In My Dreams

(originally posted on fanfiction.net)

Disclaimer: You obviously know the disclaimer. Don't own Teen Titans.

A couple notes before we start the story:

In this story, Starfire and Robin have broken up after dating for about a couple months (which started shortly after they kissed in Tokyo). Robin and Raven are both single now, and Raven hasn't had a single love interest since Malchior.

I hope you like it! Enjoy!

She had that elusive, magical touch that could heal his injuries and wounds.

She had that mysterious, dark aura about her that gave her a dangerous edge when battling villains in Jump City.

And though he was a little afraid to admit it, he liked her.

Since his amicable breakup with Starfire, Robin was...falling in love with Raven. The other practical, mature member of the team, the two had been very close friends ever since the formation of the Teen Titans. But in the weeks that followed the breakup, he noticed, they seemed to be getting closer than they had ever been before. They talked to each other more, they spent more time with each other...

...and slowly, ever so slowly, he began to love her as more than a friend.

Though Star had told Robin shortly after their breakup that she would be happy for him if he found someone else he could love and be happy with, still...he was reluctant to admit it to himself. Starfire had been an easy girlfriend to please. Raven...well, it was kind of hard to explain her. She was some sort of an enigma that couldn't solve itself. Knowing Raven, he didn't want to end up making the same mistakes he did with Starfire if he was going to pursue a relationship with her.

But as he drifted into the realm of sleep that night (or morning, because sometimes he ended up staying awake past midnight working on cases) he thought of Raven. She somehow made her way into his dreams, which tonight consisted of a battle between them and Trigon. The scene seemed all too familiar to him as he heard Raven's voice screaming and crying into the night. But for some odd reason, he couldn't open his eyes, yet could still see the scene taking place in front of him. Nor could he move his body, which lay stone-still.

"Robin! Robin! Please come back!" Raven cried, hugging him close and shaking him. Unlike the Raven he had helped to save the world, this Raven, clad in a bright white cloak different from her usual blue garb, seemed to be around the same age as Raven was now. Her hair was the same as usual, cut in her distinctive bob. "I need you. I can't do this. I'll never defeat my father. He's going to take over the whole universe. I don't even have my powers, so it's pointless to even try. He's won, and I've murdered everyone - every single, living, breathing human being on this earth - already. I can never be good. I was destined to bring bad luck. That's why the monks of Azarath named me Raven. I'm an omen, a burden on the world."

Clenching the fabric of his uniform tightly with her hands, her blood-stained tears soaked into the threads that held them together. "I can't hope any more. What's the point in hoping when you know your fate is certain? I told you I could never do this. I tried. I tried to hope. But it's all - gone." And in an even softer voice, she continued. "I know it's useless - to even try talking to you any more, but I'm going to die. And - and I don't even care that I'm dead any more because I know my father will take over the universe. Because of me."

"Because of me."

"Because of me." Her words reverberated in the still, hushed air of the dream, shattering the silent consciousness of his thoughts.

Gasping, he woke up with a jolt and turned to see Raven standing in his doorway in her soft, lavender nightgown. Her short, dark violet hair, usually neat and combed in place, was completely messed up and there were obvious bags under her swollen eyes, red from so much crying. It was pretty clear to Robin that Raven had not been able to get any sleep that night.