"Oh glorious! Friends, we must rejoice, for we have caught Red-X with red hands!" The rest of Starfire's teammates did not seem to share her joyous mood, instead choosing to lose themselves in deep thought over the current situation. Raven, having taken care of the previously mentioned thief, had skipped over to Robin mumbling a few words into his ear before collapsing into his arms. The action alone seemed enough to delay her interrogation. While the rest of the team tended to the crime scene and the police, Robin took Raven back to the tower to wait it out.

Raven...what are you thinking?... Robin's mind was preoccupied with the girl in his arms as she took her to the infirmary. Arriving at his destination, he gently laid Raven down on one of the infirmary beds and pondered his situation. However, a small groan tore him from his thinking process.

"...Robin...?" Raven turned over so she was on her side, facing him.

"I am surprised you aren't calling me some weird nickname." Pulling up a chair from the side, Robin sat down, elbows at his knees, resting his head in his palms.

"Where is everyone else?"

"They are in the city, cleaning up the mess." At this, Raven took a small moment to think before breaking the silence.

"I am guessing you want me to tell you what has been going on these past couple of days, huh?" Readjusting his position so he was now leaning back into the chair, Robin slowly nodded.

"We all want to know Raven. While you were busy with X, the rest of us decided that we should hear your story after we got back." Curling her body inward, Raven looked straight into the whites of Robin's mask.

"Do you really want to know?" Robin carefully debated whether or not he should wait for his teammates or say yes right now. Deeming no harm could be done, he nodded once again.

"You can tell me anything." Mouth moving to a slight frown, Raven looked away from her leader.

"Not everything... Well. Let us begin then. It all started about a year or two before I met you all in Jump City...-"

Several years ago...

Raven ran. What she was running from was unknown to her. All she knew was that the darkness was slowly closing in on her, threatening to corrupt her. Dodging through buildings and alleyways, she came upon a field. Passing a sign that said Welcome to the Hills, she looked further to see bright lights emerging from tall grasses. Raven kept running and saw the source of the lights, a large carnival with many red and white striped tents. Thinking she could hide in one of them, the cloaked girl slid under a tent flap.

Steadying her breathing, Raven turned to look at her surroundings. The entire tent was filled with many Christmas lights, casting kaleidoscopes of colours onto the tent walls. In the center of the tent, two crates sat on either side of a large rectangular rock.

"Hello there little eagle, how are you today?" Raven jumped in surprise as a little girl came in, skipping to one of the crates, upon which she sat down.

"...Why an eagle?" Cocking her head to the side, the little girl looked at Raven intently.

"Hmm... not an eagle. Ostrich?" Guessing that the little girl wanted to know her name, Raven shook her head.

"No."

"Bluejay."

"No."

"Pelican."

"Who in the world names their child Pelican?" Frustrated, the little girl stared harder.

"Crow."

"No."

"Crane."

"No."

"Kiwi."

"That's not even a bird!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is! You know what. I don't care anymore. You came here for a reading didn't you? If you didn't, get out." Afraid to brace the darkness outside, Raven came over to empty crate and sat down.

"Okay. I am here. How does this work?"

"Just wait a second. Jeez. Can't give a little girl some time?" Rolling her eyes, Raven watched as the little girl pulled out a deck of old looking cards from nowhere and began shuffling.

"What do you want me to read?" Thinking, Raven chose something the little girl could not possibly read from her.

"My past." Seeming to be interested by her choice, the little girl set out thirteen cards in front of her.

"Choose three."

"Why three?"

"Why not three?" Mentally sighing, Raven took the two cards at the ends and the third one from the right, placing them all in a small pile in front of her.

"Do you want me to flip them one by one?" The little girl shook her head repeatedly at a very fast pace, making Raven think that her head was going to fly off.

Raven flipped the cards over to reveal The Magician, The Devil, and Death.

"...What are you...?" The little girl simply smiled at her question.

"I am but a little girl. The cards, however, are something else."

"I... Cause death and despair wherever I go..." Shaking her head, the little girl reached over the rock mass and took Raven's hands.

"You have a lot of power in you. Power to fight the baddies and make them go away." Raven saw determination in the little girl's eyes.

"Perhaps... Do you think maybe... I could stay here for a while?" The little girl showed a bright smile and nodded ecstatically.

"Yes! Yes! Of course! You can help me with the cards. I can teach you all sorts of weird magicky stuff!" Grateful, Raven stood up and for the first time in a long while, smiled.

"What is your name little girl?"

"My name is not for you to know. What about yours?"

"...It's Raven..."

"I knew it was a bird!"

Present

"So when Starfire said you were in a circus once..."

"Yeah. I stayed with her for about a year before wandering off again. When I left, she gave me a couple things to remember her by."Robin stayed still, processing her story through his mind. Feeling awkward as silence began to swallow the room, the Boy Wonder shifted the conversation.

"Lately, your personality has been a bit... unusual..." Raven scoffed at this, reverting back to her usual personality.

"Of course it has. It's my bloody time of the month." Robin froze there, horrified at her bluntness. Seeing his reaction, the purple-haired girl laughed.

"I was just joking Robin. Emotions empower a lot of the magic I do with tarot cards as you saw back at the jewelry shop. It's just... I didn't want to use the cards because I thought you all wouldn't take me seriously." At this, Robin put a hand on her shoulder. Gosh I lov- wait. No. I...what? Trying to distract himself from his sudden thought, Robin decided to bring the conversation to a lighter subject.

"We always take you seriously. Even Beastboy." Chuckles erupted from both of the two as they thought of the green changeling being serious with them all for more than a minute.

"Do you want to tell the others about this?" Raven shook her head lightly.

"No. I would rather that we keep this a secret between the two of us if that is okay."

"If that is what you want, then I guess we will have to make an excuse for the others."

"They will understand. I hope."

"Hey Raven?"

"Yeah?"

"Back then, in the shop, what card did X pick to conjure up all those swords?"

"I thought it was obvious. It was Justice, of course." And with that, Raven pulled the hand that was on her shoulder, kissed Robin on the cheek, and looked at him as if she were a little girl at a candy store.

"Oh Robbiekins, did I get 'im good?" The said boy, still in shock from her actions and now turning the colour of his suit, gave her a slow nod before drunkenly walking out of the room.

Okay guys. I know what you are thinking. WHERE THE HELL IS RED?! Well. You can't have a perfect love story without a rival or jealous bystander now can you? I think I am a bit evil... Poor Dickie Bird. :3