Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Mr. Grayson, please inform the rest of the counsel what your decision was at the point when you were sure your teammates were secure in the medical room of Titan's Tower?"

Robin knew it the moment the man started the question. This would be the one to really get the wheels rolling against him. The whole hearing had gone like this. One of the men would ask him a question, and once Robin answered the one asking the question went on a tirade of what was wrong with the decision and how it endangered the lives of others. But this was also the one question he knew his answer was right.

"My decision from that point was not to send my remaining friends out to the city to patrol," said Robin so calmly that for the first time out of the whole hearing he got a facial expression out of one of the men. It did not last long, but it showed long enough to be noticed.

"Are you meaning to say that even though your teammates were in a safe and protective environment, that you willingly neglected the safety of the citizens of Jump City?!"

"Although my friends were in an environment which you may call safe and protective, it was in no way certain that they could even last the night. I knew it would be best that if anything should happen, I'd rather all of us be there."

"Mr. Grayson, I have met some arrogant people in my life but you take number one in my book. Apparently you believe that your decision to sit and mourn the bodies of two people whose survival was uncertain, over the lives of thousands of others was appropriate. And you seem to be unfazed by the thought that many people could be hurt or killed by your decision."

Robin stood up slowly with a look that could kill, and neither Starfire nor Cyborg could care what he planned to do. If it was his intention to hurt the counsel men, they would probably have helped at this point.

"Sir I not only believe what I decided was right, I know it was. When the lives of two of your dearest friends, or even more like when the lives of your brother and sister are on the eve of ending, I know I would like to be there till the end. But better yet I know that I would like to be there to know there was no more I could do to help those who have helped me so much."

"You refer to your teammates as friends and even family. I believe that is where your judgment has become clouded, and I believe the rest of the counsel will support me when I say that your teammates would feel disgraced by you!"

That was the last straw for Cyborg and Starfire who had been struggling to stay silent throughout the hearing.

"What gives you the right to speak for our friends!" shouted Starfire angrily with her eyes glowing, and unlike back at the tower Robin made no attempt at calming her down.

"Yeah," shouted Cyborg now joining the others in standing. "What makes you think you can do that!"

"The fact that our judgment is not clouded like yours gives us that right. And I believe that your teammates if they were here would completely agree with us."

All the men presiding over the hearing passed nods from one to another in agreement. Suddenly the doors at the back of the room opened revealing Raven and Beast Boy basically supporting each other as they made their way into the room.

"Did we miss much?" asked Beast Boy cheerily as Raven rolled her eyes.

"Beast Boy! Raven!" came the yells and shouts of the other Titans as they ran to their sides.

"We can manage," said Raven finally after they tried to help the two get over to the seats.

While the Titans were overjoyed to be finally reunited again, with some tears being shed for pure happiness, the counsel men were having conniptions trying to restore order amongst the teens and the crowd viewing them from above.

"Return to your seats immediately! I thought you said these two were unconscious back in your medical bay!"

"Oh don't worry, we were," replied Beast Boy as he practically fell into one of the seats next to Raven. "We just checked out early once we found that you guys were trying to steal our doctors and nurse."

"Silence you!"

This exchange between Beast Boy and the counsel man broke must of the tension in the air as many people laughed at the joke. Beast Boy did as he was told but kept a pleasant smile on his face.

Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy now occupied the seats as Starfire and Cyborg stood like bodyguards over them with arms folded. The Counsel man was not about to allow these newcomers to the hearing disrupt the major point he was trying to get across to everybody.He turned to Raven hoping he would get the result he wanted to deliver a blow to Robin's way of thinking.

"You are Raven Roth are you not?" he asked sternly.

At the mention of Raven's name Beast Boy's attention was now all on the man but his faced did not change to show the anger and suspicion he had for him calling on Raven suddenly.

"I am."

"You are said to be the most mature out of your team, do you agree with the statement that you are disgraced by the way Robin handled himself in this situation."

"Well for the majority of this situation I was unconscious but I gathered from your summons that Robin did not give the order to watch over the city so he and the others could be with us in what could have been our final moments."

"Yes, and you feel that he conducted himself poorly. You feel that he should have continued with his duties as a crime fighter; and that the meaningless company would have been just that, meaningless, don't you?"

From what the counsel man knew about Raven he figured the dark empathic teen would have shrugged off and attempts at comfort should she have been awake. But he did not figure how much she had changed since joining the Titans. Her answer was short and simple.

"Bullshit."

This brought many murmurs and conversation from the bleachers above which required some time to quiet down. The man questioning Raven was almost to angry to speak.

"I do not believe that the changeling feels the same way," he spat, scraping the bottom of the barrel for some way to turn argument around.

"I concur," said Beast Boy, much to the other's surprise for a moment, "Bullshit."

"How can this be?! Do you not understand what could have happened in this time?!"

Beast Boy looked at Raven for a second and she nodded slightly.

"I am only going to address the counsel this one more time, for Raven and I. Once I am done, it will be up to you what happens next."

He got no response from the men and that was a good sign because it did not stop Beast Boy from saying what he knew had to be said to get their point across.

"For years before I had joined the Titans I had no real place to call home and neither did Raven before she too joined. All of us had a time like that. We endured years of hardship as outcasts and freaks. Finally we had a place to call home, and after while we all grew on each other. Now we had something more that many of us did not have anymore. We had a family, maybe not in the conventional type, but a family none the less."

Whatever Beast Boy was saying was coming from nowhere else but his heart and the others could only not at the sincere truth being laid on the table.

"What I am trying to get at is that for the past week I had been a captive of the sadistic madman Slade who tortured me every day in ways I will not describe. And about two days ago my family finally found me. One of them, Raven, who means more to me than the world, was hurt badly by this madman. The two of us sat on our deathbeds, without any real chance to say goodbyes or anything of that sort. And I don't know about you mister, but for someone who has been alone for the most of his life, knowing that my loved ones gave up so much to be with me in the end says something that cannot be put to words that you would never understand. I am proud of them and hope that we never will part again and I know Raven is with me in saying this."

The room they were in was dead silent. Not even the crowd above made a noise through his speech. Beast Boy pulled out his communicator which he for some reason grabbed unknowingly on the way out and laid it on the table before him.

"That is why if you choose to terminate Robin as the leader of the Teen Titans I will resign from my position on the team."

Now the murmurs began in the crowds above. But the counsel before them seemed as inhuman as ever.

"I do not care what you plan to-."

He was cut off by Raven as she threw her communicator on the table with the changeling's.

"The same goes for me."

Cyborg and Starfire followed suit but still did not speak. Robin stood up and held out his communicator as if presenting it to the Counsel.

"Well," he said with a smile that was nothing more than joy in the fact that either way this went would mean nothing to him because he would always have his friends with him.

Now the crowd watching them stood up and began to shout and yell in loud voices that made it hard to discern what it was there were saying. But for the most part the teens gathered they were yelling in their favor. The Counsel men looked around in silent fury at the turn in the tide of the hearing. They looked from one to anther knowing they could not replace all of the Titans and from the looks of some of them they were moved by the Beast Boy's speech. Finally one of them stood up.

"This counsel after hearing the testimony has decided to drop the charges on Mr. Grayson."

After the verdict was announced the men quickly shuffled out of a door hidden behind where they sat and the crowds above cheered and applauded loudly. The Titans however were silent as more tears flowed and they began to hug each other knowing that now, after almost a week and a half of pain and hardship, the ordeal was finally over.

Raven stood up and staggered over to Beast Boy and collapsed into his lap. He pulled her immediately into a long kiss and embrace. The two held each other for a few minutes before drifting off into sleep oblivious to everything around them exhausted from what they went through. Robin hugged Starfire quickly before she pulled away suddenly only to come back and give Robin his own kiss from her which he eagerly returned.

Cyborg rolled his eyes muttering something like, 'about time' before noticing his sleeping teammates. He got a good chuckle but resisted the urge to take photos. He walked over to them and picked one up in each arm like babies noticing how thin and light they both had gotten. He turned to Robin and Starfire who not to his surprise had still not broken away from each other.

"Come on you guys," he said interrupting them, "let's get back home so we all can get a good rest."

"Yeah," agreed Robin happily, "But you know, out of all of us I think they deserve it the most."

"I believe you are right as well friends Cyborg," said Starfire who was having trouble staying close to the ground. With the amount of happiness she had she could have flown to the moon and back in ten seconds flat.

"Let's go then," replied Cyborg tiredly as he yawned.

Even though two of the Titans were asleep they all left the building at the same time and they never left each other's sides the whole trip back. Once they arrived at the tower Beast Boy and Raven were returned to the medical room and the others went to their rooms for a much needed rest. Silence and depression no longer lingered in the tower on this day, now it was filled with the sound of Titans snoring and sleeping contently recovering from a horrific event that none would ever forget.

I did not like the idea of putting this whole counsel part in here, and I kinda wanted to end it with Beast BOy's return, but I think it had really went well with the story after all. It kind of gave it more closure

Please review anyone who reads this, good or bad I don't care. There is probably only going to be one more chapter with this story. It will wrap up some lose ends I have with this. Please let me know what you think.