Hearts of Darkness

by Legend Maker

"The conquest of the earth...is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much." The sun sets on all your yesterdays, Titans. No matter what you do, TOMORROW BELONGS TO ME.

1. New Divide

Hearts of Darkness

Chapter 1: New Divide

"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."

-George Orwell, 1984

Life's but a game, on massive boards,

Some be movers,

Most are piece

They say a coward dies a thousand times

But the valiant more swiftly cease

Of all the lies told to me

That death comes for all rises above

You champion on with all your strength

While all I see

Is the lack thereof

So we stand, at eternal ends,

For that is where you laid the ground

There is no height you can rise to reach me

Before I bring you

Down.

In war, mistakes are made. Some are worse than others. Some are never realized.

The mistake Raven made was made to save lives. The villain, the Lord, he'd hurt them. He'd used aspects of her birthright, her friends, her lover, and remade himself as a would-be god. He had unleashed those powers on her city. Thousands were dying.

She had to stop him, and it would not be easy. The Titans had swiftly assembled aid, but it might not have been enough. Even if it was, waging war in Jump City was unthinkable. The Lord had already hurt it so much. Battling him while still in it could have, would have, left the rest in ruins that King Phyrrus would have lamented.

Raven's lamentation, later on, was that would not be the first time she would make such an observation. At the time, her course was clear. The Lord was new in his power, power he'd partly taken from her. The door swung both ways.

Normally, Raven could teleport, at most, a hundred miles. Tapped into the Lord's power, she'd gone far further, drawing him and her allies across the world into the dead zone of the Sahara Desert. They'd made their stand there. They'd scarred the world.

But they had won. Robin had assessed the Lord's weakness, and the Titans had lasted long enough for it to come to bear. The sun rose, and the Lord was destroyed.

Maybe a fresh mind would have realized the possibilities, but Raven, and the Titans, were far too battered for such things.

The door swung both ways.

Her weariness, and the need to rise above it to keep her wounded friends alive, had ensured that she did not sense it. Sense the last fleeting remains of a dark presence fleeing into her, hiding in her. Until she'd taken the Titans home.

What the Lord had wrought was the final assurance that let him escape. Raven was too heartbroken by the destruction, too overwhelmed by what her empathy brought to her, to sense him leaving. And so, the Lord survived.

It would not be the last time the Lord would use his mortal enemies for his own ends.

Far from it.

---

Deep in the heart of Titans Tower, there was a special room.

Few outside of the core team knew of its existence. It was not of 'practical' importance, like safe rooms or escape routes. It was simply a small room of remembrance and trophies, carefully hidden away so it would be harder to damage. Mementos of things lost and won, including photographs.

Adam "Metatron" Matthews popped a jelly baby into his mouth as he perused the pictures. The first of the team, after the battles of Neithercut and the Crimson Queen, and Torment remaking Jump, the group standing in front of Stone Industries as it was rebuilt into what was now known as the T-Tower. One with Savior, after the Final Night. The 'official' photo after Gauntlet had joined, during a visit to the Candide house, with Pangloss in the background looking annoyed his usual TV-watching seat was occupied. One with Scalpel, after the dustup with the White Hole and Dr. Nickelson. Another more recent shot with Ryce taken on her birthday immediately following her unpleasant brother's gruesome and yet satisfying demise. Other photos, including various team shots and one with virtually every superhero in the world after they'd united to stop another universal crisis before it could start. And the latest photo of the team, all ten members (and the help): it currently occupied the center of the main cornucopia of memories.

Metatron wasn't paying attention to that photo, though. Instead, he was perusing another photo of the team off to the side. It also had all ten members, though it was clearly older: Sophie had not yet fully embraced the lifestyle and had appeared in normal clothing, and Raven was also wearing her old, bathing suit style-costume, rather then the full body one she'd switched to in the wake of the machinations of Alexander Luthor. It also wasn't a very good photo: the camera seemed to be at a slight angle, and there was an awkward space between Scalpel and Cyborg that a professional photographer probably would have thrown a fit over. With all the other photos, its flaws were lessened, though it was clear why that one wasn't the centerpiece.

"…heh." Metatron said, a soft smile ghosting across his face. "All of Noel's hours of organization…wasted. I bet he was pissed…"

The shuddering vibration rattled through the entire room. Metatron felt the oscillation run up through his calves, and recognized it as a brief, sudden earth tremor.

"So." Metatron said, a less flippant sound emerging from the blond, spectacled girl beside him. Their recent Jump had been a pleasant one, but it was lost by the tense growl that came from her. The demon didn't need to see: He knew she was bristling.

The wire holding the central picture snapped, and Metatron's eyes followed the framed photo down as it hit the floor. The glass over the picture shattered into a spider-web of cracks, obscuring the likenesses of the Titans from view. Metatron stared at the broken glass for a bit, before popping another jelly baby in his mouth.

"Looka me." Metatron said, in an uncharacteristically dry and quiet tone. "I'm the author, and I can do subtle."

Metatron didn't say anything else, as he bent down and picked up the broken picture, carefully removing the photo from the glass and the frame. Having succeeded in not cutting himself, he produced a tack and pinned it to the wall in the rough position it had been, before stepping back and looking at the photo.

"…she could probably use a hand." Metatron said, and walked off, Ryce following in his steps.

---

Tara Markov had not gotten the best of all worlds when it came to her body. While she had good looks, great hair, and the ability to make whole cities come tumbling down if she wanted, it was balanced by a flat chest, little in the way of curves, and a metabolism so intense that crossing the hundred pound mark weight had always been a problem for her. She did some workouts, but nothing to the degree of some of her teammates, and hence just had some residual muscle.

None of that mattered at the moment, as she slammed Noel Collins against the wall like he weighed nothing. Considering the fact she was moving 180+ pounds of near dead-weight, it was even more impressive. But adrenaline and rage could do amazing things.

In the wake of Raven's terrible revelation, such things lost any impressive aspect.

"YOU BASTARD!" Tara screamed, her eyes burning such a bright gold that steam seemed to rise from her face. Noel's own eyes were an almost exact reverse: his vision had been clouded over by a shocked despair so great it seemed to add a thousand extra pounds to his body. He barely seemed to register what Terra was doing, vocally or physically, as she screamed a noiseless sound of rage and the whole Tower shook one more time.

"ALL THAT TIME IN THE TRAINING ROOM! TORTURING ME! TELLING ME I WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH! AND YOU FUCKING KILL US? YOU? YOU GODDAMN FUCKING…!"

"TERRA!" Came a new voice, as Cyborg came up behind Terra and dragged her off her teammate. The fact that he had to struggle to do it was not lost on him. Anger could do amazing things. That was also not lost on him: if he hadn't been half-machine, he suspected he'd be strangling Noel in Tara's place.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" Terra shrieked. Without her holding him up, Noel slid down the wall, his eyes still not focusing on anything. "HE HAS TO PAY! YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARDDDDDDDDDDDDD!"

"Yes Terra. He's a bastard." Cyborg snarled, shooting Savior a glare so cold and intense Beast Boy almost swore he saw frost materialized on Noel's eyebrows. "But you're forgetting the parts Raven told us before she revealed this. The parts about the Lord."

"I DON'T CARE! HE HAS TO PAY! I'LL BURY HIM ALIVE! HE DID IT TO ME! TO GAR! TO…!"

"Terra, you check your shit right now, or I'll tranq you." Cyborg said, the tip of his index finger popping open as a needle emerged. Terra stared in shock at the sight. "You have every right to be angry. We're all angry. But we can't fragment. NOT. NOW. We have to RISE ABOVE IT."

Cyborg let Terra go, and amazingly she didn't immediately leap back onto Noel's throat. Looking like it took every bit of willpower she had, Terra stalked back over to Beast Boy's side. Her boyfriend had not moved since Raven had told them what happened that fateful Halloween. From the look on his face, he appeared to have briefly lost the concept of what moving was all about. After giving the still nearly-catatonic Noel another fearsome glare, Cyborg also stepped back.

"…Raven…"

Raven, lost in the state of numbness she'd forced herself into, had not noticed Starfire approaching. She'd had to put herself into such a state. The outburst of emotion that would have, and had, accompanied her terrible news would have destroyed her otherwise. And it still hadn't been enough. She felt like she was covered in raw, gaping wounds, the wounds that now existed on her teammate's hearts and souls.

"Raven…please tell me this isn't true."

Raven stared dully back at Starfire, as tears bubbled in her green eyes.

"Tell me it's a lie. Some sort of loyalty test. Some immensely cruel form of humor I do not understand. Please tell me this didn't happen. Please…tell me…"

Raven looked at her teammate, and the fact that she said nothing said it all. Starfire gave one brief sniffle, and turned into Robin's arms, her shoulders shaking as she silently wept. The fact that Robin was directing his burning, terrible glare at HER was something Raven had suspected might happen. She did not blame him in the slightest.

"…well." Sophie said quietly, sitting on the couch next to Nigel, who looked even more confused than Beast Boy did. "I had wondered why I was having sharp, stabbing pains in my back whenever I walked past him."

"Dude…dudette…Sophie, not now. Not…ever." Beast Boy said, looking like he had to swallow back vomit. "God, I need a drink."

"I vote that next Halloween we borrow a time machine and skip to November 1st." Gauntlet said. "Next time we see that ubermensch wannabe, HE ISN'T WALKING AWAY. He just knocked Hitler out of first place in my 'people I'm willing to kill.' list."

"…I'm not certain…what?" Nigel said, cocking his head as if he were trying to work out a particularly troublesome math equation. "He killed us? Noel? We're still alive, I know how a dead body operates, this is not…how could he manage…even if we consider…do we put him on trial for treason or…" Nigel said, his rambling trailing off as Sophie put a hand on his shoulder.

"Please. No complicated shit. I want to hit something. Anything. Anyone. Legion of Doom. Brotherhood of Evil. Secret Six. I'll take The Pirates That Don't Do Anything, ANYTHING." Gauntlet said, before Cyborg stood up and walked over to Noel. Noel had barely moved, his own motion since he'd fallen was to place his hands over his face. Cyborg observed him for several silent moments.

"…he didn't know either." Cyborg said, turning back towards Raven. "You kept it a secret from everyone. Even him."

"…yes." Raven said. "Only I hid it. It was solely my choice. I…needed to know certain things. It took me a long time to learn."

"Well, let's speed up the next step then, shall we?" Cyborg said, as he engaged his sonic cannon and whirled around to aim it at Noel's face. The low, throbbing hum of the weapon was enough to make Noel snap his face up, staring into the glowing weapon.

"HEY!" Terra yelled.

"Cyborg…!" Robin said, turning away from Starfire as much as he could while still holding her close, one hand going to his belt. "I KNOW you're more rational than that. You were ACTING that way not a minute ago."

"You're right Robin. Every single rational bit of me is processing the information I was just given, and requesting more input so I can make a proper, cognizant judgment about this incident." Cyborg said. "And every single other bit of me, then and now, is SCREAMING to WASTE THIS RATFUCK SON OF A BITCH RIGHT NOW! GUESS WHICH SIDE'S WINNING NOW?"

"Victor…" Starfire breathed. "…it is not you."

The quiet in the room was suffocating.

"…you're right Star." Cyborg said, lifting his weapon arm. "It's not. I'm not that WEAK."

A loud whistle caused the entire room to start, and every set of eyes turned to look at Metatron, who was leaning against the nearest hallway entrance, his attention, despite being the whistler, not on them, but on some papers he was skimming through. Beside him, their maid was staring into the room, and for all her five-nothing pocket-sizeness, there was something peculiar about how she stood. Raven tensed inwardly…the slanted pupils told her all she needed to know about the imminent reaction, and it was exactly what they did NOT need right now.

Unfortunately, by the time the sorceress realized this, Ryce was already talking.

"Done then? No? Well…y'goin' to have to hit the pause button anyway, 'cause we can't have you holdin' your breaths in tantrum-y emotional bullshit, y'might get a rash."

"Ryce," Raven tried to forestall, but the blonde didn't hear her.

"You be quiet, 'cause you KNEW this would happen if y'waited," Ryce glared her tone nothing short of venomous before turning back to her family. "What the HELL is the matter with the lot of you? How many years of havin' your back does the damn jackwagon need to put in b'fore y'recognize that in spite of his less than congenial nature that he'd do ANYTHIN' for ANYONE here? Y'throw that all away cause he's not indestructible? Lemme open the floor for anyone of you t' get up off'a y'arses and claim y'have it in you to toss aside the Lord or his influence. Well? C'mon then! Up you get! Which one of you's been holdin' out on us all since everyone's quick to fault him on what m'sure y're all SO prepared for?" Ryce glared at them, taking the brief moment of silence as a lengthy answer, "No one? Well fancy that! M'sorry…M'not gonna stand here and let y'play into that twisted man-child's hands cause tha's EXACTLY what you're doin' with this knee-jerk fit! Turn 'gainst each other and Ricky doesn't even need to mindfuck the lot of you to do it like he did Noel. Y'wanna be angry? BE ANGRY! But be angry at the right thing! Don' b'too bloody stupid to see y'bein' manipulated too, 'cause SORRY to piss on your chips, boys and girls, but that is EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPE-"

The girl trailed off as the gentle touch fell on her shoulder. Her head snapped to the hand that had silenced her and up to its owner's eyes, who smiled kindly at her, before looking towards the Titans. Lips thinning, Ryce followed the stare towards them.

There was confusion in their eyes, she suddenly realized. Confusion and intrigue—as if she had been speaking in a foreign, strange language they were very interested in learning. At least from the ones that didn't look a second away from strangling her.

Glancing towards Raven, it dawned on the Titan's maid that the half-demon hadn't gotten very far in her explanation.

"Hi there," Metatron's voice cut through her musings as he straightened the papers he was seemingly done reading. "As much as I love your passion, munchkin, and while I hate to interrupt the Blame Game Wangst, now that everyone's done throwing up a little and had their respective feelings towards committing hematic homicide—oh, how I love alliteration—brought out into the open, there're some details Raven was going to get around that I think I'll just jump ahead to." Metatron said, picking out a paper at random from the stack. "Like this signed testimony from Dr. Sid, you remember him right, the guy who fixed Noel last time he broke? He also wanted to do a 'case' on me? Oh wait, you wouldn't know that, would you. Anywho, it says some obvious, scientifically-proven, nonsense about brain damage in regards to neurotoxins not being so pin-point specific in targeting the part of the brain that controls morality, and that anything that would have had to nuke Noel's mind to the point where he thought killing you all in cold blood was the only solution would have also burned through the parts of the brain that controlled fine movement, vision, and… libido?" Metatron did a double-take. "Really? That might have actually been fun to watch. But for once this isn't about my fun. It's about what this means: That if things had gone according to just being injected with poison, Noel should have been a thrashing, blind, impotent cripple instead of some sort of super-predator. Unless—and there's a smidgen of a chance that this just might be relevant to the discussion—there was an outside force manipulating the events and taking advantage of his eroding brain so that it could precisely manufacture things to engineer him into the sort of person needed to make with the attempting and succeeding in killing you all. Now, I may not have passed high school—though I got that free doctorate from that place I saved from being eaten by sentient fungus—but it sounds an awful lot like Noel was just a puppet, a pawn, a pasty, a Manchurian candidate—and there goes the alliterative streak again—to the REAL evil force who got you all dead. That being, shockingly, someone with a history of wanting to kill you: THE LORD. Are we under-comprehending the lexemes coming out of my noise hole? Oh, and as a final note, I'd like to thank whichever one of you got me an electronic thesaurus last Christmas. Dead useful, that thing. …Could've probably worded that better."

For a second, only Ryce's dryly amused snort broke the silence.

"…thirsty work, alliteration." Morgue said, handing Metatron a glass of water.

"It's all worth it to see those precious smiles on your faces." Metatron winked, nodding towards the rigid Titans as he drank. The only one that was still moving was Gauntlet, who was muttering in an angry, inarticulate drone.

Beast Boy was about to say something to break the silence when he suddenly felt Terra stiffen. At first he thought Noel had gotten up, but a quick glance showed he was still sitting on the floor. Turning his eyes back towards Terra, Beast Boy saw a rare sight: wheels turning in Terra's brain as she managed to work something out before any of the other Titans. Though, as Beast Boy in retrospect mused, it was very likely Robin had worked it out first and had either said nothing or been beaten to the punch.

"…you told them." Terra said, standing up as she glared at Raven. "A SECRET LIKE THIS AND YOU TOLD THEM! THE ASTHMATIC HIRED HELP FROM THE LOVECRAFTIAN BEYOND AND THE FUCKING CLOWN WHO JUMPS IN AND OUT OF OUR LIVES LIKE SOME SORT OF FUCKING DEMENTED POGOSTICKER!"

"Is that a word? Can I use it? Sounds like something that'd come up often in my conversations." Metatron asked calmly, studying Terra as Ryce, in an equally calm voice, vulgarly suggested which orifice Terra could jam a pogostick into.

"I…" Raven tried…again, to no avail.

"THEM? YOU DON'T TELL ROBIN, OR STARFIRE, OR, HELL, FUCKING NEVERBREAKASECRET MAN, YOU TELL THEM! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!" Terra screamed as her eyes flushed gold again, distinctly ignoring the male half-demon's ramblings.

"Terra…"

"SO MANY DAMN ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS WHERE I'M A TRAITOR, A MONSTER!" Terra roared, as the Tower began to shake again. "I HAD TO TAKE IT ALL AND BE SPOON FED SHIT THAT I HAD TO BE BETTER! I HAD TO RISE ABOVE IT! LIKE THE DEMON CHILD, LIKE THE FUCKING WANNABE BATMAN WHO THOUGHT HE HAD ANY RIGHT TO TELL ME JACKSHIT! AND OH LOOK, THE REAL TRAITORS END UP BEING THE ONES WHO THOUGHT THEY WERE SO DAMN GREAT OVERCOMING THE SHIT THEY NEVER OVERCAME WHEN IT CAME DOWN TO IT! WHEN WE'RE DONE HANGING HIM, WE SHOULD PUT ANOTHER NOOSE RIGHT UP NEXT TO…!"

Terra's rant died in her throat as Starfire's hand lightly but firmly took Terra's shoulder.

"Friend Terra, your anger is, as Victor said, fully justified." Starfire said, looking deeply into Terra's eyes. "But you are skirting near the trap of many humans, which is attempting to connect your own pain to an issue where it really has no involvement. You have been wronged, we all have. That cannot be forgotten, perhaps not even forgiven. But there are greater issues at stake here then your grief, then any of our grief. The Lord is planning something. We were told this before Raven revealed her secret. She revealed it so the Lord could not use it against us, as much as it would hurt us, and her. So I ask you to remember this, and to direct your anger at the proper target. When this is done…then we shall see what truly remains."

Starfire turned away from Terra, looking at Raven again, her eyes now dry.

"Raven, is it true? Did you confide in Adam and Alaryce, perhaps because you felt you could not confide in us?"

"Nah. I just figured it out myself." Metatron said, now sitting on a nearby table. "Remember? I came in during Christmas, when you were all running around due to the big party, and Noel and Raven were in a rut none of you knew the reasons behind? Yeah, that was when. So I thought hey, can't repeat this plot device TOO many times, and I did the only natural thing: Completely violated Raven's privacy and jumped into her mirror, and got flashes of what happened. I also detected something of Ricky on them—he leaves a taint—and that was enough, after I looked at last Halloween's report. Raven was nice enough not to mind-wipe me for it. Then again, maybe it was out of consideration for how damn expensive evil sentient satellites are."

"And why didn't you tell us?" Robin asked, deciding that discussing the definition of 'only natural thing' could wait.

"Yes. Why? What could have possibly driven me to maintain silence when most of the truth was still unknown? Because, really, once Raven had finally put the puzzle together and came to you with all the facts, you all took it perfectly well and let her explain everything before trying to strangle Noel, right? One must wonder what my thought process could have been." Metatron replied easily, popping another Jelly Baby in his mouth. "It's simple really: No presents make Met sad." He offered him a grin. "Or if you want me to offer it in even simpler terms, would you have believed a word I said?"

"Probably; you're a bit like a mad sage in that regard. What you say may sound like gibberish at times, but there's wisdom in there somewhere." Sophie said, running a hand through her hair as her own mind started to click over the various tidbits that lay before her.

Sighing in frustration, Tim turned to his quietly-seething maid, who had settled stiffly into a chair, "And you? What are your reasons?"

"Wasn't my place to say, Tim. I saw that when I calmed m'self down and I think you do to. If there was any hope of this goin' as bloodlessly as possible, it had to come from her. I almost DID say something but…" she paused shifting a bit in her chair at the memory, "Bit of an understatement, but had quite a lot on my mind at the moment I found out. 'Fortunately,' it distracted me enough to stay mum 'til I was able to not charge in like a damn eejit, and tear ev'rythin' Raven was tryin' to figure out apart."

"And what the hell was so important that you, for once, kept your big mouth shut? Met have a hangnail?" Terra snarled.

Ryce's jaw gritted tightly, the sound of her grinding teeth not lost on those few with exceptional hearing. Her eyes darted up to narrow in on Terra, "No. As self-absorbed as even YOU are, Markov…M'sure you recall my seizin' on the livin' room floor, attemptin' to rip my own eyes out a few months ago."

Terra's enraged mind tore into the softball Ryce had just lobbed at her with cutting and vicious ease, "Yea…I'm sure you recall getting up and attacking both of these assholes when you were done."

The tension in Ryce's jaw ripped out across the rest of her body as her hypocrisy was thrown back in her face. It was a satisfying sight for the other blond and a satisfying sound to hear the quiet stiffness in her tone when she said softly "…And that was wrong."

Ryce fell uncharacteristically silent after that, looking only at the floor, ceiling, and whoever else was NOT looking at her in the moment. Terra might have said something in that regard, but was stopped by the chilly cold feeling that passed by her, causing goosebumps along her flesh, and a shudder as she turned towards her boyfriend, seeking comfort. The situation was such that it could even pierce her boiling anger.

"I'm still torn with what to do, or say," Scalpel muttered, attempting to fill in the sudden silence. "Every response, every passion, is trying to get me to do things I'll regret. But I'm still sitting here, and as I said earlier, we aren't bodies yet. Whatever happened to Noel…"

Scalpel turned towards the still-sitting Titan, who blinked for possibly the first time in the last ten minutes.

"You may have said or done things I disagree with, but I have never doubted your word up until now. What are your thoughts on this?"

Noel stared dully, opening his mouth a touch after several seconds, and then closing it again.

"Sorry Nigel, he's a bit too busy being crushed under undeserved weight of killing the only family he ever had and rapidly connecting that to all the angst and pity pots he has about becoming his father and really being a monster and blah blah blah, you'd better not backslide into being an asshole." Metatron said, walking over to the non-responsive Titan and sliding down to sit next to him. He sighed, searching for something in Noel's expression. "You'll have better luck getting one of his trademark annoying speeches later."

"Then where do we go from here?" Scalpel said.

"I think…we need a break. Let this sink in a bit more." Robin said. "When everyone's ready, we'll gather again and Raven can reiterate what's needed, fill in the rest of the details. But it sounds like we're on a timeline, so we'd best not take TOO long…well, take all the time you need but…yeah." Robin said, sitting down and taking off his mask. It was one of the rare times when Robin seemed overwhelmed, and though it passed swiftly, that fact was registered by every Titan, as they drifted off in their twos and threes. For his part, Met spared Noel a brief pat on the head before jumping to his feet and leaving with Beast Boy and Terra.

"I'm sorry, I just HAVE to ask. Is there REALLY a Neverbreakasecret Man? And if so, what's his backstory? Did it involve the Degrassi cast?"

Terra looked like she wanted to punch Met, but Noel didn't notice. He was back to staring, half-focused, at the floor: he had been doing that for some time when the shadow fell over him. He looked up at Starfire, whose face was unreadable.

"If this was a simple case, I would have executed you myself. Betrayal is one of the greatest crimes my species knows." Starfire said quietly. "But this is not a simple case. And as you know, to my species, the greatest crime is not being a traitor, but forcing someone to become a traitor. For what you have done, I loathe you. For why it happened, I let go of my loathing. I forgive you."

Noel blinked again.

"But I know your weaknesses, Noel. I know how prone you are to certain self-indulgences. I know that you have your own unique weight to bear. But I have seen you battle through hundreds of situations, and I know you are not weak except when it appeals to you. I have accepted all the times you have given in to your toxic self-absorption. I will not accept it this time. Learn, and agonize, over what you are entitled to in this situation, and nothing more. Or my love and respect for you will die. And there is nothing in this, or any world, that can bring that back, Noel Collins. And that is all I have to say."

Starfire left without another sound. A few seconds later Ryce finally slid out of her own chair and slinked from the room. She paused once in the doorway to turn back and glance at him, looking torn between wanting to hit something and wanting to offer up some word of comfort to him. She chose neither in the end. Either way, it left Noel alone save for a million thoughts.

What was worst for Noel was that he had no idea which ones were truly his.

---

Raven looked at the distant Jump City, its lights shining out the window as she felt Robin approach.

"You should know why I'm here."

"I do." Raven said, continuing to look out the window. "You're not angry at Noel. You're angry at me."

"How could you keep this a secret, Raven?" Robin said. "From what I gathered, you'd worked out all the details by last Christmas. Even considering the Darkseid issue, and what you learned last Halloween…why did you wait until now? Why didn't…"

"I trust you? I do, Robin. With something like this? You know why, Tim." Raven said, turning to look at Robin with these words. "Because your late mentor was insane."

"….this is news to me. And I hardly see how it's relevant." Robin said, crossing his arms.

"It was a personal observation that I never felt needed to be shared."

"It's not correct…"

"It is, Tim. Batman was insane. It was a very beneficial and benevolent insanity, but that is what it was. He watched his parents die in front of him, and his solution was to travel all over the world, learning every single style of combat and criminal science and other things, and then to return home and decide the most effective way to scare criminals was to dress up as a giant bat. Every time I was with him, I could feel it: the kindness, the heroism, the devotion, the love for you and your fellows…and beneath it all a high, keening scream that never stopped. Not once." Raven said. "The reason you're Robin is because you saw the insanity threaten to overwhelm the benevolence that guided it and interfered. You became a hero out of true altruism. But the man who taught you became one because he lost his mind. In the shadow of his brilliance, his legacy…and his flaws…I did what I thought was best. Just like when you threw Nigel off the team for something that wasn't his fault. Or what you did to Viridian. Something like this, I didn't know if I would get Tim Drake…or the Son of the Bat. It was something I wasn't willing to chance, until there wasn't any other way. That's why I didn't tell you. And why I tell you what I thought about certain things now."

"…maybe I'm the product of his madness, but I'm not the only one who's been changed by the insanity of someone else. You sound just like Batman, at his worst. And the Lord." Robin said.

Raven said nothing. Robin held his own gaze…

The tear that slid down Raven's cheek was crystal clear.

"…I…didn't know what to do…" Raven said. "Knowing the full story…it just didn't seem to help…I meditated on it for days at a time, spoke with higher intelligences, tried to replicate all the possible ramifications to really know if I should…watching Noel act so confused over why I was acting this way, knowing I still loved him, knowing what his love for me helped do…and finding out what the Lord planned, realizing that I had to tell you to keep him from doing it…knowing what could happen…I tried, Tim. I don't know what else I could have tried…we've gone through so much and…and…"

"You're crying." Robin said quietly. Raven blinked, before touching her hand to her face. "I remember when we first met up. The stoic ice queen from another dimension. I remember how you kept the truth from us about Trigon's coming. And why. You felt like you belonged here, and you didn't want to be rejected. And…part of it was just how you were taught. Raised in Azarath to never feel anything, to ward off your father. That…really played a role, as much as anything else, to why you made your decisions. But we stood by you, and gave you a chance to do something more. To be something more than what so many expected you to be. Even if it was just to make it up to us."

Robin reached up, removing his mask again. He held it in his hand, looking at it instead of Raven.

"It's been years since then. So much has happened, so much has changed…but some things never change. You were wrong for what you did. So was I. We're both only human…"

Robin sighed again, before he briefly made a fist around the mask, as if he was trying to punish it for all the pain and misfortune it had made him part of.

The fact that when he stopped trying to crush it that it immediately sprang back into its normal shape said it all to him.

"I don't agree, or like, what you did. But I won't let that rule me. If I did, I'd be like the Lord too. And neither of us is the Lord. We're who is going to stop him."

"…thank you." Raven said quietly.

"Such gratitude may be premature, Friend Raven." Starfire said, emerging from behind Robin and coming up to her teammate. "But I forgive you too. Just like I forgave Noel. That is all I can offer you, this time. The rest is up to you. And them."

Starfire turned away from Raven, floating back to Robin and taking his hand. The two walked off without a word. Raven watched them go.

She did not turn to look at Noel for some time, though she'd been aware of him the moment he'd arrived, which was seconds after Robin and Starfire had left, to be specific. Raven had to fight to keep her cold state intact as she turned around. Both for her sake, and his. She did not want to know anything about how Noel felt, beyond what she could read on his face. Going further would help no one.

His expression was loud and clear, and once again Raven had to resist letting her barrier down. She couldn't let herself feel his pain. It would twist any decision she made, and the decisions she would have to make would be hard enough with her emotions already.

"…I'm sorry." Noel said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"…I know." Raven replied.

"…how do you feel?"

Raven looked out the window again. It really was a nice view. What a waste.

"…I don't know." Raven said, turning back to Noel. "I…really don't."

"…okay." Noel said, and walked past her. He didn't say anything else. Raven turned and watched him go.

Left alone, she turned back to the window, seeing her faint reflection in it. Reaching up, she touched her face again, feeling where the tear had gone. Lowering her hand, she looked down at her palm, at what may have remained of its presence.

Closing her fist, Raven leaned her head down into it.

A moment later, the whole rack of windows in front of her shattered.

Raven looked up at the destruction several seconds later, her powers and safety glass having protected her. She blinked once, and then opened her hand.

The greater tasks lay ahead.

---

"S'different…s'so bloody different. I had a stroke! Wha's their bleedin' 'scuse? Daft, anorexic tart, fancyin' she went and took the piss out of me with her fthagn rl'a-" Ryce then gave up on English entirely and slipped into a series of snarling guttural string of nearly pure constantans, sounding like the world's tiniest and most adorable Cthulhu. Angry did not COVER the look in her eyes. If not for the sheer inappropriateness of labeling it as such at this point in time, someone may have referred to it as homicidal.

Ryce had KNOWN this day was coming and coming soon. Her own words echoed back in her head, like a track record: S'not gonna be pretty when he finds out, Rae… Not goin' to be pretty for any of them. She had prepared herself for it…yet still she had been caught in her own hypocrisy.

"-with a goddamn PIG!" Ryce finished in English, actually laboring for breath. The tower was quiet beyond her rage. Very few slept, very few rested, but there was a dead silence, an—ironic—lack of life to the home, a cold sterility to it all.

Ryce stood in the hall with momentarily wide eyes, as if she had just become aware of it. The moment was brief enough to be missed, before she let out another grumble and that flash of discomfort (fear?) was gone. One might almost wonder if her anger was only an excuse to fill the silence.

She skulked along her home, trying to ignore how the angry expression was faltering. She felt her heart shrink and knew she needed to be around people, even if just their presence, so her feet carried her towards the one room someone ALWAYS seemed to be in. The insipid sound of canned laughter, coupled by the dim light of television made her release the breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

She still paused just before the doorway, realizing that she may not exactly be...welcome company for the person in the TV room. Steeling herself, she slipped into the room silently: Even if she didn't want to be alone, it didn't mean she wanted to be yelled at either.

Gauntlet did not notice her entrance, and just stared—glared—dully at the screen.

Ryce's shoulders relaxed: He wasn't Terra, despite the similar hair color. Something they could all celebrate at least, the clearly-not-at-all-bitter maid thought as she made her way to the sofa…and paused, taking in the stormy look in her friend's eyes. For a few moments she glanced between him and the TV, the dull sounds of Fraiser blathering on in the background. Whatever she saw, it caused her to sit away from Gauntlet, quietly wondering whether or not she should point out that Rob hated this show.

More canned laughter. Ooooooooo's in the air as a couple kiss. Despite being in plain view now, Gauntlet said nothing.

"…m'not gonna ask if you're okay…'cause that's a stupid question…" Ryce said quietly, after minutes of unbearable silence, "so…guess I'll ask if you…well…need anything?" she cringed at how very LAME that sounded. She had not been very prepared, after all.

Rob did not respond, but there was a thinning to his lips. Ryce had to think that this was the unfunniest sitcom ever made, given his quiet response to the jokes. Still, he shook his head—just barely, like he did not trust himself to speak.

"…alright," she looked to the TV, and then back to him, "…why…dun you put on somethin' y'like? You hate this show…"

She could have hit herself for speaking when she had planned to just sit and be quiet. But her nerves were getting the better of her…she had expected less of a reaction from him.

Rob just shrugged. It felt like the movement should have been followed by the creaking of a poorly-oiled machine. "S'fine," his voice came out rough and unused, his own angry rant and swears later maybe tiring him out. "Real, important drama goin' on…like, will Laura lose the zit before the dance? …Thrilling."

Ryce chuckled weakly at the sarcasm, "Aye…life or death issue there."

She immediately looked like she had swallowed her tongue at her choice of wording. In any other situation and at any other time, that look would have been priceless, but now she only cringed and shrunk back into her chair, hoping he managed to miss it.

He had, and Rob gripped the remote tightly while raising the volume, impassive beyond the quiet ember in his eyes that told Ryce enough about how angry he was—enough that she looked down at her hands, gripping her legs close.

"…m'sorry" she said just loud enough to be heard over the increased volume, "Wasn't thinkin'."

"…were you thinking these past 4 months?" Rob snapped quietly, his words clipped and sore. When she turned to him, she found him looking back, eyes hard glints.

Ryce flinched at the stare, eyes widening. She had never heard that curt and angry edge to his voice before. It was almost surreal. It took her a few moments to realize that she had been staring at him, jaw slightly agape, for several long moments.

"M…m'sorry?" she asked.

Rob stared at her for a few more seconds before ripping his gaze back to the TV, his eyes bright and his expression ugly, the very personification of swallowing a bitter pill, "Nothing. Forget it."

"…no," she said, shaking her head and sitting up straighter. She was not stupid and now that the surprise was dulling she knew what this was about. She just never expected goofy blond to be the one on the other end of this conversation, "say what you want to say."

Rob's head snapped to her, his jaw tight, his teeth clenched in anger—he might just say nothing to defy her. But in the end the answer came out in a whispered snarl, "You KNEW," Rob replied, "You never told us. You never told ME."

"…I didn't tell anyone," she agreed quietly, "I couldn't."

An echo slammed into her as she looked at his face and all the anger there. Something different, from sometime and some place different—"Far better than me." BLAM!—Ryce looked away, fighting down the sickness crawling up her throat.

"Why NOT!" Robert demanded, his previous calm completely drowned out by a voice raw and desperate and ANGRY. He didn't even realize that he had stood up. "Raven…Met…and YOU…I could almost understand why they wouldn't say anything, but why NOT YOU? You were supposed to be my friend…" suddenly, his shoulders sagged. He looked pained. "…you're just another liar…"

"I…I didn't lie…" Ryce insisted weakly, forcing herself to look up at him but lacking the strength to get to her own feet, "And I AM your friend…this wasn't my truth to tell, Rob. What would I have even SAID?" her voice cracked involuntarily.

"Anything! 'Hi Rob, did you know you got shot on the head by your housemate? CRAZY TIMES, HUH? HAHAHAHAHAHA!'"

"That's NOT what happened," Ryce snapped, surprising herself by the steel in her voice. "This is why it had to be Raven, I wasn't there—wasn't PART of it. The only reason I know is 'cause my father fuckin' hates me…" she flinched involuntarily at that, "It was Raven's demon to fight. Adam and I were jus' trespassers and we had no right to say anythin'! It…it could never have been ME."

"It could have," Rob said, shaking now, "it could have…but you chose not to let it be… God…you all and your goddamn secrets…would Raven even have TOLD us CRAP if not for the fight? Would I have died thinking my friends would never keep things like my MURDER from me? What ELSE will you decide is not your right to tell, not my right to KNOW? HUH?"

The silence that followed his questions was not unexpected, but it just fueled Gauntlet's frustrations.

"That's what you do isn't it?" Rob growled, "with your magic 8-ball. With your plans with D'xias. With everything," he muttered bitterly, "…I'm tired of it."

"…I…I couldn't" Ryce could only repeat weakly, looking at her feet and finally loss for words. It had been a horrible situation, but she knew that she had made the best choice with it. But for all that she knew, she couldn't get the words out, "Y'right…I…I wanted y'to know… y'should know that…"

"How should I? Who would have told me?" Rob grumbled out. "Certainly not you."

And then he turned to stalk out.

"I…it was the ONLY way for any of this t'NOT play int'his hands!" Ryce pleaded desperately to his retreating back. "SHE had to be the one…I…I…this is what that fucker WANTED! D-Dun you see that?" She fought back the sting in her eyes, rubbing them angrily, "what would have happened if it came from me? Ev'ry one would've turned on her…on each other. W-Worse than they are now…everything…it would have fallen apart…"

Rob paused by the door, gripping the frame tightly…but he hadn't left. Ryce took it as a cue to continue. "For Raven an' Noel…this is all they have. Just like it is for me. I have nowhere to go but HERE. You have a family waitin' for you. Ev'ry one else has each other…This is my only home and family. I c-couldn't lose that…we had to do it the best way possible…please, Robbie…"

She waited. And Rob looked back.

"…I keep telling you…and you don't listen…you never do," he muttered morosely, mostly to himself. His knuckles were white. "…Why didn't you tell ME? You're supposed to be my best friend. If you had just told me…I'd have talked to Raven…I would have kept quiet if you…" he trailed off, shaking his head in a motion that unpleasantly reminded Ryce of resignation. "…I need to go beat up some nice, harmless heavily-armed muggers."

And then he was gone.

And Ryce was alone. The silence was only broken by the laugh track from the TV.

---

"You're going out without a TV guide or a Red Bull stuffed into your pocket. This is a first." Cyborg said, leaning against the wall as Gauntlet finished lacing up his shoe.

"I need to go burn off some nervous energy." Gauntlet replied, as his namesake expanded over his arm.

"Right. Nervous energy." Cyborg said. "…Rob. I don't want to say this. Most of me knows I don't have to say this. But after this…I don't know what to think. So I'll say it. Don't do anything stupid."

"Oh yeah, because I'm SO prone to stupid things, aren't I? Stupid things like thinking that we could freaking trust each other! It looks like Noel's being manipulated, but you know what worries me? His nervous system ISN'T normal! For all we know, it WAS all him! I don't even want to THINK about that right now! And the guy who maybe did it is an unkillable self-styled god, and oh look HE WANTS TO BLOW UP THE WORLD AGAIN. So you'll excuse me if I want to just WORK OUT SOME GODDAMN NERVOUS ENERGY AND DEAL WITH IT LATER."

"It's true. His nervous system isn't normal. That's probably why he was the only candidate for what happened. If there was no Noel, the Lord probably would have zagged instead of zigged." Cyborg said, before laughing bitterly. "The curse of having computers in your brain. They keep presenting the situation as 'This happened, Do X' and acting confused when I don't do it. They think something's wrong with the organic parts. Hah. Oh man, our lives."

"When I sell the movie rights, I won't mention this whole mess."

"I sold the movie rights three years ago."

"Not to Gauntlet: The Movie, starring Gauntlet. Stay on my good side or else you'll get played by Kenan Thompson."

"Stay on MY good side or else I'll have you played by…Some…lame dude…nuts." Cyborg said, and sighed. "This sucks, doesn't it? Being the odd two out in the Titans? Everyone else is hooked up. Hell, even Ryce and Met have their weird…'spooning together as friends' thing. Us, Llarness is off with Zatanna finding herself and YOU, hah, we ran out of jokes a while ago."

"The way Noel and Rae have been acting, I don't think we'll be the only single ones for much longer."

"The thing is, I realize now why they were having those difficulties these past years. Raven and her secret. Considering they seemed to have smoothed it out, I…eh, that's not important." Cyborg said. "Don't go too far away. You and I were really the only ones who remembered what Raven told us before she revealed the secret. The Lord did this. He has another plan. We have to stop it."

"It doesn't end, man. I miss the rocket powered apes." Gauntlet said. "But the Lord of the Night…he's like herpes. Except that you can have fun getting herpes. See ya Cy. Don't let Met steal too many of my jokes."

"You mean like how you stole all of Gar's?"

"…hey, if all I have to give up for a cute love interest are my jokes, that isn't too bad a tradeoff."

---

"…Gar?"

"Yeah?" Beast Boy said, lying on his bed, his arm wrapped around Terra. The two had been silent for the past several minutes, staring at the ceiling, Terra's head on Beast Boy's chest as she listened to his heartbeat.

"If I left, would you come with me?"

Beast Boy was silent.

"…if you don't want to answer…"

"Yes." Beast Boy said quietly. "If it came to that. Yes. I would."

Silence settled over the room again.

"…I don't want it to come to that."

"I know."

"This is our family."

"I know."

"But…how can I…how can we…?" Terra said, her eyes briefly becoming misty. Her anger and rage had finally burned itself out, leaving only the sick hurt of betrayal. Unlike some Titans, she could not keep the emotions at bay, no matter what the specifics of the truth were.

"…Luke 23:34. There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to Death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one in the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.'"

"…easy for him to say."

"Maybe, but forgiving people probably isn't easy for anyone. Especially a mess like this." Beast Boy said. "If he'd just been a simple traitor, I could just condemn him to the ninth level like anyone else, but…"

"…and there's whatever the Lord has planned."

"Yeah."

"We're going to have to deal with that."

"Yeah."

"…I won't leave. Not yet. But when we're done…I don't know."

"Neither do I."

"There anything in your good book about hard choices?"

"…And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not? Galatians 6:9."

"…have you been reading your Bible obsessively lately? I always knew you had faith, but it's come to the foreground recently."

"Star wanted to know stuff about it. Refreshed my mind." Beast Boy said. "Still doesn't keep me from wanting a drink."

"You hit the floor after two martinis."

"Between that and the deep questions, I think that's preferable."

---

"We died." Scalpel said, sitting around his and Sophie's usual haunt, the medical bay. The Titans rarely went down there unless they wanted one of the two, or were injured, but their absence seemed more poignant this time, for very good reasons.

"Yes, supposedly." Sophie said, her arsenal of guns laid out before her as she cleaned them.

"I mean actually died. I'm only vaguely aware of what your species thinks of life and death, and what happens after we die, but I'm sure you're not meant to do what we did."

"I'm sorry, Nigel, I'm just not that worried about it. You know me and death: it just is, though I'll admit I never thought I'd be alive to talk about it."

"…she did suggest that was what had happened. Her first report about the Halloween incident." Scalpel said. "We died, and hence we didn't remember. But I always just sort of…dismissed that. Thought it was just those chaotic energies screwing with our minds. I just saw death as not so…well, banal."

"Banal?"

"Well…I'm still here. I was killed, and yet I'm still here. How many of my species has gotten to do the same thing? Even Styles had cloning to explain her return. I got to be pulled back to the original and only body I likely get. Why ME?"

"Well, being friends with a powerful sorceress probably helps. You know, the people who practice magic, who take all the natural laws of the universe and twist them around until they cry uncle? And if you don't buy that, well, perhaps the good karma of repeatedly saving countless lives, countries, civilizations, worlds, existence itself occasionally hands out a perk. Who knows?" Sophie said. "Nigel, your kind survive injuries that should kill ANY human. Your highest elite warrior got shot through the head and came back, clone or not. We spent last Halloween fighting important people in our lives who were DEAD. Death around us has NEVER been normal, or by the standards we were taught when we grew up. The only shocking thing about all this is that Noel did it. And he really didn't. It was the Lord. You know, who's tried to kill us before. Repeatedly. A Lot."

"…I'm just glad you came back. The world wouldn't really have benefited from your death." Nigel said.

"I fear there are other kinds of death possible then what we came back from, Nigel." Sophie said. "We can try and focus on our current big issue, but it might be the equivalent of putting the barn fire out after all the animals have died."

"What?"

"Noel did this to us, Nigel. One of our teammates." Sophie said. "He wasn't himself, and an outside force was arranging everything…but facts have a bad habit of finishing behind feelings. That's why Germany took the brunt of the blame for the first World War when it wasn't even involved in its birth. That's why sometimes you still find black people hanging from a tree in the 21st century. That's why most of the internet chatter devoted to us seems to be all about criticism, and often unhelpful, misinformed criticism, at that. I can think with my head, I am doing so…and yet part of me still wants to give in to violence and do all manner of unpleasant things. Maybe we're alive…but I wonder if the team can survive this. If we're just like the dinosaurs, dead and unaware of that fact. If this is just the last hurrah of a declining empire. If this is, to turn a phrase you know, the straw that will break the camel's back."

"Then let's hope that it isn't." Scalpel said, admiring a wicked-looking version of his namesake. "If not, well…I am a doctor. Perhaps I can invent a back transplant."

---

The water crashed among the rocky shores as Noel stood above them, watching the white foam twist and dance. He wondered if it was an exceptionally cold night, or if it was just him.

He'd been turning the small box over in his hand for what seemed like forever, though it was probably only a few minutes. He couldn't really tell if he was thinking or just sunk in an emotional quagmire. The water and the silence offered no answers.

Noel looked down at the box one more time, and then tossed it as far into the distance as he could. He didn't see it drop.

He didn't really want to.

---

The living room had grown dark save for the soft glow of the screen. The volume had long since been set to a near mute, allowing the silent pictures to flicker about in their unintentional glowing. If not for the slight glimmer of tired blue eyes peaking out from a pile of blankets on the couch, one would think the television was just left on by someone who had walked away.

A weight settled on the back of a couch, and Ryce felt herself being watched. Shifting, the blankets gave way to her face. The light of the television caused a glint on her glasses that hid the raw red color of her eyes.

"There are leftovers in the fridge," she muttered tiredly not turning to look at the person.

A soft sigh, a rush of wind, and then the weight settled gently beside her, swift and soundless. Ryce continued balancing her chin on her folded arms. Continued watching the doorway, and ignoring everything else.

"How long have you been here?" he asked. His voice was easy to recognize for its calmness.

"…Not long," she lied, disturbing her glasses to rub away hours of strain from her eyes, though the cool metal felt good against the reddened skin. There was a small, bitter laugh when she shook her head, "You're the first person that's come in here that's talked to me."

"Makes sense. They're all lost in their worlds," Metatron noted. "Apparently it's a soul-searching concept, dying," he smiled, a little mystified. "Too busy thinking of death to do much living."

"…They're also pissed the hell off at me," Ryce said quietly.

"Hm. They including Rob?" he asked nonchalantly.

She cringed a bit at the name and nodded, "Aye…him 'specially."

"Perhaps a tad," Metatron tilted his head, as if acknowledging a point in a fencing match, "but don't be egotistical, munchkin, it's not what's on the forefront on their minds, nor will it ever be before their anger dies down."

"Not bein' egotistical…never said I was," she said, her voice gaining an edge.

Her friend smiled, gently touching her arm, "No…but you're letting their silence be about you. It's not," he promised gently. "You're wallowing again," he added, reaching for her hand.

Ryce ripped away and turned to him, not bothering to hide the signs she had spent a few hours crying, "No, m'not, alright? You ever consider that this has NOTHIN' to do with their silence?"

"Yes," he cut her off simply. "But after Rob, you are probably thinking 'if he's like this…what about the rest?'—In fact, there's no way you're not thinking that," he quirked a smile at her. "It's easier to start with the smaller worries, the ones that can be dissuaded quickly. And then I can get on to the bigger ones. It's a system, see?"

"…I didn't tell anyone." she whispered looking back to the door, "Not even you. M'not thinkin any of that cause s'not goin' to matter, is it? 'Cause I didn't say a word…so when the chips fall, m'no better than Raven was. S'all fallin' apart," she curled up tighter on the couch. "Nothin' I said or did would have changed that, Adam…yet, I didn't tell ANYONE. Says a lot about me," she gave another of those soft bitter laughs and shook her head settling back into silent watching.

"Probably not what you think," Metatron replied, unbothered by the laughter. "I didn't tell anyone either and…that's the important thing: I know why I didn't. We all do. Why didn't you?"

"…You know too: I promised Raven I wouldn't," her voice was weighted by regret, "Because this…thing…was a family," she wiped her eyes roughly, "And…I…I didn't want it to end…it was mine and I didn't want it to end."

Strong arms had wrapped around her before she finished speaking. "Nothing you could have said would have changed anything," he whispered her words back to her once her weight had settled against him. "So you didn't say anything. You trusted Raven to do the best thing she could. By not talking, the response was less explosive than it could have ever been. By letting Raven approach them, you let her be their liberator of truth, rather than their deceiver. For any chance for the family to survive…that needed to happen. You did the best thing."

"…s'not goin' to survive. Least then I'd have walked away without some of them hatin' me," she did not pull away from Metatron's touch, nor did she return it.

"And you, expert in family dynamics," Met said, with no trace of taunting, "know that for a fact."

Ryce didn't reply. Her mouth opened up a few times to try, but in the end all she managed was a cracked, garbled sound before dropping her head into her arms and beginning to weep in a way that she only could in front of Adam.

Her best friend breathed softly and evenly, pulling her to his lap, holding her close. He rubbed her back, warmth spreading familiarly over her body.

"…Ryce," he finally whispered gently, after a brief eternity, allowing her face to nestle against the crook of his neck.

At first, she didn't seem to hear him, instead trying to pull away from the embrace: She could not see the door from her position, she might miss her chance at an apology. But Adam was adamant, and, eventually, she gave up and leaned into him, tears moistening his skin.

"This family is not normal," he said, and there was mirth in his voice. "It will not break because of a mirror trick. Right now people are angry…and letting that get to them. It'll pass. They're big kids. They can see what you saw, with time. And it's all they need to fight. 'Sides, knowing how these things go, something will happen at just the right possible moment to get them to realize that they still love each other after all and all they need to win is each other, huzzah."

The soft snort that came from the blond at that made Metatron smile and he continued in a much softer voice, "I can't guarantee this…but I think they'll be ok. All of them. You too. And once they are, they'll understand—You, Raven and Noel. They'll understand you…because with time, it'll all pass."

Ryce listened silently, her head resting on his shoulder. She wanted so badly to believe him as she always believed him, perhaps to a foolish extent. It had never been this hard.

"…if…if s'not. If s'not goin'ta pass…p-promise me you won't leave…" she whispered, "I…I dun want to be alone again…"

The boy tilted his head, and then shifted a bit to look at her. There was incredulity there, when he asked, "…do you really think I'd walk away from you?"

She looked up at him with shame in her eyes. Self-loathing and doubt that had been carved into her soul and flesh for far too long. Perhaps too long to EVER fully leave, "…I didn't tell you."

"And I thought we agreed you didn't because it was the best thing you could have done," Metatron told her gently, his hand caressing her cheek. "It was a bad situation. Raven did her best. You did the best. I'm happy you did," he smiled.

"The best sucks," Ryce hiccupped rawly, forgoing all eloquence.

He chuckled, "Sometimes. But it usually sucks less than anything else. That's why it's the best," he explained with a playful nip at her nose. "…You're mine," Metatron said simply, "My munchkin. You'll never be alone," And then he glanced away, quickly to a nearby clock. "But you do need sleep."

"No," she answered immediately pulling away from him a bit to go back to her spot, "I need to wait…apologize…"

"No. He needs time. He needs to come to you," he instructed her gently, lifting her up, "You need to let him. And to rest."

"…jus' a lil longer," she squirmed back to her spot on the couch resting her head on her hands.

"It won't change that you need to stop waiting," Metatron pointed out.

"Hn," she mumbled, eyes drooping even as she defied his logic, "Jus' gonna say sorry…then-" she yawned widely, "then sleep…"

He chuckled, and he nuzzled her gently. "Trust me?"

"Sorry…then sleep" Ryce repeated with a bit of a whine.

The Morning Child laughed at it, "You're being stubborn."

And then he blink down—because Ryce did not answer. She had fallen asleep completely.

Met considered this for a second and then gathered her back up, turned, and walked towards the door with all too petite girl in his arms.

They all needed rest. A lumpy couch was not the place for it.

---

And as the last vestiges of the fateful day fizzled out, and the sun gradually melted into the ocean horizon giving way to the greater darkness, the Titans did think and ponder with confused and righteous indignation painted by a manipulated betrayal too real for comfort.

It was because of this that, through out the Tower, discussions flew. With the revelation came new conflicts, decisions to be made: Was this the end? Could they move past this? Could they forgive him? Look past their emotions, and to the facts? Could they continue with the lives they lead after what happened?

When all was said and done, could they abandon their home?

So many choices.

And as the Titans sought rest, though none said it, they all knew—the very last possibility.

That in five weeks, four days, three hours and twenty-seven seconds, the choice could be made for them.

The thought, unnerving as it was, was quickly squashed, and the battered young souls forced their problems away, clinging to the sweet reprieve of sleep…

…All …but …one."

"Adam." Starfire said by way of greeting.

"Metatron smiled his easy smile at the girl hovering behind him, quietly. She obviously had something in her mind that needed discussing, prompting her to search out the young half-demon, and eventually finding him in the roof. Every line in her face spoke of oncoming tension, while her eyes shone with their usual acceptance that the boy had always found charming, and as she drew herself straight, Metatron knew this was a matter of great imp—Is this entertaining you at all? Yes? No? Little bit?" Metatron asked, trailing off his random apparently-impromptu narration in favor of his companion.

Starfire did not respond, her emerald eyes staring deep into Metatron's golden ones as if she were searching for something in them. The two stood on the roof of the T-Tower for a silent beat.

"I was serious before." The chaosling commented, now facing the girl fully. "There is something you want to talk about, right? With me. Is it about my narration? People keep saying it's too poetic. But really, there's always fun to be had with poetry. You can throw random words together, and there: you have a poem."

"…I do not question your nobility. That, I can tell." Starfire finally said, clearly not talking about Metatron's random roof soliloquy. "I rarely ask questions as it is. Maybe that is a flaw, I do not think so. But I must ask this. Do you care?"

Metatron did not react to the question in any way that the girl could see. He didn't sober up and deflate like part of her was expecting. If anything, his happy smile widened, just a tad.

She didn't know how that made her feel.

"Of all the things today, this is what's troubling you the most, hm? Besides the obvious front-runner." Metatron mused, considering the troubled girl.

"Noel did what he did for very understandable reasons. He's suffering for it. Raven's reasons are harder to grasp to me, but I have spent long enough among you to be able to do it. She feels her own pain; she's felt it far longer than Noel," Starfire said. "I understand why Garfield and Robert utilize humor, and I do not fault them for that. They have many sides. Ryce is usually too difficult to understand, much like you. But at this moment, where she thinks she does not wear her emotions on her sleeve, I can see she is terrified under her anger. You…never change. No matter what. You knew this was going to happen, and your manner never wavered. Maybe it's lack of interaction, but you never act any differently. At all."

"I could argue with that, like for example, bring up my Elvis phase a few months ago, and my Brooklyn accent before that. Not to mention the French Revolution bit during that one 4th of July…"

"That was a strange one." Starfire found herself saying.

"It could have been beautiful!" Metatron argued, before raising a palm, possibly to convince himself not to start up the old argument.

Starfire opened her mouth for a second, and then drew herself back with a sigh. "You are being elusive."

"I am." Metatron nodded in agreement.

"…You were THERE. You died as well. The others may have forgotten that small detail, but I haven't." Starfire said, giving up the ghost of composure and letting her true concerns be known. "Maybe it wasn't Noel who did it, but unless you can prove otherwise, we found YOUR CORPSE. The Lord killed YOU, as well. How do you react? The same as you always do. Am I wrong in thinking something is not right? Do you have anything in your heart at all?"

Starfire let out a tired breath and stared at the subject of her distress, visibly drained.

Metatron's smile hadn't wavered as he stared back and listened. Then he got up and moved towards her in two quick strides, too sudden for her to react properly.

Fat too sudden: Before she could have done anything about it, his land lashed out and slapped her in the forehead.

Half a second later, Metatron ate a point-blank Starbolt. His smoking body was thrown backwards against the edge of the roof. He shook his head and looked up, Starfire's hands and eyes now alight with green.

"You had best give me a very strong reason why I should not remove you from this island in a very impolite manner." Starfire said in a low, dangerous tone.

Metatron pushed himself into a seating position, smiling. "That really hurt."

"I hit you, and you STILL wear the same expression." Starfire said. "Are you mad? Or merely dead inside?"

"Insane? Likely. Dead inside? Wow, no, ma'am. Never. Maybe I can just find happiness in little things, Star." Metatron replied, before considering something. "…ok, except torture. Torture kinda sucks. Yeah."

"So you're mad instead of heartless. This fails to bring me much comfort. And you still hit me without cause." Starfire said, though she lowered her arms. She did not, however, cease the energy charge on her hands.

Metatron's grin widened at her words. "And it hurt, didn't it?"

"Yes. Your point?"

"You DIED, Star." Metatron said, jumping to his feet, and approaching, slowly this time. "A little over one and a half years ago, you died. So did I—again, but that's a different story. And so did every person sleeping and resting easy beneath our feet, outside of a certain obsessively-apologetic maid with a guilt complex the size of Ohio who I had to forcibly remove from the living room couch before! But I suppose that's a whole other issue to be tackled later. The point is, we all died. Yet that slap, it hurt. So does the smoking mark on my chest, incidentally." He beamed, now in front of her. "We can feel it. We're alive."

Starfire stared for several more moments, before the energies finally faded from her hands.

"You speak truth." Starfire said. "And you are, for whatever reason, important in this. Yet how you are...I cannot understand it, Adam. Because of that, I cannot decide how to respond to you. And I fear I have little time to make such a choice."

"Ah, there's your problem. You don't have to understand me. Hell, why are you even trying?" Metatron replied. "That's a road to madness."

Starfire maintained her stare, taking in his words. Her shoulders slumped after doing so fully.

She wondered if Metatron saw something in her actions that prompted what he said next.

"…Star, of all the people I could be saying this to…" He began, something of a melancholy finally on his face. "You're thinking too much." He chuckled, before meeting her eyes. "Just do what you want. What you think is right. Trust your gut. Follow your heart. Use the force. Believe in me, who believes in a complete breakfast."

Starfire blinked at that. "Bu-"

"Ah-ah-ah." Metatron interrupted. "No. Stop the overthinking. Stop the worries, the anxiety, the fear. Stop. All of you; every time I see you, ANY of you, this has ALWAYS been the problem. You all focus on the bad. Always."

The girl remained silent, knowing that Metatron was no longer talking about her issues with him.

"Because yes, you DID die, and yes, Noel 'did' it, in some way, shape or form. And your IMMEDIATE and DOMINATING response is to freak out, point fingers, condemn and wallow! Maybe you have reason to! But here's some relevant piece of info: You are all standing! You're breathing! Thinking, talking, growing; a couple of hours ago you were even contemplating strangling Noel—not the best way to past time but I've heard worse." He reached over and petted Starfire, his grin threatening to split his face. "Against all odds, despite how 'common' it might be for 'your line of work', you were dead, but now you are standing on this roof with the cold air biting into your skin, the warmth of my hand against your head, listening to my mad ramblings and feeling all your dumb worries. And that's WONDERFUL." He moved to cup her cheek, staring earnestly. "…Don't you see that?"

"...I suppose my interaction with you is done then." Starfire said, turning away. "You are incorrect though, Adam. They are not sleeping. I think you got a little carried away with your speech to the air."

Metatron's hand came down how his side and he stepped back. "I tend to. They're fun little things, those speeches." He turned to face the now dark sea. "You know, this is all time you could be spending together with Tim. You both need it."

"We've discussed what we need to. It's why I was up here. I really don't know if I'm getting the answers I want, but..." Starfire said. "I don't know if they can recover, Adam. I...have suffered, but I have always been able to deal with it. You do as well, in your own way. The rest of them do not, as you yourself said. This is too much for them."

"Oh definitely." Metatron answered with a shrug. "It'll be a tough one. But you've been the glue before, haven't you?" He beamed at her. "Koriand'r. Starfire. Heart of the team. I think you'll do nicely."

"Hearts have no use without blood. This is going to bleed. I don't know when, or if, it will stop." Starfire said. "I simply wondered if you cared about the wound."

Starfire's communicator crackled. She answered it.

"We're re-convening, Star. I see you're with Metatron: if he's ready he should come along."

"I suspect he is." Starfire said, signing off. She looked at Adam again. "I do not plan to be another meal for that vampire."

"Pushing the blood metaphor a little too much." He answered with a smile.

"…When you say that is the case, I know it is true."

"Hah. Ricky gets sparkly, like a diamond, when the sun hits him."

"Maybe he does, I tended not to notice with the screaming."

And so they were off.

---

"The Lord has another plan in the works, something big. I don't think it even directly involves us. I was able to learn this when we connected during the Black Lantern incident: Cyborg's shot caused a brief 'cross-over' of thoughts. I…do not think the Lord was aware of what I learned. I can only say that with fair confidence though, not absolute. But we have a good chance that he has no knowledge of the fact I know his plan.

"Due to the nature of the information received, I do not know many details. But I know when, and where. February 14th, this February 14th. On an island near Europe. The Lord plans to evoke something world-shaking. Whether he can control it or not…I don't know. But that's his plan."

Raven fell silent, looking at her re-assembled teammates. The time apart clearly hadn't helped much, but they were willing to go forward onto the important issues.

She didn't deserve them.

"Great Raven…but you told us this already." Beast Boy said.

"…because we have to make another choice. In regards to how we are going to counter his plan."

"Simple. We go utterly destroy his ass." Gauntlet said.

"That is the general idea, Gauntlet…but it's the how that matters. I…"

Raven could not speak for a moment.

"I want to go confront him alone. Just this team. No help. No called in favors. No backup. Just us."

It was Terra, expectedly, that broke the silence that followed.

"…ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"This isn't some drug kingpin, Raven. This is a self-styled shadow god. I…you have a reason, I assume." Robin said. Raven sighed deeply. Those used to her tended-to-be overdramatic sighs would have noted the tone of true lachrymose in this one, under different circumstances. Their minds, however, were understandably elsewhere.

"Normally I wouldn't even think of doing it this way. But…" Raven said. "There's a chance he doesn't know, a good chance to take him completely by surprise. If we can do that…we might be able to destroy him. Once and for all."

"How does this have anything to do with not getting the militia ready?" Gauntlet said.

"We do have ways of subtly gathering help. A text to Herald and we have an army in a matter of hours." Robin said.

"That's just it, Robin. I don't know if they're subtle enough." Raven said. "The Lord is not an idiot. He might be occupied with this plan, but…he might be watching us. The more people we tell, the more we expose the information. Even if we wait until the last minute…Herald's process leaves a trace. Maybe the Lord can't detect it. Maybe he can. If he's tipped off…he might abandon the whole process. Or worse."

"The Lord is not an idiot? Really?" Gauntlet said.

"Not a conventional 'I got a D, hooray!' idiot, Rob. He's more of an 'Irregardless is not a word? Really?' idiot." Metatron amended for Raven.

"He could still be watching. He could find out. I almost…went alone. To keep the information close." Raven said. "If we try and bring an army, if we try and bring any help, if we do something like going there now and wrecking his plan before he can start it…well, maybe it would be for the best."

"From your tone, you clearly don't think that." Robin said.

"I think if he gets tipped off…this is a big plan. He'd abandon it…and then somewhere down the line, we'd wake up one morning and find one of Jump's schools has become a smoking hole in the ground. Or that Gauntlet's family has all contracted and died from flesh-eating bacteria. Or…worse. That he'll pay us back by hurting other people, killing other people. Because that's what he does."

"How do we know this is not a trap?" Starfire asked.

"Better question." Cyborg said. "How do we know the Lord isn't using Raven to lure us into a trap?"

"…I don't." Raven said quietly. "I tried to eliminate all possibilities, as best I could…but I don't know. I just…don't know."

None of the other Titans spoke.

"I wanted to present you with the situation. If you want to vote on what to do…I'll go along with whatever the consensus is."

"Kick his ass. I don't care how." Gauntlet said.

"That's the problem Robert. We need to decide how." Scalpel said. "The problem is made worse by how many gray areas there are. We have to decide if we keep the situation contained, or recruit help and run the risks Raven presented. And we don't have much time to decide."

"Five and a half weeks." Sophie said.

"Actually, five weeks, three days, eight hours and thirty-six seconds to decide-nope, five weeks, three days, eight hours, and thirty-FIVE seconds to decide-oh wait, now it's thirty-four. Thirty-three! By gum, time is plotting against us and we've yet to vote. Curse Ricky, and his obvious, newfound chrono-manipulation abilities, robbing us of time we could be using to vote!"

"…Dumbass has a point." Gauntlet said. "…Wow, never thought I'D be saying that. The world really has been turned upside down."

"Saw it coming. And now Raven will declare her sudden lesbianism!" Metatron said, pointing at the sorceress. The Titans looked dully at the chaosling. "Huh. Well, can't always be right."

"Metatron. Gauntlet too. Not now." Robin said. "Time IS of the essence. I'll give you more time to decide…but we need to hold a vote. Secret ballot. Metatron, you get one as well. You're part of this."

"You like me. You really really like me."

Beast Boy looked to Robin with a brow raised, "What about Ry-"

Raven cut off this line of questioning, "Ignoring the fact that her ailments could render her a liability instead of an asset…there is no manner in which to play this as self defense. We will not be asking her to put her head on the chopping block with her father again. Met has already threatened to chain her in the basement with Silkie if she tries."

"Yeah. I guess you're right," he nodded before looking around as if noticing something for the first time, "Surprised she didn't want to hear any of this though. Where is sh-"

"Sleeping," Metatron cut him off in an oddly…clipped way. He was not looking at the shifter though, choosing instead to look passively at Gauntlet. Rob made a point not to meet that stare.

"I'll be here if anyone wants to speak to me. About my assessments. If…that's what you feel is necessary." Raven said.

The next few hours were spent in quiet, private discussion, as the various Titans talked to each other. Raven didn't really need to pay attention to notice that only Metatron and Robin spoke with Savior, and Robin did not speak long. It was expected.

Eventually, the votes were tallied, and Robin read them off. When he was done, no one spoke for a bit.

"…all right then. We've decided to keep this within ourselves. On the small chance anyone wants to come up and examine the votes, feel free." Robin said. No one moved. "If anyone wants to back out, all I ask is for your silence. There will be no other judgment."

Again, no one moved, though unlike the last time, there was a definite air of scales struggling to balance themselves.

"…so that's that." Robin said. He was cut off from his next sentence by Metatron loudly putting his feet up on the table.

"…The thing about Ricky is that Superman stood no chance." Metatron said, leaning back and looking at the ceiling. "In one single attack, he'd have been so much krypto-dust in some REALLY bizarre junkie's pipe. He still won. Because Ricky just CAN'T. Shut. Up."

"…that doesn't help." Scalpel said.

"No? Helped me many times." Metatron said, his chair and feet thudding back down on the ground as he stared at the Titans. "You are not broken. And he will refuse to kill you until you are. He can't help himself. So he'll talk and talk and talk and waste his power, throwing it around. But you are not broken. So he'll keep talking. And that's how you'll beat him." Metatron said, flashing a toothy grin. "Welcome to Ricky Trumping 101."

"We're still not wholly out of the woods." Raven said. "Keeping it to ourselves may better our chances, but he may still be watching us. I don't think he can see inside our Tower, but I suspect he can see us. If we just hole up in the Tower until the day comes, he may get suspicious. We have to try and keep a somewhat ordinary schedule. Keep up appearances. It may not be easy…but it will ensure that if he doesn't know I know, that we'll completely catch him off guard. And crush him into the dust."

"A-fucking-men." Gauntlet said.

"All right Titans." Robin said. "By our nature, we're a reactionary force. We respond to trouble and think on our feet. We rarely get a chance to prepare in-depth for something. We have five and a half weeks. Let's go like they know us to."

"…some bad grammar there Tim." Beast Boy said.

"My mind's on other things. Shoot me." Robin said, and then briefly felt ice crawl in his guts. He tried not to look at Noel, and for the most part succeeded.

Even so, Noel looked away.

---

And soon enough, things dwindled down into an uneasy silence, tension high in the air. The choice had been made, and there was no going back. To some, the situation was truly made into reality by that one decision. To others, it only reaffirmed what they already knew. To all, they saw the shadows of what was to come. Only time that held the answers they wanted, and i—ACK!" Metatron yelped, ducking to avoid the thrown plastic bowl.

"God, that felt good." Terra declared.

"Tara Markov, not known for her patience and diplomacy, sank into her somewhat petty, but admittedly amusing, satisfaction, no doubt still mourning the loss of her old goldfish, Wall-"

"Met! Get off the intercom!" Robin shouted.

"-y. Ok, done. On with the plot!"

---

"All right, what you got for us Cyborg?" Gauntlet asked.

"Gentlemen…BEHOLD! Corn." Cyborg said, producing a cooked ear of corn and taking a big bite out of it. "Oh yeah, and this."

Cyborg pressed a button, and a work table rose up out of the floor, revealing a white version of Robin's costume.

"…Uh, that's nice and shiny and all but…what's up Cyborg?" Terra said.

"All of you wear armor, to some degree. Except Gar, because of the nature of his unstable molecules or whatever the heck his outfit is made out of, I forget." Cyborg said. "Every now and then I've been trying new things to improve on it. This is my end result. A near-perfect fusion of the best metallurgy, protective synthetic fibers, and cybernetic weaves reinforced by specialized nanotechnology. This outfit actually projects a skin-tight protective field similar to the invulnerability bio-matrix that Kryptionians manifest as part of their powers. It's nowhere as strong, but if Terra wears her equivalent, she could probably take a tank shell to the chest and just walk away with severely bruised ribs. One tank shell, anyway. But you get the picture."

"Great! Now why did it take something like this to get gear like this?" Scalpel asked.

"Because I haven't worked out the power troubles yet. Once everything goes on, you get the field for two hours, max. And you can't turn it back off once you turn it on." Cyborg said. "So you haven't gotten it until now. I'm blowing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to get an outfit like that for everyone. Thank god for Grayson and whatever resources he has, I'll just say. Considering what we're approaching, it's money well spent."

"I have a question." Metatron said, picking up the white Robin chest piece. "Can we pick colors?"

"No, sorry. While experimenting with heat runoff and proper power flow and a whole bunch of other complicated technical details…basically the only color I've found doesn't cause the dyes to start smoldering is white. Your point?" Cyborg asked.

"Who knew physics had a sense of very clichéd drama?" Metatron commented.

"That's why we have holopins, Metatron." Cyborg said, holding up the hologram device. "I'll custom design some to lay your usual or any color scheme you want on the outfit."

"So what's next Cyborg? The gun that could probably end the battle immediately, but only has a million to one shot of landing?"

"Only by Discworld odds, my friend." Cyborg said, grinning fiercely. "Only by Discworld odds."

---

"So what are the Lord's other weaknesses? Besides sunlight, and shutting up?" Robin said to the group assembled in Raven's room.

"Oh that was on Final Jeopardy the other night…" Terra said.

"So was Men In Black." Sophie replied, and the two briefly glared at each other.

"The answer is sufficient magic. I'm the only natural magic user here, but we have something that can compensate for that." Raven said, as she opened up a armoire in a corner of the room, revealing the shattered remains of a sword embedded into the wall.

"HOLY SHIT! ANDURIL! I mean…wait." Gauntlet said. "The Fang."

"The blade that banished my father. He Who Dares Bear Fangs At God." Raven said. "Ever since it broke, I've occasionally tried to fix it…never had any luck there. The most we've done with them was when we included two shards into the weapons fashioned for Ryce's arms during the White Call. Since then, she has returned them—after clearly proving that each piece still retains a fair bit of residual magic, given D'xias' volatile reaction to them. Residual magic that, once I properly embed them in you, I can link to your powers."

"Uh…embed?" Sophie said.

"Relax Sophie. It will be like getting an ear piercing." Raven said.

"Sorry, my lobes have been unpierced since day one. Got a better analogy?"

"I will place it under your skin, and allow you to actually throw stuff at the Lord that will hurt him."

"Fuckin' A." Terra said.

"Forget A, I plan to utilize the whole alphabet." Raven said, as she removed the shards of the Fang from where they were. "Who wants to go first?"

---

"Do you sleep, Cyborg?" Scalpel said, looking at the looming shape in the Titans' main garage.

"Not always, Nige." Cyborg said, standing in front of a large bank of mechanical tools, looking over them before he turned back to the room-sized vehicle located above them Titans gathered there. "Definitely not going to much these next few weeks. I have to finish this."

"Don't we have the T-Ship though?" Scalpel said. "I ask primarily because it can fly. This…appears to be a submarine."

"It primarily functions as one, yes." Cyborg said. "You can see a plane coming in more ways than an underwater vehicle. I started on it on Aqualad's request, actually. So we could go help him if Atlantis got attacked. Now…"

"We use it to approach." Robin said, looking at the body and curved legs of the advanced submersible. "How fast can it go?"

"This is Atlantean-derived tech. 150 knots." Cyborg said. "Combined with Raven's teleporting abilities, we should be able to get across the Atlantic quicker than a plane, and less detectable. It can beach itself, hold all of us comfortably, and has all sorts of other goodies. I know you feel uncomfortable being underwater Scalpel…but this is about the safest thing you could be underwater in. And as Raven has stressed, surprise is important here."

"I think I'll…just have to grin and bear it, I guess. Um…Is there a way to black out the window?"

"That's part of the stealth, yes."

"What happens if the Lord breaks it?" Terra asked.

"…do we have…oxygen…breathing things…?" Scalpel said, looking a touch green.

"Yes we, but we don't, we shouldn't assume that…look, I'll burn that bridge when we come to it." Cyborg said. "I got my plate full guys. Anything else that needs to be doing, you should all do your best to share the load."

"Where's Raven?" Terra asked. "I think she wanted to talk to you about stuff regarding our specialized armor and the Fang."

"Already done. I think she's with Starfire at the moment." Cyborg said, looking over a large wrench.

"It have a name, Vic?" Robin asked.

"I branched out a bit, Tim." Cyborg said, gesturing to the vehicle. "The T-Oceanus."

"…mocking this is below me. Take it away Rob." Metatron said.

"Rob's not here." Scalpel said.

"Then take it away Gar!"

"He's not here either."

"Then Nigel, this calls for your magnificent repartee."

"…here is my wife. Please take her." Scalpel said with dark sarcasm.

"Spot on."

---

"How long have you been designing this, Raven?" Starfire asked, floating up on the roof with her friend, both of them cross-legged in front of each other.

"Since the Alexander Luthor incident. And what happened there." Raven said. "Slowly, in bits and pieces. I've devoted a lot more work to it since the previous Christmas. I think it's almost done, but I'll need your help for the last steps."

"I will help in any way I can." Starfire said.

Raven didn't tell Starfire that, even with all the help the alien would give her now, that there was no help she could give to change certain facts about what she was doing. The risks it could run.

Her best friend was burdened enough by her failures.

---

Avoidance was easy when those around seemed more than content to loathe your company. Noel Collins neither welcomed nor detested this new routine, purposefully drifting on his day-to-day. He simply retreated to his room and locked his door, despite knowing no one sought his company. It, at the very least, guaranteed silence.

Or so he thought, before looking up to find a dead prostitute standing in the middle of his room.

"…probably should have picked a better look," the translucent woman sighed, the accented voice not seeming to match her battered and beaten appearance, too light and familiar, "beggars can't be choosers. She was fresh. Lemme make it a lil less weird."

The professional's face skewered up as if in concentration, her dead features rippling much a like the surface of a calm pool disturbed by a fingertip. When its face settled, everything about it had changed, though the clothing still remained much the same. Without her glasses it took an extra moment to recognize her, but Ryce's visage glanced towards a mirror to observe the shade housing her essence.

"Not half bad…still can't get the clothes right though. Doesn't matter…we need to talk," she sighed, the shade drifting before him, going so far as to sit in an odd mimicry of life, "Well, no, that's not right, I guess. I need to talk. I have a feelin' you're goin' to sit there pullin' your catatonia crap. I only hope that you will listen despite it."

The man seemed eager to prove her at least halfway right, giving no reaction or acknowledgement.

"…they're goin' t'tell you a lot of things after all this, Noel, maybe not through words but they will 'speak' nonetheless. In five weeks I have no doubt he s'goin' to have a lot to say to you too. You need to remember what s'true in the face of their justifiable but foolish anger…and his outright lies. Cause that s'all Ricky has and all he does. Lies. S'all he can have considerin' what he is and where he comes from. He s'somethin' to be abhorred…and perhaps for people far better than me, pitied.

"What happened…s'not who you are. Who you are s'not defined in that one moment of grievous violation and hurt. I cannot promise this place will be whole when the sun sets…I cannot promise some of them will ever come back from where that pathetic fuck sent them…but I can promise that there will always be those who refuse to let him win. You've looked unwittin' pawns of far greater monsters than the Lord in the eyes and opened your arms to them. Hell, you fell in love with one. The sooner you comprehend that, the saner you'll be. You aren't alone in what you are feelin' Noel. This song and dance s'been done to hell and back, amongst even the people who are stupidly questionin' your loyalty. Inner Beasts…Cold, computerized logic…literal demons…the only difference between these puppet masters and Ricky was in subtlety. If I ask nothin' else of you, s'that you see that:

"You are the man who saw the very worst a person can be…and forgave that in them.

"Please…open your eyes and let the people who love you do the same," She whispered as wisps of grey curled around her booted ankles, crawling along jeans and the tight vest across her chest. A lick of it curled about her eyes darkening into the squared frames of her glasses, and the her time was up. And silence fell once more as the shade faded into the air.

Noel didn't know if he preferred it that way.

---

Metatron sneezed, waving his hand in front of his nose from the dust in the room. His wanderings that night had brought him to a 'junk room' where the Titans left various items they didn't need at the moment: it clearly hadn't been cleaned in some time. Finding one of Raven's old costumes hung on a wall, Met picked up the hanger and pulled the outfit off of it, turning the cloak and leotard over in his hands.

"You know, despite her reserved upbringing, I think Raven was actually pretty frisky, and this thing was the only way she could express it, what with the Trigon anvil hanging over her head by a thread. Teenage rebellion." Metatron said, turning around to face Sophie. Standing in the doorway, the plus-sized heroine seemed a bit off-put.

"Did you hear me coming? Is that why you started talking?"

"Yes. That's exactly what happened." Metatron said, tossing Raven's outfit aside and picking up what appeared to be a gun. It took Sophie a second to confirm it wasa gun. It took another for her own gun to be in her hands and aimed at Metatron.

Metatron tilted up his head, smiling at Sophie curiously. A moment later Sophie raised her gun, pressing the hammer back into a down position.

"Reflex. Plus, we've all been…testy lately." Sophie said. "But…it's strange. As odd as you are, I feel I can trust you."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. It's like I've known you before."

"Heh. Funny, that." Metatron said, lifting up his gun again, the barrel pointed down as he looked at it. "Do you know whose this is?"

"Who can say? Might be some weapon taken off some thug that wasn't needed for…some reason. They keep promising to clean this room out, and don't. No one trusts Ryce to do it without blowing the Tower to kingdom come."

"You're surprised? Shame, Soph." Metatron said, grinning and throwing the gun into the wall. Sophie's eyes flicked across the room at the movement, but she did not budge herself. The weapon thudded off the wall and landed on the floor.

"You should be careful. If that gun had had bullets in it, it could have gone off."

"I knew it didn't." Metatron said, giving Sophie a strange little smile. Sophie glanced at the gun, trying to remember if she saw him check the weapon if it was armed. "Ah! This. I remember this."

Sophie turned back to Metatron as the chaosling crouched down and peered at a destroyed fridge. It appeared that the appliance had been cut in half, and then someone had made a game effort to put it back together before giving up and throwing it in the room.

"Back when I first got here. Were you there, when it happened?" Metatron said, turning to Sophie. "That giant fridge that went flying and Bushido cut in half?"

"I was in the building, but not THERE there."

"Hm. It caused Terra to be buried under a room full of snow." Metatron said, poking at the fridge.

"I know. I giggled more than I should have at that."

"…you'll do fine, Soph." Metatron said, his grin widening into one of true happiness. "Whatever happens, however things end, always remember: Terra was buried in snow. And it was GLORIOUS."

Metatron reached down and actually picked up the broken fridge, hoisting it right side up before he tilted it to the side to drag.

"Whenever you were feeling down, I'd sa-"

The freezer door popped up, and a top hat rolled out from inside and landed at Metatron's feet. Sophie suddenly became aware of a loud buzzing noise.

"…ah. That time of the week, is it?"

Sophie felt the force seize her, and had to grab the doorway as Metatron's body was distorted and sucked into the hat, along with the broken fridge and all the immediate objects around him. She stared with wide eyes where Metatron had been.

A random falling object startled her out of her daze, and she sprinted down the hallway to sound the alarm.

---

"…I HAD been wondering where Mumbo's hat had gone." Robin said, several Titans now gathered in the room. Raven had picked the hat up and had been examining it for the past several minutes.

"I hid it in here. For…I can't even remember. Then the Darkseid crisis happened and I completely forgot it was in here." Raven said.

"Unfortunate timing." Scalpel said.

"Yeah."

"So…is he in the hat?" Sophie asked.

"No. He's not in the hat. Neither is the fridge, or anything else that went in. The residual magic of the hat triggered his random teleportation ability. He's gone somewhere else." Raven said.

"…what would have happened if he'd…pulled me in?" Sophie asked.

"I can't say for sure. He's sometimes taken objects with him when he's teleported. He never brought them back. The only person that we could ask would b-" Raven said.

"You rang?" Ryce chimed in dryly by Raven's side making her jump nearly a foot in the air.

"I told you not to do that," she growled.

"Do we want to get into what one has told the other t'do to make things go easy peasy in this Tower?" Ryce asked tilting her head and looking at Raven over the rims of her glasses. Raven tensed. Always good to know when she had people still angry with her.

"As for what would have happened," Ryce continued wrapping around them to take the hat and turn it over in her hands carefully, "Well…the very nature of chaos renders the answer to ev'ry question into 'I don't know.' Put simply, y'd have gone along for the ride Soph. Sometimes that ride takes y'to the very ends of the universe. Two or three times Adam and I ended up in the basement…there was also that one where we ended up in…ahem…Nigel's room. Pretty sure y'remember that one," she cringed as Sophie just blushed at THAT awkward memory.

"So when will he be back?" Robin asked.

"When I say the answer to ev'ry thing is 'I don't know,' do you hear, 'HI Tim! Ask me questions, cause the answers will be TOTALLY varied'?" Ryce asked before cringing visibly and seeming to shrink down where she stood, "…sorry…uncalled for. I jus'…I dunno where or when he is and how long it will be, Tim. S'never somethin' I've been able to predict."

"…right. I'd better start re-drawing the plans to compensate for his absence." Robin said.

"It does not bode well that you haven't already. I mean…s'Met," Ryce sighed before giving a wry little laugh, "Y'know…for someone defined by s'innate ability t'be unpredictable. Met's GRAND at disappearing at jus' the worst time. Makes for a fun mystery though," she chuckled as she flipped the hat about in her hands and rested it at an angle on her head. Leaning back into a broken chair she grinned at the two shaking her head.

Raven didn't reply as Robin left nor respond to Ryce's running commentary in general.

Sophie could tell that the incident wasn't Raven's fault. She could also tell from the brief look that crossed Raven's faces that she didn't believe that.

---

"All right Pangloss. Let me know what's in the tank."

"Pardon?" The voice said on the other end of the phone.

"What's the dark secret power of the Gauntlet that I don't dare use at the expense of my soul? You know, ALL items of power have one."

"It doesn't have one, Robert. Nothing that would help you with the Lord, anyway."

"…you knew?"

"Not until you called just now. And only because I decided to pull the thread about the different tone in your voice."

"…can you…"

"No, Robert. You should know that."

"Then what good ARE you?"

"…I'll forgive you for that because I know you're under some stress."

"No, don't forgive me! I want to know! You could fight him on even terms!"

"Because he IS stronger than me."

"…what."

"I know, it surprised me too, the first time I figured it out. I can do some damn impressive things, if I do say so myself, but…he dwarfs me. So yeah. Me showing up wouldn't quite have the effect you think."

"Then what do I do? I'm not MEANT for this sort of crap! I've decided that! I am not genetically meant to have villains like this! I'm supposed to fight guys like Dr. Draken, or Dr. Doofenschmirz, or X The Eliminator! I'm not supposed to go up against freaking Nietzschean supermen wannabes!"

"I don't recall anyone giving you a choice."

"So does mom. She slams doors for hours." Gauntlet said. "Okay, so what DO I do?"

"Well, you know that power you used to do that Shining Finger crap from that crap anime?"

"I wouldn't use the word crap, but yeah."

"You theoretically COULD do that. But five weeks isn't enough time to get to that level at will."

"I just need to do it ONCE."

"Then it looks like it's time to play Yoda."

"You mean you're coming over here?"

"No. As you'll recall, Yoda mostly flung verbal abuse and obsessed about stew."

"Oh don't you dare…"

"Gotta go, the stew's about done. Too old you are. Not ready are you. Meathead. Ciao!"

CLICK.

"…FFFFFFFFFF...!"

---

"That may have been the third loudest profanity I ever heard, Friend Rob." Starfire said, cleaning out a ringing ear with a finger.

"Which ones were louder?" Gauntlet groused.

"That's not important…what did you learn, Friend Rob?"

"Jack and shit."

"That did not sound like a malediction fueled by lack of knowledge."

"Nothing GOOD. I was hoping for a deal with the devil ultimate Gauntlet power and was told…well, that shining finger crap I pulled is doable, but it could kill me. Then he didn't tell me how I could do it at will. Then he said a non-sequitur and left."

"If I recall from your reports, the Shining Finger was done when all your allies in the desert combined their power with yours. I…do not know if the same trick would work twice."

"Hence the 'it could kill me' part. I think. I don't know. The guy is so damn CRYPTIC, and I don't know if he's cryptic to play games with me or cryptic because he doesn't KNOW things."

"Did you ask him…if the Lord knows we're coming?"

"Damnit to hell. I didn't even think so."

"Can you?"

"I'll try tomorrow. I don't feel like putting up with his crap right now."

"…you do not want to come." Starfire said quietly.

"Who would?" Gauntlet said. "But if I'd wanted to back out, I would have done it when Robin presented the option. I'm going. Don't worry about me chickening out."

"I am not." Starfire said. "…I want to go back too, sometimes. Many times. Not just before we learned about that Halloween. Back to the days when we always knew where we stood."

"I just…I know how Robin felt about Slade now." Gauntlet said. "This guy is sitting out there, just laughing at us, and unless Raven has something in her spell book she hasn't used before, I don't think we can ever beat him meaningfully. Hell, I honestly wonder for all his talk, if Metatron didn't run away."

"That, I doubt. He is very strange, and…horning in, is that the phrase?"

"You definitely could have mis-used it worse."

"Despite his horning in on your territory, he is not one to run away. He is simply…cursed, sometimes. As for Raven, she is far smarter than the Lord could ever give her credit for."

"Smart, yes. But a smart guy with a spear isn't going to bring down a tank, no matter what Civilization would tell us."

"…Our lives are not based on electronic algorithms. Not even confusing ones like that." Starfire said. "We have a cause, and a belief. As does he. We can only bring them both to bear, and believe ours are the stronger."

"Yeah." Gauntlet said, sitting down with a sigh. "I wouldn't mind getting an ace in the hole to go with that belief, but yeah."

"We are preparing as many as we can."

"No, me, I, Gauntlet. I want an ace in the hole. I don't want another fight with him where all I can do is punch him and watch him regenerate. I think I've got one if I can figure out how to overclock it again. But I've got nothing when it comes to figuring out how to do it."

"Don't force it. Surprise may be best in all cases, this time."

"Yeah, but only so much." Gauntlet said. "I know most of you guys are going to be spending a lot of time in training. Count me in. It may not be a room of spirit and time, but I think that between you, and me, there might be a few bits of true potential to unlock. Maybe I'll even hit up Hal, or Kyle, or Stewart, or heck, even Guy, if Robin allows me. Conceal why I want some tips from them. I don't know how much surprise we have here, but I KNOW that bastard always sees me as a clown. I'll make damn sure I'm a poor one."

Starfire stared. Gauntlet was about to explain, when her eyes brightened.

"Ah! As in, he will not be laughing."

"You're learning, Star."

"I have the best teachers." Starfire said, giving Gauntlet a closed-eye smile.

"Thanks for listening, Star. I had to get that off my chest. I can't wait to get this over with, just so I don't have to be angsty and stuff."

"You are not the one I am concerned about." Starfire said, her smile fading.

"Oh? Who are you worried about?"

"Ryce."

Rob cringed, unprepared. "I-"

"I know," Starfire said, "I do. And I won't tell you change anything…simply, to reconsider. If nothing else, she's been the most vocally repentant of our three companions," she observed him as several emotions conflicted in his eyes, and decided not to press the issue. "And there's also…well, you should know."

---

Dust in a room.

You never realized how much dust collected in a room until you suddenly found yourself spending a majority of your time there. Over the years, Noel's room had remained Spartan, not for lack of things to put in it, but because he spent so much time elsewhere. Over time, he'd neglected to clean it himself, usually assigning one of Cyborg's small robots to do it for him.

The irony that the first major task Noel had been asked to do for the Titans was clean up their room was not lost on him. It was why Cyborg had invented said small robots (Fixit had helped). Apparently, they hadn't been scheduled to tidy up Noel's in the immediate future.

Noel didn't feel like doing it either.

In all honesty, despite Starfire's warning, despite Ryce's attempt, Noel wanted to plunge into despair. It was one thing to be manipulated into attacking your hated father, and another to constantly slip into asshole behavior. It was another to be reduced to such a state that you would kill the only family you had and think it was the only way to go. Terra had been right in her accusations. He hadn't lived up to what he preached: he couldn't see how much worse he could have failed at it.

It would be easier to just give up.

Then again, it would have been easier to give up when his mom had died. Or when he'd been locked up in the loony bin. Or any of the times when the odds seemed completely hopeless.

He hadn't then. Why now?

Was 'That was then, this is now' really so strong?

Was the Lord's shadow so deep?

It was that old chestnut that had driven Noel forward in the end. A focus. A target. He had no idea if his friends could ever forgive him, or if he could forgive himself. Even if they did, he could not think of how to atone. Maybe he never would.

All he had was his duty. Part of him knew this fact was mirrored in all the other Titans. The other part knew that probably didn't make much difference.

So he kept out of the Titans' way, communicating to Robin through email. Robin, at the time, seemed to prefer that as well. Noel kept abreast of the Titans' preparations, and had joined them for strict, intense training sessions, treating it as business and slipping away when it was done. None of his allies complained, or really showed any opinion towards his actions. Considering they all probably had their own burdens to work through, he did not resent them for this fact.

When this was all over…things would probably change. Maybe not for the better.

But for now, it was the illusion. If the Lord was watching, keep his eyes clouded to the truth. Keep fighting crime and occasionally attending social events, like nothing had changed. Let the Lord think his mortal foes knew nothing.

Strike for his heart.

Dust in a room.

It was that dust in his room that kept Noel away from it as much as possible. He'd always considered himself harsh in his training, but he'd managed to crank up the dial another notch. The fact that he couldn't bring himself to invite or interact with his teammates probably had something to do with that.

Train strength. Train speed. Train control. Push himself to a new peak, if just for a bit. Maybe find an answer…

Or so Noel had thought, until Nigel walked into the room.

Noel stopped in mid-procedure, more surprised than he should have been. Scalpel regarded him with cool, blank eyes. Noel shut down his simulation, regarding the alien with a questioning look. If Nigel had wanted to train by himself, he wouldn't be booting Noel out. Even with the secret revealed, that was not Nigel's way.

Scalpel said nothing in the end. He just produced his glaive and gestured at the Titan, Savior stared a few more seconds, then rolled his shoulders and assumed a combat pose.

Savior had no idea if it meant anything, as the two proceeded to battle each other. He suspected if Nigel was willing to offer absolution yet, he would have done it more directly. As it was, it was just another training session. It would not be the last the two had, as the days counted down.

It didn't stop Noel's questions, or the terrible possibilities he tried to keep in the back of his mind.

Dust in a room.

Dust in a room.

---

The days counted down. The Doom of Damocles. Had Metatron been around, he probably would have commented on such a turn of phrase, but he remained gone. Despite themselves, the Titans found themselves coping with his absence.

"This is a message for everyone. I'll give specifics at the end of it." Robin said, the machines whirring quietly in his dark room as they recorded. "I want you to understand why I did what I did. In all honesty, I hope this message is never sent…"

"Computer, open file Z-Omega." Cyborg said in his own room, his body plugged into his personal machines. "New draft. The last will and testament of Victor T. Stone…"

"I just never really had anything like this. Always reacting, nothing ever really like this…" Beast Boy said in the dark booth. "I know I'm in good hands. I just…needed to say it out loud."

"…I wish I could help you some more, my son. But I understand your need for secrecy." The priest said in the other end. "I will pray for you."

"Thanks father. I'll need it." Beast Boy said. "I'd like to say I don't…but I'm not that smart, and I'm not that stupid."

"I think I've written this about two hundred times." Terra said, turning the envelope over in her hands. "Never really could find the right words."

Starfire said nothing, as Terra turned the envelope over a few more times.

"Brion should know. I…wish I could tell him in another fashion…but this is the only sure thing." Terra said, as she finally slid the letter into the box. Provided no one retrieved it, said box would be sent to the post office in three days.

"You will find the words." Starfire said. Terra smiled slightly at the alien.

"I just wish we could send something to your planet."

"I am not concerned." Starfire said. "They know how I feel."

In the end, Gauntlet had never been able to get ahold of Pangloss. When he'd tried to contact him again, his mother had informed him that Pangloss had left to attend the "Annual Fifth Dimensional Beings Conference." When Gauntlet had frustratingly pointed out that Pangloss was, for all his strength, NOT a fifth-dimensional being, his mother had replied that she had wondered about that herself.

He'd never come back. Gauntlet had no idea if Pangloss was just being Pangloss, or had known something was coming and didn't want to face it. Most of him refused to accept the latter option. Pangloss was a lazy leech, but he wasn't that selfish and cold. Probably. Hopefully.

That wasn't the part Gauntlet hated the most. The part he hated that much was that he couldn't talk to his parents before he left. Robin had done nothing to indicate he couldn't, and Gauntlet doubted he ever would…but the secret had to be kept. Gauntlet was the son of a spy. He knew the value of intelligence.

He wrote an email instead. Had Robin asked for a summary, Gauntlet would have encapsulated it thusly: "Sorry it came to this. I know it came out of nowhere, but we were trying to get the element of surprise. Tell Amy and all the rest of my friends about this…but don't let them go off and try and avenge us. If he can still be stopped, this is a job for the Justice League and BULWARK. Attached are all our files for Dad. I love you all."

It was staring at the send button that made Gauntlet realize that his loathing towards the Lord had not faded one iota. Gauntlet had always had trouble holding onto hate. It just wasn't him.

And now, even as he pushed himself into his training, aware of the blond watching him from the entrance—she was always there, hoping for a chance to offer some assistant, to talk, to just know she wasn't hated—Gauntlet knew that The Lord had finally pushed him to that peak. That depth.

Despite himself, and all the men he admired, Gauntlet wondered for the first time in his life if there really was a way out of that chasm.

He supposed, sighing, that if there was, it began by rebuilding. So he turned.

"Hey Ryce," he called, trying not to smirk when the girl jumped in surprise at the sudden acknowledgement. "Can you pass me the water-bottle? I'm parched."

The angel stared for a second, before tripping over herself to do so. "Y-Yes!" She said, a flushed, watery expression coming over her, a small, shy smile that made Gauntlet smile back.

It was a start.

"What's that?" Scalpel asked.

"This is a list of things I plan to do during the course of my life." Morgue said. "I'm leaving it here. When we get back, I'm going to start checking them off. I suspect we'll have earned a vacation."

"Yes…perhaps two." Scalpel said, laying a clawed hand on Morgue's shoulder. She looked up and grinned, taking his metal digits in hers.

Scalpel tried not to show that part of him never wanted to let go. Or the other part that wanted to 'tap' Sophie on the back of the head, inject her with tranquilizers, and tuck her away in a safe place until this ended in whatever way it did.

Instead he watched Sophie write.

She had a long list.

The old flowers were still there, resting on Crystal Collins' grave. Apparently, there had not been much in the way of wind, or maybe the graveyard attendants were exceptional. Or lazy.

The last time he'd been here, Noel had had the location repeatedly swept. This time, he didn't even bother wearing a holopin. It seemed rather pointless, with the graveyard empty and quiet.

Noel laid the new flowers down, and stood by the grave site for a while. He wanted to say something, but no words came.

Maybe the time for words was over.

A petal detached from the new bouquet as Noel turned and left.

No one else visited the graveyard that day.

"That's really all I have to say." Robin finished. "Well, one more thing. It really doesn't need to be said…but I will anyway. Jason…Damian…if you're somehow listening to this…I do hope this congratulations is earned. And Dick, Babs, Steph, Cass…I love you. It was an honor, and MY honor. Good bye."

Robin shut the recording off.

"…Bruce…Dad…Mom…" Robin said in the empty dark. "If it is my time…I hope I'll do you proud before it."

Everything was done.

Raven knew that, as she floated in her room. Her team was as ready as they could possibly be under the circumstances. She was ready, her efforts having borne greater fruit than she had expected.

The only hole was Metatron. It was the night before they left, and he still hadn't returned. Normally, Raven would have made do. But after Christmas the previous year, not to mention the advice he'd given her several days before she'd told the team the secret, and the fact Metatron seemed to have some strange connection to the Lord…

Plus he was growing on her. She couldn't tell why. Maybe it was the fact that he was the only one spared the grief that had befallen them during the events of that Halloween night. Or maybe it was the fact that even if he hadn't been, he would have reacted the same way he had now. He seemed halfway on the road to barking madness most of the time, but for the past few years of her life Metatron had served as her fool, in the Shakespearean sense. The only one who spoke the truth.

For that, she had to try.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Raven chanted to herself, feeling her cloak swirl around her. She was sending a basic message out into the ether: having no idea where Metatron had gone, it was the best option she had. A real shot in the dark, but considering Metatron could provide another shot AGAINST the dark, it was worth it. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

The world was so much bigger than many realized in their lifetimes. Sometimes that was a blessing…

And sometimes, as Raven felt her message impact against something, it was anything but.

Raven never knew exactly what happened. She might have touched Metatron directly, or interacted with something in his wake. A dark possibility that she didn't allow herself to think about was that Metatron had been heading back, and she'd knocked him away again.

She didn't really know, as the bolt arced back across the curve of dimensions and slammed into her head.

Her eyes went wide as images poured across her vision, too garbled and mashed together to make any sense. Familiar faces leered out of the soup of chaos only to vanish back in immediately, and whatever she heard altered in tone and language so much that she might as well have tried to divine an answer out of some freshly released vomit. The barrage of confusion ricocheted around her mind for an indeterminable length of time. Raven was vaguely aware her ears and nose were bleeding.

But the last image was crystal clear, and made Raven recoil in horror as she collapsed on the floor.

It couldn't be a coincidence. The last person she saw. Clearly. The white-skinned goth girl with the ankh.

Death of the Endless.

"No." Raven said in quiet horror. "No! Not like this! Don't show your face like this!" Raven was vaguely aware she was crawling and groveling in a way that drastically unsuited her, but she didn't care. "TELL ME! WHO'S GOING TO DIE? WHAT DO YOU MEAN? WHAT…die…"

Raven's voice trailed off. The kaleidoscope of images that had preceded Death's impassive face were already fading, like it had been a dream. Only the omen of the Endless Raven knew best remained. And it was an omen. It couldn't be anything else.

…Ryce. She could talk to Ryce. Demand answers. A connection, a dial up to her father, or to Death itself, herself. She could force the issue.

Raven stared at the ground, barely aware of the blood dripping on the floor from her face. Her voice was so quiet even Nigel would have barely been able to hear it.

"I can't be human. Not for this."

Her words did not mean that she wanted to embrace her father's demonic heritage. Far from it. But after so many years of being able to understand her random prophetic flashes, the thought that she would have to approach the future the same way as the rest of the humanity, not knowing what exactly was to come…

The Spectre had said she would bear a terrible price. The final bill was coming due.

Though she knew it was all in her head, Raven still swore she heard the Lord laughing at her.

---

The sun rose on another day. The fated day.

Armor was laid over body. Belts tightened. Boots were laced up and strapped in. Gloves settled onto hands. Masks were slipped on. Capes fell over backs. Hats were daintily placed onto heads.

Sophie sat on her bed in full costume as Nigel finished slipping the last of his weapons onto his form. Silently, she stood up, and the two headed out the door.

They also didn't recognize Cyborg, clad once more in the advanced battle armor he had brought to bear against the Black Lanterns last Halloween. Savior, after having been back in his classic white and blue duds, was once again wearing the black and red color set of his evil doppelganger Christmas. No one commented on the irony, or guessed at Noel's intent.

The Titans gathered in the basement, everyone solemn, grim, and dressed for war. Terra had cut her hair short, to prevent anyone from grabbing it, and was actually wearing pants covered with some sort of flexible grey granite she'd developed. Starfire was wearing an armored headpiece that kept hers out of the way, as well as the Tamarian armor she broke out whenever she was serious. Scalpel's usually crazy colors seemed far more muted than normal. Even Gauntlet had traded in his t-shirt and jeans for a Bulwark combat uniform (or rather the armor replica Cyborg had made of one).

Looking very much out of place amongst the battle ready in her jeans and an old sweatshirt, Ryce drifted quietly through them. Her eyes were dry as she made her way to each Titan and spoke a few soft words. The specifics did not matter, the meaning all the same. Some responded, some barely seemed to register she was talking.

Not a one escaped without a tight hug, Terra's eyes nearly fell from her head when the normally combative teenager even embraced her. By the time Ryce moved away from them delivering whatever oddly hollow-feeling message she could to Gauntlet, who smiled gently and whispered something back at her, her eyes stung bitterly even as she laughed.

"…Adam has not returned." Raven said, her black cloaks wrapped around her.

"Makes you want to slap him and hug him all at once when he finally does, aye?" Ryce replied, her voice rough. Raven gave her a tiny smirk.

"Right. We can't wait any longer. Wish he could be here, but his nature had other ideas." Robin said, turning towards Cyborg. "Vic?"

"T-Oceanus is ready." Cyborg said, pointing up. The apparatus above the Titans began to lower the giant submersible down, even as the floor began to lower down with it, heading for the underwater bay where they would launch.

"Everyone set then? Nothing left forgotten?" Robin said. No one had a reply. "Then let's go Titans. Let's go."

"…we're going out tonight." Gauntlet hummed quietly to himself. "To kick out his damn lights. Do everything we want. Break everything in sight…until his world stops turning while we burn it to the ground tonight."

And as the Titans, one by one, walked past their maid and loaded up into the T-Oceanus and the machine launched off towards the Lord's base, Gauntlet continued his quiet tune, several other Titans humming along. Ryce stood vigilant, witness to their departure.

"We got no fear, no doubt, all in, balls out…"