#but bi raven is valid and u can just try to take it from my cold dead gay goblin hands

[dyketectivecomics]

RobRae Week Day 5: Time Travel

 “Welcome, to the World of Tomorrow”

“Why do you always have to say it that way?”

“Haven’t you heard of a little thing called showmanship?”

-Futurama

(note: also not quite a dickrae fic...)

When Dick had called asking for help in a case his ‘family’ had been working on, Raven didn't question it. When they had to break into Gotham University’s library in the dead of night for some arcane book that even Barbara hadn’t realized was hiding there, she gave them the benefit of the doubt. And even as Dick started carefully laying runes and Babs helped her to gather the needed materials to keep away from whatever villain de jour they were fighting over that book, she felt happy that she had been the first one they had thought to ask.

She should’ve known that Dick’s newest sibling would muck it all up.

To be fair, Tim had been working on his own case with Batman, and neither Dick nor Alfred had seen either of them in weeks.

And with runes placed all around the room, a witch who was enveloped in shadow, and what looked like Dick ready to sacrifice his favorite pet (when in reality Dick had been holding onto Ace to ensure he wouldn’t be a distraction), Raven couldn’t exactly blame Tim for charging in and thoroughly disrupting the enchantment she was trying to place on the house in preparation for a larger confrontation that was to take place.

No, she was going to place that blame squarely on Dick’s shoulders, and his excellent communication skills. 

Whatever she had actually ended up saying in the place of the incantation she had been practicing, was apparently coherent enough to open a portal to... somewhere.

Somewhere that happened to be right into the lap of... whichever Robin that had currently taken up the mantle.

With red hair cropped into a pixie, and green-tinted glasses, this was certainly no Robin she had had the pleasure of meeting before. No, this one certainly seemed to break the mold.

In more ways than one, Raven was starting to notice.

“Um, not that it isn’t fantastic having a beautiful girl drop into my lap, but,” Robin rubbed the back of her neck nervously, cheeks dusted with pink, “Um, who are you?”

Raven scrambled off of her, muttering apologies, accidentally knocking several books out of place, and spilling some coffee that this new Robin had been drinking before Raven had dropped in on her.

Not her best first impression, but Raven was big enough to admit she was never any good at those.

She took in the room around her then, and it looked... mostly the same to the one she had just been sucked out of.

“Is this... Wayne Manor?” she asked the Robin before her as they gathered up books together.

“Uh, yeah... Are you here to see the Boss?”

“The Boss?” Raven quirked an eyebrow at the girl.

“Y’know. Batman,” she put pointed her index fingers up on either side of her head to mimic the ears on his cowl, smiling in jest as she did so, “You look my age, though... What exactly do you want with him?”

“Nothing, actually. Look, I was working with Nightwing and Batgirl when-”

“Uh, wait time out. Batgirl? Are you trying to pull my leg here?” Robin quirked an eyebrow of her own. Finally giving the girl a thorough look over, her eyes started widening in understanding.

“You’re... not from here, are you? As in, here and now?”

“I’m starting to think that might just be the case...”

...

It took a good hour of comparing notes and making sure that they struck that delicate balance between knowing too much and deciphering just enough to confirm that she had, indeed, landed in the future. They had agreed it was better not to see anyone who might recognize her from the past, and Raven had insisted the less she knew about everyone’s futures, the better.

But that didn't stop Carrie from trying in the coming weeks as they researched ways to send her back.

It was little things. Like casually mentioning how Bruce missed his kids, and wished that they’d come by more often. Or accidentally referencing how long Bruce’s retirement had been compared to Nightwing’s or the Red Hood’s or... well, there were many others that Raven simply didn't recognize. She seemed all the more hesitant to continue helping Raven with her research in sending her back to the past after doing some of her own research on Raven’s past... and future.

“You were a Titan,” Carrie brought it up after bringing them both desert to the library. Homemade fudge sundaes. Though, Raven could sense that the topic she was bringing up was going to be far from sweet.

She had been asking for Raven’s advice as she tackled her own college entrance essays and asked for plenty of help on her calculus homework. The American education system hadn't changed much, and it seemed senior year was still just as stressful as ever for a teen who was staring their future in the face.

“I am... was. I was in the middle of moving to Gotham to start college,” Raven explained, “I’m going for something in pre-med. Not sure what yet-”

“You said you liked working with those kids, right?” Carrie asked, almost too eager. Raven smiled. Another one of her ‘not-hints’ about the future. She simply nodded as she took a bite from the sundae and flicked a ‘page’ over on the device they had been using. It seemed internet access was one constant that could be counted on in the future.

“You should do pediatrics, then,” she suggested. “I’m sure you’d be great..” That light dust of pink returned to her cheeks. “And uh, you could help tons of kids that way.”

“I’m sure I could...”

...

A rather compromising position, they had found themselves in. After having tripped over each other in a scramble for the same book, Carrie had landed on top of Raven and was much, much too close for comfort.

Not that Raven actually minded.

The crush Carrie had been developing had been painfully obvious, especially for an empath to pick up in such close quarters that they had been sharing. And she never really made much of an effort at stopping her own feelings from forming.

She leaned in closer, her eyes carefully watching Carrie’s as she did so. And eventually, Carrie met her the rest of the way. A short, sweet kiss.

And Raven began to wonder what she was really going to do about all of this.

It was called a crush for a reason, right?

...

It was a similar scene to what had transpired a few weeks before. Runes laid around the room, the same book, even more worn with age and missing several pages. But everything was in place to send Raven back to where she belonged.

“Is it... selfish that I kind of want you to stay?” Carrie asked, tears in the corners of her eyes.

Raven could feel that same sadness overwhelming her as well, but she was not afraid to let the tears fall.

Like it or not, this mutual crush was merely that. A crush. Something that would eventually hurt them both in the end if they even tried to carry it further than this odd friendship that had been struck.

Although they had already started to compromise even that...

With resolve in her heart, Raven made the promise that she knew would be the easiest one to keep.

“We’ll see each other again, Carrie. It won't be the same but... I promise it’ll be sooner than you think.”

...

When the incantation ended, Raven watched the future dissolve away, and slowly she faded out as well.

Only to wake up in a guest room in Wayne Manor, none other than Dick Grayson at her bedside.

“Raven, are you okay? You’ve been... flickering... like a ghost, for hours now!”

She grabbed onto Dick’s arm urgently then. “You’re not going to believe this...”