Raven's Smile

Prologue

As Gar Logan walked down the desolate streets of Gotham he couldn't wait to get home. His adoptive parents were waiting for him, and he was past being ready to go home. He had been at the library for what felt like hours, but in all actuality he had only been there an hour and a half. Now it was seven at night and he was finally done with his research paper.

His stomach growled as he passed the golden arches of his favorite restaurant, Lenny's, because even though the McDonald's there had long since closed down, Lenny kept the sign up to lure in the stupid and hungry tourists.

Why would anyone who lived in Gotham want to be in this part of town anyway?

His new family didn't exactly live in the best part of town, but that was okay because Gar could take care of himself. His adoptive dad, Steve, had a part time job with a self defense center over at the youth center a few streets from where they lived, and had taught him everything he knew, as well as Gar took gymnastics when he was younger and had retained the upper body strength.

Gar's stomach growled again. God, he was always hungry now. Maybe this was when he was finally going to get that stupid growths spurt that the doctors had promised him since he had turned fifteen.

As he crossed the street, he was going to buy himself a small (or possibly large) order of fries for a snack on the way home, and was digging into his backpack looking for the five dollar bill he had gotten a few weeks ago, when he saw her.

The girl was tiny, a word that Gar tried to use sparingly since he was only about five feet and five inches at sixteen, but there really was no other way to describe her. She was wearing a thick, worn looking jacket that just about swallowed her whole, which was odd because it was spring and there wasn't a hint of winter in the air. In fact, Gar was sweating like a pig and his shirt was soaked through because it was so humid.

She seemed very small and fragile, even though her feet could easily rest on the concrete underneath the bench at the bus stop. One leg was tucked underneath her body, as she held a worn paperback in her hand. Gar couldn't see what the title was, but the book was bent in half and the girl's expression was anxious, and she was biting her lip, her eyes fixed squarely on the book.

She had to have been one of the most beautiful girls that Gar had ever seen. Even his girlfriend of three months, Terra, couldn't compare to her. He didn't know what was so attractive about her, but she had something that just drew him in as if she was familiar. He had never seen the girl before in his life, of course, but it didn't matter. She was magnetic.

But before Gar could go over to her and maybe start a conversation, a bus pulled in front of her, and then all that was left at that particular bus stop were a few stray pieces of newspaper, straining to be set free from the weight of the bench. The papers were suddenly pulled away by a sudden strong gust of wind, and flew away, just like her.

Gar suddenly felt very wistful for a person that he didn't even meet, just someone that he had seen across an empty street corner. But that didn't matter to him, Gar was used to sadness, being sad several times in his life. He just smiled and kept on walking. He was hungry.

*

The next day after spending the afternoon at his best friend Vic Stone's house goofing off he saw her again. She was wearing a dark grey hoodie with jeans and converse. She looked like a goddess, sitting there unaware that a boy was staring at her, once again reading a paperback novel with the same expression that she had on the day before. The unnamed girl pushed a lock of dark hair behind her ear as she turned a page.

Gar couldn't believe that she was there again. There was something strange about this, but something that also felt right too. If he didn't have Terra holding him back he would have gone over and talked to her, but he had a feeling that Terra wouldn't be very happy with that. She had become extremely possessive lately, snapping if he so much as looked at another girl.

He decided that he didn't want to start any trouble with Terra, he honestly loved her, so he decided to just leave the girl alone. She didn't look like she was dying for conversation anyway, she looked pretty occupied from where he stood.

She probably wouldn't be there again, anyway.

*

But she was, this dark haired girl with the book. She always wore something long sleeved, even during the summer when it was over a hundred degrees. She was always reading a paperback book, they varied radically in thickness, he noticed. She also had the same expression the whole entire time that she was at the bus stop, never once relaxing, even though she would move every once in a while, even though more likely than not sitting cross legged on the bench.

As far as he saw, she never spoke to anyone, even if someone was sitting on the same bench as her, which was rare. She was always there at seven on the dot, no earlier and no later. She came every day. Once, during the summer while Gar had nothing better to do since Vic was at football camp, that even though he had grown significantly during the spring and summer months, he couldn't imagine playing football of all sports to save his life, Gar went by that street corner at the same exact time every day, and every day she was there, reading.

Gar had no idea why he was freaking out so much (He was practically stalking her as it was, was this normal for someone to do? Or was it just plain creepy? He had a feeling it was just plain creepy.) over this girl that he didn't even know, or why on earth he was paying so much attention to her. Normally, Gar didn't notice whether or not his shoes were tied, let alone another person that he didn't know, or that he would probably never know. But this girl, to him, was different. Maybe it was the feeling of magnetism that he had felt towards her the first day that he had seen her. Maybe it was because she was hauntingly beautiful. Maybe it was because this girl seemed to have an air of mystery that just didn't belong on the part of the city that she was in. Whatever the reason, Gar was hooked.

One day that Gar would remember for the rest of his life, when Terra and himself had broken up for reasons that Gar didn't even want to think about, she was reading the book that she had in her hands the day before, which was rather thick. She was at the very end, because there were only a few pages left in the novel. Normally, she would just be in the middle of the book, but this one was far thicker than Gar could ever hope to read in his life, and she didn't seem to be quite done. Just as the bus was coming Gar saw her close the book, and as she shut it she smiled.

It had to have been the most beautiful thing that Gar had ever seen in his life. Even from where he was standing across the street he could tell that her eyes were shining. She wasn't even smiling that big, in fact it was just a small smile; it barely graced her features. But from where she had been gorgeous before, now she was positively radiant.

But the smile quickly slid off of her face, and she suddenly became expressionless. She looked at him, and he found that her eyes were a dark blue color, almost a purple, and her facial expression didn't change a bit as she appraised him. She was still beautiful, of course, but the face looked strange without emotion. He finally grew tired of just watching her, and decided that this was going to be the time he was going to talk to her. He had to, even if it was just to ask her the most obvious question in the world; What were you reading?

He didn't know why he had to, was it instinct? Was it fate? Or was he just being an idiot again?

Gar practically ran across the street, because he could see the bus at the end of the street. He would talk to her. He would. It was fate, it had to be. But if it wasn't fate then it sure did seem like it.

But just as he got there she had already entered the bus and the bus had left a confused Gar (How in the world had the stupid bus gotten there before he did?) contemplating whether or not to go running after it, or just going to the next bus stop, which was sixty-five blocks away, but he decided against it.

Gar only knew one thing for certain though. One day, he was going to figure out what her name was, where she was from, and that one day he would be the reason that she had smiled.

A/N: As much as I hate to ruin this with my words I just have to warn you that I may not update for a while with Christmas coming up and everything. Eventually I will update regularly, but until then things may be rather spotty. Well, I hope you enjoy it!

Love,

RFE