A/N: I've been forgetting this part-I don't own anything but Silhouette. Also, thanks to my amazing beta reader!

Chapter 3

Tugging at the Edges

Later that night, Gar and Silhouette were once again sitting on the roof, their legs dangling over the edge. The sun had gone down an hour earlier, and Silhouette was leaning back, looking at the stars. Gar sat up, a mug of hot cocoa wrapped in his hands. He had a sort of sad look on his face as he looked out to the lights of the city. Silhouette noticed it and sat up, reaching over and prying a hand away from his mug and holding it in hers. "What's wrong, Beastie?" she questioned softly.

He sighed and looked up towards the sky, squeezing her hand gently. "Raven doesn't trust you, and that kills me. I've tried to convince her that you're good, but she insists on thinking that you're working for the enemy. You're my best friend, Silly, and I don't want to lose you, but it feels like she's pulling you away from me. It's all about you, every other word out of her mouth is your name. I'm just not ready to let you go."

Silhouette thought about his words for a moment. In no way was Raven pulling her away. She was just moody and not trusting. Gar was still her best friend, and she could hear the jealously in his tone. "This isn't about Raven, is it Gar? This is about Robin," she stated, searching his face and trying to figure out what he was thinking, but he wouldn't turn to face her.

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess it is. You're always with him, and you're always talking about him, and he's always talking about you, and the way you two look at each other and—" He took a deep breath as a tear dripped down his face. "It's like I'm losing my little sister," he forced out, his voice becoming strangled.

She reached over and hugged him tightly, cautious of his mug of cocoa. "You're not losing me, Gar. You should be happy that I'm actually getting along with your friends—except Raven, of course. I'm sorry that you feel like that, okay? I'll do something to make up for it. How about a movie tonight?" she inquired, pulling away to look at his emerald face. A fanged smile popped up on his face and he nodded.

Tilting back, he downed the rest of his cocoa and placed the mug on the roof before standing up and holding out his hand to his friend. She took it and pulled herself up, and they walked hand in hand down the stairs, through the hall and into the living room. "Well, what do you wanna watch?" he asked, an eyebrow rose as she sprawled out on the couch.

She gave him a mischievous smile and said, "DUNUNUNUNUNUNU BATMAN!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and giggling like a little girl. He looked at her like she was crazy. Frowning, she crossed arms in a pout and looked away from him.

He groaned. "Fine! We'll watch Batman!" She jumped up and clapped before doing a stupid little victory dance. Gar took a seat on the couch, and she plopped down next to him, flinging her legs across his lap. He chuckled. "You're still the same as always, Silly."

"Good. I'd hate to have actually grown up, Beastie." She chuckled and turned towards the large screen as the movie began to play. After the movie had been playing for an hour, Silhouette looked up at an odd noise to see Gar with his head hanging, drool falling down his chin, and soft snores coming from his mouth. She giggled and nudged him slightly with her foot. Some garbled nonsense came out of him, so she kicked him harder. His eyes opened a little and he seemed mostly conscious. "Either wake up or go to bed," she said.

He nodded slightly and pushed himself up from the couch, almost falling over in the process, and headed down the hall. Silhouette quietly laughed as he walked towards his room like a drunk guy. "I hope he doesn't fall down and break something," she heard from above her. She looked up and saw Robin leaning over the couch, his mask over his eyes.

" Where'd you come from?" She giggled. Oh my god I'm giggling so much. This is hell. Kill me now. Robin looks adorable. Wait, what? She mentally kicked herself and turned her attention back to the Titan in front of her. He'd changed into a red Under Armour shirt, probably since she'd completely splattered him with neon orange paint earlier that day.

"I've been in the kitchen, reading the paper, genius," he smiled and shook his head, his hair falling into his eyes. Drops of water hit her in the face and she assumed that he'd taken a shower a little earlier. She giggled and wiped the drops from her face, earning a quizzical look from her masked friend. "You seem happy."

She shrugged. "I've just had a good day. We can't all be emotionless workaholics like you," she joked. Kind of. He frowned and shook his head again, this time only for the purpose of splashing her with small droplets. She whined and jumped up from the couch, wiping off her face. "That's not nice!" She cried.

"It wasn't supposed to be, Sil." He smirked, his eyes flicking down to the shirt. She was still wearing her "Screw Superman. Batman has a hot sidekick." shirt. "You know, I seriously love that shirt," he chuckled. She blushed and crossed her arms.

"Would you stop that? Narcissistic son of bitch," she scolded. "He used to have a hot sidekick, but you moved out, remember?" It was her turn to smirk.

He struck a stupid pose. "But you still agree that I'm hot, don't you?" he inquired, an eyebrow raised as her blush deepened.

"Maybe when you're not being an idiot," she decided. "But then again, when aren't you an idiot?" she insisted. "But you can't get any hotter than me anyway." She flipped her hair and walked passed him into the kitchen.

He caught her by the wrist and pulled her back so that she was face to face with him, so close that they were breathing each others breath. "In your dreams, maybe," he murmured, his voice low. "But we all know that, if no one else, I am way hotter than you."

Silhouette's heart was beating so fast she thought it was going to explode and she could feel her cheeks heating up. "Well, we're at least even," she breathed, "But at least I don't cover it up with a mask." She gave him a wink before pulling out of his grasp and heading towards the kitchen, where hopefully there was still some food left.

Robin stood where she'd left him, watching as she walked away into the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move, and turned to see Raven's disapproving scowl as she shook her head slowly. Beast Boy walked up next to her and put a hand on her shoulder, whispered something into her ear, and she nodded before turning and walking away. Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at the Boy Wonder and gestured for the boy to come towards him.

Robin raised an eyebrow of his own, but continued on towards the emerald-skinned boy anyway. Silhouette watched with a curious eye, waiting to see how it all panned out. Robin stopped just short of the hallway, waiting for the boy to say something—which he didn't. Not knowing what else to do, Robin continued down the hallway, wondering if the boy wanted to be out of Silhouette's line of sight. This seemed to be the situation, since Beast Boy continued to follow him down the hallway.

On a whim, Robin began up the stairs to the roof, where the stars shined bright and the lights of the city could be seen all around the tower. Beast Boy took a seat on the edge, his legs dangling over slightly, and Robin followed suit. Behind his mask, Robin glanced over at the boy, who looked stressed. "Robin, I—" he started

"You're tired of me hanging around Sil," Robin cut him off, matter-of-fact. The green boy looked at him in surprise, his eyebrows raised. "She's been your best friend since birth, and now I come and get in the way, and you feel like I'm taking her from you." The incredulous look on Beast Boy's face made him stop. "What? Aren't I close?"

" You took the words right out of my mouth," the shorter boy admitted, looking to his leader. "But if you hurt her I will not hesitate to tear your limbs off. All of them," he threatened, glaring up at Robin.

Robin put his hands up in surrender. "I won't, I promise. Besides, Gar, we're just friends," Robin tried to explain. Beast Boy wasn't having any of that. He elbowed the Boy Wonder in the side.

"Don't even sugar coat it. We can all see the way you two look at each other. God, it pisses Raven off so much. She says you're 'blinded by your emotions'." He sighed. "I really wish she'd just accept Silly."

"I do too, BB. How about we lock them in the closet together until they agree to make out?" He suggested with a chuckle.

" Rob, don't you mean make up?" Beast Boy wondered, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Isn't that what I said?" he asked with a curious look on his face.

" No, you should we should lock them up until they make out."

"Oh," Robin forced out, his cheeks flaring bright red.

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Once again it was so dark that Silhouette didn't know what to do. It seemed to creep up to her from every angle, making everything dark. This time she could see the moon, but it was only a crescent, and it was dyed a deep blood red. She could feel trees everywhere she turned, and she knew she was stuck in a forest of some sort. Alone. In the pitch black.

The bad thing about the moon was that it didn't illuminate anything. If anything, it seemed to make everything darker with its blood red glare that seemed to follow her around and shine only on her. From what she could feel, the darkness had flushed every living thing out of the forest except for herself and the trees. The sinister mix of the darkness and the red moon seemed intimidating, and Silhouette had nowhere else to go.

Feeling the shadows for anything living, she stretched out as far as she could—her limit was about a two-mile radius—and still felt nothing. She sighed and laid down on the cold ground. She began humming tunelessly to herself. Her hair splayed on the ground in a halo around her, and the blood red moon casting its glare across her form, she looked like an angel from hell. That which she felt she might as well have been.

Soon the moon faded away and left Silhouette in the darkness. She sighed and didn't move from her sprawled out position on the forest floor. She could smell woodsmoke in the air, and reached out for something living, some kind of animal at the least. She clawed at the dirt in the ground when she still couldn't sense anything more substantial than the trees and plants around her. When she really focused, she could feel small insects among the growth, but it still wasn't enough for comfort.

Silhouette saw shadows dance at the edge of her vision, closing in on her, consuming her, but she couldn't feel them no matter how much she tried. Gripping handfuls of dirt and rocks she threw them in a fit, crying out as she sat up and buried her face in her grimy hands. Sobbing was the only thing that could be heard throughout the forest. Her tears washed away the dirt on her hands, muddy, salty water dripping to the ground.

When she looked up she could no longer see the shadows, but she could feel them pressing in on her, suffocating her, begging her to join them. She stood up and lashed out with her power, trying to force them away, but they were like a vacuum, sucking her in and trapping her, only to be released when they allowed it. As much as she tried to fight back, she was so close to giving in, to finally giving up. Her strength was draining, and she felt as if it'd be better to go willingly.

Still fighting against it, she cried out, tears streaming down her face. Silhouette irrationally hoped someone could hear her, that someone could save her from herself, but she knew it was pointless. No one was around. No one would hear her. No one would even understand what she was fighting against. That's all her life ever was—the constant struggle between who she wanted to be, and the real her, the monster that lived inside of her.

Then fear, true fear, washed over her. The sadness, the hopelessness, the loneliness. She stopped fighting. She put her hands down and fell to the ground in defeat. She expected the darkness to wash over and flood every sense she had, but it didn't come. When she looked up, she saw two animals. A green kitten—her favorite little kitten. And a bird. A robin. Silhouette could see them. The darkness was gone and the stars were out. She could see the trees around her, and the moon was snow white. Letting out a strangled laugh, she sat up on her knees, smiling to the two little animals in front of her.

Not a moment later, the kitten turned towards the robin, which let out a strangled cry as he was pounced upon, the kitten's claws digging into its tender flesh. It trashed flapping its wings, and Silhouette once again began crying. She wasn't making any noise, just watching the massacre in front of her as she watched her best friend tear apart her only symbol of hope. Blood-stained feathers flapped as blood-covered claws ripped. Bringing her hand to her mouth, Silhouette sobbed quietly into it, only once, before the bird stopped moving, drenched in blood and nearly torn in half, and the kitten turned to her, transforming into a much larger cat—a lion.

Standing up slowly, she slowly started moving backwards when the lion let out a low growl, causing her to flinch and quit moving for a moment. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath before turning around, another loud growl ripping from the lion's throat. When it stopped making noise, she bolted, not knowing where she was going, just knowing that she wanted out of there. A roar was heard behind her before padded footfalls pounded after her, sticks breaking under two different sets of feet.

Once again, Silhouette made her way up a tree. As if that was going to protect her. Closing her eyes, she imagined that she was somewhere else. She tried to think of Gar and all the times that they'd just sat upside down on his couch, talking about nothing and everything. But every time, she'd end up thinking of the lion that prowled below her. She tried to think of her parents, but they had died when she was too young to have a very developed memory. Doom Patrol wasn't full of any good memories, really.

So she tried thinking of her new-found friend, Robin. She thought about after her first nightmare, when he willingly opened up to her, and took off his mask. Their stupid banter, the paint splattering everywhere. The first time they'd actually taken the time to talk up on the roof. She had unconsciously started to smile, but when the lion below roared once again, tears dripped down her cheeks, making her look like a broken mess.

Wiping her tears from her face, she thought of Robin as a glittery fairy princess before jumping down to face her enemy—her fears. In front of her stood a large lion, its fur an odd shade of green, with a menacing stare and drool dripping from it's mouth. It gave another loud roar and pounced on her. It pinned her down, but made no move to hurt her. For a moment, Silhouette debated on fighting against, but then realized that that's what it wanted. It was right there, pinning her down, begging for it.

It was asking for her to become a monster. To betray her friend, to use her powers against him.

She refused. She didn't move. Simply lying there with her malevolent-looking friend breathing heavily on her from a lion's nose pinning her to a forest floor in the dead of night. But she wasn't going to fight. No, instead, she reached up and cautiously scratched his chin. She was not expecting the reaction she got when he bent down like lightning, his jaws wide open.

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Silhouette woke up in someone's arms, scared out of her mind. She heard Gar's voice in her ear, and turned to face him, eyes wide. He moved her wild hair behind her ear, still whispering sweet nothings. She reached out and caressed his face. "I'm okay, Gar. I promise."

He took a deep breath. "I was so scared, Silly. You were screaming so loud." He pulled her into a tight hug. "I was so scared," he murmured.

"I know. I know, Beastie. It's okay. I'm fine." She wrapped her arms around him as he buried his face in her shoulder, and she felt something wet soak through her shirt. Holding him tighter, she looked up to see her door open, Raven standing in the doorway. She was looking at Gar with a sort of saddened look. When she saw Silhouette looking at her, her gaze hardened, and her lips were set in a tight frown. "Go to bed, Gar," she whispered to her friend, who nodded his head softly.

He gave Silhouette a kiss on the forehead before turning around towards the door. Raven gave him a small smile before heading out herself, Beast Boy following her. Silhouette sighed and putting her face in her hands, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She heard footsteps, but didn't look up until her bed dipped next to her and she heard a low voice. "Are you okay, Sil?" Robin asked.

She looked up at him and nodded her head with a half-smile. He frowned. "What? I'm fine," she insisted, raising her eyebrows.

He sighed and put his arms around her, holding her against him. "Tell me what it was this time," he asked softly. "Please."

Silhouette nodded her head softly and took a deep breath. "It was dark again. I couldn't see, and I was the only one there. I was in the middle of the forest, and the moon was blood red with no stars out. It didn't shine on anything except me. So I laid on the ground, not knowing what else to do. That's when the shadows started closing in, trapping me so that I couldn't breathe. I tried to fight back, but soon I became so drained that I stopped fighting. But when I looked up, the shadows were gone and I could see everything around me. In front of me was a small green kitten and—" She let out a short laugh. "And a robin. But then the kitten pounced, and ripped the robin to shreds. After that it transformed into a lion and ran after me, so, being the genius I am, I climbed up a tree again. But, I decided that it was time to face my fears. When I jumped down, it pounced on me, but it didn't attack. Instead of fighting against it, I scratched its chin. That's when it killed me."

Robin looked at her with a small smile. "A robin?" he inquired softly, chuckling.

She smiled back at him. "Yeah." She reached up and tugged at the edge of his mask. He flinched back at first, but then let her. Running her fingers over the edge of the material, she pulled it away from his blue eyes. She studied his eyes, the way that they were baby blue, but had darker flecks of midnight blue if you looked close enough. The kind of eyelashes that boys never cared about but would make any girl jealous. She caressed his cheek with her hand and ran her thumb under his eye, where a small dark circle was forming, as if he hadn't slept in a few days. "A robin," she whispered, moving closer.

A/N: Hehe, sorry, not sorry. I rather like this chapter, actually. Anyways, thanks for all your support! And thanks again to my amazing beta reader whose pen name I forgot (sorry...)! The next chapter will be... interesting... I hope...