matter.
Even so, he tried to act accordingly as the leader of the Titans. He had started comforting Raven in the pretense of his obligation as the team leader. But maybe it wasn’t a pretense—and if so—when had it start becoming a pretense?
Raven and Garfield appeared to be as civil as they could around each other. And finally, Garfield had talked to Damian about leaving the team. Something about moving up the ladder. And God hearing that made Damian want to punch the man.
What did that entail ‘moving up the ladder’? Did Raven not fit Garfield’s desire—is that why they broke up this time around? She wasn’t too high up that ladder? But Damian never voiced out the thoughts that invaded him as he heard Garfield say what he did.
In fact, Damian try not to comment about Raven and Garfield’s relationship, or lack thereof, just as he always had. But the same could be said with anyone else. He tried to be as much of a team leader as needed be—and he did not—absolutelydid not mention their personal romantic relationships with one another unless it was to remind them that he does not wish for it to affect the group dynamic. And maybe that was what led him to comfort Raven the first time around.
Damian valued the team dynamic too much just for a couple to ruin it.
After Raven kicked Damian out over what hopefully was the last break-up of Garfield and Raven, Damian went out of his way to avoid Raven in the most casual and indifferent way of his. It almost bordered to normalcy.
“Damian.” A familiar voice calls out to him, but he did not hear it as he was focused on his punches.
“Damian.” He paused. Damian steadies his sandbag and turned to look behind him with furrowed brows.
“Raven.” He greets simply and was about to continue punching the sandbag again. But she calls out to him again and he sighs.
“What is it?” He asks indifferently, his hands on the sandbag, keeping up the appearance of steading it.
“I’d like to apologize.” He raises an eyebrow, shook his head and mock punch the sandbag, it swings a bit.
“You don’t have to—” He steadies the sandbag. “I should be the one apologizing.” His eyes do not look at her though.
“I suppose.” She said quietly after what felt like a minute had passed in silence. “But you made a good point.” He stiffly nods, the apology he has been meaning to say was at the tip of his tongue. Another minute passes in silence.
“I know your looking out for the team. Thank You.” She says quietly, waiting for Damian to respond but he just nods again. Another minute of silence.
“I—I think I will take your advice—” Advice. She had called it advice; Damian’s eyes look up at her. He was surprise to see her violet eyes look at him intently with patience. “I—I should move one—close that part of my life. Start a new book.” Damian’s eye twitched in surprise. The apology his been meaning to say still in his mouth.
She smiles at him and she nods and then did a 180 turn on her heel.
“I’m sorry.” He finally said but it was only a whisper his right knuckles against the sandbag, as his eyes follow her back. For a moment he thought she froze on the spot, but she continued to walk away.
‘No. She had heard. But she did not give me a hard time over it.’ Damian thought as a faint smile found itself on his lips.
~.~.~.~.~
‘Why was I back in this situation again? Had she not said that it was over for real then? I guess today is the day it finally became a lie.’ Damian was standing as if he had seen a ghost.
Last time he was here—she was twenty-one. Now he was the twenty-one-year-old and she is twenty-three. Two years had passed since the last time he was in this situation—in her room—watching her cry herself raw on her bed.
And yet Damian knew—it has to be about himagain.
Garfield.
His eye twitched at the thought. An empty smile on his lips as he looked at Raven sob.
‘Didn’t you say it was over—so what is this.’ The words never came out of Damian’s lips, but it almost had. But she felt his intentions. And if Damian had known that his thought had been conveyed to her through his emotions—then maybe he’d think: for the first time she noticed myfeelings.
Raven noticed that Damian had entered her room—how could she not with what he was emitting. It has been so long since the two were in this situation. It has been two years. And she felt guilty—because the last time he had comforted her in here—she said her and Garfield were really done.
And here she is—a proof of a lie.
“I—” Raven tries to muffle her cry but fails. “Him and I—we hooked up.” And to Damian those words were crushing but not as crushing as what the word ‘hooked up’ entailed. Was she—she couldn’t be— “And so we secretly dated after that.” Damian couldn’t help but sigh when he heard her say that.
It wasn’t as bad as the thought of Raven being pregnant. He thought that he must be an awful person for thinking such a thing.
“But then… does that mean—” Damian looked at Raven in confusion, piecing something together. How long has she been lying?
“For almost a year.” She softly sobbed as she wiped a tear away. Damian felt like he had been punched. A year. He had been trying to make her happy for two—but that one year—that half time he placed in effort, even when it was masked mostly as group activities—was happiness that Damian was not able to give her—but Garfield had.
And Damian simply saw the truth of the matter, the recent year when Raven seemed even more happier than the last—it was not because of him. He should have known. No—he must have noticed—Ah. That is right. He had seen the signs but choose to ignore it.
“Isn’t he with that girl named Terra?” Damian asked softly quite blindsided by the truth. Raven nods in response and he felt that same old anger he had not felt since that time two years ago—in this room, seeing her nod. An anger that had been buried had been reignited yet again.
“But they had taken a break when Garfield and I got back together.” She quickly added before he could say something. And oddly enough that subsided a bit of Damian’s anger. “It was just a hook up, no attachment. He was upset and hurt and I was lonely—and we knew each other well.” Raven had stopped crying at this point and was picking on her fingertips looking for hangnails with burrowed brows.
“It wasn’t supposed to mean anything—”
“But the love you had for him was reignited, right?” Damian couldn’t help but cut her off with a bite in his tone. And he chuckled—it was empty and shallow. “So, what is it this time? Am I supposed to be surprised you broke up again? Well this isn’t the first break up you two had—and last time surely wasn’t the last!” A hollow laugh came from Damian as he ran his hand through his hair.
“God, how stupid!” And Raven stood up to glare at him.
“How can you call me stupid! I loved him whole-heartedly for seven years and continued to love him for two more—you don’t forget that. Even when its muddled—it’s a fact that I have loved him for so long and invested so much into him—into me—for him and me– us. And even when we broke up—I will always love him. He will always have a special place in my heart.” Raven pauses. “Even when he broke up with me now—because he realized he loves Terra.” She bites her lip and Damian looks at her like she was the stupidest person on earth.
Damian suddenly laughs, it was a rather wholehearted laughter and yet it held such muted grief.
“You think I called you stupid?” He looks at her in the eyes, and something about his stare hinted to a degree of insanity. “You actually think I called you stupid?” He shakes his head with a faint smile on his lips as he glances at the space beside her. “I’m the one who’s stupid!” Raven took a step back in confusion, she studies Damian with a knot in her chest—she thought that Damian looked a little mad.
“I like you! For the longest time, I have liked you!” Raven looked at him as if he had grown an extra head. “I might even actually love you—but what do I know—after all—you said it yourself: I don’t know what that is like!” Raven looks at him thinking when had she said that, and she realized it must have been the last time they were in this room together when he was comforting her. She had opened her lips to tell her that: that was not what she had meant, but Damian continues.
“But you never noticed my feelings for you! I was just a fly in comparison to Garfield. Maybe if I wasn’t three years younger than you—then maybe you might take me seriously! Or maybe if I had known you first than Garfield—then maybe you would actually look my way!” Damian’s stare had started to become a hateful glare. “You know when you two broke up for reals–” He says mockingly. “I thought that maybe—maybe—this was it. This was my chance to get you to notice that I had liked you for the longest time. Maybe this was the moment you would let Garfield go and let someone else show you—just how much you deserved to be treated. How special you are to that one person—how important you are to at least one person.” Damian’s angry glare softens into resignation.
“It didn’t have to be me. It could be anyone.” A pause. “That is fine. I don’t think I deserve that kind of special someone to dote on—and love me.” He pauses again, but Raven didn’t know what to say as he looked down on the floor. “But I wanted you—” He looks back at her again with mournful eyes. “I wanted at least for you, to be happy. I wanted to know that all the years you spent crying over some stupid guy over a stupid little thing because of a stupid relationship—is happy beyond belief. I wanted that for you.” He pressed his lips together as he shook his head and evade her shock eyes.
And then the silence allowed the two to think of what had just happened. It gave Damian the time to really process what was happening—what he had said and he was shocked at what he had done.
No.
He had just confessed to her.
No.
He looks up at her with a shocked expression, his eyes so wide in realization. He had said aloud the thoughts that have been plaguing him for years, the glimpse of how his thought process has changed as Raven’s relationship with Garfield became a bane of his existence—of what he thought was also her’s and Garfield’s.
Damian’s face pales, wishing he could take back what he had just said and done. The secrets and frustration he had held in was finally said. And it sat between them rather heavily.
“I—” They had spoken at the same time and a pause followed. Damian stared at Raven, unsure who had spoken—was it her or him. Before anything else could be said and done, Damian stormed off with his fist clenched and with long strides close to a dash.
Damian had been punching the sandbag aggressively for almost two hours now following his confession. He was embarrassed and frustrated. And thinking of so many ways to take back what he had said and done. Prior to those thoughts, he had evaluated how he could have handled the situation better.
Damian gave the sandbag a very powerful right punch that the poor weakened sandbag gave in to the hit. His fist was inside the sandbag and as he was about to pull his fist out, the sand spilling out from the hole, he hears Raven calling his name. He turns to his left to look at her with furrowed brows, and her eyes shifts from him and the sand pouring out from the sandbag, her expression worried.
Raven had been calling out for Damian a few times before he had noticed her. If Damian knew he would be greatly disappointed with himself.
“Damian…” She started, her eyes at Damian’s fist that was still half inside the sandbag.
“Look—forget what I had said. I said it to distract you. I did it as my obligation as the team leader.” He says coldly as he fully retracts his fist from the sandbag, more sand pouring out from his action. He looks away from her as he checks his fists in front of him for damage. He was surprised to see that his fist was bruised and bleeding a little. His right hand getting the most damage.
“No.” Raven said as she took a step forward, he turns his head at her with a glare. Raven does not back down. “We need to talk about this.”
Damian was contemplating how to bolt from this situation and Raven could tell his intentions. So, before Damian could act about his thoughts, she grabbed his fists. He flinches.
“Seriously, we can’t have our leader’s fists injured.” She says as she checks his injuries up close, turning his fists in her hands, taking her time. He was quiet but his jaw was clenched and brows so closely knit to each other.
“I—” Raven looks up at him straight into his eyes, Damian is startled as his eyes met hers. “I had noticed your feelings before.” She softly confessed and Damian’s fists clenched, before he could yank his hands away from hers— Raven firmly held his hands in hers. “I had noticed.” Her expression seemed to have glazed over and she sighed aloud and dispelled her thoughts.
“I had noticed. But it became overlooked as I was more focus on—other things—” And for a moment her eyes glazed over again. “On Gar.” A sad smile on her lips.
“His love overshadowed your little crush on me. I—focused on him and me so much that anything else was just white noise. I forgot that you had a crush—it was just an afterthought that was forgotten.” To Raven, Damian looked as though he wanted to yank his hands off of hers and storm off, but with a clenched jaw he fought not to. “And I am truly sorry.” She says as she heals his hands.
Raven licks her lips and pressed it together but her eyes looking at the ground, “And—yes—our age had been a factor – why I didn’t take you seriously. There was one time that I considered the possibility of dating you. And our age gap–” Raven made a displeased face. “bothered me. And three years, I know it isn’t much,” She glances at Damian. “But it’s undeniable that at some point I was of legal age and you weren’t. And that—that unsettles me. But mostly—it’s because of my love for Garfield– that made me always overlook your crush. And—I really am sorry.”
Raven was looking at Damian with wavering eyes, she felt guilty, but she was also very sincere on her apology.
‘This,’She thought. ‘is the final push I needed to really move on from Gar.’ As she lets go of Damian’s hands.
“I hope, everything said and done today—doesn’t affect our relationship—in fact I hope it clarified the things between us.” Raven says dispelling the guilt she had. “You are a great leader Damian, you always think of everyone, and I guess that is why you never said or did anything that could be permanently damaging to the team.”
With that Damian buried the thoughts that he was having, like did he have a chance to be with her now? No—Raven is right—he couldn’t risk the team dynamic.
‘It’s probably why you never attempted to confess to me—to not add to the mess that was Garfield and me.’ Raven had mulled over.
~.~.~.~.~
Three months after Damian’s sudden confession, Raven took the initiative to go to Damian who was in his bedroom.
It was rather late at night but she had made a decision already and wanted to tell Damian at this very moment. The room was rather dark but they were both used to it, their eyes adjusted well or maybe even better at dark.
After Damian’s confession, their relationship was rather strained– how could it not be with such a revelation? But the two worked hard to flatten out the strain and finally they were in a position that was back to normal but never quite the same. But it was perfect—in the oddest way—it was perfect and they were contented.
“Damian, I know it’s late…” Raven rubs her left elbow with her right hand. “But with everything that has happened—I know I have to tell you this now.”
Hearing this Damian was worried. “Please Raven, continue.” He says as he pats the space beside him, on his bed. But she shakes her head in rejection and she avoids his gaze. He understood that the words she was going to say were difficult on her part, and he waited patiently. He quietly observes her as she chewed on her lips and finally sighed.
“I’m planning to leave.” The oxygen in Damian’s room felt like it wasn’t enough for him to breath. And Raven instantly became worried seeing him in a mix of shock and fear. She approached him cautiously, her hand extended towards him. Raven was two steps away from Damian when he suddenly shot up to his feet and she froze as she studies him.
Damian was ashen, his jaw clenched and his fists flexing, but his eyes that was on her—seemed to go through her and in his green eyes she saw him shredding his initial reaction into oblivion. He closes his eyes tightly and took a deep breath and when he exhaled, that was when Raven found herself unfrozen and had touched Damian’s arm. She looks up at him, a fear in the base of her throat that felt like it was going to burst, but he only glances at her in confusion.
“I don’t plan to leave now—I was just making you aware that I will—maybe in a few months.” She blurts out in order to speak before Damian could. “I think it’s for the best—it’s still kind of hard to see Garfield. Especially now—no maybe particularly now—because I really want to move on from him.”
“He will always affect you.” Damian whispered with the smallest hint of resignation. And before Raven could acknowledge it, he adds, “It can’t be helped, our team and Young Justice cross paths now and then—and recently it seems to be more frequent.” His tone was that of a firm leader that Raven completely forgot his previous remark.
“Yes, that is exactly it.” She softly agreed. In the silence that followed she realized that she was still resting her palm on Damian’s arm, she pulls away quickly and looks away from his general direction.
“I’m not planning to leave anytime soon—so you really don’t have to worry about my replacement yet.” She says jokingly but he only quietly nods as he observes her.
Not even a week after Raven’s revelation of leaving due to the difficulty of seeing Garfield, the three found themselves in a room in the Titan Tower. Damian was standing in front of Garfield while Raven stood by Damian’s left side with her arms crossed over her chest. A rather strained triangle was formed between the three.
“We need your help on this Damian, I’m here to try and convince you.” Garfield says. Damian taking notes on Raven from the corner of his eyes. She looked as neutral as she could, but he knew that she must be having difficulties seeing him so soon— with Garfield acting as though him and her were not a thing a few months ago.
“I don’t think I need the convincing, Garfield. If it’s an order from the league I cannot say no to it.” Damian simply responses.
“Well, that is true, but I guess I am here for formalities sake.” He replied but his eyes glance at Raven, who had caught his eyes and so did Damian.
“Raven is my right hand, and she had been in the team the longest. We will discuss how we can best assist and inform our team.” Damian firmly decided, Raven nods her head, arms still crossed.
“Oh—well—” Garfield glances at Raven then Damian, “I thought maybe I could—"
“We need to discuss how best to help as soon and as quickly as possible.” Damian cuts in, and Raven nods again silently. Garfield at this point is blatantly looking at Raven. He had intended to try and talk to her, but it seems that she did not want to.
“I—” Garfield had begun to say.
“We will contact you Gar.” Raven quietly says before Garfield could say anything else.
Maybe she did want to talk to him, it’s just that they were more focus on the mission and intel he had just provided. Garfield thought as he nodded absent-mindedly.
Damian turns to leave and Raven follows before the conversation between the three could be dragged out by Garfield.
Damian walked quickly to his room and Raven followed absent-mindedly. When they arrived in Damian’s room, Raven just stood in the center blankly. Damian clears his throat.
“I know this isn’t the best place to bring you in—” She hears him say and glances at her surroundings, realizing where she was. “But you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to.” Raven simply shakes her head.
“No. I am a part of this team; I am just as responsible as you are Damian.” And he knew her well enough to know that Raven had made up her mind, and that she will not change her mind. If only he had known then, what would happen in the mission– because he had allowed her to go, then maybe things would be different for him and her.
“I know you wanted to leave because of Garfield—and this happens—if you ever want to leave this mission half-way, I totally understand.” Raven looks at him with a gentle gaze, glad for Damian’s thoughtfulness. But this was work, she should be able to do this mission. And maybe—this should be the last. And she nods as her respond to his offer, little did Damian know Raven was thinking of having this as her last mission as a Titan.
A good way to end a bad relationship she supposed—working one last time with an ex she was trying to avoid.
“I need to call in for a team meeting.” Damian sighs while shaking his head and putting a hand on his forehead. And she smiled faintly at him, but her mind steering back to a green skinned boy, she still knew she loved.
~.~.~.~.~
Damian did not expect things to turn out like this. They were pushed in a corner, the creature facing his direction trying to spot anyone on his side. Tim was somewhere behind the creature tending to a team member who had fallen. Damian was unsure if Tim was tending a Titan or a member of the young justice team from his hiding place behind a car.
Terra attacks the albino twenty-foot creature. And Raven who was on the far side of Damian’s general left area, hears Terra’s battle cry. The next thing Raven knew was a knot in her heart as she heard Garfield who was in vulture form, screaming Terra’s name.
Raven instantly stood up from her hiding place and ran to the center still very far from Damian. She sees Terra’s body being flung to her general direction, Raven caught her by putting a shield around Terra and slowing and protecting her from a dangerous fall. But the act left Raven extremely vulnerable.
Garfield had landed near Damian and shifted back into human form. Raven’s eye caught the black eyes of the creature—if you can call them eyes. And she realized what it was about to do, she placed a force field around herself quickly as she reprimanded herself for her stupid move of going out of her hiding place to help Terra out. She knew completely that her decision was impaired due to Garfield screaming Terra’s name with such fear. She hated herself for being affected by it.
Suddenly—it was quiet. Raven’s face twisted into confusion. The shield around her was up, so why did she feel the blood drain from her? She felt rather weak. She heard Garfield screaming her name—she couldn’t help but smile. Thinking that Garfield could still scream her name the way he did when he screamed Terra’s—was oddly comforting. She turns to look at her left where Damian and Garfield were, confused as she could hear another male call her name.
Raven’s eyes landed on Damian’s face, a contortion of shock and fear and maybe five other more emotions that she could not quite place. He was screaming her name, looking as though any moment now he would run to her. And she was even more confused. She turns back to look at the creature, but her gaze was casted down and that was when she noticed what had happened.
Yes, her shield was up. But there was a black spike that passed through her shield. No—it wasn’t that it passed through, it seemed that her shield allowed it to—or to be exact her shield couldn’t close onto the black spike. She followed where the spike ends after passing her shield, and she was in a state of serenity to see that it hit her– just below her sternum.
The mix of screams from Damian and Garfield was something she tried to focus her mind on.
Her shield dissipates as she found herself coughing blood, and the black single spike on her chest retracted. She stared at the creature blankly as the spike entered its palm. Raven slowly dropped to her knees; her brows furrowed. She could not think straight.
They were still screaming her name. She turned hear head, initially planning to look at Garfield, finding it so very odd to hear him call out her name the way he was. She never knew that he would be worried about him like that after everything they had been through. But yet again, when she turned her head to the left, as her body tilted back—it was Damian who her eyes laid on.
And her eyes widened as she realized the truth. She could only hear Damian’s screaming now—but she was aware that Garfield was screaming her name too because he was in clear view from where she now laid. But her eyes focus on Damian.
For the first time she had seen and feel Damian in the most fearful version he could be. She could just feel him telling her not to give in. But her eyes were droopy. She felt tired.
And for the first time she truly felt his feelings for her. The rawness—the intensity. How could she have missed it?
Raven tried to extend her hand to Damian, feeling rather guilty—and hoping she was at least able to convey her apology though the act. But it was so very difficult to keep her eyes open.
‘I should have known.’ Raven thought as she tried to keep herself conscious. ’I shouldn’t have taken you for granted. I should have given you the chance—I should have taken the chance sooner to move on from a relationship that did me no good.’ Raven thought she saw Damian running towards her—but maybe it was just an illusion.
‘If there is some other life—I wish to give you a chance. I wish to be happy with you.’
And her eyes fluttered shut. Raven was unsure if she indeed felt her body being lifted up from the ground. But Damian held her gently in his arms. As he glared at the creature’s back who was currently distracted by Tim on the other side.
‘I should have seen and felt you. I am a pathetic empath for missing such an important thing. It was clearly so obvious—and clearly in front of me. You do love me Damian, I wish I could tell you that. You had loved me for the longest time—and I did not notice.
It’s pure and true—it is still love; The love I have been wanting— I’m glad I got it from you.’
Damian stood in front of me, and I was at the verge of tears over the loss of our teammates and the emotions of those killed around us due to the parademons. It was suffocating and overwhelming, everything was too much. I could feel so much anger and remorse, and sadness– and the simple realization that this was it—this was their death. The intensity of it all made me rather self-aware, that this was happening to the entire people of earth at this moment. And I couldn’t help it anymore, because it came so suddenly and with such intensity, I found myself crying.
“Raven…” Damian said, he was dripping wet as he had just come out of the water just a moment ago. I found my outstretched hand shaking as I tried to approach him because I had to heal him. But I found myself stumbling, Damian noticing my situation and ran towards me despite his obvious injured state and held me on our knees.
“Raven.” He says my name so firmly for a moment I was able to contain my emotions.
“Little girl, you and I both know your will is slipping, just let me out now and ease your pain.” My father whispers to me, but I just bit my lip to maintain my concentration.
“I have to heal you, Damian.” I simply say as I brought my hand to his face. He looks down at me and he closes his eyes with a sigh. And I healed him, but the contact made me focus on his emotions. It was similar to what I was already feeling, but this was undoubtedly his, and not a collection of emotions from a multitude of people. My tears continue to fall, as his anger, sadness and helplessness begin to blend into the sea of emotions from the entire world.
“Little girl.” I bit my lip harder.
“Raven!” Damian called out to me, a hand on my cheek, my eyes wide in shock.
“What are you doing?” He says angrily, and I look at him confused. “Your drawing out blood!” He says his voice laced with worry; his eyes seemingly focused on my chin—no my lips, that is why it felt numb. I had bit down on my lip so much to injure it.
“Slipping…”A chuckle echoes through my ears.
“I…” I glanced at our surroundings, at our dead teammates and dead parademons. “I can’t take this!” I shoved my face against my shaking hands. It’s just too much, I sob. And I could feel him stay so still. He was dealing with this too; he must think me selfish for acting like this. He wouldn’t understand—no one could understand this knot I was feeling right now.
I felt arms wrapped around me and it caused me to stop crying out of shock. And I looked up to see the setting sky. Damian’s head on the nook between my right shoulder and neck.
“Everything will be alright, Raven. I promise you.” Hearing him say that, made me feel centered again. And I was able to block the external emotions I was feeling. But one final tear slipped from my eye, as I slowly return his comforting hug. And yet knowing, so fully well, that even he was unsure how to proceed after this disaster. Knowing fully well, that everything was not alright.
When all my emotions settled in, all that was left was his and my genuine emotions. Damian now felt that he had a responsibility, I couldn’t help but wonder what he felt responsible for. And I realized that the helplessness Damian felt before, was mine too.
“You won’t be so lucky next time” A light growl from father echoes in my mind.
“We need to find a safe place.” Damian says as he pulled away from me, and I nodded. I absently looked at our team members, and so did he.
“We can’t even bury them…” I whisper softly, and Damian looked down on the ground as he shook his head and after stood up offering me his right hand.
“We can’t afford to waste time, the parademons might attack again, we need to hide now and rest properly.” I look up at him as I placed my hand on top his right hand. I know that he was right.
We had been hiding and killing parademons here and there for a week now. Three days ago, we found out that Conner was alive and joined us in hiding. We were so happy to find that there was someone else who had survived the attack.
“So, what’s the plan Damian?” Superboy asks, we were at a dark abandoned building—our current hide out.
“Nothing, we just have to try and survive now.” Damain glares at Superboy. “This is all Superman’s fault.” He gritted his teeth, and I saw Superboy ball his fist in response. Despite being together for three days, the tension between them had not dissipated. They would fight over this topic.
“Enough!” I say knowing fully well that this could start a fight. “There is no plan Conner, you’ve seen the state of the world already. What can three barely superheroes do? We only fight parademons when they attack us, we have never actively fought them, we can’t risk a horde after us, you know that!”
A faint amuse laughter comes out from my father, and I lean against the broken table for support. I felt their eyes on me.
“Perhaps it was wrong of you to come here Superboy. I did not expect that you were hoping for us three to do something against Darkseid.” Damian says and I look up at him, the tension between the two felt stagnant for a moment. The look on Damian’s face tugged on my heartstrings.
“Perhaps it is better for you to return to your family and protect them,” He looks away from Connor and sighs. “Be thankful you still have them.” Damian’s fist clenched.
When Connor found us, I recalled the relieved look on his face. When we got to a safe place, he told us that when we were attacked, he was hit and flew far away from the tower. When he came to, he had attempted to go to the Titans Tower to collect our dead; but he could not find himself to look at them so closely. So, Conner stood from a very safe distance and left. Afterwards he went to his parents, hoping that they were safe. Thankfully, Superman had implemented a safety measure for them, so they were safe. Damian was very angry when he found out Superman had safety precautions for his parents.
Conner was devastated but with his parents help, he was able to find strength again. And so, he went back to the Titan Tower, planning to bury his fellow members as that was what they deserved, but there were no bodies to be found. And that was when he deciding and hoped that just maybe– somewhere out there– was at least one Titan member that survived. And he found us.
I had opened my mouth to try and comfort Damian but Connor cut me off with a very loud sigh.
“You’re right, Damain.” A pause. “I am grateful that they are safe, and I should probably go and make sure that they will always be safe.” I felt Superboy’s resignation, there was really nothing we could do now. We knew for a fact that the justice league members that went to Apokolips are mostly dead, so what hope and chance did we really have?
Connor approaches Damian and placed a hand on Damian’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry.” He whispers sadly, Damian looks down on the floor.
“Yeah, me too…” He responds faintly, and Connor slowly walks out of our hideout. He glances at me and gives a weak smile as farewell, and I couldn’t help but feel like crying, because I felt them. They were just trying to be strong, but the reality was—they weren’t. They were trying to look for hope in a place that provided no form of comfort. They had felt the resignation long before this moment—this moment that they finally acknowledged their hopelessness.
When the door closes behind Connor, I stood up and slowly approach Damian.
“Raven…” He calls my name in the darkness and I was startled, I look at his green eyes my brows etched in worry.
A gasp from my father.
“I have something I must admit to you.” He tells me and I can see and feel how difficult this is for him.
“I get it now,” My father laughs.
“What is it Damian?” I look at him and gently urged him with a faint smile. He turns his back around me and walked a couple steps.
“You like him.” A fact.
“I have been in contact with the league of assassins,” I stare at his back. “I am thinking of going back.” He crossed his arms behind him, he turns to look at me, his eyes gentle.
“I would like you to join me in leading them.” I stare at his lips as he says those words.
“I will kill the boy if you don’t release me, daughter!” My heart was beating so loud and it felt as though it sunk to my stomach, and I must have looked ashen.
“No…” I whispered breathlessly. Damian was startled—hurt. He took a step back unconsciously and turned around.
“I… I understand.” He mutters to himself, not sounding like his usual self.
A laughter from my father. Damian looked as though he was preparing to leave now.
“No!” I ran towards Damian and grabbed his left wrist pulling him to me, and he turns to look at me. But I just crashed my lips against his, and I placed my right hand on his right cheek.
“You will regret this daughter!” My father screams. I felt Damian wrap his left arm around my waist and his right hand cupping my left cheek as he kisses me back.
Shut up, father.
“Yes! Yes, I want to go with you!” I say frantically, worried that the kiss was not obvious enough. But he had kissed me back—so this means its mutual right?
I hear him sigh and placed his head on the nook of my right shoulder.
“You worried me, Raven. I’m glad you changed your mind so quickly” He chuckles. I hug him and clenched his cape.
You will not win father, I swear it.
When we arrived at Nan Parbat, the first thing Lady Shiva said was about Dick.
“You used the Lazarus Pit on Dick?” I grabbed his wrist and look at him. We were at an empty hallway within the compound.
“I have to try— his my brother!” Damian says not looking me in the eyes.
“Damian…” I took a step forward, placed my hand on his cheek and stood on my tippy toes, understanding what I was doing he places his forehead against mine. “I trust you. I trust your decisions; I might have done the same.” And he wrapped me around his arms.
“Just so we are clear…” Damian clears his throat and pulled away; he looks away from me. “We are together right?” And I laugh and he glares at me with a slight pout.
“Of course,” I cup both of his cheeks between my hands and I felt his relief. “I trust that you trust me too?” He smiles and closes the distance between our lips. A soft gentle and loving kiss.
“Yes, I do.” He says and I could hear my father growl, but I smiled. I will enjoy my moment with him, for as long as I can.
Two years had passed and in those two years, I felt so happy. Happier than I have ever been, but sadly my father has become a little bit too loud and my healing is not as it used to be. But I was at least able to return Dick’s sanity, it was a very long and tedious process, and with my waning healing abilities, there are times that he slips into madness again.
“There is an intruder! Inform the demon’s head!” I heard someone yell, I asked where the commotion was coming from and ran towards the courtyard.
“You!” I heard Damian call out in fury. I had a bad feeling about this, when I stepped out of the doorway, I saw Superman with Constantine and behind them Etrigan fighting assassins. Damian had unsheathed his sword and was ready to attack Superman.
“Damian!” I called out as I use my powers to block Damian’s attack on Superman. He turns to glare at me.
“He wouldn’t be here without good cause, let us hear him out.” Damian sighs and sheaths his sword.
“Your lucky my wife saved your ass.” He glares at Superman whose eyes widened at the information while Constantine chokes.
“I’m sorry… aren’t you two too young?” Constantine was at the verge of laughing but I glared at him, a silent warning not to.
“I already have a lot of regrets, starting from allowing father to follow on your idiotic crusade, Clark.” When Damian said Clark there was nothing but hatred there. “I will not add another one.” He gestures for the uninvited guest through the door and he glances at me.
“You have seen the state of the world, Constantine, at least there is this piece of happiness between us.” I finished for Damian our eyes locked. We had talked about it before.
“And its not like laws matter at the state the world is in.” Damian couldn’t help but comment bitterly.
We had settled the intruders in a room. Damian was not happy with the situation but I give him a look to remind him that they’re purpose here must be important.
“So, why are you three here?” Damian says trying to contain his anger and hatred.
“To the point, I like that.” Etrigan says. And Superman tells us how he thinks Damian could get across Batman, and that when Batman found out Nightwing died there was a reaction from the big bat. Damian and I exchanged a knowing glance. The silence in the room was chilling. Before Damian could respond I interrupt.
“We will think about it.” I glance at Damian and walked out of the room. This is bad. I went to our bedroom, and sat down on a chair facing the door.
I was nervous, or perhaps it was the external factors of it all making me feel so— What am I saying, of course it’s the external factors.
I kept picking on my purple robe out of sheer nervousness, and chewed on my lips, I felt awful. What would they think, what would he think? Why does it matter what he thinks—of course it does, why am I even lying to myself. This inner turmoil I am feeling was just eating me up whole.
The door opens revealing Damian, he looked exhausted.
“I told them that we should sleep it off first, and that we will come to a conclusion tomorrow.” He says as he slowly removes his armor, I stood up to help.
“Raven, you don’t have to, you seem exhausted.” Damain tells me gently and I smiled at him. I look into his beautiful green eyes, and…
“There is something I have to tell you…” He looks at me patiently.
“Do you recall when you offered me to lead the league with you?” I ask him our bodies just two feet apart.
“Of course,” He says as he folds his cloak. “You looked so terrified and disgusted and…” He sets his cloak down and looks at the floor. “It was painful, I did not know you hated me that much to the point of disgust.” A bitter smile as he cups my cheek.
“But you kissed me, and changed your mind quickly.” The bitter smile was replaced by a warmth that we shared over the last two years.
“Yes, that moment, my father decided to threaten me with your life.” His eyes widened with the revelation. “And I decided no more. And so, Damian, my love.” I cup his cheek this time.
“I have something to tell you.” I whisper as I put my forehead against his.
We awoke the next day with loud screaming that we were both very familiar with.
“Dick.” We say as we look at one another, I used my magic to change clothes and ran towards the screaming, Damian following suit.
“It’s all your fault!” Dick says scratching and thrashing toward Superman in Etrigan’s arms. His eyes had come back to that after he was dumped into the Lazarus pit.
“Dick!” I called out firmly, and he stopped thrashing and looked at me with hollow eyes.
“How could you, its all his fault! HIS!” He yelled and I smiled at him.
“I know, I know…” I placed my hand against his temples and soothed him and he fell asleep.
“Bring my brother to his chambers.” I heard Damian command from behind me, and I moaned in pain.
“Raven what’s wrong?” Damian approaches me worriedly as he saw my pain. “Is it your father again?”
“Maybe I can help.” Constantine says as he did a spell and my father’s voice echoes faintly in the hall.
“I don’t believe you! You brat! You ungrateful daughter, you dare!” I couldn’t help but smile. I see a few members of the league bring Dick back to his room.
“You heard that didn’t you Constantine?” I say as I stood up straight. “He says he doesn’t believe me.”
“Yes, well I do not know of the context but…” He eyes me suspiciously.
“Check if my soul is bounded to Damian.” I look at Damian and he just stood still. I could feel Constantine’s disapproval.
“You wouldn’t—you couldn’t.” Constantine says and he looks between Damian and I.
“Well, only you can disprove it.” I look at him sternly, and he did a magic circle in front of me and then moved in to Damian and did so back and forth. But you can tell from his shocked eyes, to his ashen face that it was true.
“That is one nasty, nasty spell, Raven.” He comments his lips tugging into a proud smile.
“Damian’s fate is my fate. If he dies, I die. We are one and bound together for all eternity.” I simply say as I glance over Damian who gave me a supportive smile.
“NO!” I hear my father’s furious voice echo in my head.
Raven laid under Damian with her right forearm a top her head. While her left hand was resting on her sternum. Her pink lips were agape as soft pants pass through her slightly swollen lips. Her bare chest heaving up and down.
Her violet eyes were in a daze as she look at the man before her. His body well maintained. His hands on either side of her breast. His skin was like caramel, sweat trickling down his bare chest with so many different types of scars all over his body.
His right arm was filled with tattoos. She recalled him explaining quite vaguely what each one meant. And she would trace her fingers on each tattoo as he spoke of them. The two didn’t know much about each other’s past, and him even mentioned what each tattoo meant to him was almost half of what she knows of him.
Raven lifts up her left hand and traces the tattoos on his right wrist and went up his shoulder. As she did that, Damian leaned closer to her jaw and left kisses there and began painstakingly going down slowly to her sternum. Her left hands reach the back of his neck and her right hand tracing Damian’s abdominal muscles. She could feel the texture of the scar he got from a sword under her finger tips.
“I’m thinking of getting a tattoo.” She whispered which made Damian pull away from his recent kiss on her collar bone.
He looks down at her with etched eyebrows for a moment and resumed where he left off. Before his lips could meet her skin, Raven gently pushed his face away with her left hand on his jawline.
“Do you not like the idea?” She inquired looking up at him. For a moment she saw the hesitation on his face and then he buried his face on the nook of her left shoulder. He tilts his head up to her ear.
“It’s not that I don’t like the idea.” He whispered deeply into her ear and then pulled away completely to gaze at her body. She has always been alluring to him, especially like this.
Naked. With the lights on so that he may admire her entire beauty.
His right index and middle finger, barely touch the skin of her left jaw, down to her neck to the space between her breasts. “Skin so white and without blemish.” And his calloused hand rest just below her stomach.
To Raven his appraising gaze was scorching. His touch putting her on edge. A desire had been relit with his nonchalant response and actions.
“I have to admit, when your underneath me,” His right hand slips under her waist and he raises her a bit, and he leaned to suck the skin under her right breast, near her sternum. “With your unblemished skin as white as snow and as soft as silk. I can’t deny it drives me mad with lust.” He caress the red spot he created on her right breast with his left hand.
“Like a clean sheet of paper that only I can draw on.” He muttered as he kissed and sucked and nibbled on the skin around her collarbone and chest. A raspy exhale escapes Raven’s lips.
Raven holds Damian’s right wrist tightly. It was strong enough to alarm Damian and make him stop with his current tasks. He looks up at her from over her chest, and she gazed down at him.
Ravens left fingers caress Damian alluringly on his right arm. And Raven could see the desire in her lover’s eyes. A small smile forms on her lips as she continues to move up his arm filled with tattoos.
He sets her back down and pulled up to silently look down on her, waiting for what she has to say. Damian knew his lover had something to say but he lets her run her fingers through his body, patiently waiting.
He wasn’t sure if she knew just how much her actions was igniting him.
“Your tattoos,” She says breathlessly, Damian’s eyes narrowed at her lips. “They have a story that enchants me. And your scars,“ She traces his scars under the fingertips of her right hand while her left hand holds his upper right arm.
"Some mended well that you can’t feel them but are seen, and others leave a certain texture under my hands. And your calloused hands brushing against my skin,” her left hand on the back of his neck and her right hand now behind his head as she gently pulls his head closer to her.
"I don’t think you know how intoxicating it is.” She kisses him gently and before she pulls away bit his lower lip playfully. Their eyes locked as he gave a low guttural growl and a soft smile forms on her lips.
“When I get to push you down and lay a top you, as I trace your scars, I wonder how a strong man would lay unmoving underneath such a small frame.” And she moves her lips near his right ear.
“That thought makes me pretty horny too.“ She admitted as she blew into his ear, and he buried his face on her neck as he nibbled away.
"It seems like we’ve developed a preference.” Raven mumbled as she allows herself to be swept with the reignited pleasure she was feeling.
“I guess we like being on top.” Raven chuckled. And Damian sucked on the tender skin on her neck.
“Then it’s good we take turns.” He says and then kisses his new mark on her.
~.~.~.~.~
Raven was walking towards the kitchen counter in her black laced underwear, with a really thin, old off white shirt that left her left shoulder bare. The shirt was short enough that any small movements would show her butt cheeks.
And walking into the sight of Raven just casually bending slightly on the counter with her butt cheeks showings, made Damian stop for a moment. A sly smile on his lips.
He approaches her quietly, Raven unaware of Damian at all. She pulls away from the counter and stands properly and stretches her neck to the right. She suddenly felt familiar strong arms around her waist and a head resting on her left shoulder.
“Damian.” She chuckled as she pull her head up.
“Hey, beautiful.” He greeted, his voice a little too low for Raven’s liking. He started kissing her neck, and she raised her left hand to caress his head.
“I can’t Damian.” She sighs and tried to pull away, but instead he spun her to face him and she couldn’t help but giggle.
“Why not?” He pouted, and she leaned her forehead against him.
“Because I have an early class tomorrow.” She gave him a peck on the lips, and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. And they kissed for a minute.
Raven couldn’t help but moan and gently pushed on his chest weakly. But he felt the soft pressure and pulled away. She was panting softly.
“But that hasn’t stopped us.” He says matter-of-factly, and she smiled at him lovingly.
“I have an exam.” She turns around to face the laptop on the counter, his arms still around her waist as he rest his chin on her left shoulder.
“Alright.” He mumbles looking over her reading material. He kisses her shoulder and says that it looks simple enough. And she turned her head at him.
“You say that because you literally can learn anything in such a short given amount of time!” And he chuckles hearing her complain.
“Alright, I won’t disturb you.” He says pulling away, his right hand still on her hip. Before he can let her go fully, Raven caught his hand on her hip with her right hand.
“Well, I suppose– a little break won’t hurt anyone.” She mumbles a small blush on her face, and Damian laughed whole-heartedly.
“Can’t resist me, huh?” He says and she takes a step forward so that their faces were just an inch away.
“We haven’t seen each other for a few days.” She whispers, her expression darkening as she stares at his lips.
“Sorry…” He mumbles, as he cups her face with his right hand and used his free one to close the laptop.
“Wouldn’t want anyone to see…” He continues to mumble, Raven’s left hand already under his shirt. And she couldn’t wait anymore and kisses him and he kisses back. When she pulled away he took the chance to ask.
“Did you decide on getting a tattoo?” Both her hands now under his shirt, on top of his abs. Her right hand had hooked his shirt up by the space between her thumb and index finger. She stops and pulled away to look up at his face and gave him an enchanting smile. She stood on her tippy tones and looked like she was about to kiss him.
“I only really love tattoos on you.” She answered back as she runs her hands up to his pecs along with his shirt. And he made everything easier for her by removing his shirt himself.
I’m creating a new project entitled “Red” the idea is simple, to draw characters from all across media that relate to this particular color. This is just a fan project and all characters belong to their respective companies.
La autora Kami Garcia anunció a través de su cuenta de Twitter la portada de su próxima historia de los Teen Titans. Nuevamente estará trabajando con el ilustrador Gabriel Picolo.
TTG vs TT? How about Teen Titans meet the NEW Teen Titans?
I got inspired last week, after some twitter beef, to do what I believe would be the interactions between the 2003 cartoon and their comic book predecessors.
This one is kind of a personal interpretation so forgive me if she doesn’t really reflects Raven. I was a huge fan of teen titans animated serie and I was amazed with white raven form <3 SOO COOL. So here we are, this is a tribute. Hope you like it!!
