Reviews:

Stormplains: Much different tone than the last chapter, but I love your versatility. But Raven and Nightwing's comments at the end are so true. Things like this tend to work in venerati

That's good to know :) The sad truth (for things like that anyway)

chaosrin: Well that is bittersweet, I would say nice but, giving us the solemn perspective on meta human relations with normal people the tragic impact on the family...come to think of it what is the relations between normal public and DC meta heroes and villains? Anyway, really like the conversation with the police it sets the tone with a causal opening with the context getting serious with each sentences and how normal Robin is in terms of his status even though he's a superhero as a way to ease their grief.

As far as I'm aware they ARE segregated to an extent - both Beast Boy and Cyborg tried dating 'normals' in the comics, neither ever really made it work, though some superheroes have. Both of their dates seemed to have more problems with their appearance than the danger of crime fighting but past that *shrug*. It was written more as a round-about way to target general bullying in school whether due to race, religion, gender, sexuality or any of the rest. I was bullied a lot growing up and I've been told by my counsellor it's a probable starting point for my anxiety and other issues so it angers me when people play it down as minor. But I'm glad you liked, even if it is sad.

Deathnoteuser: As they say, "it takes three generations to conquer a people" or to educate them I suppose. Nice job on the chapter. And you realize that it's vacation now? As in school's been out for a month?

Glad you liked. Ahah it was ages ago I know but I always reply to a review no matter how old :P

Concolor44: And now you've got me fighting down a huge lump in my throat, and blinking through the visual distortion of tears.
One of my older daughter's classmates killed herself as a college Freshman. That was almost five years ago, and she still finds the memory hitting her at awkward moments from time to time.
Our counselor is of the opinion that all identified bullies should be sequestered and kept separate from us humans. Let them feed on each other. I'd go with that.

I would apologies but it WAS sort of the intended effect. I'm lucky enough not to have known someone who committed suicide due to bullying, and also extremely lucky (according to my own councillor) that I wasn't that person thanks to some kids in primary and the early years of secondary school (I started fighting back at that point, so apart from the odd incident they left me alone from then onwards) Young, I know, but none of the less traumatic and if my last councillor knew his stuff, a possible reason for my mental illnesses. People downplay bullying too much, and I wanted to address that. (oh, and I'd go with that too. In fact, I'd quite happily help with the removal of them into separate facilities!)

mttmercado: BAM...sad part. very sad...bam

Very aid, but very real to some.

Juniper Night: Yay - you're back too! :D
This was sad, but very good. It made me think of a video we made at my school. The concept - of different metas, few, far-between, and thus alienated and needing some sort of guidance or reassurance - was interesting.
Hope England's as jolly as ever when you get back to it :)
Juniper

Based on bullying in general, it just made sense to me that in the DC Universe it would be no different to metas. We might think they're awesome, but in that universe it's just one more percentage of people to judge for being different. Outside support helps. Hopefully one day humanity will sort itself the fuck out and it won't be needed. England it cold. But it's kay :P

The Other Side is Here: I absolutely love this! And this chapter!...Oh dear Thank-You, Thank You so much for doing this, so many people take the issue of people (be they adults, teens, and in rare cases just children) committing suicide b/c they were treated differently, as nothing, and it's nice to see an author showing us that Superheroes deal with these issues as well. Update soon, your work is amazing!

I'm glad you liked. Well I was bullied for a long time when I was younger anyway, so it's something that sits close to the heart - I wanted to write something for it, saw the title of this particular challenge and thought it was the perfect opportunity because bullying can happen to everyone whether they're fair skinned or dark, straight, gay, old, young or a potential superhero and it's NOT a small issue to be swept under the rug.

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"A Short Story"

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Raven

Raven allowed herself a small smile as, slowly waking up, she stretched out, feeling better than she'd felt in a while. The titans had gotten more than their fair share of early callouts over the past few weeks and the empath had almost forgotten how nice it was to wake up in your own time and not because the klaxons had started screaming at ten to four.

In the quiet lull she let her mind wander, deciding there was only one better way to wake up in a morning, and Raven could count on two hands the number of times that had happened. It involved the warm and comforting embrace of her girlfriend snuggled up to her side. While Raven enjoyed having her own space, her affections for Jinx were steadily growing and the empath was becoming impatient with the restrictions that came with secretly dating a known super villain.

When she opened her eyes the nice feeling disappeared to give way to confusion as she frowned up at the ceiling. She didn't have a white ceiling, through Raven knew someone who did. She sat up and looked for Jinx, momentarily entertaining the idea she was at the H.I.V.E Five base and she'd simply forgotten but not only was the pink-eyed thief nowhere to be seen the room she found when she sat up definitely wasn't Jinx's. Just for starters the walls were painted a dusty blue, not a mix of pink and grey. Raven panicked, flinging the bed covers off and scrambling out of the bed, worrying even more when she noticed nothing cracked or exploded in accompaniment to her wild emotions.

"It's probably just a weird dream," The titan softly told herself as she stood facing the room.

Raven took a deep breath and made herself calm down before walking over to the closed door and trying the handle. It swung open easily, the bottom dragging across the room's dark blue carpet. Unlocked was good. Unlocked meant the chances of a bad guy being involved had just plummeted from likely to unlikely.

She set out down the short corridor with its beige walls, able to feel the floorboards creak under the thin carpet beneath as she walked. Raven passed two other doors but ignored them as she made for the stairs, several squeaking beneath her weight as she rushed down them. She'd almost reached the bottom when someone spoke, the unexpected voice freezing her in place.

"You're up early," The voice - an eerily familiar voice- belonged to a woman, but it wasn't the voice that made the hair stand up on the back of Raven's neck.

It took Raven a moment to realise she should have sensed the woman from upstairs, or even heard her. She hadn't.

The empath hesitated before deciding to continue down the stairs and approach the stranger. At the bottom step she looked up from her feet to find a white door - bolted shut and in need of a repaint - not five steps away. Another door stood to the wall on her right across the narrow hallway, this one open and through the gap Raven was pretty sure she could see what looked like the set up of a living room.

Moving off the bottom step and onto the scuffed laminate flooring the Titan turned 180 degrees to follow the corridor where it ran down besides the stairs, leading to a small kitchen where a woman with olive skin and a curtain of silky black hair was moving about, the smell of fresh coffee and warm buttery toast hitting her.

"Have you packed your bags ready for the weekend? I know you're not being picked up until tomorrow night, but we both know how much your father hates to be kept waiting."

When the woman didn't receive a reply she stuck her head out of the doorway, and Raven was struck by how much the lady resembled her own mother, only then realising why the voice sounded so familiar.

"Raven are you listening to me?"

"Just a dream," The empath muttered to herself, dumbstruck. "A weird, messed up dream."

The woman frowned at her. "How many times to I have to tell you not to mumble?"

Raven felt compelled to reply, stumbling over her own words as her hand found the banister for the stairs, hanging on as though she were afraid she would fall. "S-Sorry... I'm... I'm listening. It's just, I'm just still tired. Sorry."

The frown turned into a look of concern as the woman made her way down the corridor towards the empath. "Honey are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," She laughed slightly, a forced sound that didn't match the serious tone she used next, reminding Raven of the way Nightwing would speak to her when she did something 'stupid'. "Are you taking your medication?"

'Medication or what?' she wanted to ask, but instead Raven found herself forcing out a weak smile. "Of course."

"I know you don't like seeing Doctor O'Connell, Rae, but if you're have problems again... well there's no use letting it get as back as last time. It has been a few months and he did say the dosage might need altering," The woman crossed her arms and frowned at the empath a moment before she turned and moved back into the kitchen. "I'll book an appointment, just in case."

"I'm fine," Raven stressed, following the lady into the kitchen before she knew what she was doing.

"You're so stubborn, but I suppose you get that from both of us. One hour, Raven. That's all it is. It won't kill you, and please just... talk to the man." She looked back at the girl as she picked up a phone off the kitchen counter, dialling a number from memory. "And pack your bag for the weekend - you have time this morning."

Raven didn't know how to reply, stiffly nodding before she backed out of the kitchen. "Sure. I'll... go get ready."

Ready for what she didn't know, but the woman nodded in approval, hitting the 'call' button on the phone. Raven shot upstairs and back into the room she'd started in, closing the door behind her.

"I'll wake up any moment now," She tried to convince herself, awfully aware of how real and un-dream-like it all felt.

The empath studied the room and the furniture crammed into the space as she tried to think of a way to wake herself up. Wasn't pain usually supposed to work? She moved towards the wardrobe, looking for something specific when she threw the doors open and searched the top shelf. Among several bags stuffed up there she found a Tupperware box containing a makeshift sewing set - it was exactly where she kept her own. Finding a needle she grabbed it with her right hand and put the box down then - without giving herself time to think about what she was doing - used it to stab the back of her left hand as hard as she could.

The pain was sharp and instant, making her wince but nothing changed. The scene didn't melt away to reveal her bedroom at Titans Tower. Dismayed, Raven removed the needle and watched the small bead of blood that gathered on her dark skin-

Dark skin. Her eyes widened in shock as she studied her hand, the flesh covering it the same olive tone as the woman downstairs. The needle dropped from her hand into the carpet, forgotten as she rushed over to the mirror she spotted, hung on the wall by the door. The reflection she got back wasn't of familiar grey skin and violet hair but of a young woman with thick black hair that brushed the top of her shoulders and startled Mediterranean blue eyes that sat out of place on her face.

Recalling what she'd been told about her conception and the body Trigon had worn she numbly noted it would have explained the blue eyes. Raven spent a good ten minutes staring at her reflection with a mix of intrigue and horror

before she did the only thing she could think of, going back to the wardrobe and searching through the stranger's clothes for something to wear.

Meanwhile at Titans Tower in an alternate dimension...

Waking up with the beginnings of a bad headache, Raven irritably muttered under her breath as she detangled one arm from the bed sheets and held it out to test the temperature of the room, more than surprised when she found it to be comfortably warm. She tried to recall what the temperature had been the day before but couldn't be any more specific than cold, cold enough that she'd worn a coat to school.

The girl groaned as she made herself sit up before opening her eyes. There was a moment of silence where time seemed to freeze as Raven studied the room laid out in front of her before she shot out of the bed. Panic flooded through her body seconds before she heard something in the alien room shatter. The noise startled her and she let out a yelp, this time seeing the destruction as a shelf across the room snapping in half, dumping several glass jars on the floor. Raven backed up, bashing her hip onto the bedside table behind her and hard something else explode, crying out in alarm as she felt small shards of something - presumably glass - cut into her back.

The girl covered her face with her arms as things continued to break or shatter, unable to understand what was happening. Somehow Raven knew someone was coming and she peaked out from behind her arms seconds before the door opposite her slid open, the noise reminding her of the automatic doors at malls.

A boy dressed in bright colours and a cape ran into the room, a mask hiding his eyes but not the look of alarm on his face. He quickly scanned the room, and when he couldn't find the threat looked at his teammate. "Raven, what's wrong?!"

The voice was familiar, very familiar, and for a moment the destruction seemed to stop.

"Richard?"

AN: Want to know how Raven and alt. Raven get on in each others bodies? Why alt. Raven recognises Nightwing? Don't worry. While I posted this first bit here because it WAS inspired by the challenge's title, I don't do short stories. Not often, anyway. Keep an eye out for the complete story - I should be publishing it soon.

And because I'm nice (and cba to think of a title) IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A GOOD NAME FOR THIS STORY LEAVE IT IN A REVIEW! Hopefully you'll send me loads, and the one I like most will be used for the full version of this :)

(no this is not the new story mentioned in the poll, and if you haven't answered that wtf are you waiting for?)