A/N: I am so, so, so sorry for the absolutely pathetically late update! I'm...oh my crud, October (Cool, I updated last on Halloween!)? Seriously? T.T I'm so sorry! If any of my amazingly faithful reviewers are still with me, thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much that means to me after I've been so horrible! I had so much going on at school with projects, tests, homework, end-of-year projects, more homework, CSTs, Finals, and now AP summer homework, along with so many new fics I've been trying to keep up with... Gosh, I actually spaced this story out! O.o

On the bright side, I had more than half of this chapter already written before I was reminded of it tonight, and I was determined to finish it before I went to bed tonight!

So I hope you enjoy this very late fourth chapter of 'Ever-Constant!' Rock on, and thank you all! Love you!


She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this lost, this alone, this wholly and wretchedly dead. She had lost all hope of finding Warp by herself, now unfamiliar to this city she had known so well in her own time.

Snow blanketed the place, so much so that the streets and tops of buildings were not visible; the streetlights' glow was not even bright enough to shine through the thick layer of ice that had formed on them. And the fact that no one was around only made her feel more alone than ever.

Suddenly, snow was thrown up all around her as energy blasts barely missed their target. She shrieked in frightened surprise, raising her arms to protect herself. The raid stopped for an instant, and she glanced up, eyes glowing neon green. She could just make out the assailant, who was perched atop a building just to her left: Warp.

"Feeling a little down, sweetheart? I warned you about what would happen if you broke my suit!" Warp baited, a smug smirk on his face.

Starfire growled. She would not be toyed, not anymore; she was no longer the little girl everyone had known on Tamaran. A battle cry flew from her throat as she soared upward. They began their attacks simultaneously, she shooting her starbolts at him as he fired his energy lasers at her.

His futuristic force-shield merely absorbed her efforts, and with no protection of her own, she was forced to focus on dodging. A harsh explosion of snow was seen next as Starfire was sent hurtling to the ground, the girl groaning from the toll this fight was taking on her.

As her enemy jumped from his perch to stand before her, however, she compelled her aching body to sit up and then stand; after all, she had been through far worse in her near-year with the Titans and knew by now that pain like this was nothing.

Her eyes and hand sparked menacingly as she took a few steps back, watching him at all times as she unhooked the technology from her belt and gripped it for the all it was worth. She appeared fully prepared to both attack him and destroy the device. The man smirked. He wasn't so stupid that he actually believed she would do it. It was far too important to the both of them.

"If you desire to have this back, you will fix the damage you have done to my past!" She looked so fierce as she said this that for a moment, the man feared she really would assault him, but he soon settled.

As for the red-head in question, she shuddered inwardly. The way he was looking at her now, as if she were nothing more than a brainless, pathetic extraterrestrial, made her resolve quake. His eyes pierced her soul, told her everything she didn't want to believe was true, and yet there was no other explanation.

There was nothing left for her here, he told her. The life she had known and the one she knew now could not be altered in any way. History could not be changed, no matter who she was or what she did…

She stopped listening. Falling to her knees, she took in for the first time the snowflakes as they fell softly to the ground.

There really was nothing she could do. Nothing could be changed, she couldn't get back, all of her friends were either unwell or missing…

She closed her eyes tightly, forcing back her tears and swallowing the scream of fear, frustration, and sorrow she felt rising in her throat. She would not give in to these fears, not yet. There would be time for that later.

Her green eyes staring dazedly at the ground, it took an appallingly small amount of effort for the broken time-traveling device to be taken from her. Finally, the condescending drone of Warp's voice came to a halt, though a peculiarly hard note on the end made her look up.

Her eyes widened and breath hitched instantly. The barrel of his arm-photon cannon was pointed right between her eyes, nearly at full-charge already.

She calmed her senses and stared sadly, resignedly, into her white, glowing fate.

Four tears streamed down and quickly froze to her cheeks.

One for each fallen friend.

She was sorry. So, so sorry.

Then, out of nowhere a war cry was heard, one strong and masculine while still retaining its youth. Starfire could not move in her shock as Warp was suddenly kicked away from her and it again and again with a bow staff. Before she knew it, the villain was gone, and her savior turned to her, face shrouded in shadow.

"It's good to see you again." She knew that voice…! A warm smile came to the face of the boy—no, man—who stepped into the light, and she gasped. Tears blinded her vision, but not before she took in the way the future had changed him.

It seemed he had abandoned his more colorful uniform for one of solid black, and she mused that it complimented his newly muscular body quite nicely. His face, once the soft one of a fifteen-year-old teenager, was now the angular kind of a fully grown adult, and he had grown out his hair to have it flow down his back. His distinguishable features were kept hidden from the outside world by a mask (from what she gathered, the one thing that hadn't changed about his appearance).

She was still staring when he walked over and held out a hand to help her up. She complied, glad to see such a coherent, semi-reminiscent face in such a desolate place.

"Robin…" she said, her voice just above a whisper. She knew him, all right. Right here, right in front of her, was her best friend. He cracked a grin at the old name, eyes sparkling behind his mask. He had found her at last…

"I haven't heard that name in a long time," he admitted, his voice quiet as well, as if speaking any louder would wake him from this dream. Over the years he had had this dream so many times, though none of them had felt this real before… This had to be real. Because, for honesty's sake, he didn't know what he would do if it weren't…

Her eyes wandered back to where she knew his eyes would be behind his mask, and she suddenly understood very clearly just what had happened to him when she'd left. Even in this frozen environment, her skin was much paler than it should have been, and she suddenly had to fight down the contents of her stomach.

Eyes narrowing concernedly, Robin-turned-Nightwing led her away.


"So this is your new home?" she asked, looking around at the underground facility filled with gadgets, extra costumes, and top-of-the-line technology. He wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders before walking past her to type in something on his computer.

"Yep. I built this place just after…Warp happened…" he said, nearly pausing midsentence at the painful subject. But he wasn't given time to push the bad thoughts away as a shaky breath and pitiful squeak were heard from behind him. "Star!"

The girl's knees had given way again, and even in the short time it took for her to hit the floor, the tears had begun. Flowing down her cheeks, there was no stopping them as all of the pent-up pain and loss she had been feeling throughout this heart-wrenching journey were finally released.

Kneeling at her side, Nightwing hugged her tightly, curling her into his chest out of an impossible want to absorb her pain. He had always hated to see her like this…

"Oh, Robin…it is all my fault! By attacking Warp and hurting his machine, I have destroyed everything we and our friends once stood for! I have obliterated the friendships between all of you in a way that may never be repaired, and there is nothing I can do to make it right!" she sobbed, burying her head deeper into his chest. "I'm so sorry!"

Stroking her hair tenderly, he gave her a gentle squeeze. "You didn't do anything wrong, Star. You were only trying to stop a mad villain; you were only doing your job, what you thought was right—"

"But it wasn't!" Starfire protested instantly, shaking her head fiercely. "It couldn't have been! Otherwise, this horrible future would never be the one we have now!"

He was silent for a time, and she began shaking when the thought came to her that perhaps that meant he agreed. Just before the more violent sobs could begin, however, she felt herself being gently pushed back and held at arm's length.

Nightwing smiled at her hesitantly, though kindly, and he caressed her cheek lovingly. "I've never known you to give up so easily, Star," he said softly, and she bowed her head in shame; two gentle fingers curled around her chin and forced it upward, and she was confronted by a pair of masked, tender eyes, "so don't start now. After all, there may be hope yet."

With that, he carefully wiped the tears from her face with the edges of the blanket he'd given her and helped her to stand, keeping hold of her hand as he led her over to his computer. Pressing a button, an old, beaten-up Titans communicator sprang up from the confines, and she gasped.

Turning to him for explanation, he was first sure to press the distress signal before answering. "I've kept this all of these years, just in case." The shining of rekindled hope in her eyes was enough for him, but he did not complain when she threw her arms around his neck.

Putting down the communicator in order to embrace her properly, he held her tighter than he ever had, even in her own time. She did him as well, though she was careful that her alien strength didn't come into play. It was good to see a familiar face in the midst of all of this chaos, very good indeed.

Moving to stand on her tiptoes for some reason, he waited in curious silence as she leaned up and suddenly whispered in his ear, "I love you, you know."

Heart swelling at affection he hadn't been shown in twenty years, and especially not from her, he buried his face in her hair and breathed deeply. All sorts of scents—rusting metal from Titans Tower, hay from the One-Man Circus, sterilizer from the White Room, cleaner from his underground home—mingled in her hair and traveled up his nose. So she had been to see the others…

Clenching her strongly, he leaned down this time to whisper in her ear, "I know." There was such a rush of unbridled emotion in his voice as he said it, emotion he hadn't been willing to show everyone else twenty years ago after her disappearance. She could only smile and nod, a choked sob of happiness escaping her.

Abruptly, the alarm sounded from his computer, and he reluctantly released her to check it out. Almost instantly, he stiffened, eyes narrowing angrily and voice all snarl: "Warp."


A/N: By the way, I did my best to paraphrase some of the episode's important dialogue in this chapter, and considering I haven't watched the ep in months because the jerkfaces on You Tube have taken off the episodes...it was kind of hard. XD Hope I did all right, though!

Thanks for reading, as always! Rock on!