This story I write is about a prom for the young Titans from all over the world. Every titan has their mate to invite to this special prom, but what about Raven? How does she handle this situation and have a dancing-partner?

How exactly does Raven look like?

It was autumn in Jump City. The weather was perfect for playing outside but the Titans were in their tower and doing their hobbies like usual. Starfire was talking to Robin about his favorite while Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing games. No-one seemed to care about Raven, she was boring! Sitting on a chair all day and reading her ancient books! Her pale face expressed nothing. Beast Boy whispered to Cyborg:

- Why can't she just have fun like normal people? Look at her! She looks like a boring statue!

- BB, leave her alone, that's who she is! – Cyborg replied with an obvious voice, tired for answering questions.

They thought that Raven wasn't able to hear them but she was, every single word. She sighed quietly and kept her eyes in the book. The doorbell rang and everyone stopped doing what they were doing. Terra came in with a happy grin. Immediately, Beast Boy put his game console down and ran to her with a goofy grin. It looked like he just found a treasure. He jumped up and down, then shouted happily:

- TERRA! You're finally back. Everything was so boring and quiet when you're away.

Terra snickered while Raven raised an eyebrow. Quiet? The talking voices, noises from the games, weren't them noisy enough? She just muttered something and kept reading. If her emotions were not so good, her power would spread out. Terra showed everyone some tickets and invitations. She said:

- Hey, guys! I just checked the mailbox. We have some tickets to a prom here, but they're only for boys.

- A PROM? – Everyone repeated surprisingly. – Why?

- All the titans from all over the world will come and have fun together. – said Terra.

- And why do only boys could have the tickets? – asked Robin. He was shocked by that information.

- Oh, because the boys are going to ask the girls to the prom. Each ticket for a couple, isn't that obvious? – Terra laughed.

Everyone looked at each other in thrill, but Raven was still focus on reading, but she didn't miss any words. Terra handed the boys in the room the tickets and invitation. They opened the envelopes quickly with excited faces. Beast Boy tore the envelope carelessly and stood on his knees in front of Terra:

- My beautiful lovely girl, would you like to go to the prom with me, pleeease?

He made the puppy face and stared at Terra. She beamed lightly and said:

- Of course. Why not?

Cyborg phoned Bumble Bee and asked her to the prom with a sweet voice. It took a few second for her to accept the invitation and Cyborg was really proud of himself. Starfire was expecting a sweet invitation from Robin just like Beast Boy invited Terra. He was confused and tried to find the best words to invite Starfire. He was a terrible dancer, but he knew that Starfire was dying to dance with him. Robin cleared his throat and asked Terra:

- Is it really necessary? Do we have to?

- Well, if you think yourself as a normal boy, you could give up being a hero and then you don't have to ask someone to the prom.

Robin swallowed some air warily and looked at Starfire. She was still waiting for him with an impatient face. He finally asked:

- Hey Star, wanna go to the prom… with me? – Then he added a fake smile.

But it was enough for Starfire to be insane. She hugged Robin excitedly and shouted:

- I AGREED!

So it looked like everyone got their dance-mate for the prom, except Raven. She didn't mind about it or feel excited about it like everyone. Her mind was travelling in the book and her brain was working like a machine. Her eyes stayed focus and she didn't even recognize what was happening around her. Robin suddenly remembered Raven and asked:

- Um, Raven? Did you know about the prom yet?

- Thanks Robin, for remembering about me. But no, I won't go. – Raven had prepared her answer since Terra told them the news.

- Well, you're a hero, a part of our team. You must go. – Robin frowned when he heard Raven.

- You know me better than anyone. I just can't. – Raven shook her head lightly.

- But Raven… - Robin tried to convince her but Beast Boy cut him off.

- Just ignore her Robin, don't waste your time and prepare yourself for the prom tonight! No-one would ask someone like her to the prom, isn't that obvious?

Terra giggled. When Raven heard Beast Boy, she threw the book through the wall right into her room and flew away. But Beast Boy didn't care about her reaction, he was thinking about how pretty Terra was going to be and how lucky he was. Robin shouted after Raven:

- No, Raven! He didn't mean it!

But Raven didn't listen to him. She flew away and didn't plan to stop. Tears went out of her violet eyes and she told herself in her mind: "Raven, stop being weak! You must be strong, remember? Who cares what they think!" She flew and flew while the tears still went out. She couldn't lie to herself anymore, she did care about what people thought… The cool wind seemed to comfort her but she didn't care about anything. After a while, she stopped at a beach. There was no-one and she could be alone. She had to calm herself down and she took out a book from her cape. Her tears fell down the blue gentle sea. She muttered:

- There must be a spell that stop me crying like a child! I can't be like this!

Her heart was racing in her chest and it was sobbing, too. Raven searched for a spell that not exist, but she still hoped that she could fix her ridiculous emotion. She was too focus so she didn't recognize that there was a boy behind her. He came up from the sea. His hair was black and long to his shoulder. His gentle face could suck any girls' soul by its unbelievable beauty. It was Aqualad. He just stood behind Raven and watched her quietly.

He suddenly said:

- Raven, you don't need a spell to stop yourself crying, you know. You just need someone to comfort you.

Raven stopped and turned around. She saw Aqualad and then she turned away immediately. Her eyes were stick on the horizon. Raven replied with her cold voice:

- That's none of your business, Aqualad. Just go away.

- Well, we worked together in the past and I think if you need some help, I would try to help you. – said Aqualad calmly. His voice was concerned.

- I said go away! – Raven hissed.

- If you want to stop crying then I'll help you. You don't have to act like you're a stone, Raven! – Aqualad pointed out the fact.

Raven sighed and growled:

- Why do you want to help me? Why don't you just go back and prepare yourself for the stupid prom?

- So the prom is your problem. – Aqualad nodded his head.

- OK, you got the answer, would you go now? –Raven was still growling.

Aqualad signed and looked at the sad girl who was standing next to him. He beamed gently:

- Can we just… talk? I swear I won't do anything that drives you insane.

Raven sighed and she nodded her head lightly. She said:

- So who did you invite?

Aqualad laughed sourly and answered:

- I didn't invite anyone yet. I don't have a lot of friends, you know. I guess the boys in your team have invited their mates right after they got the invitation, didn't they?

- Obviously, don't you think they would throw the tickets away? – Raven chuckled darkly.

Aqualad laughed at this. He bit his fingers nervously and said:

- I guess no-one invited you.

- That's obvious, but it doesn't make me cry. It was just Beast Boy. – Raven told him sadly.

- I bet he offended you again, didn't he? I'm so sorry. – Aqualad shook his head sadly.

Raven smirked:

- I expect the apologize from BB, not from you Aqualad. I'm the one who should apologize for being rude to you. – Raven sighed at the end.

Aqualad smiled and said:

- Don't mind about that. You were just upset, it's ok that you wanted to be alone. Feeling better?

- A bit, thank you. – Raven beamed.

They stood together quietly for a while and watched the waves racing each other. Suddenly, Aqualad said:

- Raven, I'm just thinking that… what if we go to the prom together as friends?

Raven stared at him in horror, thought that there were something wrong with her ears. She asked doubtfully:

- Sorry, what?

Aqualad swallowed some air, perhaps that was what people do when they were nervous. He spoke clearly every single word:

- I'm just wondering if you want us to go together as friends, unless you think I'm your enemy.

Raven hissed:

- Aqualad, you know that you're not my enemy! But we can't, I'm sorry. That's not a good idea at all!

Suddenly, Aqualad stood on his knees like Beast Boy when he invited Terra to the prom. He said with a velvet voice:

- My sweet Raven, does a dirt like me have a chance to dance with a pretty star like you?

Raven stared at Aqualad in horror, she was frozen. Her mouth was opened but she didn't even know about that. She said doubtfully:

- Wait a second. Is that what this conversation for? You came up here for asking me to the prom?

- No, actually. When your tears were in the sea, they warmed the water up and the water was saltier than usual, so I knew someone was… in pain. I think this might cheer you up, maybe a bit, but still something. – Aqualad looked at Raven with pleading eyes.

- I…. you… If you wish to, I'll go with you. But I warn you, I'm not a pretty girl.

- You don't know yourself very well. Actually, you're very beautiful, but you just don't show that outside. You pretend to be tough, but the crying thing proves that you're soft in this inside. Trust me this time. – He beamed and convinced Raven well, and she wasn't able to refuse anymore. She just nodded hard and said:

- I'll prepare myself for this… I think you need to make up, too.

Aqualad smiled proudly and jumped into the ocean. The water seemed to be bluer. Raven came back to the Titans Tower. She tried find a way to make herself different. She didn't want to make Aqualad to be embarrassed in front of all Titans. She sighed heavily and threw herself into her bed. She muttered:

- Think, Raven! You can't look like a dark girl in a prom!

It was 3 hours before the prom. Raven was depressed, she didn't know what to do. Then, she had an idea. Raven remembered her hair got longer when the Scath symbols effected on her. Raven thought for a moment about this risk, then she decided to take her chances. She sat down and spoke:

- The gem was born of evil's fire. The gem shall be his portal. He comes to claim, he comes to sire! The end of all things mortal!

The Scath symbols appeared on her body and her purple hair started to grow long. After a while, the symbols faded and then disappeared. She couldn't believe that she just took a risk. Then she flew to a park and looked around. Something told her that her best friends could help her. When she was a kid and lived in Azarath, the pigeons were her friends. So they could probably help her now, some advice or suggestions would be enough. She threw some seeds around herself and waited. Just like she expected, the pigeons came and accept her gift. They told her that nothing was more beautiful than nature, that she didn't need beauty products to be pretty. Raven chuckled about that, because she rather dies than using the lousy beauty products.

The pigeons flew to lots of places and found lots of beautiful light purple roses and lavender to put on Raven's long hair. They twisted her hair to make it somehow gentle with beautiful fair-curls surrounded the flowers. So her hair was sleek and shiny, with elegant knot at the back of her head. Raven chose a dress in the closet that Arella gave her on her last birthday she spent in Azarath. It was a floaty, shiny violet-blue material, tight her waist gently and long to her knees. She was truly the princess of Azarath, not luxurious like the sun but gentle, mysterious and fanciful like the pale moon. She didn't need any perfume, because the flowers were good enough.

It was 7:00. Everybody was at the prom and praised each other's appearance. Robin was nervous and pale when he stood next to Starfire, who was really proud of her dress. Bumble-Bee and Cyborg told some jokes and laughed together while BB did lots of funny things in front of Terra and played with her blond hair. Aqualad came at the middle of the first dance, he wasn't worried. He trusted Raven and he believed that she would come, no matter what. Before the second dance started, there was a quiet, clear knock on the big gate of the dance floor. Aqualad knew it was Raven, so he opened. Everyone stared at the couple in shock. When Aqualad took Raven to the dance floor, Robin looked at them. He asked:

- Hi Aqualad. It looks like you found a new friend.

Aqualad snickered and said:

- I must be the luckiest boy in this room, you know.

- Definitely, totally! – Cyborg and BB shouted, their mouths were opened and they weren't able to close their mouths, looked at the strange beautiful girl.

Raven started talking, looked at them in terror:

- Excuse me? Are you guys feeling okay?

- Why do you ask so? – Robin asked.

Starfire and Terra raised their eyebrows, tried to remember who the girl was. Aqualad smiled and said:

- Let me give you a clue. How many people do you know with purple hair and violet eyes?

Now, all of them stared at Raven like they met her in the first time. Robin tried hard to talk:

- Ra…ven?

- Robin, why can't you recognize me? What's wrong? – She asked innocently and warily.

The boys were jealous with Aqualad, they couldn't find a word to mock Raven anymore. From that time, the boys tried their best to be Raven's best mate, but no-one succeeded.