They stared at one another for a moment before Thunder motioned for them to make the first move. The Titans didn't move a muscle, not wanting to fight their friend like this. Suddenly Jinx snapped and sent out a hex. Thunder hauled himself onto his cloud before it could hit him. The hexes followed his path over the room until the roof began to collapse and she realised what she was doing. He landed behind the group and latched his arm around Jericho's throat.

"This is going well." Lightning muttered under his breath, moving away from the group as they set to helping their team mate. He ducked behind some machinery and proceeded to wring his hands. This was all wrong. He kept thinking he would wake up and it would just be another nightmare.

Kid Flash had their unusual enemy trapped within one of his twisters. The other two stood by to send their own attacks when he released the elemental. Once the twister subsided Jinx blasted the blue teenager into a stack of boxes, which collapsed beneath him. The three of them rounded on him. "Thunder, last chance. Tell us why you're doing this, what happened. We can help you."

"I need no help!" He blasted Kid Flash and Jinx, giving a satisfied smirk when the former slammed against more machinery and was out for the count. He sent one of the boxes towards Jericho, who just managed to duck away in time. The apprentice took a strange remote from his new armour and pushed a button.

A section of floor opened up to form a pit too deep to see the bottom, if there was a bottom. He smirked an awful smirk and asked "Who wants to go down first?" He started towards the unconscious speedster but a box slammed into his side. Jinx stood glaring daggers at her ex-teammate. "How about no?" She sent another volley of hexes and hexed boxes towards him, forcing him to the lip of the hole in the floor. She would have forced him further but he sent his own blast and brought up his shield, a power by this point only Lightning had seen. It was surprising enough to let Jinx leave herself open. The next thing she knew, her head was slamming against the wall...or was it a delivery truck? She couldn't tell, she was too busy trying to retain consciousness. Thunder took down his shield and walked slowly to the centre of the room. Two down, two to go. They were only still standing because they were avoiding the fight. Cowards.

Jericho was waiting for the right moment behind a truck. "I can see your feet, you know. It is not a very good hiding place. Are you going to fight or will you stay behind your truck?"

Come to me, he thought stubbornly. Come to me and you'll be the idiot.

A blast of turquoise energy rocketed through the metal just inches from the mute teen's left ear. The same happened to his right. He jumped to the left as another blast just missed his right arm, close enough to inflict some pain. More blasts followed him down the length of the vehicle until he was out in the open. He was taken out with a blast square in the chest, pushing him through a few more parked lorries. Only one more left.

"Brother? Lightning, reveal yourself. I know you are here and I know this behaviour is unbecoming of you." There was no reply. "You are usually very eager to fight, whether it is myself or an actual assailant. If you do not reveal yourself, I can just break each and every one of your friends." He wouldn't actually. No matter what side he worked for, Thunder was no killer. Lightning knew this as well.

"No, you will not. You cannot. You would worry yourself crazy with the guilt that would follow."

"Behind this one?" he knocked on a yellow machine. Lightning stepped away from the machine and charged up his hands.

"I do not wish to fight you."

"Oh well. If you do not listen, there will be consequences." Lightning struck first. Thunder pulled up his shield, which angered the sallow-skinned elemental. The shield was lowered to retaliate, but Lightning was there first. The older twin stepped back as he brought the shield back up. It happened again and again until he finally got a shot in, and a powerful one. Lightning landed heavily on his arm. A loud crack echoed through the warehouse.

He slowly pushed himself back up into a sitting position before his brother grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him up.

"I don't know how it works."

Thunder arched an eyebrow. "Pardon me?"

He pulled the hand of the injured arm up with that of the free hand. A black ring sat snugly on his middle finger, a glowing purple jewel in the centre. He brushed the jewel across his brother's cheek.

Thunder doubled over with a cry of pain as a bright blue flash surrounded the brothers. Both were back on the floor. Slowly, they hauled themselves back up. They stood facing each other and both threw out their arms, but only one blast was fired. Neither had really paid that much attention to that one machine with a saw going, and Lightning still didn't look at the now bloodied saw as he went to the lip of the chasm with a grim frown. His brother hung by his fingertips, face paling and horrified.

"Lightning...Tavis...please...help me...give me my powers back, pull me up, and don't let me fall." Lightning's face softened. "I...I'm so sorry..." Thunder sighed. "What have I done? How could I have been so foolish?..."

"And it took until now for you to realise?"

He winced. "Oh yeah. I...I need help. I've been telling myself I have had this under control, but I have simply been lying to myself, and I am so sorry. I need help and I shall let you help now."

"No powers."

"No tricks."

Lightning gave a half-smile. "Definitely not." He pulled the ring from his finger, hissing with pain as he did so...and he dropped it into the hole. Thunder didn't dare release the edge to try and grab at it. Lightning crouched down and grabbed an arm. Together they began to pull him back onto solid ground.

He felt the fist connect with his jaw and it all went black.

Epilogue:

He looked down at his arm. It had been bound in cast and sling, the tips of his fingers were tinged blue. The ring sat snugly once more upon the middle one, softly glowing. A turquoise hue. He grimaced as the memories of the previous night returned to him, although he was unsure how long ago it was. How could he do that? What drove him to betrayal? How did the ring end up back out of the chasm? Did Kid Flash retrieve it or...? He stemmed his flow of thoughts, they were all muddling and becoming one thought. Thunder. The name was now tainted, spoilt. Lightning began to feel light-headed. He looked out to the side and saw his brother lying peacefully. He wondered if he was aware. Aware he was caught, convicted, tried. Aware he had lost his leg from the knee down.

They were unable to locate the main Titans, but they and all the other honoraries were now working on it. Everyone was in a bit of a panic and eager to know why Thunder had betrayed them. How dare he betray them?

Lightning was pretty certain they were at Titans East's tower, but he had no idea how they had gotten there. He had asked Kid Flash, but no real reply had been given. It wasn't that he had purposely avoided answering, it was just that he wasn't entirely sure himself and was quickly occupied with other things.

Lightning kept his gaze on his brother's form. "What have you done?" he muttered under his breath. "How could you do this?" he remembered what Thunder had said and wondered if it had been the truth or just a trick to get his little brother's help to take him down. "Are you in trouble...or just insane?"

One. Year. Gap.

I'M SO SORRY! It took so long because I'm just terrible at fight scenes and this chapter was meant to be nothing but fight scene until I decided to put the epilogue (pre-written a year and a half ago on deviantart) in as well.

There may or may not be a sequel :D

The end. I hope you enjoyed it.