There's a grief that can't be spoken, There's a pain that goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables. Now my friends are dead and gone.
Robin glanced about the tattered, torn, and the ruin that was once his home. He was in perfect condition. Hair spiked up, costume clean, shoes shiny. He had left for a few days at a superheros conference to see Young Justice, see the other Robin, and to wish him luck. They talked about battle strategy, villains, trained a little, and reminisced about their their cold, dark mentor, Batman.
Robin had expected the house to be in good condition when he got back. He did not expect to find Beast Boy's limp arm in the dirty clothes.
Here they talked of Revolution, here the lit the flame.
Here they talked about tomorrow, and tomorrow never came.
Robin had watched the security camera. There had been so much bloodshed...he didn't see anything like this in Gotham when he was with Batman. Slade. That one word, one mask, one figure, could easily be the culprit behind this heinous crime...and he was. Slade had planted bombs in the Tower. Then, he attacked when Robin was gone. It was unexpected; he brought a few thousand drones. The Titans shouldn't have been able to fight them all and still battle Slade, but they did. Slade was knocked to the ground by one of Starfire's star bolts, her fiery locks plastered to her face in sweat and blood. Robin noticed how she hunched over, how it looked at any moment, she would collapse right there, maybe not wake up. She shrieked as she delivered her final blow. Slade also had a final blow. He pressed a little button on his wrist, and the Tower detonated, taking all of their lives.
From the table in the corner, they could see a world reborn.
They rose with voices ringing, I can hear them now!
The very word they had sung, became their last communion
On the lonely barricade, at dawn
Robin remembered everything about them. Beast Boy's raspy voice and the smell of his uniform. His vegan way-of-life. His huge crush on the blonde, Terra, and later the dark haired one, Raven. The way he always changed into animals in the blink of an eye, always fighting his hardest. He was, what was considered by many reporters, the heart of the Titans. He was the first to explode, as he was closest to the first bomb, the one right by Raven' room.
Cyborg, and his technological know-how. He, Robin, and Raven were the brains of the Teen Titans, though he was the smartest by far. Robin remembered his blue-synchronized body, how his passions fueled him. Cyborg always was afraid of losing every last drop of his humanity. Robin thought out of all of them, he was the most human, for the stood for what all humans should. Cyborg had a little thing for Bee, he recalled. He had wanted to finally ask her out, was going to do it this weekend, actually. Robin shuddered. How fast life can blow up on you. Cyborg was right by the second bomb, closest to Star's room.
Raven, the "emo girl." In all honesty, she had every right to be emo. He could only imagine the hurt and abuse, neglect and humiliation she had to go through as a kid, her father being the prince of Demons and all. She was quiet, reserved, yet always ready to shoot her mouth off. Many think she is the most powerful of the team, and while they are right, she's also the weakest. She can't hold on to her powers like the others can. She was considered the mind. This is different from Cyborg. Cyborg was knowledge; she was calmness, calamity, fearless. Everything in the mind can be traced back to her. She was strategy, rage, everything. Everything to Beast Boy. Beast Boy was everything to her. She was the third to go, being on the roof, having the ceiling collapse from under her, the debris crushing her body.
Starfire. She was soul. Soul, soul, soul. Beauiful, exotic, wonderful. He could go on and on. She was smart, yet she was also wise. She was an old soul, experienced in life. He always thought she caught him from falling into the darkness. But those eyes; the eyes in the video, held so much pain, regret, hurt. The eyes are the windows to the soul. You can see the current emotions, yet one's that stick with a person for the rest of their life. He had caught her, saved her from falling into darkness. She caught him from falling too deep, he caught her before she could fall in the hole. He loved her, and she was gone.
Just like everything else.
Starfire was the last to go, besides Slade.
Oh, my friends, my friends, forgive me, that I live, and you are gone.
There's a grief that can't be spoken, there's a pain goes on and on.
It's not fair, Robin thought. That I live just because of a coincidental meeting. He would never get over this. He couldn't even heal from his parents death. How could he expect to heal from this? His grief choked him, as a tear escaped from his eye, cascading down his cheek, followed by a few, then many.
Phantom faces at the window, phantom shadows on the floor.
Empty chairs at empty tables, where my friends will meet no more.
He could see them now. They would forever haunt his dreams, his thoughts. Was all he was to face in this life grief, hurt, and torture? Their body parts lined the debris in the Tower. He found parts of Beast Boy in the hamper, and under the torn sofa cushions. He found Cyborg's leg and head thrust in the broken pantry, eyes still wide open from shock. Raven's blood was all over the the top floor and a hand and foot were sticking out from under the cement that was once a roof. Once he found Starfire's bloody arm on his bed, he stopped searching.
Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me what your sacrifice was for.
Empty chairs at empty tables, where my friends will sing no more.
The worst part? Robin was home when the bombs were planted, but not when they had gone off.