Hope
by Cerulean Leader
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"Please, explain your actions!" Starfire called as she and Raven hovered over the rest of their team. Cyborg had his right arm ready to aim his Sonic Cannon whilst Beast Boy barked at the villian before them in wolf form.
"I have my reasons, m'dear!" the person before them laughed like a maniac, throwing his head back with his long, green hair following. He held a large, black gun that was aimed at the team, and Robin held a freese disc in case his decided to shoot it. Raven glared at the villian when he smiled at her slyly.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" she snapped. Ever since the defeat of Trigon, she had been slightly more open about her emotions, and even though she was mainly a patient person, sometimes it ran thin.
"I am the great Misonisca!" he cackled, his red cape swishing in the breeze, when he suddenly pulled the trigger on the gun. Robin, with his instant reflexes, let out battle cry as he shot his freeze disc forward but the bullet managed to get through, heading straight for Raven. It hit her on her left thigh, her grunting as electric sparks came out and paralyzed her, the girl falling straight to the ground in a heap.
"Raven!" Cyborg yelled, sending a large blast from his cannon through the ice so he could see where Misonisca had gone. "Someone go to her!"
Beast Boy transformed into a green cheetah and bounded through the hole Cyborg had made with a roar, chasing Misonisca. Starfire flew after them, her eyes glowing green as she started to throw her star-bolts at the maniac man while Robin went to stand in front of Raven in case he tried anything else.
The green-haired villian suddenly pressed a button which had been hidden under his cloak, and a yellow, bowl-shaped sped towards him and he hopped into it, flying off with another laugh. "I hope you enjoy your present, Titans!"
Robin ran forward, "MISONISCA!"
"I don't think I'll be able to take care of this baby, Richard…" Raven murmured to her husband as she stood beside him, one hand on her stomach and her violet eyes wide as she stared at the black haired male before her. "What if she has my powers? They could endanger our child!"
Richard Grayson looked down at his wife, and reached towards her, rubbing the bare skin of her arms. He could tell that she wasn't just nervous, but extremely afraid. Even after all these years, the bond hadn't been broken.
"Rae, I'm sure the baby will be fine." He said softly to her, pressing his forehead to hers gently, searching for her eyes.
"Do you promise?" she whispered back, closing her eyes. He pulled her into a hug.
"I promise."
"Hope, please return to Auntie Kori(*)!" the redheaded alien said as she chased the little girl around her home which she shared with her own husband, Roy Harper. It had been a few years since Richard and Raven had announced that they were indeed going to have a child, and the team couldn't have been more thrilled. Even Dick's old team and his family were extremely happy for him.
"Catch me if you can!" the child giggled, running as fast as she could. She was athletic as both of her parents, and definitely as hyperactive as her father. The three year old had violet hair, but a darker shade than her mothers, bright blue eyes much like Dick's with pale skin. Like any child that age, she was a very pudgy child. She was currently wearing a red and white poke-a-dot dress with her hair in pigtails, held up with white ribbons. On her feet was a pair of white sandals.
"Hope, come back!" Kori panted, now deciding to levitate and soar after the little girl instead, soon scooping the giggling into her arms. "Oh, you are the very cheeky."
Hope just giggled innocently in the alien's arms, looking up at her with curious, and large blue eyes as a wide smile graced her small lips. "Can we play again?"
"Maybe in the later of the day, I must take you back to your mother and father." Kori smiled, and tickled Hope under the chin, earning a squirming girl in her arms.
Starfire sighed, and looked down at her in adoration. 'Oh, I would love to have my own child!' she thought, and then pictured herself and Roy sitting on their couch together, a baby in the woman's arms as they crowded around to look at the child. She sighed again in contentment, and walked towards her front door, locking it as she walked out and pushed off to fly towards her friend's house. But then she remembered Raven, and her thoughts became sad once again.
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"Rae, how are you feeling?" Richard asked as he walked into the bedroom he shared with his demoness wife. She had been sick for the past few days, growing pale, her powers going out of control when she dared to move around too much and she was sleeping a lot more than usually did. He took his overcoat off and put it on a nearby chair and climbed onto the bed, moving some hair out of her face while she groaned.
"Richard?" She asked, turning around to look at him. The light bulb inside the lamp shade crashed, Dick cringing but Raven didn't even blink.
He kissed her forehead gently. "Are you okay?"
She used one shoulder to shrug and decided to close her eyes. "When is Hope getting back?" she asked softly, looking up at the other hero beside her. Even if it had been years since the Teen Titans were actually teenagers, the Titans still lived on.
"Star just said that they're on their way." He replied, stroking her hair while she continued to lie on the pillow. "Now, we need to focus on getting you better." He said as Raven let out a strained cough, black tendrils of her magic managing to escape her body and ripped up one of the pillows that Richard was leaning on so there were pillows flying everywhere.
"It's just a virus—"
"That could be dangerous. Look Rae, when you're like this, whether you like it or not, you are the most vulnerable because your powers are very active."
She sighed, "I'm scared for Hope. You might want to keep her away from me until I get better, Dick."
"She's not going to be happy about that..." Dick said, moving to get off the bed to let Raven sleep for a little while. He closed the door softly, being careful so he didn't disturb her sleep. The demoness definitely needed it. She had been sick like this for the past couple of days and had asked Starfire and Roy to take care of their daughter because Raven had voiced her fears of Hope getting sick.
"Dick!" Raven shrieked as she collapsed onto the floor, clutching her head. Tendrils of her magic flowed elegantly from her body, making glass and plates shatter and other things crash to the floor. Dick came rushing into the room, Hope following close behind him as he crouched down beside his wife.
"Raven!"
"Get Hope away from me!" she yelled, moving back and curling up into a ball as she cringed from the pain inside her head. "Ugh!"
His eyes widened in fright, he didn't want to leave her alone. He picked up his daughter, and grabbed Raven up under his other arm while Hope watched fearfully.
"Mummy!"
This time, Raven scream. A loud, high-pitched scream was belted out of her lungs that she was sure that everyone in Jump City was able to hear it. She was sure that the pain had something to do with her demon side. But how could that be? Her father, Trigon, was locked away.
"Get her out of here, Robin! Take her to Bruce, Starfire, anyone!"
He stared at his wife in panic. She had just used his old superhero identity as well, which meant that something was horribly wrong with her. So, he did what he told her, much to Hope's annoyance and protest. The little girl wanted to stay with her mother, and even though Dick wanted to as well, his daughter was one of his top priorities as well. He didn't know what was happening, only that Raven's powers were out of control.
"Auntie Kori, do you think mummy is going to be okay?" Hope asked as she stared up at the Tamaranean with hopeful eyes. She looked so innocent, and Kori prayed that her best friend would be okay. But she didn't have the heart to explain to the young girl that there might be a chance that the demoness may not survive.
"I hope so..." she murmured quietly, speeding up and zooming across the sky.
Hope just nodded, not bothering to ask anything else even though even more questions were forming in her head. She could sense that the one who was carrying her was feeling discomfort, both because of her friend and the little girl in her arms.
'Mummy, please be okay...'
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"...So I don't know what to do." Dick said as he looked at his foster father through the video phone. He looked so distraught, his head down and his hair all messy. Not his usual spiky messy, but a messy that seemed to say, "I didn't get much sleep last night."
Bruce Wayne looked at Dick with concerned eyes. "So you have absolutely no idea at all?"
"None."
The older man pondered on this for a moment, rubbing his chin in thought. Being a master detective, maybe he was trying to put two and two together. "So it's affecting her powers? Did you think it has something to with her demon side?"
Dick should his head. "We had Cy run pertty much all the different scans on her that we could think of for supernatural beings like her. All signs and symptoms seemed to be normal."
"I don't know what else then. I'll do a little digging, and I'll see what I can find. I wish you well for now, Richard."
"You too, Bruce."
Raven sat on one of the chairs in the infirmary calmly as Cyborg extracted some of her blood into a tube as a blood sample before pouring the drops into a slot within the computer inside the dark room which was only lit up slightly.
"You alright, Rae?" the half-man-half-robot asked as he looked at younger friend in concern. She merely nodded in response. She didn't want to make a big deal out of this, only wanting to get out of there to meditate to clear her mind.
Bringing up her normal DNA sample to her current one, Cyborg pressed a few buttons onto the keyboard so they merged together almost identical except for a tiny, green dot which Cyborg didn't notice. "I don't understand, it's like the bullet had no effect..."
"Maybe it didn't." she said in her monotone. Instead, she stood up and with a swish of her cloak, she left the room.
Thinking back on this, Raven believed that maybe something was wrong with her, that maybe the bullet did insert something bad inside her which would only take effect much later. She could feel her power being slowly drained, and with half-lidded eyes, she ran her hand over the metal which was still inside her leg. They still hadn't been able to remove it.
Sighing, she rolled over, before coughing violently, sitting up with a hand over her mouth as her powers stretched and crashed into the bedroom door, pushing it outwards so a large dint appeared in it until it decided to fall outwards into the hallway.
"Richard!" she coughed, moving her covers to the side and limping slowly to the door, gripping the wall for support. She didn't exactly need to fall, now did she?
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"Hey, Dick!" a cheery voice appeared on the screen as Dick pressed the button to answer. He smiled up at the redhead softly. "Hey, Babs, how are you?"
She shrugged in response. "What about you? How's Raven doing?"
He sighed, letting his head fall. "She's not getting any better." He was scared; what if she was dying? What would he do then? He didn't think he'd be able to raise a child on his own, let alone live without the woman he loved.
Barbara's shoulders slumped in response, obviously guilty for asking the question and putting her foster-brother in an even worse mood than he was before. "I'm sorry, Dick. But Bruce has found something that it may have to do with."
He raised his head to look at the auburn haired girl, his eyes hopeful. "Tell me!"
"Remember that time she got shot by Misonisca?"
He pondered for a moment, then remembered the bullet which was still in Raven's leg. His mouth gaped open, "No way!" he said, shaking his head in denial. "We've cleansed it that many times that it should be fine. It hasn't even caused her any harm, and it's been years since she was shot."
"Yes, but she's part-demon. Maybe the gun he was using wouldn't have an effect until later, and later is now. Well, that's Bruce's theory, anyway."
Barbara looked back at Dick, and his blue eyes were completely wide. His fists were clenched, and suddenly a smashing sound was heard as one would assume his fist made contact with the bench. "You've got to be kidding me!"
She shook her head sadly. "No, I'm not."
"Richard!"
As he heard his name being bellowed, he quickly pressed the hang-up button and bolted straight for his bedroom. Seeing Raven gripping the wall and leaning down, almost about to fall, he helped her up, picking her up bridal style before pressing his forehead to hers. "What are you doing, Rae?"
Putting one arm around his neck to keep herself balanced, she swallowed to gain some control of her cough. "You n-need to remove it..." she heaved, arching her back in attempt some air back with she clenched her eyes shut tightly. "The bullet!"
"No! It could kill you!"
"Please... Richard..." she whispered. "If you don't, then the world could be... i-in danger again. R-Remem-ber what happened... last time?"
"I'm not risking your life, Rae." he growled back at her, putting her down on the bed gently. The doorbell rang soon after, startling the couple to a bit of the ceiling crashing to the floor as a black aura surrounded it.
Sighing, he kissed her own the forehead, and left to answer the door, only to find his good friend Kori, holding a bubbly Hope in her arms.
"Hello, Richard!" she greeted cheerfully, putting Hope down who laughed and hugged her father's leg.
"Daddy!"
"Hey, pumpkin." he said with a sad smile, even though he tried not to show it. She was slightly confused. Titlting her head to the side, she looked up at her father with her large eyes once again piercing his. "Go put your stuff away."
She nodded slowly, running away and up the stairs as fast as her stubby legs would take her. He looked behind him while Kori watched with a sad gaze, and the two waited until the little girl was out of earshot. "How is she, Richard?"
"She wants to remove the bullet. Everyone seems to think that she's like this because of the bullet." he answered softly, biting his lip and closing his eyes as he tried to stay strong.
"Remove the bullet? But, Richard..."
"I know, I know. She could die." he snapped, looking away.
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Hope Grayson had not listened to her father when he told her to go put her stuff away. After climbing the stairs, she had heard Richard and Kori start up a conversation, her father straining to answer as he tried to hold back tears. Was her mother really going to die?
Leaving her stuff against the wall, she quietly moved towards her parents' room and opened the door, seeing her mother's thin body struggling to breathe evenly.
"Mummy?" she asked hesitantly, letting go of the door handle and climbing onto the bed. Raven turned over to face the child, a small smile gracing her lips.
"Hey, sweetie..." she coughed, wincing as the sound of glass breaking was heard.
Hope looked at her mother, and curled up beside her, bringing her knees to her chest as she hugged her mother. "You're not going to leave us, are you? You have to promise me."
Raven turned around fully, lying down to fully face her daughter. "I can't promise you anything, Hope, but I will stay as long as I can." she whispered, pressing a kiss to the little girl's forehead. Even though Hope's powers hadn't fully devoloped yet, Raven still had a fear of endangering her daughter in case the effects were contagious.
Closing her eyes tightly, she leaned further into her mother and tried to hold back a sob as as she clenched onto Raven's t-shirt. "Mummy..."
"Hope?" asked the voice of her father who was standing right outside the door, peering in.
"In here..." Raven responded, looking up at him with a tear at the corner of her eyes. His gaze softened. He had just bid goodbye to Kori, who had promised that she would come by with everyone later.
He climbed onto the bed, and pulled his wife towards his chest, Hope in between the two. A real family, they were. As much as Raven didn't want to leave, she knew she may not. She was glad that if she did die, she died like this, in the arms of her family, people she loved.
"Hope, I want you to promise me something." she whispered in a slightly strained voice, looking directly into Richard's eyes as his bore into her violet irises. "If I do go, I want you to take care of your father for me."
"Raven..." Richard warned.
"Hope, promise me."
Nodding against her mother's body, she choked back a sob. "That's my girl."
Richard sighed, and pulled his two girl's closer to him. They were his world, and if he lost Raven, what would he do?
Raven closed her eyes gently, short breaths beginning to take over. "I love you both..."
With a sigh, her arm fell lifeless, her pulse barely there but Hope could still here it.
"Mummy..." she sobbed, while Richard burried his face into the pillows. The two of them choked back sobs.
Without the two of them noticing, Hope's hand began to go a smoky blue, unintentionally, aiming the glow towards Raven's thigh. Slowly, the bullet began to fade away, and the whole was gone, a small scar in it's place. Richard looked up, his eyes widening, and he gasped through his sobs.
"R-Raven..."
Hope's hand pulled away from her mother's leg, the eerie blue glow fading from hand. The tiny girl's escaped the muffling her mother's body provided, and a howl was released from the distraught child as she sobbed for her mother. She was acting way to mature for her age; just this morning she was acting like her normal, cheeky self with Kori, and now here was the same child, screaming to the heavens.
"MUMMY!"
"Hope..."
Richard looked at his wife, and his eyes widened. Her eyes were half-lidded, and she gave him a small smile.
"Raven." he whispered, and sobbed again, scooping up his daughter who still hadn't noticed and was sobbing into her dad's shoulder. He pulled Raven up gently and into his arms, and he kissed her gently, while she kissed him back. After pulling away, she moved to grab her crying daughter.
"You really are hope..."
Hope looked up at her mother, and gasped, wrapping her arms around her mothers neck. Raven looked extremely tired, but none-the-less hugged her daughter back.
"You have healing powers..."
Hope's sobs turned into whimpers. "Mummy..."
Richard watched them, and pulled them both against him. "Don't do that again, Rae. You have to promise us, now."
"You were right about you knowing the most hopeful person in your life," she whispered back, smiling softly. "Looks like she's replacing me."
A/N: Wow, that ending was probably the most cheesy ending I have ever written. Oh, well. You get what you get.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, only Hope.
(*) Kori is Starfire's name in the comics; she only uses Kori in my version of the Animated Series future to have an identity outside of being a hero.
Word Count: 3,697
Thankyou to Smiles-X-Giggles for pointing out my error. It was greatly appreciated! ^_^
:) Despite the major horridness, I hope you liked it, even the tiniest bit. Please, review! :D
~CL