"Do you wake up as I do, having forgotten what it is that hurts or where, until you move? There is a second of consciousness that is clean again. A second that is you, without memory or experience, the animal warm and waking into a brand new world. There is the sun dissolving the dark, and light as clear as music, filling the room where you sleep and the other rooms behind your eyes."
~Jeanette Winterson

–•–•–•–

"Aww, they look most adorable!"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"But why wouldn't Gar tell us they got home?"

"Dude, we were in school. They would have taken our phones if he did."

"Oh yeah. Right."

"Well at least they returned to the house safely."

"Hey, why is she holding her arm like that?"

The muffled voices stopped and she felt something reaching down for her. A hand then pulled hers off of her arm and another pulled her other up to be examined.

Her eyes snapped open and she jerked her arm away. She bashed herself into Gar, yanking her arm out of place even more, and knocking the both to the floor in the process.

"Gar! Raven!" Kori shouted.

"Agh!! Goddammit!!" She said along with a few other expletives mixed in.

"Raven! Argh! What the hell is happening?" Gar asks as he tries to get up.

"We returned home from school, Dick got upset because you didn't call him Gar, and then he became curious and pulled Raven's arm, and now you are both on the floor." She explained dryly.

"Thanks Kor." Gar sarcastically answered.

"Uh, Rave?"

"What?" Vic pointed to the both of them. That's when they realized Raven was laying on his lap, face down, with her arm pinned to his body.

....

The two awkwardly scrambled up off the floor, cheeks flushed with a crimson red hue.

"You know it's rude to wake someone up abruptly like that." She says with a stare made of daggers.

"Sorry Raven. And I wasn't curious," he shot Kori a look. "I was worried. No one holds their arm like that normally. Especially when they're sleeping."

"Huh." She chuckled a bit.

"What?"

"I knew as soon as I got here that I couldn't hide much from you Dick. At least not for long. And you caught it while I was sleeping." It took a while for it to sink in.

"Wait, you remember?! How?" He asks finally. Raven re-plants her right hand to her left arm and sits back on the couch. It's clear she's letting Gar do all the talking.

"Well..." He gave a rather long explanation of the morning they had, Raven chiming in every once in a while. As soon as he mentioned Terra's name everyone was shocked.

"Terra?! Why that son of a–"

"Hold it Vic. Let him finish." Raven stopped him.

"She was covered in sewage and she asked me to hose her off. After I did she asked if she could help me get Raven."

"Seriously?" They nodded.

"She lead me to one of the doors. I don't even know how long she was working for them, but it payed off in the end." Gar didn't continue. Raven knew it was her turn to describe what she had been through.

"I don't even know what time I woke up..."

–•–•–•–

"...we talked a little, and then we fell asleep." Everyone was dead silent.

Then an onslaught of questions.

"She manufactured a super powered tonic?!" Dick was first.

"They branded you?!" Vic was next.

"Brion is in the hospital?!" Kori added to the incoming madness.

"Terra helped?!" Vic continued.

"She did try for money?!" Dick.

"She dislocated your shoulder?!" Kori.

Then all of them landed one final blow.

"And you killed her?!" Despite knowing how serious it was they couldn't help but gawk and ask about it.

Surprisingly Raven just nodded as an answer.

"Ok, first things first, let's fix your arm." Dick replies.

"I can do that. I just don't know how to put it back into place." Raven says.

"Oh I can do that." Vic claims.

"Uhh...alright..." Raven reluctantly turns around and closes her eyes. She feels Vic pull up her sleeve and hears everyone (except Gar) react to her bruise.

"Ouch." Vic says. "I can feel it and I haven't had a dislocated arm in half a year."

"Just do it Vic."

"Ok ok. Sorry." In a second and a good but slight movement of his hands and wrists, Raven's shoulder snaps back into the socket easily. Not without pain of course.

Even though she braced herself, a scream still came out. She breathed out heavily and put her hand on her shoulder, closed her eyes once more, and her hand started to glow a vibrant dark blue.

Everyone watched as the swelling went down and the bruises faded into her gray skin and disappeared. It was almost beautiful the way they disintegrated from view.

She huffed as if she was holding her breath and then stood up. She turned to the others.

"Well?" Gar asked. She did windmills with her arm as if nothing happened.

"That worked much better than I expected it too." Kori stated.

"No kidding. She's using it like nothing happened."

"I must admit, I've never felt this uneasy after healing myself." She laughs. "Thanks Vic."

"No prob Rave." He gives her a thumbs up. "With everything you've been through that's the least I can do."

"What next?" Gar asks.

"Perhaps should we take care of the mark on your other shoulder?" Kori suggests.

"Actually, I had a plan for that. I can make it look like a tattoo." Raven replied.

"Really?" She noded. She quickly ran her other hand over where the mark is under her sleeve and pulls it up.

"Wow. It does look like a tattoo." Dick says.

"I'd rather have people ask where I got a tattoo than have them ask about a brand."

"Well you two sure have had an eventful morning." Kori says.

"That's an understatement."

"But I have a question. Do you really trust Terra? I mean, after all she did, she seemed quite quick to change based on what you have relayed to us." She asks.

"Normally, no. But for some reason I took the time to actually look at her eyes. Normally I wouldn't so as much given her a passing glance. I can always tell if someone is lying based on their eyes. They tell it all. She was genuine. She isn't a bad person, her home life is just crap and her priorities are all over the place."

"And she was only stalking me because all she really had left were me and Brion."

The three of them looked at each other.

"Perhaps...we are more alike to her than we thought..." Kori pretty much speaks for the three of them.

"Seriously right now guys. I'm going to be pretty blunt here, so don't kill me. Were all orphans and our parents are dead. And if they're not, they don't really like us. We all know that by now." Everyone starts reminiscing, and then giving Gar the death stare. "We've been through hell and back, sometimes twice or three times. We know what it's like, and now that I think about it, we've pretty much been doing the same thing to Terra. I know the way she acts isn't exactly forgivable, but at the very least I think we should start being nice." Dick's glare gets hard and sharp. "I'm not saying to be her best friend or whatever, just be nice. Especially after what Raven is doing to do for her."

"Ok." Kori smiles.

"You got it bro." Vic follows suit.

"..." Dick remains silent.

"Dick?"

"When are you going to the hospital Raven?" He asks.

"Tonight."

"I'm coming with you. My dad sent me money, and it's a good portion of Terra's family's money. I'll give it back to her." He ends with a smile too.

Raven looks into each and every eye on the room.

Gar's sparkly emerald ones are filled with happiness and vigor.

Vick's dark sapphire ones have satisfaction written all over them.

Kori's magical jade ones contain fibers of enthusiasm and joy interwoven in the colors.

Dick's bright blue ones have content and thankfulness sprinkled within them.

She's really glad that she's back to normal.

But would this even be normal for her? Her normal always seems to be changing. At first all she was doing was hiding who she was. Then it was rotting in a jail cell more or less. Then being constantly on the run. Now she's here, in a house, with people she cares about. That's really all she wanted from the start.

By now everyone was conversing and she was just standing there.

She decided to get comfortable...

And maybe show off just a bit.

She sat cross-legged while hovering off the ground and listened to them. Their enthusiastic conversations enthralling her. That is until Gar turned around.

"Gah!" Raven giggled quietly.

"Am I really that scary Gar?"

"I just didn't realize you were sitting like that." She shrugged.

"It's better than standing." She said calmly. "But I tend to have that effect on people." She said with a newfound smirk. For some reason Gar started to blush and got up to get a drinknof water.

She waved her arm to the side and a wing-like structure of darkness appeared under her arm. She then brought her arm in front of her body and then returned it to a comfortable position.

She had just changed from her PJs into regular clothes in 3 seconds. Now she wore the clothes she first met Gar in: an indigo hoodie, black leggings, and black combat boots, all complete with the red and gold bracelet.

"Hey where you learn to do that?" Vic asked. "That'd save me a helluva lot of time in the morning." Raven smiled and gave a one word answer.

"Magic." She then piloted her self away and unfolded her legs. "I'll call you when I'm leaving Dick."

She went to the terrace and reassumed her cross-legged position in the air.

"Azerath Metrion Zinthos. Azerath Metrion Zinthos. Azerath Metrion Zinthos." She began to meditate. So much that she was in a trance-like state within 5 minutes of just sitting there.

"Umm...Raven?" She opened her eyes and unfolded her legs.

"Yeah Kor?" She said as she turned to her.

"I just wished to ask you something."

"Ok."

"Are you staying?" Raven gave her a confused look.

She had made up her mind a while ago that she would stay with them, but she had never really gave it a second thought.

"Yes."

"Really? I could not help but assume that you were having the second of thoughts." Another confused look.

"Why would you think that?"

"It's nothing. I just had an odd dream last night. You left the house and didn't come back. It was the stupid, really."

"It's ok Kori. I'm not leaving. It's not like I have anywhere to go." Then she laughed at herself. "It's funny."

"What is?"

"A month ago I wouldn't have said that. I would've skipped town without telling a soul and everyone would have been none-the-wiser. My life is so different now. I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't standing here."

"To think that this is all Garfield's doing." Kori walked to the edge and stood next to Raven. They both stared at the blue ocean. The waves lapping on the sand eating away at the sand one miniscule grain at a time, dampening the shore with it's salty smoothness. They listened to the seagulls squawk at eachother like they were in a deep conversation. The sound of the waves put both girls at ease.

"Hey Kor?"

"Yes?"

"Does your name mean anything specific in your language? I've kinda been wondering. I hope you don't mind me asking."

"Well... People have asked..."

"If you're uncomfortable then you don't have to tell me."

"No no. I guess I was bound to tell someone at some point. I am quite glad that it turned out to be you. The prefix 'kori' means 'star' in English and the suffix 'and'r' means 'fire'."

"Starfire? That's a pretty name."

"Thank you. You are the first one I have told that to."

"Why?" Raven was far past intrigued.

"I trust you." The girls share a warm smile. "Oh! I almost forgot! I ventured out here to bring you a gift!" Kori pulls out a small rectangular shaped present, wrapped in black wrapping paper with a blue bow.

Raven took it in her hands and delicately untied the bow, then ripped off the wrapping paper all in one piece.

The box was black too. But the picture on the front was clear.

"A phone?"

"Indeed! We all pitched in! Gar gave the most. A large majority of his savings!"

"Thanks. You shouldn't have."

"But we did! We figured you would need one in the future." Raven smiled at Kori once again and Kori returned with a jovial smile accompanied by a giggle of the same nature.

"I guess Dick and I should get going."

"Indeed. See you later Raven."

"Later...Star." Raven walked off the balcony calm and composed as always.

She left Kori standing with a dopey face, but on the inside, she was eccastic and full of happiness.