Author's Note: While on vacation visiting Emaniahilel (on she had me listen to "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks and described a visual that came to mind. I asked if I could draw the visual, she said yes. Later, I asked if I could write something around that image. Again, she graciously said yes. This is the result.

Also, you can find the illustration at my devart account - kysra . deviantart . com.

Spoilers for "Haunted."

Is Forever Enough?

By Kysra

Part I: The Hour We Met

It has never been simple between us despite how it may have looked to an outsider. He was simply too complex a soul to be anything less than utterly complicated, and I will be the first to admit that, even with my unique . . . gift of empathy, he was always a trial to decipher. He seemed to be in permanent crisis, the surface of his aura frayed 'round the edges, a veritable tempest of nervous logic and kinetic reason too jumbled to read clearly; and just beneath that thin layer of swirling tension was a wall as black and dense as my own yet unlike any other I have ever encountered before or since.

My point, centrally, is that in the beginning we were colleagues, teammates, partners; and though he never expressed any sort of aversion to my using my powers on him, Robin's emotions have never been easy to read. If I had wanted to know what he was feeling at any given moment, I would have had to dig deep and tread carefully; but it wasn't that he was stubborn or jealous with his emotions, it was that he was overly protective of them. It was a distinction I respected though I have no doubt that - even in those shaky, early days of mere acquaintance - should I have asked to touch his essence, he would have given me free access to everything he was.

As things turned out, Guilt was born the day of Slade's special powder, the day Robin allowed me to enter his mind despite how little time we were both given to prepare for such an event. But Guilt did not survive long, not when Robin was so gracious in accepting my intervention, and not when I realized what would have happened had I waited just a little longer or not acted at all.

I date my fascination with him from that night. There is something comfortable about Robin, something inherently genuine that shines in spite of the mask; and that night I understood why I felt so. In his history, I knew his heartache because it was my own. In his memories, I felt his determination to fight and overcome any obstacle, and I aspired to that same unflappable conviction. In his dreams, I found the keystone to my own hope and faith, and I never once suspected that he drew the same brand of strength from me. In the instant my soul embraced his, some undefined barrier shattered and I was suddenly aware that I was fortunate to have found someone like him, that I was absolutely blessed to call him "friend."