Traitors and Teachers

Chapter 6

She never thanked him. He had thanked her for healing him, but she had not thanked him. She realized how rude that was of her, but she saw no reason to go out and find him to say thanks. Raven had other things to do, like lie on her stomach on her bed and try to move a penny with her thoughts. It wasn't working, she couldn't focus her powers well enough to get the penny to move across the floor. It was frustrating.

So was Slade. And trying to figure out what he said when he grabbed her. And brooding over it all was infuriating her more. Groaning, she picked up the penny and threw it across the room, taking out her anger on the coin. Better the coin than her room again. Knowing Robin would be coming to talk to her any minute now was not helping her mood either.

She flopped onto her bed with a sigh, not sure what to do. The options were either try to meditate or keep brooding, neither appealing to her at the moment. But she went with the former, noticing she was sitting on her bed rather than floating as she normally did when meditating.

Her meditation session was short lived when Robin knocked on the door and she let him enter. He sat next to her on the bed as before, looking at her with concern.

"What happened? One minute you were fighting with the others and the next you were gone," well, Raven wasn't sure whether she wanted to talk more about what happened in the morning or what happened with Slade. Neither seemed like a fun topic. She refrained from making a face however.

"My powers weren't working properly, some of Slade's robots managed to throw me over the side," she expected Robin to be more shocked and surprised, but by his expression he had seen her falling. Which means he was about to mention-

"And Slade caught you." Damn it. Raven nodded, showing her confusion clearly on her face. Robin's expression hardened and he looked away from her.

"Raven, why would Slade catch you?" Oh crap. What was Robin going to assume? The worst? Or the worst? Dare she try to lie to him and say she didn't know why he would save her? Robin would not believe her if she tried to lie outright. Perhaps she could try bending the truth a bit?

"I... think he wants me to join him. He said something about not letting his apprentice get killed," Robin went rigid, enraged, but not with Raven. The intense hate coming off of him was not directed at her. But as Robin absorbed this new information Raven came to her own realization, Slade had never mentioned it. She was the one who brought it up. Sure he mentioned a 'vested interest' in her, but he did not specifically say apprentice as he had done before. Why? Was there more to it than wanting an apprentice?

"We'll protect you Raven. No matter what he threatens you with, he can't hurt you if we face this together. I will protect you," Robin said fervently, looking into her purple eyes with a serious gaze. She nodded, feeling his hand on hers and dropping from his intense stare to look at the penny across the room. She couldn't even control a small coin, how was she supposed to fight this? She couldn't let her friends protect her while she stayed helplessly behind them. Silently she looked back up to Robin again, his gaze had softened back into worry for her.

"I need to meditate," Raven said after a moment of meeting his gaze, and Robin took that as his cue to leave, though he did not get up immediately. For a moment he sat, looking at her as if contemplating something and Raven sensed some small new emotion, the same as before, coming from him. When he did leave the room she wondered what exactly that emotion was. It was familiar, but not one ever directed at her...

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos..." Raven whispered, closing her eyes and crossing her legs, beginning to meditate. She forced herself to clear her mind of all thoughts, she had been fretting over them long enough for one day. The clock ticked away, and Raven did not notice when her legs no longer touched her bed as she once more hovered. She touched the bed once more when her meditation gave way to sleep.