I've always thought that Jinx and Raven would be good friends, and I've always thought that Wintergreen and Robin would be good friends too. Just saying...

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 6

It wasn't that surprising to him that the empath came back in tears. In fact, he really didn't care about tears anymore, so long as nobody was fatally injured or something. At this point, he was focused on one thing and one thing only, and that was trying to make up for the mayhem that he had caused.

So when she went straight to her room, he did nothing to go after her. She would eventually grow used to the fact that the kid was beyond help, and she would eventually become as emotionally unattached as she had once been. He knew that he was partially responsible for that, and he was doing his best to correct that.

He went straight back to the exercise room as soon as he had ensured that the empath ate something, for he knew that in a time of such depression, eating would seem tedious, and he didn't need to lose someone else. Besides, she looked like she hadn't had real food in a while. Sure enough, she practically guzzled up everything he put in front of her.

For some reason, he found solice in training. It was a time when he could be alone with his thoughts and try to compose them. He knew that emotion is what had pushed the kid off of the edge, and he wasn't about to let that happen to him as well. It was his version of meditation, he supposed, and it strengthened him.

And so he was not only annoyed, but very angry when a knock at the door interrupted him. "What do you want, and whatever it is, make it as quick as possible. I'm busy!" he snapped.

The door opened forcefully, and a thoroughly annoyed Kid Flash entered, soaked in sweat and panting as he carried five gears of various sizes and a large leg. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he scoffed sarcastically, "but I've been carrying these around for a while and I thought that you just might like to have a look at it!"

This particular tone of voice was new to the normally upbeat hero, and it startled him a bit. "Chill, kid, I didn't-"

"Chill? Give me a break, X! I'm tired, and you've been so moody lately that I don't think I even want to come back to bring these parts. If it wasn't for the fact that Jinx thinks that you're doing a good thing, I would have left you to yourself a long time ago!" Kid Flash sighed, annoyed.

"You and your girlfriend are starting to get on my nerves," he growled in response.

Suddenly, the speedy hero's face was right in front of his own. "Look. It takes a lot to get me this annoyed, but I've got to say, you've won the World Cup, congratulations! I'm sick and tired of you telling us that you're sorry for what happened, and then turning around and doing the exact same thing that got Robin into this position in the first place! You won't talk to anyone else, and when you do talk, you're moody and rude, and I'm pretty sure I just saw Raven sitting in the kitchen crying while Jinx alone tried to help her! You talk about stepping up for once and being a hero, but I don't see any of that happening around here! All I can see is a moody ex-criminal who can't even think about someone else for a few seconds and realize that he's hurting everybody else by doing this! So don't you try and lecture me, Red X!" he shouted.

He had to admit, he'd never seen Kid Flash this angry. It was a bit unnerving, but he shook it off. "If you don't want to try and get the Titans back..." he started.

"I'll help you find Cyborg and put him back together, but don't expect much more. I'm not going to wait on you hand and foot, and I'm not going to put up with your idiocity anymore! If you know what's good for you, you'll try to help and do something!" Kid Flash cried out, exasperated. "Don't try and pull the guilt trip on me!"

"Guys?" came a voice from the doorway.

Both boys whirled around to see Jinx standing in the doorway, a look of concern on her face. "What's going on?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kid Flash blushed furiosly, rubbing his hands together nervously. "I just...found some more parts and thought..."

She glared at them both. "I heard Kid Flash yelling. I've never heard him yell before. What. Happened?" she repeated more forcefully.

Kid Flash sighed. "I was just telling X that he needs to lighten up," he offered feebly.

"Is that what this is all about? Get a grip, guys! We've got enough problems on our hands without a fight breaking out, okay? So can you two find a way to deal with each other long enough for us to get the others back up on their feet?" she snapped.

"Okay," the muttered meekly in response, if only to calm her down, for the girl's eyes were glowing purple at this point, and they were beginning to worry for their personal safety.

She smiled. "Good. Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to go help Raven clean up her room, and then we might go and pay Beast Boy a little visit and try and help her to cope with the loss. I'm doing something productive. Kid Flash, you need to go to bed, and Red X, find something to do that's not attending to your own needs!" she sighed.

"Who died and made you queen?" Red X quipped, earning dirty looks from both present.

"Nobody made me queen, but I'm the only one that seems to be able to keep a cool head around here, so I took the wheel," she replied, annoyed.

He blew out his breath in annoyance. "Look, I just want to-"

"I don't care what you want to do. You're going to help me out, alright?" she growled, her eyes glowing threateningly.

"Fine," he spat angrily, following her out the door. This was why he worked alone.

TTTTTT

"Azarath...Metrion...Zinthos," Raven chanted quietly, levitating the bookshelves back into place. She'd actually done a fair job of cleaning up by herself; all that was left to do now was to sweep up the pieces of the mirror and put the books back on their respective shelves. This she would have to do by hand, for many of her spell books had sentimental value, and it would be a shame to waste it on them.

"You wouldn't mind horribly if I made Red X help out, would you?" asked Jinx in the doorway.

She gave a short snort of laughter. "You mean you actually got him out of his room?" she joked lightly.

The dark figure crossed his arms angrily. "I'm standing right here, you know."

Jinx laughed softly, her hand on her chest. "It feels so nice to laugh, what with everything that's been happening lately," she sighed finally.

"I'm glad you're all entertained, now can we get started or something?" he growled in response.

Raven sighed. "Pick a book and put it on the shelf," she suggested.

Unfortunately, he happened to pick up the one book that she wouldn't want him to see. Malchior's book. "What's this?" he asked, flipping through the pages until he found the picture of Rorek, the eyes that she had fallen in love with. "Who's that?"

She snatched the book from his hands. "Nothing, and nobody. Give me that!" she shouted.

"What's wrong?" Jinx asked, stepping between the two of them before more flames could erupt.

Raven sighed. "Like I said, it's nothing. Just forget about it," she said quickly, then placed the book back in its trunk and locked it up. She bit her lip at the memories it brought back up in her, like when Beast Boy had helped her to feel accepted... Tears formed in her eyes; they were almost her constant companions lately.

"Are you okay?" Jinx asked kindly, shooing Red X.

"Sure, whatever. Just feel free to order me around," Red X replied sarcastically.

"You're trying my nerves," Jinx growled, using her powers to blast him out of the doorway.

Raven sighed. "I'm sorry. I must seem so pathetic right now. You guys must have been through so much more," she said sadly.

Jinx put a hand on her shoulder and took a deep breath. This 'being nice' thing was taking some getting used to, but she was getting the hang of it, she thought. "No, I'm the one that's sorry. I'm sorry that all this has happened to you and that you have to deal with all this stuff. I wish it had never happened," she said.

She grinned up at the reformed witch. "You're getting better," she laughed weakly.

Jinx grinned broadly. "Yeah, well, I've had a lot of practice what with everything that's happened lately," she replied. "You never did tell me what happened when you left to go try and bring Robin back to us," she prodded gently.

She sighed. "At first he seemed surprised to see me, but then he was so full of hate that he didn't care about it anymore," she said, choking on the emotion in her voice. "I've never felt him so cold, so unfeeling!" She sighed, tears pouring down her face as she looked up into her newly found friend's eyes. "He was going to kill Doctor Light. If I hadn't walked in when I did, I'm afraid that there would have been no hope for him anymore!" she sobbed.

Jinx's mouth dropped open. "He was going to..." she repeated numbly.

Raven nodded sadly. "I just don't understand how he could have been so far gone!" she sighed.

"Things changed him," Jinx said sadly.

"I wish they wouldn't," she sighed in response.

"Look, Raven, I'm sorry about what happened and I wish I knew what to say, but I'm still new to this whole thing," Jinx said.

"How could he have slipped so far?" she moaned.

"It's time you saw his room, then," Jinx sighed, taking her by the hand and leading her into the hallway.

TTTTTT

Normally, he would have wanted to return straight to the lair after a mission in order to avoid long, thoughtful walks, but this time was an exception. He'd just seen Raven, alive and mostly healthy, and yet all he had managed to do was hurt her. He seemed to have a knack for hurting everyone that he loved, apparently.

He couldn't stop thinking about the look on her face when he had exploded like that. She'd seemed so shocked, so frightened. He'd never seen that in Raven. Normally she was so good at hiding her emotions.

And she had come back to save him. She hadn't been concerned about her own welfare, but for his, and yet he couldn't see past his own hatred long enough to see that. "I'm such an idiot!" he moaned to himself.

He tried to clear his head as he walked into the lair. He wasn't even listening as Slade told him everything that he could have done better, and he barely registered the order to turn in for the night. All he knew was that his legs were carrying him where he needed to go, and that would suffice.

He kept hearing her voice in his head: "ROBIN!" Robin...The name seemed almost foreign to him at this point, seeing as he had been living an empty life for almost six weeks now. It brought only painful memories for him, and yet it was strangely satisfying to hear again.

He ran right into something on accident. Still in a stupor, he muttered, "Sorry," then realized how stupid it seemed to apologize to an inanimate object. But when the object moved forwards into the light, it didn't seem idiotic much longer. There was a familiar face that he'd been ignoring lately: Wintergreen.

"That's the first time I've heard you speak for some time. Are you starting to become immune to whatever sadness brought you here?" the old butler said, and though his voice was barely a whisper, he still seemed to speak with great influence.

He sighed. "No, it's actually getting worse since Rae..." he trailed off, still not ready to talk about it.

The old butler put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, it's good to see that you're starting to move in the right direction. I thought it was such a shame that you came back so broken. You have so much more potential," he said kindly, his fatherly affection twinkling in his eyes.

He shrugged away the gesture. "Thanks, but I really don't want to talk about it, okay?" he replied, moving to go back into his own room.

Wintergreen sighed. "Well, I suppose I can't expect you to fully recover in one day. But it's good to hear you talk," he added.

With a sad glance backwards, he slowly shut the door. Now he was even more confused. He sank down to his kness, running his hands through his hair. Everything was happening so fast that it was hard to keep his mind clear. He grasps two wisps of smoky black hair with his hands as he rolled around. "This is insane. What am I doing here?" He sighed. "I'm not sure what I want anymore!"